Sanosuke
The Way of the Raised Fist, Part II
Trailing behind the Sekiho-tai was mind-numbingly boring. But Sanosuke couldn't bring himself to tell the Captain he'd run away from home just yet. What if Captain Sagara told him to go home? What if he was angry? He couldn't stand the thought of disappointing him.
Sanosuke couldn't remember a time in all his young life that he'd been worried about what an adult thought. Occasionally, he'd feel a twinge of shame if he happened to catch his mother crying over something bad he'd done, or a flicker of remorse for those times when words failed his old man. But he forgot about it shortly thereafter. He loved his parents, but they'd never held much sway over him. No one ever had.
Somehow, the Captain was different from them though. Sanosuke couldn't quite figure it out. But he had decided that, as soon as he heard about what the visiting army was doing, he would follow the man anywhere.
Like the Captain, he was no good as a farmhand either. He hated hard work, and couldn't understand how Tou-san slaved away in the fields all day, day after day without giving up. He'd always wanted to be like that, but just…couldn't.
And then there was the small merchant business his parents ran. Kaa-san was good at selling things with a pretty smile on her face, but not him. He hated it. If someone wanted to buy something, then fine, they would. But he wasn't about to kiss up to them just to get them to argue with him about prices and quality. In his mind, once the product was on the lot, there was nothing he could do to make it better, and the price was always fair because his parents were fair people. That was that, and everyone knew it, so it just pissed him off when someone tried arguing with him. He didn't have any patience for people who tried to sell him stuff either, for the record.
For some reason, no matter what he tried, he could never bring himself to be a better son. There was simply no drive to become a farmer or a merchant, and so he'd just resigned to fighting out his aggressions and stealing food to ease the cost of groceries on his parents. That, and he also happened to enjoy fighting and free meals.
So the army would be a perfect place for him! He was a good fighter, the best in his village, and he could stand up to anybody in a fist fight, even his father (who was also the best as far as fist fights went). And even if he wouldn't be allowed to fight, he could still help the Captain. He'd run errands, or clean weaponry, or even wash clothes. Whatever he could to be useful. He'd had enough of being a burden and a source of disappointment. Since he couldn't be useful at home, he hoped that he could be useful to the Sekiho-tai.
His stolen provisions were running low after two weeks. He'd been able to make them last so long because he'd eaten sparingly, consuming only one small meal a day. The army moved pretty fast, and he had to be quick to keep up, and that made him anxious so he wasn't all that hungry anyway.
But now, with the last of his food being eaten, he suddenly discovered that he was starving. If they didn't pass through another village soon, he'd be done for and would have to tell the Captain that he was there.
The prospect greatly concerned him.
Luckily, they did happen to pass through a village later that day, and the inevitable was delayed, for just a little while. He managed to nick a few apples and some dried fish, before making a run for it to go around the outskirts of the small town and keep an eye on the Sekiho-tai's movements. He wasn't sure yet if they were planning to stay here for a few days like they had in Nagano, or whether they were going to recruit quickly and move on. They'd hung around in the last town, so there might be a chance that they were going to make this a quick visit.
Staking out a place with good visibility, but far enough away to avoid notice, Sanosuke camped out and ate an apple. It really wasn't much a camp, considering that he didn't have any shelter, or even a blanket. He hadn't planned on waiting this long to talk to Captain Sagara.
But nothing less than pure cowardice was keeping him doing so. He would have been more disgusted with himself, but he was still too chicken.
"Hey."
Turning sharply around, Sanosuke was met by the serious eyes of a strange kid. He was around his height, with straight black hair that fell to his shoulders, and wore a simple outfit like his own. Sanosuke looked at him with his mouth open, wondering what he should do.
"You stole those from my Tou-san," the kid said, pointing at the leftover apples. "And you stole that from Tomoyo-san." He pointed to the fish. But then he let his hand fall, and observed Sanosuke without further comment. He swallowed and cleared his throat.
"Yeah, and?" he asked brusquely, not sure what the kid wanted.
"Can I have some?"
"No." Sanosuke shook his head and looked away. "I need them so that I can live until I talk to Captain Sagara and join the Sekiho-tai."
"The Sekiho-tai? You mean those farmers parading around as soldiers?" The kid sat down beside Sanosuke, and hugged his knees closely to his chest. Now that he was closer, Sano could see that he was actually a couple inches shorter than he, and had a large, hand-shaped dirt mark on his right shoulder. He wondered what that was about.
"Yeah. They're all farmers, like my folks. And the Captain, he's amazing. He's not a good farmer, just like me, but he's a great captain. I decided that I was going to join him, and become just like him."
"But you're a kid. What can you do?" The kid didn't seem to doubting him, in fact he was honestly interested. But Sanosuke wasn't angry anyway; he wondered the same thing himself.
"I dunno," he said with a shrug, "but if they let me in, it's gotta be better than thuggin' and stealin' like I did back home."
"Well, have you stopped thuggin'?"
Sanosuke shot him a little smirk.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Then you've made some progress. Not much on the stealin' though."
He was starting to like this kid. Suddenly feeling generous, Sanosuke decided to offer him an apple.
"Hey, I changed my mind. D'you want this?" He extended his hand with the fruit, and saw the hungry look enter the kid's black eyes. The other boy nodded, and took it, then proceeded to wolf it down hungrily. Sanosuke watched him for a second, a bit perplexed.
"You're, uh, really hungry, huh?"
The kid nodded, in lieu of answering vocally. Sanosuke felt good being able to help him out by giving him the apple. Even he hadn't been as hungry as this kid seemed these past two weeks.
"What's your name? I'm Sanosuke."
The boy swallowed, and was about to answer, but was distracted by a loud, furious voice.
"KATSUUUU!"
"Uh-oh," he said, his face draining of color.
"What, who's that?" Sano asked worriedly. The kid's demeanor seemed to shrink inside himself.
"My tou-san," he said, the half-eaten apple forgotten in his limp hand. "He's looking for me."
"So you're Katsu, huh?"
The kid nodded.
"Yeah."
"What happens when he finds you?" Sanosuke was almost sorry he asked. Katsu hid his face behind his long dark hair and replied in a weak, teary voice.
"He'll beat me." Sanosuke felt a wave of pity wash over him for Katsu.
"Well…d'you want some help?"
Katsu raised his head curiously. "Help?" he repeated, nonplussed. Sanosuke shrugged.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I can show him a thing or two." He waited for Katsu to answer him, as his enraged father let out another terrible scream.
"My tou-san's pretty big, Sanosuke, I dunno if that's such a good idea."
"Trust me, my old man's a lot tougher than him. Nobody beats up my tou-san. And he's beat me plenty of times, but I've never backed down. I can help you, if you want."
Sanosuke was radiating so much boyish confidence, that Katsu couldn't help feeling heartened. He hadn't had a true friend ever, so this was definitely new to him, and he couldn't help but feel relieved to have some back-up against the terrible rage of his father.
"Well, okay, but we should be smart about it."
"Sure, you're the brains, Katsu-kun," Sanosuke agreed easily, more than willing to let his new buddy decide the tactics. "I'll be the main muscle." Katsu smiled.
"Well, here's the plan then. I'll go meet him alone, and you sneak up behind. When he tries to punch me, I'll duck, and then you can whale on him while he's distracted. Sound like a deal?"
"You got it. I like it. This'll be the first time I've ever snuck up on someone to fight them. It's not my usual style, but in this case, I'll make an exception. You ready?"
Katsu nodded once. "Yeah. Let's go."
The boys parted in silence as they reached the edge of the village. Sanosuke slunk down a deserted alley between two houses, where he would still be in earshot of Katsu and Katsu's father's movements. He waited for the signal.
"Oh, so now you show up," Katsu's father said grumpily, but a little big smug. "Took you long enough, you lazy shit. Where've you been, boy? Your mother's not too happy with you, y'know."
"I know," Katsu said in dull voice, like he'd heard this story a hundred times. "Okaa-san already told me that I'm a lazy good-for-nothing, and then she tried to brand me with her hot poker. I ran away." His father laughed.
"Hah! Well, good for her. Now, c'mon, boy, it's time to git home. But first…"
Sanosuke peeked around the corner of the building, and saw Katsu's old man make a dramatically big swing. He was off and running for the large man's brawny neck, even while thinking about how the bastard had really tried to hurt his son. His own father had beaten him pretty bad in the past, but just enough to hurt, never enough to truly injure. Now he understood where the large, dirty handprint had come from.
"RAHHHH!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and he latched his long arms around the man's throat. He pulled them tight, and bashed his forehead into the back of the other man's head, which blacked out his vision momentarily. But that was nothing, as it passed quickly.
"Katsu! Fight back, man, punch him!"
Katsu stood from his low crouch and kicked his father straight in the groin, making the big man fall to his knees with Sanosuke still on his back. Then, to Sanosuke's immense approval, he began to punch him in the face for all he was worth. Sanosuke made sure to keep his choke-hold really tight, cutting off the air to the guy's lungs. His face was growing progressively redder, and he was foaming at the mouth from his exertions.
But eventually, he managed to throw Sanosuke off, and with a yell of raging temper, he threw a vicious punch that knocked his son to the ground, and then turned to face Sanosuke, who was hastily getting to his feet. He could tell the guy was way past furious, and out for blood. With a devilish grin, he thought about how that suited him just fine. He raised his right fist with a mighty war cry, and prepared for the attack.
"Stop!"
At the authoritative command, the man and two boys all swiveled their heads to the source. Their eyes all widened when they recognized the Captain of the Sekiho-tai as the speaker.
"Captain!" Sanosuke exclaimed. His mouth dropped open slightly with surprise. Captain Sagara glanced at him briefly, and he could tell that he'd recognized him, but he didn't say anything. He then looked at Katsu's father, and his mouth hardened into a grim line.
"What's the problem here, Tsukioka-san?" the Captain asked calmly. Tsukioka's mouth gaped open stupidly, and he seemed incapable of speech. So Sanosuke answered for him.
"This dick was pummeling his own son," he said, and then spat rudely at his feet. "I came to help my friend, Captain. There's no problem, other than this guy," he indicated Katsu's father with his thumb, "being a horrible parent." A disapproving huff followed his statement. Katsu and his father both looked at him dumbstruck, and the captain's lip twitched, even though his eyes did not look the least bit amused.
"You, little, punk…" Tsukioka started say, and he advanced slowly towards Sanosuke. Katsu struggled to his feet and lunged for his father's arm, latching on and crying out, "No!"
Tsukioka turned around and shoved him off, but before he could try for his original intentions again, Captain Sagara planted himself between the man and Sanosuke.
"That's enough," he said in a voice that brooked no argument. "Sanosuke, come with me. Katsuhiro." He looked at the other boy, once again on the ground. He said nothing else, but Katsuhiro seemed to understand his meaning. Getting to his feet again, he came forward to stand by the captain.
"Hey, you can't just take my kid!" Tsukioka yelled angrily. Captain Sagara surveyed him coolly.
"I didn't," he replied, "he chose to come. Go home, Tsukioka-san. Your abuse is over."
"Hehe, yeah, dick-face," Sanosuke muttered gleefully. His chuckling was met with grim silence from the captain and Katsu, which he ignored. But he soon fell silent. The captain led him and Katsu to the inn where he and the other soldiers were lodging for the night, before saying anything else.
"Boys," he addressed them, once they were standing in the entrance-way. "You both owe me explanations. You first, Sanosuke."
Sanosuke blanched, feeling much less confident now beneath the captain's emotionless stare. But he cleared his throat and realized that now was the time to stop stalling and be a man.
"Uh, well, y'see, Captain Sagara, I…uh…I ran away from home."
"From Nagano?" the captain questioned.
"…Yeah. I decided that I wanted to join the Sekiho-tai." When his statement was met with a blank stare, he sighed and continued.
"I know I'm just a kid an' everything, but I'll do anything I can to help. You guys, you're incredible, and you're protecting people like my parents. I'm no good as a farmer or a merchant, and I was nothing but a nuisance to my tou-san and kaa-san. But I want to help protect them, and make their lives better. Everyone's struggling right now. I'm tired of being helpless." Saying all he could say, he fell silent, and waited for the captain's reply.
"Big words for a boy," was all he said, but something in his eye made Sanosuke feel slightly better. The captain then looked at Katsu.
"And you?" he questioned. Katsu had difficulty meeting his eyes.
"How do you know my name?" he asked in a low voice. The captain sighed.
"I heard your father calling for you. He went all around the village calling you. And I already knew Sanosuke, so I deduced that 'Katsuhiro' must be you." This piece of information made Sanosuke beam with pride, both because the captain admitted to knowing him, and because he admired his attention to detail. He was such a cool captain…
"Oh," Katsu said, closing his eyes in shame. He looked like he might start to cry. Seeing this, Sanosuke grew very alarmed, and nudged him with his elbow.
"Hey, Katsu, you alright?"
His friend shook his head.
"No. I'm weak." He sniffed, then lifted his head and met the captain's eyes.
"I want to join the Sekiho-tai too!" he said with fervor. "I want to get stronger, and protect people. Unlike my otou-san and okaa-san…"
Sanosuke smiled happily, and nudged him again in approval. Katsu glanced at him and grinned weakly in return. Then they turned hopeful eyes to the captain.
Faced with two pairs of hopeful eyes, and boyish faces, Captain Sagara felt mounting exasperation. How could he say no? Sanosuke was miles from home, somehow having managed to follow them without getting caught or killed, and Katsuhiro was as good as dead if he stayed with his abusive parents. The locals had been muttering about how mean his parents were to him, after his father had been heard calling for him that evening. And then there was the fact that these two clearly looked up to him for some reason. He already felt like he was some older-brother figure to them, even though he'd only met Katsuhiro a few minutes ago. But his expression mirrored Sanosuke's, who'd openly idolized him since coming to his meetings two weeks ago in Nagano.
He didn't even try to fathom how this had all happened…
"War is no place for boys," he began wearily, "and that is exactly where we're headed." He paused, but neither Sanosuke nor Katsuhiro seemed put out just yet.
"But, miles from home and at the mercy of abusive parents is no place for boys either. I'll agree to let you join our ranks, but only with the understanding that you won't see any real fighting. You two are always to stay behind at the camp, and take care of things from there. Understand?"
"YEAH!" Suddenly enlivened with excitement, Sano and Katsu cheered and looked at each other with expressions of glee. "Anything you say, Captain Sagara!" they agreed.
"But, maybe once we're older, we'll be able to fight?" Sanosuke hedged, diverging a little from his energetic mood to a hopeful one. The captain shook his head with a smile.
"Hopefully there won't be a war on anymore once you're older," he said. Sanosuke laughed giddily in response.
"Now, it's time for bed. You two can stay in my room tonight. I'll ask the inn-keeper to bring two extra cots."
"ALRIGHT!"
Just then, two loud noises erupted from the boys' stomachs, and they clutched their middles in embarrassment. Captain Sagara looked at their nervously smiling faces, and sighed.
"I guess that means you boys are hungry…" When their only response was nervous laughter, he rolled his eyes skyward and prayed to the gods for aid. It was certainly going to be interesting having these two around. But he couldn't say that he was truly annoyed.
"C'mon. The inn-keeper will get you both some food too."
"YESSS!"
They left the next morning.
With their stomachs fuller than they'd been for some time, and feeling extremely satisfied with themselves, Sanosuke and Katsu walked on either side of the captain and carried some of the provisions as they'd been instructed. They were headed to their final stop before finishing their recruitment campaign. And then, they'd join the rest of the revolutionaries.
Those turned out to be adventurous days.
Sanosuke and Katsu became the best of friends, and a dynamic, if unpredictable team. Sanosuke was the stronger of the two, but was more than willing to teach his friend how to fight. They sparred frequently, which usually ended with Katsu lying on his back panting, and Sanosuke's foot resting lightly on his stomach. But then they'd both laugh, and Sano would help him up.
It other matters however, Katsu had the upper hand.
He was of a steadier temperament, and had the patience to wait for the opportune moment during a fight. This ability had bested Sanosuke a few times, since the latter was too brash and pugilistic to stand waiting very long. Captain Sagara liked to joke that while Sanosuke had steadier fists, Katsu had a steadier mind, and that was why they made such a great team. The boys agreed laughingly with this, and then would often tackle the captain playfully, acting like the adopted younger siblings they were turning out to be.
A/N: Epilogue will follow shortly! Thanks for reading! _ce