I'm not dead! Sorry about the long hiatus guys, my excuses are school, writer's block, procrastination and ...life. Seriously though, I have had a rough academic year, college is killing me. But no one wants to hear about that, instead I will let you enjoy the chapter. Happy New Years you guys! May it be the beginning of great new things!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING
The soft breeze rustled her hair, causing locks of vermillion hair formerly tied in her bun to swivel loose. She looked a bit deranged and if anyone asked only minutes earlier, she would have agreed to those assumptions. But after sitting on the bench for those few hours, time she failed to feel pass by, her mind no longer was clouded like a murky mirror. For the first time in months Kagura thought straight. No more labyrinths created by the dream,no more gaping holes in her memories, at last she attained some answers to her insatiable questions. Since the beginning of those ominous dreams months ago, Kagura's perception of her own identity began to waver. She questioned whether her personality in this time period even existed or if she was an extension of her former self. This ate away at her, but after hearing Okita tell what he knew, she came to a satisfactory conclusion. Although the puzzle was far from completed, the over scope image of their past life could be seen but the closer they analyzed the details, the more uncertain they became. Regardless, one things was clear, no, her current self did not extend from her former self. Through the anecdotes she heard, Kagura reached the conclusion that neither Okita nor her had changed in these turbulent decades. Physically they may not appear the same as back in the Meji era but souls stayed eternal. It was evident that while their souls were old, they remained unwavering to the test of time. She was Yato Kagura and he was Okita Sougo, the same as when they lived hundreds of years ago.
She remained seated on the bench, digesting the information slowly. Okita had been a part of the police force known as the Shinsengumi while she did odd jobs at the Yorozuya. The name sent a surge of nostalgia rushing through her. Concise memories alluded her but she saw figments of a large dog, of an open living room, and of smiling faces. It felt nice to remember those fragments. Coincidentally, the people current most active in their lives- Kondo, Gintoki, Tsukuyo, Hijikata, Shinpachi, and Ote- were also present in their past. Towards the end is when the memories begin to haze the most for Okita. Kagura remembers more about the scene but nothing of the details. She tells him of a battle, between what opposing sides she does not know, and she tells him of Takasugi sensei. Kagura remembers seeing him there at some point but the more she tried to imagine the scene the more her head ached. Everything from the beginning up until the last moments were a blur to both of them. But they ironically both recalled how their story ended, with death. Bleeding alongside one another, their bodies refused to allow them to forget the pain of death and the pain of lost. How they reached they end was still shrouded with uncertainty.
She turned to an silent Okita.
"We have the worst luck in love, don't we?" she asked with a chuckle. The situation was far from humorous, more so border lining bleak, yet Kagura could not help but laugh. Wallowing in the misfortune of their sad fate would bring forth no change. She could at least act positively.
He offered her a small smile, " I blame you, China. It must have been the karma for all your misdeeds." She slapped his shoulder.
" I should say the same, tax robber. And why does the image of an officer sleeping on the job keep popping into my mind?"
" I deserved those naps after protecting the peace. And what about those buildings you demolished in the wake of your tantrums?" he taunted back.
"Hey!" Kagura cried out, " If I'm not wrong, you one the one who provoked me into fighting you and that just happened to be the result, it's your fault as much as mine!"
" It seems we both have bad karma on our side, are we doomed to be unlucky?" He barely whispered. The scowl on Kagura's face softened as she wrapped an arm around him.
" That was the past, we can still change the future. This story does not have to end like a tragedy."
He looked her straight in the eyes, " History tends to repeat itself, Kagura. And the course of this story may not be as easy to change as you think. We are in the Ides of March, and while I am no Caesar and you are no Brutus, I can still fill the foreboding of despair in the air."
"Screw Shakespeare!" she said with her arms in the air, " He was a cynical bastard I tell you! And remember, he wrote more than just tragedies, Sadist. This could end like one of the comedies. Maybe we will awake from this dream to discover that fairies were the cause of all our misgivings. Puck was the mastermind and everything is as it should be at the end."
He sighed. This was the first time Kagura had openly seen him this dejected. "I believe the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet fits us perfectly. We are lovers never destined to be together, it's the will of the world for us to be a part. And the dream, it's the same as the ending of the play, we died in each other's arms."
She placed her hands over his, " We will change that fate. This is a play that we will control, no matter what. This tragedy will have a happy ending, I will make sure of it."
He smiles again, embracing her in a tight and silent hug. They remained in that comfortable position for a while, neither of them fully ready to face the looming future.
Kagura pushed away first, she looked at the heavy bags beneath his eyes, the same as hers. Caressing the dark spots with her thumbs, Kagura empathized with Okita. She was not combating this alone, he was as much a part of this ordeal as herself. She pulled their heads together, foreheads now touching. " It's okay, Sougo. We are together now and that is enough. We will make it through the rest."
His lips lightly brushed against hers, " I'll take your word for it this once, Kagura." He said before leaning in for a deeper kiss. He would cherish these little moments now, heavens knows how long the serenity of these spring days would last.
Okita heard the dinging of the bell as he pushed opened the door. Stands of flowers, some seasonal while many of them from later months, greeted him. He walked promptly to the counter, already certain of his purchase. "I want a dozen white Chrysanthemums and a bouquet of Blue Hyacinths."
The florist gave a curt nod and quickly preceded to creating the perfect bouquets; she could only wonder the reason for such contrasting flowers.
Kagura kicked at the ground, causing dust to scatter. Okita told to wait at the bench while he ran a quick errand, she insisted on coming but he insisted otherwise. He obviously won the battle. She smoothed out her unruly hair and wandered deep into thought about the talk that transpired in the past few hours. She learned so much yet she still knew so little. Why did the future have to be this difficult? She cursed the heavens for not blessing her with psychic abilities and instead giving her super human strength. Not once has her strength benefited her life. It made her an outcast in a world of physically weak beings. She was not human. a point made painfully clear by everyone else. Kagura wondered if her former self dealt with such segregation and bullying? Being different, weighing the pros and cons, sucked. Ubiquity, while boring, easily prevented the ostracizing she experienced her whole life.
A hand touched her shoulder.
" Took you long enough." She said, knowing fully well who the hand belonged to.
"Don't complain, China. It's only been 15 minutes, and I even got you a gift." He said.
She whirled around, surprised at the thing that fell into her lap, it was a bouquet of flowers, blue flowers. He anticipated her to brim with joy, but he also expected this from a woman who much prefers food over anything else.
Her eyebrows furrowed, " I'm not really the flower type of girl. They don't exactly fit my image." She said.
" Way to look a gift horse in the mouth."
She closely examined the flowers. Each flower had multiple blue star shaped petals growing down its vine, they were beautiful. She bit her lip, the flowers were too beautiful for her.
"You know that I am only going to end up killing these, right? It always happens. I really am not suited for the beauty of flowers." She said with a sigh.
"Why?" he asked, " they pale in comparison to your beauty."
She looked at him both disgusted and flattered, " That really made me want to gag, Sadist. Are you trying to be funny with that corny pick up line."
He sat down next to her, the other bouquet still rocking in his arms. " If I wanted to pick up a girl, I have an arsenal of other, better pick up lines. And I really did mean it when I say they pale in comparison, your far more beautiful."
Kagura's brain failed to voice an answer due to her embarrassment. Her porcelain skin redden until it matched the shade of a tomato.
" No need to be so abash about it, China." He said watching her expression change. " Come on, there is somewhere I want to take you before the day is over."
After Kagura managed to recollect herself a bit, she stood up as Okita did.
" You ready?" he asked. She nodded. But first she pointed to the white bouquet he held.
"For another girl?" She asked jokingly. He smiled at her and walked on ahead.
"Yup, my number one girl."
She grinned at his bluntness, " I knew you were a sadist and all, but to be so open about your infidelity? So are you going to tell me who she is?" Kagura asked, her interest peeked.
He continued walking, slowly down a bit to allow Kagura to catch up. " I won't tell you who she is because we're on our way to see her right now."
She gave him another quizzical look, " You are feeling rather daring today. Not only do you tell me that there is another girl but that I am also going to meet her face to face, do you really think this will end well?" she asked half jokingly.
He gave her a devious grin, " I've been meaning to introduce you to her for a while, the time never seemed right, but then I thought, why not now? Lets hurry though, I've kept her waiting long enough."
Kagura was quiet for the rest of the walk, her imagination wildly trying to picture the woman who earn Okita's number one spot. She believe in Okita's fidelity, even if all the woman in the world threw themselves at him, Okita still managed to completely ignore their advances. He would not cast more than a glance even if a naked woman pranced up towards him, Kagura like to think of Okita as not superficially shallow. He hated the pretentious ones, the ones who pretended to be someone they obviously were not. They were fake and beneath the husk of their beauty laid nothing, and that was beyond hideous in Okita's opinion. Kagura knew this well, he held the title if idol of their college for a reason. Girls fawns over the guy who cared more about personality than looks, but they themselves acts hypocritically to their own ideals. These fans did exact what Okita hated the most. He knew these girls only admired him for his looks, nothing else, therefore he grew a warranted hatred towards the female gender. Acting as a sadist soon became a part of his identity. Her curiosity was clearly justified, what type of woman could have possibly caught the attention of female hating Okita?
Kagura heard the sound of feet against the gravel stop, she lifted her head from the ground. Her eyes widen. She expected a house, or perhaps a quaint coffee shop, but the place Okita stopped at was far from her expectations, it was a cemetery. It had been obvious from the changing landscape his destination, but her mind wandered and she failed to notice the non-so-subtle hints.
Kagura stared at the suddenly grim Okita, waiting for an explanation that did not come.
" We're here." He said starkly, his grip on the handle of the flowers tightening. It all made sense now. Those white flowers were not meant as a housewarming gift, they were meant to show respect to the dead, but who was it that passed on?
Without another word Okita entered the ironically green and lush graveyard. The owners had done their best to provide a tranquil resting ground for the deceased. Instead of morbid and bleak, this cemetery was peaceful, the better characteristics associated with death. The same calm oddly overtook Kagura, the aura of the place lulled her previously taunt nerves. Okita felt the opposite of her. Kagura saw it in the harden lines on his, making him look as if the years had taken its toll on his youth. His already distant eyes were completely transparent. Kagura followed Okita in silence, there was a quiet to this place that she dared not disturb.
They soon arrived at a well maintained tombstone, Okita Mitsuba it read. Kagura furrowed her brow, this grave belonged to a relative of the sadist, but who? His mother?
Okita gently lowered the flowers onto the gravestone. His hard expression softened as he opened his mouth to speak.
" Sorry, Aneue, it's been a while since I last visited. But this time I brought someone I wanted to properly introduce."
Kagura took this as her cue to close the distance that she allowed Okita to have. In one long stride she stood by Okita's side.
Unsure of how to tackle the situation, Kagura started with the formalities. " My name is Yato Kagura." She said while bowing 90 degrees, " It's a pleasure to meet you."
Okita scoffed, " So you can be polite when you want to be." She shot him a menacing glare but bit back the sarcastic remark about to roll off her tongue. Kagura wanted to at least show courtesy to Okita's deceased sister.
"Although the Sad…, Sougo and I sometimes bicker, we both take care of each other." That wasn't a lie, " Do not worry, your little brother is in good hands."
There was another silence. Kagura watched as Okita stared sadly at the tombstone. " I'll be at the front gate waiting, Sadist. Take your time." She said, clutching the flowers he had given her tighter. He needed time alone with his sister. Questions could be asked later, this much Kagura understood from losing her own mother. No one likes it when other's pry on an intimate moment between the living and the dead.
Okita gave her a nod, not wanting Kagura to hear how shaken his voice would come out. When it came to his sister, he was overly sentimental. His parents died when he was too young for them to leave a lasting impression, and while he did remember some fond memories of them, most of his childhood consisted of even fonder memories of his loving older sister. The day she died killed him internally. It was on that rainy day that Okita felt he truly lost a mother. He fought back the wielding tears in his eyes.
" I brought your favorite flowers." He croaked out, the lump in his throat only building up. " White Chrysanthemums, they fit you perfectly. You were always so dignified, in sickness and even in death." Okita wiped away the tears that began falling. " And I brought her. It was about time, I know. She can be an idiot sometimes but her heart is pure, just like yours. She reminds me of you, as odd as it may sound. She has no manners, no feminine appeal, and definitely not a motherly touch but there is a slightly dignified air about her. Kagura is far from being regal but the woman is proud, confident, unwavering in the face of adversary, and she constantly wears the most genuine smile. Like you." He said as the tears come down even harder. " I really wish you could have meet her in person, you would have loved her. Like in the past life, you passed on too quickly, but I wanted to at least introduce her properly. And Aneue, I promise this time our story will end happily, our family has been plagued with too many tragedies already. No more, I promise to change that." He quickly wiped away the tears. He had to be strong, things were not going to get any easier. The road ahead was bumpy and filled with obstacles but Okita was never one to give up because of a challenge.
Kagura easily noticed how red and puffy Okita's eyes were. She knew he had cried. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his chest.
" Let's go home, Sougo. It's been a long day." He gladly welcomed her embrace, happy for the warmth.
" Yeah, it has been a long day." He said, "Let's go home.
Well then, this chapter... It was a lot more serious than the previous ones, but I'm building towards something, I promise. And apologies for too many Shakespeare references and the degradation of my writing, I was all over the place with this one. Also if any of you wanted to know, blue hyacinths stand for everlasting love. I am just a little obsessed with flowers and their meanings.