Part of Your World
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Last Chapter: Motonari is sent to the surface to investigate sightings of a suspicious human ship loitering about in King Hideyoshi's waters. Once there, he falls in love with the sun and an unfortunate turn of events leads to him getting caught in Motochika's net. He is not amused. Motochika, on the other hand, very much is.
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Author's Note: More awful pirate lingo this chapter, but I think you were expecting that.
Also, there is mention of the horrifyingly grotesque viperfish in this chapter, also known as the fang fish. I recommend you google it only if you weren't planning on getting any sleep tonight, because it will give you nightmares.
Also also, kiiro apparently means yellow in Japanese, or so google tells me. I've dumbed it down to kiro for the sake of this story. Please forgive me and refrain from coming after me with bloody axes, pitchforks, torches or any combination thereof.
Last chapter, Sinlover suggested I should have Motonari sing 'My Jolly Sailor Bold' as a diversion... Alas, he vehemently refused. Perhaps if I get him drunk first. Drunk Motonari, y/y? Let me know what you think.
And on that note, enjoy!
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Chapter 02: In the Belly of the Beast
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How his day had managed to go from mildly irritating to this hellish incarnation of utter and absolute disaster, Motonari could not say for sure.
If anyone had told him this morning that come noon, he would find himself caught and captured like a fish by a bunch of distasteful human savages, he would not have believed them. In fact, he would have sneered at them and called their intelligence into question. The illustrious Mori Motonari, falling prey to such simpletons?
The very notion was ridiculous.
Perhaps the Oracle could have told him how to avoid this humiliating fate; she had said she needed to tell him something of great importance, after all.
Motonari cursed himself now for not listening. He cursed Hanbei too, partly because blaming Takenaka Hanbei for anything and everything that went wrong in his life had become a habit of his and partly because without the sickly merman's meddling, Motonari would not be where he was right now.
On a human ship, where none of his pawns were available and all of his schemes meant nothing.
Completely out of his element for the first time, Motonari felt exposed and irritatingly helpless. He did not even have his helmet or his ring blade for protection; both items had gotten lost in the confusion. Escape over the ship's railing was sadly not an option either right now - without the salty sea water surrounding him and carrying part of his weight, his body felt oddly sluggish and heavy.
Essentially, Motonari was stuck, armed only with his wits and left at the mercy of these humans.
The one that had spoken to him before approached him now, casually sauntering towards Motonari with that very same infuriating grin on his face. He appeared to be their leader, if the powerful presence he exuded was anything to go by.
The human was tall, much taller than Motonari even if you were to measure him from the top of his head to the very tip of his fins. He was much more solidly built as well, and his hair was the very same silverish white colour as that of Takenaka Hanbei and Ishida Mitsunari.
Most striking of all were his eyes, one covered by an eyepatch in an annoying shade of purple and the other gleaming like molten gold.
Motonari could not stand the sight of him.
He tensed when the human crouched down in front of him amidst the writhing fish, tilting his head to the side curiously and studying him from up close and personal. The rest of the men were still eyeing him openly as well, slowly inching closer to get a better look.
Motonari hated the feeling of their eyes roaming over his body.
In fact, he hated this entire situation.
Motonari's glare deepened and his body language gained a threatening edge, to which the white-haired human simply laughed. It was a deep, mirthful sound and under better circumstances, perhaps Motonari may have found it not entirely unpleasant. But right now, right here, he was deeply offended that he was being so obviously and quickly dismissed as no threat.
"Such a scary look on such a pretty face," the human teased, grin growing impossibly wider. "Try smiling!"
Naturally, Motonari only scowled.
The human chuckled and leant forward, hands reaching out for Motonari's face. "Here, lemme show you how it's done. You curve your lips up like th-"
Smack.
Abruptly, the white-haired man's sentence was cut off as fins connected rather soundly with his face. Motonari had acted on impulse, adjusting his position so he could use his tail to slap that irritating grin right off the man's face.
"Do not attempt to touch me again, you filthy son of a fang fish!" Motonari hissed, clumsily scooting away as far as he could before his back hit the railing.
The human had not seen that one coming at all. He fell back on his behind, then sputtered and tried to wipe the salty water off his face and out of his eye. A prominent red imprint of a certain merman's tail was already blooming rather beautifully on his cheek, if you asked for Motonari's humble opinion on the matter. The merman sniffed haughtily, quite pleased with his handiwork.
The human's crew, however, was markedly less pleased with recent events and threateningly closed in on Motonari with dark looks painted across their features.
"Watch it, ye scurvy bilge rat," one of the men said gruffly.
"Aye," another agreed. "Ye think yer so clever, attackin' the Cap'n like that? Gonna gut ye like a fish if ye go an' try any more funny business like that."
"Easy, men," their leader said, having recovered from the blow to his face. He was sitting cross-legged now, and evidently, his good humour had not faded. If anything, he was now eyeing Motonari with a new sort of appreciation. "It was my mistake. Back off."
Reluctantly, the crew did as they were ordered to, glowering at Motonari from a distance. Motonari briefly allowed relief to wash over him, but not for too long. His situation was still rather precarious.
"So you do know how to speak after all," the white-haired human mused, his annoying grin right back in place. "I was starting to wonder... But really, 'filthy son of a fang fish'? Well, it's certainly creative, I'll give you that."
Motonari threw the man a scalding look. "Of course I possess the ability of speech, you complete and utter nincompoop! What do you take me for, a common fish?"
"And you don't like being touched..." the human continued on, undeterred, as if he hadn't even heard Motonari's barbs. "So if I do this..."
Again, he reached out for Motonari, and again Motonari acted entirely on instinct. Except this time, the human was ready and managed to catch Motonari's tail before it had a chance to leave a matching red mark on the man's other cheek.
With a powerful tug, Motonari found himself on his back before he was flipped none too gently onto his front. The rough treatment knocked the breath from his lungs and for a few crucial moments, he was too stunned to fight back.
When he could breathe properly again - and what a strange feeling drawing breath still was - Motonari found that the human had dragged him towards him and to the side. Now his tail was draped across the man's lap, held securely in his hands while Motonari's upper body rested on the wooden floorboards of the deck, perpendicular to the human's form.
A horrified shudder went through Motonari's frame when strong fingers traced a firm line along the side of his tail.
"Unhand me now, you brute!"
His demand fell on deaf ears. The human was apparently far too interested in exploring Motonari's lower half with invasive fingers to pay heed to the merman's wishes. Of course Motonari fought against the degrading hold, but his captor merely tightened his grip and kept him in place unyieldingly.
After a while, Motonari realized it was pointless to fight back and grudgingly lay still, his fingernails digging into the wood. He was waiting for the human to lower his guard and give him an opportunity to escape this torment. Until then, he would bide his time and make the man think he had surrendered.
Meanwhile, the unwanted attention continued, making Motonari's fins twitch helplessly and his breath hitch whenever the human's probing fingers found a particularly sensitive spot.
"Fascinating," the human murmured, lightly dragging his nails over Motonari's scales.
Motonari bit down on a gasp, shuddering again in what he fiercely told himself was pure and utter repulsion. Mortified, he realized that heat was beginning to crawl up the back of his neck. At once he resumed his struggling, trying to wriggle out of the human's hold.
"You fiend! I demand that you cease this assault immediately!"
"Assault? That's going a little far, don't you think?" the man said, but he finally let go, his curiosity apparently satisfied. "Cut me some slack here, this is kinda the first time I've seen one of your kind, y'know? Can't blame me for being curious."
Motonari sat up and turned around, glaring at the white-haired man.
"That is simply no excuse for such reprehensible behaviour! It is my first time seeing one of your kind as well, but did I decide that was justification enough to put my hands all over your... your..."
Motonari trailed off, helplessly gesturing towards the human's lap.
The human frowned, staring down at his groin in confusion for a second. Then understanding visibly dawned on him and he turned his attention to the merman again: "My legs, you mean?"
After Motonari had confirmed his guess with a sharp nod, the human laughed and stretched said legs out towards the brunet. "Well, get even then. Touch all you want. I promise I won't complain," he said, grinning like a fool and waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
There was raucous laughter from the crew and even a playful catcall or two. Motonari, on the other hand, failed to be impressed by their leader's bantering and threw him a cold look.
"I'd rather chop off my hands," he said icily.
The words did not have their intended effect on the human. He merely continued to grin roguishly and shrugged. "Suit yourself, then. But I'll have you know it's a lifetime opportunity." He wiggled a foot in Motonari's direction. "You sure you don't wanna change your mind?"
Motonari's face twisted up in a grimace of disgust. He didn't even honour that question with a reply - the look on his face said it all.
The human laughed again - the sound of it was beginning to really grate on Motonari's already frazzled nerves - and said: "Man, you really need to loosen up. It's just a joke."
"It appears your special brand of humour fails to amuse me, then," Motonari said with contempt clear in his tone.
He was still shaken from earlier - he detested being touched even in a casual manner, and the way that human had touched him... Such intimacy was reserved for lovers exclusively among the merfolk.
It turned Motonari's stomach to think that anyone had touched him like that, let alone such a foul beast as this man.
The human shrugged again, lips twisting up in a somewhat crooked smile. "Fair enough." Then he leant forward, extending a hand in greeting towards Motonari. "How about we start over, then? Allow me to introduce myself. The name is Captain Chosokabe Motochika, White Sea Devil of the West and proud owner of this here vessel. I call her the Rising Sun. Isn't she beautiful?"
Motonari stared at the offered hand as if it were diseased until this so-called 'Captain' huffed in exasperation and let it drop back down to his lap. Only then did he bring his gaze to the man's face, studying his features once more and mentally connecting them to his name.
Chosokabe Motochika.
With all that had happened today, he doubted he would ever forget that name - whether he wanted to or not.
Without giving his name in return, Motonari allowed his eyes for the first time to properly take in what he could see of the ship he had ended up on. It was massive, much larger than he had always pictured human ships to be. There was a strange metal and wooden contraption the purpose of which he could not discern mounted to the front - a long... tube, of sorts.
There were other objects on the ship that he could not help but be curious about. What were their names, and what did humans use them for? He was curious about their strange clothing, too. What did they eat? What was it like to walk on two legs the way they did? What was fire, and why did it burn?
The same childish excitement and curiosity that had driven Motonari to break the surface so recklessly in the first place returned to him, but he did his very best to appear unimpressed and bored beyond belief.
"I suppose there is no accounting for taste..." he finally concluded his inspection of his surroundings, expertly hiding his budding interest.
Motochika snorted. "You stubborn, prickly bastard," he said and strangely enough, Motonari had the feeling the human had just seen right through his facade.
Impossible, of course.
Mori Motonari was an expert at hiding his true feelings on any given matter, after all. Only the most perceptive of people could even hope to guess at his true intentions, and this mangy, uncultured human certainly did not belong to that rare breed.
Shaking his head, Motochika got up and turned to his crew. "Alright, men. Gather up the fish we caught and store it. I'll be having another chat with our little mermaid here."
"Funny lookin' mermaid, if ye ask me," one of the men commented as he went to follow the captain's orders.
Motonari bristled. "Do you not have eyes in that empty head of yours?! Clearly I am of the male persuasion!" He raised his tail, flicking his fins back and forth. "Have you not seen my fins? Clearly they have the male shape! So clearly the correct term would be merman."
For his outburst, he only earned disbelieving stares, several raised eyebrows and a couple of snickers.
One man with a prominent beard put rather crude words to what they were all thinking: "Yeah, I dunno 'bout that... mostly it's obvious 'cause you got no tits. Man, what a disappointment..."
Before Motonari had the chance to grow even more offended, Motochika decided to step in.
"Alright, that's enough."
He hoisted Motonari up as if the merman weighed absolutely nothing and slung him over his shoulder. His hand was so large that the brunet felt it was easily covering the entirety of the small of his back. Motonari felt damnably tiny and helpless. Granted, not as small as he felt next to the giant that was King Hideyoshi, but at least the King never touched him.
"Put me down this instant!"
Of course, Motochika decided to ignore Motonari's protests - it was quickly becoming a habit, it appeared - and addressed his crew one last time before carrying the struggling merman off into the belly of the beast.
"I'll be in my cabin if you need me."
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A few minutes later, Motonari found himself sitting alone in the captain's private quarters.
Said captain of questionable competence had pretty much dumped him there and told him to wait for his return. Then he had proceeded to lock the door with a key he carried on his belt - a wasted effort, if you asked Motonari. Without legs, his mobility on land was greatly restricted. All he could do was crawl, dragging himself forward inch by painful inch.
His pride would not let him resort to that. Not yet.
As he waited for the return of his captor, Motonari passed the time by intently studying his surroundings. Much as he disliked Motochika and that horrendous crew of his, in the privacy of his own mind he could admit that his long-forgotten fascination for mankind had been reawakened by today's events.
Some of the objects he saw in Motochika's quarters were things he was vaguely familiar with from the scrolls he had read as a child.
There was an anchor, large but not as large as the ones he was used to seeing at the bottom of the sea. Then there was a chest up against one wall, so full of different coins that its contents were spilling out over the side and onto the ground. A silver goblet here, a chandelier and candles there, books and scrolls and what looked like construction plans littered everywhere.
Weapons, too, of all shapes and sizes.
Then there were the things he did not recognize and could not even begin to guess what they were used for. In the corner, a net of sorts had been put up, spanning from one wall to the other. Motonari did not understand its purpose there - surely there were no fish to catch in this cabin? Then there were all the strange metal odds and ends he could see here and there. They looked like they might be tools of some kind or another, but Motonari could not put a name to them.
Surprisingly enough, Motonari found that it was not just the interesting things mankind had to offer that fascinated him about life on the surface. No, it was also the very sensation of being above water that fascinated him.
It was so much warmer here and there was no current to fight against, tugging and pulling almost constantly on his body. It was much brighter, too, making everything look sharper, more defined - more colourful.
The feeling of air filling his lungs instead of water was foreign, but not entirely unpleasant. In fact, Motonari rather enjoyed the sensation of drawing breath. Inhaling and exhaling, his chest rising and falling gently with the movement...
A breeze came through the open window, carrying with it the smell of salt and sea. Motonari closed his eyes and took a deep breath, savouring the way that scent mingled pleasantly with the spicy, exotic aroma of Motochika's quarters.
Motonari's eyes fluttered open once more, the beginning of a pleased smile tugging at his lips - a rare occurrence indeed. Next, his gaze fell on the open window at the back of the room, allowing the rays of the sun to cast their golden light beautifully onto the wooden floor.
Ah yes, the sun...
That glorious, magnificent sun...
Above all else, this was what Motonari loved best about being on the surface.
He knew he needed to find a way to return to his home at the bottom of the ocean as quickly as possible, but part of him was hesitant to do so. How was he supposed to just... leave and forget all about such perfection? To live with never laying eyes on such brilliance ever again?
To never again feel that welcoming, nurturing warmth on his skin...?
Unthinkable.
And yet, it was unavoidable.
He sighed, ready to avert his gaze and resign himself to his fate when the strangest creature he had ever seen came barreling through the window with a noisy squawk. Motonari jumped, eyes widening in alarm as the creature charged right at him before making a sharp turn and landing somewhat clumsily on the table in front of him.
It stared at him with beady little eyes, shifting its weight and tilting its head curiously from side to side. Fascinated now that the initial surprise had worn off, Motonari mirrored the tilt of its head and began studying the foreign creature.
It had the strangest... scales, he supposed, that he had ever seen. They were bright and colourful, fanning out and looking oddly soft to the touch. Perhaps they were not scales at all... was it the creature's hair, then? But hair in such a vivid green and yellow, and growing all over the being's body...? No, that couldn't be it.
The creature clicked its tongue at him expectantly and made another loud squawking noise, flapping its... arms, perhaps? The movement made part of its not-quite hair remove itself from its body, gently floating onto the table. It appeared to be growing impatient, but Motonari did not understand why.
He had heard stories of beings called seagulls that were capable of soaring through the air... was he dealing with a seagull here, then? He had never seen one before and didn't quite know what they looked like exactly, so he could only guess.
Finally fed up, the exotic creature produced another one of those strange little squawking noises and resolutely hopped up onto Motonari's shoulder. Motonari, of course, was not very happy at all with this particular development and he quickly tried to shake the assumed seagull off.
"Remove yourself from my person immediately, you foul beast!"
But the creature apparently was either incapable of understanding speech or it felt far too comfortable on the merman's shoulder, because all it did was click its tongue at him happily and dig its claws into his flesh sharply to keep itself in place on its perch.
Motonari bit down on a cry of pain and stopped attempting to dislodge the seagull when it broke his skin. For a terrible second, fear that a shark might be attracted by the smell of his blood lanced through him. But then he remembered that he was on a human ship, safely out of harm's way of any aquatic creatures.
Meanwhile, the creature had decided that tugging at Motonari's hair was a brilliant idea. Motonari scowled, reaching up to push the annoying pest away but it still wouldn't budge. The only thing he got for his troubles was the confirmation that its scales or hair or whatever it was that covered its body were indeed rather soft to the touch.
It was then that Motochika returned with expert timing. The human took one look at the scene before him and burst out laughing. Motonari glared at him hotly over the shoulder that was not currently held hostage by a terrible monster with sharp claws and a worrying fetish for his hair. He very much did not share the man's amusement.
"I fail to see what is so funny!"
Still chuckling, Motochika walked further into the room and set down a heavy seeming barrel of unknown contents he had brought with him. "Trust me, if you could see yourself right now, you'd understand."
Motonari glowered, once again trying to push the creature away. But to no avail - it was still persistently plucking at his hair and making smug, happy little noises.
"So I see you've already made Kiromaru's acquaintance. Good, good."
"You own this pest? Then get that horrible seagull off of me and tell me what in Poseidon's name it is doing to my hair!"
Motochika snorted and failed to come to Motonari's rescue. Instead he crossed his arms over a broad chest and watched the proceedings in amusement. Motonari hated to think what he looked like right now with this monster perched on his shoulder, making an utter mess of his hair.
"Do something, you oaf! Don't just gape and stand there!"
The human shook his head and finally approached the distraught merman, deftly plucking the offending seagull from his poor, abused shoulder. The bird climbed onto the human's own shoulder with a squawk and began tugging at his hair instead.
"First off, you do realize you had that one coming, right?" Motochika said, grinning and stroking his pet. "He was just preening you. That means he likes you, though I fear his affections appear to be rather one-sided... And just so you know, Kiromaru's a parrot, not a seagull. What do they even teach you in mermaid school?"
Motonari stopped running his fingers through his hair to try and undo the tangles that this 'parrot' had caused with his 'preening'. He gave Motochika a superior look and said: "I'll have you know that I had a private tutor. The very best money could buy, in fact. And how many times must I tell you that I am a merman, not a-"
Motochika didn't let him finish, making a sound of understanding and stroking a beard that wasn't there in mock thoughtfulness. "Ah, so you were homeschooled... Well now, that certainly explains quite a number of things!"
"And what, pray tell, do you intend to insinuate by that?"
"Yeah, that's one of those things right there," Motochika said, playfully tapping Motonari's nose. He nearly got his finger taken off for his troubles. "That pompous, tight-assed way you speak. All prim and proper and superior. Upper class, huh? What, don't tell me the King's youngest little princess got herself all tangled up in our net!"
Motonari grit his teeth, his eyes flashing in anger. He could not say what it was about this insolent human that riled him up so much. Usually, he was so calm and collected... what had happened to that icy attitude of his? Had the heat of the sun melted it or was it the heat of this man's presence that was to be held responsible?
"Your mindless ramblings are beginning to annoy me."
A cheeky grin was his response.
"Good! I'd be disappointed if you were just as unaffected as you like to pretend you are. Getting a rise out of Daddy's little girl is sort of the point here, after all."
"For the last time, I am not a-"
But once again, Motochika cut him off, this time with a laugh and a dismissive wave of his hand. "A mermaid, yeah, I got that loud and clear. Manly fins and all that. But man, you really need to learn how to take a joke."
Motonari sniffed and turned his nose up. "Such simple-minded, plebeian digs at my appearance can hardly be thought of as humourous. Only a simpleton such as yourself would find enjoyment in jokes of such low caliber and so little class."
A strange, teasing glint entered Motochika's single visible eye and his smile turned positively wicked. He appeared to be regretfully unaffected by Motonari's insults and seemed to be more amused than anything, which simply wasn't fair considering how worked up Motonari had gotten over essentially nothing. So very unlike him.
"So, tell me," Motochika spoke, and the tone he used had Motonari's eyes narrow instinctively. "Would you like help removing that stick lodged up your ass or will you be alright on your own?"
For a moment or two, all Motonari could do was stare, not quite comprehending what he had just heard.
"I beg your pardon?" he said when he finally managed to make his tongue work once more. "There is no-"
Motochika's grin gained a devilish edge as he casually shrugged one shoulder. "Fine, leave it inserted then," he said as he turned away and walked back to the door - but not without throwing another cheeky comment over his shoulder. "You do seem like the type to enjoy that."
Naturally, Motonari was appalled.
He was not entirely sure what exactly the silver-haired man was driving at - humans had strange and quite painful sounding customs, it appeared - but going by his tone combined with the filthy look on his face, Motonari could more or less piece things together. He was a genius after all, and you certainly didn't need to be one to realize that a dirty joke had been made at your expense.
"The nerve of that man," Motonari muttered under his breath, glaring daggers at Motochika's back. In fact, he was glaring so heatedly that he didn't even need to understand what fire was to know that by all means, the heat of his gaze alone should have been enough to make Motochika spontaneously burst into flames.
But the irritating human remained regretfully unharmed, allowing him to pick up the large barrel he had set down by the door earlier. He carried it towards Motonari now, putting it down next to him. A bit of water sloshed over its edge as it was set down, solving the mystery of its contents.
Arching an elegant eyebrow, Motonari eyed the barrel critically before sending an unimpressed look Motochika's way.
"What is this? Another attempt to insult me? Do you really intend to keep me in that barrel as some sort of pet fish?"
Those words made another one of those annoyingly pleasant laughs tumble from deep within Motochika's throat. Much to Motonari's indignation, he then proceeded to pat the merman's head as you would when dealing with a child. Offended, Motonari took a swipe at him with his tail but missed.
"Nothing of the sort, my friend, but that's not a bad idea at all... Though I reckon you're rather high maintenance, as far as pets go," the human joked as he simply went ahead and picked Motonari up again without bothering to ask for permission. "No, I merely thought that as a creature of the sea you'd be more comfortable like this while we talk. You appear to be breathing just fine, but I've seen what happens to stranded fish - can't have that happen to my favourite little mermaid, can we?"
And with that, he unceremoniously dumped Motonari, cutting off any protests that Motonari may have uttered about once again being referred to as a mermaid.
He crashed into the water, plenty of the cool liquid spilling onto the floor as it was displaced by his body mass. By all means, Motonari should have been offended at being treated with such little respect, but when he opened his mouth to complain, all that came out was a pleased little sigh.
Only now that his lower half was properly submerged in water once more did he realize how parched and uncomfortably dry it had gotten.
"Better?" Motochika teased and Motonari found himself nodding in bliss before he realized what he was doing. He wiped all traces of contentment from his face and glared at the white-haired man.
"Would it have killed you to-"
"Cap'n!"
The door burst open, revealing a member of Motochika's crew. Despite his sun-tanned skin, he was looking rather white-faced. Something had obviously gone dreadfully wrong, to unsettle one of the roughnecks that the human's crew was comprised of so thoroughly.
"Speak up, mate - what is the matter?" Motochika asked firmly, going from playful and relaxed to alert and serious in the span of barely a second.
"The King's fleet... on the horizon... heading straight for us!" the other human gasped, clearly out of breath. "East and west... bastards got us surrounded!"
The cogs were turning quickly in Motochika's mind, and after a brief glance at a large map pinned to one side of his cabin, he said: "Then we'll be heading south. Let the men know. Have them hoist the sails and lift the anchor - I'll be there in a second."
The man nodded and hastily did as he was told. Only when the door had fallen shut behind him once more did Motochika allow his calm facade to crack slightly. He cursed rather colourfully - so colourfully in fact that Motonari did not even recognize half of the words he had used. For a short moment, his face twisted itself up into an ugly grimace of rage with an underlying hint of fear.
Then Motochika composed himself again and flashed Motonari a confident grin. Much as he disliked the man, Motonari had to commend him for his ability to keep calm and appear in control in front of his men - an important quality for a leader, be they a general or a captain.
"I'm afraid we'll have to postpone our little talk for just a bit longer," Motochika said. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you even know it."
And with that, he was gone.
Author's Note: And that's it for today, folks. This chapter practically wrote itself. Don't get your hopes up - I doubt I'll be able to keep up that pace for very long. Writer's block is an insidious, dangerous predator... always lurking right around the corner, watching you from the shadows and ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
No one is safe.
No one.
Alright then, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and if you're up for it, drop me a line or two! See you next time!
