Warning: Some maybe offensive material. If you are extra-sensitive to the issues of Bush or Gay Marriages...
Chapter Fifteen
Sano wandered around aimlessly. What was he doing here? This was bullshit. He'd been here over a week now and the most he'd done was wander around and look stupid. Not the thing to put on a resume. Tokio's words echoed back to him about earning his pay. Well, damn it, should he feel guilty for being paid to do nothing? Hell no! He was back up. He hated that fucking term and what it stood for. Kamatari got the frontlines, but what about dear old Sano? Shoved in the back.
Well, the back was not the place if you wanted a content Sano.
By his forth lap around the complex he felt he was just getting warmed up. Too bad the weather was shit outside or he could go pound some discarded concrete blocks.
On his sixth lap he figured he'd paced at least four miles. Why didn't they have a gym? He needed a punching bag. Maybe he could go find one. Oh wait, best behavior. Shit. Okay, so no using the enemy's lowlifes as human punching bags. What could he do?
Despite all the labels and accusations that were often pinned on the young man, he was far from lazy. He was just very selective about his activities. He wouldn't do it if he didn't think it was worth his while. Being a teenager demanded that his body did a lot of sleeping and eating, and since those were pleasure activities he obliged. Books never seemed to interest him much although sometimes he'd read about World War Two for kicks. He wasn't opposed to learning, just wasn't particularly interested in broadening his own horizons.
"Hey Tiger, slow down there. You look like your out for a kill." Kamatari chirped from behind him. Startled, he whirled and blinked. The slight man was dressed in what could only be described as normal clothing.
"Where've you been. You look normal."
Kamatari blinked and peered down at his clothing before saying sweetly, "As much as you'd like me to go running in a skirt, it's not that practical."
"I thought we agreed you would stop hitting on me in private." Sano grumbled stuffing his hands in his pockets. For once he was thankful for not having a particularly active imagination.
"Whatcha got there?" Sano asked noticing Kamatari half hiding a paper behind his back. When he reached for it he almost lost a finger or two. Well, it wasn't quite that drastic, but Kamatari didn't hide things. No, no, he had to air everything out in the open. Kind of like proof that he was who he was and no one's poor opinion was going to change that.
"I met the Battousai on my run. Quite the hot little guy actually." Kamatari evaded. Sano decided to indulge him for a moment.
"So what's up with our favorite ass-kicking compadre?"
"He's now a daddy."
"Shit, that was fast."
"Not that way!" Kamatari tittered and shook some droplets of water off his head. "Megumi seems to have adopted him. Like mother like daughter. The two of them seem to pick up strays whenever they turn around."
"But a wolf knows no master." Sano remarked.
"What about a mistress?"
"Maybe that." The young man conceded and made a fast grab for the paper. He could feel the newsprint brush his fingers and he latched on. With a swift, forceful jerk he had it in his hands.
Peering down he was slightly disappointed. He didn't read gibberish.
Kamatari made a grab and missed. Sano dangled it well above his head and said, "Can you actually read that chicken scratch?"
"Obviously." Jump. "But you can't." Grasp. "So give it back."
If there was one thing Sanosuke really hated it was the insinuation that he was stupid. If someone had something to say to him they could damn well tell it to his face inside of hiding it in clever words. If this had been anyone other than Kamatari they would be unrecognizable by now.
"I ain't stupid you know." He growled giving the smaller man a slight pushing knocking him off balance so that his back bumped the wall.
Kamatari glared and stopped his hopping, "I never said that. It's the Washington Post okay? An American newspaper."
"What's in this gibberish that's got you all worked up then? And don't tell me it's nothing."
"Fine, you really want to know?" Kamatari asked with no little venom in his voice. Sano instinctively took a step back defensively. Within that instant, the cross-dresser grabbed back the paper and skimmed it with his eyes. Whatever it was that he was reading in that gibberish it was upsetting him. And that wasn't something that sat well with Sano. Seeing his friends beating themselves up about something they couldn't possibly have control over.
Before he could open his mouth to offer his objections Kamatari continued, "President Bush is doing his best to make it unconstitutional for gays to get married."
"Can he do that?" Sano asked scratching his head. Bush, Bush, Bush. Oh yeah, he ran the United States, right? The young man wasn't particularly interested in the affairs of other countries and to be honest he didn't know even a handful of world leaders.
"He can try the asshole!" Kamatari fumed. Woah, he swore. And it was directed at a person not a thing.
"Why's he doing it?"
Kamatari gave a furious shrug and pursed his lips, "To boost his campaign to continue running his country. He's nothing but a hypocritical dictator. He picked the gay community as his scapegoat because society in general isn't comfortable."
Sano mulled over that before offering, "That's it? Seems like a shitty reason."
"Oh, he's hiding behind his religious beliefs and values to do it." The cross-dresser snorted with a dark, amused look, "He's playing the cord of people who believe themselves to be good Christians. He needs support after all his fuck-ups during his four year rule."
Sano wrinkled his nose. This was too confusing. You didn't just go around bashing up people to make yourself look good then blame it on your "values". Just another reason not to trust the government, he thought wryly to himself and flexed a fist. Those bureaucrat bastards were only concerned with their hides, not the roles they were brought in to fulfill.
"The thing is, America is supposed to be a free asylum for people no matter what. This is flat out discrimination, just as much so as the Jim Crow Laws were for the African Americans. Religion and State aren't supposed to be mixed. Most people don't enjoy other peoples' views and beliefs crammed down their throat."
"I sure as hell don't." Sano glowered. He didn't like being told what to do, but being told that what he believed in was wrong...
"I'm tired of being called Spawn of the Devil and rolling in sin. I'm a person too. They're people too. And, as citizens of the United States it's Bush's duty to protect and support them despite what he thinks personally. They pay into Social Security too!" Kamatari growled slamming the wall with both fists. "I'm sorry, I bet you don't care a whit about any of this."
Sano sensed that even if he wasn't interested in the issue that maybe he should still shut up and listen. Besides, it wasn't often that someone sat him down to talk directly to him about something cultural.
"Naw, you need to talk about this. Wouldn't want you to go all hot and flustered into a meeting. You could slip up. I mean, you're good at keeping it cool usually. Rant it out of your system." Sano added a teasing smirk, "You shouldn't bust up walls though. One might fall on you."
"No, I think I'm done." Kamatari grinned, some of his sunny persona shining through the dark clouds held over his head. "At least with punching walls. It hurts too much. No wonder you always seem to break your knuckles."
A/N: As you can tell, this has been prewritten for quite awhile. Don't use it for like research or anything because while I spent a lot of time reading up on the issue it doesn't reflect on the story very much. This is just the backlash. Fyyrrose and SL got the whole brunt. Oh man, I was totally on a blood lust. It turned into my beautifully cynical paper for English about Bush's mess ups in general, which I should maybe to writing? It's due monday ^^ Gah, and I need to redo my PMK fic. My mom says I'm too personal with my readers ^__^;; I'm so proud of myself. I can count the cuss words on one hand and there was only *one* insinuation (most people wouldn't get it anyway J.)
MissBehavin: Yes, he wasn't going for the dog pettting, was he? Hehe, but how far would the daydream go? X__X Okay *backs off* Eevee wrote one lemon! That's it. I make fun of my pets (and family) like that. My dog's name is Shadow... the possibilities are endless. Having it bad and working it out isn't the same LOL And you people are trusting a relationship-deficient person to write this! I don't think it was a son *thinks about that**considers process**shudders*, but maybe someone he loved as a son? Then again, with the OI (Okita imposter *is too lazy to remember his name*) he was getting a bit touchy-feely. *laughing* I remember reading somewhere he was trying to *eat* the cat. I really would have loved to see how it went with Yamanami/Akesato and leaving (even if it meant one of my fav. chars. had to die ^^).
Wistful-Eyes: That's like the word pansy. Pansys are VERY hardy flowers. The suckers are quite difficult to kill off (I've tried), but because they're a flower (purple usually) it's an insult. Go figure. *laughs* And the name Ms. Hogan was randomly pulled from my brain. I never had a teacher named that... maybe one of my sibs did? Oh well.
Fyyrrose: NO, I'm not going to post the Christian-Lemming rant. You might find it incredibly funny (and I truly didn't mean anything by it because both sides of my family are Christian), but I could REALLY offend people with that.
Okay, the scary part? I have SEEN grown men with itty bitty dogs doing just that X__X Yes, leave CHB alone. He's dead, he's staying dead, that is my gift to him! Hiko's song is playing right now.
You're whining about 104 hours? What about my 476 hours for SDK? Or 320 for RK. LMAO, yes the transformation issue! *twitch* A kimono eh. Raven, we had a deal. And I kept up my end of the deal. If you wanted more you should have said something WAAAAY back in November. You guys better hurry up. I'm almost done with both of the last chapters ^__^;; And you know Tales is going up as soon as BSR is done. Snake bite *chokes*
Chapter Fifteen
Sano wandered around aimlessly. What was he doing here? This was bullshit. He'd been here over a week now and the most he'd done was wander around and look stupid. Not the thing to put on a resume. Tokio's words echoed back to him about earning his pay. Well, damn it, should he feel guilty for being paid to do nothing? Hell no! He was back up. He hated that fucking term and what it stood for. Kamatari got the frontlines, but what about dear old Sano? Shoved in the back.
Well, the back was not the place if you wanted a content Sano.
By his forth lap around the complex he felt he was just getting warmed up. Too bad the weather was shit outside or he could go pound some discarded concrete blocks.
On his sixth lap he figured he'd paced at least four miles. Why didn't they have a gym? He needed a punching bag. Maybe he could go find one. Oh wait, best behavior. Shit. Okay, so no using the enemy's lowlifes as human punching bags. What could he do?
Despite all the labels and accusations that were often pinned on the young man, he was far from lazy. He was just very selective about his activities. He wouldn't do it if he didn't think it was worth his while. Being a teenager demanded that his body did a lot of sleeping and eating, and since those were pleasure activities he obliged. Books never seemed to interest him much although sometimes he'd read about World War Two for kicks. He wasn't opposed to learning, just wasn't particularly interested in broadening his own horizons.
"Hey Tiger, slow down there. You look like your out for a kill." Kamatari chirped from behind him. Startled, he whirled and blinked. The slight man was dressed in what could only be described as normal clothing.
"Where've you been. You look normal."
Kamatari blinked and peered down at his clothing before saying sweetly, "As much as you'd like me to go running in a skirt, it's not that practical."
"I thought we agreed you would stop hitting on me in private." Sano grumbled stuffing his hands in his pockets. For once he was thankful for not having a particularly active imagination.
"Whatcha got there?" Sano asked noticing Kamatari half hiding a paper behind his back. When he reached for it he almost lost a finger or two. Well, it wasn't quite that drastic, but Kamatari didn't hide things. No, no, he had to air everything out in the open. Kind of like proof that he was who he was and no one's poor opinion was going to change that.
"I met the Battousai on my run. Quite the hot little guy actually." Kamatari evaded. Sano decided to indulge him for a moment.
"So what's up with our favorite ass-kicking compadre?"
"He's now a daddy."
"Shit, that was fast."
"Not that way!" Kamatari tittered and shook some droplets of water off his head. "Megumi seems to have adopted him. Like mother like daughter. The two of them seem to pick up strays whenever they turn around."
"But a wolf knows no master." Sano remarked.
"What about a mistress?"
"Maybe that." The young man conceded and made a fast grab for the paper. He could feel the newsprint brush his fingers and he latched on. With a swift, forceful jerk he had it in his hands.
Peering down he was slightly disappointed. He didn't read gibberish.
Kamatari made a grab and missed. Sano dangled it well above his head and said, "Can you actually read that chicken scratch?"
"Obviously." Jump. "But you can't." Grasp. "So give it back."
If there was one thing Sanosuke really hated it was the insinuation that he was stupid. If someone had something to say to him they could damn well tell it to his face inside of hiding it in clever words. If this had been anyone other than Kamatari they would be unrecognizable by now.
"I ain't stupid you know." He growled giving the smaller man a slight pushing knocking him off balance so that his back bumped the wall.
Kamatari glared and stopped his hopping, "I never said that. It's the Washington Post okay? An American newspaper."
"What's in this gibberish that's got you all worked up then? And don't tell me it's nothing."
"Fine, you really want to know?" Kamatari asked with no little venom in his voice. Sano instinctively took a step back defensively. Within that instant, the cross-dresser grabbed back the paper and skimmed it with his eyes. Whatever it was that he was reading in that gibberish it was upsetting him. And that wasn't something that sat well with Sano. Seeing his friends beating themselves up about something they couldn't possibly have control over.
Before he could open his mouth to offer his objections Kamatari continued, "President Bush is doing his best to make it unconstitutional for gays to get married."
"Can he do that?" Sano asked scratching his head. Bush, Bush, Bush. Oh yeah, he ran the United States, right? The young man wasn't particularly interested in the affairs of other countries and to be honest he didn't know even a handful of world leaders.
"He can try the asshole!" Kamatari fumed. Woah, he swore. And it was directed at a person not a thing.
"Why's he doing it?"
Kamatari gave a furious shrug and pursed his lips, "To boost his campaign to continue running his country. He's nothing but a hypocritical dictator. He picked the gay community as his scapegoat because society in general isn't comfortable."
Sano mulled over that before offering, "That's it? Seems like a shitty reason."
"Oh, he's hiding behind his religious beliefs and values to do it." The cross-dresser snorted with a dark, amused look, "He's playing the cord of people who believe themselves to be good Christians. He needs support after all his fuck-ups during his four year rule."
Sano wrinkled his nose. This was too confusing. You didn't just go around bashing up people to make yourself look good then blame it on your "values". Just another reason not to trust the government, he thought wryly to himself and flexed a fist. Those bureaucrat bastards were only concerned with their hides, not the roles they were brought in to fulfill.
"The thing is, America is supposed to be a free asylum for people no matter what. This is flat out discrimination, just as much so as the Jim Crow Laws were for the African Americans. Religion and State aren't supposed to be mixed. Most people don't enjoy other peoples' views and beliefs crammed down their throat."
"I sure as hell don't." Sano glowered. He didn't like being told what to do, but being told that what he believed in was wrong...
"I'm tired of being called Spawn of the Devil and rolling in sin. I'm a person too. They're people too. And, as citizens of the United States it's Bush's duty to protect and support them despite what he thinks personally. They pay into Social Security too!" Kamatari growled slamming the wall with both fists. "I'm sorry, I bet you don't care a whit about any of this."
Sano sensed that even if he wasn't interested in the issue that maybe he should still shut up and listen. Besides, it wasn't often that someone sat him down to talk directly to him about something cultural.
"Naw, you need to talk about this. Wouldn't want you to go all hot and flustered into a meeting. You could slip up. I mean, you're good at keeping it cool usually. Rant it out of your system." Sano added a teasing smirk, "You shouldn't bust up walls though. One might fall on you."
"No, I think I'm done." Kamatari grinned, some of his sunny persona shining through the dark clouds held over his head. "At least with punching walls. It hurts too much. No wonder you always seem to break your knuckles."
A/N: As you can tell, this has been prewritten for quite awhile. Don't use it for like research or anything because while I spent a lot of time reading up on the issue it doesn't reflect on the story very much. This is just the backlash. Fyyrrose and SL got the whole brunt. Oh man, I was totally on a blood lust. It turned into my beautifully cynical paper for English about Bush's mess ups in general, which I should maybe to writing? It's due monday ^^ Gah, and I need to redo my PMK fic. My mom says I'm too personal with my readers ^__^;; I'm so proud of myself. I can count the cuss words on one hand and there was only *one* insinuation (most people wouldn't get it anyway J.)
MissBehavin: Yes, he wasn't going for the dog pettting, was he? Hehe, but how far would the daydream go? X__X Okay *backs off* Eevee wrote one lemon! That's it. I make fun of my pets (and family) like that. My dog's name is Shadow... the possibilities are endless. Having it bad and working it out isn't the same LOL And you people are trusting a relationship-deficient person to write this! I don't think it was a son *thinks about that**considers process**shudders*, but maybe someone he loved as a son? Then again, with the OI (Okita imposter *is too lazy to remember his name*) he was getting a bit touchy-feely. *laughing* I remember reading somewhere he was trying to *eat* the cat. I really would have loved to see how it went with Yamanami/Akesato and leaving (even if it meant one of my fav. chars. had to die ^^).
Wistful-Eyes: That's like the word pansy. Pansys are VERY hardy flowers. The suckers are quite difficult to kill off (I've tried), but because they're a flower (purple usually) it's an insult. Go figure. *laughs* And the name Ms. Hogan was randomly pulled from my brain. I never had a teacher named that... maybe one of my sibs did? Oh well.
Fyyrrose: NO, I'm not going to post the Christian-Lemming rant. You might find it incredibly funny (and I truly didn't mean anything by it because both sides of my family are Christian), but I could REALLY offend people with that.
Okay, the scary part? I have SEEN grown men with itty bitty dogs doing just that X__X Yes, leave CHB alone. He's dead, he's staying dead, that is my gift to him! Hiko's song is playing right now.
You're whining about 104 hours? What about my 476 hours for SDK? Or 320 for RK. LMAO, yes the transformation issue! *twitch* A kimono eh. Raven, we had a deal. And I kept up my end of the deal. If you wanted more you should have said something WAAAAY back in November. You guys better hurry up. I'm almost done with both of the last chapters ^__^;; And you know Tales is going up as soon as BSR is done. Snake bite *chokes*