"I don't need a weakling like you to protect me." Kagura sneered at her older brother. "And I refuse to acknowledge you as my brother." She spat out the last word venomously, propping the remains of her umbrella on her shoulder.
"You still won't let go of what happened?" Kamui asked her sadly, but sternly.
She scoffed. "As if. Do you really think I'll just forgive you for what you did?" She glared at him. "That's not how things work, stupid weakling."
"You won't forgive me for saving your life? That's pretty ungrateful, don't you think?" He cocked his head to the side, trying to find some way to break through his sister's barriers. He knew why they were there, and that he was part of the reason.
He grimaced at the poisonous look she shot him. He understood why she was so bitter, why she was obsessed with power, why she saw him as weak. Hell, if things had just been a tad different, he would probably be just like her.
"You didn't save my life." She muttered. "You just refused to accept us as Yato. We don't need somebody like you tainting our race and our achievements."
"Do you really think our mother would approve of this?" He asked her seriously.
Anybody else would have not noticed anything, but this was his sister, whether she liked it or not.
"Don't bring Mami into this, she's been dead for a long time now. She has nothing to do with this." She muttered darkly, dropping her fake smile for a moment.
"That's funny, because I get the feeling that she has everything to do with this." Kamui answered calmly. "If she still had been well enough to see that happen, do you really think she'd have been happy?"
"Don't make me repeat myself." She took a deep breath. "You're not worth my time, get out of my way." She gestured with her hand for him to move.
"You're still hiding everything away, aren't you?" He asked her with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"No clue what you're talking about." She replied coldly.
They glared at each other, each one refusing to back down.
"I really hate to ruin your touching family moment," a strained voice broke the tense atmosphere. Okita pushed himself back on his feet, dusting some dirt off himself. "You're still on property of the Shinsengumi, and with me being the highest commanding officer present, you'll have to follow my orders."
"Don't make me laugh." Kagura scoffed. "Don't think you have any right to command me around, sandbag."
"Sandbag?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's a new one. Anyway, since you're on Earth, I guess you should do as the earthlings do."
"Do I look like I give a fuck?" Kagura snapped. "I should have just stayed on the ship with my rice cooker and ignored that bloody admiral." She grunted in frustration.
"The admiral that wants you dead?" Okita prodded.
"Yes, that fucking asshole." She wrinkled her forehead. "And what do you mean you're the highest commanding officer present? I highly doubt anybody with a brain would put you in charge of anything."
"I could throw that right back at you." He drawled.
"I'm pretty sure I just said that the admiral is an asshole. He also happens to not know how to use a brain." She replied smoothly.
"I never said Kondo-san knew how to use his brain either."
She smiled condescendingly. "Looks like nobody around here seems to know how to do that."
"You should stop looking down on those around you." Kamui chided her. "It's going to get you in a sticky situation sooner or later."
"Hmpf. I don't need advice from you. Get out of my sight before I make you." She treathened.
"My promise still stands," Kamui crouched slightly, getting into a stance and bringing up his umbrella. "I will fix you."
His sister broke out in laughter. "Again with the idiotic things you say. A worthless piece of shit like you has nothing good to say."
His eyes turned grim. "I know I made mistakes in the past, but at least I stand to them. You're still ignoring them and covering them with the blood of your victims."
"Even you can't deny that it's a really nice shade of red." She stood straight and tossed her battered parasol to the side. "If you won't move, I'll just show you which one of us is the superior one here. And I'm sure your blood will do just fine to cover up your mistakes."
A maniacal laughter echoed through the hallway. Amanto scurried around frantically, the beeping sounds and sirens accompanying their hurried footsteps.
"Where the fuck are those intruders?!" A gruff voice bellowed.
A cowering half-fish shakily stood in front of him. "W-We don't know, sir. We only know all the alarms are going off."
"I know that, you bloody moron!" His imposing voice thundered against the narrow walls. "But I want their location so I can throw them off my ship!"
"W-We're doing the best we can, sir!"
"That's obviously not good enough." He seethed. "Do better."
The Captain of the Eighth Division of the Harusame watched as his subordinate ran off. "Why do I have the incompetent people?" He muttered to himself as he turned to head the other way.
"That is not how one should treat their subordinates!" A voice called out. The Amanto warrior turned towards the source of the voice.
"What has a puny human lost on my spaceship?" He growled.
"It's not puny human, it's Katsura." The man announced himself. Another four humans appeared behind him.
"And we're here to take down your spaceship."
Kamui gritted his teeth as her punch made impact with his face, and he expected there to be a sickening crunch, but he managed to bring his elbow up in time to keep the damage under control.
His sister scowled, distorting the pretty features she had inherited from their mother. He licked his lips, tasting the warm blood in his mouth in the process. She really had done them in well. He glanced over at his temporary partner, the sadist, and realized he had abandoned his bazooka in favour of mobility. He was clutching his side, probably from all the damage he had taken during the explosion and everything that followed soon after.
"You see, you're weak." Kagura said condescendingly. "You have no chance against me. Even in your little tag-team."
"You're not looking too well either, China." Okita grinned, before coughing up some more blood. Seriously, plot armour will always be too OP.
"Well, at least I don't look like a Chihuahua that just got run over by multiple cars." She retorted.
"That really hurts, you know. Right here." He pointed to his chest.
"What, are you talking about the organs I crushed just now? Or your non-existent heart?" She was back to smirking now.
"Now that really hurts my feelings. I should arrest you for that." He deadpanned. "But, oh look, we're already on Shinsengumi grounds, which means…" He grinned sadistically. "…that my word is law."
"I've already told you, I don't give a fuck."
"Those aren't very good manners, are they?" Kamui interrupted them. "You should always respect your host to a certain extent."
"I've never seen you respect us in any way, you know?" Okita remarked in response.
"Don't sweat the details, Chihuahua." The redhead hissed.
"Yes, I can see the respect." He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"You hope to take me down together even if you don't get along? What a joke…" Their opponent crossed her arms over her chest, looking smug, but they didn't miss the cringe in her features as she apparently moved something she shouldn't have.
"Seriously, little sister. You're not looking to well."
She cracked her knuckles, slightly wincing once more. "I'll make you swallow those words."
She stormed towards him, ignoring the soaring pain shooting throughout her body, fuelled only by rage. She engaged him in a flurry of punches and kicks, pushing him to the limits of his dodging abilities.
A well-timed roundhouse kick disengaged the sneaky Shinsengumi captain who had attempted to cut her down from behind with one of the katanas lying around. He coughed hard and took a few ragged breaths, telling her she had hit his chest area.
Her brother took the opportunity to land a hit on her during her mere second of misplaced concentration. Her body reacted to the impact, but her face showed no signs of feeling the pain.
"A measly disgrace like you cannot touch me." She growled. Blue eyes met equally blue eyes as they stared each other down. After a few attempted punches and blocks, they found each other tight-holding the other. He had his hand around her upper arms while she held one of his wrists and his elbow.
She suddenly jumped back in a defensive stance, letting go of the fabric of his clothes at the same time which made him topple over backwards.
A wooden sword came down between them at that exact moment.
"I see…" The lazy voice of the head of the Yorozuya said. "I see you know to fear my Tessaiga (1)."
"I'm pretty sure that spells out 'Lake Toya'." Kagura read aloud.
"Psssh, Kamui's sister, you're ruining the moment." He whisper-yelled at her.
"What moment? You pathetically failing at your dramatic, heroic entrance?" She stemmed her hand on her hip, this time supressing her urge to wince.
Shock morphed on the silver-haired man's face as he turned to the battered Kamui. "Your sister is really mean, you know?"
Kamui sighed and began to push himself up again. "Tell me about it."
He then cleared his throat and faced the vermillion-haired girl again. "If that was a failure, what would you have suggested I do instead?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not… actually serious, are you?"
"I am completely serious." His usually dead-fish-like eyes were shining brightly, almost flashing red.
"If these are the kind of people my brother hangs out with, it's no wonder he's so weak. All of this is boring."
"No, young Miss, I'm afraid you are the boring one if you haven't indulged yourself in the heaven of manga." Gintoki dramatically put the back of his hand to his forehead. "You are the truly tragic one here."
"Don't forget to mention all the copyright…" Another voice spoke up. Shinpachi joined his two co-workers and the sandy-haired captain as they stood together opposite of Kagura. She looked at all four of them unbiased.
Another man appeared behind her. "Commander."
"Abuto, nice of you to join us." She greeted him without looking at him.
He assessed the situation and sighed. "Why do you always get yourself in trouble like this?"
Katsura smugly overlooked the burning ruins of the former Harusame Eighth Division main ship. Runaway Kotarou still had it in him.
Elizabeth held up a sign. He nodded and walked down the stairs, meeting up with Takasugi at the bottom.
"Ahhh, that really took me back, you know? Back then, Gintoki, Sakamoto and the two of us. Good times, good times." Takasugi said with a pleased undertone. He inhaled deeply from his pipe and let out the smoke a few seconds later.
Katsura watched the frantic Shinsengumi officers huddle up and down, and in the middle of the chaos two lone, calm figures. "It does bring back memories." He admitted. "But I wouldn't know whether 'good' is the right word to describe them."
His gaze stayed trained on the black-haired man who just lit a cigarette and the gorilla standing next to him.
"Oh please, our times as the Joi Elite Four really had it in it. Cutting down waves and waves of Amanto, destroying all around us. We should really do that again."
Katsura glanced over at him. "All four of us have befriended Amanto over the past few years. You and Leader seem to understand each other pretty well, I have Elizabeth by my side, Gintoki has Kamui and Sakamoto has his second-in-command. I don't know how they would feel about us doing that."
"You're forgetting something there," Takasugi explained. "Humans use the term 'Amanto' for everything that isn't human. The four you mentioned just now all belong to either the Yato or the Renho tribes. There are so many more species and races out there, and we group them under one word. 'Amanto'."
"Talking about that, have you received a status update from Leader?" The black-haired man inquired.
Takasugi let out another puff of smoke. "Not yet, but I have the feeling we'll get to see something interesting if we head over to the Shinsengumi compound."
"Why do you say that?"
"I have another stash of Yakulk there."
"Commander, what's all this?" Abuto asked his captain. She was obviously injured quite a bit, but she was still standing tall against her foes.
"This moron brought some play mates." She answered him, nodding her head towards the other Yato.
Abuto let his eyes roam over their four opponents. The one all the way on the left, a sandy-haired man of no more than twenty, the Shinsengumi captain. One further to the right, a Yato with equally red hair and blue eyes as his captain, Kamui. One more to the right, a shorter male with a black bowl cut and glasses. Abuto took note of the katana strapped to his sash, but dismissed him as a threat anyway. But the last one, the one all the way to the right, that one looked about ready to explode. His red eyes were sparking furiously and his aura seemed akin to a demon's.
"He gets no reprimanding for his below average entrance?!" He suddenly screeched, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde Yato.
"What?" he asked in confusion just as Kagura facepalmed and let out a loud groan of frustration.
"You're still going on about that?" She asked exasperatedly.
"Yes! Until you understand the importance of an epic entrance to a fight, I will keep bringing it up. That one time when Ichigo ju-AHHHHH!" He suddenly scrambled to side when a big bulk of wood came flying towards him.
Abuto wearily eyed his panting captain as she let her annoyance show on her face. "You shouldn't be doing such things in your condition, you know?"
"Shut up and let me kill him."
"Do we have any intel on why the ship was even here in the first place?" Hijikata grumbled while lighting his tenth cigarette that hour.
The officer opposite of him shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. But there might be a connection between the attempted take-over of the Shogun's castle and this. We think we should question some of the Joishishi that were among the priests."
"I see." The Shinsengumi Vice Captain responded. "In that case I'll leave cleaning up this mess here to you while Kondo and I head back to check on things."
"Ah, there's no reason to worry, Toshi." The gorilla patted his back. "I talked to Sougo just now and he has everything under control back there."
"Sougo… has everything under control?" The black-haired man repeated in disbelief. "And I shouldn't worry? That's more than enough reason for me to worry!" He grabbed his superior by the collar and dragged him to the nearest patrol car. "We need to stop him NOW!"
"Sooo… If I would have come in as a gigantic, black rabbit with a scythe (2), would you have said anything?" Gintoki inquired with stern eyes.
"That sounds completely ridiculous." Kagura scoffed.
"And a big white tiger (3)?" He pressed on.
"Will you just shut up already?"
"Oh, I know! You have something against tigers and rabbits, is that it?!" The samurai gasped. "Or maybe you lost your dear pet tiger and rabbit at a young age and it still traumatizes you till this day?"
"Gin, that's ridiculous." Shinpachi interrupted him. "Who the hell has a pet tiger, right Kamui?" He turned to the redhead for support.
"Weeeell…" said redhead chuckled awkwardly. "Have I ever told you that this Sadaharu would be the 27th one?"
"You had 27 pets? And a tiger?" Shinpachi felt like fainting.
"I'm surprised those tigers didn't eat you." Okita added in.
"Two actually. And I don't know whether you could count them as tigers, but they were pretty close." Kamui elaborated.
"They were actually hunting animals from a neighbouring planet." Kagura answered for him. "While they may have similar features to the earthling tigers, they're not the same."
"And the rabbit?" Gintoki probed.
"The first Sadaharu ever. It was many years ago wh-"
"Kamui! The flashback is scheduled for next chapter!" Shinpachi hissed.
"Oops, sorry."
"That's not important." Kagura put on a strained smile. "What's important is that I really want to kill all of you."
"We could just leave." Abuto remarked.
"What?" She glared at him icily. "Why the fuck would we do that?!"
"This is not part of our mission. We should just leave and regroup with Takasugi and Katsura." He explained. "We've already searched through the documents and taken out the Harusame members here, so there's nothing left to do."
He took his captain's glare head-on, resolving himself to convince her this time. They had already wasted enough time as it is.
"Wait!" The bespectacled boy shouted. "Did you just say Takasugi and Katsura?"
"That's none of your business, glasses." Kagura snipped at him. "Go back to playing the straight man somewhere else."
"I will show that I am more than just a straight man!" He roared as he charged at her. He pulled out his sword and swung it at her, only for it to be blocked by something else.
His vision was suddenly filled with white and he looked up to find a big, yellow beak. "…Elizabeth?" He asked in disbelief.
The Renho flipped its sign so that the Yorozuya could read it. "Don't hurt Leader."
"Leader?" Okita read aloud and frowned.
Kagura, on the other hand, let out a loud sigh. "Why are the two of you here?" She asked the two individuals who had appeared out of thin air.
"We came to see what was taking you so long, Kagura." The one-eyed part of the duo responded, pipe in hand and smoking without a care in the world.
"And Takasugi remembered his stash of Yakulk he left here." Katsura added.
"Yes, I suppose that was also an objective, but looking at the state of this place," He let his eyes roam over the rubble and small fires still poking up here and there. "I kinda wish I had destroyed it. It must've been fun. Even if the Yakulk went down as well, this sight is more than enough to compensate."
"ZURA! TAKASUGI!" An angry wavy-haired man shouted. "What are you two doing here?!"
"It's not Zura, it's Katsura."
"I believe I am free to do whatever I want to."
"Why are you siding with her?" Gintoki asked them.
"Gintoki, we have been good friends for many years, but I'm afraid my loyalty this time lies with Leader."
"We have similar ambitions in this world." Takasugi replied cryptically.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Another gruff voice spoke up, accompanied by the puffing sound of smoke being blown. "Two high-rate criminals just strolling into the Shinsengumi compound, this must be my lucky day."
Toshirou Hijikata slammed the door of the patrol car closed and approached the rest, still dragging his boss behind him by the collar.
His eyes took in all the damage and the barely-there remains of what was once the compound building. He dropped Kondo on the ground unceremoniously and stuck three cigarettes in his mouth and lit them all at once. Now it all just looked like scorched wasteland, littered in red and flames and injured people.
"Sougo… What the fuck happened to 'you have it under control'?" The Demon Vice Chief asked the sandy-haired man.
Okita discreetly tried to push away the bazooka at his feet and innocently replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
(1) Inuyasha (for Naomipy)
(2) Pandora Hearts (for perpetualpoverty)
(3) Bungou Stray Dogs (for perpetualpoverty)
AN: And another one done! I hope you enjoyed it :)
I would also really like to thank everybody for the kind reviews I got on the last chapter, and an extra thanks to those who gave me shows to reference.
And we hit 42 Follows, also thank you very much! (It's because 42 is the answer to everything... you know... nvm)
[Edit 31.05.17: Still busy removing honorifics, don't mind me]
~Emi