Dear moonkeeper.
Wanderer has had many names and many betrayals, but were they truly betrayals, or just unfinished stories resting in the stars? And what if one of those "betrayals" was never finished at all?
In which we go back to the start of his life, the orphan he calls his third betrayal being you.
But you never died.
You returned.
The question is when and how?
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Authors note:
This is the first chapter of the first fic I’ve ever written, keep in mind that I’m completely new to writing stories so if u do end up having tips or criticism for me do tell immediately! Otherwise I hope u enjoy this first chapter and feel free to let me know if I should continue this!
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Pleasant memories are Kabukimono's favourite. Especially since they are rather rare, that's what makes them so special. Though his first memory, being abandoned by his own mother, wasn't what he had imagined one's life should start with.
Fortunately, the day he met Niwa changed him as he finally started learning how to function truly, how to live more humanly. Of course, it was hard, but Kabukimono was determined. He enjoyed learning more about humans and trying to understand simple emotions, seeing if he could actually belong in such a complex world. Though such happiness couldn't last long. The second betrayal from his beloved friend, his second family, ended with Kabukimono wandering into you, an orphan clinging onto every sliver of hope there could be.
You appeared to be the same age as Kabukimono, though it was his appearance that made you assume he was a young adult, rather than the actual age of the puppet.
"Say... what would you say is the most complicated emotion?" Kabukimono turned his gaze toward you. The light of the setting sun illuminated your face so softly it made him see you as a gift. What could he have done to be granted time with you after everything that had happened?
"Hm..." you pondered. Emotions came naturally to you, like you were made to feel. Sometimes you felt like you were made to feel too much. "I think it's love. I've heard it could be the most beautiful, but also the most painful emotion one could feel." You finally turned your gaze to meet his. His eyes scanned your face as if searching for something hidden behind your words.
"Have you ever felt love?" he asked, wondering if you would be able to teach him about it.
"Not the kind those stories talk about... Love towards family is much different than love towards a specific person. I do hope to experience it fully."
He was able to build many new memories with you, making do of every situation thrown at the two of you. He learned the shape of your habits first—the way you always hesitated before speaking, the way you laughed too loudly at things that weren't that funny. You would spend days showing him your favourite places, and hours teaching him feelings neither of you could fully understand. Not that you were a puppet as well; you were just as inexperienced as he was. But every beautiful moment in life runs out of time.
It has been a long day of traveling around until the both of you found comfort in the small wooden house where your whole friendship began. Kabu and you were sitting next to each other in front of a small fireplace which was keeping you warm. Kabu was rambling about the fascinating new things he discovered today until he felt a small weight dropping on his shoulder.
Tilting his head slightly, he saw your resting figure leaning your head onto his shoulder. He wasn't familiar with the concept of being exhausted so he didn't quite understand why you would just fall asleep to his talking. Honestly he didn't know whether to be offended that you may have found him too boring or be happy that you found comfort in leaning on him.
Whatever it was, he decided it wasn't worth pondering over now. He would just ask you in the morning. But for now, he stayed completely still for the rest of the night not daring to wake you. He could always ask tomorrow, no?
Logically, time was something Kabukimono couldn't seem to run out of. He had all the time he needs to learn about everything he was so curious of—but how long could he stay curious if the emotions he ends up experiencing only bring pain?
"Damn!" Kabukimono held his hand to his chest, a slight red mark forming on the spot he accidentally touched the hot pan cooking over a small fire.
"You really need to stop being so impatient with the food." You take his hand in yours as you let out a small chuckle, wrapping his hand in a small bandage. Does it really help a puppet? You don't really care, it's like muscle memory anyway.
Kabukimono watches you intently, as if he was studying your every move, maybe already planning to help you like this whenever you get burned. Though you don't mind, you rather enjoy how close the both of you had become and how sweetly he would copy small actions of you that he found worth memorizing.
Yet waking up felt wrong that day.
"Y/n? Where are you?" Kabukimono grumbles as he stands up from the creaky bed you got him not too long ago. He turns to your own bed, noticing its empty and messy state, which made his chest tighten.
He wandered around, the pit in his stomach growing each second he couldn't find you.
The sudden quietness didn't fit into his world anymore. His world basically revolved around your loud laughter, your weird way of phrasing certain sentences, and especially your filling presence. So how could it just disappear? Had he done something?
Kabukimono searched everywhere for you: through the old wooden house you once shared, and through the many fields you had once made him appreciate. He didn't understand. How were you just gone? After everything you had been through together, after all the times you would lie in a field of beautiful dendrobium, talking about the future he wished to share with you.
How does he run out of time with everything he longs for, when he has so much of it?
And so came his third and final betrayal.