Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. STONE. Cool, that's done. Onward!
Authoress' Note: Another fic for GenHaku Week! Always fun starting off the week with smut, but this time, it's a lot of fluff. Please enjoy!
I took some inspiration for this from a lovely art posted by 1chi_rei! You can find the art here:
/1chi_rei/status/1498513114442047488
Day 3: Change of Attire
Blush
"Ugh... how did I get roped into this?" Kohaku grimaced as she felt her body get poked and prodded by several sets of hands, letting out a small yelp as someone ran a comb through her hair and getting it caught on a particularly nasty knot.
"Because you're the only lady left in the village that hasn't received a makeover!" Minami exclaimed happily, being the one working on combing through the wildflower blonde locks, "And I have to take a picture of you looking absolutely adorable from head to toe!"
"And why do I need to be made over again?" the huntress asked, groaning as another knot got pulled out.
"It's just a lot of fun, Kohaku," her sister Ruri complimented, "I admit, I felt quite weird at first, but after a bit, I thought it was a lot of fun being dressed up in all of these new clothes."
"It made me feel like I was a princess," Nikki blushed gently as she thought about her personal experience, and there was a chorus of soft giggles in response.
"It's been fun having live models as well," Yuzuriha added with a shy smile, finishing up sewing a floral mark on the end of the sweater Kohaku was wearing, "I used to try and get my old friends to dress up in my outfits, and it was a really great time. I missed seeing my work being used by others."
There was a hint of something sad in that, but no one allowed it to alter the mood. Kohaku groaned again, feeling entirely out of place with all of the attention and new fabrics on her skin. She understood that, for the other ladies of the Kingdom of Science, this sort of thing is amusing, but she was not for all of these girly sort of things. She was a warrior; she focused more on training and fighting, not on how she looked. However, when she had five sets of eyes all staring her down and pleading with her to come with them to Yuzuriha's crafting tent for this, she felt as though she couldn't say no.
'Really should've said "no",' she thought in hindsight.
"I got the sunflower you wanted, Yuzuriha!" yelled Suika as the melon-hatted girl came running into the tent, stopping a few inches short of the group that surrounded the pedestal Kohaku was standing on.
"Thank you, Suika!" the seamstress acknowledged, motioning for the flower to be placed onto the table next to where Minami was working.
"Yes, thank you! This is going to be perfect once I'm done," the reporter commented, placing down the comb and grabbing for a thick, dark blue hair tie on the same table, grabbing and pulling Kohaku's locks in order to style it back into her usual style.
Thankfully, she wasn't as rough with that as she was with the comb, much to Kohaku's relief. She also knew that this meant there was only a few more minutes of this left. She'll be finished up, look herself over, have her picture taken, and then she can go back to her regular outfit and her training. She just had to endure a few more minutes...
Once done with putting her hair back up, Minami grabbed the comb again, brushing through the locks in order to get that wildflower shape again, reaching for the sunflower after she was done and tucking the stem within the confines of the hair tie, positioning it to the left.
"And... I think we're done!" the reporter said with an excited squeal, moving back and going around to view the results of the ladies' hard work from the front, "Aww, Kohaku, you look so adorable!"
Hearing that word surprised the huntress. Adorable... her? That's definitely an odd word to describe her. Definitely different than "lioness" and "gorilla", among other beastly sort of words that were often used.
"So adorable!" Suika added gleefully, "Kohaku, you look amazing!"
Amazing... that's another new one. "R-really?" she stammered, her heart starting to beat a wee bit faster at all of the compliments.
Everyone else nodded as Yuzuriha uncovered her full-length mirror, allowing for Kohaku to take in the full sight of her new look. The huntress felt her breath hitch a bit in her throat as she gazed upon herself, her cheeks turning a very faint tinge of pink.
In place of her usual haphazardly hemmed dark blue dress, she wore a similarly colored sweater that modestly formed around her curves and baggy sleeves that left her shoulders uncovered, accented by a sunflower sewn at the right hem that matched well to the sunflower embedded into her hair. Black shorts that went to her fingertips and a loose white ribbon belt, paired with her usual strappy sandals and ribbon choker, finished the ensemble. It was a very simple outfit, but something about it made Kohaku feel very... cute. The pink turned a wee bit more red when she heard "cute" ring out in her head.
"... Wow..." was all the huntress could manage to get out from her lips, but it was enough for the crowd surrounding her to feel happy.
"Okay! Now to get that picture!" Minami exclaimed, reaching for her camera that sat safely on the other side of the tent, positioning herself back to where she was a couple of moments later.
She hummed, trying to debate about the angle and lighting of the shot she wanted to take, ultimately not happy with anything she could come up with. Kohaku felt a bit like sitting prey, shifting on her feet in an antsy, anxious sort of way, just wanting for the photo be taken. Sure, she was feeling more comfortable in the clothes she was in now, stealing a glance or two more in the meantime at the mirror to check herself over again, but she didn't like just standing there with eyes all on her once again.
"Ugh, this won't do! Let's go to the sunflower field. That will be a perfect setting!" Minami threw her arms after a few moments of pondering, already turning on her heels and leaving the tent.
Nikki and Yuzuriha were already following suit, with Kohaku hesitating. "W-wait, no!" she tried to fight, feeling too embarrassed to want to leave the confines of the tent.
It was one thing being like this with the other ladies, but she definitely didn't want to risk anyone else seeing her. She didn't want to hear any lecherous comments that could fall from the lips of someone like Ginro, or for her good spirited mood to be ruined by someone like Chrome wanting to make a comment along the lines of "you clean up well for a gorilla". She knew Yuzuriha would not be pleased if she decided to get into an one-sided scuffle in her new clothes, ruining the seamstress' hard work.
Her fight didn't last long, as Ruri pushed her younger sister gently from behind while Suika had a tight hold on Kohaku's right hand, forcing her off of the pedestal and towards the flap of the tent. "H-hey, come on! Ruri, Suika, please stop-" she started to say, wanting to plead a bit for her most beloved people to show her a little mercy, but the words stopped on her tongue as she heard Minami speak.
"Oh, Gen! Great timing! We just finished giving Kohaku a makeover~"
'… Something kill me now,' the huntress prayed, knowing that there was nothing that could spare her from her newly-found fate.
Gen Asagiri quirked a brow at hearing his name being called out by the rambunctious reporter. He was only passing by the tent, taking a nice walk as a break from the forceful labor he was pushed into and managed to temporarily escape, not knowing that anyone, expect for Yuzuriha herself, was inside. So to see Minami, followed by Nikki and Yuzuriha, calling out to him was quite a surprise within itself. To hear that they had managed to capture the usually quick and busy Kohaku and to convince her to allow herself to be "made over" was another surprise, albeit one that he was now very curious to see.
"Oh? What fun~" the mentalist sing-songed, his lips curling into a devilish grin, "I had known that you had given the other ladies a new look, but you now managed to get Kohaku-chan? Well done, Yuzuriha-chan~"
The brunette beamed brightly, "Yep! Come on out here, Kohaku! Show Gen your new look!"
There was a bit more of a sound of a struggle, but within a few seconds, the remaining ladies exited the tent, Suika and Ruri stopping their show of force now that Kohaku was outside. The huntress was a bit uneasy on her feet at first due to the pushing, but quickly recovered, her gaze locking with Gen's almost instantly. Her face turned an even brighter pink than before, bringing her hands up towards her chest, fingers fidgeting against each other out of both embarrassment and nervousness. "H-hey, Gen," she mumbled, looking away in order to not remain in contact with the staring mentalist.
Dark cerulean eyes went wide at seeing the huntress, and that devilish smirk of his faltered as he stood almost too stunned to speak. Several times, he had commented on Kohaku's appearance, albeit in hopes that he could be spared having her deadly blades against his throat, although he wasn't necessarily lying in those moments either. However, he had never been so struck by her beauty than in this moment. Her simple outfit showed off that side of her in a way that he had never expected, and the mentalist could've cursed himself for how he felt his chest vibrate from the extra beats of his heart.
Minami, being ever-so-observant on reading the expressions of her subjects, grinned at seeing Gen's reaction. If she didn't know better, she could've sworn that the mentalist was smitten. She bounced subtly on her heels as Gen's face turned a light shade of pink itself, almost confirming her suspicions. "Sooooo~ What do you think, Gen? Isn't she just adorable?" the buxom blonde pushed, wiggling her brows in anticipation.
Gen coughed, realizing his breath had caught in his throat. He didn't realize that he had done that. Another surprise, he supposed, about this whole turn of events. Still, he couldn't spend too much time on his personal thoughts about that oddity, knowing that he was now on the spot to give an answer. Kohaku's gaze turned back to him, and she shifted a bit on her feet again. She still felt entirely uneasy, but she wouldn't lie and say that she wasn't curious about what the mentalist would say. Compared to her other examples, she knew Gen wouldn't say anything perverted or degrading. However, he would likely use his flowery words in order to sound more genuine, wanting to prevent himself from being harm by her quick-to-act anger, and she wasn't sure if that would actually be worse. Gen was a fantastic liar, first and foremost, and while she appreciated that in other ways, she wasn't sure if she would enjoy hearing an overly emotive compliment knowing that it was a way to hide a lie.
"I think you look beautiful, Kohaku-chan."
Her breath hitched again and she continued to blush as she stared at Gen, noticing that he was also a bit flushed himself, trying to casually hide his sheepish smile behind his sleeves, his usually tricky eyes showing none of that usual vigor. He was being entirely honest, not a hint of a lie in sight. She swore that everyone could hear her heartbeat with how loud it was beating in her ears, trying to calm herself down but being unable to do so. Instead, she just looked away again, flexing her fingers in her nervous way. "Th-thank you," she replied, accepting the compliment as gracefully as possible, her lips set in a wavy smile.
The other ladies smiled, with all but Suika doing so knowingly of what Minami had already observed. It was obvious that he was smitten now. Could they have performed the first "meet cute" in over 3700 years? A stone world romance... how lovely did that sound? It was an unintended effect of their little plan, but a welcomed one nevertheless. However, they knew that it wasn't up to them to push them further beyond this interaction. It was possible that they could be reading in a bit too much into the situation, with Gen being as surprised by the transformation at Kohaku was only because it was something new and unusual. If any of them decided to take it upon themselves to try and play matchmaker, there was a chance that they could cause their occasionally shaky friendship to drift apart. They knew it would be best to not push and let things happen naturally.
… Although they would also be secretly spying on any future interactions from now on, in hopes of capturing a glimpse at future sparks.
"Hey, Minami, think we should start heading for the sunflower field now? We got a break in the clouds; I think that's going to be perfect for your picture," Nikki commented, trying to give them an excuse to depart.
"I agree! Let's get going before the clouds decide they want to come back," the photographer agreed, "See you later, Gen!"
Once again, Minami led the way, with Yuzuriha and Nikki following closely behind, Suika skipping alongside Kohaku and Ruri as the elder sister grabbed the younger by her wrist and pulled her along. Kohaku protested a bit, but ultimately knew she was of no match against the group, allowing herself to be pulled along once again. As she passed by Gen, her gaze trailed back to him, shades of blue mixing for a final time, turning pink and looking away again in order to focus on the sights before her, wanting to make sure she doesn't trip thanks to her being forced into the walk.
She swore she could feel him staring at her back as they departed, but never looked back to be sure. She didn't quite want to, afraid that she would be proven right. Her heart and mind both felt very unsure of the feelings that were now bubbling up, and she feared of what else she could feel if she had noticed he was still watching her after all of that.
Gen couldn't deny that he was feeling exactly the same.
Kohaku sighed for the umpteenth time that evening, sitting by herself next to the river that ran through the sunflower field. After the ladies got the pictures that were wanted, she managed to convince them to leave her be, wanting to just stay behind by herself for a bit. They were all agreeable, with all but Suika knowing that she likely wanted time to think about what had happened today, and left as requested, leaving her to stay as long as she wanted.
She sat with her legs bent inward towards her chest, arms wrapped around her knees. It was her most comforting position, often taking it when she is feeling disheartened or otherwise odd. She wasn't sure why, but she found something about being pulled tightly against herself to be grounding and was often a help with making her feel more at ease. However, this time around, it wasn't quite doing the trick, still feeling the occasional uptick of her heartbeat every time she replayed the scene of Gen staring at her as if in a daze, along with the soft echo of his words playing around her head.
"I think you look beautiful, Kohaku-chan."
Her fingers curled against her upper arms, and despite being entirely alone, she blushed again and cursed inwardly at the extra thumps she felt in her chest.
"Ugh... this is so ridiculous..." she muttered, "Why is this affecting me so much? It was just a compliment... right?"
Pale lips formed a pout, and she sighed again as she grew frustrated with the doubt that played along with the memories. She reached for the sunflower that still remained in her hair, taking it away from its place, bringing it down and staring at it strongly. It wasn't as though the flower could tell her the answer, yet she almost hoped that it would. It would make as much sense as anything else did today.
Her legs lowered, allowing her to settle the flower a little closer to her lap, fingers playing softly with the petals. She was careful to not pull at the petals at first, not wanting to damage the flower, but slowly began to detach them, tossing them to one side in an absent-minded fashion. One by one, the flower became nothing but a base of seeds, and Kohaku regretted her actions upon seeing what she had done. She had turned the beautiful flower into an ugly nothing... much like what she is going to turn back into once she removed the clothes covering her now.
She felt a burst of anger in her chest at that thought, throwing the rest of the flower away and curling back into the position she was before, burying her face into her arms. "So stupid," she muttered, her body quivering from the negative emotions that now overtook her.
The clothes were beautiful, sure... but once she changed back into her usual dress, it would be back to the same-old-same-old. The "gorilla" comments would return, and all of those unusual words – amazing, adorable, cute, beautiful – will go back to being unsaid. And that look Gen had in his eyes would be nothing more than a memory. A strange, haunting, yet somehow magical memory...
"Kohaku-chan."
The call of her name broke her out of her reverie, jolting upward quickly and turning around to see Gen standing no more than a foot away from her, casually smiling at her with hands tucked in his violet coat as he usually stood. "I figured you were still here, as I never saw you come back with the others. However, with it starting to get dark, I thought I would take it upon myself to see if you were alright," he continued, taking a few more steps forward to reach her side, sitting down to her right.
Kohaku frowned, letting out a loud "crap" in her head. Of all people... she was grateful with the setting sun, it would be harder to tell that she was turning any other color but her usual peachy skin tone. "I'm fine. Just wanted some time to myself, that's all," she replied, a bit of a dismissive tone in her words, although the mentalist paid it no mind.
He hummed a short "ah", but nothing further, remaining in his spot and looking out over the river as she was doing. She shot him a minor glare, but sighed softly again and altered her gaze. For the longest time, they sat there in semi-comfortable silence, listening to the water flow on and the gentlest of breezes rustling the flowers and trees that surrounded them. The sky had started to shift a bit in color, becoming more shades of dark blues and purples compared to the reds and oranges, signaling that nightfall was soon to come. Back at the base, likely there were already fires going in order to light the camp, with work winding down and coming to an end and everyone preparing themselves to eat another delicious feast prepared by Francois.
"I had meant what I said today."
Kohaku jolted, broken out of another reverie, her head turning towards her companion. "Huh?"
Gen didn't turn to face her, just continuing to smile while staring out over the river. "You looked beautiful today. I had meant that," he confirmed, and the huntress had to do everything in her power not to choke on the lump that formed in her throat.
"A-ah... thank you, again. That... that really made me happy to hear," she replied sheepishly, running a hand through her bangs and pulling them back awkwardly.
He chuckled, but the sound didn't last long. "However... I wanted to clarify to you that I did not mean only today," he continued, the tone of his voice causing a tremor to run up Kohaku's spine.
"... What...?" she whispered, her guard dropping and chest aching, her mind screaming from both anxiety and curiosity... not only today? What did that mean?
She turned to entirely face him, yet he didn't immediately motion that he was going to do the same, continuing to stare out over the river. "I will understand entirely if you think of my words as being nothing but some pretty lie, but I assure you that none of what I'm about to say are such. You can be free to stop me if you feel at any point that I'm not telling you the truth," he clarified, shifting his gaze towards her and catching the nervous expression etched onto the huntress' face.
Again, Kohaku felt thankful for the evening sky, hiding the tinges of unusual color on her cheeks. "O-okay," she stammered, agreeing to his terms. Anything to actually start hearing what he had to say.
The mentalist took this time to turn and face her, still grinning the way he always did, but with hands rustling within his sleeves. It was obvious he was hiding something within the confines of his coat, but what it was he wasn't quite ready to reveal.
"Have you ever heard of the term "femme fatale"?"
Her head fell to one side, a brow raised. "No. What's that?"
"It's a term that was often used in a variety of literature and art. It describes an attractive young woman who uses seductive charms – that is, uses her beauty – to entrap their lovers in order to gain what they want. Money, power, sex... whatever it is they desire, they get by tricking others to fall for their charms, and once they get what they want, these lovers are disposed of. Both figuratively and literally, depending on the case."
Kohaku remained confused, although largely because she wasn't sure what exactly he was leaning towards with this explanation. Gen smirked as he reached for Kohaku's left hand, coaxing her palm to open. In his other hand, he held one of Senku's crudely made scalpels, and he placed the handle of it into her hand. On instinct, she closed her fingers around it, holding it with the blade facing outwards, staring at it strangely. Why on Earth would Gen have this? He wasn't a fighter or anything, and everything was at peace now. Why would he have a desire to hold onto any sort of blade, let alone one so tiny?
She yelped in surprise as he pulled at her wrist, dragging her closer to him, her free hand settling on one of his knees to steady herself, with him keeping her other arm steady and the blade a few inches away from his throat. Lapis eyes went wide and she felt a sense of terror bubbling at the base of her skull. What the hell was this!? Why was he forcing her to place a weapon at his throat? She searched his irises in hopes of understanding, but found nothing but a playful glint that told her nothing more.
"The first time you held your blades to my throat, ready to cut me down as your enemy... this is what I had thought of you."
She flinched, eyes remaining wide and unsure, her lungs starting to feel aspects of a struggle to keep her breathing in check. Her hand was shaking around the scalpel, but she refused to let it go and risk it falling and cutting him from the angle they were now at. He chuckled again, feeling very at ease despite what, if it were any other moment, would be a very precarious situation.
"Of course, I didn't see a true femme fatale. You were fierce, protective, showing little hesitation in wanting to bring me down in the second I answered falsely. However, I couldn't deny that I felt rather captivated by you. I didn't lie when I said that I wouldn't have minded being taken down by someone as cute as you. If I were to meet my end, at least it would be by the hands of likely one of the most beautiful ladies I had pleasure of seeing with my own two eyes."
He let go of her wrist, allowing her to pull back and gain some distance, her heart rushing too much and she worried he could hear it with how close they were to one another. She dropped the scalpel onto the ground beside them, mentally admonishing herself for the action as she knew Senku would not be pleased to know that one of his tools was just so haphazardly tossed aside. However, she didn't know what else to really do about it, not wishing to hold it any longer than she already had. She brought that hand to her chest, fingers curled inward and nestled against the rapid beating, her gaze returning to meet with Gen's.
"Since that day, you have captivated me further. You've showed care for me, not knowing if I was going to truly be your enemy. You've treated Chrome-chan with the same affection of a sibling despite his beastly nicknames for you. I've seen your devotion to the Kingdom of Science. I've seen the tears you have shed for beloved Ruri-chan, and the tenderness in the way you hold Suika-chan. You show no fear in battle, no hesitation to protect your loved ones, and no holding back in expressing your emotions. All of that is a display of your beauty."
He reached for her left hand again, pulling it away from its position, coaxing her fingers open and allowing for him to take her palm within his own. It was the first time she had ever felt his hand like this, noticing how smooth his skin felt despite how the work that they do would make anyone else's start to turn dry and calloused. Her bottom lip quivered a fraction, mouth otherwise agape, lapis eyes frozen in their gaze. Gen's smile had softened considerably, his eyes still holding his playful glint yet there wasn't a bark to it that would tell her that he was about to pull off one of his evil tricks.
"I had no intentions of ever sharing any of this with you, but seeing you today... you had me awestruck. I had felt as though I saw a completely different side of you that I never imagined I'd see. I had never seen you look so shy, so unsure. You were entirely unguarded, not at all in your character, almost like a different person. And yet, I knew you were still the same Kohaku-chan that I had come to know. The same Kohaku-chan that captivated me the first time I laid eyes upon you."
His other hand brushed back her bangs from her face, and her entire body felt like it was on fire by the motion. She could feel herself shaking again, trembles shooting up her spine.
"You were beautiful then, you are beautiful now. And you will always be beautiful. No matter what clothes you wear, what scars you obtain, how your emotions may change. You are beautiful, Kohaku-chan."
The huntress swore she wasn't crying, but she could feel the sting of tears, quickly being followed by the trails of the ones she couldn't keep back flowing down her cheeks. She wanted to yell at herself, yell at him, call him out on his words being nothing but fibs, but it was obvious to her that he wasn't lying. She knew better than that by now, knowing when Gen was just playing others like fools and when he was being forthright, and this was one of those times. There was no jokes, no manipulation, no dishonesty. Every word he said, as flowery as it was, was a truthful admission, and Kohaku couldn't help herself as she seethed, holding back the louder sounds of the sobs that wanted to escape her throat.
Beautiful... such an odd sounding word. And yet that was her. She is beautiful. She's beautiful, adorable, cute... all of those strange and silly words that had always described the other ladies also applied to her. She was not the ugly husk of the sunflower; she was the sunflower.
She gently pulled her hand back, allowing her to bring both appendages up to wipe her eyes and cheeks of the tears, her head lowered so Gen couldn't entirely see her face. She grinned sharply, beaming brightly with no shame in displaying the pink blush that altered her skin. Her orbs glistened in the faint remainders of sunset, sparkling as she lifted her head again, showing off that dazzling smile.
"Thank you, Gen," she replied breathlessly, and the mentalist shared in her affectionate expression.
"You're welcome, Kohaku-chan," he earnestly replied.
Silence fell over them, but it was entirely comfortable and calming this time around, gazes remaining on one another. Although the moment only lasted a few seconds before the sound of Kohaku's grumbling stomach broke through the quiet, surprising them both. Kohaku became embarrassed again, not realizing that in her stupor that she had not eaten since breakfast that morning, but as the surprise wore off, the duo laughed at the sound.
"Well, I did miss lunch, so I guess that's a sign we should get back to base, huh?" the blonde stated, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.
"Yes, I believe so. By now, dinner should be ready. I'm sure we're in for another delicious meal," he responded, jokingly rubbing his stomach in anticipation for what was to come.
He reached over to pick up the discarded scalpel, hiding it again safely within the confines of his coat as before, both of them following the other's example in standing up and brushing off their clothes of any dirt. Together, they walked side-by-side back towards camp, starting up a conversation of events that had transpired that day to kill the time as they made their way back.
They hadn't entirely noticed – or perhaps, didn't want to acknowledge – that there wasn't a lot of distance between them, the backs of her left and his right hands occasionally brushing against one another as they traveled. Their cheeks still bore a hint of noticeable warmth, but it was another thing that went unmentioned.
They were also apparently blind to the sound of something rustling behind them, along with the flash of light and mechanical gear clicking, followed by the sounds of four young ladies giggling and giving a little cheer in successfully capturing an image of the duo together, feeling entirely happy that their unintentional match-making has already started to prove successful.
"Oh, this is going to be one of my best pictures yet!"
- end -
