Kinetic Notes: You all should be impressed, not to mention proud of yourselves. You managed to get me to update a story I had no intentions of touching, at least not until this weekend when Thanksgiving break begins, so give yourself a round of applause. Okay, time for me to comment on (a surprising amount of wonderful) reviews, yayayayayay!!!!!
Mitzi: You gave me your review on this a long time ago. Thanks for pushing me to post this up here, otherwise it might never have seen the light of… a computer screen.
Goldmund: Mythic, that's kind of what I was going for, except I never planned on adding on to this. It was supposed to be a one shot, but, after some talking with my 'editor', it was decided that this should be a prologue, and, as such, it should have more than one chapter. ^^ Don't worry though, the epic will come soon enough
EEevee: A monkey, huh, I kind of imagined the same thing when I was writing it but, that is what I was going for after all. You'll have to wait and see why though.
Joey8: Woo! I really didn't think it was that good at first, but now I figure, "Hey, it's not half bad." ^^ Fixed my settings btw.
Miyuki Nagizumi: YES! S&K (Blatant DDR reference .;; ) fans unite! They do make a cute couple, and, seeing as how Sano/anyone besides Megumi and non-yaoi fics are uncommon, I figured, what the hell, lets throw it out there.
HarukoNigihayami: ^^;; I really don't want too many people reading THAT one, it's no where near finished (okay, that's a lie, just act like I never made this comment), and I probably need to revise the whole first fifty or so pages, because my writing style's changed a lot lately. But once I do all that (or start over on it ^^;), I'll be sure to post it for your all's enjoyment.
Thanks also to Kay Kylo, kira-dono, Serenity Blossom, Clemen, and ESP for their comments.
Yes, I pick and chose reviews, I know its bad form, but I'm lazy so sue me -_- Every ten reviews I'll put up five that I comment on, unless there are a lot that I really really want to comment on! ^^
I'm not really sure if this story is any better from the last one, but I needed to fit it in here sometime, and I feel like making you all wait for the really long chapter ^^; aren't I just so ebil?
Let's get on to the real reason you're all here, kai? Kai, lets go!
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*Click* *Click* *Click*
Footsteps made their way down the hall, a few chuckled laughs following behind, probably from the door. Sanosuke's eyes rose, out of habit, to see who was walking through the cell block this late at night. His eye twitched slightly as he shrugged, realizing that he honestly didn't care who it was. "Just a guard probably," he thought, shrugging the sounds off, hanging his head in despair, until he realized that the feet had stopped clicking against the cool wooden walkway that ran between the cells. He could feel a pair of eyes boring into the top of his head, somehow managing to get around the tangled, spiky mess he called hair. Snorting a bit, he shook his head, trying to clear his nose of the acrid smell of smoke.
"Well then, it appears the infamous gangster, Sanosuke Sagara, has finally been captured, and turned over to the proper authorities," a cool, dark voice said, chuckling. "A pity, I was hoping I might catch him first, and take out his punishment immediately."
Sanosuke's eye twitched again, he didn't need to look up to realize who it was standing outside his cell, the clues just fell into place. The voice, confident, irritating, and anything but humble, is what really gave it away for him though, his most hated rival, the one man he would never be able to stand.
"Saito Hajime," he mumbled, raising his head a little, eyes lifting to meet the Wolf of Mibu's near gold gaze. Brushing a few bangs out of his face with his thumb, he grinned a bit before speaking again, far more sarcastic this time. "What do I owe the pleasure of such a visit, from such a high and mighty officer such as you?"
"No real reason, I really just came to mock you, considering we're back in the same position as in Kyoto, however your escape won't be so easy this time," an evil smile crossing his face as he flicked his near dead cigarette into the cell.
"Well, that certainly seems like a good reason to me," he growled, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms in front of him, scowling at Saito. "You're a real bastard, you know that?"
Taking a draw off the newest cigarette he'd lit while the young man was talking, he sighed, letting the smoke filter out of his mouth slowly. "Well, better a bastard then a whiny moron who always ends up on the wrong side of the law," he smirked, taking a step back as Sano lunged forward, slamming into the wooden bars of the cell, trying to take a grab at him, shouting profanities and curses at him. "Che, still acting the part of a bratty child I see, a pity."
Sano scowled, turning his back to the police chief, and walking back to his bed, sitting down hard on it. Leaning his back against the wall, he crossed his legs over each other, 'Indian style', and his arms crossed as well, covering his chest. "So, other than coming out here to make fun of me what el-"
Saito cut him off by raising a hand. "I'm not done yet moron." Smirking that smug little smirk of his, he walked closer to the cell, enjoying this little victory of his. Sano, sitting in silence, continued to glare at him, trying to plot some way of getting over there and smashing his face in before the guards realized what was happening, or before the fucking wolf moved.
"Did you honestly believe that you could get away from us moron? You surprised us by being able to stay hidden for so long, but we knew that, eventually, you'd try to get out of the country. How does it feel," he grinned taking another step towards him, "To know that you were a dozen meters from freedom, only to fail in your escape? Heh, you really are a moron." Shaking his head and laughing, the Wolf turned his back to the young man, stepping to the side as the young man's hands reached out through the bars, grasping the air where the former Shinsengumi once stood. "And still as slow as ever to boot, moron."
Growling, he pulled his arms back in, crossing them over his chest. "I'm not a moron Saito…"
"Oh, then I suppose that's why you're behind bars and I'm out here then, isn't that right, moron? I'm not the one being accused for the murder of a government official, am I?"
"Shut up! I didn't kill anyone! That's a load of horse shit!" By now, the young gangster had his hands wrapped tight around the bars of his cell, the blood draining out of them.
"And still that horrible temper…" Saito clicked his tongue a few times, shaking his head, as if Sanosuke was a disgrace to the entire race of Japanese people. He took a few steps backwards, leaning up against the wall, lighting another cigarette, stomping the second out.
Sanosuke seemed ready to tear the grate off its hinges, and chances were that it would have been like snapping a twig from a dead tree for the enraged convict, and, if he did manage to escape, lord knows what a well placed Futae No Kiwami could do to the overly smug police captain. The next statement caught him by surprise though, draining all his anger out in a single moment.
"Perfect, for a job I want you to do," Saito glanced up, smiling a little. Sano had learned, since that fateful he met the dangerous man, and ended up flying through a wall with half a blade embedded in his shoulder, never to trust a grinning wolf, but his curiosity was definitely getting the better of his, usually poor, judgment.
"What are you offering me wolf?" he asked, turning his head a little, regarding Saito out of the corner of his eye. As curious as he was, he knew better than to trust this damned beast with anything.
"An opportunity Rooster-head… a chance for you to get out of here, free of your charges, and go back to your not so peaceful life of gambling, brawling, and generally making an idiot out of yourself," he muttered, taking the cigarette out of his mouth, flicking a bit of ash off of it while he continued. "It's actually Tokio's idea, I would rather hang you on the spot, but she seems to think that you are actually more capable than you let on."
Sanosuke blinked in disbelief. "You let your wife boss you around?"
"No, she threatened to take away my cigarettes… among other things," he finished quickly, turning his head to the side and coughing a bit.
"Heh, thank whatever deity that reigns over my life for soft-hearted, influential women," Sano thought, grinning up at Saito, who was still trying to shake off the threat, apparently.
"So, Saito, what exactly does your wife have in mind?"
Smiling a little, Mibu's Wolf turned back to the fool rooster-head. "Tokio has no hand in what we decide your assignment will be, but you can be sure that it will test everything you're made of, moron." Laughing at the boy's furious reaction, he put his hands in pockets and headed for the end of the corridor, smoke trailing upward from the dying cigarette in his mouth.
"I'll be back in a few days with an assignment for you, a week at the most. Get your rest, I have a feeling that it will be the best you'll have for a very long time."
Fuming in his cell, he sat back down, crossing his legs over one another, arms back over his chest, and tried to blow off as much steam as he could, before he ended up breaking out, and getting killed. He had hope now, a chance to get out, to see the world again, to live…
"To see Kaoru," he smiled, remembering the occasion a few mere nights ago. She'd been so brash, so forward, so very unlike the Kaoru he'd seen before, but somehow, so very fitting for the situation. It'd just worked perfectly.
"Maybe, things will turn out all right, I'll get out of here, have my charges dropped, get to see Kaoru, Kenshin, hell, even that little brat Yahiko again. And maybe, maybe things will work out in this little hellish triangle I'm caught up in. Of course, I could get out, tell Kenshin I love Kaoru, and risk getting my head lopped off, but I think it's best to think positive for right now. After all, my memories and dreams are all I have anymore, because right now, there's nothing here for me."
And so, with that thought, Sanosuke Sagara, ex-gangster for hire, former member of the Sekihoutai, drifted off into a dreamless sleep, that didn't seem to far from his own life right now, helpless.
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^^ Once again, darkness prevails! BWAHAHAHAHAH! I don't usually write this dark stuff, especially for a romance, but I think it fits, what about you all? I mean, it's got a kind of Romeo and Juliet 'star-crossed lovers' thing going on, don't you think? A young couple, forced apart by circumstances, longing for one another… no worries, next chapter I'll explain more, mostly from Kaoru's side of the story, about why she did what she did. I'm gonna try to shut up and not give anything away now; I'm just so awful about keeping my projects under wraps sometimes! ^^;;
Leave reviews, if you please. Constructive criticism is just as powerful as positive reviews, as it allows me to see my weak points, in addition to letting me know that you read through it, even though you had some problems with it. Practice makes perfect after all, unless you're playing Nonstop or Oni, then it's Marvelous.
-KD
