Just because a small part of her was okay did not mean she as an entity was okay with it. She felt herself panic, switching to instinctively handling problems. AKA removing the problem permanently.

Her hands came up between their bodies, pushing him away, and in a reflexive action, she made him lose his balance, effectively allowing her to crash the back of his skull into the marble floor of the control centre.

She was breathing heavily, her thoughts in chaos and shambles.

"I-Idiot, there's nobody steering the ship." She muttered out from under her breath.

It wasn't fair.

He was out cold, but still breathing. If she had been at full strength, there was no doubt half of his brain would be gone as well.

Gulping, she got up on shaky legs, walking over to the navigation panel.

Her heartbeat echoed in her mind, and the conflicting feelings in her soul stirred all sorts of emotions within her.

Her trembling hands took control of the steering wheel, and she allowed herself to chuckle. She just killed so many living things, she should be feeling elated! She should be laughing her head off maniacally.

That's what everybody expects of the Commander of the Seventh Division.

And yet, she was standing here, unsteady hands and scatter-brained. Her throat felt parched, and her chuckles slowly died down as the morphed into silent sobs.

Why was this happening to her? Why were the emotions she so carefully stored away all spilling out now? Why was he the cause of all her problems?

Why couldn't she figure this out?!

A tear slipped from her cheek, mingling with the pool of blood on the ground.

That's how Abuto found her a few hours later.

While the sight of Umibouzo and his son storming an empty ship with serious faces and battle cries was hilarious, the amount of dead bodies littering the entire ship was quite frightening.

The stench of iron was heavy in the air, making the blonde Yato wrinkle his nose. This screamed of his commander's handiwork.

There was no need to worry, it seemed. That's what he thought at that time, but once he entered the control room, and he finally laid his eyes on said commander for the first time in a long, exhausting week, he immediately knew that something was wrong.

She turned around, looking at them with her usual impassive expression. Everything else about her looked worse for the wear, though. Her clothes were a mess, she was soaked in crimson and her hair fell over her shoulders in sloppy, uneven strands.

"Abuto, it seems you finally decided to show up." She greeted him, ignoring her family members.

Behind them, the bespectacled earthling noticed the unmoving form of the police officer from Earth. Frazzled shouts of "Captain Okitaaaaaa!" could be heard, but Kagura waved it off.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill him. I just knocked him out. I'm not that ungrateful."

"Don't say such things in front of your father, you ungrateful brat! You are the definition of ungrateful!" Umibouzo shouted at his prodigal daughter.

"Nobody asked you for your opinion, Baldy." She dismissed her father tiredly.

Umibouzo seemed to halt his movements for a second, thrown off by the lack of bite in her words.

Kagura used this opportunity to slip past the group, walking out into the hallway. Abuto followed her dutifully.

"You look like you could use a bath. And some fresh clothes." He commented.

He waited for a snippy insult to come shooting at him, but instead she just kept walking on quietly.

"That'd be nice." She finally whispered.

The blonde Yato sighed to himself, shaking his head mentally. He often forgot that she was just a little girl.

It wasn't as if he didn't realize that her hands were trembling at her sides and that the skin under her eyes wasn't red from blood splatter.

He caught up to her, putting a comforting hand on the top of her fiery hair. It was a simple gesture, something he used to do a lot when he teased her for her short stature.

He was sure the earthlings wouldn't mind if he left with his commander.

He did feel slightly guilty about taking her away from her blood relatives, but sometimes a rabbit needed to be able to cry in solitude.

Kamui watched his sister and her subordinate walk past him, head held high. He exchanged a glance with his father, both confirming each other's suspicions.

"Could this be… character development?" Kamui pondered, eyebrows furrowed into a thoughtful frown.

"Character development? What's that, some kind of disease?" Gintoki muttered while picking his nose, only to receive a half-hearted smack to the back of his head, courtesy of Shinpachi.

"It's only dangerous for perm-heads like you." Umibouzo went on, much to the chagrin of the only straight man present.

"Oh really? Then it must be equally dangerous for baldies like you." The samurai retorted, brow twitching.

"Stop it, you two!" Shinpachi stepped between them, frantically waving his hands up and down. "We have more important things to think about! Like getting Captain Okita to a hospital!"

"Tch, that bastard can stay here and rot, for all I care." Umibouzo waved his hand dismissively. "You saw how beat up my daughter was, the bastard probably didn't do jack shit."

Shinpachi sighed. "Didn't you want to beat her up?"

"Yes, I wanted to beat her up with my own fists! It's my privilege as her father! I won't let any half-ass Amanto or police officers take that from me!" The bounty hunter exclaimed pridefully, shooting his fist into the air.

"Shut up, baldy." Kamui interrupted, stepping past his father and kneeling down next to an unconscious Okita. "As much as I want to leave him here to rot, he's the only one who can give us definitive answers."

His father didn't hide his disapproval of the idea, but complied with a grunt. "I just hope one of you guys can steer this ship, because I'm pretty sure those two just left on the ship we came here on while you were chatting away."

"Don't worry about that, old man." Gintoki stated smugly, patting the elder Yato on the back while grinning mischievously. "It can't be that different from driving a motorcycle."

Hijikata lit the tenth cigarette of the hour, exhaling a large cloud of smoke. A mummified patient was being rolled past him on a stretcher, silver locks peeking out between the bandages.

"I hope you are ready to work your asses off to pay back the damage you caused." The Demon-Vice-Chief remarked callously, taking another nicotine-filled puff of his cigarette.

A muffled sound came in response, which probably consisted mainly out of profanities and false accusations, so he just gestured the paramedic to take the injured man away.

Another louder, muffled grunt followed, but Hijikata ignored it, turning back around to face the wreck of a spaceship that crash-landed in the middle of Edo Park.

"Yamazaki, what's the status report?" He spoke into his radio, waiting for the inspector on the other side.

"We lost count of the number of corpses again, sir. Please be patient while we try counting them again. The paramedics already took all survivors out, so we're going to check the flight logs after this, sir." The bland inspector reported dutifully.

Hijikata sighed, watching from a distance as a pair of paramedics rolled another stretcher out of the space ship's entrance, this time holding a blonde man.

He fished out his cigarettes again, cursing when realizing that his packet was empty. He stomped over to the vending machine, pushing coin after the other into the designated slot, all while wondering what the hell happened on that ship.

Okita was sick and tired of waking up with a bleary mind in an unknown location. At least this time he figured it was a hospital before he started going on any rampages.

His head sunk deeper into the soft pillow while he checked how much of his body he could actually move, noting that everything seemed to be alright, apart from the few sore muscles here and there.

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as expected it to be.

"So you're finally awake, bastard. I hope you had fun skipping out on work while we were busy rebuilding the compound." A familiar gruff voice spoke from next to him.

"Ah, it's Hijikata-asshole." Okita greeted his superior.

"How are you feeling?" Hijikata-asshole asked him, pulling up a bowl of ramen and squeezing a bottle of mayonnaise over it.

"Like the dog shit you're about to eat." He replied smoothly, earning him a glare from the Vice-Chief.

"I'd give you a good smack for that, but that China Girl already took care of that for me." His superior huffed, then began to slurp his noodles.

Okita frowned, training his eyes back onto the white hospital ceiling.

What happened with China again?

They were on the space ship, fighting the Amanto, and then…

Okita paused all of his thoughts, rationality breaking through his mind.

He kissed her, didn't he? He actually kissed her.

No, giving her a big fat hickey wasn't enough, he actually had to go and kiss the monster girl.

"Fuck…" He muttered aloud.

"Remembered anything important? I still need you to write a report on what happened up there." Hijikata reminded him, making Okita groan.

Paperwork was a hassle. Dealing with China was a hassle.

"Oh, Hijikata, you'd never believe it." Okita put the back of his hand against his fore head. "It seems I have no recollection of any of the events from the past few days." He explained in a flat voice, to the obvious chagrin of his superior.

"That was the most unconvincing performance I have ever seen you give. You better step up your game for when Old Man Matsudeira comes in here with his guns." Hijikata grunted, dabbing his mouth with a clean handkerchief and standing up.

Okita frowned. "Why would Matsudeira want to speak with me?"

"Something about the Princess being involved in criminal activities or so. You might want to remember any details concerning that before he gets here." Hijikata waved him goodbye and left the room, effectively leaving him alone with his thoughts.

The scene from the control room replayed in his head, and he covered his mouth with his hand.

He never had this problem before. Wooing girls was easy. Well, masochistic human girls, that was. China… China was just a challenge, on a whole other level.

He sighed, shaking that thought off. No, that wasn't true. She was so much more than that.

And that bothered him even more.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and he turned his head towards the entrance to his room, ready to insult Hijikata for forgetting something, but he stopped himself just in time to realize that the newcomer was not Hijikata-asshole.

"Your Highness…" He greeted the young princess, confusion on his mind. Why was she here?

"Captain Okita." She returned with a short, elegant bow. It only occurred to him then that it had been a long time since anybody addressed him with his full title.

"How may I help you, Your Highness?" He asked her, watching as she slid into the chair next to his bed. She was dressed in servant clothes, but he had guarded her often enough to recognize her even without the lavish accessories.

"I heard you were taken captive along with Kagura, am I right?" Princess Soyo asked tentatively, nervously playing with the hem of her sleeve.

"I wouldn't word it like that, but yes." He replied dutifully.

She fidgeted a bit more, then looked up at him. "Is she… Is she alright? I haven't been able to contact her lately, and I'm worried about her. I heard you were in pretty bad shape, and I know that she heals faster and stuff, but I'm still… worried about her."

Okita sighed quietly, then put an encouraging hand on the princess' shoulder. "She was just fine the last time I saw her. Fine enough to ram my head into the ground."

The princess' face instantly lit up with a smile. "Oh, thank you Captain Okita! That's so good to hear!"

Okita's lip twitched slightly, and he briefly found himself wondering if this was what all the people who were at the receiving end of his sadistic actions felt like.

"I'm glad I could appease you, Your Highness, but should you really be out of the castle?"

She shot him a confident smile filled with mirth. "Theoretically yes, practically, they never have to find out."

He found himself returning the smile. "If you say so, Your Highness."

As it turned out, even monsters like China Girl had friends who cared about her. And he would probably like to be one of them. No, his mind chided. Not friends, more than that.

It was an unexpected encounter.

Her hair shone brilliantly in the midday sun, and Kamui wondered whether she was insane, doing some sort of crazy training or had just become downright stupid.

Nonetheless, he slid next to her on the bench, wordlessly holding his umbrella over both their heads.

"I'm surprised you came back here." He commented after an awkward silence. What do you say to the sibling who's tried to kill you on multiple occasions without it being awkward?

"The food's pretty good." She answered with nonchalant shrug, pulling a dango stick out of nowhere and chewing on it.

"I hope you paid for that." He commented, eyeing the snack.

"Just because I'm a pirate doesn't mean I don't know how to show respect to masters of a craft. I paid for it fair and square. I didn't even have to beg for a discount, unlike some people." She drawled out her last few words, sliding her azure eyes to the side to meet his.

"I'm not even going to deny that." Kamui sighed, watching the clouds that were slowly growing in number across the sky.

Having an actual conversation with Kagura that didn't happen parallel to them beating the shit out of each other felt… weird. Weird, but nostalgic and good.

With a tug of his heart, he realized just how much he missed it. The time when Mom was still around, and Kagura actually smiled every now and then.

His mind wandered back to the Altana crystal.

"Kagura…" He started, but was halted by her raising her hand.

"Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it." She cut him off.

Kamui grimaced, and after mustering his courage, wrapped his hand around her small wrist. "Then I'll force you to hear me out."

He felt her muscles tense under his hold, and in the blink of an eye a dango stick was close to being pushed through his skull, but he managed to block it in the nick of time.

His umbrella dropped to the ground, both of his hands now occupied with holding onto his younger sister.

A drop of rain fell onto the bench between them, a tell-tale sign that their greatest enemy, the sun, was out of sight for now.

"I don't want to." Kagura retorted stubbornly, pushing against his hold and punching him in the face, landing a solid hit on his nose.

The feeling of nostalgia grew within him. Talking things out was for earthling children. They were Yato, they spoke with their fists.

Because, for once, she wasn't actually trying to kill him. It seemed more as if… she was trying to run away.

And as her big brother, he wasn't going to let her. Being a homicidal maniac was one thing, but a coward? No way in hell.

"What's wrong with you, huh? Where's the usual ferocity? Did you lose it in that one fight in space?!" He prodded at her, searching for the smug sister he knew.

But this time, he didn't get the usual load of her superiority complex. He didn't hear her condescending laughter ringing around him.

Instead, he felt her confusion. Her moves weren't as carefully planned out as usual, they were rough, ragged and uncoordinated. There was no flow, just jagged punches and kicks filled with uncertainty.

Her short hair swung around her face in erratic motions, emphasized by the multitude of emotions flashing through her eyes.

There was no grace in her fighting style, in fact, she resembled a frustrated child who had difficulties learning a new technique.

The rain began to fall on them in hard drops, trailing down the skin of their fists as they collided with each other.

Yes, she was a crazy bitch. Yes, she had serious mental issues. Yes, he was part of the reason for why she was like this. And yes, he was a big brother who was concerned about his little sister.

Their knuckles met each other again, just as Kagura let out a grunt of emotion.

He somehow managed to use that small window of time and grab both her wrist in an effective lock, limiting her mobility for a short moment.

There were many ways to say 'I love you', and this was just how the Yato did it.

The rain grew in intensity as she looked up at him, blue eyes wavering between hatred and unknowingness.

It was a cliché that it always rained during dramatic moments, but that was the last thought on his mind at that moment.

"You need to let go." He said quietly, panting hard. "You need to let go of your hatred. Your fear. Mom wouldn't want to see you like this."

She shot him a poisonous look, mind clear on what she was supposed to be feeling and another punch made contact with his face. She pulled back her fist, readying it for another strike.

"If you don't let go of it," he rasped, "if you don't, then the rain will never stop."

He felt the air pressure against his bruised face as her fist abruptly stopped mere millimetres away. He had made the right call, it seemed. Her shoulders started shaking, and the nearly outstretched arm trembled and slowly lowered itself.

To anybody else it looked like she was about to laugh, but Kamui knew better.

The rain had soaked through her clothes and her hair, streaks of rain water had mingled with the blood oozing out of her various wounds.

Not that he looked much better.

"When…" she choked out. "When will the rain stop?"

And all of the sudden, he was standing next to her on that cursed staircase in Rakuyou, she was looking at him past the brim of her parasol and asking him the exact same thing.

But this time around he had an answer.

He pushed her lowered fist aside gently and pulled her into his arms, tightening his hold on her.

"Right now, if you let it."

Umibouzo watched his two idiotic children fall into each other's embrace, his daughter breaking out into tears.

He walked over to them, pulling them both close to himself.

He was a horrible husband, and a terrible father, but he knew that. And maybe, it was time for him to pick up the pieces on the ground.

To fix what was left of his family.

He would pick up these pieces, and never let them go again.

AN: It's been some time, but here's the next one. Have some fluffy family reunion, some Abuto because he is seriously underappreciated, and some Okita thinking through his questionable taste in women.

I don't have much more to say right now, maybe that this story is slowly reaching its conclusion?

Anyway, leave a review if you liked it or want to point something in particular out, or if there is some kind of continuity error somewhere, or if you just feel like telling me what you had for dinner.

Peace out,

~Emi