A comfortable silence ensues as they both sit on the curb, watching a car slowly drive by- the driver a little high. There isn't a breeze; the cold drowns out everything else. 

"You can't sleep, can you?" Ineko's voice is unusually subdued. Her breath frosts in the air. 

"Can you?" His reply is terse and she swivels around to glance at him, finally noticing the deep bags under his sleepless eyes. His breath smells faintly of wine, and his eyes are a little bloodshot. 

"I did," she replies but doesn't say more. The swirling feeling is only getting worse. She's starting to get a headache with all of the information crammed into her head. She doesn't know what to do with it either, and she can't exactly ask Boss because this is supposed to be her proving her own worth. 

"Then why are you here?" 

"I can't get rid of this feeling," she says, clutching her jacket, her fingers tightening. 

"What feeling?" 

"That something seriously bad is going to happen." 

Chuuya looks at her, about to laugh it off, but he sees the seriousness in her eyes. 

"Oh." There's an awkward silence. 

"Chibi?"

"Oi, don't call me that," he says tiredly but he knows she pays no heed. 

"What exactly do you think of me?" 

He suddenly sits up in alarm. "Why do you care?" 

"Because even though I hate you, I'm still your subordinate, right? And I remember the angelic shit telling me to respect higher ups or something." Ineko looks away, her cheeks filling in red, though she convinces herself that it's just the cold. Chuuya's cheeks turn pink too, but he scowls it off. 

"Well first, you're annoying, and you have no idea what the word 'listen' means. Then you run off, disobeying any order, and do whatever you want, and pretty much ruin every mission you're set on." He smirks at her distaste. "Then, seadog, what do you think of me?" 

"Well first," she mocks, "you're the worst senpai possible, and you have no idea how to respect other people's heritages and their cultures." She stops, then chuckles, "even though I can't say anything about respect." She pauses and mockingly snickers at his distaste too. "But, I'm jealous," she admits. Chuuya's eyes widen for a bit before narrowing. 

"Why would you be jealous of me?" 

"Your ability- and this is probably the sleep talking- is..." she squints her eyes, trying to spit out the word 'amazing', but she settles for, "above average." Chuuya looks offended for a moment, but then smirks. "And, you're a Port Mafia executive. You must have it so nice, being able to command so many people, and being so powerful." 

Chuuya scoffs. "You're jealous of me because I'm an executive?" He snaps, "Do you even know how many assassination attempts have occurred simply because I am a higher up? Do you know how many sleepless nights I have had because of writing reports of confirmed deaths? Do you even understand the concept of 'grief' whenever one of my subordinates die because I ordered them to take action?" Ineko looks taken aback as his blue eyes blaze. "Not everyone is like you, seadog. Not everyone is immune to death like you are." 

Ineko flinches and looks away. "I'm not immune to death," she mumbles. He scoffs, but she continues, "I admit, I like killing. I was raised as a killer pirate; we raided the poor, rich, dead- and most of these bodies raided died because of my sword and ability. My ability was so useful on the seas. As you know, a pirate's true pride lies in their ship. Our soul is infused with the hull and masts." Ineko grimaces- this is the first time she recounts her memories to anyone. 

"And?"

"And I can make them fear their own crew; I can make a pirate fear themselves: and I can make a pirate fear their own ship. I make them go insane by twisting all their memories into something else. Then they either commit suicide, or they turn on their own crew. This results in mutiny, of course, and mutiny is not taken lightly." She looks down at her fingers; Chuuya holding his breath in shock. "And so they are made to walk the plank by their own crew; their own family."

"And you enjoyed every single second of it," Chuuya says bitterly. Ineko bites her lip. 

"I did," she says but cuts Chuuya just as he begins to fume. "But I remember one very clearly. He was fifteen," she doesn't realise the tears filling the corners of her eyes, "and he was from my own ship. I liked him a lot; I thought I was homosexual, because all the other males were disgusting, but he came along." She chuckles bitterly. "He told me that he liked me too; but turns out he was a spy. A spy is so rare on ships; but we got one. What was worse was that he was a spy for the navy- when he went missing after going overboard, that must of been when he made the deal with the navy. I grew up with him; I knew how to make him laugh; I knew how to make him cry. When I learned that he was a traitor, I was furious, and when the Captain ordered his execution, I obliged happily. And so I twisted all of his happy memories. I watched him begin to smile and then I saw the horror in his eyes; I've never seen that expression on him before. He was always so strong. 

"When I finished, he hadn't committed suicide yet, but he turned to me, and his eyes changed. I realised that most of his happy memories were the ones with me. Even though he was a spy, he was more truthful and loyal to me then my own family. And I killed myself through killing him. That was the only death I cried over," Ineko slumps down, tired of talking so much.  

"So that's why you prefer to use your saber rather than your ability," Chuuya says quietly. 

"Not really." She looks up at the bleak sky; there was no way she could see the stars from all the light pollution. "Everytime I used it on the seas, I always saw his face. Now that I'm not on a ship anymore though, it has changed; because I don't think about my past anymore. I've let go, and I don't ever want to sink again. Even so, I'd rather use my sword, because I prefer to spill blood myself." 

"Tch, I should have known." Another silence settles. 

"I've always hated you, ever since we picked you up from the beach," Chuuya says truthfully. She nods, not surprised at all. "You were- and still are- rude as fuck, you never listen, and you continuously call me 'chibi'," she snickers at that but cries out in pain when he hit her on the top of her head. "You're naive, dumb, stupid-" he cuts off and sighs, "But you're also a good kid, deep down somewhere. You care for Oda and Dazai- even though you should just dump that worthless piece of shit of a partner in shark infested waters- but at least you care. So do your best, seadog, to help Oda." 

Ineko closes her eyes and smiles. 

"Yeah." 

Maybe the midnight darkness is getting to him, making him say such things. But he doesn't mind- at least, not now. She doesn't mind either; she lets the darkness talk for her as they are both buried beneath the chilly blankets of the black sky, sharing small memories with each other until-

-Ineko lets out a loud snore, cutting Chuuya off just as he gets to a fond memory. 

"Hah?!" He yells then scoffs. "Jeez, you're such a baby." 

Chuuya gazes in annoyance at the slumped and drooling figure. He hates this warm feelings he's getting. "Huh," he snorts as he thinks of another nickname for her. Doesn't suit her, but he thinks that 'scumbag' is no longer appropriate- seadog still is, though. Chuuya shifts her dead weight onto her back, snapping angrily at the sleeping dead log. 

"Mind the drool, baby pirate."