And finally, Captain Shizuru meets her Pirate.

-

Nao's voice echoed on the Kiyohime's elevated dock: as always, it was a sinuous, mocking and, in particular way, malicious voice. In the last hours, everything had been prepared for the homecoming. It was necessary only my last important command, to start the journey through the Universe and to make return in the Capital. But, there was also a last thing to do, before the departure. A last thing I couldn't avoid.

And that thing was also the reason for Nao's presence in the elevated dock. I felt as if she had invaded my personal space, when I looked at her. As usual, she was grinning in my direction, with a sadistic joy on her lips.

- Captain Fujino, do you remember your last duty?

She asked, savagely smiling at me. I knew her very well, I knew how derisive was her attitude, but I had to accept the challenge. I was the Kiyohime captain, after all, and so I had to recite the rights to my prisoners: my last duty. That wasn't important that those rights had lost their sense to be, that they was no meaning statements to make powerful our Counselors. I smiled, shaking my head in disappoint and thinking to those women and men in their velvety seats, their golden and silver capes, barking to decide upon the fate of the Empire.
Slowly, I released my right wrist from the hold of my left hand, behind my back, and, modulating my voice, I addressed Nao.

- My, my, Yuuki-san. I obviously remember. Can you return to the command hall? I will be there in a moment. Please.

Yes, I was smiling, but my heart was cold as ice, hard as a stone. And without await any answer, I started to advance toward the secret heart of my ship, where I would have met the Tribe: the black jail.

I found Haruka fighting with a boy of the assault squad, a tall and strong boy who shook his head, noticing my presence, as if he wasn't the cause of Haruka's rage. I smiled, calling Haruka to reveal my presence in the corridor that lead to the jail. When she saw me, she started a burst of words, her right forefinger pointed in my direction as if I was the cause of all the Kiyohime's problems. Words upon words.
Sometimes, I have the sensation to hear some of them, echoing in my mind even now. Bubuzuke. Every time I can't help it and I start to smile.
But at the time, I was able to manage Haruka's fury and, after all, I had to admit her iron determination, her will to fight. She was so different from me. She had a range of abilities I couldn't understand, but I could appreciate. And even if I didn't esteem the blond girl, her courage and rage were damned important for the assault squad, and I had to take advantage from them. So, I wore my best smile of circumstance and, smiling, I thanked her for their good job and, in the same way, I entrusted her to make the boring work, now: to recite their rights to all the prisoners, excepted Kuga. She was mine.

Kuga was relegated in a single cell, settled to her during the space attack. I believed that was a necessary precaution, to prevent any problems, but I was so naive about those pirates. And so, that precaution became my umpteenth mistake. Even if I had met Natsuki with the others, maybe I would have been able to keep on my life. But that time we were isolated by the rest of the world, and I couldn't do anything to avoid my defeat.
In that moment, blessed by the God of Time, suspended by the normal flow of events, in that cell there was only us. I vividly remember the suffused light in semi-darkness, filtering through the bars made of electrostatic energy. I remember very well her. She was sitting in a bare couch, her back against the wall, her harms lying upon her raised knees. Everything in her was an hymn to rebellion. Every single move was an exaltation of her blind hatred against the world.

I had never felt any interest to other people, before: immersed in my flow of responsibilities, I saw who was near me with the eyes of someone constrict to know, to manage. Obviously, I know that part of me was so bad, but I couldn't help it. I don't deny the fact I have met someone I've loved, but those were exception at my style of live.
So, that time I was astonished because from the first time I had seen her, a part of me wanted know Kuga more than everything else. And equally, I realized that another part of my consciousness, the deepest and darkest, was starting to shatter.When I remember those times, I have the sensation I was obliged to excel in all the things. I was surrounded by a crowd in worship, but I was damned alone. Natsuki, however, was different from all the people around me.

So, in that cell forgotten by the Gods, slowly, I modulated my voice in a sweet and deep tone, enumerating her rights and watching her figure, as if I wanted to know if she had understood my words. I explained in a very simple and clear way the reasons of their arrest and their future in the Kiyohime, under my jurisdiction. I felt as I had to explain all those things to her: after all, I thought, I had no reason to hate their. But she wasn't listening my words. Simple, she was watching an indefinite point behind me, with an odd expression on her face, as if she wanted curse all the Universe.

Was that the time I fell in love with her? Was I astonished by her differences from the other people? Or, maybe, was the pressing desire growing inside of me? I wanted she to gaze at me, to see me. Did I want she to give up – her, who was so rebel, so free – to me, as all the other people did? The devious smile on my face, probably, betrayed my irritation for that situation I wasn't able to manage. Out of the cell, I heard the moves of my crew. Shaking my head, I gazed to Natsuki another time, then I wished her good luck and slowly I started to walk toward the bars of electrostatic energy, when her voice reached me. Her tone was deeper than mine and I didn't know, at that time, how much I would have loved it. There was no fear, no worry, no astonishment, neither respect in her. But, instead, there was something more distant, something I couldn't catch, hidden in every single word. Was that the innate elegance of the Redeemer?

- So, are you Kiyohime's Captain?

I turned to her, in time to see a shadow of an ironic smile lying on her lips, but that was a fragment of a moment. The following instant, her smile was definitely gone. When she lifted her bright eyes on me, I felt my heart lose a beat, and something visceral moving inside of me. I wasn't able to give it a name. Today, I know very well what I felt that time, in front of her green gaze. Today, I know very, very well how much I desired Natsuki, without knowing nothing about love.

- Shizuru Fujino...

I said, for her benefit, inadvertently omitting my title. Was that an oddness of a fate already in development?

- Finally, I can face up the eyes of the hunter...

Few words. The only words she said at me, that time, murmured in that empty and spare cell. Maybe, the same words if pronounced by other people wouldn't have had the same importance. But was Natsuki who pronounced them, and I was lost. Why did I feel so bad? Why did I feel a thin uneasiness inside of my body? What was its cause? Maybe the tone of her voice? Her eyes? Or maybe, the consciousness of another world, in another time, blessed by another sun, where seagulls fly upon the sea? If I had closed my eyes, I know, I would have seen that surface, rippled by free winds, crossed by streams that haven't no need to hide themselves.

I didn't say anything in reply. There was no need to do.

I turned away and left Natsuki's cell. With an imposed elegance covering all my steps in a false and artificial harmony. I reached my room, barricading myself inside of it. I felt Kiyohime giving a start and that made me realize I have entered a tunnel from I couldn't come out. Whit my back against the bare wall, I slowly slid and stayed in that position, staring into space. That was the same position assumed by Natsuki in her cell, but at that time I didn't realize the umpteenth connection. I knew there was a smile also in my lips, now, a smile born of the sudden understanding of my miserable condition. The smile of the vanquished: I would have been able to escape, but I couldn't. No more. That smile on my lips was a bond between me and Natsuki: for the first time in my life, I had perceived the reflection of my heart in the eyes of another living being, and I couldn't be able to avoid the truth of those facts. I was desperately in love with her.

I don't remember how many time I lay in that position, with my back against the wall, and my red eyes shut if I wanted isolated myself from the world around me. Inside of my mind, my impetuous thoughts ran free and I wasn't able to stop them. I was lost. Definitely lost.

That was the time I realized that the secret of the harmonious weave enveloping everything is called dap joint. No one knows how a dap takes life, but, when that occurs, there is only the consciousness of fragments of stars joined in an eternal embrace. The secret of every dap is the ability two creatures, different as light and dark, have to find themselves every moment of their lives.

In that cell, in the hidden and beating heart of my Kiyohime, Natsuki and me indulged in the first dancing steps. We haven't yet stopped.