Name: Lesson #1
Chapter: Keep your friends close and enemies closer, so you can cut them into a bloody mess
Place/setting: random town on Earth
Characters: Kamui, Takasugi Shinsuke, Kawakami Bansai
Mood: creepy, content, crazy, casual
Warnings: fighting, blood
Author listening to: Nothing, but I'm going to go for Summersisle Reprise by Agalloch.
Enjoy, minna-san!
Storms were okay. Storms were loud and flashy and helped him hide from the sun, so he didn't mind.
Storms on a ship were new, the deck was unsteady under his feet and slippery from rain, but that was good for balance practice so he was smiling from ear to ear.
He was, however, much less vulnerable than the wooden construction, so he didn't mind when Shinsuke led them down to ground. Shinsuke was okay, too. Actually, lately Kamui has been getting rather fond of him.
Even though the storm passed soon enough, the winds were supposedly still too strong for them to raise back to the skies. He also welcomed the brief stay in town and all the food this opportunity offered. Getting to shake off Abuto was nice, too. Maybe he could punch a hole into the ship so that they will have to stay longer.
"Don't." he didn't need to look at him to know Shinsuke was amused, probably guessing his train of thoughts.
"Would you fight me if I tried, Samurai-san?" he asked eagerly spinning around in joy and he skipped few steps backwards.
Shinsuke's answer was a snort, but he was okay with that, too. I f Shinsuke was talkative, there would be no time for Kamui to talk.
"You could. It would be fun, ne? We could fight to first blood. Or second. I wouldn't even try to kill you this time~" he was being generous, but there was little he wouldn't do for Shinsuke.
"I am not the only one you can fight." Shinsuke reminded, but his voice was still fond, more than annoyed.
Kamui nodded, "Un. But you are the strongest out of them, samurai-san."
"It's Shinsuke."
"Can we go eat now, Shinsuke?" he skipped the rest of the conversation and went straight for what was important. Shinsuke's eyes flicked left and so he changed his course, deciding that a small turn was not important enough to stop looking at the samurai. His back hit the wall and wasn't that just mean?
"I don't have enough on me to pay for your food." Shinsuke was saying and walking past him, the street was straight, no turns at all. Mean, mean samurai-san.
"Aren't you the leader of Kiheitai? Shouldn't you have enough money?" Kamui pressed, pushing from the wall to skip ahead, catching up again.
"The only person in the universe who has enough money for your food is Abuto-dono." he watched the smoke leave Shinsuke's mouth together with the words and aimed a quick kick at his pipe. Not knowing that he was only doing it for his health, Shinsuke dodged quite easily and kept on walking, they both did.
"Abuto isn't here." Kamui pointed out, motioning around them. "I'm gonna starve to death. On your watch, Samurai-san." he complained, but there seemed to be no softening Shinsuke's cold heart.
"Go find him. I didn't ask you to come with."
Well, no, of course not. But he was sick of his Yato squad, always meddling with his fun. Besides, they were supposed to tour hell together, remember, Samurai-san? Hell was on standby, so for now they could tour this excuse for a town, instead.
It also wasn't fair that where Kamui did his best to shake his babysitter off, Shinsuke didn't and so they were rather closely followed by his three subordinates. But that was okay, he was used to giving without receiving.
"He might be busy." Kamui tried again, but judging by the way Shinsuke didn't even offer a response, it was a lost battle. He sighed dejectedly and gave up, stepping to a side to let Shinsuke's 'friends' walk by.
"Come. I will buy you lunch. Searching for Abuto-dono would have taken long, I dare say." Kamui's eyes flew open and he raised his head, regarding the tall human in front of him. He hadn't paid Earphones-san much attention before, writing him off as one of the people following Shinsuke around, but offering food to a Yato? He was either nice, stupid or interested.
"Haven't you heard what they say about feeding strays, Bansai?" Ah, and Kamui had never liked that woman, really. She seemed like that kind that only changed her underwear once a week.
"That it's wise, if you want the stray to stay." Bansai was nice, Kamui decided. Maybe he was stupid, or interested, but he was definitely nice.
"There's no music in your player, Earphones-san." Kamui was leaning up and forward, ear pressed against the outer side of the device, but he didn't catch any sound at all.
"You aren't the type to be interested in music, I dare say." Bansai didn't push him away or move away, so Kamui was the one who stirred them back onto the right track.
He didn't agree, wouldn't risk offending the person that was feeding him, not if it meant having to go back to the shore in search of where he had accidentally shoved Abuto into the waves.
Shinsuke was still in the lead as it was, so it was upon him to choose where they went. His choice was acceptable enough (the pub seemed to have food), so they followed in. The door was as far as they did, though, and then Earphones-san led him to a different table.
Kamui hesitated.
As far as he could remember, that was the first time he hesitated when faced with an offer of food.
But he did follow, yes, of course.
The table Earphones-san chose was in a corner, so they had sat down side by side to face the rest of the pub, and it was spacious enough to offer seats to a middle sized family.
Earphones-san was silent and Kamui didn't feel like speaking up, either. He would allow the man to order for him, this time, just to see if he was as perspective as he was known to be.
He kept swinging his legs under the table, would have accidentally kicked the person opposite, but they were sitting side by side, and the closest person was Pervert-san on the other side of the room. He looked past Pervert-san's back and watched as Shinsuke watched them.
He didn't notice at first, but the table in front of him and Earphones-san was slowly filling with bowls and plates.
Was he expected to share? Yato never shared food. No exception, unless said exception was Shinsuke.
Kamui had two plates and one bowl inside himself before a minute was gone. "You can talk about music now." Kamui allowed trough a mouthful of rice.
"I will eat something first." Earphones-san shook his head, not that Kamui was looking, and when the waitress came the next time, he took the plate before it could touch the table.
Perspective, then. Setting the rules to be this easy was good; anything on the table was Kamui's territory and he could work with that, yes. Smart. Kamui was intrigued.
During the time Earphones-san battled with that one plate, Kamui destroyed half of the table and inched closer to reach for the rest.
"You claim to love food, but your song is a white noice now, too."
Kamui opened his eyes to look at him, even stopped chewing for a small moment. "Yato don't really care for music." he decided to enlighten him, so he could return his full attention to his food.
Earphones-san nodded and stayed silent for another five plates and two bowls of rice.
"There are few tones when you speak to Shinsuke."
"Is it so?" Kamui titled his head. He risked a quick glance at Shinsuke, but the pub was loud enough for the trio far away not to hear them.
Earphones-san didn't speak again until Kamui was done eating and leaned back in his chair with a content smile.
"I wonder if it is because you want to kill him." Earphones-san continued on thoughtfully.
Kamui cut him a glance and mulled it over, "It's not that I only want to kill him. I want to watch him set the world on fire and kill everyone who tries to stop him." he showed the count on his fingers, was smiling at the human that wasn't looking at him, but was listening. "I'd like to cut him open and watch him struggle. Or cut off his leg and an arm and let him fight on."
"Those are pretty morbid thoughts." Earphones-san still had his eyes closed behind the tinted shades, but Kamui knew he was still under scrutiny, so it was okay.
"Is it so?" he raised his arms above his head and stretched. It would be nice to sleep now. The place was wrong, though, the air was stinging with smoke and returning to the ship would mean going trough an ocean of sun-light. Difficult, difficult.
"He is a morbid fellow, Bansai." ah, Shinsuke had joined them, Kamui never heard him coming. It was the truth, too, so it was okay.
"Should get along with you well, I dare say." Earphones-san was amused again, angled a bit closer to Kamui, eyes closed and listening in, now, that his 'song' was picking tune as opposed to 'white noise'. That's what he had said earlier, at least. Kamui remembered that, he had just been on his second bowl of noodles and noodles were good for remembering.
"We will head back now." Shinsuke said without a further ado to the conversation and when Kamui looked, he saw that the samurai was holding a papernote in his hand. So he had gotten what he had needed, too, that was nice.
Kamui pulled himself heavily up, still lost in his contemplation about the best place for sleep and didn't pay attention to Earphones-san taking care of the bill. The waitress gave them two of those small chocolates reserved for children, but that was okay, he would be a child if it got him food.
Shinsuke was already out and so were Pervert-san and Stalker-san, waiting for them by the exit. The sun was at it's peak, it was just a bit after noon and the streets were mostly empty. After all, the only creatures that would enjoy the heat were cats and crazy humans.
He opened his umbrella and almost stumbled over one of the first mentioned when the stray tried to rub against his legs, purring. He didn't stumble and got away before he could get fur on his trousers, so he was okay with it.
"We seem to attract strays today I dare say, Shinsuke." the cat had fled to find safety with the crouched form of the samurai. The other stray Earphones-san referred to was him, he knew, but he was satisfied and just a tad bit sleepy now, so it was fine, too.
Shinsuke reached forward and flicked one white ear at the edge of Kamui's shadow. It purred and pressed closer and Shinsuke was smiling and Kamui took offense.
Different from when he had tried to crack Shinsuke's pipe, this time he aimed to kill. The sun was scorching heat when he lowered his umbrella, but there was an exploding star inside of him, too, so he didn't care, wouldn't be able to differentiate between those two burns.
A shift in footing, twist of his hips and he threw a fist forward, the burst of energy that came with his exhale would be enough to shatter building. But that never came. His move was halted, his left arm kept in place behind him and he almost fell, not having expected that. He had to struggle for balance for a beat of a heart, something was digging into his skin sharp and hard enough that he felt it and when he turned around, there was Earphones-san standing and no one else had even noticed.
Earphones-san was struggling and Kamui wasn't using his full strength yet, but he had still managed to stop his blow; without loosing a limb, no less.
"Ara...? That's impressive, Earphones-san~" Kamui grinned at him, eyes flashing blue. He tugged and pulled at his hands, rising them to look at the strings cutting into his skin. He wasn't bleeding yet, but he could feel it.
Earphones-san didn't speak, couldn't find a breath to do so. A sharp tug at the strings had Kamui jerking forward and so he went, skipping closer.
He spun around when he had his feet grounded again and then aimed a kick at the space between them, cutting the strings at the cost of a bit of skin.
Earphone-san's eyes flew open and the freed strings zapped past him, making dents into the gray wall of a random house. Kamui followed them with a punch and the construction crumpled when Earphones-san dodged that, too.
"How curious." the samurai's hands went up and cold bit against the back of Kamui's neck and another loop was back around his wrist. "The white noise is almost gone now. But you don't fight like you sing, I dare say; your music is more rhythmical."
Kamui didn't feel like stopping to ponder the topic, not when he could duck his head and bite right trough the string tightening closer around his neck. Another punch hit Earphone-san's cheek and the samurai flew trough the half-destroyed house, making a hole into the opposite wall, too.
He didn't let go of the string connecting him to Kamui's wrist, so the Yato was obliged to follow. He did so, foot-first to break the man's ribcage. He was met with a resistance of Earphone-san's sword and his smile grew wider. That was more like it.
The first cut was directed at his neck again and so Kamui ducked and kicked, moving them out onto the other street trough the wall. Second bit trough his clothes and made a drawing across his stomach, fueling the fire inside of him.
He feigned a kick at Earphones-san's head, then cut a hit with his palm across his sword-arm and then delivered that promised kick, after all. Both hit home and painted the ground with blood, but Earphones-san only switched his hands and trust his blade right trough Kamui's side. More blood hit the ground and the scent was making him dizzy, his heart was beating faster and more erratic. He didn't bother trying to crush the blade or step back to let it leave his flesh, instead Kamui stepped closer. He relished in the pain, it had been long since he got to bleed so nicely.
Earphones-san was trying, his eyes were wide when Kamui reached forward and wrapped his fingers around the man's neck. The pulse underneath was hurried and uneven, skipping few times when he cut off the air-supply. The strings were back around both his wrists, but nothing Earphones-san could do would be strong enough to stop him now.
It was almost over, the look of struggle on Earphones-san's face was beautiful, dipping slightly into fear before settling on fascination. Kamui raised his hand up, string cutting trough skin, and aimed it at the man's nose.
"That is quite enough." a voice cut trough the daze and Kamui narrowed his eyes in annoyance. For a moment he debated ignoring it, or maybe provoking the person speaking into joining the fight, but the voice belonged to Shinsuke.
Earphones-san took a long staggering breath when he let go of him, but didn't loosen the hold on Kamui's wrists.
"Bansai." Shinsuke took a step around them, sheathed his katana and kept glaring.
Kamui gave him a smile he didn't quite feel and stepped back, twitching when Bansai's blade slid out of his side closely followed by a gush of blood. He had never seen Shinsuke look so angry.
"Ah? Samurai-san?" Kamui spun on his heal to face him and freed his hands with the same move. "Did you want to join? You can do that, we wouldn't mind, ne?"
Earphones-san snorted. Kamui watched him from the corner of his eyes as he gathered his strings with shaking hands, hid his katana back into his musical instrument and felt around his face to asses the damage. "I would." he disagreed without looking up to see his superior's glare turn up a notch. "I found myself enjoying the music."
Kamui grinned at that. He poked at his side to see that the bleeding was already stopping and then poked at Earphones-san's ribs to see him jerk away in pain. That was nice. Food and fight; he was one happy Yato.
"There's a place and time." Shinsuke grit trough his teeth and tossed Kamui's umbrella at his feet. "We're returning now."
Ah, that was nice. Kamui kicked the umbrella up and caught it, opening it over his head to hide from the stinging sun. That was fun. He wouldn't have guessed Shinsuke to be so possessive of his toys. Bad samurai, unwilling to share.
He skipped forward when Shinsuke started walking trough the ruins of the house, throwing a look back at Earphones-san to see if he was following.
He was. That was good. He wouldn't have wanted the man to die now, before he could heal and fight him again.
"Will you fight for him, samurai-san?~" Kamui caught up to Shinsuke to smirk up at him. "I like him, he fights well. And he buys me food. But if you don't want to share, we'll have to fight, right?"
Shinsuke narrowed his eyes and sighed in a way that made Kamui think that maybe, maybe he was missing the point. But he was a Yato, they were experts in crashing head-first trough a wall.
"No." Shinsuke spoke up just as they joined Pervert-san and Stalker-san on the street. He reached into his kimono and pulled out his kiseru pipe, stuck it past his lips but didn't light it. "You broke down a house. We weren't supposed to draw attention."
Kamui made a face, crossing his arms sulkily at getting reprimanded and kept walking sullenly forward. The adrenaline was leaving his body and he was harshly thrown down from his high. Keeping his smile on was getting more and more difficult.
"You found a person to fight, aren't you supposed to be happy?" Shinsuke asked when Kamui stayed stubbornly silent and it almost sounded like he was snapping at him. That was off balance between them, usually Kamui talked and talked, willing to let the samurai hear everything that came to his mind.
The silence continued and Shinsuke thoughtfully toyed with the unlit pipe in his mouth.
"Kamui." Shinsuke spoke up again, calling for his attention. He flicked a match and was about to light the pipe up, only stopped when Kamui's fingers halted his wrist.
"I hate smoke." he muttered silently, cutting a sideways glance at the man.
Shinsuke looked at him and let the match burn out. "That is fair." he allowed slowly.
Kamui let go and walked on, keeping his smile on even though his face hurt from the effort.
Few more steps and when he took a breath the air was heavy with the smell of fish and salty water.
"Here." Shinsuke had reached into his pocket to hide the kiseru and when he pulled his hand back out, he was handing an apple towards him.
Kamui's eyes flew wide open and he reached forward to take it. "Thank you..?" he weighed the fruit in his hand.
Shinsuke flashed a half-smile and shook his head, "I ruined your fun, didn't I? But I would prefer neither of you to die." he said silently.
Kamui was still watching him and so he caught the look Shinsuke sent his way, kind and accepting and the Yato would have sworn his heart just skipped a beat.
His music had to be quite something at that moment, his mind supplied, but he didn't bother to check Earphones-san's expression, even though he heard him walking few steps behind.
"That's fine." Kamui allowed after a moment. He observed the samurai and then grinned, biting into the offered apple. "You will make it up to me."
"..oh?" Shinsuke smirked slowly, his fingers were twitching by his side with the urge to get a smoke.
Kamui hummed his agreement and grinned. The shore was visible now, too, and he kept glancing around in search of Abuto, knew he was close by and pissed, just by the shiver that was biting into the back of his neck.
"You are on your own in this, though." Shinsuke snickered, no doubt seeing the older Yato already, even though Kamui had yet to spot him.
"I expect food." Kamui reminded, just to make sure Shinsuke knew what was on.
"Did you thank Bansai for his?" the samurai asked before Abuto stomped into the hearing range.
"Huh?" Kamui blinked up and then titled his head sideways as he tried to remember back. "I don't think so.. is that a problem?" he smiled wider.
Abuto was almost by them, Kamui heard him growl his name.
"No. Not at all." he felt Shinsuke's hand rest on top of his head in passing, and then he was off towards the ship. "You did thank me for the apple, though."
Earphones-san and Pervert-san and Stalker-san pushed past him as well a nd then he was left all alone, only with his furious uncle and the weird rhythm of his heart.
It was fine.
~~~korosu chau zo~~~