Soulmate AU idea where, in some rare cases where someone doesn't manage to meet their soulmate and the latter dies before them, visions of the life they could have had together flash before their eyes in the moment of their soulmate's death.
Now hear me out: Either original timeline Mikey suddenly being hit by these flashes of memories he never made of a happy life where everyone is safe and alive and he is at peace (aka the canon events/perfect timeline) the moment that Takemichi is hit by the train. (What would the aftermath be? It wouldn't be pretty. Would Mikey ever find out that his soulmate died by Kisaki's orders and that he therefore would have had a chance to stop it if only he had known?)
Or on Takemichi's first timeleap, where he challenges Kiyomasa to save his friends just like in canon, but for some reason Mikey and Draken do not arrive at the scene in time and Kiyomasa actually beats Takemichi to death. Maybe they're on their way there when Mikey suddenly stumbles and has to steady himself against a wall as the visions come over him. Draken is shocked and concerned, especially when Mikey doesn't respond to him and especially when he suddenly bolts desperately calling out a name Draken has never heard before. And when they get to the scene pretty much all of the spectators and instigators have fled, the only ones still there are the Mizo Mid crew who have called an ambulance for their friend but it's too late. Takemichi is being loaded into the back by the paramedics as Mikey (and Draken, closely behind him) comes running, screaming like he's lost his mind and unsuccessfully demanding to be allowed in the ambulance because that's his soulmate, don't you understand?! Draken has to physically hold him back from actually mauling someone, horrified as he understands what just happened--
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
My @initialdsecretsanta gift this year is for @sisterziggy!
You expressed an interest in Keitaku and ghosts/supernatural elements, so while it's been done before, I decided to do my take on the "Takumi is an actual ghost" AU.
I wish you a Happy New Year, and I hope you'll enjoy the read!
I've been thinking about making this post ever since I started planning out my Tokyo Revengers yōkai AU.
Below the cut I'm explaining my choices about the characters appearing in this AU (up until now) and how I ended up with what kind of kami or yōkai I made them, as well as some further details (because I love yapping about my AUs, can you believe it)
Spoilers ahead for my fic A Tale of the Mundane and the Divine, if you haven't read it yet and care about such things.
Draken & Mitsuya: Actually what started this entire thing. I saw some fanart here and there of Draken as an actual dragon, which of course had me thinking that Mitsuya should get to be a dragon too (they're the twin dragons after all! come on!), and it also got me thinking about how eastern dragons are associated with water, and that morphed into them being dragon river gods. (Of course Haku from Spirited Away also came to mind there.)
Additionally, while they're both dragon river gods, I wanted to show them being two different-yet-the-same kind of kami. As in, Draken's river is infamous for its violent currents and somewhat feared / at the very least treated with a lot of cautious respect, but even though ships constantly sink, barely any humans ever drown because he keeps saving their lives (probably being pretty annoyed that this keeps happening though, lol). Meanwhile, Mitsuya's river is a lot calmer, vitally important for farmers and associated with harvest, and he's often mingling with humans and handing out little gifts (food, mostly)... but humans are still cautious because he's known to not fuck around when angered. I personally just really like that kind of dichotomy. Also, since I used the concept of kami having two souls, one "gentle" and one "assertive", I wanted to actually show what that contrast looks like, and the character that first came to mind for that was Mitsuya and it's not just because he's my fave and I like it when fics show his capability for being dangerous too shh shut up
Mikey: Was the very next one I decided on. I'm a liiiittle bit obsessed with all things kitsune (if that wasn't obvious), and since they're so iconic, powerful, and often portrayed as tricksters, that role really fit Mikey the best. And since he'd of course still be everyone's leader in this AU, I soon started thinking about the concept of kitsune becoming/being gods (it helped that I was already playing around with it for my Blue Lock yōkai AU), and that then led to considering the thing about kami having two souls, Mikey being cursed like in canon, and how his and Takemichi's relationship would play out with that kind of power imbalance between them... and long story short, that's how the short story got long. *Kazutora voice* It's all Mikey's fault!
Also, because it was only hinted at in the actual fic: The half of his soul that he was missing was his "gentle soul". But just like Takemichi, you were probably able to guess that yourself :D
Chifuyu: Also really easy. That he was going to be a cat yōkai was a given! At first I made him a nekomata, until I realised that a bakeneko would be more fitting since nekomata are pretty malicious in legend. Sadly, that meant I couldn't give him that iconic forked tail since that's something only nekomata have, not bakeneko :(
And of course I translated his canon interest in shōjo manga to a more historically accurate interest in romance novels, hehe.
Baji: I wanted him to be some kind of canine yōkai and I thought about making him an inugami at first, but that didn't really feel right (and there's already a certain other character who fits the bill much better...), so I looked up whether there are other dog yōkai, found the okuri-inu... and further down in that same article, I encountered the okuri-ōkami; and that just fit perfectly thanks to Baji already being somewhat associated with wolves! Also, I felt like the legends about okuri-ōkami either attacking or protecting humans depending on how one behaves towards them fit Baji's infamously unpredictable nature.
Kazutora: Another one where I immediately knew in what direction I wanted to go. Obviously, he needed to be a tiger. And thanks to me being occupied with a certain yōkai-themed D&D supplement at the time that includes raijū - and has them looking tigrine - I landed on that very quickly. Raijū get represented by a multitude of different animals, but one of them is tigers, so that fit the bill perfectly (and as an aside, whenever you see a tiger-like creature with electricity powers in any kind of Japanese media, you can be sure they're inspired by raijū). Also, again, a creature that is fittingly dangerous and unpredictable. You'll probably find out why exactly he and Mikey have such a complicated relationship even in my AU in a future oneshot...
Hakkai: There's a very early version of this story where Hakkai is also a normal human who is just very (VERY) devoted to Mitsuya Ōkami. I decided not to go with that pretty quickly because I wanted Takemichi to be the only "outsider" and not have someone to bond with over being in love with and loved by a kami. Sorry, Michi, you're not getting someone to relate to yet 👀. Then I quickly landed on Hakkai being the kami of something very specific, and a seasonal wind was the first thing that came to mind (maybe because that fits the swirl design in his hair? Maybe? I mean, it somewhat does, right...?). And so he became the kami of the southwestern spring wind, while his way more mature older sister became the harsher, colder autumn east wind (I spent so much time trying to research seasonal wind directions in Japan for this...). For Taiju on the other hand, the first thing that came to mind was him being the kami of a mountain; one, because I feel like the concept of mountains being/having kami is also pretty iconic, and secondly... have you seen how that man is BUILT. It's a bit of a joke about him already being a mountain of a man, lmao. But I'll probably get into more detail about him in a future oneshot, so I'm cutting it off here. Poor Hakkai already had to share enough of his spotlight.
Smiley & Angry: An easy choice here. Do I really have to explain why I made them oni? Canon already took care of it for me 😂
Mucho: Now we're getting to the more difficult ones. I don't remember exactly how I landed on a dōsojin for him - I think I settled pretty quickly on making him some kind of guardian figure because I couldn't think of anything better and it does fit his canon role... well... at first. And I sort of alluded to the question of his allegiance by not making him a guardian of the shrine complex or Mikey's court, but specifically of pilgrims on their journeys. His actual duties and area of influence lie outside of the shrine complex... This might get brought up at some point.
Sanzu: I really didn't know what to do with him at first. I wanted him to have his iconic katana in some way or other, but other than that, I really struggled with his role. But then it suddenly occurred to me that there are so many stories about cursed/possessed swords, so he could be the katana! He's a literal sword demon - sort of like in canon, lol. Once I got it, this became one of my favourite choices for the AU. I then remembered playing Ōkamiden and that the demons in that game have veils covering their faces. So of course, I had Sanzu wear a veil in place of his mask (only that it doesn't cover his entire face like the inspiration - just the areas that would be covered by his mask). Everything came together so perfectly. I'm still really proud of this one :D
Pah-chin & Peh-yan: Another difficult choice that took me a while. I think they were the last ones I decided on. Inspired by the scene where Takemichi meets them for the first time in canon, I wanted to make them guardians of the shrine complex and Mikey's court pretty much from the start. I just couldn't settle on what kind of guardians. I briefly considered making them dōsojin before I ended up giving that role to Mucho instead. Then I considered guardian lions or komainu since they also always come in pairs (and Pah and Peh just belong to each other, let's be honest here). The vibes didn't really work, though. And finally, I landed on kado-mori-no-kami. There aren't really many sources about those, but I decided that Pah and Peh were just going to be magical statues that come alive to deal with intruders. Insert a joke about heads made of wood here, lol.
Hanma: Another one where canon already presented me with a clear choice. He's a shinigami - naturally. But when researching the actual lore about shinigami, I found out they're a relatively modern concept and they don't really have any clear-cut identity. Which was just fine by me - I took a lot of creative liberty with his powers.
Kisaki: I won't get into too much detail about him since I'm saving that for a potential future oneshot, too, but as soon as I realised my little FWP (Fluff Without Plot) oneshot did, in fact, have a plot now (and wasn't going to be all that little either), I decided that he would naturally take up the villain role as a scheming kami in Mikey's divine court. He's a kami of scholars because of the whole top-of-his-class thing and his studious nature, of course. But he's also a kami of strategy for obvious reasons deplorable little chessmaster that he is, and he's prayed to especially by scheming court nobles. He's the patron kami of political maneuvering and courtly intrigue. Or, y'know, he was. 😌
~~~
If you have any further questions about my AU or my writing, definitely feel free to ask them! Again: I love yapping about my AUs. Talk to me. I'm normal about this. 😳
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The roads that cross the country are known to hold many dangers – and Takemichi, first-time traveller, falls victim to his own inexperience and gets caught up in a heavy rainstorm. Fortunately for him, he comes across a remote roadside inn where he can find shelter for the night.
But less fortunately, the inn’s enigmatic proprietors might turn out to not only be welcoming and alluring, but also highly deadly…
It looks like there's a chance, though, that Takemichi can make it out of this trap alive and unharmed... or, well, mostly unharmed.
But will it actually work out for him, or will he die far away from home before he's even made it to his first destination?
I did it! Part Two of my massive Alltake yōkai AU series 'Tales of the Traveller' is up - a day before Part One's final chapter has its one-year anniversary, lol.
I had my doubts I could make it, because what happened to my chill 10k words oneshot? Well, I kept thinking up more and more scenes and before I knew it, the word count had quadrupled. This thing is no longer a oneshot - instead, I'll be posting a new chapter every week.
I ended up having way too much fun writing this fic and I put a lot of heartblood into it, so I hope you'll like it, too! I know this ship isn't one of the popular ones (at least not in the Western half of the fandom), but please give it a chance... it's so much fun. 🙏
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
With the remnants of Ange's rampage being tidied and the Infinity Royale kicking off, Harmony believes the trouble is finally behind her.
That is until her body decides for her that a break is in order, and she comes down with a nasty cold - but fortunately, the friends she's met in Lumiose are there to help her through it.
I wrote a very self-indulgent fic about Harmony getting sick post the main story events and everyone helping her in their own ways - and I mean everyone.
This is platonic, self-indulgent, tooth-rotting fluff. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it, hehe
At long last, here's my Tokyo Revengers yokai AU, because I'm nothing if not predictable.
A Tale of the Mundane and the Divine
Summary:
Takemichi, a simple servant living and working at one of the country’s most significant shrine sites, is convinced that he knows how the rest of his life will go: He will work around the shrines, assist the priests with menial tasks, and one day he’ll die.
All of that gets thrown into disarray when he encounters a strange noble who won’t leave him alone, and subsequently gains a whole host of strange personalities barging into his previously simple life. And for quite a few it seems like there is more to them than meets the eye…
Or: Human Takemichi gets dragged into the Toman polycule, only that all of his newly acquired suitors are either yōkai, kami, or both.
Characters: Takemitchy | Hanagaki Takemichi, Mikey | Sano Manjirou, Tachibana Hinata (Tokyo Revengers), Draken | Ryuuguuji Ken, other characters to be added as the story progresses
Additional Tags: Major Character Injury, canonical character injury, Hospitalization, Mind Manipulation, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Obsession, Temporary Amnesia, Unreliable Narrator
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
By sheer happenstance and bad luck, Takumi finds himself drawn into a callous hunt staged by bored rich people looking for the ultimate thrill: Chasing and killing the most forbidden game of all.
And while Takumi has no intention of dying as someone's prey, his two hunters seem equally as determined to not let him escape...
Additional Tags: Hunters & Hunting, Collars, Tranquilizers, Alternate Universe, Minor Original Character(s), Implied/Referenced Character Death (only of said original characters)
