Kids Will Be Kids by kingfishers_game

Chapter 6: Being a Pirate Sounds a Lot Cooler in Theory

Than It Actually Is...

"What are you planning on doing with her, anyway?" Abuto asked. It had been a few days since the commander had brought his little sister on board, but his reason for doing so was still unclear.

Abuto was starting to think the young man had just wanted to relieve his boredom. Kamui tended to get restless on these long space flights. Occasionally he'd spar with a few of his men, but after a number of broken bones and concussions, no one was particularly eager to pit themselves against him. Abuto was the only one left who would 'willingly' volunteer.

"Hmm...She's not the same as she was when she was really 5. Part of her older self's personality is leaking out. I think today I'll try to see if what Kagura did before we picked her up was a fluke. She wouldn't have had a chance if she hadn't surprised them, but she's strong for her age."

What Kagura did before we picked her up...Abuto was pretty sure he knew what Kamui was talking about. Although he hadn't seen her do it, he'd seen the bodies. A full-grown Yato and an Amanto pirate? It was hard to believe a child had been able to overpower those men, even if she'd taken them by surprise.

Abuto had felt a twinge of pride at the sight. That was the latent ability of the commander's little sister, after all. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Want to see? Go and bring her to the training gym."

Ah, relegated to the role of babysitter once again. The exciting life of a pirate, indeed.

Kagura was a fairly pushy kid. When Abuto got to the guarded cabin she was staying in, it was almost embarrassing how easily she bullied him into giving her a piggyback ride—all she had to do was complain about the fact that 'Sougo' and 'Nii-chan' weren't nearly as tall as 'Oji-san' and he gave in.

Well, he had a soft spot for kids, after all. Kagura was particularly adorable. With her fluffy orange hair, sparkling blue eyes, and dopey smile, she was like a cuter version of the kid the commander had been when they'd met.

As Kagura hummed a chirpy song and tangled her fingers into Abuto's unruly hair, he reconsidered. Like a younger Kamui? That was wishful thinking. As a child, Kamui had been bitter and unhappy, forced into adult responsibilities too young by his mother's sickness and his father's absence. He had gotten worse after she died. By now, the boy whose duty it was to protect his little sister was long gone. Kagura was a far more cheerful child than Abuto had ever known her brother to be.

Come to think of it, her being this age...did she even know her mother had died? What a mess.

At the training hall, Kagura clambered down from Abuto to greet her brother. The training gym was the most heavily reinforced room on the ship (Kamui's fault—the idiot didn't know how to hold back and getting the walls repaired all the time was expensive) and was filled with equipment to build strength and practice fighting techniques (also Kamui's fault—no one wanted to fight him, so the idiot had to find other outlets for his energy). In the center of the room was the sunken fighting pit where Kamui was standing.

Deciding to forgo the steps that led down into the recessed pit of the massive training gym, Kagura simply jumped down, barely fazed by the 15 foot drop. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was jogging toward her brother.

"Nii-chan!" Kagura extended her hands up to her brother, wordlessly requesting that he pick her up, but he didn't.

"Hey, Kagura. Today I want to do some training with you," Kamui said.

Abuto frowned at his commander's words. He'd thought as much when he'd been asked to bring Kagura to the training gym, but he wasn't sure what Kamui expected from her.