Fushiruha Propaganda
If you follow me, or you've seen me in the Kagurabachi tag, you might be wondering why it is exactly I'm so incredibly obsessed with this rarepair. Well... I'm not very good at organising my thoughts because I'm cursed with Airheadedness but here is my (possibly futile) attempt to DRAG YOU ON BOARD THIS SHIP!
What's up with the ship name?
Let's get this out of the way first. I'm calling it Fushiruha because it rolls off the tongue nicely; this is the ship name I use to be non-specific about the top/bottom positions. I'm just referring to them as being together generally.
You might also see FushiUru used, and the Japanese tag is 伏漆. Previously the ship was known as BanUru (バン漆) and you will also see it called Yogurt.
Okay! With that out of the way I shall talk about all the reasons as to why you should ship Uruha and Fushimi!
They look good together!
What do you mean that's not a reason? Of course it is.
And they do look good together! See:
Let's see, we've got:
Light hair x dark hair. Always some of the best kinds of contrast.
Sharp silhouette x flowy silhouette. More contrast, which makes the two of them together very visually appealing.
Dark clothes x light clothes. In addition to the hair, makes for very nice contrast.
They're both hot. This is undisputed.
Long range x short range. You might have to just trust me on this one. I like to believe that that's an archer's chest guard Fushimi wears; combine that with Uruha's katana, and we have more wonderful contrast... or they complement each other!
Moving onto something of substance.
Devotion
Fushimi was 11 years old when the Seitei War was fought. We got that information along with his name. I don't think that it's too much of a leap to assume he may have looked up to somebody like Uruha. With that in mind, this is how he reacts to Uruha - someone he could have admired - breaking down in front of him. He reassures him of how hard he fought and he swears to protect him.
It's a dynamic I really enjoy; the bodyguard and the one they're sworn to protect. And Fushimi takes his duty seriously. He's perfectly willing to die even if it means he can buy Uruha some time. That's it. All he wants to do is give him the best chance of escape.
Look at the screenshot I posted to prove they look good together. Fushimi doesn't believe that they have a chance of defeating the Hishaku, but that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters to him is Uruha.
He's willing to give his life for him. That's romance!
Familiarity
It's clear that Uruha spent a lot of time with his men and even though Fushimi said that they didn't have a chance, he believed in them.
I'm also going to unashamedly link to Hest's post about Fushiruha, namely to mention that Fushimi refers to Uruha with a pronoun which indicates that they're super close. And how could they not be!? Three years spending every day together, of course they're close.
(Side note, just go and read Hest's whole post, okay? It's better than mine).
After the Kokugoku Steam Squad defeat the Hishaku (or, think that they defeat them), Fushimi suggests they give Uruha a warm welcome. Now I'm not openly bananas enough to believe that Hokazono was indicating that Fushimi's gonna go and fuck the daylights out of Uruha, but he wants to go and surprise Uruha. To me it indicates that they are indeed close with one another.
Motivation
Uruha was ready to die. He says this in his introductory chapter, when he's having his daily naked-bath-with-bodyguard.
Then Samura comes along and he's going to kill him, and Uruha understands his reasoning for it. Yet he doesn't want to die because of what Fushimi and the others sacrificed for him. Fushimi's sacrifice was largely what motivated him to fight Samura, because he couldn't throw his life away after what they did.
And also... this may be wishful thinking on my part, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility - Fushimi's closeness with him, his clear bond with the squad - that after he was devasted to learn the news of Kunishige's death, it was Fushimi who helped him keep on going through those three years. Fushimi gave him a reason to live, even when he died.
A Kagurabillion Flashbacks
The Kokugoku Steam Squad died in chapter 48. Uruha flashed back to them, or to Fushimi... several times. He flashed back to them before they died, as a matter of fact - Uruha fled the fortress in chapter 47, so shall we tally up how many times he thought about him?
There were 2 flashbacks before the steam squad died. Then a further 8 flashbacks after they died, including right before Uruha died. And one of those times was flashing back to when they were in the hot spring together. You can't expect me not to take something from that.
One of his final thoughts was of Fushimi.
Various Fun Tropes
Okay I'm losing my train of thought. Here's some miscellaneous things about them that I enjoy.
They're doomed!! One of the most fun tropes there is. They fall in love but Fushimi is fated to sacrifice himself for Uruha, only for it to be in vain. This one's extra fun if you think about how Fushimi may have looked up to Uruha as a hero; he was one of the children that Uruha fought the war for, only for him to die in the end.
Age gap!! Fushimi is 29 in canon. We don't know Uruha's age, but given that - based on the flashback of him with Kunishige - he was a teenager at the youngest during the war (18, let's say, likely at the youngest, though he could have been a little younger) he's probably in his mid-thirties. Very fun to pair a jaded war veteren with a younger, energetic man who has only really known peacetime.
Knight/prince dynamic! C'mon, this goes perfectly alongside bodyguard/protected. Fushimi is there to serve Uruha. Even more fun if you take Uruha's silly, childish nature and interpret him as being bratty or spoiled.
GRIEF!! I cannot talk about this enough. Uruha being lost in grief and Fushimi being the one to pull him out of it. Please.
Now, the most important reason...
BECAUSE I LIKE IT.
I am your dear friend mothboypoison, and I adore this ship, therefore I think you should join me. Please. Please. I'm informed this is a rarepair but I live in such a bubble that it might as well be one of the most popular Kagurabachi ships. Join me!!
♥ ♥ ♥
GO READ SOME FANFICTION!
It would be remiss of me not to promote fanfiction, so click on that link! There are 71 fanfics for this ship at the moment. Please read every single one of them, like the studious ship scholar you were born to be.
If you don't have time to read them all (boo!) here are some recommendations. If it were up to me, I would recommend them all, but I have restricted myself to five fics and no more than one per author, but feel free to DM me if you want more recs and I will happily provide (the answer is all of them). I decided to pick five which are set within canon for accessibility, but there's tonnes of post-canon ones and AUs too!
naqoyqatsi by Simbay
extraordinary by baconNeggs
An Arrow Straight Through My Heart by smallweirdo
A Better Tomorrow by Ms_Juniper
MODERATION by Froggo
It was so hard to just pick five. You don't understand. That's why I restricted myself to canon timelines and even then it was hard. Please just read every fic in that tag, then when you're done, write some. I will read them all and leave you a gushingly adoring comment.
IN CONCLUSION, I LOVE FUSHIRUHA AND YOU SHOULD TOO