The Otohime's Revenge
Epilogue
Some months later.
Saeki left off admiring the sleek lines of the navy ship moored in the harbor (the Naismith by name, if he squinted) to get down to the business of finding a ship in need of an extra pair of deckhands. The docks were busy enough that, as Yuuta had said, they'd probably come up with enough options to choose from.
He ambled along the docks, absorbed in looking the ships over, and nearly jumped out of his skin when someone draped an arm around his shoulders. "You really need to watch where you're going, Sae."
"Bane?" Saeki said, staring at him. "What in the hell are you doing here?"
"I see you've picked up some of the captain's good manners." Davide fell in on his other side, grinning.
Saeki looked at the two of them, and then at the harbor, blankly. "...where's the Dragonfly?" he asked, after he'd reassured himself that Fuji's ship was nowhere in evidence.
Bane snorted. "She's in for some repairs, so we sailed in with another ship."
"Huh." At least he wasn't going blind. Saeki tried to shrug Bane's arm off his shoulder; Bane kept it there. "Any openings in your crew?"
"There might be," Davide grinned. He looked around. "So where's himself?"
There was only one person that could mean. "Yuuta's around here somewhere," Saeki said. "Looking for a ship."
Davide and Bane exchanged looks. "Lucky for you that we found you, then," Davide said.
"Let's go find the captain, and then we can talk," Bane added.
That seemed reasonable enough to Saeki, so he let the two of them steer him along. They found Yuuta on the other end of the docks, deep in negotiations with the master of a trading vessel. He didn't see them coming, until Davide tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Captain?"
"Not now, Davide, I'm—Davide?" Yuuta spun around. "What in God's name are you doing here?"
"Killing a little time," Davide said, easily. "Hear you're looking for a ship?"
"Might be," Yuuta told him, grinning. "Why?"
"We know someone you might want to talk to," Bane said.
Yuuta smiled. "Do you, now?" He turned to the man he'd been talking with, and excused himself. When they were a bit away from him, he tipped his head at the two of them. "So tell me more."
"Think he's still eating breakfast," Davide said. "We can go and talk to him right now, if you want."
"Sounds good," Yuuta said. Davide and Bane exchanged looks again, and led them along, away from the docks. "Take it the Dragonfly didn't suit the two of you?"
"Eh, it was fine. Fuji isn't you, though. Good captain, but not what we were used to," Davide said. "Ah, here we go..." He steered them into a tavern, and directed them to the table in the back corner. "Found something for you, sir."
"Well, shit," Yuuta muttered, as his brother gave him a distinctly unhappy look.
"What part of 'Go home and stay put until I get there,' was so difficult to understand?" Fuji demanded.
"The part about 'until I get there,'" Yuuta sighed, dropping into the open seat across from him.
"I should have known," Fuji said, over the rim of his teacup. "Tell me that this time, at least, you said your goodbyes properly?"
Yuuta pursed his lips. "The note was a little bit more eloquent."
"Yuuta." Fuji sounded disapproving, but the corners of his mouth were twitching. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Forget you ever saw me and let the two of us go?" Yuuta suggested.
"I'm afraid that's out of the question," Fuji murmured.
"Well, damn." Yuuta ran a hand through his hair. "So where the hell's your ship, anyway?"
"Docked for repairs in the navy's yard," Fuji said. "Nothing major, of course, but it was time."
"Huh." Yuuta folded his arms. "So that navy ship out there is yours now?"
"Not exactly." Fuji sighed, and put his cup down. "I hope you know that you upset a great many people when you took off, Yuuta."
Saeki cleared his throat. "Ah. It wasn't entirely his idea," he said. "In fact, it pretty much wasn't his idea at all."
Fuji raised an eyebrow. "No? And here I'd hoped you'd be a stabilizing influence on him." He shook his head. "I suppose I should have known better."
"Yeah, you should have," Yuuta scoffed. "So. You've got us. What are you going to do with us?"
"Tezuka," Fuji said thoughtfully, "was all in favor of a court martial. Lucky for you, I talked him out of his temper, and we came to a compromise, of sorts."
"What kind of compromise?" Yuuta asked, warily.
"Oh, I expect you'll find you can live with it," Fuji said. "The navy does want you where it can keep an eye on you, of course. I have your orders with me somewhere..." He reached into his coat and pulled out a wallet. "I'd planned something more elaborate than this." He rifled through it, and flipped a packet at Yuuta. "Here."
Yuuta caught it. "What is it?" he asked, cracking the seal and unfolding the papers.
"Something you'll like."
Yuuta gave him a suspicious look. "You say that..." He scanned the papers; Saeki saw him go still. "Shuusuke. You didn't."
"I did." Fuji's smile was smug. "Not that it took that much doing."
"What is it?" Saeki asked.
Yuuta passed the papers to him, wordless. Saeki read the first few lines, and realized that he was holding the commission for the command of the Naismith. "...holy shit." When he looked up, Davide and Bane were wearing grins just as smug as Fuji's.
"Told you that it was lucky you'd run into us," Davide told him.
"Shuusuke—" Yuuta began, waving his hands.
Fuji arched an eyebrow. "You wouldn't be thinking of turning it down, would you? There's always the court martial instead."
Yuuta opened and closed his mouth. "Of course not! I'm not that kind of crazy."
Fuji laughed. "I hadn't thought you were."
"Hmph." Yuuta settled back in his chair, grinning. "You might be, though, if you're going to let me have that ship." A thought occurred to him. "Does this mean I can poach my crew back from you now?"
"Most of them," Fuji said. He coughed. "Shishido has taken command of his own ship, I'm afraid, so you're down a first mate." He smiled. "Fortunately for you, I took care of that, too."
"You did?"
"...he did," Saeki said, a bit weakly, and handed him the other piece of paper that had been in the packet—an officer's commission, in the name of one Saeki Koujirou.
Yuuta looked at it, and then up at his brother. "...I don't know what to say."
"Try 'thank you,'" Davide suggested.
Yuuta laughed. "Yeah, that works. Thank you, Shuusuke."
Fuji grinned. "My pleasure, little brother. Try not to sink this one, hm?"
"Like I would," Yuuta snorted, stroking reverent fingertips over his commission. "Are you done eating yet?"
"I was thinking of another cup of tea, actually." Fuji waited a moment, and then laughed at his brother's expression. "Of course I'm done. Let's go take a look at your ship, shall we?"
Yuuta grinned. "Hell, yeah." He stood and nudged Saeki. "You coming, Mr. First Officer?"
Saeki grinned at him, slow and dazed. "Yeah," he said. "Wouldn't miss it."
end
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