Hey! I absolutely adore btb and I’m so unbelievably excited to see more of your Shikaneji (the way you write them is so incredibly beautiful) and of the entire btb cast and world! I was wondering about your view on the Shikamaru x Neji relationship - please ignore this part of the ask if it’s spoilery - but in the btb world were they in as much of a relationship as they could’ve been (in a ninja world) when Neji died? I was also wondering what drew you to ShikaNeji - are they/were they your favourite Naruto ship or did you become intrigued by the idea of them and then start to write? What is it that drew you to them? The chemistry you build between them is so unbelievably intense that I now can’t picture either of them with anyone else in the series even with canon shikatema 😂 thank you thank you for writing this - from a forever loyal reader!
Hiya Anon! 💜
Thanks so much for dropping by to leave me this message/ASK. A joy to hear from you! 🥰 Super chuffed that you have enjoyed the BtB series so far and I really appreciate your kind words regarding the ShikaNeji dynamic.
[…] in the btb world were they in as much of a relationship as they could’ve been (in a ninja world) when Neji died?
Not too much of a spoiler so no worries! They were in a clandestine relationship, which, while challenging at times, wasn’t too difficult to achieve or maintain given ninja life.
Being stealthy and sneaky proved to be pretty handy transferable skills – which they both used to preserve their relationship. With Neji’s Jōnin status and Shikamaru’s ‘unofficial Jōnin rank’ (given his intellectual prowess as military strategist etc.) they could spend a lot of time sequestered away together under the pretext of ‘work’, which allowed for a lot of their stolen moments.
Between their duties and separate lives there was the ‘stolen moments’ middle ground in which they preserved their private relationship, both being extremely protective of it. What this extremely private approach might’ve meant for their relationship further down the line?
Ah, well…that’s a whole different story and potentially a problematic issue neither one of them ever really talked about or wanted to explore. There were more pressing things happening around them and Shikamaru hated future-tripping or overthinking things with Neji, hence his whole ‘this isn’t a thinking thing’ and Neji being the one thing he didn’t ‘have to figure out’. They lived moment-to-moment with each other, as they never knew when the next time would be given missions etc.
I was also wondering what drew you to ShikaNeji - are they/were they your favourite Naruto ship or did you become intrigued by the idea of them and then start to write? What is it that drew you to them?
Oooh, where to start? I had always loved Shikamaru’s character – and was always fond of Neji. I found his tragic background fascinating. That said, he was probably fourth in line. At the start the characters I was most engaged with were Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Itachi.
Regarding ShikaNeji: funnily enough, it all started with a dream I had of Shikamaru running through the forest chasing someone (hence the start of BtB). I had no idea who he was chasing. But the more I reflected on the dream and considered pairing options, Neji immediately sprang to the forefront and it all just began to snowball from there. I started what I thought would be a one-shot, literally just to play around with the dream…and that turned into the first instalment…which then seemed to take on a life of its own and grew into the monster that was the BtB series. I never thought that’s the way it would go when I started writing…but I’m so grateful it did, and I’m so SO thankful to the reviewers and readers who engaged with it, as they gave me the steam to keep up with the bloody runaway train the story became.
The chemistry you build between them is so unbelievably intense that I now can’t picture either of them with anyone else in the series even with canon shikatema 😂 thank you thank you for writing this - from a forever loyal reader!
Aww, sweetheart, thank you! 💖 I’m thrilled you’ve enjoyed their dynamic so much as to have it override canon ships! Thank you so much for reading and even more so for reaching out to share your support and love. I appreciate you! 🙏🏼💜













