Hakuouki in its entirety is copyright to IDEA Factory; Kawa belongs to me.
**edit: short, chapter is short. /bows apologetically
"I don't give a shit about your excuses! So what if they picked a fight: why the hell did you draw your blade against unarmed men!?" He snarled.
She scowled at the bushes beyond them, her hands balled into fists at her sides. There was no doubt about it: she would murder that old sod, even if she died trying!
"Then I'll be the one to split open my gut for disobeying the way of the warrior." He mused calmly.
Everyone's head shot up at his words; her eyes widened alertly.
"Souji…" She whispered.
"Souji, what's gotten into you!? This's no time for jokes!" Shinpachi snapped, hopping up to grab his shoulder and shake him a little.
"What joke? I'm dead serious, Shinpatsu." Souji replied in the same calm voice.
Her fists at her sides were shaking as she grit her teeth.
"ENOUGH, Souji!" Toshi shouted, glaring at his passive green stare. "Spilling your guts isn't gonna solve this problem!" He snarled, turning on his heel to storm away inside.
The rest of the men watched him leave.
Souji quieted and looked at the strangely silent woman near him. "Kawa," he began.
FWHACK.
Surprise registered on the men's faces, particularly on the brunette with the fresh handprint on his left cheek.
He staggered back, looking at her in slight shock. "K-Kawa…" He managed.
Tears started to gather in her eyes as she valiantly fought the urge to sob infront of everyone. "Didn't my words sink into that thick head of yours last time!? I don't want you to die, Souji! Not ever, and especially not because that man is driving you mad!" She cried, glaring at him as her fists shook, the tremors reaching up to her shoulders.
He felt like the slap-mark had burned his face like a hot poker as he saw the tears begin to show in her eyes. "Kawa," he began to step closer to her.
She glared at him before turning on her heel to storm away to her room.
"Kawa!" He barked, making to go after her before a hand was placed on his shoulder, surprising him; he looked to see a pair of light brown eyes meet his green stare. "Kondou-san," he began.
"Let her go, Souji. She needs to cool off." He advised calmly.
Souji scowled slightly before he jerked his gaze away to where she had stood, the scowl shifting into a frown. Kawa, he thought.
:::::::o|o:::::::
Crickets chirped in the courtyard.
He silently snuck to her room, doing his best to not wake anyone else up.
Tension was in the air, mostly radiating from that man's section of the compound, so he ignored it as best as he could.
He felt like he was still in hot water with her.
Of course that slap did kind of hurt; he was lucky she hadn't hit him with her scabbard.
He was such an idiot, making her cry like that. He'd promised himself to not make her cry and what the fuck did he do? Damn it all was he an idiot.
He paused short of her door, lifting a hand to knock before he paused short of doing as such.
If she was still pissy like earlier, which –given she had Hijikata-san's temper—she prolly was, then knocking wouldn't be an option.
So he tried option two: sneak inside.
Doing his best to open the door as quiet as possible, he slipped inside her room to see she had her back to the door, sleeping soundly.
Idiot, ya should know better by now to not sleep with your back to the door, he mentally chided, smiling to himself at accomplishing entering her room, moving closer to her bedside.
Before his backside could hit the tatami beneath him, a glint of moonlight appeared out of the corner of his eye; he froze in mid-crouch, green eyes going cross-eyed at seeing the tip of a concealed knife staring him right between the eyes.
Kawa glared at him, sleep gone from her gray eyes that were as steely as her katana's blade, the handle of her knife held tight in hand.
Souji blinked once before he put on a cheesy smile. "Ohaiyo…"
"Tell me why you're here before I kick your ass out of my room." Her voice was in approximation to a growl, her gray eyes almost looking silver in the moonlight.
He dropped the cheery attitude and quietly sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I came to check on you, but seeing that you woulda slammed the door on me if I'd knocked, I decided to sneak in." He declared.
She lowered the knife and put it down next to her futon, sitting forward to rub her eyes gingerly with the side of her hand. "Geez, Souji…" She groaned.
He smiled dryly as he sat down before her, placing his hands on his calves. "Well at least you're not so pissed that you won't say my name." He mused.
"Just because I slapped you doesn't mean I don't love you, dumbass." Kawa grated, tucking a few locks of black hair behind her right ear as she looked at him.
Souji felt his eye twitch. "Then why in the fuggin' hell did you slap me? That hurt."
She valiantly fought a snort at his cute expression, looking away from his penetrating green orbs and down at her lap covered by the blankets. "From what Sannan-san said about what went down in Osaka, both you and that man were responsible for cutting down the sumo, so since that man wasn't there for me to run my blade through his black heart, that's where you come in." She mused.
His left brow twitched in annoyance. "I swear I'm gonna kill that fucking bastard." He growled.
"So long as I get to rip his heart out." She wagered.
Souji quieted, looking at her downcast gaze and exhaling. "Deal."
Kawa nodded, keeping her eyes down. "Is that all you wanted to talk about…?" The answer to her question came when he took her face in his slightly-calloused hands and pulled her in for a deep kiss.
Souji… Her face flared red in surprise before her shoulders slackened and she lifted her hands to bunch in his brown hair, holding him there.
She had been pissed, she wouldn't deny that. But her love for him outweighed the anger a hundred times fold; her fingers lowered to cling to his neck as that familiar prickle of tears began in the corner of her eyes.
He caught the slight dampening of her cheeks and opened an eye to see she was weeping; he gingerly pulled away, making her moan in both anguish and regret, looking at her concernedly as she kept her eyes closed and looked away. "Kawa," he murmured, cupping her cheeks gently. "Kawa, what's wrong?" He asked softly, seeing the tears regain their strength and race down her cheeks slowly.
Her eyes were puffy and slightly red when she opened them to look at his green eyes that showed worry, worry for if he'd hurt her again or if she was upset about something. "Just hold me." She croaked.
Not taking a second to hesitate, Souji pulled her into his arms so she snuggled into his lap, holding her protectively to his chest as he let her cry. He ran his fingers through her black hair, the tip of his nose in her locks, as he wondered what he had done and how badly he had hurt her to make her cry like this.
It was then that he, Okita Souji, made a promise to himself to never make the woman he loved so much, cry.
"I don't hate you, okay? I love you too much to ever bring myself to hate you, no matter how many men you kill. I just… I'm tired of this, I'm tired of all this bullshit-business that man has put us through, and I know that if it weren't for you or Toshi, I'd throttle him in his sleep and bury him at the bottom of the river. Whatever he says or does in the future, please, don't forget your sanity. Don't forget me, okay? Promise me that, Souji." Kawa hoarsely pleaded, keeping her eyes on the fabric of his red haori.
Souji's eyes widened a little at her plea before he soaked it in and nodded, squeezing gently. "I promise. I'm sorry I made you cry, earlier. I felt like such a fuggin' idiot for breaking that one promise to you; I'm an idiot for making the woman I love cry." He replied softly.
She nodded, nuzzling into his neck. "You're an idiot, all right… but you're my idiot. Always will be." She murmured.
He smiled and chuckled softly, planting a tender kiss on her head. "I can handle that." He mused.
Kawa smiled as well, closing her eyes. "Souji?"
"Hn?" Souji wondered, tucking a few locks behind her left ear.
"Will you stay with me for the night?" She asked quietly.
He smiled again and nodded. "Gladly." He replied in the same tone.
review please; thanks~ ;')