A quick “What if Masamune and Kojuro switched bodies?” headcanon by @baejuro and myself. Excuse any errors in the writing.
Masamune sat on the veranda looking up at the stars, mesmerized. The foreigners that visited Oshu graciously taught him about the stars and their constellations, so he mumbled them to himself, testing his knowledge. There was a gentle smile on his face as he enjoyed this little moment he had, but soon it was cut short.
“Pardon the intrusion, Lord Masamune,” Kojuro approached him slowly. He gave Masamune a smile. “Shigezane and I—”
Before Kojuro could finish, Shigezane nudged Kojuro to the side, eagerly walking over to Masamune. Shigezane raised the sake flask high. “Let’s drink the night away!” he hollered with a mischievous grin.
“Apologies, Milord,” sighed Kojuro. He then smiled, shaking his head at Shigezane’s boisterousness.
Masamune thought it was probably time they all spent a night together before they went off to war again. Putting aside their normal demeanour, they began to drink and converse.
Shigezane put his cup down, eyes twinkling, “Did you hear the rumour going around the castle?” he asked, filling Masamune’s and Kojuro’s cups with sake.
Kojuro took a sip and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you were not the one to spread the rumours around in the first place?”
Shigezane cleared his throat. “Old and mean, what are we going to do with you, Kojuro?” He tutted, teasingly. “This is why you don’t have a lover yet, hmm?” He grinned. “They say tonight’s the night of the fabled green moon. I mean, no one really knows what happens but apparently it’s always weird.”
Masamune formed his lips into a thin line, intrigued by this seemingly supernatural rumour, meanwhile Kojuro sighed, already fed up with Shigezane’s antics. “Shigezane,” he began. “If this is your excuse to disrupt the castle—”
“No!” interjected Shigezane. “I’m serious! I really heard it from the other retainers and maids.” He huffed, grabbing a new flask of sake and adding more into his cup, downing it as quickly as possible.
Kojuro’s frown deepened as he furrowed his brows.
“Anyway, we better be on the lookout for any craziness tomorrow.” Shigezane said confidently warning them.
Masamune and Kojuro shot each other a glance, silently agreeing that Shigezane was being . . . Shigezane.
The next morning, Masamune got up feeling a lot more sluggish than usual. He decided to blame it on the sake from the night. Ruffling his hair, he felt it was a lot shorter, wondering how terrible his bedhead must be. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he caught a glimpse of Kojuro reflected on the shield in the corner.
“Oh, Kojuro, I fell asleep here?” He tried but got no response. Rubbing his eyes, he decided to look around only to notice there was no one else with him.
“Lord Masamune!” An all too familiar voice shouted, opening and closing the shoji doors in a rush. He entered still in sleeping robes.
They blinked at each other once. Twice. A few more seconds. Each staring at the other trying to make sense of the situation they’ve been placed in.
“… Kojuro, it seems we have … switched bodies.” Kojuro—or better known as Masamune in Kojuro’s body—tested his words as he stared up at his true figure in front of him.
“So it seems, Milord.” Masamune replied.
Kojuro nodded, but neither party moved from their spots. They were both transfixed, unable to believe that they were looking at themselves.
Suddenly, the door slid open. “Kojuro! Let’s go meet Masa—” Shigezane stopped, noticing they were both in Kojuro’s chambers, and in their sleeping robes. “What are you doing here, Masamune?” he asked.
Kojuro and Masamune shared a look between each other, wondering who should speak first.
Masamune cleared his throat, trying to quickly think of something his Lord would say. “I had forgotten where I left my eyepatch, so I am here to ask Kojuro for assistance.”
Shigezane raised an eyebrow, wondering why Masamune was speaking in a different manner than usual but he brushed it off and smiled, throwing an arm around Masamune’s shoulder and cooed, “Aww, if you missed Kojuro that much you should just admit it.” Taking his other hand, he ruffled his cousin’s hair just for the fun of it. “Your eyepatch isn’t going to be here, obviously, and Kojuro, we have to go to the village, hurry up.”
Slowly, Masamune removed Shigezane’s arm.
Kojuro replied, “Shigezane, I asked Lord Masamune to … delay our visiting.”
“Why?” Shigezane’s suspicions grew, feeling something was off among the midst.
“Because, I,” Kojuro coughed trying to cover up his blunder. “Lord Masamune needs rest and if Ko—I am not there he will not rest.” he tried, grimacing at his terrible excuse.
“Okay …” Shigezane said slowly, he couldn’t place what was wrong with the two of them today, but he decided if he had less work to do for one day, he wouldn’t be one to complain.
As Shigezane made his way around the castle, during his casual rounds, he heard the maids and retainers whisper about the oddities in Lord Masamune’s and Lord Kojuro’s behaviour. Each noted that Lord Masamune was friendly, while Lord Kojuro was standoffish.
“It’s like they switched personalities!” Shiro exclaimed. “I was helping Lord Kojuro earlier, and he hardly said a word to me. Usually, he’d correct me for even the little things.”
Shigezane turned on his heel and hurried back to Masamune’s chambers. Sliding the door without hesitation, he shouted, “Spill the beans, Masamune. Or should I say Kojuro?”
Shigezane let out a rambunctious laugh. “Can you believe you both changed bodies?”
“Shut up.” Masamune and Kojuro retorted in unison, Shigezane laughed louder.
“And now you both speak at the same time, too.” Shigezane slapped the tatami mat with his hand unable to stop his laughter.
Masamune sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Seven hells, Shigezane, do you know how to reverse the effects or not?”
Shigezane froze for a moment. Sheepishly, he scratched the back of his head. “I may or may not have given you two a different type of sake …” his voice getting quieter near the end of his sentence.
“What do you mean?” Masamune narrowed his eyes, ready to lecture Shigezane about his meddling behaviour.
“The folks in town said there was a body switching sake made by ayakashi, so I bought it and then I gave it to you guys.”
Masamune and Kojuro said at the same time.
Shigezane laughed awkwardly, trying to ease the atmosphere around him and appease their anger. “They said it lasts one week.”
“Shigezane … you are banished from this castle.” Kojuro said, irritated his cousin was being a nuisance once again.
It felt like the longest week of their lives as Masamune and Kojuro struggled to keep up with appearances. Their unusual behaviour perplexed the castle entirely, but no one found it fit to complain as nothing was behind schedule.
They found it enjoyable to see Lord Masamune conversing freely with others, and Lord Kojuro’s quiet determination motivated the retainers to do their best as he worked amongst them.
Shigezane vowed to never buy any kind of rumoured sake ever again.
yousharknotpass
jacobvanloon
tangentwithtanner
