Author's Notes: Thanks to Cassowary for Masa's family name! Couldn't find that nugget anywhere.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X characters. I do reserve the rights to all OCs.
TWO: Unsure Juliet
When Harada arrived at the pottery shop the next day, his confidence had returned. She had, after all, invited him back.
"Good afternoon, sir," she greeted him politely, though there was a knowing spark in her eye that caused him to grin.
"Good afternoon," he replied, scanning the area for her grandmother, "you alone today?"
Her lips parted slightly at his hopeful tone and she wrung her hands out of excitement. "Grandmother is taking her nap early today," she replied, "the early spring still has a chill and she's afraid of catching the cold."
"And you?" he asked.
She smiled, "I've always managed to evade illnesses."
When she turned to adjust some small vases on a shelf, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the high wooden table she often sat behind.
"Will you tell me your name?" he inquired.
He could see her smiling even though she tried to hide it, and when she faced him, he had made his eyes wide and pleading, sticking out his bottom lip in a humorous pout.
"What use have you for my name?" she questioned, teasing him, "I don't believe my grandmother would approve of a friendship between the two of us."
"And why not?" he countered, "I'm a respectable gentleman."
He considered his own words for a moment before adding, "at least I'm tryin' to be."
"Were you not before?"
Scratching at a spot just above his eyebrow, he gave her a false look of sternness. "With age comes, maturity, or so they say."
"Masa," she told him, taking a few steps to stand before him, lowering her voice, "my name is Sugawara Masa."
"You never answered my question, Sugawara Masa," he replied, voice equally low as he handed her a bowl that matched the one he had bought the day before.
With expert hands, she wrapped his parcel. "to which question are you referring, sir?"
"Sanosuke," he corrected her.
"Sanosuke," she repeated, face taking on a pretty blush as she spoke a stranger's given name before him.
He accepted the parcel, waiting for his change as she counted it out.
"I asked you yesterday if you would marry me."
Handing him the currency she owed him, she gave him a knowing smile. "Perhaps you could try asking me tomorrow."
That was what she said every day.
Ask again tomorrow.
It was clever of her, Harada gave her credit for that. It wasn't that she was avoiding his question, or was afraid of rejecting him, but she wanted to know him, and in order to do so, she would have to meet with him. She had never been married, he learned, and a meeting alone with him could cost her her reputation, should she not find him suitable.
Sometimes their conversations were brief, and other times her miserable old grandmother chased him away with her cane for staying too long. It didn't matter to him how long he spent with her, so long as he could hear her voice every day.
As the days wore on and she finally admitted to considering him a friend, Harada contemplated when it would be appropriate to see her alone. They didn't have to be entirely alone; a walk in the busy streets would be enough. He could even have Tokio come along. She was a married woman, if only by a couple weeks; surely she could make a fine chaperone.
It was during one of these musings, while he was arranging every piece of pottery he had bought (thus far, he counted seventeen), that his closest friend, and vice-commander, Hikijata Toshizo stepped into the room.
"Hey there, Toshi!" he greeted enthusiastically, lounging back on the floor and swirling a cup on the ground with his finger.
Hijikata gave a look of disapproval at the careless way his friend handled the artwork, but ignored the act otherwise.
"I didn't realize you had such a large collection of pottery," he noted.
Harada shrugged, "I just got into it, really. Gonna have this place filled up soon."
Hijikata let a smile crack through his lips. "A fine way to show support to the family of the girl you're trying to court."
"Keep spreading that rumor you're gonna ruin my reputation," he replied, feigning hurt, "someone will think I'm trying to find myself a wife."
"Aren't you?"
Harada shot him a mischievous grin. "If she'll have me."
xxxx
Will you walk with me?
Masa stared at Harada, heart thumping. Her grandmother stood at her side, arms crossed, sporting the frown of all frowns. Had he really asked her that?
Each time they had met, she found herself liking him more and more. He was so incredibly genuine, and so nonchalantly charismatic, she couldn't help herself. Every time he turned to leave, she wished she had said more. Even still, she knew he would return the very next day, simply because she asked him to.
When he visited her, they didn't talk about anything extraordinary, and for all his cheekiness, he was never lewd or inappropriate, something she could tell he struggled with, for all the opportunities she may have opened up for his perverse sense of humor.
There were some times that he brought her small gifts, and once even a lunch box that he claimed to have made himself. She treasured all of these moments, all the while trying to figure out an opening in her grandmother's resolve that she might convince her that Harada Sanosuke was, in fact, a good match for her.
If they had made any progress, however, he had destroyed all of it by his scandalous request.
"Alone?"
Masa lowered her eyes as her grandmother's screeching pierced her ears.
"Yes," came Harada's solid reply.
"Of all the ridiculous things I have heard from a young man! Just where do you intend to take her?"
"I hadn't really thought about that yet, granny," he admitted, flashing a boyish grin at his crush, hoping to ease her mortification.
"Making it up as you go then, eh boy?"The old lady was shaking her cane at him, fires blazing in her eyes, "I know your type, mister Casanova, taking advantage of young ladies at your whim."
"Aw, come on now. It's not like-"
"I'll come."
Both Harada and the cranky old woman froze, looking to Masa who had risen her head and was staring ahead at him, jaw set.
"W-what?"
"Masa, what are you thinking! Going off with this street-"
"I said I'm going," she repeated, turning to her grandmother with a deep bow, "I will be back in time to begin dinner preparations."
As she rounded the table to stand by Harada, she watched her guardian's jaw fall slack. She did her best resisting the urge to look back as he led her away, but inside, she was smiling at her small victory.
She fell behind him and while he struck conversation, she stood straight, nodding politely and answering his questions appropriately. After ten minutes, he turned, took hold of her upper arm, and pulled her up to his side.
"I can't hear a word you're saying back there," he muttered, releasing her gently.
"Is this-" she looked around for any sign of someone who might know her, "is this alright?"
Sighing, he shook his head, "I don't care for any of that two steps behind nonsense. If I'm walking with a woman it's 'cause I want to hear what she's got to say, yeah?"
"But a man," she said, repeating what she had been raised to believe, "he is the head of the family and as such, he should always lead, shouldn't he? A woman should honor the man, and follow him wherever he may go."
"Ah that may be so," Harada agreed, purchasing a grilled eel from a vendor and handing it to her, "but I have a more modern view of marriage, I think. Inspired by a couple I happen to know."
She accepted the food graciously and when she sat down to enjoy it, he smiled at her and sat along side her.
"And what might that be?" she asked quietly, savoring the flavor of the treat.
"Togetherness," he replied, "You see, my friend's got this wife, and though he'll swear up and down that she does his bidding, you know what? They're a team. A real team. They play off of each other's strengths, and make up for their respective weaknesses. I like that. I want that."
Masa thought about that for a moment. She certainly did agree that marriage was a collaborative effort made by man and woman, but she had never considered the idea of a spouse being the missing pieces to fill in the cracks of the other. He entire life she had prepared to care for a husband, with hope that if she did a good enough job as a wife, he would care for her too.
She never expected to meet a man who was just as willing to honor as to be honored.
"I think I would like that too," she told him softly.
He grinned at that, leaning over to place two fingers under her chin, tilting her face up to meet his gaze.
"Would you like that with me?"
It was the first time he had ever asked her to share her life with him in such a fashion. Every day he simply said, You haven't answered my question.
At first, she had thought he was drunk. Then, a simple fool, or perhaps he was playing a joke on her. At twenty years old, she was nearly a spinster. As the days passed, she realized he was serious, his determination to have her as his bride just as strong as the Shinsengumi's will to protect the city.
It was overpowering, the way he handled her. It was just two fingers, but she felt like his hands were everywhere. No, it wasn't his hands. The power she felt over her wasn't physical.
He had asked once if she would marry him. Now he was asking if she would be happy with him. If she wanted him.
Was that the way it was supposed to be? She had given herself the power to reject suitors before, but now the power of choice was being presented to her.
And what reason did she have to say no? He was handsome, strong, funny, and clearly determined to achieve what he sought out to do, both politically and domestically.
While the thought of togetherness was appealing, it was also frightening to Masa, who knew little in the ways of such things. She wasn't strong or brave, and had no reason to go against what she had been taught. How could she take a vow of togetherness if she wasn't entirely sure what togetherness meant?
"I think," she began, choosing her words carefully, "that perhaps we should discuss this another time. My head is swimming."
"How can I convince you?" he asked sweetly, leaning forward and resting his forehead against hers. "that you are the only woman I can imagine at my side for the rest of my days."
"Y-you-you are t-too close," she stammered. The spiky tufts of his hair brushed up against hers, and the long jet tail that fell over his shoulder brushed against the bare skin of her neck.
"I'm not," he told her gently.
And she believed him.
When his lips touched hers, she froze, and when they molded against her, softly, pleadingly, expertly, her thoughts vanished.
Propriety lost in the moment, her fears were not that they would be seen, but that she didn't know what to do with her hands. It felt strange to have them folded on her lap as they were, but didn't have the courage to grip the front of his clothing, or touch him in any other fashion.
He pulled away slowly, holding in his breath. He shouldn't have done that. What was worse, were the words that spilled from his mouth.
"I guess this makes us lovers," he said with a chuckle.
Masa's mouth dropped open and he gently closed it with one finger under her jaw.
"A-are you trying to trick me?" she asked once she found her voice again. Her fingers traveled idly to her tingling lips, trying to believe, and preserve what had just happened.
Harada sat back, lounging against the bench. "No way. I'd have you again if you'd let me."
"You'd have me for life," she whispered, still disbelieving.
"Yes," he said firmly, "I would."
xxxx
Author's Note: Fluffernutter.