If Takasugi had expected an obvious change in the status of his relationship, he had been severely mistaken. Come morning, the girl was back to her usual quiet self. They sat through breakfast, barely establishing eye contact outside of her pawning her miso off on him, and him giving her an extra piece of omelette and two slices of peach to make up for it.

"We're headed back now, Kinu-chan. We'd still appreciate if you took a look at the boiler room, and noted anything you need to update our equipment."

Nodding at Kawakami, Kinu bit into the peachy spoils of her trade.

"Most of the damage from the chase was cosmetic, but we'd like to be on the safe side." He continued, and Kinu tried not to meet Matako's eye. The woman was still doing exactly as she said. Watching.

Takasugi could still be gay, right? According to an article she'd found on her phone in the bathroom, sometimes they slept with women. When they were bored of dicks. But maybe she had lied to Matako.

The engine room of the ship was larger than expected. Oversized machinery littered the walls, covered in disorganized wires, and once again, Kinu fully appreciated her teacher's critique. She could hardly decipher the maze of connections and pipes. It would have to be redone.

Her finger raked across the main engine, and a thick layer of dust collected under it.

Outdated. Everything was past its prime. Just looking at the main power and air supplies, she was positive that the ship was at least six years old, and two years past its service date. There was one sign of previous repairs, a dark outline where an old environmental control system had been traded out for a sleek, newer model.

"Your fuel cells are on their last leg…" Squatting down to the hatch, Kinu lifted the panel and reached inside, tugging one free. Blown out, at least a month ago.

Kawakami leaned onto the rail of the stairway above her, and Kinu held it towards him and the one eyed man.

"Why are you using phosphoric acid?"

The men looked at one another. Half expected an answer to be conjured up by their counterpart, but nothing came. Instead of waiting for them to figure out a defense, Kinu hummed, rolled her sleeves up, and ducked to the metal grating, peering back behind the collection in question. At the sight of her skirt Takasugi jabbed his elbow into the deaf man's ribs. He was met with a sheepish grin that only lasted a second before Kinu leaned back to the balls of her feet, sighing.

Evidence of their negligence ran up her arm in a thick black streak.

"Your coolant loops aren't functioning. Phosphoric cells are a good heat compromise, but you should switch to solid oxide." Turning towards the cylindrical engine, Kinu trailed off, still murmuring as she drifted to the freestanding case and pressed her fingers into an indent. A panel slowly sprung forth and raised towards her. She crossed her arms. "This…"

They'd just slapped everything together and started roaming the galaxy on the verge of death every time they entered atmosphere! Engine output was at sixty percent, they weren't even trying to maintain it!

"When was the last time you had someone down here..?"

Kawakami chuckled at the question, and ventured to the bottom of the stairs.

"Some of the men know a bit about boats, but only enough to keep us in the air. We can't exactly pull up to any service station and let them on."

"But… someone put spackle in these cracks. It's structural fatigue, you have to weld these! It'll crumble once you hit the thermosphere- you won't be able to slow down enough to properly dock, and your shock absorbers-"

"God save the shock absorbers." Takasugi dryly murmured back as he peered at the display panel Kinu was thumbing through. When she met his eye, clearly unamused, his palm found the small of her back. "Then you'll have to get us up to standard, won't you?"

"This is a four person job. There's no way I could-"

"Do it alone."

Again, the girl arched a brow at him. The ghost of a smirk was forming on his lips. Suddenly warm, Kinu blinked away the prickling sensation spreading through her stomach and thighs.

Kinu tucked the panel back into its cubby on the side of the main engine, and looked over all of the machines again.

"What's the budget?"

"Tell us what you need."

By nightfall, they were docked in the city. Not too far out of the way. It was a good fifteen minute walk from the tea shop, and Kinu couldn't think of a single thing to say. Thanks for the sex and work was probably inappropriate. She didn't know if it was okay to thank somebody for sex, actually. From the way everything had gone, it didn't seem like they were going to talk about it, or even acknowledge that it had happened, so she kept her mouth shut.

She wasn't about to be the needy pile of desperation she felt welling up inside of her. Ridiculous as it was, she wanted to ask him not to take her back. Let her stay there, and forget she'd ever had another home, or a family, or anything to keep her there. Kinu could be a pirate, fighting bandits, and smugglers, and keeping a parrot she'd affectionately refer to as Crackers. Because that's what parrots ate.

The shop light was on, but her mother was nowhere insight. Beyond the door to the house, a constant stream of muffled bickering could be heard.

"Sorry." A brief second of eye contact slipped between them as the girl moved to the back of the shop. Though she eyed him as she pulled the door open, she didn't say anything to dissuade him from following. He'd already suspected as much of her home life. "Thank you for walking me." Kinu ignored his presence in favor of the ever growing argument. Didn't look at him as she spoke. She ran to the back door, on the tips of her toes, and eased it open. Just listening.

"Don't try to change the subject! You robbed your own daughter!"

"Well how d'ya expect to pay them off, ya damn lazy bitch?! I- I see ya! Takin' nights off and drinkin' with those men!"

"Riku it's a hostess club! That's my job!"

Before Kinu knew it, she was there. Arms crossed, and staring at the pair in the sitting room. He'd robbed the store? Again? Something brushed her arm, and she jumped at the sensation. Takaugi hovered at her side, peering through the arched doorway, and she turned back to him, frowning. Since when was he there?!

"Dear, you're back! Riku- there's company-" Kinu's mother froze. Her eyes connected with Kinu's, then his.

"That- that's the kid I told'ja 'bout! He's the bastard that's been sneakin' 'round with that freak!"

If Takasugi felt any particular way about being called a kid, or spoken of in such a tone, his face didn't betray it. Kinu's eyes had locked onto something different though. The wad of cash in her father's hand.

"It's fine! She's old enough to have a boy over if she wants. Let's just go-" Tugging on the man's arm, Ai tried to lead him back to the hall, but he shrugged out of her grasp.

"This was my parent's home, ya'll can't do yer things here! Hell, take the girl somewhere else; ditch'er in a lake fer all I care. Get out- the both'a ya! Ya ain't welcome here."

"Honey, you're drunk..."

Like that was new. When Ai tried to pull the man back a second time, he rammed his elbow into her, and she went straight down. Takasugi's eye went wide at the sight, and he tried to blink away his shock as the drunk man stumbled towards him, finger extended to poke a hole through his chest.

Kinu didn't look impressed with the blatant display of violence. Before Riku could take more than two steps, the girl lifted the edges of her skirt and wasted no time in striking back. She kicked the man aside with the precision of a trained fighter.

Takasugi was almost impressed. Hadn't expected her to actually be so light on her feet.

The greasy haired drunk toppled over, and Kinu hit the ground on her feet, drawing her foot back to the ball of her heel and prepared to strike again.

"Ki- Ki don't hurt him! It was an accident!" As soon as her mother spoke, her offensive posture lessened.

"The hell was that for?!"

"This is a patriot?" Disgust churned through Takasugi as he stood over the flabby older man. Kinu was already helping her mother to her feet. That couldn't be one of his old brothers. He remembered Riku, this wasn't him.

"What's it ta ya-" Holding his head, Riku paused. Squinted at the one eyed man. He eased up, and his nose wrinkled as the same sense of familiarity sparked between them. It was him. He didn't look the same. Maybe not standing and facing him, but like this, with him down and injured, looking up, he knew. Could almost see the man covered in blood with his leg flayed open, reaching for help. Somebody to get him back to camp. "Takasugi Shinsuke?"

A ripple of disbelief ran through the one eyed man. He could feel Kinu eyeing him. Didn't even want to see whatever expression she was making, because he was sure it wasn't good.

"It's you, ain't it? Ai- this is the kid that carried me from the field! When my leg was sliced open- this is the kid!"

He remembered the day it happened. Sakamoto had been injured as well, and both had to be carried back when the dust settled. Neither of them, along with a hand full of other men, had been able to even walk; they had to sit the last battle out in the infirmary.

This man had come after his father and brother. Had tried to save them, and gotten himself cut down alongside them. It was a wonder he kept the leg. Takasugi remembered the way he'd been sobbing the entire trek back, and could still hear it as though it had happened yesterday. A grown man broken by war.

"This is what you've done with your life?" Takasugi watched the man pry himself from the ground and unevenly sway as he leaned against the television.

"Well, I tried ta be a office man but-"

"All you talked about was your wife and daughter, and you're beating them?" Takasugi could hardly stand to look at him; drunk out of his mind and squinting as though he didn't understand what was being said to him. He didn't look as Kinu walked behind him and ushered her mother to sit down in an armchair.

"No- no, I don't beat nobody. We're just playin' around! That damn girl, though. She don't got no respect. I'm the man of the house, someone ought ta teach 'er a lesson!" The older man scowled past Takasugi's shoulder. "That freak's a embarrassment. Don't even got good grades after all we put inta 'er and got the nerve ta run off with some guy now. She ain't what I told'ja then, she's a disgrace."

"Dear, don't say that, she's trying."

"Tryin' ta get me killed! Damn it Ai, stop defendin' 'er from the truth! She ain't nothin' and she's never gonna be nothin'! If I ain't take 'er money they woulda whacked me this time fer sure! She ain't been workin', but four hundred thousand yen was good enough ta shake 'em!"

"Riku!"Ai gasped the man's name, as Kinu stared on. Stone faced and harder than Takasugi remembered her. "Riku, that was her savings!"

Takasugi glanced down at the crumpled bills on the ground, then back at the man. That was barely over twenty thousand yen.

Whatever Takasugi expected her to say didn't come. Instead, Kinu walked straight to the man. He started to move back but she lurched forward, and before Takasugi knew what was happening, the girl was unleashing her own vicious attack. He thought it started with a knee, but couldn't be entirely sure, because the moment Riku doubled over, a smack rang through the room, and she stumbled aside, shielded by her hair and holding her face.

"Riku! Don't-" On her feet, Ai jumped into the mix hopping onto the man's back and he tried to shake her off as Kinu took a handful of his hair and rammed him over her knee.

Maybe somebody should break this up. It was far better than any meet the parents scenes Takasugi had read; an absolute catastrophe. Ai was flung from the man's back, and Takasugi watched as she hit the wall, far more pathetic than he thought capable. Something was wrong with her, because instead of getting back up, she sat there, gasping and clutching her chest.

Lighting his pipe, Takasugi returned his attention to the two knocking each other around. No wonder she was covered in bruises. Kinu's fist shot into the man's face and the heel of his palm shoved her back a step but she was back in the blink of an eye, wrapping her hands around his thick neck. He clawed at her arms. Her wrists, then face, trying to slap the girl off himself, and Takasugi thought she might do it when his knees gave, but Riku's hefted his body weight into her and she fell back against the TV, squeaking, and knocking it off the stand.

Puffing his pipe, Takasugi decided he didn't actually want to meet her parents. Especially when Riku snatched the girl up by her collar and shoved her towards the device.

"Look whatcha did! Yer gonna fix it and clean this mess up-" She struggled against his grasp, stumbling to push away. "Damn waste a space, you should just fuckin' kill yerself already!"

And that was when Takasugi saw it. The flash of blue, and Kinu's arm rearing back. Ai grabbed her from behind, dragging her back as Riku caught her wrist.

"Ki! Ki don't do it! He's drunk!"

Her legs kicked against the man, and the struggle to bring her box cutter down on her father was cut short as Takasugi stepped into the fray. They'd reached a stalemate, anyway. He pried the man's grip from her sleeve to snatch her the rest of the way back, and when Ai hit the wooden floor with the girl his fist shot into Riku's face.

The older man fell back, covering his nose and mouth. He gaped up at Takasugi. As if, for some reason, he'd thought his behavior was perfectly acceptable, and the interference had been to come to his aid.

"This really isn't a good look…" Only a patriot could get through to another. Especially in this case. Riku peered at him through squinted eyes. The crimson tint of blood seeped through his fingers, and Takasugi looked down at his hand at the sensation of liquid trickling down his own. He found a shallow gash at the knuckle of his middle finger. Probably hit a tooth. "Too weak to protect your father. Your brother. Coming home to decimate the only thing you have left." Takasugi's leg was grasped, and he glanced down to find Kinu, glaring at her father.

"And you're no better, he saw you coming a mile away." Her blade was retracted. Pushed back into her collar, and she sneered at him.

Wordless, Kinu examined his hand.

"There's always next time." She muttered, pushing herself up and walking off, only to return with a cloth from the kitchen. Offering his hand to the girl, Takasugi watched as her mother rounded the TV, and stared down at her husband. Didn't get anything to help him.

"Does that make sense to you?" Silence filled the home. For once, Riku's expression changed. It transformed from a lazy, alcohol induced stupor to hazed eyes attempting to fully focus. "Truth is, nobody with even a shred of decency would become what you have. You were always trash, weren't you? And nobody realized because you hid behind your brother."

When Takasugi looked at the woman beside Riku he found her wearing the same tiny smile her daughter donned when she toyed with him. More satisfied. Cold.

Kinu removed the cloth from his knuckle, and he studied the freshly cleaned gash, no longer bleeding. She kept her eyes low. Hand on his sword, Takasugi tilted his head. Slowly pulled it out and turned it over in.

"There's no shadow to hide in anymore. They'd be repulsed." With another turn of his sword, Takasugi met the man's eyes. "I'd wager you sold yours, didn't you?" The question hung between them for an uncomfortably long time. Kinu pressed into his back, peeking over his shoulder and pulling at the fabric of his yukata.

"I did…" Riku finally nodded. His eyes watered as he wiped his face with his azure sleeve, and his wife finally kneeled at his side, hands on his shoulders.

"Shame. Though I suppose nothing's lost. Not like you could properly use it, anyway." Takasugi sheathed his blade. He tapped his foot into the man's leg, and Riku doubled over, wheezing and clutching it. Just as he expected. He'd never fully recovered physically, either.

"I'm telling Onii-chan." The girl's hand overlapped with his, clutching the handle of his sword, as if she could dissuade him from cutting her father in half.

"Wait a sec, girl- it don't gotta come ta that-" Rushing to get to his feet, Riku unsteadily swayed. He reached for his daughter, but Takasugi smacked his hand away.

"I'm telling him everything, and you know he doesn't take the war as an excuse. Hell, he's not a piece of shit, and-" She looked towards Takasugi. Raised a brow. "Well, Onii-chan's not a piece of shit."

"Oi." What the hell was that?! Reaching behind himself, the one eyed man pinched her, and she flattened against his back, batting at the hand on her thigh. "Get your act together or I'll leave you the way I found you that day."

At that, the man peered up at him with wide, blue eyes, brimming with a familiar shine. Fear.

"It- It ain't like that- Yer wrong. 'Bout all of it. "

Takasugi didn't move. Didn't even look at him. He thought that was the end of it, but Riku sprang forward, fists clenched.

"I don't care what people said 'bout ya. Y'ain't no demon, or beast or whatever ya wanna think, and I won't be threatened in mah own house!"

When the drunkard lunged, Takasugi met him with the sole of his foot. Shoved him back down. Riku met the floor with a yelp of surprise, and the sound echoed through the house. Seriously? He'd attack anybody that so much as threatened him? His wife quietly stayed behind him, kneeling and covering her mouth. It was supposed to look concerned. Takasugi saw the raised edges of her lips. Her eyes connected with his and he knew exactly what she was thinking. She liked him.

"You're wrong." Takasugi drew the word out. He'd been particularly careful about his wording. Had ensured that he'd said it nicely. Because he was a good guy, making a great impression on his friend's parents. "Rumors exist for a reason."

Riku's wife and daughter stared down at him, both expressionless. He groaned. Reached for his knee. As he looked up at Takasugi, the one eyed man leaned over him, voice significantly lower.

"Clearly, you don't understand how serious I am. Try me. If I see so much as a single broken nail, I'll lop your head off… And then your daughter will serve me tea in your father's form, and we'll both sleep very well."

A hand patted into his back, and Kinu's voice rang out.

"Oi, don't say weird things. My mom's here."

Glancing at the mousy woman, Takasugi raised a brow.

"What? She can sleep well too. Separately."

Giggling, Ai bashfully waved a hand towards him. Before Takasugi could get another word out, Riku was halfway down the hall.