Third drabble coming up. This one wrote by itself and I was forced to submit to anything the plunnies want from me!

Enjoy reading this. I did my best and documented myself a little to be able to write this one. The theme I used is called snowfall (thus the name of my drabble).


Warning: Drama, fluffiness, a little OOC and some historical data

Disblaimer: The characters of RK aren't mine and I, really, think Nobuhiro Watsuki would have a heart attack if he saw my couple choices!


Snowfall
By Royal blueKitsune

It was in the air and he felt the change even without having to expand his senses.

Saitou angled his neck slightly and pulled the blanket closer to their intertwined bodies, careful not to rouse his little weasel from her fitful sleep...then proceeded to watch the first, stray snowflakes fall.

Two years ago such an event would've surely awoken his darker side to life; surely would've made him feel empty and meaningless even with the constant mission of fighting and suppressing evil - Aku Soku Zan.

Even now, after so much time had passed, the once mighty wolf of Mibu felt a strange twinge in his hardened heart.

Winter always intensified his most painful memories.

The first time he had killed - eighteen was by no means an early age (one only needed to look at Battousai) but the supposed 'murder' had been accidental from his part. He had been forced to leave Edo in favor of Kyoto. He had been forced to leave his mother and father, his brother and sister.

Blood was easy to spill to an outsider but forever imprinted on the memory of the one that had spilled it.

The second time he had killed - as a member of the Shinsengumi. The kill hadn't made as much of an impact then as it had later. He had been forced to construct a layer of ice around his heart - though he had never been an emotional man to begin with - and reinforce it for his future assignments.

Still...that period he had spent working for the Shogunate, as unpleasant as it had been, hadn't left him feeling much of anything. Be it joy or sorrow. He had fought for what he believed in, had met good people such as Okita Soji and Nagakura Shinpachi and even crossed blades with an worthy opponent such Himura the Battousai.

His first marriage - her name had been Shinoda Yaso, the daughter of an Aizu retainer. Their first meeting had been possible with the help of old friend from Kyoto named Kurasawa Hiejiuemon. His friend had also been the one to sponsor their marriage later on.

It had been short lived though because Yaso's sickly disposition had caused her death five years later...taking a piece of his heart with her.

She hadn't been overly beautiful if he were to compare her with any other woman. Yaso had been Japanese from head to toe: small and thin, with long black hair, bright brown eyes and a delicate disposition that had - despite all odds - captured his heart.

His second marriage - an arrangement with Takagi Kojuro for the hand of his beautiful daughter Tokio. Tokio had been the polar opposite of Yaso (in personality of course) even if appearances didn't make her so.

With her burnt sienna eyes, waist long raven hair and pale complexion, Takagi Tokio surely was a beauty amongst others. She also had, Saitou had come to know this only after marrying the woman, tempered trait about her. She didn't show it very often, not to him at least, but his trained eyes had certainly catalogued her as a match to his liking at first.

Pity their personalities had clashed to often. Tokio had never agreed to her father's marriage arrangement and he had always been aware of her vivid dislike for him.

So it hadn't come as a surprise when she had asked - no, demanded- for an annulment of their marriage...leaving him with, yet again, that annoying feeling of loneliness.

Her feathery touch broke him out of his musings, warming much more than just his face. He didn't smile at her sleepy visage but, then again, she could read him better than this.

His eyes were unguarded only for her.

"You shouldn't mule over the past so often Hajime. It makes me think you enjoy being there more than you enjoy being her."

She pouted up at him and her eyes were stormy seas full of emotions. He lips curled upwards lazily at her miffed expression.

"You were always one to jump at conclusions Misao." He threaded his fingers through her unbound hair and gently forced her head beneath his chin. She complied and sighed, a hot puff of air that raised goose bumps and the fine hairs on his arms.

"You were always the one to make me worry...stop that. It can't be healthy. For you or me. The past is the past."

"Presumptive weasel."

"Stubborn wolf."

His third marriage - Misao Makimachi. It would be an insult to call her a 'stereotypical Japanese woman' and it would be an insult to call her subdued in any way.

With her vibrant green eyes, ankle length blue-black hair and cheery, opinionated personality, she was sometimes more than even the Mibu's wolf wanted to handle. Wanted not could.

Self proclaimed Oniwabanshu okashira; she had under her small feet one of the most effective and most lucrative ninja organizations in Kyoto. In Japan. She knew people just as dangerous as him, had helped bring down the Juppongatana and her past held a hint of darkness beneath the spotless pretense.

And despite that...

"Snow is so beautiful. I just want to run out there and twirl endlessly under the falling snowflakes."

Saitou tightened his arms around her and leaned more of their combined weights on the wooden beam behind him.

"The last time you said that, you caught a cold that had me forced to take a three day break from work to nurse you back into perfect health. You are not leaving this porch anytime soon."

She was the light to his darkness.

End


Did you like? I did some research (again) in order to write this. It is true that the real Saitou Hajime was married twice and all the names written in this drabble are taken from real life.

(bows) Please tell me what you think. Reviews are eagerly expected as I am addicted to them.