Chapter 14

Flashbacks of forgotten days

He had lost consciousness somewhere along the way. But the pain woke him up. Yes, pain. It was everywhere. Around him, inside of him. His head was bleeding and with only half his mind being there, he slowly forced himself up on his legs. He staggered forwards, leaning on his umbrella. Every breath hurt, every step felt like a thousand needles. But he knew he couldn't stay there on the ground. No way. Kamui wouldn't merely wait there until his father was forced by his mother to patch him up. He had failed, he could hardly bear the shame of it..

He had failed to do anything. He had failed to kidnap mom, he had failed to kill his father. A sick sort of relief weighed him down but it went unnoticed. He found an alleyway and quickly took refuge behind some dumpsters. Sliding down against the wall, he held his head and tried to look for something that would stop the bleeding. Kagura had yelled at their father, she was the one that had made him stop. He was alive because of her.

Kamui, in a twisted way, hoped that the 6 year old would start to see their father in a different light now. He hoped that Kagura would hate Umibouzu for nearly killing her beloved big brother. He hoped that this violence would turn the child against her own father. It was the only good thing that could come out of this. Except for his leave maybe. He knew he couldn't stay after this anyway. A pair of black boots entered his vision.

"Hey kid," a voice said above him and Kamui frantically looked up.

The man he recognised as Abuto stared down at him. He had some bandages in his hand, which he dropped down in his lap. Kamui glared at the fellow Yato before taking the bandages, along with the patching that came with it, Methodically, he started to wrap it around his head.

"Seems like you've done that before... do you often get beaten up by your father?"

"Not like this," Kamui growled out, tasting blood on his tongue.

"Yeeez, what did you do to cause this outburst then?"

Kamui gave a rueful smile at that, he met the older man's eyes and answered:

"I severed his arm and was about to sever his head."

Abuto looked taken aback for a second, his eyes became wider and his brows raised themselves in alertness.

"Jesus... to think that the great Umibouzu would lose his arm to his own son...," he went on, scratching his chin.

Kamui didn't know what to say to that so he just kept quiet and finished the work on his skull.

"You should probably lay low for a while kid..." the older man said as he took out his umbrella. Kamui only nodded at that with a somber look on his face and did the same. Abuto started to walk away, no doubt, itching to tell his boss. Then suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"On second thoughts, you should come with me if you want to see something cool."

Soon enough, they found themselves at some sort of warehouse. Lots of Abuto's clansmen were there as well. They all stood gathered around what looked like a giant cage. He couldn't see what was inside it because there were too many people around it. Looking around, Kamui couldn't help but wonder why he had even agreed to come in the first place. He wasn't in shape to be prancing around. The evidence of that could be felt in his tired and injured limbs.

Nevertheless, he wasn't about to submit to his own weakness. He stepped to the side and leaned against a stone wall, trying not to stand out too much. Despite his best efforts, Abuto instantly caught his eye and gestured to the other clansmen to move away from the cage.

"Hey, kid! Take a look at this," he said, enthusiastically.

Kamui rolled his eyes and forced himself to step closer to the cage. Seeing as he couldn't see much of anything, he stepped closer until he was right in front of the metal bars.

Only then did he see the large snake coiled into a ball in the corner. A monstrously big thing, yellow in its colour with black patterns. It had yellow eyes with black pupils formed into slits. Kamui felt like the great snake was watching him, judging him.

"How long is it?" he immediately asked without taking his eyes off the piercing look it gave him. "Beats me, a couple of meters or so," Abuto answered as he leaned down and stuck a long twig in between the bars. He poked the animal a few times and it hissed at him, revealing huge fangs.

"Is it venomous?" Kamui asked.

"Probably," said Abuto as he dropped the twig and rose up.

"Hey gramps! What kind of snake is it? he called behind him. Kamui didn't look away from the snake as a voice answered.

"It's a python from planet Earth. It is not venomous."

Kamui briefly glanced up at Abuto. "What are you going to do with it?"

"This is supposed to be the boss's new pet, he wants us to secure it onboard the ship," he explained with a bored look.

An idea struck him and Kamui couldn't help as a wide grin crept over his lips.

"Wait, i want to try something," the boy said.

"Um okey," was all Abuto said as he watched the young yato lightly jog towards the entrance of the warehouse.

He disappeared around the corner, leaving his umbrella behind. A few seconds later, he reappeared but this time he wasn't alone. He held two small kittens in either hand. Probably plucked right off the street. After all, there were lots of stray kittens running around the slums.

"What are you-" Abuto started to ask but was cut off by Kamui himself.

"I'm going to feed it," he said as he took a seat in front of the cage.

"You're going to give it live kittens?" Abuto almost shouted in shock.

Kamui gave him a look as he nonchalantly put the kittens down between his thighs. With his hands now free, he started to bend the bars of the large cage, creating holes in it. Everyone watched the snake as it perked its head up in interest. Abuto tensed up at the snake's movement, ready to pull the child away in case it tried anything. In truth he wanted to pull the kittens away, he didn't like animal abuse. Abuto was about to snatch the little fur-bolls up but Kamui was quicker as he effectively snuck the kittens inside. They were dumped on the hay-covered ground and he could only hold his breath as he took in the boy, bending the bars back in place.

"Sick bastard..." he mumbled as a confused meow left one of the kittens.

Kamui paid no mind to the comment and watched with glee as the two black kittens stayed in their place, almost nervously so. They were both so small, big ears and big bright eyes. They hit all the boxes of what was commonly perceived as cute. Kamui hadn't cared about that. Abuto did however. He knew, just who among his men cared as well, as well as the people that were just like Kamui. It could be seen on their faces. Some of his clansmen were leering at the scene and looked very amused, others were shaking their heads and glaring.

Perplexed, he observed the small child before him, scrutinised him. Well, in truth, the child wasn't exactly that small either. He was tall and rather muscular for his age, a tad bit too skinny though. Abuto thought back to the very first time he'd seen the young yato. In truth, the first thing he'd seen was his little sister. The little redhead with the bright yellow rain cloak, who had been kicked straight into some trash containers, as if she belonged there. It had roused his anger, enough so to intervene. He was glad he'd found them, he was glad that the little girl hadn't been totally alone. But as he watched the young yato before him right now, he couldn't help but worry for the girl. Her brother was a clear sadist, maybe even a sociopath in the making and it was only a matter of time before he would turn his fists on her.

Abuto could feel that impending doom in his bones, he knew his kind well, especially the males. Maybe it was for the best for them to be seperated. Kamui wouldn't be a good influence on his sister, that much was obvious from the staggering scene before him. He was brought back to the present, when the snake started to make its move.

The snake started to uncoil itself, like the rising threat it was. Abuto watched the boy and the boy watched the snake. One of the cats, the more daring of the two, dared to take a few steps forwards and soon regretted it. The snake was a mere flash of bright yellow as it struck its prey. The cat gave away a shrill shriek as its maw closed in around its throat. Or what little throat the creature had. After biting it, the python slithered its body around the little kitten. Kamui realised with a start that it was suffocating the kitten. It stayed like that for only some seconds, it seemed to die quickly from the brute force of the snake's muscles. The python let go of it before opening its jaw and eating up the dead kitten. it's little head disappeared into the wide opened gap of the snake. Kamui was perplexed by this creature. He watched with great interest as its jaw flexed in some sort of unnatural angle, even though it was very natural indeed. It stretched like rubber, despite the wild movements from the little kitten.

The only thing that was left of the little animal was its legs and tail. It started to gobble it down and soon enough, the only thing visible was the tip of its tail, which looked staggeringly frozen in an odd angle.

"This is one sadistic brat you've got on yer hands Abuto," he heard a voice say in the background. "Shut it," Abuto grumbled out in response and Kamui tensed up as the snake seemed to swallow the cat whole.

"Honestly, children who are cruel to animals will most likely grow up to become sociopaths, just so ya know," another voice grumbled out and was promptly followed by muffled snickers.

Kamui could hardly care about their jabs. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the picture, the other cat had scurried off to the opposite side of the cage, clawing at the bars and meowing. It sounded like a meek wail bordering on small cries. Cries for help. He smiled, the first actual smile that he'd had in a while. The wolf inside of him was thoroughly entertained, as was he. The big bulk that was the body of said devoured kitten, almost seemed to move but it couldn't possibly be alive. It would have already been suffocated and was now busy being broken down by the snake's corrosive stomach.

The snake slithered around to eventually loom over the remaining kitten. It didn't do anything at first, it only looked at the small cat, observing it. Kamui could see himself in those big predatory eyes. He could see the wolf there as well. And for some ungodly reason, as he looked down at the little kitten, the only thing he could see in its big frightened eyes, was Kagura. Kagura was much like a kitten and the snake was much like himself. He could see it now, as clear as day. In the end, the snake ate up the other kitten as well and Kamui, calmly sat through all of it, like he had before. Although, this time, his mind was occupied with his thoughts and not with what he was seeing. Still, he felt transfixed and couldn't tear his gaze away, much less steer his thoughts. Those big blue eyes of that cat, had looked so much like Kagura's little orbs. It was the only thing he could think about, his baby sister.

He should take her. He should take her with him, take her away from this place... If he couldn't take his mother, then he would take Kagura instead. But Kamui was no fool. He couldn't be a parent to her, he didn't even want that. The 7th division was no place for a child such as herself... and he still wanted to protect her, he wanted her to stay the way she was... he just didn't want her to grow up as a weakling.

Maybe it was for the best to leave her behind, to force her to adapt to the environment, like he had. Leaving her would be for the best, it would force her to rely more on herself and grow stronger that way. Kamui watched as the last remaining bits of said kitten, as it disappeared down the gap of the snake. Its leg had still been twitching. There were a lot of things he wanted to do to Kagura.

He had lots of fantasies about his sister, lots of little plots and plans. He wanted to emotionally manipulate her, he wanted to make her love him even more because he liked the feeling of being loved. He wanted to reward her with one hand and punish her with the other. He would hurt her, just as much as he would love her. And how he could hurt her, in so many different ways and he had enough sense to know that even more ways would uncover themselves in the future. So far, he had just mildly hurt her, a snap on her forehead when she was misbehaving, twisting her arm when she didn't listen, nothing serious.

So far, he had been nothing but compassionate but stern with her, as he should be. But the wolf wanted more, it always did. He had stayed at the warehouse that night, unwilling to return home just yet. Abuto had talked to the owner and thus, a shitty futon had been rolled out for him, right in front of the caged animal. The yato's lingered around the warehouse for some time, getting drunk and fighting with each other. He couldn't join in on the fun since his head was still healing. Nevertheless, eventually he fell asleep with his umbrella in his arms, looking at the uninterested snake.