Yay! You've clicked on my fanfic! Hugs for you!
As stated in the summary, this story is rated M for mature. If you're under 16, you shouldn't read it. I'm not a big fan of graphic sex scenes (well... not writing them, anyways), but you can expect to see plenty of swearing (in keeping with the general portrayal of sound village shinobi in the anime series) and a whole lot of graphic violence. I expect that I'll be having lots of fun writing some very gritty stuff for the later chapters and I won't be sparing the details because frankly, they're just too damn fun to write. :) Also, there are a lot of adult themes. Although I highly doubt I'll actually write out any sex scenes, there will be some definite sexual overtones and a couple of obvious references. Even without the violence and the language, I'd probably have rated this story M anyways... just to be safe. Other than that, I can't think of anything that should be too offensive. Don't expect a morally uplifting ending or anything. I'd have to beat the crap out of myself if I let Orochimaru or any other baddie go all soft and squishy and nice on my watch.
Finally, and probably most importantly, I am in desperate need of betas for this story. I don't need help with grammar so much as I need someone with a lot of Naruto know-how. I'm new(ish) to the series and have only watched the first 150 episodes or so. I've structured the plot to accommodate my lack of knowledge of the actual plotline of the series, but I want to make sure I'm not violating any information about chakra, the shinobi lifestyle... basically, I want to be sure that I'm not trying to do anything that, according to the show, should be impossible. There are a couple of other thing's I'll probably need help with as well, but that's the most important one. For more information on beta editing, please take a look at my profile. My contact information is there, if you're interested.
Oh yeah... I don't own Naruto and I don't want anyone to run around killing people because they read about that sort of thing in my story. Killing people in real life is bad. Don't do it. I think I've sloughed off all legal responsibility now.
There. I promise I will never write another author's note that long ever again.
Kyoki Sakura: Prelude
In midsummer, the village of Narigama holds a festival to commemorate the death of Taira Yoritomo, the founder and savior of the Taira bloodline. It is said that the sakura trees in the Taira castle courtyard choose to cast off their beauty and shed their petals out of respect for the man who planted them. For this reason, the people of Narigama have come to know this day as Kyoki Sakura: the weeping cherry blossom.
It was on this day, as the air hung heavy with the sweet reek of petals rotting the sun, that Narigama truly learned to weep. Fifty years ago on this day, the Taira bloodline was crucified and left to rot with the corpses of the fools who carried it and those damned flowers whose sweet scent concealed the most telling signs of my mutiny for weeks.
It was on this day, as the air hung heavy with the despair of the dead and dying, that I renounced the humanity I never possessed in exchange for vengeance upon the fools who dared deny me my freedom. Whatever vestige of goodness remained in the blackened void of my soul died that day with the men, women, and children whose blood stained the white-pink blossoms as deeply sanguine as their fruit.
Since that day, I have been alone. There are so few who know freedom from death as I do. So few whom I can regard as comparable to myself. The rest are nothing better than animals. I, Taira Narigama, named for the village and people who destroyed me and whom I have destroyed, know neither death nor time. Only loneliness and the urge to seek another like myself with whom to share eternity.
Yes, I know it was short... Such is the fate of a prelude. If you take the time to review, I will happily take the time to respond to you in the next chapter.