Title: An Ounce of Prevention
Author: Jordanna Morgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author's consent.
Rating/Warnings: Mild PG for talk of zombie threats.
Characters: Sukari, Kajika, Kurusu, Kibito.
Setting: Probably sometime before episode five.
Summary: Soap can be as noble a weapon as a sword.
Disclaimer: They belong to Kabaneri Committee and other relevant parties. I'm just playing with them.
Notes: Written for the prompts of "Washing" at Fan Flashworks, "Underestimate" at Small Fandom Flash, and "Co-Workers" at Genprompt Bingo. This was inspired by the scene where Kajika reproves Kurusu for his dirty hands, but I've developed her motivation beyond merely preserving civilized manners, because… well, the practical reasons should be extremely obvious. (Also, a reader wanted to see more of the potential dynamics between the different social groups on the Kotetsujo. I very much agree, so here is my take on bushi-steamsmith relations.)

It was as predictable as the sunrise.

"Have you all washed your hands?" demanded Kajika, resting the basket of food rations on her hip as she braced against the sway of the train car. The frown she cast sternly around her at steamsmiths and bushi alike was positively intimidating.

Murmured affirmatives passed through the car, some of them sounding more impatient or grudging than others—especially in the case of the bushi. Looking righteously mollified, Kajika relaxed, and proceeded to hand out the rations. Once done, she moved on to similarly interrogate and then serve the passengers in the next car.

Gripping his wrapped portion of food perhaps a little too tightly, Kurusu scowled after her. "Why is that girl so obsessed with asking that? It's getting tiresome to hear it at every meal."

"Hey, go easy on her." Sukari stared firmly at the warrior. "She's only doing the job she was trained to do—and you all oughta be glad for it."

Kibito raised his eyebrows. "I don't follow. What does getting after everyone to wash their hands have to do with being a steamsmith?"

"You really don't know much about steamsmiths, do you?" Sukari asked with a smirk, only to sigh as the comment was met with blank stares. "Listen. Some girls like Kajika don't work in the train yard because they're good with steam engines. They have more of a support role instead. Back at Aragane, she might do little things like carry messages or small parts back and forth, but her real job was keeping an eye on the other steamsmiths' health. That meant going around with water or tea to keep us hydrated while we worked… and yeah, making sure we had clean hands when we ate. In fact, from the time she started, she would've been taught that was the most important thing of all."

"You're that concerned about a little machine grease?" Kurusu muttered.

"No. We're that concerned about Kabane blood."

Those words brought a chill of silence over the bushi. Sukari smiled grimly as he saw his point beginning to make a dent in their skulls.

"Part of the job for us steamsmiths is cleaning Kabane guts off of trains. That is why you bushi look at us like third-class citizens and don't really trust us, isn't it?" He raised a hand to still the beginnings of a defensive protest. "Wait a minute. Yeah, I'm not saying your attitude about it doesn't kind of suck… but when you get down to it, you're not wrong in worrying that we're a weak link in a station's defenses. One little mistake, like leaving the smallest open cut exposed, and we could be infected. It's just one of the risks we live with to keep the trains moving. …That's why the first thing a steamsmith learns is how to use a suicide charge."

If it was possible, the bushi looked even more sobered then. They received the same lesson, Sukari was sure. In the event of a station's fall, they were the ones expected to hold off the Kabane, buying time for the evacuation of nobles and townfolk; certainly their proud and rigorous training for that duty would include what must be done if they were bitten. Yet until Aragane did fall, perhaps it had been harder for them to imagine having to carry out that training. Perhaps the threat of Kabane fangs had seemed more distant to the bushi than the silent crimson danger steamsmiths regularly faced.

Of course the bushi had never thought about that. Until now, they could hardly be bothered to think about steamsmiths at all… but here beyond the walls, the lives of both groups depended on each other.

Kibito blinked thoughtfully, glancing first at the hatch through which Kajika had exited, and then around him at the steamsmiths digging into their own rations. At last he gave his comrade Kurusu a rueful shadow of a smile. "Kind of makes you think we have more in common than we ever realized."

Although Kurusu only grunted in reply, Sukari thought that even his expression had softened just a little.

"So now you know why Kajika takes clean hands so seriously," the younger man concluded. "Steamsmiths… well, we kind of get lost in our work sometimes. That's why we need somebody whose entire job is to keep us from getting careless. When she checks for holes in our gloves, or makes sure we haven't missed washing off a stray drop of blood, it might not be just one steamsmith's life she saves." He narrowed his eyes at the bushi. "It might even be yours, too."

With that Sukari turned his attention to his food, leaving the bushi to consider his words. Through the meal that followed, they were unusually quiet; and he did not fail to notice that before opening their ration packets, a few of them even gave their own hands a discreet inspection.

And at the next mealtime, the bushi were all much more polite to Kajika when she asked if they had washed their hands.

2019 Jordanna Morgan