Anyhow! A Soujiro POV. After that hiatus, I came across the conclusion that my fanfics have pretty short chapters. I'll try to lengthen them. Hehe. And in case you didn't catch it, I made a little fix-up on the last chapter.
Oh, and a little note: The only two (popular well known) Shinsengumi members that survived after the aftermath of the Bakumatsu are Saitou Hajime (Fujita Gorou) and Nagakura Shinpachi.
chapter.six
the burning memories of Kyoto
He could remember. Yes, he could certainly remember. The very scent, he could remember. The sight and the sound and the smell of the city of Kyoto. The women that gossipped in the corners and the small children running through the streets; the marketplace and the merchants, and the restaurants and inns and everything that he was just so familiar with. Everything that he had left behind, everything that he wanted to forget about. But still, the cold-hard fact was that he was, indeed, remembering it all over again.
Okita walked beside him, quietly, looking ahead. Somehow, his eyes seemed to glaze over, to be clouded with something untouchable. They were both silent for a very long time.
At last, the stark quietness was too much for Soujiro. "Okita-sama, may I kindly ask where you intend on staying during our excursion here?"
Okita's eyes cleared, as he turned to the younger man beside him, a rather thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure, Soujiro-san." He said, slowly. "You are acquainted with Saitou Hajime-san, are you not? I was hoping that he'd have some extra room for two."
Soujiro diverted his gaze. "Okita-sama...I'm not sure if Saitou-san would want me living in his home. We have run across eachother one year ago..." He began to shift uncomfortably, the city of Kyoto melting around him. "Perhaps it's best if you go stay with him yourself? I can work, and rent at an inn-"
"Don't be silly, Soujiro-san." Okita said, his voice brisk. "Saitou-san will be more than happy to let you stay with him."
"A-Anou..." Soujiro started, his eyes shifting. The assertiveness in the older man's voice was rather unnerving. It was even more unnerving to the boy when he remembered that Saitou Hajime was a part of the police force of Kyoto. And the chances that he, the former Tenken, was a wanted man were very, very high. A cold sensation welled up in his chest, but he kept it down, supressing it internally with a sanguine smile.
-.-.-.-.-.-
"Saitou-san! Saitou-san?" Okita tapped on the door of the home of Saitou Hajime. Soujiro felt his heart sink with each knock, and even more at the older man's conviction that the ex-Captain of the Third Troops would actually let him stay at his own home. Dread filled the boy's heart as he heard footsteps approaching toward the door. The door began to slide open...
Narrowed, vicious yellow eyes looked out from behind the shoji as it was pushed aside by a gloved hand. The face of Saitou Hajime's face was seen, behind a creasing shadow that crept up upon his face. A long pause followed.
"Okita." The deeper voice stated, glancing over at the brown-haired man. A cold silence shivered through the air."What are you doing here?"
Soujiro blinked, expecting to be the center of attention to the policeman's eye, and glanced over at the older man next to him. Okita looked straight back into Saitou's eyes, with what seemed like steeled reservation. The frigidity of the air was overwhelming, as the two men stared at eachother with such an intense cold, that Soujiro could almost feel it.
"Saitou-san..." Okita started, his mouth hanging open for a bit as he slowly diverted his gaze from the policeman. "I've been having some trouble at my dojo in Yamagata. I travelled here, hoping that you could spare room for two."
"So, you've decided to come back..." The man said, thoughtfully. Soujiro followed Saitou's eyes as they slowly turned to glance at him. "And you bring the Tenken along, too," He mused. His lips curled just a bit at the ends in a smirk. Soujiro could not bring himself to react; so he quickly pulled on his most cheerful grin.
"Saitou-san, this boy is allegedly a rurouni now. And he is my travelling partner. I have no intention of turning him in-" Okita started, but Saitou cut him off.
Saitou smirked. "On the contrary. With the current situations as they are, I think I'd rather make use of the boy first, before taking him to justice." Soujiro felt his legs start to shake a bit as Saitou looked him up and down. Make use of him? What exactly did he mean? He felt his heart pound, just slightly. With much effort, the boy managed to squeeze out a few words: "I beg your pardon, Saitou-san?"
Saitou glanced at both Okita, before fully sliding open the shoji and stepping aside, motioning for the two to come in. The chocolate-eyed man glanced at the policeman, before slowly making his way inside. Soujiro hesitantly followed, tense.
Once all three of them were seated, Saitou continued. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, Okita," He paused, looking deeply into the brown-haired man's eyes, who returned the gaze cautiously. "But there are reports of a group of people who still hold a grudge against the Shinsengumi. They seem to attack at night, and just a few days ago, I was ambushed by a scrawny man who apparently wanted to kill me..."
"Hai, Saitou-san," Okita replied, piqued in interest. "I myself was attacked about two weeks ago." He leaned back a bit, and Soujiro could have sworn that the older man almost seemed smug at the next comment that he made: "That is why I came here, after all."
Saitou smirked at this comment, and the soft rumble of a chuckle could be heard. "You haven't changed a bit, Souji." He chuckled a bit more openly. "Not in the slightest."
Purely confused, and a little left out, Soujiro turned his glance back at Okita. The other man allowed himself to smile, raising his eyebrow a bit at the officer. "I've come to stay in Kyoto for a while, until this whole ordeal with those men blows over. They seem to be getting stronger each time..." Okita looked away for a split second, before bringing his chocolate eyes to Saitou's. "So, what do you say, Saitou-san?" He smirked a bit at the older man, almost as if teasing him.
"On one condition, Okita-kun," Saitou said, returning the mischevious smile. "I hope you don't believe that I'm just going to sit here and wait til this /blows over/." He stared intensely at Okita. "I, as the police, have an obligation to rid the city of any nuisance that may be of harm to the good citizens-"
"And I do hope you don't think that I'll actually volunteer to help you get rid of these men, Saitou-san." Okita said, hardening his voice just slightly. "That would be ridiculous of you."
Saitou's smirk widened. "Indeed, it would be. So, in contrast, I'm asking that that boy of yours, along with yourself, partake in ridding Japan of these men. Now, that's far more reasonable, don't you agree, Okita-kun?"
Soujiro felt a jolt course through his spine at being referred to as "that boy of his", but nonetheless, the message struck. Saitou wanted to make use of him before taking him to prison, and his death, possibly.
"Honestly, Saitou-san," Okita said, the frigidity returning to the air around him. "Who do you think you are? Do you just expect us to do your will without a word?" The indignancy was obvious. "I came here hoping that an old friend of mine would be generous enough to spare a room for myself and my temporary traveling companion, not hoping to get wrapped up with all these causes again!"
Keeping a cool exterior, Saitou calmly replied: "Whether you're aware of it or not, Okita-kun, you're already wrapped up in this. It's your choice whether to get yourself out or not."
Purely frigid, Okita glared down the man known as Saitou Hajime. Both he and Soujiro knew well that the officer had made a very good point. And Soujiro could tell that the last thing that the chocolate-eyed man wanted to do was get involved with one of these plots. But Soujiro knew that Okita understood that there was really no other way out of this predicament.
And instead of giving Saitou a direct answer, he gave the man a rather pouty look, one that appeared to be rather childish; dare he say it: cute?
Saitou gave off a bit of a laugh and stood up, ruffling Okita's hair a bit as he did. "I knew you'd come around, Okita-kun. Care for some tea?"
"Saitou-san, don't /do/ that!" The younger man barked, his hands flying to the top of his head, smoothing down his reddish-brown hair. Soujiro got the feeling that this sort of interactment happened a lot during the men's Shinsengumi days, as a sort of acknowledgement of friendship maybe. He wasn't entirely sure. "Demo, Saitou-san! Matte!" Okita got up as well, facing the back of the policeman.
"What is it?" Saitou turned around and glanced at Okita.
"There's no need to bring the boy into this."
Again, Soujiro felt an almost unnoticeable prick of annoyance. He was /not/ a boy.
It seemed that Saitou had read his mind. Laughing a bit, he replied: "Okita-kun, I don't believe you've seen this boy fight. They did not call him Tenken no Soujiro for no reason. He gave the Battousai quite a run for his money, I do believe." His yellow gaze turned to the blue-eyed boy. "Yes, quite talented. Brought up by the devil himself-"
Soujiro cleared his throat rather loudly before the man finished his sentence. Purposefully. There was absolutely no need to discuss Shishio-san over this: his internal wounds over the man's death were still raw. "Saitou-san, Okita-sama," He started, pausing for a moment, contemplating what words to use in this situation. "I would be more than happy to help the both of you on this...excursion." No, that was probably not the right word. Oh well, too late now. "I am a rurouni now, after all, and I have taken up to helping others when necessary." He smiled, sincerely hoping that the last sentence he had voiced would put him on better terms with Saitou.
Chuckling a bit, Saitou eyed him for a while. The younger boy felt a prick in his mind that he had caught on to his intentions. But instead, the man said: "See, Okita-kun," Saitou stated. "He agrees, anyway." And before the chocolate-eyed man had a chance to respond, he turned and made his way to go fix some tea, presumably.
Soujiro looked tentatively at the taller man as he walked away, only to find that Okita had promptly swirled around, hands on his hips, and was currently glaring at him.
"Areh...Okita-sama?" Soujiro tried, apprehensively.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man hissed, his voice low enough so that Saitou could not hear. "What the /hell/ do you think you're doing, getting involved in things like these!"
"I...I was...I was just trying to help out-"
"Help out /what? Who knows what these crazy men are up to? These stupid causes-or as you so sharply put it/excursions-won't get you anywhere! They're nothing but a shitload of trouble! If you really want to help people out, donate money or something! They'll appreciate that, if not anything else!"
Soujiro paused tentatively, glancing away from the man's eyes. There was something gone. There was something gone from that man, and even an emotionless boy like him could tell. The Okita he had heard about when he was younger was inspirational, and generous, and talented, and kind. And always willing to fight for what he believed in. But this man that he had become...
"Gomen nasai, Okita-sama," Soujiro started. "I understand that you might not like me to get involved, but I feel that I have an obligation to. I...I'm trying to repent for my sins and...well...I hope I can do so by fighting for the right side this time." He smiled a bit hopefully.
Okita simply shook his head, disapprovingly. He glanced up at him, a rather dead look in his eyes, before turning away again. The younger man felt a bit of apprehension. "I presume you'll have to share a room with me." A quick change of subject. How convenient. Okita began to walk to what was their quarters. "I'll see you later then, Soujiro-san."
"H-Hai..." Soujiro frowned a bit as he watched the brown-haired man leave. What had happened to him? Why was he so against these just causes? Or, at least, he thought they were just: justice was a concept that was still a bit confusing to him. What was wrong with trying to defend the men of the Shinsengumi? To Okita, they were the men whom he had spent his life with: the men whom he trained with and joked with and lived with. Why did he just not care?
Perhaps he was thinking too much. A hint of a smile still wavering on his face, Soujiro decided that it was best to not question the older man on this, for fear of offending him. Walking toward the door, he slid it open, before glancing back inside. And then there was the question of Saitou-san. Soujiro was not sure if it was prudent to trust this man; he was a policeman. And there was also his relationship with Okita. It was odd and intriguing; they seemed to have been good friends at least, until something came between them.
Not that he would know anything about friendship, of course.
Giving off a slip of a sigh, the blue-eyed boy stepped outside for a mid-afternoon walk. He had a lot to think about.