#jacksgreyson

Okay, okay, okay, yes it HAS been over a year since I’ve written and this is still not a fic so much as yet another rambling outline-y not!fic that I’ll probably never write properly due to my crippling perfectionism, BUT!!! This particular plot bunny has turned into one of those massive Flemish Giant rabbits that it’s preventing me from thinking about anything else, so thus I present:

plum blossoms pressed between poetry

Within their newly made family of three, no one has lied… … and yet misunderstandings abound. Or, in which Evandel earnestly struggles with verb tenses and differentiating between dreams and memories; Hajin honestly tries to balance how much logic and loneliness rule his life; and Suho legitimately thinks his future self might be a neglectful, absentee, workaholic father and husband (if even that lucky!)

Hello, it’s recursive fic (or rather, extremely long outline for a fic) for Flowers of Agápē by DescendedGaia (@descendedgaia) a fanfiction of the Korean webnovel The Novel’s Extra (although I have currently only read the manhwa)

Brace yourselves, this is a long one and I'm rusty so you know I've gone off track multiple times.

A mere two days after Shikaku is welcomed back into the clan, new fiance in tow,  Ikoma has a talk with Father and convinces him to make Shikaku heir again. What he says, Shikaku has no idea. Father has been... soft, towards Ikoma lately. 

(He’s been soft towards Shikaku, too. It’s unsettling.)

It has something to do with the mess with Danzo, which Shikaku suspects he has still been only partially read in on. He suspects a little more treason was involved on Father and Ikoma’s part than they felt like admitting to the Hokage, and the two are avoiding making him complicit. 

It also likely has something to do with the new Nara-specific prosthetic that neither of them are answering questions about, despite the fact that the  clan researches are clamoring for any scrap of information in the hopes that they can alter the seal enough to make it even more practically useful. 

(Adding an extra, teenage-sized shadow hand in place of a missing foot or hand is a creative solution, but no matter how weightbearing and mobile this new prosthetic is, many of Shikaku’s clan members would understandably prefer their new prosthetics to be shaped like a limb they actually lost.

Except Tōshōdai. Tōshōdai hasn’t lost any limbs,  he just likes to keep tacking on as many Shadow Arms as he can realistically support in combat until he looks like a  dark shadow of a  bodhisattva )

_

Yoshino’s first formal meeting with Shikano,  the week after Shikaku was welcomed back into the clan, was not as she anticipated.

He spoke to her respectfully enough. She didn’t think he liked her or, or particularly liked that Shikaku liked her, but clearly something had happened to move her into the category of ‘acceptable,’ because he wasn’t just tolerating her for Shikaku’s sake.

That she only suspected because of the way he looked at her. It was...  surprised. And yet evaluating. As if he’d seen something he hadn’t expected, and was waiting to see something more. What, she didn’t know.

Shikaku’s mother, Koko Nara, was slightly more welcoming. She invited Yoshino to call her Mother, at least. Oh, she didn’t look at Yoshino with any warmth. But Yoshino was hardly alone in that- from what Yoshin could see, Shikaku’s mother was warm only to her sons, husband, and  niece Kofuku- any care directed towards others seemed to be at very great effort. Koko Nara was sometimes snappish, and polite only in a careful, overly controlled way. 

But Koko Nara had been surviving the aftereffects of the gasses of the second war for a very, very long time.

So Yoshino looked at the lines of pain around her mother-in-laws eyes and did her best to  see the woman’s strengths. Shikaku loved his mother very much, and the increasing toll her illness took on her clearly pained him.

It was understood, in a quiet way, that Koko Nara didn’t have very long to live. 

And, months later, one morning after tea, Koko Nara did something unexpected. Wiping a bit of blood from her mouth with a white cloth, she’d stood to retrieve something from her room- a wooden box  that open to revel perhaps a dozen lovingly preserved combs, all lacquered wood and polished deer-antler.

“I want your daughter to have them,” Koko said. “Tell her it was from me.”

For a moment, Yoshino had thought Nara-san’s illness had progressed even to her brain- it was  Kanatoko, not Yoshino, who was expecting right now- due in a mere four months. 

(Yoshino and Shikaku were trying, and Yoshino was almost a week late, but there was certainly no reason to start handing Yoshino gifts for future grandchildren just yet. Unless this was yet another Clan Thing Yoshino Didn’t Know About. Yoshino was getting a little tired of asking Shikaku to constantly explain things. Hopefully he wasn’t getting tired of her asking).

“When you have a girl,” Koko Nara continued, giving Yoshino a sharp look that made it clear Yoshino’s thoughts regarding Koko’s mental capabilities had been visible on  her face.

“You’ll live to see your grandchilden, Mother,” Yoshino said instead. 

For a moment, Koko Nara looked very tired indeed. But somehow also at peace. “Yes,” Koko Nara said. “Perhaps that long.”

_

Koko Nara lives to see the end of the war.

Its ending seems to ease something in all Shikaku’s family. 

It even brings Shikano Nara out from under the pall he’d been working under; an understandable reaction to the horrific 90% loss of his division waiting for the reinforcements Ikoma was leading.

Things seem a little brighter.

But Koko Nara died before even Kanatoko and Ikoma’s child was born. At least she’d gotten to hear the news that Yoshino and Shikaku were expecting as well.

(“Twins,” Yoshino said, letting the old woman rest a hand on her stomach.

“Yes,” Koko Nara rasped, closing her eyes as one of the children kicked. “Beautiful children.”

It was as if she could see them).

The death of Koko Nara is a great blow to both hers sons- and as for Shikano, it seems poised to harden him again. But he unbends a little, when Ikoma’s son Sai is born.

And a little more, when he holds the twins. 

(Shikano had been  polite enough not to come in just after the birth. Inoichi visiting Yoshino hadn’t exactly minded- he was already in the hospital for his own child’s birth, and he did useful errands like fetch more ice  in  a glass while Shikaku was busy having his hand broken by her grip.

But a visit from her somewhat unapproachable father-in-law minutes after thirty hours of labor is something Yoshino would not have appreciated. No need for an audience. She appreciates that he doesn’t arrive until middle of the day after, when she’s gotten enough rest to be coherent).

“Koko gave  you the combs for the girl?” Shikano asks Yoshino, and for the first time she hears something almost vulnerable in his voice. 

He wants his granddaughter to have this connection to his wife; he wants to make sure Yoshino knows she’s a member of the family entrusted to help pass on his wife’s legacy.

“Yes,” she reassures him. “Koko gave them to me months ago. I was thinking I’d give Shikako a new one for each birthday.”

“A good suggestion,” Shikano murmurs, looking down at little Shikako. “I’ll find something fof mine or Shikamaru to get those years, so they can open their gifts together.”

Her father-in-law does love the children already, she can tell. They have the people they love most in common, and they’ll act to protect each other as someone loved by their loved ones.

That’s enough.

A/N: OKAY BUT WHAT IF INSTEAD OF WHAT I RAMBLED ON ABOUT IN THIS POST, I DID THIS INSTEAD.

Suho bites back a yawn, managing to disguise it as a clenched jaw and a heavy breath through his nose. He keeps his eyes open, but just barely, the duration of his blinks stretching longer and longer.

This meeting is so boring. There’s a reason why he keeps pushing back against Seungah-ssi’s recommendation to become Vice Captain of the guild. He’d rather be out in the field where he can do the most good, where his talents are actually useful, than trapped indoors listening to people debate about resource allocation and personnel management.

Suho thinks he’s managed to hide his sleepiness entirely, almost impressed with himself, until he feels a sharp kick under the table from Yeonghan.

“… what do you think, Suho?” asks Seungah, a layer of impatience woven into her tone such that even Suho can realize she’s annoyed: she must have already asked him this, and only Yeonghan’s intervention has allowed him to save even this much face.

Unfortunately, Suho has no idea what she is asking him.

“What do I think?” he says, to buy time, to search his mind at all if any part of him subconsciously listened to what was being said and what she may want to hear from him. Is this about past mission? A future mission? Was this even about any mission? For all he knows this might be about a networking event or this year’s Cube interns or, hell, it could be about what’s for lunch today.

He has nothing.

“Whatever Seungah-ssi thinks is best,” he defers instead, because he doesn’t want to admit he wasn’t paying attention.

It’s vague enough to satisfy her, or at least she doesn’t call him out on it, and the conversation moves away from whatever that was, most eyes off him.

Except for Yeonghan who watches him all the way until the end.

Their fellow guild members disperse quickly enough, even Seungah-ssi dashing off to her next meeting, until it’s only Suho and Yeonghan left in the conference room.

Yeonghan elbows him companionably, a familiar gesture reflective of their long friendship. Even with Yeonghan’s strength developed beyond what it was as a Cube cadet, Suho should have been fine.

But he is so tired.

Suho stumbles face first into the wall.

“Whoa! Suho! Are you okay?” Yeonghan immediately goes to help him, but Suho waves him off.

“I’m good, Yeonghan, no worries. I’m not hurt.”

That mild reassurance does not work, Yeonghan’s expression clearly one of confusion and concern. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Suho says, until he is interrupted by another yawn—because it is Yeonghan, he doesn’t try to disguise it, only politely hides it behind his hand until it’s done—his jaw cracks, a tear has gathered in the corner of each eye, and it takes him a while to shake it off enough to confess.

“I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

—

Normally, Suho doesn’t remember his dreams.

He assumes he has them, like everyone does. He knows he has nightmares, at least—occasionally he’ll startle awake with a gasp or in a cold sweat—but even those fearful thoughts dissipate quickly from his conscious mind.

Usually when he sleeps it’s just a peaceful void, and he wakes rested and ready to take on the day.

Just not lately.

His dreams, if that is what they are, start in the same way: nearly indistinguishable from real life. He is in his apartment, it is dark and quiet but not too much that he cannot still see or hear, his senses so sharp. He thinks he is getting up—maybe to get a drink of water from the kitchen?—except he notices another presence in his apartment. And then he sees him:

Himself, far younger, the age of a first year Cube cadet. In the beginning, the younger version of himself is simply neutral, looking around the space in curiosity.

Suho, even within this dream, is still somehow too tired to bother with much more than just watching.

His default expression has always been a slight smile, so Suho knows something is wrong when it fades on his younger self then entirely disappears once he makes a full circuit of the apartment. His exploration towards the end less casual, more desperate.

“Where are they?”

Before he can respond to his younger self’s question, he wakes up.

What was he searching for?

The Academy was perfectly fine with Shikamaru’s imaginary friend Shikako, until she managed to ____.

Oh dona, there are so many things that can fill in that blank. SO MANY THINGS. And, I’ll be honest, a lot of what comes to my mind range from funny to alarming. But the on that I think is the most encompassing—without being too boring—is simply “get caught.” Because that opens up so many opportunities for what else she could have been doing before she got caught in such a way that also builds a dynamic between those who are in on it (ie, the Rookie Nine, maybe even the full Konoha Twelve since Team Gai IS only just one year older) and those who aren’t (presumably the teachers of the Academy) However, in order to narrow this fic down into something writable, I should figure what Shikako is doing before she gets caught… and, maybe this is just me, but I kinda like the idea of… now maybe this is too specific… but basically, Shikamaru’s imaginary friend Shikako, aka his literal sentient eldritch horror twin sister that lives in his shadow, just straight up eating Danzo. Just. How do you get rid of something? Eat it. Because, like… okay. My brain goes something like this:

“Hm,” says Shikamaru as they hide in the treetops from Iruka-sensei.

Normally, Shikamaru is content with being out of the classroom that, outside from telling them the plan needed to ditch and stay hidden, he stays pretty quiet either cloud watching or napping.

Chouji, in his spot next to Shikamaru and equally satisfied with just being outside, is the only one to hear him. “What is it?” He asks.

That gets Kiba and Naruto to perk up, starting to get bored after their flawless escape with minimal conflict.

“Shikako says she’s hungry.”

Good friend that he is, Chouji offers some of his chips. A tendril of Shikamaru’s shadow shakily takes one, wobbling even under that weight, but Shikako is also a good friend so she eats it.

Well. She tries, anyway. Shikamaru’s shadow curls around it, mimicking a chewing motion, but it remains unchanged.

After a moment, Shikamaru reports, “Shikako says thank you, but she might need to eat something else specifically?”

Naruto, ever curious asks, “What does a shadow even eat?”

Shikamaru shrugs. “She says she’ll know it when we find it.”

Kiba, and an Akamaru squirming with eagerness, declares, “Akamaru and I are the best and finding stuff. We’ll get it in no time.”

—

Iruka-sensei finds them before they find the ambiguous “it.”

To be fair, they were searching through the refrigerator in the teacher’s lounge, and their self assigned mission had carried them through to lunch time. So really it was their own fault.

Didn’t stop Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru from yelling and howling up a storm as Iruka-sensei grabbed the two boys by the collars of their shirts. Mizuki-sensei at least just gestured his two charges forward, trusting that Shikamaru and Chouji would cooperate since they had been caught fair and square. And plus, it was lunch time.

Distracted as they were, none of the boys noticed Shikamaru’s shadow stretch itself to connect to Mizuki-sensei’s.

Without that context, none of them made the connection when, not even a minute later, Mizuki-sensei stumbled, nearly falling, before catching himself in an uncertain stance.

“You okay?” Iruka-sensei asked, caregiving nature winning over his desire to continue lecturing the boys.

Mizuki-sensei waved him off with a strained laugh, “Ha, I just felt a little tired—midday slump, probably.”

Kiba and Naruto, sensing weakness, re-aim their efforts from complaining to making fun of Mizuki-sensei’s age. It draws his ire, never mind that he tries to seem cooler than Iruka-sensei, but he musters a woozy, half-hearted defense at best.

Shikamaru glances at his shadow, darker and deeper than it was before.

Shikako isn’t as hungry anymore.

—

Alternatively, one extremely long noodle that Shikako can follow and find all the people with curse seals and, like, eat JUST the curse seals, lolol.

(hopes and dreams and the shadowed things beneath)

If Darby ever slows down enough to think about it, she would have to admit that their mother probably didn’t mean to endanger their lives out of greed. It wasn’t ambition, or a lack of shame, or even stupidity that led to the situation. Unfortunately it may have been due to sentimentality, of all things, which Darby almost considers even more frustrating. Because their mother, despite her profession, had been educated enough to name her twins Deer and Nobility — as blatant a declaration of Baratheon bastards as could be — but she had lacked the foresight to know that doing so would spell Darby and Gendry’s doom. And if Darby slows down even further, lets herself acknowledge the shadowy part of her mind, then she’d have to admit its a little bit funny how she has been reborn as the a secondary character’s twin sister named deer girl not just once, but twice.

~

Kinda long for summary, mostly because I was rereading some of my old stuff in a sort of narcissistic / nostalgic fit because I don’t understand how I was so prolific before and I yearn to write again. So I attempted to write a thing for Minor Miracles (my A Song of Ice and Fire SI!OC anthology) and then realized that, oh no, I accidentally just copy and pasted Shikako Nara. BUT THEN I realized that, well, technically, this also could meet the criteria for an addition to Hail To The Queen (my Shikako becomes Hokage or the real power behind Hokage or sometimes literally queen?) since if I just leaned into Darby being Shikako again, then her being one of Robert Baratheon’s bastards would put her PRETTY CLOSE to the action in the, you know, titular game of thrones.

Unfortunately, once I had the realization I could do that, I then got paralyzed in the TOO MANY paths this premise could take. Like, how powerful would I want her to be? Does she only have memories or does she have any holdovers from the Naruto world whether that be chakra or Gelel-given abilities or the Westeros nearest equivalent. And then there’s the whole Lord of Light / Brotherhood of Banners things and given the whole Nara shadows thing, does that put her at odds with them?

Or are Darby and Gendry, like the Starks, split up for the majority of the timeline and trying to get back to each other / fearing the other has already been killed and grieving before reuniting after being thoroughly but separately traumatized?

some additional lighter(-ish) additions to the bleak!primadonna AU (but still with some politics sprinkled in), mostly based on this post

~

Primadonna Girl (fills the void up with celluloid)

~

Shikadai is excited to go to the Fire Temple with Uncle Kino, he is. He has been looking forward to this trip for weeks, he swears. He really, really does want to meet Kako Heijo for no particular reason, honest.

“Are you okay?” says Kaji-senpai, pale eyes doing a cursory sweep of the area then a closer once over of Shikadai’s person.

Shikadai’s face is on fire.

“There’s nothing to be worried about.”

Chouchou is never going to let him live this down.

“Is this your first time outside of Konoha?”

Shikadai shakes himself internally—he can’t let Kaji-senpai think he’s some kind of scared loser who’s never left the village before!—and barely pushes out, “Ah, no, I’ve been to some of the outer Nara farms but not, I mean, never to the Fire Temple? I’m mostly wondering, uh, what are you doing here, senpai?”

“Escort mission,” Kaji-senpai answers simply, blinking … his eyelashes are so long.

Shikadai laughs nervously before getting a grip. Escort mission, duh, Shikadai is so dumb. Shikadai’s face is beyond fire, it’s lava. He is going to earth walk into the molten center of the planet. Chouchou can never find out

Further ahead in the caravan, Mimi-senpai and her ninken Momomaru turn to look back, heads tilted in curiosity.

“Oh, is this, like, a regular mission for you--and your team, of course--I mean, obviously, your team is specialized for these kinds of missions, but, um, this specific escort mission? Does your team usually get assigned this one regularly?”

Even from their distance, Mimi-senpai and Momomaru share a look; Chouchou’s definitely going to find out.

Kaji-senpai’s expression doesn’t say that he thinks Shikadai is dumb, but that could just be part of Hyuuga clan training. How to maintain an aura of grace when confronted with a clumsy idiot.

“Not this one, no. The journey between Konoha and the Fire Temple doesn’t usually need an additional escort, but this time there’s a VIP,” he says, before dipping his head.

Intrigued, Shikadai looks around them at the other members of the caravan. It’s mostly civilians, but there are a few other shinobi—mostly genin and chuunin who specialize in administration, some from the Medic Corps; one of them is from the Akimichi clan who waves at the attention to which Shikadai politely nods back—including Ori-senpai, setting up his gear on one of the vehicles, and their jounin-sensei chatting with Uncle Kino. As acting clan head, Uncle Kino is important, but he goes on this trip all the time and he’s a jounin himself. Shikadai doesn’t see anyone else who would be so important as to require adding a jounin led team to an otherwise normal journey.

“Who is it?” Maybe they’re in disguise?

The corner of Kaji-senpai’s mouth—not that Shikadai is paying special attention to his mouth or anything!—twitches upward, before smoothing back down. He blinks, again, and answers simply, again.

“It’s you.”

Shikadai is going to launch himself into the sun. Chouchou will hold this over his head for the rest of their lives.

—

Mimi and Momo, in addition to being the cutest members of the Inuzuka clan, also have the sharpest ears. They can hear everything around them: things that are aimed at them, things that aren’t, and things that haven’t been said at all. The last is, perhaps, the most important.

Because it’s very interesting how often Chiyako-sensei and acting clan head Kinokawa Nara talk during the trip from Konoha to the Fire Temple. They have at least one conversation for each day of their travels which could easily be attributed to the fact that technically Team Nine only has this mission because Shikadai Nara is his heir and not yet graduated from the Academy, and so, in a way, Kinokawa Nara is their client. Except the contents of their conversations have nothing to do with the mission. They may as well be what’s in Momo’s grooming brush: useless fluff that can’t do any harm.

Except, in the other direction, if this mission were so unimportant, why would Chiyako-sensei have specifically requested it?

A/N: I’m desktop “spring cleaning” of sorts so this isn’t as complete as I imagine I was originally going for but it’s been months (possibly over a year?) since I started this ficlet and while I did make a few notes for myself (see under the cut) on what I was supposed to be aiming for I largely forgot the details/vibe I was going to go with. Notes about what I was trying to do with this, honestly maybe I’ll come back to it at some point?

Those were a lot of fun to make for sure, so I'm glad they're still relevant!

Yes, when I looked at the original narutopedia stats, I thought handseals was a weird thing to include because I feel like expertise at handseals doesn't necessarily make you a better shinobi? Because you've either mastered the jutsu to the point where you don't need handseals (ie, going off the theory that handseals and yelling the name is a focusing technique for less experienced shinobi) or you're doing techniques that don't need any at all--as you said--either sealing, or a bloodline limit, or a jinchuuriki thing, or a partnership with either summons or Inuzuka ninken or the Aburame kikaichu.

For something like healing I think I largely split the load of that across intelligence and ninjutsu, unless it was something extremely rare or near impossible to do to the point where it is in excess of intelligence or ninjutsu -- so some of Tsunade's or Kabuto's medical abilities I would translate as points in Special instead.