I updated after such a long break, Im sorry guys! So no long intro rant, simply I've been busy but I've managed to write this chapter at last. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING
Ebbing along the flow of the moving train, Okita uncomfortably squirmed in the crowdedness of the cart. It was a Saturday for Christ sakes! How many people could possibly be headed for downtown?! The dirty blond peevishly glared at the time displayed overhead, 9:30; he still had another hour to go.
By the time Okita arrived at his station, the number of bodies had trickled down to only a handful. From the previously suffocating number of people on board, the train now seemed like a ghost town. As Okita stepped off and made his way to a nearby bench, he could not help but consider it odd that EVERYONE would coincidently depart before arriving at the hotspot of the city. Although the government issued warnings to be careful of bombings, they did not specifically say to steer clear of the area. Heck, the likely hood of any other building being bombed was as high anywhere else, no one said it was only limited to this area. But better safe than sorry he guessed. Okita shook off the lingering doubt, it was too late to regret picking this spot, it couldn't be anywhere else anyways. He glanced at his own watch this time, quarter past ten; she would be arriving any minute now.
Kagura silently sat in the near empty train, fidgeting with her fingers in a vain attempt to avoid eye contact with a certain elderly man staring her down. She easily recognized the stare, it wasn't one of curiosity or even boredom, it was much more cynical. The grey haired man was evaluating her, on what she did not know but the little voice in her head screamed that it could not possibility be anything good. Kagura guessed, more likely than not, that he was trying to evaluate the likely hold of her being an amanto. Although she looked human enough, if anyone with the slightest knowledge about Amanto saw her, they, without a shred of doubt, would know her to be a part of the deadly race of Yatos. She refused to take any chances though. Holding her own in the fight was not the issue, instead confronting the fact of Amanto alienation scared her to no end. Although she spent a majority of her lifetime on the Yato planet, Kagura considered Earth to be her one true home, a home she did not wish to be exiled from. Kagura continued fiddling with her fingers as if they were the most interesting thing in the world and prayed that the old man would soon lose interest.
Kagura eagerly listen to the announcement overhead, only one more stop until Shibuya station.
"Mind telling me why you decided that I should wake up at the ungodly hour of 8am to make the train?" Kagura asked, yawning as the couple walked along the scarcely populated boulevard.
He grabbed her hand and slipped it into his, "It's a date, see?" Kagura blushed a deep red from the contact. Unsure of why she acted in such an abash manner herself, Kagura did the only thing she knew that would further prevent anymore embarrassment: making a rude comment.
"Oii Sadist! If you were going to do that at least give me a heads up."
"You don't like it?" he asked while pouting. Kagura knew better than to fall for his fake acting though. His angelic act would not fool her, not anymore! She had become the wiser.
"Cut it out, Sadist. Do humanity a favor and stop acting cute, it's disgusting. My breakfast is about to come up because of how cheesy you were. And if I didn't like the handholding I would have pulled away by now." Saying the last part in barely a whisper.
A devious grin spread across his face," My, my, I didn't know you were this much of a Tsundere, China."
She raised her fist, as if meaning to hit him for his aggravating comment but Kagura willed herself to stop midway. " I am very tempted to pound your pretty little face into the nearest wall, but I won't so count yourself lucky, Sadist. Stop ruining the good mood."
"Well don't blame me for your wild mood swings, PMSing again?" Okita asked deliberately, fully aware of the reaction he would get from his girlfriend. It was amusing to say the least for him to see her white as snow face become redder than her hair. He was called a sadist for a reason. Jokes aside though, Okita stopped at the part of the boulevard where the tall skyscrapers unnoticeably changed into shorter, more colonial buildings. " I would love to tease you some more, China, but we've arrived at our destination."
The scowl dropped from her face and she donned a serious express, one she rarely wore because it never signified anything good. She glanced upwards at one particular building, a structure that stood out in the sea of colonial edifices with its pre-Mejia era architecture. Staring in silence, Kagura closely examined every detail of the two floored building, it was a dump to say the least but somehow her heart told her to say otherwise. The peeling paint was endearing and the wooden sign, moments from falling off its hinges, were also lovely, she knew that it was obviously a lie but still, it felt that way. And for that long second, nothing but the image of the building filled her mind. Unable to completely articulate her inner most emotions with words, Kagura simply continued to stare, and though she refused to succumb to her sentimental side, tears brimmed in her eyes. Similar to the dream, this place evoked unknown emotions. She knew this place, felt as if years of her life had been spent here in joy, and yet those memories slipped through like sand in a sieve.
Kagura inhale a giant gasp of air and quickly wiped her wet eyes."Why exactly are we here, Sadist?"
With his arms crossed, the dirty blond directed his attention away from the building to the female. He too had this far off gaze in his eyes, as if transported to a different time. From the softness of his features Kagura could tell that the sadist was reflecting back on happier days, the halcyon days of an unknown past. Were they both cursed to know of their past yet know truly nothing at all? If they were, Kagura simply prayed that the heavens be merciful to their souls, god only knows what cure fate played out during their past.
Okita uncrossed his arm and with a touch so gentle, reached for her hand. She accepted his gesture with slight surprise, the tenderness he currently expressed towards her strayed from his usual actions, and that scared her. Kagura likes consistency, but these few months of maelstrom like events, and this topsy turby day, did little to calm the anxiety in her heart, the truth was heading fast her way.
He tightened his grip, and with that single gesture Kagura understood the message he wanted to convey. It was going to be alright. She recuperated the action, preparing herself for a truth that she may or may not have been ready to hear. " You lived here, remember? With the Dana and the Megane, right over there," he said pointing to a window on the left side of the building, obscured by the growing vegetation, " in that little room, or I think it was anyway?"
Kagura did not know who this "Dana" person was, but subconsciously she did. He was a lazy, good for nothing, surrogate father who openly stated his love for Jump over her. She knew him so well yet her mind could not scrounge a face to match the description. That part of her memory was always in a haze, blurred greatly by some force the desperately tried to make her forget, but she did want to forget. She wanted desperately to remember this Dana, to remember her motherly but annoying Megane, and most of all she wanted to remember him, the sadist. How many years did they exactly spend together? What was their first date like? This? Were they strolling through the streets doing nothing particular? Or was it a beautifully set up panic for two? She wanted to know it all, but sadly she couldn't. While she herself could not remember, Kagura realized that the Sadist kept quiet about more then he previously admitted to knowing.
"You didn't bring me here to just tell me this sadist, tell the full story." She said, her ceruleans eyes lit with determination, it was now or never.
The dirty blonde ruffled her hair fondly, " Way to use your brain, China. I was beginning to wonder if you would piece two and two together." Yes that had been his intent the whole time, well part of it anyway. He wanted this to be a decision solely up to her. Forcing the past onto her would have been cruel, what if she rather stay ignorant of its tragedies, hardly a blamable action he reasoned to himself. And therefore he brought her here, a place in which so many dominant memories lie, and Okita hoped that her conclusion would come, a conclusion specifically where she accepted the cards of fate dealt to them and inquired further. Luckily she did, but if not then he would at least be able to travel down memory lane, a disoriented one but at least one that could be comprehended if he focused hard enough on the details. " I do not know the full story, but I know some of it. Where do you want me to begin?"
"I have the whole day, Sadist, start as most people would, from the top."
"As you command." he said with a curtsy, she rolled her eyes at him, the sadist truly was acting odd." But not here, there's a far more suitable spot."
Walking away from the crumpling building, Okita brought her to a nearby desolated park. And while the lack of people created an eeriness, there also existed a serenity in the swaying of the trees and the silence of nothing but nature. For a couple more minutes they walked, Kagura allowing Sadist to lead the way, and again they arrived in an all too familiar place that she could not fully recall. And then they came upon the bench, a bench whose glimmering polish had long worn away with the passing of time and a bench on its final trek of life. She was reluctant to sit in fear of it splintering it in half but the Sadist urged her to sit just as he had done. He patted the spot of chipped away paint as if it were the most comfortable spot in the world, and if it had been any other day she would have rather sat on the grass, but today was different, and today that unsightly spot of wood looked almost worthy of being sat on. So Kagura sat as Okita did, and to her surprise the bench was far from uncomfortable. She smiled at the sadist, " How did you know I would like this bench? Are you psychic now?"
"Not quite." He answered, with his arms spread out and that far off look back in his eyes, " This is actually where the story begins."
He hadn't meant to spy on them, or perhaps he had, but nonetheless, the man in the butterfly kimono now keenly watched the two lovebirds on the bench. Takasugi refused to let fate decide this time around. History would be different, he would ensure it even if it meant his life. And to make sure that the gears turned to his tune, a constant eye on the two key players in this potential tragedy was require. He would mend for his past sins, he would.
Slight cliffhanger, guys dont hate me! And the story is going somewhere so yay! And another hurray for a good Takasugi. I always feel the need to redeem characters like Takasugi, they deserve so much more then they sometimes get, and I felt that in the series he was always good in his own way but in the end portrayed as a villain because of his methods. But his goals were in the right place and I honestly do not believe he got enough credit for that aspect of his story so I am going to try and give him the credit he deserves.