Fresh Tatami had a particular, earthy smell to it. Something about it was calming. Comforting. Kinu ran her finger along the woven straw as Takasugi returned to his room and placed a white and red plastic container beside her. Yakult. The man made no effort to get close to her again. After he'd set her back on the ground beside him, it felt as though Kinu could finally breathe again. He wasn't different. She'd just seen a different piece of him that made the whole.
He'd taken her, and instead of locking her away he kept her by his side. Poked and prodded, to entertain himself, but he wasn't particularly cruel. Just a bit of a bastard. She wondered if he was lonely, too.
"Why didn't you jump?" He took a seat on his bed again, pulling the top off his yakult.
Caught off guard, Kinu shifted in place. So much for being free from public scrutiny.
"I can't swim." She mumbled.
"All the more reason." The fact that Takasugi knew what she had been doing and caught her in the act, made dread pool in her stomach. Nobody should have known. If somebody had to though, she'd choose him.
"I was just looking..."
A low hum escaped the man. As if resigning the topic.
"So what do you wanna do now?"
"I don't know..." Was it really okay? Kinu looked down at the sore skin of her left palm. The needle prick. Tacking her was sort of weird, right? He may have said she was safe in a roundabout way, but stockholm syndrome hadn't taken hold of her so quickly.
"I'm keeping you for a while, so you'd better decide soon."
"You can't do that." How long was a while? Days? Months? That wasn't possible, Kinu had things to do! A job, and chores. Literally anything other than being held hostage by a deranged psychopath that got a kick out of kidnapping young girls to psychologically analyze them. "My mom will call the cops. My brother will kill you."
A displaced laugh filled the room, and Kinu frowned at Takasugi. He didn't believe her. Gintoki was no joke. He would do it in a heartbeat if she was missing. If he knew. Sure, he acted like the laziest careless bastard day to day, but he would find Kinu. If anybody could kill somebody like Takasugi, it was Gintoki.
"I'm serious." Kinu looked down at her hand again. "If you don't take me back he'll find me. My mom will tell him I'm missing and he'll-"
"Good thing you have a cellphone." The man sipped his yakult. "You can call her. But after that, give me your phone. And your weapon." He was going to let her?
From the way he'd forced her onto his ship, to the vaguely human way he was treating her, everything in her head was terribly muddied. She still saw him as a person. Liked him. Takasugi exhaled a cloud of smoke, watching her. Like she was ensnared in some ultimate trap and he wanted to document her reaction.
"What will you tell her?" His thumb pressed into his chin, and his head tilted again. "That you've been captured by a terrorist, that has no intention of letting you go? That you're awaiting execution?" His mouth curved, and for once, Kinu didn't see the potential of her life flashing before her eyes. She saw him humoring his own atrocious actions, but prodding for her judgment. Feeling her out. He knew exactly how awful he was. "Or will you cry again? That would really get me goin'…"
Kinu wasn't much better, being turned on by it. She didn't know why. Nobody had ever spoken to her in such a way before. It was vulgar, and just as disgusting as the rest of him. And she wasn't the slightest bit disgusted.
"But if you wanna play brave, that's just as good… Better, even…"
Waving his words away, Kinu pulled her phone from her pocket.
"No, crazy. I'll say…" Kinu's eyes thoughtfully settled on the ceiling. Her mother was a master of excuses. If she couldn't make up something decent, it would shame her entire bloodline. "I missed the trains. Tomorrow we can tell her I took the wrong one, so I'm getting a hotel. Everybody knows I can't sleep. I make mistakes like that all the time when it's bad." The man's expression remained neutral. "Is that enough? Is that convincing?"
A single, slow nod met Kinu, and she let out a sigh of relief as she flipped her phone open. Kinu did exactly as she said. Told her mother she had missed the trains, and that she'd try again when they were running. Didn't try to deliver any secret messages, or ask for privacy. She left the rest out, and when her conversation was finished, her phone was offered to him.
He took it. Couldn't let her keep it, obviously.
She was his for the night. Maybe the next few nights. His gaze dropped to the edge of her skirt. The dark garter holding her stockings up.
"Your weapon?" Palm up, Takasugi peered into the deadpan girl's eyes. Wondered if she would deny it. Kinu's fingertips started on the buttons of her shirt, and the wickedly satisfied composure drained from his face. She reached the third button. All of them? That was the wrong kind of weapon. He didn't think she understood what he'd said, but as she reached the fourth, his gaze was plastered on her creamy flesh. The black fabric of her bra.
The girl pulled it from her bosom and held it towards him; a plastic blue box cutter in the shape of a giraffe.
"This? Are you serious?" He turned it over, looking at the little smile on the creature's face. A long dried crimson streak stained the edge of it. She'd been running around out there with a toddler-esque mini blade? Not even that, but walking around in the dead of night alone? "Cute…"
"Isn't it?"
"Not this thing." How the hell had she not been caught? The girl frowned up at him, laced with uncertainty. Setting the blade down next to her phone, Takasugi motioned for her to come near. She did, and her hands settled on his knees as he resituated her shirt. "If you don't behave, I'll tie you up tonight." The words hung in the air, and Kinu tried to ignore the wave of goosebumps that washed over her. "And you'll have to sleep like that. In your cell."
"What if I intentionally misbehave?"
"Then you won't have any fun." She really hadn't needed to crawl between his legs. He didn't need the visual between his hands, or that.
"Aren't you going to hurt me? Or torture me?"
Meeting the girl's eyes, he pulled at the edges of her shirt, as well as his composure.
"Do you want me to?" He hesitated when he reached the final button. Decided she needed all of them. Kinu looked away, but his attention fixed back on her garter. The way her skirt had hiked up, and he was positive that her panties matched her bra. Why wasn't she fixing it? She was too young for him. Legal but morally questionable. It was a game, not serious in the slightest.
There was no way a girl her age didn't know she was nearly exposed. And why the hell had she opened her shirt so easily, in front of him?
"You already said you weren't interested."
Yeah. He'd said that. Takasugi retracted his hands in favor of his pipe. He could look wherever he wanted. It wasn't like it was Kinu in particular. Men just looked at things. Especially soft things, that happened to be attached to women. With a sigh, the girl folded her arms across his knee and laid her head down, peering up at him.
"So… If you're so bad, got any drugs?"
"Oh, I have the best drugs." That was met with a short snicker, and the one eyed man turned to the table beside his bed. He opened his nightstand, and produced a single cigar, eyeing the girl as she accepted and examined it. Again, his attention settled on the way she was perched across his leg. It was innocent. Why was his mind wandering? She was innocent, she wasn't doing anything. Just sitting there.
He needed to get a grip. It wasn't okay if it wasn't a joke.
"How is it so round? You rolled this?"
A short, affirmative chirp was all he managed. Pipe to his mouth, Takasugi looked at the tatami. The door. The cabinets across the room. Don't go up. She wasn't touching like that. It wasn't like he had much contact outside of the Kiheitai and the odd woman every now and again that he hired to pour his drinks. That was erotic. Not Kinu.
She left her stoop then, and fell back onto the floor, holding the blunt over her.
"I could never make one look so perfect. It'd be a crime to smoke it…"
Black underwear. She was matching. God, why was he looking? It wasn't like her legs were open. Her knees were together. It was everything past them that wasn't. He hadn't done anything to deserve this, sure he'd killed people, and done reprehensible things, but it was for the greater cause. It was bigger than him, or the people he disposed of along the way.
"Wait, you smoke?" Kinu leaned up onto her elbow, and Takasugi quickly looked towards the cabinets again. She had a nice mouth. Nice lips.
"Occasionally." It was time to put her away. Sooner, rather than later. Literally anywhere. He didn't care if it was the cell, or the deck, or the fifth planet from the sun, maybe Jupiter was a better place for her.
"Wanna smoke together?" Kinu looked towards her bot, and turned over. Retrieved it on all fours, and a piece of Takasugi died. He crossed his legs. The girl pulled the panel off her drone, and reached inside, snickering. "I was gonna program this to stab you if I got it running again…"
Why did that make it worse?! He should have detested that, why the hell was his johnson impressed?! The garters ran up the backs of her legs, too.
What he'd give to pin her there; bent over, skirt hiked up, legs together.
"That…" Was bad? Was he a neanderthal? That's all he could think of?! How could that possibly be different from any of the other people she'd slept with? He bet they'd practically jumped on her, too. With the way she was, Takasugi wouldn't be surprised if she was some awkward kind of man eater.
"If you're giving my stuff back, I'll leave my drone here. You can just put everything in here with my tools."
All he could think to say was okay. Like an idiot. He didn't even care that she'd hidden tools in the damn thing, just wanted to escape this room without her seeing. She'd think he'd been serious before. Trying to undress her, and have his wicked way with her, and he wasn't.
As Kinu was fixing the panel on her robot, or whatever it was, he resituated himself. Pinned it under the waistband of his boxer briefs. It would go down. He'd deal with it later. Takasugi stood, and started towards the door. Ever attentive, Kinu was behind him when he opened it. They walked to the deck of the ship, neither speaking, and he was thankful for the silence. The moment to try to convince his brain and body that the response was completely out of line, even if they didn't fully agree.
After the things he'd said to her, any other woman would have been appalled, and begging to be thrown back in the dungeon. Not trying to spend more time with him.
Where was a sake woman when he needed one? Who knew how long it would take to get one to his ship? As they looked over the half wall, Kinu tilted her head. Saw the water dark water, and japan as a mass beneath them, dotted with lights and pockets of darkness. She handed the cigar to him and he sparked it, sparing only a single glance on her.
"Wow." She breathed the word, and he peered at the sight of a partially lit, broken country. "Oh, wow, it's incredible… I've never been this far up before…"
"Really?" Offering the blunt to her, the man leaned onto the barrier. Fresh air. It was good enough to somewhat buffer his thoughts.
"Hm… I felt a lot of things today…"
He had something for her to feel. Kinu had fixed her clothes on the walk. Looked perfectly presentable. But even now, with her angled over the side of the ship, he couldn't help but think of what he'd seen.
She looked at him, and a cloud of smoke eased through her lips.
"Dunno why, but I thought you were… different... And you really scared me. You looked insane." Little did she know… There was no denying it, Takasugi had been unhinged for a long time now. How wasn't she? Why the hell was Kinu so controlled? "I don't think I like what you do. But I guess that's okay."
"Do you even know what you're saying?" He took the cigar from her hand.
"I don't have to like it to like you."
That was stupid. It made him feel good. She didn't look it, but was entirely too sweet, and he didn't think she had the faintest idea. Takasugi stared down at Japan, with its disgusting way of life, and its mocking, perfectly fitting, cardboard cut out society. Willing to roll over to whatever their shogun said.
As he glared at the yellow dots, Kinu leaned forward and spit. It was a pathetic thing. She hadn't even hawked anything up to put some feeling behind it.
"Think that made it? Is the Shensingumi after me now?"
"No, you've gotta-" Clearing his throat, Takasugi leaned over the barrier and spat a loogie of his own. Kinu turned her head, staving off a snicker, then leaned further over the rail, on the tips of her toes.
"That's not fair. Your neck muscles are weird, I can't spit that far." She tried again, and it was equally terrible. Not reaching Japan in the slightest.
"You're not even trying. How will they know how much you hate them if you do it like that? Pull it from your stomach, really let them know how worthless they are." Pulled upright, Kinu backed into Takasugi as his fingertips pressed into her abdomen.
A white cloud drifted from the girl and she held the cigar towards him as she cleared her throat. Accepting, Takasugi placed his palm on the edge beside her. Took her under his arm, and her shoulder pressed into his side as he pointed towards the country below.
"Unleash the attack. Destroy them all."
Kinu spit. Further. Nowhere near as detrimental as it should have been, but he snickered, nonetheless. Was she really that rigid? She couldn't properly spit on her enemies? It was barely better than the last. She turned towards him, smacking at his side.
"I'm trying!"
Catching her hand, Takasugi grinned at the girl.
"That was pitiful."
"My throat hurts, you have an unfair advantage." She was still under his arm. Didn't seem to notice. Her hip bumped his as she leaned back over, looking. "How long would a person fall from here?"
"Long enough to regret their decision."
It didn't take long before they were creeping into the kitchen. Kinu had been following Takasugi so closely that when he stopped to flick the lightswitch she bumped into his back. A sharp snort escaped the girl and he glared back at her, barely able to resist the primal urge to echo the sound.
"Shh! Stop laughing."
The girl's entire face was strained with an attempt at silence. Her eyes bulged as her mouth twitched and he felt a puff of air run through his nose.
"Bansai is gonna catch us. Shut up. Just take whatever's in there and let's go."
"But- why can't he catch us? You're criminals- aren't you the boss-"
"Stop talking!"
His voice was harsh, but his face said otherwise. Pinching her nose, Kinu fought another laugh. Followed the man to the fridge, and peered over his shoulder as he opened it.
"Hey," She nearly laughed again. He ignored her, but his mouth twitched. Takasugi reached into the golden abyss of delicacies, and Kinu nudged his shoulder. "Hey, you kidnapped me." Kinu spoke clearly but as soon as she had, a wave of giggles took her. The man clamped a hand over the side of his face. "I've never been kidnapped before. You're a kidnapper."
His head ducked low and his entire torso shook. When the man peered at her over his shoulder, his lips were a tight line.
"I've never been beaten up by a girl before."
Laughter exploded from Kinu and she doubled over onto the counter as he reached for her. Held his hands up in an attempt at silencing her. Instead, she walked into him, clutching his yukata, and buried her face in his chest to muffle the sound. Awkwardly patting at her head and shoulders the one eyed man silently shook with an equally sidesplitting laugh.
"What are you doing-" Kinu's hand slapped towards his irregularly pressing palms. He had no idea. It seemed like the right thing, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to touch her. All formalities aside, he squeezed her into himself and she grasped the fabric over his back. They needed to be quiet. There was no hope if they couldn't stop, but the strain of weed Takasugi had given her was known for its floaty sensation and making people laugh until they turned red.
Apparently, he wasn't immune.
"Ah, you're both still up."
Wide eyed, Kinu turned towards the voice behind her. The laughter died, but only for a second before they registered that Kawakami was standing in the doorway, arms crossed. Like a mother. Kinu understood exactly why they couldn't get caught. They froze, gaping at one another, as Kawakami joined them behind the counter. He pulled a bowl from the cabinet, and grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.
Despite desperately needing to laugh from the sight of the man, Takasugi was quick to regain his composure. He evened his expression, nearly glaring at the man. Takasugi grabbed a plate of leftovers from the refrigerator, and backed up; taking the girl with him.
"Bansai. We knew you were coming." It was like a video game showdown. Kinu's palm tapped into his chest, and she turned her head, stiff from suppressing the next wave. The deaf man didn't speak. He filled his bowl with cereal. It was then that Takasugi realized they were in the clear. He grasped Kinu's shoulder, and she looked up at him, grinning as he mouthed the words.
He can't hear us.
Recognition dawned on her, and she glanced back at the deaf man. They were safe. Kawakami poured milk into his cereal, and Kinu snagged a pair of bottled waters, as Takasugi claimed a half empty bottle of sake. The pair skittered from the kitchen, with Kawakami none the wiser to their nefarious deeds.
Takasugi and Kinu devoured the entire tray of food in record time. They'd stowed away in one of his favorite rooms. Not for it's furniture, or a specific purpose; it was practically empty aside from a short table and cushions. Takasugi liked it for the warm golden lights, and the sliding door that opened to the deck. The fresh air that poured into the room when they were at altitudes like this. Even in summer, the room could turn comfortably freezing under the right conditions.
They ate in silence, nearly choking as they scarfed down multiple cuts of beef and rice. What was the harm? The ship had escaped the wrath of Aso's followers, and was suspended, midair until morning. One night of fooling around and unwinding was well deserved.
Especially if it was going to get Kinu to return to normal. It'd be inconvenient if he didn't have a free meal waiting for him in Edo whenever he returned.
She was more hospitable than he anticipated, and instinctively poured his sake before partially leaning out of the open door. Her hair whipped back with a gust of wind but she didn't bother with correcting it. Just stared out of the doorway. Completely enchanted with his ship, from the look of it.
"It's amazing!"
As he guessed. The girl really wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to him, or anything else, from what he could tell.
"I never realized that the wind blew this hard up here. Isn't that cool? That boats can stay steady in winds like this? Even in water, but up here!"
Looking towards the girl, Takasugi eased onto his knees, and joined her in the doorway. He brought his cup. Took a sip as she waved her hand towards him, then grasped his knee.
"It's insane to think that this technology is so new. Nobody ever thought of how to use air pressure to their advantage like this half a century ago, and now look at us."
It really wasn't that exciting. He wanted to say that. Tell her that he didn't care how ships worked, as long as they did what they were supposed to do. But when he started, he met her eyes and found her brimming with childlike wonder. Animated, and completely enraptured by the experience. Smiling again. The sentence died before it even reached his tongue.
"It's a little cool." He conceded, but that wasn't enough for her. The hand on his knee squeezed, and Kinu turned to him, full on.
"What's space like?"
Why was she looking at him like that? His eye settled on her lips again. Pink and plump. Soft. Like the rest of her.
"It's…" He didn't know. He'd never had to describe it to anybody before. Leaving earth was hard to put into words, there wasn't anything like it. "It's big." That was one way to put it. Full of rocks, and planets, and other ships. "There's no way to understand leaving earth for the first time. Then looking back, and seeing it, and realizing you're not on it… Space is black, and nothingness. Between planets, you wonder if you'll ever get to land again. It feels like nothing is real outside of the boat until you're on land."
Kinu was clinging to his every word. Maybe not what she expected. She wanted stories of pirates, and continued wars with Amanto. She wanted to hear that it really was the vast beyond; filled with desert planets, and men in strange black suits that used invisible choke holds on people that made them slightly angry.
"There are bandits." He stated, and her entire face lit up with a gasp. He couldn't help but laugh. She was an idiot. A complete, naive, idiot, and he wanted to kiss her. So badly. Kinu leaned behind him. Brought the bottle of sake back and poured him another cupful before settling back into her spot.
This would taint her. Anything more would paint her black; make her as guilty as him. Just touching her, she should have been partially corrupted.
It was an awful time to change his mind, wasn't it? To want her to be like him. Corrupt her.
"Have you fought them before?"
"A few times." Why was she so enchanted with that? It wasn't fun. Takasugi hadn't enjoyed people trying to steal his ship, but just telling Kinu made it seem like something to be proud of. He wanted to tell her that he'd annihilated them. To tell her he'd been the one to stumble upon them. Spill first blood.
Embellish it to make it interesting. But just confirming that he'd had a run in with them was more than enough to captivate her.
Taking his pipe, Takasugi sparked it. He couldn't touch her. Why was she looking at him like that? He wouldn't do it. He'd take her home, as soon as some of the heat was off, and that would be it. Nothing else.
They talked. Then they were silent. Comfortably silent, and thinking to themselves. It was all a haze.
Kinu had long settled half out of the door, laying on her back. Looking upwards. Takasugi resolved that he'd hire a woman to pour his sake after this. Blow off some steam, because clearly, he needed to. There was no reason for him to look at her as he was.
Kinu liked that pen boy, but from what Takasugi could tell, it wasn't going anywhere. Shinpachi's mannerisms convinced him that it wouldn't be going anywhere, so long as he had his virginity to protect.
She laughed. Unexpectedly, and her hands stretched towards the moon, framing it with a loose curl of her fingers.
"I never knew being kidnapped was so much fun."
The cloud of smoke that escaped Takasugi blew past her.
"I'm horrible for not wanting to go back, aren't I?" Sitting up, Kinu kept her gaze on the half moon overhead. "This is an opportunity to run away, but all of my money is home. I've been saving up to do something like this for years. Disappear."
"And give up?"
He thought his question would have struck her as offensive.
"I don't think that's it. I've done my best. Not particularly for anyone, or anything. But I'm tired now. Always tired. And I can't sleep at home. When I can, I have awful dreams."
"Where would you go?"
Cerulean eyes fixated on Takasugi, no longer smiling. Completely devoid of expression and suddenly serious.
"Anywhere. Eventually, I'll overflow, and it'll be loud, and atrocious, and disgusting. Or maybe it'll make me happy. Who cares?" Her head lolled to the side, and she gazed across the room as if deep in thought. "Maybe I'll dissolve into seafoam." Humor pulled at her features, but left as quickly as it came.
"You're awfully noisy for a mute mermaid." Tapping his canines against the mouthpiece of his pipe, the one eyed man looked over Kinu. It was one thing to occasionally flirt with the idea of it, but from what she'd said, it sounded as though she'd put a lot of thought into her plans, whatever they were. She'd skirted around specifics. Smart enough to not give anybody something to talk her out of. "Why destroy yourself when you can destroy the world that's betrayed you?"
"And help them? Why? Who's helping me?" Kinu tore herself from the doorway and faced him; hair in disarray. She was bitter, but she was right. Whatever she'd eventually do would be atrocious. Her fingers bumped his, and he glanced down at the quickly broken contact.
His hand found her of its own accord, and he felt himself pulled forward by his sleeve. He'd do it. Taste the perfect lips that had been taunting him all night.
Then she was over him, hungrily pressed into his mouth; palms framing his face.
At the sensation of her tongue, the man granted access to his own. Pressed her into himself, before turning. Her back hit the floor with a gasp, and his mouth trailed down her throat. Teeth scraped at her skin and she arched into him. Was dragged even further, and felt the length of him against her. Her arms wrapped around him and his hips ground into her, sending her head back with a moan. If he was so terrible, why did it feel good?
Finally, as though Takasugi had been waiting, his hands were filled with the girl. She was far more responsive than he'd anticipated. Every single press of his fingers elicited a new sound from her. When he rocked his hips against her, nails raked down his neck and over his back, dulled by his yukata.
There was nowhere decent for this to go. He hadn't intended for her to be so open to him after that smack. Pulling back, Takasugi peered down at the girl; flushed and frowning. Shirt nearly opened to her chest. They were going to stop. Now.
When she grabbed him a second time, he met her with the force of a hurricane; yanking her into himself. They fumbled with each other, Kinu fighting to get back on top, laughing into his mouth, as he pinned her down. Her palm slid up his chest, not gentle in the slightest. Fully aware that she couldn't hurt him, and tugging him down by his yukata. She bit his lip, and the faintest hint of pain crossed him.
He dragged her hips into his, and was pleased with the sound that met him. This was wrong. He knew he shouldn't be taking this further. Especially not under the conditions. Knew that Kinu would have left if she had the choice; not the ship but everything. Her life, the planet, him, and couldn't bear it. If he just had her once, just once, that would be alright.
Who could blame him?
When he touched her, she moaned, low and sweet. Despite being through her underwear, her reaction was just as intense. He could feel the girl, drenched already. Burning for him. His mouth crashed back into hers, hungry and demanding.
She couldn't breathe. It was as if he was stealing the air from her and replacing it with electricity; hand frantically roaming from her waist, her jaw, her chest. Parting her thighs when she arched back.
Her leg trailed up the outside of his; tempting him. Takasugi stifled a groan as he pressed into her again, and her mouth slid up his neck. Sent a rush of air over his skin as she echoed the sound.
The door to the ship opened, and they jolted apart with another breathless gasp that should have been the start of something, and not the end.
"Really? Do you two know what time it is?" Kawakami, the bastard. Suddenly, the girl was biting down on her bruised lower lip, and staring at her fidgeting hands.
"Us? Why are you slinking around in the dark?" An exasperated sigh raked through Takasugi as he sat back and glared at the teal man in the doorway. "Don't you know how to knock?" Though he was sure that his irritation was obvious, the deaf man joined them, eyes squint behind his dark glasses. Takasugi just knew they were.
"Smoking? Both of you? Shinsuke, you know we're still on earth-" And there was the lecture. He knew it was coming. He'd be hearing about this in the morning. Why wasn't the prisoner tied up, doing prisoner things? Blah blah blah, awareness and rules, blah. What a mood killer. But Kawakami scolding him was a low price to pay.