サスヒナ好き♡

Something I've always wanted to do for over a decade now is make SH keychains & a fanbook. I've always been super inspired by just how much work & love goes into fanbooks/fanzines and my past self always thought that creating such content was the pinnacle of fanculture. Loving a piece of media so much you're willing to spend hours, months, maybe even years illustrating, writing stories, and compiling everything into a glossy, beautiful book? It just seemed like the perfect way to convey just how much I loved this silly non-existent crack pairing. I wanted to do it so badly.

I actually did make keychains for the first time in 2020 so I guess I can cross that off my list.

However, I remember thinking that I had to reach a certain standard in my art before I could even attempt such an enormous task. How could I make a glossy, pretty book with wonky anatomy and a refusal to draw backgrounds? I think I still have certain expectations whenever I daydream about starting a SasuHina Fanbook project...I do want everything to be as perfect as it can be, but of course, nothing ever is.

Fast forward to 2023, I most definitely am not at the art level which I aspire to reach one day (far from it), but that doesn't mean I can't make one, right? I think I've been so conditioned to believe zines and fanprojects need to have that glossy sheen on premium paper when that's not what zines were initially. Zines are first and foremost passion projects, irrespective of skill and the quality of the paper used.

I have a lot of ideas for a potential fanbook and I think I'm going to start planning it out soon. Maybe it won't look the best, but if I'm having fun then who cares. right?

In case you were wondering, my dream SH fanbook would be a compilation of art from all the OG SH artists from back in the day.

Also: Aesthetic & Potential an Unofficial SasuHina Fanbook presented by Kaon & Erika (2050).

Let's see what happens.

Just a little excerpt below that may or may not be a future scene in the fic i’m writing. It hasn’t been edited, just a heads up.

The two stood at the edge of a cliff, both without fear or suspicion. The great blue expanse below them seemed almost too still. There were no strong waves crashing on rocks, nor any boats on the horizon, yet in spite of the calm, a storm raged on in Sasuke’s heart as he watched the figure in front of him.

She remained unmoving much like the waters, save for her hair that gently danced in the soft breeze. He wondered if the strands were as soft as they looked and for the first time in his life, Sasuke considered the validity of his supposed penchant for long hair, a rumour from a now distant past.

He took a step closer towards her slowly, as if anticipating her to recoil in discomfort, but she remained still and Sasuke thought it wouldn’t be too far off to believe that she trusted him, even if only a little.

They had travelled together for a little over six months now and during this time spent together, Sasuke found himself experiencing an unrelenting flux of foreign emotions. When she had first proposed to be taken under his wing he had found the idea ridiculous. They had not spent any meaningful time together outside of their spontaneous meetings at the bench and the unexpected mission to save Kana’s grandfather.

(“Why?” He asked, bewildered.

“Because… I want to try and find meaning in my life again.”)

At the time, he wondered if she had gone insane. Why did he have to be around for her to find meaning in her life again? Why did she have to leave the village in the first place? Wasn’t she in love with Naruto? Or maybe this was all a farce, a plan to confine him back into the village walls somehow.

He had been ready to reject her request but something stirred within him as he saw her expression. Her typically kind, soft lavender eyes had hardened with determination, yet her fingers quivered as she clasped her hands together at her chest. Had it been fear? Nerves? Desperation?

As if suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning upon seeing the resolve in her eyes whittle away, he realised that this wasn’t a declaration of love, nor an attempt to bring him back to Konoha.

This was a sincere proposition from someone who felt lost and unmoored, feelings that were no stranger to himself.

He had wanted to walk away, to tell her that he was not responsible for her burdens, but the words laid dormant in his throat.

Thus began an unexpected journey without expectations. He had made it clear that he had no obligation to help her find whatever it was she was looking for and she agreed, knowing there was a chance of failure.

It only took six months of training together, assisting people, traversing lands high and low. It was only six months of getting to know her, seeing how determined she was to help everyone she encountered, seeing just how hard she worked to ignite the will of fire which had dimmed within her soul for the past few years. Six months of occasional arguments, of silence, of sharing meals, of conversations that Sasuke never would have dreamed of having.

Six months ago Hyuuga Hinata was a stranger.

And yet somehow, someway, she was now all he could think about, day in, day out.

Maybe it was their common goal that slowly drew him towards her. To search the world for answers. To find themselves.

Surrendering his feelings to the wind, Sasuke edged even closer, wondering if this inexplicable urge to be near her was reciprocated.