4/17/20: Updates, edits, art and new stories being planned. Follow me on twitter — @ TricksieWrites — for updates. Visit my website — swirling petals dot com — for early previews of every chapter, extended author's notes and spoilers!

1/26/20: Woah! Time flies! But I'm still here!! Still writing, still making art, and still chipping away at these stories!! Don't worry though, I'll get them finished...eventually! :D

11/25/15: Still alive! Sorry, life took me away from updating for a while. But I'm back with a vengeance! New chapters on all stories coming soon, as well as some artwork of the beautiful panels from AVitW. NS for the win!

11/19/14: No worries about the ending of the manga, the movie and the new series. Only inspires me to write more! Will continue posting stories, plus a few new ones! All NS! ;) So read and enjoy!

9/10/13: Still doing housekeeping on each chapter of A Voice in the Wind. Sweeping out the spelling and grammatical bugs, ironing out the continuity wrinkles, etc. etc. Starting with chapter one. Will eventually hit them all, but I'm in no hurry. You'll see the note at the bottom that I've edited it.

These stories began as writing prompts for National Novel Writing Month. And like all good plot bunnies, they've hopped around and multiplied like crazy!

Like: music, writing, painting, sketching, anything crafty, long drives, Rumi, grafitti, anything Studio Ghibli

Love: my family, immeasurably

Laugh: I write lists like stranded people yell at helicopters

Dislike: eggplant (not the color though) and mosquitos

Catch me at swirling petals dot com for previews, spoilers, art and more!

A Voice in the Wind

Sakura is abducted on a mission by a rogue nin. He reveals himself to be about the same age as she is, but is very cagey about most all other details of his life. However they form a strong bond in their short time together, stronger in fact than any of the bonds with her assigned teammates from her village. She manages to escape, returns home and works over the next few years to be a stronger, more capable ninja. But the bond she had with the rogue nin is never matched with any of her fellow nins.

She encounters the rogue again over the course of the next few years and forms an even stronger friendship with him. But that bond is shaken to the core when a mission goes terribly wrong. Both betrayed, Sakura turns to her true teammates, strengthening her ties to her village. Katsuro sheds his former identity and turns fully into the life that Itachi had planned for him.

But when a chance encounter turns into a nightmare battle, the Akatsuki's newest member, a young blonde mercenary, has to make a hard choice. Will he keep his identity hidden yet let the pink-haired girl die in his arms? Or will he do what he knows is necessary to save her: wrap her in his hard-earned Akatsuki cloak and head straight for the village which failed him as a child?

• Spoiler: Katsuro's identity... I am not a huge fan of original characters, I just can't seem to find a great deal of like or dislike of them as I would rather be reading about the manga characters themselves. So I would hate to put someone off of reading the story because they believed Katsuro was an oc. So, hopefully you've guessed already, but Katsuro is Naruto.

He was abducted by Itachi at a young age, who realized the power a child like that held and seized on the opportunity presented to him by a village that did not take better care of its orphaned jinchurriki. In creating a new identity for him, Naruto chose the name Katsuro, meaning "victorious son," as a snub to the village that failed him.