"A fated person?"

The five children looked up at their mother, all wearing curious expressions. The youngest had been the one to ask the question, though it rested on all of their minds.

"That's right," said Mother. "Everyone is meant to meet at least one other person that will change their life forever. When a person is born, the gods tie a special red string to his or her little finger. That string connects two people who are destined to meet, no matter the distance. The string may tangle or snag, but it will never break."

"I don't see any strings," the second son grumbled.

"Of course you don't. Only the gods can see and touch them. But a few lucky people learned about their fated ones long before their lives intertwined."

"Like who?" asked the blue-haired middle daughter.

"That's what today's story is about. A young boy was walking home after a long day of fishing. On his way, he saw an ugly, skinny old dog lying on the side of the road. Taking pity on the poor creature, he offered it some of his fish. The dog eagerly ate the fish, and to the boy's amazement, it turned into a man. For that was no dog, but rather a god, and he wished to reward the boy for his kindness. So the god revealed the boy's red thread and showed who it was connected to: a young girl who lived in the boy's village. The god explained that this girl was going to be the boy's wife."

"Then what happened?" the youngest child pressed.

Mother smiled before continuing. "The boy, being young and having no interest in marriage, thought this a pointless reward. So he threw a rock at the girl before running home."

"If a boy did that to me, I'd punch him in the face, fated one or not," snarled the oldest daughter.

"Now, now, Hinoka," chided Mother. "You can't solve all your problems with violence. Besides, the story doesn't end there."

"Sorry…" Hinoka said sheepishly.

"That's our warrior princess for you!" laughed the oldest son. "Please continue, Mother."

"Many years passed, and the boy grew into a handsome young man. His parents arranged a wedding for him, and he was delighted to discover that his betrothed was the most beautiful woman in the village. On their first night as husband and wife, the woman removed all of her jewelry except a piece covering her left eyebrow. The man asked why she continued to wear it, and she explained that when she was a young girl, a boy threw a rock that struck her and left a scar on her eyebrow. She had hidden it ever since by using her jewelry. And so the woman was in fact the same girl the god revealed that the boy was connected to in his childhood."

"What a wonderful story," remarked the middle daughter.

"It sounds stupid to me," grunted the second son.

"Takumi!" yelled the other children.

The boy flinched, but pressed on. "But why would you marry someone you don't know or even like that much? I wouldn't want to be stuck with someone who threw a rock at me forever."

"Fate works in strange ways, Takumi," said Mother. "You'll understand when you're older."

"You always say that," pouted Takumi. "How much older do I have to be?"

He only received a big smile and a few giggles as his answer. Takumi huffed, placing his head in his hands. Maybe his siblings enjoyed mushy stories like that, but he wasn't buying it. Soulmates. The very notion was ludicrous, and the story even more so. Gods didn't exist. Red strings of fate didn't exist. And soulmates definitely didn't exist.

Takumi let out a small groan, fighting the desire to roll over and fall back asleep. What a strange dream for him to have now of all times. He felt both sadness and longing for those innocent days of storytelling with Mother and his siblings. Such fleeting memories of happiness were all but gone nowadays. Mikoto was dead and his family divided. Although Corrin swore that the true enemy wasn't Nohr, he still had his doubts. Trying to unite two opposing armies was a fool's dream-and Corrin was the only moron dumb enough to attempt it. If it weren't for Izana's dying wish, he never would have joined her. Corrin's reasons were vague and flawed at best, yet he didn't have the heart to leave Sakura alone. She was the main reason he stayed with the mishmashed group of Hoshidans and Nohrians.

He stretched out his limbs, feeling oddly sore as his muscles protested against the movement. He rubbed his tired eyes, willing them to open. Eyelashes fluttered as slowly adjusted to the morning light. Once he could see, he immediately woke up.

This wasn't his tent. Granted, it was still a tent, but not his tent. His tent was small and mostly bare, with the clothes on his back and his Fujin Yumi being his only possessions that would occupy the space. This tent was somewhat bigger, with a small stack of books sitting in the corner. A purple cloak was haphazardly thrown to the side, lying in a crumpled pile next to his futon. Actually, there was no futon. Just a simple linen blanket that did nothing to soften the pointed edges of rocks digging into his back. With an aggravated sigh, he sat upright. His spinal cord cracked loudly in protest, but he ignored it. The barest hint of sunlight streamed through the tent flaps, indicating it was still the early morning hours in the astral plane. He was about to get up, intending to give whoever did this prank a piece of his mind, when he felt something bounce. Something that most definitely should not have been there.

He looked down, his train of thought ending instantly.

What should have been a flat chest… was rising up. His hands rose against his will, taking hold of the two orbs and giving them a slight squeeze. That simple action gave him chills of the worst kind. His heart rate sped up and he could feel panic setting in.

"Th-These are—?!"

"Robin? Are you up yet?"

Takumi stiffened when someone he didn't recognize entered through the tent flap. The blue hair was the first thing he noticed, but this was definitely not Oboro. It was a young man, probably a little older than he was. The male had caught him with Takumi's hands still holding the fleshy mounds and simply stared at him for several seconds. Takumi felt his face burn up, though he wasn't sure if it was from anger, embarrassment, or both. Eventually, the man turned tomato-red and, faster than one of Fujin Yumi's arrows, ran out of Takumi's tent. He heard a distant yell of "I'm sorry! Don't kill me! Frederick, HELP!" as the voice grew fainter the further it went away.

Too shocked to truly care about who the blue-haired youth was, Takumi quickly stood up from the makeshift bed. It felt like he was shorter than he was supposed to be. Not only that, he was wearing clothes he knew were neither his nor of a Hoshidan design. He looked at his hands and legs, noticing how curved and soft they were. Gone were the built muscles and hard calluses that resulted from constant yumi practice. He picked up his shirt, just enough to look at his abdomen. Smooth and unblemished skin greeted him, no abs in sight.

Wh-what's going on?! What happened to me?!

After ten solid minutes of freaking out, Takumi finally calmed down enough to think clearly. The situation was no less alarming, but he more or less was able to figure out a few things.

First, the Faceless in the room: somehow, he was in a girl's body. This reeked of Nohrian sorcery. He should have known better than to trust them. The question now was who pulled it off. Surely not Corrin; she was barely a beginner at magic. Her butler could have done it to spite him, but he was loyal to Corrin and favored healing staves over dark tomes. That insufferable Prince Leo seemed the most likely culprit, but he was still part of the Nohrian army and thus had no access to the astral plane.

Speaking of which, it didn't take a genius to figure out he was nowhere near his real body. Just where was he anyway? Judging by the name, this "Robin" seemed to be Nohrian, but her attire didn't feature Nohr's crest. The blue-haired moron who bumbled in earlier didn't have typical Nohrian soldier garb, either.

Takumi ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He was getting nowhere like this. If he wanted to learn more, he was going to have to pretend to be "Robin". At least his new clothes weren't girly in the slightest; in fact, he found the eye-shaped patterns on his coat sleeves to be a bit creepy. On top of that, a birthmark on his right hand sported the same pattern, but at least he had fingerless gloves to hide it with.

He found a couple hair ties lying around and used one to tie his hair up in a ponytail. Robin's hair was much shorter than his, but the slight weight behind his head was comfortably familiar. It made him feel a little like his old self again, even if this body was still all wrong.

Next came weapons. Robin was smart; she kept a steel sword and a yellow tome within arm's reach of her sleeping area. Takumi swallowed hard, trying to keep his anxiety in check. He had zero magical aptitude and had no idea how to use a tome. Even in someone else's body he wasn't good enough.

He shook his head and strapped the weapons to his body. Now wasn't the time for those thoughts. If he wanted to get out of this mess, he'd have to soldier on. He could work a sword well enough; the design was different from a katana, but the concept was the same. As long as he wasn't put into a situation where he would be forced to use magic, he would be all right.

Finally ready—or at least as ready as he could be—Takumi took a deep breath and headed outside. As soon as he opened the tent flap, he found himself face to face with a blond girl with pigtails.

"Robin!" she exclaimed. "I was just about to wake you up since Chrom bungled it AGAIN. Whoa, your hair! It's… different."

Takumi tried his best not to panic. "W-well, I thought I'd try something different today."

Chrom. Was he that blue-haired moron who walked in on him? And it sounded like this wasn't the first time he had done that. Takumi was surprised the man was still breathing if this had occurred multiple times. So that meant that this "Robin" person he was supposed to be was patient, or at least had enough self-control to not murder perverts.

"If you say so," the girl said. "Anyway, try to go easy on Chrom, okay? He woke up half the camp with his screaming."

"I… see."

"Also, if you really want to fry him, make him lightly crispy. Last time something like this happened, you nearly roasted him inside and out. It took forever for those burns to go away, even with the help of three staves."

Yikes, thought Takumi. And I thought Hinoka was scary when she lost her temper.

"Where is he now?" he asked.

"Probably hiding out in Frederick's tent, hoping to live to see another day," the girl replied. "If you want, I can go get him for you. I doubt he'd want to come out if you were the one asking for him."

"That'd be great. Thanks."

Especially since I have no idea where I'm going.

"Honestly, I feel bad for Lucina. I can't believe she turned out so well with a father like that."

Wait, what?

"Father?" he repeated.

"Are you still half asleep? Yeah, I can't really get over how weird it is to see Lucina all grown up like that, but she really is Chrom's daughter."

He looks like he's not much older than me, but he already has a child? So, I guess we're in some sort of conflict where young men need to have children early on to continue their legacy?

Takumi sighed. "Just go get him."

The girl nodded before heading off to who knows where. Takumi was tempted to explore a bit, but there was a good chance he'd just wind up getting lost. He had no idea when the girl would return, so he ducked back into Robin's tent and browsed her pile of books. He had never heard of any of these titles, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do while he waited.

"Is this… a book on tactics?" he wondered aloud as he opened the cover of one. It seemed Robin was into strategizing. He wondered if she would have been a good shogi opponent. He doubted these people had even heard of shogi, but he suspected Robin would have loved to learned to play. That became even more apparent when he read the numerous annotations Robin had scribbled on the margins. She had circled paragraphs she deemed important and added her own thoughts on the book's ideas. He became so absorbed that he almost didn't hear the girl from earlier announce she had returned.

Startled, Takumi slammed the book shut before darting outside. The blond girl was tapping her foot and frowning impatiently. Next to her stood the blue-haired idiot, and it was obvious he feared for his life.

"R-Robin!" Chrom squeaked. "I'm really sorry about earlier! I swear I didn't mean to!"

"You are an idiot," Takumi said before he could stop himself.

"I know. You've mentioned that quite a few times…"

"And yet you still do dumb stuff like this."

Chrom hung his head low. "Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

Takumi couldn't stop a devious smirk from spreading across his face. "How about a week on latrine duty?"

Chrom's eyes widened. "Robin… Mercy, please."

"I've been merciful enough considering you're still alive after all the stunts you've pulled. I think this proposition is quite reasonable, so take it like a man and deal with it."

"You really messed up this time, Big Brother!" the blonde girl snickered. "Looks like Robin's feeling particularly evil today!"

"Lissa, you're not helping," grumbled Chrom.

"Well, no sense wasting time," said Takumi. "Go on! Snap to it!"

As Chrom reluctantly accepted his fate, Takumi covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

Gods, this is more fun than I could have imagined. Maybe being stuck in someone else's body won't be so bad after all.

Robin snuggled into her pillow. Her bed felt so much softer than usual today, and that made the prospect of getting up highly unappealing. Surely Chrom could wait another ten minutes or so. Unfortunately, the birds didn't have the same idea. They simply would not stop their chirping. Finally fed up, Robin reluctantly lifted her face from her pillow.

Her eyes opened, and she immediately noticed the missing stack of books. Not to mention the space she occupied was so much smaller than she remembered. Her favorite purple cloak was missing, as well as her sword and Thoron tome. Instead, a strange pile of clothes and fur sat in the corner, accompanied by what appeared to be a bow without a bowstring. The sleek, curved wood glistened beautifully and the golden accents on the ends gave it an almost royal appearance. It looked expensive in her opinion; something she would never own, let alone use.

Something was very, very wrong here.

Robin sat up and frowned. "Lissa, did you—"

Her hand shot to her throat. Her voice definitely did not sound like that. Hesitantly, she glanced down at herself. She was garbed in some kind of loose nightshirt, which made the absence of her breasts all the more obvious. Furthermore, she felt something between her legs that was absolutely not supposed to be there. Unable to stop herself, she reached down and touched it.

The scream that came from her throat was as girly as a man's voice could sound.

What in the world happened to me?! Is… is this Tharja's doing?! Oh gods, what am I going to do? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO USE THE LATRINE LIKE THIS?!

"Okay Robin, stay calm," she muttered. "I just need to find Tharja and get her to reverse this. Surely she'll do anything if it makes me happy, right?"

She was about to go out and do just that when a half dozen people burst into the tent.

"MILORD, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"LORD TAKUMI! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"Brother, are you alright?!"

"TAKUMI!"

"Takumi, what's going on?!"

"B-Big Brother, are you okay?!"

Robin's head was spinning. She did not recognize any of these people. And who was "Lord Takumi"?

"Wh-what are you all doing in here?" she asked. "For that matter, how did you all fit in here? I can't even move like this!"

"W-we all heard you scream, Big Brother," a girl with pink hair stuttered. "We thought you had been a-attacked!"

"Big Brother"? Robin thought.

"Takumi, you know you can come to me if you have a nightmare," said the one with red armor.

Gods, he looks like a lobster! And what the hell is up with his hair?

"I-I'm fine," Robin managed to squeak out. "And no, I didn't have a nightmare."

She was currently living a nightmare, but that was beside the point.

"Then what was that scream about?" asked a white-haired girl.

Robin gulped and frantically tried to think of an explanation. "Um, well, I… I saw a roach!"

"A roach?" repeated the redhead.

"Yes! A huge, freakish, nightmare one with gross, hairy legs! It was HORRIBLE!"

Lucina, Inigo, thank you…

"You're saying that all that screaming was over a cockroach?" the redhead asked incredulously.

"If you saw it, you would have screamed, too," said Robin. "But there's nothing to worry about anymore. It's gone, now."

"Fear not, Lord Takumi!" declared the wild looking guy with a scar on his face. "I shall scour every inch of this astral plane and make that roach pay for daring to lay a single hairy leg upon you!"

"Wha—?!"

Before she could utter another word, the guy was gone. The blue-haired girl dashed after him, shouting something about finding the roach first. There was a brief period of silence as everyone turned back to her, concern shining in all of their eyes.

"Are you sure you're all right now?" asked the lobster man.

"Yeah. So uh, you all can go back to your own tents now."

The remaining strangers did as she asked, albeit a bit reluctantly. They still looked worried and Robin felt like they all saw right through her lie. She decided to worry about that later. Figuring out exactly how she ended up in someone else's body was more important.

Who could have done this, and why? Obviously she was no longer in Valm, so the spell had to have been extremely potent. The Shepherds certainly had no shortage of enemies, and attacking the tactician was a sure way to lead them to certain doom. It begged the question of what happened to her real body. Was the real Takumi experiencing the same thing?

Speaking of which, this "Takumi" seemed to be someone of rank, since two of those crazy people addressed her as "Lord". She wasn't sure how long she could keep up her ruse, since she didn't know what nobles normally acted like. Chrom was a poor example and Maribelle's vocabulary was far too formal.

Takumi was also clearly an archer, which presented another problem. She had never held a bow in her life, and if she was asked to participate in combat she would immediately be busted. How was she going to get around that?

Her train of thought was disrupted when she felt a distinct pressure in her nether regions. Her face turned a brilliant red and she gulped.

"Oh, gods. I have to pee."

Following an extremely uncomfortable latrine visit, Robin returned to her tent with a sigh. She supposed she was just going to have to get used to all the "charms" of living as a man.

I suppose things could be worse. At least I have a nice face. And REALLY pretty hair.

She had caught a glimpse of her reflection in a pond on her way back from the latrine. She had to admit, even with a wild mane of bedhead, Takumi was very easy on the eyes. She was more than a little jealous that a boy could have hair that pretty. Then again, it was technically her hair now.

She untied her strange robe-like nightshirt and her mouth fell open at the sight of lean muscle underneath. Gods, this boy's body was as beautiful as his hair. An image of Chrom standing naked in the bath flashed into her head and she immediately sobered. She quickly changed into Takumi's strange clothes, being sure not to peek anymore.

Now what am I going to do with all this hair?

She was tempted to braid it; partially to keep it out of the way and partially to see what it looked like in a braid. She doubted Takumi was the type to braid his hair, though, and the feminine style would definitely look suspicious. Ultimately, she settled on a simple ponytail. She tied off the top with one hair ribbon and the bottom with another, leaving the shorter strands loose.

Finally, she picked up the strange bow. It was significantly heavier than it looked, which surprised her. Stranger still, there was no quiver in sight. How did Takumi use a bow without a bowstring or arrows? It didn't matter in her case since she would have failed miserably even with an ordinary bow, but she couldn't help but be curious.

Steeling her courage, she exited the tent once more. Barely two seconds later, the two crazy cockroach hunters returned and kneeled before her.

"Lord Takumi! We are pleased to report that the astral plane is now cockroach free!" declared the scarred man.

Robin blinked. Wow. That was… remarkably quick. That's some dedication.

"We weren't able to tell which one was the culprit, so we just killed every roach we could find!" added the blue-haired woman. "You won't have to worry about them disturbing you anymore!"

Robin was too stunned to utter anything other than a quiet "Thank you?"

"Just so you know, I killed more of them," bragged the man.

"Don't you dare lie! We both know I got more of them!" the woman snapped.

"W-wait just a minute here! This isn't a contest!" Robin interrupted. "I'm glad you did that for me, but there's no need to fight over who did better!"

The two of them gasped loudly, and Robin stiffened. Oh no, did I say something wrong?

"Oh, Lord Takumi, you're so considerate!" the two exclaimed.

"Every day I'm reminded of how lucky I am to be your retainer!" declared the woman.

"Hoshido should be proud to have a prince like you!" the man added.

They continued to gush, but it all went over Robin's head. She could only focus on one thing.

I… I'm a PRINCE?!

I know I said before that I wasn't going to post WIPs anymore but my co-author just could not wait to show this to the world. Heart of PureSilver and I both recently watched Your Name and we loved it, and since we both wanted to make this AU we're writing it together. We had a ton of fun writing this chapter and all its craziness. I decided to post this up as a teaser of sorts. I can't say how frequently this will update because we are both notoriously inconsistent writers, but I don't plan to post more until we've got at least a few more chapters written. Until then, enjoy this small taste of the chaos we have in mind.