Title: Adventures With Saito Hajime
Category: Anime » Hakuoki
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Language: English
Rating: T
A/N: A series of oneshots with Saito.
They had fought so hard, yet the houses around him still burned. Despite all their best efforts the village had been set ablaze. The New Government's way of punishing the people for not bending to their will.
Through the suffocating smoke he couldn't tell if it was snow or ashes falling, but once he passed one house and the wind shifted he felt it to be both. It was strange… he didn't feel cold. In fact he didn't even feel pain from the bullet that had shattered his bones and entered into his chest, he didn't know if it remained or if it had passed through the other side or not. The only thing he knew was that he was too tired to keep going anymore. Swords could not beat guns. They could not cross long distances like bullets. Samurai were obsolete now, his life was no longer required.
His trail of blood in the snow finally came to an end at the flag, where he collapsed and stared up at the sky, he wished that he could see it one last time, but he had given it his all… and this was as good a place to die as any. Ah… that was right… he would be joining Souji soon… he had missed that sense of humor. The vice commander, he wished that he could ask him if he thought that he did a good job as well.
Through the blurred vision of dull eyes, he caught a figure. He didn't know if his eyes deceived him or if Yukimura was actually standing there before his eyes. Somehow, whither it was real or not he felt glad, as the person that kept him company when he was lonely and needed someone she would be the one to be there. He wouldn't say friend, only because the word friend seemed too weak as friends weren't people that stayed by your side or were loyal. He would call Yukimura a comrade.
The battle was over, they had lost and he had not even the strength to lift a single finger and so it took awhile of swallowing his own blood back before he could speak.
"… You foolish woman… why… are you… in a dangerous place like this? You… should run away… no. Don't stand there and cry." He spoke very slowly, since he was so tired, so tired, unaware that his eyes were gradually losing their light more and more. "Wait… before you go… before… I go… I want to… say the words… thank you… when I needed someone there… you were there… even without saying words… your presence still… warmed the cold space… of loneliness… thank you. Thank you… for just… being there…" His breathing hitched upon his last words and as his head lulled to one side and his eyes slowly slid closed, one last foggy breath left him, taking his life with it.
~Fin~