Fourteen\\ Encounter - 出合い - At the End of Days

A/N: I keep forgetting to mention it, but there's more story art on my dA now, including a short, in-progress sidestory comic of the time Satsuki got sick. (The incident is referenced this chapter, but the comic will look mostly at events that aren't mentioned).

As a sidestory, of course, it's not crucial to continuity but simply bonus material. The comic can be found on my deviantART (hinata0321) in the 'AtEoD Hokkaidou' gallery folder; other art can, of course, be found in the 'At the End of Days' folder.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kill la Kill.

Encounter at the End of Days

There was silence for a good while after they woke. The elder sister had opened her eyes before the younger, but though it was late morning by her approximation, she did not leave her. Even after Ryuuko's breath shifted from the slow rhythm of slumber, however, there ensued a long period during which neither said a thing.

Finally, Satsuki sighed. "What are you thinking about, Ryuuko?"

Satsuki was running her fingers through dark, feathery hair; the girl curled against her stirred feebly, groggy.

"…That time I busted your collarbone," she answered honestly, quiet. "I didn't mean to – you know I wasn't tryin' to…"

"I know that, Ryuuko." It had been in a fight over some argument they'd long since forgotten – a sour combination of a sloppily executed move and Ryuuko's abnormal strength. "But that was at least half a year ago…" And time didn't exactly fly, in this world.

Ryuuko caught the unspoken question. "It's just… one of those things that keeps coming back to me. When it happened… you gave this, sort of… th-the most awful scream…! I can still remember it perfectly. And it makes me feel sick, just thinking of the sound…"

Satsuki hadn't stopped stroking her hair. Ryuuko rested a hand on hers, so lightly enfolding it, as if daring not to grasp.

"I was just thinking… how most people, hearing a sound like that – a sound of distress – would have been stopped in their tracks by it. Would have tried to help, or stop whatever's causing the pain. And what'd I do?" Her look was grim. "I didn't flinch. All I thought about was seizing an advantage in the duel. I knocked you to the ground, and I hit you 'til you were blue. The more I think about it, the nastier I feel. What kinda' person does what I did? One without any empathy?"

"So, what now? You're determined to feel sick about it for as long as possible?"

"Maybe… maybe for as long as I can." She shut her eyes. "If I feel sick about it, I know for sure that I ain't broken right now."

The younger woman heard Satsuki sigh again. She perked up, curious. "What were you thinkin' about, anyway?"

"Me? I was thinking of a time that I was very ill… a fever so preposterously high, I lost all sense. I can barely remember anything from the time… but I do seem to recall a frantic little rogue fanning me, and giving me water, and wiping my sweat when I was ailed by chills… getting me to drink medicine, while I eyed her in distrust. The notion crossed my mind – 'Shouldn't this delinquent be busy trying to tear down my Academy?'" She chuckled. "I was given luxurious portions of meat and fish with my rice, to keep my strength up, and I was fed when I couldn't feed myself. I never once saw my strange caretaker sleep, during that time, but at the worst of it she cried every night, however many nights that was. And many times, I would hear her voice telling me to keep fighting.

"Sometimes…" she continued, "sometimes, she would carry me to a basement and leave, and return all covered in wounds. I wanted to help her, but she said no, and made me lie down. She told me to worry about my own battle. So she simply patched herself up, and kept right on keeping an eye on my every need…"

Satsuki yawned.

"I remember thinking, How strong this girl is! But my thoughts were jumbled. Once, nauseous, I vomited on myself; I was brought to water, and was halfway stripped down when I began to panic. She had explained, but I was mindless. She kept apologizing, even while I bit and fought and tried to hit her. There was so much hurt in her eyes, but she said she needed to wash the mess off, or I'd get worse. She was adamant, and eventually got me to calm. And as she was bathing me, I realized… Hm?" she said, to Ryuuko's sniggering.

"You looked up at me, and I was like, 'What's wrong?' And then you said–!"

"Oh, I'll never hear the end of it, will I? 'Ryuuko? When the hell did you get here?' To which you played along–,"

" 'Doesn't matter – I'm here now, to make sure Nee-chan's all right. My strong Onee-chan's been fightin' real hard, hasn't she?' And then you just grinned so deliriously I wondered if I'd screwed up your last dose of cough medicine, and you literally giggled–,"

" 'My kind little sister is here!'" Satsuki gushed, voice high to match the purported tone Ryuuko liked ascribing to it. " 'My sweet little Ryuuko-chan!'"

"Then ya' just wouldn't quit touching my face, like you were so happy you'd 'found' me or somethin'!" Ryuuko laughed, as Satsuki cupped her cheek and hugged her to her chest. "You were so energetic… so then… yeah, I had you promise not to leave me. Promise to keep fighting, 'cause as long as you did, nothin' could beat you." She wiped her eyes discreetly on Satsuki's nightshirt. "And you said, all chipper…"

" 'I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay right here, with my sweet little sister. I'll fight whatever it takes to be with little sister.' Right?" Satsuki said, lightheartedly rolling her eyes as Ryuuko wriggled affectionately into a hug.

"Yeah!" She snorted then. "You couldn't even tell me what year it was at that point, but you babbled all that…" Her head shook. "You're somethin' else… But you know… I guess we're stronger for gettin' through the rough spots. Before that, I'd been seriously wondering why we were still fighting, still dragging on… but when you got better, I was the happiest I'd been in so long…!"

"Ryuuko…"

"So whenever I'm scared that there's no point anymore, that we've lost too much… I think of that time I spent cryin', begging you not to let this be the end… and I remember that this is enough. When it comes down to it, you're enough."

Satsuki kissed her forehead. "There you go… when you're hurting, Ryuuko, I want you to think of the good times. Remember your compassionate self… and don't let anyone or anything convince you you're a monster."

"Y-you…?"

"You've been having nightmares; you're restless, and you've been speaking less and less since we started for Honnouji. You want to feel like a human, you say… I have my suspicions. And I can pleasure you, yes, but I'll never really help you if you remain this way, secluded in your thoughts…"

Her arms around her sister tightened briefly.

"But you're still not ready to talk, are you?"

Ryuuko nodded mutely, not meeting her eyes.

"Alright."

" 'Alright'?"

"Alright," Satsuki reiterated. "There are… things I'd like to tell you, as well. After you find what you can at Honnouji, then we'll talk."

Ryuuko nodded. "Y-yeah!"

The sun shone brightly overhead.

"Check this out! She's a beauty, alright!"

"It looks ridiculous. Why are the handlebars so high up?"

"That was the style!" Ryuuko defended, appalled at her disinterest – before she evidently excused Satsuki's offense in favor of circling to the other side of the dusty bike lying dejectedly on its side. Grabbing it, she hefted it upright and slammed it down on the wheels, with no more strain than one might need to hoist up hollowed-out plastic.

Here we are, Satsuki thought, massaging her sweaty brow, in a ditch on the side of a road, stopping for Ryuuko to pay respects to a hideous bike.

"It's got gas!" Ryuuko exclaimed, all perked up as she looked back excitedly.

Satsuki almost fell, dangerously, for those sparkling eyes. Then her dear friend Rationality effectively punched her in the gut, and threw an argument to her lips. "That piece of junk has been lying there broken down for at least a year."

"She ain't broken down! Maybe not as gorgeous as her glory days, but who'm I to judge?" she said, flicking a finger across the scar at her jawline. "We all got it rough out here, don't we?"

"You're out of your mind." And you clearly possess all sorts of 'empathy,' Ryuuko… Satsuki eyed the old machine dubiously. "That thing will go up in flames before it carries the two of us to Toukyou. If it's so gorgeous, why not respect the elderly and let it rest?"

"Would you tell an old goldfish to stand on solid ground and walk across life's finish line?"

Stoic, Satsuki was mentally filing through and narrowing down an array of ways she could say 'What' when–

SCREEEeeeeEEE–!

A croaking, metallic cough and whine – and a girlish whoop of delight.

Satsuki's face was pale as the engine sputtered reluctantly to life, revived with a piteous groan as its exhaust pipe belched a phlegmy burst of soot. "That was not a happy sound, you imbecile!"

"Aw, come on! If it's fixin' to explode, one or both of us oughta' detect something at least a couple seconds beforehand."

With that reassuring note, Ryuuko was already swinging a leg over the seat. Revving the engine, she turned to pat the space left behind her on the cracked leather cushion, and the half-expelled chunks of foam padding protruding from beneath it. She gave a knowing look. "Would I put you in danger, Satsuki?"

"I do not sincerely foresee myself being felled by a faulty motorbike, Ryuuko," she said, resigned as she smoothly seated herself behind the short-haired woman. "Very well." She wrapped her arms loosely around her sister's waist, smirking at the pleased shiver she induced. "I shall rest my legs for a time…"

Ryuuko chuckled. "Hold on," she said, and with a lurch of the bike they veered onto and down the road.

Satsuki had been resting her head against Ryuuko's back for the better part of an hour, idly watching ruined scenery go by, when she tuned into the offbeat melody her sister was lazily rattling out over the hum of the motor.

"…on a drive! On a one-way street to Hell! Goin' totally upside down to the bottom of the pit, hey! We've left the track, a-losin' control, and we're gonna crash~!"

Satsuki quirked a brow, snorting in amusement. "What sort of nonsense is that you're singing?"

Ryuuko laughed. "That's the sorta' thing I wish I'd asked the girl I got it from."

Ryuuko's response hadn't been angry or bitter. Just reflective, as her carefree singing had been.

Satsuki kept apologetically silent for a long time after it.

"We're being watched."

Ryuuko paused, alert, immediately 'listening' for threats. They'd been taking a break outside a gas station, after Ryuuko had with some difficulty coaxed a pump to refill the bike. She sensed nothing close by, but the comforting resonance of Senketsu in her bag, his presence natural and so familiar he was all but invisible to her search. She followed Satsuki's gaze, but saw only the debris of the partially collapsed station. The young woman raised a brow.

"I'm not getting anyth–,"

Something edged into the open, leveling a camera lens their way.

It was the size of a small dog; as it rolled out, it revealed the form of a little rover on six wheels, the body of it just a bit too big to fit in a shoebox. Behind the mobile camera attachment, a small box with a dial, connected by wire to some showerhead-looking apparatus, was strapped down.

"A bomb?!" Ryuuko yelped, jumping in front of Satsuki.

"No," Satsuki said, eyes narrowing as the robot slowly approached. But what would the human, or humans, who'd made this thing want with them?

Stopping ten meters back, it simply fixed its camera-eye on them in turn – remaining a long moment on Satsuki. Then it twitched the lens about quickly, until it managed to twirl the camera around in a gesture toward its crudely fastened cargo.

Satsuki strode forward, brushing off Ryuuko's concern. "It's a Geiger counter," she said, picking up the instrument and checking the sensitivity on the dial.

"A what?" Ryuuko asked.

"It detects radioactivity," Satsuki explained, switching it on.

An electronic whine shrieked into the air, as the needle on the display jumped.

"Wh-what's that mean?" Ryuuko asked, peering suspiciously over Satsuki's shoulder at it.

"That means… we might have poorly selected our route," she answered simply, calculating. "That's right… there was that power plant in this area, once. Had we continued in this direction, we might have passed even closer to whatever is left of it. Of all the…"

The robot on the ground was spinning itself in circles, grabbing their attention with the tinny whir of its motors. Stopping, it lurched one meter backward, then a bit forward, then further back again.

"Might you intend to show us the shortest path from the contamination radius?" Satsuki ventured, not certain of its audio capabilities until the camera tilted rapidly up and down in a nod. It turned and zipped away, waiting after fifteen meters.

Satsuki nodded. "Ryuuko, fire up your bike."

Some time later, Satsuki was growing uneasy.

"We're probably out of danger, now," she said over the roar of the bike, confident she wouldn't be overheard by their guide. "But it's yet to pause…" She should have held onto the detector, instead of strapping it to the bot again.

"So? Do we ditch the little guy?" Ryuuko asked.

"…We might as well see where it's leading us. I am curious about humans with the resources to construc–,"

"Shit– oh, shit!"

Ryuuko twisted to grab her and kick awkwardly from the bike. It burst rather spectacularly into flame before it crashed down on its side, skidding and careening off the road before exploding in a ditch.

Satsuki eyed Ryuuko unhappily as a scrap of smoking metal bounced to their feet

"H-hey!" Ryuuko said, sweating, "Just like I promised, I noticed a few seconds before it went up."

A sigh. "Robot!" she called as it rolled back toward them. "Or rather, the one controlling you – Would I correctly assume that you are leading us to your location?"

It twitched its camera piece up and down.

"Are we near?"

The same response.

Satsuki traded a look with her sister. She straightened her backpack, and walked forward as it led on.

Its destination was, ironically or not, a college that seemed to have been repurposed into a military fort.

"You're right at home, huh?" Ryuuko muttered, earning an elbow to the ribs as they approached the gate at a walk. But neither the jibe nor the retaliatory elbow held much weight; the sisters' attention was focused on the setting, and its promise of relatively bewildering human numbers.

A flat area, surrounded by pale concrete and green grass… So if something dark crimson approaches, it will not do so unnoticed. The surrounding buildings in the area, for an impressive radius, seemed to have been methodically leveled, even if by crude means, and the debris had been cleared out to a wide perimeter, maximizing visibility. Just within the school wall, and a bit taller, stood a decently constructed watchtower manned by anxious-looking guards.

Humans. There had to be so many here. However foreboding the scenery, there were signs of life abounds, compared to the wastelands and ghost towns.

Satsuki's eyes scanned the outer wall; above unremarkable, chalky grey brick, it had been rigged up with a seemingly excessive deal of glossy barbed wire. She pictured Life Fiber clusters attempting to surmount the barricade, and knew they would not do so with any great speed. A large, crude but durable-looking door had been wedged and arranged in place of the typical bar gate. She had no doubts that the building beyond was even more secure. None at all, she mused, noting with the beginnings of approval the sniper rifles positioned behind a number of its locked windows.

"Halt!" a voice boomed from above, causing Satsuki's eyes to flick disinterestedly back toward the handgun leveled her way, by a man in the tower.

I look more threatening than Ryuuko, do I? Satsuki thought with a smirk, as the shorter woman bristled in discomfort at the weapon's aim. Still, Ryuuko at least knew better than to run her mouth or make a scene, knowing well what her older sister was capable of – on the off chance the guy's trigger finger slipped.

Satsuki raised a brow, holding the scrutinizing glare of the short-haired fellow. "…We've halted. Well? How long do you intend to stare?"

"U-uh – state your intentions!" he shouted. Probably as unaccustomed to seeing outsiders at this point as the sisters were to encountering other humans in general.

"You tell us," Ryuuko groaned, gesturing at the little robot that had parked itself and powered down in front of the wall. "We followed that little guy all the way here, and this is the welcome we get?"

"Are you refugees? What sort of stronghold have you come from?"

"There are small bands and colonies, certainly, but yours is the first we've seen to hold any semblance of permanence," Satsuki called back. "There may be other such strongholds, but the two of us are not from one."

"Then how the hell are you alive?!"

"Sick sword skills, is all," Ryuuko jabbed, tongue prodding into her cheek. "And some pretty good genes. Bein' professional ass-kickers don't hurt, either. You gonna let us in or not?"

"Er… Identify yourselves–!"

"Takeda, please. I said to expect them, didn't I?"

Satsuki's breath stilled. Her eyes sank from the watchtower, leveling forward as if her sight might pierce the solid gate.

"Well yeah, you did, but no one fishy enters these walls without being cleared by me!"

"Oi," Ryuuko said, though she was also edging a curious look down toward the shifting gate. "Are there really enough humans – or bullets – left, for you to be pointing guns at my sister? The enemy's out there."

"Couldn't have put it better – and I mentioned how powerful these ladies are, right, Takeda?"

The gate started to swing open with a mechanical groan.

"Matoi Ryuuko, and… Kiryuuin Satsuki. In another era, known as humanity's finest hope, in this fight…"

Satsuki's eyes grew if at all possible wider as she took in the first other familiar face she'd seen in years. He looked back at her, gaunt and sheepish, watery green eyes brightening behind their lenses despite the time he'd had to anticipate the reunion. The top edge of an awed smile peeked above a knit scarf.

"H… Hello, Lady Satsuki," he said, shrugging the scarf down off a stubbly chin.

"Inumuta… Houka," Satsuki breathed.

He shut tired eyes on budding tears. "They said two peculiar signatures were caught crossing one of the detection sites, but I never imagined… No." He shook his head. "I never doubted you'd survived, if anyone had."

"I've had a bit of help, all this time," she admitted, as Ryuuko gave a mock-salute at her side.

"Hey again, four-eyes," she said, grinning widely herself as he nodded in appreciation.

"A-are–," Satsuki stopped herself, hardening her voice. "What is this place? Are any of the others…?"

Houka's parted lips pressed together in a thin line, brow pinching inward briefly. "We should – let's talk inside, please. The two of you must be exhausted…" He turned his head. "That alright, Takeda? We're not so bad off that we're turning away refugees now, are we?"

The man on the tower waved a hand. "Do what you will," he said, turning and vanishing from view. "But follow protocol! Have them checked for illness at the infirmary. I don't want disease entering my compound!"

Houka nodded, forcing a smile for the two.

The pair of wanderers crossed the threshold, into a stronghold of humans.

世界の果てに

-Encounter-

End