A/N: I'm back! Hmm... I'm stuck on my multi-chap Gintama fic and I'm currently obessessed with my new found love - BL! Anyways, the first long part of this fic can be taken as a normal friendship fic, while the OMAKE contains slight OkitaXHijikata, so people who dislike it, you can avoid it at the OMAKE section (I'll make it obvious when it's coming, don't worry) :D A little reference to a previous fic - Hijikata's Special Day, but the reference is so small that it's almost insignificant, so don't worry about it. Enjoy! Happy Birthday, Okita!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Soraichi... he didn't fall for my banana under basket trick!
Sometimes it's better to leave the best for the last
BOOOOOOOOOM!
"WHAT THE HELL! SOUGO, I WAS BRUSHING MY TEETH! WHATEVER DID MY TOOTHBRUSH DO TO OFFEND YOU?!" Hijikata Toushirou shouted out angrily at the teenager standing outside of the bathroom with a smoking Bazooka.
"Hijikata-san, it's time for your dental checkup. Come on, be a good boy and take off your teeth. If you don't…" Okita Sougo finished the sentence by adjusting a better aim at the Vice Captain of the Shinsengumi.
"… what do you mean 'take off'? These are my real teeth… Oi, Sougo… what are you doing… SOUGO!!"
BOOOOOM! Smoke and debris shot out of the bathroom accompanied by pieces of blown up remains of a pink toothbrush, the tip of it in the shape of a mayonnaise bottle.
Okita turned and walked away from the bathroom briskly through the crowd of curious men watching the scene. As Okita walked back to his own bedroom, Kondo appeared in front of him beaming, "Morning, Sougo! You're very early today, aren't you?"
"Morning, Kondo-san," Okita greeted casually. "I've always wanted to try that out ever since last week."
"Hahaha! It's good to be young, isn't it!" Kondo laughed heartily, putting aside the fact that Okita just destroyed the bathroom.
Okita smiled happily and took out a scroll. "I've made a list on what I will be doing on this special day." He untied the string binding it and let it unroll down to the ground, almost touching his feet. Kondo squinted his eyes at the miniscule writing and read out the first three lines.
"Try to kill Hijikata at 6 am in the morning – check, Try to destroy the bathroom together with Hijikata, the vermin of Shinsengumi – check, Irritate Hijikata by destroying his favorite pink mayonnaise bottle shaped toothbrush – check," Kondo's voice faded slowly as he read the horrendous wish list that Okita had compiled.
He laughed dryly and said, "Well, that's a comprehensive list… But I think you should tone down a little. I understand that you want to have fun on your special day, but it's better to keep a little for future uses… you wouldn't want to waste it all on one day, would you?'
Okita gave a thoughtful look and finally replied after a minute full of 'hmmm'. Just when Kondo decided he should stop Okita in case he suffocates himself from the lack of oxygen intake, Okita opened his mouth and said, "You know what, Kondo-san? You're very right. I'll just take my time to administer my list and stop when the sun sets. Then I'll return to quarters and resume my daily routine on Hijikata-san."
"Okita-taichou!" a bright voice rang out from behind. Yamazaki walked up to the two men and brought up a bag of tidbits. "This arrived just in time for you."
Okita took the bag of extra spicy senbei from Yamazaki happily. "It's from…"
Before he could finish the name, Kondo patted him on his shoulder and said, "That's nice for a birthday present, isn't it? For the sake of your sister, tone down a little, OK? You don't want to worry her at all, right?"
With a silent nod, Okita hugged the bag of tidbits and walked off. Kondo secretly hoped that he had managed to get Okita to not attempt to blast Matsudaira-tocchan's new poodle that he had bought last week. Yamazaki secretly hoped that someone could repair the bathroom as soon as possible. Hijikata secretly hoped that Okita did not find out about his full set of mayonnaise bottle themed toothbrushes he had hidden under his futon. The rest of the Shisengumi secretly hoped that either Okita does not return ever again or when he does return, he's at least a little less sadistic than before.
Okita decided to take a little walk in the park. Maybe he'd accidentally chance upon Matsudaira walking his poodle. He did promise Kondo he would tone down, meaning he would not intentionally maim anything in his wish list, but only if he does see it accidentally in the streets.
Bark! Bark! Now that sounded familiar. Before Okita could turn around to see what was behind him, hot air and darkness engulfed him. He could hear the dog's panting from inside his mouth echoing like thunder. He could hear a familiar faint voice praising the enormous white dog, "Well done, Sadaharu! It's a good catch."
After what seemed to be an excruciatingly long twenty seconds, his head was released covered with warm dog spit. He fell forwards helplessly as he fainted from the shocking attack of the Yorozuya's pet. He reminded himself just before he lost his senses to add 'Kill the stupid white dog together with the China girl' into his birthday wish list.
Okita woke up abruptly. He sat up and found himself in a room. He spotted a familiar white kimono with blue design along the hems of it hanging from the ceiling. The bedroom door slid open slowly as if on cue and Shinpachi's head poked in curiously.
"Oh, you're awake," Shinpachi said cheerfully. "Come on out. Lunch is ready."
Okita touched his head and found it clean. There wasn't any stinking smell from his head. He shrugged and assumed that someone might have helped cleaned him up. He slowly stood up and walked out of Gintoki's bedroom. On the small table in the center of the living room was a generous spread of rice, miso soup and grilled fish. There were four sets of the meal. Gintoki and Kagura were already sitting on the couch, drooling at the seemingly delicious lunch. Shinpachi came out from the kitchen with four glasses of pink liquids.
"Strawberry milk!" Gintoki said happily as he scooped up the glass and drank it hungrily as soon as Shinpachi had set it down.
Shinpachi sat down and sighed at the childish man while gesturing at Okita to sit down. "Gin-san, stop drinking it as if it's Dom Perigon."
"Shut up!" Gintoki slurred as he reached out for the carton of strawberry carton that Shinpachi had brought out and poured a second serving for himself. "It's not everyday where you get such luxury."
"Like I said, you don't get drunk from drinking Strawberry milk!" Shinpachi countered exasperatedly.
"Er… can I know what's going on here?" Okita said at last.
But the Yorozuya had already tucked in. Kagura gobbled into her bowl of rice hungrily, grains of rice stuck onto her cheek due to her violent actions. She took a bite of her grilled fish together with - Okita noted with concealed shock - the fish bones and swallowed it carelessly. Gintoki chewed onto his food noisily, scooping a big mouth of rice, picked out the fish meat skillfully and put them into his mouth simultaneously. While chewing his food, he gulped down the small bowl of miso soup.
"OKAWARI!" almost at the same time, both Kagura and Gintoki held out their bowls to Shinpachi for a second serving of rice and soup.
The poor boy was only halfway through his food when he sighed in resignation and took Kagura's bowl. He turned to the rice cooker located conveniently next to him and stuffed a big scoop into the bowl. Kagura's eyes sparkled as Shinpachi gave her the second serving of rice. Meanwhile Gintoki drank happily from his glass of strawberry milk as he waited for his turn.
"Danna, what am I doing in your house?" Okita asked again.
At last, Gintoki's dead fish eyes looked at him for the first time in the day. "We found you lying around in the park after Sadaharu attacked you. We thought that it was rather bad of us to actually leave you there so we brought you home. We've just got some cash, so Gin-san is being very nice here, treating you to lunch in our home."
Okita's eyes narrowed at the seemingly suspicious explanation. Shinpachi took Gintoki's bowl and refilled it with miso soup. "What's that look, Okita-kun? Don't you know how to be grateful when someone is being nice to you?" Gintoki lectured, pointing his chopsticks at Shinpachi reproachfully.
"Yeah! Be grateful since we didn't leave you dying on the streets! Be glad that I stopped Sadaharu from peeing on you!" Kagura said loudly and imitated Gintoki's actions with her own pair of chopsticks.
"Well, in the first place, it was your fault that your pea-sized brain couldn't even manage your stupid dog. You had to take responsibility!" Okita snapped.
Kagura opened her mouth to argue but Shinpachi shot her a glaring look. She looked strangled as she calculated in her mind whether she should back out. "Hmph! I'm not going to fight with you on this!" she said at last and started gobbling her food again.
Okita looked at the Yorozuya warily. They were acting weird. There must be something going on. Did something happen when he was unconscious? Shinpachi gave an awkward laugh and urged, "Okita-san, I've made lunch for you as well, so eat it!"
Okita looked at food set in front of him skeptically. At last he gave up speculating and tucked in. It wasn't as delicious as a high-class restaurant, but it made a decent homemade meal.
The next fifteen minutes lasted in silence except for Gintoki and Kagura's noisy gobbling. Finally, Kagura slumped in the couch with a little tummy bulging out while Gintoki was picking his nose lazily with his glass of strawberry milk in the other hand. Shinpachi was busy washing the dishes in the kitchen. Okita shifted slightly as he dodged the dirt that Gintoki had flecked out of his pinky's tip.
Soon, Shinpachi came out with a plate of watermelon. It looked red and juicy. Gintoki eyed the plate and scoffed, "Keh! I don't need that red indecent stuff! Everything I need is in this!"
Shinpachi frowned as the silly man brought up his glass of strawberry milk proudly. "Gin-san, I know you're happy that you can afford a month's worth of strawberry milk, but please don't go crazy drinking it non-stop. It's going to take at toll on your body soon. Remember what the doctor said?"
Gintoki mumbled something about kids not understanding the wonders of strawberry milk, pachinko, strawberry parfaits and sakes as Shinpachi set down the plate of fruit. Okita was about to express his thanks for the dessert when he heard something drop behind. He looked back, finding Sadaharu behind him, its mouth open with saliva dripping onto the floor. Among the pool of drool was a familiar green wallet.
"Hey… is that my wallet?"
The atmosphere in the room froze momentarily.
"Is it just me or does my wallet look empty?"
As Okita bent down to pick up his wallet, the Yorozuya squealed nervously, "SADAHARU!"
Once again, hot air and darkness engulfed him.
Okita woke up abruptly as cool air blew against him. He blinked and found himself outside of the Shinsengumi quarters. His head felt sticky and smelt bad. The door opened slightly and Yamazaki stepped out. The spy looked beside him and gasped, "Okita-taichou! Were you out here all this while? You were late so Kyoukuchou (A/N: Captain ie Kondo) sent me to look for you…. Eww… and what's that smell?"
The door opened bigger and Hijikata looked out cautiously. He spotted Okita sitting outside of the quarters limply.
"What is wrong with you?" he said in genuine surprise.
"What do I look to you?" Okita answered with his own question.
"… You look as if a dog raped you. Am I smelling dog drool?" Hijikata sniffed and stepped out of the quarters. He reached out and pulled Okita up.
"Oi, what are you doing?" Okita asked warily.
One of Hijikata's eyebrow arched as he looked at Okita, "Isn't it obvious? I'm bringing you in for a wash. We're waiting for you before we start the party and I doubt it feels good for you to party when you're sticky and stinky, isn't it?"
Okita blinked at the honest answer. He let Hijikata pull him into the quarters without any resistance and hung his head as they walked to the bathroom. There had been basic necessary repair done to the bathroom. There was at least a functional shower, toilet and basin for use. Okita hesitated outside the bathroom.
"What is it? It's your fault that this bathroom is so screwed," Hijikata said crudely from behind him.
"It's not that…" Okita mumbled. It didn't feel good that he was actually feeling rather good about Hijikata fussing over him. "I… I forgot my kimono."
"Oh that," Hijikata said casually. "Don't worry about it. I'll get it while you take a shower. You'll find it later outside the door."
"But…!!" Okita wanted to protest but Hijikata had already walked off.
Ten minutes later, just as how Hijikata had promised, Okita found his favorite kimono lay neatly outside the bathroom door. He wondered if Hijikata had known it was his favorite or it was just coincidence. He slowly dressed and then leisurely walked to the meeting room where the party was. He opened the door slowly and found the members gathering at entrance. This had seemed familiar. It then hit him when the Shinsengumi members parted, creating a path for him. At the end of the path was Hijikata with a bazooka aimed carefully away from him. The man wore dark blue kimono and wore sunglasses even though they were indoors.(1) He quietly activated the bazooka and colorful smoke puffed out simultaneously with confetti.
"Happy Birthday, Sougo," Hijikata said casually and added with a smirk, "It's the return gift for what you did last time."(2)
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OKITA-TAICHOU!!" the rest of the Shinsengumi echoed after excitedly.
Notes:
(1) Think... Mayora 13 XD The episode where Kondo, Okita and Matsudaira tried to mess up his daughter's date.
(2) The little insignificant reference I was talking about... If you are interested, kindly read Hijikata's Special Day.
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"Hijikata-san… you're crying. We're supposed to have a staring contest," Okita deadpanned.
"But I… but I…" Hijikata cried, his tears streaming down his cheeks, his face flushed from the alcohol. "Every time I look at you, I feel like crying!"
Okita frowned. "What? You're the one who makes me want to cry every time I see you…"
"No… it's not that… I don't mean it in that way…" Hijikata choked on the words. "It's just that every time I see you, I think of… I think of…"
"Whom do you think of?" Okita urged impatiently. He had thought a drunk Hijkata would have been interesting, but not this irritating.
Hijikata's mouth opened and closed his mouth for a few times before bursting into tears again. It wasn't loud and noisy like Kondo when he cried. Somehow, Okita thought Hijikata looked… feminine. He observed that Hijikata's lips did not seem rudely large and his narrow eyes were rather attractive looking from Okita's view above him. That brought him to the attention that Hijkata was in his arms. Since when had that happened?
Okita looked behind him. He and Hijikata had sat with their backs facing the room. Kondo was already asleep, some men were gambling while drinking even though it was against the Shinsengumi rules, Yamazaki was waving his badminton racket, wobbling in his drunken moves, the rest of the men were either groaning from too much alcohol or were snoring.
Okita turned around again. He looked at the sleeping Vice Captain in his arms.
"Hijikata-san…" Okita said softly. The elder man snuggled closer in response.
A tear trailed down from the corner of Hijikata's eye. Okita gently wiped off the tear with his thumb. His thumb smoothed down along Hijikata's cheek and to his chin. He cupped the chin and brought Hijikata's face closer. With a smooth and swift movement, Okita pressed his lips lightly against Hijikata's. As fast as it had happened, Okita released the sleeping man and settled him gently onto the tatami.
"Happy birthday to me," Okita mumbled to himself satisfactorily as he left the room stinking of drunk men.
Come to think of it... this is my first BL fic (though not very strong in the theme)... Oh well, do R&R!