Okita scowled as he made his way to China. It had been a few weeks since he saw her. She must've been in another arc again – one where the Shinsengumi wasn't present. In his opinion, it was unfair, seeing as they were the special police force and thus deserved the action, not the Yorozuya.
Now she sat alone on the bench, sucking the life out of a piece of sukunbo. He didn't understand how she could stand the sourness. Tabasco sauce was obviously the way to go.
She was wearing just a red dress – the one with the high slits. If they had been any higher, he'd have to arrest her for indecency. She usually wore them with pants underneath – not today though.
Her bare thighs gleamed at the sparse few in the park. Maybe he should arrest her for indecency.
"China," he greeted. He purposely sat down close – close enough to let their thighs touch, close enough to partially be in the shade of her umbrella.
She took no notice of their closeness and stared straight ahead at the rolling rain clouds.
"China," he tried again. He nudged her leg, indicating that she should react to their closeness. That she should be up and yelling at him for sexual harassment or at the least, shift away from him.
She shouldn't be sitting still and letting him share her umbrella.
Kagura blinked at him. "Oh, it's you." She made no move to move away.
Sougo frowned. What kind of greeting was that?
"China, I don't know what's – "
"Hey, Sadist. Do you know how it feels to drown?"
He shifted left, just enough so that he was no longer in bodily contact with her. "What? Are you threatening me, China? Because I could get you arrested you for that. Let's see, I could arrest you for being an illegal immigrant." He started counting on his fingers. "Threatening an officer, indecency in public – "
Her voice was quiet in the wind. "It wasn't a threat, yes? I just want to know if you've ever drowned before."
If that wasn't a threat, he didn't know what it was. Still, he answered, "No. I've never drowned before. I was always a good swimmer."
She adjusted her umbrella and stared at the handle. "Oh."
He continued. "I think it feels… almost senseless. Weightless, even. You struggle and struggle but in the end, you give up. And that lifts a huge weight off your shoulder. You're… at peace, in a sense. You've given into the fact that the water's going to win. You let yourself get carried away with the current."
Sougo wasn't sure why he was telling her this. What was the point?
"It's hard to breathe too. You're breathing in water, after all. It'll hurt your nose but I suppose you might get used to it. You'll end up losing consciousness from the lack of air and you'll die soon after."
Kagura hugged her legs to her chest – and goddammit, doesn't she know a thing about decency – and whispered again. "Oh."
The umbrella slumped to the side, partially in his hair now. Okita pushed it back and watched as it fell listlessly to the other side. The redhead made no move to hold it upright again.
"Is it cold?" she asked.
Now? It was a little windy and she was wearing a sleeveless dress… did she want his jacket? "China, if a little cold is bothering you, maybe you should go sniveling back to – "
"That's not what I meant, uh-huh." She finally turned to look at him, blue eyes wide and almost misty.
He froze. There was something in them – something out of ordinary. Before, they were light and joyful, her current emotions on displayed like a pretty jewel glistening (not that her eyes were pretty). Now, they were dark and deep, but also listless, like an unexplored area of the ocean – the areas where it was so still and calm that you knew something bad laid in wait, just waiting and waiting for the right time to get you.
The blue that held a monster.
He couldn't make out what she was thinking.
"Is it cold when you drown?" she tore her gaze away to stare in the distance again.
Sougo sighed. "I don't know, China. Why are you asking me this? I've never drowned before."
Kagura kept staring at the street, eyes following a passerby before they disappeared around the corner.
"I suppose it'll depend on the water. You could be a hot spring," he pointed out.
She made an 'mmm' noise.
Okita sighed again. "It'll generally be cold. Water usually is."
"So it's cold, weightless, and senseless and you can't breathe," she surmised, tilting her head to meet his gaze. She stared and he had a feeling she was looking past him.
He stared back, waiting for something. "That's the gist of it."
Why did she need to know this? Was she planning on drowning herself? That wasn't like China – at least the spitfire China he knew.
"Why do you drown?" her voice was now barely a whisper above the wind.
"Is this a trick question?" he raised a brow. After a moment of silence, Okita replied. "You drown because you let go. You give up and something pulls you in."
She said nothing and only closed her eyes.
…did he say something wrong? Or was it the right thing to say?
Sougo sighed. He couldn't have China moping around like this. It threw nature out of balance and would probably cause the end of the world. And as a protector of Edo, he couldn't have that.
He leaned his head back to study the swirling clouds. "It's going to rain soon," he said, mostly to fill the silence.
For the first time, she reacted, also tilting her head up. "I suppose we should go back, uh-huh."
They made no move to stand up and merely watched as the first drops of rain fell. The redhead shifted the umbrella over their heads.
"Do you think you can drown in blood?"
Okita sighed. Again with the random drowning questions. What was up with her? "I suppose. Blood is still water and you need air to survive." He wrinkled his nose. "It'll be a messier way of drowning."
She stared at the ground in front, watching it slowly turn a darker brown. "Then can you drown in… in here?" She lifted her eyes to meet his and pointed to herself painstakingly slow. "Can you drown in yourself?"
"China, if you're asking me if you can drown in your own blood – " oh.
Of course. There wasn't only one type of drowning – well, metaphorically. You could drown in water or… drown in yourself. Sougo understood now. He had his fair share of… drowning in himself. Time after time after time.
It didn't get any better. He didn't feel any better about himself – the fact that he liked it. It wasn't natural. Okita knew that.
He coped with it better time after time. He learned how to control himself a little better – learned how to deal with the aftermath a little better.
Though he knew the answer, he still had to ask. "China, did you… did you drown?"
He hated that his voice was soft, tentative even. It was like she was a scared rabbit. A Yato acting like a scared rabbit. He chuckled at the irony of it.
The girl's head snapped up, blue eyes wide and alert. "I – S-Sadist, h-how – "
Sougo raised an eyebrow. "I am Okita Sougo, Captain of the First Division in Shinsengumi, Prince of Sadist." And I've seen my fair share of bloodshed and done my share of killing. A normal person wouldn't be able to keep up with your level, China.
"Yes." That was it. She only blinked at him and uttered that single word, voice as steady as a rock. He wasn't sure what he expected but it wasn't just 'yes'.
"Oh," he looked away from her. "Did you enjoy it?"
Kagura let out a choked noise – somewhere between a chuckle and a sob. "No one enjoys drowning, Sadist."
"Some people do," Sougo said softly. I do. I don't like the fact that I do but I enjoy it.
She shifted closer to him. The umbrella moved towards the center, effectively shielding his whole head from the raindrops.
"I did too," she murmured over the pitter patter of the raindrops hitting her umbrella.
Sougo froze.
What would one do in this situation? Yes, he did tried to get her to admit that she lost herself in violence and even indirectly admitted that he did too. But what was he to do now? Did he hug her? Or punch her to distract her? Suddenly change the subject and pretend this conversation never happened? Get a perm and pretend he was Boss?
He went with the third option. 3 is a lucky number, right?
"Do you know the legend of Lake Pontchartrain?"
She jumped slightly, the first normal reaction in a while. "Poncho?"
"No, Lake Pontchartrain. You know, in Louisiana." He made an offhand gesture as if that helped everything make more sense.
"Louise? Who the hell is Louie and what does – "
Sougo sighed. "It's a lake in America. A big lake with a long name."
"Oh." Understanding coated over the syllable. "You could've just said so, Sadist."
Right. Not everyone aced geography. "Anyway, they say the lake drags you in."
Kagura frowned. "Lake Poncho drags you in? By itself? Like the water?"
"It's Lake Pontchar – " Okita sighed again. This comforting-distracting thing was hard. How the hell does Boss or Kondo-san do this? "Lake Poncho does not drag you in."
"Sadist, you just said – "
"I know what I said," he snapped. "I didn't finish it. Lake Poncho's crayfish drags you in. That's what I was going to say."
"Clay fish?" she turned, interest shining in those blue eyes.
"Cray – lobsters. Lake Poncho's lobsters drag you in." Sometimes, you just gotta dumb it down. "They come out of the water with yellow eyes and black teeth, snapping their little pincers. They'll drag you out of your house, out of your car and drag you down into the lake and never let you go. There you'll stay forever and ever, becoming lobster chow and sand."
Her eyes were impossibly wide in terror – he could see his reflection in them. When did he lean so close to her?
"Why?"
"For revenge. Because you ate cray – lobster, their kin. Why else?" he answered, leaning back to watch the drizzle.
"Oh." Then she flashed him a wicked smile. "Then have fun getting dragged into the lake by lobster minions, uh-huh."
"It's not lobster min – " he stopped himself. "I'm not the only one who eats lobster, China."
The smile remained. That was nice… ish. "Nope. I don't eat lobster. Too poor, remember? After all, you tax robbers keep stealing all our money."
Right. She worked for poor as dirt Yorozuya Gin-chan. Coercing innocent officers to buy them parfaits was what they do best. "Maybe I'll shove lobster down your throat and then you'll get dragged down with me."
Add lobster to that coercing-list too.
Kagura stood up, brushing down imaginary dust from her dress. "Tch, like you could ever drown me, Sadist."
That's what I like to hear.
She gave a light kick, getting mud on his pant leg. China gave a smile, this time bright. That was nice. "Whatever. I'm going, yes? You can catch a cold from the rain and drown in Lake Poncho. See ya, Sadist."
With a backwards wave, she shouldered her umbrella and left.
Sougo watched her go and wondered if he should tell her about the red eyed, sandy colored crayfish-lobster waiting to keep her company at the bottom of Lake Poncho.
Just in case she turned into a crayfish-lobster too.
Story is based after Yoshiwara arc, when Kagura (awesomely) turned into a monster and beat the shit out of Abuto. You could probably tell by the topic, though.
This was inspired by the song Lake Pontchartrain by Ludo. And because I went swimming alone in the evening, where the pool was dark. Then I, as any sane person would do, started thinking about the song and what it would like be to drown (because, seriously, the pool was really dark and kind of creepy). And then I watched Yoshiwara arc and this happened.
The characters might've been a bit OOC, especially since I just read the lastest chapter (Farewell Shinsengumi (Latter Part)). They probably would just kick each other asses to comfort each other or something, not have a heartfelt talk.
Anyway, hoped you liked it and feedback is always appreciated.