broken-nosed gods

Recommendations time!

First up, Naruto fandom! I do hope you've all read hakanamu's Tight Spot. If you haven't, then why not? It is made of time-travelling, well-done minor- and original-character AWESOME! And Naruto as Itachi. ^^

You've read it? Ah, good. Have you seen The Last Uchiha around and not clicked on it? If so, why not? It follows Sakura taking care of Sasuke's orphaned son in a Konoha that hates him for his father. Seems to be abandoned, but pretty damn good nonetheless.

One more Naruto fic -- TheLetterB's excellent Brothers. Friendly fluffiness between Itachi and Sasuke. What they'd quite probably be like in a peaceful universe, complete with Sasuke's candy-shopkeeper love interest. ^^;; A bit of ItaSaku, complete with Sasuke looking at his brother oddly for hanging out with his teammate. This is a fic that will make you happy.

For Harry Potter: RustyRed's Ectomancer is one of my favourites. Harry reacts believably to things, but you'll probably like him a lot more than you do canon!Harry. He's clever, resourceful, and a bit weirded out by what's going on. What really surprised and pleased me about this fic were the OCs, whom I really want to see again, despite the fact that they appeared for perhaps a chapter. Now that's character development.

Aha! A recommendation for one of the tinier fandoms out there, From Eroica With Love. Major Decisions is a truly wonderful fic. The non-titular, secondary main character is -- gasp! -- a girl. Who is made of awesome. She reminds me very much of Nina/Anna from Monster, actually.

BIG NEWS: Someone wrote fic for Initial D! Good fic! In this year! Isn't that amazing? :D It's here. NC-17-rated slash, but even if you don't like that sort of thing it's kind of amazing that someone's writing something considering the nonexistence of Initial D fandom in general.

Despite the title, it's a fairly cheerful story thus far. It's really one of the more brilliant Naruto fics I've read. The basic premise is that Itachi finds Sakura crying in the woods when he's leaving the village, and (on a whim) takes her with him. Sakura turns out very kickass, but also extremely human. She can't defeat enemies simply by waving her hand at them; she gets injured both physically and mentally. (Although she *can* beat Kisame. Heh.) The fight with Kimimaro, for instance; while she does win, she is badly hurt, and slightly shaken by the realization that he's a lot like her.

In Chapter Two, Sakura is introduced to Deidara, and picks him out of all the Akatsuki to share a room with (since she is unable to share one with her Itachi-sensei-sama). Of course, this is because she first assumed Deidara was female. (Close enough ;) )

I love the Sakura/Deidara dynamic in this story. Best friends, teacher and student, possible romantic interest... The best of it, though, is the balance with Itachi. Itachi is her teacher, her leader, her strength — the person she looks up to the most. But Deidara — apart from anything else, Deidara is there.

Sasori is her older brother figure. Teacher and friend; as he is Deidara's partner, she spends more time with him than Itachi. Both explosives and poisons are some of her favourite fighting techniques since she arrived.

There are many, many wonderful things about this fic. But there is one line that stays in my mind, and pops up unexpectedly — you know, like a door-to-door insurance salesmen. But it feels more like a line from Shakespeare than an annoying guy in a suit. Deidara was there; she couldn’t hear him, but his lips kept saying come back, come back, come back… That 'come back, come back, come back...' is definitely one of the more haunting things I have ever read, almost as much as 'Break, heart, I prithee break.' You can practically hear the wishing, longing, fading voice it would be read in. Beautiful.

Link: The Tortured