Title: Woodcuts
Author: liriaen
Fandom: Peacemaker Kurogane
Word Count: 6 x 100.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 to R, implied character deaths
Summary: Six ukiyo snapshots of the Shinsengumi.
A/N: For Moshesque and Misura.
1 ( Yoshida/Suzu, sakura/cherry blossoms. )
The world is a swirl of pink, filled with the soft chatter of courtesans and the softer fall of blossoms, but Yoshida broods inside the ryokan, calling for sake after sake.
It's hard to say what brought this on; as hard as it is to say why Suzu places a twig of sakura on the lacquered serving tray.
Yoshida nearly breaks Suzu's wrist before he shoves him onto the tatami and parts Suzu's kosode. "Cut like a branch, yes?" he snarls. "That's what you want, you foolish boy?"
"Better to be cut in bloom." Suzu gasps, yielding, needing, wanting. "Sensei..."
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2 ( Hijikata/Okita, braids. )
Souji hums quietly so as not to wake Toshizou (which makes no difference, with Toshi snoring away like a woodsman) and throws Saizou a rice ball to keep the piglet busy (because if something sets Toshi off like fireworks, it's Saizou sniffing his toes).
Toshi hasn't changed into civilian clothes yet (fine... Souji couldn't wait and glomped him), and their romp got the long, braided haori-himo in knots (which gives Souji ideas of kinbaku... so he distracts himself, playing with Toshi's hair instead)-
Too bad that Toshi has to jolt awake to report to Kondou then, all braided-up like that.
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3 ( Tetsu/Susumu, 'Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you' - dedicated to Nirvana fans everywhere! )
"Stop following me." Susumu stands stock-still, his face a mask of disapproval.
Sheepishly, Tetsu rubs his neck. "Umm, this is a bad part of town. Doesn't a pretty lady like yourself need an escort?"
"What. Does. It. Look. Like." Susumu gives his tied-in-front obi a tug and cuffs Tetsu's ear. "You're drawing attention. Get lost."
"What if I want to request your services, miss?"
Susumu's classic eyebrows rise even higher. I'd beat you to within an inch of your life, he wants to say when his peripheral vision tells him to push Tetsu out of the way of Akesato's shuriken.
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4 ( Hijikata/Okita, the last haiku. )
Hearing the first drops of rain, Souji crawls to the door. He gazes out at fat splashes chasing through the yard and shivers in the summer heat.
Back in the room there's Toshizou's little book, buried between fever-soaked sheets, and Souji remembers how their bellies used to ache from laughing so hard.
The thin rice paper has become crinkled and dog-eared, its calligraphy smudged, but Souji doesn't need it any longer. He knows each clumsy syllable by heart.
And just before the rain fills his ears he thinks of the last of Toshi's haikus - unfinished now, beautiful in its imperfection.
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5 ( Tetsu/Suzu, twenty years later. )
Tetsu still wants Suzu to be the boy with the honest, open smile, not the depraved monster staring at him from a single, icy eye.
That's when Tetsu's knees buckle, when he sobs with grief.
"Poor Ichimura," Suzu offers in mock-sympathy. "All alone now."
Fighting for air, Tetsu lunges. He stabs Suzu over and over again, Suzu who's reduced to a wraith oozing blood and insanity, but before Tetsu knows what he's doing he is tasting Suzu's mouth, too hot and too sweet, and Tetsu holds him close, hugging him in his thrashing and pain until both men go rigid.
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6 (Ito/Hijikata, mind games)
Toshizou splashes a bit, watching through hooded eyes as the fop lowers himself into the bath.
Fuck Hokushin Itto-ryu; he could simply drown him.
"Have you come to a decision?" Ito drawls, lashes fluttering like a fan.
Toshi yawns. "Did you say something?"
Smiling widely, Ito scoots closer. "In all honesty? You're not even my type. I'd rather see you dead,
but as it turns out you have more pull with the men than Kondou, who... is being executed as we speak."
Curiously, Toshi's lunge falls flat, and pressed under water he hears Ito call for more towels and ropes.
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