A ghost in daylight
Theme date: October 3, 2007.
Taking a bit out of history and setting this after the end of the series.
"You should be resting."
"I'd rather be doing this."
Okita Souji was in the negligible weight on his chest, the fingers on his face, the tickle of hair on his skin and the lips brushing against his lips. The smell of incense, sickness and flowers overpowered Hijikata, forcing him to look away from the bandages wrapped around his lover's body and focus instead on his face.
"It's been long," the boy murmured. "Too long since we've been together like this." When they kissed, Hijikata almost thought that the lingering taste on his tongue was the tang of doom lingering over Okita's shoulders, the death that had been waiting for the young swordsman since childhood. He reached out to chase it away with the warmth of his body, and heard Okita sigh his thanks into his ear.
Hours afterward, Hijikata Toshizou would wake from the dream and find himself in his tea room, alone and bewildered, with the kimono that Okita had died in lying crumpled in his lap. Outside, the first hint of spring rain would kiss the earth.