The long shuttering gasp along with the quiet shuffling of cloth in the darkroom made any experienced Bushi snap to attention. All signs of sleep were gone as Kurusu immediately woke up and sat up in his bunk. Slowly reaching for the katana that never left his side as he listened to the gasps. Kurusu along with Ikoma, Mumei, Sukari, and Kibito slept in this car, however, Sukari and Mumei were on watch that night, only leaving Ikoma and Kibito in the room with him. Kurusu took note of the rustling from Kibito's bunk above him. Kurusu thumbed open his katana, slowly swinging his feet over the edge of the bed as he did so.

"Ikoma," he stood up from his bed as Kibito turned on the overhead light, bathing the room in a gentle orange glow. Only illuminating the room just enough for the two Bushi to see the edge of Ikoma's bunk, "What are you?" Kibito slowly got out of his bunk as well, taking his place right next to Kurusu. Their eyes narrowed as they heard a rough, wet cough from the darkness. Although surprised, they didn't move, but they were sure that Kabane, let alone Kabaneri's, did not cough like that.

"Kibito, call Suzuki, tell him to send Mumei." Kibito made a hum of agreement before going to the nearby communication tube that was on their side of the room. Picking the right one to call Suzuki and to tell Mumei to come back. Meanwhile, Kurusu cautiously approached the other side of the cart, slowly inching his way to the nearby switch to turn on the light. Keeping an eye on the way their Kabaneri steam smith gasped and coughed in his bunk. Kurusu flicked on the switch when he finally got to it, his eyes immediately darting to Ikoma's bed. His eyes narrowed at the sight, a flicker of concern flitting over his face before he concealed it.

Ikoma was tangled in his blankets, a thin layer of sweat covered his skin, making his unkempt hair stick to his face. His tightly closed eyes look as if they sunk into his head, then again, it could just be the eyebags that caused it to look like that. Although, Kurusu would be lying if he said he didn't notice the way his veins shone throughout his visible skin, much like the way it would if the Kabaneri was agitated or hungry. The scariest part would have to be that instead of that odd shimmering mixture of gold and orange shining, his veins were a deep dark black with specks of dull white. Something was very wrong.

"Ikoma…" Kurusu let his voice trail off as he crept closer to the bunk, absentmindedly taking note of Kibito standing a few feet behind him," Oi, Ikoma!" Kurusu called out to him louder, bordering on a shout. His shout was rewarded with the hazy, half-lidded eyes looking at him, the Bushi took an involuntary step back. His red eyes and white sclera had somehow turned black over the course of a few hours.

"…Kurusu?" his voice was quiet and breathless, having an overall tone of confusion with it. Ikoma let out another wet cough with a groan, his head lolling against his pillow as he clenched his eyes tightly.

"…What are you Ikoma?"

"…Kabaneri," Ikoma threw an arm on his eyes," but I must be a pile of shit with the way I'm feeling." Their lips quirked up at the weak joke, relaxing as they realized that he must be fine if he still has the mental capacity to joke like that. They both let their katanas sink back into their sheaths, the both of them kneeling next to the bunk. Kibito was the one who reached out for Ikoma first. His parental instincts waking up once again, long-dormant after his younger siblings failed to escape in a Kabane attack. Ikoma let his arm be nudged away from his face, his brain was a little bit too muddled at the moment for him to protest it anyways. He sighed in relief from the contact, his blazing skin recognizing Kibito's hand as something cold.

"…he's burning up." Kurusu's eyebrows rose, how did a Kabaneri get sick? Kibito brushed Ikoma's hair away from his face, the both of them watching as Ikoma quickly fell back to sleep despite his state.

"What's wrong?" the men turned to look at the door as Mumei and Ayame walked in, both of them looking composed compared to the pajama-wearing males in the room.

"Its Ikoma…" Kurusu stood up as Mumei and Ayame walked up to the bunk, the both of them taking their places by Ikoma's side. Their eyes widening at the sight of the blackened veins.

"…Ikoma?" Mumei's hands hovered over her sick counterpart, taking in the way his breath gasped and shuttered in between his deep and rough coughs.

"What's wrong with him?" Kurusu's question went unanswered as Mumei pulled back his blankets, letting everyone see his sweat-soaked clothing along with the blackened veins traveling down his limbs. Most notable was the gentle orange glow under his shirt. The glow was pulsing slowly, dimming with Ikoma's heartbeat. As they pulled off the blankets completely, Kibito and Kurusu had to force Ikoma to say down straight after he tried to curl up into a ball to try and stay warm.

"'s cold." Ikoma trembled under their hands, despite the heat his body was radiating, Ayame smoothed back the steam smith's hair, slicking it back in the process.

"I know, just a little bit longer," Ikoma made a sound of acknowledgment before falling silent. He barely noticed the others peeling off his shirt, he wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't just so darn cold.

"Mumei," they were all staring at his heart, the gentle orange glow was battling with the glow of the black. The black would almost completely overtake his heart before the orange glow pushed it back, "What's going on? What's wrong with him?"

"…I don't know." They all felt a pit in their stomachs, the eldest Kabaneri of the group, the same one that would work with scientists and fellow Kabaneri's, didn't know what was going on. Ayame was the first one to compose herself.

"I will go and wake up Kajika, stay here for now." She quickly left the cart. Mumei kept on staring at Ikoma, at the way he coughed and shivered pitifully in his bunk.

And to make matters worse, she had no idea what was going on with him.

"Hey!" Kibito struggled to keep Ikoma on the bed, to keep him from falling into a puddle of his own vomit, "I need some help over here!" Ikoma shuttered in Kibito's arms, his body limp as it expelled his dinner. Despite the fact that Kibito knew that Ikoma's vomit was a bright red due to his dinner, it was still disturbing and unnerving to see another human(ish) being to vomit blood. Ikoma coughed roughly, Kibito's arms still supporting him, each cough made a mixture of vomit and phlegm come up. Kajika slammed the door open as she walked in, rushing over to the bed.

"Damn," her hand was against Ikoma's forehead, "his fever spiked, lay him back down."

"N-no," Ikoma struggled against Kibito's hands, his fever leaving him too delirious to realize that it was just Kibito, "Let go!" the scream made him break down into a coughing fit, each cough leaving him wheezing. Yet despite that, he was still fighting back.

"Ikoma!" Kibito grunted as Ikoma kneed him in the gut, noticeably lacking the strength of a healthy Kabaneri, "It's just us Ikoma, you're safe!" the older man pinned Ikoma's arms to the bed next to his head.

"NO! Let m- "

"Ikoma." Ikoma's head was turned to the left, as Kajika gently turned him to face her. His eyes, although discolored, were full of confusion and fear. But that was to be expected, who wouldn't be terrified if someone was pinning them down without letting them know why.

"…Kajika?" Ikoma finally relaxed at the sight of her, familiarity entering his eyes. Kibito glanced at Kajika, slowly letting go of Ikoma's wrists as he stood back up

"Yeah, its me." She gave him a gentle smile, a smile that wasn't reflected as he scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion.

"…What's wrong?" Kajika tenderly wiped away the trail of blood that was leaking down his chin.

"Oh, it's nothing, just go back to sleep." Ikoma shivered as she placed the cold compress against his forehead before trying to push himself up.

"…no, let me help." Kibito pushed the steam smith back to the bed by the shoulder, a small smile on his face as he did so.

"You can help by staying right here, get some rest."

"B-but- "He was slightly startled when he felt a cold hand gently brushing his hair back.

"Just go to sleep, you can help when you wake up." She adjusted the compress to also cover his eyes. Ikoma sighed as he felt some relief from a headache he didn't even know was there.

"…ok." His voice was quiet as he faded, and before long he was finally asleep. The other occupants of the room sighed in relief.

"What do we do now?" Kajika ran her hand through her hair.

"Now, we wait, and we hope he gets better."

"How is he?" Kurusu closed the door behind him as he entered the room. It had been two days since they woke up to find Ikoma sick in his bunk. It had taken nearly two days along with a few shifts to get his fever down where he wasn't delirious. Whatever had happened to him earlier, was almost gone. The black veins that had appeared were nearly gone along with his fever, but that cough wasn't. Which was why no one had allowed Mumei to even look at Ikoma, for all they know, whatever Ikoma had caught was contagious.

"He's better, he's been able to keep everything I give him down, his fever is still a little bit high though," Kajika bit her lip nervously while looking at her sick friend," he hasn't been able to stay awake for long either, only for a few minutes at a time, he just keeps on muttering in his sleep." Kurusu rose an eyebrow as she stood up and upon seeing his questioning look, she clarified.

"He's been reciting calculations and schematics in his sleep, occasionally bringing up one of us."

"I see…go and join the others, it's my turn to watch over him." Kurusu waved her off as she took her leave, taking her place in the chair right next to the bunk.

"Oh," Kajika popped her head back into the cart, "Ikoma tends to get clingy when he's sick, try to avoid getting caught by him." And with that, she closed the door, not even letting Kurusu find out just how clingy is "clingy". Kurusu settled down as he watched over Ikoma, occasionally changing the compress. He would rather be on guard or be with Ayame, but Ikoma is rather important to the safety of the train and he needed to get better as soon as possible (He's not going to admit that he had something of a friendship with him)

With the most recent change, he realized that his fever had gone down. He was already at the door to call Mumei when he heard Ikoma groan. Upon turning, he saw the steam smiths' hand groggily frisk around the blankets as if he was looking for something.

"Ikoma?" Kurusu grabbed the nearby bamboo tube and pushed it into his open hand. Only for Ikoma to latch onto the Bush's hand with a tight, but painless, grip.

Oh no

"Ikoma?!" and before he knew it, he was bound by a pair of arms, his face getting smushed into the chest of the younger man.

"Ikoma!" Kurusu struggled against Ikoma, trying to get away out of embarrassment and disgust. Disgust because no one would smell like flowers and roses after being bedbound, simmering in their sweat and body odor.

"Let me go!" Kurusu growled out his words, finding enough leverage to shimmy up and hit the bottom of Ikoma's jaw with the top of his head. It hurt, but he rather hurt than stay in this hold any longer than he has to.

"Let. Me. Go!" Kurusu felt Ikoma shift as he woke up, his grip loosening as he came back to the world of the living, and Kurusu gladly took the chance to get out of his grip. He let out a sigh of relief as he stood on his two feet, his hand scrubbing at his face with his sleeve.

"…Kurusu?" he turned around to see Ikoma sitting up in his bunk, his hand rubbing his face as he woke up, the compress discarded to the side. The Bushi felt some relief at the sight of the Kabaneri regaining what little color he had before. (Also, at the fact that Ikoma didn't seem to realize that he was hugging Kurusu in his sleep but he wasn't going to mention that) And his eyes were somewhat back to normal, the black sclera of his eyes had turned back to the normal white, but his eyes remained black instead of the trademark red.

"How do you feel?" Ikoma groaned loudly while rubbing his hand down his face.

"Like shit, "he swung his legs over the ledge of the bed, not noticing the way his head nearly missed the bottom of the bunk above him.

"Wait, don't get up yet." Ikoma pushed off the Bushi's hand

"Need to take a leak." Oh. Kurusu took a step back to let him stand up. Which he gladly did. Kurusu sighed heavily, before looking up. Wait, up?

Kurusu stared up at Ikoma, something he has never done before since they were around the same height. But now, Ikoma had to be around three inches taller than him. He also wasn't this wide, Ikoma was a scrawny little thing less than a week ago, so how was he built with enough muscle to make it look like he had been training for years?

"…eh?" Ikoma noticed the way he was suddenly taller than the Bushi. As well as the way said Bushi was staring at him with a look of confusion and surprise mixed together. "Wh-" Ikoma cut himself off as a bout of dizziness nearly made him collapse, it was a good thing Kurusu was there to steady him.

"Oi!" he slowly helped Ikoma sit back down onto his bunk, "I told you to stay, next time listen to me you idiot," Ikoma blinked hard before shaking his head, trying to clear all of the black dots that had appeared in his vision.

"Sorry," Ikoma put his hand over his stomach as he felt it eating away at itself. It felt like he hadn't eaten for days" I just realized how hungry I was." Kurusu handed Ikoma the bamboo tube from earlier, who took it with thanks before opening it up to drink it.

They both could tell that something was wrong based on his reaction to his usual meal. Ikoma was hunched over the bucket the Bushi had all but thrown at him, gagging at the taste of blood in his mouth, and spitting out the saliva that continued to pool in his mouth.

"I thought you said you were hungry?" Kurusu rose an eyebrow as he watched Ikoma heave into the bucket, trying his best to get the taste out of his mouth. Ikoma looked up with a glare and wiped off his mouth with his forearm.

"I am, I don't know why I threw up myself. "He looked down at the bucket with a glare, "I don't even know what happened to me, one day I'm fine, the next I feel like I'm dying, and now I'm somehow taller than you?" he gave the Bushi a confused look. He didn't even need to think about it to know that it was odd. The Kabaneri was fine a few days ago, he was doing his usual thing. Then the next day, they found him sick in bed, and two days later, he was noticeably taller and more muscular. And to top everything off, he couldn't even eat his usual meal.

"Hey…" Ikoma started slowly," I know this is gonna sound crazy but I have an idea…"

And with Mumei, Kurusu and Kajika staring, Ikoma was happily eating a simple dumpling. He had forgotten how good a dumpling could taste. Kajika leaned over to Mumei, whispering to her.

"I thought you guys couldn't eat normal food?" Mumei stared at Ikoma in confusion, before grabbed one of the dumplings they had brought and taken the smallest bite out of it. Based on the way her eyes bulged and she ran out of the cart, Kabaneri couldn't eat human food. As for Ikoma…he seemed to be something else. Before they had given him the snack, they conducted a few experiments with Ikoma. And realized that along with getting physically bigger, he was also stronger and faster.

"How does it taste?" Ikoma smiled at Kajika's question before eating the rest of it in one more bite.

"It's really good, I forgot how good it could taste." Ikoma smiled at all of them. All of them immediately taking notice of his teeth, they were a little bit…sharper than they remember. Everyone was certainly confused.

"Ikoma," he perked up as Kajika called his name, "Are you feeling, ok?" Ikoma tilted his head slightly to the side as he answered.

"Yes, compared to yesterday, I feel much better, I feel just fine." Without warning, his head shot to face the door, the sudden alertness putting everyone on edge. Kurusu was the only one who noticed the way Ikoma's eyes started to turn back to his original red.

"Bleh-" Mumei walked into the room, a face of disgust on her face, "I can't eat anything like you can Ikoma." Ikoma relaxed, giving his fellow Kabaneri a small smile, his eyes fading back to black. Kurusu gave Ikoma a wary look, it seemed he was the only one who noticed the sudden color change in their Kabaneri's eyes.

"Hey!" Ikoma stiffened up in surprise as Kurusu blindfolded him.

"Where is Mumei standing?"

"What?"

"Just answer the question." Ikoma was extremely confused, as was everyone else, but pointed at Mumei, following her with his finger as if the blindfold was not there.

He didn't even know what to say about that.

"Kabane! Up ahead!" the citizens of the train were already hunkering down into their respective train carts, the women comforting the few children on the train while the men started to help the Bushi lock down the carts and defend them.

"Mumei! Ikoma!" the steam Bushi threw their respective weapons at the two of them, the both of them catching them and arming themselves.

Kurusu rose an eyebrow at the way Ikoma's sclera started to darken again but decided not to mention it since Ikoma was still trying to talk his ear off on how to treat his invention. The three of them were huddled at the door, waiting for them to exit the tunnel before they went out to defend their people.

A deep animalistic growl filled the room, sending shivers down their backs and making the hair on the back of their necks stand up. The growl was followed by a small gasp.

"Ikoma?" Kurusu jerked his head to look over his shoulder, his heart leaping up into his throat at the sight.

Ikoma's sclera was completely black again, his eyes turning a vibrant red as he bared his teeth. The orange veins of a Kabaneri were present again, making the transformation more evident. Mumei was standing behind him, grabbing her head in pain.

The sound of bodies hitting the roof brought Kurusu out of his stupor," iko-!"

"Move." he wasn't planning on moving, he was planning on staring down the younger man to determine if he was a threat or not.

He wasn't planning on Mumei yanking him out of the way. Ikoma wrung open the door, only taking a second to turn around and order Mumei to stay.

"Hey! Let go!" he struggled against her arms that were wrapped firmly around his waist, effectively pinning his arms to his side. He felt Mumei shake her head violently against his back. He was just about to snarl out another command to let him go when he heard yet another sound that made his sixth sense start screaming and yelling at him to get away.

The scream was shrill and animalistic, but yet, still deep and commanding its way. The yell seemed to vibrate the very walls of the train cart and Kurusu could have sworn his chest vibrated with the walls.

The scream was drawn out, letting everyone hear the intense undertones of anger and outrage. There was the faint sound of other shrieks, but instead of shrieks of anger, they were shrieks of terror that slowly faded away. There was another intense snarl and growl before a set of footsteps entered the train cart.

"They're gone," Ikoma closed the door behind him as if nothing had just happened, his eyes returning to the new normal. Mumei dropped Kurusu onto his feet and stepped away.

"What," he overheard the reports of the other train cars reporting a Kabane free cart," was that?" Ikoma cocked his head to his side as if he just realized what just happened.

"I... I don't know."

He would have pulled out his hair if he was less disciplined.

A few years later.

"Is that the male Kabaneri of the Kōtetsujō?"

"Yes sir, "Ayame and the lord of the city watched Ikoma as he worked along with the mechanics, his stature and appearance making him stand out among the others," We wouldn't have survived this long without him." The lord hummed in acknowledgment.

He had heard about the male Kabaneri. Word had spread that the Kabaneri had the ability to command the Kabane and prevent attacks. Something about him maturing into something of a king and dominating over the simple Kabane with a single scream.

"Well Lady Ayame, he must be a valuable member of your crew," Ayame smiled politely while her expression tightened. She didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes, it is fortunate that Ikoma is quite attached to our motley crew, he has the power to command the Kabane however he likes." Kurusu barely managed to keep the smirk off of his face. The past few years of dealing with lords while passing through towns, all of them who were interested in Ikoma, had made her into something of a polite viper with her words.

Ikoma noticed their stares, despite the fact that they were a story above him, and waved and smiled politely at them. His sharpened canines glinting in the sunlight as he purposely turned his sclera black and his iris red. The past years had done Ikoma some good, his already intimidating figure becoming taller and leaner. His appearance was more than enough to scare off the nosy people.

Ayame waved back while Kurusu gave him a firm nod of acknowledgment.

"W-well," the lord tugged at his sleeves nervously," you are quite fortunate to have such a reliable member on your train lady Ayame. Please tell me if you need anything." the lord scampered off, making Ayame and Kurusu quietly chuckle. They looked down at Ikoma, who gave them a bright smile with a thumbs up. His smile was more innocent as his eyes had returned to normal.

Yep.

They were lucky to have him.