Disclaimer: PMK does not belong to me. No. It doesn't.
Indirect Conversation
These days were languid and these days were slow. Everything felt lazy in the sweltering heat. In the few idle hours between breakfast and the start of the day, Heisuke, with his knees drawn towards his body and his chin cupped in one palm, complained about how boring and pathetic it was to waste their break by just sitting around on the steps, and shouldn't they find something to do?
Sanosuke stood up and yawned loudly, stretching his long, gangly arms high above his head. His sleeves were rolled to his shoulders, and his arms were dark and tan. Sluggishly, he scratched the back of his neck and suggested that they should all go find something to eat. His stomach roared in agreement.
Shinpachi rolled his eyes and kicked him soundly in the shin, reminding him that he had just eaten less than thirty minutes before, numbskull. Did that scar of his somehow not heal completely so that it was leaking food out before it could get to his stomach?
Because his bones were hard and the skin no longer bruised, the mountain of a man then suggested that they should go tease Puppy-kun. When the shorter captain shook his head and said, no, we shouldn't, Sanosuke asked why but Shinpachi refused to answer.
It was because things had changed, and Tetsunosuke was no longer an awkward page or a confused little boy playing with toys too sharp and too long for his small, innocent hands. But Heisuke only chuckled loudly and mockingly, explaining to Sano that it was because even Puppy-kun was taller than Shinpatt-san these days! The tenth captain bellowed a deep and echoing laugh that elicited a scowl and a very mature Nyah-Phhbt-Face.
Shinpachi turned around, and stamped down hard enough on Heisuke's foot so that the eighth captain yelped. Loudly and pointedly ignoring the sniggering behind his back, the second captain hopped up the stairs gingerly, put his hands on his hips and announced that it didn't matter who was taller or who was shorter! He could still whack Puppy-kun silly if they had a contest of skill!
Heisuke mumbled something about how, if Tetsunosuke was Puppy-kun, that'd make Shinpatt-san a Kitty-kun wouldn't it and Shinpachi stepped on his foot again.
The red headed captain smiled while his right eye twitched and his teeth became fanged and asked did he say something he'd like to share? Heisuke shook his head vigorously while Sanosuke rolled with laughter, mouth open, puffing out his chest comically.
Their talk and their laughs fell into a lull, stifled by the summer heat. The air buzzed with humidity and in the distance they heard a yell and a shout and a laugh and an oink which they chose wisely not to comment on or to be curious about. Finally, Sanosuke raised his index finger on his left hand and told them that he would save them from their boredom! He had been thinking…
Don't hurt yourself, Heisuke quipped and Shinpachi smirked.
Anyway, continued the tenth captain, he had been thinking, and he decided that it was too hot to spar, and it was too humid to go causing chaos and since they had just eaten thirty-seven and a half minutes ago (Rawr, went his stomach, but he ignored it), the best choice would be to do something that didn't require a lot of physical activity! So they should go find somewhere to lie down and look at clouds, he shouted, very enthusiastically.
Shinpachi's brow shot up underneath his messy bangs, and Heisuke had to clamp both hands over his mouth. Did you boil your brain, deadpanned the second captain. Did it fall out of your stomach. Should they help him look for it, if it hadn't melted into a puddle by now.
Heisuke was much more polite. Once he could control himself well enough to not burst out in laughter, he asked why Sano would want to go look at clouds?
Because it was something to do, the burly man replied. His jaw was set, and the other two remembered all too late that when Sanosuke was set on something, he did it. Sanosuke roared, and so did his stomach.
I can't believe this, muttered Shinpachi, as he was grabbed by the front of his shirt, hoisted off his feet and slung over the tenth captain's shoulder like a sack. I can't believe he's taking us to look at clouds. Heisuke sighed with exasperation as he was collared and dragged with the heels of his feet making light tracks across the dusty floor.
They attracted some odd looks, but that was what being one of the Comedian Trio was about. Puppy-kun stopped mid-step as they passed, and shot them a suffering look that clearly asked what the hell they were doing. Tatsunosuke, behind them, with his mouth still open and poised to release a lengthy lecture, gaped with his face not unlike a fish. Okita slowed as he caught sight of them, and then eventually came to a halt, a thin book with frayed edges in his hand. Then Hijitaka hollered and he took off again.
Heisuke waved cheerily to each as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring, while Shinpachi wailed after his nose slammed upside-down into Sanosuke's shoulder for the third consecutive time. Hello, good day, oh good morning Kondou-san, last night was a bit chilly, wouldn't they agree, Heisuke blabbered.
There, Sanosuke said finally with accomplishment, depositing his burdens with little grace on to the floor. Shinpachi was too busy nursing his injured nose, but Heisuke glanced around them, brows furrowing. He stood, brushed himself off and adjusted the shoe that had come half-off during his little trip and was very calm. Sano, he began, gesturing to their surroundings with much patience, this place was…?
The back stairs, Sanosuke announced proudly; they were good to sit on to look at clouds!
Shinpachi jumped to his feet and yelled into the tenth captain's ear (which was quite a feat considering his mouth and the other's ear were quite a measurable distance apart), idiot, why did you bring us to the back stairs when we were sitting at the front stairs anyway?!
Oh that's right, Sanosuke murmured, lifting his eyes to the sky and scratching his rough chin with two fingers. Apparently it was not only too hot and humid to be going around and causing trouble, but it was also too hot and humid to be irritated for too long. Shinpachi sighed, shrugged, and seated himself on the fourth step from the ground, craning his neck to tilt his face to the sky even as the other two followed in his example.
So now that there are clouds, he ordered, look at the darn clouds.
Heisuke chuckled, and pointed to a particularly tiny one. Hey, he said, that looks like you, Shinpatt-san….ouch!
Shinpachi lifted his foot and grinned wickedly.
A bowl of rice, Sano proclaimed, pointing at an oddly shaped one with gusto. He was met with silence and a pair of very blank stares. Sano asked them what they were staring at, and did he have something on his face?
Sano, Heisuke explained very slowly, that looked nothing like a bowl of rice.
Sano grinned. Of course it did, he shouted, so loudly that it made their hearts rumble in their ribs. At first it looked nothing like a bowl of rice, true. It just seemed like a chunk of white…hey, it wasn't even white, just a chunk of gray-white cloud. It was shaped funny and looked funny and no one would pay any special attention to it. But all those other little clouds that looked like floating boats or bunnies or duckies…
Bunnies or duckies, Shinpachi echoed, chuckling.
Yeah, said Sano, all those bunny or ducky clouds, when the wind blew they'd be the first ones to waver, and when the sun glared they'd be the first to disappear, and that funny, weird cloud would be the only one that would stay. It'll change, sure, it'll be shaped differently and it'll look different but it would still be there. It's going to stay constant, even if its form is not the same, it'll always be there.
Heisuke smiled at the floor, and Shinpachi's eyes softened.
These days crawled at an ant's pace and these days were dull, but there had been days before like that. And though they whined about boredom, they knew these were happy days and that ahead of them the path was not as finely cut. Now there was time for cloud-watching, for laughing and for joking. Now there was the Comedian Trio, but a trio required three members and what if there would not be three in the future?
So it looked like a bowl of rice, Sano concluded.
Idiot, Shinpachi muttered, getting to his feet to cuff the other soundly. The wind picked up from the east, made the trees rustle in a simple lullaby. What kind of analogy is that, it didn't make sense at all! What did that have to do with rice! It was that stupid stomach talking! That wasn't a bowl of rice! He waved his finger wildly at the patch in the sky. That was a cloud, dummy! It was a cloud and nothing more than a…
The sky thundered. Then it began to rain warm water. The aforementioned cloud was blown across the sun, shielding the light like a screen. The three scuttled backwards under the roof, muttering at their misfortune. Heisuke chuckled, suggesting that maybe it was angry that Shinpatt-san had underestimated it.
Shinpachi glared balefully at the eighth captain's foot, and Heisuke promptly shut up.
Well at least it'll be cooler, Sano said.
Things were changing. It was evident in the confident way Tetsunosuke held himself, the look on Tatsunosuke's face similar to a parent's watching a child run head-first into the world, the weak, reoccurring cough that racked Okita's body, the tired, tired look in Hijitaka's eyes, and the slowing movements of their leader, wearied and rusted by time. Yet there were some things that would always remain the same.
The three sat in silent company for two hours, and it would have remained uneventful had Sanosuke not nudged Heisuke's arm gently. Hey, hey, he said, smiling, c'mon, admit it.
Heisuke turned, careful not to shift the shoulder Shinpachi had fallen asleep against, and asked him what he meant.
It looked like a bowl of rice, the other answered, you know it.
Heisuke could not contain his chuckling, and it made his shoulders shake. Shinpachi shifted, murmured in his light sleep but did not awaken. Grinning, and staring at the drab sky but finding it a wonderful sight, Heisuke nodded. Yeah, he said, it did.