OHO! Two chappies up because I'm a master procrastinator.
Disclaimer: All is Sorachi's.
Note: There's as part with Asian-styled hats that I'm not sure of. One is the amigasa, which Gin says Mutsu wears, but I googled a few images and it didn't really look quite right. The next is the takuhatsugasa, but that wasn't quite right either. That was the type that Oboro's Naraku wore (the same one Gin and the crew donned in their counterattack, and the one that Takasugi wore in disguise as he infiltrated and killed Sadasada). And the last was one I looked up as well, a sandogasa, and it looked the most like what I wanted, so that's what I used. Sorry for any inaccuracy.
Eyes of Wolves
- 37 -
.: AUGUST, PRESENT :.
He hadn't known. In all those years, there were things he hadn't known. He regretted deeply never returning home, not even briefly. The last time he saw a member of his family was the chance encounter with his father on the Harusame base — and even then, he fled like a coward.
He hadn't known.
And had he known, what could he have done?
.: MARCH, FIVE MONTHS AGO :.
The ship is eerily quiet for a workday, and the footsteps that echo through the each deck resound with treason.
Silent, coordinated mutiny abounds with the eyes of wolves, glinting dangerously in the woods.
.: AUGUST, PRESENT :.
Tsukuyo risked physical contact, and the light touch of her hand on his made him jump slightly.
"You okay?" she offered brusquely, unsure of what to make of the situation.
"Was that question twenty?" His halfhearted attempt to relieve the sudden clutch of tension slid short.
She shook her head. There was nothing but awkward silence to fill the gaps in conversation, and she started more than once with different intentions. Finally, her words curtailed by distress, she stood.
"C'mon," she urged, her hand going for her pipe. "I can't smoke in here."
Zenshi picked up the suitcases sullenly, but squared his shoulders and followed her out. She never had to reiterate that he was welcome to stay again — though it was implied that any departure would need a prior warning — but he was wary nonetheless. They trod in heavy wordlessness to the elevators that descended into Yoshiwara's depths. The sunset disappeared early over the rims of the city edges, and the ethereal red and orange lights that lined the buildings in festival-like fervor began flickering to life like the glows of fireflies.
Seita was ecstatic. Upon seeing the tall, morose Yato, he leapt to his feet with an in comprehensible exclamation and threw his arms around Zenshi.
"You're back!" he shouted, and from within the shop, a smiling Hinowa wheeled out to greet them. Zenshi, both hands occupied with suitcases, could only cast a cagey glance down at the boy, who released him and bounced about with endless energy. "Where have you been?! You missed so much!"
The boy and his mother had him seated, his suitcases sitting idly at his feet, as Seita began rattling off the events of the past few months. Zenshi could only listen, waiting patiently for Seita to backtrack in his stories because he rambled in no particular organization, and for Hinowa to clarify and Tsukuyo to occasionally correct.
He had missed a lot, and it was almost appalling.
But at the same time, Umibouzu's words rang with a clarity that eclipsed his despair.
I suggest you leave the Earthlings to their own.
.: OCTOBER, TEN MONTHS AGO :.
He exits the cabin with light footsteps, but his mood is anything but. He despises the trafficking of persons, and is averse to any mention of it. Kamui knows that, and he deliberately touched on the subject just to irk him.
"Hey, Lieutenant!" sings a lighthearted voice from down the hall. He turns to see Mei and Tabs, waving enthusiastically. She jerks her thumb towards the window. He looks.
Asteroid belt.
.: AUGUST, PRESENT :.
"And Yoshiwara was literally in flames!" Seita shouted, only sitting back down when Hinowa shushed him with half a smile on her face. "You should've seen it! Actually, no, that's not a good idea. But Gin-san was amazing, and we were all cutting down the wires and we save Yoshiwara!"
Seita beamed, lost in his thoughts.
"And then Tsukuyo-nee went up to the surface and battled the Bakufu—"
Zenshi cast the woman in question a dubious glance, but recalled smoking government buildings at the end of the last month.
"—and the Shogun almost resigned!"
"If you're so good at remembering this stuff, can't you remember your history just as well? It's the same idea," Hinowa gently chided. Seita's expression dropped so abruptly to one of appalled revulsion that he pulled a slight smirk from his Yato companion.
"Just pretend all the warriors are Tsukuyo," he suggested. "And then you'll remember."
"But then I'll put Tsukuyo-nee's name on my tests, and I'll fail!"
"Then imagine her dressed up as different historical figures," Hinowa told him. "Wouldn't it be fun to learn history that way?"
Seita burst into laughter, eliciting a slight blush from Tsukuyo.
"No," answered Zenshi, "history with a few knives down your throat isn't all that fun."
She glared, but said nothing.
.: OCTOBER, TEN MONTHS AGO :.
It's not much, but it's enough to lighten his mood.
"Now, don't say anything," Mei apprehends before he can add some witty comment about her failure to know the planets. "Because first of all, you're the only one that took an astronomy class, because I took a music class, and second of all, they have space jellyfish tongue in the galley."
Tabs is rocking back and forth on his heels at this news, and it pulls at their lieutenant's interest.
"I don't think the lieutenant is actually a Yato," Tabs jokes, demurely, "because he doesn't jump at the word of food."
"Don't be ridiculous," Mei carps with a snort. "This man can eat a wild Liuukese turkey without any qualms."
She is oddly proud of this fact — after all, wild Liuukese turkeys are the size of Earthling elephants, if not larger.
"I'm sure any Yato could eat that much," Tabs whispers.
"But no, he'll kill it and roast it and everything."
"That's the point, though. He has the patience to actually cook it. I think our Danchou would just stuff it down his throat raw."
Mei makes a face. "I once cleaned out the entire Ocentisa cafeteria, but I didn't eat any of it. I gave it to this guy." She elbows Zenshi, who ignores the hard jab in his side with a nonchalant grunt. "But I didn't eat any of it. I brought it to the hospital so he could have it. Aren't I such a nice girl?"
"What girl?" Tabs and Zenshi chime in unison. She splutters incredulously, feigning offense.
"But seriously, I haven't seen anyone eat that much since…since me!" Mei throws her hands up. "It's like he starved himself his entire life and suddenly, one day, he out of the blue wants to make up for all of it and eat the entire kitchen's worth of food!"
"I could eat a wild Liuukese turkey," Tabs interjects.
"No, this kitchen had more food than you can probably stuff twenty turkeys with," Mei justifies adamantly. She mouths oh my god and throws a wide-eyed glance at her old classmate.
"I still think our Danchou could eat more."
"No, I think this guy eats more."
"Says the girl who actually singlehandedly slaughtered five hundred space jellies for her own ten course dessert one day," Zenshi plainly announces amidst the pointlessly spiraling conversation.
"You what?" asks Tabs.
"Hey, space jellyfish's tongue in the galley!" Mei arbitrarily hollers down one hall. Several crewmen visibly perk up, turning to her voice. They chatter excitedly, and before Tabs or Zenshi can pursue their current topic any further, they are drowned in a sea of eager, hungry Yato, and all they hear is Mei's laughter echoing down the hall.
.: AUGUST, PRESENT :.
When Seita finally relented from his story — "I'll finish after dinner," he said boisterously — Zenshi retired to his room and set the suitcases against the wall. Tsukuyo had not touched a single thing, not even the futon, despite the fact that he left nothing behind and never modified the room in any way.
Footsteps, lacking grace and subtlety, along the roof's panels.
The shingles shifted slightly, producing a ceramic clack as a person — no, two people — approached his window from the second floor awning.
Zenshi, lacking the energy and the mood to deal with any trouble, goaded himself into grabbing his umbrella and pointing the shaft of the rifle end at the opened shades.
"Hold on, hold on," came the slightly weedy but familiar voice. It was a voice he heard countless times over intercom, a voice expressed in hearty laughter and plenty of bad jokes. A voice that, despite the face it accompanied, never really matured at the same rate.
"Tabs." Zenshi's surprise registered rather clearly on his face, if only for a split second. The parasol was lowered, and his defensive stance slackened.
"Hey, Lieutenant." The other Yato laughed nervously, rubbing the thin stubble on his narrow chin and shifting from foot to foot. He wore a sandogasa, a woven, round straw hat that resembled the conical hat of a rice paddy farmer, only rounder and flatter, and oddly familiar. "Well, I guess you aren't the Lieutenant anymore, but I never really called you much else."
"You called me Blue at one point," Zenshi said flatly.
"I tried." Tabs shrugged. "Um, well. I have to, uh, tell you a thing, but first—"
"First he's got to make up his mind," cut in a second voice, belonging to the owner of the secondary set of footsteps Zenshi had heard earlier. He placed the recognition of the hat then; when Mutsu appeared before the window, taking off the round hat and slipping inside, he matched the origins.
"Oh hey, Mucchi," Tabs said nervously. "Didn't see you there."
"I was with you the entire time, you twat." Mutsu was never one for great patience, or great friendliness anyway. "I came ta tell you that your girlfriend's plannin' to leave at the end 'a this month."
Zenshi bristled. He didn't merit Mutsu with a satisfactory denial of her beginning statement, but let his insouciance slip into a scathing form of scorn.
"For Sciuttla?" he inquired tersely.
"Yeah."
Zenshi scrutinized her Tosa accent, which she explained she picked up from her foolhardily ignorant partner, Sakamoto Tatsuma. Besides that, she had delved into regions he was clearly uncomfortable with, but never blamed her. The time she appeared on the Harusame ship, she had expressed her dislike for pirates, and for the slave trade. No, he had never blamed her for that life.
But he wasn't sure if he didn't blame her for not telling.
"You knew," he said suddenly, the firm print of the news article in Tsukuyo's hidden envelope flashing with malicious brevity.
"I knew what?" she snapped. "Were you listenin'? If you don't want her to go to Sciuttla, you'd better do somethin'."
"You knew about the Harusame bombings."
She went silent, then. Tabs threw wary glances between the two of them, wringing his hands in excessive anxiety, more so than usual.
"I did," Mutsu affirmed. "It's terrible."
That's it?
"Those were, um, reports that the Harusame censored," Tabs ventured cautiously. "I think only Kamui and Abuto saw them. I might've peeked over their shoulders every now and then."
Do you regret?
"What was done was right. That meeting saved lives." Mutsu sighed. "It's not like we can do anythin' about it now. No use regretting."
"No use regretting," Zenshi echoed. That was, for him, true. And he supposed he'd let it stay that way.
"So are you gonna do anythin' about your—"
"Not my girlfriend," Zenshi cut in sharply. "And I'll see what she has to say first."
Tabs was slightly amused, but kept his anxious smiles to a minimum. Wisely, he remained silent until Mutsu and Zenshi finished their wordless exchange, and then advanced his topic.
"Message from the new Lieutenant Mei," he announced, clearing his throat. "The Harusame will be conducting another 'check' of sorts on Edo, because they're still in town. Our traveling partners are finishing up their business, and we are too. I'd suggest you watch out for the fifth and seventh squads. They're on patrol. There's also an order to take your head if you're spotted."
"Thank you," Zenshi told the other man, "Tabs. I appreciate it."
He almost called his former crewmate by his title, but the words Petty Officer didn't fit quite right on his tongue anymore, so he refrained. Tabs and Mutsu slipped out the window as they came, the former readjusting the round hat on his head and smiling briefly underneath its extensive shade. He had donned civilian Earthling apparel, with simple woven sandals and a flat jacket. He could disappear, just like that, yet he was inevitably going to return to the Harusame ship. Zenshi had wanted to ask about Kamui's new crown of admiral, but never got the chance to form his questions. He knew, however, where Tabs had acquired those clothes. More likely than not, Abuto had sent the gangly petty officer on a sort of reconnaissance, despite only seeing Zenshi earlier that day.
To his surprise, Zenshi realized that the young Yato had begun to fill out his frame. He had a mature but shy face, but his arms and legs had never quite fit him. He finally seemed to be growing into his form; he was quite tall, actually.
Mutsu abruptly turned before they left.
"Hey," she called, as Zenshi watched them from the corner of the window.
Zenshi nodded.
"I saw your mom when we visited for business," she began to explain. At this, Zenshi leaned out, curious. She continued, "She says hello. She told me to pick up a letter she sent to Earth and bring it to you, because she didn't know where you were."
"Thanks for that," he replied.
"You should consider writing back," Mutsu suggested. The way she pulled down her woven hat, however, was almost mournful. "It would really make her day. If you need, I'll take it to her. It's not like our stupid captain knows where he's goin' anyways."
Zenshi nodded, the final exchange of silence gravely passing between them, the lingering phrases at the edge of Mutsu's farewell hanging unsaid. He thanked her, and she headed off with Tabs against the current of Yoshiwara's night business. The influx of red-light district customers was a smooth wave against their upstream travel to the elevators.
You should consider writing back, she said.
And beneath it all, he read her intentions and her regrets with such full, intemperate sorrow that he was inclined to go down and ask Hinowa for pen and paper.
Write back before it's too late to even tell her you're alive.
Asteroid belt is now official running gag of this story.
After the commercial break, and we're back to
WHAT DID I JUST ALLUDE TO?!
story: Ehhh have you realized the identity of the "higher-up" mentioned in the "situation overview" of chapter 28?!
series: okay, maybe it's not clear, and maybe this last interaction was confusing, but have you connected anything in the last two chapters? *whispers "what have I done" into the distance*