Guilt: it does a writer good

WP pinged me with a notification that someone had stopped by and read a lot of my posts on here.

The resulting shame and guilt for not writing anything for Demon in about two weeks resulted in some fast typing. Helped along by my brain deciding this would be a good point for Kakuzu to lay out some straight facts on why he was trading with Tenten in the first place.

I still don’t know how much of this I’m going to keep. The doc for this chapter is at 3k and I’ve unearthed some important subjects which are not going to be concluded any time soon. Editing this is going to take a while because with this much material, I’m not sure what I’ll keep and what I’ll need to rewrite for coherency’s sake. Or if some subjects will even stay in the final version of this chapter.

I really like the idea that Kakuzu is going to be upfront about what he wants. I’m rather tired of clueless female leads who have no idea who their romantic pursuers are. So, here I have mine being given the cards fairly early. Now, it’s up to Kakuzu to convince her that he’s worth considering. Clue for the readers, he’s not going to be completely truthful. With the plot background in my head, there are things Tenten is just not going to believe until much later.

Thank goodness this is draft.

Demon in the Water: Part 3

The moment the demon saw her shadow enter the cave, his back stiffened and those acid green eyes locked on hers in obvious affront.

“Not my idea,” she grumbled, as she pulled herself from the water and coiled up on her usual rock. “He noticed me leaving one too many times and had to investigate.”

Demon in the Water: Discard from Part 2

Tenten quirked a brow. “Of course. We have our own way of seasoning our food. Most prefer our meals freshly caught, but there are enough of us interested in cooking that there’s usually chemical classes held twice a moon cycle.”

“Chemical?” Tilting his head, Kakuzu frowned. “Damn language barrier.”

“Yes, chemical. Cooking is a creating a chemical reaction of the material to change the texture, taste, and nutritional properties.” Tenten wrinkled her nose. “That’s what the chef said anyway.”

Kakuzu stared at her.

Demon in the Water: Part 2

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kakuzu held up the grit-encrusted metal coin and stared. It was a miracle his eyeballs didn’t fall out of his head as he turned the trinket around in his hands.

Dipping a hand into the pool, Tenten scooped up some water to appease an itch developing across her back. “No joke,” she replied with a satisfied sigh as sea water trickled over the dry spot bringing instant relief. “I’ve got a whole handful of those down there.” Wrinkling her nose, she glanced at the disc he was now trying to free of its grime. “I don’t see what the big deal is. They stink.”

Demon in the Water: Part 1

Things Kiba never fully explained about eating sea urchins:

1. everything after tastes strange
2. physical skills get a major upgrade
3. hallucinations happen, often and intensely
4. the unfamiliar seems hilarious
5. finally, after you come around from passing out there’s a volcanic deep-sea vent that’s just moved into your brain case and wants you evicted.

Claim the Prize Part 4 (raw)

Seriously, life couldn’t get any better than this.

Dropping the summoning scroll back into the pack, Hidan grinned as Hinata’s eyes narrowed as he stalked back over to her.

“You don’t look like a pampered brat,” he mused, cocking his head, letting his gaze run from her drenched crown to her clenching white toes. The cloak was dampener, in more than a few ways. That was gonna have to go.

For a split second, Hinata’s sharply in-drawn breath was the only sound in the cave, as even Kakuzu had paused to watch. Then her hands clenched in sodden black cloth and her chin lifted. “I hardly care what your opinion of me is,” she spat back.

Humming, Hidan had to agree. She didn’t have to. It just happened that his expectations of her had started high and so far, she’d done nothing but delight him.

Discarded Draft: Nope, not enough Hidan…

First attempt at a chapter 3 and… after a few days, I came back to it and it didn’t have the same feeling. So, I’m chucking it up here and letting it rot.

Some parts are being used in a second attempt, but the overall tone is much more immediate.

Enjoy!

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Hidan was having a minor crisis of faith. No, he was having a crisis of self. He believed in Jashin, to do otherwise was fucking stupid not to mention blasphemous at this point. The crisis was… he didn’t want a virgin. They had no imagination, were mostly afraid of most of the fun things, and never brought anything new to the bed.

But Jashin had given him a virgin.

5 years on and we’re still in a cave…

I’m working on Claim the Prize again. I… am so sorry. I forgot to check the clock calendar and nearly five years has rolled by without an update.

Gah.

But I’m back! And I WILL UPDATE. Even if beta is just a read through and polishing is a mere promise.

I don’t care anymore. I’m just gonna update the damn thing by next week. Something is better than notes unseen in a virtual doc (which I still don’t know where they are!).

Here’s an excerpt, so raw it’s still bleeding:

Upgrading Chapter 16

The dual notice of an incoming text and a knock at the door would have been an automatic Ino assumption, but there was no way Ino-pig would be up at seven am if she could help it. Not on a Sunday morning.

Sakura scowled at the shuffling in the hall she checked her phone… and then lurched for the locks a moment later.

“Gaara-kun!” she belted out as she pulled open the door because there stood Gaara alright. Hair shaggy and perma-frown in place. “Hi! Naruto said you’d be dropping by. If you give me a minute? I can get dressed.”

“… Fine. Hurry up, I’m getting you breakfast,” he said, and made himself comfortable against the wall.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura took two steps forward and hugged him tight. And just as quickly, she let go, stepping back to grin. “It’s good to see you again. Be right back!” Holding back a giggle at his huge eyes and slack mouth, Sakura slipped back into her dorm, shutting the door.

Link

The sequel to Four and One is posted up on Ao3!

Yes, I forgot to update over here. Unfortunately, I fear there’ll be a lot of that over the next while… Well, here you go:

Denials of the Doomed