(no subject)

[estirose]

Just quickly, two new(ish) fics, Kamen Rider Gaim fandom:

Seeds: Takatora is trying to do things right this time.

Smoothing Skirts (564 words) by Estirose
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Kamen Rider Gaim
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kureshima Mitsuzane
Additional Tags: Genderbending
Summary:

Michi does her best to balance out her worlds as a corporate heir and a dancer with Team Gaim.

The first one needs a new title, but I'll eventually find one for it. The second one is a genderbent Micchy, and I could go on and on about it; however, suffice to say that I can easily see a genderbent Micchy going down the same path as canon!Micchy (with maybe a little different version of "Oh, Kouta, stop doing things I have to fix for you, seriously, what do I have to keep you out of trouble?"). And it may yet get new parts, but it's marked as complete just in case this is too ambitious.

ETA: And now with bonus commentfic (note: sexual relationship between a sixteen year old (Michi) and a twenty year old (Kouta) implied).

And more fic in the commentfic's universe, for fan_flashworks! Pass the Forest By, wherein Michi and Kouta prepare to have sex for the first time around episode 16.

And even one more fic, Takatora POV. Michi gets what she wants.

Comments

[reka]

Both of these fics make me so happy.

[estirose]

Thanks! I have to admit I wish I knew where the heck the genderbend idea came from, but on the other hand (having finally caught up with Gaim), I can easily see Michi strongarming Sid for the belt, refusing to part with it because she's a girl, and just kind of going on from there. (Kouta is kind of in love with her in my brain and would love to ask her out, but she's too oblivious about it because she's too focused on herself, and he just can't seem to ask. So that's going nowhere.)

[reka]

I could see the Kouta thing. It is pretty clear that Kouta doesn't have those feelings for Mai, and as much as Micchy is absolutely willing to do anything whatsoever for Team Gaim, he has completely failed to take into account their feelings for him.

I wonder if Takatora would be more protective or more distant? If anyone could find a way to be both, it's Takatora.

[estirose]

I think a little of both? There's going to be some prejudice about her being a girl, so he's going to be more protective of her and more distant, because she's not male and therefore he's going to be more hands-off, if that makes any sense. (He's also going to be more hesitant to bring her into Yggdrasill and into the plan, but she's a resource he can't afford to waste now that she's aware of things she's not supposed to be.)

[reka]

I agree with the hands-off thing-- I think part of the reason Takatora got into so much trouble with Micchy is that he was a little too confident that they were the same. Takatora just doesn't understand people very well, alas. Micchy isn't always good at people either, but he has the excuse of being a teenager who keeps five bazillion secrets reflexively.

Poor Michi probably gets patronized and/or called a shrew on a regular basis.

[estirose]

Takatora seems to think everybody thinks as he does (at least his inner circle), so I wouldn't be surprised. I think it's part of the reason he's also willing to reveal things to Michi just as he does to Micchy - even if she's a girl, she's still a Kureshima and he raised her. She might be more hesitant to do what has to be done, but as far as he knows, he;s raised her right.

Michi does have a reputation for being a cold, antisocial girl at school, and with the teams (and especially the Riders) she gets derided constantly for being an Armored Rider. But as far as she's concerned, someone has to look out for the people who make her happy, and if she has to be an Armored Rider, so be it. (She has a better grasp of tactics than most of these lunkheads anyway.)

[reka]

And he knows she's very smart. As smart as he is or moreso, maybe.

Absolutely. And who better to be an Armored Rider for the good of the people she loves than someone who was never going to be able to stay with them to begin with?

[estirose]

Yes. Which is why in some ways he's relieved that she knows - because she may be able to find a way to save more people in Project Ark if she knows what's at stake. She's a Kureshima, after all, why wouldn't she be dedicated to the Project just as he is?

Of course, she wants to stay with Gaim forever, and even if she's somewhat in denial about being able to stay, she's still going to do what she needs to do for them.

(A part of me is glad that Michi's oblivious to Kouta kind of being in love with her. It wouldn't be too hard for her to evaluate the pros and cons of being in a relationship with him, including finding a way to not be a Kureshima anymore.)

[reka]

Yes. And such a relationship would always have the potential of getting really bad, especially since a relationship wouldn't make Kouta any less naive.

[estirose]

Yes. Michi would quietly plan out how she thinks things should go in their lives and presume Kouta would go along with what she has planned. In the meantime, Kouta would just be overjoyed that this cute, smart girl wants to go out with him, and has no clue as to how Michi really feels. And in the meantime, Michi would have no problem taking away Kouta's driver if she feels like he'd be happier if he wasn't constantly running in to save the day.

(Of course, the worst thing she could do is get Kouta to get her pregnant, but I think even she isn't so self-absorbed that she wouldn't realize that this would be a catastrophic idea.)

I found a Michi image for my headcanon, incidentally - the girl on the left in this image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=267116113474906&set=pb.256124267907424.-2207520000.1405965426.&type=1&theater

[reka]

She looks like a good Michi headcanon.

I doubt she'd be allowed to get pregnant. It could always happen by accident or personal choice, of course, but given how much it'd restrict her movement and opportunities I think she'd generally avoid it. She might not even be allowed to get married-- it would be detrimental to her studies, certainly, and it might be seen as incompatible with her business destiny. I don't know. I think her worth for making a strategic marriage would be lower with Project Ark and such.

[estirose]

I agree. The only advantage it would have for her is that she might get to be a Kazuraba instead of a Kureshima - and she's too valuable an asset for that to happen. As far as her family is concerned, she was born to be at Yggdrasill. Takatora should be the one that gets married.

Poor girl. She's going to go as insane as her canon counterpart in the end.

[reka]

Takatora getting married would be hilarious, but yes, I think it'd be a lot easier for him to have a wife than Michi have a husband.

Agreed. Maybe for slightly different reasons, but in the end they're not different enough.

And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

Michi turned to observe Kouta as he slept. He looked so much her age, so innocent, for all he was four years older than she. She enjoyed her time with him like this, because for all his innocence he seemed to have an instinct for when something was troubling her and moved to help.

After her brother had taken her to the ruins of Helheim, she'd needed comforting. She'd somehow ended up in bed with him, though not without precautions - she, as a Kureshima, was on birth control, and she'd long stuck condoms around the place just in case anybody got any ideas. After all, she couldn't have someone's pregnancy cause Team Gaim to fall apart.

She alone carried the guilt about Yuuya. Kouta could never know that he'd unknowingly killed their friend and leader. She treasured his innocence, and she didn't want him to lose that endearing quality. She was trying to keep him away from the Inves and Yggdrasill and keep him safe. Even if he didn't like it for a little while, eventually he came to accept everything.

It was what endeared him to her.

Kouta had asked, hesitantly, if he could meet her family. She had demurred, knowing it was an awful idea. Even if her brother was allowing her to stay in Team Gaim as a mole, he would go ballistic if he found out she was dating one of the street rats she was supposedly observing. She'd sometimes entertained getting pregnant herself and marrying Kouta, but that would hurt Team Gaim, infuriate her brother, and force Kouta into the life she never wanted him to have at Yggdrasill - she wanted to see his gentle smile every morning, not one that cracked because of what was going on with Project Ark. As her husband, he would be part of a terrible project that would break him.

No, she wouldn't ask that of him.

Michi would keep Kouta as innocent as she could, because that was part of her duty to him and the team. Keep smiles in their faces and joy in their hearts. Her team loved her and she loved them back, and she'd do anything to keep that going.

Re: And while I'm at it....

[reka]

Comment fic! It's always exciting. Birth control as a precaution, or had she dated/considered it before? I feel like Takatora wouldn't have thought of birth control unless she'd said something first. Maybe if someone else said something like "Michi's a teenager now, right? Does she have a boyfriend?"

Re: And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

Thanks! I agree that Takatora's a bit clueless, so I figure one of two things happened. Either a family member realized that Michi was a teenager and well... was a teenager and might still do stupid things despite being incredibly intelligent, or Michi herself realized that getting pregnant would be a bad idea and got birth control (presumably by convincing a doctor that she suffered from bad cramps and then convincing Takatora - who probably didn't want to know about that part of the experience - that it was medically necessary for her to have it so that she could concentrate on her studies).

Re: And while I'm at it....

[reka]

My older brother had no idea when I started my period even though I didn't hide it. He never had to act as a parent, of course, but he seemed not to know the average age at all. Takatora may have examined some resources or something, but I could see him not stocking up on sanitary pads in preparation or something like that.

I have friends who have cramps that are so bad they'll sometimes skip school on the first day, one of whom was on birth control for a time despite having no plans whatsoever for sexual activity.

I want so badly to know about the Kureshima parents. Their children are in a locked-down area and the oldest may or not be dead. How important are they to be completely absent now?

Re: And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

I'm wondering that too. Are they overseas? They probably have no clue about what's happened with their kids - hopefully they're worried about them.

My Takatora muse is currently bothering a Ryouma muse on why his baby sister is having severe cramps and hasn't told him about them until now. (The Ryouma muse is kind of amused.)

Re: And while I'm at it....

[reka]

I would imagine that your Ryouma muse is frequently amused. I mean, does Takatora expect her to tell him about all her woes? That's kind of a strange thing to expect from a teenage girl.

I hope so. It strikes me as very odd that they could be unaware their kids are in deep trouble.

Re: And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

Yes. The parents are either dead (and nobody there knows because everything's cut off), or they can't get through to anybody to check on said kids. Or they're busy dealing with the revelations and trust Takatora to take care of Micchy.

(Takatora taking his sister to the doctor might be a bit scary, given that he's concerned but kind of crap at showing it, and Michi's busy trying to appear vaguely sick so that her brother doesn't suspect she's doing this to get birth control when she shouldn't be active. Thankfully for her, she does not get bad cramps.)

Re: And while I'm at it....

[reka]

Unless for some reason he realized that birth control just to be safe would be a good idea. I think bringing it up might be awkward for him, though. And I really have no idea what Takatora thinks about sex. Whatever it is, it's probably not "my younger sister might be having it." I don't think he would think of her as old enough to be interested even though she definitely is.

Re: And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

I have no idea what Takatora thinks about sex, but I'm sure he doesn't think Michi having it. She's too... responsible and studious, if a bit hesitant to bother him about things (like getting sick from cramps). He might look things up and see that it is birth control and even for Michi, it would be a good idea to have some backup.

(Safe to say, it wouldn't end well for Kouta if Takatora found out that they were sexually active, even if Michi initiated it.)

Re: And while I'm at it....

[reka]

As Kouta is several years older (and a Beat Rider), I don't think Takatora would be inclined to believe that Michi could've initiated.

Re: And while I'm at it....

[estirose]

No, not at all likely, given Kouta's social status and age. (I'm not sure about statutory rape laws in Japan, but Michi's too young to consent, no matter how she feels.) It would not be a good time for Kouta to find out the identity of the White Rider.

At least Michi is intelligent enough to keep this from happening. Takatora might find out about her being Ryugen, but she wouldn't go into details for her own sake (an for the safety of her team).

And more of my brain musing

[estirose]

Takatora smiled at his little sister as she nervously clasped the bag. He supposed she was a bit put off by having to take birth control pills for her cramps, but it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. Michi knew better than to be sexually active, even if she didn't seem old enough to be thinking of such things. Which the doctor thought she was.

"It's all right, Michi," he reassured her. "I don't think less of you for having to take these."

She shook her head briefly, turning to the view outside. He was looking forward to having Michi back to normal and her scores up to what they used to be. It was too bad that she'd waited so long to tell him, but that was Michi's way. She didn't bother him with things until she had to.

Takatora wished she'd be more open with him, but as Ryouma had pointed out, she was a teenager and sometimes even the most obedient ones didn't want to talk about things and even got sullen sometimes. That was after he'd been pacing in Ryouma's lab, and he suspected that the scientist had spoken to get Takatora out of there so that he could do his job.

Really, why was he asking Ryouma anyway?

He wondered if Michi had already figured out what she had and had been too embarrassed by what she'd need to take care of her problem. It wasn't like she wanted to talk - she had always been the quiet one, even as a little girl.

And it was a good backup, just in case something happened beyond Michi's control. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about that, but he'd had a lot on his mind.

He gave his sister's hand a small squeeze and turned to look out his own window, knowing that all would be as well as could be soon.

Re: And more of my brain musing

[reka]

That's true, Micchy wasn't really talkative to Takatora at any point. The first time or so we saw him actually avoiding Takatora (even though Takatora completely bought the studying explanation).

I'm so glad I know people who I can discuss the menstrual cycle of an AU fictional character with.

Re: And more of my brain musing

[estirose]

Yeah, it's not exactly something that most people would be comfortable with.

My Takatora muse is currently around episode 16 and trying to wrap his head around his younger sibling being a Beat Rider. Hopefully he'll stop bothering me so I can listen to tonight's lecture on employment law.

Re: And more of my brain musing

[reka]

I don't have many problems discussing normal bodily function, so if you're ever uncomfortable, just let me know. I don't always catch myself when I'm getting gross.

Poor Takatora. I hope he shuts up long enough for you to concentrate. Employment law sounds like something you can't pay attention to sporadically.

Re: And more of my brain musing

[estirose]

I'm not good at catching these things either, so I have to be told when I'm being gross as well.

Thankfully, the employment law stuff is part of my business law class, but I still don't want to be distracted when the professor's talking. Besides, I need to review 16 again before I can write anything decent (and remind Takatora that in canon, his younger sibling does not require birth control).