#you can take shinobu out of the violence but you can't fully take the violence out of shinobu

[quickdeaths]

It was natural for Sonia to be surprised, she supposed. After all, she'd already convinced herself that she deserved her poor treatment, as penance for what she'd done. Indeed, what she laid out to Shinobu sounded as a punishment - a cold castle from which one could seldom leave, in a foreign nation, surrounded by people who were entirely unsympathetic to the Queen of Novoselic and, likely, anyone who aligned themselves with her. How wretched that the likes of Togami saw fit to send Sonia back there at all, merely to consolidate their own power and enrich their own pocketbooks.

Sonia didn't seem to understand that with each sentence further impressing upon them the awfulness of the situation, their resolve was further bolstered. That Future Foundation was willing to send her there with minimal protections and no regard for her emotional well-being was a black mark against the organization Shinobu worked for, in her eyes, whether or not they had their reasons. Perhaps, had she more faith in them to take care of Sonia, she wouldn't feel such a strong desire to intervene personally.

But then again, likely not. As Shinobu looked at her, she knew it would be too difficult to walk willingly out of her life again. "Mm, I've thought it through thoroughly," she said with a nod. "I'm a combat veteran with a great deal of expertise in sensitive situations, and my physical condition is improving by the day. I'm not worried about my own safety, and, I hope that by being near, I'll be able to extend some of that safety to you, as well."

That was certainly part of it. Seldom did Shinobu consider themselves to be of any use to anyone, but they could at least keep any harm from coming to Sonia. More importantly, though... "I know it's a strange thing to ask, from your perspective, but as long as you aren't opposed to it, then I'm glad." It was hard to keep looking at her, and so Shinobu turned her attention first to the kittens, and then to the ceiling as she sat back. "They're going to send someone along with you regardless of anything I do or say. If the situation is as dire as you say, if you'll be isolated and alone in a dangerous place, then I'd rather you be accompanied by someone who cares about you, rather than some indifferent or unsympathetic Future Foundation agent simply doing a job."

Of course, Togami did present an issue. Sonia was right that he would likely see no reason to approve Shinobu's request, out of petty sentiments rather than any belief in it as the best choice. For a few moments, the archer considered whether they could just kill him. His money would be better used by Future Foundation without his presence, and it wasn't like he was especially popular or likable. Shinobu may have made up her mind to quell the violent urges inside of her, but there was always room for exceptions. Togami wasn't even physically imposing, so it would be easy to enter his office, and leave with his brains splattered across the table, or the imprints of her hands black and blue around his neck.

Perhaps it said something about how she felt about Sonia that it was so easy to bend and break her own internal rules on her behalf. But, no, killing Togami would likely not help the situation, she admitted to herself - even if everyone would be better off were he a hideously mangled corpse. "I imagine that Togami would not be amenable to such a request, no." She'd simply say that much. There was no need for Sonia to know that, for a short moment, she'd been considering how best to murder him

"However, I'm not above going around him. I worked underneath the chairman in the 2nd Division for a number of years, and although I wouldn't call us personal friends, I would hope that we have a degree of mutual personal and professional respect." Munakata did understand violence, and while she hoped he would accept her request out of personal affection, she was prepared to put him in the unenviable position of choosing between a former subordinate, and somehow who he rather disliked, in Togami. They'd all sent her to Jabberwock Island due to believing her unstable and unsuited for traditional work. It wasn't hard to believe that if denied a simple request, she might act irrationally, and do something dangerous to the person who she saw as most impeding it.

Well, Munakata was probably too sharp to be drawn in by such an act, but if he was her only option, then Shinobu would do whatever was needed. "I'll speak to the chairman on my own time - I'll arrange a visit when I return to Japan, and speak to him in person about it. Hopefully he'll be willing to hear me out, and might see the logic in my proposal." There were indeed a number of obstacles to her taking a place at Sonia's side in Novoselic, many of them far more troublesome than simply speaking to Sonia. Still, it had been securing her approval that had been the source of Shinobu's hesitation - the fear that Sonia may not want her around like that. "As long as it's alright with you, Miss Nevermind, then I'll do whatever I can to ensure it comes to pass."

She seemed almost optimistic, Sonia thought, as she sipped her tea. Rather strange for a woman who was mostly solemn, if not dour most of the time. Unfortunately, her time as a Remnant of Despair left Sonia cynical. Mass murder leading the man she loved, a fellow murderer, to be disgusted by her did a number on a woman. "I'm not sure they'd care what I called them, if I called them anything," She replied dully. "As long as they're with their mother, fed, and kept safe, I doubt I can offer much more for them. Animals tend to know good and bad people, don't they? I suspect they'll suss out the truth about me soon enough."

Though with all of her doubts, the newborn kittens didn't look capable of hating her. Of hating anything, as they clung to their mother's nipples and drank and drank until their tiny bellies could hold no more for the meantime. Their tiny mews were quickly quieted by Miss Kitty, who began to groom each one despite her sheer exhaustion. Sonia sighed gently, petting the mother cat behind the ears. If anyone needed looking after, it was her.

Mostly, she was in a room full of strangers. Miss Kitty had relied upon her for food, the kittens were minutes, if not hours old, and Yaguchi she barely knew anything about. Only that she'd come from Japan, had attended Hope's Peak and was part of the Future Foundation, enjoyed coffee and for some reason, spending time with her. It wasn't like her former classmates, whom she'd befriended and murdered alongside and endured a simulation of joy and murder that had never truly happened. Convoluted and strange and painful and yet she would be bonded to them all forever, even when her time on Jabberwock Island was up. How could she form such bonds with anyone else ever again, after what she'd done?

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know," She muttered, relinquishing her hand once Miss Kitty had wrangled all of her babies to cuddle against her belly, and she nuzzled each one before closing her eyes for a well-deserved nap. "Your descriptors, that is. You said you attended Hope's Peak but I cannot place you from my time there. Again, I apologize: I keep trying to remember more of my time there but it comes in bits and pieces. Fragments, if you will."

Her own class, for example, she could remember vividly. But when Naegi and his cohorts insisted they too had once attended Hope's Peak Academy, Sonia had been surprised and bewildered. She hadn't remembered meeting any of them, despite the fact they assured her they did. Maybe Yaguchi was the same.

At least she'd understood her meaning: she was far more free than Sonia was and would ever be. That alone made her wealthy: with life, with experiences she'd be able to have in the new, rebuilding and changing world. "It would be a bit surprising, yes, but I cannot blame you," She assured her between sips of tea. "Despite once being billed a tropical paradise, this place is anything but. If you are able to go elsewhere, places that are less confining and more pleasant, you should. No one here would hold it against you, myself included."

They'd rather live vicariously instead, the ones who wanted off Jabberwock to experience something different: climate, view, people. Anything that wasn't seawater and excessive sun, reminders of death and despair for most of them. Even if they were envious, they couldn't hold it against the members of the Future Foundation who could come and go as they pleased.

And yet, Yaguchi's much-contemplated request wanted to do away with all of it. The freedom to make her own way in a new world, no longer beholden to her talent from Hope's Peak...all of it. Gone. If she was to accompany Sonia into her own future: behind thick stone walls and iron bars, time in the gardens and courtyards when she was on her best behavior and it was safe for her to do so. A world even smaller than Jabberwock, if that was possible.

Hopefully Sonia's shock, then, was understandable: wide-eyed and slack-jawed, she stared at Yaguchi as if the other woman had admitted she was eager to rip off her own fingernails and pour salt into the wounds. A long torture that would never fully heal.

"W-well, I cannot say I am opposed to the idea," Sonia began in a stammer, setting her mug on the end table. She worried that if she held it any longer, she'd spill it onto the bedspread. "I find your company pleasant. But Yaguchi, have you truly thought this through? Whoever is sent with me will be mostly confined to Novoselic Castle alone, unless it is deemed necessary, if not safe, to venture into the capitol. Unlike Japan, your safety and freedom aren't guaranteed. No one who has chosen to remain in the Castle loyal to me is, and the anti-monarchists who wish for my demise are only growing in numbers. From what I have observed in recordings and photographs, Novoselic is not the home I remember."

Jabberwock, for all of its faults, was at least quiet and peaceful. No riots in the streets, no burning down homes and businesses, no looting and fighting over resources. Novoselic would be anything but and worse, she'd be forced to see it all from her windows, unable to meet the people in person and ask for their forgiveness. She couldn't understand why Yaguchi would willing choose such a future, when she had so many other options ahead of her. Ones Sonia would never have, and she wanted the best for her when this was over and the Future Foundation deemed Jabberwock Island a waste of time and expenses.

"And besides, the person who is facilitating my Future Foundation assignment is the person currently in charge of my counseling and well-being," She added, giving Yaguchi a glum look: she could guess what was coming. "Togami. And barring him, it'll be the current Leader of the Future Foundation who will sign off on such decisions, Munakata. And well, you aren't exactly Togami's favorite person right now." She couldn't speak for how Munakata would see it, but she had a feeling that anything Yaguchi truly wanted, Togami would be all too pleased to deny her out of spite and a broken nose.

[lime202]

Songs that reminded me of KNY dynamics and possible writing prompts, PT1

If anyone is interested in taking any songfic opportunities, here you go!

This post has manga spoilers. And, all of these prompts are angst, whoops. (This list is not limited to romantic dynamics, either—just dynamics that are interesting to touch on.)

Hakuji x Koyuki — "Stay Close" by SYML (Hakuji-centric)

"I know mourning is mourning and we heal differently / Right now it’s all I see" (Describes Hakuji falling back into his habits of violence after losing loved ones, with mourning being "all [he sees]" instead of finding true peace.)

"I want to keep you forever my love" (He says after her marriage proposal, and says once again as her pulse slows until it's nothing under his fingers.)

"I need somebody to save me" (Koyuki saved Hakuji from a life of ruthless violence, while Hakuji saved Koyuki from a life of loneliness and sickness.)

"If there’s no cure and there’s no medicine / Do we count the days until the end?" (No cure for the poison, no medicine for his father, and life is seeming to become more colorless and bleak.

Counting was the only thing Hakuji learned with his lack of education: the days left, money needed, grams of medicine needed, rations of food, punches thrown, hairpins needed to keep up his lover's hair...)

This song (literally all the lyrics, but I can't fit all of them in here) can also be applied to most of Hakuji's relationships, considering how tragic his past is.

Giyuu x Shinobu — "Take me Apart" by SYML (Giyuu-centric)

"Looking to start a war" (referring to the war of Humankind/Demon Corps vs Demons) "Wondering how it ends"

"I'm lucky he was a friend" (It's the only sentence that Giyuu can fully say about Sabito when confiding in Shinobu. She understands. As a slayer, she is someone who truly understands.)

"Take me apart and I'll flow like water" (A part of Giyuu's internal monologue, thinking about Shinobu's curiosity of him and her eagerness to pick him apart, while also insinuating his forced disconnect from the past and how he "floats above himself.")

These lyrics can apply to the canon also. They fit for a hypothetical scene about the aftermath of the war and Giyuu's perspective on being a survivor and the majority of the Corps' deaths.

Ruka x Shinjuro — "Lost On You" by LP (Shinjuro-centric)

"Burnin' like embers, falling tender / Long before the days of no surrender years ago" (The disease was prolonged, reducing his lover to a dying bonfire. Shinjuro knew what would happen, his children knew, and he could only hope that it wasn't as painful for Ruka to know as it was for him.

He knew he would never surrender to demon, but he couldn't have prepared for such a human circumstance to make him surrender his title as a Hashira.)

"So smoke 'em if you got 'em 'cause it's going down / All I ever wanted was you" (Her willpower remained strong and fiery until the end, but his own was made into a rapidly thinning smoke.)

"I'll never get to heaven 'cause I don't know how / Let's raise a glass or two" (His grief only came out as aggression. The way he treated his, her children was unworthy of forgiveness. Before he knew it, a few moderate glasses of sake increased to the whole bottle.)

My interpretation slightly deviates from the more accurate meaning of the song, but it still captures Shinjuro's full awareness of the inevitability of his wife's death and "end" of their relationship.

Kyojuro & Senjuro — "I Feel It in the Wind" by Smith & Thell (Switching perspectives)

"If you can find a drop in a drying sea / You'll find light in the darkest creeks" (Kyojuro always supplies his baby brother with happy words, acting as the source of light for their mostly dark, empty home.)

"You told me / I feel it in the wind my dear / The sun is gonna reappear / Good days are gonna come along / Hold on" (Hold on a little longer, is what Kyojuro used to say to Senjuro during harder times. The same words fall from Senjuro's lips as he weeps over Kyojuro, who lies overwhelmingly silent with endless injuries.)

"I feel it coming, the tide is turning / I feel it coming, you just got to wait and believe" (The tide is turning against the demons, they will surely meet their downfall, and you will live without needing to encounter any, Kyojuro insists, to both himself, and his brother weeping over him.)

This song wholly embraces the dynamic of Kyojuro always feeding Senjuro optimism during disheartening moments. Senjuro remembers every word, because any one could be his last.

Kyogo x Shizu — "Labour" by Paris Paloma (Shizu-centric)

"The calloused skin on my hands is cracking / If our love died, would that be the worst thing?" (Her hands were beginning to wear from chores, labor, and work. Their roughness made them appear less capable of love/physical affection, but that wouldn't stop her from cradling her children lovingly.)

"As the silence haunts our bed chamber / You make me do too much labour" (The bed is either silent with the lack of her lover or silent with unspoken anger. It eventually becomes dead silent when she is made into a widow.)

"All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid" "24/7 baby machine / So he can live out his picket fence dreams" (Her body was small, but she underwent endless labor and painful childbirth without a second thought for his sake.)

Love eventually turning into abuse. The whole song speaks for itself.

Genya & Sanemi — "Once in A Dream" by In the City (Sanemi-centric)

"I can't stop, I can't break, I carry the weight for you" (The Hashira can't stop until the last of his family is able to live in a world free of demons. The weight of being made into a demon-killing machine is nothing.)

"It’s the loneliest road, road I know, I know, I know" (Sanemi knows this most of all as he pushes Genya away, but Genya dying to demon because of him would be even lonelier. It is lonelier, he finds out.)

"When I’m awake, I hide all our chains so you aren’t afraid" (The older brother pretends, has been pretending ever since they were little, that Genya had nothing to be afraid of as long as he was there.

His promise of protection used to mean that they would always stay together. Now—knowing his blood attracts demons left and right—it meant that he had to act more like their father to get Genya away from danger; if Sanemi was the scariest thing there was, then anywhere away from him would seem safer, because it was safer.)

I know you expected "Brother" by Kodaline for the Shinazugawa brothers... open books, all of you. (My fingers still ache from restraining myself from typing and using that song.)