The Identity of Tachihara Michizou

Black Lizard

Tachihara's a Black Lizard battalion leader.

His direct superior is quite decent. Strong ability, good leadership, Tachihara does hold respect for the man. He cheekily nicknames him "Gramps" for the fun of it. Hirotsu shoots him an unamused look and some threats the first few times around, but soon settles into indifference.

The other leader is a whole piece of work. Tachihara isn't quite sure whether to be irritated or impressed by that weirdo at times. A creep, if you ask him. The only way he could locate Gin whenever the other was skulking around was to use midwinter memento to track his knives.

Gin doesn't seem to like him either. Tachihara receives a lot of glares and wordless threats for just being there sometimes. They get into petty fights over simple things, and Tachihara soon gets used to having a blade pointed at his neck (not that he couldn't do anything about it).

He goes on missions with the Black Lizard again. And again.

Fighting in the Port Mafia and fighting with the Hunting Dogs were two completely different experiences.

There was order in the military. He usually just had to capture criminals, and interrogate them, and a whole other procedure after that.

Not like the Mafia. Tachihara leaps into every battle, heart pumping with adrenaline, firing his guns, leaping from place to place within the chaos, so much that it feels like a dance. Every single molecule of his body comes alive as he fights. After every mission he is always grinning, drenched in his sweat, relishing in the smell of gunpowder and iron that rose into the air, feeling more him than he ever did before.

Not Sergeant Tachihara, not the younger brother, just Tachihara Michizou.

It felt like something called freedom.

Time simply passes. The missions, and his coworkers soon become a norm to him. Too normal, that he begins to wonder what would happen when he would eventually have to betray them. Not that he wasn't already betraying them.

But as he complains to Hirotsu about the next mission, or exchanges insults with Gin on a daily basis, it's almost impossible to deny that Tachihara felt the slightest bit fond of them.

Not when Higuchi drops by to say hello. Not when Akutagawa nods at them for a mission well done, accompanied by a cough. Aside from the crimes (a lot, in fact) the community didn't feel too bad to be around.

They're criminals, he has to remind himself, time and time again. I don't belong to their kind.

Still, he banishes these thoughts to the back of his mind, and keeps a carefree grin on his face.

Hirotsu, who he'd named 'Gramps', as he said, grows indifferent to the nickname. He even sometimes offers Tachihara a cigarette when the latter is visibly stressed, and when Tachihara sputters about someone else casually asking and getting blasted to the next block, Hirotsu shrugs and tells him to shut up and take it.

Tachihara never smokes, but he does take it. He probably has about ten from Hirotsu now.

The animosity between him and Gin has lessened to something more like tolerance, now that they've shared battles. That, and uncovering her secrets. It wasn't as much of a shock as it had been when Gin had been discovered as a girl than when he had found out her last name was Akutagawa.

Gin, according to Hirotsu, spoke out loud whenever she felt comfortable doing so. (Did that mean she was comfortable around him?) He had blanked out when she had first spoken around him, having some unfortunate flashbacks (Gin wasn't a pervert who snuck into womens' toilets, after all. That and other stuff he'd rather not think about).

That reaction was considered mild as compared to when Tachihara had spotted a box of figs on Gin's desk labelled: "To Ryunosuke". When asked, Gin had replied "My brother." and walked off without any explanation.

Moments later, Akutagawa enters the room and makes a beeline straight for the figs.

"Uhm, that's for Ryunosuke."

Akutagawa gives him a blank look. "I'm Ryunosuke."

Everything was silent until Gin returned.

"Shut your mouth, Tachihara. You're going to catch flies." Gin tells him after Akutagawa thanks her, and despite wearing a mask, he could have sworn she was smirking.

As he had predicted, she never lets him forget it.