Title: Haiku: Summer
Author: Divertimento
E-mail:
ellene_j@...
Source: PMK
Main character(s): Heisuke, Tetsu, Okita, Hijikata
Archived on the website: Yes
General Rating: G
Warning: Mild M/M
Disclaimer: The usual. I own the title.
As usual, I leave the link to the story on ff.net for potential
reviewers and for those who don't like to read from their mails:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2350302/1/
HAIKU: SUMMER
They were outside the great gate of Kyoto, and all the crowd was
gone. Before them lay broad green fields, and a rough sandy road
stretching brown-gold into the distance with a wood beyond. The
voices from the city died away. Somewhere a lark sung in the summer
sky; a blue sky, patched here and there with puffy fair-weather
clouds, the sun high amongst them now. They turned up the sandy road
and went on without breaking step, at a steady walk.
Heisuke eyed the flower in Tetsu's sash. "Oooh!" he said in a mocking
falsetto. "A flower for the puppy, is it?"
Tetsu said irritably. "Leave off."
"Not as pretty as Saya, the one who gave it to you." Heisuke leaned
closer, his face inches from the boy.
"As who?"
"Saya-chan. Don't you think she's pretty, then?" The lopsided grin
grew wider.
"I suppose so, yes," Tetsu flushed. "I never thought about it."
Heisuke laughed, "One good thing about you, you're uncomplicated."
But Tettsu's mind had jumped backward to the tableau he had
unwittingly interrupted last night. He wound a loose string
thoughtfully round one finger as he walked. "I wonder what Okita-san
is doing now, back there."
Heisuke snorted. "The usual, of course. The Demon is probably moping
around in his room and Okita is most likely with him since he is not
patrolling today." His next remark startled Tetsu. "Too bad the Demon
didn't take a shine to Itou-san."
Tetsu stopped abruptly and frowned, confused. "Well, Itou-san, of
course! But Hijikata-san? I thought he was well, you know. I
thought "
"You thought the Old Demon was gay?" Heisuke roared, and half a dozen
larks rocketed into the air. He put a long arm around Tetsu's
shoulders, obviously tickled by the notion. "Oh, my. No-o-o. Not by a
wondrous long shot. Hijikata-Toshizou," he informed him as they
strolled along, "is in love with Nature and women are nature at its
finest for the Old Demon! Couldn't say no if a woman came to him, and
come they surely did."
"But
" Tetsu said, more confused now. "But I saw them yesterday, and
he was undoing Okita-san's sash
"
"Note, if you will," Heisuke said, face grave, eyes alight, "the awe-
inspiring lack of shock with which I greet your announcement."
Tetsu growled at the man he was very nearly content to call his
friend. "Eat shit," he said through gritted teeth, "and die."
"Your master has had a lamentable influence on your vocabulary,"
Heisuke said with starchy disapproval.
They sat for a time listening to the sounds of the woods and staring
at the western sky, blazing now with the colours of sundown. Heisuke
seemed to be working something out, so Tetsu just waited until he
spoke again.
Heisuke was concerned about how the Shinsengumi would fare after the
upheaval; he did not want to see anyone hurt. Okita's all guts and
brains on the outside, but there is broked glass inside that child.
If he had to choose, the Old Demon is going to choose to follow
through with his plans and draconian laws, and he would hate to think
how Souji would take that.
I, for one, am not going to make the same mistake Sannan made all
those years ago.
The object of this conversation was unaware of the extent to which
the exalted state of his soul was drawing notice. Toshi was sweating
buckets with Saizou curled up on his lap, radiating heat like a
second sun in the late afternoon. If, instead of assuming that he was
meditating on the future of Japan or synthesising some new forms of
torture for the Choshu members, anyone had asked him directly what he
was thinking about, he would have said, without hesitation, "I was
thinking that I could really use a drink of tea."
A tea and peaceful quiet as he worked, that would have been
perfection. But even with those two elements of bliss, he knew he
would never be completely happy.
Still, there was great contentment in the simplest moments. Like now:
sitting in his room in the Mibu Temple, where he could relax in the
afternoon while the others slept, without so many interruptions. All
the screen doors were set open, which gave a pleasant sense of summer
freedom.
Lulled by the afternoon heat, the stilly hum and the warm breeze,
Souji would relax and Toshi would feel his breathing slow and his
sweet weight settling against him. Sometimes he would simply sit and
watch him sleep, enjoying the rare silence. Toshi pushed the hair off
his forehead one-handedly and looked down at Souji, shifting slightly
to ease the numbness in his right arm.
And he wondered, as he recently did with startling frequency, if
Souji still missed his sister. Such topics were usually off-limits
and deftly turned aside when brought up. Mitsu was the ideal wife:
dignified, devoted, subtle, confident in other words, a woman of
true samurai descent. He loved her low husky voice; similar to
Souji's, now that he thought of it, but unusual among grown men.
More than anything, he wished to know if Souji blamed him for the
abject misery they had known since the move to Kyoto endless
patrols and raids that more often than not ended with bloodshed.
"Grief where should it end?" Toshi muttered, his mind struggling
sluggishly with the vague introit. He glared at the Book in the far
corner of the room; he would rather be spanked a hundred times than
risk waking Souji just to get to it. He tried again, his voice barely
a whisper:
"Grief where should it end?
Where the leaves go in Autumn."
He stopped, surprised at how fast he had managed to come up with two
lines of a haiku. It usually took him a full afternoon to complete
just one. Heartened, he started again.
"Grief where should it end?
Where the leaves go in Autumn."
And how should he proceed from there? He frowned.
"Where the leaves go in Autumn."
"Where
"
And then Toshi realised the warm weight on his arm was gone and that
the distracting prickling sensation heralding the return of normal
blood circulation was starting. Souji, roused from his light nap,
yawned and craned his neck to look at Toshi. "That's very poetic,
Hijikata-san. Of course the trouble with leaves is, they grow again."
Toshi grunted, choosing to remain otherwise silent.
"Why, the great Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi is well and truly
stumped!" he paused, a finger tapping insistently on the chin. "How
about this, Hijikata-san: Plum blossoms in spring. ?"
Toshi started. What exactly is he getting at? His face, however,
remained an unassailable mask of calm and logic as he puffed on his
pipe. "You insufferable brat. That has no logical link to the
previous lines."
Souji gazed wistfully at the courtyard. "There is a link, alright."
He looked at Toshi and seemed suddenly to relax; he grinned. "There
are references to plants and seasons in the second line, aren't
there?"
"That's it. I'm quitting. I've had enough," Toshi declared. "It's too
hot, and this has become entirely too silly."
"At least it isn't bratty," his friend pointed out, laughing.
The screen door leading to the corridor slid open and Tetsu entered
surreptitiously with the made tea. "Anou, Okita-san, who were you
referring to?"
"Let's see," Toshi said, reading from an invisible scroll and
deliberately talking over Souji's head. "Brats. It says, Okita Souji
and Ichimura Tetsunosuke. It also says here, insufferable."
Ignoring Toshi, Souji winked at Tetsu and assured him with perfect
aplomb, "It's a form of endearment."
The End
I admit this is rather rushed too, but I tried my best given the
various constraints, so gimme some feedback, yes? That would be
wonderful and nice and beautiful. And heavenly.
You know what I mean.
Review! Grovels on the floor.
Anyway, this is not finished. I mean, don't you people want to know
what Tetsu saw? Snickers. You decide.