Bwa ha ha double post!

[cynchick]

Also stolen from everyone.

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

Comments

Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[devimelete.livejournal.com]

“But you took an enormous risk in doing this without sending for backup first. For all you knew he could have intended to kill you.”

“I was aware of that,” she acknowledged. “But there was no time to wait for backup. He wouldn’t have lived that long. At any rate, he was too weak to actually harm me, and I was fully prepared to keep him sedated and weakened until he was fit for transport to Konoha, but it turned out to be unnecessary.”

Sakura went on; relating events the Hokage didn’t know about, what happened after the encrypted letter was sent. She talked about the three-day fever episode and how close Itachi had come to dying, how she had barely managed to keep him alive. She didn’t mention the chakra bond, but Tsunade studied her very keenly at that point, and probably suspected what had happened. No one had more experience in medical ninjutsu than her master. But Sakura left those personal unsettling details out of her report.

I am curious of Tsunade's perspective on the idea of Sakura and Itachi together, especially with the chakra bond involved between the two.

Re: Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

You mean Vespertine. XD

So in this scene I laid on the subtext pretty strongly, I thought, and I hope people caught on to it.

Basically, Tsunade knows. She is very smart and perceptive, and is the best medic alive. She knows what it would have taken for Sakura to save Itachi's life at such a final stage, all by herself. She would know that a chakra bond had been formed, and have a clue about what kinds of effects that would have on them. The fact that Sakura didn't even mention it pretty much confirmed it in her mind. More than anything though, she knows her apprentice and how compassionate she can be, and would suspect that after hearing the truth from Itachi, her perspective would change drastically.

Of course she didn't know they would eventually hook up, because even they didn't know that, but she will definitely not be surprised.

Re: Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[devimelete.livejournal.com]

Yes. Vespertine. Can't blame me for making a mistake like that, they both start the letter 'V' . . .


:D


Yeah, the subtext is pretty loud and clear for me, as they both didn't raise the issue in the first place. I just like reading the perspectives of other people in other pairings, like that brief mention in your latest chapter that you include Naruto's feelings on the issue as not very happy.


I mean, I would totally love to read Sai's or even Sasuke's thoughts when he realizes that Sakura and Itachi are together, because the end results would totally be LOL-worthy.

Re: Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

Hehe, they will all have their reaction moments in the next 2 chapters, and I think Sasuke's experience of the matter is particularly amusing. XDD

Re: Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[devimelete.livejournal.com]

Sometimes,I think the entire point of the non-massacre AU is based less on the Itachi/Sakura and more on Sasuke's reaction of those two.

Re: Alrighty, here's one, from Vertigo.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

I think the underlying basis for nonmass fics is to be able to write Itachi as the gorgeous, sexy, brilliant ninja without having to deal the inconvenient fact that he killed his entire clan. I haven't read many nonmass and I didn't like/finish any of them because none of them address Itachi's fucked up issues.

[tsukihara.livejournal.com]

Sakura held on to him tightly, not wanting to accept that tomorrow she would have to let him go forever. The moment his strong arms had come around her the tears just wouldn’t stop. He had come to be very important to her. They all had, but she felt her bond with Deidara was special, because he understood her better than the others. Itachi was her lover, and there was an unspoken connection between them, but Deidara was her friend, and she would miss him terribly when he was gone.

A few minutes later she finally loosened her hold around him, though she didn’t let go, and pulled back slightly with another small sniffle. His hand moved from her hair to join the other around her back, fingers unconsciously tightening and pulling her closer to him.

Deidara watched her tear-stained features with an intensity she had never felt from him before. Her stomach fluttered sharply, for though she had never seen him look at her that way, she knew it for what it was. Something stirred within her, something that was best left unexplored. Had it happened earlier, before everything, she may have welcomed this turn, but it was too late now, and she realized that things were going to get very complicated very quickly if they continued to stand there with their arms around each other.

Slowly she disentangled herself, surprised at her reluctance to do so, and his arms returned to his sides as if he was thinking the exact same thing. Unwilling to just walk away and leave things so unresolved between them, she looked at his face again and smiled, which he eventually returned with a small, ironic smirk. “Thank you so much for everything, Deidara.” On a final impulsive indulgence, she leaned in and placed a soft kiss near the corner of his mouth, lingering perhaps a second too long to be entirely innocent. “Goodnight,” she whispered, stepping away at last.

“Goodnight,” he replied quietly. She turned and walked away, scarf in hand, eventually disappearing down the dark hallway. Alone again, he stared at the fire and rubbed the back of his neck with a long, weary sigh, the feel of her soft lips still lingering on his cheek.

One of my all-time favorite moments in Naruto fan fiction. When you wrote this, did you already know there's going to be a sequel?

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

That is one of my absolute favorite moments too. When I began Perception I had already read several ItaSaku fics and saw the (awful) trend of the love triangle with Deidara or Sasuke or whoever, and I firmly decided I was NOT going to do that. And I didn't, really. There was never any overt jealousy or pissing contests between Itachi/Deidara/Kakashi, and Sakura was never torn between any of them. When I plotted the outline for this story, I knew I wanted KakaSaku subtext and an eventual KakaSaku resolution, but I always intended for Deidara and Sakura to just become really close friends.

And then the characters came to life during the process. Deidara and Sakura decided it for me, seriously. They developed this amazing chemistry all on their own. It was so natural and effortless in the writing - it couldn't NOT be that way for them. (All of my DeiSaku fics were extremely easy for me to write because they just. fit.)

So by the time I reached this point in the story, 3 away from the end, I had become a DeiSaku shipper, they occupied my thoughts more often than what I was supposed to be writing, and yeah, the idea for Silver Lining was already pretty firmly rooted in my head.

However, I still made a conscious effort to not go there in THIS fic. They had their moment, but remained platonic to the end and I didn't give any "they shall meet again" sort of hints because that would have diminished the KakaSaku aspect which I felt was just as important.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Those eyes told her he knew. He knew everything; with one glance he had put all the little pieces together. And he was furious.

Sakura took a quick, deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, but her throat constricted around her words. That look on his face, in his eyes, directed at her, left a physical pain in her chest.

The silence stretched for a short eternity, livid and tense and cutting. She couldn’t look away from those hard, angry eyes.

When he finally broke the silence his voice was low and menacing and full of disbelief.

“Spy…you’re a…spy.”

Sakura blanched at the pure venom in his words. She wouldn’t insult him by denying it, and gave a tiny, single nod of her head.

“All this time…you’ve been working for Konoha.”

Again, she nodded, her brow knitting and shoulders slumping under the weight of her guilt and the pressure of his anger.

For one instant he was too shocked to control his expression and she saw it; a split second of hurt and absolute betrayal that cut through her heart like the dullest of knives. Then his eyes narrowed, rage contorting his features into something she would have found ugly had she been capable of thinking him so.

“Fuck. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it? That’s why you have such a hard time doing this job…why you’re so fucking reluctant…you really are a goody-goody Leaf ninja! This is why you have nightmares…why you can’t stand the thought of your jinchuuriki teammate being captured…why you begged me to leave him there that day…. You…you fucking lying bitch!”

Sakura recoiled as if struck, and bit her lip so hard she tasted copper as she fought against tears. “I didn’t want you to find out like this, I –”

But Deidara had disappeared. Her eyes found him a fraction of a second before she was slammed into the wall, vision filling with stars as her back and head hit hard.

“Shut up!” he snarled, fingers gripping her throat tightly. “Shut the fuck up, you deceitful, twofaced bitch…I should just fucking kill you right here and now…”

Sakura didn’t resist his suffocating grip, keeping her hands fisted tightly in her sleeves, knowing if she touched him at all he might completely snap. The tears would no longer hold back, streaming down her face as she struggled to breathe. Deidara’s breaths were hot and heavy against her cheek, seething with fury and something much worse. She gazed steadily into his pale eyes and let him see her guilt, her heartache.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

Ahhh...the whole second half of that chapter was so exhausting to write. I really try to get into the head of the characters for scenes like that, and its pretty emotionally taxing.

I hated doing that to them, but Deidara had to find out about Sakura at some point and he could NOT be okay with it. He is not an understanding, compassionate sort of guy, and would definitely not take what he sees as a personal betrayal lightly or nonviolently. He probably could have done worse than what I made him do, because even if he loves her he is still crazy, but that wouldn't have gone over well with the readers and I personally didn't want to go there. He would have become irredeemable, and their romance unreconcilable.

In retrospect I probably could have had Sakura react/defend herself more forcefully, but to me it made sense that pacifism at that moment was the best way to prove to someone like Deidara--who is unstable and prone to aggression and was already thisclose to going over the edge-- that she wasn't a threat to him. That, and he broke her heart with his backlash and it overwhelmed her. They were both in shock at that point, and no one ever acts rationally in that state.

Did you have a specific question about this part?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't. I was just curious about your thoughts on this since I really enjoy this fic (I went to the most angsty part I could find quickly).

I hated doing that to them, but Deidara had to find out about Sakura at some point and he could NOT be okay with it. He is not an understanding, compassionate sort of guy, and would definitely not take what he sees as a personal betrayal lightly or nonviolently

Word.

From Perception.

[minoo4.livejournal.com]

When they were both ready, fully dressed and cloaked, Itachi stood before her and gazed intently at her face. She reached up and brushed a strand of his re-tied hair out of his eyes. Her eyes were bright and crystalline in the dim light, and he grazed his thumb along her cheek.

“Sakura…” he said very quietly, “I would have given you more if I could.”

It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was probably as close as he could ever get, and she was grateful. She smiled softly to cover the tremble in her lip. “I know,” she whispered, “And I would have saved you if I could.”

An emotion he would never be able to express openly passed behind his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered.

A memory of another time those same words had been said to her flashed in her mind, and just like that time, there were so many meanings behind it that she may never fully understand them all.

He traced her jaw with his fingertip, and bent his head to capture her lips. Sakura sighed and melted into his arms, pouring everything she had into the kiss, taking everything he could give in return. This kiss, their last kiss, she would lock the memory of it in her heart and treasure it forever.

After an eternal moment that passed far too quickly, their lips finally parted. They remained close, and she kept her eyes closed and breathed in his scent one last time. He took hold of her hand and a moment later she felt the press of something hard against her palm. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down.

It was his necklace.

Jade eyes shot back to his face in wide-eyed surprise. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say, so she simply stared at him with a mixture of confusion and sadness, fighting against the stinging in her eyes.

He closed her fingers over the metal, still warm from his skin, and brought his other hand up to gently grasp her chin. “Don’t cry for me, Sakura,” he said softly, “And don’t regret.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, and when she opened them and met his gaze again, his eyes were mesmerizing, hypnotic crimson. The color of blood. The man she spent the night with was gone, and the mighty Uchiha Itachi stood before her once more.

It was time to go.

One of my most favorite moments and definitely the most favorite fic! In this part I actually cried, well, I cried a lot during the last chapters.
So what were you thinking writing this part? How did you feel?
I can only imagine how it was for you who wrote it, I was already so into it and such a reaction.

Re: From Perception.

[minoo4.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, a little too long :D

Re: From Perception.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

Another one of my favorite moments. I remember being quite sad as I wrote this part (and the entire chapter) but I intended Itachi and Sakura's relationship to be doomed from the start. Since this scene is their goodbye, I knew I had to make it as touching as possible, but in a very subtle way because in this story Itachi is still a semi-emotionless villain.

He gives her his necklace because he wants her to remember him - especially because she is the only one who will remember him as a person more than a monster. But he tells her not to cry or regret because he wants her to let go and move on. He wants her to remember, but at the same time, he wants her to forget. If that makes any sense? Lol.

A lot of people have sort of misinterpreted the nature of their relationship or wondered whether or not they were actually in love. The short answer is no. Not in the way most of us think of being in love. When Itachi says he would have given her more if he could, what he means is that he would have loved her if he was capable of really feeling romantic love. Sakura also doesn't love him in the classical sense, because as she explains to Sasuke in ch 18, love is about accepting all of a person, and there was too much about Itachi that she couldn't accept.

But that doesn't mean they don't care for each other, or can't have tender moments like this one. They came as close to love as they could get, given their circumstances and the amount of time they had. The underlying theme of Perception is that there is no black and white, and just as things are not always as simple as "black" and "white", its not always as simple as "love" and "not." There is a somewhere in-between, and that's where Itachi and Sakura fell.

[almostaddictive.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is so cool of you to do! :D This is from Perception, chapter one:

"Much. Thank you,” he replied quietly. She was about to move away when he inclined his head back over his shoulder and made a circular motion with his arm. She blinked in confusion, but then realized he was motioning for her to move around in front of him. She couldn’t believe he was actually offering to return the favor but she wasn’t about to refuse, so she crawled around and sat in front of him. He grabbed her arms and scooted her backwards with him until his back was resting against the tree. Trust him to get as comfortable as possible. Why didn’t she think of that? He set one leg on either side of her with knees bent and set to work on her tense muscles.

Six, four, even two years ago she would have been shocked as hell to be in this situation, but a lot had changed with their team over time. Sakura knew she was one of the only people allowed in the aloof Copy Ninja’s personal space. She never really wondered why that was because simple physical contact was always a welcome thing with her.

Sakura’s mind was suddenly wiped blank when Kakashi’s strong fingers hit a pressure point and a moan of pleasure escaped her lips and she slumped against him, all of her tension draining away under his touch. Her unintended noise caused Sai to pause in his sketching though he didn’t look up, and Naruto cracked an eye open in their direction briefly before returning to his catnap. Kakashi merely smirked and continued his work. Sakura knew what it had sounded like, but she was only mildly embarrassed at her little slip.

She didn’t think anything of the fact that she was sitting between her much older, former sensei’s legs as he massaged her shoulders. She would have done the same thing with her other teammates. She was very comfortable with all of her boys, though Kakashi’s presence gave her an extra comfort that she figured was because she’d admired and looked up to him for so many years. She trusted her boys with everything she had, and was sure they all felt the same way about her."

I want to know if you actually had a storyline planned out before you wrote the first chapter, did you ever think of a love triangle between Sakura, Kakashi and Itachi and other whatnot!

I love your fics! <3

[almostaddictive.livejournal.com]

By the way, I have always loved that part of the first chapter where Team Seven are, it feels like the evening is coming with the twilight and all... It just feels so... team seven.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

I always have all of my stories mapped out start to finish before I start writing, though some things happen unexpectedly. Like the DeiSaku undertones.

So yeah, when I wrote this scene I had every intention of having her be with Kakashi at the very end. Though as I've said before, I don't consider it a true love triangle/square because none of them overlapped. Sakura wasn't aware of Kakashi's feelings, or her own towards him, and he never interacted with Itachi. So. XD

The KakaSaku was planned, but the DeiSaku hints weren't. If I had known at the beginning that I would want to write a DeiSaku sequel, I probably wouldn't have had the KakaSaku stuff, but in the end I'm glad I did because I wanted to show that life - and love - go on, and that moving on doesn't lessen the significance of what you had before.