《 ＭＹＳＴＩＣＡＬ ▫ MAYHEM 》 ↷ ⓶

OHAI.

askdls;;jsfasdl : D	27.6%	[ 16 ]
I'M ON THE MOON.	29.3%	[ 17 ]
No, you're not.	15.5%	[ 9 ]
Yes, I am! D:	27.6%	[ 16 ]
Total Votes:			[ 58 ]

[Plane Between Planes]

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XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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As the voices and shouts still reached their ears from more or less distance away, it didn't take Souji long to realize that he was at a disadvantage. He couldn't understand what those men were saying, so he couldn't take hints from their words themselves -- only from actually being able to hear them. Which didn't serve quite the same use. It wasn't, as such, in the least surprising when he did what any sensible man would do in his situation, and turned to the ijin he was currently with, studying her for reactions instead and trying to figure out at least part of what the men were doing from that. She was looking at him too, her strange face with oddly shaped eyes and nose and framed by unusually colored hair clearly showing signs of distress. She may have been vastly different, but some things were universal; and that facial expression was one of them. When she spoke however, as would be expected, he didn't understand a single word. Either she was too dumb to realize that, which was doubtful even for an outsider like her, or she just didn't speak Japanese. Figures. Of course the ignorant foreigners wouldn't even bother to learn the language before coming to Japan with their demands and self-importance. This is why they needed to be driven out... Although, ironically, despite sharing this very same view on the outsiders, due to other factors the Shinsengumi had so far fought the joui extremists, exactly the very people who tried most avidly to drive them out. It wasn't Souji's personal goal in life to bother with such things (leave the serious thinking of this type to Sannan-san, really), yet he just couldn't help but notice it.

"Stay there," he said to the blonde, sighing imperceptibly at the already known futility of that act.

Pulling himself up and moving back past her, he turned for the opposite end of the alley, where she seemed to have directed most of her apparent concern. Before he could really go there to scout or even figure out what she'd really been trying to say, however, the sound of another man's clear voice came from that general direction, shouting just a few loud words. And, while still not understanding an actual thing, if there was something Souji would have been most used to hear of all things, then that would be things such as orders, indications and strategic details of all kinds and levels of importance. Frowning, he at least had the presence of mind to stop, hand wanting to head for the hilt of his katana at lightning speed.

And then, someone else grabbed it first.

Pausing in mid-motion, arm tense and elbow slightly distanced from his side for freedom of movement, he turned his head abruptly. The katana had only shifted, not even really sliding out of the saya. The scabbard itself, not being held in place by an expert's practiced hand -- or any sort of hand at all for that matter -- did only what any sensible scabbard would do and moved right along with the blade, refusing to yield it. All the more so since the woman hadn't even had the common sense of trying to pull it along the angle of the curve. Souji looked down and blinked once in surprise, lips half-parting.

"What are you doing?" he asked right after, tone as cold and sharp as the steel of the blade itself, and eyes narrowed to the edge of a clear threat. The woman hurried as best she could to let go and pull away, but instead of staying quiet and truly backing off, she launched into a very loud -- and very stupid, given the context -- frustrated ramble. She seemed to realize it herself, since her next move was to imitate a cornered small animal and look for a way to scramble as far as possible in the briefest amount of time. She nearly leaped at the window of the warehouse next to which they'd stopped -- a perfectly noticeable feature that had been one of the reasons they were in this alley instead of still running, in the first place. From her reaction, however, it appeared she hadn't noticed as much; no, better yet, it seemed as if she'd never seen a window in her life, feeling around at it as if it were some marvel of creation... Or, maybe not quite.

Souji tilted his head, observing her point the window out to him in what seemed like a perfectly serious attempt to share a discovery, before she started to scramble through it. Feeling one of his eyebrows swiftly raise of its own accord, he was barely able to contain his amusement as he watched the woman struggle and fight her way in as she crawled and squeezed through the opening. To be honest, if the sound of hurried footsteps and the typical stops and hesitation characteristic to a group of men trying to get into a clever formation hadn't been literally putting pressure on his back, he'd be laughing right now. Given the situation, however, even Souji had to be excused if he'd much rather keep himself quiet and calmly follow. As soon as the foreigner was fully through the window, he just leaned closer and calmly undid the tiny fastener towards the bottom, sliding the rest of the shoji screen open and creating a far more convenient maneuver space for himself. Getting in with far more ease than her -- a simple enough move similar to jumping a low fence and crouching under something at the same time, complete with swords and all -- Souji dropped himself to the floor of the room with minimal noise. Hiding behind the bottom portion of the wall and feeling above his head, he locked his fingers onto one of the thin wooden bars that ran crisscrossed over the rice paper of the shoji and pulled. Lightly, and almost entirely without sound, he slid the window-sized paper screen back over the entire opening in the wall until it was perfectly covered.

Now they were fully hidden, and... if the foreigners outside were just as dumb as the one right here, Souji figured he could also call it safe.

Maneuvering himself around at the same time as sitting, he took a brief look around the room, in which he could clearly recognize the all-too-common smell of rice being held for storage. The many cloth sacks piled over each other all around seemed to only confirm the suspicion, and he didn't bother to actually check any of the few crates and barrels he saw for content. For some reason or purpose, though, a kama rested peacefully on the corner of one such wooden box, handle sticking out a bit from where it had slid partly off the slightly inclined surface towards a spot where the aged wood had given in. The object, despite being intended as a farming tool and probably not really sharpened, was perhaps of a bit more interest as a potential weapon. Souji's gaze moved to the ijin woman, shoulders sketching the briefest trace of a shrug. He didn't really care if she took it. Oddly enough, he was finding himself pointing a small smirk at her more rather than a hostile glare. This sort of smug and slightly detached expression was, indeed, a far more common sight on Souji's face than the seriousness from just moments before. Briefly, he seemed to contemplate something.

"You really are like a child," he remarked shortly after, although the reason for the trace of superiority in his voice was lost on the woman along with the meaning of the words. Curiously tilting his head a slight bit, he continued to watch her as he patiently waited out the situation of currently messy and chaotic footsteps and voices he was hearing outside. He couldn't quite tell if their pursuers sounded confused or not, but at least there was no sign of them particularly concentrating on any fixed spot, much less their way.

It wasn't as if he were being so careless as to take his attention fully off that, but... Strangely enough, Souji was pretty relaxed. Somehow he'd ended up only being reminded of pleasant things in the end. Trying to steal his swords and barely managing to even grab them properly... Getting agitated and making a lot of noise... Scrambling about for a game of hide-and-seek and bungling things clumsily due to rushing too much... They were all things that the many children he often liked to keep company to in the streets of the capital did. They were, even more so, things he'd missed as he'd been mostly forced to stay back at the quarters. Of course he wouldn't want to risk giving anything to the children, so he'd been keeping away even when he did go out sometimes. But now, it was vaguely almost as if he'd gotten that back for a second. Giving a final small snort, he allowed the dulling clamor outside to grow even more distant, waiting patiently in silence.

Quite some while later, he moved at last, finally allowing himself to slide the framed shoji aside just a tiny crack. Enough to fit his finger in-between the two wooden edges, and to set his cheek against the opening while his eye looked right through. Not one single sign of movement and presence. Slowly, very carefully, he slid the paper screen wide open once more, to almost its full extent, and waited, crouched and tense. Not a single reaction seemed to come from his recent actions, so he carefully found himself peering outside, at the almost suspiciously empty alley. It was true that the very small, tight space in-between the two houses right across from them seemed to permit some sort of escape route that way, but... Well, that was a stretch. If the foreigners had bought it, however, with their feeble knowledge of the usual crooks and crannies of a generic side-alley in Kyou... Not a problem for him at all.

Slowly letting himself out through the wide open window, Souji stretched a bit, hearing a couple of bones crack. Straightening himself and fixing his clothes up a bit, he let his hand drift down once again to where it felt most at home, fingers wrapped lightly over the guard and around the lower half of the cool, reassuring hilt of the katana. He was sure, at least, if he was going to die it wouldn't happen as he got shot from behind by one of these men. That sword he felt firmly under his touch was going to lead him -- to carve out a path straight to the place where he'd meet his end from the front. There was no doubting it, at all.

Without a single care for the woman he now knew couldn't provide answers to many of his questions in a language he actually spoke, Souji moved, carefully sliding along the edge of the alley once more. For the first time in a far longer time than just today, he felt truly able to relax. He was really following Kondou-san this time. He knew it; that by tracking these men down and preventing what they were doing... From afar, he'd be walking the same path as the man whose dreams valued far more than his single, short life.

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

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XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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〝Thank you.〞

Thank you.

The words of the foreigner, spoken in a most obvious, strong accent (that she probably still didn't realize she had regardless), stayed with him for a while. They didn't have the power to turn his head around for a moment, much less to stop him; but they traveled along as he went, somehow. Come to think of it... it had probably been a while since someone last thanked him. Heroic acts were Sano-san's domain, and compassion for nice and good-natured people like Heisuke and Kondou-san -- or even someone like Hijikata-san who didn't even realize he offered it. Hajime-kun had the duty and service part covered too, and, for minor daily things one didn't even notice, there was Chizuru-chan now. Souji... sometimes had trouble imagining that he was useful to such a self-sufficient Shinsengumi anymore. There was nothing to thank him for, and there never really had been either. The only thing he was good at... He looked down at his hand, turning it around to see all the tiny traces of wielding a blade still imprinted on it. If even that was slipping away from him... His disposition was bad from the start too, giving people no quarter or peace and lacking kindness and tact. Really, he was far more suited for people to glare at, just like the foreigner had been doing before too. Thanking him right after...

What an odd ijin child.

Eventually, though, his thoughts drifted away from that too, and the very soft smile that had been secretly preserved by the corners of his mouth erased itself as well, mind now focusing on his chase. Souji may not have understood what these men were saying at all, or what the woman was saying for that matter, but he did believe he had the basics figured. Foreigners with that many weapons, carrying them around in secret on shady side alleys, and probably waiting to meet with someone in an old house nobody really used. It could mean only one thing: they were planning to sell those things here. Even that much alone just couldn't be allowed. Peace in the capital was already fragile enough even so... and it was because foreigners like them had come to Japan in the first place. If they'd all just stayed home... Kondou-san, and Hijikata-san, with Souji and everyone else would have stayed home, too. ...And so they wouldn't be here. Wouldn't be the Shinsengumi... Did he really want that?

It was a difficult question to answer.

Ignoring it, Souji moved carefully through the alleys, taking a wide detour in the pursuit of his goal so as to make sure he'd come out past the area the foreigners might think of searching, and prevent just getting caught in a pincher between them again. At times he could still hear their voices, although the noise from more populated areas and the barking of dogs sometimes covered all else completely. From the looks of it -- or, more rather, sounds of it -- a lower number of them than there had been before were conducting the search now. The rest could probably only have gone back to tend to the actual business the group had, and finish the sale of the rifles. Briefly, Souji couldn't help but wonder. What was Kondou-san doing now? He'd probably reached his destination and was conducting important discussions for everyone's sake... Had Hijikata-san figured out Souji was missing yet? He most definitely didn't expect to get away unpunished, even if he did manage to run into something like this. Even the ijin woman crossed his mind again -- he couldn't really imagine what she'd be doing back there, left to figure things out for herself. There really... actually was more time to think during this tedious, drawn-out process than he would've liked, to be honest.

Souji wasn't the sort of person who felt comfortable turning things around in his head too much; he'd rather just act and stay on the move, and forget about everything before it only started to get out of proportion. And so when finally, just as his patience was about to run out, the reward for his efforts presented itself, he experienced an almost odd sense of relief.

The man showed up all of a sudden, without being expected or anticipated -- exactly the sort of happening you'd call 'luck' of sorts, only not really because Souji had been looking for it with concerted effort. It was impossible to make an accurate guess as to which domain or clan this man belonged to, as he wore dark, commoner clothes made to avert attention and arise no suspicion, and carried no swords. Although -- Souji couldn't help but afford himself a slight smirk at the observation -- it was difficult to hide a swordsman from another. Someone like him could easily spot the signs of being used to carrying a daishou, and having the weight of the swords constantly at one's waist. Without even realizing it, the man was giving out in his very moves -- his balance and stance and even the way he walked -- that he had been raised carrying such things and the lack of them was throwing him off now. And, as if a samurai pretending not to be one didn't incriminate himself pretty much only through that very fact alone, he was followed by two men carrying a tsujikago on their shoulders. Normally, one would be tempted to believe it a normal, daily sight of Kyou -- a man or woman of some standing, staying covered and being transported somewhere, while his or her personal attendant walked ahead to make sure the way presented no problems or dangers. But Souji didn't think so. Not to call him paranoid but, knowing what he did, the two foreigners watching idly from a pretty good distance kind of made it impossible not to suspect, if anything else already didn't.

Doubts that this was exactly what Souji needed to track down? You'd have to be drunk... or just really, unbelievably stupid.

Once the foreigners stopped paying attention, the chase was quiet and dull, uninterrupted by any events -- the man sometimes glanced warily behind during his usual area checks, but that soon also grew all too predictable and easy to avoid. Really, after sneaking out from between people who knew him far better and almost managing to successfully follow Kondou-san around? There was no way Souji would let himself caught by these people he'd never even seen before in his life, and whom he'd probably just need to cut down anyway. He could do it even now, to be honest -- wearing the pale blue-and-white Shinsengumi haori or not made no difference in the long run -- but it was wiser to track them to whatever other leads they may offer first. It was very unlikely that this man and those two simple servants were the actual heads who'd orchestrated the deal, even if they did carry it out in practice. Looking back once, he took note of the distant silhouette of Nijou-jou, which was being swiftly left behind as they departed the central districts of Kyou. And then, he just shrugged quietly to himself and continued to move.

Slowly, the noise of the city itself began to fade, left behind, as the houses and sheds around only grew scarcer in number, and shabbier in build. Souji started to feel slightly self-conscious, carefully leaving more distance between the group he was tracking and whatever few sounds he made as he walked or brushed briefly against something by mistake. He was trained in combat, and highly skilled at moving quickly and with the least amount of disturbance, but he really was not Yamazaki. There was a limit to how well he could track people from a closer distance without getting himself caught sooner or later. To be honest, part of him was surprised he hadn't been discovered still, despite all the caution and care. It seemed almost too good to be true, for a person like Souji who wasn't prone to easily trusting in the face value of things. Finally, however, the man turned into a yard, which prompted him to sneak back behind the corner he was just about to leave, and wait. The two porters placed down the tsujikago and only confirmed his suspicions as they slid open one of the side panes and started to carry out the first of the crates he'd seen earlier.

Biding his time, Souji only moved from his spot when all three of them and the third -- and apparently last -- of the crates from the rifle shipment had disappeared inside and stayed gone for a prolonged amount of time. He jogged to the corner of the tall fence which surrounded the house, hand holding the swords steady against his side so they wouldn't make too much noise, and crouched down next to it. Time had put quite a few tiny holes through the wood of the structure, especially in-between the joined planks where it ate away at the individual edges, so he could see slightly beyond. That, aided by listening carefully, had him convinced enough that nobody was around, and he sneaked quickly into the actual yard. It was small, dark and dirty, and didn't have the most appealing smell either -- especially given the few rows of fish laid out to dry on the edge of the nure'en at the front of the house. More to his interest however, the sound of voices weakly filtering through from behind the poor cover of equally worn-down shouji paneling erased the small grimace of displeasure that had started to form on Souji's face in an instant.

Crawling carefully closer, he frowned when he couldn't make out any clear words, as they were covered by the sounds of footsteps and shuffled furniture now and then. It seemed that the men were somewhere more in the back, and busying themselves with something as they spoke quietly. If he was correct, however, there was a total of four voices, not three, so someone else must have been already inside waiting for them when they arrived. Silently, Souji made his way around the house, stopping here and there to listen from different places, trying to see from where he could hear the conversation more accurately. At some point, he had some success in the back, catching a few words about things such as the foreigners being rude and the price of the weapons rather outrageous, but then the men seemed to move again, so he followed along. All he needed, really, was for them to carelessly drop a name -- be it a clan or something more specific, like an important person he'd actually know. Or, well, maybe it'd only sound familiar, knowing was a stretch. But his job was only to memorize it; Kondou-san and Sannan-san would then figure it out.

Just as he finished a full tour of the yard, it was a small noise not from inside that finally stopped him, frozen in his spot and sword at the ready -- slightly drawn quicker than the eye could see. Rushing in before the surprise element was lost completely in case he'd also been heard, he only stopped again soon after, eyes locked on the source of the noise and his slight scowl petrified on his face.

"..............."

Very much so, if the unnaturally long silence that ensued along with it wasn't enough proof already. If only he'd believed in fate.

Rarely ever had surprise been more clearly readable on Souji's face, especially in the small gap between his half-parted lips, and in the tiny creases a disbelieving frown had formed in mid-forehead. The blond hair came to notice first, and then the strange features he probably wouldn't be able to differentiate from those of other foreign women at all -- except seen from the profile angle this time as the woman tried to crawl closer along the shouji to listen in on the same thing he'd been trying to hear. A rather sharp metallic noise cut the air when, before he could help himself, Souji slid the half of the sword he'd drawn out back into the saya by reflex. He didn't give himself time to ponder on why he'd so quickly already decided she was harmless, however. Grabbing her by the arm for the third time that day, Souji had the full intent of dragging her off before he even risked assuming they hadn't been heard.

However, it never materialized, as the shuffling noise from the house drew closer and brought with it the voices as well, some words filtering more strongly outside.

"——research has been making progress—— ...rasetsu can——"

More abruptly than he'd intended, Souji pulled on the foreign woman's arm, hoping she'd have enough sense to take her own weapon along, and shoved her behind the corner of the house. Letting her go, he ducked down right after and sat there, with that much deeper a frown on his face. He didn't seem in the mood for jokes at all anymore as he waited with a grim facial expression to see if more would be heard... With ill-timing, though, as more men arrived through the small, worn-down gate, and soon entered the house after a brief last inspection of the road behind them. They conveniently seemed unaware of their presence and covered any noise they'd have made as well, but...

That was the last thing Souji wanted right then. If the man in the house had really said what he'd heard... And now they were too numerous for even him to hope to take down by himself. Gritting his teeth, he found himself turning his sharp, fixed look on the foreign woman beside him. He didn't know why -- he was aware she probably had no connection or any knowledge of the topic, but as he contemplated her darkly... Hand on the sword as usual, and body at the maximum possible tension, just like a snake ready to snap out and bite, he had no doubt he looked fully intent on killing her.

Although, to be honest, he barely even registered her right then beyond a reflex-bound attention to her moves, as his thoughts were deeply of other things.

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

↘ xx ↘ xx ↘ xxxxxxxxxxxx
■ x ■ x ■ xxxxx

*dumps late crack thread graphic*
format tomorrow~

[Plane Between Planes]

code this tomorrow too~
Edit. graphic text needs fix for smaller screen resolution? ;___;
I think.
edit 2. Fixed nao?

[Plane Between Planes]

EPIC LATE LOL I FAIL
More formatting for tomorrow.

[Plane Between Planes]

*dumps this here too*
orz so much to do

[Plane Between Planes]

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XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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The words and movements of the men inside the house aside, there really weren't many things Souji would have noticed past his own thoughts right then. The matter had suddenly gotten too serious and he was entirely too busy speculating in his mind. Yet, somehow, like the most natural thing in the world, the slight change in his current unwilling and unwanted companion ended up being one regardless. He didn't even really know how he'd noticed it, exactly, but just found himself zoning his attention in on it all of a sudden. His eyes turned ever so slightly, focusing on her face, and then tracing her own gaze to see what she seemed to have been looking at. For a second, he stared down at his own chest without noticing anything that out of place, before he truly managed to think of the small stains of blood plastered here and there over skin and clothing alike. That brought his gaze back up to the outlandish, odd-looking face -- not that he'd call it ugly, but... well, average was an unknown coordinate too, given the lack of reference standards. His head only tilted slightly to the side in silence.

'Oh~?' his single raised eyebrow seemed to say in place of the real voice he couldn't afford to use right now to complement the highly amused smirk that passed quickly over his lips. This was Souji, after all. Even in their current precarious situation, he couldn't help but feel slightly entertained by the childish, naive observation he knew was hidden behind the would-be courageous look she pointed back at him. Yes, he'd killed a man. It was hardly the first, and wouldn't be the last. With stopping to notice a thing like that... he, too, could tell that the woman in turn wasn't used to seeing such things, much less doing it herself. Not that he'd expect a woman to be, in the first place, and he'd be surprised if the realization of witnessing it wouldn't have more of an effect on her later, when it fully dawned on her at a more peaceful and comfortable time in a safer place. Of course, he could be wrong, but---

"...!"

The small flinch of surprise and sharp glance he gave when his sleeve was pulled didn't really prevent Souji's finely trained instincts from getting the better of him, and he quickly pressed himself down closer to the ground. Sitting there, tense but breathing regularly and not skipping a beat, he shared the few moments of silence that felt almost overly dilated and slow with the ijin woman, waiting to see what had startled her so suddenly. And then, the distinct sound -- even for Souji's untrained ear -- of a gunshot resounded from inside, ominously not followed at all by the tiny, faint semblance of a pop that a pierced shouji would give out. Likely the sounds had succeeded each other at such a short interval the immediate echo of the shot itself covered that much smaller noise entirely. To say that the thought of firearms being so quick wasn't worrying would be a lie, but Souji kept that to the back of his head and pulled his sleeve from the woman's grasp at the same time as she herself let go. Her silently mouthed apology went ignored however; normally he'd shrug it off with some friendly tease or minor mockery about feeling the need to offer it in the first place after just potentially saving his life, but the time and place weighed harder on him than preference.

The men inside the house had been laughing, sounding quite pleased with the result. "That's gonna leave a nasty bruise, for sure!" one of them commented loudly now, and the distinct, strong sound of a friendly but vigorous slap could be heard, followed by a yelp. What, so it had been only a test of the weapon after all? How annoying.

Quietly, Souji pulled himself back up and checked at the same time the foreign woman did for the trace of the shot that had been fired -- and sure enough, there it was, a tiny hole in the rice paper of one of the panes. Judging by where it was, the one who'd come close to death was her, and not himself, but that didn't really change the situation too much. Before she'd pulled him down, she couldn't have known who was being aimed for, and that almost said something. The idea of her having saved his life, or at least having tried to, wasn't all that far-removed from Souji's mind right then, but more rather just eclipsed by a far more pressing and important matter. How had she known the gunshot was coming? That's what he would have liked to ask her, but a single glance back at her was enough to completely discourage from that course of action. They were where they were... and even if they hadn't been, how would he convey it to a weird ijin who was slow in the head enough to fail opening a window and didn't know a word of actual Japanese in the first place? No chance of getting anything from there.

He made no move to stop her when she stirred, picking up her weapon and starting to creep away in silence. Briefly, he wondered if it was some sort of foreign habit to make faces at everything and everyone while going on about your business. At the thought, he had to hold back a snort; even Souji had enough common sense to realize that probably was a thing pertaining to character and personality no matter where you were in the world. Despite himself, he stayed watching her even a while after she reached the fence, curious to see what she was trying to do exactly. Escape, there was no doubt, but it was quite amusingly counter-productive to keep glancing back at him if she was going to do that. For him, on the other hand, watching her go was as much as he intended to have to do with that direction for now. As long as those men were still in the house, he wasn't going anywhere. Not without finding out a single piece of useful information, and only overhearing a fragment that resulted only in more reasons for concern.

Rasetsu... is it? he couldn't help but briefly reflect once more as he slunk back further behind the corner and along the side of the house, just as a precaution.

With perfect timing, it seemed, because the next moment he heard the sound of a shouji screen being carelessly slid aside, wooden frames slamming lightly into each other when it overlapped over a second one. In the second he spared to think of her, Souji could only wonder if the ijin was out of the yard -- and out of sight -- by now already, but he wasn't about to check; he just held still, barely even breathing as more footsteps shuffled back out from inside the house.

Slowly, and frustratingly enough conversing in hushed tones and replacing all the interesting stuff with suggestive this or that instances which didn't really say much, the men settled for carrying the crates by hand rather than employing the tsujikago again. Most probably they had a cart waiting for them somewhere, which meant they'd be taking things out of Kyou for now. And out of the Shinsengumi's jurisdiction too... although not necessarily that of the Aizu-han. But still, the Choushuu were sly, patient and meticulous bastards too. Slightly pursing his lips to complete a displeased grimace, Souji moved carefully from his spot too, finding it wiser not to leave the side of the house he was currently on. It would be best to circle back around and catch up to them on as remote and roundabout of a route as possible. With that thought in mind, he jogged quickly and jumped the fence, propelling himself past as quietly as he could -- which still ended up causing quite a rattle among the wooden planks. It was a wonder none had given in completely, but he didn't sit to ponder that too much when a clear, "Did you hear that!?" caught up with him from behind.

Flinching, he was met with the back of another house. This side was blocked...!

Bolting as fast as he could, he ran quickly along the fence, back to the front of the house and the wider road, slightly crouching to remain covered from sight for at least as long as it took them to actually look into the dead-end alley. Breaking his momentum slightly only to heft himself even faster in the next direction as he came around the corner, Souji gave no second thought to just running at top speed past the foreign woman who'd also reached that far in her escape. If she had good reflexes, she might actually break into a run too, right away; and if she had any brains at all, she'd follow in the same direction he went -- back into the maze of houses, which was the obvious best choice. Behind them, the clamor escalated more quickly than Souji cared to count. Speaking of escaping by a hair's breadth, he thought to himself as he dove behind the corner at the very next side-alley. Really.

He didn't count how long he ran, except for the breaths that came harder and harder and filled his lungs more scarcely each time, and the boil of his own blood that rang in his ears with every abrupt turn he took. Not even the awareness of still being chased or not had room in his mind, his careful choices of where to go being the only thing he could still focus on. He had to come back around and find his way to tracking the men and their illegal rifle shipment; the foreigner behind him didn't need to know or realize that they were making their way back in a very wide circle, Souji just had to. Slowly, however, his sprint turned into a tired run, then a forced attempt at a jog, and then finally slowed down to the speed of walking after he took a moment of full stop to draw in as deep a breath as he could. It wasn't enough, and he continued to pant rather heavily, but he still forced himself along, placing one foot ahead of the other and repeating with dogged determination. Truth be told though, he felt like he'd collapse any moment, and the only thing keeping him sane was the still-cold solid feel of the katana by his side, hand clasped tightly over the hilt.

"Heh," he gave a small, though tired-sounding, snort when he remembered the foreign woman who was his current companion. He spared her a glance, the same exhausted amusement still slightly readable in his features, but kept on walking as he commented, "You're pretty persistent, too."

Souji wondered if he was the only one with something he was absolutely set on doing. It beat him what this odd-looking child thrown out in the middle of the unknown could be thinking, though.

Eventually, as was the natural course of things, he started to feel as if air actually filled his lungs properly again, and steadied himself somewhat, walking slightly faster again. Only to stop completely, however, when his way was blocked by a wide patch of wood in the shape of a fence built for whatever reason between the houses on each side of the narrow space he'd have otherwise used to pass through. Too tall to be lightly jumped in one move, and also too shabby and decrepit-looking to trust for actually climbing over it. Souji could feel himself making a grimace as he lowered his eyes to the hole at the bottom, next to one of the walls, where a couple of the boards had broken off at the bottom. His glare said clearly that he contemplated just kicking the thing down, but by now they were back close enough to an area in which he didn't want to draw such potential attention. He was trying to track down a group of people, after all.

The small exasperated sigh that escaped through his teeth spoke volumes where words didn't.

Kneeling down by the hole in the fence, he gripped the edge tightly, careful only not to get any splinters if at all possible, and held on fast. His other elbow struck quickly, breaking off some more of the half-rotten planks near the top of the hole and freeing up some more space with... Well, as little noise as humanly possible, now; he wasn't a miracle worker. Repeating the process with the left side of the gap, opposite from where the house's own wall got in the way, he coughed out twice to get rid of the dust with a wooden texture he had inhaled, and stilled himself for a second, trying to breathe as he examined his work.

"..."

Ignoring the slight stinging sensation in his chest, Souji crouched even lower, getting on all fours, and started to crawl simply through the hole in the fence that he'd just widened, avoiding the fragments on the ground as best he could. The wall and rough edges of the gap still scratched at his shoulders, and ribcage, and back, but he just forced himself through with no pause or even the smallest flinch. The annoyance he actually felt was greatly contrasted by the stubborn calm he was showing; sure, he may be in a bad mood that was only quickly worsening even more from having to do this, but when something had to be done there really wasn't much way around it. If anything, it ended faster if you didn't stop to comment about it. Not even glancing behind at the foreigner, he just saw himself through and stood up, moving slightly aside and starting to dust his clothes. Before he even looked up, he had the full intent of turning around to watch her struggle through the hole as well (least he could do after having offered her the same pleasure, himself), but...

"...Well, now that must have been a thrilling experience. Souji."

With an instant flinch, he forgot everything else to look ahead immediately, fixing his gaze, only one level less dark than if he'd been looking at an enemy, on the still, black-haired figure of... The most annoying person within at least a ten-mile radius, Souji could vouch for it. If the other man was as surprised as Souji was to have so abruptly run into him, which he had to be given the circumstances, he was hiding it even better. That didn't help his case with the first-unit captain's irritation at all, and Souji standoffishly raised his head, continuing to stare squarely back and ignore the two other soldiers who seemed to have been accompanying his target.

"I don't know, maybe you should go try it. Hijikata-san," he replied flatly, mimicking the exact calm, mocking hostility of the other, but adding a trace of smugness that only Souji could have.

"Tch," he got a loud snort in response. "Well, I'd love to, but I have a brat to recover and punish. Get moving."

"Oh? Well, aren't you just the most dependable person."

The glare the vice-commander gave him would have frozen every droplet of blood in anyone else's veins, but the first-unit captain still held it in turn, with amazing stubbornness. Arms folded on his chest, he didn't move from his spot even a tiny step. Sometimes, his dislike for this man sure came dangerously close to raw and genuine. Their dagger-staring contest came to a premature end, however, when Hijikata's attention was suddenly drawn by something else, hand going to his sword as quickly as Souji's own could have done it. After only a single moment of thought behind the same serious expression, he nodded permission to the two men beside him, who moved quickly past Souji.

"Hey. You," Souji started, turning his head to glance back at the fence, and at the person who'd so quickly become the new focus. "Wha---!" His tone quickly changed to surprise, however, when he barely got a glimpse of one of the men's backs and he already felt his arm caught in an iron-like grasp, by a firm hand that started pulling him away with no warning.

Almost tripping, Souji had to focus back on steadying himself and starting to follow. Hijikata wasn't joking. One bit. Souji tried to jerk his arm in protest, but his purposely exaggerated displeasure went ignored by the other man's dark mood and he wasn't released. There was no choice but to fall in step for now and comply. Short of attacking the man for real, at least, which... as much as Souji hated him right now, he wouldn't have done.

"...Are you going to kill her?" he finally asked quietly, his attempt to glance behind foiled by the corner they'd just turned. In response, though, the vice-commander only quickened his pace, forcing Souji to do the same if he wanted to keep up. "..."

Half a minute later, the fingers finally unclenched from around his arm, and Hijikata's hand fell back to his side at last. He still didn't glance at Souji though, but his shoulders slouched slightly and he gave a loud, prolonged sigh.

"We're bringing her along, Souji," he said plainly. "Keep walking."

There'd be talking only at the quarters. Lots of talking. Souji understood that quite well. Fine, whatever. Setting his lips in a straight, firm line, he just followed quietly, refusing to even rub his aching arm and give Hijikata that satisfaction. Having the foreign woman dragged along with them on the way meant he planned to question her. Maybe he hadn't been wholly blind to the signs of extremist movement around the area -- after all, he wasn't vice-commander for nothing... I guess, Souji couldn't help but add in his mind. Well, he was going to leave his favorite person in the whole world the pleasure of discovering how much Japanese the woman could actually speak on his own. That was going to be something worth watching.

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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The way back was pretty quiet, and slowly even some of the real tension existing at first between him and Hijikata cleared somewhat. Souji wasn't stupid enough not to realize it was just being put on hold, but after catching a glance of the two men following them at a distance with the foreign woman in check and giving a small snort to himself, he'd relaxed somewhat before he knew it. It really had been a while since he'd been able to walk out like this, even if it wasn't a patrol and he wasn't exactly making a good impression for himself. Hijikata and the other two were wearing their Shinsengumi haori, the asagi color with the white pattern inspired by the Chuushingura on the sleeves standing out clearly against even the backdrop of the crowd on the bigger streets. Souji, too, vividly recalled how it attracted attention unfailingly wherever they went, bringing hushed comments and masked glances in their direction. He also remembered Chizuru-chan's first surprise at realizing they weren't always exactly liked... although that may have been changing steadily lately, since the Ikedaya and Kinmon incidents. There really were many small fond memories flooding him from the streets as they went on.

But... he wasn't wearing that uniform right now, was he? For all he knew, with how little even his face had been seen lately, he might really look like just a common rounin the Shinsengumi had arrested. What a sorry excuse for captain of the first unit. He glanced at the back of the man walking slightly ahead of him at an unfaltering pace. Must've been really lucky to be the great, well-respected Hijikata Toshizou, who hardly had to answer to any annoying individuals that thought they knew what's best for him. Or... at least, that had been intended to be Souji's first thought, but he flinched lightly when he thought he'd seen the black-haired man look at him in turn, too. Well, he definitely wasn't now, so Souji must have been imagining it.

They'd stopped in front of the generously ornate and sculpted mon that marked the main entrance to the Nishi Hongan-ji, which currently served as the Shinsengumi's headquarters after Itou Kashitarou had made the suggestion. The Buddhist monks here hadn't been very happy, but that was behind them now. Sort of. Souji would have probably thought more, or turned for a casual remark towards Hijikata, but a lightning storm seemed to be upon them. It started with three pairs of footsteps stopping just a short distance behind them, and then a flurry of words in a foreign language was suddenly hitting their ears. It got interrupted briefly when the woman was probably handled somehow and, glancing behind, Souji really had to work hard at suppressing the animated puff of air and very loud snort it almost summoned. What a face to make.

And she only continued.

Here it comes, Souji thought to himself, hanging on calmly and observing Hijikata's tense shoulders and back -- he had no trouble anticipating the imminent annoyed response.

The vice-commander gave a meticulous, controlled sigh. "Souji---"

"Don't ask me," he responded nonchalantly before he was even told anything, raising his hands slightly at his sides and giving a calm shrug from his shoulders. "Figure it out yourself, fukuchou-san."

And, with that, Souji was skipping ahead at a leisurely pace, walking under the roof of the gate and passing the soldiers posted by it without a single glance, a triumphant smirk on his face. One point for him, zero for Hijikata. Courtesy of the foreigner, he guessed. Slowing down somewhat, he caught the exhausted-sounding instructions.

"Get her tied up and contained somewhere. ...And gag her."

"Oh?" he said when the other man's footsteps caught up with him again. "Isn't that model treatment? As expected of someone as tactful as you, Hijikata-san."

"...Shut up."

Despite his still visible animosity, to Souji who knew him well it was obvious that Hijikata had instinctively calmed down somewhat now that they'd reached the quarters safely. Of course, he was probably getting a massive headache by now, but when wasn't he? As for the first-unit captain himself, he couldn't really say he was affected. It didn't make any difference for the lecture and punishment he knew he wasn't getting out of anyway. Although, his face did brighten slightly when the moment's thought crossed him of Kondou-san maybe having returned already, and of getting to see him. Being scolded by him was pretty unpleasant a thought, though... Far more than all the yelling and insults he could get from Hijikata, whose usual storming meant close to nothing to Souji anyway.

Frowning, however, the other found the perfect timing to dash his hopes (and alleviate his half-fears, too). "I'll have to at least wait for Kondou-san to get back before I deal with you..." Arms crossed over his chest, having stopped in mid-yard to glare darkly at his first-unit captain and direct subordinate, Hijikata looked every bit as displeased as he sounded.

Although Souji wondered how many could also spot the obvious signs of exhaustion in that same person and his wannabe threatening stance.

"Yes, yes," he responded in a perfect bored fashion. "You do that. In the meantime," -- he looked around for only a couple of seconds, enough to spot the soldiers off to the side, dragging the woman along the wall of one of the buildings, and then was already walking that way in the blink of an eye -- "how about I take care of that?"

"Souji!" he heard the shout after him almost instantly, but ignored it.

"I'll keep her quiet and still, Hijikata-san! No objections, yes~?"

Without even listening to whatever reply he was being yelled back, Souji just easily grabbed the hand of the foreign woman from between the two soldiers. Her actual hand this time, not her arm, and not really squeezing that hard. The man who had her arm twisted behind her back looked as confused as he probably was, but likely knew the banter between Hijikata and Okita well enough to realize he was fine letting her go, so he loosened his hold before he could think of it. Taking advantage of his hesitation, Souji just lightly pulled the woman away, continuing to drag her along the same wall they'd been leading her around. All in the most natural fashion, as if he weren't really doing anything. And not even sparing her so much as an actual look.

"Don't worry," he said, glancing at Hijikata again. "I'll make sure she doesn't get away, of course." He snorted loudly. "Even though she might be dumb enough to try."

He gave another sly smirk, but the black-haired man seemed only to watch with a resigned -- although still disapproving -- look, arms folded on his chest just like before. Taking that as the final acceptance, Souji moved along, heading for the next building, away from the cobbled road that led to the temple's main body. As he walked away fast and turned his attention to the living quarters ahead of them, which currently hosted some of their soldiers along with the monks at the temple, he couldn't help but notice the slight breeze blowing past and cooling the very late spring day somewhat. And the fact that he was slightly excited, somehow; about what exactly, he couldn't possibly tell. Walking around the city like that, though, even getting annoyed and running into trouble and this weird gaijin child... In the end, it hadn't been bad at all. He felt strangely energized, despite the slight ache in his muscles and chest, and the acute awareness that his arms and back were covered in slight scratches.

Slowly, but surely, his permanent playful and highly unreadable expression returned to his features.

Stopping near the end of the wooden nure'en that ran along the front of the quarters, he let go of the foreigner and paused to stretch a little at his own leisure, not satisfied until he heard more of his bones give small popping noises. His next move was, of course, to look down at the thought of discarding his sandals, but then again...

Giving a loud, instantly irritated sigh, Souji fixed his gaze on the foreigner's face. And then on her weird-looking footwear. And then on her face again. ...This was going to take trouble explaining, wasn't it? He'd already established she was slow, after all.

Rolling his eyes, the brown-haired man started to carefully take off his sandals -- or, more rather, discard them easily with his foot, courtesy of years of being used to wearing them. He moved slowly, however, all along glancing at the woman to see if she was getting the drift of having to do the same with her own shoes. Tentatively, he stepped up onto the nure'en once bare-footed, making only the slightest, quiet sounds against the wood. Standing in front of the first room, which was almost entirely empty and had the shouji screen serving as its door open for airing, he turned back around, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head as he waited to see what the foreigner was doing.

Even if he said anything, it wouldn't make much of a difference. How annoying.

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

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XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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Idly keeping a hand on his right hip, opposite of the left where the swords were set securely in place, Souji turned and watched the foreigner move around after taking off her needlessly complicated shoes. Why did she need something like that if she wore what appeared to be something similar enough to tabi under that anyway? It was beyond him, so he just stood there and calmly stared back at her as she stepped past him, a bit of a look of superiority on his face. So this was what a foreigner was like? Souji had to say he wasn't quite impressed -- but, he supposed, this one was only a woman after all. He didn't miss it when she rubbed her hand, and noticed quickly that it seemed rather swollen and red. Just from getting restrained a bit so she'd walk along quietly? That was weak, indeed. Once she was in the room, he stepped just past the shouji screens as well and stopped there, raising an eyebrow at the way she seemed to examine the room.

Not at all shying out of a very hearty yawn, Souji dropped himself fluidly seated almost without any noise, and crossed his legs before him. The position, which was usually a Heisuke trademark (when the younger male was excited at least), didn't seem to suit him quite fully, because he soon raised one knee, stretching himself out better. Back leaning against the frame of the opening in the shouji screens and semi-curled up like that, he was easily blocking the entry space and the view outside from seated-level almost completely. If the foreigner was restless, it didn't matter to him at all; she might as well take the hint and sit herself down as well. Resting his head in a comfortable position as well, he turned it at only a slight angle towards the outside, watching with half-active eyes as a few silhouettes moved in the distance across the yard. Bareback soldiers with the upper halves of their kimonos lowered for work as they trained and sweated under the sun that had started to descend from the koku of noon towards those of afternoon.

As if remembering something all of a sudden, Souji stopped briefly and pulled at the side of his kimono -- hey, at least he was decent enough to make it the one facing opposite of the foreigner -- and peered below it at his own skin. Just like he'd thought, there were scratches across the side of his ribcage from that stupid fence and hole-crawling experience. Oh well. They didn't bother him that much, so after making a displeased face at the sight, he resumed looking outside, at the already pretty much flowerless sakura trees from which all the petals had mostly scattered.

"Already... huh?" he said out loud, not really caring if the foreigner heard him, since she wouldn't understand anyway. In a remote sort of fashion, it was rather refreshing to think of. He could just say whatever he wanted.

Falling completely still and silent, Souji let the light breeze run slightly through his hair as he waited, all traces of amusement momentarily gone from his face. He'd see when Kondou-san returned from here, anyway; the gate was well within sight. The thought of being scolded still left a sour taste in his mouth. Clearly this was all Hijikata-san's fault. He should probably be thankful for everything that had happened, though, since the actual topic of his escapade itself would probably be brushed aside quickly due to all that. It wasn't as if he'd actually leave the Shinsengumi -- not as long as this was Kondou-san's dream. And besides...

"Hey. You." Squarely, Souji looked from the corner of his eyes, without turning his head but shifting the focus of his view to the gaijin in the room again. The foreigner who hadn't really tried to run yet... The next moment, his tone softened slightly without him even intending to let it. "You don't really have a place to escape to anyway, do you? Wouldn't it be fine if you just stayed here?" After a moment of thought, he tilted his head slightly and shrugged to himself. "Though you don't have a choice, either, I guess."

Not like she could really get it or reply, though. And he wasn't even sure if he'd want anyone to have heard him right then, anyway. Done talking to himself and saying stupid, annoying things that were almost more than he meant them to be, Souji turned back to looking outside like before.

And gave a small start.

"Souji, if you've brought another pet---" Stepping up soundlessly onto the nure'en after having taken off his sandals, however, the completely impassive and expressionless dark-haired speaker cut himself off abruptly, stopping when his eyes saw inside the room. He fell completely still, the only thing moving being one end of his white scarf as the same wind from earlier ran past. ".............Is this one of your jokes?"

"You know, Hajime-kun, if you say that I'm going to take offense," Souji protested, unable to help the slight, minuscule trace of irritation that found its way in his voice. Although what ticked him off had been hardly the comment. "More rather, you too. That's quite a talent of suddenly appearing, like this."

To be honest, it was rather annoying for Souji to have been caught saying something like what he had been mindlessly going on about to himself. Or, well, technically to the woman. And, even among the quietest outside of the Shinsengumi, he was sure that Saitou would have easily won against many at the ability to make as little noise as possible and pass unnoticed most of the time exactly at the most opportune possible times. It wasn't the first time the stern, entirely serious and calm third-unit captain who was his complete opposite in demeanor and personality had caught him with something he didn't really plan on letting anyone see or hear. Oftentimes, even Souji himself found that he just suddenly talked to Hajime-kun and said more than he intended to. He didn't know what secret talent the slightly younger but far more mature-like male possessed, but sometimes it bothered him to know he had such a weak, open spot.

"Rather than make pointless comments like that," Saitou replied, just as serious and unyielding as before, "explain what's going on here. I'll warn you that if you're causing serious problems I'll have to report this to kyokuchou and fukuchou."

And, to make things even worse, Saitou was rarely if ever really affected by Souji's veiled jabs. Such as now. Already pretty annoyed, the brown-haired male still managed to fake a shrug in the face of the relentless third-unit captain, and gave a loud, purposely affected and obnoxiously superior sigh.

"Go ahead, since Hijikata-san's already aware of it," he said flatly, then turned his eyes to the woman in the room. "But..."

With not even as much as a sign of warning to either of the two, Souji stretched nicely without too much effort and reached his hand out, tangling it with ease in the woman's light-colored hair.

"Ah---Souji...!" Saitou's instantly distressed but still quiet voice protested instantly.

A perfectly expected reaction, it seemed. Ignoring that completely and pulling, with no amount of consideration whatsoever but not with particular hostility either, Souji dragged the woman over like that, much like if she'd only been a toy, and removed himself from the door to stand up by Saitou's side on the nure'en. Letting her go with the same nonchalance, he continued to stare flatly as if he'd done nothing. This was only payback, after all. Hajime-kun may have been the impassive sort, but he was still amusingly naive and easy to take aback with the right means.

"There you go, Hajime-kun," the first-unit captain said with a self-satisfied smirk. "Why don't you see for yourself what this is?"

Perfect way to get back at Saitou. Definitely. Souji was only the master of recovering his good mood by bullying others, after all. He completely ignored the woman, even, as she was nothing more than his instrument of revenge at the moment. That was a mature sense of satisfaction, for sure. If Saitou had been Hijikata, he'd probably be rubbing his temples by now to prevent his head from exploding with so much annoyance. However, still with a clearly distressed air about him that was very visible to Souji, the overly conscientious third-unit captain maintained his exterior composure. The same business-like way as ever, he already seemed to have found something actually important to attend to as he eyed the odd clothing the woman wore with suspicion.

"Souji, have you searched the prisoner thoroughly?"

...

"You say 'prisoner', but..." Shrugging, Souji stepped slightly aside as if to say he had nothing to do with this.

Frowning at him for a second, Saitou seemed to resign himself to the duty at hand, and turned to fix the foreign woman with a straight look. He wasn't a man of too much thought when things needed to be done; the very next moment, he was very meticulously starting to do exactly what he'd asked, grabbing the woman's arm and checking her sleeves first. Souji blinked only once, staring straight at the spectacle. From Saitou's face, to that of the woman, and back to the third-unit captain's meticulous, calculated move.

...

The next moment, his hand was rested over his stomach as he gave the most hearty laugh he had in a pretty long while, breath catching heavily in his chest beyond his control.

"What, H-Hajime-kun, that's--- Haa... Very dutiful of you, really."

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

Oh? What was that, exactly?

Almost instantly, like a light being turned on from a simple switch, Yasunori perked up somewhat, subtly, from where he had at first been listening with only half-interest to the excuses Shinjiru had to offer. He'd been almost sure the light-haired male was going to launch into some boring, self-righteous and proud explanation of how he'd perfectly handled something important -- for some reason, Shinjiru struck Yasunori as the sort of person who never made mistakes and always had a justification for his faults, no matter how petty or close-minded. However, this was... oddly almost avoidant of him. So much so, in fact, that Yasunori even forgot to get annoyed from where Masato's comment about Atsuki had been initially getting on his nerves as well. Who'd protected who, exactly? Masato had saved Hasu in the temple, true, but it was with Yasu's own help (whatever had possessed him to do so, really). As for their leader, she'd done enough for herself and, as Yasunori had seemed to gather from casual observation after the events, had received help from Kazamuki and given some in return. Which, in the end, was much more irritating than Masato's own implication.

However, right now even all of that was pushed to the back of his head as he fixed a direct, scouring gaze on Shinjiru's face and listened to his explanation. Right, right, he was excusing himself indeed, but where was the concrete sort of triumphant, exact detail Yasunori had been expecting him to give? Something like, 'I was handling this huge, world-shattering disaster in Generic Vital Place Elsewhere-land, you fool.' Where was that? Why wasn't Shinjiru giving any self-assured explanation of exactly what far more important task he'd had? Maybe Yasu had really misjudged his character that much. But, even without the giant ego he was attributing to the blond, he was sure Shinjiru would have at least mentioned it... right?

No time to focus on it, however. Yasu had booked his own schedule by teasing Masato already, and he had to focus on his attempt with the struggling woman.

” ... Do you enjoy encouraging him? “ Shinjiru commented from nearby, but Yasunori ignored the rest of what he said. By the time he was able to concentrate, however, Masato had already started to talk. Damn it. He had to think of something very quickly...

“Ma’am, you look as if you could use a hand, please let me offer my assistance to you.” The line had already been said and Yasu hadn't come up with anything -- stupid Shinjiru, this was clearly his fault. Since when was he such a chatterbox, anyway? “Those must be a real pain to walk with,” Yasunori managed to add for the woman's hearing pleasure as the healer held out his hand to her. It had been simply instinct -- somehow Yasu noticed at the very last moment that Masato, although probably looking at her face, had his gaze pointed downwards due to the woman being quite a bit shorter than him. Conveniently enough, she also had quite a nice pair in the same general direction.

It took her a while to process, it seemed, as at first she reached out her hand anyway, albeit hesitantly. Her face showed confusion for all but two seconds, before she finally realized what the man before her, by now irredeemable to her, seemed to have been referring to. Well, for her ears, at least. Yasunori was at a distance so he couldn't tell for sure, but he could almost swear she'd turned a very amusing shade of red before she did what not even he had expected -- balancing herself on Masato himself, she whacked him with the crutch and then proceeded with her... hilariously slow attempt at storming off in that condition. Yasunori had to make a real effort not to simply burst out laughing when Masato started after her, composure lost and probably either begging for forgiveness or asking what was wrong or so. The illusionist managed to contain his enjoyment beyond a small snort and stepped back, only to raise a curious eyebrow once Masato suddenly stopped, and then snapped back around, ignoring a woman and barreling back straight to the two of them.

Yasunori only gave a short, sharp whistle of admiration. For his own work, of course, much more rather than for being impressed by the anger apparent in the silver-haired male's moves and expression in any way. Being discovered, to be honest, held its own share of entertainment.

“Shinomoto!” the healer shouted at him as he stopped, and Yasu braced himself for being attacked -- of course he'd dodge or something -- but it never happened. A slight smirk broke onto his lips -- if anything, he could commend such brave efforts at keeping one's calm and composure. Or, well, at least deluding yourself you still had them. He opened his mouth to snort again, this time much more loudly, and thought to offer a casual, aggravating reply to what the other was saying.

But then... Masato mentioned Atsuki.

Instantly, all of the previous traces of amusement disappeared from Yasunori's face and his expression darkened. What did Atsuki have to do with this, again? He couldn't pinpoint exactly why it bothered him that Masato had brought the girl into discussion... or maybe he could. He wouldn't deny that he was interested in the girl. She had been his target of choice to play games with in the first place, and this all-talk, useless nobody wanted to get in the way? What could someone like Masato know about tapping into people's minds, anyway, in comparison to him? What a great joke. Yasunori's thoughts would have continued in the same manner, but Shinjiru's move somewhere to the side caught him a bit by surprise -- the illusionist had momentarily forgotten about the blond's presence. Driven instantly even more on his guard than before, Yasu quickly turned his head so that his field of vision would include both of the other males. Of course, it would be an exaggeration to say Yasu was afraid -- he'd more rather call it wariness. Right? After all, he wasn't going to stupidly delude himself about which people he wouldn't stand a chance against in direct combat. Shinjiru seemed to be ignoring him however.

"..."

With a curious head-tilt, Yasunori couldn't help but hold back the perfectly controlled, mocking retort he'd have sent Masato's way and observe Shinjiru get annoyed. His was a rather odd sort of anger, it seemed, vocal but at the same time subdued, and probably all the more intimidating due to that. Yasunori couldn't blame Masato for having gotten away quickly before it could even begin. However, he quickly realized it was exactly the kind of feeling that he, on the contrary, would have liked to spur on and increase, irregardless of personal risk. Suddenly, as he watched on with interest, it didn't matter anymore that Masato had made a comment about Atsuki that wouldn't mean anything in the long run. He just wanted to feed this negative emotion that he'd discovered by accident, and nothing else mattered.

"Hm...~ Who would've th----"

” ... I thought your game was a bit childish, Shinomoto. “

Ignoring him still, it seemed, Shinjiru had been going through his own thought process, catching the illusionist completely off-balance. And probably not for the first time that day, or in general either. As the blond continued to speak, Yasunori couldn't help but grow increasingly tense, glaring fixedly at the other from behind an expression that otherwise only spoke of the absolute calm, with a thin, mildly amused smile. He barely even registered the knight's other comment, the one about staying there with them, entirely focused on trying to guess what the hell exactly was going through his head. There had to be some trick of sorts to how Shinjiru was able to reach these ridiculous, odd results, right? And deliver all these lines and reactions that the illusionist wasn't able to predict all that well.

"Deserves?" Yasunori questioned, tilting his head incredulously once again. He then sketched the vaguest of calm shrugs. "Don't get the wrong idea so easily, that's no business of mine." Slowly, one of his trademark, aggravatingly nonchalant smirks formed back on his lips, crowning his teasing, unconcerned tone. "I'm only doing it for fun. You know, personal enjoyment. But I guess those are things you wouldn't be familiar with, Shinji-chan. Or would you~?"

He had to admit, beyond the whole idea of testing a potential weak point of the knight's and surprising him with something he might not have expected to hear... Yasu was actually also a fair part curious. Unfortunately he didn't quite get the time to explore the depths of his curiosity much when the sounds of a group of children reached his ears. They were chattering despite being in a hospital, and from what Yasunori caught from the couple of busy adults -- one a nurse -- hanging around them, it seemed they had come to visit their injured teacher or something. Well, that was just great. Now all that remained was for said teacher to be exactly in one of the rooms closest to them. Yasunori couldn't stand children -- among many other things. He hated even the very idea of a human that could be so easily carefree and enjoy a sheltered life. For reasons you wouldn't get to find out very soon.

"Let's tell that monkey to hurry," he muttered, stepping a bit closer to Shinjiru by instinct without noticing. He looked in Masato's direction, though, and then proceeded to just do it himself. "Hey, Smooth-and-Charming! Move it with that job of yours already, Shinji-chan and I are getting bored."

Did he interrupt another one of Masato's meaningless flirts? Yasunori could only hope so. His head turned to look at Shinjiru again, and he smiled vaguely some more.

"As for you, don't think I didn't notice." Whether Shinjiru would realize this was Yasu's mind finally returning to his initial observation of not having quite gotten an explanation that made sense for why Shinjiru had been missing... and to his instinct telling him something was off about that... Well, Yasunori didn't really care. He just pretended to idly hang by as he waited, for any sort of reaction whatsoever. He wasn't about to miss even the tiniest detail now.

[Plane Between Planes]

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Y O U R X D R E A M S X S T I L L X B L O W X I N X T H E X W I N D XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
y x o x u x r xxx d x r x e x a x m x s xxx s x t x i x l x l xxx b x l x o x w xxx i x n xxx t x h x e xxx w x i x n x d
XXX AND HERE WE ARE ｡ X ☆ X M E M O R I E S X R U N X D E E P E R X A N D X T R U E
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx a n d x h e r e x w e x a r e . x m e m o r i e s x r u n x d e e p e r x a n d x t r u e
I ' L L x A L W A Y S x T A K E x Y O U x W I T H x M E x W H E N x I xxx
f r e e f a l lx ✩ freefall . xxxxxxxxxx
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The cold was pretty much mind-numbing. As he got out of the van, the last of his group, and carefully closed the door so as to be considerate of the driver who'd be staying inside and going back, Terry postponed getting familiar with the area to pull his coat more tightly around himself. Honestly, he didn't know at this point if the fake glasses he wore were a good thing because they semi-protected his eyes from the wind and extremely cold air, or if they'd just freeze on his face and be stuck there forever. ...Ignore strategy. Man's best friend in the whole world. Arranging his scarf, Terry covered his neck perfectly, and his chin and mouth as well -- he could tell you for a certain, scientific fact that nearly half of the heat the body lost in cold weather was through the neck and face. That was probably why, when they'd gotten out of the second plane and before getting into the vans, the first thing he'd done was make sure everyone, especially Kilmer who seemed not to have brought any thick clothes of his own, was dressed properly. Having spent most of the long first plane ride to Russia dozing off on Salem's shoulder while she read, Terry now had enough energy to spare for everyone. Maybe for that very reason, he stayed behind now, a distance back until the whole group gathered in front of the gates as he watched over them carefully. Arriving late, he was completely oblivious to the exchange that had first taken place between Salem and the Russian man's wife, but he caught the assessment of the situation from him.

He couldn't help it if he worried. He wanted everyone safe and sound, no matter what.

Giving a small start at the pointed comment Salem made before they left, he had to hold himself back from looking too surprised or asking about it, since they were walking in. Remaining at the back of the group once more, Terry somehow managed the miracle of taking in his surroundings while at the same time keeping them all in sight. Everyone was there. Good. With Salem leading them... He somehow was concerned about her the most. She was by far the most capable, and he knew she could hold her own and wouldn't do anything stupid, but... At the same time, all the hard work fell to her. No matter how much he supported her and tried to protect her, she'd always be the front line. Where it was the most dangerous.

Letting the doors close themselves behind the group, Terry warily took in the hallways, and the heavy air that seemed to be lingering in the semi-darkness. There was a lot of space to move, which could potentially prove to be a good thing, but... Slightly frowning, despite every attempt not to do so, he left the talking to Salem. She was the director, anyway, and in this situation he trusted her more with instructions than himself. His thoughts were just too all over the place. However, what did catch his attention immediately and drew his eyes back from the dark, bolted ceiling and the windows with the distant and contrasting light outside was Iris's comment.

”There are no spirits here.”

There was no possible way of expressing how much those words calmed him down right now, and he was immensely grateful to Iris. Terry himself couldn't truly sense or see ghosts, not like those of the team who were working with spirits far more closely, and definitely not like Iris. All he could to was repel attacks and push them away. That's why confirmation from someone like that honestly eased him. The 'right now' lingered in the back of his head, and he knew all too well that real hell would break loose later, but at least they had peace right now. A moment to properly assess the situation, and consider their options.

"I think we should get settled in first," he voiced his opinion on the woman's suggestion, in a semi-hushed tone so that he'd only really catch attention from her and maybe the other veterans. "But I'd really consider your suggestion for the first thing to try once we've secured the spot." Quietly, subtly, he looked to Salem, voice lowering even more. "What do you think?"

His facial expression was telling her more, probably, than words or the controlled tone of his voice could. Far beyond that question, too.

"The fact that we're staying here unnerves me, Terry. Couldn't we work from a nice, cozy hotel and visit occasionally?"

He didn't have time to listen to an answer, though, but that couple of seconds had been enough to ease his mind a little. When he looked at Alouette, Terry was able to form his usual smile and appear as honest about it as he always did. The last thing he'd want was to unnerve the girl; he had a distinct feeling she was far more nervous than she let on, in general, as it was. He also knew she was probably asking the question only to keep her mind off of other things. Just what he was pretty much doing at the moment, too. Perhaps for the first time, he felt more connected to his student than always. Terry would definitely not forgive himself if anything happened to Alouette here.

"Oh? Have some tea with the locals, right?" he joked, laughing a little. How exactly he had the strength or the presence of mind to do that and look so detached at the moment, while that whole storm was actually going on in his head, not even he knew exactly.

Before that could even sink in, however, a sharp series of sounds cut through the relative silence, and his student caught on to his arm. By instinct, Terry's other hand covered hers, for the briefest of seconds, assuring her everything would be fine. He didn't know what the noise had been, but if he dared to judge from experience, it didn't seem quite as erratic as something caused by malevolent spirits in various ways. Perhaps, it could have been an instance of poltergeist, but his gut feeling made him doubt that this time. The girl seemed to let go of him fairly quickly, although it wasn't really for a reason he liked. Before Iris, Terry, or anyone else could say anything, Sae Byul had taken off, and Alouette followed in tow almost instantly.

...What were they thinking!?

Terry's own first impulse was to rush after them, but after a first sudden move he abruptly stopped himself, and looked back at Iris. Hesitating, he questioned her with his eyes. Was his worry exaggerated? He never knew that for sure. He couldn't be depending on Salem all the time, either, so he repressed his hidden wish that she'd say something to this and didn't even glance at her for a second. She was the one who was supposed to depend on him more. Or was she? Iris was a calm person as well, though, so at least her opinion...

"I don't think there's any real danger right now," Terry said, hesitating, but his voice sounded certain enough. "But still... Do you want to go keep an eye on them, or should I?"

Albeit glass-skinned and fragile, the calm he displayed was at least a decent impression of the usual, fairly casual Terrance. The only one who could probably tell just how different things were, in fact, was...

Well.

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AND THE WHOLE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP ｡ X a n d x t h e x w h o l e x w o r l d x g o e s x t o x s l e e p x .
as a child, the grand expanse the future must hold xxxxxxxx
DAY TO NIGHT X ☼ XX WAVES WASHING OVER AND OVER ｡
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx a x n x d xxx o x v x e x r xxx y x o x u x r xxx e x x x p x e x r x i x e x n x c x e
XXXXX Y O U X L I V E D X E V E R Y X D A Y X L I K E X I T ' S X Y O U R X L A S T

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[Plane Between Planes]

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XXXXXXXXXX ♈ ♈ X T H E Y X S A Y X IGNORANCE X I S X B L I S S
b u t x i x d o n ' t x t h i n k x i ' l l x b e x c o n t e n t x w i t h x i t xxxxx
EVEN ON THOSE NIGHTS STRETCHED OUT ACROSS EMPTINESS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx i x o n l y x w a n t x t o x l i v e x i n x t h e x p r e s e n t
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I CHOSE ｡
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Still catching his breath from laughing, Souji fought to keep his eyes open and trained on Saitou and the woman, if only for the sake of good entertainment. A vague and casual smirk still remained on his lips, marking the last traces of his amusement. Oh? Hajime-kun's face was priceless, too. He was really taking this seriously, as was his usual habit. Subtly, the brown-haired man quirked an eyebrow when the foreigner escaped; to pull herself free and take even Hajime-kun by surprise, as tiny a bit of it as there was... Entirely too ridiculous, especially considering the face she was making at him. The features may have been entirely foreign, and quite odd-looking to Souji's eyes, but even so... It was pretty clear what she might have been thinking of. Really, Souji wanted to laugh again, but she wasn't done panicking -- and he didn't trust her that much yet. Staying on his guard, he watched her every move closely, mirroring Saitou's wariness exactly (though not also his slight embarrassment). The woman probably couldn't tell half of it, but a man with a trained eye would have realized the danger immediately, by looking at their perfectly calm, ready stances.

Although, perhaps not ready for quite the right thing.

Their eyes, at the same time, followed the hand first and then the heavy object it tossed, and not the slightest movement was sketched as the revolver crashed down, drawing a loud noise from the wooden floor. Saitou, only, pointed a sharp glare at the woman as if suspicious; for Souji who knew him, however, it was clear that he was quite at a loss. He himself gave a short, but exaggeratedly ostentatious sigh, and sketched the slightest beginning of a new shrug. Obviously, neither of the two realized, just like the woman hadn't sensed the true danger she was in, just how disastrous that frustrated throw could have possibly been.

By then, the blonde looked completely like a cornered animal, and the next thing Souji did when he glanced back at her was get on his guard, urgently. A good instinct, indeed, because she broke something free from around her neck and threw it straight at him, rambling some more. He managed to dodge it with ease, and would have commented in mock-admiration as was his usual carefree nature, but he wasn't so lucky. The very next moment, he heard the dull, distinct sound of metal on wood, as what he thought had been probably jewelry of some sort happened to hit the wooden framework of the shouji screen right next to him instead of the paper. Naturally, it ricocheted much faster this way and bounded right off, hitting the back of his head. Heavily. He couldn't keep his eyes from widening slightly and turned around to look for the object as it fell down and started rolling away.

He stopped it right before it could fall off the nure'en, easily breaking its momentum by blocking the way with his bare foot. Reaching down afterwards, he picked it up and looked at it curiously. It seemed like a ring, but with that sort of size and weight... either foreigners were exaggeratedly gaudy when it came to jewelry, or... Oh, really now? Don't tell him this little, dumb foreigner, completely incapable of understanding the oh-so-complicated workings of a window or the concept of staying quiet and still, could be nobility of some sort or something. Well, not like it mattered anyway. They hadn't really done anything to her, and besides this was Japan. Tough luck, Souji thought to himself as he briefly rubbed the spot on his head that the ring had hit. Of course he wasn't slightly resentful for that and it didn't influence his lack of regrets even more, or anything.

When he turned back around, though, it was just in time to see her undress, for some reason he couldn't even begin to fathom. She seemed really set on it, however, so Souji only tilted his head, giving a questioning glance in Saitou's direction, which quickly turned into an, "Oh?" of amusement when he noticed the obviously taken aback, almost flustered expression of the other male. The woman just tossed the shirt down, looking at them as if they should be scared now. Or just generally awed and impressed in some way. Even after falling down to one knee, she continued to glare daggers at them and made another obviously hostile, still perfectly unintelligible comment. Souji shrugged once more and turned his head, slowly, the enigmatic expression he faced Saitou with definitely not a sign of good news.

"Well then, Hajime-kun," he said in a semi-bored tone, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I'll leave this to you, since I'm no longer interested."

Saitou didn't look calm to him in the least, despite the flat, serious face. "S-Souji---"

"And it looks like Kondou-san returned, too."

Souji... was the prime, perfect material for a tyrant. Really. Or maybe the king of all bratty, spoiled children everywhere -- it was an answer that differed depending on who you asked. But even as he said such things on the most cheerful tone ever, he made sure to hold the ring up between his fingers, smirking slightly when he was sure the woman noticed he had it. And after that, with no waste of movement, he simply dropped it in the front of his kimono, holding back a flinch when it hit one of the scratches he'd acquired earlier in passing. Nothing could put a dent in his moment of triumph. That's what you got for throwing objects at Souji people, after all. A concept to which Hijikata-san wasn't a complete stranger, either.

With that, he really did turn to leave, despite Saitou's stoic sigh of resignation. What he'd said earlier really hadn't been a lie; while he was picking up the ring, he really had spotted Kondou-san and his two escorts walk in through the main gates. Even from a distance, it looked like they were all really tired, but they seemed to perk up when they entered. How Souji had managed to notice so much in only a moment remained quite the mystery. Although it wasn't that surprising given who exactly it was he'd been looking at. From the corner of his eyes, he still managed to catch Saitou's move to carefully pick up the shirt and revolver that the woman had discarded, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on her as a warning not to try anything. But the brown-haired male's thoughts had already drifted elsewhere, so it didn't really get his attention right now.

And then, Souji's entire world seemed to collapse on top of him as he looked back in the direction of the gates, changing faces more quickly than a ripple crossing the surface of water. His teeth gritted together as he glared at the distant new silhouette that had joined the rest in the meantime. Why was Hijikata-san already there? No doubt saying things to Kondou-san that were going to make him over-react to the situation as well, like only Hijikata-san could otherwise. Souji was certain of it. Mulling over such things, he easily felt the mood to go there flee him as if he had a giant hole in the back of his head that it leaked through. He sulked back a couple of steps onto the nure'en, and turned abruptly to Saitou.

Without a warning, he grabbed the shirt from the other male's hand, preventing his tentatively starting attempt to offer it politely to the foreigner. In a complete contrast to that considerate move, he dumped it right over the woman's head, ignoring her obvious exhaustion even more pointedly than before. Who cared if she couldn't see, right? He kept his eyes fixed on her, as if daring her to protest and try to object.

"Put that back on~" he said on a tone that, while sounding as happy and carefree as before, had the gift of being absolutely creepy when coupled with his obvious, fixed mask of a cheerful facial expression.

Souji didn't want to turn around right then. It was almost a certain fact that Hijikata-san and Kondou-san would be heading there by now, and maybe the scolding would be delayed a bit more if he didn't look.

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I'LL STICK TO X T H E X D I F F I C U L T X P A T H xxxxxxxx
n o x m a t t e r x w h a t , x w i t h o u t x e v e n x b r u s h i n g x m y x s a n d - c o v e r e d x s h o e s
xxxxxxxx I CAN'T LIVE IN ANY OTHER WAYS ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
↻ ↻ XX I WANT TO SEE A NEW WORLD ｡ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
i t 's x f i n e x i f x i t x b r e a k s x m e x - - x i ' l l x l o o k x a t x t h e x d a r k n e s s
N O X O N E X C A N X S T O P X M E X N O W ｡
SPURRED ON BY THE WIND ↷ i want to believe in this radiance we're struggling toward . x ↙ ↙
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Very much enjoying the tone of voice he was hearing in response -- very prompt response, too, one might add -- Souji turned around to smirk all-knowingly at his black-haired superior. Looking at them right now, one would have definitely not guessed that he was supposed to be listening to Hijikata's orders and to act as his subordinate at all. It was a situational property that they only ever managed to obtain between the two of them. Seeing the man pant as he tried to get his bearing after just getting there in a panicked rush, and yet still trying to look and act cool only amused Souji more.

"So," he said. "I take it I was right? You know, Hijikata-san, if you drop that so carelessly around the room... It's really no surprise people have such an easy time taking it."

And by 'people', make no mistake, Souji meant solely himself. Nobody else would be crazy enough to touch Hijikata's possessions without permission. Especially not that one. The vice-commander didn't seem to be taking his smug tone with too much joy, however. As expected, but... something was off about his general aura, as well. Souji was ready to subtly take a step back and put himself safely away -- only so he could tease more, of course -- but Hijikata was faster, grabbing the back of his kimono. Souji's eyes widened a bit and he started to protest by angling a glare at the man; if anything, this was truly annoying, and fell into the category of those times when he thought the vice-commander was overly arrogant and full of himself. Souji knew the sort of faces Hijikata made by heart, pretty much, and the current one was classed as the type that meant he was being looked down upon. He didn't protest as he was dragged inside the room, however, but made sure to pull himself easily free as soon as Hijikata's hold weakened a bit, and before the man could truly let go.

"Oh?" he made an ambiguous sound, tilting his head. To be honest, at first he'd meant to respond to the other's obviously proud-of-himself look in turn, by brushing off what had happened and mocking him, but that decision was soon forgotten when Hijikata changed faces quicker than Souji could blink. Despite himself, the younger male found curiosity overtaking him slowly, and he turned around to track the vice-commander's moves through the room.

“Make yourself useful and carry that.”

"Wh— Wait, Hijikata-san, what—"

He barely even had time to move and catch the package of papers as it was handed to -- or, more rather, imposed on -- him, blocking it awkwardly with one hand and keeping it pressed to his chest. He could swear he'd crumpled it a bit from pressing his fingers too tightly, but it didn't seem like Hijikata cared about that. In fact, he had just continued to give out casual orders, and wasn't even looking at Souji anymore now. This was exactly what the first-unit captain meant when he usually described his superior as an arrogant, self-centered, annoying individual who thought he was entitled to anything. Tch. Souji should have just gone to visit Kondou-san instead, but he supposed it was too late now.

"Yes, yes," he replied mechanically, with the slightest trace of an obviously mocking tone that implied he was only listening because he felt like it. Although he probably really didn't have a choice. "In that case, don't mind if I excuse myself."

Of course Hijikata wouldn't, but if Souji knew anything about the man, saying such a thing on that tone was surely going to aggravate him. And, if that self-important manner was the way the vice-commander was going to act today, he told himself as he stuffed the papers in the front of his kimono and made his way out, well... He was just going to keep up this sort of behavior, too. Stretching once when outside, though, he looked briefly over the courtyard before starting to walk along the engawa and head for his room. He had to admit, something really seemed to be going on. Hijikata-san, too, wouldn't have been holed up in his room for two days without being up to something important, either. And now it seemed he'd been drafted into that something, which wasn't an unpleasant development at all. With a small, pleased smirk to himself, Souji slipped quietly inside his own room.

It took barely a few moments for him to get his swords, and a few more to be out and start to tie the knot on the waraji as he stepped into them, haori draped carelessly over one shoulder. He was still putting that one on and smoothing the sleeves and the sides properly when he approached the main gate, walking fast. His hand slipped briefly under the haori again, giving a tug to the swords to make sure the pair was firmly secured. Quick fingers checked along the sageo for the knot to be tied properly, and then he was done; from his every move, one could easily tell that things such as these were merely daily routine for Souji. By the time he actually stopped, pleased to notice that he'd been first and Hijikata wasn't there yet (although also a bit annoyed, since it meant he'd have to wait), he was already just lazily stifling a yawn.

Leaning against one of the gate posts, he looked at the guards next to him. The men were used to people coming and going all day, if needed, so they hadn't really paid that much attention to his arrival. They weren't from his unit either, so apart from a polite nod, there was no exchange between him and them. Considering quickly, Souji decided he should just ascertain it anyway.

"Hey, you," he called out to the closest man's back. "The street out front was quiet today, right?"

The guard seemed surprised, but he turned to face him and nodded. "Yes," he replied stiffly. "There was an incident during the late night shift, but it's been already reported to the vice-commander."

"Oh? Has it?" With a small chuckle, and obviously not interested anymore, Souji looked away from the man and leaned back in his spot, eyeing the patch of sky visible to him through a hole in the ornaments on the gate.

If he had to be fully honest... he really liked being in the middle of simple-minded people like these. Who really cared about complicated things like nobles and clans and political tensions? If he could help it, he'd always be busy, like now. It didn't really matter where he was going, as long as he had something to do. Too bad... it was probably impossible, no? For some reason, Souji didn't care right now. Back rested comfortably against the wood, he didn't notice that he smiled softly at the patch of blue he was watching.

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k n ow i n g x t h a t x s o o n x i t x w i l l x s c a t t e r x a n d x d i e ,
s t i l l x t h e x f l o w e r x k e e p s x o n x l i v i n g x s t r o n g l y
xxxxxxxx in VIVID COLOR ｡

[Plane Between Planes]

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx T H E R E ' S x A x L I G H T x A N D x A x D A R K x S I D E x ｡
xxxxxxx ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ x ↯ ↯ x ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
xxxxxxx S T A N D I N G x A T x T H E x C R O S S R O A D S 、x T H E R E x W E ` L L x M E E T ｡ x ★ ☆
x
THERE'S PROPHETS AND FOOLS THERE. x THE LIES AND TRUTHS WILL BE AT OUR FEET.
THERE'S PROPHETS AND FOOLS THERE. x THE LIES AND TRUTHS WILL BE AT OUR FEET.
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planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too

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"speech"

planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too

planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too

thought

planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too

writing / texting

planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too planes sometimes writes in font size ten too

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☆ ☆ xxxxx W I N N E R S x A N D x L O S E R Sx｡ xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY? x WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY? x WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY?
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[Plane Between Planes]

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx T H E R E ' S x A x L I G H T x A N D x A x D A R K x S I D E x ｡
xxxxxxx ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ x ↯ ↯ x ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
xxxxxxx S T A N D I N G x A T x T H E x C R O S S R O A D S 、x T H E R E x W E ` L L x M E E T ｡ x ★ ☆
x
THERE'S PROPHETS AND FOOLS THERE. x THE LIES AND TRUTHS WILL BE AT OUR FEET.
THERE'S PROPHETS AND FOOLS THERE. x THE LIES AND TRUTHS WILL BE AT OUR FEET.
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The young man with vividly colored eyes of a piercing blue-green didn't really seem to mind the heat overmuch. Sparing no more than one glance to the sun, he blinked to clear his vision and wiped his forehead in a single move with the back of his hand. His sweat-covered, quite well-muscled chest rose and fell rhythmically as he breathed in and out, obviously recovering from some effort or straining physical activity. At the same time, however, he began to pull the lid from a half-liter bottle he'd picked up from the grass just earlier, from the same place he'd dropped it when they arrived. Maybe his black-haired female companion preferred not to carry objects with her due to the possibility of destroying them accidentally, or maybe she'd simply been too stupid to think of bringing her own bottle. Cyan wasn't one to sweat the small details; point is, she had no water. Did that mean he was even thinking of offering her some? Absolutely not. Cyan didn't even look at her, too preoccupied for the moment. He just flinched when the contact between the rough plastic mouth of the bottle and his own lips sent a small jolt of pain through his jaw and reminded him of the blow he'd received earlier from the girl's clenched fist. But he relaxed almost immediately and began to drink unperturbed. His Adam's apple bobbed slightly with each large sip that he greedily swallowed, breath held even though his lungs felt like they'd explode any moment, and the colorless liquid drained from its container faster than one could blink. What little remained was poured casually over the top of Cyan's head, cooling his neck and shoulders as it dripped down from his short-cropped hair.

And then, he proceeded to stare at the empty bottle, weighing it in his hand and putting the lid back on. He briefly contemplated flinging it at Lien's head -- the b***h was staring -- and seeing what happened if it hit skin, but in the end he just sidetracked for a second to toss the empty bottle in the nearest public use trashcan. There, good deed done for today. This excused a whole year of b*****d.

Hands shoved casually in the pockets of his ripped jeans, he followed a few steps behind, in no particular hurry or need to catch up to his sparring partner of just moments ago. Sure, the fact that he had no shirt sort of aggravated him; ******** b***h was a menace, he swore. Someone should have just strangled her with a fur coat or something by now and suffocated her dead. On the other hand, she was pretty damn strong, if the various bruises present all over Cyan's very vaguely tanned body -- arms, ribcage, and most recently face -- weren't solid enough proof of that. And they weren't just one set from today, but slightly older, fading ones also. He didn't really care, though, and didn't even look down to count them as he kept walking at a relaxed pace, as if he had all the time in the world. Really, it was difficult to believe the person with whom he was currently more or less walking back to the shop was the same pathetic, weak piece of s**t who'd first arrived at Arceneaux about four years prior. Cyan was pretty sure he could've snapped her like a twig back then. And she wouldn't have even protested.

Things were obviously quite different now.

"It's your damn fault we can't take anything," he muttered, glowering briefly at Lien as a bus passed them by. Cyan could swear those damn comfortable bastards seated inside were sneering at him and his pitiable pedestrian status, and he briefly contemplated frying the thing like a tin can. He did have the contact lens that controlled fire equipped. But, instead, he only rolled his eyes. "I should just leave you behind."

Of course, his relief was very short-lived.

"If it's such a god damn problem, why don't you just ask Ace to spar instead, huh?"

The mention of the nickname, which Cyan knew quite well stood for the one ******** person at Arceneaux he quite possibly hated more than that dumb foreign b***h who'd recently taken residence and whom said person happened to guard, was enough to send Cyan into a fit of internal, non-expressed rage. No amount of colorful, loud streams of swearing could express all he wanted to say in reply, so he just scrunched up his face into a grimace that said it all and snorted with a loud, "Feh."

And, right then, they turned the corner. And, right then, there was a bus station, which meant there was also a suddenly pleased grin. Oh yes. Or, more rather, oh no. No way in hell was Cyan letting this sudden, random awesome go past.

"Oh, don't you fu --"

Lien seemed to anticipate it, but he cut her off with the most god-damn obnoxious smirk he'd ever been able of showing. Oh, you can ******** bet that's exactly what he's going to do. See that? There's two benches at that beautiful stop, both conveniently unoccupied, and it's even fairly nice and shady in there, under the roof of advertisement panel and glass. He shrugged pointedly at her as he stopped, as if to say that sure, he'd picked her as a sparring partner, she got that one. "Nobody said I had to wait for you after, though," he added in triumphant, openly spiteful words.

And then, he sat down. Hell yes, did that feel good.

"Oh yeah. Just keep talking," he said, looking smug as he confirmed himself to be exactly as much of an a*****e as Lien was making him sound. "You still can't take the bus."

Unfortunately, two seconds later, the other bench suddenly blew up. What the ********, exploding benches, what---

"...THE s**t!?" Cyan was back on his feet, angry glare leveled on the returning Lien. "You wanna go at it again!? Tilting his head until his neck gave a small crack and clapping a hand over his ear once to get rid of the annoying after-echo from the explosion, he pressed a hand down on the back of the bench and hoisted himself over it like it was nothing. The soles of his shoes hit the ground on the other side with a hard thud.

Except, the sound immediately following Lien's return snap of confirmation and her already present battle-ready stance was that of sirens. From police cars. BRILLIANT. He felt like gutting the woman right then and there, but that was besides the point. Cyan didn't even bother to swear aloud, like she had. He just... sprang. And broke into a ******** sprint, if you've ever seen someone really running the hell away in your life. He didn't lack the experience, at least. There were many times in his life when Cyan had needed to scramble as fast as he could and get lost like magic when raids or patrols turned up unexpected. Or when the owners of a house called the cops after they realized someone broke in. Really. He was good at this stuff. Veering away and not even caring for Lien -- clearly an exemplary display of loyalty to his co-worker which even defeated the one she herself was displaying -- Cyan let instinct take over as he drifted into alleys he'd long thought he left behind and took his own path to the store. The girl may have been neatly faster, but he was definitely the one with the field advantage in this case. There was no time to look and see if any familiar faces were looking at him from the darker of corners, though, or if he'd slept before in any of those spots where he jumped over seemingly years-old piles of rubble that he now only saw as obstacles in his path. Lowering his head, he just ran. He'd had wind equipped, too, but he wasn't maybe quite so desperate yet as to start making propulsion jets for himself and turn this process of storming through on his way quite so literal.

His chest felt absolutely on fire by the time he finally turned into the one alley he'd been hoping to see, trying not to stumble into the wall of the nearest house -- although he still crashed hard against it as he blinked and tried to steady himself after slowing. Spotting Lien already there, with just a tiny bit of advantage on him, he started walking again. Or more rather dragging himself.

"Bloody hell," he rasped through his teeth as he stumbled into the store right behind her; the girl seemed to be on the same wavelength as well.

"I ******** hate you, sheepboy."

It was mutual, really. Cyan just couldn't say it right then. Instead, he took another breath and managed to straighten himself, catching the sight of Eliou at his desk from only the most minimal corner of his eyes. That seemed to calm him -- at least enough for the exit door that Lien had previously stormed open to slam suddenly shut behind them with a thunderous noise, courtesy of a gust of wind that seemed to unexplainably pick up from inside the room having violently pushed it. Have we mentioned that all sorts of randomly vacant papers happened to be caught up in the process and start flying all over the room? Well, they were. Feeling much better, Cyan found his voice once again and took a few more steps inside, not minding the mess he'd just made.

"This ******** b***h randomly blew up a bench, so don't blame me if——oh."

It was only then that the boy seemed to notice that there was... well, not only Eliou in his office, past that other open door. Unfortunately, diplomacy wasn't quite Cyan's forte, nor were quickly changing social situations, so he just literally stood there and stared. Like a stupid b*****d.

Oh, and he was still dirty and shirtless, by the way.

x ━━━━━━━━x ⇡ ⇡ ⇡ x━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
☆ ☆ xxxxx W I N N E R S x A N D x L O S E R Sx｡ xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY? x WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY? x WHICH ONE WILL I BE TODAY?
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