#wafflelate's gardens verse

[pi-cat000]

Girl who made the night sky: p5

NOTE: so I started writing this again this year but didn’t get very far. Here’s what I wrote if anyone was interested. I might post it on ao3 as well, not sure.

Summery: To return home Shikako splits herself infinitely across dimensions. A fault in one of the splits results in a discorporated Shikako stranded in the Naruto canon-verse.

Part 3, Part 4

Her alarm goes off just as the sun begins to peak between the buildings opposite her apartment block.  Sakura roles over to glare at the thin beam of light filtering through her window, catching in floating dust particles. Somewhere in the dark of her mind Kako shifts with amusement, prodding at her sluggish thoughts, pushing them into a state of awareness.

/Morning./ The word is said slowly, echoing with a lazy laughter. Sakura scowls, flopping over to hit the snooze on her alarm, yawning. She is still getting used to waking up at dawn and is thus completely reliant on her alarm to shake her from her sleep. A real shinobi would have enough control to wake up whenever they desired.

/Practise makes perfect,/ Kako says as if guessing the direction of her thoughts.

“Easy for you to say,” Sakura mutters, dragging herself up and yawning again. There is more idle amusement from Kako.

/Have a good day./

Slowly, the impression of Kako fades into the neutral baseline of just-Sakura, signalling that the other was asleep.

“I will,” Sakura comments in her renewed alone-ness.

Kako now slept during the day, leaving Sakura to her own devices. Whatever that not-dream had been, it had disturbed Kako enough that she now spent most of her ‘awake’ time watching over Sakura while she slept. This left only a few scant hours in the evening for discussion, conversation and hanging out together. Despite only having Kako around for a few months, Sakura already misses the other’s presence. Though their interactions had always been limited, reduced to scattered sentences and the occasional emotion, just having Kako listen to her ramblings or watch as she walked to and from the academy, studied or completed whatever other task she had set herself. Funny how much of a difference just having someone around and interested made even the most mundane parts of life. 

Discouraged by her own solitary thoughts, Sakura contemplates returning to bed and sleeping an extra hour. Not like Kako would know if she did. The notion passes quickly. Kako would be disappointed and the thought of disappointing Kako make her sad. Also, she was pretty sure it was dangerous for her and Kako to sleep at the same time. Sakura’s not an idiot. Even if Kako had yet to outright say it, she could put two and two together. Something bad had happened during the nightmare other than just giving them a fright. 

...

The rest of the morning progresses according to her new schedule. She dresses and packs her bag. With her collection of notebooks steadily increasing, it was starting bulge in the middle. The sooner she figured out how to properly make storage scrolls the better.

Next, she shuffles down to the kitchen, pulling together a meal with the correct amount of nutrients. Now Sakura is waking up before her mom, she has been forced to plan her own meals. Kako had been very helpful in that department, pushing her towards the type of diet she would need to help with muscle growth and keep her energy levels high throughout the day. It didn’t taste particularly nice, but it was functional, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the other non-clan kids knew about this sort of stuff. Meal planning was something they’d touched on in class but not something Sakura had bothered applying to her day-to-day life. Sure, she’d always tried to eat healthy but, like most things ninja related, there was a lot more to physical conditioning than just that being healthy.  It had only been a week but she has already noticed a marked improvement in her daily energy levels.

...

Sakura closes the door her apartment just as she begins to hear her parents start to shuffle around, preparing for their own workday. She takes a second to breath in the cool morning air before heading towards the old academy training grounds.

When she arrives the training area is empty like it usually is. Not a lot of academy students bothered coming out so early, especially not to this training spot which was in an awkward location. She hadn’t even known it existed till Kako pointed it out.

Another yawn.

A long sigh.

Sakura begins her warmup stretches, trying not to let the silence of her own mind bother her too much.

She is maybe halfway through the revised exorcize routine that Kako put together for her, when movement at the edge of the training field catches her attention.

It startles her enough that she almost trips through the final set. If Kako were awake Sakura might have had some warning as Kako was usually the one to sense and alert her to people approaching unexpectedly. Maybe she should work on her spatial awareness or lack thereof. She’ll add it to the list.

As it is, she thankfully doesn’t trip and embarrass herself because the person approaching is very familiar.

“Sasuke-kun!” She can’t help but call an enthusiastic greeting, waving. Sasuke freezes on approach, staring his usual blank stare. He blinks, expression shifting ever so slightly to surprise. Well, as surprised as someone as cool as Sasuke can be.

“Hello!” What were the chances of running into Sasuke outside of school hours? Practically zero. Ino would have a fit.

Saskue about-faces and walks in the opposite direction.

“Wait!” She starts to follow as the other quickly disappears into the trees encircling the training grounds.

“Do you want to train…” She hesitates, slowing, “with me…?”

Does she want Sasuke to see her huffing and puffing as she tries to make it past her tenth lap of the field? Her stamina is less than impressive and Sasuke always placed in her class’s top three when it came to combat and physical ability. She stops following. No way was she letting Sasuke see her like this.

If Kako was right, and she usually was, she would start seeing a physical improvement in another weeks time.

She pouts, trying not to feel too unmotivated.  Maybe…hopefully, she’ll see Sasuke out here again and ask to train then? Then she wouldn’t be a total embarrassment. Yes, a prefect plan. She resumes her exercises. Before Kako had come along, catching up to Sasuke would have seemed like an insurmountable task. Now Sakura’s seen what a real shinobi is capable of and said shinobi believes she is capable of the same things, it doesn’t seem as impossible. Goal reaffirmed, she tackles the rest of the morning with renewed energy.

...

Her day progresses as per usual. Sakura sits in class, takes notes, and revises on past topics when Iruka deviates between teaching and crowd control. When lunch break starts, she takes it as an opportunity to sit around the side of the building and examine her sealing notes. Away from her noisy peers, she has a chance to sort through all the stuff she’s been learning and figure out what questions she wants to ask Kako in those few hours they have together in the afternoon.

“Why do these seals use a bunch of descriptive kanji while this one is just a collection of stylistic lines?”

She mutters to herself, scanning the copies of Kako’s seal and her copies of Iruka’s notes on storage scrolls. The storage scrolls are easy enough to understand. The symbols and lines follow a logical progression, building on the basics she’d learnt while studying explosive tags. Kako’s seal is different…very different. Instead of easy to follow connections between the function and kanji, Kako’s seal is a simple circle, spiral and tomoki. Nothing else…No hint at what the lines might mean.

….

...

/Seal is collapsed…simplified. Needs expanding./

Is Kako’s somewhat confusing answer. After spending most of her lunch, then the following lesson mulling the question over, this is less than satisfying.

“What do you mean by needs expanding?” There is a long pause and Sakura waits for Kako to find the right words and energy to talk. Kako could almost communicate in full sentences now but it was still somewhat stilted.

/Not the full seal…simplified…smaller./

Sakura frowns, staring at her desk. Strewn across it are piles of notes, several bottles of ink she’s been infusing with charkha, and blank sealing paper. She had been half asleep at the time but she vaguely recalls how, on the night of Kako’s arrival, the seal had been a lot bigger, stretching across almost all her visible skin. 

“You mean this is only a small part of the seal and there’s more that I can’t see.” A wave of warm encouragement has Sakura continuing, “No, it’s more than that…all the seal is here it’s just…. just smaller…symbolic of the larger seal.”

/Compressed./ There’s a warm swell of pride like she’s just understood some tricky concept Kako’s been trying to impart

“Well …then how do I study it? How do I un-compress it?”

/An expansion seal./

She groans, “So…I need another seal to look at this seal.”

/Hmmm./

“Let me guess: That’s complicated as well.”

/Basics first./

Sakura rests her head on the desk, sighing.

[pepperdoken]

"Fine" or "Catastrophize" by Noah Kahan

Catastrophize

lyrics | song

So when my thoughts take off may I breathe deepLord, hold me strong when old loss comes to meet meKeep my fingers crossed, keep my knees weakAre we all such fragile things? 

lmao this ended up having almost NOTHING to do with the song but:

Crows hold grudges. Crows hold grudges very well.

When Danzou attacks Shisui – a crow summoner – he raises the ire of even the regulars crows in Konoha, and they begin to target him and his underlings.

Crows are also prone to bringing gifts to those who befriend them – and with both Shisui and Uzume gone, they start bringing their gifts to Amano. A bloody scrap of hair with scalp still attached. A Konoha forehead protector. A tongue with a seal on it.

…the crow summoning contract.

Amano signs the crow summoning scroll as a way to stay close to the memory of Uzume and Shisui. He doesn’t expect to find out Kansoku has one of Shisui’s eyes – but only one of them.

Because after Shisui committed suicide, Itachi went to Uzume to ask to sign the crow contract to have a place protect Shisui’s remaining eye. And he told Kansoku that Danzou has the other one. So now Amano knows.

And Amano – well. Amano picked the crow mask when he joined ANBU for a reason.

Now he has a target he can actually reach.

When gardens!Shikako stops by Konoha to see if she’s home, it’s to find a murder of crows – and ANBU Crow – attacking Danzou in public.

[jacksgreysays]

I don't have a perfect lens on your fandom engagement, but a while back there was a sort of "capstone" placed on Wafflelate's Gardens verse where Shikako essentially sends herself into every world Gelel can reach that doesn't already HAVE a Shikako. It's called the "Split", and the basic idea is that instead of wandering forever, ONE of her gets home ... at the cost of every Shikako who doesn't land there knowing they can't go back, because that space is already filled

I know of this “capstone” but I didn’t know it had an official name. I actually kind of wrote the fifth installment of Shikako Nara’s Guide To Delinquency and Military Insurrection with a post-Split Shikako in mind. In the sense that (SPOILERS?) Shikako is almost resigned to living in this village founding era and, more specifically, making sure Madara doesn’t ruin things for everyone but especially himself?

(And if that’s a parallel for her own internal conflict then, well, she’s got a lifetime in this world to come to terms with it)

The hope is that she can redirect Madara from the villain track the same way she did Sasuke, not by tricking him but by giving him something to focus his rage toward. Ie Zetsu and Kaguya.

I may do more installments of SNGTDaMI (god it’s such a long title even as an acronym) with a post-Split Shikako. One less melancholy, preferably.

[pi-cat000]

Since people seem to be enjoying the reposts of my DOS crossover stuff, I am going to post this on ao3 as well. It's the DOS-Gardens-AU inspired by Juno-nine or ‘the disembodied Shikako gets suck in Sakura's mind’ fic.

@wafflelate, (and Juno-nine but I didn’t know your Tumblr), thanks for the inspiration :) 

[jacksgreysays]

"Snapdragon" for Shisui/Shikako, if you feel comfortable with it? I'm really enjoying the Gardens!Shikako verse going on in the Recursive thread on FFnet, and I think these two would have an interesting dynamic in another reality

I had to do some sleuthing to figure out what you were talking about, anon, because while I love the recursive fic forums, they also frighten me a little. My completionist tendencies won’t let me do it unless there’s a specific ‘verse I’m reading, so if nothing else I appreciate the fic rec; wafflelate is a fantastic author!

I am going to specify, though, that this is based mostly on wafflelate’s linked posts… the “canon” thread, if you will, because I’m not sure what else has been accepted as true or not. Although I did like the idea that… wait, hold up, *SPOILERS* y'all. I’d suggest checking out wafflelate’s The Many Gardens of Shikabane-hime before reading this, otherwise it won’t make much sense.

Anyway…

I liked the not-(yet?)-canon idea that Konoha interprets Shisui’s testimony as Shikako being a Senju descendant with the Mokuton and blood access to the vault (in order to steal the lightsaber). And I’m also liking “Kamiko” as her name as derived from “Kako” since “Shikako” is a little too obvious for her parentage, though given her penchant for shadow jutsu, they are aware she is also Nara.

I’m personally going to go with the idea that Shikako’s existence is fairly unique in the multiverse–maybe in the style of Lady Hallen and Fragile Dreams, in that Shikamaru was born a twin but said twin did not live through the Kyuubi’s corrosive chakra eighteen days later–so “Kamiko” is the only (living) Shikako in this universe.

Now, all that being said, anon, Shisui/Shikako as a ship in the Gardens!verse is rather compelling and I love your choice of title. It harkens to both Gardens and DoS, and given the meaning of snapdragons is deception that works pretty damn well for both Shikako and Shisui. Perfection!

Snapdragons can also mean grace under pressure and inner strength which is also pretty apt for both of them as well. However, in Japanese hanakotoba, it can signify a range of meanings, such as foresight, shamelessness, or an intrusive person. Which… also sort of works? And… apparently they look like skulls when they wilt? Dang, I am learning so much.

… er… enough fawning on my part!

So the main problem I’m seeing is that Shikako will always be trying to go back home (after she’s made sure that Kakashi is relatively safe) and unless that can be definitely closed as an option, then that will stay between her and anyone else that is not Kakashi and prevent her from getting close. Then again, Shisui is the kind of person who is best friends with Itachi, so it’s not like a couple (hundred) secrets will frighten him off.

But I do think that is an issue that needs to be resolved before Shikako can start to put down roots (heeeeeey) and get emotionally involved with this particular dimension, much less its people (besides this Kakashi), even much much less some Uchiha who she’s never met before.

A simple way would be to have Gelel tell her that what she wants can’t happen. Sure she can use their power to go into another dimension, but she’ll never get back to her specific dimension. The multiverse is vast with all sort of dimensions forming and dying and brushing past each other. They’re not linear paths she can just jump across, or even tangled strings that–if she just finds the right one–she can just track back home. Each dimension is more like a air molecule, bouncing around and past each other, no bonds holding them in any semblance of order. The dimension she came from has long since blown beyond her reach and there is no wind that can bring her home. At best, she’ll just doom herself to traveling forever, bouncing between dimensions that get further and further away from something she can recognize.

That’s bleak, sorry, but I really do think it needs to be a definitive no, otherwise she will always try to go home. As for how the Gelel know this, well… they did create a massive seal that still worked for centuries after their empire fell and was forgotten so… if Shikako and the Uzumaki could create three dimensional seals (which Konoha are baffled by) then whose to say the Gelel weren’t also super sealing genii.

With that out of the way the story then becomes smaller. It’s no longer about Shikako fighting the cosmic flow of time and space–pausing only to help someone who is very similar to her teacher–but rather a more intimate story about a figurative fish out of water settling into a village which has no idea what to do with her.

That’s the kind of setting we need here, anon.

So as I said earlier, I did quite like the idea of Shikako being assumed to be a SenjuxNara descendant. From there–and I don’t know if someone else thought of this already, but if they have then sorry–I like the idea that in order to resolve Kakashi’s “PR nightmare” (or whatever it was that got him named comrade-killer) with her sudden appearance and bewildering heritage, that they (probably Tsunade) say that he was on a “secret undercover mission from the Sandaime” to protect the last Senju from Danzo.

And, well, he’s dead so who’s to say he didn’t. Also, it worked for Itachi, kind of, so…

Unfortunately, Shikako no longer has her uncle’s earrings–but that could have sort of explained how Kamiko learned shadow jutsu so long Ikoma had a interesting shinobi career with several unaccounted for gaps. Maybe he was ANBU or MAYBE he was training a secret SenjuxNara child?! He’s dead too, no one can say otherwise!

… I’m getting very off track, I think.

Basically what I’m saying is, Shisui would fit perfectly in this political subterfuge campaign and if anyone’s going to bring the Uchiha clan out of their pariah-hood it would be a ridiculously powerful Senju x Nara who has, if not hard evidence, then an easily proven list of Danzo’s crimes and intended crimes.

Also, she killed Orochimaru, so shut up. (FINE, Kakashi helped A LITTLE, but he’s the only one who can say anything)

Speaking of, Kakashi would probably be one of the few people to tease her about the Shisui thing. Like, everyone else is super serious around her and is just “yes, what a politically advantageous match,” or “whatever the crazy powerful badass wants, she gets” whereas he’s just like… “ah, my adorable little kouhai, growing up so fast.”

I think this is all I got, anon, sorry for being slightly incoherent about it and thanks again for pointing me in the direction of Gardens!verse.

~

Ask Box Event Now Open!