Hi! I want to give you some numbers Ship Questionnaire if of course then okay;
Ooh, thank you for asking! I love talking about Takara and Kabuto, and am excited to answer these!
1.) Introduce your ship. Which characters are involved? What media is the ship from? (if applicable). Is it a canon x canon ship, oc x canon, oc x oc shipping, or self insert x canon?
My main ship is a canon x OC ship between Kabuto Yakushi (from Naruto) and my OC, Takara Tengai. Kabuto and Takara serve Otogakure (the Village Hidden in the Sound), which is a network of laboratories and hideouts run by the villain, Orochimaru. Kabuto is a prodigy medic, scientist, and spy who serves as Orochimaru’s right hand and later ascends as a major villain. Takara and her defunct clan, the Tengai, are heavily inspired by komuso (shakuhachi musician-monks) who wear baskets (also called tengai) over their heads.
16.) What would happen to each character if they had never met each other?
Since I largely write this ship as canon-compatible, for Kabuto, I’m going to answer with what I think could have changed in canon had they not met. But I’ll start with what Takara would have done had she not joined Orochimaru.
Takara leaves home in an already half-defeated search for her father. If her detective work is good enough to lead her to poking around Otogakure, she’s likely killed or captured (depending on the mood of whatever grunt finds her), and has a far worse time as a lab specimen (warm or cold) than she gets as a consenting and enthusiastic volunteer in WWT. If not, she starts wandering the world as a hermit. Maybe offers manual labor, music, or bamboo crafts in exchange for money or food. Tries to keep her head down, but accidentally kills a few innocents with her unchecked sleeping silence ability while spending the night somewhere. Possibly ostracized as cursed or something before she retreats once more into solitude, or somebody powerful captures her and forces her to become some kind of weapon.
In my lore, Team Dosu’s abilities are a result of Takara and Kabuto’s early collaboration. Takara was the biological template, and Kabuto’s research into her abilities and clan led to the developments that were used to give Dosu, Zaku, and Kin their lab-created sound-based abilities. Kabuto’s bad blood with Team Dosu during the chunin exams in canon is, in my work, a product of the strain between the three parties, and would perhaps not exist had Kabuto and Takara not met. No partial hearing loss for Kabuto. He needs a new excuse to withdraw from the last leg of the exams.
Kabuto misses out on a fair bit of emotional turmoil that the complications in his relationship with Takara cause. Ironically, maybe if he’d been allowed a straighter path from his Nonou trauma to just serving Orochimaru with his head down and no personal stakes, perhaps he’d have been allowed the bandwidth to self-actualize on his own and get up the gumption to betray Orochimaru (as I think Kishi originally planned).
27.) If one or multiple characters in a ship like to cook, what would be their favorite meal to surprise their partner(s) with?
Kabuto does most of the cooking between them! He usually cooks tidy, perfectly-balanced, healthful meals, but if he wanted to surprise Takara with something special, it would be something decadent that breaks routine, like pancakes with fresh strawberries and cream.
Takara would surprise Kabuto with some kind of fish dish, local to the Land of Rice Paddies. Some kind of comfort food. Maybe something like the Vietnamese caramelized catfish in a clay pot dish, since catfish are often found in rice paddies and would probably be a common source of protein for locals. I have a lot of Southeast Asian-inspired headcanons for this region. Since her father picked up the bamboo-cutting trade, she probably also grew up eating a lot of bamboo shoot dishes.
29.) Does your ship have any particular symbolism?
Oh, where to begin. We’ve got:
Winter/Spring (Kabuto/Takara) - Winter is polarizing, cool, and monochromatic. The thinking person’s season, also heavily associated with the need for survival, as well as death. Winter yields to Spring. Death happens so life and creation can flourish. Kabuto has let any hope of finding his own sense of identity die, but he puts his energy into helping Takara grow hers. Spring is warm, colorful, creative, and amicable, and is associated with growth and renewal. With Takara’s warm, wild, springy hair, sun-kissed complexion, and eyes the color of new growth, she looks like spring. Kabuto, pale-haired and complected, with black eyes, looks like Winter.
Lies/Truth or Subterfuge/Investigation - Kabuto tells lies and keeps secrets, and Takara uncovers the truth. One gets better at their craft, then, in-turn, the other also steps up to improve. They don’t see this as being at odds, or evil vs good, but as a balanced loop of constant mutual self-improvement. Both skills are beneficial, especially to a pair of spies.
Name symbolism: coincidentally, both have names after types of headwear, meant to protect the wearer, but in different ways. “Kabuto” means “helmet,” something to protect a wearer physically, while a “Tengai” is a face-obscuring basket worn to protect one’s identity and to offer spiritual protection against one’s own ego. This falls in line with each of their values: Kabuto values safety, and Takara values self-actualization.
There’s also the very fun coincidence (I swear, I did not plan this) that Kabuto becomes a dragon, and Takara’s name means “treasure.” What do dragons love? Treasure.
There are probably more, but I’ll leave it at that! I know this was really long, but I loved answering. 💜
