askerian | recs: His Dark Materials/Golden Compass/Daemon AUs

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recs: His Dark Materials/Golden Compass/Daemon AUs

By which I mean, "Fandom A, WITH DAEMONS. (also potentially witches and Armoured Bears and Dust.)" Alas I am not that interested in the characters and plot of Mr Pullman's story as much as I am by its settings. XD;

I was writing this weirdass series of vignettes on daemons in Final Fantasy 7 and then of course I had to go on a rampage of reading across fandoms. I shoulda bookmarked more of the ones I read as I went, now I can't find them. *sadfaces*

Anyway, those are the ones I liked/loved. Fandoms so far: Avatar the Last Airbender, Naruto, Stargate Atlantis, Sherlock Holmes, NCIS, Supernatural, Glee.

Avatar the Last Airbender

Inner Nature by

avocado_love/AvocadoLove
Summary: "I never hid the scar. I wore it as a symbol of shame, of the banished prince... but I never hid from it. I could never hide what my daemon is, either. Or what she isn’t." (gen.)
My comments: ... eeeee. It's a shortish series of scenes (about 2200 words total) about Zuko and his daemon at key points during season 3. Zuko is 16 and his daemon hasn't settled. This is a huge problem. I found this all very IC, and ultimately very satisfying. More important, I liked the daemons. XD

Naruto

Inner Vision, also by

avocado_love/AvocadoLove (what a coincidence! :3)
Summary: "When Kakashi first began to see people's souls manifested as animals, he naturally assumed he had lost his mind. Kakashi/Iruka" (~4900 words.)
My comments: So, in this fusionverse, daemons do exist! It's just that no one knows it. It's an original approach in this type of crossover, and it makes complete sense the way it's explained, and oh god I love this one too. Possibly even more, which considering that I don't usually care much for Kakashi-centric stories and don't care at ALL for KakaIru, should tell y'all something. It has hilarious moments and d'aww moments, I love the rationale for which daemons go to who (would never have thought of Tsunade's, but it fits crazy well), and after reading this I almost feel like you could just not bother writing more Daemon AUs in this fandom.
(not *quite* because I'd love a team seven centric one, but that's just me being a T7 whore in general.)

Stargate Atlantis

Daemonology by

trinityofone
Summary: "They had always wanted to fly; John couldn’t fly; Nioke flew for him." John/Rodney.
My comments:

There was never any doubt that when the time came, she would settle as a bird. The only question was what kind. Hawk, Eagle, Sparrow, Finch, Falcon... They whispered the names to each other in the dark.

Then John woke up a few weeks before his thirteenth birthday to discover that Nioke had ceased to be a bird for good.

John learned to fly planes.

In other words, Read It because it is gorgeousness. The writing is prrrrrrrt. It starts as mirrored tidbits from John's and Rodney's life experiences growing up with the daemons they have, then goes into plotty&somewhat slashy things (subtle-like! not hurhur-like), and it does a great job making us sympathize with/feel how utterly horrible it is when something happens to a daemon -- i mean, we're told it's someone's *soul* given form, but it's so alien an idea it's sometimes hard to imagine what consequences that would have, instead of "aww talking animal friend". But here, nghhhgngngng. Oh yeah, I feel it. I truly do. ♥

Animus, Animalia, Familiae by

tzzzz
Summary: "To touch another's daemon is to touch another's soul. It is the greatest act of intimacy in this life." (about 11 600 words) (it's either gen or pre-ot4, either of which is awesome by me.)
My comments: What I like: The daemons's personalities. The fact that John does have a daemon, he just has damn good reasons not to let people see it, so they sometimes wonder if he doesn't have one. The subplot about how Teyla truly doesn't, and everything it entails. The angst and beating-up-on-John, because he suffers prettily okay stop judging me. The team loev. The worldbuilding bits about the cultural differences between Earth and Pegasus, like for example how Earth people talk around each other's daemons instead of with them, and Ronon thinks that's weird. The Ford thing! :D

Caveats: You might have to be familiar with the SGA plot, because the first half at least is mostly scenes that go differently here and there in the series instead of one solid narrative, and I don't know how much of a problem it would be to someone coming in knowing only the very basics. But some scenes have no fallout/denouement because the fallout is the same as what happened in the show.
(I just realized there's a bit of "timeline? what's that?" since Ronon is here before Ford isn't. *chalks it up to AUness, ignores*)

The Raven by

kriadydragon
Summary: "Sheppard had never considered the setback of having a raven for a Daemon until his first mission."
My comments: This fic is all about the rumors and superstitions and judgments attached to some kind of daemon and what it means about the person they're attached to, which is always fun, and how they're different on Earth and in Pegasus, which gets me in my worldbuilding glee place. Also with some Sheppard ouchies. *cackles a bit*
Small caveat: It's mostly a fic about how people are horrible to John and they're OMG SO WRONG ABOUT HIM. It's well written, and personally I enjoyed it, but pretty much that's the topic.

The one thing that seriously bugs me about this fic is that John Sheppard's daemon's name is SAKURA. It gives me an unfortunate weeabo ping, seeing as John has, as far as I know, absolutely no connection to Japan in canon, and also he's in his forties and it's unlikely that back when his daemon was named his father/father's daemon would have heard the name and liked it enough to bestow on her. I mean, depending on whether you go with the first mention or the retcon John's dad is either a serious career military man or a really ambitious businessman. I'm not sure where the japanophilia comes from; and since there's no explanation for it it kept jarring me all along the story, which sucks because it's a small issue and otherwise the story is pretty nice.

Sherlock Holmes
(I know the movie/books, not the TV series that's a modern retelling of it -- I haven't seen it, but the fics I liked best were for the series; I tend to just pretend they're modern world AUs. XD There's a surprisingly vast amount of Daemon AUs in that fandom. I'm only reccing the ones that stayed with me. If you've read an amazing one that I haven't recced please feel free to link me. My tastes might differ from yours, but I might also just have missed it. >_>;)

Asteroidea, Highly Intelligent, Observant, and Destructive When Bored and Feels Like Drowning by

etothepii
Summary for Asteroidea: "In the pocket of his trousers, next to his phone, Mycroft carries the standard-issue steel capsule meant for protecting arthropod daemons. When people ask about it, he smiles and tells them she's not fond of the light, or of people other than himself. This is a lie." The first fic is Mycroft Holmes-centric, and is gen about him and Sherlock. The second introduces John Watson. I'd tell you what happens in the sequels but even the premises would be highly spoilerific for the first. (Oh, btw, the sequels are slash.)
My comments: oh god. This is the BEST daemon AUs I have ever read, in any fandom. *makes mad, mad love to this 'verse* The premise is just so amazingly original and evilyay.
... excuse me, I must go and read them all over again. Again.

(The author has a ton of really weird AUs and crossovers listed in her header post -- John Watson is a cousin of the Addams Family, Dollhouse fusion, Good Omens fusion, 'verse where everyone is either Dom or sub, werewolves fics, etc. -- and they all work much better than it seems they should. I recommend the author in general, seriously awesome. She also writes for Dr.Horrible and Batman (nolanverse.))

The Republic of Heaven and Howl (sidefic, spoilerific) by

blind_author
Summary: "Born to a witch and a human, people know Sherlock will be unusual from the start. John Watson, on the other hand, seems perfectly ordinary, except for his daemon..." Sherlock/John slash, WORK IN PROGRESS. D:
My comments: Woohoo worldbuilding! It makes use of the mythology of the Pullman books more than simply the daemons -- there's witches and an armored bear in it, and it develops stuff like color variant daemons like albino animals and black panthers, hybrid daemons, and the like. (This is also a tv series fic, btw. I think it rests a bit on the episodes, but I managed to read the story and understand just about everything that was going on, so that's not a caveat.) I really enjoy the way Sherlock and his daemon interact with people (pff XD), Holmes' characterization in general, and omg Moriarty.
Caveats: ... I dunno. *ponderponderponder* At times it does faintly read a bit like a "List Of All The Ways In Which John Watson Is Awesome", but you know, John Watson IS awesome, so it's totally well deserved. XD ♥

NCIS

Soul Deep by

xanthelj/Xanthe
Summary: "Most people never touch another person's soul...but when a 20 year old Leroy Jethro Gibbs meets an 8 year old Tony DiNozzo, it sparks an event that links them forever." Slash. This is a rather long fic -- 83,400 words, cut in four parts. First part is the first meeting, then scenes as they keep meeting/narrowly missing each other, and then the plot of NCIS starts.
My comments: I liked the characters, I liked the daemons and the worldbuilding, I liked the plot -- the interaction with kid!Tony was cute without being saccharine-choking, and the angst/OMG!!!! thing in part, um, was it three or four (you'll know which when you get there) was especially well done and emotional. I love psychic bonding stories, so it was right up my alley. Mostly, an enjoyable story, with some really great scenes and ideas. Might be triggery for domestic abuse survivors, though, i dunno. Nothing horribly graphic, but see the caveats.

Caveats: highlight to read it all, because it's spoilerific for the plot. The author should have chosen between "Tony and Gibbs meet as children" and "once adults, the plot of NCIS starts almost exactly as it did." Why? Because Gibbs, who is twenty and recently back from the army, realizes Tony is abused as a kid, to the point he has to punch the father to stop a beating and snatch him up and bring him home and nurse him back to consciousness... and when his father comes back and is all "don't tell the cops and give him back to me" he asks the abused kid whether he wants to go back to his father, and when he says yes (AS HE WOULD -- UNLESS THE ABUSE WAS HORRIFIC ALMOST ANY KID WOULD) then he ABIDES BY IT. So does Gibbs' father, who is at that point well into his forties or even older, and likely has been around for a fair bit by now.

You do not ask a child, who is programmed from infancy to want his parent to love him back, and likely has a tendency to think that if his parent doesn't love him it's because there is something wrong with him, the CHILD, whether he truly wants to go back to his abuser. You do not decide that. You CALL THE COPS and LET THEM SORT IT OUT. He is a child! He can not make an informed decision! "But he's not abusive ALL the time, only when he's drunk or stressed out, the rest of the time he can be nice and fun!" is NOT THE SAME AS NOT ABUSIVE! Hell, it's almost textbook! You were furious enough before you could have killed the guy, you say yourself you see the world in black and white, right or wrong, and now he says "sorry" and you go "oh well, since the kid wants to go" ? Seriously? Seriously?

Basically the two halves of the plot are great, it just sucks that the only way they could logically follow one another was by making Gibbs hold the Idiot Ball. So if you can ignore that you'll have a lot of fun with the story.

Supernatural

The Importance of Souls, Family, Date Night, and Ghost Story by

cloudyjenn
Summary: "Snatches of Dean's life through an infusion with His Dark Materials."; "Sam sets Castiel straight on some issues." ... Dean/Castiel. The last one has a child OC.
My comments: ... n'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Adorableness! Also enjoyed all the ways in which the Supernatural canon interacted with the daemon thing. Also, omg Castiel awwwww. aaaaaww. ... did I mention the n'aaaadorableness yet?
caveats: ... maybe if you're prone to cavities. >_>

Glee
(... yes, really. I usually don't read at all in this fandom, I don't LIKE this fandom, I just looked because of the daemon thing. @_@)

Of A Soul by

fishwrites/Fish
Summary: "Kurt dislikes McKinley for many reasons. Being the only boy with a daemon who still hasn't settled makes him an social outcast. When Karofsky crosses the line, Kurt is left with consequences that he isn't prepared for."
My comments: Well, in one hand it's WIP and there's only three chapters, though they're not exactly short.
In the other hand eeeeee worldbuilding, and also omg it's making me care about Kurt??? D: I am shocked and appalled and want chapter four plz. omgkurtdaddy. ;___; Also loving, LOOOOving Kurt's daemon, she's great.

Now, anyone got recs? Preferably fic you consider good/great, and if they exist, in anime fandoms? That'd be awesome. Maybe in Sentinel, or some more in Stargate, maybe SG1 instead of SGA? (though I like SGA better, but I really want to see Jack with a daemon for some weird reason.)

Anyone write a Gundam Wing one yet? ;___;

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know if you know these fandoms, but The Social Network has The Rules of Endogamy (http://veritasrecords.livejournal.com/98496.html#cutid1) and Merlin has Another World (http://gnimaerd.livejournal.com/211107.html). They are excellent, though, srsly srsly good.

Also I glanced at the comments in the Merlin one and apparently there's a Robin Hood one? Don't know the fandom, haven't read it, but here's the link: Into This Wild Abyss (http://zeitfic.livejournal.com/2158.html)

oh man, I don't know any of those fandoms. SADFACE. ... of course this doesn't mean I won't try them ohohohoho. Thank you, dearest!

Ffff.... I don't know golden compass (but for vaguely).. and I don't know much about aaany of these fandoms but I want to read all of themm, omn omnomnomnom!

"Anyone write a Gundam Wing one yet? ;___;"

Suposedly this girl http://lark.livejournal.com/40326.html wrong one. I dug and found her FFN here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/33535/Windsong but I don't know if any of her posted GW is the right story.

additionally, there is this: http://withdaemons.livejournal.com/2760.html#cutid1 whic is 1+R D: and is pretty lame fragment of story BUT it did lead to http://withdaemons.livejournal.com/ which is a comm devoted to HDM crossovers. :D

which lead me to this one http://au100.livejournal.com/233044.html which is a funish SW/HDM crossover

but the comm lacks much content D:

didn't find her GW fic in there, but then again I didn't open them all and the summaries were no real help. :/ Hm.

i am very sad that the comm is so low traffic. saaaad. ;__;

I may or may not have a whole thing planned out for dragon age with daemons. >>

This. Is an AMAZING idea. Just saying.

I sadly don't have any recs, but YAY, thanks so much for these! I really like the HDM world-concept too, and I always want to read more about daemons without necessarily rereading the series, so. ♥!

You've got most of the ones I know of, but you could check these:

Unexpected Forms (http://archiveofourown.org/works/79981) (1492 words) by (http://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackEyedGirl/profile)BlackEyedGirl (http://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackEyedGirl)
Fandom: Leverage (http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Leverage)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Nathan Ford, Eliot Spencer, Sophie Devereaux, Parker (Leverage), Alec Hardison
Summary:

Back when all he had was their names and a list of suspected crimes a mile long, Nate had played a guessing game with himself. Knowing those forms would tell him a lot. For a comment_fic prompt for a Dark Materials AU - they all have daemons.

A Study in Natural Philosophy (http://archiveofourown.org/works/61303) (13358 words) by (http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Maudlin/profile)Mad_Maudlin (http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Maudlin)
Fandom: Merlin (BBC) (http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Merlin%20(BBC))
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arthur/Merlin
Characters: Arthur Pendragon, Merlin, Uther Pendragon, Gaius, Morgana, Gwen (Guinevere)
Summary:

It wasn't all that unusual for people to hide their daemons; Merlin, however, seems to be taking it a little far.

aw crap, I don't know either of those fandoms. T___T Well, I've heard about merlin, it's hard not to... I'll try reading them anyway, thank you for the links!

I also rec that Merlin one, I remember it! XD

afsdkfjf WOW. I bow in awe of your ficfinding skills.

Sadly, the only daemon AU I know is for Merlin fandom, and

esther_a already got it. (It's really good, but I don't remember if it would make sense or not to someone outside the fandom.)

Daemons are such an awesome concept, aren't they? :-) Most of the daemon AUs I know have already been mentioned, but here is an Inception fic I read a week or two ago: The Kind You Could Sing (Arthur/Eames, 7500 words).

Argh, I still haven't seen inception so i've been keeping away from the fics. ;__; *bookmarks for later though!*

I also remember reading a BtVS daemon AU ages and ages ago, which contained the incredibly neat idea that vampires have daemons, but the daemons unsettle -- that is, because the vampires lose their souls, their daemons return to the fluidity (and amorality?) of childhood. Damn if I can remember what it was called or who wrote it, though. :-(

Thanks for the recs! I recognised some of them, but others were new to me, so some time in the near future is going to be spent reading (sleep? who needs sleep ;))

This is more of crossover than a fusion, but I remember liking it, so I thought I might rec it: White Rabbit (http://ellequoi.livejournal.com/1664.html) by ellequoi, SPN crossover.

Ohh, I read that one some time ago and liked it, though I was sad it didn't have a sequel. I guess if the one with Kakashi seeing daemons counts this one counts too. XD Thank you!

God, I've been on such a Supernatural kick it's not even funny.

Also

I LOEV CLOUDYJENN. HER FICS (and twitfics) ARE AMAZING. *hearts madly*

I'd rec but I don't have a daemon section so much as I have fics separated by fandom so... *facepalm*

OH WAIT JUST KIDDING I REMEMBER ONE

http://scribe-protra.livejournal.com/215580.html?thread=3053340#t3053340

by

cobweb_diamond, a Dresden Files crossover

Holy mother of god, those stories by etothepii were frackin' brilliant. I'm just..guh.

*cough* Ahem. Thanks for the recs. I wish I had some suggestions for you, but I have to say that I really didn't think to go looking for this particular fusion subject (the HDM part, I mean), even though I should have because it's awesome.

Right? right? I am so in love with this author now you have no idea. Oh and READ HER OTHER STUFF!!! it's full of O_O and ♥.

But I could give you Team 7 comment-fic, if you'd like.

hee! Gimmegimme! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Warning for possible italics abuse, and lack of imagination when it comes to daemon names.

Naruto hunched his shoulders and glared at the desk in front of him. Tahani crept nearer, unnoticed, only to panic and flee back to Hinata when he huffed and sat back. Most of the class was ignoring him, but he could hear a soft mutter of "Freak!" and knew they were talking about him.

Everyone called him a monster, and he knew why, but there was nothing he could do about it. It wasn't as if he'd chosen to be the only person in the village without a daemon. He'd just never had one, and while he wasn't aware of any lack in himself, how would he know? If it weren't for the Old Man's assurances, he'd probably have believed everyone who said it proved he had no soul.

He turned resentful eyes on Sasuke, who was determinedly ignoring everyone in the room, including his own daemon. Naruto had seen Sasuke trying to leave his daemon, and while he could never get very far before the pain forced him to stop, he'd tried more than once. And yet everyone loved Sasuke and wouldn't hear a word against him - okay, not everyone, Naruto corrected himself with a slight grin and a glance towards Kiba, but almost everyone. What made trying to separate from your daemon so much better than simply not having one in the first place?

The question forced him out of his chair, and he climbed onto Sasuke's desk, hoping that a closer look at the boy and his daemon might help him finally answer his question. His intent gaze switched between Sasuke and Ekusa, who changed from the snake she'd been coiled up as to a wary housecat.

"Hey! What are you trying to do to Sasuke-kun?" a fangirl shouted, and tried to push Naruto off the desk. Knocked off-balance, he tried to catch himself on his hands.

One of them landed on Ekusa's back.

Shocked silence filled the classroom, everyone staring in frozen horror. Touching someone's daemon was touching their soul, the ultimate taboo. There was no worse violation. Naruto knew that on the same instinctive level as everyone else, but - he couldn't make himself move away.

It didn't feel like a violation. Sasuke and Ekusa weren't acting like it was a violation. It felt like - like Sasuke, and Naruto knew Sasuke better than anyone. It felt familiar. It felt good.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, silently daring the other one to be the first to pull away.

"Get your hand off her!" yelled Raksu, changing into a heavyset dog and leaping at Naruto, breaking their strange stalemate. Thrown to the floor, Naruto flailed wildly.

It was a total accident that he touched Raksu's fur.

Different from Ekusa, but still no sense of violation - shock and wonder, a feeling of 'This is you?' and 'This is me' all bound up in 'I didn't know you'.

His hand fell away.

They stared at each other as Raksu carefully stepped away from him, back to Sakura, who was similarly dumbfounded. The room was so quiet that everyone heard the daemon mutter in confusion, "He didn't feel like a monster."

Word spread quickly about what had happened. Naruto was expecting to be treated worse than usual - he'd touched, not one, but two people's daemons, and that was - you didn't do that.

He wasn't expecting to be set on by a highly-skilled ninja, and beaten almost to death.

He definitely wasn't expecting to wake up from the beating and find himself in a large dark room that looked like a cross between a sewer and a prison, with large, thick bars blocking part of it off - and a very excited daemon hovering over him in the form of a hummingbird, who was chattering eagerly, "Come on, wake up already! You've been lying here for ages - oh, you're awake. Yay!"

"Huh?" Naruto managed, sitting up. "Where am I?"

"Inside, silly," the daemon answered him, changing to an orange gecko and staring at him intently.

"Inside where?"

"Your head! Honestly, don't you recognise it?" The daemon developed eyelids just so that she could blink at him. "You don't, do you? I guess I should have realised you wouldn't, you've never really been here, and it is a bit -" she switched to a monkey, and grimaced, "ugly, because of that bastard." She waved a paw in the direction of the bars.

Something growled, deep and threatening. Naruto stared. "What was that?"

"That's just Kyuubi," the daemon said dismissively. "Don't worry about him, he can't get out as long as the seal's intact."

"Kyuubi?" Naruto almost squeaked. "But that's - the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi, everyone knows that!"

"Killed me?" A deep red glow appeared in the darkness behind the bars, and Naruto almost flinched when he realised it was an eye - an eye that was larger than he was tall. "Killed me? That little vermin? I could have eaten him!"

"Well you didn't, and he beat you, so nyah!" Naruto told it, sticking his tongue out, and then laughed with delight when he realised that the daemon had done exactly the same thing. In fact... He stared at her with slow-dawning amazement.

She giggled. "Sorry, I didn't think to introduce myself!" She shifted into a golden many-tailed fox, and spun in a quick circle. "I'm Tora, and I'm your daemon!"

"I have a daemon?" he asked wonderingly, running his hands over her fur. "Why did you just turn into a fox?"

"It's a nice shape," she told him, preening under his petting. "About the only nice thing I've picked up from him," with another dismissive wave at the cage holding the Kyuubi. "And of course you have a daemon, stupid - if you didn't, you'd have no soul! I just can't leave here."

"Why not?" he asked, upset.

"Because if I did it would weaken the seal, and that bastard fox might be able to get out." She pulled down her eyelid at the Kyuubi, who snarled, but didn't react. "A daemon's body is made of lots of energy, you know, so my body got pulled into strengthening the bars that hold him in. So I can't have a body - I mean, I can still tell what's happening outside, I just can't join in." Her ears sank, and she turned into a rabbit and jumped into his arms, hiding her head in the crook of his elbow. "It sucks," she said, voice muffled. "I hate it."

Naruto sighed and cuddled her. "Yeah. Me too." He forced himself to brighten up. "But hey, now I can come visit you! Ooh, ohohoh, did you feel it when I touched Ekusa and Raksu? Do you think I can bring them in here to meet you?" He got more excited as he thought about the new possibilities available to him, Tora similarly brightening up.

Kyuubi brought them down to earth with a sneer. "You're going to introduce them to me?"

Naruto and Tora stopped. They couldn't. Having your daemon inside your head was weird, but it would be a relief - it would prove that Naruto wasn't a monster. Having the Kyuubi in there as well?

"They'd be scared of us," Tora whimpered, becoming a mouse who ran and hid up Naruto's sleeve.

Naruto swallowed hard, as if something was stuck in his throat, and shook her out so he could hug her tightly. She turned into a bearcub and hugged him back.

They sat for a while in silence.

"I've gotta go back outside, don't I?" he asked wistfully.

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna come back as often as I can."

"I know that!"

"I'm gonna miss you."

"...Yeah."

Naruto forced himself to wake up.

Aww!! This is so full of cute. A bit quick/summarized in place, it would deserve to take more time, but still, adorable. I really like the idea about why Naruto doesn't have a daemon, I wouldn't have thought of it. @__@ It works pretty nicely. Also, eee, Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura are totally soulmates~~ ohohohohohoho. ♥ I liked Sasuke trying to separate from his daemon too, it feels really in character. Angsty but so Sasuke.

Thank you for writing these! ^______________________^ *lovesquishes*

I know, it should really be expanded on, but I wanted to make sure you got it. If I ever get around to turning these into a proper fic, I'll be sure to let you know if/when I post it.

Naruto missed the next two days of school. Sasuke didn't care, but Ekusa ferreted out the reason why; the attack for violating other children ("He didn't," Ekusa hissed, a scorpion with her tail ready to sting) that was only just stopped before it killed him, the short coma, the stay at the hospital.

He didn't pay much attention when Naruto came back. The sideways glances that Sakura was darting at the idiot weren't being copied from him at all. Ekusa was just fascinated for no reason, it wasn't as if he wanted her to be staring so constantly at Naruto and whispering perplexed comments about how he seemed happier after what had happened.

Why in the world would someone be happy that another person's daemon had told the class they weren't a monster, after all, he wondered sarcastically, not bothering to comment out loud. Ekusa gave him a sardonic look and turned back to staring at Naruto. Careful not to let anyone else hear, she asked with an edge of nervousness, "When can I ask him to touch me again?"

"Never," Sasuke snarled before he could stop himself. That touch... he'd dreamed of that touch, of feeling Naruto's warmth and confidence and care and trust and strength -

He needed his mind to shut up. He needed to never feel that again, or he was going to do something stupid and embarrassing like begging Naruto to not let go.

He needed Ekusa to stop looking at him as if he was the idiot, and just go along with his attempts to lie to himself.

Ekusa gave him the half-annoyed, half-smug look she got when she thought he was being a moron and had worked out a way around whatever restrictions he'd placed on her. Sasuke looked back warily, not wanting to find out what she was going to do.

Nothing happened during lessons, which just made him tenser. He knew Ekusa far too well to think that she'd changed her mind; no, she was just waiting, biding her time...

They both went back to their apartment, Ekusa casting a single thoughtful glance over her shoulder at Naruto. Sasuke tried to convince himself that he was out of danger now, and she wouldn't be trying anything until tomorrow.

He failed.

Ekusa smirked at him as she dragged out her old grooming kit. "I think I need longer fur, don't you?" she asked, changing into a chinchilla.

"Of course not," he scoffed, trying to be subtle as he moved between her and the door. "Why would you?"

She blinked at him innocently. "To ask Naruto to groom it, of course," she said, and jumped out of the window with her kit in her mouth.

Sasuke chased after her, horrified that she might actually do just that. He was so desperate to stop her that he didn't even notice whose voice was asking, "Where are you going?"

Ekusa changed into a monkey and pulled her kit out of her mouth, holding in one paw as she called back, "To get Naruto to groom me!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Sasuke bellowed, trying to catch her. She dodged, laughed, and hurried on.

Behind them, Sakura and Raksu exchanged startled looks. Raksu's expression quickly became determined. "Come on!" he ordered, chasing after them. Sakura was forced to follow, wondering what her daemon had in mind.

It was a little too large for one post.

Naruto stomped over to his door, scowling. He hadn't figured out how to get back to Tora, and now someone was demanding to come in, and they probably wanted to beat him up again because of the whole 'touching Ekusa and Raksu' thing, and he -

- found that it was Ekusa pounding on his door. "Could you move any slower?" she jeered as she slid past him.

"Huh? Why're you here?" he asked, turning to face her and letting the door swing closed - which got a very annoyed sound from Sasuke, who'd just arrived. He shoved his way in with an expression that said he'd much rather be doing something - anything - else, and glowered at Ekusa. "Don't. You. Dare."

"Dare what?" Naruto asked, watching them both with a certain amount of suspicion - it could be that Ekusa wanted revenge for what he'd done, even though she'd seemed to like it at the time -

Raksu and Sakura both came in through the door as Ekusa walked up to Naruto and handed him the grooming kit she was carrying with a simple demand. "Groom me."

"Uh?" Naruto looked from the small bag of brushes and combs in his hand back to Ekusa, who'd switched to the form of an angora rabbit. "Why?"

"Because he -" Ekusa jerked her head at Sasuke - "says I'm not to ask you to touch me again. So. You see that big, flat brush? Use that. Slow strokes. Try and get through to my undercoat."

Naruto blinked at her, then at Sasuke, who was brilliant red and glaring at Ekusa as if he'd like to set her on fire, and then shrugged and sat down on the floor. "Okay. C'mmere!"

Oh god, Ekusa is so bossy. I love her. XDDDDDD She makes me think of Sasuke but not pretending to be ruder than she is or denying what she wants! Also loving Sasuke's huge case of denial, especially at the start of the scene. Bwahaha. Onward to the next part! :3

These are actually turning out to be the rough draft of a full fic, aren't they? Random tense-change warning, because I can't write this sort of thing in past tense.

Naruto being Naruto, he doesn't think anything of Ekusa's request. "C'mmere!" he says, and before Sasuke can do anything to stop them, he's passing the brush through Ekusa's newly-thickened fur, and the most Sasuke can do is try not to let his reactions show. He ends up sat on the floor, head tilted back, breathing deeply to keep himself from whimpering or saying anything. He doesn't even notice the flush that's slowly climbing his neck, and Naruto certainly doesn't, but Sakura does.

Sakura notices that Sasuke, Ekusa and Naruto are so involved in what they're doing that they've forgotten she's even in the room. She hunches her shoulders a little and glares at Raksu, because it's his fault that they're there, being made to feel worthless. Raksu glares at Naruto and Ekusa jealously, turns himself into another angora rabbit, and wriggles under Naruto's hand - the one that isn't holding a brush.

Naruto jumps, surprised, and Ekusa glares at Raksu, who gives her a triumphant look. "Sakura doesn't mind if he pets me," he says smugly, and Sakura would tell him off for talking like that to Ekusa, but Naruto just started stroking him while he's brushing Ekusa's fur and she can't think.

She ends up flat on her back on the floor, because sitting up would take too much concentration, and all she can concentrate on is how it feels to have Naruto stroking Raksu over and over again, warm comfort and strength and she can't imagine why anyone would think that their daemon being touched by Naruto would be a bad thing, but she doesn't want anyone else trying it because this is special, just between them, and sharing it with Sasuke and Ekusa is one thing but she won't share with anyone else.

She hadn't realised before - Naruto's hand had touched Raksu for such a short time she'd only noticed the emotional impressions she got, not the physical sensation. But now, now he's touching Raksu slow and constant and she can feel it like someone's brushing a hand over her, and she understands why Sasuke's breathing so deeply. It tingles, almost like pins-and-needles but feeling so good, and she can't help shifting restlessly with each pass of Naruto's hand.

She's too pleasure-dazed to notice that Naruto has finally abandoned the brush to stroke Ekusa the same way he's stroking Raksu, Sasuke too lost in the feeling to complain even if he wanted to (and he doesn't, he wants this, needs this and Ekusa won't let him deny it to them both when Naruto is right here and offering). Sasuke is trying to hide how much it's affecting him, and there are hardly any signs at all, but the only thing he's aware of now is Naruto's hand on Ekusa's back.

And Naruto... Naruto is heavy-eyed and smiling a smile that no one has ever seen before on his face. Pure contentment. Because while he's here, touching these two daemons, all he knows is that he's accepted. And that's the only thing he's ever wanted.

Woohoo score! ;D mwahahaha. oh yeah, good idea about the brush. XD

the most Sasuke can do is try not to let his reactions show. He ends up sat on the floor, head tilted back, breathing deeply to keep himself from whimpering or saying anything.
... ngh. *___* i like this image, yess.

I like Sasuke and Sakura's daemons being rivalish with each other. XD

all she can concentrate on is how it feels to have Naruto stroking Raksu over and over again, warm comfort and strength and she can't imagine why anyone would think that their daemon being touched by Naruto would be a bad thing, but she doesn't want anyone else trying it because this is special,
Nghhh this bit it also v. nice.

SO FULL OF ADORABLENESS. ♥

Important plot points happen between the last ficlet and this one, but I just wanted to write Kakashi's ~~brain breaking~~ first meeting with his new students.

Kakashi isn't really paying a lot of attention as he heads for the classroom. He's late, and he knows it; with any luck, the genin he's supposed to be judging will have left, and he can just fail them without even meeting them. Ishaka pads behind him, a rangy, half-blind wolf, who is if anything paying less attention to their surroundings than he is.

In other words, they're shamefully easy targets, and it would probably serve them right if the slightly-open classroom door that Kakashi pushes open was booby-trapped.

They might have preferred it, too.

Kakashi is more than half expecting to be greeted either with an empty classroom, or a cry of, "You're late!" Instead, he's greeted with the sight of his three new students enacting the most controversial scene ever included in an Icha Icha book.

...Except that they've improved on it, because that scene only had two people and their daemons involved.

The muttered "Kai!" is reflexive - this can't be real, surely? - but does nothing to dispel the sight before him. One hand goes up to his hitai-ite, before his (presumed dead) survival instinct kicks in. It's a genjutsu, it must be, but if it isn't (or isn't breakable) - does he want this image permanently burned into his mind?

No. No, he does not. His hand falls back to his side, and he finds himself focussing on parts of the scene as if finding a small discrepancy will be enough to dispel this - this unholy sight.

The kunoichi of the group is nearest the door, and therefore nearest him. She's lying on her back, writhing in a way that he really doesn't want to think about, with her right hand petting a daemon who is for some reason in the form of a golden-furred, many-tailed kitsune. Her hand is buried in its tails, wrapped around the base of one of them and gently tugging -

It's very - suggestive.

He looks away, at her other hand, which is also touching a daemon - this one is an animal he doesn't even recognise, something with spines which are currently laid flat so that the girl isn't damaging her hand each time she strokes it. She isn't the only one stroking it; his eyes follow the line of the boy's arm to see -

Minato-sensei's face. Younger, and with the whisker-marks that come from being the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, but it's clearly Minato's face - and currently, the boy has an expression that he recognises from when Minato just had some 'private time' with Kushina.

Not looking at that, either.

His glance away leads to him seeing the third daemon of the group (and why are there three daemons here, anyway? Minato's son - Naruto - isn't supposed to have one) who has, for some unknown reason, become another kitsune with pink fur. Naruto's hand is buried in this fur, rubbing circles on its flank. At the other side, the Last Uchiha is gently scratching it.

At least the Last Uchiha isn't pulling faces or moving in a way that makes Kakashi want to claw his eye out. No, it's almost impossible to tell that he's affected, unless you're very, very good at reading body language.

Kakashi wishes he was less good at reading body language.

He looks with a sense of inevitability at the boy's other hand, which - surprise, surprise - is finishing their little circle by tugging gently on the golden kitsune-daemon's ear.

Ishaka butts his legs. "Let's get out of here before they see us, and say we couldn't find them," she mutters. And it's so very tempting to do just that, but - Kakashi has a duty to at least pretend to test these children and see if they could be genin. And Ishaka knows he'll never abandon his duty. She's got the scars to prove it.

Instead of turning and running, he slams the door shut, and is relieved to see that they at least don't behave like this when they know someone else is around. They jump apart, and the girl is blushing, and the Uchiha is pretending that he isn't blushing, and Naruto is - sulking. Well. Good enough. Kakashi takes refuge in his usual mask, and chirrups, "Better leave the foreplay at home, kiddies!"

"What's foreplay?" Naruto asks, and Kakashi can feel his mind splintering at the oh-so-innocent question. From the shock and outrage on the other children's faces, they apparently know - but they didn't connect it with what they were doing, which is just -

"Sex."

Naruto jumps to his feet with a cry of disgust. "PERVERT! I'd never have sex with Ekusa! OR Raksu!"

The golden fox joins in with, "And I'd never have sex with Sasuke or Sakura!" and they both glare at him.

Huh. A distant part of Kakashi's mind notes that he must have seriously overestimated just how much of his brain shut down at the first sight of these children, because there are parts of his mind that he didn't even realise were intact before Naruto's exclamation broke them into tiny pieces.

The reaction of the other children is not helping. Shock, refusal - those are acceptable. But he could swear that he's seeing reluctant curiousity, and it isn't nearly reluctant enough for his sanity.

The spiny daemon smirks. "He means you with Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto," she explains, and the speculative look she shares with the no-longer-a-pink-fox is the final nail in the coffin of Kakashi's tolerance.

He shunshins out of the room.

Ishaka stares at him as he lands on a roof somewhere. He stares back.

He's never run from his duty (not quite), however much he might have wanted to. He's always stood his ground, against the worst that the world could throw at him. He's the person who's notorious for holding out for eight days under Ibiki's interrogation techniques (though, admittedly, he only had Ibiki's personal attention for the last four). Hatake Kakashi does not run.

Naruto just changed that. With four sentences (maybe five, if you stretch a point and include the daemon's additional comment).

Kakashi's eye narrows. He has a reputation to restore. He has a blond genin to punish. ...He's not going to try and face those little demons again today.

Ishaka nods in agreement, eyes clear and calculating (neither of them notice that her blindness is gone). They head back to their apartment, discussing plans for what they will do to their new genin.

Neither of them realise that it's the first time in twelve years that they're responding to the present, instead of the past.

guhh! i can't believe I forgot to unscreen and reply to these. I'm so sorry ;_____________;

♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

recs: His Dark Materials/Golden Compass/Daemon AUs

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Don't have any recs...

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Team Seven Daemons Ficlet 1

Ficlet 2

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Team Seven Daemons 3

Team Seven Daemons 3.5

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Team Seven Daemons 4

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Out of order Ficlet

Ficlet was too long

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