THE STARS LOOK DIFFERENT AROUND YOU.✦ ݁˖
Kohaku x Fem!Scientist!Reader
SUMMARY : A case where kohaku sees herself having feelings for a person... but this person is a woman, is that a problem or not?
WARNING : lgbtq (shouldn’t be warning but it’s for the male!reader in case), fluff, no angst, Gen being a menace even there, cute kohaku,
The first sign that something was wrong with Kohaku was when she almost walked directly into a tree.
Which, for Kohaku, was impressive.
Not because she wasn’t capable of mistakes. But because she usually noticed things before everyone else did.
“Watch out—”
THUNK.
Kohaku smacked face-first into the tree.
Silence..with the entire Kingdom of Science staring. Even Senku lowered the glass flask in his hand.
“…Ten billion points for style,” he deadpanned.
The young female scientist immediately ran over.
“Kohaku! Are you okay?!”
The blonde warrior blinked twice before looking up. And the moment she saw the scientist’s face hovering over her… Her heart did something strange.
A violent thump.
Then another.
Then another.
And another.
Her face heated.
“…I am fine.”
“You literally attacked a tree.”
“The tree started it.”
“…”
The scientist looked toward Senku. Senku looked toward the scientist. Neither said anything. Because neither wanted to unpack whatever had just happened.
Unfortunately for Kohaku, this wasn’t an isolated incident. It kept happening. Everywhere. All the time.
Especially whenever y/n was nearby. And she was nearby often.
She had been part of the Kingdom of Science since the very beginning. One of Senku’s closest allies. Another scientific genius. Though unlike Senku, whose interests spread everywhere, she had specific obsessions.
Mathematics.
Astronomy.
Patterns.
Numbers.
The movement of stars.
She could spend hours explaining planetary motion and somehow make it sound more exciting than a battle story. Which shouldn’t have been possible. Yet somehow it was. And Kohaku loved listening. Not that she admitted it. Not even to herself….at first. Now the problem truly began one evening.
The Kingdom of Science was preparing for another long night of work.
Senku was arguing with Chrome. Gen was being suspicious somewhere..
The scientist sat beside a campfire with a stick, drawing calculations into the dirt. Kohaku sat nearby. Pretending not to watch making Y/n glanced over.
“Kohaku.”
“Hm?”
“You’ve been staring at me for like ten minutes.”
“I have not.”
“You absolutely have.”
“I was observing.”
“That’s literally staring.”
“…”
She laughed and Kohaku’s chest did the weird thing again. The horrible thing. The thing she couldn’t explain. The thing that made her feel simultaneously powerful enough to fight a lion and weak enough to collapse.
The scientist returned to her equations.
“You know,” she said, “if ancient people like you had telescopes, they would’ve figured out so much faster that the Earth wasn’t the center of everything.”
Kohaku listened like everytime.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
She began drawing circles. Explaining orbits. Distances and Planetary movement.
Normally, numbers should have been boring. Kohaku knew that. Yet when the scientist talked… Everything sounded fascinating. Her eyes sparkled, her hands moved wildly, the way she smiled while explaining like every equation was a treasure or every discovery was a miracle.
Kohaku found herself staring again. Not at the drawings. At her, the way her face lit up, the way she laughed whenever she got excited, the way she pushed her hair behind her ear without noticing, the way—
“Kohaku.”
“…Yes?”
“You’re staring again.”
Making the young woman burst out laughing That night, Kohaku couldn’t sleep, which was unusual….Normally she slept instantly, years of hunting and survival made exhaustion simple.
Sleep happened then the end.
Yet now she lay awake, staring upward…thinking….Dangerous activity… Because every thought somehow led back to her.
She was strong.
Smart.
Funny.
Kind.
Passionate.
Reliable.
Beautiful—
Kohaku froze.
“…Beautiful?”
She sat upright.
Wait.
Beautiful?
Since when was she thinking that?
Sure…The scientist was pretty….Objectively. But anyone could see that !!!
Her smile was pretty.
Her eyes were pretty.
Her voice was—
Kohaku groaned into her hands. Something was wrong. The next morning she sought advice. Unfortunately the first person she found was Gen. The universe hated her. Gen listened quietly and then smiled, but a terrible one, the kind that meant trouble.
“Ahhh.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Gen.”
“Kohaku, are you perhaps describing a crush?”
Silence.
The warrior stared.
“A what?”
“A crush.”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Very sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Gen leaned forward.
“Then why do you keep following her around?”
“…”
“Why do you know her favorite foods?”
“…”
“Why do you smile whenever she laughs?”
“…”
“Why do you look at her like she’s the moon?”
Kohaku nearly exploded.
“I DO NOT!”
Gen immediately started laughing which was incredibly unhelpful. And unfortunately. Once the idea entered her head it was hard to leave.
A crush.
Feelings.
Affection.
Love.
Whatever this strange thing was. The more she thought about it…The more it fit, and created a new problem, one much bigger.
Because the scientist was a woman.
Kohaku frowned….Not because she disliked the idea…Actually…The thought didn’t bother her at all. What bothered her was uncertainty.
Was that normal?
Was it acceptable?
She had never seen anything like it. The village never spoke about such things. Most relationships she knew involved men and women. That was simply what she had observed. So what did this mean?
A few days later she found herself sitting beside the scientist again. The young woman was lying in the grass watching stars with a notebook rested against her chest. Kohaku sat beside her.
Quiet.
For once.
The scientist immediately noticed.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“You’re being weird.”
Kohaku nearly jumped.
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
She turned toward her concern replacing amusement.
“Did I do something?”
The question hit harder than any punch.
“What?”
“You’re acting different around me lately.”
The scientist sat up.
“Kohaku, if something’s wrong, tell me.”
The concern in her voice was genuine. Kohaku’s chest hurt….In a good way. Which somehow made everything worse. The scientist pointed upward.
“Look.”
Kohaku obeyed.
The stars stretched across the sky. Brilliant. Infinite.Beautiful.
She smiled.
“Pretty, right?”
“Yes.”
“I never get tired of them.”
The scientist’s gaze softened.
“When I was younger, I used to think the stars made people seem small.”
Kohaku listened carefully.
“But now I think they do the opposite.”
“How?”
“They remind me how amazing people are.”
Kohaku blinked. The scientist continued.
“We’re tiny, Very tiny…But despite that…”
She smiled.
“We still learn, we still explore, we still care about each other and we still keep going.”
Something warm settled in Kohaku’s chest. Something gentle. The scientist looked toward her and smiled. Directly at her. Not the stars. Not the sky. Her.
“I think that’s beautiful.”
For a moment, Kohaku forgot how to breathe. And that night everything finally clicked like puzzle pieces falling into place or more like a scientific breakthrough such has discovering fire.
She liked her and not as a friend, not as a companion, not as a teammate. She REALLY liked her.
The real kind. The terrifying kind. The kind that made her heart race. The kind that made her want to stay beside someone forever. And honestly? She didn’t care whether it was strange. Or unusual. Or unheard of.
Because every time she imagined a future… The scientist was there. And that was enough.
Now the next challenge was confession…. Unfortunately. Because Kohaku was excellent at fighting but terrible at feelings…
“So.”
Gen appeared again like a curse.
“Have you accepted reality yet?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful.”
“Now what?”
“Tell her.”
Kohaku stared.
“…That sounds difficult.”
“It is.”
“Can’t I fight a bear and gift it to her to show my love instead?”
“No.”
“That would be easier.”
Several days passed and several failed attempts happened. Every time Kohaku tried speaking…Something interrupted.
Chrome.
Senku.
A random invention exploding.
Science (Science was the enemy)
But finally one evening the scientist was alone watching the sunset. Kohaku approached. Heart pounding and hands sweating. Which was ridiculous..She had fought lions but somehow this was worse. The scientist smiled when she arrived.
“There you are.”
Kohaku sat beside her. Silence. Then more silence. Then even more silence. The scientist narrowed her eyes.
“…Kohaku.”
“Yes?”
“You look like you’re about to execute someone.”
“I am nervous.”
“Oh.”
She blinked.
“Wait…You get nervous?”
“Apparently.”
The scientist laughed and the familiar sound helped a little.
“I have a question,” Kohaku finally said.
“Okay.”
“If someone…”
The scientist waited.
“…liked someone.”
She smiled slightly.
“Uh-huh.”
“And that person happened to be another woman.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Would that be strange?”
The scientist’s expression softened instantly.
“No.”
Kohaku blinked.
“No?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She looked confused.
“Because people love who they love.”
The answer came so naturally….So effortlessly like it had never been a question. Kohaku felt something loosen in her chest. Something she hadn’t realized she was carrying. The scientist tilted her head.
“Why?”
Kohaku swallowed then looked directly at her. Because she was brave. Because she always had been. Because running away wasn’t her style.
“…Because I think that person is you.”
Silence. Complete silence. The world seemed to stop. The scientist stared. Kohaku prepared for disaster. For rejection. For awkwardness. For anything.
Instead—
She smiled. Slowly. Beautifully. Warmly. The kind of smile Kohaku had fallen for in the first place.
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Oh.”
The scientist laughed softly.
“You know…”
“What?”
“I was starting to think you hated me.”
Kohaku looked horrified.
“What?!”
“You kept acting weird!”
“Because I liked you!”
The scientist burst into laughter making Kohaku groaned. But then the scientist gently took her hand making the young warrior froze. She squeezed lightly. And smiled.
“I like you too, idiot.”
Kohaku forgot every word in every language. Above them, stars slowly began appearing one by one. The same stars the scientist loved and the same stars she’d spent years studyin. Yet somehow for the first time Kohaku understood why someone could spend hours staring at them.
Because when something was beautiful..You naturally wanted to keep looking. And right now? The most beautiful thing in the world wasn’t in the sky. It was sitting beside her, holding her hand and smiling.
