Have we met before?

by Durah

Summary:

Kiryu and Nishiki have new neighbors, and from their first meeting, Kiryu knows one thing: He doesn't like his neighbor Majima. Yet there's something inside him that makes him feel like he knows him.
Unfortunate circumstances bring the two closer together, only to discover they've encountered each other in past lives, and just like then, what happens between them is inevitable.

Notes:

This story tells of events that take place in Kamurocho in 2006, but also in Kyōto in 1886. Both are more or less an AU, and not everything that happened in the past also happened in the game.
Enjoy and have fun XD

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kiryu sighed loudly and got up from the very comfortable bed and gathered his things.
“Are you leaving already?” came the sleepy voice from the other side of the bed, and the young woman raised her head sleepily.
He glanced at her, nodded briefly and finished getting dressed.
“You've got my number, beefcake, give me a call.” She just grinned and stretched out in the sheets.
Another nod and Kiryu left the apartment of his nocturnal acquaintance.
One-night stands were nice, but somehow not particularly satisfying. He didn't know why it didn't satisfy him. He could have them all if he wanted to. He knew how he affected women, that his serious expression, his taciturnity and his stoic demeanour impressed them. One lady had even been willing to pay him to jump into bed with him, but why didn't it make him happy? It wasn't that he was looking for a relationship, he didn't want one. None of his nightly acquaintances were what he was looking for. None of these women stirred anything in him, even though he knew there was something there.
Sighing, with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, he made his way to his lodgings.
Hopefully his roommate was asleep.

As Kiryu quietly closed the front door behind him, he sighed in annoyance. Nishiki was still awake and sitting on the couch, the TV was on, and his best friend was laughing drunkenly at some stupid joke on the late-night show.
"Hey Kaz, finally home? How was the chick?" Nishiki slurred, throwing an empty beer can next to the trash can with great talent and skill.
“She was okay.” Kiryu sat down next to him on the couch and searched the pile of cans for an unopened one.
“You don't sound enthusiastic,” the long-haired man remarked, and Kiryu sighed into his lukewarm beer.
“Like I said, it was okay. I'm just kind of tired of these one-night stands now.”
“Hey, at least the women are into you.”
“They'd be into you too if you didn't always act like such a lecher and try to get under every skirt that walks by!”
“Skirts can walk?”
“You're drunk, shut up.”
Nishiki just chuckled and tilted his head back.
“Oh yeah, two weirdos moved in next door.”
“Two what?” Kiryu looked over at his roommate.
“Two dudes, I think they're brothers or something. A big buff dude and a skinny rat.”
“What? Akira, I'm worried about you.”
“No, really. One of them is a real hulk of a man, big back, big upper arms, kind of enviable, and the other is a skinny, tall wretch with a bowl cut. Probably combed by his mum.”
“You know how thin the walls are here, they might even be able to hear you.” Kiryu put down his can and turned down the TV.
“They'll definitely come over tomorrow to introduce themselves.”
“Oh, please, no! Our place looks so messy.” Nishiki looked around at the chaos that can only arise when two bachelors live together.

“We should be nice to our neighbours, it can only have a positive effect on us. And if one of them really is such a big guy, then you don't want to fall out with him, do you?”
“Hmmm, that's true... and we don't have to open the door if they show up here.” Nishiki laughed and Kiryu sighed.
“I'm going to bed now, I'm on duty tomorrow.” Kiryu went into his bedroom and threw himself onto his bed.
The evening was ruined anyway, so he might as well go to sleep.
He was pretty tired anyway, and after curling up in his blanket, he was already fast asleep. 

1868 Kyo

When Saito entered the barracks and looked around, there were several people present. Many bowed to him, the new captain of the Third. It was still unfamiliar to him, but it didn't bother him much. He would have to get used to it.
Nagakura greeted him with a brief hand gesture, then waved him over.
“Good morning, Saito-san.”
“Yes, good morning... what is it?”
“Oh, just a little warning, our mutt is in a bad mood today, you'd better stay out of his way.”
“And where is he, so I know where not to go, and why is he in a bad mood?”
"Oh, he got a dressing down, he misbehaved. Nothing unusual. He usually sulks in the backyard by the pond, so you'd better not go there."
“I'll keep that in mind.” Saito turned away and went to check on his men, who were staying in the front area with other units instead of in the rear training area.
Apparently, everyone was quite afraid of Soji's anger.
Saito sighed. Surely it couldn't be right that this guy was now claiming the entire backyard for himself just because he was in a bad mood?

Against all warnings and common sense, he made his way to the back of the courtyard. The warrior he was looking for was indeed crouching there.
Sitting cross-legged with his arms crossed, Soji looked at the small pond in front of him.
Saito approached him slowly and cautiously. The man in front of him was unpredictable, and his back still hurt from their last little scuffle.
“If you don't want me to slit you open like a fish and gut you, you'd better get out of here fast,” growled the warrior without looking in Saito's direction, and the man addressed stopped in his tracks.
“Okita-san, you can't claim the whole backyard for yourself, the men need to train.”
“And I need my peace and quiet, so get lost, newbie, or I'll slit you open!”
“Go ahead and try.”
Soji stood up and turned to face the younger man, baring his teeth and his hand already on his sword.
“Do you really want to piss me off that badly?”
" Whatever has upset you so much, go sulk somewhere else!" Saito's hand now also gripped the hilt of his sword.
Soji growled, but gave up on his plan and actually stepped back.
“Whatever, you've ruined the mood for me anyway.” He deliberately bumped Saito out of the way to leave the backyard.

“Stupid mutt.”
Saito heard Soji stop in his tracks.
“What did you just call me?!?!?!”
And without drawing his sword, he lunged at the younger samurai.

 

Kamurocho 2005

The next morning, after too little sleep, Kiryu sat in the chaotic kitchen, coffee in one hand, cigarette in the other, while Nishiki was still fast asleep. He really should stop going out at night. It just left him feeling unrested and overtired, and his boss would tear him apart if he showed up at work looking like that.
Even though he hated his job, he needed it. They needed the money.
Someone rang the doorbell, and somewhat surprised, he got up with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and went to the front door to open it.
In front of him stood two men, about his age. One was stocky and tall, the other tall and thin. They must be the new neighbours Nishiki had mentioned yesterday.
The tall one bowed politely.
“Good afternoon, we wanted to introduce ourselves, we are the new neighbours next door,” he said with a friendly smile.

“Oh, yes, nice to meed you.” Kiryu returned the smile.
“I'm Taiga Saejima, and this is...” He elbowed the other man, who had been standing impassively beside him, in the ribs.
“Argh... Goro Majima...” He made eye contact with Kiryu, who frowned slightly but then quickly looked friendlier again. The man was strange, and the fact that he wore an eye patch didn't really help matters.
“I'm Kazuma Kiryu, my roommate is still asleep, unfortunately, Akira Nishikiyama. I'm sure you'll get to know each other.”
Saejima smiled.
“Oh, I'm sure we will. Lets be good neighbours.”
“Yes, exactly.” Kiryu's gaze wandered back to Majima, who was glaring at him, then patted Saejima on the shoulder.
“Come on, bro. If you want to do that to everyone, then we should get going. I'm sure Kiryu here has things to do too.” Majima grinned nastily.
“Like finding his trousers.”
Kiryus cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He hadn't even thought about the fact that he had opened the door wearing only shorts. 

Saejima sighed and then looked at Kiryu.
“Please forgive my brother's behaviour, he's... difficult.”
“Oh, it's okay. Have a nice day, both of you.”
The two moved on and Kiryu closed the door again, just as Nishiki stumbled out of his room, still half asleep.
“Who was at the door?” he asked, snatching the cigarette from the corner of Kiryu's mouth and taking a drag.
“The two new guys from next door.”
“Oh, really? What are they like?”
“Saejima-san seems quite nice... Majima-san... not so much...”
“Maybe he's having a bad day.”
“Yeah, or he's just an asshole.” Kiryu went back to the kitchen and sat back down on his chair. Nishiki sat down opposite him and watched him.
“Be honest, what's going through your head right now?”

“I don't know... I feel like I know this Majima guy...”
“From where?”
“I don't know, but his face looks so familiar...”
“Maybe you beat him up once,” Nishiki guessed, but Kiryu shook his head.
“I don't think so... it felt different…”

 

1868

“So? Are you satisfied now?” Nagakura sighed as the two quarrellers sat in front of him, soaking wet.
“He started it!” Soji barked angrily, brushing his wet hair out of his face. 
“He just had to annoy me!”
“And you thought it was a good idea to take over the entire backyard just to sulk like a little girl who doesn't get her way!” Saito retorted, and the one-eyed man stood up, albeit somewhat awkwardly, as his haori was completely soaked with water.
After Soji had lunged at him, the two had fallen into the pond, wrestling, and had tried to drown each other until Nagakura, attracted by the noise, had intervened.
“That's enough!” the big warrior decided and slapped Soji on the back of the head with his flat hand, which made a loud smacking sound and caused the samurai to fall forward and land on Saito.
“Stop bickering like two old women! I can't stand you two!”
Saito threw Soji off him and they both glared at Nagakura, who turned away, snorting.
“Go wash yourselves! You both stink!” He left the two sitting there and Soji got up first, throwing Saito back into the dirt as he tried to get up.
“Me first!!”
“Hey, you bathe so rarely, you can let me go first, you always stink like a wet dog anyway!”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!?!”
Nagakura just sighed and turned to Inoue, who had been watching the whole thing.
“Please, take over.”
The older man nodded, rolled up his sleeves and walked over to the two quarrellers, who were about to go for each other's throats again.

 

Neither Saito nor Soji knew how or what had happened, but now they were both squeezed together in a wash tub that was much too small, while Inoue poured cold water over them.
“You two are absolutely impossible!” cursed the elder, throwing them a bar of soap.
“And you're not coming out until you don't stink of pond water anymore and you stop trying to kill yourselves! Then I won't report it either.”
Soji growled, resting his head on his hand and his elbow on the edge of the tub, while Saito turned his back to him and lathered his hair.
“And all because you wouldn't leave me alone!”
“You could have gone to your room to sulk instead of scaring the men away with your bad mood,” Saito countered, washing his hair and reaching for a bucket of fresh water.
“Hey, I'm still allowed to sit in the backyard and...” Soji fell silent when he got half of the cold water poured over him.

“BRRRRRR!!!! I hate bathing!!”
“I can tell, that's why you always stink so much!”
Soji just growled and tried to kick Saito out of the tub, but there wasn't enough room, so he climbed out himself instead.
“Are you trying to run away naked?”
“Leave me alone!”
“Sure, I don't care what you do. Let Inoue spank your naked arse while the troops watch.”
Soji growled and sat cross-legged on the floor.
“Hurry up!”
Saito took his time, cleaned all the dirt off his skin, then climbed out of the small tub, grabbed a towel – the only one, mind you – and made his escape.
As he slipped into some clean and, above all, dry clothes outside, he could hear Soji cursing inside.
“Serves you right, you miserable mutt.”

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

‘You're late again!’ Kiryu was barked at and sighed.

‘Yes, sorry, the traffic was...’ 

‘I don't give a damn about your traffic!!!’ His boss was in a good mood again and threw an order slip in Kiryu's face. 

"Last chance! You have 20 minutes to get this to Club Snakelight on Nakamichi Street! If you're not on time, you'll lose your job and I'll lose my money, so get your lazy ass moving!!" 

‘I'm already on my way...’ Kiryu grabbed the two heavy boxes, lifted them up and carried them to his delivery van. 

‘God, I hate this job...’ he growled and set off. 

 

Luck was not on his side, as there was an accident on his way to the club, which he had never heard of before. 

He parked in front of the shop, adjusted his cap and took the clipboard with the order slip out of the glove compartment before approaching the bouncer. 

‘Hey, I've got two boxes of... something I'm supposed to deliver here.’ 

‘Back entrance, not here,’ was all the bouncer said.

‘Listen, man, I don't have time for this shit. Take the two boxes and sign this shit.’ 

‘Back entrance!’ 

‘Okay, and WHERE is the fucking back entrance?’ 

‘Back side. You have to walk.’ The burly man pointed to the small alley on his right. 

Kiryu groaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes before unloading the boxes and hoisting them one by one to the back entrance. 

When both were finally there, he hammered on the back door and a guy in a tasteless cream-coloured suit opened it.

‘What do you want?’ he barked, and Kiryu was already bending the clipboard in his hand with rage. 

‘Delivery,’ he growled, pointing to the two boxes. 

The man raised an eyebrow and then looked at his watch.

‘Well... Too late, I'm not paying for that.’ 

Kiryu checked his own watch. 

‘It's only a minute!! And only because I had to carry the shit through the alley by hand!’

‘That's not my problem. Now get lost.’ 

‘Dude, I'll lose my job if you don't sign this!’  

‘Not my problem, I said get lost!’  

Just as the man was about to inspect one of the two large boxes more closely, Kiryu kicked it hard. It fell off the other one and, judging by the sound, everything inside was broken. A large amount of what was presumably champagne flowed out of the box, hissing and bubbling. 

‘ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!’ the guy yelled and tried to punch Kiryu, who skilfully dodged the blow and punched the guy in the stomach. 

‘Do you have any idea what you just destroyed?!’ 

‘Not my problem,’ came Kiryu's reply as footsteps approached and someone joined them.

‘What the fuck is going on out here?!?!?!’ 

Kiryu looked up; he recognised the voice. Majima, his new neighbour, came to the back exit and saw the mess, saw the guy writhing on the floor, and then Kiryu, who threw the clipboard at his feet.

‘Your order!’ he growled, and Majima looked at the chaos. 

‘Did you destroy the box?’ 

‘Yeah.’ Kiryu lit a cigarette.

"No money, no goods. I'm going to lose my job anyway, so what does it matter?" 

Kiryu hadn't expected his counterpart to kick him in the stomach the next moment, throw him to the ground and hold a tanto to his throat, and with his eyes wide open, he looked up at Majima, who was glaring at him furiously.

‘Do you have any idea WHAT you just destroyed?’ 

‘No, should I know?’ 

‘You destroyed a whole case of Dom Pérignon!’ Majima yelled at him, the knife still at his throat. 

‘That costs 800,000 yen per bottle!’ 

Now Kiryu felt a little sick. 

‘8...800,000?!’ 

‘Sir, all the bottles in here are ruined...’ said the guy after inspecting the crate that Kiryu had kicked over. 

‘All 12 bottles are ruined.’ 

‘Well, my friend, now you owe us 9,600,000 yen! I hope you can pay!’ 

‘Do I look like I can?!’ Kiryu barked back and kicked the man off him. 

‘Thanks to you wankers here, I've lost my job anyway, so I don't have any money!’ 

Majima growled darkly and straightened his black suit. 

‘What do you mean, “mine”? I don't own this place, I just work here! And we want the money!’ 

‘I don't have any! Do you want me to write it down for you?!’ 

‘You can write?’ 

‘Fuck you, Majima!’ 

‘Oh ho, now you're getting cheeky too?!’ Majima walked back towards him and circled Kiryu, scrutinising him closely. 

‘Hmmm. Yes... maybe...’ 

‘Maybe what?’
'I’ll make you a suggestion. Now that you don't have a job anyway, you're welcome to work here and work off the nearly 10 million.’

‘Work HERE?’

‘My boss can also drag your bankrupt ass to court and have you thrown in jail, you can choose.’

Kiryu clenched his hands into fists. What a shitty day.

 

1868

 

‘Inoue-san, they're at it again.’

Inoue sighed in annoyance when one of his men addressed him and turned to the spot where Soji and Saito were once again engaged in a scuffle.

‘What's it about this time?’

"We don't know, Okita-san suddenly attacked Hajime-san...’ " said the young man, and the older man rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

‘Why am I even asking, as if our rabid mutt needs a reason...’  He walked over to the two quarrellers, who were wrestling and fighting completely unarmed, Soji's haori now clean again, something that extremely annoyed the warrior. 

Inoue approached the two, watched for a moment, then kicked Soji, sending him to the ground, swallowing a mouthful of dirt, which Saito noticed with a grin, but that grin disappeared when he saw Inoue glaring at him too.

‘What is it now?!’ he asked seriously, but Saito just shrugged.

‘I was just out here when he jumped on me.’ 

‘If you two have so much excess energy anyway, you might as well make yourselves useful!’

Soji stood up, spat out dirt and sand, and rubbed his eye. 

‘Argh... Shit... What? Work for us? Finally! I'm dying to do something!’ He grinned. 

 

But after a few moments, his grin faded and Saito had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

‘Clean up the backyard...’ Soji growled, the broom in his hands creaking softly.

‘Since when is Inoue allowed to PUSH ME AROUND like that!?’

"Well, we only have ourselves to blame... If we want to fight, we shouldn't do it here in the barracks," Saito remarked, lifting the rake as Soji attacked him with the broom. 

‘I'm losing face in front of the others because of you!’ 

‘Not my problem, you started it.’ 

Soji growled angrily.

‘YOU annoyed ME!’ 

‘Yes, because I wanted to know what was going on! I didn't intend to chase you out of the backyard, I wanted to know what was going on!’

‘Save it, Hajime-chan!’ Soji turned away to continue sweeping.

‘Let's end this shit here so I don't have to look at your ugly face anymore.’ 

‘Says the right person...’ 

Kamurocho

 

‘OH MY GOD, YOU'RE REALLY TOO STUPID FOR ANYTHING, AREN'T YOU!??!?’ Kiryu's boss, or rather ex-boss, couldn't contain himself anymore.

‘You smashed the box?! Are you out of your mind?! Do you know how much that's going to cost me?!?!?’ 

‘Yeah, nothing, I have to pay it off.’ Kiryu took off his work uniform and slipped into his T-shirt and jeans.

‘A guy from the place already made it clear to me that the nearly 10 grand will end up in my account, I have to pay it off.’ 

‘And how do you plan to do that?!’ His former employer sighed.

‘Kaz, do you have any idea who you're messing with? That place belongs to the yakuza!’ 

‘I'm not really surprised.’ Kiryu laced up his trainers. 

‘Do you really have to work there?’ asked a colleague who happened to be in the warehouse. 

‘Yes, but how bad can it be?’ 

‘Snakelight is a gay host club, I hope you realise that,’ his boss continued, and Kiryu faltered. 

‘A gay club?’ 

Oh shit. What had he gotten himself into?

 

Since he wasn't supposed to show up at the club until the evening, he now had more than enough time and decided to go home. 

He wasn't used to night shifts, and now he wasn't sure if he really wanted to go. But he couldn't just pack his things and leave. He couldn't do that to Nishiki, after all, Majima knew where they lived. 

He pushed open the front door and found his flatmate, once again, on the sofa. 

‘You don't have anything to do either, do you?’ 

‘I'm on holiday!’ was the reply, and Nishiki looked at him in surprise.

‘What, you're back already?’ 

‘I got fired.’ 

‘AGAIN!? Kaz, what did you do this time?’ 

‘I knocked over almost 10 grand worth of champagne and really annoyed our new neighbour.’ 

‘What? What does our neighbour have to do with it?’ 

Kiryu sighed and told him what had happened. 

Nishiki slapped his forehead with the flat of his hand.

‘And now you're supposed to work in a gay club? Yeah, great, that'll be awesome.’ 

‘At least I have a new job right away.’ Kiryu sighed. 

 

In the evening, he set off for the club, not knowing what to expect. The bouncer let him in, and the guy in the ugly cream-coloured suit led him upstairs to an office where the actual boss of the place was. 

The boss, a somewhat older gentleman, asked him to sit down, and Kiryu sighed and took a seat.

‘First of all, I would like to apologise for Majima's behaviour. He likes to act like he's the boss here, but that doesn't change the fact that you destroyed some really expensive merchandise,’ he said, and Kiryu nodded. 

"Well, I'm giving you the chance to pay off your debt to Snakelight. The only question is, what can you do?" 

‘Well... um...’ 

‘Can you dance?’ 

‘Not really, sir, no.’ 

‘Mix drinks?’ 

‘No... I... I can wait tables... I think.’ 

The old man thought about it.

‘Well, we have enough waiters for now...’ He looked at Kiryu.

‘You're not very talkative either, which isn't a good prerequisite for being a host... Well, let's give it a try. We'll find the best place for you. What was your name?’ 

‘Kiryu Kazuma.’ 

‘All right, Kazuma, I'll put you in the hands of one of my hosts and we'll see how you do.’ 

The man stood up and asked Kiryu to follow him. 

He led Kiryu to the changing rooms, where a young, handsome man seemed to be waiting. 

‘Oh, hi boss, is this the new guy?’ he asked, and the boss nodded.

‘That's right, this is our new guy.’ 

The young man stood up and bowed.

‘Nice to meet you, I'm Hyuga Takagi, but everyone calls me Tak.’ 

‘Nice to meet you, Kiryu Kazuma...’ 

‘You take him under your wing for the first few days and see what he can do. And get him changed, he can't work in those clothes!’ 

‘Sure, boss, don't worry, Kaz and I will find his calling.’ 

The boss left the room and Tak pulled Kiryu closer to him, circled around him and thought.

‘Hmmmm... what shall we dress you in...’ 

1868

 

Some time passed, and Saito was grateful to be able to spend some quiet time at home with Haruka.

That meant no Soji, no current assignments, no Soji, no fights or arguments, and above all and most importantly: no Soji. 

It wasn't that he couldn't stand the man, but he got on his nerves so much that he was glad not to have to hear his scratchy, annoying voice for a while. 

Instead, he focused on gardening, pulling weeds and watering his vegetables, which seemed to be thriving. 

Haruka was out in town, delivering goods and looking around the market, which was fine as long as she was careful. 

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at his garden bed. It looked good. He could hardly wait for the harvest; the vegetables already looked excellent. 

The gate opened.

‘Oji-san, I'm back,’ she chirped. He turned to her and paused, because Haruka was not alone.

‘Yo.’ 

‘Soji? What are YOU doing here?!’ 

‘I'm just escorting this young lady home.’ Soji grinned cheekily, fresh bloodstains decorating his haori and chest.

‘I... I encountered bandits in town and he saved me, Oji-san.’ Haruka explained, and Soji grinned even wider.

‘Just wanted to make sure she got home safely. Had no idea you were her Oji-san.’ 

‘Good, Haruka is safe now, you can go.’ Saito approached them and grabbed Soji roughly by the arm. 

‘Oh, why so grumpy today, Hajime-chan?’ 

‘I never want to see you here again, so get out now!’

Soji freed himself from the grip and looked at Saito seriously. His gaze was cold and dismissive.

‘No need to walk me to the door, I can find my own way!’ Soji growled, turned away and slammed the gate behind him, causing Haruka to flinch.

‘Oji-san... was that really necessary?’ she asked, and Saito sighed. 

‘I mean, he saved me.’ 

‘Yes, so he could spill blood again. He's dangerous, stay away from him, Haruka.’ 

‘Well, if you say so... I brought mochi, come in, I'll make us some tea.’ 

 

Soji took the boat back to the city and sighed. Why couldn't he behave normally when Saito was around? He didn't want to pick a fight with him every time they saw each other, but something inside him just couldn't bring himself to talk to the other warrior normally. 

‘Why am I so incompetent...?’ He muttered, brushing his hair out of his face and wandering through the streets of the city. He needed a good distraction now, and he already knew how and where he would get it. 

Normally he would walk, but today he didn't feel like it, so he ordered a palanquin.

‘Where to, good Sir?’ asked one of the two porters while Soji counted his coins.

‘To Gion,’ was his short reply, and he handed over a few more coins than necessary. 

‘You didn't see me, just so we're clear.’ 

‘Um... of course, sir. We keep our customers' business confidential.’ 

‘Better that way.’ Soji got in and had himself taken to Gion. 

 

Saito's plan to stay at the inn over night turned out to be a stupid idea. Not because he was behind on his payments again, but because Oryo was getting on his nerves. 

‘Why are you in such a bad mood?’ ‘Who made you angry?’ ‘Why aren't you talking to me?’ ‘Why don't you trust me?’ 

These were just the most frequently repeated questions she had asked him before he took flight.

It wasn't that he didn't like her, but he found her intrusion into his private life somewhat exhausting in the long run. Otose had already told him that Oryo had feelings for him, but somehow he found it difficult to reciprocate those feelings. He was sorry, but he couldn't help it. 

After too much sake and too little direction, he ended up in Gion. Maybe he would be able to distract himself a little better here.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

‘That looks amazing on you, Kiryu-san.’ Tak laughed and walked around Kiryu again, unbuttoning the top buttons of his dark red shirt and straightening his white jacket.

‘Don't I look a bit... like an idiot?’ 

‘Not at all. Sit down!’ Tak grabbed a few hair styling products and styled Kiryu's hair back. 

‘There you go, looks good. A bit like a yakuza, but that's fine.’ Tak tweaked the last few strands into place.

‘Now all you have to do is smile, but that will come.’ 

Kiryu looked at himself in the mirror. Yes, it didn't look bad at all. He could get used to this look. 

Tak rubbed his hands together, pulled Kiryu by the arm and led him into the club.

‘Okay, today you'll come with me and be nice to the guests,’ he explained, and Kiryu looked around. 

The club was larger than expected, spacious and comfortably furnished, with warm blue lighting and lots of comfortable-looking stools and chairs at the bar. What irritated him a little, however, was the small stage with the pole, where someone was dancing and being watched and cheered on from all sides. Tak followed his gaze and giggled.

‘Don't worry, you don't have to do that,’ he assured Kiryu and took him to the bar to introduce him to the bartender, who just laughed loudly.

‘So you're the little fruit that smashed the champagne?’ he laughed and poured drinks.

‘You've got guts.’ He handed Tak a tray with several glasses and a bottle on it.

‘Table 8.’ 

‘All right, come on, Kaz.’ 

Kiryu obediently followed, looking closely at everything and watching as Tak bent down, placed the glasses on the table and then poured the drinks. He noticed how the young man stuck his bottom out as he did so and how the slightly older gentlemen at the table took note of this with broad grins and even reached out.

Kiryu was about to say something about it when he too had a hand on his bum and froze. 

‘Well, who are you, handsome?’ asked the man, old enough to be Kiryu's father, trying to pull him towards him.

‘Come on, boy. Sit with us. No need to be so tense.’ 

‘Sir, it's his first day today, please.’ Tak smiled kindly at the gentleman.

‘Please be patient with him, he's nervous.’ 

‘Oh, a newcomer? Do you have a name, handsome?’ 

Kiryu looked at Tak, who just smiled and nodded gently. Kiryu moved a little away from the gentlemen, smiled at them and bowed.

‘My name is Kiryu Kazuma, trainee waiter here. Pleased to meet you.’ 

‘Well, look at that, pretty AND polite.’ The old man who had been following him grinned a little. 

‘I'll remember your name.’ 

‘Now, enjoy your drinks and the show,’ Tak continued, as the next dancer entered the stage and immediately captured the entire club's attention. 

Even Kiryu couldn't help but look. A tall, slender man in a shiny latex bodysuit, knee-high boots with dangerously high heels, matching gloves and his face hidden behind a Hannya mask. He was incredibly elegant, and Kiryu was amazed for a moment when he jumped onto the pole, wrapped one of his long, slender legs around it and spun around so artfully. 

‘Wow.’ 

‘Yes, isn't he? He's a natural.’ 

‘Who is he?’ 

‘I don't know, the dancers usually work under pseudonyms, that one is just known as Hannya.’ 

‘Why do the dancers work under pseudonyms? And why do they all wear masks?’ 

‘Most of them don't want the public to know that they work as pole dancers in a gay club.’ 

‘Oh, but waiting tables is okay?’ 

‘We're just waiters, Kaz. What does it matter if we serve drinks to men or women?’ Tak walked back to the bar with him. 

‘Okay, you'll carry the next tablet as soon as an order comes in. Right now, everyone is too focused on Hannya.’

Kiryu just nodded, not really listening, because he too had been captivated by this dancer. 

 

1868

 

Saito looked around for a moment. Was he in the right place? Where had he wanted to go again? He was in Gion, so this must be where he wanted to go. He wanted to drink a little more and get something off his chest. Talk to someone who was neutral about all this. 

One of the bar owners seemed to have noticed him and came straight over.

‘Sir, are you looking for relaxation, good company and the best sake in town? Then come to us.’ 

Saito stopped and looked down at the slightly stocky man who was grinning at him.

‘We have the best sake and the most beautiful girls in town, who are only too happy to keep you company.’ 

‘Are your girls talkative or quiet?’ asked Saito, and the man looked at him in surprise.

‘Well...’ 

"I don't want a girl who talks my ear off, I want one who is quiet and just listens to me. Do you have such a girl?" 

‘Well, as luck would have it, we do have one. Megitsune is our silent angel, she never speaks but listens with pleasure. But if you want her opinion, you have to ask her questions that she can answer with a shake of her head or a nod.’ 

‘Is she available?’ 

‘Y... yes, she is available, sir.’ 

‘Then I want to see her.’ 

‘Of course, follow me, young sir.’ The man led Saito into his house and into a colourfully decorated room.

‘Wait here, I'll send her to you right away.’ 

Saito sighed and sat down on one of the cushions. Why was this girl called Megitsune?

The door slid open and he looked up. Standing before him was a truly tall girl, wearing an almost black kimono embroidered with red and gold that barely seemed able to contain her ample bosom. Her hair was jet black and styled, adorned with golden jewellery, and her entire face was hidden behind a fox mask. She bowed politely and elegantly before taking a seat next to Saito.

‘So, you're Megitsune?’ he asked, and received a nod in response. She leaned forward, grabbed the sake bottle without at least pushing her kimono up a little, and poured him a drink. He took the small sake cup and emptied it in one gulp, whereupon she immediately poured him another. He sighed and she tilted her head questioningly. 

‘Oh, just had a few shitty days,’ he said, drank again and really started to tell her what was bothering him. 

‘It's mainly about another captain. I don't know if you've heard of him, Okita Soji. Does the name ring a bell?’ 

She nodded. 

‘He's so incredibly ANNOYING!’ Saito sighed and took another sip.

‘It's not that I don't like him, but he always acts so strangely. So... unpredictable, and I want to understand him better... He always seems like something is bothering him and he's hiding it behind a mask of craziness...’ He held out the bowl to her and she filled it again. 

‘And I think that always snapping at him doesn't help either... He helps my little Haruka and all I do is yell at him and kick him out... No wonder he hates me.’ 

He looked over at her. Megitsune put down the bottle, hid her hands completely under the dark fabric and glanced sideways at him. He could see her chestnut-brown eye looking at him from the side. 

‘I'm too hard on him, aren't I? Be honest. I should take the first step and be nicer to him, right?’ 

She nodded hesitantly and he sighed.

‘Yes... I could stop calling him a mutt.’

She nodded again, reached for the bottle again as he held out the bowl to her, and poured him another drink.

He caught a glimpse of her hands. Quite large hands for a girl. He could actually hear the bottle and fabric rubbing against her skin.  

‘I don't mean to offend you, but I think you should take better care of your hands,’ he said, and she paused, quickly hiding them under her kimono again. 

‘Are you from a working-class family?’ 

She turned away from him slightly, but looked over at him when he held out his hand.

‘May I?’ 

Somewhat hesitantly, she placed her hand on his and he stroked the fabric back. She really did have very large hands. They could have been a man's hands or those of a woman who had had to work hard. 

Her knuckles were slightly cracked and sore, as if she had hit something awkwardly, her fingertips were rough and covered with calluses, clearly the hands of a worker. 

Megitsune watched him as he looked at her hands and then looked up at her, a small smile on his face.

‘You seem to be a hard-working and capable woman,’ he said, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. 

‘A little rice water and sake will do your skin good. Work isn't everything; you have to think about yourself a little too.’  

She nodded and withdrew her hands from his. 

‘I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you.’ 

She waved him away, her eyes downcast.

‘I think you have beautiful hands.’ 

Now she looked up at him again. 

‘Yes, really. They are beautiful.’ 

Somewhat embarrassed, she stroked her hair and he smiled. There was something about the woman in front of him that he liked. She was different, even though he didn't even know what she really looked like. 

Someone opened the door and the owner of the house came in.

‘Excuse me, but your time is up, sir.’ 

‘Oh, I see.’ Saito picked up the bowl again and emptied it before getting up from the floor. Megitsune bowed deeply and he smiled.

‘May she accompany me to the door?’ 

‘Uh... yes, yes, of course.’ The man looked at the girl.

‘Now go with him!’ 

She nodded, stood up, straightened her kimono and followed Saito to the door, where she bowed again. 

‘I hope to see you here again soon, I'll definitely be back.’

Again, just a nod, and Saito set off. That had done him a lot of good in a very strange way, even though the sake wasn't that good.

 

Kamurocho

 

It was almost midnight and Kiryu was given a break. 

He went outside through the back door, needing to escape the smell of the club for a while, and lit a cigarette.

He leaned against the wall and sighed. The job wasn't as bad as he had thought, but all the groping was already getting on his nerves. He wasn't even into men, which made the whole thing even more unpleasant. At least, he thought he wasn't into men, but when he thought back to that dancer, he wasn't so sure anymore. 

The door opened and the dancer came outside and stood next to him. 

He pushed his mask up a little, put a cigarette between his teeth and lit it. He glanced sideways at Kiryu and then threw him a bottle of water. 

‘Oh, thanks.’ 

His counterpart just nodded and smoked silently next to him. 

It was an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the hissing of the water bottles and Kiryu's contented sigh after taking a deep sip. 

‘You dance really well,’ he said, and his counterpart looked over at him, his own water bottle at his mouth.

‘Yes... it's impressive.’ 

The dancer just grinned, which Kiryu could barely see in the darkness. In fact, he could hardly see the other man at all, as the back entrance was not lit. 

Kiryu looked at the display on his mobile phone.

‘I finish work at 2, what about you?’ 

He saw his counterpart hold up two fingers in the poor display light.

‘Fancy going out for a bite to eat afterwards?’ he asked. If he had to work here, he might as well get on well with the people in the shop, but the dancer in front of him shook his head and ran a hand down the side of his body. A clear sign that he had to watch his figure. 

‘Oh, okay. Maybe another time.’ 

Now his counterpart nodded, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stamped it out and went back inside. 

No sooner had he gone inside than Tak came outside.

‘Oh, there you are. Having a nice chat with Hannya?’ 

‘He's not talking to me...’ Kiryu lit another cigarette.

‘The dancers don't talk to anyone, don't take it personally. They just don't want anyone to recognise them.’ Tak lit a cigarette and grinned.

‘You're doing pretty well for your first day, only dropped one glass, that's a good performance and you reacted gallantly too.’

‘I wouldn't have dropped it if that guy hadn't slapped me on the bum.’  

‘Unfortunately, you have to expect that here, sorry.’ 

Kiryu sighed and took a drag on his cigarette.

‘Well... this job isn't so bad. I imagined it to be worse. I'm just surprised not to see Majima anywhere.’ 

‘Majima?’ Tak raised an eyebrow.

‘That name doesn't ring a bell. What does he look like?’ 

‘Tall, thin, bowl cut, eye patch.’ 

Tak looked at him in surprise.

‘No, no one like that works here.’ 

‘Huh? I saw him here today...’ 

‘Maybe he's the boss's deputy,’ the younger man guessed, stubbing out his cigarette. 

‘The boss never leaves his office unless it's important. Maybe your Majima is his secretary or something.’ 

‘Why MY Majima? I'm glad I don't have to see that guy!’ 

‘Bad experiences with him?’ 

‘We've known each other for less than 24 hours and we're already enemies.’ 

‘Well, that sounds like the start of the best friendship ever,’ laughed Tak before they went back inside.

‘No, honestly! I don't like him!’ 

‘We'll talk about it another time.’

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

1868

“Good Morning! The last two Captains found their ways back to the barracks!” Inoue looked at Saito and also Soji, both looking like they had the worst Hangover ever.
“Not so loud Gen-san…” Soji whined and walked past him, just to sit down in the shades, Saito following him, sitting down next to him.
Inoue watched over them like a hawk, but the two were clearly not in the mood to bash their heads in and so he let them suffer a bit.
“My head is killing me…” Soji cried, resting his head on his arms which rested on his knees.
Saito looked over to him. Maybe it was time to be a bit nicer to him.
“Where does it hurt the most?”
Soji looked up a bit.
“Here…” he pointed at the front of his head, mostly forehead and temples.
“Its killing me…Hu?”
He looked at Saito confused as he pulled him up in a straight sitting position,
“What are you do…” he wanted to ask, as Saito put his hands on Sojis head, placed his thumbs at his temples and softly pressed there.
Soji tighten up, gritting his teeth and his hand was at his sword again, but Saito sighed.
“Just relax, close your eye and breath deeply. This can release a bit of the pressure in your head.”
Not convinced but not in the mood for a fight, Soji closed his eyes, breathed in and out deeply, while Saito counted in his head up to 60, before moving his thumbs to the other mans Forehead, repeating that on two points again.
Soji growled a bit, but relaxed, feeling a slight relieve from the pounding headache as Saito let go of him and he opened his eye.
“Now you better go and drink a bit Water.”
“How do you know this, Hajime-chan?” He asked and watched as Saito did the same on himself.
“Do you think I learned only fighting while I traveled?” He asked instead and got up, also wanting some water and Soji followed him over the yard.
“It just surprises me a bit thats all. But nice to see that Our Hajime-chan can be a nurse as well.” he grinned and got himself a small pitcher of water, before giving it over to Saito, who also took a deep mouthful of it.
“Awww feels so much better.” the one-eyed Samurai said, stretching a bit.
“Not perfect, but better, I’m not ready to fight but survive the day.”
“Thats good, glad I could help…” Saito sighed and looked at Soji.
“Hey, Sorry.”
“For what?” Soji raised an eyebrow and Saito sighed again.
“For calling you a mutt…”
“Its okay Hajime-chan.” The man infront of him grinned, but the grin didn’t reached his eye.
“Everybody here calls me that, I’m used to it… But I appreciate it.” He turned away.
“Well, see you later, I need to keep moving or I will go crazy out of boredom.” 

And with that Soji ran off.

Kamurocho

“Hey Kaz, time to get up!” Nishiki knocked on his door and Kiryu grumbled into his pillows, before looking up.
“Come on, its already afternoon and I wanna hear about your new job.” Nishiki grinned and left him alone, walking into the kitchen, making coffee and waiting, as Kiryu walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.
“And? How is it being a gay host?”
“I’m not a host, I’m a waiter…” Kiryu mumbled into his cup and grabbed for the store bought Onigiri Nishiki had put on the table.
“Hmmm and How I that?”
“Not bad… not different from other waiter jobs, you just only serve guys and they flirt alot.”
Nishiki nodded and sighed a bit.
“Will be boring here, when you are out every night…”
“Well you can use the time and clean up or bring a girl over.”
“Talking about girls, Yumi called.”
Kiryu looked at him between bites of Onigiri.
“What does she want?”
“Wanted to talk to you. Are you ignoring her again?”
“Dude, she broke up with me a few months ago, don’t forget that.”
Nishiki run his hand through his hair.
“I know, but she is calling and asking for you. Seems she wants you back.”
Kiryu finished his Onigir and his coffee, before reaching for his cigarettes. He lit one and was silent for a moment. His roommate grabbed for the pack as well and they smoked for a while, before Kiryu sighed again.
“I’ll think about that with Yumi.” he stubbed out his cigarette and got up.
“I’m taking a shower, if she calls, tell her that I’m calling back later.”

Kiryu went into the bathroom and into the shower. The hot water felt good on his skin, he could relax a bit, after being so tense all night around all these men. He was sure none of them would do anything, but he was still not feeling well and if he wouldn’t have to pay of the stupid bottles he would go back and quit right away, but he was stuck for a while now.
He looked through the many bottles in the shower, trying to find his shampoo and washed his hair, then his body.
He heard Nishiki knock at the door.
“I’ll be out for a while, see you later Kaz.” he said and the other could hear the frontdoor closing.
Kiryu was okay with that, he could use some alone time on the couch.

But before he could relax, he had to take out the garbage. Nishiki left it right by the door.
A loud annoyed sigh escaped Kiryu and he carried the trashbags out, down the stairs and behind the building to the big containers.
He was not alone down there, because as he threw the second back away, he heard footsteps and as he turned around he was face to face with Majima. The man looked annoyed, carrying two really big bags out and almost lost his balance in an attempt to throw them into the container.
“Need help?” Kiryu asked and the man looked at him.
“Not really.” Majima snarled at him, lifting the bag up and throwing it away. Kiryu watched him, turning on a cigarette and noticed the man's arms as the sleeves slipped up. They were covered in bruises.
Majima didn’t seem to notice the younger man looking, swiped his hands clean and looked over to Kiryu, who offered him a cigarette.
“What do you want?” Majima asked, raising an eyebrow and accepting the cigarette.
Kiryu gave him his lighter before he spoke.
“I wanted to apologise. For the things I did yesterday.”
“You know that will not erase the money you need to pay.”
“I’m not talking about the stupid champagne. I talk about how I acted in front of you.”
Now Majima looked at him a bit confused.
“You need to explain that now, Kiryu-san.”
“I was acting like an asshole and… that was not a very good first impression you had of your new neighbour here.”
“Oh that's what you mean. Naw don’t stress it, Kiryu-chan.”
“Kiryu-chan?”
“Yeah, Sounds cute right? But really it's okay, I’m used to not being liked.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to change that would it?”
“I’m not good with people, let's just leave it at that.” Majima finished his cigarette and patted Kiryu on the shoulder.
“But still, Thanks. I think we can at least try to not beat each other up.”
“Thats a good start.” Kiryu smiled and Majima turned around, walking back to his apartment.
Kiryu stayed and sighed. That man was weird, also his arms, covered in bruises, worried him a little. Wasn’t Majima also working in the club? If so, who had done that to him and why? But what did he cared? The man was an adult, he should be able to handle it himself.
Kiryu went back to his apartment as well.

1868
Saito went back to Gion at night, almost running away from Oryo again, who was bombarding him with Questions again.
He was not in the mood for sake, but in the mood to be listened to and so he looked for that house again, asking for Megitsune, but she wasn’t there. The man offered him other girls, but he refused. He wasn’t in the mood for other girls or for Sake.
He left and wandered through the streets of Gion, back to the bridge and looked at the river. He had no idea why he wanted to see that woman again, without even knowing her face or voice, but he wanted to see her again.
Maybe it was the fact she wasn’t nagging the whole time, but something about her had piqued his interest.

He would look for her in the streets, but how would he be able to find her? Ask around for a tall girl in a fox mask? People would call him crazy.
“Oh well, maybe tomorrow.” he mumbled, walking a bit aimless through the streets. He wasn’t in the mood to go back to the inn and considered to sleep in the barracks for once. He was rarely there, if he didn’t had to work, so he could also get over there.
On his way back, he saw a few men in blue Haoris and one waved at him.
“Oh Saito-kun!” It was Todo and he walked over, seeing him being together with Inoue and Nagakura. With a bit distance, Soji also followed them, looking more tired than usual.
“We wanna go out for a few drinks, do you wanna join us?” Todo asked and Saitos stomach turned, just by the thought of drinking Sake and by the look of it, Soji felt the same.
“Well… not in the mood for Sake but company right now would be nice, so yeah I come along.” He said, looking at Inoue.
“Don’t get the wrong picture here, I’m the babysitter.” he said and Saito smirked a bit.
“Yeah sure. Okay, lets go.”

How did it ended up like this? It was really early in the morning, Saito was so drunk, he couldn’t even walk anymore, Todo was fine, same as Inoue and Nagakura, who was carrying Soji, who was black out drunk, over his shoulder. Todo was holding Saito and tried to make him walk towards the barracks, giggling.
“For someone who didn’t wanted to drink you really couldn’t stop right?” He asked and Saito mumbled something nobody could understand.
“Well, at least they aren’t…” inoue stopped as a disgusting gurgling sound was to hear and Nagakura stopped dead in his tracks.
“Did he…”
“Yes.” He was about to drop Soji, who puked all over his back, as the man started to gag again, emptying the rest of his stomach over him again, making the big man pull a face of pure disgust.
“Somebody take him off of me before I drop and kill him.”
“Be strong Nagakura-san, we are almost there…” Todo said, looking over to Saito, who didn’t seem to puke at any moment.
Inoue sighed loud and shook his hand.
“The proud Captains of the Shinsengumi… just a bunch of drunk idiots…at least these two!”
“You can make Soji clean your Haori tomorrow, when he feels even worse.” Todo suggested, helping Saito up the stairs to the barracks and to his room.
He just dropped the bigger man on the floor and nagakura threw Soji right next to him.
“Let them sleep it out here, we will talk to them tomorrow. I need to get this stinking clothes off of me!”
“Sure, sure. Be right with you.”Todo grabbed the Blanket and threw it over Saito and Soji before they left.
“Hope these two will learn from this.”
“You are way too optimistic…” Inoue said with a sigh. He was feeling too old for this shit.

Kamurocho

Back in the club, Kiryu dressed and Styled himself this evening, while Tak styled his own hair, even put on a bit of Makeup.
“This will be a chill evening.” He said and looked up to the taller man.
“Hannya is the main dancer tonight, everybody will be focused on him, we will have a bit less stress.”
“Sounds good.” Kiryu mumbled, opening his Shirt a bit, showing a bit of his chest and turned to Tak.
“Do I look good?”
“Perfect. Would eat you up.”
“Thanks.” He sighed and after one last Cigarette, he shared with the other man, they went out into the club.

It was full, but mostly for the danceshow. The man in the Hannyamask was back on stage, dancing to a slow but nice sounding popsong. Kiryu leaned with Tak against the bar and watched until they had something to do.
The Dancer had a new outfit. This time it was a short pink dress, with fitting gloves and overknee boots. His free skin on his legs was covered in Fishnets and even his mask was pink and decorated with glittering rhinestones. His hair was short and jet black, which was a nice contrast to all the pink he was wearing.
While hanging on the pole he spread his legs, showing off even pink underwear and Kiryu looked at Tak.
“Do these men really enjoy watching this?”
“Sure. Same as you do it seems.” Tak smiled, drinking a coke while waiting for some orders.
“I’m not…”
“Hey calm down. It's okay to look. It's not everyday that you see a guy with such long legs dancing on a pole like that.”
“Yeah… sure…” Kiryu tried not to look at the stage so much, as one of the other hosts walked over to them and whispered something into Tak's ear.
“What? But he is not…”
“Just telling you, they want him.” The other man said and they both looked over to Kiryu.
“What is it?”
“You see the men over at table 6?” Tak said and Kiryu looked around, needing to count the tables to figure out which one was number 6 and nodded.
“Well, they want you to come over to them.”
“But… But I’m not a Host…” He said nervously and Tak sighed.
“I know, but they want you. All you have to do is entertain them a bit, be nice, listen to them and make them spend money, you can do it Kaz.”
Tak grabbed him by the hand and went with him to the table. They bowed down and Tak smiled.
“Gentlemen, please be good to him, he is new here.” He informed the customers, who moved, so Kiryu could sit down with them, which he did with a bit of hesitation.
He needed to calm down, he was a customer in host clubs before, he should know how to act.
Now there he was, sitting between three older men, all dressed in nice and expensive suits, another host on the table as well and he was basically in the middle, not knowing who he should focus on.
This situation was awkward for him and he wanted to get up and run, but he knew he had to stay, as the man to his right put his hand on Kiryu's thigh and gave him a glass.
“Calm down boy, you look like we were about to eat you.” He said with a smile and Kiryu took the glass but stayed silent.
“No need to be so shy. Just relax.”
“I’m sorry, as said, I’m new…” Kiryu said, sipping from the champagne in his hand and the man smiled, running his hand over Kiryu's Leg a bit more.
“Don’t be so shy, pretty boy. Just lend me your ear.”
“Of course.”
While the others were watching the dancer, the old man just talked off of his soul, while Kiryu listened.
It was clear this man was rich and was talking about the kind of problems you only could have, when you were rich as fuck. What Kiryu also found out was that the man was a bisexual in the closed. His wife, his children, nobody knew.
“You know boy, you should never wait too long to explore yourself.” He said, his hand still on Kiryus thigh, stroking it up and down, which Kiryu let happen. It didn’t bother him too much anymore and it seemed to be part of the job.
“Explore the waters and find yourself or you will regret it one day.” The man sighed a bit and smiled then at him.
“How old are you?”
“36, Sir.”
“Really? You look so much younger.” The man smiled, his hand moving from Kiryu's Leg to his face and onto his cheek.
“If I were 20 years younger, I would really ask you out now.”
Kiryu blushed a bit, gave the man his best smile and leaned a bit closer.
“Well, doesn’t this here count? You can always come back here, good Sir.”
The man smiled at him, ran his hand again over Kiryu's Face and down his chin.
“You are a sweetheart, I will definitely come back.”
Kiryu smiled at him and then looked at the table.
“Oh your glass is empty, shall we order something new?”
“You know what, I’m in such a good mood right now, why not?! The man stood up.
“The next round is on me!”
The whole club was cheering and Kiryu could see Tak grin and gave him a thumbs up, the same as the other host at the table.
Seems he was doing a good job.

The night continued, he had a pleasant conversation with the older Gentleman before he left and Tak grinned wide from ear to ear as Kiryu returned to him.
“Kaz, that was Amazing!”
“You think?” Kiryu got a glass of water.
“Do you have ANY Idea who that was?!”
“No… who was he?”
Taks mouth stood open.
“That was Sera Masaru! He is one of the richest people in Japan!”
“And now he likes our new Waiter.” The barkeeper laughed, cleaning glasses, before looking at the stage.
“Hey, whats going on there?”
They all looked at the stage. One of the customers climbed on the stage and tried to grab the dancer.
Hannya fought back, but it seemed he was unable to fight him off, or he was too exhausted from the long dance number.
“Come on, take off that stupid mask… show us your pretty face…” the main said.
“Show us who you are sweety. Be nice and Daddy here will give you a bit pocket money.”
Tak went to the door to get the bouncer, while Kiryu walked over to the stage, climbed on it and pulled the man off of the dancer. The man wasn’t willing to let go and ripped the dress, which fell to the floor and Hannya was trying to cover up with his bare hands.
“I think you have enough for the day Sir!” Kiryu said with a stern voice, pulling the man off of the stage, as the bouncer came in, seeing what was going on and taking over.
Kiryu turned to the dancer, who looked away awkward, as Kiryu offered him his white Jacket.
“Here, take that.” he just said, let the dancer take it and moved off of the stage himself.
“Give it back some other time, My shift is over anyway.”
He walked to the dressingrooms, changing back into his causal clothes, but letting his hair stay styled. He grabbed his backpack, his cigarettes and walked outside, lit one and just needed a moment before he would go home.
He leaned against the wall, as the door opened, but closed fast again, as the person realised he was there and as he looked up, the man in the Hannya Mask came out.
Seeing the man dressed in Jeans and normal shoes looked weird at first glance, or maybe it was the mask that made it weird.
The man had no shirt on, just the white Jacket Kiryu gave him.
A moment they stood there a bit awkward, as Kiryu stumped onto his cigarette.
“Well… see you later…” he said, walking away and the other followed.
“Is that normal?” Kiryu asked after a while, while the man walked next to him, trying to smoke through the mouth of the Mask.
“Do you often get harassed by customers like that?”
The dancer nodded and burnt his fingers by the try to smoke that way, before pushing the mask up, just a bit so Kiryu could see his mouth, when they moved next to a street lamp.
The man had very pretty, well formed, full lips, which he licked with his tongue before pulling on his cigarette. As he leaned back a bit to exhale the smoke into the air, he also saw a nicely trimmed goatee, which made Kiryu a little bit jealous. He never managed to grow more than his little beard on his chin.
The dancer pulled his mask down again as he was done with the cigarette and pointed at an apartment complex, showing that he was home now.
“Oh… okay, well… good night then I guess.”
Hannya nodded and bowed down a bit, walking over to the building, swinging his hips a bit while doing so and disappeared in the building's shadows, before Kiryu walked home.
On the way he checked his cellphone. 15 Missed calls by Yumi and at least 20 messages from her.
He sighed.
“You broke up with me, why do you call me now…” He wondered and put the phone away, walking into his apartment and went to bed.
While he tried to fall asleep, he could hear the neighbours door open and close. Seems somebody else had a nightshift as well.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As Soji woke up the next day he grumbled and coughed. The room smelled badly of Sake and also vomit. Where was he?
He tried to sit up, but an arm was wrapped around him and somebody was breathing against his neck. Trying to get free, he turned, finding himself in Saitos arms, who pulled him closer, cuddling him and nuzzling his face against his bare chest.
Why was he in a room with Saito? What happened? Well thank all gods he was still wearing his pants, so one thing couldn't have happened, but he needed to escape, before the younger man woke up.
He somehow managed to slip out of Saitos arms, even though it was super comfy and he sneaked out of the room.
It was still early, the yard was empty and he left the barracks. Better to clean up in a bathhouse than here and risk being seen by someone.

A hot bath really was what he had needed and Soji leaned back a bit, enjoying the peace around him. Normally he liked the chaos, but right now, quiet and peace was better.
“That was the last time I went out drinking with Todo…” he swore himself. The youngest captain really could drink more than all the others. His cute face was that of a little devil.
A newcomer went into the bath and Soji opened his eyes, a sigh escaping him, as he turned his back to the person.
Was Saito following him? What was he doing here?
“Good Morning Okita.” he said, before slipping into the hot water as well.
“What are you doing here?”
“I guess the same as you do. Relax a bit, before we get into trouble.”
“Trouble?”
“Todo said you vomited all over Nagakura last night.”
“I did? Can’t remember…” Soji removed the band holding his hair up and shook his head a bit, letting his hair fall flat against his neck as he stroked it back softly. It felt good to free it once in a while.
He could feel Saitos gaze on his back and turned to him.
“What is it?”
“Oh nothing.” The younger said, turning away a bit, also removing his hairband. His hair was way longer than Sojis and he shook his hair softly, letting his hair fall into the water and using his hands to spill some water over his head.
Soji moved a bit away from him, sitting down and closing his eye. He needed a moment of peace and tried to ignore Saito, who sat down with a bit of distance from him.
Saito watched him a bit, while relaxing in the hot water.
It was rare to see Soji so quiet and stern. He had to admit, the older man looked good mostly due to the open hair. It looked so different and seeing him clean and his cheeks a soft pink due to the heat in the bath made him also look a bit more healthy than usual. But the dark shadows around his eye were still there and Saito wondered why it was like that. Was Soji ill? Not sleeping enough? Not eating enough or even the wrong way? And why did he care so much? Soji was an Adult, he should be able to take care of himself.
Looking over again he noticed the older man seemed to fell asleep. His head was hanging low and he was slowly falling forward and Saito went over, holding him before he would end Face first in the bathwater as Soji opened his eye and moved away, as if Saitos touch electrified him.
“What are you doing?” he asked, confused but calm.
“You were falling asleep it seems.”
“Oh… yeah…time to get out of this hot water then… I’m getting dizzy.” And with that the older man left the bath, drying his skin and leaving.
Saito sighed a bit and leaned back again. Something felt weird about the older man. He had no idea what, but something was off.

Getting out of the bath, he had an idea and went to his little house.
Haruka was already awake, feeding the chickens and greeted him with a smile.
“Good Morning Oji-san.”
“Morning Haruka. I have a special delivery for you today.” he said, walking inside and looking through their food supplies.
She followed him, watching him preparing fish and different vegetables.
“Sure. What is it?” She watched him prepare the food.
“Do you dare to go to the shinsengumi barracks?” He asked her and she looked surprised.
“Yeah, I do. Why?”
“You remember that man with the eye cover that saved you from the bandits?”
She nodded.
“I have the weird feeling he is not doing so well, he looks so pale and unhealthy and I think a good meal would help him a bit, but he would never take that from me.” Saito explained, cutting reddish and onions before putting it in a pot together with fish.
“So I thought, maybe you would bring it to him? As a little thank you for saving you.”
Haruka understood and giggled.
“So you do like him Oji-san? After you threw him out so rudely I thought you disliked that man, but it seems you do like him.”
“I kinda do. So would you do that?”
“Sure. No problem. I’m not scared of them.”
“Thank you.”

With the little food package with her, Haruka went through the city. Saito gave her some money to use a palanquin and so it was easy to reach the barracks.
Of course the guards looked at her and blocked the way as she came closer, but she kept her sweet smile and bowed down infront of the guards.
“Good morning.” She says, holding out the package in her arms.
“What do you want, little girl?” one of the guards asked.
“I wanna talk to a man named Okita Soji. I have something for him.”
The guards looked at each other.
“Child, are you drunk? You wanna see Captain Okita?”
“Yes. I wanna see him. Can I come in or can you bring him here maybe?”
The guards looked at each other and one turned around to look over the yard, seeing Nagakura.
“Child, don’t move!” One guard left his post and went to Nagakura.
“Sir, there is a child at the door, she wants to talk to Okita-san.”
Nagakura raised an Eyebrow and looked at the gate, seeing the girl in the pink Kimono there.
“Alright, I will check this out.” He said and walked with the guard back to the gate, looking at Haruka, who bowed down infront of him as well, still having that adorable smile on her face.
“Good Morning Sir.” She said and he nodded.
“So you wanna see Okita?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, follow me and stay close.”
Haruka nodded and followed Nagakura over the yard, looking around curiously, same as the men there, who also looked at her.
“What do you want from him?” The big man asked without looking at her.
“He saved my life. I want to say thank you, so I made him this.”
Nagakura stopped and turned to her. His face was pretty serious.
“Child, I just have to warn you. If whatever is in there is poisoned, we will have to kill you and your entire family…”
She tilted her head.
“Why would I want to poison him? As I said, he saved my life.”
“We are the shinsengumi.”
“I don’t care.” She said, smiling again.
“He saved me and I wanna thank him, that's all. I have no ill intentions, I swear. I will eat some of this to prove it.”
He looked at her for a moment. She could look him in the eyes effortlessly and he saw no bad intention in these big pretty eyes and sighed.
“Alright, then come.”
Nagakura lead her to the backyard. Soji was sitting by the pond again, his favorite place to sit when he wanted to be left alone, but he wasn’t in as bad of a mood as usual, when he was here.
“Soji, you have a visitor.” Nagakura said and stopped, letting Haruka walk the last few meters alone towards the man, who turned his head only. His eye widened a bit and he got up, as he recognized Haruka, who smiled at him.
“What are you doing here?” He was surprised to see her and she held out the package in her arms.
“I wanted to thank you properly for saving my life.” she said, placing the package in his arms.
He looked confused at her and then down to the thing he was now holding. He sat down and opened it. Inside the cloth was a warm ceramic pot and as he opened the lid a wonderful smell reached his nose, almost making him drool at the spot and he looked up to the girl again, who gave him a wide smile.
“I hope you will like it.” She said, bowing down again and turning away, back to Nagakura.
“Oh… thank you…Haruka right?”
She turned and grinned at him.
“Yeah right. Enjoy it.”
Nagakura grinned a bit and led her back to the front gate. 
“You did that all by yourself?” he asked as he lead her outside again and even down the stairs back to the palanquin.
She shook her head and waved him closer.
“Keep it a secret but Hajime-san made it for him.”
“Saito-san? Really?” Nagakura laughed a bit.
“But don’t tell him.”
“I will not. Make it home safely little girl.”
“Thank you.” She went into the palanquin and smiled at him, before it was closed.
“You Shinsengumi guys seem to be quite nice. I hope the others in the city will realize that too.”
Nagakura was surprised for a moment, before he went back to the barracks and back to Soji, who was tasting the food in the pod with bare hands.
“Get yourself some chopsticks.” the bigger guy said and Soji looked up, licking his lips.
“That's really tasty… can’t believe this child went all out for me to do this…” He let Nagakura see what was in it and the man grinned.
“I would suggest, get yourself some rice and that will be a meal worthy of the emperor.”
“That's a great Idea!” Soji closed the lid again and went on to get himself some rice.

As Saito came to the barracks, he saw Nagakura smile at him.
“How nice of you.” he said and Saito raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“You helped Haruka cook. She told me. That's sweet of you.” He laughed.
“Do I need to start fighting with you so you would cook me a meal as well?”
Saito laughed and put his hand on the man's shoulder.
“Just ask and you can come over for dinner. Haruka loves company.” 

 

Kamurocho

It was late afternoon, Kiryu and Nishiki were chilling on the couch, playing videogames together as somebody knocked at their door.
“Your turn to open…” Nishiki said, a cigarette in his mouth and Ash on his shirt, while Kiryu paused the game and got up, pulling up his sweatpants with coffeestains on it and walked towards the door. 

He opened it and looked a bit surprised to see Yumi standing there. She looked different from when he last saw her. She had cut her hair shorter and it was light brown now instead of black, she had more makeup on and her clothes were looking more expensive.
“Hello Kazuma.” She said and looked up to him.
“Can I come in?”
“Better not.” He went out with her, talking in front of the door.
“What do you want?”
“Haven’t you read my messages?”
“I want you to tell me.”
Yumi sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, as she looked up to him.
“I want you back, Kazuma.”
“You broke up with me.”
“I know and I know it was wrong and I want you back. Can’t we try again?”
“So I embarrass you again in front of your rich friends?”
“I said that once because I was drunk and you spilled wine all over my dress!”
“You are part of high society. Most expensive nightclub of the city, your own floor on the millennium tower… And I sit here. You really think that's a good idea?”
Before Yumi could answer, the door next to them opened and a pretty tired looking Majima opened the door, yawned loudly and stopped as he saw the two standing there.
“Oh, hey…” he just said, while Yumi moved away from him, looking at him angrily.
“What the hell are YOU doing here?!” She asked and Kiryu was confused.
“You know each other?”
“He is banned from my club for life! His Brother is working for me as a bouncer.”
Majima grinned, lighting a cigarette and leaned against the railing, smoking.
“Do you mind going away?” She asked but he only side eyed her.
“I live here sweetheart, I can stand here and smoke, nothing you can do about it.”
Yumi looked up to Kiryu.
“You don’t wanna say anything?”
“Well, he is not wrong. He is my neighbour, he can stand here if he wants.”
Yumi huffed and turned around, storming off and bumping into Majima's shoulder which made him drop his cigarette, before she left angrily. 

“Wow… girls on her period I guess…” The one eyed man mumbled and lit a new one, before he looked at Kiryu.
“You don’t wanna follow her?”
He shook his head, sighed and leaned against the railing next to Majima, seeing Yumi drive off in her expensive car.
He offered him a cigarette and he took it.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“My Ex.”
“Oh…”
“And what did you do to get banned from her club forever?”
“Beating up another customer.” Majima said in a casual tone and Kiryu looked at him.
“Appearantly it was her Boyfriend to that time, was groping another girls Butt, so I beat him up a bit. Lost my job and all rights to ever go there ever again. Thankfully Taiga was allowed to keep his job, because he was the one kicking me out.”
“You let your own brother kick you out?”
“Nah, it wasn't personal, it was his job after all. And I’m fine now. How did you end up with a girl like her Kiryu-chan?”
“Well we are childhood friends then lovers and half a year ago she broke up with me and now she wants me back.” He pulled on his cigarette, while Majima watched him.
“Not sure if I want her back though…” He sighed and before Majima could say anything, the door opened and Nishiki stuck his head out.
“Ey, how long do I have to wait for you to come back?” he asked and looked at both Kiryu and Majima, who looked at him.
Majima sighed and threw his cigarette away.
“Well I will not bother you anymore. See you later Kiryu-chan, same to you Fishiki.” He went back into his apartment and Kiryu went into his.
“Did he just called me Fishiki?”

Kiryu spent the rest of the day in his apartment.
As he went back to work the bouncer said that the boss wanted to see him and for a moment his heart stopped. Was it because he had interfered in the matter with the dancer and the customer yesterday?
With a bad feeling in his guts he went up to the boss’s office.
His, or rather Taks, assumption that Majima was the boss’s secretary turned out to be wrong, because a young lady was sitting at the small desk in front of the Boss’s office.
She informed him and let Kiryu walk in.
The boss was in a pretty good mood and smiled wide as he saw Kiryu, offering him a seat and the younger man sat down.
“Kazuma, I have no idea HOW you did it, but I could kiss you right now!” The boss said and Kiryu looked at him confused.
“What do you mean?”
“You entertained one of the richest men in all of Japan and thanks to you he wants to visit more frequently and that means more money for us.”
“Oh you mean that nice older gentleman from last night?”
“Yes Exactly! Sera Masaru! Oh Kazuma, I hope you know what that means for you! You will be a host from now on and not a waiter!”
“WHAT? But…I’m not even into guys…”
“That doesn’t matter, you just have to be a sweetheart and I think you can do that.”
Kiryu gulped.
“Hey, calm down, you don’t have to do anything else but be sweet for our guests. Most men come here to flirt and chat with pretty guys and you are a pretty guy, so don’t worry. Just make sure the guests spend good money on our drinks.”
“I’ll do my best Sir.” Kiryu assured him, not sure if he wanted all this, but he had to remember, he was here because of his debt and he wanted to get it over quickly. If that Sera-guy will come back and order expensive drinks, maybe he could get out of here faster.
“Alright, thats all for now, You should go down now. Tak is waiting for you.”
“Sure, have a nice evening.” Kiryu got up, bowed down and left the office to go downstairs again and to the dressing room.
On a chair was his white jacket he gave to Hannya the night before and on it was a little not, just saying thank you with a lipstick kiss on it.
Tak smiled as he saw that as well.
“Seems Hannya likes you.”
“Why? Because he brought my jacket back?” Kiryu changed outfits and grabbed the jacket, putting it on. It smelled nice. Whoever that dancer was, he had a nice taste in perfume. It smelled spicy but not too strong, almost a bit like cinnamon.

After a last Cigarette with Tak and taking a mint to not smell like smoke, they went into the club.
The dude in the cremecoloured suit was back.
“Kaz, you are ordered to Table 7, Tak you are needed by table 12.”
The two looked at each other and then to the tables.
“Oh sure, we are on it.” Tak smiled and pulled Kiryu with him.
“Just stay cool and chill, nothing will happen to you.” he said before leaving Kiryu alone with the guest, which was Sera again. This time the man was alone and smiled as Kiryu bowed down, before sitting down next to him.

1868

Saito was lucky that night. As he went to Gion again, the man told him Megitsune was back and so he, of course ordered her for a while now, paying extra to stay a bit longer.
She wore the same pretty Kimono, the same jewelry and the same mask. She bowed down, sat next to him and poured him some sake, while he smiled at her.
“Its weird.” He said taking a sip.
“I have no idea how you look, nor how your voice sounds like, but Still I find you very fascinating.”
She turned her face away as if she was ashamed, a hand on the fox’s mouth as if she tried to hide a giggle.
“You are a very good listener, I like that.” He got another drink.
“And… I tried now to be nicer. You remember, the guy I talked about?”
She nodded.
“I hope he knows that I really mean it… I said some pretty mean things to him.” Another drink and he sighed.
“I tell you, we had a good start.” It was pure sarcasm. He looked at her and she put the bottle down. Fixing her Kimono, she came a bit closer to listen.
“I told him indirectly that he was ugly… Before he even knew my name I told him THAT! All because the rumors on the streets said he would be so handsome…” he looked at Megitsune, who was nodding a bit as a sign that she was listening and that he should continue.
“But… to be quite honest… I think he really is handsome. Sure he is not what I had expected from all the rumors, but he is a good looking guy. Have you met him?”
She nodded.
“Do you think he is ugly?”
Megitsune thought for a moment, moving her head from one side to the other before she shook her head.
Saito sighed and got another drink.
“You know, I wish I could talk to him so freely. Tell him what's on my mind and that I like him… Like him as a friend of course… not… not that other way you know.”
Another quiet giggle from her and she nodded. She understood. Why did she understand him so well? She tilted her head again and weirdly he knew what she was asking him.
“No, I have nothing against men who love men. I just don’t think I do like men that way…” She looked at him, her chestnut brown eye shining through one of the mask's eyeholes at him. She had pretty eyes and from what he could see, long full lashes. If the rest of her face was this beautiful as well, he was sure he would fall for her.
“Well… maybe I do… I’m not sure.” he mumbled and he could see by her eye that she was smiling behind her mask. He smiled at her as well, leaning back a bit, tilting his head back and sighed.
“It feels good to talk it off my chest, you know. You are the only one who is really listening to me. I really like that.”

As he had to leave, Megitsune followed him to the door like last time. Saito held his hand out and she put hers in his. He smiled, feeling her skin soften a bit.
“Seems you took the advice with the rice water.” he smiled and she nodded and before she could pull back, he kissed the back of her right hand softly. Her skin smelled like rice water, sake but also a bit like leather. It was a nice mix and he smiled at her.
“I’ll be back soon. Have a nice night.”
And with that he went back to the terada inn for the night.
Very quietly he went up to his room and pulled out his futon to rest a bit, as his door opened.
“What is it?” he asked without looking, knowing who it was.
“I… I just wanted to check if everything is alright.” Oryo said and he looked at her over his shoulders.
“Of course, why shouldn’t everything be alright?”
She looked up to him.
“You are so quiet and distant Hajime-san. I was worried that something happened.”
“Everything is fine, you don’t need to worry.”
“Why are you so cold towards me? I'm just trying to help you.”
“Because it's in the middle of the night and I wanna sleep.” He lay down on the futon turning his back towards her, trying to sleep.
He could hear her sob and get up.
“Alright… good night then Hajime-san.”
As the door closes he just sighed. He couldn’t understand her at all.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As the morning dawned Saito was up and about, not willing to be confronted with Oryo or Otose by that matter.
He slid his door open, only to find Oryu sleeping in front of it. She really dragged her own futon up to his door.
Carefully he stepped over her, without waking her up and sneaked down the stairs, but Otose was already awake and waiting for him.
“Up so early Hajime-san?” She said, loud enough so that Oryo would probably hear her and wake up and he sighed.
“Yes, I have a lot of work to do today.”
“I think so too. Don’t you think you need to clear a thing or two with Oryo?”
Saito knew she was listening upstairs.
“What should I need tell her?”
“Well, I told you how she feels towards you. Do you have NOTHING to say? She cares a lot about you, you know.”
“I know that, but…”
“But what?” Otose raised an Eyebrow.
“Hajime-san, is there another woman?”
“Maybe.” Again he could hear Oryo sob.
“Maybe it's not a woman, maybe it's a man.”
The sobs were getting louder and he turned away, leaving the inn, without reacting to Otose’s shocked expression.

Saito went to the barracks, sighing the whole way. Why did he said that? He was not into men! He was sure about that. At least he hoped he was sure.
Men were so different from women, they weren’t soft and delicate, they were buff and strong, not round and warm and definitely not cute like women were.
He reached the barracks and looked over to the shrine, to his left, thinking of praying before going to work as he saw Soji sitting there. Sitting on the two little steps of the shrine, one hand up, smiling into the morning light.
For a moment Saito just watched, wondering what the other was doing as he saw a small bird land in his hand, pecking around.
Two more flew closer, one landing on Soji's knee, the other on his head, picking at his hair a bit, before aiming for his hand as well. It seemed he had some food for them.
Saito leaned against the wall with enough distance and just watched.
Was this still the same Okita Soji he knew? He was so different, looking so friendly and cute…
What? Saito shook his head. NO Soji was NOT cute! He couldn’t be. He was a batshit crazy mutt, a killer with a thirst for blood.
He looked again, seeing the man run a finger over the tiny birdhead, smiling at them, being so gentle and kind, it made Saitos heart beat a bit faster.
He wanted to get closer, but was sure the birds would fly away and reveal that he was there, so he waited a bit longer.
Soji leaned forward, putting a handful of seeds on the ground, so the birds could continue to feast on them, as the warrior got up and walked the path up to the barracks, only to stop and look at Saito, who was still watching him with a smile.
Soji smiled as well, coming closer, crossing his arms as he was infront of the younger man.
“Are ya watching me?”
“Yeah. Thats… impressive. Never thought birds would come that close.”
“If they trust you and the food you offer, they will sit in your hand.” he said with a warm smile.
“Wanna join next time I feed them?”
“If you let me, sure.”
They went to the barracks together, Soji still smiling.
“Did you know your lil Haruka gave me some home cooked meal?”
“Oh? Really? How was it?” Saito asked with a grin and Soji licked his lips and rubbed his stomach.
“It was delicious. If thats the reward for saving her, I will look out for her more often when I’m in the city.” He laughed and Saito laughed with him.
“Well, I invited Nagakura over for Dinner tonight, do you wanna join as well?”
“Haw? I thought you never wanted to see me there again Hajime-chan?”
“Yeah I said that but… I’m sorry. I had a bad day and of course you can come over as well if you would like.”
“Well getting a good warm home cooked meal, who would say no to that?” He giggled and rubbed his hands in excitement.
“Count me in, I will be there!” 

 

Kamurocho

Another successful night was done and kiryu was completely drunk. Sera had been in such a good mood that night he had bought drink after drink after drink and Kiryu had to drink with him the whole time.
Now he was half asleep on a couch in the club, a cigarette in hand, a water bottle on the table and he was just waiting for the room to stop spinning.
“Okay, does anyone here know where this guy lives?” the barkeeper asks as the last few people wanted to go home. They all looked at each other, but they all shrugged and the barkeeper sighed as Hannya stepped forward lifting his hand.
“What? You know it?” The man behind the bar asked and the dancer nodded.
“Alright, take his drunk ass home then… Let him sleep it off, he has a free day now anyway.”
Hannya nodded, grabbed Kiryu by the arm and managed to drag him out of the club, both still in full dressup.
Hannya huffed behind his mask, that man was heavier than he looked.
Kiryu laughed in his drunken state, hanging on the dancer and grinned.
“You smell nice.” he laughed, holding closer to that man, who just tried not to lose balance, as footsteps were to hear behind them and they stopped. They both turned around, kiryu being way more awake now, seeing a small group of Punks coming their way:
“What do we here?” One laughed.
“A drunk idiot and his bitch? Mind to share her with us?”
Kiryu let go of Hannya and stood up straight infront of the men.
“You better leave us alone, we are not looking for trouble.”
“Oh yeah? Well you found some!” The punk, probably the leader of this group, said as a smacking sound was to hear and Kiryu looked over his shoulder.
Somebody had grabbed Hannya and the dancer had slapped the dude with enough force knock a tooth out.
The guy stumbled back and hold his face.
“Argh, boss, that bitch is a guy!”
“What? So we have caught to fags here it seems.”
Kiryu gritted his teeth as Hannya got next to him, ready in a fighting position.
They looked at each other and nodded, as the punks attacked them.
Kiryu served them some good punches, kicks and headbutts, while Hannya was fast, flexible and kicking the guys wherever he could reach them with his high heeled Boots, spilling blood and a few more teeth flew through the nightly air, clattering around the street.
Soon the guys went down and Kiryu looked at them with a stern look.
“Do you have enough? Or do we need to teach you a harder lesson?!”
“No… no please…. No more…” they begged and ran off.
He looked over his shoulder to hannya, who was covering the lower half of his face. His mask was broken, showing his mouth now, which Kiryu could see, even in the bad light.
“Are you hurt?” he asked and the other shook his head, still covering up.
“Hey, it's okay, whoever you are, I will not say anything, I promise.”
Still the man covered his face and walked next to kiryu, limping a bit because one of his heels broke off during their fight.
Kiryu smiled, grabbed the man around the waist and lifted him up like a bride.
“No worries, I got you.” he said with an even wider grin and the dancer turned his face away, but nodded, allowing the other man to carry him.
They stayed silent until Kiryu reached the same apartment complex as the night before.
“It was here, right?” He asked and Hannya nodded and was set down again. Kiryu put on a cigarette, gave the other one as well and then his lighter after he lit his own.
“Well… thanks…and good night.” Kiryu said and maybe it was because of the rest alcohol in him, but he leaned over and kissed the other man on the exposed cheek, before he turned away and walked to his apartment, leaving the dancer alone to walk to his apartment. 

Back home, everything was quiet. Nishiki was in bed, sleeping and he went into bed as well, still wearing the white suit. He took of his shoes and the jacket, but inhaled his scent once more.
It still smelled like that dancer.
“Hmmmm…. Cinnamon…” he mumbled, putting the clothes aside, stripping to his boxershorts and fell into his bed.
This time, he didn’t heard the next door apartment door open and close.

Nishiki woke up early the next day and went out of the house, because Rice and coffee were both out.
Good thing they lived close to a konbini and so he got everything pretty quickly, but also ran into their neighbor Saejima. The man looked tired and dropped half his goods.
Nishiki, feeling nice that day, helped him to pick up and Saejima smiled as he noticed.
“Thank you.” he said, smiling and got a smile in return.
“No problem… long night?”
“Long shift yeah.” Saejima yawned, what sounded like the yawn of a bear and put all his goods on the counter.
“And you? Early bird?”
“Well sometimes. But we are out of coffee and Kaz can be a pain in the ass without coffee.”
“Oh I know what you mean, my brother is the same…”
As they went outside Nishiki lit a cigarette and looked up to the older man.
“Is… is that Majima guy really your brother?”
“Is Kazuma yours?”
“Well kinda, we grew up together as brothers in an orphanage…”
Saejima sighed, cracked open a can of instant coffee and took a deep sip.
“Goro is adopted. It's a weird story… He knows nothing about his past life, just his name and he insisted on keeping it. Thought it might be worth something or lead him to his real family.”
“And?”
“And? He is 42 now and still has no clue where he comes from, we never found his parents and I think he doesn’t give a shit anymore. He just does what he wants to do…”
Nishiki nodded and pulled on his cigarette, walking back to the apartments, only to see Majima standing outside by the railing, wearing a flowery dress with long sleeves, while smoking. He waved as he saw the two.
“Is that normal?” Nishiki asked as Saejima waved back and grinned.
“Yeah that's normal for him. Not sure what he does for money right now, but he almost always comes home wearing a dress or Latex Bodysuits.”
“Ooookay….” Nishiki had no idea what to say about that, as they went up the stairs and Majima grinned at them.
“Morning!” He laughed, grabbing the can of coffee from his brother's hand, finishing it.
“God what a night…I’m sore…” Majima whined and stretched.
“Oh hey Fishiki.”
“My name is Nishiki.” he grumbled and the older one laughed a bit.
“I think Fishiki fits you better. You look a bit like a koi.”
Saejima laughed a bit and patted Nishiki on the shoulder.
“Don’t be mad at that. He has no ill intention.” he unlocked the door.
“Come on in Brother, let's have breakfast.”
They left Nishiki alone who went into his apartment where Kiryu just came out of the shower.
“Hey Kaz, I got you some breakfast…”
“Oh hey Akira…thank you… you look a bit confused…”
“Well I just saw our Neighbour Majima in a dress, that's a bit weird.”
“He wore a dress?” Kiryu repeated as he followed Nishiki into the kitchen.
“Yes. with flowers on it. Long and flowy, but hey, with those legs, he can wear that.” The long haired man put the bought stuff away and turned on the coffee machine.
“Now I’m kinda curious…” Kiryu admitted, sat down and waited for the coffee.
“But I’m sure he is not as sexy as Hannya is.”
“Who the fuck is Hannya?”
“Oh its one of our Dancers in the club. He is actually pretty sexy.”
“You like men?”
Kiryu shrugged.
“Not sure, but one of our customers gave me the advice to experiment. Find out what I like and dislike before its too late. Who knows, maybe I’m into guys as well.”
“After all your disappointments with women, I wouldn’t be surprised if you would try new waters.” Nishiki said, lighting another cigarette.
“It wouldn’t bother you?”
“Nah, it would be weird at first, but Kaz, Whoever makes you happy is welcome. I just want you to enjoy life a lil bit more again.” He smiled a bit.
“You are my big bro, I want you to be happy.”
“Thank you Akira…I…” Somebody knocked very frantically at their door.
“Hey, can you guys open?!?!” It was Saejima.
Kiryu got up and opened the door.
“Do you guys have a fire extinguisher? Goro set our kitchen on fire!”
The two looked at each other and Nishiki grabbed the red thing and they followed Saejima over, seeing the little apartment filled with black smoke, as Kiryu grabbed the Fire extinguisher and went into the kitchen.
Majima was standing next to a burning microwave, looking confused at it, a glass of water in hand, as if he was unsure if he should pour it over it or not, as Kiryu grabbed him by the hand and pulled him away, covering the burning microwave in foam.
Thankfully the alarm didn’t reacted and they went outside.
“What the fuck?” was all Kiryu could say and the one eyed man shrugged.
“I wanted to make some instant Ramen…”
“In the microwave?!”
“We don’t have a kettle.”
“Bro, how did you make it burn?!” Saejima seemed to be more than just confused and Majima scratched the back of his neck.
“Well… it could be that I forgot to pour water in it…”
“You put instant ramen in the microwave WITHOUT WATER IN THEM?!?!?! DO YOU WANNA KILL US?!”  Saejima grabbed his brother by the collar and shook him.
“DO YOU WANNA KILL US?!?!”
“Saejima-san, calm down…” Kiryu tried to calm the bulky man down.
“Nothing happened and you two are both fine…” He looked at Majima, who either hadn’t slept for maybe days or was high out of his mind. Probably the first, when Kiryu looked at the dark circles under his eyes.
The man gave Kiryu a devilish grin.
“Yeah… Sorry, I really didn’t wanted to do that…” he said and Saejima sighed, before going back in to open all the windows and checking on the microwave, while Nishiki followed him with the fire extinguisher in case something else would be burning.
Kiryu looked at Majima, who yawned and leaned his head sleepily on Kiryus shoulder.
“Sorry for bothering you…” he mumbled, he was really tired.
“Its… its okay. At least you two are okay…” Kiryu mumbled a little blush on his cheeks. The man was really close, the tips of his hair were softly tickling his cheek.
He kinda liked it though. Majima was warm and he smelled nice.
“Hmmm… cinnamon?” He wondered and Majima looked at him.
“Yeah… my bodylotion…Cinnamonbun and Sugarcookie.”
“Why do you use something like that?”
“You ask a guy in a dress why he uses Bodylotion.” Majima grinned again.
“Because I like it. I like the smell, I like dresses, I just… like such stuff, is that a problem?”
“Absolutely not.” Kiryu assured him and got a smile, before he wrapped an arm around Majima's shoulders, leading him into the apartment and into the living room.
The brothers place was a near copy of his and Nishiki's place, just way cleaner. He placed the man on the couch.
“I guess you should sleep a bit.”
“Yeah… thank you Kiryu-chan.” Majima grinned and closed his eye, passing out almost immediately. Kiryu stayed by the couch, watching Majima sleep.
The man looked unhealthy, so pale and as he moved his sleeve up, he saw his arms were still covered in bruises, mostly on his joints and looking at his long slender legs, it was almost the same.
“Ey, are you eying my brother?” Saejima came out of the kitchen and Kiryu put a finger to his lips, to make him be quiet, then pointed at all the bruises.
“Is that normal?”
Saejima looked and frowned.
“No… he normally never is that bruised… even after getting into fights…”
“He likes to fight?” Kiryu asked and Saejima nodded.
“Yeah, he is quite good, you shouldn’t underestimate him. He might not be the strongest, but he is fucking fast. Give him a knife and he turns you into a pin cushion before you can blink.” Saejima grinned but got serious again.
“I should talk to him, after he had a good few hours of sleep, that is.”
“Yeah do that, we better leave you two now.” Kiryu got up from the couch, looking at Majima again for a moment. He was kinda pretty, he had to admit.
Nishiki grabbed his arm and they left.
“Told you that guy is a weirdo…” Nishiki said as he closed the door.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that Majima-guy burns down the entire building and laughs like a hyena because of it.”
“I think he is kinda cute…” Kiryu mumbled and blushed as Nishiki looked at him.
“What? Kaz, no no no no no no no no!!!!”
“What? You said its okay if I would be interested in men!”
“Let me rephrase that: I’m okay with you being interested in every man EXCEPT HIM!”
“Whats your problem with him?”
“HE is a problem! He is probably mentally ill! He needs to get out of here! Today he burns the kitchen down and Tomorrow the whole building is on fire!”
“It was an accident, okay? You burned our toaster once!”
“Why do you defend him? You barely know him!”
“I know but… as I said at the beginning, I have the weird feeling I met him before… and that there is something… something between us…”
“Can you explain that?” Nishiki sighed and Kiryu shook his head.
“Sadly no… I don’t know what it is, but I just know something is there…kinda like… remembering a promise you thought you forgot, but then you meet the person again you gave this promise to…”
Nishiki sighed again, running his hand through his long hair.
“Dude, you are such a big as softy, it will kill you one day!”

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

1868

“Wow! Thats really YOUR house Saito-san?” Nagakura was impressed seeing the nice house, Saito was living in with Haruka as they arrived by boat.
Saito smiled and led the two other captains inside. Haruka was already busy, cutting vegetables and smiled as they entered, waving with a knife in her hand.
“Good evening.” She was in a pretty good mood.
“Sake is already warmed up for you, the food will still need a while.”
“Thanks Haruka-chan.” Saito smiled and they sat down.
Saito got them the sake and three cups and filled them up.
“Alright, lets hope this will be a nice evening.”
“Pretty sure of it, Hajima-chan.” Soji grinned and Nagakura nodded, before they all drank.
Haruka smiled over to them, lifting the spoon instead of a glass with them and they smiled at her.
“Hmmmmm…. Oji-san, could you taste this? I have the feeling something is missing.”She said and Saito got up, tasting the food.
“Good question… Guys, need your help here.”
Nagakura and Soji got up, both tasting and all three men stood there now, thinking.
“I think its fine.” Nagakura said.
“A bit more chili.” Was Sojus suggestion.
“More Miso.” saito said and Haruka looked at her ingredients.
“How about both?” She threw both in and stirred. Soji and Saito looked at each other, unsure if that was the best move to make.

But turned out, it was a good move.
“Haruka-chan, this is delicious!” Soji praised her cooking refilling his bowl again, while she smiled at all three happily.
“Mama always said one of the best compliments a man can make is praising a womans cooking. Now I know what she meant." she giggled getting up to get more sake for the men, who grinned, eating mostly in silence.
Nagakura was the first who finished, putting his bowl down and leaning back with a satisfied groan.
“That was really good. Saito-an, you are a lucky man to have a daughter like that.”
Saitos cheeks turned red, same as Harukas, as she came back in and heard that.
“Oh… Haruka is not my daughter…” Saito said and explained the whole story to the other two captains.
Soji raised an eyebrow and grinned.
“My my Hajime-chan, a heart of pure gold.” he said without mocking him. He was honest and Saito smiled.
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“You really are a good man Saito-san. Not many would do that for a stranger.” Nagakura admitted and Soji and even Haruka nodded.
“I know, but I couldn’t let her end up homeless or in a brothel.”
“I’m forever thankful for that Oji-san.” Haruka refilled his cup and he smiled at her.
“Its alright Haruka, I also enjoy it here. So we both win in the end.”
Nagakura smiled and looked over to Soji, who was looking at Saito with quite a dreamy expression on his face. The big guy understood and grabbed his cup, looking Saito in the eyes, giving him a hint to look at Okita, who was still looking dreamy.
“Okita-san, are you daydreaming?” Haruka asked and he looked up, as if she had woken him up.
“Yeah he was far away, somewhere in his head.”
“I was just thinking about some things.” Soji said, sitting a bit more straight again:
“About what?” haruka wanted to know and Soji blushed a bit.
“Probably a nice woman, he met in the city.” Saito guessed and Soji glanced him a look.
“Maybe the girl you are seeing lately Hajime-chan? The one with the fox mask.”
“You know her?” Saito asked and got a nod.
“Seems you are into her, Hajime-chan.” Soji smiled.
“She likes you.”
“Wait, does she talk to you?”
“Nah, but I asked her if she likes you and she nodded.”
Saito felt his cheeks burn a little bit. Megitsune liked him? That was great.
“Well, I will talk to her as soon as possible again…”

After a bit more Sake and Haruka getting tired, Saito left with Nagakura and Soji, just wanting to bring them back to the docks, but Soji grabbed his hand softly.
Saito looked at him, while Soji looked up into the sky.
“It's fullmoon.” he said and Saito also looked up, just now realizing how bright this night was.
“Wanna have a lil walk with me Hajime-chan?”
Saito hesitated, but only for a second, looking at his hand still held by Soji and he nodded.
The older smiled and they walked through the city streets a bit, always close to the river.
“I thought you disliked water.”
“I dislike bathing and getting wet in general but I have nothing against the soft sounds of flowing water. There is something calming about it.” Soji said, stopping at the bridge that would bring them to Gion and walked off of it to walk through the sand at the river bank. Saito followed him, reaching for his hand again.
He had no idea why, but he wanted to hold it. It felt familiar and good.
“So you feel something for that girl?” Soji asked, walking slower, looking at the water instead of Saito.
“Hmm? I… I’m not sure… Maybe I do…” He mumbled, almost running into the older, as he stopped.
Soji turned around and faced him.
“Maybe? Hajime-chan, you should know what you feel before you talk with someone about that.”
“I know, but I’m confused.”
“Why that?”
Saito looked at the other man. Half of his face was illuminated by the moonlight, making his eye light up and his hair shine like black silk.
Saito frowned slightly. He knew Soji wasn't ugly, but somehow the moonlight accentuated his face so well, making him look like a work of art. His usually hard and angular features seemed softer, almost delicate. His pale skin glowed in the light, and Saito couldn't help but find him truly attractive.

His gaze wandered down to the man's lips. Full and soft looking.
“Hajime-chan?”
Saito looked into Sojis eye again, as he heard his name.
“What is it?”
“I… I don’t know…” He looked away as Soji came closer, running a hand through Saitos soft hair, stroking it out of his face.
“Is there something you want or need?” He asked, hoping Saito wouldn’t move away now.
“I… well… “ Saito leaned into the soft touch.
“Whatever you need, just tell me.”
“I don’t know. I really don't know…” Saito turned away from the other, who softly wrapped his arms around Saito's shoulders, resting his head against him.
“It's okay.”
“I like you Soji…” Saito mumbled so softly it was barely audible.
“But I don’t know if I like you as a friend or more.”
“I like you too.” Soji purred against his back, softly running his hand over his shoulders and Saito freed himself and turned around. For a moment he hesitated.
“Can you hold me like that again?”
“Of course hajime… no Saito-chan.” Soji grinned and opened his arms, letting Saito get closer, resting his head on the older man's shoulder, who wrapped his arms around him.
His face was so close to Soji's neck, he could feel his warmth, smell his scent and it was good. Soji didn’t smell like blood, it was a mix of sake, spices, leather and a touch of soil. The soft pleasant earthy smell when it finally rained after a hot summer day.
He hummed softly, as Soji's finger ran through his hair again and he closed his eyes. He could fall asleep in this position right now, but the older one lifted his head up again.
“Saito-chan…”
“I’m sorry, I…”
“No need to apologize… I better bring you back to Haruka.”
Saito simply nodded and got out of that lovely warm hug, as Soji grabbed his hand again. The younger Samurai made sure not to let go and followed the man back to the docks.

An awkward silence lay over the scene. None of them knew what to say, as Soji leaned closer, giving Saito a short but sweet little kiss on the lips.
It was too fast for Saito to react, as he looked up and saw the older one smile.
“Just to make sure, you know what I feel towards you, Saito-chan. I'll see you tomorrow.” He gave Saito a soft push so he stumbled on the boat that brought him back to the house, while he turned away, walking back to the barracks. 

Kamurocho

Since it was Kiryus free day, he spent it mostly indoors. A relaxing day on the couch was exactly what he needed as Nishiki suggested going out to their favorite club at night and of course he agreed. He liked going out at night, so he dressed up and smiled as his friend looked at him with his mouth hanging open.
“Dude, that looks awesome!”
Kiryu wore the white suit he usually worked in and he had styled his hair back as well.
“You think so?”
“Oh hell yeah! Let's go!” 

Their usual nightclub was near the theater square. It was not too full that night and they stood at the bar, both a beer in hand and looked over the crowd.
Kiryu wasn’t really looking for or at something and just let his gaze wander.
He noticed the door open and how many people were looking and of course, he looked as well, same as Nishiki.
A tall slim person walked into the club. Kiryu almost choked, he knew that mask.
“What is Hannya doing here…”
“THAT'S Hannya?” Nishiki stared at the man who walked right to the dancefloor, wearing a really tight golden Clubdress, black heels and fitting gloves and a wig of long flowing black hair. This night's Hannya Mask was as golden as the dress, with the demon's long teeth decorated with shining rhinestones.
Hannya noticed Kiryu and threw him a little kiss, before he started to dance.
Nishiki stared at that and Kiryu grinned.
“Told you he is sexy.”
“That's a man? I’m starting to question my sexuality, Kazzy…”
“Not only you.” Kiruy looked around seeing a lot of guys staring at the man in the golden dress.
“Well I can see why you said he is sexy, but its still a guy…He is missing the boobies.” nishiki ordered a new beer.
“Well at least he doesn’t need to worry that the boobies fall out of that golden Something.” Kiryu said, smiling as he watched Hannya, who was, still elegant and sexy, but definitely not there to impress anyone, like he did at his pole.
A few guys were making advances, but were quickly ignored, one even got a heel to the balls, as he grabbed under the dress.
“See that Nishiki? Thats how you sometimes act with girls.”
“I’m not such a pervert!”
“Yeah right, only when you are drunk. And you can be lucky that nobody kicked your nuts with such heels before.”
“Oh shut up and watch your girly-boy dance.” Nishiki turned towards the bar and lit a cigarette.
“He’s probably too young anyway.” Kiryu said, lighting a cigarette as well, but still watched the dancer. Yeah, now he wondered how old that man was, who was dancing so gracefully, surrounded by young women, who all admired the dress, the style, the way he moved. And if he hid away behind a mask, he probably wasn’t even into guys. Maybe he was a student, earning a bit extra cash on the side.
Kiryu sighed. He shouldn’t try to fall for masked guys in dresses. That was easier said than done, as Hannya walked over to him, grabbed His Hand and pulled him towards the dancefloor.
“Wait… I can’t dance.” Kiryu tried to protest, but the man gave him no choice. Hannya let go of his hand, signed him to stay there and walked over to the DJ, handing him a piece of paper.
The DJ looked at it, nodded and changed the song. Kiryu knew that song. He had loved that one, back when he was in his early 20s.
Sure, he could dance to that now and by the look of it, Hannya seemed to know what he was doing as well. Maybe the man wasn’t a student at all.
After a bit of a clumsy start, Kiryu really got the spirit back into his body and he danced with Hannya by his side to these, rather old beats, but the crowd seemed to be impressed. He could hear them cheer and praise them, but he could only focus on the man in front of him. It was a partner's dance after all. He grabbed Hannya's hand, pulled him closer and the dancer swirled elegantly into his arm, before being released again, swinging his hips, which Kiryu grabbed softly, pulling him closer, while also singing along to the song.
As the song ended and he still held Hannya close, a perfect finishing move, the crowd went wild, praising their dance skills, Kiryus singing, which of course was heard and the girls again swarmed Hannya, asking about that dress, the shows and what else girls wanted to know about each other, but Hannya gestured towards the restrooms and could escape.
“Good idea…” Kiryu mumbled and followed.
Hannya went into one of the stalls and locked the door.
Kiryu stayed by the urinals, relieving himself and went to the sinks, washing his hands as he could hear something clatter to the ground. He turned around, seeing the Hannyamask sliding over the floor.
Seems the dancer had taken it off and now it slipped away from him. Kiryu picked it up and heard the door unlock and a hand was stretched out demanding the mask back.
“Just let me clean it a bit.” he said, grabbed a paper towel, wet it and ran it over the edges of the mask.
“I mean it was on the restroom floor, you don’t want that in your face right?”
He could hear a sigh come from the stall and hurried to clean the mask and give it into the hand, still stretched out for it.
Kiryu tried to look, but all he saw was that the man had pushed his hair behind his ear and he saw a bunch of different piercings in it. The only he could really make out was a dragonclaw holding onto his helix, before the door was closed again.
Kiryu sighed.
“Sorry…” he said and turned away to leave the restroom as the door opened again and Hannya came out, fixing his mask and pulling his dress down a bit, before he walked over to Kiryu and hooked onto his arm, making the Man blush.

They went to the bar, where Nishiki was sitting by himself, luckily not too drunk yet and Kiryu sat down next to his best friend, same as Hannya.
“You want a drink?”
The dancer nodded and ordered a beer, same as Kiryu and Nishiki grinned.
“How do you wanna drink that with that thing in your face? Come on, take it off, my friend Kaz here wants to see who you are.”
Kiryu groaned ashamed. Seems Nishiki was more drunk than he had thought, but Hannya just pushed the mask up high enough to drink and he finished that one big glass of beer in one go, making the other men look stunned but also impressed.
Even though He wore a mask, Kiryu could see golden Lipstick before the mask was put back in place.
“Even your Makeup is on point.” Kiryu grinned and Hannya took of his gloves, revealing even golden Nails.
“You go all out with your theme it seems. Is that a new dress?”
Hannya nodded and tilted his head slightly, while Kiryu softly grabbed his hand. That dancer had strong slender hands and he grinned, kissing it softly.
“You are impressive.”
Nishiki got up and went to the restrooms, leaving the two to weirdly flirt with each other. They didn’t even noticed that Nishiki was gone. Kiryu also didn’t noticed his cellphone ringing until Hannya pointed at his pocket.
“Oh thanks, excuse me for a moment.” He turned away and answered the call.
“Yeah Yumi, what is it?”
“Well, what do you think I’m calling you for? Have you thought about us?”
“I’m not sure about this. Can’t we just stay friends?” Kiryu asked as he could feel two hands slide around his waist. He looked over his shoulder at Hannya, who cuddled softly against him.
“Why can’t you just come over to my club and we talk about it?”
“I’m at a club right now…with Nishiki.”
“Then come over, take him with you. I’m sure he will like it and Reina is missing him.”
Kiryu look over his shoulder again, looking at Hannya and sighed.
“Fine, I come over… we will talk about this.”
“Great, I’m waiting for you.”
He hung up and turned towards Hannya, who looked up as Kiryu got free from his soft cuddles.
“Sorry, I have to go… Need to clarify a few things in a club by the millennium tower.”
The dancer nodded and they waited for Nishiki, who got grabbed by Kiryu and the three left the club.
“Where are we going Kaz?”
“We Two go to Yumis club now.” He looked at Hannya, who motioned that he would go home.
“Alright… see ya at Snakelight then…”
Hannya nodded and walked away, while Kiryu and Nishiki went to the Millenium Tower.

Yumi was waiting for them and grinned as they both entered her club and she led Kiryu to a table and Nishiki to the bar, where Reina was. Reina was a good friend of Nishiki, but they hadn’t seen each other in a while, so of course they had a lot to talk about.
Yumi sat down with Kiryu and she grinned as she grabbed a glass of champagne and offered him one, but he declined. He had to drink so much of that stuff at work.
“Well, good that you are here now.” She smiled.
“I like your new look. That suits you well.”
“Thanks.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“Yumi, listen, I know you talk about getting me back, but I wanna know why? Why all of the sudden? You left me half a year ago, telling me you needed your freedom and needed to find yourself.”
“Yes I did that and yes I told you that.” She put her glass down.
“And I found myself and my world.” he made a gesture, meaning the whole club around them.
“But I still feel a piece is missing and I think you are that piece.”
“And if not, will you throw me away again?” Kiryu was still hurt a bit because of the breakup.
“I’m sure that you are what is missing. I want you back, Kazuma…”
“I’m almost 10 Million in debt and work as a host in a gayclub.” he said and she looked a bit shocked and surprised.
“What? How did that happen?”
“I destroyed a box of expensive champagne and work it off now.”
“But you are not gay, right?”
“I don’t think so.” Kiryu said and she smiled.
“Okay, I can pay the debt off for you.”
“But then I owe you…”
“I would do that for my boyfriend.”
“So if I refuse to come back to you, you wouldn’t help me?”
Yumi said nothing about that and he sighed.
“Yumi, I can’t be your boyfriend anymore.” He got up, but turned to her.
“You are no longer the woman I once fell in love with. I’m sorry. Maybe you think I’m the piece you are missing, but you are no longer mine. We don’t fit anymore.” He walked away from the table.
“You can’t just run away Kazuma!” She followed him and grabbed his arm.
“Is there someone else?”
“Maybe.” he freed himself from her grip.
“Please just let it rest, Yumi. We tried, but we don't work together anymore.”

He took the elevator down and sighed loud. It was raining.
“Great!” He stopped in the Towers entrance area for a smoke, as someone approached him with a big umbrella in hand.
“Majima?” Kiryu was confused to see the man here.
“Taiga said you would be here and that it's raining.” He explained, handing Kiryu a second umbrella.
“Oh thanks… I haven’t even seen your Brother…”
“Yeah but he saw you and now you will not be wet. Good enough if you ask me.”
“Yeah right.” Kiryu smoked and Majima stood next to him, doing the same now.
Kiryu watched him and frowned a bit. Was that gold on the man's lips?
“May I ask you something?”
“You already did.” The older man giggled.
“But sure, ask.”
“You said you also work at Snakelight, but I never see you there. What exactly is your job there?”
“I work more in the background, I order and refill our stock of drinks and supplies.”
“And you make out with one of the dancers it seems.” Kiryu grinned and the man looked at him.
“What do you mean by that Kiryu-chan?”
“You have golden lipstick on your face. And I met hannya today, also wearing gold.”
Majima stayed quiet.
“Is he your boyfriend? Who is he? Also, if he is your boyfriend, he flirts with me, you should know that.”
“He is not my Boyfriend! You have no idea about anything! And I need to go!” And with that Majima opened his umbrella again and walked down the stairs as something rattled over the stones but he didn’t turn to pick it up, just walked away at a fast pace.
Kiryu went down the stairs as well, looking at what the other had lost there and frowned a bit.
It was a lighter. His lighter, that he had given Hannya and forgot to get back. It was definitely his. The metal case with the dragon on it, that was a present he once got from Nishiki for his birthday. Why did Majima had it? Now he was curious. He needed to find out what was going on. 

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

1868

Saito didn’t came to the barracks the next day. Haruka had sent them a note that Saito wasn’t feeling well that day and would therefore spend the day in bed, which was okay for the most in the Shinsemgumi.
“When he is not feeling good, he should stay home.” Inoue said after he read the letter.
“He is not helping anyone, if he runs around here sick.”
But Soji was not convinced and blamed himself for Saito's absence. Was it because of the kiss? Did he told him too much with that? Did he maybe even ruin the little friendship they finally had? Was it a too fast move?
He sighed and went to his room. For once he wanted to be alone and not by the pond.
He threw himself on his slightly dirty futon and stared at the wall. Had he ruined his chance now?

“Oji-san, I will deliver a few goods now. Be back as soon as possible.” Haruka informs Saito, who just lifted his arm as a sign that he understood, but didn’t moved, facing the wall and pulling the blanket higher over him. He was thankful to be alone for a while, he hadn’t slept at all that night, his thoughts were running wild and whenever he closed his eyes, he just saw Soji standing on the river bank, illuminated by the moonlight and looking so weirdly beautiful and then this kiss. This god damn kiss. He didn’t even had the time to react to it, to enjoy it.
Saito sighed loudly, rolling to a ball under his blanket. What was going on with him?! Did he really fall for a man? And out of all the men he had ever met, why did it have to be Soji? That guy was dangerous and weird, but that also made him so weirdly attractive and fascinating. And it felt good to be in his arms.
Saito sat up to get himself a cup of tea. As soon as he would feel better, he would have to confront Soji. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too awkward.

As nightfall came, Saito felt much better and went to the barracks, but Soji wasn’t there.
“He went out into the city, no idea where he is.” Nagakura informed him and Saito went as well.
He needed to clear this, he needed to talk to him and so he asked around.
Some merchant told him he had seen someone in a blood covered Haori walk over to Gion, so he went there.
Because it was a warm night, the streets were full, but Saito couldn’t see a blue Haori in the masses of people, but what he saw was a fox mask. It was Megitsune.
She seemed to notice him as well and stopped as he walked over to her. She bowed softly and he smiled.
“Nice to meet you here. Sadly I have no time to come over tonight, I’m looking for Soji.” He explained and she nodded, moving a bit closer, putting her covered hands on his chest, tilting her head a bit. Her hands were resting right on his heart and he understood. He softly grabbed her hands and looked at her face.
“I… I really like you, you are an amazing woman, but… I think I fell in love with someone else.”
She moved one hand up to her mask and covered one of her eyes and he nodded.
“Yes… I… I’m pretty sure it's him… He kissed me last night and since then, I can’t stop thinking about him…Have you seen him here?”
She nods, takes his hands and leads him away from the streets, down a small little alley and behind one of the houses.
Saito is confused for a moment, as Megitsune removes her mask, looking over to him.
“Saito-chan…”
“Soji?”
The man in front of him said nothing, opened the Kimono, fruits fell out of the chest area to the front, he removed the golden hairpins, showing that part of the hair was fake to cover his undercut.
All fell to the ground and now Soji was just standing there wearing nothing more than a pair of pants and looked at Saito, waiting for a reaction. He expected anger, maybe even a feeling of betrayal.
As Saito did come closer Soji closed his eye, preparing himself for punches or even worse, a stab with that sword on Saito's Belt. He had no weapons with him, he was defenseless.
Saito grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him closer and before Soji could react he had the younger man's lips on his. He opened his eye in surprise, but closed it again after a moment, kissing back softly, wrapping his arms around Saito's neck, who had his hand now on Soji's back, holding him close.
As the kiss broke and they looked at each other, it was still a bit awkward, but Saito grinned, which made Soji also grin and he kissed him again.
“You really meant what you said? You love me?” Soji asked and Saito grinned a bit wider, his expression so soft and warm.
“I do… It took me a while to see it, but yes I do fell for you.”
He looked around, seeing all the stuff on the floor and picked the black Kimono up, putting it around Sojis shoulders.
“Don’t get sick now…”
“Thank you… You know, I liked you for a while now, since I saw you that first time in our yard and saw you fighting against Shinpa-chan. As I saw you there, I knew I needed to have you. I wanted you so badly…”
“And Megitsune? Is that something… you do often?”
“Nah…sometimes I just… wanna go out and dress up a bit… the owner of that bar allowed me in and he kept all the money, so it was no biggie for him and also not for me. And as I saw you there and that you wanted to see her…me… I was so happy. It was hard not to talk and reveal myself that way.” Soji grinned, stroking Saitos hair out of his face.
“You know, as you saw my hand that first time you came over, I thought I was done… I thought you would notice.”
“Well…” Saito took his hand and kissed it.
“You really have pretty hands…”
Soji grinned, followed by another kiss and then a look at the cluttered stuff on the ground.
“Help me put that all back on? We can go somewhere else then.”

Kamurocho

Kiryu waited near the club.
His shift was already over but he knew Hannya was still inside. The man hadn’t answered any of his questions and asking the barkeeper about Majima also had left him with zero results. Majima had lied to him and now he wanted to know the truth.
Finally he saw the man in the Hannya mask leave the club. He followed him with a bit of distance.
Hannya was walking slowly and a bit stiff. He stopped a few times to fix his jeans over his high heels or to turn on a cigarette. As he lit the cigarette he took off his mask and put it in his bag.
Kiryu gulped, that was his chance to see the man's face! He took a deep breath and came closer, kicking a can over the ground while doing so and the man turned around, because of the sound. Kiryu stopped. Majima? He was Hannya?
Majima looked at Kiryu and by the look on the younger man's face, he now knew. He turned away and ran off, Kiryu being too confused to follow right away. But gave chase not long after.
He was surprised how good the man could run in high heels, but right in front of their Apartments he caught him and held the door shut, as Majima tried to escape him.
“What do you want?!” Majima hissed at him and looked at his neighbour.
“Why didn’t you told me?”
“Told you what?”
“Don’t try to fool me, I saw you. You are Hannya.”
“And? Do I owe you an explanation?”
“I think you do! You act so differently towards me when you wear that fucking mask. You clearly flirted with me last night, but as soon as the mask is off, you act so differently. Why? Why do you do that Majima?”
Majima sighed loud.
“Lets go inside…” he led Kiryu in his apartment and ordered him to sit down on the couch, while he would change clothes.
He came back 10 Minutes later in a big t-shirt and sweatpants, went into the kitchen and came back with two cans of iced coffee.
“Okay…” he sat down next to Kiryu and opened his can with his teeth.
“Yeah?”
“I told you I’m not good with people. That's why I can’t talk normally to anyone except my brother.”
“But with a mask on you can?”
“It's different. Hannya is different, he can do that. He may never talk but he is better with people, he is more outgoing that way.”
“But he is you.”
“But clearly you like him and not me.” Majima drank his coffee and sighed. He was tired, Kiryu could see that.
“What's with you? What do you think of this reveal? That the dancer you seem to like is just the crazy old man living next door?”
“You are not that old.” Kiryu said, drinking from his can and sighed a bit.
“Actually… I don’t think it's too bad…”
Majima let out a short laugh.
“You are naive Kiryu-chan…”
“Maybe I am…” He looked at the other mans Arms. Still covered in Bruises.
Majima followed his gaze and tried to hide it, but Kiryu grabbed his arm softly, feeling now how thin the other man was.
“Are you not eating enough?”
“Not sure to be honest.” Majima admitted and sighed, running his free hand through his hair.
“I Barely remember… I’m often Tired but as soon as I wear the mask I feel fresh and awake. The boss always tells me to wear this mask. He gave it to me to begin with. It feels good.”
“May I… see your mask?” Kiryu asked, having a bad idea what it might be and Majima got up and grabbed the mask.
Kiryu inspected it from the inside. It was covered with soft fabric to sit nice on the skin. It had some air holes in it, barely visible but big enough to breath through and allow the wearer to not hyperventilate in it, but he noticed the nose was covered.
Something about that felt and looked wrong.
“I know its a personal question but… Do you sometimes get nosebleeds?”
Majima raised an Eyebrow, but thought for a moment.
“Not anymore… As I started I did…”
“Started what?”
“Wearing that mask…what do you wanna imply Kiryu-chan?”
Kiryu looked at him in a serious way.
“That these masks are coated with drugs.” He said and got a shocked but also confused look from the older man.
“That would explain why you can dance for hours on end. Why you are so much more outgoing while wearing them, why you are always tired without them and why you forget to eat!”
“You mean I’m a junkie without even knowing it?”
“I wouldn’t call you a junkie… It's just…” Kiryu struggled with his words.
“But wouldn’t it make sense?”
Majima was silent for a moment.
“I think you should go now.” he then said, grabbing the mask out of Kiryus Hands.
“I wanna go to bed now. Please leave!”
Kiryu hesitated, but got up.
“Okay… but please, you can talk with me if you need help.”
“Why do you wanna help me?!”
“Because I want to.” Kiryu just said and left, walking the short way to his own apartment.
Yeah, why did he want to help? Because Majima was the dancer he was about to fall for, or because something in him felt like he had to?
He felt weirdly connected to the man and now he was worried, but he would not bash into Majimas life without him wanting it, even though it felt like a mistake.
He needed to find out more.

The next day, he was awake before Nishiki did and as the long haired man walked out of his bedroom, Kiryu was already on the couch.
“Hu? Already awake?” Nishiki asked, but got no answer, while Kiryu drank his coffee.
“I have a question for you Akira, can you sit down?”
“Yeah sure… what is it?” Nishiki sat down next to him.
“Do you have drug addicts as your patients?”
Nishiki looked at him confused for a moment. He was working at the local hospital as a nurse and therefore had more experience with such stuff.
“Well, yeah, we do. Not often but sometimes we do. Why?”
“Does Majima act like an addict to you?”
Nishiki was even more confused and started to think for a moment.
“Well I would more say, like a mental patient, he is pretty weird, but also… From what I saw so far, I would say he is at least malnourished, not sleeping enough and if I would guess, lives off of Cigarettes and Coffee alone. Which both is a form of addiction.”
“Could a man in his state dance for hours on a pole?”
“Wait! Is he… is he the pole dancer you like so much?”
“Yeah he is.” Kiryu sighed.
“I’m worried. I wanna help him… but I don’t know how…”
“I would suggest talking with his brother first. Taiga should know about this… I’m sure he would listen to him before he listens to you.”
Kiryu nodded. Yeah maybe that was the safest and best way to go.

Kiryu kept an eye out for Saejima, in hopes to talk to him in private and in the afternoon, he got his chance, as the bulky man went to the trash containers behind the house and Kiryu just followed him.
“Saejima-san? Do you have a minute?” He approached the man, who looked at him.
“But really just a moment, my brother is not feeling so well.”
“Whats wrong with Majima?”
“Said he feels dizzy, he threw up a few times today, can’t eat, headaches… maybe even a circulatory collapse."
“Did you called an ambulance?”
“I tried, but he doesn’t want me to.”
Kiryu sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
“Well the thing I wanted to talk about is actually about him…”
Saejima furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“First off… do you know that he is a poledancer in a gayclub?” Kiryu asked and Saejima's facial expression was answer enough.
“Well… yeah he is a poledancer, which is fine…I just believe…”
“What? Spit it out Kiryu-san! What's wrong with my brother?!?!”
Kiryu took a deep breath.
“I think he is an involuntary drug addict.”
Silence hung over the scene for a moment, before Saejima was finally able to close his mouth again.
“A drug addict? No… no Never!!! My brother would NEVER take drugs! He hates Drugs!! We lost our parents because of that Shit! Because of this our Sister…” he went silent, his face pale and his hands shaking.
“I said Involuntary. I’m pretty sure, the inside of his masks, he wears in the club are covered with something, to keep him fit and agile for a whole night. He dances for hours without a break! That's not normal!”
“So you say, somebody drugs him up to make him work better and longer?” Saejima asked and Kiryu nodded.
“I talked to him last night. He seemed to be clueless as well. I see how he acts with and without the mask on, it's like two different people…”
Saejima said nothing, ran past him, while grabbing Kiryus wrists and pulled him with him to his apartment.
Nishiki was standing infront of the door.
“I could hear screams from inside.” he said and Saejima hurried to open the door.
Majima was sitting in a corner of the room, his legs tight to his chest and he was shaking like a leaf.
“Brother!!” The bulky man was at his side, while Kiryu and Nishiki followed inside.
“Whats with you? Are you in pain?”
Majima didn’t answered and looked at him, his eye wide open and now Saejima could also see it.
See how thin and weak his brother looked, how dead his eye was, his body was so cold.
“I think I still should have a drug test.” Nishiki said and They looked at him.
“With that, I think we can figure out if it really is that and if not, we have to bring him to a hospital.” He looked at Saejima.
“Because, if its not because of substances, he could also have a disease…”
“What kind of disease?” The man asked and Nishiki sighed.
“By the looks of it… it could also be leucemia.”
“No…no please no…” Saejima wrapped his arms around Majima, crying.
“I can’t lose him too…”
“Then let's take the test.” Nishiki went next door to get it, while Kiryu just stood there, unsure what to do, while Saejima lifted his brother up and sat him on the couch.
Majima looked at Kiryu with his sunken in eye, before he reached for him. Kiryu, unsure about the situation took his hand, which was cold.
“I think…I do need your help…” He mumbled, looking at Saejima, who was still crying.
“We…need help…”
Kiryu nodded and sat down onto the couch, not letting go of Majima's hand, looking at the Mask, that was resting on the table.
It stared at them with its evil demonic eyes.
Nishiki returned and went to the bathroom with majima, to take the test.
Saejima sighed and burried his face in his hands.
“What did you mean by losing him too?” Kiryu wanted to know and the other man sighed.
“Well… He is my adopted brother… my parents took him in as he was still young. I guess they did so I wouldn’t feel so alone. No idea how they managed to do that, both of my parents were heavy drug users and because of that my little Sister Yasuko has to suffer… She is constantly in the hospital. Her immune system is almost nonexistent, she goes through so much… We try to raise enough money to get her the help she needs and we take every job we can.” He explains and Kiryu puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Her kidneys are failing… She is on a donor list but it can take years… with enough money, we can raise her up that list but it will still take so much time… Time she maybe doesn’t have anymore and if Goro is now sick too… I can’t save them both…” he looked at Kiryu.
“How am I supposed to decide which one I should save? I need them both…”
“I understand…” Kiryu said and looked up as Nishiki came back from the bathroom alone.
“Where is my brother?” Saejima went up, as the long haired man sat down on the couch as well.
“Brought him to bed, he needs to rest.”
“Ey, Nishiki, when you are already testing… Test that mask as well.”
“Sure. have enough supplies for two tests.”
Saejima and Kiryu watched with bated breaths as Nishiki worked on the mask as well and put the test strips to the side.
“It takes just about 5 minutes.” he said and Saejima ran his hands over his face.

After the longest five minutes of their lives Nishiki checked the results.
“Okay… AMP is negative.” he said and checked both test strips.
“THC… negative…BZO also negative… mAMP negative…Negative… negative…negative… that's also a negative…this too…” He took the last two strips and sighed sadly.

“Positive…”
“For what?” Saejima wanted to know.
“COC.” Nishiki said, holding the strips up.
“Which is cocaine.”
Saejima looked like his world was about to break into millions of pieces and even KIryu could feel a lump in his throat, which he was unable to swallow.
Nishiki sighed.
“BUT that it's also in this mask means somebody is putting it on there, the clothes here are soaked with it.”
“Can you absorb it through your skin?” Kiryu asked and his friend nodded.
“Well, it's not enough to make you fully high, but can keep you up and having this on your face for hours, probably also sweating in it wets the substance down and your skin can absorb it faster. Also that the Nasal part of the mask is blocked makes me believe that small or medium dosage is put in there to make him inhale it.”
“So my brother is drugged up to perform?” Saejima said and Nishiki nodded.
“He is showing withdrawal symptoms right now, we should let him go through that and not let him wear these masks again.”
“I have to work tonight, I will tell them that he can’t come today.” Kiryu said and Nishiki nodded.
“Probably the best.”
“I will figure out whats going on at this club and warn the other dancers.”
“Kiryu-san, you have to be careful…” Saejima said.
“If they drug the dancers, whats stopping them from doing it to you too?”
“I will be careful, don’t worry.”
“Better I also call in sick for tonight.” Saejima said and grabbed his phone.
“Yumi will not be happy, but what can I do? Can’t leave my bro alone.” 

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Kazuma, do you even listen?”
Kiryu looked at Sera, he had totally forgot to listen to the man.
“I’m so sorry, Sir… Please repeat, I will listen…”
Sera smiled at the younger man.
“Where is your mind right now? Please tell me. I wanna know.”
“I’m just a bit worried. My neighbour, Majima, is not feeling so well…”
“And you like him and therefore you are worried about him?” Sera asked and Kiryu nodded. The older man smiled, putting a hand on Kiryus leg.
“It seems you took my advice. You are testing new waters?”
“I’m just trying to figure out who I am, Sir. It may sound weird, but I have the feeling there is a connection between him and me.”
Sera nodded, took a sip of his glass and turned more towards Kiryu, ignoring the dancer, who was called in because Hannya was not there.
“Boy, do you believe in reincarnation?”
“Never thought about it to be honest.” Kiryu admitted and the man smiled.
“Most people think it's nonsense, but it’s possible to find your partner from a previous life again. It’s said, if the connection was strong, or something was left undone or unspoken, the souls or the reincarnated people will seek each other out, in hope to finish what they couldn’t do before.”
Kiryu looked at him confused.
“You mean… Maybe Majima-san and I had met in a previous life?”
“Could be possible. Maybe as lovers, maybe as friends, but when you feel a connection towards him, then there is something. Something deeper and you should find it.”
Kiryu thought back to the afternoon. Majima reaching out for him, wanting his help. He nodded.
“Yeah you are probably right.” He said and smiled at Sera, who returned the smile.
“I’m sorry I bother you with my worries, you are here to relax and not to listen to my sobstory…”
“No, its okay. I like hearing stories as well. Tell me a bit more about that man you seem to desire.”
“Oh… not sure if I desire him, but…” Kiryu blushed a bit.
“I mean he is sexy… and he can be very nice…”
“It seems you need to know him a bit better and it will work out maybe.” Sera assumed, as Tak came to their Table.
“I’m so sorry, Sir, but the boss wants to see Kazuma.” he said, bowing down.
“Oh alright. I wait for you Kazuma.”
“Alright, I’ll be right back.” He got up and Tak sat down, keeping Sera company, while Kiryu went up to the boss’s office.

“Sit down!” He was ordered in a harsh tone as he walked into the office and Kiryu did, not sure what was going on now.
“Kazuma, I heard from the staff that you were snooping around in the dancers' dressing room! What were you doing there?!”
“Well I…” Kiryu looked for an answer. He had been there, telling the night's dancer, only known as Bunny, to remove the clothstrips in his mask and wash it out before putting it on. Seems somebody had seen him walking in or out of that room.
“You are NOT Allowed in there!! We respect our dancers' privacy here!”
“I was just curious Sir…” Kiryu tried to get out of that situation but his Boss raised an Eyebrow.
“You are NOT doing that again! If you wouldn’t have to pay off such a big debt and wouldn't lure Sera back into here again and again, I would have to fire you! So behave and keep your curiosity under control!”
“Yes… of course Sir, I’m sorry.” Kiryu bowed down, while sitting, being awfully stiff.
“You are still so nervous around the guests.” The boss pushed something over to him.
“Here, that will calm your nerves a bit.”
It looked like a little envelope and as Kiryu looked inside, he saw a small amount of a white powder.
“What is this sir?”
“Just something for you to relax, just take it and mix it with some drink and you will feel way better, believe me.”
“Well…thanks, I will try.” Kiryu took it and went back to the club, putting the little package deep into his pocket, sitting down next to Sera again. Tak got up and went back to his job.
“That was fast. Is everything good?”
“Yeah it's fine.” Kiryu smiled his charming smile, grabbed his glass and clinked it with the other one.
“Let's enjoy the evening.” 

 

1868

“You know, as you said we would go somewhere else, I wasn’t expecting this.” Saito smiled, while Soji, in full Kimono attire sat next to him, the mask now on his head, while they sat on top of a building.
Soji grinned, cutting the fruits open that he had in his outfit to resemble breasts and gave one to Saito.
“What are these?” he asked, seeing the ripe and juicy fruit filled to the brim with tiny red seeds covered in blood red flesh.
“Well the vendor called them zakuro. It was quite expensive, but they are supposed to be tasty… He said you can only eat the seeds on the inside, not the rime.”
Saito looked at the ripe fruit and bit in, covering his face with the red juice. It was a bit sour, but refreshing and crunchy. But he liked it and Soji ate the other one, while they watched over the city, holding each other's hand softly.
“It's nice.” Saito said, looking at Soji, who had half his face now covered in the juice, what made him laugh.
“What?” The older one wiped his face with his long Kimono sleeve.
“Oh nothing. It's quite nice up here…”
“I like being up here, escaping the city trouble for a while…”
“You always manage to amaze me, Soji. I always thought you just enjoy trouble and chaos.”
“Oh don’t get me wrong, I love causing trouble and a good fight, but even I need some quiet moments…Even I can run out of steam.”
“I like this side of you.” Saito admitted, looking over to him.
“Seeing that you can also be quiet and thoughtful…Always something new to find out about you.”
Soji grinned, his face and teeth still covered in juice. Saito grinned and shook his head softly, leaning over, licking the fresh juice off of the man's beard, before it ended in another sweet kiss.
Saito pushed the other softly down until he lay on the roof and climbed on top of him, deepening the kiss even more. It tasted much like fruit but also a lot like Soji and that was something Saito really had to admit, he enjoyed a lot. The other man’s tongue was rough but felt so good on his. His hands opened the kimono and ran over Soji's exposed chest, who let out a soft groan into the kiss, but they couldn’t go further or they would fall off the roof.
One of the fruits had already rolled off and they looked up, as it fell down and landed with a splash on the street below.

“Oops…” was all Saito said and what made Soji laugh again.
“We should find a better place to make out, it seems.” the older one said and Saito blushed, now realizing where his hands were and he moved away again. The other still smiled.
“Seems you have no experience with men.” He stated and his counterpart nodded embarrassedly.
“It’s alright. We have all the time in the world, we don’t need to hurry anything. This is not a race.”
“I fear it is…” Saito said, as they both started to slide off the roof.
Trying to hold onto something, they both slid off, Saito falling first, managing to land on his feet halfway secure and people stared at him, as Soji fell as well. Saito looked up and managed to catch him, the fox mask sliding back on Sojis face, as he was now in Saitos arms.
People were staring, whispering and some women giggled.
“Did you see that? He saved her?”
“What a nice guy.”
“Wish I had a man like that.”
“She is so lucky.”
Were just a few things they heard and the two looked at each other.
“Well you heard it, I saved you my dear lady.” Saito played along, carrying Soji through the street, who held onto him and started to enjoy it a bit.
“You like being the Hero Saito-chan?” Soji giggled as they were a bit away from the crowds.
“Sure.”
“Where are we going?”
“It's too late to go to my house, we would wake up Haruka and I can’t take you to the barracks in this outfit, so let's go to the Terada inn. I have some clothes there as well, we can go to the barracks tomorrow.”
“Thats a good plan.”

Back before they moved into the Inn, Saito put Soji back on the ground and took his hand. They went in, Saito totally forgot about Otose and also Oryo over the day, but now these two women looked at him, as he walked in with Soji, who was still covered by the mask, wearing women’s clothing.
“I don’t want to be disturbed tonight.” Saito said and looked at the two.
“But I would take two bottles of sake.”
He went up, pulling Soji with him up the stairs and into his room.
As he closed the door the older removed the Mask.
“Did you notice the girl in the pink Kimono was crying?” He said and Saito sat down.
“Yeah.” he sighed and Soji sat down next to him.
“Whats with her?”
“Otose said she… she loves me… but I don’t feel the same for her. I feel for you.” Saito said and sighed again.
“I can’t control it, I just never fell for her. I live here for almost a year but she was never the right one for me.”
“Don’t blame yourself Saito-chan… you can’t force love.” Soji said, putting the mask back on, as the door opened and Oryo brought in a tray with two bottles of sake. She gave Soji an angry look, as she put everything down and turned around. She mumbled something none of the men could understand as she closed the door again.
Saito and Soji looked at each other, but before he could remove the fox mask again the door opened again and Otose came in, grabbed one of the bottles and poured it all over Soji.
“Otose! What the hell!?” Saito jumped up, but she threw the bottle to the ground, breaking it.
“I don’t tolerate courtesans in my House!! So take your BITCH and get out! You will not sleep here with her!” Otose said while Oryo looked at this in the background.
Soji wiped the sake from his hair and got up, being a bit taller than the woman infront of him.
“A courtesan?” he said quietly, letting the wet kimono and the mask fall to the ground.
“Do I look like a courtesan to you?!”
Otose stepped back, her eyes widened. Soji sighed and looked at Saito.
“Seems I’m not welcome in this Inn Saito-chan… Can I borrow a haori, so I can go home?”
Saito got up, grabbed a spare Haori he had in the cabinet and gave it to him which Soji just put on like he did with his own.
“I guess I better leave!” He growled, pushing past Otose and Oryo, who looked after him and then at Saito, who looked more than just pissed.
“I’m moving out! That was just Disgusting of you!!” He barked, following Soji down the stairs and out of the Inn. The women followed.
Outside he caught Soji and grabbed his hand.
“Hey… I’m so sorry… “ He said, pulling the older closer.
“Seems I’m not welcome here.” Soji mumbled.
“Then let's go to another Inn. We don’t need to stay here.” Saito pulled him in his arms.
“First, let's go to the bathhouse and clean you up.” He wiped a strand of hair out of Sojis face and kissed him softly, not caring who was watching.
“I thought you live here?” Soji said, but Saito shook his head.
“Not anymore. I move out. If they can’t accept you by my side, I can’t and don’t wanna stay.” Another kiss followed and Saito looked at the door, seeing Otose and Oryo there.
“You two are disgusting, I will never step foot in this Inn again!” He was loud enough so people could hear him.
“Pouring sake over my friend, who does that?!”
Still with Soji in his arms, Saito moved down the street.
“Let's go. We don’t need this place.”
“Saito-san!!” Oryo cried after him, but he didn’t even turn around, giving her and Otose the cold shoulder, holding Soji even closer.

They went to a bathhouse nearby and sat down in front of the big bath, to clean Soji from all the sake that was now quite sticky and glued his hair together.
Saito fiddled a bit with his hairband, removed it and poured warm water over his friend, before grabbing the soap, washing his hair.
Soji closed his eye, groaned softly really liking the feeling of Saitos Hands massaging over his head and through his hair. It felt so nice and good, he leaned his head back, letting the other man’s Hands come up to his forehead and back down over his head, even behind his ears and he grinned a bit.
“That feels good Saito-chan…” he purred as the younger softly scratched over his undercut, before washing the soap out with clear water and kissing his neck and back.
“And you are clean again.” he said, getting up and into the hot bath.
Soji followed and they both leaned back for a while, enjoying the heat.
“Hey…”
“Hmm?” Soji mumbled, not opening his eye.
“Don’t you wanna… take that eyecover off?”
Now Soji looked at him and with a bit of hesitation he took it off, letting Saito see what he was hiding underneath.
His eye was permanently closed, a scar running over his eyelid and without even looking to close, Saito realized, there was nothing behind that Closed lid.
“I know it looks disgusting.” Soji said and turned away, but Saito put a hand on his cheek, turning his face back so he would look at him and placed a soft little kiss on the scar.
“It doesn’t. I can’t believe you went through something so painful…”
“Its nothing anymore… Just a reminder of my past…” Soji sighed, put the eyecover away and leaned against Saitos naked body, who wrapped both arms around him, kissing him in the wet hair.
“I love you Saito-chan…”
“Love you too…also… there is something I need to tell you…”
Now Soji looked up.
“What is it, Saito-chan?”
“My… my real name… is not Hajime Saito…”
Now Soji looked at him confused, even moved out of his arms.
“Then who are you?”
“My real name is Sakamoto Ryoma…I come from Tosa…”

Kamurocho

As the night at the club slowly but surely ended, Sera offered Kiryu to drive him home, which he accepted after a little persuasion. It wasn’t far, he could walk, but on the other hand, being home faster was a good thing, checking on his neighbors and hoping everything was okay, so he accepted and got with Sera into his pretty expensive car, even with a personal driver.
“Well, you don’t expect me to drive after so much champagne do you?” The older man laughed and Kiryu told the driver where he lived.
It really was a short ride and Kiryu thanked him multiple times, before running up the stairs, first in his apartment to change and then knocking at the one next door.
Saejima opened, he looked tired but also a bit relieved.
“How is he?”
“Finally asleep.” Saejima said and let Kiryu in. It was all quiet and they sat on the couch.
“It's the Club's owner, he gives out the drugs.” Kiryu said and got a can of beer from Saejima.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, he gave me this!” Kiryu pulled out the little envelope with the white powder in it.
“Told me to take it to make me more relaxed and less nervous. That must be what he gives the dancers as well or at least something like that.”
“At least we know now that the Boss is giving this shit out…” Saejima ran his hand over his head.
“Kiryu-san, you need to quit immediately! Same as Goro! You can’t stay there!”
“I’m afraid I have to stay, I have to pay off a debt at this club… I broke almost 10 Million yen worth of champagne, I can’t just run off. But I guess Majima can.”
“I can’t…” They heard a voice from the bedroom door and both looked up.
Majima stood there, wrapped in his blanket and he walked over to the two men.
“I… I got this…” he lay down a piece of paper on the table. They both looked at it.
It was a check worth over 30,000,000 yen. They both looked at Majima.
“Where did you get that from?” Saejima asked and his brother grinned.
“The Club's boss is Yakuza….  He gave me that… Now we can save Yasuko…”
“Bro… you can never pay that back!”
“Don’t worry about me… I will do whatever it takes to save your lil sis… I promised you that, remember?”
“Goro…” Saejima got up and hugged him.
“You fucking idiot!! First of all, she is OUR Sister! She sees you as her brother as well! And I can’t stand by and watch you throw your life away for her!”
“Its better if I die and not her.”
“Majima-san!” Now kiryu got up.
“Don’t you get it? He wants BOTH of you alive and well! Be a family again.”
“He is right. I want and need you both!” Saejima looked at Majima.
“Could you decide between her and me?”
Majima sighed  and shook his head.
“But, we have the cash. We can make sure she gets the treatment she needs and when she is good and on her feet we just run.”
“And where? Goro I’m tired of running through japan, I wanna settle down. Have a home. Maybe a wife and kids one day, I can’t when I’m on the run forever.” Saejima sighed and got up.
“I go to bed…” he said and left Majima and Kiryu alone in the living room. They looked at each other confused, before Majima sat down on the couch next to Kiryu.
It was an awkward silence between the two.
“How do you feel?” Kiryu asked then and looked over to the older man.
“I guess I’m okay… my head feels clear and I’m hungry…”
Kiryu grinned a bit and got up.
“Lets have a little late night...or better early morning feast in the city then.” He held his hand out.
Majima looked confused for a moment, but took it and was pulled up onto his feet.
“Just let me change into something more suitable.”

“You call that Suitable?” Kiryu laughed as he saw Majima's outfit choice of Leatherpants, no shirt and a snakeskin jacket.
“Why not?”
“You look like a Yakuza.” Kiryu laughed and Majima grinned, grabbing a baseball bat that was next to the door and leaned it against his shoulder.
“NOW I look like a Yakuza.”
Majima left the bat at home and they went into the city.
“Anything in particular that you wanna eat?” Kiryu asked, looking around. He had gotten a little bonus from Sera today. They could feast, but Majima grabbed his arm softly and pulled him along towards a Smile Burger.
“Fast food?”
“Yeah, I love fast food.” Majima pulled him into the store.
“Sure why not. I pay.”
Majima looked at the menu for a moment before he ordered, same as Kiryu and the younger one sent him off to find a good place to sit down, while he paid and took the trays.
Majima had chosen a seat close to the windows and Kiryu carried the food over.
“You sure you can eat all that?” He asked, seeing again how thin the man was, but Majima assured him he could, starting with the fries, while Kiryu started with his Burger. He really was hungry and so was the man in front of him.
“Seems you are… clean again…” Kiryu said after a few bites and Majima nodded.
“I guess so… I fear tomorrow night when I have to work again, now that I know what really is going on with me.” He took a sip from his soda and looked at Kiryu.
“Have you been to the hairdresser?”
It was such a random question, Kiryu raised an Eyebrow, while pulling a piece of Tomatoe out of his burger.
“No… why?”
“Wasn’t your hair… much longer and tied up in a messy bun?”
“What? I never had long hair.”
Majima looked confused as well and took another sip from his soda. Was it just a weird dream where he saw the man in front of him with long hair?
“Maybe it was just a drug induced fever dream where I saw you with long hair and a katana.”
“What? You dreamed of me being a samurai?” Kiryu laughed, finishing his burger and reaching for the fries, as the other man leaned over a bit, running his thumb over Kiryus Cheek very close to the corner of his mouth, which made the younger man freeze on the spot.
“You had sauce on your face.” Majima grinned, licking it from his thumb.
“Oh… thanks.”
“But yeah, I had a dream about you. We were both samurai.” Majima said, talking so freely all of the sudden.
“My bro was there too. It was weird but cool at the same time.”
“Tell me about it.” Kiryu said and Majima told him about his dream, or at least what he still could remember of it.
It was nice listening to the man, while he talked about this weird dream, which sounded weirdly familiar to Kiryu, but he said nothing and just listened.
He was a good listener, mostly because it was now his job to listen to others.
After the meal where Majima stole half of Kiryu's fries and with a new Soda to go, they were out on the streets again.
Majima sipped his drink, while Kiryu lit up a cigarette.
“How did you know Hannya was me?” The older man asked and Kiryu lifted up the lighter.
“Part of it because of this. I gave this to Hannya, but it fell out of your pocket as you gave me that umbrella. Then the lipstick you had on your face and this.” Kiryu came closer and moved Majima's hair behind his ear, seeing a few piercings glittering in the light of the street lamps. A dragonclaw around the man's Helix.
“The dragonclaw in your ear. I saw it in the club as well. Either you and Hannya wear the same jewelry because you are the same person or he is your boyfriend and you denied him being your boyfriend pretty fast. And because I was curious and saw you remove your mask the night I ran after you.”
Majima grinned.
“Wow, shall I call you Detective Conan from now on?”
Kiryu laughed and offered him a cigarette, which Majima took and they wandered through the city a bit. The sun was rising already and they sat down near the theatre square.
“Say, Kiryu-chan… who do you like more?” Majima asked and Kiryu looked at him.
“Me or Hannya?”
“Hmm? You are both the same person.”
“And what if not? Who would you prefer, Kiryu-chan?”
Kiryu thought for a moment, he really did. He liked both sides of The man next to him, but could he really say he preferred one? And if so, who was it?
“I like both sides of you.” He said, leaning in closer, giving Majima a small kiss on the cheek, which made the older blush a bit and look at him.
“Hannya already got a kiss, now you got one too.” He grinned, making the man blush even darker.
“I like you Majima-san. I have the weird feeling that there is something, a connection between us. I know it sounds stupid, but I have the feeling I know you and that I need to be there for you.”
“I know what you mean.” The older said, leaning his head against Kiryu's broad shoulder.
“As if we had met before… Old friends or lovers who finally meet up again, but not knowing what to do in the situation they’re in now.”
Kiryu nodded and wrapped his arm around Majima's shoulder.
The sun was slowly rising and the first few people were out on the streets going to work. Kiryu looked at the other man leaning against his arm, only to see that he fell asleep, still holding the half empty cup of soda.
Carefully, he pushed Majima to the other side to get up and then pick him up bridal style.
The man didn’t wake up, only huddled closer to Kiryu's chest, mumbling a bit, while the younger man carried him home that way. 

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Majima woke up, he was in a warm and soft bed, covered in blankets and surrounded by pillows, making the sleeping place almost look like a nest. It was very comfy and he huddled back into the warmth. The blankets had a nice pleasant smell on them, but that also told him, this was not his bed.
Where was he?
He heard a door open and somebody entered the room slowly, before sitting down on the bed.
“Good morning.” It was Kiryu. He ran his hand through Majima's hair, trying to wake him up, as the older man grinned. He rolled on his back, smiling up sleepily.
“Hey…” He just said, sitting up and stretching, as Kiryu handed him a cup of Coffee.
“Where am I?”
“In my bed.” Kiryu grinned a bit as the older drank the coffee.
“You fell asleep at Theatre square and so I carried you home, but you had no keys with you and Saejima-san didn’t open the door, so I let you sleep here.”
“And you?”
“Took the couch.” Kiryu laughed and got up.
“Wanna come over for breakfast?”
Majima nodded and stood up. He had slept in nothing but his leather pants. He followed Kiryu into the kitchen, which was a bit cleaned up (Kiryu at least tried to clean up) and sat down on one of the two chairs, while the younger man served breakfast.
“Its good to see you eat.” Kiryu said, seeing that the man had quite the appetite and a thirst for Coffee.
“Usually I eat enough… maybe sometimes even too much.”
“And then you can keep these impressive muscles?” Kiryu looked at Majimas abs, up his chest and to his strong arms, still bruised.
“Whats with all these bruises? My bro really thought you could have leukemia because of that…”
“Wha? You thought I had…” Majima laughed into his coffee cup.
“I’m flattered that you worry about me, but these really are nothing serious.”
“Then why are you all black and blue at your arms?”
“Oh on my legs and my hips as well.” The older one grinned.
“Thats what happens when you dance on a pole. You get bruises when you hang and swing your whole bodyweight on and into a thin metal pole.”
“Oh so its… normal?” Kiryu asked and the other nodded.
“I practise a lot in my bedroom and Try new stuff, which not always works out and I crash or pump around and therefore I look like this.”
“You should also remember, you are not 20 anymore. You are over 40, you sure you should still do such things?”
“Hey, I’m fit enough to still dance like this and as I said, I need the money, to save mine and Taigas lil sister.” He took a sip of his coffee again.
“But I feel flattered that you’re worried about me. It makes me feel like I’m not as alone as I always thought.”
“You are not alone.” Kiryu said but Majima shook his head a bit.
“Taiga and I have been traveling through Japan for almost 15 years now. Looking for the cheapest living spaces, taking every job we can, saving as much cash as we can, while Yasuko is in a hospital almost all the time, waiting for us to visit. Right now she is in Sotenburi and we are here in Kamu… I want this all to end. I want her to be healthy so we can finally find our forever home.” He looked at Kiryu.
“When she will get a new Kidney, we will finally be able to be free from all this. We will look for a nice place to live, I look for a better job and it can finally be nice.”
“What kind of job would you like?” Kiryu asked him and Majima thought for a moment.
“Hmmm I was always interested in Construction. I would Love to build something as big and impressive as the Millenium Tower… Oh what am I saying? Something BIGGER and BETTER! Something bigger than the Millenium tower, bigger than this… what is that thing in America called?”
“Empire state building?”
“Yeah exactly! Bigger and better than all this!”
Kiryu laughed a bit.
“You sound like an exciting teenager.”
“I know… But let even an old man dream a bit.” Majima grinned and finished his breakfast.
“Oh that was good.” he stretched a bit, but pulled a face.
“What is it?”
“I think I stink…I should go home and take a shower…”
Kiryu checked the time. Saejima should be awake by now and the followed Majima to the frontdoor.
“That was a nice little night out, we should do that more often.” The older one said and Kiryu nodded.
“Yeah was nice. And its nice knowing you a bit better Majima-san.”
“Oh skip that, just call me Goro. I think we can be good friends.” He smiled and as he tried to knock on his own front door, the door flew open a hand grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him in.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Kiryu could hear and closed his own door quickly. Hopefully Saejima wouldn’t kill him. 

1868

“So that's the only reason you are here…” Soji said, sitting on the edge of the bath, back towards Saito, who sighed.
“I’m sorry. But that was the only way to…”
“Are there any more lies I should know?!” Soji got up and dried his hair, putting his eyecover back on before anything else.
“Soji…” Saito followed him and grabbed his hand, only to get a slap across the face.
“Don’t touch me!” Soji gritted his teeth.
“What else was a lie?!?! Are you toying with me to get more information?!?!”
“Soji, please listen to me, I never wanted to toy around with you! What I said about my feelings towards you is honest!”
“What if I am the one?” The one eyed man said and moved away from Saito.
“What if I am the killer you are looking for? Will you fight and kill me?”
“I know it was not you. And even if, I could never kill you. I would fight you, but never kill you.”
“How do you know it wasn’t me!?!?” Soji barked and Saito pointed at his face.
“The hooded man had two eyes.”
Soji grumbled and bit his lower lip hard enough to cause it to bleed, as Saito walked over to him, wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed him.
“I wasn’t lying when I said that I love you.”
Soji looked away, his cheeks slightly blushed and pouting, which looked really cute in Saitos eyes.
“Hey… I really mean it. I love you Soji. Don’t you love me anymore because of this?”
“I do love you… But… When you find the hooded man and get your revenge… then you will leave me again! And with that reveal… I have to report this… and I don’t wanna… Saito-chan… “ he sniffed and was pulled in a tight and wet hug, holding onto Saito as if his life depended on it.
“I don’t wanna lose you…”
“I will not go away…” Saito said, running a hand through Soji's hair.
“At least not alone. I will only go if you come with me.”
Now the other man looked at him.
“Saito-chan wants to run away with me into the sunset?”
“Yeah Kinda like that.”
“I would come with you…” Soji said, cuddling closer to him, shivering a bit, because now he was slightly feeling cold, even though it was steaming hot in the bath.
“We will see what will come. For now, let's move to an inn and get some sleep.”

Finally at an Inn and in their Futons, Soji couldn’t sleep. The futon was nice and warm, but somehow he was still shivering. He sank deeper under the blanket, pulled his legs up and wrapped himself into the borrowed haori, but it wasn’t getting better, but worse. Even his teeth began to chatter. He looked over to Saito, who was sleeping peacefully on the other futon and then to the window, which was open.
He got up, wrapped his Haori around himself and closed the window. Before he did, he looked out, seeing it was raining again. It was a pretty wet summer this year.
He went back to bed, looked over to Saito again, seeing his warm and strong body and then grabbed his blanket and moved over to him, cuddling against him. Saito didn’t wake up, but wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer. That was better and now he could also rest a bit, even though Soji lay more on the floor than on the futon.

Saito woke up the next day by a whimpering and shivering mess right next to him. He opened his eyes, to find Soji next to him, still asleep but visibly freezing, even though he was covered up.
That was not good.
“Hey…Soji, wake up…” Saito shook him softly, giving him a soft kiss, before the other opened his eye, looking up, still sleepy and probably not rested well enough.
“What is it…” he asked, huddling under the blanket again.
“Why is it so cold!?”
“You are cold?” Saito saw him nod under the blanket.
“Thats not normal… I’m warm… I would open the windows…”
“Please no… Saito-chan… or Ryoma-chan…”
“Continue to call me Saito. I like to hear that name from you.”
Soji smiled a bit and got out of the bed. He was pale, the shadows under his eyes deeper and clearly freezing.
“We better see a doctor…” Saito decided and they moved out pretty quickly, paying for the night they spent there.

At the near by doctors home, it was empty and quiet. Nobody was there and as Saito went inside, followed by Soji, they could hear two voices, speaking in a language, they didn’t understood.
“Erm…Doctor?” Saito said loudly and a man came up to the front, followed by another, who was tall and blond. A European.
“What can I do for you?” the doctor asked and Saito pointed at Soji.
“He is not feeling so well…”
“I’m freezing…” Soji cried and the doctor told them to follow them into the backroom.
“I will prove to you now, that I have the best treatment for this.” The european man said and looked at the two Samurai.
“Forgive if Japanese is not best.” He said. Yeah it was not the best, but Saito could at least understand him, while Soji sat down.
The european doctor went to Soji, checking him.
“Best solution is letting out the cold blood.”
“What?!” Soji looked at him, same as Soji and the other doctor.
“Yes, Cold blood out and you feel warm again.”
“What is he talking about?” Saito asked the man next to him and the doctor sighed.
“Doctor Barnes here is convinced that bloodletting is the best healing option for almost everything.”
“It always works in Britain." Doctor Barnes said, grabbed in his pocket and pulled out a sharp little blade.
Soji almost jumped as the man grabbed his arm, pulled his sleeve up and cut his elbow bend.
“We let cold blood out, then you will be better.”
Soji was not convinced and tried to free himself from the grip as the doctor caught his blood in a little bowl. Saito frowned.
“You sure that's the best way to help him?”
“Of course.” Doctor Barnes assured him and Saito looked at Soji, who was looking at him with a pleading look in his eye.
“I think thats enough!” The other doctor said stern.
“That man is MY Patient and I will not tolerate this anymore, you scare off all my patients and now you think bleeding will help?!”
“In britain it works! Let me do my job!”
Soji finally managed to free himself, got up and hold the cut in his arm, which was bleeding badly.
“I was freezing! Now I feel dizzy as well… What kind of SHIT is this?!?!” He held onto Saito, who supported him, while the doctor patched the wound up.
“If thats what you call western Medicine, we are better off without it!”
“I’m so deeply sorry.., Doctor Barnes is convinced this is a treatment for everything…”
“How often did it work?” Saito asked, as they moved into another room, where Soji could sit down again, away from any blades.
“Not a single time…” The doctor sighed and checked Soji his way.
“I fear it could be a cold.” He then said, walking to a wall full of pots and baskets. He picked out different plants and put them all together in a little cloth.
“Make a tea out of this, at least three cups per day, bedrest and good healthy food with a lot of fish and he should be good again in a few days.”
“Thanks… that was way easier than cutting his arm open!”
“Again, I’m so sorry…”
“Saito-chan… lets go… I feel bad…” Soji winced and Saito went to his side, leading him out of the house and towards the barracks.
Nagakura and also Inoue looked over as the two walked in and both got into action as they saw Sojis pale face and how he hung on Saito to not fall down.
“What Happened?!” Inoue Asked as he reached the two, but Saito said nothing, leading Soji to his room and put him into his bed.
“I will cook this tea for you, you try to rest.”
He left the room, facing the other two captains and sighed.
“Well thats a long story.”

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

1868

“Alright… Soji is sick… That's not good.” Inoue sighed after Saito told him and Nagakura about the morning and the bad experience with the british doctor.
“I’m sure he will be fine again.” Nagakura now said and the oldest of the three nodded and looked at Saito.
“You will take care of him.”
Saito nodded, he would take good care of his Soji. He checked the teapot he had and it looked about ready.
“Then I should now start taking care of him.” he said, walking into Sojis room.
The man was huddled under his blanket. He opened his eye as Saito came in, looking unhealthy and pale.
He sat down next to him, serving him the tea and Soji sat up.
“Did you told them?” he asked.
“Told them about what?”
“About us?”
Saito shook his head.
“Not yet. I will later. For now, please rest and heal again. I don’t like seeing you so sick.”
“Why didn’t you tell them?”
“Because your health is now more important. Soji please, let's just focus on getting you better again.” He kissed the older one on his forehead.
“So drink your tea, rest and get healthy again. I will be here and take good care of you.”
Soji sighed and took the tea. He shivered in disgust.
“Thats so bitter…” He gagged as Saito ran a hand over his back.
“It may not be tasty, but please drink it.”
Soji forced it down, sip by sip, shivering almost each time, before he finished the cup and put it aside, laying down again.
“This crazy bastard took a good amount of blood… I still feel dizzy.” He said, while Saito checked the bandage around his arm. It stopped bleeding.
“I will clean it out, just going to get some fresh water.”
“Sure but come back fast…”
Saito hurried to get fresh water and bandages, to clean the cut on Soji's arm. It looked fine so far, hopefully it would stay that way.

Sadly, it didn’t went better. It went worse, the more time went by. The cut healed fine, but Soji got more and more ill. Freezing, coughing, fever and even difficulty with breathing made Saito almost unable to sleep. He was too worried to leave Soji's Side for long and couldn’t take care of his responsibilities as a captain anymore. Of course the others noticed, same as the troops and rumors spread through the barracks.
“I say we end this now!” Takeda said during a meeting with the captains and the deputy chief of the Shinsengumi.
Saito looked up, same as the others.
“I can’t stand his constant coughing anymore!! I say we go over to Okitas room and put him out of his misery!”
Saito, Nagajura and also Inoue jumped up, but Hijikata lifted his hand, a sign for them to stay calm.
“What do you mean by that Takeda? You wanna murder one of your comrades?" He asked. The fifth captain snorted.
“A comrade? With all due respect, he's the biggest threat in the barracks right now! Whatever he has there could infect and kill us all!”
“I see your point but we can not kill one of us, just because of this.” Hijitaka continued, but Ito interrupted him.
“I see Takeda's point here. What if it's the white plague?”
“Its not!” Saito said, still standing instead of sitting down again.
“I take care of him all day and also the doctor said its NOT the white plague!”
“Good that you mention it Hajime-san.” Harada leaned over and looked at Saito.
“You spend all day in Okitas room, maybe you carry this illness as well.”
“Wait a moment, what are we discussing here now?” Todo looked around.
“Are we talking about whether we should kill okita?”
“We are not.” Hijitaka said and looked at the captains.
“But I see the point here, sadly I do. In his state, Okita can not stay here.”
Saito looked at Hijikata, same as Nagakura and Inoue.
“But where should he go?! Inoue asked.
“Who cares?! He will die in a few days anyway!” Takeda said.
“Lets just throw him into Mukurogai! No one there will care and he can Die there already!”
Saito´s eyes widened. No, they wouldn’t… they couldn’t do that.
He looked at Hijikata, who sighed, looking sad.
“I fear thats the best solution.”
“I have to refuse!!” Inoue said, getting to his feet again, same as Nagakura.
“He is one of us! Do you really just abandon him?! I can’t let this happen!!!”
“Gen-Zan, calm down.” Hijikata got up.
“I will talk with our chief about this. Nobody will do anything to Okita, until I have Kondo's answer to this.”
“Fine by me!” Takeda said, getting up.
“The sooner that coughing stops the better.” He left, same as some others, but Nagakura, Inoue and Saito stay, looking at Hijikata.
“You can’t mean this!” Saito barked at the younger man.
“You can’t tell me, you really wanna let Soji die in Mukurogai!”
“I’m sorry, but the others sadly have a point. He will most likely die very soon. We cannot risk more of our people being infected. I will talk with Kondo about this. Until then…” He looked at Saito.
“Take good care of him and don’t tell him anything. It would increase the risk that he would attempt to escape. This would only lead to further spread of his disease. Do you understand, Saito-san?”
Saito sighed and nodded. Hijikata looked at Inoue and Nagakura.
“Same goes for you two. Even if Kondo is against this, Okita doesn’t need to know.”
The two also nodded and Hijikata left the room.
The three looked at each other and Saito sighed.
“I better check on him.”

Saito went over the yard back to Soji's room and already heard him coughing.
He went into his room and looked at the other man, who was sitting up, trying to get rid of the cough and reached for a cup of water. Soji looked up at Saito, tried to smile, but failed.
“Its… its…not so bad…” he said, his voice raspy and breathless.
Saito sat down next to him and put a hand to his forehead. He was still hot.
“Does the coughing still hurt?” he asked and got a nod as an Answer.
“My throat hurts…” He admits and coughed again.
“I can barely swallow anything…”
“I got you something.” Saito reached into his Kimono and pulled out a little pot. He opened it and stuck his finger inside, covering it with what was inside.
“What is that?” Soji asked as Saito held his finger in front of his face.
“Honey with Fennel in it. Haruka said her mother used that, when she was often sick as a child and had a sore throat.”
Soji just nodded, opened his mouth and Saito stuck his finger in his mouth. The older blushed a bit, licking and sucking all the honey off of Saito's finger, who also blushed a bit. That was strangely intimate, he had to admit.
But it seemed to work, at least a bit. Soji grinned at him, releasing his finger from his mouth and licked his lips.
“Doesn’t taste bad… And it really is easy to swallow…” His grin got a bit dirty.
“When I’m feeling better again, I wanna swallow something else.”
“Sure, then we will go out for a drink again.” Saito said and Sojis grin got warm and lovely.
“You are so naive Saito-chan, but yeah… I would love that…”
Saito smiled and kissed him on the hot forehead, before pushing him softly down, to rest a bit more.
“Saito-chan…”
“Yeah?”
“When I’m healthy again, then I wanna sleep with you.”
Saito blushed and looked at the man, who had closed his eye again.
“Yeah, I wanna sleep with you… Hold your hand in public, kiss you and let the whole world see how great my boyfriend is.”
Tears started to sting in Saitos Eyes, but he smiled and a short laugh escaped him.
“Yeah. Yeah that will be wonderful.” he covered his lover with his blanket, kissing his forehead again.
“We will stay together forever…” 

Kamurocho

Kiryu was ready for work and left his apartment. It was a warm night, he opened his jacket and lit a cigarette, as the next door opened as well and Majima came out.
Kiryu looked at him and almost choked on his cigarette.
The man infront of him was wearing a tight, pink, strapless, snakeskin clubdress with a dark pink belt on it. He had a full face of Makeup on, a shiny blond wig on his head and his legs were in fishnets, while his high heels matched the dresses color. Golden jewelry clinked at his wrists, as he smiled at Kiryu, whos face must have matched the dresses color, by how much he was blushing.
“What is that?”
“Also a good evening to you Kiryu-chan.” He smiled, taking the cigarette and took a drag of it.
“My outfit for the night. Don’t you like it?”
“Dude… how do you manage to look so sexy in a dress?!” Kiryu just said, without thinking and Majima laughed.
“Hahaha oh thank you.” Majima ran his hands over his hips.
“Its a custom made dress.”
“You wanna walk to work in that outfit?”
“Why not?” The older man grinned and hooked onto Kiryus Arm.
“I have a strong Kiryu-chan here to protect me right?”
“You remember the last time we got attacked? Because you were hanging on me kinda like that?”
“No.” 
“Oh right… the mask…Well we were attacked and called fags because these punks noticed that you were a guy and not a chick.”
“Oh… They didn’t hurt you right?” Majima asked, looking through his Bag and pulling out a hannya mask, putting it on his face.
“No I was fine and… What are you doing?!”
“Its a clean one, don’t worry…I will try to dance tonight completely without these fucking drugs.”
“You think you can handle a six hour shift without a break?”
“We will see…”
Majima held onto Kiryus Arm for the entire walk and went into the club.
It was not open yet, but the few hosts and Dancers who were already there were looking at them, before Majima or now Hannya let go of Kiryus arm, pushed the mask up a bit and kissed his cheek, before moving towards the dressingrooms.
Tak leaned against the bar, drink in hand and smirked at Kiryu.
“Kaz, you damn hot mess of a sexy Beef-cake.”
“What?”
“You got hannya around your little finger. He seems to like you very much.”
“Well Yeah we like each other…” Kiryu said and the barkeeper served him a drink.
“But just a tip, don’t do that here, the boss doesn’t like it when others touch his favorite toy.”
Kiryu looked at him.
“Wait what?”
“Yeah, Hannya is the boss’s lil sextoy. I heard he is a lil beast in bed.”
“You’re joking right? Please tell me you are joking…”
“No, why should we joke with you?” Tak asked and now Kiryu got a bit sick. He had his thought about the boss, but was that man really such a disgusting guy, that he drugs and Rapes the dancers here?
“I need a moment.” he went outside, pulling out his phone. Thank god he got Majimas number by now.
“Come on… pick up…please pick up…” he mumbled as The Answer came.
“Yeah Kiryu-chan?”
“Goro! You must get out of there immediately!”
“What? Why? What's wrong?”
“Don’t take ANYTHING the boss offers you! He is sicker than I thought. He…” Kiryu stopped as the bouncer walked around the building towards him.
“You better stop that right now Kiryu-san.” He warns the younger man, Majima still listening.
“The boss can do whatever he wants to the whores who work here.”
“I thought he is just a dancer!”
“Yeah for the guests, not for the boss. Now you better shut up or I have to make you. I don’t wanna ruin your pretty face, so shut up and let the dancers do their sidejob as well.”
“Yeah… sure…”

Majima had heard it all. He couldn’t remember ever doing anything like that, but on the other hand, there were many nights he couldn’t remember anymore. Waking up in the club in a ripped outfit, his whole body aching… It made sense and that scared him even more, but also made him angry.
He checked his phone, looking for his brother's number.
“Yeah? What is it bro?”
“Taiga, Take the check and cash it IMMEDIATELY. Secure the cash and get ready to head to Sotenburi.

"Why? What are you up to?"

"I have a bone to pick with someone here!"
He finished the call, put his clean mask on again and went to his boss’s office. The man would regret ever using Him like a fucking toy!

Majima ignored the secretary and kicked the Boss’s door almost down.
The man looked at him, a wide grin on his face.
“Ah, I see you are in your Goromi attire tonight.” He tapped on his lab.
“Come here and sit down sweetie.”
“Fuck you, Shimano!” Majima growled at him, walking closer, slamming his fist on the table.
“Oh so feisty today? What is it sweetheart?”
“I know everything! All about this!” he ripped the mask off of his face.
“The drugs you mean? Oh dear, I just do it to help you. Its all for your little sisters Sake. And don’t forget you came to ME! You wanted my help and money and I gave it to you, so why are you complaining now?! I should complain! You are getting too old for that job. In maybe a year Bunny will be my top tier dancer and you will be just nothing anymore. And when it comes to hosts, I have to thank you in a way, you brought me Kiryu Kazuma. That old Bastard Sera really fell for him, now he spends all his money here. You are getting more and more useless, so be at least a good pet for me or your Dear Sister will never get out of that Hospital!”
Majima growled, his fists clenched, same his teeth, but before he could say anything the door was, again, slammed open and Kiryu came in.
“Is it an Open day Today or What?!” Shimano barked and Kiryu went to his desk, standing right next to Majima.
“I’ll take his debts upon myself!” Kiryu said.
Both men looked at the youngest one surprised and even the secretary looked confused.
“You wanna do what?!” Majima asked, staring at Kiryu, who just side-eyed him.
“I take it upon myself to pay it off. Let him go! Let him save his sister!”
“Are you sure about that boy? This will raise your debts to over 40.000.000 yen.”
“I know! But other than him, I have no family who is in urgent care and needs brotherly support.”
Shimano grinned and leaned back.
“Fine by me. You will entertain Sera a bit more I guess to bring in more Money right?”
Kiryu nodded, grabbing Majima's trembling hand.
“I will. I will make him love this place so much, he never wants to leave or drink somewhere else.”
“Good answer boy.” Shimano looked at Majima.
“You are fired! Get out of my Club right now!”
Majima looked at Kiryu, who pulled him out by the hand, down the stairs and to the back entrance.

“ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!” Majima yelled at him as they stood outside.
“What was that for?!?! You sold your Soul to that Motherfucker!! You have no idea what you…” He couldn’t get any further, as Kiryu pulled him into his arms, kissing him.
Majima was completely caught off guard, staring at the man, who was holding him.
Kiryu broke the kiss and grinned a charming smile towards the older man.
“Because I like you and I want you to have a life. The life you told me about. With your brother and sister, with a job you enjoy. Away from this shady nightlife, away from drugs and pervs who undress you with their eyes alone.”
“You barely know me…”
“I know and still I have the feeling to know so much about you. I want you to be happy…”
“And now I owe you…”
“Just one thing. Promise me you will make the best out of your freedom. Save Yasuko, have a good life, just… Don't forget me okay?”
“How could I ever forget you? You… You saved me, Kiryu-chan…” A tear was running over Majima's cheek, ruining his perfect makeup a bit.
“You must promise me something as well. Wait here in Kamurocho. I will come back and take you with me and we can figure all this out.”
Kiryu smiled and nodded.
“Can I kiss you again?”
Majima grinned, leaning in, kissing Kiryu softly on the lips. He had no idea why, but it felt so good and right, so familiar as if he had kissed this man before. Kiryus arms wrapped around his waist, he was holding onto his shoulders and they deepend this kiss a bit more.
“You must go…” Kiryu said, a tear leaving his eye as well.
“I know… Thank you so much,...Kazuma…”
“I’ll be here if you need me. And call me whenever you want, I’ll wait…”
Something told Majima he should stay, but he stepped back a bit, run his hand softly over Kiryus Cheek, kissing him one last time before he ran out of the Alley and on the main streets to get back home.
“I’ll wait for you…” 

Notes:

"The White Plague" is an archaic term for tuberculosis, named for the pale complexion, or "wasted" appearance, of its sufferers.
And NO Soji does NOT have Tuberculosis here.
Just because the real Okita Soji died from it at the age of around 25 does not mean this Okita Soji will as well.
I choose a different but also Deadly, for this time, illness: Pneumonia XD
Not sure if thats better....

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

1868

Kondos Decision came within two days and it caused mixed feeling among the Captains.
“Chief Kondo decided.” Hijikata announced while all, except Soji, were present.
“He agrees that the risk of having Okita-san here and a spread of infection is too high. He has to go…”
“I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!!” Nagakura yelled, jumping up, same as Inoue, who looked at Saito in confusion, because he said nothing.
“If you wanna get sick and die, then go on and stay with him!” Takeda said with a dirty grin on his face.
“Who will bring this sick mutt to Murukorai?”
“I will.” Saito said and looked at all of them.
“He trusts me, so he will not question it if I carry him through the city…”
“Very well.” Hijikata looked sad as well.
“Its a shame… Sad to see a great fighter like Okita get taken down by an illness and not in a great battle, like he always wished.”
“I have a request.” Saito said and got up.
“May I stay with him until the end? I don’t want him to die alone there.”
The vice chief nodded and Saito bowed down, before turning around and leaving the meeting.
Nagakura followed him, grabbing Saito by the arm and turned him around.
“Are you serious?! You are not fighting the decision?”
“I will tell you everything later, I promise. Now let me go and get Soji. We have a little journey ahead of us.”
The bigger man seemed confused, but let go of Saitos arm.
“Please… whatever happens… don’t let him suffer, please…”
“He will not, don’t worry.” 

 

“Where are we going Saito-chan?” Soji asked tired and tried to suppress a cough, while Saito carried him on his back through the streets.
“Don’t worry, okay? It will be fine.” Saito just said, pulling the hood deeper over Sojis head. The man was wrapped in two Haoris, wearing a scarf and a hood, to stay as warm as possible.
“Another visit to a doctor?” Soji wondered and put his head down on Saito's shoulder.
“But no more blood letting…”
“Of course not. Try to rest my dear. As I said, everything will be okay.”
“Okay… thanks.” Soji closed his eye and fell asleep after a while.
Saito kept walking, carrying him down to the docks and to one of the boatswain who was already waiting.
“There you are, Sir.” He said and Saito nodded.
“You know where we wanna go. Please, let's hurry.”
“Sure, get in.”
Saito climbed onto the boat and put Soji down softly, resting his head on his lap, so we would stay asleep, while the man pushed the boat from the shore and they set off.
Saito runs his hand softly over Soji's cheek. The man was still burning with fever, moving him out of his futon was a risky move, but he couldn’t risk getting him killed by any of the other captains and now he would bring him away. It would be better for him anyway.
Soji slept through the whole boatride, just barely waking up as they stopped and he opened his eye a bit.
Saito was now carrying him in his arms and in front of them was a building he had never seen before. Where were they?
“S…saito-chan?” He mumbled but Saito was quiet.
His vision got a bit blurry and he coughed hard as he saw a figure in front of them, opening a door to a dark room.
That was not a doctor's place. A weird feeling spread through his body, as Saito put him down, covering him with a blanket.
“I’m sorry, don’t be mad at me… I had to bring you here.” He heard Saito mumble, before he felt a kiss on his forehead.
“I love you.”
“Where…” Soji fought against a feeling of faintness as all his remaining strength was fading.
“In Safety.” Saito assured him. He sighed and looked up to Haruka, who was standing next to him.
“You sure we can stay here?”
She nodded.
“This house has been empty for a few years. It doesn't belong to anyone, and no one would suspect you're here.”
“Thats good. I will chop some wood to make a fire. You can go home, I will come by as often as I can.”
“Oji-san, don’t worry too much about me, I can and will be fine. Be there for Okita-san.”
“You know, when everything works Out, I think we can make a second Gate into the Fence around the house so we can visit more often.” Saito grinned and Haruka smiled.
“Then you and Okita-san can be neighbours and I’m not so alone.” She clapped happily.
“Good Idea. I will go now and prepare some food for you two.”
Saito nodded and she left.
He was glad this had worked. As Hijitaka said he would talk with Konod about abandon Soji, he looked for a way to save his lover and Haruka had mentioned that old House, a bit down from her home, closer to the ocean.
It was in a good state for an abandon house and it only took him two days to fix most of it to make it livable again. There was a garden behind the house, they could also grow vegetables there and the fresh air was probably good for Soji as well.
He had met the crazy british doctor again as he got more tea and that man had mention something about bad air would make people ill as well, so the fresh air coming from the sea should be good for Soji.
At least he hoped so.
He went outside to chop some wood. Somehow he needed to explain to Soji what was going on and he feared the man's reaction a bit.
No matter how ill, Soji was a hothead at heart, he would try something, he was sure about that. But the most important thing now was that he got better again.
With the firewood he went inside and made a warming fire. Soji was so pale and weak looking, if he wouldn’t breath so loud through his mouth Saito would have thought he was dead.
“You have to survive…” Saito mumbled, cooking fresh tea.
“I can't be without you anymore…”


Kamurocho

The night felt so long, Kiryu just wanted to go home. It took him so much willpower to smile and charm the guests through this night, but all he wanted was to go home.
Would Majima still be there or would he and Saejima leave in the middle of the night?
As he was finally able to go home, he saw Nishiki outside, smoking a cigarette.
He looked at his roommate as he went up the stairs towards him.
“They left.” Nishiki said and Kiryu sighed. He was too late. No chance for a last goodbye. Majima was gone.
“What happened? Why did they leave in such a hurry?”
“They need to be in Sotenburi…” Kiryu said, lighting a cigarette and standing next to him.
“They will save their little sister and build a new life somewhere else.”
“You don’t sound happy…” Nishiki eyed his brother who just sighed.
“In one way I am happy, but…”
“Oh no…” The long haired man sighed.
“Kaz, don’t tell me you fell for that Majima guy?”
“I kinda did…”
Nishiki sighed loud and shook his head. He looked at Kiryu, saw tears in his eyes and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Hey… Its okay… Don’t cry. Is… is this a one sided thing?”
Kiryu shook his head.
“I don’t think so… He wouldn’t have kissed me if it is.”
“Kaz, if he feels anything towards you, he will contact you and maybe even come back.”
“Yeah, but first he and Taiga need to save their little sister.”
“And you will go to bed now, you look so tired…” Nishiki led him back inside and to his bedroom.
“Rest a bit. Everything will be okay.” He assured him and Kiryu hugged him.
“Thank you lil brother…”
“All for you. Now rest.”
Kiryu went to bed and fell asleep rather fast.
He had a weird dream.
He was in a different place, a different time even. Houses, mostly made of wood, straw as the roof, old fashioned but nice looking, like he saw them in these Samurai movies.
He walked through these busy streets, looked at people and shops, smelled the fresh air and a hint of sake in the wind.
Kiryu looked down on himself.
He was wearing a grey Nagagi and Hakama, on his feet nothing but sandals and on his belt he had a katana and a wakizashi. The wind blew through the streets and he wiped his long, messy hair out of his face, before he continued to walk around.
It felt strangely familiar, as if he had been here before.
He heard fast footsteps behind himself and he was ready to turn around and defend himself, expecting an attack, but instead someone jumped on his back, their feet wrapped around his middle and he heard a familiar giggle.
“Saito-chan!” The person said and cuddled him.
“There you are, come on, let's go and get some Dango!”
The man on his back grinned, looking so much like Majima. He wore a nagagi in a reddish brown and he could also make out a gray Hakama, unlike himself he wore socks, his hair was longer and in a high ponytail and instead of an Eyepatch he wore an eyecover made from metal. Kiryu had no idea what was going on, but he smiled and in an instant, he knew this man's name.
“Sure Soji, let's go.” He said, carrying the man on his back, who cuddled closer, kissing his cheek.
Nobody seemed to care that there were two men kissing and goofing around, everyone was minding their own businesses. Kiryu leaned his head back again, his hair tickling the other's face, who still grinned at him.
“Say something nice.” Kiryu said and looked at the man, who acted like he had to think for a moment, before he leaned closer, whispering into his right ear.
“I love you, Hajime Saito-chan.”
Sadly his dream ended there and Kiryu's Eyes flew open, as he could hear the front door falling shut a bit too loud. Seems Nishiki was off to work and now he was awake, but that dream lingered in his head and with it the names of his dreamself and the other Man. Hajime Saito and Soji. Were they real? If so, he had to figure it out somehow.

In the afternoon Kiryu was out in the city. He had a plan for what he wanted to do. He got a few messages from Majima, which made his mood a bit better. He had sent a few pictures. Seems they arrived safely in Sotenbori, A picture of the nightly city, one of a hotel room and weirdly one where he had stacked empty beer cans on His brother's head. The last one was a selfie, with just a short message underneath.
“Miss you already.”
Of course he had responded to all of this, and promised to call him that evening, since it was a free day for him. Even with so much debt, he was allowed to take a break for a day or two.
But for now, he was on the streets. His target was a local historical museum, which he had always questioned.
Why was there a museum in Kamurocho? Nobody really gave too much about history and normally he wouldn’t either, but his dream had awakened his curiosity and now he wanted Answers. Hopefully he won't embarrass himself too much now.

It was quiet inside, typical for a museum and he walked through the halls. Should he ask someone? Would they know anything?
He walked deeper into the building and into one room, seeing a few swords on the walls and mannequins in blue haoris. It looked interesting and Kiryu took his time to look around a bit, reading the old notes in the showcases, at least the ones he could read. Some were written in such weird calligraphy, he couldn’t make out a single word. 
He could hear footsteps behind him and a middle aged woman walked in, smiling at him.
“Seems you are interested in our exhibition about the shinsengumi.” She said happily.
“Not many people come here, we are thankful for every visitor.”
“What is or was the shinsengumi?” He asked and she walked closer to him.
“The Shinsengumi was an elite samurai police force that served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period of Japan.” She said, a sentence she had most likely learned by heart.
“They were active in Kyo or Kyoto how we call it today.”
“I see. Sounds interesting…” He looked around more, finding a list of names, most likely of high ranked members of this group.
He looked a bit closer, reading different names off of it. Two caught his attention right away. Saito Hajime and Okita Soji.
“Is something wrong, Sir?” The woman asked as she saw him furrowing his brows.
“No, not wrong but… I would like to know a bit more about these two. Saito-san and Soji-san.”
“Oh yeah, these two were very special and very interesting. Are you from a magazine or something?”
“No, I’m just very curious and interested in history now.” Kiryu smiled at her and she giggled.
“Oh that's nice too. Come along then, I will tell you more about these two. In fact, we have this special exhibition only for a couple of days now, so you can get all the information that we have. Follow me.” She led him to the next room and turned around.
“Oh by the way, I’m Kaori.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Kiryu.”
“Well Kiryu-san, I hope you have brought some time, there is a lot to uncover about these two infamous samurai.”
“Infamous? Why that?” Kiryu asked and she showed him around, first showing him Katanas.
“These here is believed to be Okita-sans Katana. And this one was the one Hajime-san was wielding. They both had very different fighting styles, which were said to be so deadly in combination that some enemies even gave up before the fight, knowing they couldn’t kill or beat them.” Kaori said, pointing at the tsuka of the swords.
“Okita-san was a fast fighter, using speed to his advantage, while Hajime-san was believed to swing his sword with enough power to kill an enemy with one swipe alone.”
“Thats really impressive, I can see how the two would make such a great team.” Kiryu said, looking at the old swords.
“Yeah but that was not what made them so infamous.” Kaori grinned.
“They were a couple.”
“What? A… a gay samurai couple?”
“Yeah like that.” She led him around more.
“Old texts just refer to them as being close, but most historians believe they were together. Gay marriage was not a thing back then, but from an old… maybe you can call it a diary, from Hajime-san, it’s known that these two lived and stayed together for the rest of their lives. The closest you could get as a gay couple back then. Hajime-san didn’t give us too many details into their private life but mentions Okita-san very very often and even called him his soulmate. So it’s clear that they were together.”
“And other texts never mention that?” Kiryu asked and she sighed.
“It was a tricky subject after 1868. The westernization of Japan put gay relationships into a bad light. Even if you knew you were dealing with a gay couple you couldn’t talk about it so freely anymore.”
“I see. Are there… any pictures or photos of these two? I’m kinda interested in how they looked.”
“I think we have two pictures with them in it.” Kaori said, moving towards a showcase, pointing out a group picture.”
“There, that’s the only picture that exists of the whole shinsemgumi captains.” He took it out for him to look.
“Don’t worry, it's just a copy.” She said and he looked. A group of 13 People, all wearing the same Haori, except the man in the middle. They were standing in a yard, a big building behind them.
“That’s the chief of the group.” Kaori explained.
“And this here was his vize chief. His advisor and this is…”
“Okita-san…” Kiryu mumbled looking at the man in the picture, who looked so much like Majima.
“Yeah… and this is his sworn brother, Nagakura Shinpachi. They lead the first and second company.”
“And this must be Hajime-san…” Kiryu pointed, without touching the photo, at a man next in line.
“Right, he was the captain of the third company…” Kaori looked at the picture and then at Kiryu. She seemed to notice the resemblance as well. She took the picture away again and came towards him with another, holding it up next to his face.
Her eyes widened.
“Impossible…” she mumbled and he looked at the photo. The background was plain, nothing interesting to see, probably the closest to a photostudio you could get back then.
Soji was sitting on a chair, Saito to his right, slightly behind the chair, one hand resting on his katana, the other on the other man's shoulder, which Soji gently held in his. Kiryu knew what Kaori was referring to. He looked so much like Saito-san and although she didn’t know it yet, Soji looked just like Majima.
“You… you look like Hajime-san…” She finally spoke it out loud and Kiryu looked at her.
“And I know a man, who just looks like Okita-san.” 
Kaori was speechless for a moment as he handed her the picture back.
“How did they both died?”
“Well… from what we know, Okita-san was assassinated… and Hajime took revenge on the murderers, but was so badly wounded that he succumbed to his injuries. Its assumed they were in their 60s already…”
“At least a mostly long life for the time…”
“Yeah you could say so…” Kaori was still looking at the old photo.
“I still can’t believe it… If we would dress you up, Kiryu-san, you would just look like Hajime-san.”
“Yeah it's weird…” He laughed a bit nervously.
“Well, thank you very very much for all the information. That was really helpful.”
“Oh no problem…Anything else I can do for you?”
“Can I take a picture of that photo? I think my friend would be interested to see it too.”
“Yeah I guess…” She held the photo up and Kiryu took a picture of it with his phone, same with the group picture.
“Thank you so much Kaori-san, it was very pleasant to listen to you and learn some facts. I will come back again.”
“Oh I hope so, thank you Kiryu-san.” 

Kiryu left and went to a nearby place to eat a bit and also check for new mails. Majima had sent him a picture of a waiting room in a hospital.
“Sitting around, hoping for the best.” he had written and Kiryu sat down with his food.
“Already in surgery?” He asked and took a bite. A small icon appeared, showing him that Majima was typing.
“No, Dialysis but Bro and I have to stay outside. Yasuko is asking about you.” 
“Why is she asking about me?” Kiryu wrote back as a call came in. Majima seemed to be tired of writing texts already and he picked up.
“Hey.”
“Hey Kazuma-chan.” Majima sounded quite happy.
“Yeah our Sis is asking about you, wanna know who the guy is who made it possible for us to come and help her. I mean we have the money, just thanks to you.”
“And because she wants to meet your boyfriend Goro.” Kiryu could hear Saejima say in the background and his cheeks turned a bit pink.
“Bro! We are not boyfriends…” Majima said and Kiryu could hear a soft mumbled “Unfortunately.” what made him blush even more.
“Well otherwise, everything is fine so far here, how’s in Kamu?”
“The usual…” Kiryu sighed while drinking from his soda.
“I don’t wanna talk about work, but I found something interesting instead. You remember your dream you told me about? With me having long hair?”
“Yeah I do remember…why?”
“Wait a second, I will send you something.” Kiryu sent him the picture.
“Did I look like that?”
“HOLY SHIT!!”
“Bro, language!” Saejima said and Kiryu could hear Majima walk around, probably went outside.
“Where… what… how?”
“I know, I was just as surprised as you are right now…” Kiryu sighed a bit.
“You free tonight? Then I can tell you more.”
“Yeah sure…” he heard a lighter get turned on and Majima exhaled.
“Did you mean what you said?” Kiryu laughed a bit.
“I heard you say ‘Unfortunately’ As you denied being my boyfriend.”
“Well, I do like you, I would love to know you better Kaz and after these kisses…I think I do fall for you, even though you are as soft as a marshmallow.”
“Is that something bad?”
“No, I like Marshmallows, soft and sweet, just like you Kazzy-chan.”
“Kazzy-chan?”
“Yeah, sounds cute right? Well anyway, I have to go back inside, wanna be there for Yasuko, like a good big bro.”
“Do that, we will talk later. Say hello to her from me.”
“Sure I will, until later Kazzy-chan.”

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kiryu had made himself comfy in his bed, with a soda and also some snacks as Majima called.
“Hey Kazzy-chan.”
“Hey Goro-san.”
“Skip the san, you don’t need to be so formal, you know that.”
“I know. How is it going?”
“So far so good. We are still in the hospital, wait a second.”
Kiryu waited and opened his sodacan.
“Hello Kazuma-san.” he could hear Saejima say and then a womans voice.
“Hello Kiryu-san.”
“Oh hi Taiga, Hey young lady, you must be Yasuko right?”
“Yeah. My brothers told me what you did for them and I also wanted to thank you.”
“Its okay, I wish for you to get healthy and then we maybe one day can meet in person. I would like to know a bit about you.”
“I would live that.” She admitted.
“What caused that decision from you?” Saejima asked.
“I don’t wanna sound ungrateful or anything, but why did you decide to do something like that for us? We barely knew each other.”
Kiryu sighed sadly.
“Because I know the situation you guys are in. It happened before and there I failed.” he said, sipping his soda.
“My brother Akira and I are not brothers by blood. We were living in the same orphanage, grew up there and bound as Brothers. He had a little sister… Yuko. She was basically my sister as well. She also became sick and spent much time in hospitals… Akira and I tried everything to save her, I even started to get into illegal underground fightclubs to win prize money for her surgeries, but in the end, we failed and Yuko died…”
Silence from the other side of the line.
“And as you two told me, why you were saving money and how you even let yourself be humiliated like that Goro, I thought about Yuko… I couldn’t save my and Akiras sister, but I wanted to help saving yours.” Kiryu laughed a bit.
“Yasuko… you even sound a bit like Yuko… How old are you?”
“I’m 27…”
“She would be around the same age now…” He sobbed a bit.
“Kazzy-chan, don’t cry… please…”
“I’m sorry I asked…” Saejima said.
“Its okay. You couldn’t know and I’m glad I could help. Will everything be okay?”
“Yeah, we have a donor for her, she will get her new kidney and this nightmare will be over then hopefully.” Saejima said happily.
“Thats great. And what do you wanna do then?” Kiryu wanted to know, opening his bag of snacks.
“Well I got a job at another bar right now, again a bouncer job. I didn't even need to go to an interview, the Manager took one glance at me and said that I'm hired.” Saejima said and all three started to laugh.
“That's obvious.” Kiryu laughed.
“Taiga, you are a big ass bull of a man. Of course people are gonna hire you as a bouncer. And what's with you Goro?”
“I’m still looking for a job right now to be quite honest…” He admitted.
“It's not easy for a one-eyed man to find a good job, where I don’t make people uncomfortable. That was good in the club, wearing a mask.”
“I still can’t believe that you worked as a poledancer in a gay-club…” Saejima said and Kiryu heard Yasuko laugh.
“I’m not surprised to be honest.” She said, still giggling.
“Goro came out to me a long time ago.”
“What? Why?”
“Yasuko don’t!!” Majima tried to stop her, but she didn’t stop talking.
“Caught him in the bathroom in my school uniform applying makeup and talking to himself how he was going to catch himself a nice guy for the night.”
“Goro, you did WHAT?!”
“I did it only a few times…”
“Bro, I have no problem with you being gay or like dressing up but could you not be Gaying around in our Sisters School clothes?!?” 
“She is not a school girl anymore…”
“And you have a beard now Goro-chan.”
“Even with a beard, he looks sexy in dresses.” Kiryu said with a laugh and Saejima sighed.
“Thanks Kazzy-chan.” Majima laughed, but also sighed a bit.
“Guys, I wanna talk with him a bit alone, I’ll be outside for a while.”
“Sure Bro, go ahead. Bye Kazuma-can.” Saejima said.
“Yeah bye!” Came Yasuko's voice and Kiryu said bye to them, before he heard a door slide open and then shut again.
“Kaz…” Majima walked down the hallways in the hospital and outside, sitting down on a bench for a smoke.
“I’m still there, what is it, Goro?”
“I looked at the pictures you sent me and looked around on the internet as well. Do you think it's fate that we met? Do you think without this, we wouldn’t like each other?”
“Well… it's at least a weird coincidence, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s at least weird.” Majima said, lighting a cigarette.
“And also… I dislike thinking that you only like me because Saito-san liked Soji-san back then.”
“I liked you before I even knew anything about this. I fell for you without knowing it was you.”
“You referring to Hannya?”
“Yeah. I like you Goro, No matter what. And maybe we liked each other in earlier life as well, so what? Just means there is something special about you that draws me in again and again.” 
“You are sweet Kazzy… I’m just so confused… this Soji guy… HOW?! He even had an eyepatch…”
“Yeah but it's not so uncommon being a samurai to get some scars…” Kiryu took a sip from his drink.
“Speaking of… Why do YOU wear an Eyepatch?”
He heard Majima sigh a bit.
“You… you don’t need to answer if you don’t want to…”
“I wear an eyepatch to cover up my empty and sewn shut eyesocket.” He said, running a hand through his hair.
“It happened…I would say almost 20 years ago, I was out with my boyfriend of that time… we were at clubs and bars, enjoying ourselves, what you do when you are young. And then… he decided to drive us home… drunk!”
“You were both drunk in a car?”
“Yeah. Pretty stupid I know. I don’t know all the details anymore, but I woke up in a hospital and the doctor said my boyfriend slammed so hard on the brakes from a high speed that I flew through the windshield, over the hood of the car and face first into the bushes next to the street. And Luck wanted it that a broken off Branch of a tree couged my fucking eye out.”
“What the fuck?” Was all Kiryu said about this and Majima laughed bitterly.
“Yeah. Eye lost, Arm broken, same some rips, but miraculously all my teeth still in place and even my Nose wasn’t broken, because my face never landed on the floor because of the branch in my eye…”
“And… and your boyfriend?”
“Visited me in the hospital and broke up with me upon seeing me.”
“WHAT?!”
“Yeah… said I wasn’t pretty anymore…”
“How didn’t he end up in jail?”
“His father was very rich. Everything was swept under the carpet and I was told to shut up or I would regret it. So I kept quiet… was too scared they would harm Taiga or Yasuko.”
Kiryu swallowed hard.
“Well yeah, that's why I wear an eyepatch. I wanted a glass eye at first but they sewed my eyelid shut. It's not pretty and I don’t want anyone to see how ugly I look without it.”
“You are not ugly Goro. I think you are pretty handsome and sexy.” Kiryu said and Majima was thankful that Kiryu couldn’t see him, because he was blushing heavily.
“What?”
“Yeah, I love your long legs, your slender Body, your handsome face.”
“You don’t think I’m ugly?”
“Of course not. Why would I?”
“I just told you a branch gouged my eye out.”
“And? What does it matter? Yeah you wear an eyepatch, yeah you just have one eye, and? It doesn’t change the fact that you have a pretty face. And I must say, the eyepatch makes you look cool.”
“Stop it, you make me blush!” Majima whined into the phone and Kiryu laughed a bit, what made the older Man blush even more. Kiryu had such a cute laugh.
“You are so cute Kazzy-chan…”
“You are cute too.”
“No no no no no! I’m a bitch, you know that.”
“Not anymore. By the way, how are you feeling? Because… you know… the drug stuff…”
“I’m fine so far… But still thinking about that from time to time… I kept one of the clean masks and wear it from time to time, maybe its a placebo effect but it makes me calm down a bit.”
“At least you stay clean…”
“I never wanted to take that stuff, you know that…”
“”Of course I do, but still, that stuff is addictive. I’m just worried.” Kiryu sighed and Majima did as well.
“I know, but don’t worry, Taiga is helping me and I must be a good big bro for Yasuko.”
“Sounds like you’re doing a good job.”
“Thanks.” 

“May I ask some more?”
“Sure Kazzy, what do you wanna know?”
“How did you found out that you are gay?”
“Oh, well… I realized it pretty early, in my teenage years, but back then I didn’t dare to do anything, kept it a secret from everyone. Being a gay kid in the 70s was not easy with my parents… I don’t know if Taiga told you already, but I’m adopted and his parents were… very harsh on me. They believed I owed them, because they took me in. I was not there, because they wanted another son, I was there to entertain Taiga and since I’m older to babysit as well. And then I realized I liked guys and not girls and the problems started.”
“How did you realize?”
“I had a crush on a guy in my school. He was one of these popular kids and he was so handsome and pretty and I was so in love with him.” Majima sighed and lit up a second cigarette.
“It wasn't a good idea to confess to him. He humiliated me in front of the entire School and then I kept it hidden. Taiga had no idea and as I told him, he was cool with it, but I never lived it out until I was in my 20s and on my own two feet. But Since I lost my eye, I had no boyfriend anymore. One night stands and affairs but never a relationship.”
“I see…”
“What about you?” Majima asked and Kiryu blushed.
“I don’t think I’m gay… more… Bisexual maybe… I only ever dated women. I like girls, they are cute and soft and delicate, but since I met you, I see that I’m also attracted to the stronger, broader side of guys.” Kiryu laughed.
“And I like a guy who likes to wear women's clothes, so a Win Win for me.”
“Dresses are very VERY comfy, I tell you.” Majima laughed.
“If you want, I can wear one for you when we meet again.”
“Oh yes please. That would be nice.”
“Tell me what kind of dress you wanna see me in.”
“Black. A jet-black dress with thin or no straps, a beautifully low neckline, and a very high leg slit. Matching shoes and this gorgeous long-haired black wig.” Kiryu said with a dirty grin.
“And do your makeup in black and dark purple.”
“Do you like goths, Kazzy-chan?” Majima laughed, but also grinned. He had a dress like that in his collection.
“Not really. If I wanted you to be a goth, I would have asked for a black Lolita dress.”
“Not the biggest fan of Lolita dresses to be honest.” majima said.
“Too tight in some places.”
“Think so too, they look way too tight.”
“And when I’m with you in that nice dress, what do you wanna do with me then?” Majima grinned. He was curious what kind of hot and Dirty stuff Kiryu would do to him, but his answer surprised him.
“I guess we could go out for Dinner and the movies, you know, have a nice little date and learn more about each other.”
Majima was silent for a moment. Why was this man so god damn soft and cute?
“That… that sounds like a very good idea.” He admitted and Kiryu smiled.
“I could show you all my favorite spots here in Kamurocho when you come over again.”
“It will take some time for me to come back.”
“I know, but don’t worry, I can wait and I will. I really wanna know you better Goro.”
“I wanna know you better too Kazzy…” Majima sighed.
“And I kinda owe you this date. You are the reason I can save my sis. Heck, I owe you all the dates you ever want for this. I wear whatever you want me to wear, I do everything you want me to do for this.”
“We will have a lot of good fun then.”
“Yeah.”
God that man was so adorable.
Majima looked up as Saejima walked out to him.
“Alright, Kaz, Taiga and I will go back to our place now, we will continue this conversation another time, alright?”
“Sure, have a nice night then.”
“You too, bye.”
Majima hung up and Taiga grinned.
“You look like you fell for that dude.”
“Yeah… I guess I did…”

1868

 

The summer went by. The trees were turning red, yellow and brown, the wind got cooler and the days shorter.
Saito went back home, a few fresh fish in a small basket. He went out fishing and it was a nice catch for the day.
It had been weeks now and Soji was still not fully back on his feet.
Still coughing, still short of breath but no fever anymore, which was a good progress so far, but still, Saito was worried about him, but he was positive that Soji would not die anymore.
By now he had told Nagakura and also Inoue where Soji was.
The two men were pissed and relieved at the same time. Pissed because they thought for so long that Soji just died in the dirty streets of Murukorai and relieved that it wasn’t the case.
Finding a new captain for the first company also seemed to be a fruitless task. They had three new captains in these few weeks and none of them had what it takes to control these guys.
The first company made it pretty damn clear, they wouldn’t listen to some new captain and only listen to Soji. It went so bad, the first had to be dissolved and now Nagakura and Saito were taking care of the men in their own companies.
Because of all this, Hijitaka had changed the companies a bit, so now Nagakura was the first and Saito the second. Everyone had gone higher up a bit so no number was missing again.
As expected, Soji wasn’t very happy to know that he lost his position due to his illness, but seemed to come to terms with it.
As Saito now went inside their home, which was looking way better now than a few weeks before, he saw Soji sitting on a pillow near the small fireplace cooking himself some tea. He looked up as Saito walked in and smiled at him. He was still pale and sick looking but at least he wasn’t so weak anymore and could move around the house a bit.
“Hey Dear.” Saito said, walking closer and kissed him on the forehead. The doctor had told him that he shouldn’t kiss Soji on the lips due to the risk of infection.
“Hey Saito-chan.” His voice was a bit raspy.
“I’m making some tea, you want one too?”
“Yeah, thank you.” Saito put the basket into the kitchen and Soji looked.
“Did you catch something good?”
Saito grinned and lifted a really giant spider crab out of the basket with its claws and legs tied together.
“I got one. You said you wanted to eat crab tonight, so I went out and caught one for you.”
Soji grinned at him.
“You are the best Boyfriend I could ask for Saito-chan.” He said, taking the tea pot from the fire and filled two cups with the fresh herbal mixture.
Saito sat down with him and they enjoyed a hot cup of tea.
“Say, when can I go outside again? I feel a bit sick of sitting around all day inside.” Soji looked at Saito, who put his cup down.
“I would prefer you stay in until you are completely fine again, but I guess we should go out tomorrow. It's getting colder, we need winter clothes, the same as Haruka.”
“So we could all go out together shopping for clothes.” Soji smiled and Saito nodded.
“That's great, I wanna walk around again. Staying inside is getting boring…” Soji glanced at his swords, which were sitting in a corner of their house. A layer of dust already covered them and Saito was sure they would need a lot of care to be usable again, but he didn’t want Soji to do that anytime soon. 
Soji finished his tea and looked at Saito.
“Whats wrong?”
“I feel bad for keeping you in here for so long and the stuff with the shinsengumi and all… I never wanted you to lose everything.”
“Well… Yeah I lost basically everything, but that's not your fault. You didn’t make me sick… It just happened and without you I would be dead by now and my body would rot away in Murukorai or in the river.” Soji sighed a bit, reached over and ran his hand softly over Saito's cheek.
“I’m not mad at you because of this here. Actually, I enjoy living here with you. You made this place really a home. A home only for you and me…” Soji looked around in the small but comfy house.
“I like it here and would like to stay here with you.”
Saito grinned at him, leaning softly into the touch.
“Well, staying here together was the plan to begin with. I want you to stay by my side for as long as possible. I love you Soji.”
Soji's cheek got a bit pink and he smiled.
“I want the same thing.” He poured himself a second cup of tea.
“And I need to get even better now, I finally wanna be able to kiss you again and do so much more with you.”
“We will, don’t worry.” Saito got up and went into the kitchen.
“Just relax, I will prepare dinner now.” he started to clean the fish and the crab he caught before looking over his shoulder.
“Oh by the way, we will have Dinner guests today.”
“Haruka?”
“Yeah, but also Nagakura and Inoue. Told them you are not that sick anymore, guess it should be safe now.”
“They know I’m here?”
“Not exactly. They know you are alive, but not where you are. I had to keep it a secret for now, Takeda still wants to see proof that you are dead and is looking for your corpse in the city…”
“He is a dumbass.” Soji just said and drank his tea.

“If you really would have dumped me in Murukorai and I would be dead by now, the people there would have stripped my corpse down to my underwear, maybe even taken that and thrown my sorry dead ass into the river. I would have been eaten by the fish and nothing would be left but a skeleton at the river bottom.”
Saito shivered and swallowed hard by the thought of that alone. That's what he had also feared would have happened if he had brought Soji to that place.
“Yeah but Takeda is still looking for signs that you are really dead. That's why I couldn’t tell Nagakura and Inoue earlier, but now they know and they will come over.”
“And how exactly will they reach us? Sorry I never went outside, I have no idea…” Soji had to admit. He hadn’t done much the last few weeks but lay in his futon and slept and rested. The most he did was get up to relieve himself, but they had a small outhouse and the garden was surrounded by a fence, he could see nothing.
Saito left the kitchen and took his hand.
“Lets take a few steps outside then and I'll show you.” He said and Soji took his hand to get to his feet. He still was a bit shaky, he mostly crawled over the floor when he needed something.
He held onto Saito's arm, who threw a second Haori around his shoulders and led him outside.
It was a fresh afternoon and Soji huddled closer to Saito. The wind blew softly, he could hear it run through the trees and hear the river splash a bit.
Outside of the house, that was surrounded by the fence he always saw when he looked through the windows, he could see the river and Saito pointed at a door he made into the fence.
They walked over and as he opened it, a makeshift path was to see, leading up a small hill.
“Behind that hill is Haruka's home.” he explained and Soji nodded. So that's how the girl came over so often and quickly.
Saito went with him through the main gate. There was no dock, but a small path that led down the river and by the sound of it right to the ocean.
“Nagakura and Inoue will take the boat to get to Harukas home and from there they can come over to us.” Saito explains.
“And down there, you can reach a small bay where I go to catch fish.”
“What a cute and secluded place we do have here.” Soji said, letting go of Saito's arm and walking around a bit. The wind was running through his long hair and he closed his eye, enjoying the breeze. It felt good to be outside again.
“It was the best option we had.” Saito said, watching Soji.
“Its not too far away, I still have an eye on Haruka and the doctor said fresh air is good for you.”
“It is…” Soji took a deep and not at all raspy breath. Saito smiled, walked to his side and wrapped an Arm around his waist.
“This is our Home now, love.”
“I know and I love it.” Soji leaned into Saito's touch and rested his head on his shoulders.
“Lovely house, lovely boyfriend. What more could I ask for.” 

 

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“You asked for me, boss?” Kiryu asked, walking into this bosses Office. Shimano sat behind his desk, smiling a dirty smile and offered Kiryu a chair.
“Yes, I have a special job for you.” he said and the younger man nodded.
“That old man Sera keeps asking and asking about you, I think he is into you.”
“Oh…” Was all Kiryu could say about that.
“Yeah he asked last night if he could take you out and I agreed.”
“Wait what?”
“Yeah, you will go out with him, entertain him, do whatever he wants from you, he pays good cash for you, so do it! You can reach your goal a bit faster that way.”
“But Sir, I’m just here as a host and not as a… whatever he wants me to do.”
“And? You do what he asks you to do!” Shimano barked.
“You ask no questions! You just act for him the way he wants you to act! And if he wants you to drop your pants, you do that!! He will be here in 20 Minutes, dress up and be ready!”
“Sir, I’m NOT a prostitute!” Kiryu argued, but Shimano slammed his fist on the table.
“YOU WILL BE IF YOU ARGUE WITH ME!!! NOW GO!!!”
Kiryu gritted his teeth, but got up and out of the office. Shit! That was not good. But if he would back out now, Shimano could take the money back and Majima and Saejima would have nothing to save Yasuko.
With a sigh he went to the dressing rooms and got into his nice outfit for the night and waited.

After a while Tak came over to him.
“Kaz, you are ordered outside…” he said and Kiryu got up and went there.
A big black car was parked infront of the club and as he came closer a Window was lowered and Sera smiled at him.
“Get in Boy.”
Kiryu did and got into the car, sitting next to Sera, feeling a bit uneasy. Would that man really want to have sex with him? He hoped not. He always thought the older Gentleman was a nice man. Would he really?
“I hope you are hungry, I made a reservation at a nice restaurant.” Sera smiled at him and laughed a bit as Kiryu gave him a confused look.
“What?”
“Yeah, we will have a nice dinner now.”
The car moved through the streets and Kiryu was sitting silently. That was a weird situation he got himself into.
At the restaurant, a really fancy place the car stopped and the chauffeur opened the door for the two men.
“Let's have a nice evening, Kazuma.” Sera walked inside, Kiryu following him, still confused.
At the table, the older man ordered a good wine and they checked the menus.
“Sir… why did you wanted me to come along with you?” Kiryu asked, looking at the older who smiled at him.
“Why not? Coming to the club is nice, but I wanted to talk to you a bit more in Private. As a host you are bound to so many rules, I want to see the real you.”
“Even with the risk of not liking my true self?”
“Sure, thats the fun about meeting new people. Most people are interested because of my wealth, but mostly they turn out to be boring people. I wanna know how you are Kazuma. Are you also after wealth?”
“Not really.” Kiryu said.
“Money can’t buy happiness.”
“And yet you took so much upon you to allow that Hannya dancer to go and save his sister with money.” Sera said and Kiryu looked up again.
“Yeah, I know what you did for him. Guess in some cases Money can buy happiness.”
“Well it can help, sure.” Kiryu said with a smile and Sera also smiled at him.
“Seems that dancer is important to you, boy.”
“Kinda, yeah.” Kiryu said and they ordered.
After the waiter left again, Kiryu took a sip from the wine.
“Sir… You were right.”
“About what exactly?”
“The thing about reincarnation…” Kiryu got his phone out, showing Sera the picture of Saito and Soji.
“That man… he looks like me…”
“Oh yeah he does… And the other… by any chance does he look like that man you fell for?”
Kiryu nodded and Sera smiled a very happy smile.
“My boy, thats fate. You two are clearly meant for each other. Where is he?”
“He is Hannya Sir, so you know where he is.” 
“Oh yeah, I heard he went to Osaka. Thats a nice and busy city. Its been a while since I went there…” he smiled at Kiryu as their orders came.
“What do you say Kazuma? Wanna come with me to Osaka? We can visit your boyfriend.”
Kiryu, again, looked up confused.
“Sir… are… are you sure about that? Wouldn’t that upset you?”
Sera smiled and shook his head.
“Not in the slightest. To be honest, the reason why I’m so interested in you is, because you look and act a bit like my son.”
“Your Son?”
“Yeah he would be around your Age by now…” Sera sighed.
“Got himself involved with the Yakuza, no idea where he is right now. Never visits his old parents… oh don’t worry, you don’t need to replace him. I just want to be a good fatherfigure for once in my life.”
“I think you do a good job, but, if you want my honest opinion, you really should look for him. Show him that you care about him and that you can look past his Yakuza shenanigans.”
“You know, you are right. I guess you are never too old for your parents to worry about you.” Sera smiled, eating his dinner and Kiryu also started eating.
It tasted so delicious.

“But still, I would really like it if you would come with me to Osaka. My wife is not a big fan of traveling and being alone is a bit boring.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Kiryu smiled.
“I guess a little trip won’t hurt.”
“I think so too, boy.” Sera smiled.
“I will schedule a trip over and will inform you about it.”
“That would be nice.” 

***

“Goro, I’m wondering…” Yasuko looked at her brother, who was sitting by her bedside, while Taiga was at work.
“Hm?”
“This Kiryu guy… He is handsome right?”
“Oh yes.”
“And he is very kind.”
“Yes.”
“And is he your type?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you like him?”
“Yeah I do.”
“Then WHY is he NOT your boyfriend?!”
Majima sighed a bit, running a hand through his hair.
“Well… we don’t know each other that well yet. And your health is way more important than my love life.”
“Goro, you didn’t had a relationship since that Accident with Homare. Don’t you think its time to have enough trust in a guy again?”
“Its not that easy, Yasu-chan.”
“Why not? You still think you are ugly?” Yasuko reached for him, putting her hand softly on Majimas cheek.
“You are not ugly Nii-san.”
“Its not that. Really, its not that.” Majima assured her with a sigh.
“I owe Kiryu so much… I would do everything for him. Thanks to him we can save you. I just feel bad to leave him with this burden. He wants to pay off my debt I have and we don’t talk about a few hundred yen, we talk about way over 300.000.000 Yen.”
Yasuko looked at him, her mouth open.
“You… you… are you crazy?!”
“Yeah. Thanks that you noticed.” He took her hand.
“I would do way more than go into debt for you Yasu-chan. You are my beloved little sister and I would do everything I could to save you. I would give you my kidneys if possible, Taiga would do the same!”
“I know and I would do the same for you two.” she assured him.
“I guess the best I can do in this situation is to get healthy again, so we can all finally go home and you can find your way into Kiryu-sans Arms.”
“Yasu-chan!!!” 

 

1868

“You crazy bastard and I was worried about you!” Nagakura smiled as he and Inoue reached the little secluded house.
“You guys have a nice home here.” Inoue said, looking around, while Haruka followed them inside, where Saito prepared the dinner and Soji got up from his Futon.
“You have an adorable Daughter Saito-san.” The oldest said and sat down, while Haruka giggled and Saito blushed.
“Do I need to tell the story again?” He mumbled and Soji grinned.
“You told me not to talk so much because of my sore throat, so yeah, its up to you.”
And so, Saito told the whole Story with Haruka again, while She served Sake to the two guests and a tea to Soji, who wasn’t allowed to drink.
“Still, you are a fatherfigure for her now.” Inoue said, drinking his sake, while Saito served the food he prepared.
“I do my best.” he said with a smile, as Soji came closer, sitting with a bit distance to the others, to not infect them.
“How is everything going?” Saito asked and Inoue sighed.
“Its… complicated right now.” He said.
“Takeda is still looking for hints, I know you are not always there, he thinks you are hiding something, but so far, he hasn’t found any hints or any traces that could lead him to Soji…”
“Yeah I noticed that he tried to follow me, but he never got far. I always lose him halfway through the city.”
“Why does he want to find Soji-san?” Haruka asked.
“Well I guess to kill him.” Nagakura said and Haruka almost dropped her ricebowl.
“But why? Because he got sick? He is almost back to normal.”
“Thats the problem…” Soji said, eating slowly, needing tea to get everything down.
“He despises me and if he finds out I’m still alive and that I’m weakened, he will use his chance to end me.”
“You made yourself some good friends…” Nagakura said sarcastically, but Haruka looked at him.
“He has friends! And Oji-san here will protect him, right?” She looked at Saito, who nodded.
“I will. Of course. I will always protect the people I care about.”
“So, you two are finally together?” Inoue asked, getting another sip of sake.
“I was wondering. From the first day, you two seem to have a weird connection.”
“Yeah we are together.” Saito said and Soji grinned his wide grin.
“I love that crazy guy.”
“Yeah we know.” Nagakura laughed and finished his food.
“We are happy for you two. We really are. It's weird but whatever makes you two happy.”
“Thanks Shinpa-chan.”
They all looked at Inoue, who smiled and raised his cup.
“A drink for you. Let this weird relationship of yours not die too quickly. Soji really needs a babysitter.”
“EY!!!”
Saito, Nagajura and Haruka laughed at this, raising their glasses to drink with the oldest. 

 

The evening went on, Inoue went outside at some point for a smoke and Saito followed him. A strict rule of him, not smoking in the house, while Soji was still sick and the two sat down at the river with their pipes.
A while they smoked silently, watching up to the moon.
Inoue sighed a bit.
“I’m glad you saved him.” he said and Saito looked at him.
“I know he can be a troublemaker but he has a good heart, hidden inside, masked by fake insanity and madness.”
“Why is he like that?”
“That brings the time with it. We were nothing but criminals before we joined the Shinsengumi… I basically raised these two… “
“I see…” Saito took a drag from his pipe, looking at the water.
“Are you still looking for the man who killed your father, Ryoma?” Inoue asked all of the sudden and Saito looked at him, his eyes wide.
“What?”
“You still are looking for that hooded man, right?”
“I do… and that you know my name means you know something!” Saito got to his feet and Inoue sighed, getting up as well.
“I do. And I have good news for you, Ryoma… you found him.”
Inoue looked at Saito with a stern look on his face.
“He is right in front of you.” 

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

1868

Saito stared at the older man for a while, did he hear that correctly?
“You? You killed my Father?”
“It was an order.”
“WHY!??! JUST TELL ME WHY?!?!”
“As I said, it was an order.” Inoue stayed calm, but saw Saito's hand wander down to his sword. 

“And you knew who I was from the beginning?”
Inoue nodded.
“Yes I did.”
Saito drew his sword, Inoue did the same.
“So, this is how it ends? A fight between the two of us again? Are you sure you can beat me?”
“I’m pretty sure of that!”
“I don’t wanna harm or kill you Saito… no Ryoma.”
They got in position.
“But I will not hold back if I have to.”
“NEITHER DO I!!!!!” Saito yelled and attacked him.

Inside Nagakura looked up.
“Did you two hear that?” He asked and Soji and Haruka looked up from the game of Mahjong they were playing.
“Hear what?” Soji asked and listened. The sounds of swords clashing were to be heard, grunting and yelling.
“Are they…” nagakura jumped up, Soji did the same, grabbing his swords from the corner of the room and they ran outside, followed by Haruka.
It had started to rain.
The ground was muddy, the sky dark and cloudy and Saito and Inoue were fighting near the river.
“What is going on here?!?!?” Nagakura asked loudly and the two fighters looked at him and the others.
“Get back inside!” Saito yelled at them.
“This is between me and the Murderer of my Father!!”
“Saito-chan… NO STOP THIS!!!” Soji moved towards them, but Nagakura grabbed his arm.
“Oji-san!!” Haruka stopped as well, looking scared and worried.
“Stay all out of this!” Inoue said as well, looking at them.
“I have to pay for this.”
“But you…” Soji started but a cough stopped him and he covered his face with his sleeve.
“Go back inside Soji!” Saito yelled at him.
“MOVE YOU STUPID ASS BACK IN THE HOUSE!!!”
“Saito… if you kill him…” Soji gritted his teeth, grabbed his sword and moved free from Nagakura's grip.
He moved right next to Inoue, his sword in position.
“I will not let you do this Saito-chan…”
It was clear that he was not ready to fight, his hands were shaking, he could barely hold his sword still and yet he was not moving away from Inoue's side.
“He is my mentor and friend…I can’t let you do this.”
“You knew it…” Saito mumbled.
“You knew the whole time who did it and you never told me…”
“What would you have done in my situation?! Would you betray a friend!?”
“You already did…” Saito's gaze got darker, now fixed on Soji.
“YOU BETRAYED ME!!!! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!!!”
“I do!! I do Saito-chan…but I can’t let you harm Gen-san…”
“You can barely stand. You will get sick again and then you may die!”
“Who cares…” Soji dropped his sword, unable to hold it any longer, his body got weak again and he stumbled backwards willingly.
“Saito-chan… I do love you… but I can’t choose between you two…” He stood now by the river.
“If you wanna kill yourselves… Fine.”
“Soji NO!!!” Saito and Inoue both yelled as Soji fell backwards into the river.
The water was fast and as soon as he went in, he was out of sight.

Saito threw his sword aside, same Inoue and they both jumped into the river after Soji.
The water carried Soji away, he didn’t even care anymore. If the two really wanted to murder each other, what reason to live did he still have? Better to die now and not see who will bleed out on the muddy ground.
‘I never betrayed you Saito-chan…’ his thoughts were running wild, while the water swirled around him, algae touching his cold body.
‘But I can’t anymore. I can’t lose any of you…’
He was about to pass out as his lungs were about to collapse as a hand grabbed his Ankle.
‘No… no don’t save me, just let me die already…’
He was pulled to the surface.
He heard a loud gasp.
“SAITO!!! I GOT HIM!!” He heard Inoue's voice, water splashing around them. Saito held onto a rock, reaching out for the older, who tried to grab his hand, but the current was strong and moved the older one away too fast and Saito couldn’t grab him. His hand grabbed into the voice as he watched Inoue and Soji get washed down the river, the older one desperately trying not to sink under, while holding Soji up as well.
Saito bit his lips. That was NOT how he wanted this to go. He climbed out of the water and saw a figure running past him.
Nagakura ran through the mud, following the river, trying to catch up with his mentor and friend and save them.
“Oji-san!” Haruka reached his side, looking worried and looked at him, but his gaze was at the river, where the three disappeared.
“Are you okay?” She asked but he shook his head.
“I Ruined everything…” He mumbled, more to himself than to hear.
“I lost everything right now…Soji… oh god Soji…”
“Oji-san… calm down…” She shook his shoulders, making him look up and he looked at the river again, seeing Nagakura return, holding Soji in his arms, Inoue next to him. All three were soaking wet.
Saito stood up from the ground, but didn’t dared to come any closer as they past him, without saying a word, the only thing he could hear was Soji who was sobbing in his brother's arms.
He stayed where he was, wet, dirty and completely destroyed. He had ruined everything. He found the masked man, he had failed to get his answers from him and now Nagakura and Also Inoue would probably tell the rest of the Shinsengumi and the worst: he was sure Soji would now hate him for this. He would probably leave him and he would be alone again.
He could hear footsteps behind himself and as he turned around he was face to face with Inoue, who gave him his sword back.
“I never wanted to murder your father.” He said, as Saito took the sword and put it back into his scabbard.
“It was an order I got, but I disliked it.”
“Who gave you the order?”
Inoue sighed.
“I don’t know, I didn’t see the man's face and he didn’t tell me his name.”
Saito nodded, looking down. 
Inoue looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I know you probably hate me now, but please, let me help you. Let me help you find the man who ordered your fathers death.”
“You still wanna help me? Why?”
“Because Soji loves you. And as long as he does, we can’t go at each other's throats. He may act wild and mad, but he is a very insecure person on the inside. He needs you…”
“He probably hates me now.” Saito said but the older one shook his head.
“He doesn’t, but he thinks you do. I will give you all the information you want. I know I can’t beat you in a fight, I will help you and if I die as a result of this, well… then that's what it is.”
“Why? Inoue-san, why?” Saito looked at him. The mans face was unreadable for him.
“Because I owe you that. After all that happened… I guess you deserve answers and all the help you can get. We will stand behind you. But right now, we should head home. You need to be there for Soji.”
“You think he wants to see me?”
“Oh I’m sure he wants you there.” Inoue walked back to the house and Saito followed. He knew if he wanted he could end it now. The older was unarmed, one stab would end his life, but he never wanted to kill him.
Fight and defeat him, get his answers, but nothing more.
Nagakura sat infront of the house and looked up as the other two came closer.
“All good again?” he asked and Saito nodded softly.
“I… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did…”
“Well it's understandable, but please go inside. Soji needs you.”
“Where is Haruka?”
“I have sent the lil lady home…” Nagakura said, running his hand over his wet face.
“Its a bit too much stress for her.”
“Well… thank you…”
Saito went inside.
The fireplace was lit, it was warm and cozy inside. The ground was covered with mud and Sojis dirty clothes lay in a corner of the house. He would have to wash it later.
Saito saw the man huddled in his futon, covered completely by the blanket, shaking and still sobbing. Saito removed his wet clothes as well, got himself a dry and clean haori, nothing more and sat down next to Soji.
He was unsure what he should say and just sighed.
Soji moved under his blanket, facing the other man.
“I didn’t betray you Saito…” he mumbled and Saito looked at him. He leaned down, ran his hand through the others dirty hair, stroked it back and kissed him on the forehead.
“I know… I’m so sorry I overreacted so much…”
“You didn’t kill Gen-san right?”
“I didn’t… he and Nagakura are going back home right now… Soji, I’m so sorry…” he lay down next to his lover, who cuddled against him.
“Why did you do that? Why did you jump into the river?”
“I was… desperate okay? I thought everything is ruined now.” Soji mumbled against Saitos Chest.
“I thought you two would kill each other… and that you hated me for defending Gen-san…”
“I don’t hate you… and I didn’t wanted to kill him. All I want are answers.” Saito said with another sigh.
“I never wanted to kill Inoue-san…I was in rage, yeah but I would never kill him.” He looked at Soji, who looked at him as well.
“Also, killing him while you, Nagakura and Haruka were around as witnesses would be a bit stupid. He said he was ordered and I need to know who ordered it! Inoue-san had no connection with my pops, he didn’t knew him, it was nothing personal, just a job for him and I need to know who ordered him to do it.”
“Kondo probably knows.” Soji said, still cuddled against the other man.
“I will ask him tomorrow, if I can find him.” He ran his hand over sojis back, noticing the man was not wearing anything and he blushed.
“Why are you naked?”
“My clothes are soaked and dirty…I can’t wear them and Shinpa-chan just undressed me and put me back in my futon…”
“You really should rest, you look pale and unhealthy again.”
“I probably fucked everything up with my health now…” Soji sighed, coughing into his hands.
“We will get new tea and some medicine for you tomorrow… I guess answers can wait, you are more important…”
“You sure?”
“Of course. We will go into the city tomorrow, get Medicine, winter clothes and then you will relax for the rest of the day.”
“Alright…” Soji cuddled against Saito, closing his eye.
It was a bit uncomfortable for Saito to half sit and half lay like this, but he didn’t dared to move, so Soji could rest.
He was such an Idiot, why did he do all this? Why did Inoue all of the sudden told him? They had so many chances to fight and handle this, why this evening? Was he feeling guilty? Or did he just felt save, knowing that Soji and Nagakura would never let Saito kill him? What was the point behind all this?
He had to ask the older man by times and hopefully, it would not end in a blood bath.

The next day came and Saito had an aching back and Soji an aching throat, but they went out anyway.
In some fresh clothes and Soji wearing the foxmask again, they went into the City with Haruka, looking for vendors who sell clothes.
“I fell now like an Idiot with that Mask…” Soji mumbled, walking close to Saito.
“Well it serves two purposes right now, you can’t cough at others and nobody should recognize you.” Saito said, softly grabbing his hand and holding it while they walked over the marketplace.
A few members of the Shinsengumi were also there and Saito was ready to face them, if Nagakura and Inoue have said what had happened, but apparently they didn’t said anything, because the members just greeted Saito and walked along.
“Told you they wouldn’t say anything.” Soji whispered and Saito smiled.
“Thankfully…”
They found a vendor selling clothes and went into the shop. 

 

Kamurocho

“Wait a moment, you have a sugar daddy now?!”
“Akira, don’t be ridiculous. He is not my sugar daddy.” Kiryus cheeks flushed bright pink, while he had lunch with Nishiki at home.
He did had a nice night with Sera, After dinner, they had gone to the batting center, and Kiryu had been impressed by how well the older man was still able to hit home runs. That man was a natural Pro at Baseball. 

“For me it sounds like it.” Nishiki said, but Kiryu shook his head.
“He is just lonely, he pays for my company.”
“Wow, you can really buy company by now.”
“What am I supposed to do? I need that money to pay off my debt.”
“As long as the old Man doesn’t touch you…” Nishiki sighed and continued with his lunch.
“I'm busting my ass in the hospital and you're making a ton of money by keeping a guy company for an evening.”
“Its not MY money, you know that and It was pure luck that Sera likes me the most.”
“Please stay on his good side, he regularly donates to the hospital I work at and to a local orphanage as well, so don’t mess up.”
“I try not to.”
“Oh by the way, Father called.” 

Now Kiryu looked up. Not his real father of course, but the man who raised them both in the orphanage. He regularly called to see how they were doing.
“Oh and what did he want?”
“The usual. Asking how we are doing, how life is, if you finally married Yumi and if yes, why he wasn’t invited.”
Kiryu sighed. He hadn’t told his father that he and Yumi aren’t a thing anymore.
“Better I call him back and explain everything…”
“No need, I told him.” Nishiki said, finishing his meal and putting his chopsticks aside.
“He knows you and Yumi aren’t together anymore and also that you have your eyes on a man right now.”
“And what did he say?”
“Nothing to be honest, he hung up at that moment.” 

Kiryu swallowed hard. Was his father now angry?
“I need to call him…” he got up and into the livingroom, grabbed the phone and went into his room.
“Yeah sure… Leave the dishes all to me again!” he heard nishiki yell, but ignored him, locked his door and sat down on the bed, looking for his fathers phone number.

“Yeah hello Kazuma.” The stern voice of his father was to hear and he swallowed again.
“Yeah Hi…” He said, not sure how to start this conversation.
“Akira told me already.”
“What did he tell you?”
“Haven’t you talked with him already? You never call out of the blue.”
“Is it because I’m interested in a man?”
His Father Kazama said nothing.
“Is that really bothering you?”
“Of course not! Thats not the point here Kazuma, I don’t care about your partners Gender as long as this person makes you happy, I talk about the debt you got yourself into!”
“Oh that… yeah well, that was stupid.”
“I agree with you Kazuma, that really WAS stupid.”
“Hey I will handle it somehow and get myself out of this, I have a job and everything. I can handle it, so don’t worry Father.”
Kazama sighed.
“You know I always worry, thats part of my job as your father…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Alright… now tell me a bit about that man and why you are no longer with Yumi.”
“Yumi broke up with me and that guy… Well we are not together… yet. He has some business to do in Sotenborí and I’m still in Kamurocho, so we can’t see each other that much. But we like each other and I hope, when everything works out we can know more about each other.”
“Whats the guys Name?”
“Goro Majima.”
He could hear his father choke on something.
“Okay, thats weird!” Kazama said and Kiryu raised an Eyebrow.
“What? Why? Do you know him?”
“Well a bit, but also his parents.”
“His real parents?”
“Yes. They brought him to my orphanage as he was still a baby. Said they didn’t want him and that he has to go. Said if I don’t take him in they would just throw him in a dumpster. He was a troublemaker from the start, as soon as he had teeth he would bite all the other kids, he even bit you as you were still a baby.”
“He bit me?”
“Yes, he bit everybody, it was so stressful, I had to send him away to another place… It was not my intention to give up on a child, but I had no choice, he was too much to handle.”
“And then he got adopted by struggling parents who already had two kids.” Kiryu said with a sigh.
“But he is okay. He and his big brother are now in Sotenbori to save their Sister Yasuko.”
“Oh? Good to hear that he turned out okay.”
“Do you have any idea what happened to his real parents?”
“No idea, but by the looks of the two, they might be dead. They looked like junkies to me.”
“I see… Well but yeah, He is the man I’m interested in and we like each other.” Kiryu said and his Father sighed, but Kiryu could hear the smile on his face.
“As long as you are happy Kazuma. But please, if you need help, call me, I will do what I can to support you.”
“I know, but I can handle this, don’t worry.”
He looked at his watch.
“I need to end this call now, I need to get ready for Work.”
“Sure thing, Boy. Take care and look after Akira, he needs you as well.”
“I will, bye Father.”
“Bye my son.” 

Chapter 17

Chapter 16

“What do you mean you are on your way to Sotenbori?!?!”
Saejima and Yasuko looked up as Majima was on his phone, talking to Kiryu.
“Yeah, I’m on my way. Be there in around 2 Hours.”
“What? WHY?!?!”
“Well one of the guests in the club invited me to a trip.” Kiryu said, sitting next to Sera in his car, while they drove down a highway.
“Wha…you… Oh…” Majima pulled a face.
“I see…”
“Hey, its not what you might think, I…” Kiryu stopped as Sera took the phone away from him.
“Am I talking to Majima-san?” he asked and made the younger man on the other side of the line even more confused.
“Wha? Yeah…What do you want?”
“Just inform you that we would like your Company while on this trip. Kazuma is really excited to see you again.”
“So you are not his lover?”
“His Lover?” Sera raised an Eyebrow and Kiryu buried his face in his hands. That was weirdly embarrassing.
“Of course not. Young man, I’m married and I’m not a cheater! I just love Kazumas Company. Parental feelings only.”
“And you guys are coming over?!”
“Yes, we are on our way for a weekend trip. So I wish you to show up otherwise Kazuma will be sad and disappointed."
“Could you ask him something for me?”
“Sure.” Sera looked over at Kiryu.
“Just simply ask him if I should wear his wish-outfit?”
“His Wish-outfit?” Sera repeated and Kiryu blushed dark red. He knew Majima was talking about the black dress they had talked about before.
“Yeah, he knows what I mean.”
“Well he is blushing very dark red right now…”
“Sir… please… Its embarrassing. Goro just wear whatever you want!”
“Sure thing Kazzy, I will. Then I should better go and change before you arrive.”
“Do that young man, we will be waiting for you in front of the cabaret theatre.” Sera hung up and smiled at Kiryu, handing him back his phone.
“What is this Wish-outfit he was talking about?”
“He likes to wear dresses and asked me what kind of dress I would like.” Kiryu mumbled and the old man laughed a bit.
“Oh I’m curious now what he will wear.”
Kiryu smiled a bit as a message came in.
“Is it cool if Yasuko and Taiga join in as well?”
Kiryu showed the message to Sera who nodded.
“Of course. More company is always welcome.”
Kiryu wrote an answer and put his phone away. He was nervous but also excited to see Majima again and also to see Sotenbori. He never went there before.

***

“Bro, are you sure about this outfit?” Saejima asked as they waited in front of the theatre. Yasuko got the okay from the doctor to go out for a night, but had to return later. She giggled as she looked at Majima, who was wearing a black long dress with a deep neckline and a high slit at the legs. A nice golden necklace adorned his neck, fitting bangles around his wrists and earrings shined as he pushed the long hair of his wig behind his ear.
“Of course.” Majima pulled a little mirror out of his handbag and checked his makeup and he reapplied his purple lipstick, before licking over his teeth to make sure it didn’t get stuck there.
“Why though?!” Saejima sighed and tried to ignore all the looks they or mostly Majima got.
“Because Kiryu wanted me to wear that.” was the short and simple answer and Saejima sighed.
“It looks so good on you Goro-chan.” Yasuko said and he smiled but Saejima sighed again.
“Please Yasu-chan, don’t encourage him to wear this stuff…”
“Why not? It looks good and I never thought a feminine look would pair so well with a goatee.” Yasuko laughed looking at her older brother.
“Manly and yet so feminine.”
“Exactly Yasu-chan! You get it!” Majima said and they both giggled.
“I don’t get it…” 

“Taiga, shut up.”
Majima looked up as a black car parked at the nearby Parking lot. Was that Kiryu? The car looked very expensive and fancy. The driver got out, walked around and opened the door. Out stepped an older gentleman and behind him Kiryu, who was wearing an expensive looking black suit.
Kiryu fixed his jacket, before looking around. He could see Taiga and the sweet girl by his side was probably Yasuko, but he couldn’t see Majima right away and his heart sank for a second.
“What is Kazuma?” Sera asked and looked in the same direction as the younger man.
“I can’t see him… I see his brother though.” Kiryu said, leading Sera over and Saejima smiled at Kiryu.
“Good to see ya Kaz, it's been a while.” the bulky man said and smiled, same as Kiryu, who looked at the young woman.
“Nice to finally meet you Kiryu-san.” She said and he recognized her voice.
“You are Yasuko, right?”
She nodded and smiled even wider.
“Thanks to you I can be here tonight with you all…” She couldn’t hold it anymore and hugged Kiryu.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!!”
Sera watched and laughed.
“You really have a golden heart, Kazuma.”
“And you are?” Taiga looked at Sera, who introduced himself as well and Taiga and Yasuko bowed down in respect.
Majima stood quiet, a bit away from them all. He was nervous and now so unsure if it was the best idea to wear a dress. He had his back turned towards them all and was thinking about running home quickly to change as Somebody grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer, making him almost trip because of his high heels.
“Where are your manners? Don’t you wanna introduce yourself?” Taiga said and Majima stumbled, before fiddling with his wig to get it back in position and looking at Kiryu and Sera. He bowed down as well, introducing himself and Sera smiled as he saw Kiryus' expression.
“Goro?” He waited until the older stood straight again and came a bit closer.
“Holy shit… you look simply stunning!”
“You… you really like it?” He pushed his hair out of his face and Kiryu nodded.
“You are so beautiful.”
“Thanks, Kaz.” Majima smiled at him, making him look even more beautiful in Kiryu's eyes and his heart began to pound higher and faster in his chest. But it also confused him a bit. Majima was a man, but he now looked like a woman, even with a goatee. Was he now into guys or into women?
Sera stepped forward before Kiryu could get too lost in his thoughts.
“Tell me, we had a long journey, where is a good place to eat a bit?”
“Depends on what you are looking for, Sir.” Taiga said, thinking for a moment.
“We have some fancy restaurants around but its hella expensive…”
“Or would you prefer some local foods, then I know just the place.” Yasuko smiled and he returned her smile.
“Show me some good local foods, I can have Fancy all the other days of the year, I wanna have something authentic.”
Yasuko smiled and took Sera softly by the arm.
“Then follow me good Sir, I know exactly what you are looking for.”
She led the whole group down the street, Sera by her side, Next to them Taiga and Kiryu behind them with Majima by his side, who clutched the little black leather purse he had with him a bit tight.
“What is it?” Kiryu asked him and he just shrugged.
“Not sure…” he said hiding his face behind the long hair, as Kiryu stroke it behind his ear to look at him.
“You really look beautiful, I never thought you would really do this for me.”
“I told you, you can choose whatever I wear whenever we meet. I owe you that.”
“No. You don’t owe me anything, I told you that.” he took Majimas Hand.
“As long as you are able to save Yasuko, we are equal. I don’t want you to lose your sister and now that I see her, I don’t want her to suffer as well. She really is just like Yuko was. She deserves to live and if I can help with it, I will do.”
Majima looked at him, his eye getting wet with tears and he rummaged through his purse for a tissue, to not ruin his makeup and Kiryu smiled.
“No need to cry now.”
“Hey, are you two coming?” Yasuko called out for them and Kiryu gave her a wave, a sign they will be at their side again in a minute, while Majima carefully dabbed the tears from his eye.
“I’m fine, lets see what Yasu-chan has planned.”

The young woman had stopped in front of a Takoyaki stand.
“It doesn’t get more Osaka than this.” she smiled as the older Man in the stand prepared the small balls for all of them.
“These are the best in the entire city.”
“Oh Yasu-chan, its always nice when you say that.” The man said, handing the first portion to her, which she gave over to Sera, who smiled.

“Its been years since I had these.” He said, taking one and burning his mouth with it.
“Argh…I also forgot how hot they are.” he laughed and Yasuko giggled a bit.
“Careful Sir.”
“I try… oh hot… but delicious.”
They all got a portion of the Takoyaki and sat down on a nearby bench to enjoy it. Kiryu sat in the middle between Majima and Sera, Taiga and Yasuko in his back and he tried his best not to drip the sauce on the nice suit. It was just a rental, if he ruined it, he would never be able to pay that back as well.
“How long will you stay?” Taiga asked after a while and Kiryu looked at Sera, who cleaned his face with a napkin.
“We want to spend the whole weekend here. My Driver should have checked in for us in the hotel by now. We have time.”
“And you are… Kazuma’s…friend? His father? A sugar daddy?”
“Taiga!!” Kiryu barked at him, but Sera laughed.
“Why does everybody thinks that? Do I look like a perv?”
“Not really Sir.” Yasuko said, finishing her Portion and stealing Taigas last one, while he wasn’t looking.
“Well I’m old enough to be his father, thats for sure.”
“He is a friend.” Kiryu said, looking at the older one.
“We met at Snakelight.”
“Oh yeah that club…” Taiga sighed and looked over to his brother, who was silent the whole time.
“From client to friend.” Kiryu continued and Sera smiled at him.
“I’m glad you think that way Kazuma. I really enjoy your company and I hope I don’t bore you.”
“Sir, you will never. You have absolutely surprised me more than once, I find it exciting and thrilling.” He grinned at Taiga.
“Sera-san here is a pro at Baseball.”
“Oh really?” Taiga grinned as well now and faced Sera.
“We have a batting center here in the area as well, you wanna prove yourself?”
“Sure thing boy, you think you can beat me?” Sera smiled and Taiga got up.
“Of course!

“We will see!” The oldest looked at the group.
“I would say, we head to the batting center and I show this kid who is the boss.”
Kiryu laughed a bit and got up as well.
“Sure thing, let's all play a round or two.” He looked at Majima and held his hand out.
The older looked up to him, a bit of Sauce on his cheek and got up, taking Kiryus Hand, who used his free hand to wipe the sauce away.
“Oh… Thanks…” Majima blushed and Kiryu licked it off of his thumb, before smiling as well.
“Are you good at Baseball?”
“Hell yeah!” Majima grinned wide.
“I will beat all of you! And if I beat you Kazzy, do I get a kiss?”
“Sure, if you can beat me that is.” Kiryu smirked. He would Kiss Majima even without losing to him, but seeing the man fired up like that was great and so he went along.

At the batting center, the people were looking at them.
“Okay ladies and gentlemen, let's play.” Sera grinned, taking his jacket off, same as Kiryu and Yasuko took them.
“I can’t play this, I watch and take care of these.” She said and Majima handed her his high heels.
“Hold these as well sis, I need to show these guys who’s boss here!” He went into one of the cages and grabbed a bat.
“I’ll show you who will get the most home runs!”
“Don’t cry if you lose my dear.” Kiryu was right next to his cage and smirked at him, also bat in hand.
“Less talking, more homeruns!” Taiga said, getting the first ball already, hitting it perfectly, same as Sera.
Yasuko waited for them and smiled as Majima exited the cage with a perfect score of 20 Hits and 20 Homeruns.
“Hahaha who is the King?!” He laughed as Kiryu, Sera and Taiga followed.
Kiryu hit a score of 17, Taiga 18 and Sera 19.
“I’m impressed.” the oldest said and Majima grinned wide.
“And? Do I get my kiss?” He asked as Taiga came closer, kissing his brother on the cheek.
“Wha? I didn’t mean…” he stopped as Sera took his hand and kissed the back of it all in on the joke. Yasuko also got up, gave Majima a kiss on the other cheek and grinned at him and then at Kiryu, who smiled, pulled Majima into his arms and kissed him softly on the lips. Majima purred softly and wrapped his arms around Kiryu's neck, deepening the kiss a bit, before pulling back and laughing.
“You have my lipstick on your face.”
“And you have it smeared around your mouth.” Kiryu grinned, while Yasuko laughed and handed him his jacket back.
“Lady, your shoes.” She laughed and Majima got back into his heels, before fixing his lipstick.
“Alright lets go, there is more to see about the city.” Taiga said and they left the batting center for more activities.

1868

It costed a lot of money, but all three left the shop with new and warm winterclothes. Saito even got himself a few more items, he was short on clothes and sick of his old grey Kimono, he was wearing almost daily.
Next stop was the doctor for a quick check in and new meds.
Soji was walking close to him, while he carried the most packages with the clothes in and Haruka followed.
“That was not cheap…” She commented and Saito nodded.
“Yeah but better than freezing in the cold this coming winter.”
“That's true… I would rather not freeze to death.” Soji said but was quiet as a familiar face appeared in front of them.
Takeda was out in the streets with a few of his men, clearly looking pissed and his mood seems to worsen as he noticed Saito and his two companions.
“Oh Saito-san. Enjoying a shopping trip with your ladies?” he said in a mocking tone and Saito stopped.
“And what if so?” he asked and Takeda got closer, walking around them, while Soji held onto Saitos arm, holding the clothes he carried a bit closer towards his chest. He jumped as he felt a slap on his butt and Takeda laughed.
“Lil flat for a woman.” he commented and Saito shot him a glance.
“Would you NOT touch her!?”
“Sir, please don’t touch my Mommy!” Haruka said in a stern voice, crossing her arms.
“She doesn’t like being touched by strangers, you make her uncomfortable!”
“Oh really? And whats with the mask?”
“What does it matter to you?” Saito asked, getting more and more pissed.
“What do you want?”
“Oh nothing. I was just around in the city, wondering as always where you hid Okita.”
“You know exactly what I had to do.”
“Yeah but where is his body? Dead man can’t just simply vanish!” Takeda came closer, a bit too close for Saito's taste, but he held his gaze.

“Where is that rotten mutt?”
“Dead. Told you all already I had to take him out of his misery in Murukorai.”
“And why has nobody there ever saw you doing it?”
“Because nobody gives a damn what happens there?” Saito pushed him aside and continued his walk, Soji and Haruka following.
“When I find out that mutt is still alive I will personally gut him right in front of your face!”
“If he were still there and you tried something like that, you would have to get past me first and we both know you would never be able to do that, so just don't try! And also, don’t you have more important things to do?” Saito didn’t wait for an answer and walked down the streets. 

“That guy is weird…” Haruka commented and Saito nodded, Soji was silent.
“Whats on your mind, love?” Saito asked noticing how silent he was.
“You sure its a good idea to hide me all the time? Sooner or later he will find out and then you and Haruka are in danger.”
“As I said, if he tries anything he will have to get past me, so don’t worry too much, everything will be alright.”
“But how long do you want me to hide my face away from the public?” Soji grabbed his arm tighter.
“I can’t run around like this forever!”
“Don’t worry, we will find a solution, but first you need to be at your maximum health again.”
“Yeah, you need.” Haruka said and held onto Sojis Sleeve, who blushed under his mask.
“You called me mommy…” He mumbled and she smiled up to him.
“Yeah. To help you and Oji-san.”
“That was a good move Haruka.” Saito laughed and run his hand over her hair, before taking Sojis hand again, walking to the doctor with him. 

 

The doctor took Soji with him to make a few checks, while Saito and Haruka waited outside.
“Alright sir, open your clothes, I need to listen now.” The doctor said and grabbed a stethoscope. He placed it on Soji's chest and listened.
“Alright now breathe in deeply.” he ordered and Soji did, coughing in the process, still wearing the mask.
“Mhm… okay, again please…” He did as he was told, not coughing this time, before the doctor walked to his back and listened there again.
“Alright.” The doctor put his instrument aside.
“Its not perfect, but you are getting better slowly, a bit more rest and medicine should get you back to health soon. Hopefully before the winter comes or it could get dangerous again.”
“Alright, I will try to get better faster…” Soji said, still coughing into his mask.
“I will give you some more medicine and some tea, then it should be alright soon.”
“Thank you Doctor.” Soji dressed again and bowed down, following the doctor to the front who grabbed a few more herbs and tea from different pots he had.
Saito got up as Soji came out to him again and they went home.

At home Soji crawled back into his futon and Haruka grabbed the dirty clothes from the night before. She sighed.
“I’ll wash these for you.” She said, grabbed it all and went over to her house to wash the stuff while Saito thanked her and cooked some herbal tea.
“You know, I’m a bit sick of this tea… it tastes like Shinpa-chans Socks smell.” Soji complained and Saito laughed shortly.
“Why do you sniff his socks?”
“I shared a room with him for years, I know what his stinky socks smell like.” Soji said and took the cup anyway.
“Well its medicine in a way, so it doesn’t has to taste good, it has to help you.” Saito ran a hand through Sojis hair.
“And the sooner you get better again the sooner I can kiss you again. I miss kissing you.”
“Me too…” Soji forced the tea down and shivered.
“There goes another cup of Socks down…”
Saito laughed and kissed him on the forehead. His fever was gone completely, which was good. Saito was so worried that after last night it would come back, but apparently not and he was thankful for that.
“I hope it will all be better soon, I’m tired of bedrest and spending all days indoors…”
“I know, I know.” Saito got up.
“I’ll be in the garden for a while and would you like a bath later with me?”
Now Soji grinned.

“That would be perfect. I take a nap in the meantime.”
“Yeah do that.” 

Saito went into the garden, took off his Haori, because it was still warm that day and started to work on his field. A few vegetables were ready to be harvested and he got himself a basket. The radish was ready and looked so plump and tasty, he could almost eat them raw by how great they looked. Same for the pumpkins and the peppers. He would pickle some of it and then store it in pots outside when it gets cold. That would certainly get them through the winter.

Soji woke up from his nap, not even an hour later. He sat up and listened. Was somebody singing? He crawled out of his futon and out of the house, walking around it towards the garden.
Saito was still busy with the vegetables, singing passionately. Soji watched him, while doing so. That man had a beautiful singing voice. He leaned against the wall and just listened, while watching his lover work. Summer might have been over, but the sun was shining bright that day and Saito's back was covered in a thin layer of sweat, making his skin shine in the light and his hair stick to the back of his neck. His strong arms also shined in the light, his hands caked with dirt and greens as he pulled Radish out of the ground and placed them in a basket to his right.
Soji licked his dry lips and bit on the lower one. This man was so hot and sexy. Being sick was the worst, he wanted to have Saito closer, way closer than they went so far. He wanted to be held by his strong arms, wanted to be claimed by the man in front of him. He would let Saito do whatever he wanted with him, no matter what it was, but they couldn’t and that was so frustrating.
He turned away and went back into the house. Covering his mouth as a cough came up and he crawled back into his futon.
He wasn’t tired anymore, but he stayed in, listened to Saito's singing and sighed.
“Being sick sucks so much.” He whined to himself.
“I wanna sleep with him so badly…”
He rolled onto his side. Maybe he could give him some hints while in the bath? Yeah, he would try that. Hopefully Saito wasn’t too dense to understand.

Notes:

We all know Saito will not get the hints XD

https://www.tumblr.com/gazkamurocho2/790422940072230912/always-thinking-about-her-heres-how-she-looks-on?source=share
And THIS is kinda my inspiration for Majimas sexy outfit in this chapter XD Yes in the art its the young Yakuza 0 Majima but HEY, add a wig and he still can pull off that look!
Goromi is the best woman anyway!
Also, this is NOT my artwork, I follow this account on Tumblr because I like the art and the style