The world was an endless river of shit, current flowing right in his face when he was trying to swim backwards. In all his years of single parenting, he has never been more annoyed with Okita Sougo then he was today. Sure the guy was an unreasonable twat, but recently he was more insufferable than usual, engaging in behavior he hadn't expected or anticipated. Okay that was a lie, he expected Sougo to turn out worse but he turned out outwardly decent for the most part.
He watched the flaxen haired boy, man, he corrected himself, slump forward on the floor he was seated on. The entire are devoid of noise aside from the whirring of a small ceiling fan and the labored breathing of the guy in the cell. His gaze wordlessly turned to Itou, who only looked back at him expressionless. "What'd he do?" he managed to ask through his misery. Itou's face broke out into a sneer before he said, "bar fight, broken the noses of some big guys and caused property damage." Hijikata let out a sigh he had been holding back, his hands patting down the pocket of his coat for a cigarette and a lighter, not finding anything, he temporarily gave up on the pursuit of smoking.
"What's it gonna take to have the dumbass released?" he asked with a glare in Itou's direction, who raised his eye brows thinking of something insidious no doubt, Itou Kamotarou has always been a piece of shit, ever since their time at the police academy. "He doesn't get bail until tomorrow morning."
"It's already morning dumbass." Hijikata said through gritted teeth, pointing to the sleek black watch on his wrist. Unpetrubed by the sudden insult, Itou only looked on in thinly veiled annoyance, "I meant nine hours from now, I am heading home anyways." Before he could turn around to walk away, Hijikata slapped a hand on his shoulder stopping him from making any movements whatsoever. "He needs to be out now, it'll be too late tomorrow morning." Itou looked over his shoulder with a glare, "why the hell should I care?"
"You don't, obviously, but I..." he hesitated, feeling a blow to his nonchalant character, "I do."
Itou turned around fully with both his eyebrows raised on that ugly flat forehead of his. "My, my Hijikata Toushiro has a heart too, who would have known..." he trailed off, causing anger to simmer in Hijikata. "Yeah, yeah, just tell me how much I gotta pay, and get the kid out." he bit out, turning away from the asshole in front of him.
"Sorry, Hijikata but what I said stands, come back in nine hours or later, you can pick up Okita-kun." Hijikata felt his patience thinning for the upteenth time that day. Heaving a large sigh, he planned on using the emotional blackmailing route but this was Itou he was talking about, the heartless bastard had the emotionally stability of a sea cucumber. Damn even his own personal jokes were falling through tonight.
"Look, we have known each other for a while, and you should know how many times I saved your ass during our academy days, you should let this one thing off the hook this time around." Itou pursed his thin lips and looked to the comatose boy in the cell and back at Hjikata, not that they were friends or anything, but he was running the precinct now that both he and Kondou were doing their own thing.
But they helped you , didn't they? Rang a treacherous voice inside his head, begrudgingly admitting to himself that the confrontation he had with a group of terrorists in central Tokyo, had only bee neutralized by Kondou and Hijikata. Had they not been there he would have been dead, deader than how they found him. He already made up his mind to help the sucker, but it didn't mean he was gonna do it with a smile on his face.
"You brother-in-law is a menace." he said with a sigh and gestured Hijikata to follow him.
"I already fucking know that." Hijikata muttered under his breath and followed Itou back to his desk to take care of the formalities that needed to be fulfilled.
The car ride back to his home was a quiet one, with Sougo looking out the window in his gloomy daze and Hijikata straining to keep his eyes open to at least get them home in one piece. They arrived a good fifteen minutes to two in the morning, getting out of the car, he dragged the struggling younger man out of his car and into his home, not before checking the surrounding area for people. This probably looks so wrong from another prespective, he thought disgustedly.
Entering the house and placing the keys on his coffee table, he pushed Sougo off of his person and onto the couch. "What the fuck..." Sougo muttered, holding his head in his hands and glaring at the older man lighting a cigarette. "Go make yourself a cup of coffee, I already did it once when your girlfriends dropped by." he said calmly, puffing out smoke. Sougo straightened a bit, his face contorting to confusion, "she came here, why?"
Hijikata leveled him with a deadpanned look, "why do you think?"
"How the hell should I know?" he said, looking away.
"Stop! Enough! I have had it with all the dramatic looking away and sighing. I have dealt with this shit long enough today, If you are old enough to fuck, you are old enough to know how to fucking say sorry and make up again."
Sougo got up from his seat, "you are taking her side again?" his expressionless mask cracking to show the puffed cheeks of a five-year old.
"I am not taking anyone's side," he said calmly, "Cause you are both stupid and annoying." He wordlessly went into the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with a mug full of steaming black coffee, "Drink this shit, and go upstairs and fall the fuck asleep, We'll talk more in a few hours." He said the last part with a grimace, before he climbed the stairs and walked into his room, slamming the door shut.
Leaving Sougo alone with his thoughts.
What did they fight over again, he couldn't even remember, his mind buzzing and his eyes hazy as he watched the smoke raise from the cup into the open air. It's not like he wants to be this way, which is a total lie because everybody who knows him knows that he has been a little shit for a long time.
He took his phone out of his jeans pocket and scrolled his contacts list down to 'K.'
Now the only thing keeping him from calling her was a small green button and his own pride. He knows she would be madder if he hints let alone admits to not remembering what they were fighting about. It had something to do with her family, he was sure, it always was, not Danna of course, the baldy and his shitty son.
With twitching fingers, he jabbed at the green button, connecting a call to her, whatever she might not even pick up, he thought. Except that she did.
"..."
"H-hey." Fuck, his voice cracked.
Another pause and he felt her breathe deeply, "Hi." she said with an edge to her voice.
Sougo looked around the room, for a topic of conversation but finding nothing of comfort, he only proceeded to hold the phone in silence.
"Is there something you want to say to me?" she asked, he could hear the thinly veiled smug tone.
"Eat shit, china." he said hanging up.
Oh no, it took a few seconds to process, what did he just do? Redialing the number again, it went straight to voicemail. Panicking, he kept dialing, until it got to her on the fifth try.
"What?! What happened now?" he put a distance between his ear and the phone.
"Shut up!" he barked "damn bitch, you and your fucking tonsils." he muttered. He could almost see the glare she was giving him through the phone. Undeterred, he continued, "I want to talk..to you," he paused, searching for the right words. "Can you come by?"
"Who is the girl here, you or me?"
"Well that depends," he said not missing a beat. "Fuck you, sadist." she said through gritted teeth, "I am hanging up."
At her threat, "No wait! Fine, I'll come, but it might take me a while, cause I am drunk."
"Oh poor you," she said in a mocking voice, damn bitch, he thought. "Where are you?" he asked, after a pause. "Papi's guest house." she said with a sigh.
"Oh." another choppy pause, he was glad because it was either angry silent treatment or aforementioned screaming with them both and since the hour was so ungodly and he was buzzed, the silence was better. "Come over." he said, but it came out as more of a plea.
"I can't." She said, her fingers twirling away at her hair, "Kamui-nii is right next door."
"Who the fuck cares, just run out." he said with a scowl.
She stopped twirling her hair, " Its not that easy." and the silence settles in between them again. "You have changed." He says suddenly. "So have you." She said bitterly.
"So this is it then? You are gonna get married to some asshat because you are mad at me."
"You think I am doing this because of you?" She asks angrily.
"Yes, everyone knows that." He says arrogantly.
"Fuck you sadist." she all but screams into the phone. "Yeah well not anymore probably, ask your new husband how he feels about sloppy seconds." She hangs up on him and he realizes what an asshole thing the last thing was to say.
Hijikata limps down the stair a few minutes later and sighs, Sougo looks at him from his spot and looks away at the tiny slivers of light outside. The coffee finally coming to his attention, he holds it up by the handle and brings it to his lips as he watches him sit down on the seat opposite the couch he was sitting on.
The coffee was cold. "It's cold." Sougo says emphatically.
Hijikata didn't know whether he was talking about the coffee or the situation. "Warm it up then." Sougo only shrugs and takes a sip anyway. "She hates me."
"She should, you are an asshole, and the last thing you said was uncalled for."
Sougo looks at him with narrowed eyes, "You were listening?" he hisses. Hijikata glares at him, "You weren't exactly being quiet, asshole." Sougo scoffs and takes another sip before giving up and putting the coffee on the table. The two of them sit in unsettling silence, doing nothing.
"I need to talk to her." Sougo says, getting up from his sit, "give me your car." Hijikata also raises from his seat, "Fuck no! You already caused property damage, I am not letting you take my car out. He takes the keys from the table and puts on his coat for the umpteenth time ad gestures for him to follow.
They set out on an adventure to the small town house on a cozy side of the city, it was blessing that the places wasn't located in a gated community. The two of them arrive two blocks from her house, while Hijikata is parking the car, Sougo walks behind the guest house and climbs the fence, putting him directly in her backyard.
He walks past the rosebushes and assorted flower pots and to the sliding doors that would lead him to her kitchen. Only for it to be locked. Of course, it was night time and they were sleeping, but Sougo was a little drunk after all. He walked away again, and looked up at the second story, it was hard to tell which window was hers, and especially difficult because he had only come to the house once. I was much easier to maneuver around danna's house, because even when he did climb the wrong window to the twin's rooms, one of them usually sneak him to Kagura's.
Sweet kids, takes after their mom no doubt, because he was sure, Kagura's guardian would have sliced his balls open if he found out he was doing the dirty with his daughter. Not that he doesn't know already, but somethings are always better left unsaid.
While he was thinking about the golden days, he hadn't realized that Hijikata had come up behind him. "Shit! What are you doing?" he almost screams, Hijikata looks at him annoyed, "Why are you here?"
Sougo gives him a look of disbelief, "You want me to go to the front and ring her doorbell, dipshit?" Hijikata ignored the insult and said, "Whatever, how are you gonna get up there?"
"Hell if I knew.." he muttered, Hijikata looked at the pipes leading up from the sides of the house. "Wait, wait," he said, "I have an idea." He walked towards the pipes and jabbed them a couple of times to see their stability and turned back to Sougo, "It's kinda old school thought."
Sougo snorted, "Climb the pipe?"
Hijikata only nodded, Sougo thought for a minute but later agreed on it, 'let's do it."
The climbing wasn't the hard part, what was hard however was keeping himself up. "Stay still." Sougo said in his dead panned voice. "How the fuck am I gonna stay still with your shows digging onto my shoulders you asshole?!" Hijikata shot angrily.
"This was your idea, Hijikata." Sougo reminded. Hijikata only shot him a glare, "Which one is her window?"
"I don't know, I think its the one on the right?" He thought out loud, Hijikata strained himself to look up, while Sougo looked up contemplatively, "Hmmmmm..."
"Get off, get off." Hijikata said agitatedly, pushing the younger man of his shoulder. Sougo got off and stood beside him, still looking up, "You know there is one thing I don't get."
Hijikata massaged his shoulders and tilted his head, "Shouldn't they have a security system?" Sougo asked.
"Who the hell cares, just get the girl and run." Hijikata said and gestured up to the lit room to the right, "Maybe that's her room."Sougo looked up at the lit window and pursed his lips.
The balcony doors slide open abruptly and Sougo almost jumped, while Hijikata backed up, preparing to run without him if needed be. Out stepped, Kagura, dressed in her red winter coat from earlier in the evening.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" She hissed. Sougo gathered his bearings and Hijikata stayed in his spot, because he might need to run when possible, he was sure Kagura's father would spare her but he could do whatever he wants with Sougo.
"I was trying to get to you." Sougo blurted out. Kagura's eyes softened slightly before going back to the way they were. "Why?" She asked, like the little shit that she was.
Sougo was about to reply when Hijikata groaned and said, "Look, you love him," pointing to Sougo, "And you love her." pointing to Kagura. "It's been common knowledge for years now, can we please get going before your monstrous father and brother show up?" he pleaded.
Kagura and Sougo, did the one thing he never saw them do, obey what he said. They followed him to his car and he sped away like hell was on his heels. Arriving home shortly after, he didn't even bother throwing his coat on the rack or his keys on the table, he dragged his body up the stairs and into his bedroom, leaving Kagura and Sougo to their devices downstairs, whatever, it was best to let them work out their problems. He thought as he dozed off.
Only to be woken up half an hour later with the Kagura's blue eyes twinkling in the dark and Sougo smiling menacingly down at him. Hijikata jumped back, not even safe in my own bedroom, when will this end? He thought miserably. He got up and walked to the mirror to see a penis drawn on his left and right cheeks, he glared at the two snickering adults as he walked into the bathroom to wash the blasphemous drawings of his cheek. Fearing that the mark would still be there, he rubbed his face with soap and washing it off rapidly with water. He walked back and wiped it with his towel and turned back to the two assholes. "What. The. Fuck. do. You. Want. Now?" he asked, his voice a deathly calm, "Don't you two ever sleep?" he almost screamed, but stopped short when he remembered it was still very early.
Kagura and Sougo looked at each other, Sougo gestured something to her with a tilt of his head and Kagura nodded, "We want to elope!" She said with a smile.
It was then that Hijikata did scream.
AN: Thanks for all the love and support, you guys it means a lot to me.
FF user Forever Yorozuya: This story is centered around Okita and Kagura, who have been in a relationship for a while, but always break up, because of one fight or another.