I've finally updated! Yay! I know you all must want to kill me for being such a slow updater and I can only say that I'm sorry! But better late than never, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER:I OWN NOTHING
*Pat*Pat*Pat* went the rain as it cascaded from the sky. While everyone else ran for cover from the mini monsoon, Okita Sougo casually continued walking down the street as if he were not being plummeted by thousands of rain drops every passing second. Any passing bystander would assume that the sand haired youth enjoyed the coolness of the rain, but they are sadly mistaken. Behind his stoic mask, the man was actually frowning. He hated the rain, loathed it with every fiber of his being. Nothing good comes with the cursed rain and Okita has experienced once too many the terrible fates that it brings.
First it had been the Amanto revolution. He remembered the day vividly because that was the day that marked the beginning of his spiraling fall into oblivion. It rained that day even though the weather man predicted clear skies; he was a liar, just like his parents. They told him to patiently wait at home with Mistubi while they ran an errand, his mother even promised that she would be back before dinner, she was a liar just like the weather man. Needless to say neither Okita's mother nor father escaped the initial bombing of the Diet building in downtown Tokyo.
Terrorist attacks were nothing new, they existed since the Edo era when the first Amanto's arrived and the opposition by the Japanese nationalist began. But with the passing of time, the Amanto's autocratic power diminished until their political party existed as nothing but a hollow name. It was not as though the population size of Amanto decreased, on the contrary, the amount of immigrants coming to Earth actually spiked, it was simply that humans had intellectually evolved to a state where they could overcome the Amantos. Human no longer quivered in fear of the powerful Amantos because they themselves had developed the technology to combat any possible threat. That is until the Amantos retaliated fifty years after the humans regained power. Okita's parents unluckily happened to be victims of war. However, if it had been a clear day as the weather man predicted then the outcome may have been different. They would have gone to the park as initially planned and his parents would have avoided the bombing. They would have lived, they should have lived, and yet they did not, all because of the rain.
Again the same situation occurred during the critical moment of Mitsuba's illness. It had rained. And the next thing Okita knew, he was a family-less orphan standing drenched from being in the wretched rain waiting for the ambulance to arrive. By factors of mere minutes, the ambulance arrived late due to the rain and Mitsuba went into cardiac arrest long before the vehicle could reach the hospital. So while the on sight medic told him the time of her death, offering his sincerest, and obviously rehearsed, apologies, Okita stepped out into the pouring rain and let the heavens have their final laugh. They took everything and at that moment the sand haired man swore that there existed no god. If He truly did exist, then why did He curse the rain? Why, why, why?
Okita trudged along, that was all he could do when it came to the rain, simply trudge along.
Lifting her pink curtains, Kagura peaked outside, it was raining. The female frowned, while she disliked the sun, she hated the rain even more. It was depressing, suffocating, and worst of all a reminder of her past. The rain always brought from the back of her mind the suppressed memories of the brief years she spent on her native Yato planet, a time she wished never existed. There, the rain constantly poured from the sky and not once did the sun shine on that godforsaken world, and it truly was godforsaken. The day her Mami died the rain poured, the day her idiot brother fought her Papi, the rain continued to fall, and it fell and fell even as her already broken family, dissembled.
Kagura released her iron grip on the curtains and returned to her bed. Days like these were meant to be spent indoors and far away from the rain. But not everything goes as planned.
"Little Sister!" called Kamui.
Kagura did not answer, she instead wrapped her sheets around herself even more snuggly, trying to mute the sounds of the outside world.
"Kagura!" he called this time. Still she did not answer. Then it went silent, no more calling, only the sound of the clock ticking and the patter of rain against her window. Kagura unraveled her sheets and sat up, she could feel it approaching, the calm before the storm.
The door slammed open and Kamui came bolting inside.
"Little sister, why did you not answer me?" he asked with his iconic grin. Lying back down, Kagura chose to face the wall and ignore the being standing in her room.
" I know that this weather gets to you, little sister. It gets to everyone of us, but you have to get up, the scary lady called for you."
"I don't know who you're talking about, Kamui, so leave."
"Such harsh words, little sister, but you definitely know who I am talking about. She is the wife of the gorilla. She asks you to come now, it's important she says."
Kagura, still rolled in her sheets, turned to Kamui, " Really?!" she asked.
He nodded his head, " Why else would I tell you to go out in a monsoon, so you could get off your lazy bum?"
"Is that sarcasm, Kamui?" she asked genuinely unsure. If Kagura knew anything about her brother it was that, number one, he was a psychopath, and number two, the man did not do sarcasm.
"I am not sure what you're trying to say?" she waved her hand dismissively at him.
"It's nothing, I'll get dressed now but only because Angeo called me over."
"Do you want me to walk you?" he asked, his overly protective side showing. Kagura shook her head to the dismay of Kamui.
" I can get there by myself, now get your siscon butt out of my room and go to work!."
"I do not have a siscon!" he called out as he exited the room.
She rolled her eyes, he wasn't fooling anyone.
Twirling the red paper umbrella in her hand, Kagura attempted to hum a tune but the rhythm of the rain hitting against her umbrella distracted her too much. She stopped trying to cheer herself up and let the gloomy day be exactly what it was, gloomy. The Yato continued forward, walking casually as the wind sent rain splashing across her face and the puddles wetting her red knee high rain boots. She probably looked like a mess, but at the moment the woman could care less.
Ten minutes later, when she was just a few minutes from reaching her Anego's dojo/home, the Yato spotted the person she least wanted to see, the sadist. She cringed, he had been haunting her thoughts for too long already and she was not prepared to have another encounter, not this soon. Kagura pivoted on her heel, ready to turn the other way but she hesitated. If it were any other day Kagura would have avoided the man like the plague and sought a back route far away from him. But as the rain poured down on the umbrella-less man, a pang of sympathy coursed through her veins. She guessed she wasn't the only one having a bad day.
He heard the sound of splashing approaching him, Okita did not open his eyes to bothering looking though. Instead, he just stood there, allowing the monsoon to ravage him. His mind was still clouded with thoughts of his sister and the past, thoughts that needed to be erased before entering the dojo. And that's why he stood there like a mad man in the rain, to cleanse his mind of an unchangeable past.
The pelting cold rain stopped. He opened his eyes to see who dare disrupt him at such a moment. His already existent frown deepened at the sight of the person he least wanted to see.
"What do you want, China?" he said in less of a question and more of a demand. He was not in the mood to deal with her idiocy. Okita half expected for her to scream at him for being so rude but the vermillion haired woman stayed quiet.
"Oii, China, are you deaf, I asked you what the hell did you want?!" Okita become flustered as she held the umbrella over his head all the while remaining quiet. "This isn't a pity show you know, I don't need your stupid help or umbrella, I'm standing here out of my own free will so scram."
But she didn't. The woman continued to hold the umbrella over a man that was clearly much taller than her. Kagura had to outstretch her arm in an uncomfortable position but her facade did not reveal anything. Her face held no animosity, instead she wore a calm expression and she stared at the man with understanding eyes.
She walked forward and pulled the man with her. That took Okita by surprise as her warm hand grabbed his frozen ones. He tried to protest but her Yato strength over powered him.
"Let go of me, China!"
She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the man. " Sadist, I know we don't get along but just this once can we not fight?!" his eyes widened, what was she trying to say? " We all have these days and sometimes it's hard to get through them but we still have too. I don't know what happened and frankly it's none of my business but I will not let you stand out here wallowing in that sorrow. We're going to go inside and get warmed up, ok? We'll make, I promise."
She resumed walking and this time Okita did not protest, he let the warm hand of the woman guide him as the rain droned on above their umbrella.
Otae had been expecting Kagura to arrive for some time now, but when she entered through the door with Okita, even she was a bit shocked. Firstly, Okita looked as if he just walked out of a swimming pool, everything he wore was soaked. And secondly, the two youngster were not fighting. In fact they came in so quietly that if she had not been waiting in the front parlor, she would not have heard them enter. How odd, so very odd. Otae pushed her suspicions to the back of her mind as she hurried Okita to the bathroom. Pouring a warm bath for him, Otae simply hoped that he did not have hypothermia but his overly pale complex said the opposite.
"What happened?" she asked him. He stayed silent and began removing his wet clothes. That was her sign to leave. She chose not to pry on the exhausted male.
"If you need anything though, Sougo, just tell me." She said tenderly. He nodded his head. She hesitated for a second as she was closing the door, but decided that they would talk about this at another place and another time. Right now Okita wanted to be alone, and she knew better than disrupt someone when they needed a moment.
Otae returned to the parlor to find Kagura drying her vermillion hair.
"Angeo!" she called out as soon as she saw the woman.
"I'm so glad that you could make it in this weather, Kagura."
"Anything for my Angeo, but why did you want me to come urgently?"
Otae sheepishly smiled, "Well it's about the competition actually?"
"The sword one?"
"Yes, that one."
"What about it?"
" I know that I can always depend on you right, Kagura?" The vermillion haired woman skeptically looked at her Angeo, something smelled fishy.
"Yes" she said wearily, " You can…."
Otae grabbed Kagura's hands, "That's wonderful then! You'll do it?! I knew I could count on you!"
The Yato was beyond confused, did she just agree to something? She was pretty sure that her Angeo had yet to even ask the question but the sparkle in Otae's eyes caused Kagura to cave. She could not refuse her Anego when she looked like that. " I guess….."
"Wonderful! Im going to have to tell that idiot husband of mine the great news right away."
"What is it that I'm suppose to do though?"
"Oh yes." She said, calming herself down, "It's really simple. You just have to be one of our substitute swordsmen, the one we had quit on us all of a sudden and with the competition in less than a week we wouldn't be able to find another. But our worries are gone now that you agreed to help us!"
Kagura's cerulean eyes widen, " But…But…Angeo!" she cried, " I don't know anything about swordsmanship, I'm a martial artist not a sword swinging kind of person."
"Don't worry, Kagura. You can learn how to be a sword swinging kind of person!"
"In a week?!"
"Yes, you only need to know the basics and we'll even have our best student teach you."
Her already dilated pupils grew wider, " You cant mean….."
"Yup! Sougo will teach you wonders about the sword."
Her jaw dropped, Kagura basically dug herself into a hole. Not only did she not want to participate in the event, she didn't know how! But she also could not let her Angeo down. What kind of mess did she get herself into?!
"Don't worry Kagura." said Otae. "Sougo is a really good teacher, you'll love him."
The Yato began to hysterically laugh. If she couldn't stand to be near him for five seconds then what would a week do to her already thin sanity? Not to mention the dreams she continued to have. They only continued to become more vivid and while the image of a dying Sadist should be reassuring, it pains her so greatly instead. Some nights the dreams become nightmares and she wakes up with tears streaming down her face and her hand clutching her heart. Great, just great. This was the cheery onto of her already crummy day.
Too much rain imagery? I think so too. Next chapter I promise will not be about the weather and more about or star crossed couple. I have an idea of where this story is headed, and maybe you readers also do too, but I won't spoil it for anyone. There will be more romance, hopefully, in upcoming chapters and I hope it doesn't take me another few months for an update...But I make no promises! I hoped you guys enjoyed and thank you for reading!