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#i read carry on when i was SIXTEEN and i am not exaggerating i have been trying to cast simon for the last 8 years

thora-jane · 3 years

Text

Twin-Way Mirror Pt. ii

Series Summary: You've been friends with the Weasley twins since your first train to Hogwarts, but as the three of you start your 6th year, you start to question if your feelings go beyond friendship.

Summary for Pt 1: After recalling how you first met Fred and George, you finally arrive at the burrow and reunite with your favorite twins.

Warnings: none!

Word count: 2,196

female!reader, 2nd person POV

You can remember the first time you met Fred and George clearer than any memory from your muggle life. You had sat down in an empty train car after getting a talk from your parents about how “this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for your poor grades in the past,” and all of the anxiety of having your world blown open was starting to get to you. The train was about to pull out of the station when two boys with brilliantly red hair swung open that door to your coach.

They shoved their way inside and introduced each other without a second thought before making themselves comfortable. One of them made a joke about how quiet you were.

“Blimey, Freddie, you’d think she’d seen a ghost!”

“Nah Georgie, I think she’s seeing double!”

“How could she be seeing double, you’re the only ugly one here!”

That got you to chuckle, and the two of them got the biggest smiles on their faces. After you introduced yourself, and explained that you didn’t know much about what was happening, the two of them sat beside you and explained everything they knew about their world.

Not long after their world became your world, and Fred and George were with you to explore every step of the way. You were overjoyed when you got into the same house as them, and they were overjoyed that you were one of the only people to tell them apart (George had a few freckles a little ways behind his ear, Fred didn’t).

Much to people’s surprise, for as close as you were to them, your record was far more spotless, having barely served any detentions in all your six years at Hogwarts. You were also one of the few people in their lives they hadn’t tried to pull a prank on.

You however, also noticed that you were one of the only girls in your year they hadn’t flirted with. Which, you didn’t think should bother you, but something about the way they would try to charm nearly every other girl they shared classes with left some sort of sour feeling in your heart that you couldn’t quite place.

Actually you could place it. You knew exactly how you felt about them, but were too bothered by the implications to think about it. They were your friends. They’re twins. And the very thought of liking both of them at the same time made you feel a tad uneasy. Of course, you didn’t think of them as the same person, yes they both looked the same (and Merlin, was that look special), but Fred was more open, he was the one to initiate the trouble. George however, was a little softer, but that didn’t stop him from tying up all the pranks with the most Weasley-Twin bow to insure utter destruction. And (as much as you hated to know this) the way they flirted was a bit different. When Fred flirted with a girl he wanted the whole room to know, he was loud, he would charmingly tease them from the other side of the room, he’d make a girl freeze up and blush, smiling behind her hands. When George flirted, he would make sure he had the girl’s attention, leaning in close, not breaking eye contact, talking in a quiet voice he knew she would listen to. God, it infuriated you to have to sit and watch either one of them flirt.

You paused, sighing as you realized you messed up a stitch on your current project; a crocheted Lion hat. You promised the boys you would make one and wear it to each of their quidditch matches, you even told them you’d enchant it to roar when Gryffindor scored a point.

Pulling out the past few stitches, you put your hook through the loop and started over again. You couldn’t stay mad at the twins. It wasn’t like they cared for you like that, anyways. And besides, what good was it fussing over two handsome young men not liking you when they were already your friends?

***

You could feel a yawn work its way up your throat and out of your mouth as you looked out the window. Mrs. Weasely had enchanted the car to drive on its own now and she had dozed off behind the wheel a while back. The stars were starting to come out and fields whizzed past your window. Off in the distance you saw a faint light from what you assumed was the burrow. You and the Weasleys had been friends for years, but you had never actually gone to the burrow. You’d been offered to come and visit in the past, but your parents had always insisted you come home for the winter and summer holidays.

The lights approached faster, and soon enough the car began to slow to a stop in the drive by a house that looked like it could topple at any second. Actually, it looked a bit like two or three houses stacked on top of eachother. Undoubtedly held together by strong magic, you assumed.

Mrs. Weasely awoke with a jolt, “Good heavens, I must have fallen asleep,” She smoothed out her hair, turning around with an embarrassed smile as she surveyed the back seats, “(y/n), could you wake up Ron and Harry?” You nodded, and her smile warmed “That’s a good girl, I’ll go inside and put the kettle on, dinner shouldn’t take too long,” She left the car, and Hermione twisted her way around the front passenger seat to whack Ron on the head with a copy of the paper she was reading.

“Oi!” He awoke with a snort, waving her hand away, “bugger off, would ya? I’m up already!” The two of you girls laughed as you nudged Harry’s side and he lazily blinked his eyes open with a confused whine.

“C’mon, would you mind helping me get my stuff inside?” you asked, getting out of the car and lugging your trunk out of the back and carefully lifting up Eros’s cage. Stroking his beak through the bars and letting out a chuckle, he looked up at you with his large, yellow eyes. “That ride wasn’t too difficult for you, was it?” You asked, not expecting an answer as you opened his cage, “Go on then, all this open sky should be good for us, right?” You smiled as you watched him flutter out of his cage and off into the night. He was a smaller owl (Northern Saw Whet, according to the lady that sold him to you) so his cage wasn’t too much of a tight fit, but the suburbs didn’t provide the best place for him to really get out and stretch his wings.

You turned around to place the empty cage on top of the trunk, half expecting either Ron or Harry to be there and help you. But the two of them were still tiredly stretching out by the car door. What you did notice though, were two tall figures running out from the house, waving their arms excitedly and shouting your name as they got closer.

You dropped your yarn bag and ran towards them, smiling as you collided into a hug with one of them. It was dark, so you couldn’t quite tell which twin you were hugging, but you smiled nonetheless, “I missed you,” You laughed as they messed up your hair.

“I missed you too, we wanted to come pick you up but-”

“-Mum thought we’d burn down your house or something,” The other twin finished solemnly, a few steps behind the first, “We promised to only keep it to any shrubbery in the front yard, but apparently that didn’t cut it,” he sighed, mouth twisting into a smile through the dark, “now where’s my hug, (y/l/n)?”

You chuckled and held out your arms, but didn’t expect him to take a running start before picking you up off the ground and spinning you around, not really putting you down. You let out a little yelp between laughs as he swung you over his shoulder and started walking back to the house.

“You’re not going to put me down, are you?” You asked as casually as you could, trying to play this off as if it were a normal occurrence. There wasn’t a time when either of them picked you up like a large sack of flour, so you attempted to maintain composure as you were jostled around from your place over his shoulder.

“Not a chance,” He replied with the same nonchalant tone, or at least as nonchalant as one could be with a sixteen year-old slung over their shoulders.

“Fair enough,” you sighed, “I don’t suppose we could go back for my bag?” You asked, craning your neck to look back at the car as Ron and Harry watched you and seemed to visibly groan before Hermione picked up your bag and Eros’s cage, turning to them and saying something before walking behind the tree of you from a ways away, “Oh nevermind they’ve got it. So, how have you two been faring?”

“Splendidly, although it has been rather dull over here with no one to show their support in our financial and entrepreneurial endeavours,” the one walking beside you sighed.

The one carrying you added on, “And we were quite curious about that muggle candy you promised us, I don’t suppose you have any for your favorite twin?”

“Oh of course, which one of you is George?” you asked, hoping they couldn’t see the smirk on your face.

The one holding you up gave an exaggerated gasp and stopped in his tracks, “You foul woman! Not only can you not tell us apart but you have no favoritism for the one who holds you? I have a good mind to drop you right now!” He declared, letting his arm drop from holding your legs as he lurched forward, causing you to slide from your spot on his shoulder and making you scream.

You thought you were going to fall, but he caught you again, this time he was holding you in front of him with both arms. For a second, your face was squashed into his shoulder, but once you were able to catch your breath and recover your nerves, he looked down at you in his arms with a devious smirk.

“Only joking, I am George. And as your favorite twin I would never drop you like that,” He gave a joking wink before Fred smacked him on the back of the head. You looked up at him for a moment unsure of if you were blushing, and if the darkness would hide it if you were.

After a moment’s pause you suspected might have been too long, you stated as calmly as you could, “Oh I never said you were my favorite,” you smiled innocently, “I was just wondering which was which.”

At this, Fred cackled, and George let out a fake roar of rage before he took off running, you still in his arms, “I’ll show you. You creature, I thought you were my friend! Betray me for Freddie?! How could you! After all I’ve done for you!” Fred picked up his own pace, going further and making it into the house much faster than the two of you.

You had to wrap your arms around his neck to keep from falling as he ran past Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who had since gotten nearly to the house. George ran through the doorway sideways, not putting you down despite your protests until he ran to the livingroom and dropped you unceremoniously onto the couch and into Fred’s lap, “There, now you can give all the muggle sweets to your favorite twin, you despicable wench!” He cried, trying to hold back laughter.

“George, I never said Fred was my favorite twin, either,” you corrected, biting the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from smiling.

Now it was George’s turn to cackle as Fred shoved you out of his lap and onto the floor, “Wicked demon! Keep your stupid muggle candy and quit playing with our hearts!” It was then that Mr. Weasely put down his book (not that he had been reading it since the three of you barged in), and leaned forward to ask as politely as he could.

“Pardon me but did you say muggle candy?”

“Do none of you have manners?” Mrs. Weasely scolded from the kitchen doorway, “The poor girl had to pack in a mad dash and sit in a car all afternoon, then you drag her in like barbarians and start poking and prodding about muggle life! Let (y/n) have a moment to get herself settled, my goodness!” She sighed, wiping her hands on her apron before smoothing her hair and smiling at you, “(y/n), dearie, you’d better wash up for dinner,” she turned to the twins and let out an exasperated sigh, “As for you two howler monkeys, you’d better show the lovely lady up to her room. And please,” she added “let her walk on her own two feet?”

#fred wealsey fic #fred weasly x reader #fred weasley #george wealsey imagine #george wealsey x reader #george weasley

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madamtrashbat · 3 years

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A couple of thoughts

We doin' okay, Cats family? We're good? Good. I have one last thing to add.

This is kinda about pro- and anti-shippers, but it's really more about fandom culture in general and just my experiences. You can read it, if you want, or not.

Up to you.

I've been doin' this for a while. A good fifteen years at least, closer probably to sixteen. I've been doing things in fandom for longer than some of my mutuals have been alive.

(Oh Jesus)

And there's something I gotta tell you guys, both as a person who has been doing fandom-y stuff for years and for someone who literally has college degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing.

Being an anti is not normal.

And I know that comes across as harsh and mean and it sounds unreasonable but I'd like to explain what I mean by that.

I can trace back being an anti to two main sources: Voltron and Star Wars. I was never into Voltron or really even around anyone who was but I remember the screaming and fighting over the ships, and I remember the hellish crusade that began when people dared to ship Rey and Kylo Ren together. It was nasty, guys. It was absolutely insane that suddenly people were doing this over fictional ships, that people were being sent actual abuse and hatred because someone wanted the broody shitlord man and the unwashed desert scrounger to smooch. Like... imagine that in real time.

I was not, nor have I ever been, a Reylo shipper, but you know what I did, when that ship began, and I didn't like it? I ignored it and went about my day. Because that's how I was taught. Nothing in the fiction world was worth fighting over. It was not worth getting into arguments over. What was the point?

Then the antis got bolder, started branching out, and when people like me started standing up and saying, "Hey, stop being a dick to people!" someone hired the world's best PR machine and suddenly people who were not antis were pedophiles and abusive and incestuous.

How's that for some whiplash.

This anti movement of berating, bullying, harming, and threatening has been their MO, and it's dangerous. And now, they all buy their own bullshit. They actually think people like me are all out here twisting our mustaches like Snidely Whiplash and diddling kids. Without a shred of irony, they believe this.

Proship only labeled itself that as a response to the antiship, and antiship, make no mistake, named itself first. It was not anti-pedophile. It was not anti-incest. It was not anti-abuse.

It was all about disliking fictional ships that other people enjoyed, and thus attacking people over it.

And it's pointless. It's driven a child to suicide. It has gotten people fired. It has ruined careers, livelihoods, friendships. For nothing. For a boogeyman that doesn't exist.

Sex experts across the board all agree that what gives us our jollies is not at all what we want in real life. There's some wild statistic like 70% of women have had a sexual fantasy about rape at least once in their lives. About rape! That act that most AFAB people have a deep ingrained fear of! And we've used it to get off! Because sexual fantasy isn't that deep. Our brains are idiots. And since time immemorial, we as humans have written just the most fucked up shit.

It's even in the Bible. Humans have been nasty forever. And it doesn't mean shit.

It's in the TV shows. It's in our movies. It's in our books. It's in our music, our podcasts, everything. Being an anti is not the way of humanity at all. Ever. Except for like... maybe the puritans but they sucked so who cares about them.

Antis believe a lie. They believe a lie and they hurt people for it. I am not in any way, shape, or form exaggerating when I say I am fearful for those who regularly interact with me, because I am worried that one day the art they make or the "clout" they carry isn't going to be enough to save them from their friendship with me and antis will tear them to shreds. Because that is how they behave. They may not think they're bullies, and they may think they're in the right, but I want you to look up the Youtube RPF kid who killed themselves over anti harassment. Look at that horrible ask I just got. This is how they behave.

And that is what proshippers stand against. It's a stance against bullying, harassment, threats. That is it. There are plenty of proshippers out in the world that would never, ever think of writing anything involving someone underage, or between relatives, or involving anything gruesome. Because that's not what it's about.

Antis are new in the world of fandom, and they are the absolute root of toxicity. I do not exaggerate. They waste the time of agencies actually trying to eradicate CSAM by sending them art someone drew of a teenage character that isn't real. They've driven people to suicide. They've outright admitted to not caring about actual humans as much as they care about fictional ships. They have shown time and time again that they are not above abuse, vitriol, and bullying. There are blogs that post stories from ex-antis who say they were afraid to say anything different than their anti friends for fear of righteous backlash.

I repeat: I am legitimately afraid that my friends are going to get dogpiled and harassed because they dare to be my friend. That fear is not baseless. And it's all because of the way antis act.

I am liberal with the block button. I try to maintain boundaries because I don't want to see any of that shit as much as they don't want to see any of mine (though only a very scant few actually block me back, which is a joke in and of itself). But it still slips through. And I hate it, every time I see it.

Because this is not the way we're supposed to be. We are not supposed to be at odds with each other. We are supposed to share and have fun and be joyful about some people in lycra.

But because some people wanted to put on the pilgrim hat and play Morality Council to someone who's been doing this for years, I gotta tiptoe around people that think I'm actually out in the world diddling children. Do you know how fucked up that is. Do you know how that feels? To not only have someone make that judgment without any evidence, but to tell it to other people who don't know me either?

When someone finally snaps and starts biting back, it's not out of nowhere. And antis never, ever see themselves as doing something wrong. But they are. They are wrong.

Can I let you in on a little secret?

Seriously, just between you and me, come here.

If you think it's wrong to bully someone because of fiction, then you're proship. That is the long and short of it. No more or less. I hate to break it to you, but that is the only definition, and anyone who says it's something else is lying to you for their own gain.

And sure, there are lots of people who try to hide behind the proship label as they do shitty things. But antis do the same. Humans being assholes and trying to blame it on something else is not new.

The fact that people have come to me and told me that the antis have made them feel uncomfortable, that they're afraid if they do something they might view as negative they might receive hate, that people are actually AFRAID of people in this fandom, is not okay.

There was a fandom I was involved in where one of the prominent people actively hated me and I was never afraid of what she would do. I am afraid of the antis in this fandom, though. Because they have teeth and they like to use them.

Fandom isn't supposed to be like this. Nobody should be screaming at teenagers for talking to adults in fandom, infantilizing them like they're not a whole autonomous human. Nobody should be telling someone to kill themselves because they ship Tuggerstrap. Nobody should be afraid of the other people in their fandom.

Antis, if any of them even read this (I doubt it, but just in case), I want you to look around. The people who are neutral are not afraid of what the proshippers will say to them. They are afraid of you. You and your ilk are the ones causing the damage, and you are the outliers in the entire world of fiction. You're a loud minority that thinks it knows better when it knows absolutely nothing.

Ruminate on that.

My blog is still a safe space from bullying, abuse, and nastiness. If someone is being mean to you, you will always find a friend here. And if you can't say the same, then what's wrong with you?

Be excellent to each other. Stop making people afraid.

And sit down and ask yourself what it is you really want when you make vague posts about people and tell people vicious, awful things. What are you hoping to gain.

#long post #important

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mallowstep · 3 years

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the nature of folklore

today, i want to talk about the nature of folklore.

we're not divorced from it in the modern day by any means: the nature of folklore is that it is always there.

after all, how many times have you heard that if your roommate dies, you get an a? or listened eagerly to someone's tale of an impossible encounter with an impossible stranger?

folklore is omnipresent. it is woven into us.

that said, we don't have a ton of folklore via stories, oral history, and songs anymore. if i could singlehandedly change that, i would. i grew up telling stories, keeping the history of my family in vignettes i taught to my brother, making up comforting fables for my younger cousins when they couldn't sleep.

my mother sang me lullabies, amazing grace, you are my sunshine, tula tula, melodies i can no longer name but would recognize in a heartbeat.

i went to a summer camp where you were never too old for a bedtime story, where the greatest reward, even for a pack of sixteen year olds, desperately vieing for independence, was to hear another story. i can still tell you the story of the invisible prince, of how such and such and so and so met and married, recount the little prince or hatchet or my side of the mountain in impeccable detail.

unfortunately, i am but one voice, and i don't think i really want to change us back. let culture progress, it is the way of the world.

but i have so many stories for cats. trust me, i have about 20 drafts sitting of stories for these murder cats. but i want to take a moment to talk about how folklore works, what it does, and why it's important.

[3.7k words. 20 minute read. section headers, minimal formatting changes.]

oral history: a written explanation

i'm feeling a bit punny.

anyway, i'm not qualified to talk about oral history. what i am qualfied to do is talk about the broadest sense of it.

oral history is not an accurate way of keeping records. stories change, people forget things, the tales become exaggerated and tweaked.

but...it's not the worst way. it's a real, sincere, history.

for example, in my full moon, it's unlikely that one individual really mastermined this plan. especially not the same individual who sorted out some other important part of skyclan business, which in it of itself is a tall-tale.

realistically, the clans realized they had an error, decided on when they would meet, and just went with it.

but briarleap is one of skyclan's heroes. she's not the only one: rushfoot and dovestar are also important heroes. she fills a particular type of archetype: she's the young hero, who sees the world more clearly than those around her and comes up with a solution.

so it makes sense to assign her to the problems which are clever and had no obvious solution. she's not really a trickster archetype, but she is clever, young, and has no real power within the clan.

in other words, she's a ya novel protagonist.

likewise, the yet-unwritten story of briarleap and swallowpaw definitely didn't happen as it's told. that's just a nice box to put it in, a nice cover for an important lesson: mark unstable branches.

all the clans probably have a similar version of briarleap's story. i can't tell you for sure who the equivalent is, because i don't know, but it's worth remembering that almost none of these cats existed.

i think riverclan's will be a cat named briarstream.

you see what i mean, they're both named briar- because briarleap belongs to no cat. they just have a suffix that corresponds with common clan names.

now, i can't speak for anyone else, but in come back to you one by one, by solacefruit, there's a cautionary tale about catching koi. we get this line:

The koi were left alone because the tall folk loved them. That was the truth of the story. The real truth, not Linnetleaf’s version.

that confirms it, the story is a warning that's been polished into something kinder and more forgiving. (i highly recommend come back to you one by one btw.)

that's how oral history works.

it's not good for having a factual understanding of historical events, but...that's not really the point.

shared stories

another thing is, a lot of clans share the same stories.

i already talked about briarleap/stream/??? for the other clans, but it's more than just that.

every clan is going to claim that they have the right, correct story, that the other clans don't tell it well, etc., but with the exception of clan specific stories, that's not generally true.

okay this is hard to explain bc i'm still drafting/editing a lot of what i'm talking about right now and full moon is kind of a boring story for this. so i'm going to use the story of the long night, because that's the closest to finished and most likely to have been published by the time i finish this.

cw: the long night is a story that involves infanticide and cannibalism. i'm not graphic about it, but it's featured very heavily. we move into discussion at "STORY COMPLETE," and i move on entirely at "SAFE"

okay, so to summarize very briefly, the long night is a story about the seasons and about queen madness. it's one piece of clan creation mythos.

basically, before there were seasons, the night and day just took turns. during the night, everyone slept, but during the day, everything woke. one night, the night doesn't end. i'm telling the thunderclan version, because that's the version i'm working on, but this is a tale from before there were clans, so while every clan says their version is universal, it's definitely not.

there's a queen, slateflower, who has six kits (pigeonkit, harekit, fallowkit, dewkit, ripplekit, and muddykit), who are very young. her mate, silvershadow, has been hunting for her, because there was no clan to provide.

he's able to catch a small amount of prey, but as the night goes on, slateflower just doesn't have enough milk. she knows her kits are going to starve, so she picks the weakest one, kills it, and eats it. when silvershadow returns and asks what happens, she says that muddykit died and she buried her. this repeats itself until only pigeonkit and harekit are left.

silvershadow fails to catch anything, so he comes back, and sees slateflower try to decide who's weaker. he realizes what's happening, takes harekit from slateflower so she doesn't have to decide, and brings the kit into a clearing. he begs the moon to end the night so he can feed his family again.

it takes him a couple times, and he also is searching for another nursing queen. he finds a queen named flamepuddle, who also had a litter of six kits (silentkit, webkit, wildkit, dustykit, beetlekit, and talonkit), as well as taking in the kits of her sister, echofur, (heatherkit, redkit, goldkit, leafkit, cricketkit, and graykit), and right now, only redkit, leafkit, talonkit, goldkit, and cricketkit had survived. (the rest, and her sister, died of starvation.)

flamepuddle agrees to take in harekit, and the night eventually ends.

silvershadow decides that he, flamepuddle, and slateflower will live together. this isn't a thunderclan origin story, mind, just the beginning of collective cat behavior. but one of the reasons it is a distinctly thunderclan edition is because the implication is that later on, the other clans are all splinter groups.

there's also an implication that such large litters used to be more common, à la how in the bible, people used to be more fertile.

so anyway, because all cats are said to be descendents of these nine cats (silvershadow, flamepuddle, slateflower, redkit, talonkit, goldkit, cricketkit, harekit, and pigeonkit — leafkit dies later on), it's said they all carry the trauma of the long night and queens, feeling unsafe, will choose the strongest of their litter.

STORY COMPLETE

so.

in thunderclan's telling, flamepuddle and silvershadow are made to be the heroes, and slateflower is the villain. notice that slate is a windclan name, and the kits who die don't have very thunderclan prefixes. the implication is that this is because the other clans are weaker.

in a riverclan telling, instead of flamepuddle and slateflower, we might have puddlefeather and tallsong, and the kits who survive might be fallowkit and dewkit.

in skyclan, we might have mothpetal and nightstep, with surviving kits echokit and maplekit.

and so on. silvershadow usually keeps his name, tho. or at least half of it.

the 10th cat who dies is also variable. in thunderclan, it's another kit. slateflower is understood to not have intended her actions. in shadowclan, it's the slateflower analogy who dies. in riverclan, silvershadow dies and puddlefeather and tallsong have to work together.

so we always have the same story, but the details of it change, and there's a lot about the clan in that.

it might even be that the reason puddlefeather is able to keep five out of twelve kits alive is because she can fish for herself. tallsong can't.

and this is a story that's supposed to be universal, before the time of clans.

imagine how differnt briarleap and briarstream are. no, seriously, i don't have it in me to do five versions of every folk tale i write, so y'all have to live with one.

anyway, i could go on here, but wow, this section is...much longer than i meant as it is whoops.

SAFE

morals, protagonists, and antagonists

i'm not going to lie, i'm somewhat exhausted from the last section.

basically, the "protagonists" are often the ones who make mistakes. this is because that's a common theme for parables. you want the protagonist, who listeners relate to, to understand the mistakes and learn from them.

there's almost always a moral in these stories. they're not told just to entertain. they're ritualistic, nigh religious, tied in deeply with their culture.

finally, when an opposing clan is needed, (a) the clan telling the story is nearly always in the right, and (b) it tends to shift to whoever the clan is most antagonistic with.

a lot of my stories are shadowclan v skyclan because they have the strongest story-telling development and i don't have any aus planned for shadowclan and (old) skyclan, but i really like what i've developed for them.

in the case a friendly clan is needed, that also tends to shift, but it's less likely to change. it's significantly more likely to change if they're fighting with the clan in the tale.

for this reason, clans tend to be allies with cross territory clans in stories. you're just less likely to fight with someone who's territory you're across from, and you get fun flanking if you gang up on someone in the middle.

characters and archetypes

so i mentioned how briarleap is a certain kind of archetype, and that's pretty common in folklore. you've got your tricksters, witches, wise elders, w/e. i could do a bunch of research into folklore and find a canonized list but i'm approximately 90% sure it's going to tell me it varies by culture so. instead of doing that, i'm going to talk through some of the character archetypes i've been using.

please keep in mind that this is highly suspect to change. also, i'm referring to a lot of cats in my lore posts, so i'm sorry, because if you don't keep up with that, you might be a little bit lost. if you want to check out my folklore, it's here. maybe one day i'll make a kit simulation list that gives them to you in the order a kit would be told them.

the young warrior — characters like briarleap. smart, creative, and willing to speak up when something is wrong. they're who young kits should aspire to be. they're the most common protagonist in stories for young kits, and they're one of the only protagonists for stories with a "good" lead.

cassandra — prophetic characters who struggle to act on their prophecies. goosefeather types. they're cautionary tales, warnings about who not to be, because these are true seers who failed. sometimes, it is framed as the clan being wrong (e.g., berrymoon's main story is about this), but usually it's because the character said too much/too little, at the wrong time, etc.

impulsive apprentice — another warning. characters like swallowpaw. their actions are usually not actually wrong, but they end up being wrong with hindsight. they're tragic characters, and their warnings are usually about the rules established because of them, rather than not being like them.

wise leader/deputy — it's exactly what it sounds like lmao. usually, this is going to be the deputy more than the leader, because the deputy is a far more relatable position than the leader. these are your rushfoots and lilytails, deputies who make quick decisions on the behalf of their clan.

foolish/selfish warrior — warriors who take actions selfishly, which wrap back around to hurt themselves. these are the "protagonists" of the tales about feeding elders and kits first, and so on. they're actually the most common protagonist in stories over all. it's kind of a wide category, including everything from slateflower from "the long night" to lightningcall from "full moon." you know, a queen who only escaped the dark forest because it didn't exist, and a tom whose "mistake" was not showing up to a deputy meeting he was physically unable to attend.

there are, naturally, many more archetypes. there are archetypes for every role in the clan, often many. there's probably some amount of symbolism in the names — perhaps "-leap" is a skyclan indicator of a young warrior, etc., but at least right now, i'm not interested in that. i have more fun naming characters than worrying about the symbolism behind it, because i'm trying to also provide an understanding of clanlife, and that requires bending the rules.

(i mean, for what it's worth, this is true of many things. "the long night" as thrushpelt tells it is not the full version. usually, you wouldn't separate it from "the four seasons," but also, he glazes over the infanticide and cannibalism because he's talking to, like, four-year-olds, explaining how their mother had inherited a trait from slateflower.)

overall, though, i think these five are enough to give you an idea of what the archetypes look like.

interestingly, i also want to call attention to the fact that there's no specific trickster archetype. i mean, there is, because it's (a) one of the most common, and (b) it needs to exist for what i'm about to say, but it doesn't properly count.

see, cats are good at being sneaky and smart and clever. you know this if you have a cat.

clan cats also have to be good at following rules.

so basically every protagonist and antagonist in a story is some permutation of the trickster. the young warrior is the trickster but with less pointless trickery. the impulsive apprentice is probably the closest to straight-up trickster, but there's usually no associated deception. etc.

but in general, all cats should be clever and smart and finding new solutions, so there isn't a specific trickster.

names and times

on a related note, one that's significantly harder to demonstrate, the names of cats get repeated a lot.

in the real world, this is because the names are approximately 75% generated and 25% tweaked, and i have a bias towards certain names.

in the context of lore and worldbuilding, and why i'm not doublechecking against my database of every cat i've ever mentioned, this is because, well, it should make sense for certain elders to tell multiple stories, or, logically, for a kit to grow into a warrior grow into an elder and tell a story.

i mean, dovestar's nine lives are a huge part of skyclan, because each life is supposed to demonstrate some fundamental principle, and they're told over the nine moons of a kit's life (again, cats count kits' lives from the season before they're born for the purpose of holy nine, and from their actual birth for every other purpose, which is how brokenstar got around the warrior code fun fact), so yeah, i'll probably have some repetition in there.

likewise, there's no timeline for these. we don't know what happens when at all, except that the cats telling a story are younger than the cats in the story, and any "book cats" are younger than any other mentioned cat.

(that last point is because exactly one story is told by thrushpelt.)

so anyway, really hazy times and names because...that's how things go m8.

impact of the great journey

so as you can imagine, the great journey is a pretty big deal.

first of all, we're running out of cats who can remember the forest. in thunderclan, according to moonkitti, who i trust in this, birchfall is the youngest cat who can remember it. so considering birchfall could have great grandchildren in the next book or two, i'd say that we're pretty much done with cats who lived there.

even among the other cats, squirrelflight was an apprentice, and she went on the first journey, so there's that. cloudtail and brightheart won't be around for much longer, and graystripe might be immortal, but if he isn't, he'll be gone soon too.

i mean, i know there are non-thunderclan cats, but do you know their names? do you?

yeah. that's what i thought.

anyway, my point is, right now, in canon time, all of the stories are set in the forest. but like, that's kind of not helpful.

who knows, there's probably a story about sunningrocks that just doesn't make sense anymore.

i don't know for sure how the great journey impacts the folklore. this is because there's not an easy way for me to write it. my elders' den stuff is specifically set before tbp, so i don't have to think about adding in the villains of tbp.

why only tbp? because we have 3 wonderful, fantastic, folklore worthy villains. in tnp, we have the journey, in po3, we have interpersonal drama, in oots, we have rehashings of old villains, in dotc nothing matters, in avos, we have weird fuzziness i don't really remember what happened after darktail tbh, and tbc is ongoing. but wait! i hear you saying, what about hawkfrost? and darktail himself? and... no. shut up. they don't matter. just. they're not. they don't. they're not lore villains is what i'm saying very poorly. they're not the kind of villains who inspire lore. maaaaybe darktail? but he was far too recent for folklore.

anyway.

i'm sure in all of the po3 stuff i have on the horizon, i'll explore this more. dovefeather lore is in the awkward middle ground — everything is from the perspective of cats who never knew the old forest, but pretty much everyone older than them does, so it's unlikely anything substantive has changed.

but i have a lot of po3 extended universe plans that might dip in to this?

but for spitballing purposes, what probably happens is that most stories are just reskinned.

things like stories about sunningrocks are going to be repurposed. maybe about that weird strip of territory that they fought over? i'm not sure.

some stories will get to stay in the old forest, like the battle with bloodclan. and some stories will fade out, just as they always do. but for the most part, once the elders didn't live in the forest, they're just going to start plopping stories in the lake.

also, the great journey itself is 100% already folklore. i don't have to do that part, canon actually does it for me. kits are constantly being told about the great journey, or apprentices are telling us they were told about it, or someone is having a weird dream sequence that involves it.

the great journey is a major part of folklore, and that's cool. maybe if i run out of old stories, i'll do some post-canon elders' den stuff. we'll see, i'm definitely not feeling it right now, but that could change.

speaking of great...

this is a minor thing, but like, what's up with all the greats?

the great journey, okay, yeah, sure, makes sense.

and then we have the great battle.

also legit. it had been a while.

and then...the great storm?

look, i understand the storm in bramblestar's storm was a big deal. i have a lot of thoughts about bramblestar's storm as a book and this isn't that. but...

can we compare how many cats died in the great journey and the great battle? and we lost, like, three cats in the great storm

don't get me wrong, i sobbed like a baby when briarlight died.

oh hold on i lied that wasn't this book. never mind never mind.

i just, like, it's very strange IMO to have this great being a thing. or at least, i don't now, i guess it's evolution of culutre?

bluh okay i'm hungry and i do not focus well so i'm going to finish up but just. great. interesting.

conclusion

folklore is a topic i'm really interested in, and i try really hard to think through the consequences of, well, everything i can.

i'm definitely missing a lot of details — specifically, i scratched out my plans for a specific creation myth — but i like the general shape of the lore i'm building up.

#warriors au #warriors culture #warrior cats #warriors worldbuilding #warriors #q #mine #txt #26th #March #2021 #March 26th 2021 #cloudtail's daughter #jaywing #dovefeather #essay #long

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obxwritings · 4 years

Text

☆wish you were sober☆

requested by: @jane-dough! thank you :)

summary: rafe and y/n don’t exactly have the best relationship. based off of the song wish you were sober by conan gray

warnings: use of drugs, alcohol, toxic relationship, swearing, implied sex

note: very sorry that it has been a while! but I’m back :) I hope you all enjoy! oh, lyrics are bolded, italicized, and indented!

This party's shit, wish we could dip

Go anywhere but here

Looking around the crowded house, you felt out of place. Topper’s house was littered with people his age. Fresh out of your first year of college, you were definitely not in the mood to party with a bunch of stuck up sixteen-year-olds, even if that was what you were like a few years ago. While you didn’t want to be here, in an over-crowded house blasting shitty techno music, you knew why you came to the party and it was for one reason only: Rafe.

Why he still hung out with kids in high school? You weren’t sure. But if you wanted to spend any time with him tonight, or any night, you’d have to put up with it. So to deal with it, you downed the rest of your cheap beer and went to find another one.

Don't take a hit, don't kiss my lips

And please don't drink more beer

After looking around Topper’s insane house, you finally found Rafe, but not in the way you wanted. He was surrounded by other people but something was off. It only took Rafe rubbing his nose occasionally to figure out he had done drugs earlier. You rolled your eyes and almost left the room, but a familiar voice called out to you;

“Hey babe!” Rafe wrapped his arms around you and tried to kiss you, but you pulled away. As much as you liked Rafe, you couldn’t stand him high; slightly drunk yes, but coke is where you drew the line.

“Don’t be like that, y/n.” Rafe muttered, trying to pull you back. “C’mon, let’s go get another drink.”

“Rafe, I think you’ve had enough already…”

“Whatever. You can come with if you want, but I’m getting another drink.” Rafe turned his back and heading towards the kitchen not even bothering to wait for you.

And even though you knew it would only end poorly, you couldn’t say no to him. Sighing in defeat, you followed him into the kitchen to grab another drink. It was the only way you would get to hang out with Rafe nowadays.

Nineteen, but you act twenty-five now

Knees weak, but you talk pretty fly, wow

When you entered the kitchen, Rafe was already talking to Kelce and a few other guys younger than him. The way his face lit up when he was exaggerating a story or how his hands were making wild gestures furthered his drunken, high state. The group looked just like any other group of adults on Figure 8; a little too buzzed and not thinking about what they were saying, but no one cared. They never did.

Too entranced by this, you didn’t even realize Topper wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“Hey y/n, what’s up?”

You tore your gaze from Rafe and looked at the younger boy, “Not much. Your party kind of sucks, Top”

“I know I can’t compare to college parties, but that hurt.” Topper placed a hand over his heart, feigning a hurt look.

“Alright Topper, stop flirting with my girl.” Rafe snuck up and wrapped his arms around you, slightly taking you out of Topper’s arm.

My girl

Although Rafe only called you that when he was drunk, it still was nice to hear. In fact, it was everything you wanted to hear. You couldn’t help the heat rising to your face or the butterflies in your stomach, but you knew he didn’t mean it. He could never say anything like that when he was sober.

Trip down the road, walking you home

You kiss me at your door

Pulling me close, beg me stay over

But I'm over this roller coaster

While you had accepted another drink from Rafe earlier, he downed about three more since then. You don’t know how he did it, but he hadn’t passed out yet. You noticed his slurred words and his sudden clumsiness as he continued through the night. At around 1 AM, you decided Rafe had enough to drink. Ward would kill him, or at least say some pretty terrible things, if Rafe came home in that state. However, you knew he would regret staying late at Topper’s.

“C’mon Rafe, let’s get you home.” You attempted to pull him up from the couch, but in his drunken state, it felt like you were trying to lift up a ton of bricks.

“You gotta work with me in order to get up.” You pleaded. Rafe just looked at you but managed to stand up before leaning most of his weight on you. At least he tried.

. . .

It wasn’t a super long walk to the Cameron house, but practically carrying a drunk 19-year-old was not an easy feat. You thought your job was done once you got him to his front porch, but Rafe had other ideas.

“Can you stay the night?”

Looking up at him, you realized he was giving you, or at least attempting to, his puppy-eyed look.

“Rafe you know that isn’t such a good idea…”

“C’mon, sweetheart” You could feel Rafe getting closer and closer.

As much as you wanted to say no, you knew you couldn’t. There was always something about him that made you keep coming back, even if you knew it was bad.

So when he kissed your lips, you knew you were in deep trouble.

I'ma crawl out the window now

Getting good at saying, "Gotta bounce"

Honestly, you always let me down

The loud snores of the boy next to you were enough of a signal to let you know that Rafe was passed out, making it your cue to leave. You looked at the clock on his nightstand, reading it to be 3:43 AM. It’s around the time you usually had to sneak out of the Cameron house.

Getting up and looking for your clothes in the dark was never an easy task. This time, however, you managed to find your clothes quicker than usual. Putting your shoes on, however, proved to be the more difficult task.

As you put on your left shoe, you lost balance and tumbled over, knocking into Rafe’s wall. You shut your eyes and hoped he wouldn’t wake up.

“Y/N?” Rafe groaned, rubbing his eyes.

Well shit.

After waiting for a response but getting nothing, Rafe sighed and rolled over, facing away from the window. He was back to sleep within seconds.

Silently opening his window to make your escape, you gave him one last glance.

“Bye Rafe” you whispered and sneaked out of the window.

You knew he wouldn’t remember any of last night. He never did. As much as you wanted him to, you knew it wouldn’t happen. Rafe would wake up later that day and just see you as his friend that he only hooked up with when he was drunk. Nothing more, nothing less.

Real sweet, but I wish you were sober

. . .

I hope you all enjoyed! masterlist of other works :)

tag list: @thatjohnd (let me know if you want to be added!)

#obx imagine #obx netflix #obx writing #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks netflix #rafe cameron #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron writing

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forgottenyear · 3 years

Text

I am not making life decisions in the moment, and certainly not in this moment. The other member and I need to have a ‘conversation’ first.

I am not sure where we are in preparedness to work on trauma. I may be rushing into this too quickly. I still carry the urgency to get back to ‘normal’ quickly so I can go back to the life I had before the amnesia collapsed. That life was ten years ago. That life is long gone today, but the urgency remains.

I think we need to get our house in order, first.

(This could be a B.S. excuse to avoid the effort, I know.)

I delete more than I post. I was following yesterday’s post with stray thoughts, when I found myself writing about how “it is easier to feel Angela’s trauma than our own.”

Again and still, Angela is “the other.”

Because “boys are bad and girls are good” was the reality, the boy was the shell around the internal identities, absorbing the sicknesses of those with authority, so the others could remain safely untouched by the world. (Please understand that I am not arguing that this makes sense or fits textbook definitions. It is only my understanding of what was happening back then. I am working with very old and second-hand memories after all. If I am the fusion of everyone but the protector/thinker, I was not there in the form of me.)

We were all the boy, but the boy was the other.

And now my own words are coming back to haunt me. I have been saying to everyone else that the distinctions must be exaggerated to survive the trauma as it is happening.

Internal otherness was necessary for survival.

Today, when we approach the trauma that was buried deep within for a lifetime, the internal otherness increases in response.

The internal otherness of survival makes itself a barrier to the oneness of growth.

(I should read what I write more often than I do.)

I want to work on the trauma, but I cannot do it alone.

We need a different tool than otherness. (Pretty and sensible words that say absolutely nothing.)

It is easier to feel Angela’s trauma than our own, but only because the trauma makes Angela more “other.” The more we understand about her trauma, the more other she becomes.

Until (“discovery” moment again), her trauma becomes so real that she is no more than “someone I once knew,” again. Until she can be forgotten and erased, again. Until we are back to where we were during the years of amnesia, again.

They were formed to be mutually exclusive, the boy and the girl (Angela). The trauma and the girl. But this mutual exclusivity only worked internally. When Angela was transitioning to host, she was no longer internal and protected.

The first trauma of Angela’s years, and I hesitate to apply the label of “trauma” for such a trivial thing, was inflicted by the fiancée. But it was absorbed by the boy.

The second trauma, and I hesitate blah, blah, blah, was inflicted by the doctor. But this was also absorbed by the boy. (I still want to reject the idea that it involved Angela.)

The third trauma was inflicted by Angela’s “friends” in Angela’s city and while the boy and Angela were at odds about whether they should have gone in the first place. While the boy was abandoned to deal with the aftermath, Angela was denied mutual exclusivity from the trauma.

And then they precipitously failed to function until I was fused into being. I inherited the “mutual exclusivity” thing in that they did not exist in my conscious awareness for my first sixteen years. They were “people I once knew.”

The general advice for life is to take it in manageable bits. Prioritize and deal with one part at a time.

But our brain is almost hardwired to take this advice to an extreme. We can focus too well. We can focus until whatever is not in focus ceases to exist. In the issues that are the subject of this blog, we do not merely focus on parts of a problem, we manipulate reality until the parts in focus are all of everything and there is nothing left existing to distract.

All or nothing, so it appears.

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rohad93 · 4 years

Text

Authority Online: Ch 4

God, she was tired.

Three and a half hours was definitely not enough sleep.

Sky didn’t mention it, but she seemed to notice how tired she was and picked up the slack, not that even as tired as she was she let herself fall too much behind. Luckily there weren’t any large or high priority orders due for a few days. She’d just need to make sure to go to bed at the proper time tonight.

Now if she could just stop yawning.

The bakery was crowded at lunch time, keeping her busy for several hours with restocking the displays and starting new batches in the back, while helping Sky ring up and hand out orders.

The day simultaneously seemed to both drag and fly by.

It wasn’t until later in the afternoon when the lunch rush had gone that she realized she had never replied to Jaune’s last message or said she was getting off last night.

Hopefully, she didn't think that she didn't want to talk to her anymore, she most certainly did. She had a hard time remembering the last time she had been so genuinely interested in everything someone had to say.

With Sky watching the front, she had a spare minute. She walked over to her laptop, sitting open on the far counter and pulled up the site to see she had a few new messages from some new people which she ignored, in favor of opening her chat with the blonde lawyer, her last message still sitting, unanswered.

She quickly typed out a message and closed the site the second it confirmed it was sent and focused on the orders she needed to be working on.

When Steven and Rose walked through the kitchen after school she could tell by the way Rose was looking at her that she knew something was up.

“You look… really tired…” She frowned after sending Steven upstairs with a juice box and a cookie.

“I only got three hours of sleep last night,” she admitted, turning around to flour a set of round cake pans for the birthday cake order they were starting.

“You usually go to bed before Steven, what were you doing up so late?” she teased. An exaggeration of course, but not by as much as she would have liked.

“I got carried away… sketching out some designs and working on a recipe for something I want to try out in the store,” she lied.

“Well, you better go to bed on time tonight, young lady.” Rose wagged a finger at her with a laugh before stealing a cookie for herself and going upstairs.

Celeste relaxed once the kindergarten teacher had vanished up the stairwell.

She didn’t want to tell Rose she had stayed up much too late talking to a woman on the dating site. She’d get herself all worked up about it, and really, there was nothing to be worked up about. They had talked for a while. A very nice talk, in her opinion, but hardly anything worth mentioning. Especially to her sister, who would blow it out of proportion.

She’d always been the more excitable one.

~ ~ ~ ~

How many cups of coffee had she had this morning? Jaune wondered to herself as she filled up her empty mug for probably the sixth time before sitting herself back at her desk and opening her email

She’d finally switched off her computer at midnight but had ended up lying awake for a while, thinking about her new… acquaintance.

She thought for a long while, trying to remember the last time she’s had such a personable conversation with anyone. Most days her mother was the only one she could trust to be frank with her, though that came with its drawbacks.

Criticism and theatrics, usually.

Her mother loved her, even if it was in her own strange, dramatic way… that could drive Jaune up a wall.

It was just nice to have an actual conversation with someone who didn’t have expectations of her.

Unlike every other conversation, phone call, or email she had.

Like the email she was looking at right now, from an irate woman she had declined to represent last week for breaking her probation.

The firm didn’t even do criminal law. They specialized in corporate, family, and commercial law. Something this woman refused to understand, but Jaune could easily understand how this woman could be arrested and unknowingly break nearly all the stipulations that came with her probation.

She grunted to herself and deleted the email before even reaching the end. She had already been more than clear in her last email that she didn’t practice criminal law and couldn’t help her, even going as far as to recommend a colleague that could.

She rolled her eyes and took a long drink of plain black coffee. She still had a few hours left before they closed up for the day and she actually had most of her things in order. She just needed to drop a few certified letters into the mail for a few clients with their updated contracts. She’d hand them off to Daisy in a bit.

Clearing her work email of all the most pertinent documents she switched to her personal email where she had a few emails alerting her to messages.

She hummed and opened the website, seeing several new ones, which didn’t interest her in the slightest. She scrolled through the list till her eyes fell on her conversation with Celestine and saw it highlighted, alerting her to a new message.

She tapped it, not at all eagerly eagerly...

”I’m sorry for suddenly disappearing last night, I didn’t realize how late it was. I have to be up at 3:30 am to get things in the shop started.”

She cringed inside at the idea of getting up that early. six was quite early enough for her, though she had a tendency to keep late hours as it was.

She also realized that meant she had only slept about three hours and Jaune felt strangely guilty about that.

She hit reply and sipped on her coffee as she mulled over her response before she started typing, hitting send just as Daisy popped her head into the office.

“Ms. Roche?”

“What is it, Daisy?” she asked, a brow hiked up at her PA’s nervous expression.

“Um, Mrs. Roche is here to see you...”

Jaune sighed and took a deep swig of her coffee as she stood from her desk, closing her laptop.

“Send her in,” she grunted, vaguely wishing she had some whiskey to add to this cup.

~ ~ ~ ~

Celeste didn’t get a chance to check her computer until she was doing her last walk-through of the kitchen, turning off lights, double checking that everything was as she would need it in the morning.

She went over to pick up the device once she was satisfied with the state of the kitchen and noticed the little red circle on one of the tabs indicating that she had a message.

She may or may not have walked a bit faster up the stairs than usual with the device tucked securely beneath her arm.

She sat it on the coffee table while she changed and heated up leftovers from the night before. Once she was sitting on the couch, plate atop one knee, she opened up her messages, finding Jaune’s reply to her earlier message.

“I lost track of the time myself, but I apologize for keeping you so long. I don’t have to be awake as early and keep late hours often, usually working.”

Celeste smiled to herself as she read the message, taking a bite of her dinner. And reaching to hit reply, fork hanging out of her mouth as she started to type but paused, unsure before finishing the message and hitting send, hesitating only a second.

~ ~ ~

Jaune yawned as she laid in bed, flipping through the channels on the tv, not really paying attention to anything going on on the screen, eyes slowly starting to close when the open laptop lying next to her on the bed dinged and her eyes popped open. She pulled the computer closer and opened her ongoing chat with Celestine.

“Don’t apologize, I enjoyed talking with you. I’ll survive one night. ”

Jaune would never admit to the sudden dip in her stomach as she read the message. Sitting up she set it on her lap and started typing.

~ ~ ~

On Friday morning Jaune sat in her office, staring at her phone and the open text field where she had typed a short message.

Her foot tapped anxiously on the floor, she had a meeting in five minutes and had spent the last fifteen trying to decide if she was going to send this message or not.

She huffed to herself, this was ridiculous. She was thirty-three not sixteen...

Yet her thumb continued to hover uncertainly over the send button.

Daisy popped her head into the door, alerting her that it was time for her meeting.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” she mumbled before Daisy left.

She stood and finally smashed her thumb against the send button before slipping the device into her pocket and straightening her blazer before leaving her office. Trying to ignore the tingling nerves under her skin.

~ ~ ~

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket but ignored it as she finished drizzling chocolate over little squares of butterscotch fudge.

Butterscotch bites.

She smiled to herself at the perfect little squares. Her signature creation, and the shop's name sake.

When she was satisfied she took the tray out front for Sky to fill the display case before finally pulling her phone out of her pocket as she walked back into the kitchen. Smiling involuntarily to herself when she saw the notification from the Authority app. A message from Jaune.

With a flick of her thumb the app opened and she hit the message.

“Would you like to meet?

Celeste stopped, staring at the message for the better part of five minutes. Honestly, the oven could have burst into flames and it was a toss up on whether or not she would notice as she stared hard at her phone.

Jaune wanted to meet.

The prospect was both exciting and terrifying at the same time.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t very curious about what the woman would be like in person, she wanted to meet but, well, nervous was one way of putting it.

Not only because she couldn’t hide behind her screen and carefully think about what she wanted to say but also that this woman she was growing rather fond of might not be what she expected.

She pursed her lips and stared down at her phone.

“Hey, Celeste!”

The baker nearly jumped out of her skin at the close greeting, whipping around to find her brother in law grinning sheepishly at her.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Greg waved a hand. “I didn’t mean to startle ya.”

“It’s alright, Greg. I didn’t hear you come down is all. Where are you headed?” she asked, slipping her phone into the pocket of her apron.

“I got a gig tonight at that new club that just opened last week, I gotta go setup all the sound stuff though, make sure it’s ready.” He grinned.

“Hopefully it goes well.” She smiled at the thirty year old guitar player. His hair was starting to thin on the top, though it was longer than hers in the back.

“Heh, me too…” He scratched the back of his head, looking off to the side. “Are you okay?” He suddenly asked, looking back at her.

“Me?” She blinked.

“Yeah, you looked almost sick there, staring at your phone, everything okay?” He looked genuinely concerned and it was times like this that Celeste could see some of what made her sister fall so in love with the man. He was a big goofball but he was sincere and caring to a fault.

She bit her lip, considering.

“Can I tell you something, Greg?” She finally asked.

“Of course!”

“Did Rose tell you about signing me up on an online dating site?”

“Oh, yeah. Still no luck?” He frowned.

“Actually, no, I’ve been talking to someone all week. She’s a very nice lawyer, actually.” The corners of her mouth twitched upward.

“That’s great, right?” He didn’t seem sure with the way she had been looking at her phone.

“Yes, but… she wants to meet,” she explained.

“Afraid she might be a serial killer?”

“What!? No! I just… I’m growing rather fond of her, truth be told, I’m afraid it may not be like I imagine…,” she confessed.

“Well, the way I see it, you can either take a chance, and maybe you’ll be disappointed, or not meet her, and never know." He shrugged, but smiled reassuringly at her.

She laughed under her breath and smiled.

“Straight to the point, eh? Thank you, Greg.” She smiled.

“No prob.” He grinned as he started for the front, but stopped when she reached out, setting a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, Greg? I hate to ask this of you, but please, don’t tell Rose about this… You know how she gets and there’s really nothing to tell her at this point.”

“Ehhh, yeah. She’s been kind of excitable about it since she told me… You got it.” He shot her a finger gun before walking out.

She could hear him greet Sky before the bell above the front door jingled, signaling his departure.

She pulled out her phone and opened Jaune’s still unanswered message.

~ ~ ~

“I need you to send a copy of this cease and desist out immediately to the client and their supplier." Jaune handed a folder over to Daisy, who was trailing behind her back to her office, taking rapid fire notes on her tablet as her boss rattled off a list of people, what they needed and when they needed it.

She felt her phone vibrate in her slacks pocket and grunted. Her mother had sent her three text messages in as many minutes, asking if she'd like to have dinner with her. Though she promised it would be just the two of them.

She dug the device out of her pocket, intent on telling her mother that she would call her after work but paused, seeing the notification from the authority app made her pause midstep.

Causing Daisy to slam right into her back. She just barely managed to keep hold of the device and stay on her feet.

"I-I'm so sorry Ms. Roche, I.."

Jaune was barely listening though.

"It's fine, Daisy, just take those documents, I need to take this," she mumbled distractedly before walking quickly to her office and sitting at her desk when the message finally popped up.

“I’d like that. Do you like coffee?”

Jaune glanced at the empty to go cup of coffee sitting on her desk, next to her empty coffee cup and she knew if she looked in the wastebasket by her desk there would be a few other used to go cups.

Like or need?

The jury was still out on that one.

She settled for a simple ‘yes’.

#bellow diamond #yellow diamond #blue diamond #greg universe #white diamond #steven universe #SU #AU #fic

16 notes · View notes

p-st · 5 years

Text

sakura haruno fics (ao3)

an old anon sent me on the quest of a lifetime when they first asked for sakura fic recs and my brain went “lets read every fic on ao3 in the sakura haruno tag” (also ff.net but thats gonna have to be another post in the far off future bc ff is an old giant)

fics are split into finished, in progress, and abandoned (and the fics with ⭐ are my top faves) plus every category’s fics will be in order from shortest to longest. im gonna include the original summaries along with my own separate take (really more of a reaction) and any warnings the fics need!

THIS IS A LABOR OF LOVE!!!!! which is a nice way of saying it’s long as shit, it took me forever, and i loved every second of it! let me know if any links dont work, theres typos that dont look purposeful, there’s warnings missing, if any fics arent in order, the formatting isnt right, etc.etc.

my sincerest apologies to mobile users

fair warning: im not exaggerating when i say it’s really long

(pic from naruto-manga-caps)

author’s note: im dumb and have adhd and though ive read most of these fics at least twice, i tend to skip over text. with this in mind PLEASE let me know if you come across anything in these fics that makes you uncomfy so i can either add a warning or remove it entirely

want to navigate faster? ctrl+f to search key words like: [ship], [author], bamf, mokuton, (team as) family, etc!

FINISHED

in the roots of the forest (i am birthed) by frostnesia

ship: none // words: 272 // chapters: 1/1

so little sakura walks; past the flowers, the vines, the bright red gates and enters to a sanctuary no one with a beating heart had stepped in for more than a hundred years.

au. little ficlet! OOF im always a little heart eyed about godly iconography. plotless! just a good short read that would absolutely rock my world if it was expanded into a multichapter story but it’s still good as is!

Seven or Two by grit

ship: sakura & kakashi // words: 623 // chapters: 1/1

He makes a split-second decision. Their teamwork was atrocious, but he knows who to blame, and it’s not the girl who blackmailed her teammates into giving a damn.

i really do need more fics where kakashi recognizes the similarities between himself and sakura. tbh i just need more fics where sakura gets the love and recognition she deserves. this is a good short fic for that! team seven doesnt make it through but sakura does! eventually! warning for one weird line abt the yamanakas that might make ppl uncomfy

Twelve and Sixteen by therebaeka

ship: none // words: 625 // chapters: 1/1

Twelve years old Sakura was weak. She was annoying. She cried over the littlest thing. She had no pain tolerance at all. She wanted to be strong. Sixteen years old Sakura was strong. She can split the earth. She can heal anything. She can take anything thrown at her. She wanted to be twelve again.

god i love fics that touch on all the negative effects a shinobi lifestyle has on ninja kids (like the loss of childhood innocence/wonderment). character growth and mostly a character analysis type fic which i love. sakura just loves her team but she misses being a kid (team as family!!)

Three Sentence Ficlets by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)

ship: narusasusaku // words: 626 // chapters: 3/3

Tiny ficlets written for various iterations of the Three Sentence Ficathon:

1) A quiet moment, after the world doesn't end. 2) Sakura reaches the valley's rim just in time. 3) The night before Naruto's investiture as Hokage.

soft and kind short fics abt my fav ot3. first chap is set post-war, 2nd is set during naruto and sasukes fight in the valley before he goes to orochimaru, and the setting of the 3rd is in the above description. these are really soft fics and im a sucker for the slice of life feelings

Another Kind of You by rhenna

ship: sasusaku // words: 655 // chapters: 1/1

"The problem with the color black is that it can't decide whether it is the color of the classically evil or the color of the bad-boy hero."

they are.. just liddle babies..team as family feelings bc that’s what really gets me in my uwus. not shippy! just sakura’s usual baby crush! surprisingly introspective

Unravel by grit

ship: none // words: 683 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura will be a shinobi soon and they know to coat their bare skin in poison.

au. sakura is a kiri nin amidst the bloodline purges. honestly just a super interesting look into life in kirigakure during this time and how its beliefs reflect on its children. warning for animal death and a little bit of an unhinged world view

I’ll Carry You by naru_writes

ship: narusasusaku // words: 701 // chapters 1/1

I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit, Sakura tells herself, slowly petting the now sleeping kitten, and then I’ll start on dinner.

i LIVE for domestic fluff and established relationships aaa. they love and care about her so much it makes my heart happy. all from sakura’s pov

Puppy Love by Dovey

ship: kibasaku // words: 852 // chapters: 1/1

It’s Sakura’s first day in the academy when she falls in love with Kiba Inuzuka.

i looooove how differently she grows as a character with just one difference. really cute baby genin crush. theyre rowdy, muddy, rough housing best friends. really short and lighthearted

Selfless Stunt by Michinokao

ship: sakura & naruto & sasuke // words: 859 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura wants to become chunin. She really does. However, after seeing Naruto’s nervousness, she decides to raise her hand to drop out with her team.

set during chunin exams. OOF babey im always here for team 7 as family fics!! short little thing and just feel good for ppl who stan sakura and love when others take her feelings into consideration :’)

What You See is What You Get, So Look Away by Dovey

ship: none // words: 903 // chapters: 1/1

a warmup piece i wrote trying to make a Kakashi who’s not so oblivious.

kakashi’s pov. lots of introspection and meta and i love this kind of stuff a lot. analysis on how different naruto and sasuke are from the rest of their team. love love love when anyone brings up sakura’s own mortality and what she had to do to get to where she is. aaa also the author notes at the end are very worth the read

Snake Tooth by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)

ship: none // words: 904 // chapters: 1/1

The Forest of Death doesn't go right. Sakura can't tell what's real and what's not.

exactly as the summary says! orochimaru does some genjutsu stuff and my poor girl get severely messed up mentally. warning for implications of gore and an unstable mind. part one in a trilogy (others are on this list)

Here Are Your Bones Crossed by grit

ship: none // words: 977 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura begins recovery by unfurling her hands and giving him a tense report. Kakashi waits patiently for her to stumble through Konoha Standard, motions well-memorised but never practiced, and gently reaches out to lift her chin, making her look at him.

(Sakura blames herself. For trusting Kabuto, for not being stronger, for being here when really it should have been Naruto who survived.)

it’s fucked :( sakura is gonna need such a good therapist it’s really what she deserves. and if i did tear up a little after that last thing kakashi said? well thats between me and whoever’s reading this. read the author notes at the end for an explanation of whats going on in this timeline

Wind and Water, Earth and Rain by theformerone

ship: narusaku // words: 1020 // chapters: 1/1

Naruto almost loses himself on the Wave Mission. But in a world where Team Seven was created to prevent another Kyuubi attack, there is always someone there to remind him of who he is.

set during wave arc. MOKUTON SAKURA. not shippy at all? incredibly easy to take as platonic and just a sweet team 7 as family fic (which i did before i looked at the tags??) warning for super brief gore

⭐How Do You Tell a Girl You Want to Kiss Her? by theformerone

ship: shikasaku // words: 1084 // chapters: 1/1

Shikamaru punches a hole through Sakura’s wall. She can’t really deal with that until she has her morning coffee.

au. part three of the role reversal au (others are listed later) this is really cute and theres nothing life or death about it and i love how idk. normal it is? sakura is just tired and taking it in stride and shikamaru is a flustered mess (choji is a good wingman) (and god this is a small thing but i love the lowkey team 7 stuff. my faves are my faves in any universe)

Of Gardens and Girls by Dovey

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 1128 // chapters: 1/1

Soulmates: a person so important, so loved, and so central to your life that the universe acknowledges it. Flowers representing that love will grow inside of you until the love is requited, or you move on.

Sakura has a lot of soulmates.

au. set throughout timeline. really bittersweet, so damn bittersweet. this fic makes my heart hurt bc she’s so full of love and deserves better. (theres also a lot more ships nd every single one is platonic except for the naruhinagaa) warning for death :’(

Forgetting Something by theformerone

ship: sakukarin // words: 1130 // chapters: 1/1

Well I’m not eating you out in the kitchen like I was planning on when your daughter left.”

Sakura snorts.

“So she’s just my daughter now?”

Karin follows her into the room and sets down Sarada’s new spare pair of glasses on her desk.

“When you help her cause minor property damage before seven in the morning, yes, she’s your daughter.”

set in boruto universe. really fucking sweet. this is just a short and cute little slice of life thing w adorable sakura and sarada interactions

Smiles in Spring by Kalira

ship: inosaku // words: 1179 // chapters: 1/1

One spring day when they are very small, Ino meets a little girl with shy eyes, a beautiful smile, and pink hair, and immediately knows what she wants in her future. Ino's never had any qualms bending the force of her will on the universe to be sure she gets whatever she wants.

NOT sakura centric but i excused a couple of other fics already PLUS this is cute so whatever. it’s just short and cute and makes my heart swell

Drawing Her Back by Kalira

ship: inosaku // words: 1197 // chapters: 1/1

It's not the first time Sakura has had to lead her lover back to herself from deep in her own mind, and it probably won't be the last. She doesn't like it . . . but she can do it.

sakura is the best. have i mentioned that before? i love her more than anything if you didnt already know that about me. sakura is just making sure ino is okay and helping in any way she can and my heart is soft

Underneath the Underneath (is nothing but bones and blood) by Dovey

ship: none // words: 1269 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura has a weak heart. This isn’t metaphorical, but literal- she’s born with a heart too small to pump properly. A valve is slightly misaligned, and any strenuous activity could kill her.

set from genin era to the attack on the village amidst the chunin exam. and again! dovey delivers the good stuff! no dialogue. life kinda comes at her fast and you can almost feel her whole mindset shift

Nothing but Paint by grit

ship: none // words: 1382 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura has her hand fist-deep in Sasuke's rib cage, seriously tempted to rip his heart out like he did hers, a conflict of interest mitigated only by the code of honor her shishou drilled into her, when she realizes that Team Seven won't return to Konoha without him this time.

character exploration of team 7 surrounding sakura (my weakness) not sure where in the timeline this is but i know it's post sai and yamato joining the team. it's short but interesting as hell!! immediate warning for blood if the desc didnt give it away

Hands Reaching Out by orlha

ship: shikasaku // words: 1412 // chapters: 1/1

The price of winning the war was steeper than Sakura imagined it to be. It was a price she gladly pay over and over again but the thought of not living long enough to see this new peace burns in her chest.

post war. just a short angsty little thing abt sakura and her seal. mentions of death

Canary Bill by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)

ship: none // words: 1474 // chapters: 1/1

she knows that what they did for her will come back around. she didn't expect it to be this way.

part two of the disjointed realities series! still set during the exams and my poor girl still has some residual effects of the genjutsu orochimaru put her through. it’s not clear whether it’s real or not

From Ashes by Dovey

ship: none // words: 1476 // chapters: 2/2

She hasn’t got a family, hasn’t got a team, not in any way either of those words should count. It’s time to come to terms with that.

set near the beginning of shippuden it seems? interesting implications about her family that i want more of plus emphasis on team 7 as family minus her which hurts my heart aa. warning for death, blood, and gore (not super graphic)

Boar Tusk by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)

ship: none // words: 1499 // chapters: 1/1

she burns in the flames of memories of which are fake, they boil her skin and melt flesh and she is nothing more than a skeleton of what she was. she wishes she were not what she is now, what she was then, and she begs.

last part of the disjointed realities series! still during the exams! yeah she’s definitely traumatized, no question about it.

How Lame by theformerone

ship: shikasaku // words: 1527 // chapters: 1/1

Nara Shikamaru is the Godaime’s apprentice. Sakura thinks he’s a world class nag.

au. ROLE REVERSALS!! super interesting!!!!! teams are still the same but their stories and personalities are different? anyway this au is cute and i love team seven’s relationship and also sakura’s skills are cool as SHIT. plus the shikasaku interactions are cute. part one of this role swap series.

Letters to the Front by Kalira

ship: hinasaku // words: 1644 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura, as both head medic and close friend and advisor to the Hokage, is not lacking for news from back home even as she manages the field hospital at the front lines, but her most prized letters are not those advising her of news on the war and politics.

set during war time. sakura just loves and appreciates her girlfriend so much aa warning for implied nsf/w. none of it graphic!

The One With the Eye Thing by Dovey

ship: none // words: 1776 // chapters: 1/1

a one chapter story that’s 100% just sakura getting a very gross revenge on her sensei and on the shinobi class system as a whole, at least as far as SHE sees it.

that also means this is SUPER gorey. let it be said that i give the people what they want

au. bamf sakura! set pre shippuden surprisingly enough. believe it or not, there is a very gorey eye thing. sexy ass takes on the role of civilians in a shinobi village. warnings for graphic gore and a mental breakdown

I Spy by AshesFall (Cloud_Nine)

ship: none // words: 1782 // chapters: 1/1

Team 7, Missing in Action.

The aftermath of the Wave Mission gone wrong.

part one of the Lucky Sevens series. not very sakura centric but the whole series is just neat! team as family which im always a sucker for. the series focuses on how team 7 copes with being back in the village and i just think it’s neat idk! warning for mentions torture! individual warnings for every other fic in the series in the tags but most are about torture, trauma, and general violence

Ghosts in Her Blood by Dovey

ship: gaasaku // words: 1831 // chapters: 1/1

After Wave, Inner Sakura changes into a familar face to help Sakura cope with her new reality

au. set during chunin arc. tbh!! no idea this was a ship fic til i read the tags so this can absolutely be read as a shipless fic. really makes you think abt how (not) good a shinobi village is at teaching children how to compartmentalize. my girl’s a bamf but traumatized and trying. warnings for gore and death

Coming Home by Angelchexmex

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 1901 // chapters: 1/1

Kakashi isn't surprised that his little brats had made themselves at home in his apartment while he was gone, he was just a bit curious as to why.

kakashi pov! set early genin days! not much plot wise but i love fics like that so much aa i love fics that just showcase the familiarity between team 7 in more domestic settings. they love sakura!! they all care abt her so much and kakashi love his kids a lot!!! really cute short and sweet team as family fic! warning for implications of abuse and starvation

Does He Make You Feel Special? by Dovey

ship: none // words: 1905 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura develops an eating disorder, and then she recovers with help from some friends.

au. starts pre shippuden. read the tags because this realy is what it says on the tin. warnings for eating disorders, self esteem issues, and relapse. she gets mostly adopted by tsunade and everyone takes care of her in general. hinata gets the place of apprentice and sakura gets more friends and support and gets trained by anko! focuses on recovery before plot so the only “real” plot is at the very end

Ink Stains and Cherry Blossoms by Hannahmayski

ship: sai & sakura // words: 1922 // chapters: 1/1

Ice cream doesn’t solve all of the world’s problems but Sakura is pretty sure it solves most of them.

Sai’s having a bad day and has never had ice cream before. Sakura fixes both.

sai centric fic w sunshine sakura. budding friendship. can be interpreted as romantic if you want? i didnt see it as that, but if it’s what u want! delves a little into sai’s feelings towards danzo. just dang cute and i always love a sakura who is there for her friends. allusion to an eating disorder and emotional manipulation.

⭐What Lingers by spacefleeting

ship: none // words: 1994 // chapters: 1/1

For someone who just watched her friend get beaten to a pulp, had her head nearly punched in, and stopped her teammate from going on a curse-induced murder spree, Sakura is handling everything very well. Until she’s not.

(Or: Sakura blossomed and she’s not really sure how she feels about it yet)

set during chunin exam. trying and failing to compartmentalize and naruto trying to help as best as another kid can. it’s endearing but wow, does canon naruto ever touch on how they help get children through the trauma of shinobi life?? the answer is no. mentions of blood. she takes a bite out of a dude. like. real shit

What’s Yours is Mine by DefiantDreams

ship: narusasusaku // words: 1994 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura doesn’t quite know how it happens, but suddenly their closets are a free-for-all for each other.

au. sakuras pov. just plain soft. short and cute budding romance between my faves aaa,, also genderfluid naruto!!

Last Match in the Matchbox by Endoplasmic Panda

ship: none // words: 2071 // chapters: 1/1

In which Sakura Haruno realizes that being discontent with adult life is part of the Team Seven contractual fine print.

(got rid of the rest of the summary bc it was too many text blocks) set during boruto! just some build up to sakura FINALLY getting her own time to just travel aa. everyone supports her and that’s how it should be

How a Fire is Born by ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

ship: none // words: 2075 // chapters: 1/1

What if there had been no Ino that fateful day in the park? What if Sakura is mercilessly bullied until one day she is pushed to her breaking point, with surprising results?

starts off during early academy days. sakura came here to learn and fuck people up and she just finished the curriculum. i HATE hiruzen but i love my girl so :/ also team seven are all rivals which sounds like it would be chaotic poor kakashi. warnings for abuse and bullying

How Sakura Discovers Her Love for Fighting by smolwhite_ugly

ship: none // words: 2087 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura Haruno is five-years-old when she decides that she really wants to become a ninja. Not a paper ninja. A shinobi.

set during early academy days uvu. rowdy girl rights!!!!! sakura is the ride or die friend everyone wishes they had. sakura is that short comic “you have befriended [name], [name] will now die for you” except it’s beat someone up. sakura’s best friends are blondes uwu

What a Pain by theforemerone

ship: shikasaku // words: 2269 // chapters: 1/1

Yamanaka Ino is an S-ranked missing nin. But before that, she was Shikamaru and Chouji’s best friend and comrade.

Sakura has an easier time compartmentalizing than they do. Especially in a fight.

au. second part of the role swap au! ino essentially took the place of sasuke. pretty focused on the ino-shika-cho story but entirely from sakura’s pov. shes so FUCKING COOL I LOVE THE JUTSUS OP GAVE HER SHES SUCH A BAMF IM IN LOVE. this au is so interesting i need more

Galvanize by nerazenn

ship: narusaku // words: 2352 // chapters: 1/1

gal·va·nize (v): shock or excite (someone), typically into taking action.

Sakura’s victorious wail was cut short, however, as she became immediately aware of two things.

One, her hand was in a lot of pain.

And two, Ino was nowhere near Sakura.

modern au. just a short meet cute fic sjcndek honestly id expect nothing less. it’s just cute and makes me laugh. something not serious thrown into the mix of recs

Truth in Platitudes by Kalira

ship: narusasusaku // words: 2454 // chapters: 1/1

Naruto stepped in with no thought to his own safety to protect theirs; now Sakura and Sasuke are left to try and get him out of the trap in his own mind.

yeah it’s exactly what it says on the tin. not sure where on the timeline this is. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER!!!!! im really so easy please

And Then the Desert Blooms by spacefleeting

ship: sakura & gaara // words: 2457 // chapters: 1/1

Haruno Sakura meets Gaara of the Desert piece by piece, name by name.

set throughout timeline. mostly sakura’s thoughts during the few times she’s interacted with gaara. development as friends! naruto would be so happy

Little Moments by iBloo

ship: sasusaku // words: 2519 // chapters: 1/1

Sasuke, Sakura, and Sarada enjoy an afternoon shopping and spending time with each other.

set during boruto’s dad’s son’s time. sasuke just loves his girls and sakura loves her family and sarada loves her parents so much and loves to spend time with them together. just a nice little slice of life feel good fic. im a sucker for domestic “filler episode” type fics aa they make me so tender

Bumpy Future by Dovey

ship: hinasaku // words: 2553 // chapters: 1/1

It’s her last year at the academy when Sakura hits her head. When she wakes up, she has a little trouble matching memories to the people in them- but she’ll have to get it right eventually, yeah?

in which sakura pairs vague associations with the wrong people, and everyone is much happier because of it (Except Iruka-sensei).

acadamy days!! newborns!!! everything changes djsbjd ino is her rival, kiba’s her bestfriend, and hinata is her crush and her class supports all of it, it’s cute (also read the author notes at the end, the last paragraph is so fucking quality)

Hello, Bright Eyes (been waiting on you) by mouseymightymarvellous

ship: saisaku // words: 2651 // chapters: 1/1

“look underneath the underneath,” except no one has ever really bothered to look at sakura and see her. and then there is a boy (isn’t there always). maybe they’re both just ghosts, making each other real.

no clear timeline. large focus on sakura and how she’s (not) seen by other people. emphasis on sai and sakura’s disconnect from naruto and sasuke. the plot confused me a bit but im pretty positive it’s about sakura dismantling root per request of tsunade. THE ENDING THOUGH??? sai deserves so much love that really made me melt a little

Prodigal Sons by Fiction_Over_Fact

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 2779 // chapters: 1/1

Sasuke is gone and Naruto is gone and Kakashi might as well be.

In which Sakura is sad and alone but discovers she doesn’t have to be either.

set after naruto leaves with jiraiya. sort of a character analysis/coming of age type fic. touches on the disparity of who she was and who she’s becoming. also has bits of her friendship with the rest of the rookie 9!

Sasuke Discovers Emotion #4 by Dovey

ship: sasusaku // words: 2852 // chapters: 1/1

In which Sasuke manages to avoid getting a team with any fangirls, and then figures out maybe he was secretly the fangirl all along, because a little distance and the influence of Sensei Tenten helps Sakura flourish and now he’s got a big old crush to deal with on top of everything else.

set during genin days. also sasuke centric but sakura gets put into a different team and her development as a result is so beautiful even though it isnt the focus aaa. sasuke pines and it’s cute!!

⭐An Improper Apology Properly Backfires by rex101111

ship: sasusaku // words: 2996 // chapters: 1/1

Sasuke Uchiha apologizes, or at least makes an attempt. Sakura thinks he could do better than THAT.

set at the end of the war. naruto is the innocent bystander and it’s all in his pov. god i WISH this went down in canon. this fic is so fucking funny and cathartic bc sakura finally gets to air her grievances. DEFINITELY a top fave of mine and i have it bookmarked for whenever i just so happen to be in the mood

The Value of Learning to Bloom by Yourself by alunbalanced

ship: shikasaku // words: 3001 // chapters: 2/2

Sasuke asks a question and receives an unexpected answer and Sakura stands on her own two feet as she walks away.

set post war. really good self indulgent fic for ppl who love sakura and arent the biggest fans of sasuke (this fic is a bit mean to him so i wouldnt recommend to sasuke stans). this doesnt read as one consecutive fic but more like two individual one shots. sasuke is only in the first chapter and the second one is dedicated to sakura’s first time training w tsunade and shikamaru analyzing her. also the author notes are me always

San by Demeter

ship: none // words: 3046 // chapters: 1/1

When three whittles down to one. A very biased view.

set throughout pre shippuden timeline. heavy on that introspection! not all that plot focused, just sakura’s thoughts on where she stands and how she’s always left behind

The Shadows are Darker When the Sun is Bright by EndoplasmicPanda

ship: none // words: 3437 // chapters: 1/1

She remembers that Team 7, from all those years ago, and then remembers the real Team 7, with bickering teammates and bloody spars and careful, loving admonishment. She remembers the Team 7 without Sasuke, remembers the Team 7 where it was just her and Kakashi for three long years. Remembers Sai and Yamato, sets aside her guilt for not visiting them in far too long, remembers Naruto’s grin and Sasuke’s smile.

They loved her. She loved them.

Can she love herself?

set after the war. sakura becomes hokage and shes good even though shes traumatized and not moving past it (bc shes trying to live the lives her teammates shouldve had) open ending but i choose to believe she takes to wandering the lands and going back into medical things while learning how to live her own life for herself and no one else :’)

Sense Memory by KuriQuinn

ship: sasusaku // word count: 3501 // chapters: 1/1

She’s not breathing, or showing any signs of life, and that worries him.

takes place when sarada is a baby. almost all of it is a flashback to smthn that took place in their baby days and it’s all in sasuke’s pov. the non flashback bits are soft and slice of life-esque. warnings for near death and drowning in the flashback and implied ns/fw near the very beginning and the very end

Coming Undone by Dovey

ship: none // words: 3643 // chapters: 1/1

The Uchiha Massacre is world-famous within weeks. The homicide of the Haruno family, in comparison, is a barely a blip on the radar- another case of personal drama with an unfortunate end. Sakura, the only survivor of her family tragedy, tries to grow up normal, chasing after boys and running away from nightmares.

She doesn’t grow up normal.

au. she’s a bamf with trauma babey!! she uses battle axes and hammers and her summons are tigers which is cool as shit. loss of morality and unquestionable loyalty is always so interesting. warnings for gore, death, and drug use

Sakura’s Plants by ba262

ship: none // words: 3704 // chapters: 15/15 // updated: 3/8/19

Sakura was given Ukki-kun the day she was officially left behind by team 7

set throughout timeline. a story told in parts surrounding the plants in sakura’s life. no dialogue! i love sakura so much and my heart hurtsss,, we get to see more of her reaction to being left behind by her team and im in PAIN!! shout out to sakura’s newfound support group. short chapters and a nice short read! idk how to describe it but the writing flows REALLY nicely

Pinpoint by CountessCzan

ship: sakura & shisui // words: 3792 // chapters: 1/1

Shisui takes care of a child named Sakura for a mission once. Sakura never lets go of him after that.

set when shisui is a genin post-war. sakura is a cute little baby and im sobbing at the picture this fic paints. I LOVE SHISUI A LOT he’s so soft im really tender

Stars Exploding by blesseth

ship: sasusaku // words: 4098 // chapters: 1/1

Don’t get Sakura wrong, she was happy she and Sasuke were becoming friends, following everything that had happened. Ecstatic even. But hell, did he have to be on her mind all the damn time?

set post war. BYE i had the cheesiest grin the entire time i was reading this. just a cute little pre-relationship type fic and i love the little team 7 as family things sprinkled in. just another good light hearted fic to break up the serious/plot focused fics

Sharkman and Cherrygirl by The_Floating_World

ship: none // words: 4245 // chapters: 1/1

Newly five Haruno Sakura joins her parents on a merchant trip, has a life-changing encounter, and gains a new goal.

YES BABEY!!! i love my little fearless to the point of just plain idiotic girl!! there’s a surprising amount of fics where kisame becomes a bit of an inspiration to my number one fave and i love all of them! more fuel for my love of sakura who focuses more towards her water aspect// anyway! my little baby is just in desperate need for a mentor figure/someone she can base herself off of bc shes a shy little things whom i love more than life itsself aa GOD the way she gets absolutely star eyed the moment she sees kisame has my heart in fits. i absolutely support my little murder kid and her life goals to be Just Like That (read the notes)

Warmth by kosmeja

ship: narusasusaku // words: 4296 // chapters: 1/1

In which Naruto has a nightlight, Sasuke is afraid of the dark and doesn't want to admit it, and somehow, Sakura is the perverted one.

Or: Team 7 have a brief conversation in the dark.

au. not to sure where this is timeline wise, but sakura is a chunin. they love her so much, yeah im crying about it. they just want her to feel good about herself and that theyre there to support her and im sobbing rn i love team 7 so much

House Upon a Rock by KuriQuinn

ship: sasusaku // words: 4311 // chapters: 1/1

She sort of considers herself the last resort, the one to pull him through; it never really occurs to her that she’s the one that could fall.

yeah!!! literal and metaphorical support!!! sakura is so good here i love her. shes just a kid and she wants to be able to support her teammates even if that means literally carrying them after they pass out from exhaustion. i super love how kuriquinn writes ss interactions and this fic is no different aa (also i cant believe he never gave her the spar she asked for :/) can be read as platonic if you want! it’s mostly onesided any way

Sakura of the Red Sands by Dovey

ship: gaasaku // words: 4811 // chapters: 1/1

Sasori hates Hatake Kakashi. He meets a young girl with reason to hate the man too, and finds the perfect opportunity for revenge.

If he accidentally builds a family along the way, well. He always was exemplary at exceeding expectations.

au. sasori never defected. set roughly around chunin exam arc. sasori is an asshole as per usual and accidently becomes sakura’s pseudo older brother figure? it’s actually super endearing how proud of her he becomes and how much he starts to root for her sjdndk though it is a Little unnerving here and there and there are parts where sasori is noticeably less normal than the average person. also MOKUTON SAKURA!!!!! she’s op and meets gaara and they click and this whole fic is maybe a little weird but mostly interesting (also the author notes are good please read them!!) warning for maybe questionable levels of attachment? oh also a kind of coerced amputation!

⭐Into the Water by BasicallyAnIdiot

ship: none // words: 5192 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura had always loved the water.

set throughout timeline. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again but i love when people write sakura as someone who leans more towards her water aspect and this is one of my favorite fics that show that. my girl is connected directly to tobirama nd while he’s actually a bastard, this fic single handedly made me have a reluctant soft spot for him. plus she follows directly in his footsteps and invents jutsus too (god i love her shes so smart and cool) plenty of little spots about love that make me tender. god i love this fic so much and my girl kicks ass 100/10

Parsley Seed Goes Nine Times to the Devil by Mook_aron

ship: none // words: 5445 // chapters: 1/1

Slow to grow, quick to sprout, parsley seed goes nine times to the devil

When she’s six, a man murders her family.

The man is tall, and his features are burned into her mind. She won’t forget him- she won’t let herself forget him.

root sakura au! changes her whole childhood and perspective on village loyalty. kind of poetic and nice to read despite the dark themes. sai is there!! not a lot but he’s there and i love him. i hesitate to call this team as family bc it’s only just starting to develop but you can feel the potential! part 1 of a series i hope continues aa// warnings for emotional abuse, blood, mentions of gore, and murder

⭐Most Girls, or, the one Where Sakura Grows up and Gets a Fan Girl Along the Way by theformerone

ship: none // words: 5869 // chapters: 1/1

In the years between Naruto’s departure and return, Sakura develops.

Aggressively.

She also gains a second shadow.

set throughout timeline, starts immediately after naruto leaves. YEAH BABEY!!! BAMF SAKURA!!! she gets so fucking cool and she trains with team 8 and team gai (and gets close w the rest of the konaha 11 in general)!! she gets the muscles that she deserves that could only aid the fighting style tsunade taught her (and that she deserves in canon ugh) and she turns into such a powerhouse and people love her and it’s what she deserves (also sakura takes moegi under her wing and they’re good for eachother im crying ajdjdj this fic single handedly made me love moegi)

tag along fic: That Girl Thinks She’s the Queen of the Neighborhood (i got news for you! she is!) by theformerone

same au but all from moegi’s perspective and BOY OH BOY I RELATE. she’s got a huge fucking crush on sakura and it’s cute and sakura is teaching her how to kick ass and it’s inspiring *chef hand kiss* (word count: 6624)

I Won’t Go Down, Your Blushing Bride by felinedetached

ship: inosaku // words: 6186 // chapters: 1/1

(Three things come after that:

1. The moment of realisation. The moment she realises Sasuke’s left the village, gone off to do who knows what with Orochimaru-

2. Her memory returns to her - she was useless against her teammate; taken down by a pressure point and unable to do anything to prevent him from getting at it.

3. Inner rages, throws herself around, cursing and screaming until finally, finally she calms and she says Uchiha Sasuke is a traitor.)

In which Sakura gets the character development she deserved.

set throughout timeline. sakura basically gets adopted by every shinobi adult and it makes my heart so happy. not a lot of plot (minus that bit near the end), but so much depth!! she really does get the character development she deserves. she grows up scary and so op and inner is still there and she dates ino and theyre so soft im crying

Is the Real Over There More Vivid Than Here Ever Feels by falterth

ship: hinasaku // words: 6366 // chapters: 1/1

The healing process is slow.

set some time after the war. i hate this fic SO much it left me ugly crying. fucking NARUTO dies?????? naruto is eternal he's not allowed to die,, okay but aside from the fact that im in my feelings, this fic is so good in how it deals with grief and coping and other such things of dealing with the death of a loved one and how "coping" by ignoring/forgetting the emotions isnt actually coping. warning for death and therapy and a teensy bit of victim blaming? (it gets worked out tho!)

Ain’t no princess in this tower by atomicmuffin

ship: sakura & tenten // words: 6448 //chapters: 1/1

Boys are idiots. Ninja boys are idiots with deadly weapons, and it's the kunoichi's privilege and duty to call them out on their bullshit.

Or: how Tenten becomes the Konoha equivalent of a coach for kunoichi completely on accident, mostly because of her pathological inability to let shit go.

set after tsunade becomes hokage (au where sasuke doesnt immediately leave) tenten’s pov! oooo we love a girl who supports girls! she helps sakura treat her teammates like normal people who mess up and are really just dumb boys. BIG fan of fics where tenten takes up a mentor/older sis position for sakura bc she holds a really soft spot in my heart. oof im so proud of my girl’s development im really crying about it

⭐Sing as Their Bones Go Marching in Again by felinedetached

ship: inosaku // words: 6929 // chapters: 1/1

Instead, it goes like this: Haruno Sakura is the daughter of two civilians, from civilian families. She is nothing and no one—smart, yes, top kunoichi, yes, but she will never be on par with clan kids. She is teammates to an orphan powerhouse from a dead clan and the last remaining Uchiha.

Haruno Sakura is nothing and nobody, but she breathes and grows and thrives and the forest thrives with her.

(She opens her eyes to wood, grown from nothing, and Hatake Kakashi stares in disbelief at the tree where his student used to be.)

Or, Haruno Sakura should have had the goddamn Mokuton and this author is mad.

set throughout timeline. this fic has me FOAMING at the mouth!!! MOKUTON SAKURA!!! SENJU SAKURA!!! HASHIRAMA PARALLELS!!! SHE’S A BAMF AND OP AS SHIT!!! TSUNADE ADOPTS HER!!! INO IS HER GIRLFRIEND!!!!! i could sing my praises for this fic all day and still not be finished ahxndkek everything is so good, every little detail (like choji and kiba taking up healing) is so fucking delicious PLEASE read, im BEGGING

For Want of Freedom by ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 8908 // chapters: 1/1

Haruno Sakura may seem like she is destined for being a paper ninja, that her choice in this career was a flight of fancy or all based on a fangirl crush. The pink haired girl had no delusions about the life she had chosen, but she would rather die as a ninja then to be bled dry as a slave to her family. Lies and deceptions have built the world around her and Sakura is ready to tear it down, grabbing freedom with both hands.

au. starts off when team 7 first tries to get the bells. sakura’s entire family and backstory is altered and abusive. budding team as family and maybe even actual family between naruto and sakura? *winkwink* some implications of a heavy plot but it doesnt go anywhere and there’s no plans to continue it! warnings for abuse, child experimentation, and mentions of blood

Walk Forward, Don't Look Back by teslatempest

ship: hinasaku // words: 9311 // chapters: 1/1

After the war, Sakura is exhausted.

She decides to make a change.

set post war, some of my favorite types of fics! she goes on a literal road to recovery and it makes my heart so warm because i love her so much and i just want her to be happy and this fic makes me melt///// the hinasaku is only implied once so dont get your hopes up BUT!!! sakura makes narusasu happen and i really said aww out loud in the dopiest voice when sasuke kissed his cheek,, my favorite parts are easily when shes thinking/talking about her emotions bc im a sucker for that good good introspection! warning for mentions of trauma i guess? none of it is all that bad it’s just a good coping fic

Thank You for the Meal by theformerone

ship: narusaku // words: 9876 // chapters: 1/1

Tsunade tells him that the best way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach. Naruto leaves Sakura snacks.

au! not anywhere near as shippy as the tags and description imply? lots of little odd ships like brief mentions of nejisasu nd hinakarin (which has a bit more focus). not very sakura centric but damn beautiful regardless so im keeping it here. actually really fucking emotional with a huge focus on uzushio and the uzumaki clan. made me cry 10/10

⭐Hounds Follow Those Who Feed Them by dragonyfox

ship: narusasusaku // words: 10597 // chapters: 3/3

Kakashi knows when to outsource training, but he also knows that only he can teach them some things.

little bits and pieces of their lives before the last chapter in the first part of this series :(( my heart is soft and full of sadness **READ THE FIRST PART OF THIS SERIES** it’s a hound will die for you but never lie to you and i have it listed a little further down

⭐The Sound by LadyKG

ship: none // words:13231 // chapters: 4/4

They lost. Completely. Totally. Lost. They thought it impossible, that the fates would reject this outcome for tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. They have been punished for this belief. And for that, she will go back. Sakura-time travel AU

set post war. INCREDIBLY disorienting. really good to read when you’re existing a little to the left. im not a huge fan of time travel fics but holy shit?? this fic really is something else/ sakura needs to keep obito alive while dealing with hallucinations(?) of her family from her timeline. this is really fucking good actually and she kills danzo and ive got the second part here further down. warning for death

Gallant by Crunchysunrises

ship: sakura & itachi // words: 14890 // chapters: 3/3

On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura. It changes the course of his life.

starts when itachi is a genin and sakura is a tiny little baby. non mass. very itachi centric but sakura is such a pivotal part of his life. itachi truly deserves better (it’s friendship!!! itachi is traumatized and dependent)

The Fury by LadyKG

ship: none // words: 15711 // chapters: 4/4

Sequel to 'The Sound'. She needs to keep moving, looking forward and fixing the problems of the past. If she doesn’t the world might just fall apart a second time. Sakura time travel AU.

sequal to The Sound (above somewhere)(read that one first ofc). just as confusing and disorienting as the first one! i love love love how the flashbacks are written where theres no discernible break between past and present. also i didnt mention it in the summary of pt 1 but yamato is so cute! im glad he’s getting better things (same goes for itachi!). warning that things kinda loop and it really is a little disorienting. like whole paragraphs repeat. warning for death too

The Lessons Change by exarite

ship: none // words: 17529 // chapters: 5/5

In another world, Haruno Sakura is known to be the best medic-nin of all time, renowned for her surpassing of her master and with a fearsome reputation for her strength and medical feats.

This is not that world.

aus. bundle of oneshots where sakura gets different teachers and how that changes things. (notes in the first chapter highlight the little issue i have w how sakura developed under tsunade) read the summaries and notes (beginning and end) for info abt the chapter! heavy warnings in chapter 4 for gore, emotional manipulation, blood, and experimentation. also in chapter 2 sakura has a childish crush on shisui and in chapter 3 theres a single line where he implies smthn

⭐Your Childhood Home is just Powder-White Bones (and You'll Never Find Your Way Back) by Dovey

ship: none // words: 24367 // chapters: 11/11

Sasuke is not the only one who worries he's getting too comfortable in his genin life. Itachi decides to add another motivator to Sasuke's revenge plans by kidnapping the teammate who wasn't a charismatic Jinchuriki. Sakura is used to being an objective for those around her, not a person, but even for her this is a little much.

In which Sakura is held captive and learns what a genjutsu specialist can do to a person's mind, that sharks can actually make great friends, joins a dying clan, and gets regifted multiple times before she's finally strong enough to fight back.

starts off when theyre genin. itachi is unhinged and sakura gets the short end of the stick :( LOTS of trauma. my girl gets really messed up and learns a lot of things purely to survive and has a loose grasp on reality. kisame isnt a good guy (read the notes at the end of chapter 10!) but he gives her sharks which is cool. kabuto is bad and so is orochimaru and kimimaro makes me sad but thats all par for the course. sakura gets some sick water things and also tsunade gets to be there and sakura makes her own family. warnings for torture, gore, dissociation, general loss of reality, blood, and death

⭐Survival of the Fittest by cywscross

ship: sakura & shikamaru // words: 24790 // chapters: 1/1

Sakura is thirteen, still a Genin, lost in the middle of Earth Country, lugging an unconscious Chuunin around, and so far beyond scared that she’s moved right on to pissed off.

au. naruto i love you but jesus christ. bamf sakura and shikamaru just trying to survive so they can get home and hopefully rip naruto a new one. really really cool to read abt shikamaru and sakura being smart and working together and plenty interesting bits of introspection. god this fic is just so good and the slow deterioration into kids just trying to stay alive while having nothing but each other and developing unhealthy codependency as a result is so damn interesting. also i cried 10/10 they care about each other so much

⭐Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos) by Pleasedial123

ship: none // words: 40071 // chapters: 15/15

In one world, Kakashi awoke, felt grieved at being assigned a team he sees his own in, and he let that grief make him a lazy teacher. He saw himself in Sasuke, Obito in Naruto, and Rin in Sakura. He woke, saw himself in them, and took a large step back, regretting accepting them as his new team. In another world he was quite hands off, merely a watcher because it was so very painful to watch. He saw himself and all his mistakes in this new team of his.

In this world, Kakashi awoke, saw the similarities, and instantly panicked. He suddenly realized what he had done, passing a team. Kakashi was left scrambling not to repeat old mistakes and regrets. This team would not suffer the fate of his team.

In this world, simply put, Kakashi became a teacher. This is the starting of a new Team seven.

set early genin days. TEAM AS FAMILY BABY!!!!!!!! theyre all babies and dumb and reckless but theyre in it together! not as sakura centric as other fics on this list but her development into essentially team leader is so so good!! kakashi loves his kids so much aa

can be read alone but theres a sequel!: Surviving is the Same Thing as Winning (words: 22492 // chapters: 11/? // updated: 2/9/19)

⭐A Hound Will Die For You, but Never Lie to You by dragonyfox

ship: narusasusaku // words: 41065 // chapters: 9/9

Kakashi caught his breath and pretended like he was just thinking about what to say. His dogs saw through it. “I’m thinking of having my team sign the dog contract.”

Pakkun nodded thoughtfully. “That might piss off some powerful people, boss.”

au! (chapter title is the pov) starts somewhere post wave and pre chunin exam. sakura is kakashis favorite and it really makes me wanna cry when fics do that PLUS SHE GETS A HUGE FUCK OFF BATTLE AXE BABY!!!!!!!! they get different developments!!! sasuke gets to be the medic and im really happy about it because he seems sO HAPPY!!! also they get cute dogs and it’s all very sweet. developing themes of team as family which im a sucker for plus developing poly t7 (pining sasuke!) which im REALLY a sucker for aa it was such a happy fic but WOW that last chapter takes no prisoners warning for super brief mention of rape and there’s major character death in the last chapter :(

⭐Samsara by KuriQuinn

ship: sasusaku // words: 54177 // chapters: 8/8

Sakura’s words die in her throat as the man’s eyes shoot open, and the coldest red irises she has ever seen meet hers. She is hit by a wave of terrifying certainty about two things right then – that she knows these eyes better than any other and that, if he wanted to, this man could stop her heart with just a look.

set during their travels. FINALLY!!! the parallels of three that ive been needing my whole ass life!! also sasuke is doting and worried and it’s cute. super fucking interesting and half of it takes place during the Ootsutsuki time (aka naruto & sasuke’s first incarnations) warnings for nsfw and some weird loss of identity/time stuff? it’s a great fic though, easily one of my top faves

⭐A Girl in the Forest of Moss and Bone by theformerone

ship: none // words: 65665 // chapters: 6/6

Katsuyu spits acid in her eyes, and Sakura must prove herself worthy enough for the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest to heal.

Or, it doesn’t translate to ‘damp bone forest’ for nothing.

IF THERE’S A FIC WHOSE SERIES ID RECCOMEND IN ITS ENTIRETY IT IS ABSOLUTELY THIS FIC. IF YOU LOVE SAKURA (AND SLUG SAGE SAKURA ESPECIALLY) PLEASE READ THE BALLAD OF THE SLUG SAGE SERIES. IT OWNS MY WHOLE SOUL. guhh sakura is so adorable in the first chapter (kakashi.. choke) GOD. the fucking uhhhh worldbuilding??????? its Actually my favorite thing aa op’s writing style makes me wanna cry it flows so smoothly and it’s so clever and makes me laugh and keeps me enthralled and FUCK sakura IS SO FUCKING COOL AAAAAAAA /// she loves learning and she loves the world and the world loves her and MAYBE im screaming about it. and i LOVE that this fic leans into how nature is ever changing and always moving and a constant balance like it really makes me choke on love.. her friends love her lots :((( warning for blood and mentions of death. im BEGGING you guys to read the rest of this series.. my girl is worth songs :’)

Broken Glass by Emma_Raye

ship: none // words: 68800 // chapters: 29/29 // updated: 11/6/18

Naruto and Sasuke left Sakura pathetically broken, but like any good shinobi she put the pieces back together the only way she knew how: relentless training. Years later Konoha is in the midst of a war and Sakura is a force to be reckoned with. Frankly, she's not even sure if she wants her teammates back.

au. starts during the early parts of tsunades training (with a timeskip) sakura has a lot of feelings of abandonment and im proud of how much shes achieved! shes in anbu and a diplomat (theres a war going on) and she stands on her own two feet! shes got a weird relationship w morality and starts questioning the way things are run.. also she holds a lot of resentment towards naruto and sasuke but it gets worked on throughout (and they become a team again!!!) im not a fan of how they treated her like shes something to be protected however briefly. sakura needs a mental health lifetime but god damn if she isnt smart and OOF the poetic cinema of it all,, warning for blood, death, and major character death

Home is Where the Heart is by deeppoeticgirl

ship: sasusaku // words: 100849 // chapters: 26/26 // updated: 12/20/18

And with every moment together, they get just a little closer, a little more comfortable with each other. Fall a little more in love.

set post war. okay listen. barring morally repulsive ships (kksk, itsk, mdsk, etc.) any sakura ship makes me happy if it’s healthy and loving even if i dont like the ship (like i dont care abt shikasaku and canon ss is SO bad i still cant believe it happened) THAT BEING SAID. this fic is cute and sasuke cares a lot and op wrote him so emotive and i love the little family he became a part of on his trips and sakura is a lovestruck fool (which still has me gritting my teeth bc it doesnt idk. Fit with the rest of her personality) but it’s cute if second hand embarrassing,, honestly this fic is so ooey gooey and full of cheesy love and it’s damn near too much (how many times can a person blush.. like fr..) and theres annoying bits of needless drama and lack of communication but im stubbornly holding onto this fic bc i LOVE the character study type route this fic takes/// (this fic is like. really dramatic.. thats a warning in and of itself and i mean like telenovela type dramatic emotion and subtext. not plot twisty dramatic) warning for violence, mentions of blood, and nsfw

Follow the Sun by LaceyJane

ship: gaasaku // words: 106341 // chapters: 21/21

Stranded in the desert, without food, water, or her supplies, Sakura decides to head west to the land of shifting winds and scorching sands. It hasn’t even been a year since the wind nation had tried to overthrow her city, but she knows of someone out there, someone who, above anyone else, holds the best chance of finding her in this barren land. Able to only hope her attempts to raise attention aren’t in vain, she sets off across the sands towards the west, intent to follow the sun.

not super positive where in the timeline this is (or if it’s an au) but if i had to hazard a guess id say between sakura being taken on as an apprentice and before sasuke leaves. starts off w sakura by herself traversing through a desert with the clothes on her back. she suffers before she gains but at least it’s not for long (Well..) also can i say that i LOVE worldbuilding and i LOVE how different aspects of suna were protrayed here. like the scouting and political things (sakura being the hokages apprentice and how shed be treated in other villages) and temari in general? ugh! theres focus on gaara and how he’s coping with his demon too plus he’s just kinda cute in this fic. warning for violence, the general bad things that happen while unprepared in a desert, and the q slur except it’s not used in regard to gay ppl in any way. nothing is romantic so it can be taken as friendship if it’s what you’d prefer!

⭐Time Flies Like an Arrow by Katlou303

ship: inosaku // words: 240288 // chapters: 36/36 // updated: 2/1/19

Sakura traveled back in time with the intent of changing everything, but something went wrong, and now she's four years old having nightmares about impossible monsters and losing friends she has yet to meet.

time travel fic!!!!! oh my heart is soft :( starts off when theyre tiny kids and sakura stands up for naruto (childhood friends!!) sakura’s memories of her prev timeline come to her in dreams (pretty intense for a kid to be having.. ily kagami:( ) SHISUI AND GENMA ARE THERE!!! ILY BABIES,, shes literally so baby and small and full of love for her friends :((((( shisui is fanastic and also a mess, baby sasuke is the cutest, itachi deserves better, sakuras family has me weak as hell theyre so perfect, and inner sakura in this fic is prev timeline sakura (who is so fucked up holy jesus) tsunade gets a new family member and oh fuck gaara is so cute and same goes for tenzo AND BONUS MOKUTON????? the ocs are really interesting and good and i love them (the word count is a little inaccurate bc theres parts at the end of the chapters themselves that are more like authors notes) warning for trauma, flashbacks, blood, gore, death, implied child abuse (never happens but it gets mentioned a lot), and major character death (kagami… :( ) GUYS I JUST REALIZED IT ENDED ON MY BDAY

IN PROGRESS

Grit Your Teeth (and Smile) by kattenprinsen

ship: none // words: 1423 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 8/1/18

Sakura is an immigrant. Her father is an immigrant too.

au. okay okay this is a pet peeve of mine with canon itself bc sakura was team seven’s token “has parent’s that are alive and support her” except that was genuinely never shown?? we know Nothing substantial about mebuki and kizashi and their relationship with sakura and fsnsksnk im ranting. this fic is nice and yeah there’s not a lot happening so far but i love the depth op is giving to sakura’s parents so much (and they are totally different from canon btw. theyre very good ocs and her dad is a missing nin from mist with sharp teeth aaa) (sakura is also a little bit of a bamf as a result of her parents and im crying about it)

Was That Your Voice or Was That Me by grit

ship: sakura & sasori // words: 1528 // chapters: 1/5 // updated: 10/9/18

Sasori takes Sakura on as an apprentice out of boredom and keeps her because she has potential and he is pragmatic to a fault.

Spontaneity doesn't suit his plans though and Sakura has her own opinion on murder, so it goes about as well as you'd expect.

au where this story take free reign of the timeline. sasori meets sakura when shes a little kid and takes a shining to her potential (as everyone should...). kinda fucked up tbh! at least a little bit! warning for murder and emotional manipulation. the only chapter seems to just be setting up the rest of the story where sasori essentially changes her whole mentality

Tables They Are Turning (Bridges They Are Burning) by pg13

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 1555 // chapters: 1/? // updated: 7/19/18

It’s not until she’s convulsing and the heat from her neck is spreading that she wonders if maybe she should’ve listened when her mother told her to reconsider being a shinobi.

set during chunin exam. SAKURA GETS BIT INSTEAD OF SASUKE. sasuke gets fiercely protective and learns of the incredible emotion called friendship. lots of promising things happen and then it gets cut off when it REALLY starts to get into it AAA/// i Know this fic is gonna be delicious

Skin is Just a Ready Made Coffin by ulittuq

ship: none // words: 2026 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 7/27/18

The night of the Uchiha Massacre is chaos. Alarms are blaring and shinobi are flying through the street and somewhere Sasuke Uchiha is waking up from seventy-two hours of psychological torture courtesy of his big brother.

Sakura Haruno hides under her bed with her hands clasped over her mouth trying to stifle her breathing and praying that the stranger prowling her house can’t hear her heartbeat.

(read author note at the beginning to see how the timeline is changed) some faceless guy takes advantage of the disaster on the night of the massacre and kills sakura’s family to help his mom(??) and that’s literally it! starts off balls to the walls!! feeds into my feral love of the naruto civilians and how they might resent shinobi. i LOVE fics where civilians are the main focus and how they might be disenfranchised (especially in the hidden villages) as opposed to ninjas. theres not a lot of plot yet but it’s building up to smthn good!! i hope sakura keeps that little bit distrust towards shinobi and the system in her heart! blind loyalty to the state is unhealthy. warning for death, murder, gore, and panic attacks

Daisies and Lilacs by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)

ship: none // words: 2487 // chapters: 1/? // updated: 12/5/18

She's always seen them. Sometimes they scare her, like every shadow to a child should. But there's something to them that she doesn't have, something that she doesn't want.

starts off early academy days up to when they meet kakashi. might not end up being a multi chapter fic. she sees things so im clocking her as psychotic in this fic bc same hat! not a whole lot in the way of plot but the writing style is neat!

⭐To Serve Man by Dovey

ship: none // words: 3090 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 3/19/18

Kizashi Haruno was a civilian man with a simple shop, from a civilian family of simple farmers; Mebuki Haruno was a missing nin from the land of Rain. Sakura took after both her parents.

“You owe yourself to three things, in order: the ones you love, yourself, and then your village.”

au. the rest of the summary is such a mood, i wish we got actual info about her parents :/ i LOVE this fic and i want more content about this universe because im nothing if not a sucker for sakura with a missing nin parent aaa,,, mebuki is so cool and sakura learns early on that blind loyalty to a village is not a good thing to cultivate. her morals are very based around earned loyalty and death bc thats what her mom knew (and i love and appreciate that she motivates sakura to aim for “flee on sight” if she were to ever end up in the bingo book) also kizashi is so sweet and supportive djefk warning for animal death and murder

I’ve Been Waiting my Whole Life (When I’ve Only Been Dreaming) by SheBeanSheep

ship: none // words: 3329 // chapters: 3/? // updated: 7/19/18

Before she was a boy-crazy fangirl, Sakura wanted nothing more than to be a good shinobi. Afterall, that’s what the voice, Inner Sakura, wanted. But Sakura just wanted to be Ino’s friend. So all of her energy went into making sure Ino would still like her, would still consider her a friend and a rival. So, Sakura bypassed the training scrolls of her childhood and picked up a hairbrush, shutting Inner Sakura away.

Then, Team 7 got the Wave Mission.

Then, Inner Sakura got a name.

Then, everything changed.

starts during wave. INNER BECOMES A SUBSTANTIAL CHARACTER HELL YEAH. and now shes actually mito uzumaki?? fucking legendary, nothing less than the best for my queen! mito kicks sakura’s ass into high gear and starts turning her into the bamf she was destined to be (though it hasnt actually gotten to that point ajdj i cant wait for future updates aaa)

Training Sakura by Kalira

ship: sakura & kakashi // words: 3601 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 11/25/18

Two members of Team Seven broke away on their own, and in the aftermath there remains only one thing to be settled. . . That one thing is not what anyone expected.

With Sakura as his sole remaining student, Kakashi settles in to train her properly, determined to help her achieve her ambitions as a ninja and become a great one.

set after naruto leaves. gai is a real one! yeah maybe i did start tearing up by the end of the first chapter. im emotional okay. also ive read so many fics where ino doesnt GET to be sakura’s best friend and it hurts me directly so this fic really makes me happy (bonus really short tag-along fic title Mistress where sakura gets a puppy aa)

Of Which Do I Change by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)

ship: none // words: 3772 // chapters: 4/? // updated: 1/16/19

It starts and it ends in confusion. There never was a true destination in life, in what she was and what actually defined her. But one thing happened, and now she is someone, her name is on the lips of the Hokage and Clan heads and now they see who she is. Too bad she can't do that anymore.

But she takes pride in that. She has pink hair and green, useless, eyes. She is an anomaly in her own right, and that makes her strong, that makes her a terror in her own right.

starts off pre/early academy days. seems to be setting up to be a longer fic? interesting bits abt clan stuff! i do feel a little bad for ino :( sakura’s drive to have a name again is really nice to read and i KNOW shes gonna be cool as shit. not much in the way of a major plot insofar but still really good!!!

The Senju Whisperer by callmeportgas

ship: sakura & hashirama // words: 4754 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 11/14/18

In which Sakura comes to fully embrace the heritage her family couldn't, with some help from her imaginary friend.

au! MOKUTON SAKURA BBY!!!!! the story is only JUST developing but i can already see the building friendship between naruto and sakura!!!

Dont Think, Just Run by alicemc12

ship: none // words: 4806 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 3/10/19

Sakura was left behind after an ambush. Left for dead by mistake, until her life is saved by a young girl. With everyone believing her dead, Sakura is left to see the world from a different side. Without thinking, she runs away from the past she can't change and to a fate only she can control. Because it's just as a little girl said, the future will never be set in stone unless you let it.

starts off in oc pov. not sure where in the timeline this is but she knows how to heal by this point. COOL PLOT!! love the fate stuff and how much of a bamf sakura gets to be even though it's very ff.net-esque

Way of the Cherry Blossom by chadsuke

ship: none // words: 5422 // chapters: 16/? // updated: 9/8/18

Healing isn't a bad profession, Sakura knows. She could do well in it. But healing means that you're the one picking up the pieces, putting your teammates back together.

Sakura wants to stop them from getting hurt at all.

starts after sasuke “dies” in wave but before they go back to the village. shes a baby and wants to be able to stand beside the rest of her team. her family is so good in this fic! and so is kakashi even though he subjected her to gai. sasuke is cute too and naruto always is. theres some sentences that arent really jokes but are worded in such a fantastic way that i end up cackling. it’s all pretty lighthearted! warning for brief mention of death

⭐Salt in the Wound by Dovey

ship: sakura/oc // words: 6033 // chapters: 4/? // updated: 3/30/18

The Wave arc, except Sakura’s flimsy attempt at protecting the client results in her accidentally faking her death. Zabuza survives and takes her along with him as an apprentice, and she grows up in the harder but more emotional life of a nin on the run.

aka I have a lot ideas of how Missing-Nin would have a different culture than the rest of Naruto-verse, that would place a high-value on youngins’ in the trade given the rarity, and Sakura gets a lot of teachers over the years for the price of lots of emotional trauma & loss.

also, she gets a big fuck-off sword.

starts off during wave arc. ZABUZA I LOVE YOU. he takes sakura in because he’s a lonely missing nin who got used to caring for another person. sakura isnt as against the idea of staying with zabuza as she tries to pretend to be. also, GOD the reactions of the rest of the konoha twelve really really break me?? sasuke spirals faster and naruto gets essentially adopted by sakura’s parents? and kakashi gets fiercely protective. warning for death, animal death, and kinda graphic murder? also theres no actual ship even a little implied so far

Sharp by ineffableblue

ship: none // words: 6309 // chapters 2/? // updated: 3/12/19

Sakura has been teased, gotten angry for that, then gotten teased for getting angry. Everything she does isn't enough. But she's observant and slowly she starts to find out that she fits in better in the ninja world than she ever imagined. The best ninja are always thought to be something else and Sakura is a master at being mistaken for harmless.

starts when shes baby. sakura is full of rage and bottling it up like a molotov cocktail (and her parent are given depth which is great! but they kinda suck which isnt so great! it's a "tough love" sort of thing but it still rubs me wrong) i love and support sakura's desire to seek out knowledge on her own! and i am SO HAPPY this fic updated i could cry,, i KNEW the title and desc were familiar when i saw them at the top of the sakura fic tag one day and i yelled when i realized it WAS the same fic i had already put under left unfished// op if you're reading this know that im filled w love and support :')

Because I Ache by Wyle23

ship: narusaku // words: 6512 // chapters: 3/? // updated: 9/4/18

Ugly are the truths of the world. Hate's competitor can jail just as blindly. Focused otherwise, though, what changes would her shift in truth bring? In which Konoha's young jinchuuriki stumbles upon not a Hyuuga, but a Haruno.

starts when theyre babies!! little five year olds who deserve better (bby sakura id do anything for you.. :’() theyve got tiny crushes and theyre so cute i wanna cry about it. ino nd sakura stay friends (thank god) and GOD i want ppl to stop being mean to naruto :((

The Shadows Claim Us by Nine_Stoic_Crayolas

ship: gaasaku // words: 6586 // chapters: 39/? // updated: 4/21/18

"You don't want to go near that one." "Why?" "...She's damaged goods."

takes place in suna! (sakura is an iwa native!) (also i have.no idea how old they are. it’s mentioned at one point that sakura’s 4 but.. idk? if there?s time skips?? there’s just lots of bits that arent worded right for them to be 4 through the whole fic.. idk. gimme ur input actually idk if i wanna keep this) gaara takes a shining to her bc sakura also gets called a monster. bro these little gremlins are fucking pissed. imagine a toddler yelling “fuck!” at you but constantly. warning for general mistreatment of children and mentions of death and blood

Serendipity by stirringwinds

ship: none // words: 6751 // chapters: 2/? // updated: 10/24/18

Sasuke had never known Senju Hashirama in person, of course. But he had grown up hearing stories about the First Hokage at his mother’s knee—about the legend who had defeated the most powerful member of their own clan. Enough stories to recognise what he was seeing—and to know he was witnessing his teammate perform the impossible.

Or, in the fight against Gaara during Suna’s attempted invasion of Konoha, the Ichibi’s attempt to kill Sakura awakens an unexpected power. It changes the destiny of Team Seven forever.

MOKUTON SAKURA BABEYYY!!!!! largely sasuke’s pov. also they’re all stupid and it’s funny and i love them// im literally foaming at the mouth and excited to see where the story goes and im :pensive:

Warmth by PotatoeGoddess

ship: inosaku // words: 7135 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 4/7/18

Sakura Haruno was born screaming and kicking and in some ways, she felt, she kind of never stopped.

starts off pre/early academy days. sakura is full of strong emotions and same hat. there’s comphet and sakura has such a crush on ino. what a useless gay. that’s not really a focus in the story (more just consistently implied) honestly dont all together know whats going on! but that’s par for the course

What Happens After by stirringwinds

ship: narusasusaku // words: 8044 // chapters: 3/? // updated: 1/13/19

Sakura deals with her feelings once she can stop focusing on stopping the world from imploding. Just what exactly is her place in this world?

This is just a lot of Sakura can't deal with life right now.

set post series. lotta sakura introspection! she’s dealing with a lot of feelings of inferiority and emotions she doesnt acknowledge bc shes a disaster bi. i actually cried bc her feelings towards her own self worth hit me with all kinds of feelings of catharsis. canon sakura really needs smthn like this. just a chance to recover :(.. warning for lots of poly ships if ur not into that

⭐Catharsis by pastanoodle

ship: none // words: 10198 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 8/16/17

Sakura isn’t the kind of person to survive past Genin. She wears pink, fights over boys, and can’t throw a Kunai to save her life. Which is why no one expects her to live very long. To Sakura, graduating from the academy is like a reality check. Being a shinobi is nothing close to how civilian romance novels make it seem. Sakura has always been terrible at stopping when she should. So she changes pink to grey, forces herself to ignore Sasuke, and learns how to shatter bones with a single punch. Screw surviving. Sakura knows she’s going to die, but she’ll go down fighting.

starts off a little before wave except!! the full wave arc never happens and everything changes!! inner becomes a substantial part of the story and im so glad for it. oh my god this fic is so good and i love all the author notes, theyre so delicious. sakura starts developing from a calm, quiet, and accepting girl. to a shinobi who is pissed off about the hand she was dealt with and goddammit! shes gonna do something about it!!! you fucking go, girl, live your dream of being in the bingo books i love you. this fic hasnt updated in a while and im so teary eyed about it, i hope it’s not being left unfinished. i refuse to put it under that category bc im stubborn and hopeful. warning for death and gore in the second chapter

Red With Clay, or Into Fire by grit

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 10420 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 11/4/18

Headstrong, carrying her heart on her sleeve: Sakura is a smart and driven child who will fight for what's hers.

Or: Sakura gets a personality, Naruto some friends and Sasuke a childhood.

starts off during their litle genin introductions.TEAM AS FAMILY Y’ALL ALREADY KNOW! sasuke actually likes his team basically from the get go??? and sakura just wants her team to workout and they do! theyre getting there!!! oof!!!!!!!!

Breathe and Heal by Himechiiii

ship: narusasusaku // words: 11535 // chapters: 3/? // updated: 1/6/18

Two months. Two months had passed since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Two months and Sakura still hadn’t fully processed. Hadn’t fully healed. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. I don’t know what my goal is supposed to be. You say that I’ve passed them, but it doesn’t feel like it. I close my eyes and all I see is their backs in front of me.”

Or in which Sakura realizes she is more than she thought she was, and lets herself be loved.

set post war. sakura gets well deserved time off of work to cope with things (and ino is real one :( please stop forgetting she’s her best friend) sakura loves her boys so much but god her inferiority complex makes me so sad

Promises by BombsAreForBabies

ship: none // words: 12376 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 10/29/18

It's her first kiss and Naruto's last. She promises him that she will bring Sasuke home. It's his dying wish, after all.

(Naruto bleeds out faster than the kyuubi can heal him.

Sakura learns that being a ninja is more than fancy jutsu and fun.

Sasuke does not know that he just killed his best friend and turned his most loyal comrade into his worst enemy.)

set after the first fight in the valley of the end. bamf sakura that deserves a break.. immediate warning for death :( kakashi and sakura connect in the aftermath and ino remains as the realest. sakura learns poisons from shizune!!!!! FINALLY!!! everyone cares about her a lot and that makes me happy but god can she PLEASE get a therapist

When I Grow Up I’ll Be An Avalanche (and i’ll grow up soon) by ulittuq

ship: none // words: 12900 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 12/10/18

A little civilian girl hears that genin are considered adults in the eyes of the law and she think yes please I need to get out--

The next week she starts the Academy.

Once a little civilian girl tells an orphan boy, God I wish I didn’t have parents, and she means it as a confession. A cry for help. The orphan boy hears selfishness spill from her mouth and snaps.

A little civilian girl, who has yet to see combat, wakes from nightmares gasping and clawing at her skin. No one notices.

au! naruto canon never gave us anything for sakura’s parent so fics like this own me! i like where theyre portrayed as abusive bc well canon doesnt disprove it! and projection. also. owns me inner also has more focus!! sakura just wants an out and she’s gonna do most anything to get there. also naruto love!! because he deserves it! warning for abuse (mentions of emotional and physical) im super excited for more updates i like where the story is going!!

Mune Ga Hachikire Soude by clohsoo

ship: none // words: 15815 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 3/24/19

A deal is made between two devils and two girls share a demon.

HEY OP IF YOURE READING THIS: I LOVE YOU AND I SUPPORT YOU AND THIS IS SO GOOD TY FOR GIVING LOVE TO MY GIRL RIN,, au set mostly in rin's pov (i love the hobbies rin picks up, my little jack of all trades) danzo can still choke, sakura bby.. ily..:(((, ino is always amazing, and ANKO!! I LOVE YOU!!! OOF sakura's attempts at acting like a normal kid REALLY plucks at my heart strings// warning for child abuse bc root, death bc root, and trauma also.. bc root

⭐The Best-Looking Truth by Dovey

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 17378 // chapters: 6/? // updated: 1/7/19

Sakura doesn’t like to talk about her family. Most people assume it’s because she’s a nice young girl, and she doesn’t want to make everyone else feel bad, considering she’s on a team of orphans.

It has more to do with the fact that she killed her parents in self-defense and is desperately trying to cover up the murders, than any sympathy for her teammates- but she’s happy to let you assume what you want.

did that summary give you whiplash? because it absolutely made me collapse. set just before the bell test. also starts off pretty fucking strong. shes a traumatized kid trying to compartmentalize on her own while trying to make sure no one finds out about what she did. also she’s really smart in the way she’s dealing with the aftermath. really interesting (at least to me) is how despite her parents no longer having a direct hold on her life, she still abides by their rules. warning for (past) child abuse, murder, and occassionaly descriptive gore. godd i really want more (there’s narusaku and some sakura/oc but i dont think theyre permanent? the narusaku definitely isnt bc it was mostly an accident but im not sure abt the sakura/oc)

Control by Dragonist

ship: none // words: 17816 // chapters: 14/? // updated: 6/8/18

Kumo kidnaps a child of Konoha.

Sakura graduates from the academy only a year after starting it. There's a war going on, and she's obedient enough to stay quiet and follow orders.

Then the war ends, and it's unclear who is really giving them.

au (read notes for the changes) starts pre academy. bro??? theres a war going on and im stressed at how young she is when she graduates.. sai ily..warning for death, blood, and uh. bad medical practices

If I Live by Lalit

ship: none // words: 18344 // chapters: 9/? // updated: 8/21/18

Every action has a consequence. It took one girl to screw all of Orochimaru’s plans up, and nothing will ever be the same. “Look at you, such bloodlust. Darkness is a lovely shade on you, my dear.”

set during chunin exam. ANOTHER SAKURA GETS BIT INSTEAD OF SASUKE FIC. a little slow going in terms of timeline i guess? no timeskipping so far. love the relationship between team 7 here (esp that one scene w naruto. u did amazing sweetie!) warning for death and gore and also sexual undertones when orochimaru is there. he’s a creep and op sells it.

Black Hole Heart by LadyNyxRavus

ship: none // words: 20017 // chapters: 5/8 // updated: 2/18/19

By all accounts, Sakura is dead for the first five minutes of her life.

Yet, she continues. If she occasionally has too many, too sharp teeth then that's their business.

OKAY SO. im NOT a big of crossovers but HEAR ME OUT. sakura gets a symbiote in place of inner and she eats people and naruto is a little more feral and sasuke is the closest thing they have to handlers. warnings for cannibalism, blood, and gore. this is up there as one of the most self indulgent fics on here

Throwing a Stone in a River by theroadkillcafe

ship: none // words: 20221 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 9/7/18

When Sakura graduates from the academy, she suddenly finds her head invaded by the ghost of Uchiha Shisui. Her inner is gone, but not forgotten, and she struggles with impulse control more than ever before. But also, Shisui gives a lot of unsolicited advice - useful and otherwise - and does not shut the fuck up. He’s not thrilled about current events.

warning for immediate mentions of suicide and drowning (and implied eye gore) set just after they graduated from the academy. sakura’s got some fun mental things to deal with now that shes stuck w the ghost and seeing them kinda everywhere. have i mentioned that i love shisui? he’s really good and helps sakura out with gratuitous amounts of snark. warnings for more eye gore, blood, nightmares, and torture

If You Can't Hold on, Hold on by Fiercest

ship: sasusaku // words: 20780 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 12/4/18

Sakura always wished she could relate to her teammates better. She wishes she could take it back.

In which Sasuke acquires some unwanted roommates and a team becomes a family.

set post konoha crush. TEAM AS FAMILY!!! almost immediate warning for death :( gh// her team cares a lot abt her and want her to be okay and sasuke is making effort into being a source of support (he’s baby..) theyre all pretty traumatized (and god fucking awful at dealing with it) (not shippy at this point!)

⭐Find Your Place (Whatever it Takes) by Dovey

ship: none // words: 22296 // chapters: 11/? // updated: 12/28/18

The war lasts longer than in canon, and has only just ended. While most of the 'Konoha 12' are clan heirs and thus protected from having to go to war prematurely, Sakura is from a civilian family, with naturally advanced chakra control, and thus is thrown immediately onto the frontlines. Now she's on a genin team in peacetime, and she's struggling to figure out how to live when she's not constantly at risk of dying.

Team seven bonds in new weird ways, The Uchiha are actually all dead except for Sasuke (including war-hero itachi) who's got a chip on his shoulder the size of Konoha, Naruto isn't the kyuubi container and he finds Sakura kinda scary. Sakura would just like to have a hobby.

au. my girl deals with trauma and t7 learn to get along eventually (and unhealthily?) i love sakura’s war team a lot and they care abt each other a lot too and GOD i love shit that focuses on the advantages clan kids gets for being clan kids and especially for being heirs!! it’s just interesting as hell to read!! sakura fosters her hate and distrust for the state and GOD is that ever a good thing (kushina :(..) we’re in this shit for a REVOLUTION!! IM SO HYPE!!! warning for violence and mentions of death

⭐Building the Puzzle by ich_bin_ein_stern

ship: narusasusakusai // words: 22716 // chapters: 4/5 // updated: 8/27/18

In which Sakura feels disconnected after the 4th Shinobi War and decides to cut the string attaching her to Team Seven, if only for a few years. This does not settle well with the remaining members, past or present.

set post war. FULL POLY TEAM SEVEN BABY!!!!! there’s not a whole lot of content for poly7 that includes BOTH sai and sasuke. it’s usually one or the other which already puts this fic in my good graces uwu ino bby i love you so much they’re so tactile and close and it makes my heart melt and she cares abt sakura and wants them both to be okay. im indulging my need for a sakura who gets to travel!! she loves her team so much but she really needs to love herself first. the rest of her team learns to better themselves and it’s really nice to read. also GOD i say it often but sakura is so cool (esplecially vs the suna elders aa)

Moments of Perfection by kiwi_socks

ship: narusasusaku // words: 22880 // chapters: 6/? // updated: 5/9/18

It's a dream Sakura's had many times before. Until it is rudely interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke mistaking her kitchen window for the front door.

"Hey...we failed in so many ways before, do you think we'll get something right, or just screw up again?"

okay im NOT much of a fan of timetravel fics but everyone should know by now that poly team 7 actually owns me. theyre all stupid together (it’s solidarity). poor kakashi. there’s some fuckery happening!! perhaps i yelled WHAT!? at my phone at least once

⭐Kubikiribocho, My Love by IslitaBonita

ship: none // words: 23231 // chapters: 10/? // updated: 7/22/18

Where Sakura becomes better acquainted with Zabuza's sword, Kubikiribocho.

set mostly during wave. interesting bits of sakura vs herself. budding relationship between her and gaara (murder friends) the writing style is SUPER cool! blood, unhealthy attachment, impalement, and death. ugh! when will this fic come back from war

Believe Me When I Say I Cary All My Sins by Honestly Neptune (mypennameishidden)

ship: none // words: 24287 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 12/20/18

Sakura knew the best way to tear a man's spine out of his nose without breaking a sweat.

She didn't know how to live in a village with Minato as Hokage and the Uchiha clan as the beloved police force. She didn't know how to live as a disgraced genin in a bloody apartment with dead men knocking at her door.

She didn't know how to forgive herself for failing Konoha. Now she had a chance to save it.

au. SUCH cool take on the timetravel trope!! sakura is just angry and tired and she’s gonna make this timeline work so help her god. i love shisui and i love that he gets to be a main character here aa. warnings for blood and general violence

Dandelions Blow in Spring by capriicious

ship: none // words: 24507 // chapters: 13/? // updated: 11/25/18

sakura is in the land of waves, the seraphic, beautiful place filled with religious and cultural beliefs. her team mate is lying in front of her, dead, cold and so, so white. her sensei is bleeding out while fighting zabuza. naruto is fighting against the odds of hundred of senbons.

(or: sakura watches her team mates get beaten half to death and bleed out next to her when the fight ends and with that event set in her mind: realises that she's going to die unless she toughens up.)

au but starts off in wave during the fight w zabuza nd haku so immediate warning for blood, gore, death, and a bit of an unhinged mind bc it’s sakura pov and this is traumatic. i recommend reading the notes at the beginning of each chapter for trigger warnings. it’s a heavy fic. interesting bits about merchant business and the dark side of the village. only BARELY connected to canon. pretty much through characters alone, the whole story is different

Cut the Head off the Snake by itsthechocopuff

ship: none // words: 24601 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 1/2/19

when eighteen-year-old, post-war Sakura is thrown back into her tiny, pre-Academy body, she makes a decision. she’d had a childhood once already, and this time, she’s more interested in Not Dying when the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. so she will work harder, care less, kill more, and smile when she’s done.

and hey, if she ends up reviving an extinct nature transformation to attract the most corrupt, power-hungry man from her timeline, all the better for her, right?

IM MENTIONED IN THE NOTES?? UH HELLO I LOVE YOU. timetravel fic! war fesh sakura gets sent back into her pre academy self. sakura is gonna make shit work this time around and shes gonna go through root to do it! MOKUTON BABEY!!! it gets changed from a kekkai genkai to a learned skill based mostly on amazing chakra control (which my girl has in spades!!) SAI AND SHISUI BBY I LOVE YOU// im in love with shin now too and god damn it i want all of them to be okay :’( warning for death at the hand of trees, mentions of blood, and the massacre

Seeds of Knowledge by Ice_Eagle

ship: none // words: 24845 // chapters: 10/? // updated: 3/15/19

It starts with an Academy internship at the Konoha Library and Archives. The only problem is the Library/Archives has never had an intern before. Ever.

Everyone is an idiot at the beginning. There is always room to grow.

set during early academy days. first person pov and it switches from characters. i dont usually leans towards stories with lots of ocs (especially where theyre a major focus) BUT they’re all so interesting plus UM? i LOVE the detail put into the libraries aaa// sakura gets to live her strongest book nerd life. also im a huge fan of the concept of internships in shinobi villages and just of the adults caring abt the kids following them in their career choices. also sakura starts getting along with sasuke and it makes me super happy

Our Oath (We’re Expendable) by amako

ship: none // words: 27194 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 3/1/19

Apparently, Sakura is the last Haruno.

set post war, more during the recovery period. sakura gets to be part of a largely not well known clan with a secret that could put sakura’s life at risk if it got out. dont wanna spoil a lot but basically! she gets married and has to deal with clan things and letting other know

⭐If You Have the Hounds by dragonyfox

ship: narusasusaku // words: 31856 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 1/10/19

...go ahead and pursue.

can i just say.. this fic series really rips out my heart ..there were several parts i started tearing up at bc im tender and im baby! they all love each other more than anything and im crying just thinking about it. they literally built a whole fucking village because naruto is a mad man but his team loves him. literally they’re playing the longest con ever and it has me cackling. this is a hell of a fix it fic and it has me bawling itachi is really soft and team taka is there! (the way uzushio is described makes my heart swell w love im so proud of them)

These Bitter Weeds by Katlou303

ship: sasusaku // words: 33315 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 12/2/18

Sakura begged Sasuke to take her with him when he was leaving Konoha.

He said yes.

set when sasukes leaves. she somehow manages to convince him to let her join? her reasons are about as solid as they could be. in the first chapter you can definitely where it’s starting to change into unhealthy codependency. it really shows in this fic just how young they are.. all their ideals are fantastical and grandeur and it really drives a nail through my heart :( ino continues to be a real one, kakashi is going through it, and im reminded that i love kimi :(( warnings for violence, orochimaru and kabuto, and dismembered limbs. nothing shippy insofar, can be read as friendship

seek by cloverhoney

ship: sasusaku // words: 39062 // chapters: 12/? // updated: 1/15/19

Sakura disappears after taking a lifelong mission in exchange for Sasuke’s post-war acquittal. To give her the upper hand over her new targets and protect her from becoming a target herself, the world is told that Sakura is dead and gone - but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sakura quickly finds she is still not strong enough to face her new enemies, and she seeks power in Shikkotsu forest. Sasuke, suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her death, seeks the truth regarding her disappearance, reconnecting with his childhood friends along the way.

Kakashi, the new Rokudaime, promises to keep Sakura’s secret, but with Sasuke on his heels, a council hell-bent on erasing the evidence, and the guilt of an empty grave, nothing can stay hidden for long.

set post war/pre epilogue. TAGS SAY SAGE SAKURA BITCH!!! (AND MOKUTON BABEY) shes nice but dumb and thats just team 7 (shes their single brain cell.. how dare she :(((( ) fuck the council. fuck those elders. fuck blue lives mariah carey’s skinny. my only gripe is that shes written as having small chakra reserves nd low stamina and im like. hello? Absolutely Not. whatever parts her Legendary chakra control dont cover, her seal is still there. small reserves my ass. also taijutsu is Literally one of her specialties >:( this happens in fics so often and im *teeth gritting* (FUCK. ACTUALLY. SHE’S FRESH OUT OF THE WAR. SHES TOUGH AS SHIT BY THIS POINT. im angry and annoyed and sad!!!) lol read if you want though. there are some neat bits (like when theyre in shikkotsu forest) mentions of eye gore, death, and blood (t..tbh.. i ignored all the sasuke bits :V IM SORRY I ONLY THINK THE PARTS WITH SAKURA ARE INTERESTING)

How Team 7 Came to Be by spica_starson

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 40916 // chapters: 5/15 // updated: 10/22/18

What if: -Naruto had reached out to Sasuke earlier on? -Sakura never developed a crush on Sasuke? -The team isn't just a repeat of their predecessor?

What if Team 7 stayed together through thick and thin?

Or: If Team 7 was the focus of the series.

sakura isnt in the first chapter BUT she still gets to be a focal point because of course and the second chapter is dedicated to her. y’all already KNOW im soft for team as family fics!! they’re all best friends and care about each other a lot and im really weak okay. also kakashi loves his new kids. not a cliffhanger! so dont worry if you’re not up for waiting on an update or are like me and prefer reading finished fics! (there’s a separate spinoff one shot, not canon to the original fic, titled Alone set when naruto and sasuke fight on the roof)

Crow’s Disciple by Tobi_Black

ship: none // words: 42135 // chapters: 36/? // updated: 12/9/18

Sakura's just a child, a civilian, considered harmless. No one looks at the pink-haired little girl and sees the kunoichi, the shinobi, that she could become. They don't see the calculating glint in her eyes, nor the claws hidden. They don't see beyond the shy smile and tears. They don't see the loyal heart willing to give everything for those loved. Not yet.

starts off pre academy w sakura nd naruto both in the same orphanage. UGH MY GIRL IS SO SMART and this writing style lends itself so WELL to detail ghghgh// sakura’s bestfriends continue to be blondes and ino fosters a baby crush aa. SHISUI BBY ILY (and asuma gets to be a prominent figure in sakuras life which i hadnt read in a fic before) warnings for violence, death, blood

⭐Dangerous Habits (Dangerous Girl) by Dovey

ship: none // words: 44210 // chapters: 24/? // updated: 11/21/18

After the disasterous mission in Wave, Sakura returns to Konoha with a new drive: she wants to truly earn her spot on Team 7, and be able to protect her teammates. Unfortunately, nobody else seems to be willing to support her new goal, so she resorts to teaching herself: she decides her team needs a medic, and since she doesn’t have the connections or record to earn a place at the hospital, she practices on herself.

AKA the fic where sakura gets to be as dumb and have as little regard for her personal wellbeing as every other Naruto character, & teaches herself how to heal by inflicting & then fixing her own injuries. This deals both with some major changes to the plotline given her new skills, and the overall team dynamic.

starts post wave. sakura gets that kick in the ass to get better and do it fast and she gets to be as reckless as her teammates like she deserves! no one helps her initially but god DAMMIT if shes not gonna do something anyway (flexing her smarts!! shes such a genius and yeah it’s chaotic as hell in this fic but god if it isnt cool) she gets a VERY unhealthy addiction to pain and has to deal with generally negative feelings of self worth.. BUT finds a pal and a friend in gaara :) she gets close to her teammates (sasuke bby… :(((..) and friendly w tenten and tsunade and anko! chapter 12 has a scene w cool imagery// HEFTY (and pretty immediate bc it hits u in the first chapter) warnings for gore, death, self mutilation, misuse of organs (lol), blood, implications of sexual abuse (doesnt happen, the adults are just concerned that thats whats happening and not her. yknow. doing all of uh That)

Unbreakable Company by Shyaway95 and teslatempest

ship: sakura & kakashi // words: 44407 // chapters: 4/15 // updated: 2/5/19

Naruto and Sasuke were gone. Their Village had just begun recovering from the invasion, and every available shinobi was needed. Kakashi knew it was his duty to serve, to leap back into the darkness of ANBU at his Hokage’s command. It was only the thought of pink hair and desperate green eyes that made him pause. Would he abandon his last, remaining student?

He would as soon pluck out his right eye.

They were all that was left of Team Seven and Kakashi was going to make them unbreakable.

set after sasuke defects. HONESTLY kakashi actually doing smthn about his “people who abandon their teammates are worse than scum” saying that he likes to repeat is everything i couldve wanted. sakura deserves all the support in the world and this fic REALLY delivers. this is also a REALLY good fic if you like kakashi and want him to be happy about something. team seven as family is real!! could easily be read as a one shot if you dont wanna wait for updates or read a longer fic!

⭐Early Summer Rain by orlha

ship: none // words: 50063 // chapters: 14/15 // updated: 3/5/19

Having parents doesn’t always mean it’s a good thing and just because scars can’t be seen doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The Chuunin Exams leaves Sakura an orphan and she doesn’t cry.

set post konoha crush. immediate warning for death. sakura has been through a lot and kakashi is a sweetheart. he’s still pretty awkward but his heart is in the right place! god sakura i love you much :((((( shes got a lot of trauma and feelings of inadequacy and it hurts me. sasuke is angrier and naruto continues to be amazing (and i love him for giving sakura smthn to strive for) AND GENMA IS THERE! I LOVE YOU GENMAAA (AND SHIKA)!!! sakura gets praised for her chakra control and god does she deserve it. kakashi gets a clan! and sakura finds herself a family! and inner stays! listen. this shit has me SOBBING. she’s on the road to recovery and getting better everyday and my heart is WARM!! god im so happy this story has me happy stimming at some points ghuhg// warnings for child abuse, mentions of torture, attempted suicide, self harm, relapse, violence, blood, and mentions of eye trauma. there is an ongoing “sequel” with aus based in the early summer rain universe!

Learning Curve by ishiryoku

ship: sakura & team 7 // words: 50529 // chapter: 5/? // updated: 1/14/19

This is the life she chose: the path of the shinobi. It's either roll with the punches or be left behind by her team—and Sakura's not about to let them go off on their own.

starts off during the end of the wave arc. i love the self analyzing in the first chapter and also that wake up call. in a better (more sakura loving) universe this is that turning point that we shouldve gotten :( ALSO CAN I JUST AAA!!! all the little times kakashi is there to reassure her make me wanna fucking BAWL plus this is THE team as family fic i’ve been needing in my life aa GOD sakura just loves her team so muuucccchhh// the tags say mokuton sakura and fuuinjutsu naruto but it’s not there yet! (also naruto get bit, yikes) warnings for lots of dissociation, death, self loathing, paranoia, and trauma

Satori (Between the Lines) by jaylene

ship: none // words: 50665 // chapters: 12/? // updated: 3/3/18

While attending the Academy, Sakura's field experience assignment with the Konohagakure Intelligence Division ends up being more valuable than she'd ever guess.

another fic w/ the concept of interns and adults fostering the growth of ninja kids before they graduate! my girl is constantly flexing her smarts and im so proud! (torune is just a baby who deserved better than canon gave him :() and GOD i love ino!! and so does sakura and she just loves her friends a lot and people in general bc her baby heart is so filled with love and OOF// the aburame are SO interesting im thankful for the focus they get (and the focus on ciphers and T&I and ibiki!) god theyre all kids. just little babies :((( warnings for bullying and manipulation (however unintentional, it doesnt negate the harm caused)

Ties That Bind; Break by Igot2peedou

ship: shikasaku // words: 50931 // chapters: 17/25 // updated: 8/25/18

She severs their ties, decidingly, not because of Sasuke. Well. Not for the reason Ino suspects (but Sakura never clarifies, and that is lying by omission. isn't it?)

~~~

Sakura Haruno can’t help but feel. Not only her emotions but other peoples emotions. She is always prone to crying and for good reason— she can’t shut others emotions and must deal with her own and those closest to her (relationship wise.) Because a painfully tragic incident involving her father’s murder Sakura can no longer handle her “gift” and does the only thing that will stop her suffering.

She commits social suicide, and lets her best friend think she ended their friendship over a boy. This is her story....

au. set when sakura starts her rivalry w ino. sakura can sense emotions??? warning for death mention in first chapter and wow okay thats a lot. sasuke is traumatized and it takes out sakura and oof! this story is so so interesting,, shes stumbling her way through figuring out how her small clan’s blood line(?) works (how it’s more of a hassle than anything) also it gives her a really good disposition to genjutsu which she tries to get better in (she also had an earth affinity plus all of team 7 have a petty rivalry going on) sakura has trauma and goes hard in the exams. warnings for blood, gore, disembowelment, dismemberment, animal and human abuse/death, the rivalry between t7 is baaaaadd,, also disorienting plot twist in chapter 16!

Her Eyes Saw It All by ich_bin_ein_stern

ship: none // words: 63502 // chapters: 13/? // updated: 8/29/18

Sakura can’t recall much of the details regarding the mission in Wave, but what she does remember - there are scars left behind. The life she knows changes after this mission and, for better or worse, she accepts it and moves forward. She won’t allow herself to fall behind.

set during wave au. i love when characters continue to survive due to sheer instinct and pure stubborness. TEAM AS FAMILY!! theyre all so supportive of each other it makes my heart hurt (im soft serving it so hard. theyre SO nice to each other and theyre Actually friends and naruto and sasuke support sakura SO much it makes me cry) sncjf and the nara family is so fucking sweet also MOKUTON!! AND SHE HAS THREE AFFINITIES!!!!! (mokuton is changed here from a kekkei genkai to a learned skill tho) honestly it’s just what she deserves. also sakura is just SO level headed and smooth??? it’s really neat. warning for a healthy dose of death and gore in chp12, it picks up fast

In Death, Life by TeaFourTwo

ship: none // words: 136409 // chapters: 13/? // updated: 3/24/19

Only by reason of having died does one enter into life.

“Sakura. Just Sakura” Thats how they’d introduced her. She knew it was true, she was no longer a Haruno after all, but it didn’t stop the words from feeling like a dull knife in her side.

Or, Sakura goes to the Uchiha compound the night of the massacre and comes away an orphan with more questions than answers.

au starts when theyre babies!!! before ino nd sakura become rivals. baby sakura loves her friends a lot she didnt deserve that :((( super interesting bits tying sakura to the uzumaki?? sasuke.. :( .. sakura is traumatized and doesnt know who her family is and doesnt trust what people say to her (tenten is in the same orphanage as her! naruto too and i love him and i wanna personally hurt everyone who’s ever been mean to him) NARUTO AND SAKURA BEST FRIENDS!!! traitors are everywhere!! and the branch family get me feeling some type of way (can danzo choke.. fr…) the depth given to yin and yang chakra… ops mind…FUCK all the myths and spiritual stuff and how it’s all forgotten history?? UGH im in love/// (tsunade… mom..) warnings for the massacre, death, and blood

⭐Second Bite at the Cherry by Sakinthra

ship: none // words: 142249 // words: 41/? // updated: 3/25/19

There's been a storm brewing inside Sakura ever since Sasuke left to seek out Orochimaru, and the growing realization that she might not be half the shinobi her teammates are. She's always been the one that held back and let the boys finish the job, but it's clear she can't let herself be the weak one any longer. It's time to take her fate into her own hands...and it starts with breaking into a library.

set post sasuke rescue mission. i LOVE the introspection and worldbuilding im such a sucker for it// she gets to make rash and stupid decisions while still flexin her smarts and i am HERE for it!! she questions the state and adds skills to her arsenal (which is. tiny for a long time) shes smart and quick thinking but rash and impulsive so of course leaving the village and convincing ppl she went after sasuke is what she settles on (smh. her heart and heads in the right place bust smh) GAARA BBY I LOVE YOU SO VER MUCH (shukaku.....) (and fine.. i kinda love u too kakashi >:/) theyre a couple of dumb brats trying to help people (sai joins!!!!! his interactions w gaara especially are endearing) (hidan? is a prominent figure? i hate that hes one of my faves...... big fan of the depth given to his religion tho. it's super fascinating) BOIII NARUTO GETS DISILLUSIONED BY JIRAIYA AND GOES TO TSUNADE AND MY HEART IS BEATING OUT OF MY CHEST/// naruto's choice makes me wanna cry and sasukes little intermissions are pretty funny and get interesting (i support u karin!!) theyre dumb kids stumbling into politics and ending up going on a quest to save the world? the way all the pieces shift into place.. how the wheels start turning... the rest of the nine getting involved... poetic cinema.....warnings for death, blood, and decapitation

⭐Five Petals by PrecariousSauce

ship: sasusaku // words: 143900 // chapters: 22/? // updated: 2/6/19

Several things happen all at once in less than a minute’s time.

Sakura’s elbow slams into Sasuke’s side from an angle he doesn’t anticipate, sending him tumbling end over end off the branch.

Sasuke rights himself just a second too late and without checking where he’s going to land– When he does his knee twists, he feels a lightning bolt of pain shoot from his sole to his head, his leg gives out.

And Orochimaru’s teeth sink down to the gum in Sakura’s shoulder.

starts during chunin exams. timeline is followed pretty closely. fic is mostly centered around sasuke and from his perspective but sakura has the most pivotal change (:(). sasuke is cute, sakura is so in over her head, and naruto is naruto. sasuke loves his team a lot :(( and GOD i love when the kids act like kids even though that reminder hurts. sasuke takes up healing!! how cool is that!! AND TSUNADE IS SO FUCKING COOL I LOVE HER!!! and danzo should choke fr..... AND GOD DO I LOVE THE KONOHA 12//// warning for orochimaru, violence, death, and blood

⭐Hoshigaki by writer168

ship: none // words: 168116 // chapters: 32/? // updated: 3/10/19

When Sakura was three, her father told her he was a criminal. When she was seven, the last thing she saw of him was the sword on his back. When she was eight, she had a friend named Kiba. When they were twelve, they met Shino.

And when they were genin, they began to fight for the truth because they could no longer fight for the sake of Konoha.

au. sakura is kisame’s kid! kakuzu.. kinda sucks, konan is alright, pein is really dramatic, and sasori nd orochimaru are awful as per usual. kisame is just doing what he can to be a good dad :((( sakura is real smart and kiba is great and so is shino!! (ily baby) theyre all bestfriends and theyre all a little weird and i love them so much :’) theyre all manipulative little shits and i love them for it (and i love you too naruto) kurenai’s team develops dangerously (really starts to show in chapter 18) honestly this writing style really knows how to keep me absolutely enthralled (hiruzen and danzo.. i’ll kill you with my bare hands) i love kurenai and i love how much she cares abt her team :’( tenzo baby.. be there for them (same at you kotetsu) kisame is a good dad okay!! im not changing my mind on that! orochimaru can choke!!!!! team 8 is a family and theyre ride or die bc theyre really in some deep shit!!! i need the state dismantled and my kids are gonna do great. (bro im so fucking weak for all the world building and symbolism, GOD this fic is written so fucking amazingly) warning for young pregnancy, death, blood, gore, child endangerment, human experimentation, and eye gore/horror

LEFT UNFINISHED

Dirty Family Secrets by orphan_account

ship: none // words: 1431 // chapters: 1/?

Post-Sasuke defection to Orochimaru.

Something feels off about Sakura's parents, but before she can question them about it, they're both gone. She came from a family of civilians, there is no way both her parents were traitors, right?

Kakashi's Apprentice by Right2nowthen

ship: narusasusaku // words: 3440 // chapters: 1/1

In which Kakashi and Sakura hit the road and everything changes.

The Cherry Blossom Blooms Twice by Right2nowthen

ship: none // words: 3666 // chapters: 1/1

Who or what is Inner Sakura? As the fate of the world hinges on this question, Sakura seeks answers...

Today I Choose Joy by Nine_Stoic_Crayolas

ship: none // words: words: 5867 // chapters: 4/? // updated: 8/11/17

Sakura can See certain things. A story about a little girl, a couple of red eyes and Death.

The Company of Trees by theroadkillcafe

ship: none // words: 22646 // chapters: 5/? // updated: 6/7/17

Sakura is bullied, a dead kekkei genkai is reborn, and things go a little bit...differently.

Haruno Sakura and the Heuristic Method by MoofieLou

ship: inosaku // words: 41986 // chapters: 8/? // updated: 6/22/17

The flower that blooms last may catch the wildest wind of them all.

Alternatively: Sakura graduates from the academy, buys herself some anmitsu to celebrate, and arrives home to find her mother being beaten bloody by a thief. Things are different after that.

A heuristic method (/hjᵿˈrɪstᵻk/; Ancient Greek: εὑρίσκω, "find" or "discover"), often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals.

set when the kids graduate. op retconned ino nd sakura rivalry and im thankful they stay best friends warning for violence in chapter 2. theres smthn i love abt blinding panic turned into survival instinct. sakura is prone to anger and i LOVE it!! also her family is fleshed out!! i love sakura so so much shes really snarky and smart (and she becomes kakashis fave! oof!!!) ggg team 7 getting along fills me with icky gooey love/// warnings for violence and blood. this fic hasnt updated in such a long time but it’s so so good and im hurt it left on a cliffhanger :((

Tempest by cywsaphyre

ship: none // words: 45233 // chapters: 6/? // updated: 7/20/12

Back in time and armed with years of future knowledge, Sakura is ready to take the world by storm. Except... she's four again, not twelve. Ah well, nobody said she couldn't start a little early. Gen, time travel, AU, Sakuracentric.

time travel fic but she baby! also oh FUCK my heart is melting naruto is baby and sakura wants her boys to be happy this time :’( and also ino is baby and i love her. GOD theyre all four years old and babies and sasuke is so cute and my heart huuuurrtss :’((((( my baby girl is so smart and she loves strongly and theyre all little brats acting like kids and im soft (team 10 feelings..) (and sakura is Literally preventing a massacre bc she fucking rules) MY TEAM SEVEN LOVE MUSCLES ARE FLEXING!! warning for mentions of trauma, mentions of kidnapping, blood, and death. this fic hasnt updated since 2012 though like.. *incomprehensible*

A Lot of Fight Left in Me by Stormwind13

ship: none // words: 73814 // chapters: 12/? // updated: 10/29/17

Sasuke deserted the village. Naruto is being taken away for his own safety. Sakura is left with the broken remains of her team and a teacher that's barely in the village, but she'll find a way to make this work. She has to, because all those lectures about teamwork had to mean something. Didn't they?

this fic hasnt updated in a while but it's so good :((( team 7 is in shambles and sakura just wants a teacher and to get better (i love iruka...) OH! and i love how close the konoha 12 are:) i love the little worldbuildy bits that give depth to the village. theres lots of ocs and a mini uzushio (that sakuras a part of!!) it's super interesting but hasnt updated since 2017 and i checked and this fic was the most recently updated fic op has :((((( it's still a good length and a great read but leaves at a cliffhanger which isnt as bad if you stop at the last break. warning for violence

#naruto #naruto shippuden #sakura #sakura haruno #pro sakura haruno #pro sakura #sakura centric #sakura haruno fics #fic recs #post #lol @ all the tags i put on this #im literally so in love with sakura as a character like. this is a love letter #HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL

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def-ace-ing-it · 5 years

Text

Safe and Sound

Pairings: Platonic Logince (though it can be read as romantic)

Summary: Logan walks out into the middle of a snowstorm and makes it to Roman's house, who fusses over him for the next few hours.

Warnings: Mentions and references to verbal/physical abuse, hypothermia, cursing (you can blame Roman for this), death mentions (nobody dies), food mentions (Tell me if I need to add anything else!)

Author’s note: Considering it took me three days to make, I'm really proud of it.

Word count: 2200

***

He knew it was a stupid idea to go outside. He knew that his actions wouldn't have affected anyone but himself. He knew his parents wouldn't go looking for him, they were better off without him as they said. He knew it was going to snow. He knew a thin jacket wouldn't protect him, but did he listen to logic at that time?

No, Logan did not.

He drew what little he could of his thin, red jacket that was a few sizes too big around himself as he trudged through the ankle-high snow. Another round of shivers wracked his small frame as the wind continued to howl, the snow landing on his glasses made it hard to see. Logan couldn't tell how long he had been walking in the snow for, he didn't really have a destination, but he really wished he did know beforehand. Maybe he wouldn't be out here, in the cold. Maybe he would be in his warm room, with his warm blankets, in his warm bed. So what if he was beaten worse than he was currently, as long as he wasn't in the center of a fucking snow storm like he was now, he would gladly take the bruises and the small cuts over the sharp pangs of the cold on his face.

He let out a sharp and shaky breath as another burst of freezing wind assaulted his exposed skin. He curled in upon himself, trying to pull as much of his skin together to keep as much heat as he could, which was rapidly leaving his body.

“Shih…” Logan slurred out, shivering more than he has been in the past few minutes. He looked up, trying to see if he saw any form of shelter, he would take anything at this point, a cardboard box sounded very welcoming. Though his vision was heavily obscured by the fluffy onslaught of snow, he could faintly make out the beginning of a street name.

‘Pasrose lane… That sounds familiar- wait, Roman lives here!’ Logan quickly lit up and attempted to walk faster. Which lead to him slipping on ice and scraping his hand. He hissed out a few select words, before slowly limping toward the house that felt so familiar to him that he may have just lived there his entire life. He almost slipped up the stairs as he made it to the porch. He raised a shaky hand and knocked on the door. He stood there for a second, hands curled tight around his middle and wincing as the wind pushed at his form, wrapping him in a bitter and chilled embrace.

The door made a few clicking sounds before opening partially, revealing a very groggy and confused Roman.

“Hello?” Logan leaned over towards the opening, letting Roman see who it was. His eyes went from confusion to concern, then panic, “Lo?! What are you doing here! Did you walk- no, never mind, get the fuck in here-” Roman opened the door further, letting both Logan and the cold air into the expanse of the living room. The moment Roman looked back at Logan after closing and locking the door, Logan had already collapsed onto the ground, shivering up a storm. Roman picked up Logan into his arms and carried him into his room, setting the smallest of the two on the bed as he sorted through his drawers.

“Here,” he held out a pile of clothes, that were much drier than what Logan was currently wearing, “it's not much, but it's better than the soaking ones you're wearing. I'll go get some blankets and stuff, you stay here. Alright?” Logan mumbled out a soft reply, making Roman frown slightly before he left the room.

Logan sluggishly changed into the warm and soft clothes that Roman handed him. He almost melted into a puddle as the warmth from the clothes sunk into his skin that desperately craved it. He didn't notice when Roman had entered the room until he felt something being sat in his lap and something being wrapped around his shoulders, “Here we are, you should warm up in no time!” He reached down and messed with the cord to the thing on Logan's lap, clicking a button a few times before leaving it be and sat on the bed beside him.

The next twenty minutes or so were silent as Logan slowly melted into the warmth surrounding him and Roman fidgeted with the plush he grabbed off his desk. It wasn't long until Logan started to shrug off the blanket cocoon he was swaddled in. Roman jumped to his feet and started messing with the blankets he shrugged off, “No, no, you are not taking these off. I am not having you die on me.” Logan frowned.

“Roman, I am fine. My temperature is back to normal, there is little to no chance of me dying. You're exaggerating beyond the realm of current possibilities again.”

“You could have though!” Roman took a deep breath, “Just… Stay here, please? I'm going to go get you a drink, a hot one, don't you dare move.” Roman didn't look up from the ground and just walked out of the room.

Roman trudged down the hall, clenching and unclenching his fists. He let out a sigh and reached into the cabinet, pulling out a container of hot chocolate powder. He scooped some powder into a mug then put it into the coffee machine and poured water into the top. He sat on the counter, putting his head in his hands and sighed. ‘Why is he so goddamn stubborn?’ Roman dragged his hands down his face and looked at his palms, ‘Who am I kidding, of course he is. This is Logan we're talking about.’ He got off the counter, grabbing the mug and a spoon and started to stir as he walked back to his room.

Logan was still in the same spot when he came into the room, which Roman as grateful for. "Here, be careful, it's very hot.” Roman handed the drink to Logan, who took it and set it on the desk for it to cool.

“Thank you, Roman, I really appreciate this.” Logan made eye contact with Roman, who responded with a sound from the back of his throat. They sat there in a somewhat uncomfortable silence as Logan sipped at the hot chocolate, he was the first to break the silence, “I mean it, Roman, thank you, for everything.”

“It's fine, lets just go to sleep, alright? We'll deal with everything else when we wake up.” Roman removed the blankets from Logan's shoulders, tossing them into a pile on the floor and pulled back the covers. Logan begrudgingly got under the blankets and curled up into a ball. He jumped as he felt something touch the top of his head, “Shit, sorry, that was me.”

“It's alright, I just didn't realize it was you, as ridiculous of a notion that it is.”

“It's not ridiculous, Pocket Protector, I should have warned you.” Logan huffed in response, rolling his eyes, “Also,” Roman reached over Logan's head again and pulled off his glasses, “you forgot to take these off. Again.”

“What if I wanted to keep them on?” Logan shifted, turning to face Roman, who was smirking at him.

“You wouldn't do that. It would be-” Roman cleared his throat, shifting around until he was sitting up slightly, with the straightest and most monotone face he could manage, “-highly illogical, why would I possibly do that, blah blah blah.” He lifted the glasses to his face then stuck his tongue out before bursting into his loud and booming laugh.

Logan struggled to keep a straight face, “I absolutely despise you.”

“Sure you do.” Logan let out a small chuckle and scooted a little closer to Roman, who wrapped an arm around him, “Let's get some sleep, okay?” Logan nodded and scooted even closer to Roman’s chest, pressing his ear close enough to hear the other’s heartbeat. The soft ‘bu-dum’ slowly lulling him into a deep slumber.

Roman awoke to a lack of warmth in his arms and the smell of something cooking wafting through the air. He slowly slipped out of bed and padded his way down the hallway. He leaned on the framework of the kitchen, looking in on whoever was cooking. Logan stood there, messing with something on the stove, and if Roman listened closely, he could've heard a faint humming from him. Roman moved himself so he was in a more visible spot in the doorway. Logan turned his head slightly in acknowledgment of the other, “Good morning, Roman. I presume you slept well?”

Roman hummed, crossing his arms before responding, “Morning, I slept fine, a little disappointed when I woke up without a certain sleeping nerd, y’know, like he should have been.”

“You are, quite literally, a human space heater. If I were to stay there, I'm very sure I would have melted.” Logan quipped, giving Roman a playful glare, “Besides, I didn't get the chance to eat much last night before I walked here, so I was quite hungry.” Roman furrowed his eyebrows, frowning a little.

“You know that you could always just stay here, permanently, right? I could go get your stuff for you and bring it here, it's not like you don't already sleep and eat here most nights. My dads wouldn't even notice the difference!”

“Roman… You know I can't do that.” Logan looked down at his feet that were covered by fluffy black socks.

“But why not?” Roman questioned, “You always say that it's because of your parents, but, listen, Lo. They let you walk into the negative sixteen degree snowstorm in just a thin jacket that I gave you! At this point, they may as well just be called your ‘birth givers’! They barely do jack shit besides beat you-” Roman shuddered, “-and put you down, they aren't anything like what a parent should be. Hell, Patton is a better father than yours is, and he's the same age as us!” He let out a shaky breath, forcing back tears, “I don't know if you know how scary it was, Logan. To see you out the snow, looking deader than a decaying corpse, practically dead on your feet and being pushed around by the wind. And you just looked so cold, Lo, you crumpled to the ground out of pure exhaustion the moment you stepped into the living room. I was genuinely scared, I thought, if I hadn't heard you knocking on the door, you could have died. Hell, I still thought you were going to die even when I put you under as many blankets as I could.”

Logan was stunned into silence, looking up at Roman. His shoulders drooped and he started to shake a little bit, “I-... I’m sorry for worrying you, Roman, I just… Just-” He clenched his eyes shut before opening them, a single tear escaping his eye, “I don't know anymore.” The floodgates burst and Logan was sobbing, collapsing to the ground for the second time in the last twenty four hours.

Roman immediately rush over and knelt in front Logan, drawing the other one into his lap, back pressed up against the cabinet, “It's okay, Logan, just let it all out. I'll stay right here.” He reached up and brought a hand up to the back of the others head, slowly moving it to the crook of Roman's neck. He started to run his fingers through the hair Logan had pushed back, messing it up slightly. Logan shuddered at the caring gesture, the tears flowing a bit more. The whimpers that drew from his mouth became few and far between. His tears tampered off as the the toxins left his system.

Roman spoke first, “You feel any better?”

Logan nodded, “Yes, I am feeling much better. I almost forgot how necessary it is for humans to cry.” Roman chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“That is such a you thing to say,” Roman pressed his face into the top of Logan's head, “good to see your back to your nerdy self.”

“I detest your entire being.”

“Sure you do, Specs.” They sat there on the floor, completely forgetting about the food on the stove that was surely burnt, in a comfortable silence, “Logan?”

“Yes?”

“I promise you that I will always be by your side. In face of whatever danger that finds us, I will protect you from as much harm as possible. Whether it may be your parents, or some other foul beast, I will help you get through it.”

Logan tensed a little before relaxing into Roman's grip again, a few more tears escaping. He spoke shakily, not one removing his head from the place it was coaxed into, “Thank you… Thank you so much-” A small and weak sob broke from his mouth, his hand grasped at some of Roman's shirt and held on tight as the second onslaught of tears began. Roman just placed a hand on the smaller man’s back at began to rub in circles.

“It's no problem, Lo. I'll stay here for as long as you need me.”

#logan sanders #roman sanders #logince #kats writing hell

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georgiautz4184-blog · 5 years

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46ten · 5 years

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Henry Knox and Lucy Flucker Knox, part 2

Part 1 here, portraits of them here.

WARNING: this is not the entirety of the content of their letters - only a very small part. In posting these quotes, I run the risk of leaving the impression that their communication with each other is all melodramatic neediness (or beautiful heart-aching romance, OMMV). I assure that this is a minor component of their letters to each other, but the part that for reasons of 1) language, 2) social conventions, 3) marriage dynamics, interest me the most on this blog.

In reading a few other summaries of the character of Lucy Flucker Knox, there's a pretty consistent criticism that she's overly emotional - overwrought, anxious, needy. Accusations of this type happen frequently enough with women of the 18th century that I question whether this is an accurate description of individual women, or whether women felt free, or rather were encouraged, to express themselves in such ways as part of the sensibility culture. We're bound to a significant degree by social constraints and expectations in our own culture (think the “Cool Girl" trope).

It begins to wear me out to read of upperclass 18th century white women described as, “intelligent,” as though that would be a shocking thing. These women were educated and typically well-read. The fate of this education was to be a worthy companion to a wealthy man (including assisting him with his career in all the ways that could be meant), manage his household, rear proper and dutiful children, and serve the kingdom/republic through the first three. But they were expected to be smart.

Complaining about letters just seems to be a thing. Which is better for making your wife feel guilty about NOT writing you: AH’s “I was extremely disappointed, My Dear Eliza, that the Mondays post did not bring me a letter from you. You used to keep your promises better. And you know that I should be anxious to hear of your health. If the succeeding post does not rectify the omission of the former I shall be dissatisfied and pained” OR HK’s “I am unhappy that I do not hear from you. Post arrives after post and no letters from her I love to distraction. I have made so many conjectures upon this subject that I am weary of them and shall not give myself the trouble to write them to you.”

The Knoxes were spending ALOT of time apart, and when one considers that they were still in the newlywed phase when war began for them, and only married three years (and much of that time spent apart) by the summer of 1777, I think it’s natural for Lucy to wonder if Henry’s affection/passion for her has faded, especially as she recounts that she’s heard of other wives who are with their husbands for the military campaigns, and yet Henry seems to never request for her to be near (largely because of deprivations that the other wives have experienced that he chooses not to write to her about for fear she’ll find it upsetting). This was compounded by the loss of her own family.

There are so many great phrases in these letters. Lucy: “I imagine by this time you have almost forgot my very looks and, if perchance my name is mentioned, you cry what have we to do with women...why should I wish for his company who is indifferent, whether he lives at four hundred miles distance or not.” And Henry: “I have in every former Letter express'd the true genuine feelings of my heart in the most tender expressions of which I was capable.” Here’s a man engaged in Important Things (military matters) and clearly exasperated, but his reaction is not to rebuke her but to remind her that there is no more important matter to him than her. [See also my old post about manhood that has links to other posts about sensibility and emotional expressiveness. It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of being considered a “good husband” as a sign of one’s manhood and masculinity in this society.]

BTW. his convincing her of his “ardency” later yields four kids in four years.

ca Jan1777 Lucy Knox to Henry Knox I am sick at heart, low spirited and almost indifferent whether I live or die. Had I no friends I suppose I should not take it so hard, but when I reflect that I have a father and a mother, sisters and Brother, and yet am this poor neglected thing, I cannot bear it. As for you, I love you. I underwent almost every distress for the sake of being yours, and you forsake me. My poor dear father I must never see again. When I reflect upon his excessive tenderness for me when a child, upon the thousand times he has helped me and prayed god to make me the comfort of his age, I am half distressed and yet believe me, dear Harry, I cheerfully remained the best of partners and would do it again and again to live to be with you. But this you refuse me. I have been confined to my room almost a week, have been alone most time, and have given myself up to the Horror of the situation.

10Jan 1777 HK to LK Believe me my Love I live, move & exist only for you. In the greatest hurry and confusion of War, you are uppermost in my thoughts, my heart is yours altogether. My Country demands my poor pittance to endeavor to rescue her from Barbarity, Tyranny, & every misery consequent on an unlimited, uncheck'd power....My Lucy, I'm well asurr'd does not wish her Harry to be ignominiously inactive during this great contest, a Contest of Virtue with vice. My heart suffers pain, exquisite pain, in being separated from you. It sympathizes, feels & weeps with yours, & often pours forth a pious petition to the great author of all things to support & comfort you. Yes my Lucy our Love is I hope & perfectly believe mutual & will increase & in one degree to another untill time shall be swallowed upon eternity....

6March1777 HK to LK ...I knew not untill now (shall I call it weakness) how dear you were to me and how necessary to my happiness.

18March1777 LK to HK It greaves me to think you are embarked in a cause so wretchedly managed. Farewell my dearest hope....Remember the sweet hours you have passed with [your Lucy], remember the thousand proofs of affection we have mutually received, and also remember that she loves you truly, sacredly.

23 Aug1777, LK to HK ......When I seriously reflect that I have lost my father, Mother, Brother and Sisters, entirely lost them, I am half distracted. True, I cheerfully resigned them for one far dearer to me than all of them, but I am totally deprived of him. I have not seen him for almost six months, and he writes me without pointing at any method by which I may ever expect to see him again. ‘Tis hard, my Harry, indeed it is. I love you with the tenderest the purest affection. I would undergo any hardship to be near you and you will not let me. Suppose this campaign should be, like the last, carried into the winter. Do you intend not to see me in all that time? Tell me dear what your plan is.... I am more distressed from the hot weather than any other fears. You grant you may not go farther southward; if you should I positively will come too…

I love you with a love as true and as ever entered the human heart, but from a difference of my own merit, I sometimes fear you will love me less – after being so long from me – if you should, may my life end before I know it – that I may die thinking you wholly mine.

18Sept1777 LK to HK I omited writing until this morning in hopes to have received something from you by the post, but to my great disappointment, I had not a line....I would write more had I time, but you have no reason to complain as in the last fortnight I have forwarded six or seven letters.

6Oct1777 HK to LK I expect the post will arrive this day by which I shall have the happiness of hearing from my dear Girl.

15Oct1777 HK to LK I have received your short Letter for Doctor Lulling, but am extremely sorry to observe that two posts have arrived here by whom I have not received a single Line. It is impossible that my Lucy should have known of the circumstances of the posts going from Boston, otherwise she would have written to the man who adores her. Nothing gives me half so much pain as not hearing from you by the same medium which other people hear from their friends in Boston. I mean not to complain, but hope you will not give me the reason for [it in] the future.

29Oct1777 HK to LK I am unhappy that I do not hear from you. Post arrives after post and no letters from her I love to distraction. I have made so many conjectures upon this subject that I am weary of them and shall not give myself the trouble to write them to you.

3Nov1777 HK to LK I have but ten minutes to write to her whom I love with all the power and faculties of my soul. ...I have received no Letter from you Since the 3rd ultimo altho I have written regularly by the [post] and as often by private hands as was in my power. Write me the reason of all this my Lucy.

6Nov1777 LK to HK My All in life, I wish to write my Harry a very long letter by this post, but it is not in my power. I was last evening [seized\ with that afflicting pain at my stomach...You again in this letter of the 22nd of October, acuse me of neglecting to write by three posts, and impute it to please or negligence. My pleasures, God knows, are very few, and neglecting you is a thing I never shall be guilty of. The reason of my not writing by these posts was that they brought no Letters from the army. I imagine by this time you have almost forgot my very looks and, if perchance my name is mentioned, you cry what have we to do with women. Out of the last sixteen months we have not been six weeks together, and it is now eight months since we parted, a circumstance which I dare say you never think of or you would some times mention it in your letters. But alas, what a change from the happy days I have seen. Begone my foolish tears, why should I wish for his company who is indifferent, whether he lives at four hundred miles distance or not. We have a report that Genl Howe has met the fate of Genl Burgoine. If that is true, do you think you can content yourself to return to my arms. If you can, may god almighty soon place you there is the prayer of your unhappy wife.

7Nov1777 HK to LK The happiness your Last letter for the 25th Ultimo gave me was almost infinite, after not having had a line from you for a month. Did you know what pleasure and satisfaction Your Letters did me, you would spend much of Your time in writing and send them when you had opportunity. That kind providence which brought us together did not do it before our souls were previously form'd for our mutual happiness. ...I bless the day which heaven made You mine and I hope that providence which brought us together will give me an opportunity by a long connection of convincing you with a pure ardent affection how much I love and esteem You.

25Nov1777 HK to LK (he's finally gotten her 6Nov letter) I am unhappy to the last degree that you should suppose in the least that my affection for you is diminished. My God knows how much I suffer for Your sake, how much anxiety I go thro. This you may rely upon my dearest Love that I have no other affection on earth that bears the least Competition with that I have for you, that my being in the service is part of that affection. I have said so much on this subject of my being in the army that it is impossible I should add any thing further on the subject. I am yours wholly and entirely, and Wish to have no other Love. The greatest happiness I have is the Contemplation of when I shall enjoy in the [illegible] of my lovely Lucy. Be assur'd, my dearest Girl, that no earthly object shall ever separate me from you after this matter shall be once happily settled. I shall by the Grace and permission of God see you this Winter when I shall endeavor to convince you with all my ardency, I am your affectionate Harry.

2Dec1777 HK to LK ...I have in every former Letter express'd the true genuine feelings of my heart in the most tender expressions of which I was capable...In short, my Lucy, no man on earth separated from all that he holds Dear on earth has ever suffered more than I have suffered in being absent from you whom I hold dearer than every other object. I have told you this so often and with all the sincerity which God ever infused into the human heart. I am unhappy at the Contents of your Letter and am very sorry to say that unhappiness will still lay [with] me until heaven shall bless me with your society....[The Truth that he will call upon God to judge] is that there was never a purer and more ardent affection than what I profess for you, and that I carry this delicacy of affection so far as to be indifferent indeed to all the rest of your sex, even to a degree not justifiable by good manners. I wish you my dearest Love to reflect seriously on what I have written and believe it as seriously as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But however much you have pained me I should be extremely unhappy to give you the least pain, but in one moment of inadvertence you have written [words] which will long be the source of unhappiness to me.

Quotes from The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox by Phillip Hamilton

#Henry Knox #Lucy Flucker Knox #18th century marriage #18th century letters #letters #marriage

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vickypoochoices · 5 years

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Christmas Countdown part 4.

Days 11-15.

[MASTERLIST.]

Day 16.

“ZIG! Coffee! Pleaseeeeee. I'll get on my knees and beg!” She flopped half way over the empty counter melodramatically, barely flinching as her cheek squished against the cool surface

It was barely 7am and she'd fled the apartment in a sleep deprived haze, having grown fed up with laying awake, staring at the ceiling and praying she'd finally succumb to the exhaustion. She'd drained her phone battery listening to every single piece of white noise ever created and calming lullabies that had the opposite affect when they failed to do the job in hand, instead pulling her from her bed in a rage.

“Uhh hey, can I help?” She sprang upright at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, eyes scrunching closed. It's okay, don't panic. When you open your eyes you'll see Zig, not some strange barista.

Peeling open just the one eye initially, she felt a rush of warmth flood her cheeks as an unknown barista gawked back at her incredulously.

Clearing her throat, she desperately tried to compose herself. And then a hearty chuckle gained her attention, exaggerated clapping following.

“Oh Trev, that was gold! Thanks for covering man.” Zig joined them, face filled with glee.

As the other barista walked out to the back, she rounded on Zig, pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

“Just what the hell was that shit Ortega?” She demanded.

Zig offered his trademark smirk over his shoulder, as he busied himself with a machine.

“That? Well I was just outside having a smoke before the big morning rush hits, and then you decided to make my entire morning with that little episode.”

“I hate you.” She mumbled, resuming her position sprawled out on the counter, this time bumping her head against the cool surface a few times for good measure.

“Aww don't be like that. You can't stay mad at me, I made your favourite.”

“We'll see about that.” She scoffed, sitting up straight and reaching for her drink.

“I've made you the same drink every morning for the last year…”

She scowled at him, before taking a tentative sip of scalding coffee. She felt a warm rush overcome her whole body as she struggled to keep her face impassive.

“This is...Eurgh I can't lie, this is glorious Zig.” She relented, suppressing a shudder as she took another sip, her body overjoyed at the caffeine consumption.

He grinned at her reaction, head nodding, her response entirely as he had expected.

“Hard night or tough morning?”

“Yes. Tick. All of the above.” She slumped forward, words muffled against the counter.

A sharp ding rang out from the doorway, a cold breeze sweeping in, prompting her to huddle closer to the steaming cup in hand. Zig let out a barely there sigh as a small group of people edged closer to him.

“Looks like I'm needed. I hope you get some sleep. Or figure out whatever's eating you. Or...well you never really said what was wrong. Just...Keep swimming?”

She felt herself thaw a little bit, a giggle managing to slip out.

“You are such a dork. Thanks Zig. I'll just swim home now.”

She quietly collected herself, slipping past the small line of people that had already started to form.

As she reached for the handle of the door, her attention caught sight of the shop window. The bottom half of it was lined with paper, the same words repeated on each piece. She must have been more desperate for coffee than she realised before if she walked past this without even noticing. She felt herself gravitate towards the posters, feeling overwhelmed with the sudden knowledge that this was for her.

Day Sixteen - I am in love with a memory. I am in love with a future. I am in love with possibility. I am in love with you x.

Her vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought to keep them at bay. Reading over the words again and again, she tried desperately to memorize them, wanting to think back on them when she was in a better frame of mind.

Realising she was a partial obstruction in the doorway, she pulled herself together and out into the bitterly cold winter morning.

She shuffled along the pathway home, repeating the words constantly, until she came to a halt in front of a street light. Plastered around the base of the light was a copy of the poster, same words sprawled over the paper.

Looking up and into the distance of her route home, her eyes focused, and she counted four street lights and two information signs, the same poster clearly visible even from where she stood. He'd had a busy morning!

Continuing on at a steady pace, she reached the large statue that stood in the middle of campus, her mouth gaping open at the sight in front of her. It was covered head to toe in posters. How was that even possible? How on Earth did he make it all the way to the top? And is that James?!

He was stood, gloved fingertips smoothly running over the words, adoration etched on his face, oblivious to her presence.

“Looks like someone's got it bad.” Her voice was soft and low, yet James still stumbled backwards, clearly startled.

“So that's what a heart attack feels like. I always did wonder.” He exhaled loudly, tightly clutching on to his chest.

She raised an eyebrow in his direction. “If that's what you spend your time thinking about then I have to say, I'm a little concerned about you.”

He let out a low rumble, his broad smile proving to be infectious as she broke out into a grin of her own.

Taking a step closer, his eyes glossed over as he took the words in once more. Watching him intensely, she noticed his eyes shift awkwardly from the statue back to her.

Tugging on the scarf tightly wound around his neck, recognition finally set in. He was nervous. Had she just caught him admiring his own handy work?

Day 17.

“Can you even be in love with someone without knowing who they are? This guy could show up on Christmas day, have two heads, no teeth, a few extra limbs, and I’d still want to marry him!” Zack swooned.

“Oh God, well what if that does happen and I can’t find it in me to love him? Does that make me a terrible person?”

“The guy went all Spiderman and scaled a huge statue for you. He could have died for you! Are you really telling me you’ll turn him down after that?” Zack pointed a finger angrily in her direction.

“Zack you need to chill! We said we were having a crisis chat, let’s do this.” Kaitlyn said, standing in the middle of them both.

They both grumbled in response, heads reluctantly nodding.

“Now then, I may have got a bit carried away, but I’ve actually been working on this for a few days…” Kaitlyn continued, as she fumbled around the back of the sofa.

“Is that a binder? And are those highlighters?”

Kaitlyn clutched the binder tight to her chest, back turned to them as a touch of pink splashed her cheeks.

“You don’t have post it notes in there do you?” Zack queried, attempting to peer into the binder.

“Errr no?”

“You sure about that? You don’t sound it.”

“Okay you two, this isn’t helping, let’s move on.”

“Fine. But I’m adding you to the suspect list.” Zack retorted, eyes narrowed at Kaitlyn.

“Come on then. Where do we start with this? Tell us what you’ve got Kaitlyn.”

“I think we can narrow this down to three people. Chris, James and Zig.”

“And Kaitlyn. And Edgar.”

“No to both of those.” Kaitlyn worked hard to not give Zack the reaction she knew he craved.

“I agree.” She replied, before Zack could start up another argument.

“Fine. Be boring. Okay so Chris, James and Zig it is. Everyone knows you and Chris were together that first year.”

“We weren’t ever official and it wasn’t the whole year!”

“Well maybe that’s it! What if Chris always wanted it to be official and never wanted to break it off?”

“I hate to agree with Zack, but he’s basically just covered my Chris theory.” Kaitlyn added, ignoring Zack’s attempts at a fist bump.

“Hmm. Okay, who’s next?”

“Next we have my personal front runner, James. He’s always had a thing for you. He stepped back when you were with Chris, maybe he was waiting for the right moment? And do I even need to bring up the fake fiancee plot twist? I bet he secretly wishes it had all been real.” Kaitlyn chatted animatedly, pausing a few times to point out notes she’d made, and even a sketch of an obnoxiously large diamond ring.

“So that just leaves Zig.”

“Ahh Zigmund. Zig Zag. The Ziggster. Zig-azig-ahh.”

She raised her eyebrows at Kaitlyn, perplexed.

“Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Zig is a dark horse. Quiet, brooding type on the outside, but I reckon if we were to knock him out and crack him open he’d be all sweetness and light inside.”

“You couldn’t have just said he was a total babe?” Zack’s face screwed up in disgust.

“Well sure but he’s so much more. So here’s the thing, you and Zig were having a bit of fun before all that drama at my gig right? I know you’ve made up, but you never kissed and made up. What if Zig is harbouring strong feelings for you?”

“Okay.”

“Okay? That’s all you’ve got? This took me hours, there’s still so much more we could go over.” Kaitlyn whined.

“Who do you think it is?” She blinked, cutting to the chase.

“I told you, my money is on James. Aside from all the reasons I already gave you, these are big romantic gestures, someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to make this perfect. Strikes me as the kind of thing James would be good at.”

“And I think it’s Chris. I remember how he used to look at you, and come to think of it, I’m certain he still does. Plus, he’s definitely up to something, that guy has been glued to his phone recently.” Zack added, nudging her gently in the side.

“Looks like I’m Team Zig then.” She smirked, teasing them both with a wink.

Zack sprang to his feet and rushed towards the door as a loud knock sounded out.

“Can I change my vote? I’m with Kaitlyn, because this right here is screaming out James’s name.”

He carefully retraced his steps, handing over a large glass candle, a bottle of bubble bath and a box of pretty bath bombs, trusty post it note stuck to the side.

Day Seventeen - The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it x.

“Yep. That is so James.” Kaitlyn muttered, as she read the note over her shoulder.

Days 18-19.

Tagging: @zigortega4life @emerald-bijou @krsnlove @darley1101 @syltti78 @mrsdrakewalkerblog @jared2612

#choices: stories you play #play choices #christmas fanfiction #fanfic #zig ortega #chris powell #james ashton #the freshman

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takingcourage · 6 years

Text

The Start of Forever - Part 1

Pairing: Drake x MC

Word Count: 2,661

Series Summary: The wedding has passed and the Duke and Duchess of Valtoria are free to begin their lives together away from the constraints of court. While honeymooning in Texas, they’re confronted with questions from their past that raise implications about their future.

Chapter Summary: Drake and Jena arrive in Texas and enjoy the first night of their honeymoon.

Note: This is the first multi-chapter story I have written in years, and I’m using it as an excuse to try some new things. I have completed the first draft of this series, so I’m not looking for plot suggestions, but I would be glad to hear any constructive criticism regarding characterization, pacing, or anything else that stands out as you. Thanks so much for reading!

No matter how she tried, Jena Wittman-Walker could not stop the grin that split her face. Her heart was so light that she could have sworn it had abandoned the rest of her body during the recent descent into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and was still hovering somewhere above the Atlantic. Attempting to control herself, she rubbed her excess excitement into her husband’s forearm.

“Are you trying to give me a rug burn, Wittman?” he joked lightly, squinting as he turned toward her.

She rolled her eyes, determined not to dignify the question with further response. “I don’t know how you could sleep through that flight. I’m so jittery.”

“We’ve been traveling for over sixteen hours. I don’t know how you’re still awake.” Despite the traces of jet lag and slumber, Drake looked more at ease than she had seen him in months. His hair was disheveled and his five o’ clock shadow had grown out noticeably in the two days since their wedding, but she loved the more rugged look. Jena flushed with warmth as she remembered the feeling of his stubble on her lips...and other places. She sucked in a quick breath. If she kept thinking like that, they’d be taking a detour to the lavatory before disembarking. In the interest of making it to their cabin before nightfall, she shook those thoughts from her mind before they could become too well lodged.

“They were sixteen hours well spent,” she reminded, nodding for emphasis. “We’ve made it to the U.S. and no one in Cordonia is the wiser. If we’d taken Liam up on that private jet offer, there’d be paparazzi waiting to meet us on the tarmac.”

Drake groaned dramatically at the thought, but his tone was jovial. “This is what I get for marrying a duchess.”

“That’s not all you get,” she corrected with a suggestive glint in her eye.

“We’re still on a plane, Wittman. A very public plane.” In spite of his words, she could see his brown eyes darkening with desire.

Carefully, so as not to attract the notice of the passengers around them, Jena slid her hand under the fabric of his white t-shirt. She defiantly held his gaze as her fingers plunged downward to skim the waistband of his underwear. The hunger in his eyes only increased the desire that pooled in her stomach, and she bit her lip to refocus her attention. She was playing with fire, but she couldn’t resist. He was finally hers and they were away from all of the prying eyes that had been fixed on them since news of the engagement had broken. She planned to make the most of the time they had together.

Drake leaned in toward her, so close that his dark hair tangled with her own honeyed locks. “Mrs. Walker,” warmth coursed through her frame at his use of her new name -- a reminder that they had finally made it. She was his and he was hers: this was their forever. He continued huskily, quite aware of the effect his words had on his wife. “You. Are. A...Flirt.” The last word was punctuated by a quick peck to her ear before he pulled back to his seat.

The mood broken, Jena tugged her hand back to her lap and assumed the air of a woman who had been slighted beyond belief. “You’ve literally known that since the day you met me. Did you seriously think I was working in that bar because I liked the decor?”

A friendly ding resonated through the cabin as the fasten seatbelt icon faded from green to black, and her question went unanswered.

“That’s our cue.” Drake unhooked the buckle, surveying the traffic flow before him. It wasn’t a full flight, and they’d had exceptionally good fortune to have the row all to themselves. With any luck, they’d be off the plane within the next five minutes.

Jena cinched the top of her travel bag, doing one final scan of the seat around her. Satisfied, she leaned forward to rest her cheek against Drake’s shoulder. Her chest swelled with a reminder of how much she loved this man.

By all accounts, their formal wedding had been stunning -- the sort of thing that Trend Magazine and CBC would spend days unpacking and spinning into new narratives. Just the sheer amount of heraldry and custom had been almost enough to overwhelm her. So many times throughout the day, she’d found herself grateful for the small ceremony they’d had the evening before. Forever in her mind, their real wedding would be the one on top of the cliffside -- the one she wanted to remember.

Looking back, Jena was proud of what they had accomplished. She had no regrets, but all the money in the world could not entice her to do it again. At the end of the day, the “show” wedding hadn’t mattered to her at all. All that mattered was the man standing in front of her. That very man was joining her on a long-overdue vacation.

She’d had the idea while they were still in Lythikos, and Drake had agreed to her suggestion readily. After the whirlwind tours around the world, they both wanted something simple for the honeymoon. When Jena suggested going to Texas, they’d both latched onto the idea, fostering it as a secret hope in the moments when they needed a glimpse of the future to cling to. There had been many of those moments, Jena considered.

Drake glanced back at her with an easy smile, breaking into her train of thought. “Ready, Wittman?”

“Ready to spend a week with alone with my brand-new husband? You know I am.” She flashed him an exaggerated smile and hefted her backpack, following him out into the aisle.

Some time later, Jena startled awake against the window of their rental car. “Can I help with directions?” she blurted almost subconsciously, still half asleep and feeling guilty for having dozed.

Drake turned his head away from the road just long enough to shoot her an incredulous glance. “Is that a serious question?”

She offered him a bashful smile before a yawn overtook her features. “How has it only been twelve hours since we flew out of Cordonia?”

“It’s been more than twenty, Wittman.”

“You know what I mean,” she protested, considering the time curiously. “We’ve still got a lot of night left, and a cabin all to ourselves.” Jena hoped he could see her waggling eyebrows through the growing darkness.

“It’s about 4:00 a.m. body time and you’ve slept a grand total of ten minutes today. As soon as we get to the cabin, you’re going to crash.”

Another yawn came over her before she could protest.

Drake turned right at a sidestreet that turned into a gravel road. “This looks promising,” he contemplated as he flicked on his brights.

Ahead in the twilight, Jena could make out the cabin that would be their home for the next week. It was just like the pictures she’d seen online: off the beaten path and only an acre from a small, private lake. Much of the lawn was shaded by well-established trees that she could just discern in the beam of their headlights. It was perfect.

Drake pulled into the designated parking area, tugging on the emergency brake. He leaned toward the passenger seat for a spontaneous kiss. “No one is going to find us out here,” he concluded with a smile.

“That’s kind of the point,” she agreed as she removed her seatbelt. On the off chance that their hosts in the middle of Texas were well versed in international news, Jena had booked under her full name and middle name to avoid suspicion. Even if the couple had heard of Jena Wittman, they were unlikely to connect her to Jennifer Cole. The chances of being recognized in America were pretty slim, but wasn’t taking anything for granted. They’d allowed the outside world to have an integral role in their wedding; the honeymoon was just for the two of them.

Jena scrolled through messages on her phone as she walked up the spacious wrap-around porch and to the front door. Finding the one with the code, she punched in a series of numbers into the keypad above the knob. There was a decisive click as the locking mechanism relented and let them inside.

She threw the lights and stepped through the door. Objects that had been shapeless masses in the darkness suddenly became clear and she couldn’t hold in a gasp of delight. Everything in the structure felt so rustic and homey -- from the raw edges of the wooden mantlepiece to the stacked stone backsplash in the kitchen. The deep browns and earthy greens spoke to her on an emotional level. This cabin had been made for living in. After almost a year of parading through various castles and estates, she was struck by how content she felt in a structure boasting only a handful of rooms.

“I may take some notes for our cabin back home,” Drake mused, marvelling at the exposed beams that ran the length of the vaulted ceiling.

Home. Her heart thrilled at the sound of that word coming from his mouth. She knew that neither one of them had ever expected to end up living in a place like Valtoria, but they were slowly warming up to the idea of building a life for themselves there.

As Drake carried the luggage inside, Jena set about finding something for them to eat. The owners had mentioned that they would stock the fridge with a few necessities to get them by for the first couple of meals. Locating the cheese and butter and snatching the loaf of bread from the opposite counter, she set about making grilled cheese sandwiches. Since food had been provided on the flight, neither of them was terribly hungry, but a light meal was bound to help their bodies adjust to the new time zone.

Now very much awake, she was just grabbing the spatula to flip the second sandwich when she sensed her husband’s presence beside her. Drake gathered the hair from her neck and kissed the place where her jaw met the side of her throat. She gasped sharply at the tingling sensation below her ear.

“You’re making this rather challenging,” she protested, trying to leverage the sandwich properly in spite of his disruption. No sooner had she flipped the bread than he spun her toward him, locking his arms around her waist to pull her tight to his chest. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin layer of shirt. Goosebumps erupted across her forearms as she looked into his darkening eyes.

“Now?” she stammered hoarsely, feeling the responding thrum of heat in her core.

Content to let his actions answer for him, he hoisted her up to sit on the kitchen counter. His lips met hers feverishly and she moaned into his mouth as his long fingers tangled through her hair.

“Drake,” she murmured when they parted for air, “your sandwich is going to burn.”

Without missing a beat, he slid the pan to the cool side of the stovetop and flipped off the burner. Jena giggled and slung her arms around the back of his neck. “Are you in a hurry, Walker?” She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist, the need for him growing every moment.

“We’ve only been married for three days and we haven’t had any time to ourselves in the past twenty-something hours. If you think I’m letting a full day go by without showing you how much I love you, you’re crazy.” Laughing, she clung to him as he lifted her from the counter and carried her to the enormous bed that waited in their master suite.

By the time they returned to their soggy sandwiches some thirty minutes later, Jena was glowing with a contented warmth that dominated all other senses. Not finding it worth the trouble to get fully dressed again, she’d tugged on Drake’s discarded shirt and little else. Across the table from her, her husband was clad in nothing but his boxers, his toned physique on full display as they ate together. She noted with satisfaction that his scars were beginning to fade -- still raised and fairly reddened, but past fear of infection and unlikely to cause him further pain.

She didn’t know if it was the privacy, the sex, or the fact that the wedding was finally behind them, but Drake seemed more content -- more himself -- than she had seen him before. Jena eyed him shamelessly as he lifted a tumbler of whiskey to his lips. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Should I be worried that you’re coming for my whiskey?”

She lifted her own tumbler of Dr. Pepper in response, twirling the glass slightly so that the dark liquid was on clearly visible. “I’m good. Actually, I was admiring the man, not the whiskey.”

The self-satisfied tug at the corner of his mouth did not escape her notice. “Admire away, Wittman. You’ve got what, four days here to do nothing but admire me?”

“We’ve got the cabin for the next five, and the only thing on my schedule is the doubleheader on Friday. That’ll take most of the day by the time we drive to and from the city. After that, it’s on to the ranch to see your mom.” She couldn’t prevent the nervous twinge in her belly at the thought of meeting Karen Walker. She had no idea what to expect from her new mother-in-law, but meeting her after the wedding felt like a considerable disadvantage.

Forcing herself beyond that troubling line of thought, she continued, “It’s kind of nice to visit somewhere without having to worry with charity events or press conferences or lessons in diplomacy. I hope we can find ways to spend all of this time.”

Drake gave her a wry look. “With the jet lag, I imagine you’ll be spending a significant amount of time sleeping, Wittman. I’m worried you’ll start getting punchy if you stay up any longer.” She rolled her eyes before downing the last sip of soda. “Let’s just say I’ve caught my second wind. I think there’s a hot tub calling my name. You’re welcome to join me if you’d like.”

The curve of his lip provided his answer before he’d even opened his mouth to speak. “But after that, we’re going to bed,” At the incline of her eyebrow, he clarified. “Going to bed...to sleep. I can’t have you dying of exhaustion less than a week into our marriage. Meet me out there in five minutes?” he inquired, quickly gathering up their dishes.

Jena kissed his cheek and made a beeline for the bedroom. She’d done a fair bit of lingerie shopping in her spare moments before the wedding, and she’d decided to purchase some new swimwear as well. Neither had been high on her packing list during the mad dash she’d made through her New York apartment the year before, and as much as Drake said he loved her in (or out) of anything, she hadn’t been able to resist the thought of treating both of them with something new.

She whipped off the t-shirt and underwear she’d been wearing and dug through her suitcase until her fingers met the slick fabric of the swimsuit. Jena smiled to herself as she looked at the pieces in her hands. The bikini was primarily black, but had nude cutouts that left very little to the imagination. After months of seeing her in the same worn-out bra, this look was going to drive Drake wild. She found herself suddenly grateful that she hadn’t taken him up on his earlier suggestion of turning in for the night. It was the first night of their honeymoon, and they had a lot of lost time to make up for.

#please don't let this become an au #I want a wedding and a honeymoon pb #playchoices #the royal romance #trr #drake x mc #drake walker

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everythingisoverrated · 6 years

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Post seven coming up! I am so behind on my idea of a schedule that I am not even going to attempt to excuse myself or apologize. Let’s just hope I can keep things up! I also added a few other writers to my list of people I want to give a shout-out to, but I am giving priority to the lovely people who are already in the know for this project.

Today’s post features the lovely, fierce, “angry brown girl” (her words, not mine) Taal from @samingtonwilson . She is an incredible writer, and as if the adjectives above weren’t enough to inspire me, she will fight any racist ass here and tear racism down with her words.

Taal has two masterlists on her blog, a Marvel one and a Trek one. Again, I am not a Trekkie, so I don’t read the trek fics, mainly because I don’t get as invested in the characters as I feel one should to thoroughly enjoy fanfiction. I’ve worked my way into her Marvel masterlist, and I am just left in awe of her.

I think the first thing I’ve read from @samingtonwilson was the series The Killers, which is ongoing. There are many reasons to love fanfiction, but my main one is that the writers are able to create universes that the people behind the characters would have never thought of. In this series, Bucky is an assassin, which is nothing new to Marvel fans. But the way she writes, it’s an entirely new story. Also, Taal is making me question my sanity as I keep having a thing for her criminal characters. There’s such depth to them I can’t help falling in love.

“I know, I just thought that excellent piece of fiction you fed me needed some more literary devices,” you replied while picking up the tool once again and getting to work on undoing one of the plates. You smiled slyly as you looked up at him through your eyelashes. “Some personification, maybe a simile. ‘The knife swirled itself about, like a carousel with a mind of its own, inspiring chaos rather than the laughter of children.’”

He couldn’t help the grin stretching his lips. “Thank God you ain’t a writer, doll. That was pitiful.”

Deserve is incredibly well written. I try to refrain from saying people are talented because to me it feels a bit like you’re taking their merit away. I’m sure all the writers I admire are hard workers, not just talented. But damn, this one... Deserve tickled every writer nerve I have in my body, and I was awestruck with admiration for Taal’s writing style. You can feel Bucky’s pain in every word, it’s not hard to understand where he’s coming from, his doubts and insecurities. I loved how the reader handled him in such a difficult time. I’m insecure as hell, and that carefulness in approaching him made my heart melt. I lack words to describe just how much this piece moved me. I was on the verge of tears for a few minutes, and I loved how it ended.

I read The Relationship Tutor all in one go, it’s so good. I just could not stop myself. And again, it is so real. Real enough that it makes you wanna punch everyone involved for being so blind and silly. It was so well crafted, and the characters so deep I actually started slowing my reading down so I could be with Bucky, reader and the rest a while longer. I would also like to point out Taal’s creativity when it comes to writing titles. I mean, look at the title chapters in this series and tell me she’s not a genius. I dare you. I double dare you.

He pointed a finger at your shoulder. “Change.” “Like who I am as a person?” He lifted his cup to his lips again to hide a smile and muffle a chuckle. “Well, yeah, but I meant change your clothes. Somethin’ nice from your shit in the trunk.”

In Repairs, Taal says in the notes that she is her own worst critic and I believe her because I can’t find fault in her fics at all. Especially not in Repairs, which is so sweet and adorable. Her descriptions might just be my favourite thing about her. They are so well crafted, so poetic, it makes my heart double in size and break at the same time, the way only fantastic writing can do.

“Memory’s still a little foggy, doll,” he began, pouting a little. He widened his grey-blue eyes for good measure. “Semantics, anything relating to trigonometry, and the entirety of age sixteen tend to evade me.”

It’s no secret to anyone that I read fanfiction mainly to feel good. I love the stories, all of them, but when there’s fluff, my achy heart doubles in size. While Taal writes annoyingly good angst (I’m looking at you, Faking It), her writing always makes me giggle and keeps a smile on my face.

“I asked if you were on board.” “I’m not so much ‘on board’ as I am ‘not sure what you’re even referring to,’” you replied, offering him an exaggerated smile that had started off as a confused frown.

“He turned to face you, tracing your features with his tired eyes. He saw the beauty in you— he saw it easily. He saw beauty, and purity, and light— a light he thought might be too bright for hundred year old eyes that had shut too many times to keep splattering blood out.”

I would also like to point out I didn’t even know I loved Sam Wilson that much until I read Territory and got all giddy.

I got a little carried away when reading and selecting great quotes, so you guys will excuse the amount of them. I can’t help it. As a fellow writer, I love her, and as a fan, even more so. Her stories will always have a place in my heart, and my writer self can’t help but reread her fics to get inspiration and hope one day I’ll be able to write with such finesse.

Taal, thank you so much for sharing your fantastic writing with us. It is always a pleasure to read anything you write, and I know I’ll never be disappointed when I see you’ve posted something. I know hardship comes in this world for people of colour, but I have to see I have nothing but admiration for how you handle it. You are an inspiration, as a writer and as a person. You’ll always have a fan and avid reader in me. I’m glued to your masterlist and blog to see what you come up with next.

Love, Liv.

Ps: this entire post was written while fighting my four-month-old kitty, who was demanding attention. If that doesn’t tell Taal I love her, nothing else ever will.

The Relationship Tutor (series - complete) http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/170327806111/relationship-tutor-masterlist

Deserve http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/176132530886/deserve

Repairs http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/174148004836/repairs

Dusk Till Dawn http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/168469706806/dusk-till-dawn-bucky-barnes

The Killers (series - ongoing) http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/174822609136/the-killers-masterlist

Faking It (multipart - ongoing) http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/169746242156/faking-it-part-1-bucky-barnes

Effective http://samingtonwilson.tumblr.com/post/172742730341/effective

#writers #writersappreciationmonth #writers appreciation project #everythingisoverrated #samingtonwilson

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bixgirl1 · 6 years

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Five Books

Tagged by @julcheninredand @writcraft to list five books that made a deep impression on me at different points in my life. Not necessarily your top five favourite books ever, nor even books you’d recommend to someone else now, but five books that were important at the time, whether you loved them or hated them.

Thank you, guys! (Also, I hate this because I have like 70k books and it made me cry that I couldn’t pick all of them. *snort*)

Taking a cue from Writcraft and going into detail under the cut because it gets long. lol

In no particular order:

1. Phantom – Susan Kay 2. Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson 3. The Harry Potter series – JK Rowling 4. Firestarter – Stephen King 5. The Captive Prince series – C.S. Pacat

Honourable mentions (don’t huff at me, you guys asked me about books! Just be glad this list isn’t 200 deep lol):

Shopgirl – Steve Martin Bastard Out of Carolina – Dorothy Allison Second Nature, and Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman The Stand, and Carrie – Stephen King Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot

Notes on the top five below the cut:

1. Phantom, by Susan Kay

“She wanted an Angel of Music . . . an angel who would make her believe in herself at last. I'd been the Angel of Doom for the khanum. There was no reason in the world why I could not be the Angel of Music for Christine. I couldn't hope to be a man to her, I couldn't ever be a real, breathing, living man waking at her side and reaching out for her . . . But I could be her angel.”

This book. God, this book, guys. I’ve read most of the books on my list more times than I can count, but I may have read this one the most. Told from different perspectives (Erik, his mother, his mentor, his friend, Christine, and Raoul), it follows the story The Phantom of the Opera, from birth to postmortem. It shows humanity at its ugliest and most broken, and the heights it can achieve, and does it all surrounding this one brilliant, exceptional man who eventually descends into madness over his love for someone he knows he can’t have. But it’s a redemption story, too, and so bittersweet I can’t, to this day, read it without crying and feeling immensely satisfied. Erik is the perfect anti-hero — maligned at first for something he can’t help, and then later for what people have turned him into, but nearly always sympathized with, and loved by the reader. Until reading this book when I was, I think, twelve or thirteen, I didn’t know writers could do that, tbh.

2. Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson

“When I say ‘I will be true to you’ I am drawing a quiet space beyond the reach of other desires.”

I cannot stress what an impact this book had on me. I first picked it up because I’d read a book of Winterson’s short stories (The World and Other Places) and I thought she had a really cool style and wanted to read more. She lived up to her short stories in style, of course, but what really blew me away about WntB — what really stole my heart and made me think — was that she wrote it in such a way that you never know if the narrator is male or female. I was around sixteen when I first read this, and still heavily involved in the church, and struggling with being attracted to girls as well as boys, and when I read this, the narrator was wholly female to me. I was reading lesbian love affair. I was stirred by it. When I think about the things that have influenced my coming to terms with my bisexuality, with me accepting who I was (though it took me longer to accept that it was okay to be who I was), this book is definitely on that list.

It’s also gorgeous, like everything she writes, so there’s that.

3. The Harry Potter Series, by JK Rowling

“Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hands, staring down at his enemy's shell.”

I feel like this one doesn’t really need much explanation behind it. Lol. But I will say that I came into the HP series a few books in, around the time the first movie came out, and I was in an odd place in my life at the time. I was��listless. I’d always been a big reader, but it had been a long while since something had so captured my attention and focus, or had riveted me with its world building in such a way. I fell in absolute love with Harry, with the surrounding characters, with the social and moral parallels drawn. I kept asking myself “this is a kids series?!” There are things, in retrospect, that one can criticise about the Harry Potter series, plenty of valid problems to discuss and deconstruct. But I will never not be loyal to it, for its creativity, for its surprising depth, and for its heart.

4. Firestarter, by Stephen King

“It was amazing how time got by, how quickly a child could change, change in front of your eyes with an unobtrusiveness that was nearly terrible.”

Many apologies to @julcheninred because I know this one was on your list too, but Firestarter meant so much to me as a kid. I dove into King’s depiction of Charlie, and the simplicity of the writing and plot blended with the complexity of the characters and their relationships. I loved the idea of a young girl with so much power — frightening and potentially deadly, but hers. And though I was too young, when I first fell in love with this book, to understand the (actually pretty overt lol) sexual metaphors, I didn’t need to. It’s not a book that requires you to figure everything out while you’re on the ride — it’s a book that makes you want to, even if that means reading it a hundred times and wearing out several copies. (Which, ahem, I may have done.)

5. The Captive Prince series, by C.S. Pacat

“He thought of Laurent's delicate, needling talk that froze into icy rebuff if Damen pushed at it, but if he didn't--if he matched himself to its subtle pulses and undercurrents--continued, sweetly deepening, until he could only wonder if he knew, if they both knew, what they were doing.” (Book Two: Prince’s Gambit)

Okay, I know I blog a lot about this series and as a drarry shipper/writer/blogger, it’s easy to assume my reasons. And to be fair, drarry is what initially attracted me to the series. It was first recced to me by @magpiefngrl, then by @l0vegl0wsinthedark and @o0o-chibaken-o0o (thank you guys!!!!!!!) and finally I was so wound up about by them that I checked Amazon for a sample. Upon reading it, I immediately ordered copies, then read all three books online while I waited for the books to be shipped, they’re that good.

And I found it’s not about the similarities to drarry. (There are a few, but only in the most basic of ways.) It’s about the writing, which is so beautifully taut, I genuinely doubt I’ve read anything like it before. It’s about the characters, who are sharp and perfect in their imperfections, and dialogue and tension and subtly intricate plotting that thrills me anew every time I read it. It’s about a love story that feels fantastical and wildly relatable, a happily ever after that you need — and get, like a stunningly wrapped gift you never expected. The way Pacat manages to pivot an arguably hated and hate-worthy character into someone you would give your life for reads like a dream, and I’m not exaggerating when I say these books changed things in me. Maybe all small — an appreciation for simplicity in writing; a jadedness that seems to surface sometimes about my ability to immerse myself in a story — but all fundamental, and all appreciated to my bones.

Idk who’s been tagged so my apologies in advance, but @jadepresley , @lqtraintracks, @camael-fanart, @femmequixotic, @noeeon, @o0o-chibaken-o0o @agentmoppet and anyone else who wants to partake! <3

#five books #fave books #(yes I know I didn't have to list faves but I have a lot of faves okay?)#reading life #book life

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musicallisto · 6 years

Text

† The White Dove II (Gale Hawthorne x Reader)

Hi guys! Here's my first Hunger Games imagine. It was actually the first chapter of a fanfiction I wrote a long time ago, in French, a crossover between My Candy Love and Hunger Games (yeah I swear that happened, it explains the title that basically has nothing to do with the story itself). since it's mine, I guess I can translate it and change all the OC mentions so that you can read it aye. this will be in two parts!

word count: 2500+ words

summary: In which Y/N is only sixteen, but very unlucky, and her best friend Gale is here to save the day - or crush it.

warnings: Female reader, needles, blood, mentions of death, swearing

Asleep like a log, Y/N didn’t even hear the painful sound of her clock, which more resembled the shrieking of an excruciating, wounded beast than an actual sound made of the human ear to wake up to. By dint of leaving in poverty and dirt, unlike District One who practically poured its money down the drain, she was used to living a little more rudely than most of the girls her age.

When the music stopped, Y/N was still snoring like a trooper. She was only ripped apart from the arms of Morpheus when her little brother, Noe, a clever boy of only eleven, went to hit her in the face with his pillow. She should have been up for more than half an hour and yet she was still drooling on her quilt.

Noe took perverse pleasure in besieging his big sister from all sides until she opened a sleepy head and mumbled a faint “What?”

He took an even greater perverse pleasure in slowly explaining as if she had been completely stupid that she was very late for the Reaping. Those words threw Y/N into a sudden and violent panic. How long had she slept in? With a vivacious gesture, she jumped from the bed and rushed to her closet.

Most of her times were stained with lawn and dirt because of her escapades on the hill, or else too small for her to fit in. Even so, she managed to find a little brown dress that smelled musty and she hadn’t worn in months; she didn’t have the time to wash it, even just humidify it a little - moreover, water had to be reserved for important tasks, and she was pretty sure washing an old-time bister dress was not one of them, and it was the only piece of clothing she could fit in and that was somewhat elegant, so she hurriedly grabbed it; but in her haste, and without paying attention, she stuck the bottom of the dress in the handle of the closet. She drew the fabric towards you with a sharp movement, but it didn’t budge and a loud “crack” could be heard. Y/N grew pale, noticing that all the lower part of the dress had been ripped. Desperate, she even considered going to the Reaping in her pajamas, before remembering that if she was chosen, she would appear on the Capitol’s channel and that perhaps it wouldn’t be the best idea to display a candy-pink bathrobe on national television. Therefore she unenthusiastically took the brown dress and donned it. Once dressed, Y/N rushed to the bathroom and quickly proceeded to brush her rebel hair and tie it back so that it wouldn’t bother her during the important ceremony. Only by thinking about it, she could feel herself growing nauseous.

“You look... splendid,” Gale mocked his Y/H/C-haired friend.

“Oh shut up, you! I swear that coming here was already harder than the Games themselves!” Y/N stormed while racing towards the group of girls from fifteen to eighteen years old.

As she was walking away, Gale suppressed a laugh, observing her old, torn robe, her tired eyes, her disheveled, pale face and her tousled hair; she looked like she had just run a marathon. Y/N didn’t really care about her appearance anyway, whether it was a hunt in the woods or a formal, national event that would define the rest of her teenage years. But she really was risible in that ruffled outfit. Gale hoped that she wouldn’t be chosen, first of all, because he would have rather died than watch her become a murdered or a murderer; and also because she would never have gained any fans if she got onstage with that Sunday best.

Y/N grimaced when she felt the slight injection at the tip of her finger. A little blood drop dripped from her bruised finger. She was violently pushed on the side. Her breath taken away, Y/N looked at where she was standing and understood she had been moved aside just like the others because her turn was over. The Capitol was even gruffer than usual.

Other girls that were around her age were standing in front of the stage where the Capitol representant would be arriving shortly to announce the names of the Tributes of District Twelve. She identified her mother among the curious yet terrified heads and took her place on her left. The latter did not lecture her daughter on her lateness since it was prohibited to talk during the commemoration.

She longly stared at the stage, blinking excessively little. It should have been ten in the morning judging by the position of the Sun, but it was already blazing hot. Eventually, when all the youngsters from twelve to eighteen years old had affixed a drop of their blood on the paper and had regained the seats they were given, a woman with a more than excentric style appeared. Her face was painted with a bright white Y/N found absolutely repulsive. Her hair was raised on her head in fuschia pink curls, and her lips painted with a coral-like color that echoed with the shade of her mane. Her dress was the exact same pigment as her hair and lipstick and barely reached her knees. The straps were made of gigantic, purple flowers in the most precious fabric; it was no secret that the eyeshadow she had used alone was a year’s worth of work for any of the inhabitants of the last District. Y/N stared at her without batting an eye. She had already seen that woman and knew idiosyncrasy was one of the most important characteristics of the Capitol.

The clown-looking woman went up onstage, struggling a little to walk in a straight line with her luxuriant, red high heels that a member of District Twelve could not have afforded even if he had worked for four years straight. She finally approached the microphone, patted it carefully to check if she had everyone’s attention, cleared her throat then began her traditional speech.

“Good morning everyone,” she started with a faux smile, almost angelic. “To those who don’t know me, my name is Effie. I am from the Capitol, and I am in charge of you, dear District Twelve. I’m sort of... your mother, and you are my children. My very numerous children!”

Apparently very appreciative of her joke, Effie chuckled lightly, but seeing that no one reacted - firstly because it was not funny and secondly because it was forbidden to talk, she recovered her straight face and positioned herself in front of the microphone once again.

“Hem! We shall shortly be proceeding to the draw of the male and female Tributes, but before that, let me explain why we organize those games annually.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. She knew it was obligatory for the children or twelve-year-olds who didn’t know the full story and its details, but she, on the other hand, knew the legend from A to Z and was tired of hearing it every year. She listened anyway, trying to figure out what exaggeration Effie would be adding to the original tale.

“Seventy-four years ago,” the woman commented, “the thirteen Districts rose up against the Capitol. The District Thirteen was behind the rebellion, and, since evil must be punished, we were sadly compelled to eradicate Thirteen.”

Y/N saw kids shivering out of the corner of her eye.

“However, in spite of all the efforts made by the rebels, the Capitol crushed the riot. The period that followed the Capitol’s victory was called the Dark Days. The retribution was terrible but the revolutionists had to understand, whatever the price, that what they had done was terribly wrong. Since the Dark Days, a boy and a girl from twelve to eighteen are sent by each District to an arena to kill one another. The winner is covered in wealth and food for the rest of their life. That fight to the death, the Hunger Games, is broadcast everywhere in Panem.”

When Effie stopped talking, a cumbersome silence reigned on the crowd. Even the Capitol soldiers had kept quiet, and only the coquettish singing of the dove in the woods or the cries of the seagulls from the ocean could be heard, just like everything had suddenly died or withdrawn in respect.

Effie noticed the lack of enthusiasm, and immediately continued.

“Well! Upon these words, we are immediately going to carry out with the selection of the Tributes. As usual...”

Effie moved away from the microphone for a few seconds and took a few steps towards her right. On a small table was disposed a transparent ball that contained an enormous amount of little, white papers. Y/N was well aware of what they bore: the names of each teenager in District Twelve, including hers. She also knew the older she got, the more papers with her name would be carelessly thrown into the glass candy box, meaning the older she got, the more chances she had to be selected.

Effie made a ridiculous wrist move just above the glass ball, probably trying to add more drama to the instant. Her hand dove into the sea of notes and ambulated there for a few seconds, mixing all the papers. Eventually, she firmly grabbed one and came back in front of the microphone.

“Ladies first.”

Y/N was breathless. If Effie pronounced any other name, whichever, she would be out of trouble for another year. She would just have to hold on for two years, two years before being able to flee to Europe, with Gale, her parents, Noe. She was certain life was much easier in Europe than in Panem. She had read that many years before, her home region was much wider and its name was the United States of America. Twelve was located on the ruins of what used to be the city of New York. What a peaceful life she would have lived if she had been born in New York City! No Hunger Games, no deaths, no blood, no fea-

“Y/N Y/L/N”, Effie announced in an upbeat manner.

Y/N’s expression blackened in a second. Her blood froze in her veins. She tried to yell “No, no, no!”, to beg the sky to provoke some kind of error, to make Effie realize she had misread the handwriting, no, no, it was impossible...

One of her first reflexes was to babble a few unintelligible and almost inaudible words, then touching her cheek, and she noticed it was ice-cold.

But why her?! There were tons and tons of girls who could have been chosen instead of her, and it somehow happened to her! How were lucky people never tabbed for the Hunger Games? Did they bribe the Capitol? Or did life prefer them over her, Y/N Y/L/N?

“Come on over, Y/N, we don’t bite!” Effie exclaimed.

Y/N comprehended she was playing hard to get and sketched the beginning of a few movements, but she was still trembling too much due to the horror of the last minute. She, however, managed to reach the stage without tripping over her own feet. She knew she was in a deplorable state, but she couldn’t care less. She couldn’t bring herself to look at anyone. Not even her parents, not even her brother. Not even Gale.

She finally climbed the stairs at an unsure pace and was welcomed by Effie’s make-believe smile. She placed her right before her and announced with a clear voice to the crowd:

“Here is our female Tribute: Y/N Y/L/N!”

Y/N closed her eyes. She didn’t want to face anyone’s inquisitive gaze. She seemed to hear what sounded like a lukewarm applause - but who could really be cheerful when a sixteen-year-old girl was about to be brutally murdered right before their eyes?

Y/N sensed something moving on her left and reopened her eyes. Effie was now placed in front of the ball that contained the boys’ names. Y/N felt her throat compressing at the thought of her future “comrade”, that she would have to kill coldly.

Effie picked up another paper and slowly opened it; after what felt like hours to Y/N, she declared:

“Peeta Mellark.”

Y/N thanked the gods for sparing Gale. She longly stared at the immobile crowd until she noted a blond-haired boy, maybe around her age, was being pushed by his neighbors, apparently paralyzed. Y/N didn’t know him personally, although she had sometimes crossed his path and knew he was the bakers’ son, a good guy overall from what she had seen; it grandly pained her to be forced to assassinate him.

Until an exclamation made the tables completely turn.

“Wait!” a voice cried from the multitude of boys.

Everyone turned to find out who had just screamed. Y/N did the same. She recognized with pure horror a familiar strand of brown hair.

“Oh... no,” she mentally pleaded.

Y/N held her breath, benumbed by the sudden events, apprehending the next seconds.

“I volunteer as Tribute,” Gale stated loudly.

His voice didn’t show any emotion. Y/N was unable to tell if he was enraged, heartbroken, if he really wanted to volunteer or if he was just offering her his pity. Pity? Gale? No. It couldn’t be. Surprised whispers rose from the crowd. Effie regained the place she had been attributed and tapped on the microphone just like when she had arrived; all susurrations ended immediately.

“Well, well, if you are so sure of yourself, we can’t make you change your mind. Are you sure this is what you want, my boy?”

“Yes.”

He had already climbed onstage when Y/N looked at him, still petrified.

“Why'd you do that, you dickhead?!” she whisper-shouted furiously to her best friend.

“To save your life, Captain, and to destroy the Capitol from the inside,” he simply whispered back as if it were the most uncomplicated thing in the world, as if they weren’t destined to a cruel death.

Hearing Gale’s “Captain”, the nickname he always used ironically, Y/N felt a sudden wave of tears grip her throat. She wanted to go back in time, to come back to her routine life. When Gale always replicated back with some well-thought, bitter argument when she ever thought about defending the Capitol, when they snuck out at the unholy hours of the night to explore the woods... there was no way back. She was about to become either a murderer, or either a victim.

“Let me present you our two Tributes from District Twelve: Y/N Y/L/N and Gale Hawthorne,” Effie’s voice resounded behind them.

Y/N should have smiled, but she remained reclusive, withdrawn. She didn’t even have the courage to cross her parents’ grieving eyes.

There was no acclamation.

They all knew it was the last time they saw the two best friends alive.

#imagine #one-shot #the hunger games #gale hawthorne #gale hawthorne x reader #mywriting

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