Chapter Text
He woke up, feeling a strange wetness staining his cheek, his head hurt and in his throat was a mix of hurt and sorrow. He didn't know quite where that feeling came from, yet he was certain he didn't want to experience it ever again.
More tears escaped his eyes, as he shifted his gaze up to face the eyes of a familiar face of a lady with long braided purple hair. The boy found that it was beautiful, a strand of hair glowing in bright purple and how the hair looked so soft, even without touching it.
That softness was nowhere to be found in the lady's expression though.
The loving, gentle gaze that looked at him before was now a disappointed, yet not an angry one. A second, also familiar, yet pink haired woman joined to stand by her side, her grin turned into a neutral expression when she saw the first woman's face. They both shared sounds with each other that he couldn't comprehend and the next thing he knew was the first woman approaching him, making those sounds he didn't understand again, then she raised her arm and the next moment his vision blackened.
He opened his eyes, on the table before him was a beautiful doll. It was a ballerina, spinning in endless slow pirouettes. The material it was made of being porcelain made it seem oh so fragile. So naturally he wanted to protect it, so he tried to move, but he couldn't. His limbs felt like they were glued to the floor. So all he could was to watch and admire. Watch as the beautiful ballerina spins. Watch as his body caught on fire. Watch as the fire has reached the ballerina. Watch as everything burned down.
He awoke again. The now familiar tears streaming down his cheeks. He put his arm up in hopes of reaching the ballerina from his dreams, but all he could reach was air. He sniffed in dissapointement, coming to terms with the fact the doll he saw couldn't be saved.
He lifted his torso to look around him. It was an unfamiliar place, yet it was so beautiful. Bright red leaves were on the big dark trees and on the ground beneath them. A staircase leading to an even bigger, beautiful,white tree with grand torches surrounding it. This place seemed close yet it had no ceiling, the sun shining right at him in an orange light.
This place was with no less then breathtaking, a domain with all the things he has never seen before.
Yet the big tree in front of him was what piqued his interest the most, so here decided on waking there, brushing his long hair out of his face to get a better look of the tree. As he came closer he felt some sort of aura around it, it made his head hurt a little but he didn't mind it, that was until he reached out his hand and touched the tree.
It felt like countless memories entered and escaped him, his brain was overwhelming and he felt the urge to close his eyes and give in to the memory flow.
But that would mean seeing yet another dream, and he didn't want to see those sad visions ever again, so he stepped back from tree, holding his head in his hand, his brain still needing to recover. He tilted his head slightly and from the corner of his eye he saw yet another thing that piqued his interest.
A blue symbol he couldn't recognize was in the air with a circle beneath it.
He inspected it and realized whatever side he went to, the symbol would turn to face him.He then decided on stepping into the circle and immediately it felt like the ground below him disappeared, yet he didn't feel like falling, it was a weird feeling and when he opened his eyes he found himself standing in a completely different place.
He was inside a cave, a weird looking door that leads to a seemingly small place glowing blue behind him, yet when he went a bit farther away th glow changed to a red one and remained that even as he tried coming back to see if he can change it back.
His bear feet suddenly stepped into something that wasn't solid. He looked down and saw he just stepped into one of the many small puddles of water, yet it was his first time seeing water in such amounts. He jumped from one puddle to another, giggling at the splashes. By the point he reached the exit of the cave his pants and veil were soaked but he didn't mind, today was a day of new experiences for him afterall.
Sun hit his eyes as he exited the cave an he was met with a whole new open world. For the first time he wasnt in a closed space, he looked around in awe, seeing no walls or barriers around. Countless trees, small animals, rivers smiling at him. He ran forward as fast as he could, sometimes tripping against some branches or stones scattered on the ground yet he never felt so free. There was really no end to this place, he could go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants. Yet, what is it that he wants?
After some minutes of running he grew tired of it and decided on enjoying his surroundings at a slower pace. He was most astounded by the birds, the most free creature he has met yet. They could not only roam the ground but the skies too. He tried swinging his arms like them but he couldn't fly up which he found to be a real shame. In the lakes and rivers he could see his reflection. He noticed he looks a lot like the purple haired lady, yet his hair was an indigo color, his eyes were also blue and he he had a rounder face and a smaller body. But the biggest difference he noticed was that unlike her and the pink haired lady he had marks on his neck. He later noticed they were also present on his elbow knees fingers hands feet and toes. But he thought nothing of it.
After hours of wandering around he came near many buildings. Creatures alike him were standing in groups around them, the smaller ones ran around.
He decided to watch them from behind a tree, he heard them make the same noises that he didn't understand, yet no one seemed as confused by it as he was, what's more they seemed to completely understand it's meaning. It felt like everyone was hiding a big secret from him thought after what he just saw he was certain everything was hidden from him. But he wanted these secrets to be revealed.
So he stepped out from behind the tree and walked up to the people. A smaller one seemed to notice and ran up to a taller person, pulled on their sleeve and pointed a finge at him.
"Excuse me? Are you lost m'am?", the tall person called out.
He didn't understand what that meant but he came closer to the man anyway.
"M'am?"
He felt like he needed to respond in some sort of way so he made an "a" sound though that didn't seem to impress the man.
"Uh, what's your name m'am?"
He tried to repeat what the man said
"Na-me?"
"Yes your name, what is it?"
"Name! Name!"
The man sighed, "You don't understand me, do you?"
His thought was proven right when the other just smiled at him, looking at him with those big eyes, waiting for him to say something again.
"Uh…just follow me inside for now, we'll figure something out"
The man headed inside the house, an he followed, inside there was a big table with cushions around it, a woman sitting on one of them.
"Mikoto!" , she called out when she saw the man, "welcome back, oh and who is this you brought?"
"I don't know she just walked up to our village I tried talking to her but it seems like she can neither understand me not speak"
The woman seemed a bit shocked, but she quickly regained putting on her usual smile and inviting him and the man to sit down on th cushions with a gesture. She poured tee into three cups and passed one to him, one to the man and took one for herself.
He eyed the liquid in the cup he was handed. It was different, no having a blue glow like the water in the cave instead it was yellowish. He put his index finger into the liquid and let out a yelp at the burning sensation.
The woman gasped and leaned closer to him
"Oh dear, are you alright? You shouldn't put your fingers into tea like that…"
She inspected his finger and sighed in relief as she found no burn marks.
"Look, this is what to you should do with tea"
She took the cup into her hands and brought it closer to her lips, then she blew on it a few times before taking a sip and returning the cup back on its position.
"See?"
He tried to repeat that but as soon as the tea touched his tongue he couldn't help but grimace and spot it out back into the cup due to its bitterness. He coughed a little to try get the taste out of his tongue but it didn't help.
"Hey! You can't just spit it out like that-"
"Let her be, you can't blame her for not liking the tea, the bitterness does need some time to get used to", the man interrupted.
The woman shook her head and passed him the bowl with fruit "just have these then, and don't spit them out this time"
He took a lavender melon and bit into it it, the sweet taste melted on his tongue and he hummed from how good it tasted.
"I see you got a sweet tooth", the woman smiled
"Does she have a name?" , she asked the man.
"No", as a matter of fact she doesn't seem to know what a name is.
"Aw, but we can't just call her nothing", she turned her head to him "how about we give you a nickname hm?"
He still didn't understand what she said but he smiled anyways.
"…I'll take that as a yes", she turned back to the man "do you have any ideas?"
"How about kabukimono"
"That's kinda mean isn't it?"
"Yeah, she won't know what it means anyways, I think it's fitting"
"Ah, alright then. You hear it Kabukimono? That's your name now."
A familiar word "Name!"
"Yes, your name Ka-bu-ki-mo-no."
"Ka-bu?"
"Ki-mo-no."
"Ka-bu-ki-mo-no?"
"Yes that's right! Kabukimono!"
"Kabukimono! Kabukimono! "
"Great you remember it now. When someone asks you, what's your name, say kabukimono. "
"Name…Kabukimono?"
"I guess that works"
He smiled again
The woman looked out of the window and sighed again" it's getting late, what are we supposed to do with kabukimono…we still don't know where she came from maybe someone is searching for her right now"
"Whatever it is I think it's best we let her stay over for the night, it's dangerous outside around this time"
"Yeah, you're right", the woman looked at kabukimono who was about to take another fruit from the bowl," come on now, I'll show you your bed"
She went upstairs, kabukimono followed her and soon they reached a rather small but well kept room.
"This is my son's room, he's in the capital right now to handle some affairs but I don't think he'll mind, you’re a very beautiful young lady”
She watched as kabukimono just stood in the middle of the room, staring at the stuff around it, not knowing what to do.
"Huh? Don't tell me you don't know what a bed is now…where did you even come from if you don't know anything?! Or do you have some sort of amnesia perhaps…"
"…"
"I guess that's the case…you poor thing"
She guided him to his bed and when he still didn't seem to understand what it was meant to be used for she closed her eyes, connected her palms and brought them to her ear to imitate sleeping.
This time kabukimono understood the indication and tucked himself under the covers. The woman whispered something h didn't understand again, blew out the candles and closed the door shut.
Kabukimono felt comfortable like that, the bed was very soft and warm but he didn't close his eyes. He was scared of seeing those sad dreams again so he just layed there playing with the strands of his hair.
It got boring very quickly though.
At first he tried to hum a melodie he made up but a "KABUKIMONO!! ******!!!" followed soon making it clear that the whole house probably heard it an that he should probably stop.
So he stood up from his bed and headed towards the door. He wanted to go outside the house and look and wander the land at night, bot on the fields in the middle of the village he was met with 3 unfamiliar faces.
When they noticed him they were quick to get some long sharp metal tool out of their pockets an slice it through his stomach. Kabukimono yelled out from how much it hurt, but the pain was as quick to go as it came, no marks left where the attacker hit him. He seemed to be just as irritated by that as Kabukimono was and sliced through him a couple more times the same outcome following each time. But it still hurts so much. Kabukimono was left scared and crying when the attacker figured stabbing him was no use and commanded his partners to go inside the house.
Kabukimono collected his remaining strength to go to follow the intruders, to warn the people inside the house of the danger. But he wasn't fast enough. When he entered he heard screams coming from the top floor.
He rushed upstairs and entered a room with an already knocked out door. The woman that he met earlier was lying on the ground. Kanukimono thought she was sleeping so he shook her to get her to wake up. But there was no reaction. He shook her again an again and again. She must have a really deep sleep, he thought. Then he heard the sound of something dripping down.
He lifted the body in his hands and even through the dark he could see the bright leg liquid covering the floor he noticed his legs and hands were now too painted red. He wouldn't mind it if it weren't for the absolutely horrendous scent coming from it. He tried shaking the liquid off which didn't really work as it was quite sticky.
Kabukimono sighed and shook the woman a final time, when no response came he decided its best to give up and let the woman be. He was about to go to the man's room when he noticed a bright light coming from the corner of the room. His eyes got wider as the light grew bigger and bigger, consuming the floor and walls. It was the same as in his dreams. Everything will burn down and so will he if he just stands there.
So he ran, ran as fast as he could, the fire didn't even spread that fast but he was terrified and when he left the burning house he was met with all the villagers outside, children crying,their parents trying to comfort them and a man screaming something.
"Is chief Mikoto d-dead?" one of the kids asked.
"Yes…yes fuck he is … its ok everything us going to be okay, it's over now" the tall men in the middle responded.
"W-what about mrs. Hayase? She's okay, right?"
"I'm sorry…I'm afraid not…"
The man's words left the child and some of the others look even more down then before, then a child raised his hand an pointed in Kabukimono's direction. "Daddy, who's that then?"
"Thats…", he squinted his eyes and through the dark saw a feminine figure, though the hair and clothes was nothing like Ms. Hayase's, "That's not Mrs. Hayase …that's …", he noticed the blood stains on Kabukimonos robes hands and legs and the puzzle pieces in his head connected "That is the furthest thing from mrs Hayase."
He walked towards kabukimono and with a swing of his arm he punched him into his stomach. Kabukimono yelled in pain but restored immediately. The man grabbed him by his neck "WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNEAKING INTO OUR VILLAGE AND KILLING OUR PEOPLE?!" , he threw kabukimono onnthe ground, "DIE YOU SCUM" , he punched him into the face again and again and again and when he removed his hand and saw that there were no bruises on Kabukimono's face and the only thing staying it were his tears his eyes widened in horror "what are you …what the actual fuck", he tried to punch him again but Kabukimono rolled away in time, he stood up an started running, the man tried to follow him but after some time he ran slower and slower, making it easier for Kabukimono to escape.
He ran for what it felt like ages, he didn't know where but he couldn't stop, not until he was sure no one could possibly reach him. But at some point his mental fatigue caught up to him.
He didn't know what or why happened to him but he knew he was scared and didn't like it so he settled under a tree and closed his eyes, deciding that seeing a bad dream is better then leaving himself alone with his feelings.
Only that this dream was different.
He opened his eyes before him stood a purple haired woman, her eyes brightened when she saw him blink. "Oh my, it really worked! Miko! It worked! My puppet is alive! It's really alive!"
"Really? It was about time", a pink haired woman came from the back of the room,"hello little one, I'm miss Miko and this lady her is Ei, though you can see her as your mother I suppose "
He felt weird, a weird force inside him told him to treat that Ei with the utmost respect, to serve her even. He didn't know what was happening besides what Miko told him but he somehow understood what they were saying and understood his duty.
"Mother I…I'll make sure to serve you until the end-"
"Oh, what's with the formalities" , Ei giggled, "It feels weird for my own creation to talk to me in such a matter"
"Sorry…mum?", he asked in a small voice.
"Oh aren't you sweet", she smiled, "now listen"
She pulled out a glowing chess piece out of thin air
"You are a vessel for the gnosis, a divine power. You will hold it right here. ", she pointed on his chest,"It's a very important duty, do you understand?"
He nodded
"Now, I'll need to make some test to see wether you're fit for the gnosis, but I'm sure you'll do fine"
"I see…"
"Don't worry, you will see a dream"
His vision blackened and when he woke up he felt tears staining his eyes.
In the back of his ears he heard Ei and Miko arguing.
"I can't just…discard it like that Miko! "
"Ei don't be ridiculous, you can't have a vessel with feelings, you know that it will only cause harm. You made so many puppets already, don't tell me you got attached this easily…"
" I did not! But I can't just…ugh. I'm not saying it'll hold the gnosis I can just… grant it freedom"
"Freedom? And what will the poor thing do? Walk around with it's only purpose taken away from it? "
"I'm sure it'll find a new purpose "
"Ei, it'll hate you"
"Then so be it! I'm doing the right thing! "
"You're being insensitive. "
"I'm being generous. I cant just take a new horns life? "
He looked at the both of them with teary eyes
"Mum? What's going on? "
"I'm afraid you didn't pass the test"
"Am I not good enough? ", his eyes sunk
"No no you're just…not the right one… I'm afraid you have to go"
" NO NO PLEASE I SWEAR I'LL DO ANYTHING, I'LL BE GOOD, PLEASE"
" I'm sorry, it's okay if you'll hat me"
"You can't just leave me like that…"
He felt a bolt of lighting shoot through him and his vision blackened once again.
Then he felt some force shaking his body, it wasn't very comfortable, the skating continued, he opened his eyes and before him was a man with brown hair with a pink streak, his worried expression grew into a relieved one when he saw Kabukimono open his eyes.
Kabukimono looked around the room, it was similar to the one the man an the woman from yesterday let him stay in except it was a lot bigger and ha various beautifully carved swords all over it.
His thought were interrupted.
"I-Im sorry it seemed like you were having a nightmare so I thought it would be best be best to wake you up…"
"O-oh no it's okay, uhm, thank you", Kabukimono looked into the man's eyes, " but who are you? Why am I here?"
"Oh well this night I was taking a stroll through the forest when I saw you sleeping and shaking under a tree, I noticed you had blood stains all over so I, of course got worried and took you in. I cleaned up your blood stains and d-dont worry I didn't touch you or anything! Anyways, my name is Niwa Hisahide…what's yours? "
"I see… I'm Kabukimono"
"Kabukimono?! Really? Isn't that more like a nickname? "
"I dunno, the villagers I met yesterday called me that, it's not like I have another name anyways"
"Oh…do you mind telling me what happened? Can I help you in some way? You didn't kill anyone right? It didn't seem like you were bruised…"
" I don't know… I don't know anything right now…it's just so much, so much at the same time it's-"
"Overwhelming? "
"Yes, overwhelming "
Niwa looked down, fidgeting with the fabric of his shirt,"Should I get you water? "
"No, I'm a puppet, I have no need to drink"
Nina's eyes flicked to the joints on Kabukimono's fingers "so these are real?"
Kabukimono nodded.
"Fascinating …", Niwa kept staring at him from head to toe before shaking of the thought. Now was not the time to admire someone craftsmanship.
"Hmm…do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm not sure …I wanna say so much but also I don't feel like I can say anything right now"
"Then do you want a hug?"
"A hug? What's that?"
"Uhh…it's like… I put my hands around you and you put your hands around me"
"Why would you offer that?"
"It's supposed to help in situations like these"
"Oh…then, sure?"
And then Niwa embraced Kabukimono into a tight hug. Kabukimono felt hesitant at first but soon enough his little hands found their way on Nina's back and pulled the man closer. And help it did. Kabukimono felt so secure like this, he felt like he could let everything out, so he started crying, letting his emotions free. They stayed like this for a while then Kabukimono started talking.
"I think everyone hates me", he sobbed
"That can't be true, Kabukimono, I can't imagine anyone hating someone like you, besides I don't hate you"
"But everyone before you just acted nice at first and then left me…it hurts"
"I'm sorry, everything will get better, I promise"
"Then promise you won't leave me"
That made Niwa think a little, he just met Kabukimono after all, but he couldn't hurt him after this "I promise", he decided.
"You can't break promises"
"I would never, I promise I won't leave you, Kabukimono"
At these words Kabukimono pulled away from the hug, making sure Niwa sees him.
"Thank you, Niwa" , he smiled brightly.