Origins: Captain Murasa!

by Diego Magallona

This is the first of many stories to be placed here. I decided that a whole bunch of separate short stories would be inconvenient and die fast, so I'm putting all the stories here. Updates to this will be VERY slow until I finish the Luna trilogy. All the stories here will be 3-5 chapters each, most of them having 3 or 4. Here's the first story; the story of Murasa Minamitsu.

Chapter 1: Recruitment

1940, Empire of Japan. It was a hot summer day, and a young woman was walking on the beach of Kure city. She wasn't your traditional Japanese woman. She was wearing shorts, and a white t-shirt. Young women aren't supposed to wear stuff like that here, but she didn't give a damn. Who was going to stop her?

Murasa Minamitsu was a young Japanese woman. She had short black hair, and teal eyes. She wasn't very tall, but her body was well-built. She was more muscular than most women, because instead of doing what other Japanese women did, she lived on the sea her whole life, helping her father earn money by fishing off the coast, as well as winning money from bar fights. It was her lifelong dream to join the Imperial Japanese Navy, and be the captain of a Battleship.

Sadly, this would never happen. Women weren't allowed to join the Navy, or the armed forces for that matter. But Minamitsu swore that she would get in the Navy one way or the other.

One day, she would captain a Battleship, and win many medals. Things looked hopeless for her, though. She may be the toughest girl in Japan, but there's no way the Navy would dishonour their ranks with a woman. Young Murasa would get her chance though. She just knew one day, it would come.

As she walked away from the beach and back to the road to her house, she bumped into an Imperial Navy sailor.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

The sailor looked young, but not as young as Murasa. The sailor turned around and spoke to Murasa again,

"Heh, not even an apology, or a salute? Don't you have any respect for the protectors of your homeland?"

Murasa turned her body a little to make eye contact with the sailor. She could see the extremely obnoxious proud look on his face, and she raised her eyebrow while keeping the rest of her face expressionless. The sailor's face turned red in anger.

"So, you're a woman, and you dare disrespect me? Let me show you what happens to women like you in this country."

The sailor moved his right arm to slap Murasa with his backhand, but Murasa raised her left arm and grabbed the sailor's wrist, putting his arm to a dead halt before it touched Murasa's face. Murasa then used her right arm to hit the sailor's abdomen and knock him back. Murasa smirked and walked away. The sailor, enraged, ran at Murasa cursing.

Murasa sighed, and elbowed the sailor with her left arm as he attempted to grab her. Murasa proceeded to deliver a powerful chop with her right hand to the sailor's cheek, and the sailor fell to the ground. Murasa put her hands on her hips as she looked down on the sailor.

"Next time, bring a friend. Hell, bring two friends; I like a challenge. I guess the Navy isn't so tough after all," Murasa told the sailor. She turned around, giggled, and continued walking home.

After a few minutes of walking, Minamitsu arrived at her home. It was a traditional little Japanese home near the coast. There was a small dock at the coast where Minamitsu's father's fishing boat was docked. Minamitsu entered her home to find her father asleep and her mother cooking dinner.

"Mama, what are we having for dinner?" Minamitsu asked her mother.

"Seafood Ramen, Minamitsu," her mother replied, "I'm out of black pepper! Could you go to the store and buy some? Quickly, before it closes!"

With that, Minamitsu was again out of the house, this time walking back to the city.

On her way to the store, she walked past the Kure Naval Base, one of the largest naval bases in Japan. There on the docks, she stared in awe at the biggest ship she has ever seen: It was still in construction, but it was almost finished. Minamitsu imagined herself on the bridge, ordering the crew to fire its 18-inch gun batteries at Japan's enemies. It wasn't a strange fantasy at all; who wouldn't want to captain theYamato, the biggest battleship in the world?

A droplet of rain splashed on Minamitsu's head, bringing her out of her fantasy, and back to Kure, Japan.

She ran to the store as she heard the rumbling sound of thunder in the sky and the torrent of rain starting to pour in. "What the hell happened to 'summer?'" she thought to herself.

After buying the things she needed, Minamitsu started walking back, even if the rain was pouring; she's experienced worse on the seas. As she walked past Kure Naval Base again, five sailors stopped her. The one in the middle had a bruise on his cheek.

"Oh dear," he said, "A little girl in the cold rain. You look like you could use some warmth." Minamitsu, disgusted, put down her grocery bag, and said,

"I do recall kicking your ass a few hours ago. Maybe you should watch your tongue; if you don't want it cut out and put in my ramen."

The five laughed, and the sailor with the bruise said,

"Ohoho, and I recall you saying, 'bring a friend' and that you 'like a challenge?'" Minamitsu knew where this was going. These sailors didn't want a fight. They wanted something else from her. She couldn't escape now.

Thunder cracked, and the rain poured even harder as the night set in.

"Alright," said Minamitsu as she threw her shirt off, though instead of seeing what they wanted to see, the sailors were disappointed to see that she wore a sarashi around her chest and midriff.

"Come and get it." The middle sailor walked up to Minamitsu, who greeted him with an axe kick to the shoulder, putting him face down on the wet road. Two other sailors ran to grab her. Minamitsu ran to them, elbowed one of them in the face as the other tried to grab her arm. Minamitsu hit the other sailor with a chop before he was able to grab her, and then stepped back as the other two ran to get her. The sailors then helped the first one up, and they surrounded Minamitsu.

They all ran at her at once, and she ran and drop kicked one of them, rolled back up, and did a sweep kick to knockdown the two sailors closest to her. Another sailor kicked her in the chest as she got up, staggering her. Minamitsu motioned with her fingers for them to come at her. The two standing sailors charged at Minamitsu, who dodged the first one's right jab as she grabbed the foot of the other sailor who was attempting to kick her. Minamitsu twisted the foot, and the rest of the sailor's body followed. The first sailor threw a punch to Minamitsu, who parried it and countered with a hook, uppercut, and a roundhouse to the head.

"Haha—" Minamitsu was interrupted when another sailor slammed her to the wall and grabbed her arms.

"You're mine, bitch," the sailor shouted, but Minamitsu kicked the sailor's crotch with her knee, and he fell backward, writhing in pain.

The first sailor got back up, pulled out a small wooden bat and angrily charged at Minamitsu with his arm poised to make a downward strike with the bat. Minamitsu easily grabbed the sailor's arm as he attempted to strike her, twisted his arm until he dropped the bat, caught the bat with her other hand as it fell, then kicked the sailor in the privates.

"Thanks for the weapon."

Minamitsu proceeded to whack another sailor on the head with the bat once while blocking another sailor's punch with her other arm, then swung the bat to that other sailor's knee. Both sailors fell to the ground in pain, unable to get up. The last sailor standing took out a knife and walked slowly towards Minamitsu with the knife pointed at her; the rain wasn't letting up. The sailor shouted as he began to charge, when he heard a shout from behind him.

"Stop this idiocy now! That's an order!"

A Japanese naval officer was there, on the sidewalk, holding an umbrella. He was dressed in his uniform, and one of the sailors writhing in pain on the ground looked at Minamitsu and said,

"You're dead now, bitch."

The one sailor standing turned around to see the officer, and said, "Shit!" then Minamitsu knocked him unconscious with the bat. Minamitsu dropped the bat and turned to get her grocery bag. It wasn't there.

"Looking for this?" the naval officer asked her, showing her the grocery bag.

"I hope I don't have to fight you for it….sir," she replied as she picked up her shirt and walked towards the officer.

"No, you don't. But you disgraced five of my sailors. I will not stand for this! You are to go to my office at the Naval Base here tomorrow at 11 AM sharp!" the officer told her.

Minamitsu, unfazed, replied, "Am I facing a firing squad or a gang rape? Because I'd rather have a firing squad; just saying."

The officer then said, "Hmph. You're the negative type. It's neither. I want you as a sailor on my ship, of course. This navy needs more fighters like you. Have a good dinner."

The officer then walked to the five sailors and began scolding them, Minamitsu didn't say a word. Her eyes dilated and she walked very slowly, giggling every few seconds.

She was a total ditz walking back home. She didn't care if mother and father would get angry at her when she got there. She was going to live out her dream. She was going to be in the Imperial Navy! Sailor Minamitsu Murasa!