The Kitakami Chronicles

Chapter 1: A Hidden Past

This story begins during the Robot Revolution arc in the Kaga Saga. While Kaga was meeting up with the mercenaries she was supposed to be fighting with, Kitakami sat in the corner minding her own business. She never spoke a single word, and hasn't done so in a long time. If she wanted to communicate, she would resort to signals and gestures. Kaga began to take notice of the silent character and asked who she was. Kitakami's superior, New Jersey, explained to Kaga why she never talked. In fact, she hasn't spoke since the Chinese Civil War (This is a different timeline compared to ours by the way).

"She used to talk more but she stopped after that one incident." New Jersey explained to the carrier.

"What happened?" Kaga asked.

"Somewhere during that war, she earned the nickname, Demon Lord, from the Chinese community for raining death and destruction throughout the seas. This is however not the reason why she can not talk. I believe the real reason why she never spoke another word was when her sister was killed in action. I guess it traumatized her so much that this is why she is silent."

"I see. It must be really hard on her to continue fighting."

"She isn't like that though. She is a ruthless fighter who would always get her kill. My guess is that she is only doing this to earn the cash to bring back her sister from the dead."

Kitakami was flattered but showed no signs of it. Instead, she continued fiddling around with her torpedo tubes. After all, she was the Demon Lord. A name that she was affectionately called by the other mercenaries who wanted to be like her. Her story was shrouded in mystery and the reason she is silent right now can be explained in this long flashback from her past.

The scene changes back to 3 years ago, where Kitakami's adventure begins. Here she can be seen talking and in her original Kuma class configuration. She was at her home port of Sasebo and she held a party for her sisters. Things were going well until the Yakuza crashed the party. Their leader was Tone and she was not happy. She went up to Kiso and demanded to pay up her debts, but Kiso had no money this time. Unsatisfied, Tone murdered the Kuma class cruiser without warning in front of her sisters. What was going on?

Tone went up to Tama, and threatened her with her guns. Kuma spoke up and asked why she was doing this. That's when Tone revealed the truth.

"Well your sister, Kiso, has done something I didn't like. Over the past few months, she has been trying to repay me, but the money never came through. So I made it a point to end her miserable life."

"But why are you threatening us?" Kuma tried to reason.

"I make it a point that if Kiso messed with me, her immediate family will be at risk and it looks like I have no choice. You better pay up the money she owes and I'll let Tama and the rest of you go unscathed."

"How much do we owe?" Kitakami asked.

"Your sister owed me 8 million credits."

"What? We don't have enough to pay for that. All I got is 2 million." Kuma complained.

"Then how about a little deal. You cough up the 2 million right now and within the following few months, you finish paying off the other 6 million that she owes me." Tone bargained for them.

Kuma sighed and paid the 2 million credits. Tone let Tama go and left but warned them that they weren't out of danger yet. How were they supposed to pay off the 6 million now? Although Kuma owned a business, it wouldn't be enough to cover for the costs or it would take an eternity to repay.

"I really don't know what to do. I don't want to see another one of us die to organized crime. How am I supposed to make up for those expenses?" Kitakami wondered.