I'm running out of things to say before and after each chapter.... *readers cheer*
Grrr..... well, just keep reading, please.
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When Sanosuke awoke, he held in his arms empty space instead of Kenshin. Not moving from his position on the futon, he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists as if making sure that he was still in his real body. Was it a dream...? No, it couldn't be; a dream wouldn't explain the smell of Kenshin's long, silky hair still lingering in Sano's memory, or the pleasantly warm, tingling sensation that permeated throughout his body - or, most importantly, the fact that Sano was stark naked.
Stiff from sleep (or lack thereof), Sano propped himself up on one elbow and ran a hand through his unkempt brown hair. Though it was hardly necessary, he looked around the room for some sign of his absent partner. Not surprisingly, there was neither hide nor hair of Kenshin to be seen. Typical - Kenshin leaves without so much as a "good-bye," Sanosuke thought, amused. For a guy who talks so politely, he sure can be rude sometimes.
He rubbed the grit from his eyes and sat upright, reaching for his discarded pants. As he struggled to get them on without needing to stand up, Sano reviewed the events of the night before with some pleasure. However, some questions inexorably - and quite annoyingly - arose, first and foremost being: When the hell did Kenshin feel the same way Sano did? Why did he suddenly act with such... well, passion? And, most importantly, what was it that seemed to make him so sad?
Sano fished his red Sekihotai bandanna from underneath the crumpled sheets and tied it around his head with practiced ease, thinking, Even when I was screwing his brains out he seemed... upset... I almost got the feeling that... this was the last time we'd ever see each other. He smiled and shook his head. Yeesh, Kenshin's perpetual angst was beginning to rub off on him.
As Sanosuke put on his shirt, he noticed that he had been lying on a small maroon sock. The first thing he thought was: Well, that proves it wasn't just a dream. Secondly: Kenshin might want that back. He briefly toyed with the devilish idea of keeping the sock so Kenshin would have to come back for it (with all the consequences entailed), but finally decided against it. Besides, he needed some exercise, and a walk to the dojo would do quite nicely.
Opening the door, Sano stepped into his shoes and was about to start off when a gravelly voice called out, "Oi, young'in."
He looked up to see the old woman who lived across the street sitting on the front step, smoking her pipe and gazing at him expectantly. He'd exchanged a few words with her a couple times and they were on friendly terms, though Sano honestly couldn't remember her name offhand. "Mornin', Grandma."
"Name's not 'Grandma,' you little hooligan," the woman growled playfully, though she didn't offer a suitable substitute. She took the old wooden pipe out of her mouth and jabbed the gummed-up end of it at Sanosuke. "Lissen, young'in. You'd better hurry if you wanna catch 'im."
"Who?"
"That red-haired friend of yours. He buggered off almost half 'n hour ago, I'd reckon. And lemme tell you somethin' - he's goin' somewheres he's not comin' back from, so you'd best catch him 'fore it's too late. Someone like him is too good to loose."
Sano blinked and stared at the shriveled old woman in confusion, not sure if she was serious or not. "Wha...?"
Staring at Sanosuke with bright, dark eyes, the elderly woman returned the pipe to her mouth and puffed on it for a few moments. Finally, with the same grave tone of voice, she said, "Now gimme three yen and I'll read your palm."
At this, Sano burst out into loud, relieved laughter; she was just messing with him the whole time. "Oi, Grandma, you're really good at this. I almost believed you for a second there. I think you should do fortune-telling for a living."
"Told you, my name's not 'Grandma.' Now get goin' and catch up with that pretty friend of yours."
Grinning, Sano did a sort of cocky nod to his aged neighbor and sauntered off. Man, she has a weird sense of humor, he mused. She was really good at acting, too; he'd actually believed her when she'd given that ominous prophecy - well, for a little bit, anyway.
However, the thought of acting brought up an issue that caused a falter in Sanosuke's confident stride: How the hell was he going to act around Kenshin and the others now that... well, you know what. In all his little fantasies, the issue had never really come up. Another shining example of you legendary forethought, dumbass, Sano thought. God, I am an idiot. To tell the truth, he hadn't the slightest clue in post-sex etiquette. About the only thing he was sure about was that Kenshin probably wanted to keep the whole incident on the down-low for now, especially around Kaoru.
Ai, Kaoru... Memory of Jou-chan sent a pang of guilt through Sanosuke. Though before he'd sometimes felt a little resentment towards her, Kaoru was still Sano's friend. He couldn't help but feel like he was betraying her - after all, it was no secret she was hopelessly infatuated with Kenshin. How would he look her in the face now, after what he and Kenshin had done? Just... just act like nothing happened, Sanosuke advised himself. Pathetic advice, but it was the only thing he could think of.
By this time he'd reached the dojo, but before he even stepped foot on the grounds he knew immediately something was wrong. The front gate was wide open; Jou-chan never left the gate open. Uneasy but not sure what to be worried about, Sanosuke passed through the tall gateway and stood in the middle of the grounds, looking around for his friends. A few seconds' searching revealed Kaoru and Yahiko sitting outside the training hall. Yahiko looked up with wide, alarmed eyes at the sound of Sano's arrival, but Kaoru simply continued to stare listlessly at her hands resting in her lap.
"Yahiko? Jou-chan? Where's Kenshin?" Sano asked, not even bothering to remove his shoes as he hopped up onto the raised walkway. Yahiko stared up at Sano, and for a bit it seemed like he was struggling to formulate words, but for some reason could not utter them.
Sanosuke could feel the precursors of panic tugging at him. Something was definitely wrong. "What happened?" he demanded, kneeling down to meet his distressed friends' eyes.
"Hmph. Late, as usual," a haughty voice sneered behind him.
Jumping to his feet and whirling around, Sano was confronted with the dark, lean figure of Hajime Saito as the policeman stepped out from the shadows of the interior of the training hall. "You!" he snarled. "What the hell are you doing here? Where's Kenshin?"
Saito gave Sanosuke a condescending look, as if he couldn't believe the younger man's idiocy. He fished a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, saying, "If you had been here earlier, you'd know. The Battousai was arrested. For attempting to blow up the Department of Internal Affairs."
Sano didn't say anything for the longest time, and for a while Saito thought the moronic chicken-head hadn't understood what he was implying. Then he noticed that Sanosuke's face was turning the most fascinating shade of red, and Saito could quite literally see the anger building up inside him. Glancing down, the policeman was slightly alarmed to see that Sano had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails had punctured the skin of his palm, and blood dribbled out between his fingers. As Sanosuke's body began to tremble slightly with rage, Saito was reminded of a volcano on the verge of erupting; he was quite intrigued to see what happened when this one did.
Finally, Sano went off. "FUCK!" he exploded, slamming his fist through the nearby shoji-screen. Yahiko and Kaoru couldn't help but cower; they'd never seen Sanosuke look so dangerous before. "Fucking idiot!!" he roared, though whom Sano was referring to was unknown. Finding that the paper screens didn't give enough resistance, he pivoted on his heel and drove his fist into a wooden support pillar, pulverizing it into little splinters and causing the whole building to tremble hazardously. "Why the hell didn't you stop him?!" he hollered at Saito, who stood calmly throughout this whole tirade. "You're a fucking cop!"
"Himura confessed of his own free will," Saito said. "There was nothing I could do to stop it, even if I had wanted to."
At this, Sano's lips pulled back from his teeth in an unearthly snarl of pure rage, and he brought back his fist as if to hit the policeman.
"What, you're going to hit me?" Saito scoffed. "What will that accomplish? How will that bring your precious friend back to you?"
"Shut the fuck up!!" Sanosuke roared, but instead of hitting Saito he slammed his fist through the wooden walkway, creating a jagged hole several inches in diameter. When he withdrew his hand, a splinter of wood no less than two inches long was imbedded in the back of his hand, between the second and third bone. With a growl of disgust Sano yanked the bloody shard out and tossed it aside, then turned and walked towards the open gate.
"Where do you think you're going?" Saito asked.
"I'm not gonna let anybody take Kenshin away from me."
"Idiot!"
Sanosuke froze in mid-stride, the bold kanji for "aku" on his back trembling.
"Do you think you can just barge in with your fists swinging and demand they release the Battousai? You don't even know where he's being held." Saito laughed once, humorlessly. "Just because you're a moron doesn't mean that you can't let someone who actually has brains do the thinking for you."
"Oh yeah?" Sano demanded, whirling to face Saito. "And who's gonna help me? You? Why would you have any reason to help Kenshin?"
"Because," Saito sneered, "I'd derive great pleasure in bringing about that bastard Fushiyuuki's downfall. And besides," he looked down at Kaoru, who stared back with large, watery eyes, "part of the reason I became a policeman in the first place was the same reason that the Battousai became a wanderer - to help the innocent."
"Touching speech," Sanosuke snarled, not impressed in the least. "So what do you plan to do, O almighty genius?"
The cigarette hanging from his thin lips, Saito reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pen and small pad of paper. Flipping to a blank page and writing something down, he said, "I may not be the most popular policeman on the force but I still have some influence. As soon as I learn where the Battousai is being held, I'll arrange for you to pay him a little visit. Give him this."
He ripped out the page and handed it to Sano, who read it briefly and gave him a puzzled look. "A poem?"
"It's a code used to relay sensitive messages between assassins and their employers during the Revolution," Saito explained none-too-patiently. "When you arrive at the prison you will no doubt be searched. To anybody who finds that paper it will seem like nothing more than a casual poem. However, the Battousai will understand its meaning." He stepped down to the ground and brushed by Sanosuke on his way to the gate. "Try not to loose it."
"Hold on," Sano said suddenly, causing Saito to pause in the doorway. "What are you gonna be doing while I go on this little field trip?"
Saito sighed and spoke slowly, as if explaining to a small child. "The officer who arrested Himura, Inspector Fushiyuuki, has been suspected for some time of embezzling funds, taking bribes, and the like. I plan to find the proof."
"What good will that do?"
"Fushiyuuki essentially blackmailed the Battousai for the answer he wanted; we're going to beat him at his own game."
The explanation seemed to satisfy Sanosuke, and Saito had turned and was about to leave when he said suddenly, "What am I supposed to do until you get this whole thing arranged?"
Saito made no effort to hide his irritation. "Lay an egg, for all I care," he snarled, and before the chicken-head could ask him any more questions he left, leaving Sanosuke desperately searching for something - anything - to throw at the egotistical son of a bitch. After a few moments he gave up and settled for making an obscene gesture at the policeman's receding form before returning to Kaoru and Yahiko.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Yahiko asked, still nervous lest Sanosuke freak out again. "Yeah. Unfortunately." Sano habitually sucked on the puncture wound on the back of his hand, examined it for a moment, and shook the injured hand gingerly. "Ow," he said quietly.
"Here. Let me get something to bandage that up," Kaoru said softly, rising to her feet.
"Thanks, Jou-chan. And... uh... sorry for busting up the place." He was feeling much calmer now that he knew there was some sort of plan to get Kenshin out of jail, though he hated the roundabout approach almost as much as he hated Saito. If things ended up taking too long for Sano's liking, he might end up making a few arrangements with Katsu...
"May I...?" Kaoru said, interrupting Sano's scheming. She had returned with some antibiotic salve and bandages, courtesy of Dr. Gensai on his last visit. Taking Sanosuke's large hand in her own, she proceeded to apply the salve and gently bandaged the wound. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she asked, "Sanosuke?"
For some reason it took a few tries for Sano to get his voice working. "Jou-chan?"
"You will bring Kenshin back... won't you?" Kaoru looked up at Sano with eyes so filled of hope and longing that it made him sick with guilt. Here he had selfishly taken away the thing that she treasured most in the world, and yet she had no idea that Kenshin was no longer hers alone. Oh God, he thought, what have I done?
He flashed her his most encouraging smile. "Yeah. Don't worry - Kenshin is still ours."
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I really liked writing about the part where Sano freaked out. ^_^ I can't punch stuff in real life, so this is my only reprieve.
Grrr..... well, just keep reading, please.
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When Sanosuke awoke, he held in his arms empty space instead of Kenshin. Not moving from his position on the futon, he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists as if making sure that he was still in his real body. Was it a dream...? No, it couldn't be; a dream wouldn't explain the smell of Kenshin's long, silky hair still lingering in Sano's memory, or the pleasantly warm, tingling sensation that permeated throughout his body - or, most importantly, the fact that Sano was stark naked.
Stiff from sleep (or lack thereof), Sano propped himself up on one elbow and ran a hand through his unkempt brown hair. Though it was hardly necessary, he looked around the room for some sign of his absent partner. Not surprisingly, there was neither hide nor hair of Kenshin to be seen. Typical - Kenshin leaves without so much as a "good-bye," Sanosuke thought, amused. For a guy who talks so politely, he sure can be rude sometimes.
He rubbed the grit from his eyes and sat upright, reaching for his discarded pants. As he struggled to get them on without needing to stand up, Sano reviewed the events of the night before with some pleasure. However, some questions inexorably - and quite annoyingly - arose, first and foremost being: When the hell did Kenshin feel the same way Sano did? Why did he suddenly act with such... well, passion? And, most importantly, what was it that seemed to make him so sad?
Sano fished his red Sekihotai bandanna from underneath the crumpled sheets and tied it around his head with practiced ease, thinking, Even when I was screwing his brains out he seemed... upset... I almost got the feeling that... this was the last time we'd ever see each other. He smiled and shook his head. Yeesh, Kenshin's perpetual angst was beginning to rub off on him.
As Sanosuke put on his shirt, he noticed that he had been lying on a small maroon sock. The first thing he thought was: Well, that proves it wasn't just a dream. Secondly: Kenshin might want that back. He briefly toyed with the devilish idea of keeping the sock so Kenshin would have to come back for it (with all the consequences entailed), but finally decided against it. Besides, he needed some exercise, and a walk to the dojo would do quite nicely.
Opening the door, Sano stepped into his shoes and was about to start off when a gravelly voice called out, "Oi, young'in."
He looked up to see the old woman who lived across the street sitting on the front step, smoking her pipe and gazing at him expectantly. He'd exchanged a few words with her a couple times and they were on friendly terms, though Sano honestly couldn't remember her name offhand. "Mornin', Grandma."
"Name's not 'Grandma,' you little hooligan," the woman growled playfully, though she didn't offer a suitable substitute. She took the old wooden pipe out of her mouth and jabbed the gummed-up end of it at Sanosuke. "Lissen, young'in. You'd better hurry if you wanna catch 'im."
"Who?"
"That red-haired friend of yours. He buggered off almost half 'n hour ago, I'd reckon. And lemme tell you somethin' - he's goin' somewheres he's not comin' back from, so you'd best catch him 'fore it's too late. Someone like him is too good to loose."
Sano blinked and stared at the shriveled old woman in confusion, not sure if she was serious or not. "Wha...?"
Staring at Sanosuke with bright, dark eyes, the elderly woman returned the pipe to her mouth and puffed on it for a few moments. Finally, with the same grave tone of voice, she said, "Now gimme three yen and I'll read your palm."
At this, Sano burst out into loud, relieved laughter; she was just messing with him the whole time. "Oi, Grandma, you're really good at this. I almost believed you for a second there. I think you should do fortune-telling for a living."
"Told you, my name's not 'Grandma.' Now get goin' and catch up with that pretty friend of yours."
Grinning, Sano did a sort of cocky nod to his aged neighbor and sauntered off. Man, she has a weird sense of humor, he mused. She was really good at acting, too; he'd actually believed her when she'd given that ominous prophecy - well, for a little bit, anyway.
However, the thought of acting brought up an issue that caused a falter in Sanosuke's confident stride: How the hell was he going to act around Kenshin and the others now that... well, you know what. In all his little fantasies, the issue had never really come up. Another shining example of you legendary forethought, dumbass, Sano thought. God, I am an idiot. To tell the truth, he hadn't the slightest clue in post-sex etiquette. About the only thing he was sure about was that Kenshin probably wanted to keep the whole incident on the down-low for now, especially around Kaoru.
Ai, Kaoru... Memory of Jou-chan sent a pang of guilt through Sanosuke. Though before he'd sometimes felt a little resentment towards her, Kaoru was still Sano's friend. He couldn't help but feel like he was betraying her - after all, it was no secret she was hopelessly infatuated with Kenshin. How would he look her in the face now, after what he and Kenshin had done? Just... just act like nothing happened, Sanosuke advised himself. Pathetic advice, but it was the only thing he could think of.
By this time he'd reached the dojo, but before he even stepped foot on the grounds he knew immediately something was wrong. The front gate was wide open; Jou-chan never left the gate open. Uneasy but not sure what to be worried about, Sanosuke passed through the tall gateway and stood in the middle of the grounds, looking around for his friends. A few seconds' searching revealed Kaoru and Yahiko sitting outside the training hall. Yahiko looked up with wide, alarmed eyes at the sound of Sano's arrival, but Kaoru simply continued to stare listlessly at her hands resting in her lap.
"Yahiko? Jou-chan? Where's Kenshin?" Sano asked, not even bothering to remove his shoes as he hopped up onto the raised walkway. Yahiko stared up at Sano, and for a bit it seemed like he was struggling to formulate words, but for some reason could not utter them.
Sanosuke could feel the precursors of panic tugging at him. Something was definitely wrong. "What happened?" he demanded, kneeling down to meet his distressed friends' eyes.
"Hmph. Late, as usual," a haughty voice sneered behind him.
Jumping to his feet and whirling around, Sano was confronted with the dark, lean figure of Hajime Saito as the policeman stepped out from the shadows of the interior of the training hall. "You!" he snarled. "What the hell are you doing here? Where's Kenshin?"
Saito gave Sanosuke a condescending look, as if he couldn't believe the younger man's idiocy. He fished a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, saying, "If you had been here earlier, you'd know. The Battousai was arrested. For attempting to blow up the Department of Internal Affairs."
Sano didn't say anything for the longest time, and for a while Saito thought the moronic chicken-head hadn't understood what he was implying. Then he noticed that Sanosuke's face was turning the most fascinating shade of red, and Saito could quite literally see the anger building up inside him. Glancing down, the policeman was slightly alarmed to see that Sano had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails had punctured the skin of his palm, and blood dribbled out between his fingers. As Sanosuke's body began to tremble slightly with rage, Saito was reminded of a volcano on the verge of erupting; he was quite intrigued to see what happened when this one did.
Finally, Sano went off. "FUCK!" he exploded, slamming his fist through the nearby shoji-screen. Yahiko and Kaoru couldn't help but cower; they'd never seen Sanosuke look so dangerous before. "Fucking idiot!!" he roared, though whom Sano was referring to was unknown. Finding that the paper screens didn't give enough resistance, he pivoted on his heel and drove his fist into a wooden support pillar, pulverizing it into little splinters and causing the whole building to tremble hazardously. "Why the hell didn't you stop him?!" he hollered at Saito, who stood calmly throughout this whole tirade. "You're a fucking cop!"
"Himura confessed of his own free will," Saito said. "There was nothing I could do to stop it, even if I had wanted to."
At this, Sano's lips pulled back from his teeth in an unearthly snarl of pure rage, and he brought back his fist as if to hit the policeman.
"What, you're going to hit me?" Saito scoffed. "What will that accomplish? How will that bring your precious friend back to you?"
"Shut the fuck up!!" Sanosuke roared, but instead of hitting Saito he slammed his fist through the wooden walkway, creating a jagged hole several inches in diameter. When he withdrew his hand, a splinter of wood no less than two inches long was imbedded in the back of his hand, between the second and third bone. With a growl of disgust Sano yanked the bloody shard out and tossed it aside, then turned and walked towards the open gate.
"Where do you think you're going?" Saito asked.
"I'm not gonna let anybody take Kenshin away from me."
"Idiot!"
Sanosuke froze in mid-stride, the bold kanji for "aku" on his back trembling.
"Do you think you can just barge in with your fists swinging and demand they release the Battousai? You don't even know where he's being held." Saito laughed once, humorlessly. "Just because you're a moron doesn't mean that you can't let someone who actually has brains do the thinking for you."
"Oh yeah?" Sano demanded, whirling to face Saito. "And who's gonna help me? You? Why would you have any reason to help Kenshin?"
"Because," Saito sneered, "I'd derive great pleasure in bringing about that bastard Fushiyuuki's downfall. And besides," he looked down at Kaoru, who stared back with large, watery eyes, "part of the reason I became a policeman in the first place was the same reason that the Battousai became a wanderer - to help the innocent."
"Touching speech," Sanosuke snarled, not impressed in the least. "So what do you plan to do, O almighty genius?"
The cigarette hanging from his thin lips, Saito reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pen and small pad of paper. Flipping to a blank page and writing something down, he said, "I may not be the most popular policeman on the force but I still have some influence. As soon as I learn where the Battousai is being held, I'll arrange for you to pay him a little visit. Give him this."
He ripped out the page and handed it to Sano, who read it briefly and gave him a puzzled look. "A poem?"
"It's a code used to relay sensitive messages between assassins and their employers during the Revolution," Saito explained none-too-patiently. "When you arrive at the prison you will no doubt be searched. To anybody who finds that paper it will seem like nothing more than a casual poem. However, the Battousai will understand its meaning." He stepped down to the ground and brushed by Sanosuke on his way to the gate. "Try not to loose it."
"Hold on," Sano said suddenly, causing Saito to pause in the doorway. "What are you gonna be doing while I go on this little field trip?"
Saito sighed and spoke slowly, as if explaining to a small child. "The officer who arrested Himura, Inspector Fushiyuuki, has been suspected for some time of embezzling funds, taking bribes, and the like. I plan to find the proof."
"What good will that do?"
"Fushiyuuki essentially blackmailed the Battousai for the answer he wanted; we're going to beat him at his own game."
The explanation seemed to satisfy Sanosuke, and Saito had turned and was about to leave when he said suddenly, "What am I supposed to do until you get this whole thing arranged?"
Saito made no effort to hide his irritation. "Lay an egg, for all I care," he snarled, and before the chicken-head could ask him any more questions he left, leaving Sanosuke desperately searching for something - anything - to throw at the egotistical son of a bitch. After a few moments he gave up and settled for making an obscene gesture at the policeman's receding form before returning to Kaoru and Yahiko.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Yahiko asked, still nervous lest Sanosuke freak out again. "Yeah. Unfortunately." Sano habitually sucked on the puncture wound on the back of his hand, examined it for a moment, and shook the injured hand gingerly. "Ow," he said quietly.
"Here. Let me get something to bandage that up," Kaoru said softly, rising to her feet.
"Thanks, Jou-chan. And... uh... sorry for busting up the place." He was feeling much calmer now that he knew there was some sort of plan to get Kenshin out of jail, though he hated the roundabout approach almost as much as he hated Saito. If things ended up taking too long for Sano's liking, he might end up making a few arrangements with Katsu...
"May I...?" Kaoru said, interrupting Sano's scheming. She had returned with some antibiotic salve and bandages, courtesy of Dr. Gensai on his last visit. Taking Sanosuke's large hand in her own, she proceeded to apply the salve and gently bandaged the wound. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she asked, "Sanosuke?"
For some reason it took a few tries for Sano to get his voice working. "Jou-chan?"
"You will bring Kenshin back... won't you?" Kaoru looked up at Sano with eyes so filled of hope and longing that it made him sick with guilt. Here he had selfishly taken away the thing that she treasured most in the world, and yet she had no idea that Kenshin was no longer hers alone. Oh God, he thought, what have I done?
He flashed her his most encouraging smile. "Yeah. Don't worry - Kenshin is still ours."
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I really liked writing about the part where Sano freaked out. ^_^ I can't punch stuff in real life, so this is my only reprieve.