Tsukoika Katsuhiro was slightly insane.
He was aware of this (ten years of self-imposed solitude leaves very little chance to be ill-acquainted with one's self, after all) and fairly comfortable with it, actually. Sometimes, on those cold, cold nights when all you have is nothing, a little insanity does you good. Keeps you alive.
So yes, he was better now that Sano was back, and no, he was not about to run of and try to blow up the Meji government again. But, as Katsu figured, this was rock bottom – or sky high, depending on how you look at it. This was exactly as sane as he was going to get. Really, that was probably all for the better.
A little insanity keeps you warm – and God, was it cold.
(Yes, it was)
Sometimes, he woke up and he was so cold he could barely breathe, and his heart hurt with every beat it took. Sometimes, he could feel the ice cracking.
He only wished, then, that the rest world would have the decency to not pretend it was warm.
But, that hadn't been happening very often lately. Not since Sano started coming around, in fact. It had started when …
He didn't want to think about when it had started. That was over, and done with, and it wouldn't happen again.
He wouldn't allow it.
But that was beside the point. The point was that Katsu was insane, and he knew it. He'd been insane for the past ten years, and he knew that. So, whenever Sano asked him if he was alright, and he said yes, then Katsu was lying.
And he knew that.
But it was okay.
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Okay, here's the real chapter 15. The other one has been deleted and sent to the very depths of the Hell from whence it came. There will be no further mention of it, by me or by any reviewers. As much as I love them, any reviews mentioning it will be deleted, unread and unresponded to.
And that's all I'm going to say. I'll probably get 16 up later tonight, but it'll be a short one. Short-er, anyways. Not feeling very talkative right now. See ya.