We are excited to introduce to you our Creator Spotlight! This is where we reach out to one of our talented members each month to find out all about them and their kakairu creations, and then show them off to the world!
The very first creator we interviewed is the amazing @badger! We hope you enjoy learning about her & her creations as much as we did. Please give her some love 
Pronouns: She/ her
Type of Creator (artist, writer, both, etc.): writer & sometimes artist
Where to find her:
- https://stupidbadgers.tumblr.com
- stupidbadgers | Archive of Our Own
- https://twitter.com/stupidbadgers
Questions:
1. How long have you been creating KakaIru fanworks?
I think I’ve been writing kkir since mid 2019 and started drawing them at the beginning of 2020. I didn’t start posting any of my writing until New Years Day 2020.
2. What are you working on right now?
LOL, I have an ever revolving door of things I’m working on. Currently, I have five active projects, including the KakaIru Big Bang, which I am so excited for! I’ll be starting in on something for the KakaIru Minibang soon as well! I’m hoping to add another work into the verse I started for last year’s minibang. I (usually) work well with having multiple things to bounce between.
3. What is your favourite trope to create for?
Oh man, how do I choose? Probably broadly, it’s hurt/comfort. I love writing some angstcake. There’s something about writing my favorite characters suffering and then making it all better for them that just speaks to my soul.
4. Which of your creations is your favourite, and why?
This is such a difficult question. fated to love you is definitely one of my favorites. There’s something about the way I wrote Kakashi in it that just strikes me. Honestly, I identify with him so much in that fic, I felt like I was putting myself on blast. His internal dialogue and humor makes me laugh every time I read it. That’s probably definitely one of the closest examples of me being Kakashi, lmao. **
5. Do you have any WIPs you’re excited about?
My big bang! I can’t say much more than that, but damn I am having fun writing it. In regard to something I can mention more of: I’m writing more femkkir verse! I’ve grown to love these versions of Kakashi and Iruka so much and this particular fic is about when Kakashi and Iruka meet as teenagers and how their relationship develops. It’s a bit of a challenge, but I’m so excited to see how it turns out!
6. Do you have any original characters? If so, tell us about them!
The only original character I’ve got is Soot the cat. He’s a demon, inspired by my friend’s cat. I absolutely adore him and his dumb antics. Soot is not technically a nin-cat, but he’s intelligent and gets into all kinds of trouble. I’ve somehow managed to include him in most of my fics at this point, whether I mean to or not. He just shows up, lol!
7. What was your hardest piece to create, and why?
Oh this is a tough question! I’m kind of stuck between two of them: i think i’ve loved you forever and the thread that binds us. Both of them are very emotional pieces—I really put Iruka through the wringer in both of them (and, of course, it’s because of Mizuki). There’s a lot of dealing with the emotional trauma of Mizuki, both in a modern au (the first one) and canon verse (the second one), and that was a lot for me to process while writing. Despite the emotional toll, the end products are ones that I really like, especially i think i’ve loved you forever.
8. Do you have any favourite scenes from something you’ve created?
LMAO YES! In don’t piss off a seals master, ANBU (Tenzou and Kawaguchi (Hazelbeka’s OC)) show up at the Hatake Compound to ‘politely’ request on behalf of the Hokage that Iruka return and restore the warding on Hokage Tower after he had powered it down. Iruka politely refuses and Kawaguchi leans in toward the compound, forgetting about the warding that Iruka has in place on it and becomes stuck to the barrier (it was a spin on one of the barrier seals Hazel designed!). I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at something I wrote, but the mental image of Kawaguchi in his ANBU gear and mask with his face stuck to a barrier you can’t quite see just sets me into giggle fits every time.
9. Where does your inspiration come from?
Most of it comes from music. I hear a song, I think, “damn, that’s some kakairu right there,” and then suddenly I have a whole fic coming out of my brain, lmao. I’ve also taken inspiration from friends and random things that pop into my head. The moments when inspiration strikes are usually followed by, “oh, brain, no,” to which my roommate becomes Concerned.
10. Which of your creations is the most meaningful to you, and why?
when a house becomes a home. This fic took me several months to complete, but was ultimately so rewarding to write. I have very limited knowledge of Jewish customs, but my friend is Jewish and there’s not a lot of fic out there for kakairu that features Jewish customs. After talking with her a bit, I had an idea for what I wanted the fic to be and with her help, I was able to create that story for her. It really allowed me to lean into that introspective style of writing and write Kakashi in a way that was a little different from how I had written him before. Writing it helped me grow as a writer and I got to learn about so many interesting Jewish customs in the process.