Heh, I completely agree with the fact that the yaoi fandom reads more into the series than Koyasu Takehito intended. But, then again, I absolutely cannot stand fics that only focus on the relationship/sex as the entire point of the fic. That was part of the reason I baled from the GW fandom so quickly...and part of the reason I desperately try to avoid political battles in the fandoms I'm still active in. As a writer, yeah, I might want to see a certain pair of characters get together, but I want to see the whole spectrum of their life. And characterisation is often a matter of perspective, but in WK it often seems to me that people forget that their boys/young men with rough pasts, with ISSUES, who kill for money. Sure, there's a higher purpose of Kritiker as well, but the basics are they're assassins. I can't do fluffy/humour for WK after the boys are in Kritiker; can't see it, don't get it, beat my head against a wall when I find it. "Dramatic Precious" is actually my favourite WK installment, and a lot of people refuse to acknowledge its existence - I think because we get a deeper look into the psyche of those who kill and what it makes them become.

Though I adore Ken/Ran (in that order, actually - which is a *long* story in and of itself), I haven't found a lot of fan fiction that I like. P.S. Speare (whom you know ^_^) is one of the few, and "Upon a Painted Ocean" is AU. Shiori's "New World Order" is also AU, but has nice character interaction with everyone, including Schwarz, even though I don't always agree with her characterisations.

True, we often read to our character/ship biases (and I can't stand Ken/Omi personally because it seems almost incestuous, and I don't see them having that much in common though people have tried to sway me otherwise), but I try to give every *good* story a chance, despite who ends up with whom at the end. I read Aprhael's and admire their craft though I don't agree with the pairing.

Meh, and you thought your's was long. Oops. ^__^ Sorry.