✧ 🫀☂️ Niwakuni one-shot
Word count : 1906
Rating : E(veryone)
Tags & content warnings : trans!Kabukimono / Scaramouche 🏳️⚧️ ; fluff ; can be read as platonic. [Niwakuni | Niwa/Kabukimono ]
Thinking about Kabukimono, and the first time he went to a hot spring...
It was Katsuragi who proposed the idea to the rest of the workers that evening. It was a pleasure they seldom indulged in, due to lack of time, money - for various reasons, really - but finishing those orders had been more laborious than most of their typical workdays, so the team decided they deserved it.
Kabukimono was not in the habit of participating and often sided with the reluctant ones for the obvious reason that it was impossible to hide his puppet joints from the world in a public bath. He would be exposed, vulnerable - probably detached from his anchors and friends in this village, and it made him deeply uncomfortable. He found his footing, certainly, but he still saw furtive eyes ogling his expensive silk, perplexed murmurs when he instinctively held a tool upside down, and although no one had been hostile towards him... he struggled.
"Do you want to go?" his voice awakened the young man, who turned calmly towards him, hands folded against his body. "You can, you know. You work as hard as we do," he reassured him, taking off his sweat-drenched bandana with a grimace before approaching him.
When Niwa lifted his head from his anvil, he saw Kabukimono hesitate to follow the group. He watched them leave, without blinking, static like a wax statue, and the shadow of a smile came to rest on his face.
"They would see my articulated body and ask questions. I can't go with so many people around," Kabukimono smiled weakly at him before tightening the straps holding his sleeves and getting back to organizing his workbench for the next day. Niwa then had an idea.
However, he didn't have time to ask him a question, as Niwa had already gone to find Katsuragi - leaving him alone, waiting. Waiting for what? Should he stay in his place? Resume his task? Would Niwa return before nightfall? Kabukimono, in doubt, remained still, not without drawing the curious eyes of the few blacksmiths who were busy organizing their own space.
"Wait a minute." The youth stopped abruptly in his movement, effortlessly standing up with two full crates in his hands, and tilted his head to the side like a lost little animal.
"Are you sure no one else will come, Niwa?" Kabukimono still had that ancient way of speaking, a highly formal dialect he couldn't seem to lose even when interacting with workers whose language was much less obscure than his. He found it adorable - that the person he taught to read in his spare time could teach him words in the language he had always spoken.
"Don't worry, Katsuragi is taking care of it." Niwa had rushed over to Katsuragi to ask him to send everyone away at once and join them when it was done, so that they would be the only three people in the water.
"I'm here! Finally, I've been waiting for half an hour to get in there," with a loud noise, the sliding door was closed and he began to remove his yukata, "the owner won't let anyone in on this side while we're here, no worries!" he added, turning to Kabukimono with a thumbs up.
The youth didn't hesitate and flattened himself against the floor in reverence, bowing so low that he almost hit his head on the tatami mats. Katsuragi near jumped, half-naked, and bowed in return, one hand holding his clothing, the other palm outstretched to his friend, and they lost themselves for a few seconds in an exchange that made Niwa laugh against the back of his hand, consisting only of "Thank you so much!" and "Hey, get up! It's nothing!"
When the Kabukimono finally started to remove his yukata, Niwa and Katsuragi were already lounging against two rocks, discussing something that the Kabukimono couldn't discern, too preoccupied with his own worries. Was this what they called "anxiety"? He didn't like the visceral fear that wrapped around his neck and hesitated to call Niwa - he didn't do it, ashamed to ask for help when they had already made so much effort for him.
Once naked, the youth grabbed a white towel and headed towards the bath as well, half of his body draped in cotton to hide the marks of his artifice. If he had been human, his steps would have been trembling, he was sure of it. But once again, if he had been human, he wouldn't be reduced to this. As they heard him approaching, Katsuragi and Niwa turned to him and beckoned him to come closer with a smile.
Finally, he realized that he had nothing to fear, that they were, after all, the man who had found him gathering dust in an abandoned estate, and the one who had immediately taken him under his wing and kept his secret. Returning their smiles, he finally removed the towel and joined them, close to Niwa without encroaching on his space.
He completely missed their pair of wide-eyed gazes and the crimson veil that spread from the top of their cheekbones to their collarbones at the sight of his naked body. Nothing obscene - they would never forgive themselves.
Firstly, because by all the Archons, if they had not known that Kabukimono had been crafted by the very hand of a God, they could have guessed it. As he emerged from the mist, it was clear to see that he was no ordinary mortal. His long amethyst-hued hair flowed like moonbeams, cascading down to his waist in a shimmering almost cloud-like crown. His crystalline skin dotted with freckles and beauty marks of all kinds mirrored the prettiest starlight, a soft glow emanating from within. His hands were delicate and graceful, with slender fingers and perfectly manicured nails despite the hard work he had been engaging in for weeks. Every inch of him seemed to have been sculpted from the very fabric of the universe, a flawless creation of otherworldly beauty. He was an ethereal being, a vision of perfection that could only exist in dreams and fables – it felt as if his presence alone could reignite the flame any fallen artist longed for.
Secondly, because at the sight of his feminine silhouette, they were mortified at the thought of completely mistaking Kabukimono's gender when addressing him. Had they forced him to live as a man against his will? Had he been too shy to tell them ?
Kabukimono also noticed, as he sat in the water up to his waist, that his anatomy differed from that of his two friends. Where their chest areas were relatively flat, his was curvier and two, very discreet, but undeniable breasts shaped his outline. He thought nothing of it; Kabukimono simply believed they were intrigued by the pattern where his sternum should be, and he placed a hand on this spot, his brows furrowed.
"This is where my heart should have been placed." He remembered, as a spontaneous reminiscence. "It's a cavity. Don't be surprised, it's not painful." He traced his nails along the markings that ran up his alabaster shoulders, and squeezed his skin between his fingers until his knuckles trembled.
"That's a sick design..." Katsuragi blurted out, discerning the arabesques that probably ran up to his spine, imagining what portrait could be drawn on his neck. Kabukimono looked up, surprised. "Ha! I wasn't eyeing you, I promise! But, really, you don't have to be ashamed of it. It looks like the traditional stuff they do at Watatsumi..." he searched for his word for a few seconds before Niwa cleared his throat.
"It's true, they look like tattoos. They're...very beautiful, Kabuki." He affirmed more confidently. To that, the youth smiled and withdrew his hand, sinking deeper into the hot spring.
They realized then that they hadn't forced him into anything - Kabukimono was exactly who he wanted to be, or at least acted with the purpose of becoming so. Now that they thought about it, Kabukimono had shown great confusion at first when Nagamasa inquired about his gender to fill in his paperwork. The youth had turned to Katsuragi, asking what he was, and when Katsuragi replied, confused, that he was a man, Kabukimono looked at Nagamasa and simply answered “then so am I”. Applying human notions of gender to him was pointless.
"I'm glad you like them." He hid half of his face in the water, as if he wanted to hide his blushing face even though he couldn't blush, and resumed his initial position, a little closer to Niwa. "This body is mine, but it doesn't belong to me. Thank you for helping me accept it."
It was Katsuragi who broke the silence after a few minutes.
"Hey, Kabu-" it seemed to him that his nickname shortened with every new sentence, "would you be willing to - umm." He seemed to hesitate, so Kabukimono leaned closer to him, his head supported by his knees and hands, all ears "...serve as a model for a blade? I mean! I like to add personal touches to the weapons I make. You can think about it, huh! But... I think it would look good..." Niwa had never seen Katsuragi so flustered in his life. Well, except when he courted his wife. Which made him chuckle stupidly to himself as he spotted a little lizard on the rock next to him.
Kabukimono eyed him with his large bright eyes that could be mistaken for glass eyes because of how much they shone. A hesitation passed through his gaze at the thought of what he had always pushed away being etched forever into something as respected as a blade - nothing that belonged to him deserved any special treatment, let alone to be a part of an almost divine practice. After all, he had been abandoned for not being able to withstand divinity. How was this any different?
"I will give it serious thought." he solemnly swore, bowing his head down to the water level, soaking his bangs and long lashes without hesitation. Katsuragi startled again, repeating for him to sit up, and thanked him for his consideration.
"Do you want me to tie your hair?" Niwa suddenly offered, gripping the edge of the bath more firmly, letting the lizard go. He hadn't thought before speaking - was it really serious for an island deputy, huh…
"Mine?" Kabukimono splashed him accidentally as he stood up, and pointed at himself, intrigued.
“Yes, yours. Come on, you must be having a hard time.” he signaled him to come closer, and Kabukimono stood up fully, moving towards Niwa to finally sit back against him, on his knees. Niwa let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Thank you, Niwa. I'll help you too, if you want," he smiled at him over his shoulder, his painted eyes widening at the sight of the other's crimson face. "Are you okay?" he asked, turning to him. He heard Katsuragi snicker, then immediately stop when Niwa gave him a dark look.
“Everything’s fine. Turn around.” he smiled, and started gathering his hair in his hand.
Kabukimono still had much to learn about humans and their interactions, but what he could affirm was that he deeply loved this moment, and if he could forever rest in Niwa’s hands and the warmth of the hot spring, at the foot of the coruscating flower beds of Tatarasuna, then perhaps he could find meaning in his immortality.
