tani_recs

Fandom: Naruto
Pairings/Characters: Gaara/Naruto
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 22,500
Spoilers for: post-timeskip Gaara arc
Author: crazy_toffee
Website: none?
Summary: Temari wasn’t entirely honest when she sought Naruto’s help. She said Gaara had been missing for a few days, but he’d been missing for a few weeks...
Why: This has been next on my to-rec list for a while, but I've been skipping over it. You see, the problem is that this is the best Naruto fic I've read in a while. It completely knocked my socks off and now I don't know what I can say to do it credit. Still, I guess I'll just have to do my best. The first thing I loved about this story was the mood that the author creates: quiet, melancholy, full of longing. The second was probably the emotional intensity. Naruto and Gaara are both pretty intense in their emotions, and the author did a wonderful job of capturing that. Third was the way that intensity pulled me into the story; once I started reading, I just couldn't stop. Fourth, the characterization in general is amazing. Even though this is a Gaara/Naruto fic, the author is a Naruto/Sasuke fan, so she really works hard to convince you of the Gaara/Naruto. At the same time, she doesn't discount the depth of the connection between Naruto and Sasuke, which I really appreciated. I also particularly loved Naruto's emotional progression in this story. It really reminded me of just how much I love him. I just...there are so many things right with this story that I'm never going to be able to tell you all of what makes it amazing. It's really that good.

Haven by Toffee

Fandom: Naruto
Pairings/Characters: Gaara/Naruto
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1,600
Author: two_if_by_sea
Website: Fic Memories
Summary: Sand Country smells of sand and chlorine all the time.
Why: I'm almost afraid to write a rec for this. You see, I just finished reading it, and it put me into a gentle, dreamy sort of mood that I'm sure the reality of my words is going to crush it. It's made up of gorgeous sensory imagery, lost Gaara, and rain. It's the kind of thing that I read and then despair about my own ability to write anything descriptive or introspective that could ever compare. I'm really at a loss for a way to tell you just how amazing this is, so perhaps you'd better just read it and find out.

water displacement by two_if_by_sea