CHAPTER FIVE: The Man Who Fights For Justice But Doesn't Believe In It
Okita ran his fingers through his long hair, more out of habit than actual care of what it looked like. He let out a long sigh, waiting for his contact in the Harusame to show up.
"The seventh division, huh?" He muttered to himself, absentmindedly wrapping the tip of his ponytail around the tips of his fingers. "How troublesome."
"That's us alright." Another voice answered cheerfully, stepping out of the shadows. "At least that's what everybody says about us."
Okita gave the Yato a sceptical glance. His brilliant red hair peaked out from between the bandages covering his face, a pair of blue eyes the only recognizable trait.
"Commander Kamui, I assume?" The police officer inquired, stretching out his hand for a greeting.
"That's me. I take it you're Captain Okita, then?" The Yato took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze. Okita retaliated, not willing to throw his pride away just yet. The two men stared each other down until something cracked.
"Ah sorry." The Yato laughed. "I keep forgetting how fragile humans are."
Okita nursed his injured hand, but still managed a smile despite the pain. "I guess it can't be helped. I wouldn't expect much different from a bunch of monsters."
The blue eyes examined him for a few seconds before Commander Kamui, or smug face, as Okita was ready to refer to him, broke out into laughter.
"You have guts, I like that. Make sure you don't lose them."
Okita rolled his eyes. "I'm not planning to."
"Now, back to business." Smug Face cleared his throat. "We recently let the location of Chief Kondou's speech leak to the opposition."
Okita's eyes widened at that, and he was ready to throw the Yato to the ground and claw out his eyes. "What?"
Said Yato held up his hand. "Now, before you get your underwear in a bunch, we have things covered. We want you to use the opportunity to infiltrate them and foil their major plans. Make sure it's not too obvious, 'kay?"
Smug Face playfully patted him on the shoulder with an aggravatingly cheery smile. "Now follow me so that we can get your hand patched up."
Reluctantly, Okita followed Smug Face into the parlour they met in front of, and a few passwords and guards later they were going down a staircase.
Smug Face turned to him. "Isn't our alliance great?"
Okita glowered at him. Alliance? In his eyes, they were just being treated like dogs with interchangeable masters. "Just dandy." He muttered, not attempting to hide his contempt.
"Ah, you're a lively one." Kamui grinned. "It really makes me happy."
"Well, that wasn't my intention." Okita glared at the red-haired Yato, who had begun removing his bandages.
"Sometimes, we do the best things in life unintentionally." Smug Face shrugged, gesturing for Okita to sit down in a chair.
The blonde police officer complied with a grim expression. The things he did for Kondou.
"I'm surprised you're still here." Katsura greeted her the next morning.
Kagura swirled her spoon through the breakfast porridge. "I can't help but feel indebted to you." She admitted hesitantly.
"I've hardly done anything for you." Katsura sighed, taking a seat next to her. "Why would you feel indebted to me?"
"Isn't it a huge risk for me to be here? If I really were associated with the government, you'd be at a disadvantage." She explained, her brows furrowed. Neither Gintoki nor Shinpachi were there yet, and most of the other members of the Joishishi were still asleep.
Katsura folded his arms and hummed in thought. "I think your thought process is too simple."
She looked up from her food. "What do you mean by that?"
"I trust Gintoki's judgement, you should know that much by now. We've been through a lot, more bad times than good ones. He doesn't trust people easily." He paused. "I think that says a lot about both of you as people."
"You think so?" She mumbled, lifting a spoonful of porridge to her mouth. "What do you think it says about me?"
"I don't mean to offend you in any way, Miss Kagura, but I think you're awfully naïve, which in itself doesn't have to be a bad thing. However in our situation, it's bound to be your downfall sooner than later." He said tersely.
A tight smile made its way to her lips. "Don't worry, you're not offending me in any way. I'm quite aware of that. I'm doing my best to pay more attention to that."
"I see, then I shall encourage you to do that. Especially if you want to survive here in Edo." He paused, humming in thought. "If I had to put it into words, I'd say you think about yourself too much. You don't look at the big picture."
His words were harsh, but Kagura saw the truth in them. Her shoulders relaxed. "Thank you for being honest with me."
He didn't say anything in reply, but that was alright. They finished their meals in comfortable silence.
"Since you're still here, can I ask you to help us out with something?" Katsura asked her a few days later.
"Of course." She replied right off the bat, wiping the pearls of sweat from her forehead.
Kagura had offered to do most of the really heavy labour in an attempt to redeem herself – although she wasn't quite sure exactly what she was redeeming herself from.
"There's this pretty big event coming up soon." Katsura began explaining, casually fanning himself. "The Chief of Police is going to hold a public speech in order to appease the general population. There's been a lot of unease going around lately, and the government doesn't want it to spiral out of control."
"Makes sense." Kagura acknowledged. "So what are you planning to do about it?"
"We're going to look for recruits. Upset citizens are bound to attend an event like that. We go in, create some chaos, announce our intentions and back out. Those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for our cause will follow us." Katsura finished calmly.
"How do you plan to make sure there aren't any spies within those recruits?" She inquired with a frown.
"There's an evaluation period for that."
"An evaluation period?"
Katsura nodded elegantly. "We don't let the recruits in on certain secrets until we're sure that we can trust them."
"Ah, I see." Kagura had learned many things about the leader of the opposition over the past few days, but the most prominent facts were that he could stay cool-headed and calm in nearly every situation.
He made good decisions, not even shying away from tactical retreat when necessary.
"Since one of our spies discovered the location some time ago, we've been preparing the explosives for the event. Under the guise of cleaning the building, my men will sneak in and plant said explosives." He paused for a moment, folding his arms in front of his chest and fixating her with a serious look.
"Many of my men probably don't want me telling you all this. They've accepted your presence here, but they don't necessarily trust you. I also don't trust you completely, to be honest. But I trust you enough to know that you don't care about Edo itself."
"Which is why you'll make use of me?" She concluded. Her heart still felt heavy at the thought of being nothing more than a tool, but she could hear the regret in his voice.
"Exactly. We are in a situation where we need to make use of every asset available to us. Both you and me… we are just assets in this big mess."
For some reason, her throat felt dry. Just a few days ago, she would have lashed out at anybody who said such things about her, just as she did the first time she met Shinpachi. But now… now she realized that there were other people in her shoes.
Katsura was willing to turn himself into a tool for his goals.
But what about her?
"It's alright. I understand." She answered. Truthfully, she didn't understand, her heart and her mind conflicted about this. But she wanted to change, to understand.
And towards that goal, she'd put one foot in front of the other, one small step at a time.
"We'll plant the charges here, here and here. Two on the pillar here, and another two on the pillar here. It'll be enough to create panic, but it won't make the entire building collapse." Yosuke looked up from the blueprint and gave everyone at the table a stern look.
"And remember, we want to avoid hurting innocent civilians as much as possible."
The other men, including Kagura, gave an equally stern nod of confirmation.
She'd never been involved in something of such a grand scale before. Her experience mostly came from messy, brutal encounters with smaller groups of opponents, to the point that the words 'collateral damage' had never even crossed her mind.
She steeled herself. Things were different now. Improvisation and fight reflexes weren't in the foreground anymore, now it was all on group tactics and planning.
Yosuke was a man that Katsura had a lot of faith in. He was a man that many of the men were proud to follow.
"Miss Kagura will be our back-up." He announced, gesturing towards her for those who didn't know who she was. "If push comes to shove, please depend on her."
Another round of murmurs of confirmation went through the room.
Yosuke gave them all an approving smile. "Alright, make sure to eat well tonight. We're leaving before daybreak tomorrow morning."
"How do you feel about this?" Gintoki asked her that night during dinner. Shinpachi was next to him, nursing a bruise on his forearm.
"I'm not sure yet." She replied. "I don't see any problems with the plan, but my gut feeling…"
"If that's the case… Be careful." The silver-haired man didn't look at her when he said those words, instead focussing on his food, but they held a certain sincerity that made her shoulders less stiff.
"I will." She breathed in response, a soft smile ghosting across her lips.
Somebody tapped a finger on her shoulder, making her turn around.
"Ah, sorry Miss Kagura. The guys and I were wondering whether we could sit with you." The man that spoke had a cheerful smile on his face, gesturing to three others. She recognized them from the meeting earlier. "If you don't mind, of course." He added with a chuckle.
"Sure, go ahead." Gintoki answered for her, getting up. "Pattsuan and I were just about to leave, anyways."
"…I don't mind." She replied once Gintoki and Shinpachi had left.
"Oh, that's great. My name's Nagimasa, by the way." The cheerful one introduced himself as he slid into the chair next to hers. We were hoping we could get to know you a bit before the mission tomorrow." He explained while the others also took their seats.
Kagura had heard people tell her they wanted to get to know her before, but usually it held a lot of impure implications. This time, however, there was a genuine tone to the man's voice.
"These are Midori, Kenichi and Shin." He introduced the other three, who each gave a nod when their names were called.
"Nice to meet you." She responded politely.
"Ah, you're so polite." Midori commented, waving his hand. "There's really no need for that here."
"Loosen up a bit." Kenichi chuckled, taking out the first bottle of sake. "You're almost as stiff as my mother-in-law."
While her father had told her to never accept drinks from strange older men, she found the stress washing off her in their presence.
Kenichi, next to complaining about his mother-in-law, had no shortage of words to share about his beautiful wife and daughter. She could practically smell the love he had for them, and she envied their family for that.
She wondered whether her father ever bragged about her like that. Probably not.
Midori was content with living the single life, taking care of his sickly sister when necessary. He was also quite the lightweight when it came to drinking, which resulted in him being the first to pass out, sprawled across the table.
Shin was the youngest of them all, supporting his aging parents with everything he could. He was visibly tired, but there was a satisfied smile on his face when he also gave in to the alcohol and began snoring away, half hanging off of his chair.
"So, what about your family?" Nagimasa slurred. Like Midori, he also had a family, two sons that were staying with their grandparents for the time being.
Kagura had never known anything about her grandparents.
"It's complicated." She opted to answer.
"But you love each other, right? That's the most important thing." He nodded to himself, taking another sip of sake.
Kagura hesitated. Did they love each other? She thought they did… But she wasn't sure.
"I mean, even Yato need some love in their lives, right?" He chuckled at his own words, lids heavy and falling shut.
His incoherent mumblings turned into soft snores.
Kagura put her hand over her beating heart. Even Yato needed some love? She knew she had emotions, she felt sad, angry and hurt on so many occasions in her life. She could list the entire negative spectrum of emotions and she could pinpoint at least one moment in her life in which she felt each and every one of them.
But what about happiness? The only positive emotion she experienced frequently was relief. Happiness, satisfaction, love – especially love – where not on her list.
Her fingers clutched the fabric of her dress. What was love?
Pushing those thoughts out of her head the next morning, she put on some fresh clothes, bandaged the exposed skin, slung her cloak over her shoulders and put on her goggles.
The other men, including Yosuke, Midori, Nagimasa, Kenichi and Shin, were already dressed in matching garb and sorting the explosives.
"Are you ready?" Yosuke asks into the round.
A chorus of "yes" followed.
He nodded, a smile on his face. "Alright. Remember, we are doing this for the country we love, for the city we want to protect."
Another chorus of shouts followed.
Kagura hid in the dark alley next to the venue. Yosuke and the others had already infiltrated the building, mingling with the other workers. The first civilians were already streaming in as the sun rose higher and higher into the blue sky.
It was the worst kind of day for her kind, the bright sunlight illuminating the streets.
A few hours later, they were rallied up in the alley. "All charges are in place. Now we just have to wait for the speech to begin." Yosuke confirmed.
Soon enough, a man escorted by two others, clad in black uniforms, entered the venue.
"That's him, Isao Kondou." Midori remarked, gesturing towards the man. "Chief of the Shinsengumi."
"Shinsengumi? They're some kind of special force, right?" Kagura asked, her eyes trailing after the man's tall form.
"Yes, they are in charge of taking care of the government's greatest enemies – in other words, us."
"They're nothing to sneeze at, which is why we'll have to be careful when we go in." Yosuke explained, gently pulling the two of them further into the shadows of the alley.
"Ten minutes." He added, "We'll go in in ten minutes. We'll interrupt the speech and take control of the stage, announce our purpose and then Kenichi and Nagimasa will detonate the explosives on the pillars."
The two in question nodded with serious expressions.
Each second felt like a minute, each minute felt like an hour… Kagura wouldn't peg herself as the impatient type, but she had to admit that she was sweating buckets at the moment.
The explosions should have gone off by now.
She gnawed her bottom lip. She was the back-up, they were relying on her. But was she over-reacting? It's only been a few minutes, after all.
She let out a low groan.
In fighting terms, a few minutes meant everything. But when it came to missions like these, it was to be expected that not everything would happen as expected.
There were too many factors of chaos to ever be able to predict something like this.
Another bead of sweat left her forehead, instantly absorbed by her bandages, which were soaked by now.
It was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
She gritted her teeth. They entrusted this task to her, but if she stepped in now, would it mean that she had no faith in their abilities?
She should have asked Yosuke for more advice in advance.
Gulping, she ran multiple scenarios through her head. Were they intercepted by the Shinsengumi? Were they held up by the crowd? Were the explosives malfunctioning?
She let out a shaky breath. In the same moment, a loud explosion filled the venue, followed by many screams and cries.
People poured out of the doors in masses, pushing and pulling, each one trying to save themselves.
Midori was the first to meet up with her. "There was an enchanter." He explained, exhaustedly. "Yosuke and the others should be joining us soon."
Kagura sighed in relief. "I see."
The others trickled in one after the other, until eventually Yosuke came, a large gash running down his arm. "Kenichi and Nagimasa are still inside. They… the explosion didn't go off as planned." He informed them solemnly.
Midori grimaced, but didn't say anything.
"What do we do?" Kagura asked.
Yosuke pulled his lips into a tight line. "We retreat."
A soft round of mutters went through the group, but nobody spoke up against the order.
Kagura nodded, agreeing with the conclusion.
They all turned to leave the alley, when an image of a little girl flashed through her mind, waiting for her father to come home.
Her steps stopped abruptly, her heart hammering in her chest.
Kenichi talking about his daughter with that proud smile on his face.
She swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Miss Kagura?" One of the men asked.
Nagimasa also had two little boys. Would she take their father from them?
Her breathing grew irregular. "Dammit." She hissed underneath her breath, spinning on her heel.
"I'm your back-up, please depend on me." She announced before rushing towards the building.
Ignoring the shouts from behind her, she pushed past the men at the entrance, knocking out the guards with an effective blow to the stomach.
The flames were licking at her cloak, but she went on, through the fire. There was a ringing in her ears, panicked screams blending in with the creaking of burning wood.
Smoke rose all around her, obscuring her vision from the blinding orange flames.
They had to be somewhere here, they just had to be…
It was getting harder to breathe.
Dammit, where were they?
Desperately recalling the blueprint of the building and retracing her steps mentally, she headed in the direction where the pillars in question should have been.
A cough escaped her mouth, to which she just pressed her cloak further into her face.
Kenichi and Nagimasa were somewhere here… somewhere…
When asked afterwards, she didn't remember exactly what happened. All she could recall was the bright, bright flames and the sound of Kenichi and Nagimasa coughing.
The weight of them on her back as she carried them out.
The impact of her foot against the chest of the unfortunate officer who encountered her.
The magic circle. The magic circle that so innocently tampered with the explosive charges they planted there.
And that awful, horrible stench of magic that made her want to throw up.
"You were reckless." Katsura said disapprovingly.
"I know, but it'll heal up soon enough. Give it an hour or two."
"You had no obligation to save them, you know? We do this fully prepared to die for our cause." Katsura told her sombrely, eyeing the bright pink burn mark on her arm.
"I… know." She answered, head lowered. "I… I just…"
"It doesn't matter why." Katsura put his hand on her uninjured shoulder and gifted her a small smile. "Thank you."
Her heart flared at the gratitude in his voice and she felt like crying. Crying because the walls around her heart were finally completely broken down by two measly words.
Gintoki welcoming her had loosened the chains, but Katsura's unconditional gratitude had made everything crumble into dust.
It was a shocking realization, that for the first time, she didn't do something because it benefitted her. She did something because it benefitted somebody else, even if it put her in a tight spot.
Katsura didn't say anything as a sob escaped her lips and she wrapped her uninjured arm around his midriff, he only gently stroked her hair as her tears soaked into his haori.
And in that moment, Kagura wished that her father would have done this for her at least once.
Mixing into the crowd during the chaos, he caught on to the loud announcement of the opposition member.
In the cacophony of panicked screams and shouts, Okita pushed himself through, along with a few other men, trying to reach the meeting point.
It was a harsh trip through rough terrain, after which he finally arrived at the clearing in question.
The man who met them there was the same man who made the announcement at Chief Kondou's speech. He introduced himself as Yosuke.
Yosuke led them through complicated forest paths, through a cave entrance into a large, underground facility.
He had to admit, it was rather impressive, and he had no way of knowing how much further the system expanded. On the other hand, it was also extremely easy for him to infiltrate the base. Why hadn't anybody else managed to do it yet?
Hijikata had said something about magic, but there was nothing hinting at that anywhere. No runes, no maniacs, no nothing.
It was almost like one big no-magic zone. But he wasn't going to let himself be fooled. If it was this easy so far, then there had to be something he hadn't seen yet.
And then he saw it. Okita nearly screamed out loud when he spotted a long vermillion braid in the distance. But only nearly. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself.
He watched the cloaked figure interact with a few of the men in the base, accepting something from one of them.
What the hell was Smug Face doing here?
Smug Face disappeared around a corner, and Okita followed discreetly. The members of the opposition were awfully lax around their new recruits, making the task much easier than anticipated.
Once he was sure it was only the two of them in the tunnel, he sped up and grabbed the Yato by its shoulders, slamming it against the wall.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Is this a fucking joke to you?" He hissed angrily, glaring at the pair of blue eyes.
The pair of blue eyes that were slightly rounder than he remembered. Now that he thought about, this person was also quite a bit shorter than the commander of the seventh division.
"Do I know you?" A clearly female voice asked him, unimpressed. She blinked at him before raising a brow at him.
He was still staring at her dumbfounded. "Who are you?" He whispered in disbelief.
"If I haven't introduced myself to you, then it's clearly none of your business." She answered coldly, pushing him off of herself.
He snorted. "Don't kid around. You look exactly like him."
At that, she spun around to face him. "Exactly like who?"
Okita bit down on his tongue once he realized he was about to give up precious information. His mind ran through all the possibilities, trying to figure out the best option.
This time, he was shoved against the wall by the shorter female. "Answer my question, and I won't give you to Katsura with a bow wrapped around your unconscious body."
There was a certain desperation to her voice, but when he didn't answer for a few seconds, her hold on him slackened. "It doesn't matter." She sighed. "It's Kamui, isn't it?"
Okita remained silent, but his mind was reeling. A relative? Probably a sister or a cousin.
"Look," She said, letting him go. "Despite how things seem, I'm willing to make a deal with you."
AN: Oh, a two month break? *awkward laughter*
I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner, I promise! Enjoy the beginnings of OkiKagu until then~
And maybe leave a review? Pretty please?
Next: The Monster Who Smiles But Isn't Happy
~Emi