Author's Note: Whoa! Where have I gone?! Well I got married, for one (yay!), and then secondly, I'll admit that I've been bitten by the Original Fiction bug. Not a bad bug to get bitten by at all, but my original series The Noble Project (link on my prof if you want to follow the blog. It's good fun & stoic douchebaggery!) is taking up a great deal of my creative energy.

I'm not abandoning my other fics, but updating will be slow, as many of you may have noticed. That said, I'm going to give to you this little scene that keeps floating around in my head. It is not by any means historically accurate (information on Katsura is very vague, so I scrapped pretty much all of the facts.), but you should be used to that. =P

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X characters. I do reserve the rights to all OCs

When We Were Young

We weren't warlords.

"You're growing so quickly Kogoro."

Ten year old Katsura Kogoro sat beside his parents in the living room of their friends and bowed to the beautiful woman who had spoken to him. She was the lady of the house and even though he referred to her now as Okita-san (he was practically a man now) as opposed to auntie as he had in his younger days, she was indeed very much like family to him.

"I have been working hard to bring my family honor." he replied, every bit as practiced and polished as his father had made him to be.

Okita Hana giggled lightly behind her hand and she cast an amused glance at his parents. His mother coughed lightly and did not return the smile.

"Kogoro does not have to try," came the deep, yet warm rumble of Hana's husband, "he has always been a good boy."

"You must be so proud to call him your son," Hana said to her friends, smiling affectionately at the boy.

His father, one Katsura Hiromoto looked to the boy. He had adopted this child into his family three years ago and there was not a day that passed that he was not proud of him. He was, just as Hana and Katsujiro had said, a good boy. He was eager to be taught, quick to learn, and clung to bushido like a lifeline.

He was a perfect son.

"Ah," said Hiromoto, "but what of your own son? Soushi should be starting training soon, yes?"

Hearing his name, Okita Soushi perked up. He had been re-enacting battle scenes with a few origami samurai helmets his eldest sister Mitsu had folded for him earlier that day. With three of them perched on the fingers on his right hand, and only one on his left, it was an unfair fight, yet the lone warrior appeared to be emerging victorious. Either that or his enemies considered crooked helmets fashionable these days.

Shaking the paper from his hands he leaned forward, his eyes glistening with excitement.

"Oh yes sir!" he cried, causing his mother to jump and make a calming gesture with her hands.

Hiromoto chuckled. This boy was a bundle of energy and always managed to make him laugh.

"No doubt following in your father's footsteps," he said, giving his closest friend a sort of smile that fathers share with each other when they speak of their sons' accomplishments.

But the young Okita shook his head. "Oh no, Hiro-san," he said, his grin growing wider by the second, "I'll be studying the Tennen Rishin Ryu!"

Kogoro's mother looked at him curiously, but remained silent. Hiromoto let out a low whistle.

"Tennen Rishin Ryu, then?" he looked to Katsujiro, "At the Shieikan dojo?"

Katsujiro nodded and Kogoro's mother, Yukie lowered her hand from her mouth. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible and fragile, like verbal porcelain.

"But Shieikan is in Edo."

Hana sighed and swallowed, her eyes misting over slightly. "My home will feel so empty without my boy," she said with a watery smile, smoothing out his hair affectionately, "but it is what he has chosen."

Katsujiro placed a loving hand over his wife's, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Sou will come home during the winters and he will work hard to retain this family's honor."

"Of course I will, papa!" Soushi said with a smile, ducking out from his mother's hand, "I'm going to become the strongest fighter there ever was!"

Everyone in the room smiled at him except for Kogoro, who rolled his eyes. Hana gave her son's shoulder a light tap and pointed to the door.

"Why don't you and Kogoro go outside and play for a bit?"

Neither boy needed to be asked a second time. Soushi gathered his helmets and with a hasty bow, bolted from the room. Kogoro took his time, saying a polite farewell to each person in the room, then exited quietly and gracefully.

When their sons were gone, Hana sat back on her hands, relaxing against her husband's shoulder.

"I will never tire of them," she said, smiling, "I just love children."

Hiromoto reached for his cup of sake and raised it to her, "that is because we have been blessed with the best children."

"We have, haven't we?" mused Katsujiro, mimicking his friend's actions. The two men drank, poured, then drank again.

"Have you thought of marriage, Hana-san?" It was Yukie's delicate voice again. She held her sleeve up to her mouth again, letting out a barely noticeable cough.

"Marriage?" Hana asked, her brows raised, "I am already married!"

If Yukie was amused, she did not let it be known. Hana giggled.

"Do not be salty, wife," Katsujiro chastised playfully. She gave his leg a swat and he shook his head. "women should not be allowed to consume alcohol."

"We have not yet considered a bride for our Soushi," she said, ignoring her husband's comments, "he is a child."

Any other woman may have been offended at the way Hana had answered the question, but Yukie had known the woman too long to be truly insulted. Okita Hana had strange ways of thinking and was far too romantic for a woman of their time. She was deeply in love with her husband (something that Yukie would never admit jealousy of), and made a show of it every moment she could.

Hana was also the sort of mother who gave her children more freedom than children deserved. To think she was allowing her young son to leave home to train in Edo! The city was such a dangerous place, filled with vice and sin. Yukie was content to not even visit the place. Nothing good would come of Soushi making a home there without the structure of his family.

"And you?" Hana countered, smiling as she raised another cup of sake. Katsujiro didn't stop her. He couldn't deny her anything.

Hiromoto cleared his throat, "We haven't discussed it overmuch, but the Yamata girl has some pleasing assets attached to her."

Hana sucked in a breath. "Shousha?"

There was a sour look on Yukie's face that said she would first marry her son to a brothel girl before she accepted Yamata Shousha into her family, but these sorts of decisions were not hers. Her husband's word was her word. That was how a real marriage worked.

Hana also couldn't hide her dissatisfaction with this news, watching through haughty lowered lids as her husband poured her more drink.

"Funny, I always thought she was closer with Soushi."

Katsujiro let out a belt of laughter. "Do I sense animosity between friends?"

"I am simply saying I believe she and Sou may fall in love very soon," she said plainly.

He gave her a doting smile. "Darling, they are eight, and you are drunk."

Hana sent him a flat look. "I see the way he looks at her. It's not so different from the way you look at me."

"I certainly hope not," he replied with a wickedly amused sort of look on his face, "I'd like my son to have his innocence for a bit longer."

Yukie looked away, embarrassed at the couple's brazen words, but her husband laughed and leaned back. "There is the matter of her parents to consider," he said lightly, "and I don't think I am alone when I say I'd rather not deal with them."

Hana made a disgusted face, but smoothed it out with a smile, leaning forward to put her hands on Hiromoto's large knuckles.

"Even so," she said gently, "it would take much more than a marriage contract to destroy our friendship."

"I'll drink to that," he replied, grinning.

Katsujiro nodded happily and called over one of the servants to bring more sake. Tonight was a celebration of friendship, just one of many that the four so often shared.

xxxx

"Edo, huh?"

Kogoro kicked a few stones across the courtyard. He hadn't known of Soushi's plans to move across the country and though from a realistic point of view it didn't matter when or how he found out, as a child, it hurt that his friend hadn't confided in him.

"Yeah," Soushi said, crouching on the ground and waddling across the ground on the balls of his feet, a test of balance.

Kogoro didn't respond, picking up one of the rocks and tossing it into the air.

"Wanna see if Shou-chan can play?" Soushi had moved from waddling to balancing across the stones that outlined the koi pond.

"Does she know?"

"Nope," came Soushi's reply, "she's gonna be so surprised. I get to train at Shieikan!"

It was then that Kogoro first felt the two years that separated them. Soushi was so excited about getting to train at such a prestigious school that he had failed to consider how his choice was affecting those around him. It wasn't selfishness; Okita Soushi was never selfish, it was naivety. Shou-chan, Shousha, the wealthy girl who lived at the end of the street, would not be excited.

She'd be devastated.

Yamata Shousha completed their trio and while the three did nearly everything together, Kogoro knew she favored Soushi. This was most likely because he shared her penchant for trouble, while Kogoro acted as a safeguard, an older brother who could buffer her from the other kids who would pick on her, or gently show her the error of her ways when she began an altercation.

Kogoro didn't mind. He liked bringing order to things. He liked balancing propriety with adventure and he would never complain about being needed. But in this moment, he was angry. In his heart, he knew he didn't have a right to be, but right now, he didn't care.

Once Soushi left for Edo, Kogoro would have too much weight on his shoulders. He wouldn't be able to bear it. He didn't want to bear it. He could be his father's pride. He could be Shousha's rock. He couldn't be Soushi. When Soushi left, that would be expected of him.

Hana would miss her youngest. He would have to fill that void for her. He was at the Okita household so often that she always joked he was her second son, born first. Shousha would need her companion. She would need to be told jokes and fairy tales and encouraged in her antics of revenge against her abusive parents.

She would need to be loved.

It was a stupid thing to think about. They were just kids. As much as Kogoro tried to convince himself that he was a man, he knew that he was still a child, and it was quite clear they were too. He did love her, as a sister, like she always said, but he knew that there was something special between her and her 'ta-chan'. It was a different sort of friendship, one that he didn't have with Soushi, and one that he would never have with her. Hana said it all the time and Kogoro believed it. Someday, they would be in love.

But Kogoro could not be that for her. He couldn't be all of that for everyone.

Clenching his fists, he took a step forward, then another, and then another. Before he knew what he was doing, he was running out of the gate, with Soushi calling out behind him, begging him to wait.

He ran for a while, until he reached the bridge that the three of them like to fish on. When he stopped, it wasn't for sentimental reasons, but because his legs wouldn't carry him any further. The sun was setting on the Western side of the bridge and he stood there, arms crossed on the rail, staring out at the orange river.

When Soushi caught up, he was panting, his little hands gripping his hakama as he struggled for breath.

"Hey..."

"Don't 'hey' me!" Kogoro snapped, "you're leaving, so whatever. Just go."

Not saying anything, Soushi joined his friend, crossing his arms as well and resting his head on them, looking over at the older boy with his large brown eyes, wide with the innocence of a child.

For a few moments, neither of them said a word. They didn't need to. Soushi was making it clear that he wouldn't leave his friend alone in the dusk. As upset as he was, Kogoro was grateful for that.

With no emotion whatsoever, and his eyes glazed over, staring out at the water, he spoke.

"She's dying, Sou."

Soushi blinked, inviting him to elaborate.

"My mother is dying."

He wasn't surprised. "What's wrong with her?"

Kogoro put his elbows on the wood and rested his chin in his hands, sighing. "She's got consumption. Father calls it the Red Death. I think giving it new names is foolish. It is called tuberculosis. Running from the name won't change her fate."

Soushi looked down into the river, floating along lazily beneath them. "Will you cry when she dies?"

"No."

"Oh," Soushi bit his lip, "I would cry if my mother died."

Kogoro nodded. "So would I. It's just-" he paused, pushing off the bridge and turning to look up at the dark Eastern sky, "Yukie is not not my mother. She is my father's wife. She doesn't love him, and she doesn't love me."

"Of course she loves you," Soushi protested, "she always says how proud of you she is."

"She's just there," he emphasized, then dropped his head, shaking it and whispering, "it's like she's already a ghost."

Soushi was quiet for a minute, as he watched a fisherman cross the bridge with his young daughter.

"I still think she loves you."

Kogoro took in his friend's words, even if he didn't believe them. There was no evidence that suggested his mother had any sort of affection for him. She didn't dislike him; she was always polite, but politely removed. It was how she was with everyone. She made no exceptions. Not for husband, and not for child. Still, his father did love her and that was something he found puzzling.

When Yukie passed on, Hiromoto was going to be heartbroken. Kogoro didn't see why, but there were times, particularly on her bad days, that there was a heavy sadness in the man's eyes. It was only out of respect for his father that Kogoro would keep his eyes downcast after her death. She deserved to be mourned, he supposed, in a way that one might morn the passing of a cousin that one had met only once or twice.

"Will you sit with me, Sou? At the funeral?"

"Of course," he replied, nodding encouragingly, "I'll always be there for you."

Kogoro let the corners of his mouth tip up. He could always count on Soushi. He had been able to confide in him when they met two years ago, and had never been let down during their entire friendship. That was the sort of boy that Soushi was. While Yukie frowned upon the Okita style of parenting, the truth was that they were a family, a real family with a closeness that could never be broken. Because of this, they knew how to relate to other people, to make them feel important and wanted.

"So, when are you leaving?"

"At the beginning of spring, near the new year."

Kogoro considered this. That was about six months away. They had time to get adjusted to the idea, time to prepare for separation.

"Sou-chan will cry."

The smile that normally lit up Soushi's face like a flock of fireflies began to fade slowly.

"She'll be okay," he said, though the wavering of his voice noted that he wasn't entirely convinced either.

"No she won't."

The truth stung. Kogoro hadn't meant to hurt his feelings (or maybe he had. There was still a bit of juvenile petulance that he couldn't quite seem to shake), but he was right. They were a team, but while the boys functioned just fine on their own, Shousha depended on them to get through her days.

She depended on him.

"I have to go," he protested quietly, "I have to get strong."

"You can get strong here, with me."

"No," Soushi said firmly, "I have to go to Shieikan. I have to become the best swordsman in the world so I can come back here and protect her forever."

Kogoro looked at him doubtfully and held out his pinky. "You promise?" The words came out fiercely and his mouth was set in a firm line.

Soushi looked up in surprise. "Promise what?"

"That you'll come back," he said, "that you'll become a great swordsman and return here to marry our Shou-chan and protect her forever."

Linking his pinky into Kogoro's, Soushi grinned, "Yeah. I promise."

The sky was quickly darkening, so the boys turned, throwing their arms over each other's shoulders.

"You better hurry up, Sou. We can't wait around forever."

"I'll be quick. I'll be the best in..." he paused to count, "nine years."

Kogoro scoffed, "Yeah right. You can't master a style in nine years."

"Can too," Soushi argued, "just watch."

When they reached the gate again, Kogoro's parents were saying their goodbyes, Hiromoto using his large arms to support his ailing wife.

"Can we promise one more thing?" Soushi asked, holding out his pinky this time.

Kogoro nodded, "Yeah sure."

"Promise not to forget about me. When I'm in Edo, don't get a new best friend."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sou!" he hissed, giving the shorter boy a stern look, "where am I going to find another one of those?"

Soushi held up his little finger.

With a brotherly grin, Kogoro hooked his finger in again.

"Don't worry. Nothing can break us apart."

At this, Soushi gave a quick nod. "Yeah. Nothing in the world."

xxxx

Author's Notes: I don't know why, but I had an Okita/Katsura BFF thought one day and haven't really gotten rid of it. We all know it won't end well when Okita & Katsura grow up, but as I have no intention of expanding on this, I'll let you decide on the details. :)

Hope you enjoyed this short one!