Thanks to fainchan5 for betaing this chapter and doing such an awesome job on top!
4
Hijikata Toshizou ran a hand through his hair tiredly, taking an unenthusiastic drag from his pipe. He had gone through the rules written by his unruly subordinates for almost three hours, but as of now he hadn´t gotten any results. That was, at least, not the results he had desired. After he had gathered everyone in the dojo, he let them copy the rules, looking sternly and suspiciously through the rows of intimidated, clueless swordsmen (clueless, because they couldn´t figure out what they had done to deserve being stuck in a room with the frightening, scowling vice commander). Then he had taken every scroll, making sure that every single one of them had handed his copied rules and finally he dismissed them curtly. He did so, without feeling the need to put them in the picture at all.
Later that day Suzume, his loyal shinobi, had inconspicuously handed him the offending piece of crap that was resting in front of him now, mockingly laughing at his tired, furious face. Suzume had assured him that he had replaced the haiku with one that looked exactly like the original so that Souji wouldn´t notice the switch. As of then the vice commander had ordered to be left alone and started to compare the handwriting of every single scroll with the style of the haiku.
But as it seemed, he hadn´t had any luck as of yet. Now there were two possibilities, of which Hijikata liked neither.
First was, that the culprit was skilled and thoughtful enough to change his handwriting. This caused Hijikata a major headache; that also meant that whoever it was, the culprit would turn out to be a rather determined and formidable opponent.
Furthermore, it suggested that the bastard had to be in one of the higher positions of the shinsengumi because, no matter how skilled his people were with the sword, they weren´t exactly the sharpest tools in the box. Besides, from what Hijikata could tell, the writing on the haiku was rather sophisticated and well written.
Of course it was no match for his own poetry (despite what others said, the stupid runts just didn´t recognize it when they were confronted with genius…), but it was well thought out…
Hijikata didn´t like the idea that one of the men he trusted with his life would betray him like this. Because even if Hijikata hadn´t actually claimed Souji to be his in an official way, he was acknowledged as the boy´s mentor. Everyone who had interest in Souji would have consulted him first.
But then maybe not… He grumpily remembered the incident that had occurred when Souji had hit puberty and Hijikata had announced that everyone -with a special sideglare exclusively reserved for the comedian trio- who would suggest only the slightest hint of something sexual in the presence of his innocent, little Souji would get a painful castration á la Hijikata Toshizou.
Sighing once again, Hijikata stood from the tatami and went to the open sliding doors. Leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and melancholy he gazed at the red evening sky.
The second possibility, however, not only caused him a headache but outright agony, because it would mean that someone from outside the shinsengumi was hitting on his first unit captain.
This was bad because Hijikata couldn´t force him, or her, to commit seppuku. It was worse because, it meant that someone had open access into their quarters and was able to collect rather private information. And that was really worrying him, because he didn´t want to think of what such a person could find out, besides Souji´s love for sweets and poem.
Taking another drag and slowly blowing the smoke into the cooling breeze, Hijikata pondered on the problem, another line of worry appearing between his eyes, when the light sound of a sliding door let him snap back to attention.
With a disgruntled scowl on his face and harsh words on his lips, he wanted to holler at whoever dared to disturb him despite his explizit orders to be left alone, but the soft voice of Yamanami, second vice commander of the shinsengumi, prevented him from doing so. Perceptive as he was, he had already anticipated the demon´s anger.
"Excuse me, Hijikata- san for disrupting you."
Making an annoyed wave with his hand, Hijikata gestured the man to enter and make himself at home. The bespactacled man bowed lightly and slid the door shut behind him.
Hijikata wasn´t really in the mood to talk right now, so he didn´t make any attempts to start a conversation. Instead he turned back towards the now dark garden, watching a firefly buzzing by and hoping that Yamanami would just state his business and go away.
From behind he heard a light shuffling on the tatami.
"Ah. So that is it," came the slightly curious man exclaim. Yamanami took the Haiku from the mess of scrolls that were spread all over the floor. Pushing up his glasses a little, the man started to read eventually letting it sink down and commenting. "Oh my. Splendid, isn´t it, Hijikata-san?"
Hijikata made a really frightening, growling sound, turning around and snatching the paper out of the other man´s hands in a rather rude manner.
"Not in one of your better moods, I see," Yamanami observed calmly, adjusting his glasses again and ignoring the other´s attitude.
"You want a prize now or what? Since you´re so attentive, you should have noticed that I´m not in the mood for company." Toshizou snarled, letting the paper vanish in his sleeve and giving the man a challenging, daring look.
Yamanami didn´t move, instead observing the furious vice commander, who had a hard time to maintain his composure, because the whole thing was really unnerving him, and just soothingly said "Mah mah, Hijikata-kun. I didn´t mean to offend you."
The other man didn´t look calmer, but plopped down on the floor nonetheless, taking another drag from his pipe.
"Whatever. What brings you here?" he asked rather unenthusiastically, observing the other man´s unbothered face.
"Oh, well. I just heard that you let the men gather in the dojo today and made them copy the rules…"
"That´s right." Hijikata shrugged disinterestedly, adding, "these undisciplined brats need to be reminded of the bushido, we´re not a kindergarten here…"
"I see... and am I assuming correctly that a certain haiku had nothing to do with your order at all?"
Hijikata wasn´t fooled by the innocent look his friend gave him. He knew the man too long for this, but decided to ignore the knowing glint in his eyes. Instead he laid down on his side, resting his head on a hand and took his pipe out of his mouth, appearing somewhat distressed.
"Don´t be ridiculous."
He snorted disparagingly. "I don´t have time to waste on such ridiculous crap."
"Hm, so it would seem..." Yamanami let his eyes wander over to the garden, his face an unreadable, but gentle mask.
Hijikata simply arched an eyebrow, but wasn´t very eager to discuss the matter any further, so he refrained from making a comment.
"Spring really is the most beautiful of all seasons, isn´t it?" Yamanami suddenly mused into the silence, his voice carrying a tone of sentiment.
The other vice commander made an uncommiting grunting noise.
"Everything´s just so delicate and, at the same time, so strong, as if to stubbornly prove to the winter with all it's suffocating ice claws that he holds no power over life-"
"If you want to talk about the bloody weather, do so with Isumi," Hijikata interrupted him harshly, tapping the tabacco out of his pipe with an irritated expression.
"Of course, excuse me. You must be tired from the hard work." The short-sided glance at the scrolls went unnoticed by the demon vice commander, but it wasn´t as if he would have cared anyways.
"Well then, I´ll take my leave."
Hijikata inwardly heaved a sigh of relief, but before he opened the door to leave his friend alone, Yamanami stopped again, pushing his glasses up and saying in a quiet voice, "You should tell him, before it´s too late."
"I don´t know what the hell you´re talking about!"
The vice commander looked coldly at his friend, and though spoken in a neutral tone, Yamanami got the hidden, threathening tone message. It clearly warned him not to overstep his boundaries.
"Of course. I am sorry to have bothered you. Good night."
There was no answer but as soon as Yamanami had left, Hijikata rolled on his back, staring at the ceiling with an arm drapped over his forehead and wondering if the vice commander's words might not hold more truth than he felt comfortable with.
It couldn´t hurt to take some precautions, just to be on the safe side, could it?
Bringing his upper body into a sitting position again, Hijikata pinched the bridge of his nose before he called in a neutral tone. "Suzume!"
"Yes," came the muffled reply from the other room.
"I have another mission for you. From now on, you will observe the first unit captain- Souji Okita. Report everything unusual that he´s doing or anything that happens in his environment. Make sure that he doesn´t notice you."
"Certainly, sir."
Feeling a lot more confident, Hijikata lit another pipe. Should the culprit go on and try something now, there was nothing that would not escape his shinobi´s sharp eyes.
Almost smirking again, Hijikata took the pipe out of his mouth and a brushed his hand through his hair. He had a haiku to write.
Genious poetrist: 2
Bad pen pusher: 2
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(Beta-note from faichan5: I am beta-ing as fast as possible. I do quite a few beta-ing jobs so please don't hate me for being slow! I have been sick to.
BMIK: It´s okay,hun, you´re doing great^^)