Why oh why is it that the only time I like yaoi or slash is when it comes from Naruto...

[timepiececlock]

...and only then when it's particularly unlikely-to-get-together side characters?


Naruto chapter 271

"I am, you know. As cunning as Shikamaru."

I don't know why Kakashi felt the need to tell Naruto that (it wasn't really relevant), but GUH.

GUH. With that sentence was born a whole NEW unconventional yaoi/slash pairing for Rashaka.

My mind was instantly filled with images of Kakashi and Shikamaru competing to outsmart each other, each frustrated byt the skill of their opponent, each getting more and move involved in the competetion. I imagine intense stares over games of chess and shougi and go. I imagine fierce hunter/hunted sparring where the two are using trickery and their environment and their resources to outsmart one another. I imagine a grown up Shikamaru having been told all his life since genin age that he was smarter than everyone, only to suddenly be competing for that title with a legend who may be just as smart as he is, that he never paid much attention to until now.

Two really smart snarky lazy bastards competing for the "I'm the cleverest" title, and of course competition can get personal sometimes.

Damn you, Narutoverse! Curse you! Why must I always love the unconventional pairings that surely NO ONE is going to write fic for?!?!

Comments

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

Why oh why is it that the only time I like yaoi or slash is when it comes from Naruto...

I second that. Naruto is one of only two fandoms where there are slash pairings that interest me enough for me to actually search them out. Or in this case attempt to search them out, really, since both said ships seem to be really rare. Which is kind of odd, because I think at least one of them has a lot more important canonical interaction to build on than, say, one of the main yaoi ships of the fandom - Kakashi/Iruka, which completely mystifies me. Where does it come from, honestly?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

What NAruto slash pairings do you like? Currently for me it was Kakashi/Kabuto (which strikes me as way more interesting and yet about as canonically likely as Kakashi/Iruka-- not very), but I can now add Kakashi/Adult!Shikamaru.

The whole Kakashi/Iruka thing mystifies me too. When it comes down to it, I have to assume it's a pairing of convenience more than anything else. Fans wanted two slash two male characters, and they were the only two well-liked adult male characters in the early parts of the show. Also, in the beginning Iruka seemed like a more significant character than he actually turned out to be. Nevermind that they had like one conversation in canon, and that they only vaguely know each other by reputation, and that the one conversation they had before the chunnin exam wasn't anything personal or in the least bit, you know, suggestive or provocative. I always figured if Kakashi was going to be slashed with anyone in the Konoha cast, Gai would make the most sense. But then, I find Gai so personally off-putting and unattractive that I can't possibly support that ship as anything but friendship and competition.

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

I like Kakashi/Kabuto as well - which I agree is about as canonically unlikely as Kakashi/Iruka, but with a lot of added actual tension. The second ship I like is actually Gaara/Lee. Which doesn't seem to exist, really. I see Gaara shipped with just about everyone else - Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, Hinata. But never with Lee, who is actually the person next to Naruto that has the influence on him during the series. I guess Lee is just not pretty enough to be shipped with anyone if it's not for getting Sakura out of the way for Naruto/Sasuke (Another ship I don't like, by the way. I can see where that one comes from, but I can't bring myself to think anything else than "No, Naruto! You're too good for him! Run away!" about it.) In fact, I thought of him like that for the longest time too, kind of like how you say you find Gai too personally off-putting and unattractive to really ship him. But then, he had all this really interesting interaction with Gaara, and it went from there.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Gaara/Lee... now that's very interesting. I might like reading that-- although it doesn't seem at all physical to me. Although it's that's part of my earlier mentioned bias. Actually, I've always found it hard, well, impossible to imagine Gaara in a physical relationship with anyone either. Not that it couldn't happen, but that, like with Lee and Gai-- the picture in my head just won't appear.

Although I'm currently reading this fic ripple effect which has Lee/Sakura in a way that's made me actually like the pairing quite a bit. Although, the characters are pretty far into AU territory characterizationally, so it might just be the special circumstances of the fic that makes me like them. It's a pretty good fic, with Lee/Sakura being the only real pairing, and even that's pretty sidebar to the gen plot of the story. It takes a while to get into, but it's worth it.

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

The closest to how I see Gaara/Lee is probably this fic - it's very subtle and non-physical.

I've never been able to really get into Lee/Sakura mainly because it seems so one-sided to me. Especially since usually when I actually come across it in fic, it's an assumed pairing - they're suddenly dating and in love without any real explanation as to why. I'm going to have to give that one a shot, though. It's not that I don't see it as any less canonical than any of the other Narutoverse ships, it's just that I haven't liked how I've seen it represented so far.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Where does it come from, honestly?

The fangirls want to see two hawt ninja men together. That's the long and short of it.