Hi! Thanks for taking a look at my letter.

Likes

Casefic, minor characters, worldbuilding, in-universe documentation like mission reports or textbooks (but not really epistilatoy works), canon compliant fics (like episode tags, missing scenes, etc), backstory exploration, unlikely friendships (friendship in general!), friends to lovers, friends to friends with benefits to lovers, angst, hurt/comfort, protectiveness.

DNW

suicide, in-scene dissociation from the POV of the dissociating character, permanent character death of requested/main characters, first person POV, focus on unrequested ships, ships involving Nara Shikako, incest.

DNW elaboration

in-scene dissociation from the POV of the dissociating character — This includes Shikako being in the black. Please just skip over it, briefly summarize it, or tell that part of the fic from someone else's POV.

permanent character death of requested/main characters — Killing unnamed characters is fine, and I wouldn't be bothered by antagonists dying, but I DNW the good guys dying, you know? It's okay if they're presumed dead for part of the fic or if they're dead and then time travel fixes it or something, though! Go hog wild with that.

Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen

Yamashiro Aoba/Mitarashi Anko, Mitarashi Anko & Nara Shikako, Yamashiro Aoba & Nara Shikako

Aoba lives through Hot Springs

Obviously this could merge with/be included in either of the below AU requests, but I'd also love to see anything with Aoba being alive. Some ideas, but feel free to go wild:

Aoba's reaction to or involvement in events that happened after his death, like the hospital attack, the Mist exams, or the Police Arc.
Instead of Anko seeking out Shikako to talk to her in the graveyard about how Aoba would have been happy she got out, maybe Anko and Shikako talk about something else?
Aoba and Anko celebrating Anko's promotion to jounin

Anko and Aoba make jōnin together thanks to Gai's training

This side plot is kinda spread out and implied, so just in case anyone needs a refresher:

In chapter 102/101, Anko and Aoba and a few others try to follow Shikako to her training with Kakashi, and she shakes them by getting them to follow Lee to his training with Gai.
Then in 111/110, Shizune says she heard from Gai that Anko was trying for jōnin.
In 127/126, when Anko is asking for permission to use the Kunoichi Club as her jōnin project, she blames Shikako ("Someone made Maito Gai think that I was stepping up my training, and when Gai thinks you're training more… apparently you are.")
Finally in 143/142, we get confirmation that Anko is a jōnin now during the special jōnin bingo book party.

This is one of my favorite side plots in Dreaming of Sunshine, and Anko and Aoba are two of my favorite characters, so I'd love to see anything where they both get sucked into Gai's training instead of just Anko. I think we kind of get the impression that Aoba isn't actually very combat-heavy, but uhh Gai is really good for fixing that.

Of course, Aoba would need a jōnin project, and probably couldn't just piggyback on the Kunoichi Club thing that Anko has, so maybe it takes him a little longer — maybe he dodges the promotion despite not dodging Gai's training only to get sucked into Shikako's whole internship idea in the Police Arc?

Anko is sent on the Hot Springs mission with Shikako instead of Aoba

Anko and Aoba used to go on Intel missions together, so she's definitely capable of taking the mission with Shikako instead, and I'd love to see how Shikako and Anko handle things compared to Shikako and Aoba. Would they stick together? Would Anko have a better time fighting off the Jashinists? Would having the Snake contract save Anko the way Shikako's summoning contract saved her?

I'd also be interested in Anko being missing/presumed dead for awhile so that Aoba and Shikako can have something like the conversation that Anko and Shikako had in canon.

Tenten (DoS)

Shikako is born a year earlier and takes Tenten's place on Team Gai

I love Shikako's panic at the start of DoS when she realizes she's taken Tenten's place, but I'm requesting this with just the Tenten tag because — even if you chose to write from Shikako's POV — I really want a focus on how this impacts Tenten, who we know is a clanless orphan and can't be a medic, and how she reacts to whatever Shikako does about it.

Some thoughts:

Are Tenten and Shikako friends? I could see this going either way, although I kind of lean towards "no" — Tenten doesn't actually seem to have many friends outside her team and without Shikamaru I think Shikako would be too shy to instigate much.
Maybe Shikako's not sure what she can do for Tenten at first, so Tenten goes into the genin corps?
Any kind of focus on Tenten's anxiety around her and Shikako's socio-economic differences would be great.
I like Neji/Tenten and Tenten/Shikamaru would also be fine, although I admit I'm more interested in Tenten struggling with her career and stuff than I am in shipfic.

Tenten is adopted into the Nara

This could be combined with the above or stand on its own! I just really love how smart Tenten is and how nervous she gets about clans and repaying Shikako and I'm fascinated by how different her experience as a clanless orphan must be from Shikako's experience.

Some ideas!

I'm picturing this happening after the Sealing Scroll Debacle or during/after Shikako's sealing classes for the clan, because I think that Tenten's sealing skills would be really valuable to the Nara, but I'd be open to something that takes place earlier!
I'm also imagining that Tenten is adopted into the clan in general, like as a clan ward, but her being specifically adopted by Shikaku and Yoshino would be nice too. Or I guess she could be engaged to Shikamaru?
If you want Tenten to be adopted before she and Shikako start working on seals together and stuff, maybe someone discovers that one of Tenten's parents was a Nara? Everyone loves surprise long-lost relatives!
We know that Yoshino had a hard time with the Nara clan, but hopefully there won't be so much pushback against Tenten — assuming Tenten's not marrying Shikamaru — and maybe Yoshino helps explain how clans work to her, since Yoshino's indicated that it's quite a culture shock.
Also, Tenten has a really great support system in Team Gai! I'd love to see her asking for their opinions and getting their support.

Crossover

Momochi Zabuza (Naruto) & Nara Shikako (DoS)

Time traveller Zabuza is surprised to see Shikako instead of Sakura in Wave

I'm never going to get tired of the trope where a canon Naruto character peggy sues into the past and is surprised that Shikako exists, but I don't think I've ever seen it with Zabuza before! I think there's probably (definitely) an argument to be made that a Zabuza who knows Gatou is going to betray him and Haku would just skip straight to murdering him instead of antagonizing Hatake Kakashi, but maybe Zabuza comes back when the mission is already underway so he can't just totally ditch it?

I'd love Zabuza or even Haku's POV for this and I really like Mei/Zabuza if you want to work that in. Also, I'm not that familiar with late Naruto canon but I wouldn't mind Zabuza remembering being brought back via edo tensei.

Naruto: Zabuza's assassination of Yagura succeeds
Naruto: Zabuza and Haku survive Land of Waves Summary

I love the idea of these AUs and I love the idea of Shikako either being directly involved in them happening or arriving after they take place and seeing how things have gone differently. Gardens fic is definitely welcome, or any other kind of dimension/time travel. Mei/Zabuza in the background would be great, but please no Zabuza/Haku.

Also, I guess you could always have the time traveling Zabuza from the the other tag actually be from a verse where either of these AUs are true! That'd be fun as well.

Yu Yu Hakusho

Yukimura Keiko

YYH: Keiko dies and becomes the spirit detective instead of Yusuke

Yu Yu Hakusho was my first anime fandom and I miss it so much. I've also always really, really loved Keiko and I'm thrilled I remembered to nominate her. I don't read much YYH fic so I have less specific ideas for this than I do for other stuff, but I do really really want it!

I don't think everything could be exactly the same with Keiko's death because obviously she doesn't have the problems Yusuke has, but I bet she's still capable of surprising Spirit World. I'd love to see her going through that and watching Yusuke grieve and stuff, it sounds deliciously angsty.
Something set farther forward would be great, too! Does Keiko work with Genkai? Does she go to the Dark Tournament?
I'd also be really interested in how different Keiko dying and coming back would be compared to Yusuke dying and coming back from a mundane logistics standpoint, since Keiko's parents don't get much focus in canon but it seems like they'd react a lot differently than Yusuke's mom did.

Although I'd be very pleased with gen, ships I definitely wouldn't mind receiving include: Keiko/Yusuke, Keiko/Kurama, Keiko/Kuwabara, Keiko/Botan, Kuwabara/Yukina, Kurama/Hiei.

ALL: The female characters are the main characters

As you may have gathered I love Keiko. But I also love Botan and Yukina and Shizuru! I'd love to see and AU where they're the main characters, or even just anything where they have their own adventures! It could go with the above AU or it could be separate. One thing I wish canon had spent more time on is ghost hunting cases, so it would be really fun to see the girls (or just Keiko, or just Keiko and Shizuru, or... you know, I'm not picky) handle something supernatural without the boys.

ALL: Demon AU

...Obviously YYH already has demons. Specifically, I'm thinking an AU where Keiko is or becomes a demon! Canon divergence where she keeps that Jagan eye or something would be great, or maybe you could tie it into her becoming the spirit detective, so she has Yusuke's demon ancestry as well? Or, her just being any other kind of demon! It all sounds fun.

Harry Potter

Percy Weasley & Minerva McGonagall, Percy Weasley & the other Weasleys, Percy Weasley (HP - JKR)

HP: Scabbers is discovered to be Pettigrew in Percy's first few years at Hogwarts

I love Percy and I'd love to see him younger and having to deal with the shock of discovering that his rat is actually a creepy dude who betrayed the Potters. There are a bunch of cool ways to use this AU, I think, including:

The discovery! Bill is in his sixth year when Percy is in his first. Charlie is in his fourth year. I'd love any focus on Percy having protective, competent older brothers.
The immediate aftermath! I imagine that Dumbledore deals with all the Ministry stuff, but I bet McGonagall is the one who calls Molly and Arthur and the one who sits Percy down in her office with tea and biscuits while they wait for his parents to arrive. I'd be especially thrilled to get this from Minerva's POV.
The longer effects! I still really want a focus on Percy's experience of this change, definitely, so something like seeing a trial or a now-free-from-Azkaban Sirius seeking him out to thank him would be swell.
Above I just mention Percy in first year, but please feel free to take "Percy's first few years at Hogwarts" to actually mean "any time before Harry's first year"!

Overall, I'd just be really happy about anything in this situation that has a focus on Percy, even just a single 1k scene.

ALL: Going back in time to fix the future

When I picked this tag out I was thinking that I definitely wanted Percy to be the one time travelling, but having thought about it for awhile I'd actually be just as satisfied with McGonagall being the time traveller. Or both! It's kind of an unlikely duo, but I think either or both of them would be pretty competent.

Physical time travel or peggy sue is fine, whatever works for the story you want to tell!
If it's Percy travelling alone, I'd definitely love a fic where he decides that the only person he can trust to help him in the past is his favorite teacher.
If you're doing physical time travel, I'd love to see Percy as a professor! I think the bog standard trope is probably the DADA position, but I actually think Percy would do a wonderful job taking over Binns' position, though his classes would probably swing towards economics, civics, and politics instead of just straight history.
I'm also a huge sucker for characters whisking Harry away from the Dursleys. That's a great trope.
...though on the other hand, maybe you want to send Percy back earlier? Marauders Era would be wonderful!
Okay, I just love time travel, it's the best trope, please go wild.

Dear AU Ex Author!