Letters Home- Correspondence 3/17
War is a beast, some fucking poet had said, and it hungers, consuming everything it touches.
At least that is what Hiruma thought when his company reached the rendezvous point. They had been marching through the rain and when it finally let up they were in an abandoned city. All the signs were written with foreign letters, saying foreign things. No animals nor people set foot in this cursed, sad place. Corpses already littered the battle-warn streets. The place smelled of death and decay.
Part of the way through the town, on their way to find the hotel that was the point, Private Yukimitsu took off his hat in respect for the dead. If the Sergeant had been a greener, more naïve asshole, he would have demanded that Yukimitsu put his fucking hat back on. Instead of being that green asshole, Hiruma took off his own hat and halted the company. He bowed his head and everyone silently understood the order to take theirs hats and partake in a moment of silence for the dead.
That’s when the shooting started.
The enemy had known they were having a rendezvous here and the had known this company was still green and had actual hearts that would bleed at the sight of corpses.
“Cover!” Hiruma barked as the company scrambled to find some shelter from the bullets. Thankfully the enemy had horrible aim and horrible guns, so no one had gotten injured yet. Seeing a hole in the rubble beside a corpse, Hiruma made a dive for it. Once inside the little hole, Hiruma somehow managed to turn himself around and start returning fire.
Windows, the enemy was shooting from windows. With a growl, Hiruma used his somewhat beat to hell rifle and shot a few of the enemy snipers. One of them fell out the window, fatally wounded by Hiruma’s handy work.
The man was wearing a Sergeant uniform, just like his….
Swallowing hard, Hiruma shut his eyes and took another breath and continued to shoot at the windows the bullets were coming from. Whatever the reason he was shooting at men from his own military, Hiruma did not know, there was one thing he did know.
He wanted to live.
So he returned fire, him along with his other men who had scattered to God-only-knows where. They fired and killed and killed. Each time another corpse joined the body count, a little part of these soldiers died.
Eventually the firing stopped and a cautious Hiruma crept out of his hole. He examined the surroundings and deemed it temporarily safe.
“Roll call!” Hiruma snapped and waited for the voices of his comrades to call back to him in their number. Everyone was alive and well enough to answer, though no one stirred from the hiding places.
“Status?” Hiruma barked his question out again as he began to examine one of the so-called enemies he’d shot down. The person was of the same nationality as himself….
There weren’t enemy soldiers, these were his people in his people’s army….
For whatever reason Company 021 had just gunned down another company, 921 it seemed if the uniform was anything to go by.
The same company they were supposed to rendezvous with.
“Injured!” Monta, one of the new privates, cried. He was one of several.
“It is safe, come out if you can. Munataka, get your ass out here and start working!” Hiruma snapped a few more orders to follow that. He had the Corporals checking what they could find of the newest addition to the corpses.
Little Sena was pulling Private Juumonji out from his hiding place. Hiruma observed this and went over to help, knowing that green soldiers sometimes freaked out and froze up after battles. Juumonji had vomited on himself and judging from the lack of gunpowder smell, hadn’t done much firing of his gun.
“…You fucking killed someone didn’t you?” Hiruma observed, having been in the same position himself when he made his first kill. Juumonji only nodded, shaking.
“It happens in this fucking hell hole,” Hiruma answered as he found his discarded hat, brushed it off, and put it on, “and its going to happen again and again.”
“…But that was one our allies!” Juumonji managed to protest. The rest of the Privates gasped and stared at Hiruma, horrified.
“My definition of an enemy is simple,” Hiruma answered, “anyone who is trying to kill me is an enemy. And any fucking solider who doesn’t agree with this is naïve and foolish.”
Somehow they managed to get themselves and the wounded to the rendezvous point. Hiruma clicked on the radio and communicated to command that they had been attacked by Company 921 and that they had killed every damn one of those fuckers. He reported his wounded and that he wanted an explanation as to why his men were attacked in the first place. The relayer didn’t have any answers for Hiruma, not that that was surprising.
Afterwards Hiruma let Yukimitsu pack up the rest of the radio while he sat down to an evening of rations and letter writing. He looked around at his men, all were broken spiritually, some were damaged physically. Pulling out the Mamori’s latest letter, Hiruma re-read it and almost cried. She said such wonderful things about them….
“My fucking woman wrote me a fucking letter,” Hiruma confessed to the room, “she wrote about us.”
“What’d she say?” Juumonji asked. And Hiruma read it out loud, reading the passage about ‘brave and valiant soldiers’. Dark chuckles filled the room, everyone trying so hard to find something happy after today.
“I’m going to fucking tell her that we’re too fucking hard to kill for our own good.” Hiruma babbled as he took out a pen and paper. “Anyone else want to add anything?”
“We’re all idiots.” Monta remarked. It was true, they weren’t the smartest set, but this had another meaning. Today they’d been idiots, sentimental idiots and nearly gotten killed for that.
And with that Hiruma wrote his letter.
Fucking Woman-
You are such a fucking idiot, that’s my fucking company they are talking about and everyone in here’s a fucking moronic shit-head. Except myself, fucking badly, fucking old man, and fucking shinny, but even then they have their god damn moronic moments too.
Company 021 is full of the stupidest people you will ever see. God dammit. The only useful thing about these idiots is that they are very, very fucking hard to kill.
If you must know, we’re the only fucking company in this entire fucking military that hasn’t lost any men yet. We are fucking alive.
-Sgt. Y. Hiruma
Hiruma had Sena discretely send it off with the next currier. Hiruma hadn’t actually written his letter until much later when everyone else had been asleep, making it seem like he’d been bluffing to boost moral. Though Sena knew better, he also knew that somethings were better left unsaid.
They stayed at the rendezvous point for a week before a new currier arrived to deliver their mail and new orders.
Youichi-
I’m so glad to hear that you’re alive! Everyone back home was worried about you! Every time I listen to the news, I hear your company’s number, 021, all the time. You guys are becoming such heroes!
It means a lot to me that you wrote me a letter (could you please use less ‘fucking’ next time?) and I would like to hear your physical condition next time. I worry for your health, I hear those trenches are best at growing diseases.
If there is anything you want from back here, I’m willing to send you small packages in my replies. Since I know you hate military coffee, I sent you a small pack of ‘Moon’s Roast’, that’s your favorite right?
Lots of love,
Mamori A.
With wide eyes, Hiruma opened up the rest of the package and found the coffee grounds. He re-read the letter and started crying. Mamori was always one to care. She brushed aside his harmful words and left him a bit of that godly coffee. With tears, he heated up a kettle and looked through the envelope, yup, there was a filter.
Kurita, the large Corporal, stuck his head in the Sergeant’s tent when he heard the sniffles of someone crying. He watched Hiruma pour himself a cup of coffee, treating it like tea. He watched Hiruma re-read the letter with a small smile on his face. And then Kurita pulled his head out of the tent and stood around to keep people from loitering in the area.
Hiruma, despite all the claims to the contrary, was human and had moments of weakness. It was Kurita’s job as his second to keep others from seeing that weakness, especially the enemy.
_=_=_=_=_
Please comment.
At least that is what Hiruma thought when his company reached the rendezvous point. They had been marching through the rain and when it finally let up they were in an abandoned city. All the signs were written with foreign letters, saying foreign things. No animals nor people set foot in this cursed, sad place. Corpses already littered the battle-warn streets. The place smelled of death and decay.
Part of the way through the town, on their way to find the hotel that was the point, Private Yukimitsu took off his hat in respect for the dead. If the Sergeant had been a greener, more naïve asshole, he would have demanded that Yukimitsu put his fucking hat back on. Instead of being that green asshole, Hiruma took off his own hat and halted the company. He bowed his head and everyone silently understood the order to take theirs hats and partake in a moment of silence for the dead.
That’s when the shooting started.
The enemy had known they were having a rendezvous here and the had known this company was still green and had actual hearts that would bleed at the sight of corpses.
“Cover!” Hiruma barked as the company scrambled to find some shelter from the bullets. Thankfully the enemy had horrible aim and horrible guns, so no one had gotten injured yet. Seeing a hole in the rubble beside a corpse, Hiruma made a dive for it. Once inside the little hole, Hiruma somehow managed to turn himself around and start returning fire.
Windows, the enemy was shooting from windows. With a growl, Hiruma used his somewhat beat to hell rifle and shot a few of the enemy snipers. One of them fell out the window, fatally wounded by Hiruma’s handy work.
The man was wearing a Sergeant uniform, just like his….
Swallowing hard, Hiruma shut his eyes and took another breath and continued to shoot at the windows the bullets were coming from. Whatever the reason he was shooting at men from his own military, Hiruma did not know, there was one thing he did know.
He wanted to live.
So he returned fire, him along with his other men who had scattered to God-only-knows where. They fired and killed and killed. Each time another corpse joined the body count, a little part of these soldiers died.
Eventually the firing stopped and a cautious Hiruma crept out of his hole. He examined the surroundings and deemed it temporarily safe.
“Roll call!” Hiruma snapped and waited for the voices of his comrades to call back to him in their number. Everyone was alive and well enough to answer, though no one stirred from the hiding places.
“Status?” Hiruma barked his question out again as he began to examine one of the so-called enemies he’d shot down. The person was of the same nationality as himself….
There weren’t enemy soldiers, these were his people in his people’s army….
For whatever reason Company 021 had just gunned down another company, 921 it seemed if the uniform was anything to go by.
The same company they were supposed to rendezvous with.
“Injured!” Monta, one of the new privates, cried. He was one of several.
“It is safe, come out if you can. Munataka, get your ass out here and start working!” Hiruma snapped a few more orders to follow that. He had the Corporals checking what they could find of the newest addition to the corpses.
Little Sena was pulling Private Juumonji out from his hiding place. Hiruma observed this and went over to help, knowing that green soldiers sometimes freaked out and froze up after battles. Juumonji had vomited on himself and judging from the lack of gunpowder smell, hadn’t done much firing of his gun.
“…You fucking killed someone didn’t you?” Hiruma observed, having been in the same position himself when he made his first kill. Juumonji only nodded, shaking.
“It happens in this fucking hell hole,” Hiruma answered as he found his discarded hat, brushed it off, and put it on, “and its going to happen again and again.”
“…But that was one our allies!” Juumonji managed to protest. The rest of the Privates gasped and stared at Hiruma, horrified.
“My definition of an enemy is simple,” Hiruma answered, “anyone who is trying to kill me is an enemy. And any fucking solider who doesn’t agree with this is naïve and foolish.”
Somehow they managed to get themselves and the wounded to the rendezvous point. Hiruma clicked on the radio and communicated to command that they had been attacked by Company 921 and that they had killed every damn one of those fuckers. He reported his wounded and that he wanted an explanation as to why his men were attacked in the first place. The relayer didn’t have any answers for Hiruma, not that that was surprising.
Afterwards Hiruma let Yukimitsu pack up the rest of the radio while he sat down to an evening of rations and letter writing. He looked around at his men, all were broken spiritually, some were damaged physically. Pulling out the Mamori’s latest letter, Hiruma re-read it and almost cried. She said such wonderful things about them….
“My fucking woman wrote me a fucking letter,” Hiruma confessed to the room, “she wrote about us.”
“What’d she say?” Juumonji asked. And Hiruma read it out loud, reading the passage about ‘brave and valiant soldiers’. Dark chuckles filled the room, everyone trying so hard to find something happy after today.
“I’m going to fucking tell her that we’re too fucking hard to kill for our own good.” Hiruma babbled as he took out a pen and paper. “Anyone else want to add anything?”
“We’re all idiots.” Monta remarked. It was true, they weren’t the smartest set, but this had another meaning. Today they’d been idiots, sentimental idiots and nearly gotten killed for that.
And with that Hiruma wrote his letter.
Fucking Woman-
You are such a fucking idiot, that’s my fucking company they are talking about and everyone in here’s a fucking moronic shit-head. Except myself, fucking badly, fucking old man, and fucking shinny, but even then they have their god damn moronic moments too.
Company 021 is full of the stupidest people you will ever see. God dammit. The only useful thing about these idiots is that they are very, very fucking hard to kill.
If you must know, we’re the only fucking company in this entire fucking military that hasn’t lost any men yet. We are fucking alive.
-Sgt. Y. Hiruma
Hiruma had Sena discretely send it off with the next currier. Hiruma hadn’t actually written his letter until much later when everyone else had been asleep, making it seem like he’d been bluffing to boost moral. Though Sena knew better, he also knew that somethings were better left unsaid.
They stayed at the rendezvous point for a week before a new currier arrived to deliver their mail and new orders.
Youichi-
I’m so glad to hear that you’re alive! Everyone back home was worried about you! Every time I listen to the news, I hear your company’s number, 021, all the time. You guys are becoming such heroes!
It means a lot to me that you wrote me a letter (could you please use less ‘fucking’ next time?) and I would like to hear your physical condition next time. I worry for your health, I hear those trenches are best at growing diseases.
If there is anything you want from back here, I’m willing to send you small packages in my replies. Since I know you hate military coffee, I sent you a small pack of ‘Moon’s Roast’, that’s your favorite right?
Lots of love,
Mamori A.
With wide eyes, Hiruma opened up the rest of the package and found the coffee grounds. He re-read the letter and started crying. Mamori was always one to care. She brushed aside his harmful words and left him a bit of that godly coffee. With tears, he heated up a kettle and looked through the envelope, yup, there was a filter.
Kurita, the large Corporal, stuck his head in the Sergeant’s tent when he heard the sniffles of someone crying. He watched Hiruma pour himself a cup of coffee, treating it like tea. He watched Hiruma re-read the letter with a small smile on his face. And then Kurita pulled his head out of the tent and stood around to keep people from loitering in the area.
Hiruma, despite all the claims to the contrary, was human and had moments of weakness. It was Kurita’s job as his second to keep others from seeing that weakness, especially the enemy.
_=_=_=_=_
Please comment.