[Fic] Sky on Fire: Walk Through Shadow -- Chapter 08/END

[skylar_inari]

Title: Walk Through Shadow
Chapter: Sadako
Author/Artist: Killaurey
Word Count: 5,566
Summary: Sidestory to Slow Burn. [Shikamaru centric] While Ino is off in Kumogakure for the Chuunin Exams, Shikamaru's nightmares worsen and his control over his shadow unravels. Getting it together again means facing his worst enemy-himself

Comments

[skylar_inari]

Thank you very much! Wrapping up Sadako's mystery in this chapter took longer than I thought it would, but I think it turned out better than I'd planned. (Originally, I had thought to leave her more mysterious and not answer so much about her, other than the fact that, yes, she was a shadow of someone who no longer lived.) It's very sad to think of Shikamaru being left behind as the world goes on, at least to me, but sometimes things happen that are sad.

As for Yoshino, haha, I'm not sure what to say. One day, her story might be told. Of course, her story is also Shikaku's and Sadako's and so many others as well. Shikaku having two teams is something that jumped out at me when I went looking up Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chouza's ages. When Shikaku is 41, Inoichi and Chouza are 38. That's what canon says. So either that means Shikaku was super lazy and got held bad several times, that Inoichi and Chouza were advanced several levels, or that they were put together later, after graduating on different teams.

:) I'm kinda excited to see him react to them too. And them try to pinpoint the changes in him as well. He's very definitely 14, which was something I struggled with. I'm glad you've enjoyed this story and thank you for reading it.

[hungrytiger11]

I'd never noticed that Shikaku is older than the others! Fascinating! Now I'm curious as to whether the first team were also members of those three clans. I do hope you one day choose to tell Yoshino, Shikaku and the others' story, though, of course, they are such background characters....

[skylar_inari]

I don't know about canon having Shikaku's first team (or even if he had a first team, it could be a snafu on Kishi's part) being another Ino-Shika-Cho configuration, but I do know that in my personal canon... it wasn't.

Because it seems rather cruel to stick two teams together who've recently lost members with people from the same clan, you know? Like a stab in the gut because clan members will have known each other and their skills will be similar and... ow.

As for telling their story... maybe. I've got notes, but I'm trying to focus on the main thread of the story first before going back to tell what happened before. XD