A/N: Hello peeps! Long time no see! As you can see by the lack of updates thus far, 2017 has not been…gentle to me. Lots of things have happened to me. A lot of them are great things. A lot of them are not so great. Regardless, the result is that I'm probably in the busiest phase of my life. I am happy and in good health though I am also under a lot of pressure and has a lot of things on my mind. This year, I hit 29 years old. Believe me when I tell you it's been a milestone for me. So many things happened to me this year. A lot of laughters. A lot of tears too.
I won't bore you with the details but, in the foreseeable future, I'm not sure if I will have much if any time to devote to my fanfiction. I love the stories I write and my imagination has never once stopped churning out new ideas. But the task of writing them down, giving them solid shapes, and refining them is something that is beyond me right now. So, with much regret, I will have to tell you that all of my stories will henceforth be put on indefinite hiatus until a time when I have the mental and physical space to return.
That said however, I have been writing snippets of future parts of the stories. Some of them are short moments that will act as plot hooks. Some of them are entire turning points or character focus in strategic parts of the stories. I have been posting them on tumblr. Recently, I received a letter from a fan asking me why I don't post these snippets on ffnet where more readers will be able to enjoy them and not just the very small number of people who follow me on my tumblr account. Well, I used to not do that because I did not want to spoil the stories and also the snippets aren't meant to be 100% unchangable. They hold the essence of that part of the stories but until the moment when they are connected to the main storylines, they remain in a semi-draft stage and those reasons are why I don't post them on ffnet.
However, because of this indefinite hiatus, those reasons no longer hold true and I shall now start to post the quite significant number of snippets I have written for the stories.
I hope you enjoy them and will tell me what you think or feel about them, whether they surprise you, and whether you feel that any parts could be improved upon.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
FTGOG AU: Romance Routes
As mentioned in Hashirama route snippet, the format for FTGOG AU is not conducive to constructing detailed characterization of a large cast and the dynamics and possible blooming romance between characters. Therefore, I have planned a list of 5 possible 'routes' that romance can take place for Kagome in FTGOG AU. Each route has its own unique story and may grant access to special sub-endings that are normally not available. And yes, I call them routes as a tongue in cheek reference to the similarity with the Otome game genre! I actually had plans to make FtGoG AU into a build your kingdom quest you know? But alas, time constraint and all that. Here they are:
-Tobirama (golden path with the most character growth and completes Kag's character arc) . This path has the most chances for a happy and rewarding ending. However, if readers / quest players make too many wrong choices, it does have a chance of bad ending in which Kag and Tobirama part ways as they cannot reconcile their feelings for each other with their duties to their respective countries and people. In the good ending of this path, Tobirama relents, discards his status as second in command of Konohagakure, and becomes prince consort of Gems. This path opens up one of the golden endings as Gems with the help of Tobirama gradually becomes a bastion of science both ordinary and ninja in nature and a legitimate super power despite the size of its territory. A whole bunch of other things too including the 'Voyage to the New World' sun-ending. There's a reason I name this path the golden path.
- Reto the first kazekage (humor with dashes of dark humor path. This path opens up alternate end game scenario in which Kag gradually infects Sunagakure and Kaze no Kuni with her brand of governance and thus paving the way for Suna to basically become a second voice for peace and cooperation between villages and nations aside from Konoha. However this path means that Gem's neutrality will end as the small country will gradually be interpreted into Kaze no kuni's much larger territory). This does not mean that Kagome's influence will end however. Quite the contrary in fact because that only opens up the door for her influence to spread deeply into Wind's court and for the fast-moving culture of Gems to drag the more traditional Wind along for the ride.
-Hashirama (tragedy path): counterpart to Tobirama path. Tobirama path has ideological complexity. Hashirama path on the other hand has emotional complexity as it deals with topics such as extramarital feelings , arranged marriage, etc.. This path has almost no chance of happy ending except the readers / quest players manage to make all the right choice to attain Hashirama 's golden path. This path is the most chaste path except if quest players make the correct choices then it becomes path with the most NSFW content and will probably end up with at least one extramarital child whose existence is a diplomatic incident in the making. Hashirama's path has ties to Tobirama's path and Kagami's path in that all three paths interact organically in a single 'play-through' and all 3 LIs at any time can become aware of each other's LI status. Depending on how the story ultimately goes and when each of them become aware that they aren't the only LIs, it will result in consequences in story under the form of perspective interludes or even perspective epilogues. Tobirama's path and Hashirama's path branch out from the same plot tree 'Gem - Konoha diplomatic relation' tree and has direct interactions with each other. This path has a very, very small chance (players must make a lot of correct choices) of becoming a menage a trois situation. Whether the situation is a happy one or not depends on number of correct choices.
- Kagami Uchiha's path (path exclusively for sadistic/masochistic people): lots of suffering. Being an Uchiha means suffering. Suffer! The start of Kagami's path begins regardless of whether quest players choose to initiate this path or not. Meaning that even if players choose to initiate any of the other three paths and not Kagami's path, Kagami's path automatically starts anyway. However, if players do not explicitly pursue Kagami's path to completion, this path automatically ends in tragedy and heartbreak for Kagami. Kagami's path directly ties to a large plot line concerning the Uchiha's genetic issue (i.e. the curse of hatred). Uchiha clan's genetic issue plot line is a part of 'Gems-Konoha diplomatic relation' quest. However, participation of this plot line is optional. Completion of this plot line will further along Kagami's path (but not completes it) and opens up a secret ending with a secret LI. If this path is pursued and players make all the right choice, this path ends with a surprise pregnancy and kind of a shotgun wedding (is it a shotgun wedding if both sides are perfectly willing and happy?) four year after the main story ends (surprise baby for Kagami too). Of course, the nature of this child and wedding is a big scandal for Gems and the nobilities of other countries though and so players will suffer in diplomatic relations with other countries. Completion of this path also opens up a sub-ending for Gems: 'the creation of a new people: a new future for clan Uchiha'.
Even in the case of happy ending for this path, Kagami Uchiha still suffers during the four years in between the end of the World War (main quest) and Kagome seeking him out in Konoha with their surprised baby in tow. This is the only route that will result in a 'Crown Prince Shisui' sub-ending.
In other words, this path's other name is 'being Kagami Uchiha is suffering'. Even in the happy ending of this path, he still has to suffer for a very, very long time (spends 4 years thinking he was nothing more than a whimsical one night fling to the love of his life)
- Unlockable secret path (path exclusively for ultra-sadist people or people with severe case of fangirlism / fanboyism): this path will only unlock once Uchiha's genetic issue plot line is completed and Kagami's path is not explicitly pursued to completion. Players must not have completed any other romance paths. Kagome must be already hardened as a ruler and war general, must have pragmatism point above a certain level, must have Shikon corruption point exactly at a certain level (too much Shikon corruption leads to bad endings while too little will not unlock this path). Kagome must also have one leather item and one dog collar in her inventory. This path's alternate name is 'I want a black dog this time around.' This path has the 'Uchiha Clan's Dark Goddess' sub-ending. This path will only initiate once the 3rd arc of the quest is completed.