Doctor: Edo, Japan
In the outskirts of Kabuki-cho, there was an empty grave.
It was Chiaki's grave.
Twelve months after the nurse disappeared, her father called the funerary services and the old doctor, who was most patient at taking care of the growing girl's needs wasn't invited. He wasn't informed of this.
Damn them, he thought, she would not have liked this one bit.
He sighed, and with steady hands he plucked out scraggly grass that grew along with the manicured ones.
There was a dried bouquet of roses and a pot of plant succumbing to leaf wilt placed carefully under her name. He brushed off the dead leaves that had oh so insolently covered up her name in fancy script.
Here Lies Chiaki Sugiyama. In God's Care
He squinted, with his old wrinkled eyes he squinted. He had nothing against God and his people you see, but he never saw Chiaki pray to any god. She was someone who would scoff at going to church, rather spend the hour on leveling up your magikarp, she once said. The aging doctor massaged his temple and sighed once again.
"Happy Birthday Chiaki."
Kamui, Takasugi and Chiaki: Prison
"Our father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy wilt be done on dirt as it is in heaven.-"
"Chiaki." Kamui called out.
"Give us this day our daily bread and bless us, o lord, which we are receive this bounty-"
"Chiaki." He called out louder.
"Oh Thanks, Almighty God-"
"Chiaki"
"WHAT?" Chiaki snapped. Kamui and Takasugi stood in front of her, the latter standing up. The both of them looked pretty much miffed at what was happening.
"What are you doing?" Takasugi inquired, he was amused.
She stood up and patted off the dirt that had accumulated on her knees. She shot him a glare that might have been mistaken as something else. The nurse approached the bars of her jail cell and leaned on it.
She looked back and forth and whispered as if it was a dirty secret.
"I was praying."
Hope seemed to be all lost for the nurse. If cavalry was of the form of a deranged one eyed human who had similar ideals to her Captain then she might just throw off all her stubbornness down the drain and begin converting to be a devout follower of any religion.
Her Captain's lip twitched then he laughed openly. She twitched at how natural it sounded. Like he was meant to be laughing with a bunch of dumbass teenagers in a high school filled with dumbass teenagers about an immature topic only dumbass teenagers will be able to think of. He was not supposed to be in a jail ready to be executed in a short amount of time. She was ready to find his parents and lecture them about the proper ways of raising a child so that he won't end up to be a dumbass teenager like he was.
Kamui's eyebrows raised and his head tipped to one side. "What did god say?"
She interrupted them earlier by suddenly dropping into her knees and praying a prayer only three year olds with no religious experience would pray. She mixed up two prayers and got all the words wrong. It was hilarious for him, but he wouldn't teach her the proper words. It was not his job and it would not do well to his reputation if word spreads out at he knew all of the prayers and all the names of the angels. He blamed his mother.
"That you're a prat." She replied.
Kamui didn't react well on her insult.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry I'm too far away from you to strangle. Those handcuffs must really infuriate you." She was hoping he'd get pissed enough to break free and start punching her face, because one, she needed someone to knock sense into her and two, that meant they were free.
It didn't work. It turns out that even their strength had their limitations.
She needed to do something. She was not going to rely on Takasugi's help.
"Just… Just continue on your evil mastermind plan, sorry for interrupting." She waved them off.
Takasugi nodded once then faced Kamui.
"They purposefully left me alive and treated me so that they could do a public execution. They want to use it to give warning to the other right? So what day did they pick?" Kamui asked. Takasugi was mostly in shadow, but the limited light morphed his face to an eye glinting cyborg.
"Three days from now." Takasugi drawled.
Kamui beamed, but there was nothing remotely warm in his smile. It brought shivers down Takasugi's back.
Realization hit the Samurai like a slap in the face. This was what brought him to Kamui, he thought silently. Kamui was one of them, Katsura, Gintoki, the Bakufu. He was no different, powerful, manipulating. Takasugi felt a surge of blood warm his fingertips. The singular factor that separated Kamui from the rest of the merry band was that he was in his own twisted morals, on Takasugi's side.
There existed a short pithy expression about birds with same feather patterns.
"Three days huh?" The Yato's smile disappeared to a more subtle one. "I wonder who will die first. Me or you?"
Takasugi shrugged.
"You do understand, right? Every last one of these guys in the Harusame only thinks of their own interests. It's a foolish organization where everyone's trying to take a bite out of one another. Even with our power, they can't directly attack the Bakufu. No matter how much respect you pay. They'll just use and use you until the day you get fired… literally." Kamui nodded politely.
Different means to the same end, they were bound to be friends from the beginning.
"True enough… Even if I'm used or being used, with this kind of a worthless partner, it's boring." The samurai said truthfully.
"Kamui…If you stay at a place like this, those hard earned fangs will rot right from your mouth."
There was pause and the both of their eyes locked in grim understanding.
"Why are you here in the first place?" The Captain asked Takasugi.
"I'm the same as you, aimlessly wandering for a place to pierce my unshapely leftover fangs" he said which was utter bullshit because both of them knew very well that his bloody fangs were sharp as fuck. Takasugi walked forward, ready to conclude his meeting with the Captain of the seventh division. Kamui pulled a face.
"But there is nowhere to go in a broken down ship like this. But since I am on it, I really wanted to see someone like you riding it too."
Kamui liked to think that he was successful in pretending to be bewildered, Takasugi bought it. She didn't. Chiaki found herself scared, like she was in the same cage with a sleeping lion, a hungry sleeping lion. It was the same batshit insane look that brought everyone to this trouble.
"See you later." Takasugi raised his hand in the air as a sign of goodbye.
"Space brawler-san."
Both prisoners stood still until they heard his footsteps disappear.
Chiaki didn't say anything.
"So." Kamui turned his attention on her, which was something she didn't appreciate at the moment.
"Shall we continue on with our conversation?" He offered. Her heart was thundering, and an eye contact left her with a sinking feeling that she didn't understand.
"What conversation? We weren't having a conversation earlier." She raised her eyebrow.
Kamui changed the subject with a practiced smile. "Being forgetful on purpose aren't we?"
"Forgetful? What forgetful… pfftt …there wasn't anything worthy of talking about in the first place, and… and… oh look! You seem to be quite busy being in chains. I'll leave you to that. Yes, that's a great idea… We are not talking about… kissing!" She smacked her lips and gave him an Oscar winning smile before deflating into her usual slightly cynical pace.
When he didn't speak, she thanked him in her head and gave her minutes to recover.
How to bust out of jail.
"Squeeze through the bars?" She whispered to herself and brought her hands to hold two metal bars tightly separating her from freedom. At least she wasn't put into those restricting handcuffs like they did on her Captain. They must have figured out that humans were weaker compare to the other races. She could do it, maybe, if she really tried. She shouldn't have eaten all those Flamin' hot Cheetos. She blamed Aiko for handing her bags after bags of them.
"You can't do that, you're too… fat." Kamui leaned back this time and Chiaki gaped at him.
"I'm not… I'm not fat! Look at this!" She tore her lab coat off and she lifted the sleeve of her red shirt up for emphasis. She was thin. Okay, maybe the reason Aiko hurled the Cheetos at her was because she was too thin. She gained five kilograms, that's something.
The Captain recoiled in distaste then made a comment about how she should eat more, which was followed by her expressing that not everybody was born to be a vacuum cleaner for food like he was.
"If you were back in your planet, you could be one of those hangers that walk around with fancy clothes."
"Well, thank you for that. But they're not called hangers, they're called models."
"Is this going to be a thing now?" He asked bluntly.
Chiaki opened her mouth and closed it when she found out she couldn't think of a retort. She could only stare at some other object aside from his lovely face because he was gloating.
"Yes, right." She muttered then tried to squeeze herself through the bars. She angled her body so that she could insert her right arm and shoulder, after much struggling Chiaki managed to pull her head out to freedom. "Halfway through!" She announced and smiled at Kamui.
He watched her unamused with half lidded eyes. Slowly, painfully slowly, he put his chained hands up and gave her a slow sarcastic clap.
"Yes, because sitting in your ass with no escape plan is something to be proud of."
He hummed and stared at her long enough for her to feel naked. Then he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
"Thank you for your valuable support as always, Captain."
Chiaki held the bar nearest to her face with her free arm and forced her torso to inch further out. She could feel the cold metal rub painfully against her hipbones and she knew then that her mode of escape was impossible. Damn genetics, her hips were too wide and even if she did it sideways, her spine and ribs couldn't make it.
It was too freaking embarrassing.
"Hey, what's going on here?" The guard scrunched his face in confusion. The heck? He thought. He wasn't the usual guard, it was his cousin. His cousin who was currently taking a vacation in the lovely shoal planet, his cousin who probably had two or more women sitting on his lap right now while he drank juice out of a coconut. The guard wasn't in any way jealous. He was told that the job was easy and the pay was good.
He didn't expect something as stupid as this in the first day.
"By Arceus" –which was a pagan god from where he came from– the guard scratched his head and silently glared at the nurse. "It's a human as well, I hope they aren't as stupid as how my cousin described them." Because voicing out his rude thoughts was necessary. He looked human-ish as well, with only paler skin and a pair of horns growing from his orange hair. He also liked wearing sharkskin in occasions.
Chiaki wasn't happy.
She watched him scratch his head further before he cleared his throat and did a little dance.
"You… cannot…leave… the… cell." He said slowly.
"I perfectly understand your language thank you, and humans are not idiots. We're just a little too daring for our own good." She said and he blinked. She watched his face turn redder and redder before he was reduced to a stuttering mess of apologies.
"You still cannot leave the cell." He concluded.
Thankfully, Chiaki thought. Her luck didn't give her some overweight lecher who couldn't keep his hands to himself. Maybe the universe finally pitied her.
"I know, but can you push me back inside, this position really hurts."
He did and left. Afterwards she felt a little better. Humiliated, but comfortable.
Kamui was quiet; she managed to sneak a few glances before his attention was all on her. She crawled to her wall farthest from him and sat down. The bruises that marred his features had already faded away. The small cuts, the flecks of blood, all those tiny details had already disappeared, like they didn't exist in the first place.
Gods he was a selfish prick. She thought, remembering herself weeping all over him. She didn't want to relive the memory. She was trapped too! He had the gall to say 'I've been in worse situations than this, stop crying' when in truth, she had been crying for herself and not for his arrogant ass.
"Captain?" She tested the waters, she knew he wasn't sleeping. She was going to call him again when he opened his eyes and glared at her with such intensity that could only be translated as, 'I was sleeping, what is it do you fucking want?'
"You weren't sleeping." She said, because he was laughing the entire time she was getting pushed back in her cell.
It was quiet then. She didn't actually think that he would respond to her calling him. A few minutes of amused silence flew over them before he broke it.
"You wanted to know more about me, you say?" He teasingly asked.
She nodded. "This might sound creepy, but I once asked the vice-captain if he knew anything about your past– "
"What did he say?"
"Let me finish, he wouldn't budge and when I pestered him more about it, he told me to keep my nose off people's business."
"He's right."
"He's always right." She smiled genuinely.
"And yet here you are, asking me the same thing that he wouldn't give you." Kamui paused. "What would you do with the information if I told you?"
"I would cherish it and use it as a reminder that I have leveled up from the tier of human scum to actual living thing with a brain and feelings." Which wasn't utter bullshit.
"You first." He said too quickly and she choked on her spit.
"I thought we agreed on next time." I'm not ready!
"Now is next time."
"Ah, now I see the charming wit Aiko and the others titter about." She said and he seemed to want her to say something else.
Chiaki took a deep breath and he could tell she hesitated at first before speaking.
Here goes…
"I can't really remember what my biological mother looks like, my dad has pictures, but I always imagine her as a different person. When I was still in her stomach–"
"In her uterus." He interrupted.
"… in her uterus…my dad moved us from the countryside to the city, I remember him being at work most of the time. I don't blame him, he was a good man and even when we were wealthier than most, he still worked harder for us. My mom was a nurse, but my dad didn't like her working. He said that I needed to be taken care of. So she quit."
Kamui didn't say that he didn't give a damn about his mother.
He didn't say that he just wanted her to keep him from prematurely dying due to boredom.
He didn't say anything.
"So every Saturday, after baby school, she used to bring me to this shitty park –the kind where fountains reek of green pond stuff. She would sing to me stupid baby songs and carry me around. She used to smoke a lot too. When my dad wasn't around and I couldn't sleep at night, she would bring me to the roof of the house and we'd watch the stars. I had this happy meal toy binocular that didn't actually work, but we pretended it did. It was really fun."
She swallowed.
"It was nearing winter and I couldn't sleep. It was really cold, like snow trudging kind of cold. I went to her bed and asked if we could go to the roof. She didn't want to, but I was being a brat. I pestered her and when we went up, it was so cloudy that I couldn't see anything. It was okay, she told me. Then the day after that, she began coughing. I didn't take notice; I was a shitty kid who played princess a lot. I mean… she coughed too much, like she wanted her lung to go out or something." Chiaki swallowed.
He kept his face completely neutral and he nodded once.
"Then… she just died, I didn't know what to do then. I woke up late for class and when I went to her room and tried to wake her, she was just cold." Chiaki's eyebrows scrunched and she massaged her temples.
"The operator in the phone asked me if I had tried waking her up, I told him yes, many times and she was stiff. Then the house was full of men in uniforms; one wrapped me in a blanket. I saw my dad drive in from outside, he talked to a man in a uniform and he cried." She didn't cry. She missed her mother, but it didn't occur to her what really happened until the next year came rolling in. When she was given complicated textbooks to read and when she stopped being a child.
"I had a new mom in elementary, a pretty mom. I thought it was good for my dad, but even when it was, I think. Nobody paid attention to me. It wasn't bad, it was horrible. I was a seven and I did everything on my own, I did everything for dad to acknowledge me. I studied hard, I aced everything and I didn't watch Pokémon because I did all my maths… It didn't make sense, not to a kid anyway. My dad didn't hate me, he just didn't care so much. Mum paid attention to me but it was like ten minutes during breakfast and as a kid, it wasn't damn near enough. It continued on and I don't know why it didn't occur to me to rebel. It just felt annoyingly wrong."
"Halfway through high school, I thought, fuck it, I skipped class, took the train and walked in the University and took entrance exam." She smiled and he could see her dimples.
"I freaking aced it, my face went to the papers and dad's cigarette dropped when he saw my face in the headlines."
"Did you have friends?" He found himself ask.
She blinked dumbly.
"Three, well, two actually, I got them in college." She explained, then she pursed her lips. "Should I continue?"
"Yes." He said and felt something wrench in his stomach.
"If I knew how difficult it would be, I shouldn't have done that stupid thing. But I did. The school gave me a bunch of red roses –out of everything. I was forced to say some speech in front of hundreds of people while I hear my teachers tear up and tell lies of how much of a good and honest person I am." A prodigy, she heard them say. When all that she did was search what the exams were made off and studied the terms.
"The University was huge and I suddenly felt vulnerable. My classmates talked about relationships while my boobs just began growing" Kamui snorted. She ignored him. "They thought I was adorable, and even if I didn't tell it to dad, I was struggling with my subjects. My seatmates helped me by giving me their assignments and I met the doctor. –oh! I forgot to say that my dad hated my course, I chose nursing and he thought it sucked, but I was a half scholar and I promised him that I will think of something better in a few months–Anyway the doctor was like Gandhi, he helped poor people and didn't charge much. He also smelled like dirt. He taught in the school for extra income and I started to follow him around, asking questions and stuff. He'd treat me to coffee –said I was too young at first– and I just began spending my holidays in his clinic."
"He acted like my dad and he even volunteered to take my dad's place in graduation since my real dad needed to go to Hokkaido for an important trip. I forgot all about my need to study hard for the sake of someone to look on my direction. I studied because when the doctor made ridiculously hard tests and if I get a few mistakes, he smiled like an idiot and it felt far more genuine than what I get from my dad. Even my classmates seemed closer to me than him… There one ridiculously hot afternoon, I volunteered to guard the clinic because the doctor needed to do errands; I was studying for my finals–"
"Then we came." Kamui cut her off and she smiled a little.
Abuto: 7th division fleet
The ship on his left was reduced into smithereens.
There was no grand explosion either. There was a rupture of yellow orange light that tore the cauldron black of space in a heartbreaking half. Abuto was able to see it, all of it, just after picking himself up from the debris of the shockwave. How the blinding light of death gripped into his head like a fog. The place of his kind was in the battlefield –he shouldn't complain– but the weight of loss thickened the lining of chest and he found himself unable to breathe.
"Sir, the fuel's leaking and the calibration is everywhere!" The pilot screamed. He sniveled like a babe. He was the new recruit, Abuto thought. Plenty of experience in the war zone yes, but this wasn't his niche. His stomach churned in the idea of dying in space.
He was just nearing his twenties, nothing but a mere lad.
What a shame it was, the man he played poker with was on the blown up ship.
The panels of his vessel moaned under pressure and he could hear the bolts snapping off.
Abuto approached the thirty million dollar worth of cutting edge technology and gave it a good thumping.
The space calibration system whinnied before sparks flew out from its sides.
"How long are we going to last out here?" the vice-captain asked, his voice felt distant. There was fire inside the room, hot on the ceiling, burning the wires. Smoke entered his lungs.
"Seven, ten minutes" the co-pilot covered his mouth with a cloth doused in drinking water. He quickly tied the fabric around his face and everyone seemed to quiet down. Abuto's heart pumped, he could feel the blood coursing through his veins like a wild river, and he could hear it. They were severely outmatched, in his calculation one member to a staggering thirty and they were losing numbers fast. The ship creaked once more and its earsplitting noise almost brought him to his knees.
What about Kamui? Ah, yes, the Captain of the ship who doomed them all by not thinking things through.
Abuto would have a long conversation with the idiot later.
"Sir?" Another fresh recruit, Abuto didn't even know his name yet. All was looking at him, hoping. All eyes were afraid, excited.
There was a radio transmitter in his hand. Abuto clutched it and put it hear his trembling lips. The sound of sirens wailed in the air.
"Men, full speed ahead!"
The engines hummed with life and he could already hear the heads of his enemies roll.
"Shizuo."
"Yessir!" The pilot's hand yanked a lever and the ship paced forward, to the Kiheitai, to the Harusame.
"You have to bring me to the Kiheitai ship first before you can land… there." He pointed at the Admiral's private vessel. It was humungous, a bulging beast made of metal. The young man nodded and he steered expertly, avoiding the debris that could tear holes into their own ship.
Abuto barked orders and soon, four men stood behind him, ready to board the Kiheitai's ship.
"Yamada, bring your men to the main vessel of the Admiral's fleet. Take over its command and destroy the remaining fleet, you have thirty minutes before they retaliate, do not touch the Kiheitai."
Their own boat didn't seem to be able to hold on much longer. They needed to board, fast.
He tied a strip of cloth around his fist. Once Abuto eyed that the Kihetai's vessel was near enough, he signaled his grunts to follow him. It was time for diplomacy, negotiation. Abuto figured out the Admiral.
"Vice-captain, sir, how do you know we have thirty minutes?" Yamada asked out of curiosity, they all knew that under all that Abuto's hair gel laid the brain of a genius. To predict his moves were a difficulty. The Vice-captain simply scoffed, his upper lip twisted into an ugly smirk.
"Compared to us, these dickless pirates are cowards."
Kiheitai: Kiheitai main ship
"I'm not a coward… I'm not a coward." Takechi Henpeita shivered under his clothes. There was a long unused sword in his hands, in his shaking hands.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, no. It was supposed to all succeed, then he would go back to his homeland and reject that pesky Edo Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths. Just for the knowledge of everyone, he would also like to point out that he was not a pedophile but a blooming feminist. The Yato were supposed to die. He was supposed to live, and where were Bansai and Matako when he needed them? He was alone and he was going to die.
Takechi closed his almond shaped eyes and tottered nervously to the main control room. If he could find anyone who can fight for him then his margin of success would rapidly increase.
He quickly dialed the passcode and entered.
It was the little details that will haunt him at night. Bodies were simply bodies, dead lumps of flesh in red twisty shapes on the floor. Takechi will remember the tuft of bloody hair that wrapped itself around his toes, the shining puddles on the floor, the grey of their bones peeking from bullet holes. The way the eyes of his comrades stare at him unblinkingly without seeing, the god-awful smell that he will never forget.
His arms trembled and he jumped and screamed when Abuto stepped out from the shadows.
"Geez, I can't believe a gaffer like you is their head of command." He said, there were bits of flesh and hair on sticking on his umbrella.
"D-don't!" Takechi stuttered and his knees hit the ground. His katana fell shamefully in the ground.
Abuto shrugged and kicked off the man's sword.
"My men aren't pleased to be in this shit boat. You humans are too pathetic." He remembered the nurse and bit his tongue back to lessen the insults. Humans were like squishy bags of blood and meat, one was able to cut off a piece of his cloak, but it was all they could do. He had ordered the others to stand by and stop the rampage already. The sooner he would get the cooperation of the Kiheitai, the faster he would be able to get a real fight.
Takechi whimpered, from the corner of his eyes, he saw a shamisen string.
Bansai.
Before Abuto was fast enough to register, a sturdy metal string tied itself around the column of his neck and cut deeply like a knife. Blood beaded out from the wound before it spurted out, staining his blonde hair. It wasn't enough though, the wound was only skin deep. The vice-captain couldn't do anything but smirk.
With one swift motion, he severed the string with his metal arm. He held tight onto the string that wasn't tied to him and yanked it hard.
The shamisen connected to it flew directly at him, followed by a strategically thrown blade that almost made it through his eye.
Almost.
Then he did what Bansai least expected. He clapped.
"That was a very good one you see, but I didn't come here for that. I am here to talk." His smile was of a cutthroat and when Bansai approached him suspiciously. Abuto slid to him, grabbed his leg and with lightning speed, hurled Kawakami Bansai to a hiding Matako. She yelped and tumbled into the ground in a heap. Once satisfied, he breathed in, turned into the democratic version of himself and sat down with the pedophile for a talk concerning the imminent death of their superiors and treacherous Admirals.
Kamui and Chiaki: Prison
"You don't have to do it if you don't want to." Said Chiaki, who was trying to make loud noises by blowing into a piece of micropore tape she found stuck uncomfortably on her elbow a few minutes back. She wasn't expecting anything really. The Captain was more of a socially inept pirate whose only concerns were new fighting methods and how he would face against a band of warriors of any species he encounters. The nurse wasn't expecting anything. She didn't expect him to want to do it as well.
She heard him clear his throat and she looked at him from her cell.
"You can add it to the next time list." She said because he was struggling.
"Captain?" She called his name and she thought, shit it was a bad idea to bring about the past. It felt somewhat right earlier. Like it was a sign that she still –even if half the time, he wanted to stab all of them for half-assed reasons– had trust on him. Not because she had no choice, because she chose to and there he was, struggling, glaring daggers at her because he felt the need to reciprocate.
"Captain?" She tried again and he told her with all the social graces he possessed to shut her mouth.
The silence after that was bottomless. Chiaki didn't breathe and she looked at him with wide eyes that could have been his sister's. Seconds tick slowly and even slower, his eyes connect to hers and he opened his mouth to speak.
"My father married my mother when he found out that she was pregnant, he walked out of the door when I was two years old. When I was four, he showed up at the house and the next year. I had a sister. He left before she was born and he sent money every month in the post office." He glanced at her and she was staring back intently.
"My mom had a shitty job at a restaurant. She would switch from washing dishes to serving customers. It took most of her time; she would leave Kagura and me under the care of Abuto's 'mother.' It was a horrible orphanage, stock full of idiots and the lady curses and hits us a lot. The food was disgusting as well." Anyway, I learned how to fight there and my mother didn't know…When I was twelve, my mother went home with a fever. She couldn't eat anything and she didn't go to work. Days turned to weeks and her boss went to our house and told her she was fired because of her attendance. I asked my sister to write a letter to my rotten old man. It was the third month that he didn't send money, and my mom's savings couldn't feed two hungry kids. I was terrified. There were doctors on the other side of the city and I ran to them. They said that it was an expensive disease, that we needed money. …"
Chiaki could hear her heart pounding.
"I went to the orphanage and before I knew it Abuto crawled under his bed and gave me this tin box filled with all his money. I didn't eat and waited for pops to respond. He didn't." Kamui paused. He felt like he was saying it too damn fast, but the look in her eyes said that it was okay.
"There was a rich fat man in the next city and if you could beat ten of his men without pause, you could get a bag of money." She could see his fist clench and unclench.
"I killed the tenth man."
"Oh.." Chiaki said, surprised.
Three weeks after that, Kamui thought. Her mother would smile at him from her bed and she ruffled his hair with her smooth hands. There was medicine on the table beside her –painkillers, because the doctors couldn't do anything anymore. He shouldn't have relied on his father; he should have taken matters into his own hands.
"It's too late." One said with honeyed words that only made him angrier. When they left, darkness took over him and he relished the feel of their blood in his hands. That night, Kagura slept in his room and his mother said. "I'm so glad your dad never left us, even when he's away… Kamui, could you reach me that glass of water?" Because he never told her that Umibozu stopped sending money. That he had abandoned the only woman who actually cared for him, who waited for him.
He didn't give her the glass. He stood up, the chair toppled on the ground and he left.
He returned to the arena. It was strangely empty. He walked to the back and saw a multitude of groaning and crying men. Standing atop them was a tall man with long white hair that whipped in the wind. It was Hosen.
"Captain." Chiaki whispered and he snapped out of his stupor. She could see him visibly shake from liquid rage.
"I'm sorry." She said, "It wasn't my intention for this to happen." He looked angry at the world. "It's my stupid optimism that led me to think –like an idiot–that most people had it easier."
"You don't have to continue if you want–"
"I ripped off my father's arm when he came to visit and I left my dying mother and little sister to fend for themselves. She died a week after. What do you think of me now?" He said so quickly that it took seconds for her to let it all sink in.
She was the embodiment of ridiculousness, she thought. Pink hair, a human working under homicidal space pirate aliens who were weak under the sun, pretending to be someone she was not. She was a student who wanted to be a nurse, not the best doctor in the Harusame. And to top it all off she was infatuated with the man who kidnapped her, who went against all her morals.
What the hell was she trying to prove?
What did she think of him?
Time to be freakin poetic
"Captain, when I think of you. I remember the man who saved me from falling to my death in a desert planet. I see the person who allowed a human girl with the strength of a hamster follow him around and even pledge herself to him. You are twisted enough to stab people to death for the smallest reasons but you are also a great leader. You provide your men a reason to trudge through daily horrors of living. I think of you as what I think of you and I don't think that will change."
What was left to be said? That he was the cause of the ebb and flow of luck she never took the time to appreciate? That when she thought of home, she couldn't imagine it without the sunset color of his hair and the mounds and mounds of paperwork she had to deal with non-stop?
Well.
"Sleep" Kamui said, he was going to flood the floor with the Admiral's blood first. "I will continue, but next time."
Chiaki asked if she could bring food.
Kiheitai and Abuto: Kiheitai main ship
"Shinsuke-sama…" Shijima Matako was afraid, she was very afraid.
Pirating was not for everyone. Some grow up to be gardeners, thieves, murderers, but pirating was different. It was much more complicated to be an extremist working for a one eyed ball of hatred shaped like a man who was currently working for pirate scum who wanted his head stuck on a pole, preferably with all their heads littered on the ground for decoration.
"Do you understand the gravity of your situation?" Abuto's voice echoed in the room, he sipped his tea too loud.
"We cannot say for sure that the both of our idiot leaders have been killed yet." This time, it was Bansai who spoke. His face was a little puffed up from the side, making his black glasses sit uncomfortably. He too, sipped his tea too loud. He moved his leg and frowned when it made contact with someone's dead arm.
He gave the Yato a disappointed look.
"Hey, don't blame me, they started attacking first." Abuto shrugged. "I'm not fond of theatrics but our Admiral is, you see, if you get into his little brain, he would be using this opportunity to make a show for everyone."
"A public execution." Henpeita muttered.
"Precisely." Abuto sipped his tea once more. Damn that was some good tea. Tremors tore through the ship. He smiled a little, looks like the Admiral's own private fleet wasn't much of a challenge after all.
"So what do you suggest we do then?" Matako asked.
Bansai plucked his Shamisen. The dull sound cascaded through the air, ripped colorful patterns of bloodshed in the atmosphere only the player could fathom. He looked up at the darkness of the universe and she caught him smirk.
"We pick a fight against the world."
There was a flash of lightning of pure white, strobing across the darkness of space. The group fell silent. Then slowly, one by one, they picked themselves up from their seats and approached the large glass window. There was a mass of thick fat purple clouds approaching them. Soundless lightning streaked in the distance, blocking their path to base. They would have to maneuver through this galactic storm if they want to reach the base fast enough.
Abuto cursed.
Takasugi Shinsuke: Some dirty hallway with lots of peeps
There were people, throngs of them, noisy, smelly barbarians.
The smell of space largely differed from the smell in the countryside, not even the city came close. It reeked recycled air from hundreds of different species, like poison to his lungs. For a small moment, Takasugi stood in the middle of the large dome. He closed his eyes.
"But it sure is screwed up through… that even a violent mo-fo like him and his guys who achieved so much are ending up…"
"The Harusame only does things for its own good."
They were all whispering. Surely the Admiral had figured it out that he would lose a number of his underlings if he continued what he was doing. Takasugi brought his lips to the end of his pipe and breathed in the last of its smoke. It doesn't matter. The human mused and he walked forward. Pawns will always be pawns, their numbers will multiply in months' time. Destroying the seventh division would leave a gaping wound, but it will heal, and another powerful group will be dragged into the mess.
He opened his eye then Takasugi saw the boy, six human years of age, he thought.
He sat on a makeshift bench near the entrance; the only feature separating him from being human was his pointy ears and green hair.
The Admiral's son.
The lad would have been ignored easily, but Takasugi's eye found something peculiar about the boy.
"What happened to your cheek?" The human bent down and casually reached out for the boy's face.
The young lad recoiled. There was a large purple bruise blooming on his cheekbones, more on his arms and legs. It stirred something in Takasugi.
"I-I fell down the stairs." His eyes seemed to favor the dirty metal ground rather than the concerned samurai in front of him. He chanced a glance and immediately looked down on the floor, where his skinny legs bounced back and forth.
"And the ones on your arms and legs, where did they come from?" Takasugi inquired, he made himself sound curious, but he knew. Oh he knew, he could never forget them even he wanted to, before Gintoki, before Sensei, before that bloody war. His father had a heavy hand. "Did you get them from the stairs too?" He continued and the boy's eyes widened. He rubbed his arms and sniffled.
Admiral Aho is going to damn pay.
"And how are you supposed to do that?" The Captain of the tenth division smiled from behind him. Then a hand, a slim blue hand with dark fingernails landed on Takasugi's shoulder.
He turned around and met an old man with rows upon rows of shark teeth.
"Captain Jiji of the tenth division." Takasugi bowed, it was difficult to mask the disgust from his voice.
"Takasugi Shinsuke. Hmm. And I thought you humans were nothing more but feeble pink little monkeys." His hands folded back and his eyes met the young boy's. "Run along, we adults have business to speak of." He ordered the Admiral's son, who was livid, with a dash of fear. The boy swallowed, loud and before he knew it Takasugi could see his skinny legs wobble around aliens that towered him.
"I can't say I thought differently with your species Captain." Takasugi was not a ball of diplomacy and mannerisms. He was hardly a ball at all.
Captain Jiji's head cocked to the side with interest.
"Say, do you play chess?" He inquired, there was a lilt in his tone that made him sound like he was singing.
"I don't"
The Captain visibly deflated. It was very evident to the both of them the extent of his disappointment.
"That boy will die not long after his father does."
If Takasugi felt angry, he didn't show.
"All in your help" the Captain continued. He lost his interest. He gave one last look at Takasugi before he ambled pass him. Takasugi recognized the blue old man the moment he spoke. He was an elite member of a very controversial race. Oh, and he smelled like flesh too, why bother with the cologne that accentuates your manliness when you can smell like frozen chicken feet all day long and scare children off.
"Of course, if you want to save him, you can always make arrangements."
Takasugi needed his Yakult fix, and fast.
It was complicated the first the time she did it.
It was still complicated on the second attempt.
Before Kamui was hauled off to wherever they were going to assassinate him publicly. He had said several things to her.
"Do not attempt to escape. Do not follow me." Then cue the large heavy footsteps and they hauled him away. His face was calm like he didn't give a flying fuck about anything.
And before that,
"You are somewhat valuable to them. They will kill me because they need a show, they will not kill you because you can be sold."
Jesus Christ, sold.
He was right, he was the only one picked up for the execution, which was among most reasons why her body was stuck between the bars again. It was painful. She called help several times before she heard a sound of disbelief and raging footsteps from the same guard days ago.
"Lady! Didn't you already learn your lesson the first time?" He asked. His arms tried to emphasize his point.
Chiaki's shoulders were really starting to hurt.
"I needed to make sure." Was the reply, and he groaned miserably and thought of why he even agreed to take the job in the first place.
He rubbed his stubble and went to grab her arms which were on the freer side of the jail. It seemed to him that holding on to a different part would be wrong and ungentlemanly of him. He pushed.
"Ooowwww!" Chiaki cried. He could see her cheeks flush red in pain. "You have to pull me from the inside, it will be easier." She said and he nodded.
He really wanted to get over this. In five minutes Nar*to will be showing and he really wanted to see Tsun*de's rack. The keeper of the keys opened his front pocket and produced a large metal key. He squinted and opened the door with precision. Chiaki's jail cell was way cleaner than the others, which he was being grateful on the inside. Maybe it went with being a woman.
The Amanto approached her and paled.
Now what? What was he going to grab on? Her lower body was content on being stuck on the inner part of the jail because her hipbones were too large to fit in between the bars. Holding her waist would be shameful, what if the other guards passed by and saw him like that?
Fortunately for him, it was the nurse's escape plan. She quickly unstuck herself and leaped like a feral cat. Her fingers twisted to a hook and she lashed out, aiming for the guard's face.
The guard heard her approach and in a split second, he stepped to his side and caught the nurse by the collar. He held her by her red shirt and she kicked him in the stomach. It hurt him, but not enough to let her go. Chiaki hung defenseless and she closed her eyes, awaiting his painful retaliation.
"Uuuhh." The guard said.
"Just get it over with!" Chiaki yelled, her eyes were shut tightly.
"You know… you're not in the list." She opened one eye and stared at him questioningly.
"What list?" She blinked in confusion.
"Your cell, normally, we guards have a list on who goes to which cell. Red braids had one. You don't. I was wondering why you were staying inside… and you know what? Later, a new batch of prisoners will be arriving and your cell will be occupied by someone from Alpha Centauri 32-12. You know, the usual thug." He shrugged and put her down.
Chiaki gaped at him.
"Yo-you mean I'm not really a prisoner?"
"Your door was not locked."
The nurse felt her world tumble to pieces. She felt the familiar chill of despair and fought not to scream, but tears stung her eyes.
She was free. She could have walked away from the beginning. Got a shower, maybe get Kamui something substantial food so he wouldn't complain and all. She could have found another way to stop his execution. She could have stole the guards' keys and freed him days ago. Her head felt dizzy.
Sensing her discomfort, the guard scratched his orange cropped head.
"Uhh…" He said. "If you want, I can spread lies that you sped through the guards and rendered me unconscious with your glorious fighting skills, making it possible for you to escape." He swallowed.
Chiaki rubbed her eyes and the sensation of relief she felt wasn't at all the comforting sort.
"Which way are they taking the Captain?"
"Seventh floor, pass the fish tanks, the quickest way is to go through the emergency stairs. Right there." He pointed at a conveniently placed dark staircase beside a cell holding a green skinned lizard man.
"Uhm… yes… thanks, I guess."
"Anytime"
She numbly climbed the stairs. Her hands and feet felt colder than before and for the first time in her life, she felt utterly lost. What would she do now? She couldn't save him. She didn't have the power to; she didn't have an extraordinary skill of manipulation or anything useful that could help him or herself. She passed by the fourth floor when she felt her lips tremble.
Aiko and Abuto would have been dead by now, if they succeeded, Kamui would be soon, and what would happen to her.
She secretly envisioned a perfect world where everyone lived and where the vice-captain didn't lose his arm.
She could at least see him off with a smile.
To see his death would haunt her forever, but it felt much more honorable than to run now and force herself to forget. At least she would have something to remember him by, to remember all of them by, even if they were nightmares.
"What are you planning to do when you get to your Captain?" The voice sounded like the one in the back of her head, the voice she thought in.
She looked up and on the fifth floor, Takasugi leaned on the railings. There was a pipe in his hand and a dozen empty Yakult bottles around his feet. The glowing end of his pipe released tendrils of smoke that made his face look menacing in the dark. She watched him inhale cancer.
I don't know.
"I'm going to see him off with a smile." He snorted at that.
He wasn't interested, but her company was better than the Yakult bottles.
"I will be the executioner." He puffed and smoke escaped his nostrils, reminding her of a dragon.
"… good for you." She muttered and the numbness ached. Chiaki silently walked passed him when she found his free hand grab her elbow. She shivered involuntarily.
"You don't want to save him?" He inquired.
"Bro, listen. I want to save him, really want to save him. But what can I do? Even if I ask you to save him I doubt you'd do it. I can't do anything. I'm a weak-ass nurse with emotional issues and probably stage 100 Stockholm syndrome!" Chiaki swallowed hard. Her throat tightened.
Then she began coughing when she almost choked down a room worth of smoke. Takasugi looked sagely at nothing in particular and smirked.
"You're not very bright, are you?" He remarked and she blinked. "That idiot Captain of yours will survive if he's good as what he claims to be." His lips curved disturbingly upwards.
"We had an agreement after all." She failed to understand his reference, of when it happened. She wasn't well versed in the language of trigger happy villains.
"See him off with a smile, but bring something to fight with." As annoyingly obscure he was, he left the nurse a glimmer of hope.
Chiaki cursed the heavens, she cursed the gods.
Nobody filters the audience of an execution. Nobody filters their weapons. Nobody saw her when she walked in, pink hair and pale skin and all that. If anyone saw her, they did not say anything. When she squeezed her way near the front of the crowd –where people were so condensed she was actually glad to be smaller than the most of them –a man complained when she pushed him a little harder. But she saw that he recognized her and he stopped.
Nobody wanted the Captain dead, and yet there he was, faking a smile for the audience.
He didn't know she was standing there. She would have preferred it if he didn't.
"Take a good look, all of you! This fool thought that he could rebel! Defying me is the same as defying the senate elders." The Admiral's voice echoed in the room. There was something irritatingly self-centered about him.
"Fat bastard" someone whispered beside her.
"Defying the senate is the same as defying the Harusame himself. Making light if his law and even an army of iron will be reduced to a rowdy mob." Chiaki briefly thought if it was possible to shoot him from her distance.
It wasn't. The pistol she borrowed from the security guard earlier won't do the job.
"Keh, he really drawls on especially about 'rowdy mobs' eh?" said the alien behind her. The others nodded.
"Kamui. Yours was an existence that caused nothing but strife within our ranks, but at least at its end. You will die for the sake of the foundation of the organization." Admiral Abo said, preparing the end of the young man.
"Do you have any last words?" Just for politeness. The Admiral, was, after all, still of good breeding. He didn't think himself as a barbarian. No barbarian would be able to stand at the top, he thought.
"In that case… could I say just one thing?" Kamui's civility brought her chest flipping.
"Admiral asshole!" He yelled with a genuine smile.
"KILL HIM, KILL HIM DEEEAD" Chiaki could hear aliens snicker. It was masked by the Admiral's screaming. It was crystal clear that the lot of the pirates would rather follow the Yato. However, she was not laughing. Chiaki knelt down and after she was satisfied that she could not be seen, brought the pistol to her eye and aimed at the Admiral's head. The bullet would not reach, she thought. Even if a miracle decided to glue itself on the bullet and reach the Admiral, she would be simply executed along with him. The masses wanted Kamui as their leader, but no one would dare defy the Admiral without a good back-up.
"Admiral Assho- I mean, Admiral Abou, why not leave him to me?" Takasugi stepped into the ring. The nurse scrunched her eyebrows.
"At least, if I can't be this guy's opponent. I can grant him an assisted suicide." She immediately aimed at Takasugi's head. She would kill this man first, she decided, it was possible. Her finger felt heavy on the trigger and she met the man's eye. It was subtle, but she was sure he nodded at her direction.
She put down her gun.
Right.
Time seemed to slow down. Everyone leaned forward to catch a hint of what Takasugi was telling Kamui. Their voices were barely audible. Then before Chiaki could bite down her scream, Takasugi swiftly brought his glistening sword upon the Yato's torso. The bonds that bound his arms to a cement pillar broke and her Captain fell smoothly to the cold ground in a soft thud.
This was the end of Kamui's destinies, the close that he had brought upon himself. His ships and army in flames, his captive free, and his remaining family to never see him again, he will meet his mother in the other side –where she will hold him dear. The once known as the strongest of the Harusame. Now, he was on the ground as a nameless corpse, whose head will be torn from his shoulders and bright blue eyes pecked off its sockets.
That was what the Admiral wanted.
For as Chiaki stood up and pointed her pistol at Takasugi. With the most emotion she felt in months. She pulled the trigger and a bullet flew past him, slicing off a few strands of his hair.
He faced her and almost as if it was an illusion, he spun around and drew his blade. It shimmered in the light and he swung it broadly to an advancing alien. The nurse felt her knees buckle. She didn't see the aliens coming. They were attacking Takasugi… Her head twisted to the side and saw Captain Gourou yelling orders to kill Takasugi, who was fighting back, cutting heads neatly with a blade so sharp that it cut through armor like paper.
Then from the corner of her eye, Kamui hopped up and flung himself up the back of an unsuspecting Amanto. The Yato was unharmed, smiling; he grabbed the underside of the alien's helmet and snapped his head to the side until his eyes were white and bulging.
"Captain!" Chiaki cried in relief. He didn't hear her, but it didn't matter.
Kamui and Takasugi stood back to back while the watching Amanto roared. None of them knew what to do. Some gripped their weapons tight, awaiting orders, any orders. The entire hall was in chaos. The nurse joined the mass of yelling aliens. But hers was a yell of relief and childish hope.
"Takasugi! You finally show your true face! Dogs that bite their owners will be taught their proper place! You're already a tool which is no longer useful! I'll turn you into space dust!" The Admiral yelled. His knees were shaking in rage. The more loyal of his servants pointed their weapons at the duo. Chiaki couldn't hear whatever Takasugi was saying. He was too far away and his words were only meant for the Admiral's ears. What she heard though, was,
"This is where all of your heads will be severed off."
There was a slow moment when the Admiral yelled to Captain Gourou. The men readied their weapons and Chiaki killed another.
Nobody heard the gunshot. Because when she aimed and put a bullet through Captain Gourou's head, there was a large explosion that shook the ground with its might. The smell of burnt gunpowder assaulted her senses and the noise deafened her right ear for a second. She looked around and saw armed humans no, samurai swarm into the hall with their guns blazing.
"Shinsuke –sama!" It was a beautiful lady with two guns. "We will follow you to hell and back!" Matako yelled and shot aliens dead. The humans overwhelmed the surprised aliens. Their swords and guns ripped through flesh and bones and amour. Chiaki put her worries to the back of her mind and immediately dashed to the side where the fighting was less heavy than the one where she came from.
She aimed her gun and began piercing bullets through the skulls of those she could aim at.
There was a Captain yelling. He was struggling to take control, screaming at his subordinates to form ranks against the humans, but the chaos overpowered him and he was soon brought down by a slash of a sword.
"Damned monkeys! What the hell are you fools doing? Kill them!" The Admiral yelled from his perch and Chiaki leaped down to the battlefield, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She could find a spot where she could shoot him down! The nurse was ignored by most pirates and she was able to climb to the other side of a barricade of metal –where the seats were –before another explosion shot through the area. It was strong enough that she fell backwards. Her elbow painfully collided to a bench but it didn't matter.
There were roars of battle lust and her eyes widened. The Yato sounded differently from humans in many ways. Chiaki felt an overwhelming sense of relief that her head felt dizzy.
"Awww, seriously?" Abuto said, stepping from the large opening they made. "We rowed to this tugboat worrying our asses off, thinking of the worst." There were men running from behind him, their eyes shone with excitement. Abuto looked up to the equally mad eyes of his Captain. "But you're perfectly fine, aren'tcha? I just can't get rid of you, damned moron."
"Abuto!" Chiaki yelled from her spot, she was grinning like a fool. They are all alive!
She could see Aiko bounce from the side with a flourish before ripping a soldier in half with his manicured hands. Chiaki called to him excitedly.
In the midst of panic, the Amanto were an easy kill. Something the Yato wasn't very happy about, but any bloodshed would suffice. She could hear laughter and she wasn't ashamed that it was her own. Chiaki felt her heart leap in eagerness. But at that time, revenge was all that mattered. She glanced up at her perch and huffed angrily when she saw the fleeting form of the Admiral.
It took her three steps when a panicked sob blared behind her. She looked back and recognized the soldier's uniform. An enemy! She thought. She pointed her gun at him and shot him in the chest as a reaction. He yelped in panic and she felt triumphant. The man fell down the floor and his helmet tumbled off his head like a badly thrown bowling ball.
"Aaahhhhhhhh" He yelled, clutching onto the gaping hole in his chest. He squirmed on the floor and she felt her blood run cold. "It hurts … It hurts. Please, make it stop!" He was young, with pale skin, orange hair and a pair of horns growing from his scalp. He was the guard that freed her from her cell. He screamed in agony.
"It's gonna be okay." Chiaki knelt beside him and applied pressure on the wound. He couldn't even recognize her. She thought. His head craned to the side as blood spilled from his chest.
"I missed your organs, don't worry." She lied in panic.
She didn't mean to shoot him.
His hands held on her arms desperately. His eyes seemed to pop from his sockets. He flapped in the ground like a dying fish, blood oozed from his nose and mouth and he flapped some more, weaker this time and his breathing ceased.
"No… I'm sorry." Chiaki said, but it was too late. When the adrenaline was washed off her body with humiliation, she saw the battle. She saw the onslaught of her comrades rip lives apart. The pirates were just following orders. Were they like her? Kidnapped as well? She sat back and her eyes met the guard's white ones, his tongue was out, mocking her, even in death. She had killed more than ten men, each swift like lightning. Had the consequences always been this heavy?
A body flew to her left. Its throat was crushed and its assailant leaped through the air and killed him off with a sickening crunch.
"Chiaki." Abuto said in surprise, his face was red all over. He wiped his sweaty forehead with his mechanical arm. It slathered fresh blood onto his forehead and he grimaced. "Here to join the fighting?" He pointed at the corpse beside her and grinned.
She felt shameful. "How do you find this fun?" She whispered.
Abuto stepped to her direction. Chiaki saw Kamui flip into the air smoothly. His hand impaled a tall man that failed to block the blow. He was laughing openly.
"Say it, what are we? If you're going to tell us that we're murderers then do it quickly. I have no time to spare for a brat that can't accept our traditions." He leaned menacingly. She could hear his heart pump in the joy of killing. Far from the both of them, Kamui entered a hallway that led to the Admiral's private ship.
"You are, but your people don't think so." She muttered quietly. Killing was not for her.
"Exactly, alike our races may look like, we are entirely different." His umbrella dripped with blood. "We belong to the battlefield." There was an explosion behind Abuto. A really loud one that made it almost impossible to hear him, but she did. "You don't." He looked behind himself, searching for someone.
"You shouldn't be here. The Captain will be pissed if he finds out." She would be a hindrance to their fighting and he couldn't imagine Kamui being happy is he found out she was killed by something as stupid as a stray bullet.
"Neh~ Abuto-kun. If you hang around Chiaki-chan for too long, you'll miss out all the juicy parts!" Aiko passed by and winked at the vice-captain. He shuddered and resisted the urge to beat his comrade to the ground.
She shook her head. "He's injured and you are bleeding as well. I have to do my job." Surely there were first aid kits attached on exits. She had to find them first.
He snorted and glared at her.
"Fine, but don't come crying to me if he whoops your ass."
The battle ended in less than thirty minutes.
There were first aid kits after all. After treating the more willing participants –Aiko said he needed to redo his make up so his peeled arm didn't need treatment– and sewing up the rather large bullet holes of the previously seventh division crew –Abuto needed to take a dump, so his embarrassing bullet wound on the leg didn't need medicines and shit– which was difficult, because according to them, it was humiliating to have a woman fuss around you after a battle. Possible conclusions to their reasons: she needed surgery in her genitals or they were just giving petty excuses because they wanted to act manly. She entertained the latter.
"What are you going to do now?" She dared ask the awesomeness that was sitting fancy chair, which was called Kamui. "Without the Admiral–"
"You're looking at the new Admiral." He replied with a smile. She smiled back. "That promotion needed a lot of drama." She nodded sagely. Chiaki moved to pour disinfectant on his arm, but he was faster at dodging her medical ninja skills. She was tired anyway.
They were in a fancier room. A large one with fancy furniture and pillars in the color of gold, there was a window behind him that had the boring view of space.
It took her four hours to finish treating the wounded in battle, she worked with others and patched up even a number of whimpering Amanto despite her lack of knowledge about their anatomy. They were quite similar to animals. She made sure though, to steer clear at this one human with almond eyes that seemed to stare at her creepily with a distance –he was clutching a clipboard– until a blue green themed sunglasses man yanked him by the collar and dragged him off. Now that the battle was over, she felt famished and the sight of a soft fluffy pillow would lead her into a temporary coma.
He knew she defied his orders of staying. Her punishment would come when she least expect it. He thought. He had ample time to be creative about it. There were also debts to be paid and promises to be fulfilled.
She would be an idiot if she forgot about his simple bet.
"Still. Don't you think it's too simple?" She squinted. Kamui was ripped from his thoughts.
"You killed the Admiral, and the elders, without thinking twice announced that you would take over the Harusame as an extension of their limbs. I don't know if it offends you. I'm sorry if it does, but it feels to me like they're using you as a means to an end." Chiaki closed the first aid kit, ready to dash off at any hint of malice. Takasugi too, she thought. There was no reason for him to team up with a wildcard. She didn't mention him. She already felt ashamed of her lack of trust to Kamui.
"It doesn't matter." He propped his leg up a table and closed his eyes. "No matter how you look at it, we use each other for our own purposes. Abuto has resignation letters crammed under his desk; he would have called it quits a long time ago, if not for the pay." He paused. "I keep him because he's able to handle… delicate matters better than I am."
Before Chiaki could stop herself, she opened her mouth.
"Why do you keep me then?" She asked. "I can't fight. You guys heal like crazy, I'm practically shooed of when I try to help them, and yet you went asked for me to stay…" Chiaki swallowed, her fingers felt stiff, maybe it was fatigue settling in.
"Where do I fit in?"
He scrunched his eyebrows in thought. She was right. Weaklings always disgusted him, was it because of her personality? Was it because he could stand her? He had killed people with half the things she'd said to him and yet the mere thought of impaling her with his umbrella irked him. She had stuck long enough for him to develop a bond with her. Something as a friend maybe? Like Abuto, who counsels him and teaches him until he developed actual morals, twisted they may be.
A companion?
A comrade?
A … dog?
"You're my… friend." He said finally, before he could think of other disturbing thoughts. It didn't feel right, but it was the only thing he could say at the moment.
"Yes!" Chiaki pumped her fist in the air. It only took her less than a year for him to finally acknowledge her as a compadre. She grinned and approached him for a hug before she stopped herself on her tracks. She didn't hug him before, and she wouldn't hug him out of joy now. She just couldn't imagine wrapping her arms around the pillar death and surviving. There were people you can hug and trade hair braiding secrets with, and there was Kamui.
She must have been taking too long celebrating in her head, because before she knew it, Abuto, Aiko and a number of other grunts stepped inside the room.
"Chiaki, sorry to break it to you, but a section of our mother ship has been reduced to smithereens." Aiko muttered.
"What?" Chiaki's eyes widened.
"You see, your clinic… it's got hit by a stray laser and it's now a gaping hole of nothingness."
She whimpered. All her stuff.
"It's okay though!" Aiko's ass bounced to the side. "I got you a way nicer one in the base, since our Captain is now the Admiral ahehehehhe. Come, leave the men to their business…" She reluctantly held the arm of a tittering Aiko as he led her to the sleeping quarters. Chiaki tried to look back as she walking; Kamui was blocked by Abuto's all-encompassing cloak that went around his body like a dark tube.
She had so many things to say to him. But there was always next time.
"Chiaki." Aiko and the nurse stopped walking. Abuto moved to the side, their eyes met and Kamui leered.
Chiaki felt her heart stop.
"Don't forget about our agreement." His face was innocent. Chiaki was going to ask him when her throat tightened. She suddenly felt conscious of her chapped lips.
"Chiaki, your face is red…" Aiko raised his penciled eyebrows. He touched it her cheek and he found it alarmingly hot. She was making choking sounds that didn't answer any of the questions the other Yato had in their heads. "Admiral! What did you do?" Aiko asked with a high-pitched voice.
"Let's go." The nurse tugged Aiko's cloak weakly. She would hide from Kamui starting that day. There was no reason for her to be around. She practically sprinted out of the hall, away from piercing blue eyes and confused dark ones.
When Abuto was sure that the okama and the nurse were out of hearing range. He cracked a large smile and snickered.
"A friend, huh? That's real smooth Admiral. Real smooth"
Abuto didn't get a lot of injuries in the raid to save Kamui, but if anyone asked him why his face looked way too bruised, he'd say he got it from a psycho alien.
"S-sir. Thank you." The late Admiral's son had been crying. His cheeks were water stained, eyes in large puffs that made it difficult for him to see. Kawakami Bansai resisted the boy's want for physical contact. There will be no hugging, no shaking of hands… The last thing he wanted was for the lad to start crying again. It would give way to his position.
When Kamui killed the Admiral, it only took hours before others went to search for his son. No doubt to harm him. Pirates were like that.
They were well in the bottom of the base, where few pirates gathered. There was a young lady beside the lad and a young man that was loyal to him. The lad had a bulging pouch of valuables strapped on his body. All other possessions were unneeded. Bansai told the young man the location of the planet they were going to be sent off to. It was a tiny lump of rock in the mass of space, with a small population. But nobody would recognize them. The Admiral's son would escape, unharmed.
"Thank you." The boy repeated, and Bansai's patience ran thin.
"Don't thank me, I was following orders."
While he respected Takasugi, he sometimes didn't understand why a man so bent on destroying his own country would do something as trivial as this. It didn't matter, he thought with a smirk. He heard himself sigh and he reached out and ruffled the boy's mop of hair.
The real fun just began.