Here's a little bit about me for all of my lovely readers to go on. My first name's Rachel and I'm currently 20 years old. Writing is my one true love but, like all great relationships, we have our ups and our serious downs. Sometimes when life is getting rough I up and toss poor Writing out of the house altogether, but I always come crawling back to him eventually, begging forgiveness. What really helps our reconciliation, though, is reading from you guys just how great we are together. We both appreciate the ego boost. :P

And now that the extended metaphor has gone on way too long, I'll offer a few words about my dearest Writing.

Mostly, nowadays, I try to stick to original fiction rather than fanfics, since my dream is to get published and you can't exactly do that with Yu Yu stories, as much as you might want to. As far as fanfics go, though, I find them a great way to keep in practice when original ideas aren't flowing, to improve writing skills, to get basic plotlines I can warp INTO original stuff on occasion, and of course to just have fun expanding upon the characters we already know and love. While I do dabble in multiple fandoms, my main focus is always on Yu Yu Hakusho, the most wonderful anime in existence.

Pairings you'll see in my Yu Yu stories: Yusuke/Kurama, Hiei/Kurama, Karasu/Kurama, mentions of Kuwabara/Yukina, unrequited Keiko/Yusuke

I'll go elsewhere occasionally, but those are the main ones. The fact is, I try to keep what I write true to how I see the characters in the series. If it's never gonna happen, it's never gonna happen, and I just don't see the point in warping the personalities of characters you supposedly love just to get out a random idea. The people who post story summaries stating that they know a character goes OOC within it drive me insane (unless it's humor), 'cause if you REALIZE you're writing them wrong, shouldn't you try to fix it instead of posting something you know is bad for the world to see? You can just say that two of the guys look pretty together and so you'll slash them in a fic, but as far as I'm concerned that's not legitimate writing. Some might argue that's what I'm doing with the Yusuke/Kurama pairing, but I can give you a list of fifty instances, easy, where one of them does something in the show that hints at attraction, and/or hints at Yusuke's lack of attraction to Keiko. (well, maybe not 50 off the top of my head, but sit down to watch the eps with me and I could point them out as we went along.)

And I won't slash anyone with Kuwabara. That's, again, NOT just 'cause Kuwa isn't pretty (I love Kuwa!) but because his love for Yukina, and before that his infatuation with Botan, is just so incredibly obvious that I don't even feel it's worth considering. No offense if you write that, and I'd like so sit down, watch the episodes with you, and have you point out the parts that prove that his love for Yukina is a front and he's really gay.

Well... that was more than a few words, wasn't it? Sorry, I easily get drawn into rants when I love things or when they frustrate me.

I'll be wrapping this up, then, with just a few more words. Beyond relationships, you should just know that the genres for my stories are usually pretty dark, angsty, dramatic... I love happy endings, but that doesn't mean I'm much disposed to writing them. The most you can usually hope for out of me is bitter-sweet. But then, who doesn't love dark chocolate?

I've finally decided to repost some of the stories I had to take down way back in tenth grade due to personal issues that were channeled through this site. I still love all my fics and my old reviewers, and have always hated the way I left things. Now all that crap is behind me, and I intend to, if not write new fanfictions, at least carry our beloved characters to the ends of the stories I began so long ago.

First I'll be reposting Crow's Call. Then maybe Bleeding Hearts, if I feel anyone's reading.

This next segment is mainly for my personal reference but also for anyone who's bored enough to feel like tracking the improvement of my writing over time. Because I had my stories taken down and put back up they're all out of order and the time of posting is clearly very different than the time of writing, so I feel like I should have some note of the order and (roughly, from what I can remember) the time period during which these were written.

1) YYH: Bleeding Hearts - 9th grade, 2003-2004

2) YYH: The Price of Love - 9th, 2004

3) YYH: The Way Things Were - 9th, 2004

4) YYH: Waking Up - summer 2004

5) YYH: In the Dark - 10th grade, 2004

6) YYH: Makai Tournament: Choices - 10th, 2005

7) HP: All That's Left - summer 2005

8) POTC: Second Dawn - summer 2007

9) POTC: One Rocky Evening- summer 2007

10) HP: In the Name Of - summer 2007

11) HP: The Unopened Letter - summer 2007

12) HP: First Blood - summer 2007

13) YYH: Crow's Call - 2004, haitus, 2007-2008

"Write for yourself and you can always find pride in the fact that you did the best you could. Write for others and you will always be disappointed by their response.

Write to express hopes, ideas, and joys and you will always be cheered by what you accomplish. Write as an outlet for your pain and you will never wish to read the finished product - too many bad memories will live between the lines.

Write on your free time and it can be an enjoyable hobby. Write as an excuse not to speak and you will miss out on some of the best things life has to offer.

Don't just write - write for the right reasons, or the gift can become a curse."

Good luck on your journeys.

Yami no Kokoro