AN: Thanks youz all for 278 hits! And before we get in to the chapter, sorry for updating so late, it's been a doozie of a week. But I'll make it up to youz!
Fire.
"So you know?" Yata ventured to ask of Kantilla.
"Of course! I knew those three trouble makers since before Homra was a thing. When you're queer in this city, you get to know the circles. In fact, I got advice from a few trans masculine folks I know, to help Mikoto affirm his gender. Hence his signature hairstyle, though the 'feelers' were all Tatara's idea."
At this Yata spit his tea back into his cup, and rocked up out of his slumped posture. "Wha- what!?"
"Oh. Then that's not what Kusanagi told you about?" She sounded sheepish.
"Mister Mikoto, he was-?"
"Trans? No but close, I guess the lion's out of the bag now? He was intersex."
"What's intersex?" Yata felt as if he had been gut punched yet again.
"It's a congenital thing, were a person has an uncommon combination, or an absence of some sex characteristics. It's a variation, like the endosex or nonintersex variations you're more familiar with."
"So so-" Too stunned by this news, Yata stuttered over his thoughts, as well as his speech. Mikoto had seemed so masculine, but that was letting stereotypes dictate his view. A person could be masculine, feminine, androgynous, something else entirely, or a combination of any of those things. And sex? It was all much of a muchness as it turned out. Mikoto was proof.
Oh, that explained why there were menstrual products in Mikoto's bathroom, that time Yata used bar Homra's shower. It had been too awkward to mention, so he had decided he didn't need to know, well now he knew. Fushimi used the shower after Yata on that same occasion, and Yata now wondered if Fushimi had put the dots together about Mikoto being intersex, like he knew about the Blues Captain and Mikoto seeing each other. Fushimi-. Yata Hung his head at the thought of his friend.
"Hey, he was still the man you knew!" Kantilla misinterpreted his body language.
"It's not that." He clarified, tone apologetic. "Mister Mikoto, being intersex's surprising, but it doesn't make a difference to my respect for him. The problem is two things, I think I might- like guys?"
"But you respect Mikoto, who was attracted to men, if his rondevuing with that Blue fallow on the regular is anything to go by. Can't you extend that same open mindedness to yourself?"
"Maybe it would be fine, if the guy I think I like wasn't-"
"Fushimi." She filled in the blank.
Yata just grunted, keeping his head down.
"Haven't you two made up recently?" She asked encouragingly.
"Yeah, but-" He felt heat behind his eyelids, and when he spoke his voice was bordering on tearful. "I'm scared that if I feel this way, I'll ruin things again, and he'll really hate me this time." His face burned with embarrassment and frustration.
He heard the clink of Kantilla's teacup meeting it's saucer, followed by the feel of her arms circling him in a comforting hug. Even as hot tears leaked down his face. "Oh hun. I know, I know." Her soft voice reached him.
_
Seri gave Izumo's shoulder a last squeeze, before he put out his cigarette, and they came in from the grounds.
"I have to keep reminding myself it's not goodbye, Anna's still going to be a big part of Homra and our lives." Izamo spoke aloud.
"Soon it will be normal. And you'll be able to see she's happy, healthy and taken care of, for yourself."
"Yeah. Mikoto would have approved too."
Seri considered that. After all, Suoh had clearly trusted the Captain greatly, and of course that trust was not misplaced. So she thought, Suoh probably would have agreed that the Captain was right for the role of father to his daughter, also left behind after Suoh's death.
Arriving at the captain's office door, she prompted her fiance. "I'll let you collect her, and meet you out front?"
"Yes, thank you." He caught her elbow, and gently tugged her closer to place a kiss on her smiling cheek. Then straightened, when she announced him via her lapel com.
Stalling a moment to see the office door close behind Izumo. Seri went on ahead to the main doors, to get the courtyard gate open. In the process, she found Fushimi, looking decidedly stroppy.
"What's the matter?" She asked him directly. While busying herself with the gate controls.
He blew out sharply through his nose. "Nothing."
"It's clearly something. If you'd rather not discuss it, you're at liberty to say so."
Fushimi only clicked his tongue against the inside of his teeth.
_
"Let's aim to have you move in, sometime in autumn. How does that suit you?" Munakata asked the girl he considered his own daughter. While seeing her and Kusanagi to the gate.
"Can I choose my room?" She asked hopefully.
"Certainly. The barracks have just been remodeled, I think you'll find it to your liking."
Anna gave as her answer, a single vigorous nod. While Kusanagi left them to get the van running.
Patting her shoulder gently, Munakata found himself surprised but warmed, when she tilted her head to rest her cheek against his hand. "I look forward to welcoming you then." He told her. Then added more slyly. "And if I accidentally put your school uniform in the wash with some red items of clothing, carousing the uniform to be stained red too. Then it's just the clumsy mistake of a first time parent, not something you could be blamed for."
She lifted her head again, smiling while she did so. And Munakata felt her gladness and excitement vividly, along with his own. There was no need for words.
For Munakata, accepting her as his child was natural. Not only because he wished to be a father, but because this girl was the daughter of Mikoto. And, like Munakata himself, she had been a King. Further, now that they had insight where each others souls were concerned, He understood that her feelings ran along a very similar path. To Anna, who apparently knew about the bond between Mikoto and himself, he became a father figure due to being Mikoto's partner. And like Mikoto, he was someone she viewed as strong, someone she didn't need to fear she might hurt. There was also her character that caused her to feel that bit closer to him, she also was faced with being an unusual person, in a usual world.
Waving to Anna, who had her own arm out the window. He watched the van join the rest of the city's traffic. Munakata at last turned to Seri and Fushimi, both having joined him by the gate. "You have something for me?"
Seri handed him her own, and Fushimi's work, without saying a word. Though the smile on Fushimi's face gave it away.
Leaving the courtyard, accompanied by his two clansmen. Munakata returned to his office, where he looked over the papers.
Fushimi's efforts concerned the adoption of Anna Kushina Suoh Munakata. The only thing still needed was Reisi Munakata's signature, which he gladly scrawled in the field designated for the purpose. He smiled to himself, he was officially a father now. Yet the signing had felt like nothing more than a formality, in truth he had been doing the important part for some time, acting in the capacity of a father.
Keeping this proof of adoption with him, Munakata next gave Seri's work a scan. As usual the Lieutenant was comprehensive, everything on every target, included in her report.
"Captain-" Seri started, clearly wanting to say something more, but restraining.
Munakata, deducing just what it was she was anxious about, replied. "We continue to advance Lieutenant, and I have determined that this is the way forward."
He lifted his head, having made quick work of the reports. And found Seri's eyes downcast.
Next to her, Fushimi adopted a slouch posture, eyes fixed on the window.
Munakata assured them. "I don't plan on failing my daughter, you can be sure we will pass through the fire."
Seri's eyes darted up once more. "We don't doubt you Captain!"
"No, I don't believe you do." Munakata agreed. "But I know you're reluctant."
At this Seri started and frowned, her expression becoming one of inward conflict. "Even so, I'm your Lieutenant."
"That's good enough for me." Munakata thanked her. Then, seeing Fushimi's impatience, suggested. "Would you like to stay for the view?" He asked, because Mikoto once shared with Munakata something he had learned about Fushimi, that being, Fushimi feared Mikoto's fire. And Munakata didn't want to put his third in an uncomfortable position, so offered Fushimi an out.
Instead Fushimi shrugged, and switched off the lights in the office, all save for the desk lamp.
Taking out his PDA, Munakata opened a seemingly innocuous file. Meeting the conditions Fushimi's malware needed, to set off it's logic bomb.
For a moment, all was dark and quiet. Until, all at once, their view from the office windows out onto the grounds and record keeping office, was alive with fire. Exploding out of the windows and doors of the record keeping office with a fury.
AN: I considered not including Yata and Kantilla's conversation about intersex. The point of that interaction was for Yata to be able to accept his own feelings and orientation, through coming to accept that Mikoto (someone he respects) wasn't straight ether. And the bit about Mikoto being intersex didn't really push that story forward. But at the same time, a big reason for writing this fic was to create more awareness around intersex activism, particularly from a queer perspective. So I decided to include the exchange, to offset the first description given in the context of an autopsy, and to avoid making intersex just a plot device. I trust it's inclusion doesn't feel to awkward.