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[ within minutes, there it is: the screech of tires and the rumble of a car engine. faster than running across half the housing district in geta, that' for sure. it's a small price to pay, the nausea and green tinge to his face.

hunger is a serious issue.

the finger that jabs the doorbell then is only slightly hysterical. only slightly. ]

[hijikata opens the door, letting sakamoto stew outside a little (for ultimate fun), and is not unsurprised to see what the kaientai leader has been degraded to. this hungry mess. it amuses him.]

What are you, an idiot?

[let's the man in and closes the door behind them, as he treads further inside the house and to the kitchen, where lunch will be awaiting them in steaming bowls of soba noodles.]

Giving all your money to a kid. And do you forget you have shit luck with women? No one would want to be your wife willingly.

So cruel, Toukusatsu-kun! My luck with women isn't bad! Hard to get, they're just playing hard to get!

[ laughter, loud and grating, tinged with something that could be constipation or extreme hunger.

He really ought to learn how to cook, one of these days. ]

It was the right thing to do, besides. Your fatherly heart understands, right?

[ said, even as he beholds the soba feast as if it were the greatest treasure in the cosmos. ]

[the bowl of soba is handed over, with chopsticks and spoon (if the mood struck for rush rather than enjoyment). as much as hijikata would like to ignore it, sakamoto's annoying life permeated through his ignore-defences, thus his exasperated sigh.]

I don't have a fatherly heart, nor do I understand. Either way-- what I do know is that once you start eating you may shut up for a second.

[he goes to take a seat by the counter, sitting himself down and going to drop the mayonnaise on his bowl. food prep, right.]

The kid you gave your money to also had a brand new card to his name, you realise.

[and chopsticks are brought together in a solemn clap. itadakimasu. and he begins.]

Cold.

[ amiable, as he takes his bowl and his seat in short order, merry and warm as if he hadn't just spent much of the day begging for his next meal. Business as usual, in the life of Sakamoto ]

I know. It wasn't hard to figure out. Do you know why did so anyway?

[he eats in silence, really hoping for some silence. but such quality is not one to be desired around the businessman. one could hope--or at least prolong the pauses in between speech by holding back words for what is considered a polite measurement of delay.]

Let's pretend I do. What will you do for your next meals, if you're penniless?

Edited 2013-07-12 14:05 (UTC)

I'll keep coming here, obviously!

[ ahahahahahahahaha ]

Ahh, and it wasn't the money he needed, Touya-kun!

[ a pause to dig in, to sate a world-ending hunger before his stomach got it into its head to try devouring his spine.

When he talks next, it's with a bit of noodle stuck to his face, all dignity fled ]

He needed the gesture of the giving.

[no point in arguing about refusing letting him keep inviting himself over for the rest of the meals, so hijikata ignores the statement]

[he also ignores how sakamoto is making himself look a fool while eating]

Toushirou.

[and stares at sakamoto, wondering reluctantly about what he's just said. the stare prolongs, as he simply considers just how of all people he knows, sakamoto is literally the only one who holds on to such values of naive belief in the good of others. the worst part is that it actually makes hijikata think.]

You don't think your actions through much, do you.

[ a wise choice; he'd still show up anyway ]

Right, right. Toujirou.

[ if there's one thing Sakamoto's figured out, it's how to make people do just that: think. he didn't win his following, his crew and fleet, through blind and unending optimism alone.

that was just one of the factors ]

Aha, what's there to think about? Everything works out in the end!

[ right? right???? ]

[he slurps some noodles in, chewing on them as he keeps an eye on the brew in his bowl, deciding where his chopsticks would attack next. no need for that, though, as he proceeds to lather it up with even more mayonnaise thereafter]

Never imagined to see you here, to be fair.

[never actually debate thinking-before-acting with sakamoto, as it leads nowhere.]

So not even fools in space are save from the clutches of this landlord, huh...

Edited 2013-07-13 16:02 (UTC)

[ normally, Sakamoto tries to maintain eye-contact with his companions, but it's usually only for Hijikata he makes the exception.

There is no greater deterrent than mayonnaise ]

Are you happy to see me? Leaping with joy? Aa, you warm my heart with your regards.

[ a laugh, shorter, lighter. He slurps a noodle with an almost obscene relish ]

It isn't all that terrible here, now is it? Everywhere I look, I see domestic bliss. Or brave attempts at it.

[stares at him for a moment, even if sakamoto can't exactly bear to look at hijikata straight in the eye so long as mayonnaise is involved--]

Domestic bliss. Like your case, is it?

[ sakamoto chokes, like a man on the hard kernel of truth ]

That's low, Youshi!

Who the hell is Youshi, you bastard. It's Toushi- Toushi.

[and short after the reprimand-] I know who lives under the roof of your home. Takasugi Shinsuke. Have you never heard of the name?

[what connection sakamoto has with takasugi created over youth days spent together as comrades is unknown to the vice-captain of the shinsengumi, thus he isn't sure sakamoto realises who he is unfortunately been left to deal with.]

[ the question threatens to bring Sakamoto up short, but half a lifetime of maintaining the perfect pokerface saves him some trouble. he can't help the sensation of stillness that dares to creep over him, the bizarre little tightening in his gut. too much like pre-battle nerves, it feels like. he doesn't think he likes it. ]

Ahh? Who? Takasugi?

[ he could regret this down the line, he reflects, could pay for it in a whole myriad of ways. ]

That sour pickle? Why, is he a friend of yours?

Do news in space fail to travel at the speed of light... maybe you're just too slow for that...

[what a shame]

We're not friends. I don't reckon he has any. He's the number one terrorist threat for the Bakufu government; he's much more dangerous than Katsura and the Joui. The Kihetai--that's Takasugi's brand, in a way.

He's ever so elusive, it's surprising that he's arrived here a second time already.

You mean to say the Kaientai has never made business with his group?

[ sheepish, chagrined, a perfect parody; it may as well be the real thing ]

Are you sure? Him? Aah, he barely looks like he can tie his own zori! Are you sure he's really the one?

What sort of business? You know that isn't information to sling around wildly, right?

[...and in return, hijikata shrugs, sitting back, somewhat more relaxed than his stiff sitting position prior. they traded information, instead of weapons. the shinsengumi didn't need anything that sakamoto and his group could provide - but the vice-captain believed that there was nothing inherently evil about someone who wanted to create relationships of peace with the amanto rather than destroy them by violent means.]

[sakamoto was an alright man, as far as hijikata was concerned.]

If you've never had dealings with him it's none of my concern. What I've told you is general knowledge, and the fact that the man himself is dangerous, so you may not wish to cross him.

[space was vast, wasn't it? he was no expert--so perhaps they had never met. takasugi's recent threat to his own makes hijikata helplessly vulnerable, and he doesn't want sakamoto (regardless of how superficial his acquaintance goes) to be caught in the crossfire either.]

I don't envy your housing location, is all.

The Kaientai wouldn't be considered a neutral entity if we were to be selective of our clientele, now would we? I can't say I've done dealings with the man before, not off the top of my head, but I'll be sure to keep this new information in mind come the future.

[ a pause, businessman's smile frozen before giving way to something a little more natural, his stiffened posture melting back into the slack laziness of a man at lunch. ]

He can't be that bad, can he? He's so small!

[ what Sakamoto did was never without purpose. here, in the Kaientai's dealings, everything. where the chance for peaceful resolution existed, he was there. if he could prevent further carnage, further war, further strife, he would. if it meant bowing his head and crawling through the dirt, so be it; he'd done it a hundred times before up until now.

forsaking the sword didn't make a man any less a samurai.

he protected his country, his goddamn planet in his own way. ]

Edited (WOW SHUT UP) 2013-07-14 13:20 (UTC)

[hijikata snorts at the "small" statement, realising with amusement that takasugi does have a shorter stature than most; but the amusement doesn't last long. minute and dwindling, his eyes strain on his empty bowl of food.]

[takasugi is someone to fear. hijikata knows that. he knows less than an ounce of what that fear entails, and yet here he is worried that he'll be caught making fun of this lurking shadow.]

[he lights up a cigarette, a welcome taste after his meal.]

I wouldn't underestimate him.

[ it's a sticky situation now, Sakamoto knows. playing at peaceful, domestic bliss with one of Japan's most wanted radicals. the problem with madmen was that they weren't all that mad, sharp and destructive things with brilliant minds, and it's always been the intellect that's made a man dangerous.

he wonders how well he can hold back the tide of such a guy. he wonders if he'll be able to spare good men like hijikata and the less-than-savoury like gintoki and katsura from takasugi's brand of trouble.

it's worth a shot, at least ]

You make it sound like I'm going to engage him in a duel. Do I look like a sword-waving bravo to you? Aa?

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