Kabshiro has been gaining more traction recently, so I'd like to dive into their canon dynamic and how a relationship between them could progress and benefit them both in the long run!
In my opinion, the main draws of this ship are:
Communication: Kabru's ability and willingness to identify and engage with Toshiro's true feelings and motives, Toshiro's consequential willingness to express himself to Kabru, and vice versa
Trust: The almost immediate trust they place in each other, despite their reservations
Canon Friendship: How naturally yet rapidly their canonical friendship develops, especially considering their characters (read as: their intimacy issues)
Growth: The potential for a) Toshiro to grow as a person by trying to be more expressive and caring towards someone who cares for him and b) Kabru to experience reciprocal effort and care from someone else when he's used to caring for everyone else
Bonus: I love to see queer men of color in love <3
1. Communication
Kabru is the character with the fastest and most accurate read on Toshiro's feelings and motives. This means little on its own, considering Kabru's skill is assessing people and giving them what they want as a means to his own ends. Initially, Kabru engages with Toshiro essentially to reach Laios. He hears Toshiro's retainers discuss Toshiro's love for "that girl from the North" and recognizes that if he offers to help Toshiro rescue Falin, he can get to Laios. As he does with most people, Kabru identifies Toshiro's goals and uses this knowledge to propel himself towards his own goals.
During Laios and Toshiro's conflict over ancient magic, Kabru again steps in. He de-escalates a situation where Toshiro quite literally has his tachi against Laios' neck by acknowledging Toshiro's concerns regarding ancient magic and reminding him of his actual priority: Falin. While his dialogue sounds harsh, Kabru still validates Toshiro's worries. His acknowledgement and engagement with Toshiro's actual feelings isn't something that Toshiro often experiences. In part, this is because Toshiro doesn't express himself, but we'll get into this more later.
From Kabru's perspective, reading and responding to Toshiro effectively is reflective of his usual habits and strengths. But their respective reactions to Kabru's de-escalation exchange remain notable. Toshiro tells Kabru to not finish his statement — the first glimmer we receive into Toshiro openly expressing himself to Kabru at a greater level than he does with other characters. Kabru immediately switches to looking relieved and sympathetic. He apologizes to and comforts Toshiro, establishing a foundation of genuine care and consideration between them.
2. Trust
After they leave the Dungeon following the first Faligon fight, Toshiro asks Kabru to go with him to the governor's house. Despite their only recent acquaintance, Toshiro expresses a need he has to Kabru, even if it's not a very personal one, and he trusts Kabru enough to rely on him in a high-stakes situation. (As a sidenote, Kabru telling Toshiro to "Please get some rest" is a sweet moment, considering both of their fraught relationships with self-care.)
Kabru trusts Toshiro in return. We as the readers don't learn about Kabru's backstory and how it drives his actions because he tells his own party or Laios. We learn about his past because he tells Toshiro.
Kabru addresses Toshiro by name before he recounts the death of his family and his haunting questions surrounding it. When he turns back to face Toshiro, he looks visibly determined and quietly enraged at the injustices he's experienced in his life for the first time during the narrative. Kabru does share his story to convince Toshiro of his position, but his straightforward, vulnerable delivery of his story and the emotions he has surrounding it speaks volumes towards the trust he has in Toshiro. He believes Toshiro will see him and stand by him.
Also, prior to Kabru sharing his backstory, Toshiro questions his motives multiple times. While Toshiro also questions Laios' actions, Toshiro feels comfortable enough to communicate with Kabru even when they might disagree and he isn't under duress.
Within the first few days of knowing each other, Kabru has witnessed Toshiro at some of his lowest points: passing out due to hunger and sleep deprivation and fighting Laios. Because Kabru has already seen him at his lowest and hasn't treated him worse because of it, Toshiro seems more comfortable engaging with Kabru than with many other characters. Toshiro's attempt to throw the companion bell away is a funny moment, but it also demonstrates how he's fine with acting impulsively in front of Kabru; he doesn't hold back as much as usual. He's likely also realized that Kabru can see past his reserved front.
After they speak to the Canaries, Kabru asks Toshiro to help him seal the Dungeon. Although Toshiro had originally planned to go back to Wa, he agrees to help Kabru. Compared to their initial meeting where Kabru was only using Toshiro to get to Laios, Kabru seems to genuinely want Toshiro and Namari on his side, telling them, "I'm counting on you." Both his request for Toshiro's help and his easy agreement demonstrate a surprising level of trust for how long they've known each other.
3. Canon Friendship
Neither Kabru nor Toshiro regularly open up to the people in their lives. We get the heart-to-heart between Toshiro and Laios after their fight, but other than that, Kabru and Toshiro are not very emotionally open even with people they've known since childhood like Rin and Hien. Kabru maintains his charismatic facade around Rin, and Toshiro has distanced himself from Hien in their adulthood. Because both of them struggle with being vulnerable, their friendship becomes close interestingly fast.
Beyond feeling comfortable around each other for the previously stated reasons, I'd suggest that the ease they feel around each other partially arises from their shared identity as Asian men and immigrants to the Island (Note: I read Kabru as South Asian). As a queer Asian man myself, there's sometimes an immediate sense of ease between people whose identities and experiences overlap.
Before they ever meet, Kabru explains Toshiro's background to his party. He opens with Toshiro's outsider status, drawing the reader's attention to the parallel between Toshiro being an outsider in his household and Kabru being an outsider as a tallman who was raised by elves. In this scene, Toshiro is also the only member of the Touden party whose motives Kabru ponders aloud. With Laios and Falin, Kabru simply declares them "not good people." Considering Kabru is intrigued by people he doesn't immediately understand, it's not difficult to assume that though Kabru approached Toshiro because of Laios, he was also interested in Toshiro as an individual.
After they join forces, Kabru and Toshiro frequently appear together in the story. The evolution of their dynamic can be seen through the mangacaps below. Initially, despite their trust in each other, they're still a little suspicious of each other. As time progresses, they develop a language of silent glances and casual touch. We often see them standing beside each other and exchanging looks after Laios speaks. Considering how Toshiro doesn't often voice his negative opinions and Kabru makes an effort to curtail his negative reactions around Laios, the fact that they've both taken to expressing silent concern for Laios to each other shows that they've reached a significant level of intimacy in just a week or two.
Since they're both men of color and Kabru is one of the only characters who doesn't call Toshiro "Shuro," they've likely discussed Laios' microaggressions towards Toshiro and bonded over how they find his sillier behavior of eating monsters disturbing. They also both care for him as a friend, so Laios remains another point of connection for them.
At the banquet, they sit beside each other, and when Falin revives, Kabru comforts Toshiro via a hand on his shoulder. The canonical affection between them is easy to track and consistent by the story's close.
4. Growth
As stated by @malaierba in their platonic kabshiro post, Kabru and Toshiro share narrative parallels like being raised by surrogate mothers, over-analyzing social situations, attempting to act in others' best interests at the cost of their own, and being terrible at basic self-care (I'm also realizing we both touched on the de-escalation and Kabru backstory scenes, lol). Both characters are actually extremely similar in the way they conceptualize themselves.
Kabru and Toshiro both avoid offending others by suppressing their discomfort. This behavior is deeply rooted in their backstories and their identities as people of color and immigrants. When you're the outsider, you don't have the luxury of acting as you please. Society expects you to keep your head down and not "cause a fuss."
They both fear selfishness. Kabru is the archetypal sacrificial hero; his goal is equality between the races and minimizing mass death no matter the personal cost to himself. On a much smaller scale, Toshiro tries not to burden others. They both forgo intimate relationships and falsify parts of themselves to accommodate others. Their willingness to minimize themselves for others' sake leads to them to not even canonically care for themselves and becomes a form of passive self-harm.
Toshiro doesn't eat or sleep during his rescue of Falin in what seems like a self-inflicted punishment for failing to protect her and save her. He seems to believe that he's only useful for what he can do and in particular, do for others. He seems to struggle to define himself outside of how he's overshadowed and overlooked by his charismatic father. Toshiro's arc is about learning to identify his own needs and wants, pursue those things, and express himself.
Because of how charismatic Kabru is, Kabru appears to have a secure sense of self, but I'd argue that he falls into the same trap as Toshiro. When Laios becomes the Dungeon Lord and seems to be ending the world, Kabru blames himself, saying, "What purpose does my surviving Utaya's tragedy have?" and "Please just kill me right now." Kabru hasn't ever established what he wants for himself outside of what he can do for others, just like Toshiro. While Kabru is far more active than Toshiro and his goals are more heroic, his arc is similarly about identifying his own needs and wants and expressing them as demonstrated by his confession that he wants to be Laios' friend.
Like Toshiro, Kabru is disconnected from his desires because he doesn't see himself as worth prioritizing over the greater good. He fails to regularly eat and clean his living space.
Kabru and Toshiro's friendship challenges both their negative habits of self-perception. Unlike with Laios, Toshiro wasn't quite as pivotal to Kabru's goal, so their relationship develops without as much pressure. Because of the extreme circumstances of their first meeting and their compatibility, they express their true feelings towards each other nearly from the onset, and by the banquet, they seem to hang around each other just for the joy of the other's company. When their friendship extends into a romantic/sexual relationship, they get to knock down yet another barrier to pursuing what and who they want simply because they want to.
In addition, because Kabru is the first person to care about Toshiro in a way that doesn't infringe on his boundaries, Toshiro would hopefully be motivated to become an active participant in their relationship. His efforts to be more emotionally open in order to support and care for Kabru would help him overcome his fatal flaws of passivity, especially in interpersonal communication, and walling himself off from others. But most importantly, Kabru would receive the same amount of care he invests in learning about and accommodating other people from someone else.
Toshiro is also an observant person. He's good at mapping out social situations to avoid conflict, and he is empathetic. With a little encouragement, he could easily turn skills he's used to pouring into his defense mechanisms towards actually reading his loved ones and engaging with their emotions and needs. If Toshiro was consistently clocking Kabru's actual reactions to things and trying to address his desires, Kabru would realize that he doesn't have to play a part all the time. He would learn to be more authentic and vulnerable in his relationships.
Notably, Rin does support Kabru, but he doesn't really accept her love or act vulnerable around her for a multitude of reasons. This is probably a good time to note that Kabru and Toshiro are both sexist. I want to believe that a healthy relationship between them would encourage them to mature without demanding emotional labor from the women in their lives, and by proxy, improve their relationships with Rin, Hien, and the other female characters. Personally, I really enjoy the idea of Kabru, Toshiro, Rin, and Namari getting close and bonding over being Asian.
5. Bonus
Because their identities as Asian men and immigrants impact their characters, their relationship has a unique type of intimacy. On a societal level, there isn't a lot of media about two characters of color in love. It's even rarer to see two queer characters of color in love in Western media (or Asian media like DunMeshi with an ethnically diverse cast) as oftentimes, the West falsely equates queerness to whiteness. I consider Kabshiro to be my personal contribution to making queer Asian characters kiss and decentering that white man /hj. I'd love to see more Kabshiro content!
Overall, I just think it's beautiful that these two characters who've resigned themselves to loneliness in completely opposite ways can overcome their intimacy issues to trust and care about each other. I like that being together is easy for them in many ways, but unlearning their habits of constantly putting on a front and rejecting vulnerability or not putting effort into relationships out of preemptive fear of failure still takes work. I like that their relationship is an intentional one where love takes effort, but the effort is part of the love.
₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ ₊˚⊹♡
If you read this entire meta, thank you so much, and please feel free to reblog and/or send me an ask with your Kabshiro thoughts! As a shameless plug, you might enjoy my canon-compliant Kabshiro fanfiction that spans from the banquet to a few months post-canon. There's both an explicit version and a version with fade-to-black sex scenes. You can expect:
Kabru and Toshiro's silly friends-with-benefits era
A resolution for Toshiro's feelings for Falin, lol
Toshiro's difficult relationship with food
Kabru trying to 5D-chess everything, and Toshiro overthinking and catastrophizing <3
Kabru, Toshiro, and Laios being friends! They are silly and well-meaning and do their best to support each other
Kabru and Toshiro unpacking Laios' racism
Extremely homosexual moments of tenderness
Kabru, Rin, and Toshiro trio and Namari and Toshiro duo friendship tidbits
Kabru and Marcille becoming friends and bonding over gossip
is anyone gonna write a long analysis about the four humors and the costume color coding of characters - including how some of them change over the story and some stagnate - in GDT's Frankenstein or am I hallucinating
(( Since it’s ‘Love is in the Air’ I wanted to do a story for Malura. There is a bit of a hint to some future stories for her in this))
Fuck.
When I wake up on Darsa’s couch in Deephaven I groan and roll off to the ground as I try to get my bearings. I’ve been bouncing from time way to time way just to avoid days like today. Days where the world is quiet and everyone is deep in their own romantic traditions. I’ve come to really hate Love Is In The Air. As a kid, I would make cards and give them to my friends. Darsa used to eat that shit up. He still does.
Even as I move through what should be Darsa’s private quarters I can hear him cursing from the kitchen. The smell of cherries and bread is overwhelming and I don’t want to see what he’s making Kat. They’re cute, like, I haven’t seen him this happy in years. But I’m a little salty and I’d just ruin whatever day he has planned.
“Oi, Dar, going to Stormwind. Need anything?” I called not even going into the kitchen he’s built over the summer.
He curses a little then laughs. “Na Shadow got all I need here. Can I ask if ya see your Ma or something tonight?”
Yup, called it. He’s going to do something cute for Kat. I have to humor him, after the shit he’s dealt with he’s needed a woman who inspires this side of him. Inspires and likes this side of him. “I’ll get myself a place to sleep. Maybe I’ll head to Tanaris and hang out with the dragons.”
He poked his head out from the kitchen and gave me a worried look. His normal black clothing was speckled with white flour. Years ago I think he would have laughed if he knew this was how he was going to look. All ruggedly noble with enough money to bake when he felt like it. “Do something good for yourself. Okay?”
I nodded, only because that’s what he wants me to do. “After the holiday is over I’ll buy a wheelbarrow of chocolate.” But I raise my hand and connect to the sands of time. I’ve gotten so used to this. Just slipping away. Letting myself become one with time and losing my touch on what would be my current time. Years of constant work has lead me to the conclusion that there is no such thing as ‘current time’, but I will define it better as the time that my friends and family live in.
As I return to the world I appear in the park in Stormwind. Couples are already holding hands, snuggling on benches. Something cold stabs my heart and I start to walk to my favorite coffee shop. I used to drink, but alcohol became a crutch that I had to kick at one point. At the point I was going through a bottle of scotch a night just to deal with myself, it was time to cut back.
The coffee shop is nice, that sort of hole in the wall place that gets packed at night when all the artists come out so they can sip on coffee and talk about struggles. This early in the morning it’s basically empty, and I like that. It’s fewer people I have to pretend around.
“Hey, Mark.” I said sitting down at a barstool and wave the barista down. He’s a cute guy, tall, lean, has stunning eyes that he flashes in everyone's direction so we feel special. He would have been my type when I was a kid. These days I’ve learned that I need someone else. Someone who doesn’t exist. “Can I get-”
But a large mug is put down in front of me. “Double shot of espresso latte. It’s already been paid for.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” I pick up the mug smelling the roasted beans and frothed up milk.
Mark shook his dark head. “Oh no, I didn’t pay for it. That guy did.” He pointed, and as I followed his finger it found nothing but air. When he looked he dropped his hand. “The hell. I swore he was just here.”
Something different grabbed my heart. I only know one person who slipped in and out of time to leave me things. My hands grip my scolding hot mug, not caring if I burn my fingers. “What did he look like. Tan? Bright blue eyes? Strange accent?”
The barista was still confused but shook his head. “Nah, nothing like that.”
Thank the gods... I don’t know what I would do if it had been him. Swallowing down a near panic attack I nodded and took a long drink from my coffee. I needed it to wake up, to make me think more. Maybe some random guy bought me a drink. It’s not the first time. Just normally that drink would be alcoholic and would be a way to get into my pants. It seems this time it’s not.
As I drink my coffee I pulled out the current romance novel. At least a romance novel isn’t going to treat me like shit. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to finish it. It really lets me have the reigns of the fantasy relationship. My current book was about a woman who falls in love with a San’layn. I’ve got half a mind to write the author and tell them if they need a sensitivity reader for her next book to call me. Cause she knew nothing about the undead bastards and I’m more laughing my way through this book than thinking about my ex... One of my exes. I really have shit taste in men.
I’m getting near the end of the book. The girl has to choose between the monster hunter of the San’layn, both guys are sexy idiots and I’m invested enough because the San’layn isn’t a total monster. I’m getting to the good part, the epic showdown when I smell it. The shop is still empty, but the scent crosses my nose. It smells like something warm with a spice I don’t know. Looking up and around again I swore I felt someone pass me, but Mark shuffles past with some napkins he’s going to fold.
It’s probably my imagination, or some of the coffee mixing together. I push it out of my mind and finish the book. Low and behold the girl chose the San’Layn and the monster hunter ended up with the girl’s best friend. I never said this was a good romance novel. Trashy romance novels have the merit of keeping me distracted for a few hours, and that’s good enough for me.
I pay a tip for Mark and head back to the streets of Stormwind. Darsa is right, I should get myself something for today. If I can’t get a boyfriend I could at least get a new romance novel to read for the night. The best part of the romance novel is the guy can get me all hot and bothered, but I won’t have to sneak out of his bed at six am.
The bookstore I frequent wasn’t far from the coffee shop. They specialize in more used books, and that sounds pretty good to me. Get a bunch of romance novels for cheap so the poor store can get more on their shelves.
As soon as I enter I smell the perfume of old books. It instantly relaxes me. I’m not one of those brainy mages who obsess over textbooks. But give me something to read to enjoy myself and I am all over it. Give me rows upon rows of stories that someone has made up and I’m a happy girl.
I make a b-line to the romance section to find it’s still jam-packed with books. People love donating romance novels, buying them is another story. No one wants to be in public with these things. I call bull shit on that, but I also don’t care what people think of me anymore. I want a book with a sexy half-naked guy, that is what I’m going to get!
Going through the books I try to find something that will be different but also give me the kind of night I want. I want something with adventure, that a guy and girl bond over something not just fall in love.
That smell crosses my mind again. That heat and spice. I stop again looking around. It wasn’t the coffee. But I don’t see anyone. When I look back to the shelf I see a book is slightly sticking out. It’s a book of a man who is only being covered by a bunch of silk at his groin. He’s laying back on a bunch of pillows with a more dressed woman leaning over him, her breasts barely being contained by her dress. The title catches me instantly ‘The Heart of Time’.
Flipping to the back I scan to read it’s a time traveler love story. I’m a time walker, I can appreciate a romance between a time traveler and normie. Sold.
When I go to pay the woman at the counter smiles at me and winks at my book choice. When she opens the book she lets out a small sound. “Hey this has some store credit.”
Blinking I looked at the slip of paper and at the price she had run my book up at. It was equally priced. My heart skipped a moment and something warm pooled in my stomach. That’s the second time today something I would normally get was paid for me.
“Looks like you’re in for a free book.” She handed it over to me taking the slip of paper so she could write down the store credit. “Have a great day!”
I mutter a reply and leave, but now I start looking around. Was it just a coincidence that both my coffee was paid by someone who vanished, and I ended up picking a book that had store credit inside? Looking around the street I don’t see anyone looking at me. But I’m a Timewalker. If you’re smart you will be invisible or hiding just outside of time.
I want to reach out, to see if I can sense someone, but who would try to do nice things for me? Maybe just one of my fellow Timewalkers? Sometimes we do stuff like this, little things to brighten each other’s days since we are so removed from people sometimes. Maybe that’s it. Someone is trying to be nice and give me a good day.
It’s better than thinking someone was stalking me.
Opening my book I start to read and walk back to the park. The book catches me quickly since the main female character is actually the time traveler. She’s used to letting time slip her by and has pushed away from the idea of romance... okay, that’s a little too close for home. But the guy she meets is an honest fellow who finds out she’s a time traveler and accepts her as she is.
I don’t even notice I’ve sat back down. It’s only when that scent comes back that I whip my head up and look around the park. No one is here. It’s just me. Me and anyone in hiding.
I’m a ballsy woman so I put the book down for a moment and start talking. “Okay, thanks for the coffee and the book. Are you going to come out and tell me who you are? Or am I going to have to hit the Caverns of Time to find out who you are?”
The smell is still here and I feel something warm beside me for a second before it’s gone. Reaching out through the sands of time I try to see who is sitting beside me. But I don’t know them. I can’t find anyone’s course through time that matches to the times I’ve felt someone close today. It doesn’t mean they aren’t there, it just means I haven’t met them yet.
My heart hurts for a moment. I want to ignore this. Tell myself it’s just my imagination. But every time that scent comes up I know someone is there. Someone who can’t talk to me but is here for me. Being a Timewalker that could mean anything, but picking up my book I shiver, the realization coming to me. Someone in my future knows today was going to be shit, so they’re giving me a good day.
I smile a little, but I can’t think of this as a romantic gesture. It’s just kind. “Thank you.” I swallow a bit then let out a sigh. “I won’t go hunting you down... I’m just, paranoid.”
Resting my hand down on the bench it touches something soft. There, like it had been forgotten by someone with a larger bouquet of flowers was a single red rose in full bloom. The most curious thing about it was all the thorns were gone. Uncle Archi demanded I learn the flower language along with my alchemy. A red rose means ‘love and respect’, but one without thorns means ‘love at first sight’, and a rose in full bloom means ‘I still love you’.
My vision blurs as som tears well up. pulling the flower I wonder if it’s been forgotten or if this was part of this strange day I’m having? The scent crosses my awareness again and I lower my head. I don’t want to fall in love again. I don’t think I can handle the breakup again. But there is a hope in me, one that no matter how stupid it would be, it hopes that this means something. That I won’t be alone forever.
Touching the rose I bring it up to my hair and tuck it in with one of my braids. My eyes are closed and I don’t search for who is doing this. Like with time, I need to accept things happen and I don’t need to control it. Let the chaos move, and I can stand at its eye. If there is someone who cares about me, let them. At least it means this shit day will be better because of them.
Once more I mutter out, to the person who I’ve never met, to the person sitting outside of time as they watch over me today. I mean what I’m going to say and I hope they know what it means to me. “Thank you, days like this can be absolute shit and, it means a lot to know someone has my back. When we finally meet, I hope you know I’m going to owe you a coffee and a trip to the bookstore.”
When I open my eyes I see something for a flash, as someone vanishes from my time to somewhere else. I don’t get any idea of what they looked like, but as they vanish, so does their scent.
(( Mentions: @kat-lockhart, @darsacarrington and someone not yet mentioned))
