New story! I know, I haven't touched my other two stories in a lifetime, so what am I doing publishing a new one? Honestly, I don't even know, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I do apologize for not finishing up my other stories though!
I hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 1
The ship was made well, Kagura thought as she leaned back on the elevator railings and watched the screen flicker from floor 6 to floor 5, and so forth. Where other ships would have shook and let out high-pitched scraping of metal against metal, this particular one did not even seem as if it was cutting through Earth's atmosphere at an alarming rate. The walls remained level. Nothing creaked. There was no feeling of free-fall, save for maybe the first few seconds of an elevator leaving another floor. The gravitational system in place was top-notch. The air conditioning also provided another luxury—4,000 degrees Fahrenheit outside as it burned through Earth's gaseous layers, and a nice and cool 50 inside. Yup, a well-made ship indeed.
A shame the humans would probably blow it up the minute it touches ground. Like the sun-loving savages they are.
A ding inside the confined space alerted Kagura of her stop. She exited the elevator and walked into the main lobby of the ship. It bustled with life, crew members hastily preparing for landing and officials talking to other officials about who-cares-what. Kagura sighed. If it wasn't for her brother's sudden summons, she would still be in the leisurely comfort of her room. Solitude was good company to her.
As she made her way through the crowd, her legs fell into a slow and lanky stroll, umbrella held in one hand and her waist-length hair flowing behind her. People greeted her, and she flashed a quick smile to each that did. She made sure it was quick, or else—
Smash!
"Akih! Watch it! We were under strict orders not to drop anything!"
"S-Sorry—it's just, she looked so pretty…"
Kagura mentally noted that maybe her definition of short might have to be enhanced for future reference.
She kept her gaze straight and mouth firm until she reached the captain's office to avoid more mishaps. Upon stepping inside, she propped her umbrella on the wall beside the door and proceeded to where Kamui sat at a large desk near the far left end of the room. He was flanked by two: Abuto, his right hand and vice captain, and Mutsu, his main intel. They were discussing something about the papers Kamui laid out on top of his desk. They didn't even know she entered.
Kagura placed herself down on a couch to their side and audibly coughed. Three pairs of eyes turned to her. "You called for me?" she asked once she had their attention.
Both Abuto and Mutsu stepped away from Kamui and straightened themselves, hands behind their backs and a curt nod of acknowledgement sent to her.
"Kagura," Abuto greeted.
"What's this about?"
Kamui began to compile and align the documents into a neat pile. "You should know what it's about, dear sister."
"You should know that I never know what you think I should know, dear brother."
Mutsu held in a snicker, and Abuto's eyebrows furrowed in attempt to decipher her sentence.
"Yet I always ask, because I've faith in your abilities to surprise."
"Blind faith."
"Faith back up by evidence," he corrected. "Though this evidence is quite outdated." Kamui always started their conversation out like this, taunting and beckoning and reminiscing. At this point, Kagura took it. So much "faith," so little energy to live up to it. "Anyways, we're going to be landing in a couple of hours. I want to make sure that you remember your manners when we meet the ambassadors. I'm sure Gramura already briefed you on the proceedings, but don't expect to be able to leave my side. The earthlings—"
"Humans," Mutsu cut in. "Their custom prefers humans over earthlings. 'Earthlings' is vocabulary for out worldly terrestrials with plans of taking over their planet, or so I've heard."
"From what? Their movies you've watched?" Abuto snickered. "Which, by the way, is not actually quality intel work—"
"To better our understanding of them, we must learn from their culture—"
"Enough," said Kamui. "Back to the point. They want us to be meeting all sorts of people and signing all sorts of forms. Your presence at each step of this is crucial, Kagura."
Kagura couldn't help the breath that left her lips in an audible sigh. If anyone asked her, Kagura didn't agree with the whole thing. Anything, really, when it came to her brother's politics.
Kouan, their beautiful home, is a dying planet. No secret about that. News of its deterioration practically lined the news channel of not only neighboring planets, but also neighboring planets of neighboring planets. The entire galaxy. The elders said that it was meant to come, but younger generations (Kamui, Kagura, everyone under the age of a hundred) knew the slow destruction of Kouan was because of radiation from the nukes fired in the war so many years ago. Kouan had been collateral damage to a fight the Yato deliberately backed away from, and the cost of their cowardice was their livelihood.
Kagura's history teachers said they did not join the war because the hands of the Yato had already fought too many. They needed to change their ways. Be a better race. But Kagura thought that if being a better race meant being subjected to ridicule—none of the planets that fired the nukes offered aid or allied relief support—then to hell with being better. She wanted to be powerful. It was even more frustrating knowing that they could easily achieve that again.
Hence, it was why she was against going to Earth to make allies of the humans. Humans were part of that war. It didn't make sense to be friends with your enemies, but Kamui thought differently.
The leaders back on Kouan liked Kamui for that trait. His outstanding record during his academy years—from top recruit to top graduate—was only more reason to gain the attention of the higher ups of Kouan. They made him out to be a revolution. A force. Maybe he was what they needed to save their people. The first plan of action Kamui proposed once he had this power over them, despite his extremely young age, was seek alliance with Earth. Like Kagura, nobody rolled with his plan. But, unlike Kagura, Kamui had a way with words, and it only took a couple of years for Kamui to convince them when it would take hundreds for her.
So, here they were, heading to Earth. That damned planet with that damned sun.
And, having the same blood as the prodigy, Kagura had to come along as well. She didn't stand out in the academy like Kamui did, but she herself was well-known amongst her peers. Brash and headstrong with the strength to prove it. Maybe having siblings on board would double the success rate. They thought talent ran through veins; little do they know that talent actually didn't exist. Willingness and desire did, and Kagura had neither of the two for this particular plan.
"Stick by your side and sign my soul away. Got it," Kagura said. "How long are we staying anyways? I heard it's summer down there and we all know how much we Yato love the heat."
Mutsu spoke up. "Our quarters are all arranged for as long as we visit. They assured me that maximum comfortability is their goal."
"I thought their goal was genocide. Nukes were big enough for it."
"Kagura," Kamui chastised. "I will not have you speaking like that to them. The war was decades ago, waged under different leaders and commanded by different captains. This new generation wants peace, and they empathize with us for the damage they've done." Kamui scooted his chair back and stood from his desk, walking around to take a seat by Kagura on the couch. He rested his elbows on his knees, and Kagura's first thought was how uncomfortable his new military uniform must be. Decked out in prestige, sure, but tight as hell.
"I want the best for our people," he continued, fingers laced together in a lazy knot and eyes casted down at his shoes. "This is the closest we'll get."
Kagura hesitated to touch him by the shoulder, but when she did, her touch was firm. "I hope you're not wrong."
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"Sougo! You damned—stop! Where do you think you're going?"
It was only when vice commander of the Shinsengumi, Toshiro Hijikata, clasped a sweaty hand on his shoulder that Okita stopped walking. He really did not want to stop, and would even risk a reprimanding later for ignoring his boss calling out to him. But Hijibaka was always so damn stubborn, and it would have been too obvious that Okita was trying to ditch his duties today if he ran. Thus, he did what he did best and feigned ignorance.
"Huh? Hijikata-san? What are you doing here?" Okita asked, turning around and ever so nonchalantly swapping away the hand Hijikata had on him. He did not want to catch any diseases anytime soon.
Hijikata furrowed his brows. "Sougo," he began, "What are you doing in the East Wing? You're supposed to be guarding Princess Soyo."
Okita shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Oh? I was just getting the princess a glass of water. She was thirsty, and as her faithful steed, it is my job to accommodate all of her needs. Wouldn't want her dying of dehydration on my watch, right?"
"All the way on the other side of the castle when you could have asked an attendant to get her water?"
"Exercise is good for the mind."
"Quit the crap. I know you're trying to ditch. I have tabs on everyone's position, and you don't have as big of a leverage on the team as you thought you did."
Yamazaki. Okita just knew it was Yamazaki who ratted him out. He was already working out a plan of revenge in his mind. Waterboarding? Electrocution?
Hijikata continued. "Can't you follow orders just for once? It's not even orders from me; it's from Kondo-san. We can't have any slip ups today. The Yato ship lands anytime soon, and if negotiations turn to shit, we need every man on the squad to protect the Shogun and his family."
Okita knew that. For the past month, it had been drilled in his head that today commenced an important change in the politics of Earth and Kouan. The famed blood-thirsty Yato were coming down here to negotiate peace and enter a truce, but Okita couldn't see the relevance of such a relationship.
Peace may ensue , but who knew for how long. The Yato probably didn't even know the definition of the word. It was over his head trying to understand the mindset of whoever came up with this idea, of whoever thought coming to terms with the Yato was a good idea. But Okita was not in charge, and no matter how good he was, no matter much of an asset he was to the Shinsengumi, Okita had to answer to Kondo-san and Hijibaka.
"I know," Okita answered to Hijikata. "I'm just getting her water. I told Princess to stay put in her room until I come back. She always listens to what I say."
Hijikata didn't look convinced—he's had more than his fair share of this prideful prodigy's sarcastic dishonesty—but as long as he knew where Okita was, there were more pressing issues to be addressed.
"Get back to the Princess, you brat."
"Roger," Okita answered as Hijikata turned around and began to hastily make his way down the corridor and back to the West Wing. "Mayonnaise maniac," Okita called out under his breathe, to which Hijikata gladly flipped him the little birdy in response. Curse his superb hearing.
"Go before the Yato land!"
Alone with his thoughts once more, Okita leaned against the marble banister of the corridor. The East Wing hallway, where he stood in at the moment, was situated in the third floor of the palace, and opened up to the vast blue of the sky above and the bustling city down below. The breeze came as quickly as it left, the July sun beating down on the black polish of his uniform. His sword hung by his hip, a constant reassurance of a comfortable weight.
In the distance, Okita spotted a spaceship he had never seen exploring Earth's skies before, and deduced that that was the aircraft carrying the Kouan reps. It was shaped like a giant bullet, decked in shiny back with minimal windows. He wondered if they meant to look ominous, which, if they did, was not a very wise choice in seeking a truce.
He also wondered how if they were wise at all. Having enslaved many races across the universe, they must have had some brains; but then again, it could all had been simply due to their brute strength.
Either way, Okita sighed. And Okita began wishing he was anywhere else.
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Super short snippet on Okita and Kagura in this chapter, but I'll definitely have more characterization later on, and answers to why they are the way they are. Please let me know how I can improve, especially with Okita's character! I found it's a little hard writing him, but definitely enjoyable.
Thanks for reading everyone!