Disclaimer: I do NOT own Peacemaker Kurogane or Rurouni Kenshin. They are the properties of their respective creators and the Shinsengumi and Ishin belong to history. This is an insanity fic not to be taken seriously.
Only one thing to say: More of Kenshin and Okita friendship fluffies coming up! And a side show by the Sanos.
Er, no Hijikata's haiku on hand. Will some of Okita's love poetry to a certain Miburou do? (Runs from an angry Saitou)
Sake Shack LIVE! 6: Trying Times
Welcome back. The projector's fixed. Good to see everyone back and well, most of you anyhow.
Both Sanos are back in the Shack and being attended to by Megumi. They're being real chummy now after having cracked a couple of bones and totalled both their weapons in a 'friendly' duel outside.
"Say, Sagara-san, you sure can throw those punches!" Harada thumped Sano on the back.
"Which he shouldn't be throwing!" Megumi rebuked as she bandaged Sano's hand.
"Harada, you should have a better way of making friends aside from bashing them…" San-nan pointed out as he returned from a failed search for Umeko-san.
(On stage) Okita, Himura, it was during the Bakumatsu and you were on different sides. Did it ever occur that you were fraternizing with the enemy? Battousai did cross swords with the wolves on many occasions…
Okita: "Let's say we did try to avoid confrontation… but it was inevitable."
Kenshin: "Yes, I still am sorry about that… it was Sakamoto's idea I distract you guys."
(Flashback reel. Kyoto.)
The day Ryouma and company are to sneak in for an important Ishin meeting. The Shinsengumi roadblocks are tight. And the patrols are on high alert. Kenshin is waiting on a bridge with a Choushu banner along the route the first patrol will take.
Kenshin silently pleads for Okita's forgiveness. Spotting Okita and his men, he starts waving the banner wildly. Okita spots the redhead and cursed silently. He motions to his men to turn into an alley.
"Sir! Isn't that Battousai?"
"It may be a trap. Hold your ground, men. Do not attack…" What are you up to, Ken?
Seeing Okita's reluctance, Kenshin ups the amp by shouting anti-Shinsengumi slogans. Okita's face darkens but to his men's surprise, the captain makes no move. Kenshin walks right up to the patrol and shreds their banners with his sword. That was the last straw.
"BATTOUSAI! YOU'RE MINE!" Okita drew his sword and yelled as he led his men in pursuit of the fleeing redhead.
(End flashback)
The Shack is rocking with laughter.
"He did the same thing to my men at the HQ gate!" Nagakura exclaimed between chortles. "The huge joke was that Sakamoto and gang got in because Hei-kun looked the other way while we were chasing Battousai all over town."
"He challenged me to a duel," Kenshin added.
"He accepted, at a later date…" Okita continued. "We both lived."
"We couldn't decide who should make the first move…"
(Kyoto Tower. Late at night.)
Okita and Kenshin face each other. They are both in the battou-stance. They have been standing in that pose for a while. Captain Sagara is watching from a safe distance.
"Hurry up and draw your sword, Kenni. My mates will be wondering where I took off to."
"You draw first!"
"Why don't we play a round of janken to decide? Loser draws first!"
Sagara face-faults: "I don't believe this…Kami-sama! They're like two kids…"
(End reel)
More laughs from the audience. Hijikata looks ready to kill Okita for that.
Then came the parting as Kenshin took off after the battle of Toba Fushimi and Okita got put away in a hospital for his illness… They never met again…
Kenshin: Nami-san, correction. We did meet one last time. When I was in Tokyo after vanishing as Battousai, I had some business at certain dojo. I made use of this opportunity to drop by and visit a friend…
(Flashback. Edo TB Hospital. Okita's ward. Okita is busy fending off a very shrewish woman, namely, his sister.)
"Souji-chan, be a good boy and take your medicine!"
"That's not my medicine! That's rat poison! Cough, cough…If you want me dead, just let me commit seppuku!"
"You little rat, if you commit seppuku, I can't sue the hospital for medical negligence!" She tries to force-feed him.
A familiar redhead steps into the room. "Am I interrupting something?" Okita's sister glares at him but she is frightened by his fierce amber eyes. Kenshin yanks off the plaster over his cross-scar…
"AAIEEEE! You're that psycho Battousai guy!" The woman flees for her life. Okita is coughing blood and laughing into his pillow.
"Thanks, Kenni…" Okita finally wipes his mouth with a sleeve. "How did you know I'm here? Cough…"
"Your half-brother in the Ishishishi told me before I left Toba Fushimi. Heard the news that the Miburou are going up to Hokkaido. Thought I'd drop in and see you." Kenshin pulled up a chair by Okita's bedside. Okita settled back on the bed.
"Kenni… you gonna be a big man in the new government? Like Sagara-san says he's gonna push for a no tax bill…" Okita was not too surprised when Kenshin shook his head. "That isn't your style, anyway… I suppose you'd disappear as Battousai and wander about helping the weak and seeing the world…"
Kenshin waits for Okita to continue. "Sou?" He reached out with a trembling hand to shake Okita. Finally realizing the truth behind his friend's silence, he drew the blanket up over Souji's face.
(End reel)
Okita: "That was freaky! Seeing my own death…"
Kenshin: "What's more freaky is seeing your sister trying to kill you. Your half-brother was kinda glad when he heard you got admitted. He wasn't too keen on running into you in Hokkaido."
Okita: "I got escorted to the afterlife by Sagara-san… Then I met Sakamoto-san and Takasugi-san and we four wound up attending an introductory course on being a ghost and haunting methods…"
The We-Luv-Okita Club is bawling their eyes out. Hijikata hollered. "Okita! We need to talk about your fraternizing with the enemy!"
Okita grinned childishly. "I did try for the pro-Shogunate class but they were all full up. Mou, should I commit seppuku?" He teased.
"Better," Hijikata added. "Girls! Okita will go out with the first girl to ask him!" Squeals of delight from his fangirls. Okita paled.
"Hijikata-san, let's not be too hasty…"
"OKITA-SAMA!"
"HELP!" Okita fled with a horde of rabid fangirls in pursuit.
Soujirou watches from where he is sitting with Yumi and several members of the Juppon Gatana. "My father is a moron…" He gets up and heads for Tomoe's counselling office at the back of the shack.
Chou is slightly tipsy as he walks over to Saitou's table. "Say, boss, that youngster had a crush on you right? I still remember those mushy love letters he wrote to you on display at the museum's Bakumatsu exhibit … handy for wooing girls, you know?" He coughs to clear his throat and quotes as Saitou glares at him.
Knowing you
Is my solace
Longing for you
Love of my life
In waiting for
The night
Our hearts beat together
Under a starry sky…
"CHOU!" Totally miffed, he draws his sword and goes into a Gatotsu stance. Chou realized he has overstepped himself. "Oops… let's not be too hasty, boss…I'M SORRY!" He flees with Saitou in pursuit. Tokio shook her head and turned to Shinpachi.
"How did Souji-chan managed to write such mushy stuff, and not to a girl? You don't suppose…"
"Copied the tone from Hijikata-san's haikus. Hijikata-san always put LOTS of LOVE in his poetry…" Shinpachi explained.
Well, that's all for tonight, folks! See you next time! Hopefully, we'll have Umeko-san back!
A/N:
Battousai baiting the wolves from the New Kyoto Post. Okita was rumoured to have a half-brother in the Ishin. I'm making Okita's family life really screwed in these fics. I mean, there has to be a reason why he is so close to the gang at the Sheiken dojo. A mercenary sister, a rebellious half-brother… A distant cousin (Tokio) who was out to hunt a certain wolf (Saitou)…
Heh, the museum exhibit mix-up from the Japan Bulletin. The love letter is really a code letter. Take the first letter of each sentence and read. It's an order from Demon Hijikata.