waterscroll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
waterscroll) wrote2020-04-29 07:58 pm
waterscroll) wrote2020-04-29 07:58 pm
ficlets: The She-Wolves of Mibu, continued
Hakuouki genderbending AU, continued from here.
Heisuke and Sanan this time. The Sanan one is a bit longer and TW for discussion of death in childbirth.
3. Heisuke
Chizuru was in a proper women’s kimono, his hair done up with a flower. Heisuke had never been able to pull off clothes like that herself, not even back when she was a dancer, just like she’d never been able to restrain herself to the fine, controlled movements that were appropriate to an entertainer. The dojo was a better fit for her, although it had horrified her mother, who wanted her bastard daughter to at least follow in her footsteps with a respectable career. As a warrior, Heisuke had learned to move with all the energy in her limbs, feeling all the joy in it.
Her father, whom she’d never met, sent her a family sword. It was a strange present to a bastard girl from a father who hadn’t considered her worth a visit, but Heisuke wore it anyway. She wondered if she’d ever be able to wear it at the same time as a flower in her hair.
Chizuru, unlike Heisuke, wasn’t a fighter. He was as lovely in his way as the dancers of Shimabara that Heisuke still loved to watch, restrained in his actions, as patient and as calm in his motions as the finest dance.
4. Sanan
Sanan was the midwife of last resort. Chizuru been aware of that even before he watched her transform and nearly end his life with her hands. But tonight she needed his help. She knocked on his door and he immediately followed her, with the quick reward of Sanan’s precious smile for his eager service.
Chizuru had admired Sanan from the beginning and her transformation into a fury had done nothing to change that. Sanan had been the one to insist to Hijikata that regardless of Chizuru’s gender there was no reason to kill him. He knew that she was kind to the soldiers that served alongside her and he knew that she was the one that women called when a mother giving birth was definitely, inevitably going to die.
But now Sanan couldn’t do this on her own. The blood would be too much. As a boy Chizuru had never been able to help his father deliver children but he knew the process, more or less. Sanan went over with him what he would have to do. Chizuru’s women’s clothes would allow him to be present without causing discomfort. He would need to get the baby out, by any means necessary, and away from the mother, and clean up the blood before Sanan could come in to give the woman the drink that would allow her to survive. Sanan shook as they walked, her hair turned white by even the thought of all the bleeding. Chizuru wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until the shaking stopped, to give her the blood from his own body, but something he didn’t understand frightened him into silence.
“She will be a soldier, one of the Shinsengumi, and she will never see her child again,” Sanan said. “You must make sure she understands, Yukimura-kun. But she will live. Make sure she understands, and allow her to choose.”
Sanan’s hair was white in the moonlight. Chizuru watched her, and although he thought he knew he couldn’t help but wonder what choice Sanan wanted this women to make.
Heisuke and Sanan this time. The Sanan one is a bit longer and TW for discussion of death in childbirth.
3. Heisuke
Chizuru was in a proper women’s kimono, his hair done up with a flower. Heisuke had never been able to pull off clothes like that herself, not even back when she was a dancer, just like she’d never been able to restrain herself to the fine, controlled movements that were appropriate to an entertainer. The dojo was a better fit for her, although it had horrified her mother, who wanted her bastard daughter to at least follow in her footsteps with a respectable career. As a warrior, Heisuke had learned to move with all the energy in her limbs, feeling all the joy in it.
Her father, whom she’d never met, sent her a family sword. It was a strange present to a bastard girl from a father who hadn’t considered her worth a visit, but Heisuke wore it anyway. She wondered if she’d ever be able to wear it at the same time as a flower in her hair.
Chizuru, unlike Heisuke, wasn’t a fighter. He was as lovely in his way as the dancers of Shimabara that Heisuke still loved to watch, restrained in his actions, as patient and as calm in his motions as the finest dance.
4. Sanan
Sanan was the midwife of last resort. Chizuru been aware of that even before he watched her transform and nearly end his life with her hands. But tonight she needed his help. She knocked on his door and he immediately followed her, with the quick reward of Sanan’s precious smile for his eager service.
Chizuru had admired Sanan from the beginning and her transformation into a fury had done nothing to change that. Sanan had been the one to insist to Hijikata that regardless of Chizuru’s gender there was no reason to kill him. He knew that she was kind to the soldiers that served alongside her and he knew that she was the one that women called when a mother giving birth was definitely, inevitably going to die.
But now Sanan couldn’t do this on her own. The blood would be too much. As a boy Chizuru had never been able to help his father deliver children but he knew the process, more or less. Sanan went over with him what he would have to do. Chizuru’s women’s clothes would allow him to be present without causing discomfort. He would need to get the baby out, by any means necessary, and away from the mother, and clean up the blood before Sanan could come in to give the woman the drink that would allow her to survive. Sanan shook as they walked, her hair turned white by even the thought of all the bleeding. Chizuru wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until the shaking stopped, to give her the blood from his own body, but something he didn’t understand frightened him into silence.
“She will be a soldier, one of the Shinsengumi, and she will never see her child again,” Sanan said. “You must make sure she understands, Yukimura-kun. But she will live. Make sure she understands, and allow her to choose.”
Sanan’s hair was white in the moonlight. Chizuru watched her, and although he thought he knew he couldn’t help but wonder what choice Sanan wanted this women to make.
no subject
Are you familiar with Zen Cho's story the House of Aunts? I think the Aunts would like this Sanan :)
no subject
That is an amazing story, thank you for the link! Yes, I think they would. The Aunts would appreciate how Sanan doesn't let being dead get in the way of her goals, or of helping people. Er, for some definition of help.
no subject
I'm sure they'd consider it helping :)
no subject
And the rhythm of the last line is lovely, and fitting for a ficlet about dance.
I like to think they both get to wear flowers in their hair in the ending CG.
Her father, whom she’d never met, sent her a family sword. It was a strange present to a bastard girl from a father who hadn’t considered her worth a visit, but Heisuke wore it anyway.
Ohhh, I am very intrigued by this.
Also, Sanan as a midwife, and Chizuru helping her. o.o She's very compelling and a little fightening in her uncompromisingness. And I very definitely ship this Sanan and Chizuru, this dynamic. <3
Sanan had been the one to insist to Hijikata that regardless of Chizuru’s gender there was no reason to kill him.
Ahh. I guess Hijikata would have a lot more tension with this Chizuru. They're both non-samurai in the game, but this Chizuru is a man and that makes things different.
This is a very fun AU to read, thank you for writing it. <3
Also, I stumbled into a poem on someone else's journal that reminds me very much of this AU: https://runpunkrun.dreamwidth.org/826146.html
no subject
Re: Heisuke's sword, it is so striking in canon how he has his family sword even as an unacknolwledged bastard. As a girl it would be even more striking, but still recognizably make the same point - that her family might be terrible but they do on some level value her.
I have mixed feelings about what I did to Heisuke's mother here, in canon he feels rejected by her but we aren't told why he feels that way. So here I gave a reason. But maybe the point in canon is that there is no reason and he was blaming his mother for a bad thing his father did. So I might end up tinkering with this.
Hee, I ship Sanan/Chizuru pretty damned hard in any gender configuration.
Sanan had been the one to insist to Hijikata that regardless of Chizuru’s gender there was no reason to kill him.
This is more or less a direct quote from canon, which I should probably make more clear. When Chizuru meets the guys and they are talking about whether or not to kill her, some of the guys say not to kill her because she's a girl and Sanan says that killing her would be wrong, regardless of gender. If I ever properly post this I should probably fill in the context more.
And yes, that line does have somewhat different implications in this universe. :)
Next up is another Heisuke piece and a Kazama piece. Which will be m/m in this universe because non-Shinsengumi characters (other than Chizuru and Kaoru) are their canonical genders. So glad you are reading!
no subject
I don't actually remember that Heisuke had his family sword, or that he feels rejected by his mother! I think I need to go replay that route.
I did wonder if there might be an alternate reading there -- "you might be a girl and illegitimate, but you can still prove yourself through your deeds".
And I'm very curious what you'll do with the tinkering.
Hee, I ship Sanan/Chizuru pretty damned hard in any gender configuration.
Heh, I probably will (someday), but right now, I smell femdom in the air. ;)
I'm of course excited for more Heisuke, and m/m Kazama/Chizuru sounds better than m/f Kazama/Chizuru (and I say this as someone who likes the ship and the route, though I only got the abbreviated version in the DS game!).
no subject
Yes! I think in canon Heisuke thinks he has an arc like that when he starts - a sort of typical hero's journey arc where he figures out what is right and does it and impresses his father and finds a family. And then in the end his arc isn't like that at all, because Hakuouki is not about the hero's journeys.
I smell femdom in the air.
Part of the fun of this is keeping Chizuru's personality as close to the same as possible. Which means, yes, that Sanan-route Chizuru is still kinky and submissive. Sanan is one of the more sexually dominant LIs, but I think there may be different flavors of femdom in some of the other routes too. :)
no subject
Oh yeah. It feels almost like what he finds is that...there's really nothing to find, there are no heroes, and there's a price for everything. But we live on anyway and we do what has to be done.
I think there may be different flavors of femdom in some of the other routes too
I might have just cheered inside my head. :)