Sook-hee x Hideko

Sook-hee x Hideko is the femslash ship between Sook-hee and Hideko from the The Handmaiden fandom.

First part
Sook-hee and Lady Hideko meet when Sook-hee goes to work as a maid for her in her Japanese mansion. When Sook-hee arrives at the mansion, Madame Sasaki, the woman in charge of the service, guides her through the place and tells her that she will sleep next to Hideko's room, who, she explains, wakes up easily. So on her first night there, Sook-hee is startled by Hideko's screams after she wakes up from a nightmare. Sook-hee runs to calm her down, explaining that she is the new maid, since the previous one was fired. Sook-hee gives her a teaspoon of sake, because she says her aunt gave it to babies when they cried. And then lies down next to Hideko, trying to calm her down.

After introducing herself as Tamako, Sook-hee reminisces on her "mission" there at the mansion. She came undercover, with another man who claims he is a Count, but it's actually there in hopes of seducing Lady Hideko, to marry her and then get all her fortune by declaring her "insane."

When Sok-hee meets Hideko and is officially introduced to her, she is shocked by her beauty and taken aback.She hands her a letter of introduction, while Hideko tells her that she is in a depressing place, where her uncle doesn't let the sun in so that it does not spoil the books, and tells her that she's forced to read to perverted men, something that makes her head hurt. Later, Sook-hee helps Hideko to bathe, because Hideko tells her she will receive a visit from the Count. But while bathing, Hideko asks Sook-hee to help her fix a slightly broken tooth with a thimble, for which Sook-hee has to put her finger in Hideko's mouth. So the two of them share a very intimate moment while doing this, with high sexual tension.

After the dinner with Count Fujiwara, Hideko and Sook-hee help each other undress. Sook-hee is marvelled at Hideko's beauty and at all her beautiful dresses. And she thinks that all these things will be hers once Hideko gets scammed by the Count. However, later, Hideko opens her heart to Sook-hee and tells her that her mother died during childbirth and regrets having been born. Sook-hee is deeply upset by her words and as she gently holds Hideko's face in her hands, she tells her that no baby is guilty of being born.

The Count arrives, interrupting their intimate moment, and sends Sook-hee to run errands so she can leave them alone. Sook-hee does it all as fast as she can because she doesn't want to leave Hideko's side and to prevent the Count from abusing her. However, when she comes back, she sees Hideko on top of the Count, which makes her terribly jealous. And Hideko quickly backs away from the Count as soon as she sees Sook-hee's pained expression. Sook-hee immediately flees to a distant port so as to not think about Hideko.

Later in the night, Hideko calls Sook-hee from her room, although she takes a long time to come, and reproaches her for not going to see her when she returned or helping her remove her makeup and undress. Assuring her that she will have nightmares, Hideko asks her to sleep next to her. She then tells Sook-hee that the Count proposed to her to run away together as soon as her uncle leaves the mansion. But she also shares that she doesn't know what "men want" since her mom never got to teach her how to be intimate with men. So Sook-hee tells her she can show it to her, showing her how to kiss. As they kiss passionately, Hideko gets aroused and the two of them start having sex, with the excuse that they're doing it so Hideko can "practice for the Count."

The next day, Hideko continues with her classes, while Sook-hee observes how Hideko feels annoyed with the Count's attention, so when he gives her money to look for something to do, Sook-hee refuses to leave Hideko alone, claiming that her job is to take care of her. This infuriates the Count, who later scolds Sook-hee for "ruining the plan." So Sook-hee asks him not to put too much pressure on Hideko, because it scares her and she will shut down.

After their talk, Sook-hee now follows the plan, and she tries to get Hideko excited, telling her that if she marries the Count, she will be able to leave there and travel. But Sook-hee tells her she's in love with someone else, as she longingly looks at Sook-hee.

In the end, Hideko accepts to run away, stating that she'll only do so if Sook-hee comes with them. So the three of them go and once there, Hideko and the Count get married. The count, however, fearing that the two would run away, paid someone to spy on them. And once they travel to town and go to the mental health hospital, Sook-hee realizes that the nurses start grabbing her, saying she's the Countess. As she screams that she's not, she's forcibly taken inside the hospital.

Second part
The story, now told from Hideko's point of view, reveals all of the childhood abuse she received from her uncle, which continued during her adulthood. So when the Count came pretending to love her, Hideko saw right through his lie. And when the Count realizes just how smart Hideko is and that she will never be seduced by a man, he suggests another plan where they can trick her uncle and divide the money in half. Hideko lets it be clear that she doesn't want to marry anyone and that she's planning to kill herself. But the Count convinces her that if she does that, all the money would go to her pervert uncle. So upon reflecting on this, Hideko decides to call a handmaiden in, with the aim of locking her up in the asylum, with her name.

So the dislike Hideko has of the Count now becomes apparent, and all the scenes of Hideko and Sook-hee are now shown again in a different light. And Hideko starts feeling extremely guilty of what they're planning to do with Sook-hee, as she's also starting to fall in love.

So at night, while she's alone with Sook-hee, she starts telling her about all the wonders she could see from travelling. However, Hideko says that she could be content in the mansion, not going anywhere else, only if Sook-hee was there with her. She tells Sook-hee that she doesn't love the Count, but Sook-hee keeps following the plan, and insists that Hideko is really lucky to have someone like the Count. So Hideko gets serious and with tears in her eyes, she asks Sook-hee:

Sook-hee follows the plan no matter what and tells Hideko that she will fall in love with the Count. Hideko furiously takes Sook-hee out of her room and goes looking for the rope that her aunt used to hang herself from the cherry tree outside, as she repeatedly thinks that she wishes she would've never been born.

When she is about to do it, Sook-hee appears, holding Hideko by the legs. She immediately confesses to everything she was sent to do, and apologizes, begging Hideko not to kill herself. Hideko then asks her if she's worried about her, since she cares about her. And reveals the part of her plan where the Count wanted her to be the one locked in the asylum, instead of Hideko. Sook-hee gets really mad at the Count, letting go of Hideko for a few seconds, only to quickly grab her as she starts choking. After this, the two decide to change plans and to become allies.

When the uncle leaves, Sook-hee is finally able to explore the library. When she sees the kind of books Hideko is forced to read, she's enraged to see the way Hideko has been forced to read this her whole life. Sook-hee starts ripping all the books and destroying them. Hideko watches her with tears in her eyes at first, shocked by how passionate she is about defending her, so she joins Sook-hee and the two of them destroy the remaining books. Then, the two leave together loaded with suitcases, fleeing happily.

Third Part
After leaving Sook-hee in the asylum, Hideko and the Count go to a restaurant. The Count suggests marrying Hideko again, for real, since he claims he has fallen in love. Hideko asks him if he's not sorry about leaving Sook-hee and if he's thought about how she feels, but he assures her that he isn't.

Meanwhile, a fire breaks out in the asylum, allowing Sook-hee to escape. At the hotel, Hideko prepares a glass of wine for the Count, putting a few drops of the concentrated opium that he gave her. After they kiss and the Count tries to initiate something more with Hideko, she tries to drink from her glass, hoping he'll do the same, but he doesn't. So she takes a sip of his glass, kissing him and transferring the liquid repeatedly until all of it is gone.

He then gets really aggressive with Hideko, trying to rape her as he claims that "women feel the greatest pleasure when they are forced," as reflected in her uncle's books. However, before he can do anything with Hideko, he falls senseless to the ground, letting Hideko know that her plan worked out. Right after this, Hideko goes to be reunited with Sook-hee, and the two of them hug each other tenderly.

When the count wakes up, he sees two men waiting for him who take him back with them to the Kouzuki mansion. While Sook-hee uses her skills of forgery to create a new id of Hideko passing her as the count (with a photo she took of Hideko dressed as a man), Hideko sends her uncle a letter saying that the Count was an impostor trying to kill him. So the uncle decides to torture the Count in the basement where he tortured his wife.

Meanwhile, Hideko and Sook-hee go to the port, where although they are looking for them, they manage to outwit their pursuers, because Hideko disguises herself as the Count, managing to change their destination without problems. The two of them then ditch Hideko's engagement ring and costume while aboard the ferry. And in their cabin, the two of them are finally able to freely love each other.

Fanon
On AO3, Sook-hee x Hideko is the most written ship for both Sook-hee and Hideko. It is also the most written ship in The Handmaiden (2016) tag. There are currently 36 written works.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION