Am I going to end up bookmarking all your fics at this rate? I think I am.
This is so good. I was completely enraptured until the very end, like, not even noticing time passing enraptured. This is. Absolutely amazing. Holy shit, the story, the characters, but especially the writing. It's a brilliant idea with a perfect execution and I am in complete awe I can barely make my brain force words out. This review is hard to write because honestly I spent the entire time I was reading that entire last section just sitting here with my hands fisted in front of my mouth as I chew with restrained FEELING on my knuckles while making small, high-pitched noises. KANKURO.
---
The world is falling apart in technicolor shards because Madara is dead and so is this jutsu.
Cat can hear things- Baki yelling, Yashamaru holding his hand and begging.
God he's going to miss Yashamaru.
Cat's being torn in two and stitched back together backwards. Everything is strange and everything is familiar.
He knows his students stand by his bedside. No one can stabilize him. No one knows what's happening.
He wills his eyes open. He can't see their faces but he knows their outlines.
"Take care of each other." He forces the words out. "Stay together. Move mountains."
Silence.
"Promise me."
They do.
He smiles and relaxes.
---
That section in particular, I feel, catches just everything to love about this fic. The relationships Cat/Kankuro built, the bond between the teachers, his students/his siblings, this little family, Cat/Kankuro himself, the kids promising ("Move mountains." The repetition of that theme, and having it said here, gives me shivers.) but not without that hesitation because maybe they know what Cat's asking and they don't want to have to make their final promise to him (Gaara, who knows, his big brother but more than that his teacher Cat who was kind to him on that doorstep when it could all have gone so wrong, and then kept being kind, and oh geez), and the sense-image of Yashamaru holding his hand and begging and Baki yelling, oh, that's going to stick with me for awhile, how they care.
That the one who came after Cat/Kankuro and Madara was Rasa, I am.
There is so much happening here and I want to read 100,000+ words all about it, but you hit it so tone perfect that in just 10% of that I also FEEL I've read 100,000+ words of brilliant world-building and character development and team/family bonding times. I'm so invested in this world and this family you brought to life it's probably ridiculous, but I wouldn't give it up.
I am thrilled beyond words that you connected with this fic so hard because not only does it mean you got to enjoy it (which is important to me as a fellow fan) but it also means I did something right. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me, I appreciate them more than I can really say.
Yes!!! YES! That specific scene; I’ve returned to this fic like five times since I originally read it just to read that specific section again and again because it just RESONATED to well with me and, like you said, encompassed like, the whole fic. I see Kankuro reminiscing at the end but I feel like the scene of Cat’s “death” was the true resolution of this story. Im just so hyped about that one scene, out of an entire fic that is just so amazingly written. I feel like it’s going to stick with me for a long while.
Comment on Time Travel Tango, or, Rasa and the Cat
talkinclockwork Fri 26 May 2017 08:09PM UTC
Comment Actions
greenkangaroo Sat 27 May 2017 12:20AM UTC
Comment Actions
Vodkassassin Mon 29 Jan 2018 04:37PM UTC
Comment Actions