Soyo did not particularly see things in black or white (and how could she, when her soul was tinted in between?), but there were things that she could easily group to the either side of the firm line.
Blatant declaration or not, that ginger-haired guy was indeed the devil's prodigy –anybody could tell. In Soyo's case, the classification of him as an unholy existence was supported by too many facts: he grinned in battlefield; he finished those shinobis who were supposed to be his allies; he shared Okita's kind of gaze (but Okita had Kondo as a filter and line of reasoning –and this brought a difference), but mainly –
"So relax. If you're saying you can only cut down villain…"
–it was the bullet aimed straight to her heart that formed an indisputable argument.
"…I'm one hell of a villain," he promised.
Soyo did not always easily group someone as a villain, but Kamui was an easy exception.
Kamui registered limited things in his memory.
He remembered his favorite foods; he remembered the humid apartment and the annoying cries of that brat of a sister; he remembered the satisfaction of officially defeating his father; he remembered the discomfort of staring into his mother's weak eyes (but he could never remember his mother's face, he did not know why); he remembered the nicknames of the interesting people he vowed to crush (the white-haired samurai, Shinsuke, the earth policeman); he sometimes recalled Abuto's warnings (which he never adhered to). Kamui remembered plenty of things actually, but he selected them, only those which mattered.
His trained eyes caught the brief movement of the intricate-patterned kimono which swayed as its wearer made a panicked run for her life. He associated her with a well-based assumption that she was their target's little sister and made some prediction on how many seconds she would have left to live. He admitted he extended the observation slightly after that –stopping at the thought that she was a hinder to his exciting soon-to-be fight with the policeman-disguised murderer. The moment he fired the bullet to her was the last thing Kamui remembered about her.
He thought it stopped there.
(But it did not)
What Pumps the Blood (Faster)
a Kamui/Soyo fanfiction
Chapter 1 - Synapse
[set five years after the current timeline; reference to Gintama's 2nd Movie and Shogun Assassination Arc. Spoilers, with numerous tweaks to the canon verse to adjust with this fanfic's outline]
"Hime-sama."
Her status as a royalty was already an old history, but even after nearly five years, Soyo still turned her head around at the mention of the honorary calling. There were not many people who still called her that –Jiiya died three years prior, most Edo people and government no longer acknowledged her as their princess, the 'Old Bakufu dogs' Shinsengumi had been disbanded (again) with the (re)capture of Kondo last month. Still, the greeting was nostalgic and exactly because she knew there was a very few people who was still around to call her that, Soyo shifted her gaze from her brother's now modest tomb to the face of her ex-bodyguard.
"My, my, Okita-san," Soyo acknowledged the man with a smile. She had not seen him for nearly a year, and she suddenly missed all the familiar offal-eating session she used to have with him. "Aren't you eager for a voluntary capture?" she said, referring to the fact that it was blatant daylight and Okita Sougo remained on the new government's top most-wanted criminal list.
Okita shrugged casually; his now long, ponytail hair swung to his side and for a moment, Soyo mused at how the man could afford such a good haircare even with his wanted-person status. "Yeah. Heard the new prison is supplied with the latest electrification chair model. Hijikata-san has been complaining of his backache lately. I was thinking of stealing one from the prison for him."
"Poor Hijikata-san," Soyo frowned sympathetically. "If it helps, my late uncle actually had a collection of electric whip back home. It was a torture device but I heard ten whips every half an hour would be good for one's back. Feel free to use it to heal Hijikata-san, Okita-san."
The edge of Okita's lips was pulled into a smirk. Kondo's order was the only reason he would serve the Tokugawa family, but he supposed, he quite liked Soyo enough to respect her at his own will.
The public cemetery complex was vacant, and since he was as alone as she was, they decided to sit on the bench in the scorching hot July afternoon weather. Whenever she was with Okita, Soyo never talked too much formalistic pleasantries. But since it had been nearly a year since she last saw him, she felt like it was justified to ask those mundane things (how had he been, basic conversation about the latest development in the White Plague medication, the Joui Patriots –general things except those relating to Kondo).
But eventually it reached the topic which broke the chain of mundane talks and shook Soyo's calm speech.
"This is just a rumor I heard from Kuro Planet's immigration office. But it seems that the China brat is in a spaceship back to earth."
"So, sister," Kamui broke the silence in a sing-song voice. "When can I meet that policeman again?"
Kagura did not divert her gaze from the spaceship's window. The spaceship was already entering earth's stratosphere and despite her newfound resolution to face her fear and return back to earth after four years leaving it, Kagura suddenly had an urge to turn the spaceship to the other direction. Not that it was virtually impossible to be done: after all, it was a small private jet, spacesuits were available, and with a little persuasion (like a bet to determine the strongest one), Kagura could coax Kamui, Abuto and the other two Yatos to help her literally turn the spaceship to the opposite direction.
Kamui heaved a heavy sigh at Kagura's silence. "You know. The only reason why I agreed to babysit you back to earth was because I thought I could meet those strong samurais again. If –"
"I never asked you to come," the sister hissed coldly; her fist clenched tightly. They had passed the lowest atmospheric layer now. She knew she would land on Edo in less than five minutes and it agitated her. "And why should I know anything about that tax-eater sadist?" she asked her brother back –partly to ease her from the nervousness of going back to earth again.
"Aren't you close with him?" Kamui asked nonchalantly –immediately earning an unamused stare from his sister. Deciding that it was not the case (and heaving a regretful sigh for it), Kamui decided to move on from the thought of his first love (battlefield) and go with his second one (foods). "Hey, I thought private spaceship serves you at least two lunches? How come we haven't got the second one?"
Kagura remained silent. Knowing the darkening mood of his captain behind that still cheeky smile of his, Abuto joined the conversation, "Because, uh, Captain, we're illegal passengers here?"
"Aah, right, right," Kamui acknowledged as he scratched his head. "Bratty Sis, this trip'd better be worth it. I'd have enough of weak opponents. Shinsuke never wakes from his comatose and apparently you don't even know how to get me to meet the policeman. Well," he yawned as he stretched his legs –and was unable to fully do so because Abuto's knees were on the way. Mildly scowling at the extremely economic seating, Kamui added, "I won't mind extending my stay in earth to find that white-haired samurai. He's been missing for –"
"Gin-chan is dead," Kagura stated tonelessly. "You won't find him anywhere."
Kamui rolled his eyes. "Then why would you return back to earth again?"
When Kagura did not answer (again), Kamui already knew better.
A part of Soyo could not forgive Kagura for leaving earth without notice four years prior. She understood that the news of Gin-san's death must have impacted Kagura so, but Soyo was expecting something: heart-to-heart talk, letters, anything. There were times when Soyo planned to start the correspondence first, but she was always unable to trace where the sukonbu-lover girl was. Rumors had it that she joined the Harusame, others corrected it to the rumor saying that she was merely following her father slaying aliens with the ex Harusame's Seventh Division –not that Soyo knew which one was correct; there was not many she could get a clarification from.
Soyo had the chance to seek for clarification –now that Kagura had returned and had been staying on earth for the past weeks, but Soyo chose not to. Okita had questioned her choice –to which Soyo answered with a similar question ("Why don't you go and meet her?"). Okita answered simply that he did, by chance, thought that there was nothing groundbreaking about it and that 'China is now as boring as Hijikata-san's 10 pm drama'. Soyo thought she detected something akin to regret in Okita's tone, but she might be wrong.
Putting Okita's sentiment on Kagura aside, there was of course still a curiosity laying in the depth of Soyo's heart about Kagura's new return. Did Kagura really change? Why hadn't Kagura contacted her for all these four years? Would Kagura still even remember her? Was Kagura still her best friend?
The thoughts and the stubborn curiosity prompted Soyo to go around Kabuki-cho more often (despite the warning that the town had not been fully cleared from the White Plague). Soyo hid herself behind the corner wall for the fourth time that week as she watched the trending 'Gura-san' made a clean sweep of the thugs in the area. It felt weird to break out from her hideout now, but Soyo couldn't help but to have her attention focused on the new Kagura. She took pride in her best friend –she always did. But upon seeing this new Kagura, she felt the pride was clouded by a bigger sense of bitterness, and she supposed, she could kind of understand Okita's sentiment.
Soyo felt the said man made a step closer until he stopped behind Soyo. A sad smile was spread on her lips. "She has always been strong, but she is insanely strong now. She probably won't even remember me, will she, Okita-san?"
"Not that I will blame my sister for that. Who are you and what business do you have with my sister?" said the person behind her. The nano-second realization shook Soyo because while she did not technically know whose voice was that, she knew that it was not Okita. And worse, it was not a voice of someone with a good intention.
Wide-eyed and cornered like a caught rabbit, Soyo dared herself to make a turn.
Kamui might have forgotten who she was; but how could Soyo ever forget the face which looked the happiest when he fired a bullet at her?
Kamui concluded that earth was not as exciting as it had been five years prior.
His sister might have been too busy beating those weaklings to be bored with this whole ordinary life, but Kamui did not share the same interest. The only person Kamui considered quite worthy was the dark-haired bespectacled man who argued with his sister a lot. Kamui did think of fighting him, but Kagura, despite all her 'go ahead and defeat that useless human-wearing glasses', was always in the way with the fight somehow. He grew bored of arguing with his sister (he could win without argument, of course, but this and that, Kamui did promise on their parents' grave to put his sister's wish in priority) and eventually only spent his days on earth observing things. The fact that there was a frail-looking human girl spying on his sister for the past few days inevitably got into his observation routine.
Not that he should bother himself with this, but on the second week, he decided to confront his sister's female stalker.
There was easily a look of fear on the female brat's eyes –things that Kamui did not find often on first meeting (except when his hands were holding the still-beating humans' hearts). People often said that no one would ever think of a monster judging by his appearance alone. This girl in front of him, however, showed that familiar terror only those who had witnessed him kill had. Which meant that this stalker had seen him kill before.
Not that it should matter whether or not it was the case.
"I-I…I w-wasn't, I-I mean, I thought," the girl stuttered and Kamui smiled at her out of default. "I t-thought you were my friend. I'm s-sorry. Please let me go," she begged. Kamui saw her chest rose to take a long, self-encouraging sigh before she walked past him in a hurry.
He would have let her go, had he not remembered the word she said earlier.
"Okita," Kamui echoed the name and he knew the girl froze behind him. Turning around to look at the girl (who was now staring at him), Kamui gave his guess. "The name's familiar. I don't know how common that name is on earth, but could it be… that earth policeman's name?"
Bingo, Kamui mentally declared as he saw the girl's suddenly rigid posture and the flash of worry on her eyes.
"You're his friend?" Kamui asked as he took a step closer to the girl who, on the contrary, took a step backward. "I'm kind of an acquaintance. Had a promise I need to fulfil to him," the braided-haired man recited with a smile that always looked like it reached his eyes. "I don't know who you are, Miss, but it would be very kind of you if you could take me to him. He wouldn't mind, I believe. I have a hunch that he's actually also looking for –"
"No."
Kamui was rarely interrupted.
And he did not like it when he was interrupted.
Still, he tried to calm himself and widened his smile. He knew it would look genuine on the surface. "No?" he echoed as he gazed at the girl. Wait. Something felt familiar after all. Where, oh, he was not good in remembering common people, but he knew that there was a higher possibility that he had met this girl before and…. "Ah!" he interrupted his own line of thought as he knocked his right fist to his left palm. "You're that Shogun's sister, aren't you?!" he exclaimed –proud of his own (late-discovered) memory. "Hmm, a weak brat like you is still alive? Oh well. That's…cool, I guess?"
"…"
"And that policeman is your bodyguard, isn't he?" Kamui correctly guessed as the light returned to his eyes. "You do know him. You know where he is now. And as such, you will bring me to him because I have an unfinished business –"
"No," the Shogun's sister cut Kamui's speech for the second time. The girl was whimpering as if she had just been drowned in an ice-cold lake, but the affirmation that came from her lips had none of the hesitation. "No. You will not meet him. I will not allow it."
"Hmm," Kamui mused –smile present as he crossed his arms in front of his chest for a deliberation.
But in the next split of second, his arm found its way to clasp around her neck. Ah. Had it been that long since he last connected his murderous hand with a human's flesh? Amantos were fun to butcher, but they were usually cold-blooded creatures. Humans, earthlings, had that different sense. The girl's neck felt hot on his palm, and his finger pads could feel the rush of blood, the beating pulse…
It excited him.
He must have forgotten to control his strength again, because the wall onto which Kamui slammed the girl's body to crack a little and a thin trail of saliva seeped out of the girl's lips. Kamui blinked. He didn't find the need to sympathize, but it was customary of him to look as if he was sympathizing. "It's supposed to be easy, little girl. I don't like to use unnecessary force on women and kids. But earth is so different now and I'm dying out of boredom, so this is kind of a pressing matter to me and…you're still there?" he asked the girl. Her feet were dangling off the ground and her delicate arms were making futile attempts to pry his strong arm off her neck.
"Well?" he asked the barely-breathing girl. It was cute –especially when she was struggling for life like this. "Would you let me meet your bodyguard friend?"
The girl was in no position to answer verbally, but she answered in another means.
At first Kamui thought it was the blood that seeped out of her lips which fell to his hand. But the very minor sting he felt confirmed his guess that it was his own skin that was bleeding. And that it was the girl who dug her nails deep onto the flesh of his hand –hot blood gushing out of the wounds.
Now it started to irk him. It was so unnecessary that he allowed a weakling to cast even the slightest injury on him. Only those whose strengths matched his could be permitted to inflict physical pain on him. "This gets overboard, brat. Oh well. Now that I know the policeman is in this town, I can find him myself and I don't need y –"
Kamui did not get to finish his line, because gravity pulled him down. Fast and with adverse impact. He was thrown over the air and flew for a good twenty feet backward before his back hit the pavement.
"What the hell are you doing, idiot brother?! You are no better than those low scums I beat! You promised me and look what you've –" Kagura ended her rant the moment she laid her eyes on the girl who was now sitting limp and unconscious on the ground.
And Kagura acknowledged her.
"S-Soyo-chan?" she whispered.
To be Continued
A/n: Hello, thanks for reading the first story I post in this site after…4 years? I know technically it was 2 years, but that was just reposting things I already wrote beforehand, but anyway… it is this super addicting new OTP of mine, Kamui/Soyo, that can drag me back to manga/anime fanfic realm that I thought I would leave for a much longer time. I know this OTP is very frowned upon, but here goes my rendition of what could have happened to them, should the chance exist.
I actually began writing this just around the ending of the Shogun Assassination arc, but as the manga is still progressing, there will inevitably be a lot of things that cannot follow the manga's line and may even be contradicted by the manga in its later chapters. All in all, I hope you enjoy this fic!