FUN FACTS!
Ch. 20: Year cake is like, my favorite thing. It's called "nian gao" and it's like a sticky rice cake. Looove anythin with sticky rice, like mochi and stuff.
Random: Jellyfish is actually quite good...(?!)
Random: Headcanon is that Abuto does the NCIS headslap.
Disclaimer: THE YAKULT KING IS WAYYYY TOOOO HIGHHHHH! (aka Takasugi jokes, as well as Takasugi himself, are not mine)
Eyes of Wolves
- 21 -
.: FOUR YEARS AGO :.
Playing cards is a popular pastime, and the general officers' lounge finds itself crowded with several games of Uno going on all at once. Tabs turns out to be a superb player; most likely, his skill should be accredited to his keen eyes and sharp organizational skills. Mei is the brash one who throws down a +2 card just to spite the next player in the circle. Coincidentally, that would happen to be Zenshi, who would often just reverse the direction and then wreak havoc on the sniggering aide the next time around.
Eventually, the crew grows tired of waiting for the galley's iron-fisted head chef — Guma, the medic's wife — to actually allow them to have the year cake, and most of them laze about in their off hours, surfing the channels of intergalactic television.
"Do we have any Earth channels?" asks a crewman. "They have good shows, sometimes."
"Nothing we can really pick up from here," answers another, who commandeers the remote control. Most of them just take long naps, and intermittently wake up to continue their now-sparse card games. Since the open space of pure nothingness outside makes it hard to discern day from night, the next thirty hours are spent in fitful wakes and sleeps.
Abruptly, while the one Yato is flicking through mostly infomercials, Kamui's face appears on the screen.
"Why hello!" he exclaims loudly, causing the wall's speakers to screech with static feedback. The entire room jolts to life, most officers nervously grumbling as they awaken. Mei, as usual, flings an object — luckily, it is only a magazine — across the room and strings a lengthy staff of obscenities at Kamui until Tabs slaps a hand over her mouth. He is, inevitably, tackled to the ground, and strangled until Zenshi emotionlessly walks over and steps on Mei's hand.
She yowls, fingers wrapping around Zenshi's ankle like an angry cat clawing away. When she realizes that everyone's staring at her, and Kamui looks a bit irritated up on screen, she pauses and just lies there in brooding silence.
"Our apologies, Kamui Danchou," Tabs manages to spit out, "she's not a morning person."
"Is it morning on our ship?" asks Kamui, brightening. "I can't really tell. But anyway, we're due to arrive in about two hours, boys and girls, ladies and gents, brutes and idiots." He glances over his shoulder, probably at Abuto. "So stations, please. Probably in, I don't know, five minutes."
"Who are you calling a brute?!" hollers Mei, just as the screen zips black and Kamui is gone.
"I will step on your face," Zenshi tells her unequivocally. The mollified sensation of being stuck in sweet molasses is gone; instead, he's a tad bit irate and in no mood for nonsense. He has slept for a good seven hours, a night's worth of sleep, after playing Uno for three. The rest of the time was either staring at the screen or staring out the window.
"I hate you," Mei hisses, "now get your stinkin' boot off of me."
His toe is still stomped on his hand, from which Tabs had been freed. Zenshi throws her a withering glare and then moves away.
"Hey, can someone charge you for that? Hello? Misconduct? Unreasonable aggression towards another officer? Guys?" Mei gestures to a few other women in the room, but they just slyly cover their smiles behind hands and cloaks. The younger Yato seethes, holding back another biting witticism when Zenshi brushes past her and motions for her to follow. Though he is prone to avoiding unnecessary physical contact, his preferences usually pertain only to affectionate actions — stomping on his aide, however, simply provides him the greatest amusement.
"That was cruel, yes?" she mutters.
He sighs.
"I almost died," Tabs whispers. The boy creeps up next to Zenshi, and Mei almost forgets his presence when he grows silent.
"You're a Yato," she growls. "Do something about it."
"Yato?" echoes Zenshi. "All I see is a noisy cat."
"I hate you."
He smirks then, and for some reason it always makes her smile back. And she bursts into laughter, despite the fact that he is terrible and sadistic and not funny at all.
.: JUNE, PRESENT :.
"You want passage on our ship?" Mutsu asked. The slightest hint of incredulity showed only in the minor inflection of her uninterested monotone. "We're not exactly a passenger—"
"Just a few people."
"To…?"
"Sciuttla. We've got business there."
"That's a mighty far destination," noted Mutsu. "We are headed there, but would you mind explaining why?"
"There was a calculated terrorist attack on us," Tsukuyo explained. "The terrorist's next target is Sciuttla. There are ties between the Harusame and this terrorist that might spell trouble for Yoshiwara. I'm endin' it."
"Harusame?" repeated Mutsu. "Do you know what you're dealing with, here?"
"Of course." Tsukuyo's expression hardened. "Yoshiwara's current 'ruler' is a Harusame captain. We've got reason to believe he's usin' terrorists to both suppress the Hyakka and threaten us. And he's drainin' our funds while we're not lookin'. It's an obvious threat, and I won't stand for it."
"Be careful what you involve yourself in," Mutsu warned. "Isn't it just better to let them be? You can still run a safe city under their hand."
"Hardly," Tsukuyo argued. "If it's not our city, it's not safe. Hosen's reign of terror may be over, but it's still no better than before."
"Well, I suppose we can—"
"Mutsu! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for ya!"
Almost immediately, the Kaientai's vice-captain whipped out a gun and promptly shot at the man with a brown nest for hair. Tsukuyo froze and the bespectacled captain staggered in mid-step.
Ultimately, the bullet went nowhere, simply because Zenshi had snatched it with his bare fingers, looking all but content.
.: FOUR YEARS AGO :.
The ship pulls into the massive space station without trouble, docking all three of their crafts in the designated ports for the 7th Division. There's trouble along the line, however, because a fleet from Division 3 had been brainless enough to pull into a dock marked with the number 2 painted in enormous scale across the entire wall.
"Whoever works under that captain, I feel sorry for," Abuto sniggers, sweeping his cape over his shoulders.
"All techs to the bridge, all techs to the bridge," Tabs calls through a microphone. He turns to Zenshi. "Well I guess it's your time to shine, yes?"
"He doesn't shine, he polishes," jeers Mei, shutting up only when Zenshi folded his arms.
"All right, knuckleheads," says Abuto, rounding up his little diplomatic entourage. "We're going to see off our beloved Danchou to the meeting hall, and then we're going to wander because we do that every time we're here. Except Zenshi, because he's basically our stupid captain's mouth."
"First one to find the elephant tapestry wins!" exclaims Mei, taking off with a few of the younger officers without waiting for permission.
The inside of the space station is grandiose and sparkling, made of the finest materials and the most expensive decorations. The elephant tapestry is, actually, worth trillions, and the funds for those are from obviously shady elements.
Kamui, blatantly the youngest captain there, saunters in like he owns the place. Quite a few have grudges against him, but for the majority of meetings, Zenshi stands post next to Kamui, while the boy simply devours whatever is at the table within seconds.
Mei has already set off on her quest for the elephant wall-hanging — though to what extent the design is actually an elephant is rather dubious — and she even has Tabs on video conference so he can join the fun. Though Kamui usually wants to accompany the tapestry safari, he is dragged to the meeting hall, where the food eventually distracts him.
"Danchou, please pay attention," Abuto pleads before he drops off the boy like a concerned parent. "To both the meeting and what you say. No more incidents."
Kamui has a running record of insulting other captains and most of all, their admiral.
"Bud, make sure he doesn't do something stupid."
Zenshi throws Abuto a pointed look, as if to ask when Kamui ever did something not stupid, and nods.
The doors to the meeting room open, and as soon as Zenshi sees who is seated next to the admiral, he freezes.
He turns on Kamui then, grabbing Abuto before the man can leave, and runs.
.: MAY, THREE WEEKS AGO :.
"Well," Kamui said, setting the gold rabbit on the table. "You didn't fail."
"I might as well have," growled Mei sourly.
"And why is that?"
"I got shown up."
"By?"
"Humans."
.: FOUR YEARS AGO :.
Abuto doesn't question him, only replaces him immediately. There is a stern expression on the older Yato's face, but he relents and lets Zenshi go. Soon enough, the dark-haired lieutenant catches up to Mei, who is delighted to see that he has joined their search.
"I swear, this place grows bigger every time we come here." She points at a tapestry. "What do you think that one is?"
"Space-jelly."
"C'mon, that's not even close," she squeals, half snorting and half laughing. She motions to a few of her friends, who tag along, and soon the search becomes a collaborative effort with some minor officers from Division 10.
"By the way, why aren't you at the meeting?"
"Wasn't in the mood."
"Clearly." Mei rolls her eyes. "But then who's watching the captain?"
"Abuto."
"All right," she says, stopping briefly. "Then what are you doing?"
"Looking for an elephant."
.: MAY, TWO WEEKS AGO :.
He swept the floor with untold grace, and Hinowa hummed to a radio tune. The song was absolutely horrendous, albeit catchy. Tsukuyo found that Zenshi's quiet administrations — he was, surprisingly, a master of housekeeping — sometimes lulled her into a catatonic state, leaving her staring blankly at Seita's cereal bowl. Even when the child waved his arms ecstatically before her, she didn't register until he clapped his spoon against his bowl.
"Don't play with the utensils, please," Hinowa admonished gently. Tsukuyo, broken from her thoughtless reverie, turned to watch Zenshi return with a basket of laundry.
"I'll take that," she said quickly, grabbing the clothes. In her rush to stand, she kicked the chair she'd been seated it, and it clattered to the ground. She flushed, righted the furniture, and then turned back to Zenshi.
The Yato had already (somehow) folded a majority of the clothes, and was simply observing her uncharacteristic clumsiness with mild amusement.
"Sometimes I wish you would say somethin'," she snapped.
"Somethin'," he quipped.
Tsukuyo grabbed one of Seita's shirts and threw it at him. Zenshi let it hit his head, the fabric sliding to his shoulder. Seita and Hinowa giggled, while Tsukuyo ground a heel into the floorboards and stomped heatedly away.
"What's her problem?" asked Seita through a laugh. Since there was no answer, he just kept laughing.
"I think she need to let off some steam. She's been quite busy," Hinowa commented, while urging Seita to finish his breakfast.
"Her hair's not even tied up right!"
It was true — Tsukuyo's usually neat updo was bedraggled and loose. She looked more like an angry ninja in heels than anything else.
.: FOUR YEAR AGO :.
The hour is spent quietly, uneventfully after the elephant search ended. Mei and her pirate companions end up playing Uno in front of the old, dusty elephant hanging to pass the time.
When a higher up from Division 2 comes to collect his men, Mei jumps to her feet and motions for Zenshi to follow.
"We were supposed to wait somewhere over there, but I never do." She skips along the hallway, retracing most of their steps until they find the rest of their entourage, posted patiently outside the meeting hall. Zenshi lingers behind a pillar, utilizing his solitary, aloof mask that allowed him to stand apart from the group.
"Kamui-dono, that was a fine suggestion you made," comes the pompous voice of the admiral. "How very clever. We'll certainly consider it."
"Thanks for the meal," replies Kamui cheerily. He and Abuto exit after the division heads of the other crews, and the young cherry-topped captain trots over to his officers. "Oh, Zen, we missed you."
"Did you, now?"
"Hardly," snorts Abuto. "You wouldn't have liked it, bud."
But Zenshi is looking around his vice-captain, watching the admiral talk to a figure still obscured by the doors swung ajar. He knows who is there; there is no reason for that man's presence, and Zenshi is thoroughly put off by it.
When the man walks into view, he jerks backwards so ferociously that he nearly knocks Mei over.
"Yo, Lieutenant, watch it!" she barks. He ducks around her quickly, refraining from casting another nervous glance over his shoulder. He curses himself continuously, hating his cowardice.
Before his father can see him, he slips down another hall.
Kamui wants to keep Yoshiwara for the sake of fighting Gin one day,
so instead of attacking outright and taking down Zen (Kamui knows that our main character is there, he just is...surprisingly patient)
he goes with the more subvert type of tactic.
Because, seriously.
Who gives a pickle about a golden bunny.