Anonymous requested: Some RokkaKinoTani (Kino on middle)? Please?
Admin Notes: Rokkaku and Tanizaki must have their hands full trying to take care of Kinoshita! Set in a time when Kinoshita and Tanizaki just became escorts! -Admin Hirahara
There were a lot of things Rokkaku had to take care of, now that he was put in charge of the headquarters. His main job, of course, was to make sure his escorts did their missions properly and take care of them if anything drastic happened. He was the subtle decision maker and looked after the escorts from the shadows. With only three escorts under his command, it was needless to say that things were always busy. Luckily, not enough deceased ones seem to appear to ruin the every peaceful life.
Of the three escorts, Kinoshita and Tanizaki were the two that were very close. Not saying that they excluded Saeki, for they had reason to respect the other, but they had been together before they even came to work under Rokkaku. Their closeness, however, could often be mistaken for fighting. Tanizaki, a strong built man with a Kanabo, often rushed head first into situations and fought his way through the problems. Kinoshita, on the other hand, tended to hold back and waited for trouble to pass. Rokkaku sometimes found them arguing after missions because something went wrong. The crimson eyed escort often found himself settling the fights, where Tanizaki would grumble and go off to hit something (his words were 'to train more') while Kinoshita would end up following the colonel for the rest of the day.
Rokkaku never really minded, since Kinoshita still had a spark of childishness. Of course, they would only make up when Tanizaki came back from 'training' and saw Kinoshita close to Rokkaku, feel jealous, and come over to apologize so he could also get a pat on the head. But this was always the norm, and Rokkaku knew that the two couldn't really stay mad at each other for very long.
Since Kinoshita discovered the glories and riches of alcohol, however, it seemed that their arguments became more one sided. Tanizaki would often complain to Rokkaku that his friend was a drunkard, and Kinoshita would complain that the other never loosen up. Kinoshita didn't always get drunk, though. Only when he was feeling a little overly happy on a mission's success or when he was feeling down did Tanizaki ever have to drag him back to the headquarters and dispose of him somewhere on the floor for Rokkaku to nearly trip over.
It was one night after a teamed effort to chase down the deceased one that Kinoshita suggested everyone go out for the night. Tanizaki refused to drink in front of Rokkaku but was willing to come, Saeki had other plans for the night that involved a piano and some music sheets, and Rokkaku didn't really see a problem in going with the two escorts to their frequented restaurant. He could use the time out. Leaving the icy eyed man to take charge of the headquarters, the three walked the short distance to the restaurant owned by Kirika.
Kinoshita had said he would restrain himself from drinking too much that evening because Rokkaku was with them and Tanizaki didn't want to cause more trouble for the older man. That promise was broken the moment Kinoshita had his third drink and got very tipsy. He began saying embarrassing things, although most came out as a babble. It was needless to say that Tanizaki was horribly embarrassed by the others behavior and apologized multiple times that evening.
"Kinoshita you bastard!" He hissed. Rokkaku smiled and laughed to himself, finding the whole situation very funny. After declaring that he liked both Tanizaki and Rokkaku a lot, Kinoshita passed out on the table. "Dammit…" Tanizaki grunted, facing Rokkaku. "I'm really sorry this happened, especially since you went through the trouble of accompanying us this evening."
"It's alright," Rokkaku admitted, getting up from the table and paying the bill. "Let's focus on getting him back to headquarters." With that, he picked the passed out escort up and carried him on his back. Tanizaki followed afterwards, and the two returned home, walking in silence.
After the two dragged Kinoshita into bed ("it's fine, Rokkaku-san, if he gets his head hit on the steps, maybe it'll sober him up"), Rokkaku lit his pipe and smiled, beginning to take a deep breath of the purple fumes. "The nerve of him!" Tanizaki complained, trying to keep his composure. "I'm sorry, Rokkaku-san, I shouldn't have let him drink anything tonight."
"It's quite alright," Rokkaku said, breathing out. "It's good to see that you two still get along, though." Tanizaki wanted to argue that, no, they did not get along, but Rokkaku kept talking. "When you two were younger, Kinoshita would always come cry to me that you bullied him into doing something dangerous." Tanizaki had a very vague memory of doing that. "It turned out that you usually had just dragged him into following you on a ghost hunt, but one time, he had gotten scraped and bruised pretty badly."
"Sir," Tanizaki tried to interrupt by asking what Rokkaku was alluding to, but Rokkaku just kept on with his recollection.
"He cried a lot and fell asleep after his wounds regenerated. You complained that Kinoshita had to grow up to stop causing so much trouble for me, but it wasn't really that bad. I ended up making you promise that the two of us could look after Kinoshita together and help him when he needed help, so I'm glad you still kept that promise." Tanizaki really didn't have such a memory, but who was he to doubt the colonel?
The two reminisced in silence for a little longer before Rokkaku went over and pulled the blanket a up a little and exited the room, saying he should get back to his office. When Tanizaki was alone, he stared at Kinoshita like he really wanted to punch the guy. Instead, though, he put his hand gently on the other's head. "Idiot…" he muttered, before going off to find Saeki and train some more.
Back in the bed, Kinoshita could feel his face burning. His last memory was going drinking with Rokkaku and Tanizaki, but when he woke up, he'd been in his bed with his back turned to the other two (and his head hurt like hell). He had heard the whole story, and was too embarrassed to get up and interrupt them. Instead, he had feigned sleep. Now that he was alone, however, he had time to think about what the two had said.
"I can't believe they made that promise…" He muttered, pulling the covers over to hide his face. "I'm really lucky…"
The next morning, Tanizaki smacked Kinoshita with his kanabo for getting drunk around Rokkaku. The two ended up in the crimson eyed man's office, where he lectured the two on being nice to each other.