"A prison cell, a fucking prison cell!" The rat Amanto sporting a black eye and his arm in a sling stalks back and forth in Harusame's dank prison cell. Shared with captain Cthulhu who squats on the ground stained with dried blood and putrefied fluids.
The crew of twenty-eight - predominantly men, some women and one child - were split into pairs to occupy fourteen prison cells. They watch the rat Amanto rant on in a feverish rage. He stalks past the clogged toilet for the umpteenth time, conscious of the stench of sewage water invading everyone's nostrils. It's strong enough make them want to gag yet shut their mouths to avoid tasting it.
Nothing else but a filthy toilet and sink are built into each cell. If they want to curl up and cry themselves to sleep they must do so on the ground, for there is no bed. Typical of Harusame's cells meant to punish prisoners to the utmost extent.
Pale lighting clashes with the gloom, casting intense shadows on everyone and looking the most frightening on the rat Amanto who continues stalking under the clouded eyes of a spider corpse caught in its web. Dead because no other pests can survive down here in this chilling tomb, not even the prisoners if left to starve.
Suiren slinks through the unsealed gateway, entering the prison located closest to the back and lowest level of the flagship. She treads down the walkway between the cells with her purple eyes flickering left, spotting some crewmates shifting under her gaze when she notices their bandaged wounds, blood-crusted cuts and reddened eyes - proof of their violent struggle. Then her eyes flicker right where she spots the only child, a tiger cub Amanto no older than six, cowering in the embrace of a dismayed tigress Amanto who's sniffling in regret for ever taking him along. Everyone's practical clothing got ragged and torn at some ends from mishandling. Cold sweat rolls down her face when their stares land on her and she jolts back upon realising her vulnerability to their judgement.
'F-First of all, find a way to apologise!' She tells herself whilst wearing a nervous smile and stops in front of the captain's cell.
The rat Amanto stops pacing the instant she approaches them. He clenches his jaw and storms towards her. "Why couldn't you fight all-out?! Why did you suck up to them?!" His unbroken arm swings out towards the crewmates, gesturing towards them with tensed fingers. "Those bastards can enter the cells anytime and fucking gouge out our organs!"
Suiren expected this response and takes a deep breath, turns around and sinks to the ground. She sits leaning against the jail bars and says "Then I'll stay here and guard everyone myself." Her voice is distastefully calm to him.
The rat Amanto sneers and thrusts out his claws, piercing into her neck. Suiren chokes with the sound of blood and saliva welling up in her throat. With her now pinned into place, he speaks in a quavering, rage-restrained voice. "Even if they do leave us on a planet," He spits out the last part, utterly doubting it. "There's no guarantee we'll stay. You can't control us!" His strangulating grip tightens by the second, making her cringe as she's forced to listen. "We won't stop until we take revenge. I'm speaking for all the survivors like us in the universe! Don't you get it!? You're merely stalling the inevitable!"
A mix of shock and pain gleams her eyes. Of course this is inevitable, she knows that but her intention wasn't 'merely to stall it'.
"Fuze stop!" Cthulhu roars out and clutches his inmate's shoulder.
Fuze kicks him away, too enraged to obey. "You've sold us out, you've left us for dead," Suiren's hands shakily rise towards his outstretched arm. "You've sacrificed us to join the Yato and I don't blame you! Because you're not one of us! Just go…" His dry wheeze builds up to an explosive roar. "JUST DIE!"
Cthulhu lunges at Fuze who releases her and is thrown to the ground with a heavy thud. Suiren crawls away from them whilst clutching her neck, sweating and gasping for air no matter how sickening its stench. The captive crew only watch in silence as Fuze shoves aside Cthulhu and lunges forth with bloodshot, murderous eyes. The force of his kicks rattle the prison bars, filling the room with ear-splitting clangs. All he screams now is verbal vomit chockful of curses.
Fearful, Suiren's eyes dart away, the crew, despite being imprisoned are pitying her with every blink.
'No…' She too, is silenced by the oppressive forces around her. 'Please don't… I caused all this… I-!'
She flees the prison, unable to apologise.
Once she's out in the corridor she slams her forearm against the wall and stoops down to it, her lengthy, disarrayed hair obscuring her grimace. "What else can I do?! I just want to protect them!" Her voice comes out forced and raspy.
It sounded simple enough, forget the fear and lose herself to her instincts from long ago. Back when she still lived on her ever rain-soaked home planet in the pest-ridden, rotting slums. The god forsaken place where she survived by fighting not merely living day by day, in fear the Yato mafia would once again break into the shanty house of her father's and hers. When her father wasn't around the mafia members, with voices filled with derision, would jump at the chance to break in, steal and threaten to sell her off, beat her or whatever they had in mind. Many a time they looked down on her with those maddened eyes. It was bone-chilling and made her wish she wasn't born a Yato.
"You have arms and legs yet you can't fight? You're a Yato, use everything you have. Your whole body is a weapon and your mind is but a limiter." Those were her father's words she continues to use over and over to propel herself into action, to stand up and fight back in spite of her fear. Thanks to his harsh training she gained a semblance of courage and the ability to defend herself. "But dad, a weapon can rust, it can warp, it can break." was what her younger self once cried, to which her father replied "A Yato can heal and grow stronger, a living weapon with those abilities is more than enough to put up a fight. So reject the thoughts holding you back. That fear of yours is an illusion, it's not there. It's nothing."
"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing" was among the phrases she recalled during her fight against Kamui. She had been nothing but desperate yet unable to fight to the fullest. Her being alive meant he had been toying with her, dragging out the fight just to see how it'd play out. Would she fight him again? Most likely never. Next time would surely be a one-way slaughter.
She clenches her fist. "I was desperate but what for?"
Before the ambush she had forced her way onto the ship just before take-off to convince the captain to turn back, and she failed. If she had tried harder, if she wasn't so restrained when opposing anyone, maybe, just maybe she would've prevented this. Instead she avoided truly fighting with negotiations so loaded with faults. It'd make sense if either the captain or Kamui just outright kill her off as a hindrance. It's clear that should've happened, so clear it hurts.
To the right, not far behind her is Kamui leaning against a beam jutting off the wall. His face appears cold with indifference despite his earlier act of cheeriness and acceptance. She hadn't noticed him, the whole time he was watching, trying to understand why she masquerades as strong for that zoo of half-animal Amanto. When he notices raw, bleeding gashes around her throat he's further puzzled. A serious aura surrounds him as he narrows his eyes in thought. No sane Yato would let someone strangle them to this degree and not fight back. Well whatever led to this, it's her fault for not stopping it. He already obtained an Altana crystal from her. That was plenty but she could still be of use in the 7th Division because there has been a lack of Yato after many died in previous battles. If she doesn't prove her worth he'll kill her and the crew and call it just another day in the life of Kamui. Having enough of no presence, the heel of his foot kicks against the beam to catch her attention.
She reels around and faces him, her look of surprise evident. Then she follows his gaze down to her neck and realises how feeble she must look. It's over, she can't fool him.
Suiren slaps her hand over her eyes and laughs bitterly to herself, raising her voice out of self-mockery. "Aaa~aaah! I'm no good… I lived long enough to become a villain!" A villain constantly betraying herself for people who could care less.
Kamui raises a brow, stunned by the response.
She turns away to face the glass screen opening out to an infinite void and fading lights. With a pained heart she calls out "If only you can see me now, dad!" as if her voice would pass through and reach him.
"As long as you continue putting others before you, regardless of the pain they cause, you'll find yourself chained down in misery."
Upon hearing him, she looks back at Kamui. Her widened eyes glimmering with unshed tears meet Kamui's darkened gaze. Within his flicker remnants of emotions felt strongest during his childhood. A time when his words rang true to the heart.
Kamui can't predict what Suiren will do next if left alone so he takes her to meet the rest of the 7th Division, convinced her interactions with them will enable her to toughen up. At first the clansmen appear ridiculously intimidating but when she gets to know them she'll know they're just a bunch of free spirited idiots with a fondness for bloodshed. Kamui considers himself the smartest one around for coming up with these ideas.
He leads her melancholic self to the mess hall, a brightly lit and massive eatery where she's smacked in the face by the sight of Yato and a plethora of other Amanto races partying like it's the end of the world. Truckloads of streamers and confetti is launched through the air on either side of the room as they stride past long tables set in rows, with many of the seats filled. All around, gleeful groups are spotted gambling, playing drinking games, brawling over nonsense and swaying left to right with arms slung over each other's shoulders, butchering popular songs with voices so off-tune they'd make birds drop dead and dogs howl into the night.
All in all life is good and the mighty guffaws of laughter is one way of knowing. The quality of the food had gone up ever since the Four Ominous Stars joined. They had all the good stuff when the 7th Division was fighting to the death over meagre food scraps. All due to a certain vermillion-haired captain taking their rations. But tonight they share for this is a victorious night in celebration of too many things to count so as it turns out, this is how it is every night. The streamers and confetti is just to welcome Suiren to the bloody wondrous underworld of space pirates.
Suiren is gobsmacked and rendered speechless. With one hand she clutches onto the silken skirt of her white cheongsam. Her other hand tugs her beige cloak closer to her face. She feels alienated even amongst her own kind but Kamui pays no mind.
Up ahead are the Yato duo. The tattooed one is knocked to the ground, scrambling to get up and the braided beard one drops on him with a limbs-out body slam, as if that wasn't enough, several more brawny Yato slam on top of them.
The demon faced Yato lounging on top of the pile smirks down at the buried tattooed one. "You win the bet if you get out of there, if not you're gonna hand over your prized possession!"
"Like hell I will!" comes the muffled reply. Then comes a brief pause. "Uwaargh! Who was it?! Who farted?!"
The onlooking clansmen chugging down their drinks chortles and one of them bellows "Good luck Ryushin! There's no way Bushin will let ya escape the Death-Cage of Hell! Ain't that right Bushin?!"
"Aye!" the bearded one roars out.
Suiren skids to a halt beside a smiling Kamui and snaps her head towards him with a blank look. "W-wha-"
"Say hello to your new friends!" with that said, Kamui swerves around and starts heading back.
"Hold it right there!" She grabs the taller Yato by the cape, her face pales in terror as she pulls his face towards hers. The cloth around his neck bunches up in her hands. "What if they squash me like a bug?! I don't know about you but if that happens to me I'll never preserve the Yato clan, got it?!"
"So what?" is his blunt reply.
She's trembling as if mimicking an earthquake. "So I want to high-tail outta here, find myself a room and cry myself to sleep 'cause my guilt from before is eating me alive dammit!"
"Too much angst is bad for you, it'll give you wrinkles. Just relax and smile!" Whilst smiling he flicks her on the forehead, knocking her back a few metres.
It isn't like they're to be executed after spending one night in prison, not like what happened to him once upon an episode and look at him now. After joining forces with Takasugi and fighting back to back, Kamui slaughtered the ones responsible with the joy of Ladd Russo bashing people's faces in and tap dancing in their blood… good times.
She crashes into the pile of Yato causing them to cry out in a cacophony of manly squeals and tumble back in a mangled mess of limbs. Uncovering Ryushin who springs up with both fists in the air like he wins a medal.
"Hah! I told ya I'd win! …wait…" Donning a clueless look, Ryushin inspects the ground and sees the clansmen partially piled and sprawled all around in awkward positions. Including Suiren who claws her way out from under two heavy Yato that accidentally bashed heads during the fall.
Bushin lies across from Suiren on his back and acknowledges her upside down. He speaks in a nonchalant manner. "If you wanted to join in you just had to ask y'know?"
"Who wants to join your mass of beef?!" is how she wants to retort but stutters "Y-yeah, sorry…" instead because they'd take it as a compliment. More importantly, she's struggling to breath.
Ryushin looks down on her and a spark of recognition hits. "Aaaah!" His aggressive shout almost makes her jump out of her skin. "You're that gutsy one that fought like an amateur! The 'bra-less chick!"
This proclamation made many men's heads snap towards her.
"Who are you calling bra-less?!" Suiren blushes a bright red and wrings her hands out in disdain.
Ryushin simply blinks twice and scratches the thick skull beneath his stringy mop of hair. "Well ya didn't have an umbrella so you're 'bra-less for short."
"That logic is all kinds of wrong!" snaps Suiren, an anger vein throbbing on her temple. "I'm Suiren! S-u-i-r-e-n!"
Filled with boundless energy, Kamui steps in. "Now that it's mentioned… where is your umbrella? Did'ya break it?"
The truth is, Suiren doesn't have an umbrella because she fears carrying it around will make hardy gangsters pick fights with her on the new planet she moved to. That's something she wants to avoid in order to live in peace, unlike back then. So she sold her weapon to pay for that one awesome console and a whole lot of games, all which was blown to bits in the terminal explosion. But they don't need to know that little sob story. Instead, she says "That's right, I jammed it up the ass of a monster so hard it broke and I still haven't gotten a new one!"
Silence falls. They scrutinise her with dead serious expressions, making her worry she's found out. But to her surprise the fine and dandy atmosphere returns and the gang of Yato grin all flowery at her.
"Haha! Suiren, you're a funny one!" Bushin slings his arm over her shoulders and snatches up a glass of beer. "What kind of Yato shoves their umbrella up an ass?! If you're gonna kill a monster ya gotta go for the throat!"
"Fuck no! Instant kills are hella boring! Ya gotta drag out the fight then move in for the kill just as it does!" Ryushin adds and slings his arm over her from other side.
Suiren breaks into sweat and seems to shrink when wedged between the towering duo prattling on about ways to kill a monster. Meanwhile, Kamui turns away and this time walks off for real, wearing an amused smile because he knows she's bluffing.
Two standing, cloaked figures gaze out of the glass screen on an otherwise deserted deck. Fluorescent lights ever present to light up the gloom of outer space. Unfazed by the low temperatures, absence of sunlight and cosmic radiation are two of the 7th Division's most admired and strongest: Abuto and Kamui. This is their discussion:
"The biggest problem is the prisoners want to destroy earth. I'm all for them destroying Tendoshu though since it's full of shitty hat stands. Besides, I'm more eager to fight the armies and top dogs, at least they put up a fight."
"Takasugi and his group also want to destroy, right? The 'world' of Utsuro that is. But would he care if the actual world's destroyed? After all, he's not the type to save it."
"That's for sure, saving the world sounds like a job for Yorozuya."
"Nah, have you seen how destructive they are?"
"Please, Kagura is with them. They'll turn the world upside down at most. If it's me I'll destroy the solar system."
"In what form?"
"I'm in my final form y'know?"
That last remark could only belong to the idiot captain because just then Abuto, holding a half-empty can, almost spits his mouthful of fruit-flavoured liquor on him. On the verge of roaring with laughter because who the hell expects this scrawny terror to rival Frieza?! Instead, Abuto opts to keep staring off into space, playing the cool-headed vice-captain with an unseen vision for what lies ahead. But not before choking on his drink since he failed to hold back.
After doubling over and thumping himself in the chest, Abuto clears his throat and speaks again. "According to the report several of our clansmen threatened the prisoners saying if they still plan to destroy earth, one of our best sources of income and entertainment, they'll rip out their organs and sell them to the Piranha clan." His voice is casual and montone. "Ah, that's not all, the clansmen also threatened to *beep* and *beep*, paint the room red then set their *beep* on fire and *beep* 'til they can't *beep* no more, then sprinkle the ashes up their *beep* and sink them in the Sanzu river, y'know, the usual."
Kamui feels a pang of nostalgia at the mention of such vulgarities. He remembers using them with sadistic passion when he first joined Harusame at around age seven. Those were the days he crushed the bodies and spirits of those who dared challenge him thinking they were the top shit. He'd leap in mid-air and stomp on their backs, knocking them to the ground and squat on their spines with all his weight. Then he'd seize their heads in a skull-crushing grip and whilst grinning like a thrilled cannibal, grind their faces into the dirt. Recalling aside, he still had a certain agenda to follow so he ends the discussion, saying "That's enough for today, g'night Abuto."
A bloodless treaty does not exist between Harusame and the prisoners. For that reason, in the early morning, Kamui slides his umbrella into the sheath on his belt and strides towards the prison, his grey cape unfurling behind. He rounds the corner and surveys the area around the mechanical gateway sealing away the zoo of half-Animal Amanto. Only authorised personnel have free access to the prisons for only they have the key to unsealing the gateway. Rather than use a key he doesn't have, he smashes the control panel by the side with a jumping back kick, hearing a satisfying crunch. Blue voltage chitters within the warped fractures of the metallic box. A clear sign of it malfunctioning and resulting in the gateway sliding open permanently.
He treads down the walkway of the prison and takes out a stolen master key to unlock the cells occupied by bleary eyed and exhausted crewmates, whom Suiren had tried but failed to convince not to follow through with their revenge due to her soft approach. None of them are alert or show much reaction to him seemingly double checking the locks. An outsider had snuck in pillows and sleeping mats into their cells. There were also food scraps he recognised as some of the many meals served last night in the mess hall. No one in Harusame would do this especially for these prisoners so it must've been Suiren who he saw later last night following around the warden, asking nonstop in a jittery manner for him to let her see them until he grumbled and let her.
It was laughable really, for her to not give up on them even though one of them attacked her. But because she disregarded the gashes on her throat as merely any wound that'll heal, her one-sided care for them isn't just a joke. It's a problem. By now she should've fought with them and realised they weren't worth it but she fears fighting. Instead she chooses to forgive them and try in vain to make things better for all parties involved. That's just foolish, being a pacifist who dared fight him on a superficial whim. She'd most probably die if he hadn't held back because he dislikes killing women.
Kamui steps outside the prison, still able to see the prisoners in their cells, and unsheathes his umbrella to point the nozzle at them. "I unlocked your cells, now get out and line up horizontally in front of me."
The prisoners glance at each other, some dumbstruck and some irritated but they all obey and flood out the prison to line up at a wary distance from him. Kamui's eyes sweep across the line and sees no one with a build for combat. That's too bad but he'll give them one advantage.
He grabs the side of his cloak and spreads it out to reveal handle-like mechanisms slid into bands. After taking out the mechanisms and tossing each of them into the fumbling hands of the puzzled prisoners, he says "See that switch at the end of the handle? Flip it while pointing the other end away from you."
They follow his orders and the moment they flip the switch a bright red beam fizzles out of the other end. The sight of light sabres being activated leaves the prisoners stunned. What is he planning?
"Step forward all those still determined to destroy earth." Kamui widens his stance, wielding his umbrella one-handed. "I'll cut to the chase. If you kill me you're free to escape however you want, but be quick or I'll kill you first."
It takes an instant for the prisoners to wake up and realise this is the only chance they can't refuse. Adrenalin is pumping. It's all of them against one, one Yato but if Suiren can fight him and live so can they. How wrong they are.
The most determined among them charge at him, leaving behind a few who linger back in reluctance. Kamui's aggressors are more than half the crew and they unleash vicious war cries whilst brandishing their sabres.
Kamui ducks under the first slash dealt by a half-dog and stabs him through the torso with a knife-hand strike. The Amanto's eyes dilate, he coughs up blood and winces in agony when Kamui twists his hand to the side, piercing deeper into burning innards. Kamui's hand slides out with a squelch and he licks the blood dripping down his fingers with a closed-eye smile. Time seems to freeze for the Amanto surrounding him, as if they were morbidly entranced until the moment the half-dog crashes down, now a fresh corpse.
They snap out of it with a raging need for payback blazing in their glares. They lunge at him in a blitz of beams whooshing in all directions. He leaps through the air before he's trapped in the centre. One Amanto's wild swing cuts through another one's shoulder, making him shriek about how much it burns. That's unfortunate but now they know these sabres are the real deal. Kamui takes aim with his finger on the trigger of his umbrella and rains bullets on them. He kills off several whilst in mid-air. Those shot cry out and swear, refusing to go down without a fight.
Kamui hits the ground in a three point landing with his outstretched arm directing the nozzle of his umbrella behind him, placed right between an incoming aggressor's eyes. He shoots and the half-lizard aggressor drops the sabre that was raised too high above his neck as if intending to plunge it down with the force of a harpoon. Like a whirlwind, a half-cheetah spirals towards him wielding dual sabres. He handsprings out of the way, grabs a corpse by the scruff of its neck and hurls it at her. She's knocked to the ground under a mangled corpse and he leaps above them, stabbing through both beating and dead hearts. The few onlooking prisoners that retreated into the prison flinch but don't move, rendering the sabres given to them useless.
A bulking shadow looms over him. When Kamui looks up there's a half-toad leaping behind with his sabre held in both hands, twisting his upper torso for momentum to behead in a single strike. Kamui halts the effort to wrench out his umbrella from the corpses and rolls off. Seeing him unarmed and about to stand, two half-wolves charge at him from either side. They draw nearer whilst their sabres begin to cross over with him standing between. If he dodges their synchronised onslaught will continue so he waits for them. Two severed arms fly through the air, streaks of blood spray out. The sabres those cold hands held drop to the ground and fizzle out as the half-wolves stare at the stumps by their shoulders, where their snapped bones protrude. They howl out and he silences them with simultaneous knife hand strikes through the guts. He looks around and finds a few more sweating prisoners wielding sabres, all intent on killing him to avenge their comrades if not for the freedom to go homicidal on another planet.
With a relaxed demeanour, Kamui cracks his fists thinking 'Choices, choices~ Does it matter who's first?' and moves in for the slaughter.
Out of the twenty eight prisoners, four remain only because they didn't try once to kill him like he so kindly allowed. Though that didn't matter because now he knows they aren't worth fighting and might as well be used as bonded labourers for Harusame. This is a win-win too because he killed the enemies he or someone else would have to sooner or later. If he hadn't killed them they would've killed others and if they have such killing intent it would be a waste not to fight them. After all, there could be surprisingly strong opponents among them who are worth fighting to the death. But then again he shouldn't expect much because these Amanto are nowhere near as impressive as samurai.
A clattering of clay cups on a tray brings Kamui's attention to the junction where the corridor branches out to the prison. Suiren stands there holding the said tray topped with slices of bread, a jug and a stack of cups. She stands there frozen, trying to process the gory sight of severed limbs, corpse piles and a great deal of blood splatters. In Kamui's mind there's three possibilities as to how she'll react: 1. She drops the tray, expresses a look of pure horror and stammers "Y-You did this…", 2. She throws the tray at him in hysteria and cries "I'll never forgive you!", or 3. She keeps her mouth shut and walks away, doubting reality and pretends this happened. What will happen?
The answer is 4. She unemotionally puts down the tray and rushes towards the surviving survivors like a madman on fire, jumping on them with her arms wide open and crying "Thank god you're aliiiiiive!" Once they're trapped in her tightening embrace she rambles on between sobs. "I'll find you a planet, I swear I'll find you a planet where your hearts can heeeeeeaaaaal!"
"Pull yourself together, woman!" The ticked off half-tigress whom the half-tiger cub clings to, slaps the blubbering mess known as Suiren across the face several times. The slaps sound like they ought to hurt but Suiren seems unfazed and doesn't stop her waterworks.
"Sssh, Suiren, it's okay…" Captain Cthulhu pats her on the head as if she's a toddler whose favourite ice cream went splat on the ground. "We're more heartless than you think. Why else would we watch our crewmates get killed in a bloody splendid death match?" Then he leans over and hisses in her ear. "I never liked those bastards anyway."
Fuze raises his unbroken arm above her head and looks up with a bitter scowl. "Haaah geez, I'm done with this ship of psychos! To hell with revenge! I'll let the cannon fodder do all the dirty work so I can quit and become a mangaka dammit!"
Suiren stares at the four, stunned beyond belief. Then she rubs her tears out of her eyes and exclaims "A-aaah! I tried so hard to protect you guys, believing you were delicate, misguided souls! So I was wrong all along?! You guys are seriously more villainous than me!"
"It took you this long to realise?!" hollars the supposedly innocent half tiger cub with his fur standing on end.
Whilst standing there covered in the fresh blood of his victims, Kamui watches them and blinks twice. Well this is unexpected. All that dramatic tension and this is how it wraps it? No way, there has got to be more raw emotions, more scenes starring him, more-
"Oi!" yells one hell of a cranky and wrinkly janitor passing by with his trolley full of cleaning products. The senile old fart glares daggers at Kamui despite his infamy in Harusame. "Quit bloody massacring on mah floor!"
That same morning in the storage room, Abuto's face pales in dread upon discovering a disastrous situation hinted at by a smashed open and empty crate. "Where the hell are the master key and light sabres?!"
Moral of the chapter? It's hard finding new strengths when you have a habit of falling back on old ones.