Getting a Hands-On Education [Xxxholic]
Characters/Pairings: Watanuki/Doumeki
Warnings: While there is no actual sex in this, it probably deserves an NC-17 rating for sex anyways
Summary: A missed sex-ed class. A detention. A tutor session.
Comments: I read it the first time, and didn’t particularly like it. I read it a second time and kind of liked it. I read it a third time and went “Holy fuck, this is good.” The characterization is perfectly nailed on the non-sex bits, though I still have many reservations about Doumeki’s characterization during the first part of the tutoring session. It’s well-done, though, and… I don’t quite know how to say this. I like the way that despite how porny this story really is, they didn’t have sex. Or even touch, really. It takes a much better author to convey that sort of intensity without the characters ever touching, and that is something that I always greatly enjoy.
Notes: I mistyped session as sexxion each time. Talk about Freudian typoes.
One-shot, complete.

Indistinguishable From Magic
Characters/Pairings: River, Zoe, Wash, cast.
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Major for the movie
Summary: Some things can’t be fixed. But some things can. And River, who knows the secrets of the government, can fix more things than most.
Comments: Any series that has a canonical character death will generate a whole subgenre of fix it stories. And sometimes, it produces damn good ones that keep everyone in character and keep things moderately probable. The characterization in this just hits the nail on so many occasions and this has quite simply the best River perspective that I’ve seen yet. It’s sane enough that you can follow it and it can actually contain a plot, but it’s still most definitely River, with all that implies. And it’s just a damn good fic.
One-shot, complete.

Nights of endless conversations
Characters/Pairings: Simon/Kaylee, Mal, Dream, Book, Destiny, Jayne, Death, Destruction, Wash, Zoe, Inara, Desire, Despair, River, Delirium
Warnings: None
Summary: The Endless converse with the crew of Serenity.
Comments: Wow. This is just beautifully done. The character matchups of which character talks with which Endless is very well thought out; I particularly liked Inara’s meeting with Desire and Despair. And the meeting with River and Delirium, who was once Delight, was just perfectly perfectly done and led to the absolute perfect ending line.
One-shot, complete.

In Stitches
Characters/Pairings: Simon-centric, cast.
Warnings: None
Summary: Everyone on the ship is assigned chores, ostensibly at random. Simon is assigned laundry.
Comments: You wouldn’t think that you’d get any sort of character insight out of an idea this simple, but you do. The writing’s beautfilly clean, and the characterization is just nailed. I particularly liked Mal, Zoe, and Wash’s conversation about what was changing due to Simon doing laundry. It’s a wonderfully done piece showing Simon really beginning to become part of Serenity’s crew, and accepted as one of them.
Notes: Yeah, haven’t been reccing again. I have no excuses except that I suck.
One-shot, complete.

20 Things about the Troika
Characters/Pairings: Yukimura, Sanada, Yanagi
Warnings: None
Summary: Twenty random facts about the three singles players of Rikkai
Comments: I’m usually not that into the twenty things meme, but I liked this. It was cute, rather IC, and managed to work moderately well from the format. And I haven’t read Yukimura, Sanada, Yanagi fic in a while, and this makes me want to do so.
One-shot, complete.

Epilogue
Characters/Pairings: Watari/Tatsumi
Warnings: None
Summary: Not even Watari can be cheerful all of the time.
Comments: Just a beautifully in-character vignette about Tatsumi cheering up Watari after a really bad day. No, it isn’t nearly as fluffy as the words “cheering up” made it sound. It’s just very very nicely done.
Notes: I have two windows of Mozilla open with 8 or 9 tabs open apiece, of mostly fics that I mean to rec. I still haven’t begun to rec them all, and am instead borrowing recs from tomomichi’s current batch. …Oh well. I’ll rec the other later.
One-shot, complete.
One-shot, complete.

Mokonas say the darndest things
Characters/Pairings: Implied Clow/Yuuko, Mokona
Warnings: Sex Ed.
Summary: Mokona asks Clow and Yuuko where babies come from. Yuuko and Clow explain in their own, unique way.
Comments: Funny as all hell, and amazingly in-character. I liked the fact that it was from Mokona Modoki’s POV, because that’s rare and it’s an interesting POV to write from.
One-shot, complete.

Maybe Someday
Characters/Pairings: River, Delirium
Warnings: None
Summary: River is one of Delirium’s.
Comments: Why did I never think of this? It makes complete and utter sense in that way that River and Delirium make sense - sense and nonsense at the same time. And Sandman really is one of those series that can be crossed with absolutely everything, can’t it?
Notes: Sorry about not reccing. I’ve been busy with RL stuff.
One-shot, complete.

Home
Characters/Pairings: Rukia, Byakuya/Hisana
Warnings: None
Summary: A street kid adjusting to living in the house of a noble is always going to lead to some…interesting situations.
Comments: A insanely tooth-rottingly cute, yet amazingly well-characterized AU on what would happen if Hisana were still alive when Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki family. And god, do I want Hisana’s etiquette lessons. Because how could anyone not?
One-shot, complete.

The Doll
Characters/Pairings: Watari/Muraki, Watari/Tatsumi
Warnings: Graphic, iffy-consent, BDSM-influenced sex.
Summary: Watari decides to make a deal with the devil to get rid of the devil. When Watari makes a deal with Muraki to help Watari and Tatsumi with the Yatonogami case, Watari must struggle more than he expected to avoid being sucked too deeply into Muraki’s games.
Comments: Wow. Just wow. This is a fic that managed to make me like Muraki/Watari. If there’s a more random pairing, I don’t want to hear about it. Unless it’s Wakaba/Muraki, in which case, link please? But this fic is long, interesting and the plot and the character dynamics are just amazingly well done. It’s co-written by the person who I would consider to be the single best Watari author out there, and one of the better Muraki authors, and damn, does it show in the characterization. Both Watari and Muraki’s characterizations are just nailed, even in the situations they put themselves in. And Tatsumi’s reaction is done just about right. And it’s just… very, very well done.
Notes: There are also sequels to this fic. Unfortunately, they are not nearly up to the level of quality that this fic reaches, and frankly, I lost interest about three chapters in. I do not recommend the sequels.
Long one-shot, complete.

Unravel
Characters/Pairings: Muraki/Hisoka
Warnings: …It’s MURAKI/HISOKA. Rape. Dark content.
Summary: “Following King of Swords, Muraki metes out his promised revenge to Hisoka by using his empathy as a weapon against him.”
Comments: This is a fic that’s stuck in my mind for … at least one year, maybe two. It’s just perfectly dark and in-character, and oh holy fuck, I pity Hisoka in this. To me, it’s the model of what a Muraki/Hisoka fic should be like, and that’s a rare status for a short fic to obtain.
One-shot, complete.

Sunshine in Winter
Characters/Pairings: Yuffie/Vincent. No, really. And the day that I use the term Yuffentine, which seems to be the commonly accepted term, is the day you can shoot me.
Warnings: …Lots of language.
Summary: Yuffie’s dying of a badly poisoned leg, when she’s rescued and nursed by Vincent.
Comments: Wow. Long, well-done, and Yuffie’s… irrepressible… nature actually made an illness “I’m dying but falling in love with the guy nursing me” story bearable. Not only bearable, but funny. This from a person who doesn’t read that type of story. The only reason I read this was because it was recced as one of the very few bearable Yuffie/Vincent fics, and I didn’t know it was an illness fic. And now I’m in love with the pairing and kind of want to go looking for more fic. In a pairing that is legendary for its badness. Someone just shoot me.
Multi-chapter, complete.

Gray Knight series
Irresistible Force : Immovable Object
Ghost Ship
It’s The Little Things
The Story of Chess
My Partner : My Lover - Adult
Shattered
A Snowball in Meifu
Characters/Pairings: Watari/Tatsumi
Warnings: Except for the one graphic sex one, none that I can think of. Maybe a little graphic violence, mature themes.
Summary: Gray Knight is the code given to assignments with extenuating circumstances. The cases that tear emotionally at whoever is assigned them. When Tatsumi takes one such case to spare Tsuzuki and Hisoka another heartrending case, Watari assigns himself as his partner. This is the story of that case, and the relationship that develops after that.
Comments: Hey, a not quite as half-assed a summary as I usually do. Still a little melodramatic and inane, but you can’t have everything. Anyway, this is flat out the single best Tatsumi/Watari series on the Internet, as well as one of my favorite YnM fics period. It takes the time to develop their relationship properly, and both Watari and Tatsumi’s characterization are well done. And there’s actual plot!
Multi-chaptered fics and one-shot fics, all complete. However, the series itself is permanently incomplete with, alas, a few unresolved issues from Shattered left unresolved. Please allow me a few seconds of complaining that the one fic that left open threads is also the one that is the last one that the author wrote.

Jealous Of Your Cigarette
Characters/Pairings: Riddle/Kazahaya/Cal
Warnings: Graphic gay sociopathic sex. With one hermaphrodite involved. Can’t forget the hermaphrodite. And I want another g word and another s word there to make it properly alliterative.
Summary: When Kazahaya walks in on Riddle and Cal making out, impromptu threesomes ensue.
Comments: Have you any idea how rarely I find a straight-out pwp that I really, honestly, enjoy? I almost never bother to read them, but the character pairing intrigued me, and just… wow. It’s amazingly well done, the character dynamics from in-game are just nailed and fascinating (Kazahaya’s one of my favorite CFUD characters, and his dynamics with Cal and Riddle have always been really interesting), and it’s really, well, hot.
Edited because I kind of. Er. Had it in the Card Captor Sakura section. Please forgive me any scarring mental images you may have gotten from that.
One-shot, complete.

Metaphor
Characters/Pairings: Tatsumi, Watari
Warnings: None
Summary: Watari attempts to use metaphorically explain what’s wrong with all the Shinigami. Tatsumi misunderstands.
Comments: This is just nicely done. The interplay between Watari and Tatsumi is just so well done, with Watari being his eccentric, mad genius self, and Tatumi being his irritably repressed, “No, you can’t have a bigger budget” self. I’ve always loved the way Tatsumi and Watari work together, and this fic nicely shows why.
One-shot, complete.

To the Fullest
Characters/Pairings: Christine (Murata), Jose
Warnings: Implied prostitution
Summary: Christine, Murata’s last life, doesn’t want Shinou. Doesn’t like Shinou. And destroys her life attempting to be everything Shinou doesn’t want her to be.
Comments: Huh. A very interesting look at Murata’s past life. According to the author, Christine was a porn star. I find that funnier than I probably should. It’s… a little stereotypical for a porn star/prostitute character, but it’s interesting. I like her and Jose’s relationship. And the ending with Murata meeting Jose was nicely done.
One-shot, complete.

Of Princesses and Puddles
Characters/Pairings: Orihime, Mayuri
Warnings: None
Spoilers: SS arc, yadda yadda. Nothing past the Mayuri battle. So why am I warning for it? I have no idea.
Summary: Orihime runs into Mayuri-puddle, and has a solution. Involving soapy water (with a bit of lemon!) and a mop.
Comments: I’m not reccing this solely for the Patricia C. Wrede injoke, although that helps. It’s also because it’s Orihime mopping up Mayuri. I mean, how can I not love this?
One-shot, complete.

Sleeve of White Snow: Variations on a Theme
Characters/Pairings: Rukia, Sodeno Shirayuki
Warnings: None
Summary: Rukia reunites with her sword.
Comments: Now that the name of Rukia’s sword and its release has been revealed, there’s been an influx of fics about them. And my reaction may be summed up thusly: *_* This is a nice look at a possibility of what Sodeno Shirayuki and Rukia’s relationship might be like, and I thought that Sodeno Shirayuki’s indignation at Ichigo for stealing Rukia’s powers was nicely, nicely done.
Notes: I just had a two and a half hour midterm. God, I’m tired.
One-shot, complete.

Bed and Breakfast
Characters/Pairings: Kaylee/Inara
Warnings: Sex
Summary: Inara deals with the conflicts invoked by her job and a relationship.
Comments: A wonderfully written, perfectly in-character fic regarding these two characters. Kaylee/Inara is one of those pairings I’ve liked since I watched Firefly, and there is just not enough good fic about them. And this is just wonderful.
One-shot, complete.

Terrible Pink Monster
Characters/Pairings: Orihime OTO (one true orgy)
Warnings: None
Summary: “Why Orihime and shipping wars don’t mix.”
Comments: A funny, funny little crack fic. I like Orihime, even if I’m not usually particularly interested in her, and this is why. And the reason why Ishida is on the bottom is utterly perfect.
One-shot, complete.