So, yeah... I hope I can do this correctly.. I've never done a Character X Reader story. So I'll try to do my best with this one. And I think I'll make this into several chapters, but only if I can sorta figure this out...
The sound of an arrow soaring through the air and hitting its target echoes in your ears as you feel a sense of pride. The arrow had hit the center of the target, which is much better than what you had shot last month. You turn around as your fellow soldiers clap and stare at you with approving gazes. They were all clad in blue armor, and each held a different type of weapon in their hands. Some held bows, axes, spears, and swords and separated into their respective training groups...
"Good job, Sakurai." The general says your last name with satisfaction. You look back him and bow in acknowledgement as the general looks back at the other men. "Now that he's set the example... I want the rest of you to train until your fingers bleed!" The general said in a loud voice.
"Yes sir!" The soldiers replied as they got into position and stood ready to fire their arrows. You scan the soldiers to see that most of them are men in their late 40's while the small few are still in their early twenties like you are.
You step away and walk towards the wooden, training dummies to practice your sword skills. You unsheathe your sword and hold it awkwardly in your hands... The other soldiers swing their blades with ease as they cut off chunks of wood from their dummies. You take a deep breath, and then you swing your sword at the dummy. It immediately bounces off, barely making a dent in your target, and you take a step back from the recoil... You look back at the other soldiers and jealousy begins to fill your heart... They make it seem so much easier than it really is...
"Hah!" You grunt as you take another swing at the dummy. Once again your blade recoils off of the wood and it only makes your previous dent deeper than it was before. The blade immediately falls out of your hands and you step out of the way to avoid being hit by the blade.
"Ha. It sure looks like you know what you're doing." You hear a voice behind you mock. You turn around to see it is a man on a horse who has a wide grin on his face. His hair is brown and falls below his ears and he wears an eye patch over his right eye. His arms are crossed over a white shirt that hung loosely on his shoulders. He was also wearing blue samurai pants... "I'm no expert... But I don't think that's how you hold a sword." He said sarcastically.
"I-I know what I'm doing!" You say, flustered. You immediately go to pick up your blade again and prepare to strike at the dummy. You hear the man dismount his horse as he slowly makes his way towards you. You strike the dummy and you once again recoil off the wooden target. You hear him laugh again and suddenly he takes your sword from your hand and stands in front of you.
"See? This is how you hold your sword. You can put more power into your swing this way." He said as he showed you specifically where your hands are supposed to go on the hilt of the blade. He hands you the blade and you try to imitate the way he had held the blade earlier. You don't quite understand and you immediately hear him laugh. "Here, your hands should be positioned like this." He says as he moves and places your hands in a position that felt worse than your previous attempt. "Now, attack it." He says in a deep tone as he steps away.
"Hah!" You swing your blade with all your might and your blade cuts through the wooden dummy like butter. You look surprised and you are filled with pride and happiness.
"Masamune-sama." A voice says from behind you. You turn around to see the general who had praised you earlier with a slight smile on his face as he approached. Immediately your eyes grow wide as you turned around to look at the man who had helped you.
"M-Masamune-sama! I-I had no idea it was you! Please excuse my rudeness!" You say as you bow. Both men look at you with surprised expression, and a laugh escapes from Masamune-sama's lips.
"And you didn't notice earlier? Bring your head up! You're still training!" Masamune-sama says and he motions for you to stand up. You stand up in hesitation and you immediately grab your sword and try to hold your sword correctly.
"What is it Kojuro?" You hear Masamune-sama speak in a low tone as both men inaudibly talk behind you.
"Masamune-sama... We have received a letter from Yukimura... It appears to be another challenge." Kojuro said in a low, annoyed tone. You hear Masamune-sama scoff as you swing at the remains of your training dummy. Your hand slips and the blade immediately rebounds and cuts your clothes. You yelp in surprise and immediately clutch your clothes, to hide your chest.
"Oi, what the hell are you doing?" Masamune-sama said as he approached you.
"N-Nothing Masamune-sama! Please you needn't worry about me! I just need to get another shirt!" You lie through you teeth as you put up your hand to keep him away. You immediately stand up and run towards the barracks, hoping no one would see you in your current condition.
"Oi!" You hear him say as you leave them behind.
You slide the door open and immediately make your way to your room to retrieve a shirt and a roll of bandages. You look around the empty hallways to make sure no one else was left behind. You close your door and let the torn clothes and bandages fall to the ground, revealing your large breasts. You sigh in relief as your able to breath comfortably again.
It's been seven months since you joined Masamune-sama's army and no one has figured out that you were a woman. You feel pride as you think of your achievement. It was risky, especially because of the consequences if they ever found out your were a woman... But you wanted to prove to the world that a woman could do anything just as well as a man could.
You hear footsteps walking down the hallway that send chills down your spine as you immediately begin to wrap the bandages around your breasts, hoping you won't be discovered. The footsteps stop and you hold your breath, hoping they wouldn't find you. You hear the footsteps walk away and you quickly find something to replace your tattered garments. You immediately open the door and look down the hallway, trying to find the source of the footsteps from earlier. Unfortunately you find nothing and walk out the front door of the barracks back and back to the location of your sword and a brand new training dummy. You find a piece of paper attached to the hilt of your sword as you look around for Masamune-sama and Kojuro-sama.
"Next time, hold the blade firmly you dumb ass." The words on the note seemed to have been written sarcastically and you couldn't help but laugh a little inside. Masamune-sama must have written it himself before he walked off. You grab your sword and you hold it the way you did before. You tighten your grip and prepare to strike.
"Hah!" You swing your blade and it lodges itself into the wood. You adjust your hands again and feel proud that your improving. You hold the sword tightly as you dislodge it and swing at the target again. This time you slice a part of it off and it falls to the ground. "N-No way... I did it..." You stare at your sword in disbelief and resist the temptation of celebrating your improvement. "No... Remember, you have to act manly..." You tell yourself.
"But... It doesn't fit me..." You say as you look at the other soldiers holding their blades the same way you do, and as they strike the way you had before. "I want to be different." You say as you look at your blade. You hold it with one hand, but notice it feels awkward compared to the way you held it before. It felt heavier and you could barely swing it in one hand. Instead, you hold the blade with both hands and hold it over your right shoulder. The weight of the blade didn't bother you as much as it had before, and when you begin to strike the dummy you spun around and slashed it off of the ground and into two pieces. You stare in shock as the pieces lay on the ground.
You hear the sound of a horn and notice that the sun had gone down and they were calling the soldiers in for dinner. You go to pick up your sheathe and put your blade away as you make your way to the dining hall. The other soldiers laugh and talk of their achievements and the failures of other soldiers as you walk silently through the crowd. You look to see that each seat has a tray of meat, soup, rice, and vegetables steaming up the room. You smell the delicious aroma and decide to take a seat closer to the front of the hall before any of the other soldiers make their way there. The front usually had the fresher food and larger portions than the rest of the hall, so every soldier wanted to get their hands on it when they can.
You silently sit down, but you notice that to your right a familiar figure sat down. You had forgotten Masamune-sama usually sits in the front of the hall to enjoy dinner with the rest of his men... It surprised you, but you calm down and eagerly wait for the rest of the soldiers to take their seats. You look around as you wait, and your eyes unconsciously wander to Masamune-sama... You notice small cuts and bruises on his arms, and a small cut under his left eye... He notices you staring and your eyes meet, but you quickly turn away once you hear a loud bell go off. Everyone in the dining hall puts their hands together and they bow their heads.
"Thank you for the meal!" Everyone says in loud voices. You immediately look up, reach for your chopsticks, and begin to eat. The dining hall is filled with vibrant colors and conversations as everyone enjoys their meal. You keep your head down and continue to eat, hoping not to draw attention to yourself. Without knowing it, you seemed to have already finished your meal before everyone else... You look around and finally feel annoyed by the amount of noise in the room.
You silently stand up and make your way around the other soldiers, to the doorway leading outside. The small rush of air blows your short bangs out of your face as you begin to walk towards the bathhouse. You feel that it's been a while since you've actually taken a nice, hot bath and you view it as the perfect time to go while everyone else is still eating. You walk past several drunk men walking down the street, trying to keep steady on their feet... You also pass several homes, small stores, and a field of cherry trees. It's too bad that it's not spring yet, or you would be able to enjoy the view of the cherry blossoms from behind the walls of the bath house.
You cross over a wooden bridge and see the dim lights of the bathhouse through the door... You notice that it's unusually quiet which seems perfect... You walk over and open the door.
"W-Welcome!" A woman says from behind the counter. You bow as you greet her... She seems to be in her early twenties with long brown hair and an uncomfortable expression on her face. You look around wondering if the owner was anywhere in the building. "A-Ah... The owner isn't here today... She took time off for the night. I'm her daughter..." She said with an uncomfortable smile.
"Ah... Then I'll just go in and take a bath then." You say with a friendly smile.
"Y-Yes! The bathhouse is currently empty so please enjoy yourself!" She says in excitement. You bow again as you make your way to the separate changing areas. You immediately make your way into the closer room without looking at the sign. You take your clothes and bandages off, and you sigh with relief as you take your hair down... You had grown accustomed to the bandages and how tough it is to breath with them... But it's necessary to stay in the army, and to stay alive.
Your hair tickles your shoulders as you make your way out of the changing room and into the bathing area. You shiver to the cold touch of the stone floor as you make your way to the hot, steaming bath. You stick your toe in to feel the temperature of the water, but you immediately pull it back out from the heat.
"Get it together. All you need to do is step into the water and just sit down..." You tell yourself as you go into the water without a second thought. Your body starts to burn from the temperature of the water, so you start to bite the inside of your cheek to coup with the pain. After a while it started to feel good and you begin to lay back into the water. You let at a long sigh. How long has it been since you've felt so relaxed? Days? Months?
However, your relaxation would have to wait... You hear a noise coming from the changing room and you instinctively moved to the other side of the big boulder that sat in the middle of the hot bath. You look over the corner of the rock to see the door slide open, but you were more shocked to see who was behind it. He walked in with the towel wrapped around his waist as he scratched his head. His blue eye searched the bath in suspicion that he was being watched. You slowly make your way behind the rock and lay your back against it. What horrible timing to run into Masamune-sama here... Of all the places it had to be here...
Suddenly you don't hear his footsteps anymore, and you hear a low growl. You hold your breath, and quietly lean against the host surface of the rock.
"Who's there?!" He snaps. His voice makes you flinch as it echoes throughout the bath. You keep quiet hoping he would give up, but you hear him groan in an impatient tone. "Do you think I'm stupid?! I know you're there!" He shouts. His voice makes you hold your breath while the heat of the water fills your body. "... Maybe I'm just getting old..." He says passively, and his footsteps begin to echo through the bath. You hear the movement of water as he steps in the hot water without hesitation.
You sit there silently as you hear his slight movements in the water, but you start getting dizzy and overheated from the steam... You slip on the rock and your head slips into Masamune-sama's line of sight and he's shocked to see you. His stare makes you shiver as you realize the situation and decide to stay out in the open to avoid suspicion.
"M-Masamune-sama..." You say in a startled tone. He looks at you with a large smirk and nods.
"Told ya. I knew you were in here." He gloats.
"Well, you knew SOMEBODY was in here." You say sarcastically.
"Shut the fuck up." He says, flustered. " Why are you all the way over there? Get your ass over here." He says as he waves for you to come closer.
"I-I think I'll just stay... Over... Here..." You hesitate. He gets agitated and his expression turns dark.
"Did you just disobey me...?" He said in a pissed tone. "I said get your ass over here!" He snaps. You refuse to budge and just shake your head. He snarls at your disobedience and he immediately stands up and walks towards you. "Alright, if you're gonna act like that then I'm gonna come to you!" He says in an annoyed tone.
"D-Don't!" You say quickly and he freezes in place.
"What the hell for?!" He yells back.
"I uh..." You notice how bad the situation is and you try to come up with something that'll get you out of trouble. You swallow your pride and begin to speak. "I-I'm gay, so if you walk over here I don't know what'll happen." You say as you bite your cheek. You pray that he'll go away but he just stands there, dumbfounded.
"That'd explain a lot... But you're lying." Masamune-sama quickly closes in on you and grabs your arm. You flinch and try to pull away but he pulls you out into the open, revealing the rest of your body that's hidden beneath your towel. He stares at you, emotionless, as if he's trying to put the pieces together.
Your secret is out.
Phew! This actually took longer than I thought it was going to! I'm sorry for the unexplainable hiatuses! I've been trying to come up with good stories and chapters for you guys and I've just been drawing blanks as I go... I've also been dealing with a lot of stress so sorry if some stories in the future get a little depressing or stop coming out at all again.. Senior year is truly difficult and it keeps me busy... Hope you enjoyed this though! Please don't forget to review!