A/N : standard disclaimers apply
The muscle tone of his body had almost entirely disappeared, leaving bones to jut out through his sickly skin. The man himself looked surprisingly small despite his height, not that it mattered when one was no longer able to hold oneself vertically. His brown hair had been cut when the illness began and was now a sweaty mass that clung atop his coughing frame.
The men who stood around the futon seemed unsure of what to do, each of them making to move, wanting to help but not really knowing if the could do so without insulting their sick comrade. And Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi was not a man to be insulted even on his deathbed.
As it was he glared up at them with fierce emerald eyes once the coughing subsided.
"There's no need to stare, i'm only dying" He huffed.
"Save your energy Souji, we all know you are tough" Shinpachi told the younger man, a touch amused.
"And yet you all choose to have me released from further service to the Shinsengumi" He snarled, now genuinely annoyed.
"With the highest honours" Kondo pacified.
"Its shameful" Okita mumbled turning away from the men.
"The Shinsengumi has strict laws Souji, they are only ever relaxed for the most valued members. You should be proud of all you have done" Harada told him.
Okita was about to argue petulantly again when he heard someone else snort with derision.
"This is why we shouldn't take children into our ranks" Saito commented. Okita redirected his glare to the captain of the third unit instead.
"Just who are you calling a child? I'm 23 i'll have you know" He snapped.
"Then stop fussing" Saito dead panned, not bother to argue further with a dying man.
"I'm not fussing" Okita defended.
When Saito did not bother to dignify that with a comment, Okita's eyes narrowed slightly before his expression suddenly cleared.
"But if I am fussing Saito-san, then its only fair you indulge me" He said with an innocent smile.
"In what?" Saito questioned suspiciously.
"For one, you should be kneeling by my bedside with tears and praises galore" Okita suggested and when Saito stared stonily at him, the younger man, still seeming unperturbed continued.
"But that's not like you. So we can have a compromise" he offered between coughs.
The captains of the first and third unit stared each other down, engaged as usual in a battle of wills.
"This is the part where you ask Saito" Kondo nudged dryly.
When Saito didn't take the hint and Okita began to cough again, Hijikata chose to intervene.
"Just ask" He commanded only to receive a dirty look from narrowed golden eyes.
"What?" Saito questioned reluctantly, his mind coming up with many possible scenarios; none of which were pleasant. He, better than anyone knew the sadistic side to the man.
"We could address each other by first names" Okita said with a bright smile.
The men present were all fighting a smile. On the first day that Saito had joined them, Okita had used his first name only to receive a snap from the taller man. Ever since the two had been firmly on second name basis and that was regardless of how much their friendship had grown over the years.
It was so like Okita, who knew that he was one of Saito's most trusted allies (and dare he say close friend?) to still remember and press for what had been denied to him on the first day, goodness knew how many years ago. Saito narrowed his eyes further, knowing now that he had no real choice, but still not wanting to give in.
"Its a dying man's wish Saito-san" Okita added pleasantly.
Damn him for using his illness as a perk!
"Fine" Saito mumbled.
Another attack of coughs had Okita's breathing laboured and blood to trickle down his chin, but his good spirits were not so easily destroyed.
"What was that Hajime?" Okita questioned cheerily, even as he wiped away the blood.
"Shut up Souji" Saitou relented finally.
"Looks like I won one battle, even if I lost the other two" Okita said, content as he nestled deeper into his futon.
At his words, the gloom returned to the room. Only two weeks ago, they had lost at Toba Fushimi and it was common knowledge that Okita was indeed going to lose his battle to the illness….times weren't good for them.
Okita noticed the morphing expression and despite the lack of energy pushed himself up, a smile on his lips again as he attempted one last time to cheer them all up again.
"Say Hajime, since you always call me a child, I wondered if you could tell a story."
It worked. Nothing in the world would keep the men in that room from chuckling at the memory of the time when 35 abandoned children had ended up being housed in their headquarters for a week and the oh so fearsome Captain Saito had been reduced to a story teller.
"Feh" The man said, before walking out of the room stiffly, annoyance radiating off his Ki as he left.
Twenty minutes after that, Souji Okita, captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, master of the Tennen-Rishin ryu of swordsmanship, wolf of Mibu breathed his last.
When he woke up again, Okita felt strangely disoriented.
The sky was bright, the sunlight streaming directly at him. On instinct he shielded his eyes and pulled himself to sit up. The small task didn't take any effort and he couldn't feel any pain or soreness whatsoever.
Surprised and still not entirely composed, he continued the movement to stand before glancing down at himself. He didn't look frail and sick but entirely normal. His arms weren't thin anymore and his body was once again fit and his uniform no longer looked like it was hanging on a bunch of bones.
Is this death? He wondered even as he dusted himself. How had he come to be on the ground? Where was - wait, he was still in Kyoto? Surprised, he rushed towards the front door that seemed to lead again to the streets of the very city he protected.
An invisible barrier seemed to stop him as he reached the door. He could see past the open door but somehow, passing through it was not a possibility. Not deterred, he attempted instead to jump over the walls, only to land back on the ground. Stopped again by some invisible force.
He surveyed the sight then, trying to figure out where in Kyoto he was. But honestly, he had never seen this place and that was coming from a man who knew the city like the back of his hand.
The place stood atop a hill and guessing from the view outside, this was a shrine in the city. But what lay within the four walls was certainly no shrine now.
It was a lone house, quite large with several buildings. He supposed the one far out was the bath and a tiny shed was some sort of store area. The main building looked like it contained several rooms and judging by the size of the structure on the other side, it was a dojo or hall of some sort.
The yard was large too with several trees lining the area. He wondered if there was an exit behind the trees?
After walking around, he noticed that the forest of sorts that he had entered had a high wall that cut him off and like with the front door, he could not go past it.
Finally, another thorough inspection later, Okita came to admit that there was no way out. Of course he could still see the city beyond the walls but reaching it was apparently banned.
Still, this wasn't the death he had in mind and he was right to think this wasn't hell. In fact it seemed like just another lazy day where he had nothing to do. He glanced around again, his hands instinctively on the sword he had found on him when he woke up.
He had recognized it instantly of course. It had been his first and favorite sword, A fine Japanese Katana, one he had used for many years; broken by Hitokiri Battosai not too long before his illness began.
He lingered, watching the city for a while contemplating what to do. Well, honestly there weren't many options. He couldn't leave the sanctuary, that much was obvious and he supposed the building within the ground was meant for him to live in but it was empty and honestly too big for one man….
Not wanting to turn his back on the city he loved and protected all his life and not wanting to go in and explore the place properly yet, he did the one thing that could be expected of him. Drawing his sword, he began to train.
The first resident of the special Purgatory had entered and though he did not know it yet, he had a long time to wait before the others would join him.
A/N: well, there you have it. good? bad? still want to see where this will lead? not interested at all and think I shouldn't continue? Let me know :)