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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (4/15/2009 1:55:32 AM)
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March 6, 1945
Location: 240 miles east of Camranh Bay
Course: South
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 239
Orders: Escort Ryujo to Saigon
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Riku comes off duty and decides to take a turn around the deck to get some air. They have come far enough south that the weather is noticeably warmer and the evening is a pleasant one, with little breeze.
As he steps out on deck from the aft deckhouse he sees the unmistakable silhouette of Chief Shun standing at the rail. The big man is looking out over the sea.
Riku hesitates. Since becoming Shun’s son-in-law things between the two of them have been cordial enough, but distant. Their respective ranks of course mandate a certain distance, but Riku thinks there is also something else. Shun may still dislike him intensely, of course. He may even be embarrassed at once having tried to kill him. Honor is a tricky thing and Shun has more than most.
As Riku stands there Shun turns around and looks at him. I wonder how he does that, Riku thinks. It used to terrify me when I was part of the deck force and it still seems almost uncanny.
“Ariga,” says Shun by way of greeting. He turns back around and resumes his study of the ocean.
“Chief Shun,” Riku says in reply. After a moment of hesitation he moves to join him by the rail.
“We have passed the Ryukyus,” Shun says after a moment. “We were close a couple of days ago, yet for all we could see of them they might have been on the other side of the ocean.”
“I thought of that,” says Riku. “It’s hard. I miss her and I’m worried about her.” In the dimming light Shun nods.
“I too am afraid for her,” he says. “And for my mother.” Riku hesitates for a moment, then speaks.
“You are not commonly supposed to be able to feel fear,” he says, his voice respectful.
Shun grunts. “There is fear, and there is fear,” he says. “For myself, I am rarely afraid. But if you live long enough you learn things, Ariga. You learn that that world is not a solid place. You learn that…you learn that things can go wrong.” There is a long silence, broken only by the rumble of the ship’s engines and the sound of water hissing along the hull. Riku does not say anything, he only waits.
“There is the telegram,” resumes Shun, his voice low. “There is the doctor, his face grave. There is the official car pulling up outside your door. And then your world breaks, a little, and never seems so solid or safe again.”
At the start of the war Riku, with the relentless optimism and confidence of the young, would have had little idea what Shun was talking about. But after long years of war he understands all too well.
“I know,” he says. Shun turns and looks at him.
“I think maybe you do know, a little," he says. "May it be long before you understand completely." He stretches. “Time to turn in. Sleep well, Ariga.”
“Sleep well, Chief Shun,” says Riku. Shun moves away from the rail, making no more sound than a ghost, and goes below.
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