⠀⠀⠀⚔⠀⠀⠀+⠀⠀⠀rambling⠀⠀⠀—⠀⠀⠀the possibilities of their relationship fascinate me; Saruhiko and Varang are my favorite characters from their respective titles, so this came from me obsessing over them at the same time and—Mr. Kraaabs! I have an ideeaa!

⠀⠀⠀Important warning: I can't truly view their relationship as standard romance due to Varang's nature, so I describe it as very toxic and complicated. I think this is a comship, basically a "complex ship." Controversial, problematic, weird morals. Nothing about this is to be viewed as romantic in this specific setting I will present. I may try to think of them in a happy relationship another time, but it will be hard since I really don't want to make Varang change for a man.

⠀⠀⠀And I'm not a professional writer, so there may be some inconsistencies or nonsense; I'm just doing this for fun.

⠀⠀⠀+18⠀+18⠀+18⠀+18⠀+18.

⠀⠀⠀!⠀⠀⠀—⠀⠀⠀guide⠀⠀⠀·⠀⠀⠀𖹭

⠀⠀⠀01. how⠀they⠀meet

⠀⠀⠀02. character⠀&⠀dynamic

⠀⠀⠀03. intimacy

⠀⠀⠀03. summary

⠀⠀⠀01. how⠀they⠀meet⠀⠀⠀·⠀⠀⠀𖹭

⠀⠀⠀I believe Varang would have been the first to take interest in Fushimi's presence when they first met. Perhaps when she comes to the human base with Quaritch, Fushimi could be there to gather intel since Scepter 4 is a political organization that needs to keep up with what's happening. Varang is extremely perceptive and strategic; it would be easy to notice one of the people in the crowd was staring at her weirdly while taking notes on some technological device—maybe a lot of people did that, so let's just think Fushimi stood out because he didn't seem as passionate as others to see her, and also, since he seemed like he was from another organization from his uniform resembling other people in the crowd, his being slightly different was also eye-catching. And, as they lock eyes, Fushimi would be suspicious of her.

⠀⠀⠀There's also another possibility of Fushimi being in a forced mission in Pandora—because of his sedentary lifestyle, he wouldn't want to take the task, but Munakata and Awashima would pressure him to do it, and Varang would find him and keep him as a captive. It's an easier way to keep up with the narrative.

⠀⠀⠀In the first possibility, it's hard to think about how they would start actually interacting after this. Varang is bold and takes what she wants; she could advance closer to Fushimi, startling the crowd, which backed away along with Fushimi, who did it for safety reasons while placing a hand on his saber. Not familiar with technology, she inquires about Fushimi's device; he clicks his tongue as he starts muttering a quick and vague explanation about a PDA.

⠀⠀⠀Enough about how they met; I'm more interested in their interactions and dynamic. (˶˃𐃷˂˶)

⠀⠀⠀02. character⠀&⠀dynamic⠀⠀⠀·⠀⠀⠀𖹭

⠀⠀⠀This section is long; you can jump to the summary. I'll basically talk about the way they act and their motives, how that would create a type of relationship, and how their relationship would be.

⠀⠀⠀I've been thinking about the potential dynamic between Varang and Fushimi for a while, and the more I think about it, the more I feel like their relationship would be defined by something complicated and not totally comprehensible or established; they could have mutual opportunism rather than pure trust.

⠀⠀⠀Varang is cruel and sadistic; she's been interested in being strong and viewed herself as powerful since she was young—it is confirmed that she poisoned her father as a teen because she considered him weak for being blinded by fear; her sister would become the leader after his death. We don't know what happened to her for Varang to become leader instead. Avatar Fire and Ash: The Visual Dictionary is the source—continuing, she's very pragmatic. She knows how to shift the way she acts when it benefits her. If someone has something she wants, she can act more disarmed, friendly, and cooperative because that's simply another tactic to reach the objective.

⠀⠀⠀The way of thinking and acting isolates her more from the other Na'vi, even the ones in the Mangkwan Clan, because it's shown how they seem to act lower to her—in the scene Lyle shoots one of them while he's hidden, the Ash People freak out while Varang makes sure to identify where he is; or in the scene she shoots a member of her clan to use them as a weapon to explode the ship from the Wind Traders, the clan member is ecstatic to be the one shot, willingly accepting their fate. There is no explanation for that, though it's believed that she brainwashes them to keep herself the most rational one.

⠀⠀⠀On the other hand, Fushimi struggles with human connection in an entirely different way. It's more explored in other Lost Small World and other titles how he fails to form a connection with people due to his own struggles messing with his perception of self and relationships, consequently getting in the way of a connection. His emotional distance, provocative attitude, inability to express himself, and the way he never feels like he fits anywhere make him difficult to approach and even harder to understand. He's also someone inconsistent because his behavior is copied from his late abuser, his father, because he believes that's how he should act to protect himself and that he's broken like his family, even though Fushimi doesn't enjoy acting that way; we've seen him acting with care when handling babies because he didn't want to hurt them, being softer and protecting his allies too, and having an unhealthy need for validation and attention that someone cold, detached, and cruel wouldn't have—sometimes he could lash out, sometimes he could ignore, sometimes he could give in; that's also part of the work he's doing to get what he wants from her; he feels like he needs attention and he learns how to get it in one way or another—just like he does by teasing Yata on the points that hurt Yata the most.

⠀⠀⠀When it comes to Fushimi, there's not a big amount of proof of his behavior besides the interpretation of his personality because K doesn't have much development nor content to fill in the unanswered questions—fans need to do Gora's work.

⠀⠀⠀I think Fushimi's inconsistency is exactly what would catch Varang's attention when it comes to their relationship.

⠀⠀⠀Someone like Fushimi wouldn't behave the way she expects people to behave under her. It wouldn't be easy to control or intimidate at one moment, but maybe it would be at another when his mind is weaker—taking note of how unstable he was at K: Return of Kings—he could be shaped or act worse towards her. As much as he cooperated with her, Varang would never know when he was about to snap again. That could make him interesting and maddening in the sense of someone she might want to observe, test, and, for sure, use. Creating a bond through frustration and working the way to fascination on both sides because as much as Varang uses Fushimi, he's smart enough to realize he's being used and take that to his advantage as well because this is just pretend; he, of course, has weak moments, but he isn't oblivious. He could catch the patterns of her trying to break his mind for him to be her slave.

⠀⠀⠀I'm not sure it's even possible to write them without some level of inevitability or doom in their dynamic. And honestly, I wouldn't want to soften Varang for a man to make it work. Her personality is part of what makes her fascinating, and I wouldn't want to diminish that just to make a relationship function in a conventional way.

⠀⠀⠀The shift from cooperating with each other for benefit to something more intimate would happen slowly and accidentally. They could realize they understand something ugly about each other that no one else seems to notice, even if they see their ugliness in different ways. Their unusual romantic relationship starts with curiosity and conflict. I believe Varang wouldn't see Fushimi as an equal like she did to Quaritch; she could still see Fushimi as someone to tower over and enjoy how he won't make her feel bored with the way he acts.

⠀⠀⠀I see Fushimi trauma-bonding with Varang. Something about her behavior accidentally aligns with the patterns his mind is already familiar with, creating a twisted form of attachment he would be aware of and continuing either way—Varang does have a bit of his father's cruelty. She's focusing on him to give orders and keeping him closer because he's a good weapon with Scepter 4, intelligence, and actual weapons, like guns; she likes to use the power of guns—he can interpret that attention in a way that mirrors the emotional conditioning he missed as a kid; he can realize the attention is conditional and deliberately perform competence or obedience to keep that going because even though Fushimi's mind can be fragile, he can see right through people's methods, as I mentioned before.

⠀⠀⠀Also! Rewarding system. Varang uses that as a form of manipulation; competence and obedience would be acknowledged by her to signal that she values him being useful. The inconsistency of how she treats him is exactly the kind of reinforcement pattern that deepens trauma bonds. Fushimi would still hate parts of it. There would be moments where he recognized that Varang was manipulative and dangerous in similar ways he felt before. Snapping at her comes from those moments, but familiarity with the dynamic can make it difficult for him to fully detach.

⠀⠀⠀I think Fushimi could also have bad behavior towards Varang due to the environment he's in and also due to his already existing flaws regarding relationships; even if that's a trauma reaction—as an example, Yata—Fushimi is possessive. Fushimi doesn't usually show traditional romantic jealousy, but when he forms deep attachments, they can become intense and territorial because he rarely lets people close in the first place. If Varang treats others with the same attention she gives him—by observing, using them to her benefit, and showing interest in their behavior—he might get hostile because he wants that attention for himself only so he won't be replaced again.

⠀⠀⠀And it's important to note Fushimi also hurts people to get what he wants; that's shown in one of the first moments of the anime where he drugs a student to knock her out so he could go over her phone to accomplish a mission given by Scepter 4. Also, he has more petty ways of committing crimes just to get Yata's attention, willingly stabbing him for no reason at all during a fight he started because he feels the need to be looked at by Yata. While Varang also uses drugs and hurtful methods, she uses them to manipulate people.

⠀⠀⠀Besides Fushimi having bad work ethics, I don't think Scepter 4 would exploit Pandora here; they could work in the shadows to protect the Na'vi because the point of the organization is to maintain order and reinforce law, never acting on cruelty—I also think Munakata would be delighted to analyze the fauna and flora there—but the Mangkwan Clan doesn't follow the Great Balance to an extent that it harms others, so they could be a common enemy for Scepter 4 and other Na'vi clans. Thinking about if they would work with them first or if that would not be possible since the Ash People are completely out of Scepter 4's morals. Anyway, this is a draft I wrote for fun; don't mind the inconsistencies.

⠀⠀⠀Varang is overly controlling to keep her clan as the one in power, mostly herself as the most powerful one. Fushimi uses his already existing subtle and indirect way of communicating to feed her selective information, letting her underestimate him on purpose, and provoking interest; basically, making him seem less than he actually is. He notices that Varang doesn't actually discard him even when he has abandonment issues, so sometimes his instability isn't even real. Emotional need + survival instinct + control.

⠀⠀⠀I didn't want to make Fushimi sound like a victim because I know he can be, on some level, as bad as Varang if that dynamic is explored well enough if we look at the amount of things he's done to get what he wants, no matter if it's trauma-induced or not. Imagine him misguiding another clan member to maintain himself close to Varang. Exploit divisions within the Mangkwan Clan? How about testing boundaries the same way she does, but less visibly? I want some moments where the difference between them blurs with them still being different from each other—Fushimi doesn't need to be as extreme as she is to use the same methods she uses to benefit him; it works even on a smaller scale.

⠀⠀⠀03. intimacy⠀⠀⠀·⠀⠀⠀𖹭

⠀⠀⠀It's a consequence of keeping them close; that closeness will eventually turn into proximity where they naturally feel somewhat alright at being next to each other. Sometimes she would place a hand on his shoulder to guide him somewhere else because she would not respect personal boundaries from the start, but Fushimi would start doing the same thing she does by grabbing her wrist to take her somewhere; acting casual about it may not startle her, especially when he tries to present himself as harmless. She'll play his game even while knowing it's not true because he follows a pattern she's aware of. While that presents itself as normal, it can also be a manipulation tactic.

⠀⠀⠀As time passes, those touches could stop having any meaning, becoming something normalized between them; with that, they need to get bolder to continue the mind games by invading each other's body more intimately. I could think about their first kiss coming from that kind of heat; we can't be sure of who started it as a form of provoking one another because when they started it, both of them were rough and fought for dominance—Varang obviously not using her full potential because she's got an insane physical advantage against him, LOL. That also tells about her not wishing to cause great damage to him.

⠀⠀⠀The lines of their relationship will gladly blur even further, the two of them still believing they have everything under control still—ignorantly—there's no need for not to be direct when Varang wants sex; she enjoys the pleasure, as she had mentioned wanting to make Quaritch a slave to bring her pleasure, so we already know this type of physical closeness goes way beyond mating to her. Playing with their prey is fun, so she might tease and corner him before getting to the point sometimes, getting Fushimi more annoyed and prone to being aggressive with her during the act—while she maintains herself as the dominant one, of course.

⠀⠀⠀Varang wants to break him; the start of sexual acts could also be the start of the obsession she can have for him, matching the one he's building up too. Pin him down and take his willing body while he doesn't fight back just because he doesn't want to fight back; pleasure can be a great stress relief and, most importantly, a way to keep her close to him, so even though Fushimi may get aggressive and complain, he is willing to continue with that because with the expertise and weapons he's got, he can surely get away if he wants to.

⠀⠀⠀Manipulation and possession would still be a part of the act since that's a big part of their dynamic. It's such a raw act; they couldn't not use that as an opportunity to get closer to each other so they could eventually get the other mad. It's a weird game they're into.

⠀⠀⠀In the end, they can be a bit similar in a way, I suppose.

⠀⠀⠀04. summary⠀⠀⠀·⠀⠀⠀𖹭

⠀ ⠀⠀⬩⠀⠀⠀How they meet: In the first scenario, Varang takes interest in Fushimi around the crowd because he's acting differently from them, and he looks like he's a part of something, which is Scepter 4, but she doesn't know. She can use that.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀In the second scenario, Fushimi's forced into a mission in Pandora by Munakata and Awashima because he's a Scepter 4 officer and that's his job, but then he would be kidnapped by Varang and her clan.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀The "meet" section doesn't matter that much; I'm just trying to give a reasoning.

⠀ ⠀⠀⬩⠀⠀⠀Character & dynamic: Superficially breaking down their personalities, Varang is controlling and sadistic, and Fushimi acts on trauma but still takes situations to his advantage in a criminal way to get what he wants.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Varang uses Fushimi for her own profit.

⠀⠀⠀Fushimi learns Varang's tools to replicate them in a subtle way.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Both are aware that neither is completely fooling the other, yet they continue their game because none of them are fighting back.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀They keep each other close because they can exploit each other's resources and emotions while knowing that's happening.

⠀⠀⠀Fushimi strategically interrupts her meditating or other activities, proves he's not entirely under her, and does things to intentionally get her attention.

⠀ ⠀⠀⬩⠀⠀⠀Intimacy: Not a traditional romantic relationship.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀They get close because they keep each other close for profit; consequently, turning into familiarity, then their barriers lower.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Over time, physical space stops meaning anything.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Curiosity: during their mind games, Varang wants to see how he would react, wants to know what breaks him and what doesn't, toying with him in every way. Fushimi wants to understand Varang's patterns better, wants to feel more with her, and maybe even tries to redirect to breaking her instead.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Physical closeness is a form of control too; Fushimi gets harder to discard. He can try to distract her while Varang wishes to gather more intel. Both of them want to assert dominance, destabilize, and observe reactions more intimately sometimes.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Maybe their first kiss came as a deliberate provocation from either one of them, meant to get a reaction.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Varang doesn't have her sexuality much explored, but it is obvious she enjoys pleasure when she commented on making Quaritch a sex slave. Varang grabs, pulls, and corners Fushimi, touches everywhere expecting some kind of reaction while Fushimi allows her to do it because he could pull away and fight back with his weapons, but he doesn't.

⠀ ⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀Sex would come for pleasure and possession. Even at their most physically intimate, the manipulation doesn't disappear.