elaby | Shinsengumi fanfic

I'm posting this because

glr1114 gave me the big anime wibbly eyes. I wrote this several weeks ago after attempting to translate about two minutes of a missing scene from the Kenshin OAV (the after-series one). It had Saitou saying cryptic things that I think we figured out were something other than what I thought they were later. At any rate, my interpretation of the clip made me want to write this.

Saitou in this fic is from Rurouni Kenshin, but Hijikata (as little as he appears) is from Peacemaker Kurogane, and I imagine Okita as some weird hybrid between RK's Okita and Peacemaker's Okita. In my head, he looks like Kenshin's Okita, anyway. But you're free to interpret as you will!

Being Shinsengumi (mini)-fic, this takes place when Saitou, Okita, and Hijikata were all in the Shinsengumi at the same time.

344 words, angst. Sort of. Oh, it's Saitou. He kind of defies and lends himself really well to angst at the same time.

It was springtime and the streets of Kyoto were mud, but the clear morning sun had washed the sky blue. Saitou stood to one side of the road, watching the people go by and the shops open up. A few dozen yards away, Okita stood talking to the Shinsengumi’s second-in-command, Hijikata Toshizo. Okita’s brilliant smile made him look even younger than he was, and although Hijikata appeared stern to the casual passerby, Saitou knew him better. It was subtle, but Hijikata moved differently – looser – when Okita stood that close. Saitou folded his arms in his sleeves and waited.

Okita, laughing, bowed to Hijikata and hurried down the street to where Saitou was standing. “Good morning, Saitou-san,” he said.

Saitou inclined his head and turned into the street, heading in the opposite direction from which Okita had come. “Takata-san doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“We won’t be late,” Okita said cheerily.

“Okita,” Saitou said, and Okita blinked at him for dropping the honorific. “You shouldn’t get close to him.”

A cold instant passed and then Okita’s casual smile was back. “Whyever not?”

“For the same reason he shouldn’t be so close to you. If you care for someone you fight alongside, your skill will suffer. Both of you.”

Okita bristled. “I would never let—”

“You say that now,” Saitou interrupted. “But on the battlefield, deep feelings for a comrade are a liability.”

Okita looked straight ahead, stiff, his eyes narrow. Saitou was pleased that he had gotten his point across well enough to make Okita angry. “You’re a hard man,” Okita said.

“That’s why I’ll survive. You can keep your ideals, but don’t care too much for a single person. It will only get in your way.” He saw Okita looking at him, indignation hiding conflict on a face that was so young. Saitou turned away and tried to imagine when Okita would look like an adult. He couldn’t. “You’re well aware of a swordsman’s destiny,” he said to the air. “If you continue this, you’ll only end up crying. Or he will.”