Title: Adventures With Saito Hajime
Category: Anime » Hakuoki
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Language: English
Rating: T
A/N: A series of oneshots with Saito.
Upon returning from patrol Saito dismissed his men and headed out back with a fresh bucket of water to wash away the blood of a robber from his face and hands. With a full moon it was all the light he needed to see while he kneeled before the bucket with a rag and removed the top of his uniform while washing the blood away from his skin. Some dry and flaky, some still wet and running. Proof of one large gash running along his side and a few smaller grazes here and there. He was used to this of course, by now it was unlikely that any of his skin was unmarred.
Beneath the moonlight the red blood seemed more like a dark black liquid tainting the clean water to something more sinister looking. He brought a hand up, it still smelled like blood… sometimes… it felt like the scent of blood never truly went away, but perhaps that was one of the many consequences of being a warrior; that the scent of blood would forever remain upon one's skin no matter how desperately one tried to wash it off.
He might be a silent man, but what he lacked vocally he made up for in thought and musings. He watched his own reflection in the water with veins of blood running through it, even after a pink petal rippled the water as it landed, but it was a reflection that only reminded him of his own rippling emotions in that moment.
~Fin~