Mending Loose Ends
Chapter 1
"I'm home, Nee-san"
Satsuki recalled the moment her younger sister had plummeted back to earth as she sat at Ryuko's bedside. It had been a two days, and Ryuko still hadn't roused. She'd slipped into a deep sleep almost immediately after her fall. She reached out and took her sister's hand firmly in hers. It's warmth was somewhat reassuring. She was alive, and for now, that was enough for Satsuki. Ryuko was as stubborn as they came, and she knew that as long as Ryuko drew breath, she would return. Whatever was going on within her body was something no one fully understood, and was no doubt to be blamed on her altered physiology. There was no telling what kind of strain her body was under after having absorbed the powers of Shinra Koketsu and falling back through the atmosphere. Senketsu had been all but destroyed.
Well.
Satsuki looked to the bedside table where the clear cannister was placed.
Perhaps not utterly.
Within the cannister was all that remained of the kamui, as far as they knew. They had scoured the area around Honnoji Academy for any scraps of him, but it seemed as if all that was left was a single banshi.
Ryuko had been unconcious, but her hand was clenched in a vice like grip around that last thread as though it were her life line, and perhaps it was. Just like that day in the slums on the roof when Senketsu had been shredded, Ryuko had refused to relinquish him.
Iori and Inumuta had already poked and proded at it but neither were certain of what to do with it. Senketsu was unique even as far as kamuis went, but they doubted the extent of which he actually remained, if at all, within that single thread. It went unsaid among them, but they were also afraid of somehow damaging the only piece of him left. They were all waiting for Ryuko to wake up in hopes that she might have some insight.
Satsuki sighed.
She certainly was taking her time.
Inumuta and Iori had a working theory that had yet to be confirmed. They they theorized that Ryuko's body was in a sort of recovery mode from absorbing the power of Shinra Koketsu. They thought that without Senketsu to share the burden, her body was struggling to metabolize the energy of the ultimate kamui. It was a nice theory, but if it were correct, they were at an impasse until Senketsu could be restored, if such a thing were even possible.
Satsuki stood, placing Ryuko's hand gingerly back at her side, and rounded the hospital bed to the table where the thread sat. She held his container to her face looking into it, and the banshi suspended in the preserving liquid. She frowned at it and carried him back to her seat.
"All this trouble over a sailor uniform," she said to herself. She carefully unscrewed the top of the cannister and removed the thread, turning it over in her hands. As he was now, he wasn't fragile, but she handled the thread as delicately as though it were made of glass. Iori had brought it here a couple hours ago when they were hade decided they weren't going to try anything invasive with it. It seemed right that he be by Ryuko's side.
Curiously, as she touched the thread, Ryuko's pinky finger twitched. So small a motion that few would have noticed, but notice, Satsuki did. Her brows furrowed. Ryuko seemed to be reacting to Senketsu's presence. Acting on impulse, Satsuki places the banshi in Ryuko's limp palm.
There! The hand twitched. Satsuki stood so fast her chair screeched against the floor and was almost knocked over. She stood there a moment, not sure what else to do, staring at the occasionally twitching palm of her sleeping sister, feeling rather helpless. Perhaps...
Seizing the idea as soon as it crossed her mind, she drew a keen stiletto from its sheath within the sleeve of her jacket and made a small incision into her sister's finger. Ryuko didn't stir at the incision, but as the first drop fell onto the life fiber in her palm, the reaction was instantaneous. Ryuko's whole body suddenly went rigid, her face screwed into a look of pain, her eyes still closed. Satsuki's eyes were drawn again to the fiber in her sister's hand. The fiber glowed red with life and writhed in Ryuko's now clenched fist. Ryuko too,was writhing, her whole body was curled around her closed fist now.
"Ryuko!" Satsuki cried, her hands trying to find purchase on her sister's flailing body. "Doctor! Iori!" She screamed.
Ryuko made no noise as she tossed and turned, save for the sound of her labored breathing. She curled further and further into herself, until she was a ball around her closed fist. From within her embrace, a light emanated, faint at first, but then bright. Brighter and brighter until, with a gasp, Ryuko's eyes flew open wide and her embrace opened.
"Senketsu!" she screamed, long and loud. Around her palm, fibers writhed in a tangled mass, like angry snakes, bigger and bigger. Blood dripped as the mass grew. Ryuko's eyes snapped to Satsuki, almost pleading.
"Ryuko, what's happening?"
"I-I don't know! It's-" Ryuko cried out in pain. "It's Senketsu!"
At that moment, Iori skidded to a halt and stood frozen for an instant in the doorway, absorbing the scene before him. His eyes travelled from Ryuko, to the growing mass now in her lap, to the spilled and forgotten cannister on the floor at her bedisde. They exhanged panicked looks as the mass of angry fibers grew at an alarming rate, first red, but the color turned quickly darker.
The blue and red mass took form suddenly, and in a quick jump, the thing had clearned the room and had positioned itself in the corner. Satsuki looked on with awe. It—no, he was in a crouch, his large body curled in on itself. His shape was humanoid, but had somewhat of a monsterous facade. Dark blue, almost black skin was divided by red bands around his arms, neck and shoulders. Long and muscular arms ended in too large hands, each big enough to comfortably wrap around a soccer ball, each digit fading from blue to crimson and lacking distinct nails or claws, but tapering into mean looking points. A large patch of red on his chest accompanied by white marks at each of the corners was reminiscent of the 'mouth' of his sailor fuku.
Senketsu looked up from where he had his his face behind one of his massive hands, his one good eye darting around the room, alarmed. The lower half of his face stood out from the rest of him, having a lighter shade. His good eye was the same yellow and red of the fuku, his other eye closed, a large vertical scar marring it. A shock of wild red hair completed the look, and two obscenely long red eyebrows gave him away as certainly being Senketsu. His countenance was certainly human save for the coloring, but the rest of him looked fiendish. Even now, Senketsu was still a weapon.
Satsuki took quick mental stock of the objects within her reach that could make a decent weapon in a pinch. There wasn't much to work with.
She looked at Iori and the nurse crowding behind him. His gaze flicked back and forth between her and Senketsu, who seemed to be gaining awareness of where he was.
"Senketsu...?" Ryuko's voice trembled slightly as she looked at the vaguely monstrous humanoid in a half crouch in the corner of the room.
There was a pregnant silence that hung in the air for what seemed like ages. Everyone in the room was holding their breath.
"R-Ryuko?" he said, in a quiet, but oh-so-familiar voice.
"Senketsu!" she cried, scrambling out of the hospital bed towards him. Her body still being weak, her legs betrayed her, and she came tumbling forward.
He rushed forward, without thinking, before anyone could react, and caught her before he hit the floor, his too large claws gingerly holding her. The whole room was silent and still for an instant before laughter bubbled from Ryuko, and then soon following, Senketsu. The small crowd looked on, stunned, as the two figures on the floor cackled madly, nearly falling over eachother in an attempt to embrace more closely.
Iori was the first of the stunned onlookers to speak. "I. This is," he struggled to find the words. "I'm very interested in examining Senketsu—at a more appropriate time."
"Perhaps we should discuss further outside," Satsuki not so subtly ordered, regaining her composure. As happy as she was that her sister was awake, she decided that Ryuko and Senketsu would appreciate a moment to themselves. The questions they all had could wait. She walked to her sister and Senketsu's embacing forms and placed her hand on Ryuko's shoulder. "Welcome home, both of you."
Ryuko looked up at her older sister, tears in her eyes, taking hold of her hand on her shoulder firmly. "It's good to be back." As Satsuki strode from the room, Ryuko turned her attention back to Senketsu. She grasped his face in her hands. "I can't believe this, I thought you were gone," she said, her voice wavering.
His hand came to cup her cheek, long fingers gently cradling her head as she leaned into his touch. "You held on so tightly, just like when I was shredded the first time." He laughed, and it was music to Ryuko's ears. "You awful girl, would you really wear cute clothes to make me jealous?"
Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she laughed. "You glorified dishrag," she said, pushing at his shoulder, "Nothing's cuter than you."
His smile was wide, showing off his sharp, pointed teeth. "Not that I think you can wear me this way," he said, looking down at his current form. He gazed at his upturned hand and flexed it once, marvelling.
"This is so surreal," said Ryuko, running a hand up Senketsu's arm to his shoulder. His skin felt strange but good. Somewhere between skin and fine fabric, but warm and very alive. Senketsu shivered under her touch. "Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed, her hand shrinking back out of reflex.
"No," he said quickly. "Everything feels so intense. There's so much more feeling on skin than on fabric. But that felt good, like an iron on low." he took her small hand in his large ones and brought it to his face, nuzzling into it, smelling her skin.
In that moment, Ryuko became aware that her body was pressed completely into him, separated by a very thin hospital gown, and that he was, of course, naked. A quick glance downward indicated that despite being naught but a collection of life fibers, he was very human from the waist down. Her eyes shot back up. She could feel her face getting hot as his lips brushed the skin of her wrist.
Senketsu apparently noticed the tension in her body. "Ryuko are you okay? Are you feeling alright, you're flushed."
"Yeah I just, uh," she looked away, "you're naked."
Senketsu blinked. "Yes." he said, confirmed, not understanding, and not making any move to separate.
"Well you're not a sailor fuku anymore!" she explaimed, gesturing at his new form.
"Do you prefer that form? I don't know if I can return to it. I could try if-"
"No, you goof! Its just different!" Her face was completely red. She didn't want to have to explain that she's never been this close to a man before. He wouldn't understand.
"I don't understand." He said, standing, sweeping up Ryuko in his arms. He placed her sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and sat in the chair across from her, where Satsuki had previously sat.
Ryuko averted her eyes and tossed the pillow from her bed onto his lap, affording him some modestly. She felt silly, reacting the way she did. She'd seen plenty of boys naked as the day they were born, but that was different. She didn't know how exactly, but it was.
"I'm glad I'm not a fuku," he said finally. Ryuko looked up him. "I never really used to think of what the future looked like after we had accomplished our goals," he continued, "but near the end, when I did, I only knew that I wanted to stay with you, even if you didn't wear me all the time. I thought I would even be happy just to hang in the back of your closet and be put on by you sometimes."
"Senketsu," she began, but fell silent as he held up a hand.
"The thought never even crossed my mind what it might be like to have a form like this; a body of my own. Suddenly I feel like there are so many possibilities, and I don't want to go back to being a fuku. I want to stay with you. I don't want to be hung up in the back of a closet, to be sometimes worn. I want to always be worn by you!" He finished passionately. His expression faltered. "Er, well not worn, I suppose. Uh more like," he stumbled over his words, grasping for the right ones. It was his turn to become flushed as he stuttered. Ryuko couldn't help herself as a happy laugh escaped her.
"Together," she finished for him. "You want us to always be together. I want that too." She chuckled again. "And for the record, even if you were still a sailor fuku, I'd never take you off. I'd wear you until I was an old hag, squeezed into that kinky school girl outfit."
"In that case, I'm very glad things turned out this way instead," he replied. They both laughed together.
"Me too," she said, reaching out and grasping one of his long digits in her hand. They sat together in companionable silence for a long moment. "Why don't we go get some real clothes for you, and some food. I'm starving.
"How strange it will be to wear clothing myself," said Senketsu as he stood to help Ryuko up. Ryuko tore the sheet off the gurney and handed it to him, not looking down.
"Wear this for now," she told him with a half laugh, and together they made their way out of the room, Ryuko leaning onto Senketsu.
Author's Note: I'm aware that I'm about two years late on a Kill la Kill fic, but here it is anyway. I recently watched it for the first time. What actually inspired me to write this story was a series of really well done kinda lewd images depicting a humanoid Senketsu and Ryuko on their wedding night. I really liked the design of Senketsu, and it's what I based my descriptions off of. A cursory google search will make the images pop up. I recommend you give them a look-see. Anyway, I'll be back with the next chapter sometime over the course of the next week, and thanks for reading.
Cheers!