Anonymous requested: Hi! After reading the Ouran AU, I wonder, if Kirishima is actually a girl but always dressed up as a boy, and hide his (her) gender, and what the other escort reaction when the secret revealed? Except Rokakku because he is the one who brought Kirishima, and Kirika and Ayako too, because they have women instinct
Admin Notes: I'm not entirely sure what you're expecting Anon and I am not sure what I even wrote. I know for sure that I wrote angst and something kind of fluffy towards the end but there is angst. Maybe I deprived myself of angst after about two years of not writing anything seriously at all… Anyway, I wanted to expand on the idea of fem!Kirishima when this prompt came up so here this is! I hope you like it! - Admin Saeki
"Do you need any help, Kirika-san?" Kirishima asks. Saeki watches as Kirishima lifts the empty bowl in his hands and picks up several other empty dishes from the table and brings it over to the snake woman.
"Why thank you Kirishima-chan! I would appreciate it a lot," Kirika answers with a warm smile on her face. She picks up Rokkaku's plate and leads Kirishima to the kitchen, slithering her way at a comfortable pace. She leans down for a second to whisper something into Kirishima's ear and the blue eyed escort replied in kind.
Saeki wonders for a moment at what they are talking about but figures it was just something silly and nice between Kirishima and Kirika. He smiles to himself, thinking at how tense Kirishima used to be when he first came along as an escort but now, he's more comfortable around everyone and seems more content (despite the stoic look on his face).
Speaking of changes, Saeki noticed that Kirishima had begun to look different. If he had to put a finger on anything, it would be Kirishima's hair. It had grown a little bit longer. Kirishima's hair was definitely still short but the side bangs were starting to cover his ears and his actual bangs began to sweep over his eyes.
"Is something wrong?" Rokkaku asks Saeki which brings the lieutenant colonel back to reality. Rokkaku stares at him with curious, crimson eyes and Saeki laughs a little nervously.
"Not really. I noticed that Kirishima's hair has grown a little longer," he explained.
Rokkaku looks up at the ceiling as he recalls Kirishima's image.
"I guess so… I don't think it looks strange but if we need to cut it, we can," he comments as he puffs out a cloud of smoke from his pipe. "Although, it gives off a different ambience and feels somewhat refreshing of who Kirishima really is."
At this, Saeki tilts his head and blinks owlishly.
"What do you mean?" he then asks. "Is Kirishima with shorter hair not the real Kirishima?"
"Ah… No, that's not what I meant," Rokkaku says as if to correct himself. "How do I explain this…?" He crosses his arms, closes his eyes, and furrows his eyebrows as he thinks of his answer.
Saeki chuckles at the silly sight and figures Rokkaku was speaking in the old Japanese dialect again from centuries ago. He tells the crimson eyed demon that it is okay and returns to the cup of tea that was warming up his hands.
He watches everyone in the room with content. Tagami was slumped against his chair, his hat over his head while Hirahara chatters away to Kinoshita who listens and smiles and replies in his carefree way. Tanizaki is eating his second bowl of rice with the grilled eel and side pickled vegetables. Ayako was helping cleaning up and when she saw Kirishima walk out of the kitchen, she rushes up to him and speaks in an excited tone; although unusual, it was nice to see the two get along.
Saeki smiles and takes a sip from his tea. He watches as the bright morning slowly became covered in clouds and darkness.
Some would say that secrets are meant to be kept secrets. Others would disagree and say that everyone would have a secret released to someone one day. The latter of the statements was definitely one of those days.
Hirahara had been sent by Saeki to fetch Kirishima for a quick debriefing of that day's finished assignments. It was a bit hard on all of them, especially when a thunderstorm was about and rain soaked their clothes and dark, looming clouds covered the light of the moon and stars. Even so, it never stopped them from completing their job to capture deceased ones.
Hirahara had changed into more comfortable clothing seeing how they had nothing else important to do that day. With just a t-shirt and sweatpants on and socks warming up his feet, he runs his way to Kirishima's room.
The moment he catches sight of the third door on the right, he quickens his pace and grabs for the handle and fails to knock on the door and wait for an 'O.K.'. This was his first mistake.
"Kirishima~!" he calls as he swings the wooden door open, almost slamming it into the wall with the possibility of breaking both the wall and the door. "Saeki's calling for you and-"
Hirahara freezes at the entrance, his wide grin and wide, golden eyes stuck on his face. He becomes still as a statue while he takes in the sight before him.
Kirishima also stood still as stone, cobalt blue eyes widened and black hair gently brushing over her face and ears and neck. He's wearing black sweatpants and his feet were barefoot. His soaked clothes pile in a basket that was going to be taken down to do laundry later. But what gathers all of Hirahara's interest was Kirishima's torso.
A soaked tank top was being lifted by Kirishima's now seemingly delicate and slender, yet calloused, hands. The small abs and the curve of the hips were covered in smooth, damp skin. And at the chest area that was still covered by the tank top, was something that wasn't so flat…
Hirahara blinks several times as does Kirishima before the room suddenly feels cold. A shiver creeps down Hirahara's spine as he watches a dark and dangerous aura come from Kirishima who lets the wet tank top fall back down to cover his(?) midriff and grabbed his katana, Kanakiri.
In only a moment's notice, Hirahara finds Kirishima right under his nose. Quickly moving his head back, Hirahara barely misses the blade aimed for his face, cutting off few strands of his hair before he runs off at top speed.
"WAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The golden eyed escort screams as he skids down the hallway and barely stops at the top of the staircase before rushing down, skipping steps in hopes of getting to the first floor faster.
Slash!
Hirahara felt a searing pain run down across his back from a cold, sharp blade. He didn't need to turn around to know who was behind him glaring daggers at his back. The wound was barely anything as long as his adrenaline kept him going.
He jumps to the ground floor from the sixth step and bends his knees as he touches the wooden floorboards to soften his landing before dashing in the direction of the break room where the other escorts were gathering.
"Kirishima's going to kill me!" Hirahara yells despite the fact he can't die. Scurried footsteps rush out of the room to see a flash of yellow pass them by. Saeki, Kinoshita, and Tanizaki look bewildered when a flash of blue passes them as well. Tanizaki seemed to be sleeping on the couch.
"What the hell did you do, Hirahara?" Tanizaki questions with a scowl on his face. He catches a glimpse of Hirahara passing them again - he was running in a circle, or rather, in the hallway that went around the break room - as did what looked to be Kirishima and his katana.
"I went into Kirishima's room to find him(?) undressing and I learned Kirishima is actually a girl!" This was Hirahara's second mistake.
"Eh?" Kinoshita widens his eyes in surprise. "Kirishima's a girl?"
"I've been telling you to knock before going into anyone's room," Tagami mumbles as he lays on the couch before sighing and then turning on his side so he could face the couch and falls back asleep.
The third round around the break room, Saeki noticed that Hirahara's speed increased tremendously as did Kirishima's. They turned the corner and disappeared from sight once more.
Kirishima was furious. Cobalt irises blazed with rage and her cheeks were red from anger and embarrassment.
Why? Why now?
Her body felt burning hot as she ran after Hirahara. Anyone or anything else around her became a blur and unnoticeable to her. All she did was run and run and run with the urge to slice open that throat that belonged to the golden eyed loudmouth.
How many times did she run around that same corridor? All Kirishima knew from the small glimpses of her surroundings was that she and Hirahara were running around the break room. Her mind didn't register the eyes that watched her hunting down Hirahara and at the moment, she didn't care. All Kirishima wanted to do was to bring Hirahara down.
What seemed to be a long time of running, she hears Hirahara yell out, "I learned that Kirishima is a girl!"
Her eyes widened in shock for a moment before they narrowed and her eyebrows furrowed. Teeth grinded against each other as she sped up, her sword aimed to pierce Hirahara in the heart.
She passes the corner after corner until they are on their nth round around the break room. Steadily, Kirishima finds herself catching up to Hirahara. With a set determination and goal, Kirishima forces herself to go faster.
And then a flash of light blue ran from what seemed to be the break room to right in front of her.
Kirishima widens her eyes and she suddenly stops when she felt Kanakiri stab through soft flesh. Her small, delicate, yet calloused hands began to tremble. She stares at her blade that impaled a familiar body that did not belong to Hirahara's. Slowly with shaking limbs, Kirishima lifts her head, cobalt blue eyes meeting cyan ones.
"Saeki…?" Kirishima's mouth quivered and she suddenly felt cold. Trembling legs that were once filled with energy and strength suddenly felt like they failed to hold up her wait and she almost falls to the floor, hands still on the handle of the sword.
The lieutenant colonel, however, held her shoulders and kept her standing. His cyan eyes were the same as ever and his smile was calm and comforting as if nothing was wrong and everything was the same as ever.
"No wonder you never took off your boots when you were around us," Saeki laughs. "You're a lot shorter without them."
Kirishima felt herself tense. "This isn't a time to joke! You… I-I ended up…" Voice cracked and body still trembling, Kirishima sees flashes of memories that should have been forgotten.
Static fills her ears as she sees bodies sprawled on the floor lifeless and soaked in blood. Hands covered in blood came blurred in her mind.
She shakes her head and forces herself to stand on her own. She cancels all sounds out including the voices that she couldn't hear as she watched Saeki's mouth move. Everything became inaudible and all Kirishima could hear was this loud buzz she hadn't heard in so, so long.
Without much thought, she grabs Saeki's hand after letting go of the katana and leads him to the infirmary to deal with the wound. Blood seeped out slowly and the blade still impaled in his stomach but he barely flinched. Saeki silently follows, realizing that Kirishima needed time to think rather than be confused in the other escorts' own confusion.
The moment they had reached the infirmary door, however, Kirishima saw the world flip over before everything went black
Rokkaku sits at the edge of the bed as he gently brushes Kirishima's bangs out of her face. Her face was peaceful and was a sign that she was sound asleep.
He solemnly gazes down at her and sighs softly. Rokkaku looks up at the escorts who watched in silence. Saeki looked concerned with his furrowed eyebrows and his lips pressed against each other tightly. Tanizaki still had a harsh look on his face but there was a bit of something else that glinted in his eyes; something that was a softer and gentler feeling. Hirahara placed his hands in his pockets, his usual gleaming and bright golden eyes now looking unsure with the situation. Tagami was the same as ever and didn't seem surprised at all and Kinoshita who was for once, sober, watches Kirishima with solemn eyes.
"How long did you know?" Tanizaki suddenly asks in an unusually quiet tone, most likely to not wake Kirishima up. Rokkaku gives a small moment of silence to think of his answer before he opens his mouth to speak.
"Since I first found Kirishima," he replies. Rokkaku wanted to smoke from his pipe but figured it was an inappropriate time and place to do it.
"When I first found her, she was confused and timid and frightened. I had brought her to the female escorts but after hearing about our jobs, Kirishima was adamant to join us, feeling it was more appropriate for her to repay for the sins she had committed." He chuckles softly.
"It took a lot of convincing on her part. She even begged on her knees so it didn't give me much options on how to deal with her then. I could have been strict and slashed her apart to teach her not to come near me… but I didn't."
The escorts kept silent and intently listened, fidgeting at every word spoken from Rokkaku's mouth.
"Why was that?" Saeki then asks. He places a hand over his abdomen where he could feel the area sting slightly.
"There was this look in her eyes. Kirishima always had such a determined look. At first, it was just a cold, hard gaze but eventually, behind it all was a passion and a determination that makes Kirishima who she is. We had her crossdress as a male so that she could have a formal training."
"We?"
"Ah, Kirika and I. Kirishima looked very much like a boy when she first came in but somehow Kirika was able to tell otherwise. She say's it is something of a 'woman's instinct' and quite honestly, I still don't understand it now. Ayako eventually figured it out as well, although, she was against it at first.
"After that, Kirishima joined us and from there, you know how the rest goes. There have been no complications since that time up until now." Silence followed after Rokkaku seemed to no longer have anything else to say. The crimson eyed demon stands up and walks to the door, opening it.
"If you have any problems with the current set up, come speak to me in private otherwise you will have to figure out what to do with yourselves and with Kirishima," Rokkaku explains as he walks out, leaving the escorts to think for themselves.
"All who doesn't mind Kirishima staying, say Giara!" Hirahara exclaims (somewhat out of the blue but not entirely). "Giara!" The sound of a cow mooing was heard from outside.
They had walked into the break room in dead silence when they came from Kirishima's room, leaving her to let her sleep peacefully and without any possible disturbances. The moment that had walked in, however, Hirahara became cheerful as he always was and didn't seem to mind being hunted down by Kirishima earlier. Than again, he was always being chased down at one point everyday for one reason or another.
Saeki smiles sheepishly and repeats "Giara" despite how silly it sounds.
"Giara." Tanizaki says this in a calm way without any hesitation whatsoever.
"Giara," Kinoshita follows with a smile.
"…"
"Tagami?"
"…"
"He's asleep."
"… Giara."
"…"
"…"
Several sighs were heard but it was of exasperation at the amber eyed escort and relief that he agreed at the same time.
When Kirishima had woken up, she felt lightheaded and dizzy. It felt like a pain to get up so for several moments, she laid there in bed, eyes closed, and allowed the dizziness to slowly fade away.
If felt as if time stopped for that moment. Kirishima couldn't tell how long she had been asleep. She couldn't tell if it had been a long or short amount of time since she remembered fainting while trying to take Saeki to the infirmary.
At that time, she felt anxious. She felt exposed. It made her feel vulnerable. Never did Kirishima felt so unsure and afraid if she would be accepted as she was among the escorts. It was a fear she did not expect to happen one day.
Click!
Kirishima hears the door open. Cobalt blue eyes fluttered open at the sound and she turns her head. She could feel her head pound slightly but ignores it as she sees Tanizaki coming in with Kinoshita following behind.
"Oh! Are you awake, Kirishima?" Kinoshita asks. Kirishima blinks in response as Kinoshita places the back of his hand on Kirishima's head and after a few seconds, pulls back. "You seem okay."
"Are you okay, Kirishima?" Tanizaki then asks, his arms crossed.
"I'm fine…" she responds. Kirishima slowly sits up and glances at the two escorts in her room. There was an awkward silence and Kirishima fidgeted under their gaze. "Umm…"
"Hmm?" Kinoshita hums in a questioning tone.
"You're not going to ask about… me being a girl?" It was awkward and uncomfortable to ask but she might as well get straight to it.
Kinoshita chuckles and Tanizaki scoffed at the question. Kirishima felt her blood boil a little but her anger turned into surprise when Kinoshita began to hug her tightly as he lifts her a little bit off the bed and hugs her.
"Of course not! Kirishima is Kirishima after all," Kinoshita answers in a cheery voice. Her head buried in his chest, she mumbled something that really only sounded like gibberish as she pushed against Kinoshita's chest to talk and breathe.
"Tch. If we had any problems with you being here, we wouldn't have accepted you if you weren't strong enough. Besides, you've been here a long time. There's no point in kicking out someone who's completely capable of handling the job," Tanizaki adds, a scowl on his face. But it felt welcoming and normal as if nothing changed.
Kirishima felt her shoulders feel lighter. So did her head and she needed Kinoshita to release her. Even if she doesn't die, it's still not fun to suffocate.
"I don't think Kirishima's breathing," Saeki comments from the doorway, a bowl of soup in his hands as he walks in. Kirishima is finally released and Kinoshita apologizes and talks gleefully, maybe in a more intimate way but it was still Kinoshita.
"Sorry about earlier Kirishimaaa!" Hirahara's voice yells from somewhere in the house. Tagami comes flying into the room with Hirahara riding on a brown, muscled cow…. Kirishima had a feeling Hirahara dragged Tagami onto Giara (the cow) and it threw him off.
"It's okay… Just knock next time," Kirishima says uncertainly as she watches Tagami slump onto the ground in her room. A crack ran up the wall from where Tagami was thrown onto.
Saeki places the bowl of what now Kirishima can see as a hot soup on top of the night stand next to the bed.
Everyone suddenly begins to talk and the insecurity Kirishima had felt suddenly disappeared and everything was just as it always was, except now everyone knew she was female. Softly, she smiled to herself until Tagami seemed to have punched Hirahara off Giara only causing laughter and some uncertainty if the situation was really going to be alright.