#o-tae

A thin layer of snow crusted over the dirt streets. It crunched under the soles of Tae’s sandals like half-melted shaved ice as she trundled along the street. Every few seconds, a powerful breeze would howl down from the sky to blast through the Edo roads, striking Tae with enough fierceness to send her tumbling back. She hadn’t even rounded the block before she had tugged her scarf up over her mouth and nose and had her hands buried under her armpits. The thin curves of her round cheeks peeking above the knitted fabric were a blistering red, burning from the relentless bits of the ice-laden wind. The breath that leaked out of the knotted fibers fogged before her before being whipped away by the gales. Maybe I should have just waited out the storm at work. The weather forecast didn’t predict a blizzard or anything! She lamented as she continued her miserable trudge. The snow had already piled up around her ankles.

She yelped aloud as a particularly buffeting burst of wind knocked her a few paces back. The soles of her sandals slid over the slick, ice-encrusted sidewalk. She pinwheeled and cried out as she lost her balance; Tae then tipped backward with a final squeal and landed on her rump in the powdery stuff. A shiver crawled up her spine as the cold bit into her behind with thousands of pin-like teeth. The bottom half of her kimono eagerly soaked up the wetness of the snow, spreading even more of the jarring cold over her skin. She hastily- but carefully- clambered to her feet and shivered when the wind resumed its attack on her with gusto. Her normally kempt brown hair had been wrenched from her bun to flap erratically around her flushed, chapping face. The wind was shrieking with a fervor now, swirling the snow around wildly. She squinted into the maelstrom, but all she could see was white.

“Oh no,” she whimpered and bundled her sodden clothes as tightly as she could around her shuddering body. Home was a long, cold walk, but the way she came was a long, cold walk too. What she wouldn’t give for a deus ex machina to rescue her from this dismal situation. A gleaming knight in shining armor astride a gallant steed to spirit her away to a warm hearth and hot meal…

“You’ve gotten yourself into quite the mess, haven’t you, cabaret girl?” Tae’s expression curled into something ghastly and horrid at the sarcastic voice floating upon the wind. It was less a gentle knight, and more a scheming gremlin crawling out of a nasty sewer. She glanced over her shoulder to see a simple wooden gate, squeaking as the wind lobbed it back and forth. Beyond that was a simple stone pathway mostly buried by the piling snow leading up to the wooden porch of a spacious house. Beyond that stood one Toshiro Hijikata, leaning in the threshold of his doorway, taking a drag from a cigarette and eyeing the girl with critical black eyes. “Hey, hey, hey, hey!” he protested angrily as she promptly began stomping down the sidewalk again.

“What?” She looked back to see that he had stumbled across his porch and had one hand wrapped around the support beam. The burning end of the bud clenched in his teeth glowed a burnt umber, casting orange light over his face. His scowl deepened when she acknowledged him. Tae’s eyebrow crept up when he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, with what she saw was the faint hint of a blush burning over his cheeks.

“… J-just get inside, dammit! There’s no sense in you walking around in a damn blizzard!” he barked at her. His face shone a rosy pink when he glared back at her. Tae gawked at him, admittedly suspicious. It wasn’t that she had anything against Toshiro, and it was much better than stumbling up to a stranger’s house begging for reprieve. However, he was a leading officer in the Shinsengumi and had historically had it out for the Yorozuya, even if the world nearly ending twice had mellowed him out a bit. Unsure, she mulled about on the sidewalk, prompting a vein to bulge out on his forehead. “What’s the problem? Don’t tell me you’ve frozen to the street.”

“Oh, hush, you!” she scolded and bundled her wet kimono about her thighs. There was nothing for it, and she knew that; this was as good as an invitation for hospitality she was going to get, and she ought to take it. Even if it’s this grumpy bastard, she thought snootily. Still holding her dripping wet kimono, she cautiously crept her way over the frozen ground of his yard before arriving at the porch. She kept her gaze on her toes the entire time, carefully selecting her footholds; when the ice-encrusted wood of the first porch step came into view, she gasped as a hand also appeared in her field of vision. She looked up at Toshiro with pink cheeks. He was clenching the cigarette tightly in his teeth and looking at her through his peripheral vision. As she hesitated, he shook his hand insistently.

“Come on, cabaret girl; I’m freezing my ass off.”

“My name is not ‘cabaret girl’! It’s Tae!” He winced when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it with much more force than necessary. Recognizing it as karma for his foulness, he swallowed the insult with grace and eased her up the porch. He released her hand once she was secure on the wood, but a deep part of Tae lamented the loss of his fingers enclosed around hers. She had felt them even with the woolen fabric of her mittens. His warmth still burned on her fingertips, fighting a valiant battle against the numbing cold that had invaded her nerves. Toshiro simply muttered “come on” and disappeared behind the screen of his front door. Rubbing her tingling fingertips with her opposite hand, Tae lingered a moment on the porch.

Have I possibly gotten myself into an even bigger mess?

The wind and snow had not an answer, only promises of more biting cold. Tae quickly bundled herself into the house.

Tae’s brown eyes were wide as she stalled in the entryway. From there, she could see most of everything, and she was impressed to find it an elegant and tidy abode. It was almost so neat and tidy, actually, that it was unsettling; it looked more like a house on the market than a proper residence, as Toshiro had very few personal possessions. Only the necessities abounded, like various articles of furniture, an outfitted kitchen, and a kotatsu table in the living room. She could not see his bedroom from her vantage point, but she wouldn’t be shocked to find it barren aside from a futon.

Just as Tae slipped out of her sandals, Toshiro came strolling around the corner, holding a bundle of cloth. Tae ogled at it in befuddlement, then slowly shifted her gaze up to him. He had that pink tint to his face again and was rubbing awkwardly at the base of his neck.

“You shouldn’t walk around wearing those wet clothes, so… Here,” he brusquely grunted and thrust the black fabric into her hands. It was then that Tae realized that he was handing her a kimono- one of his kimonos, to be exact. If she was cold before, that was no longer so, for a heated flush bloomed over her body from her head to her toes. An argument simmered on the tip of her tongue, but when she glanced down to find ice-cold water puddling around her feet, she reconciled with the fact that she would have to change into Toshiro’s clothes. He continued scrubbing at the base of his neck and gestured down the hall. “The uh… restroom is down that way…” he grumbled. Tae dipped her head respectfully and scurried off to get changed.

She could feel his gaze on her the entire time she shuffled down the hall, right up until the moment she flipped on the light and shut the door behind her.

She placed a hand over her heart to find its pace hammering. Why am I getting so flustered? It’s just Hijikata! She gulped, immediately realizing the folly of that statement. Toshiro Hijikata was a regular topic of conversation at the cabaret club, even more than he was a frequent visitor with the rest of the Shinsengumi. It was little wonder, of course, because the man was undeniably attractive. Even Tae couldn’t contradict it; luscious black hair, chiseled features, a high position in a steady job, and a bad-boy attitude? He was every girl’s fantasy. Of course, Tae knew the man much more personally than the rest of the cabaret girls; his foul manner could be quite grating. Still… He invited me into his home, and he loaned me his clothes, she thought while hugging the kimono to her chest. She could not help the tiny little smile that graced her chilled lips.

She might as well make the story as riveting as she could for when she recounted it to her coworkers tomorrow morning.

She peeled her kimono from her body, and it slipped to the floor with a wet slap! As she drew Toshiro’s black robe over her arms, she caught the faint whiff of cigarette smoke and enticing cologne. One would think the pungent aromas would make her hack and cough, but Tae found the scent oddly pleasant. She secured the sash around her middle, then frowned when she noticed how loosely the fabric hung from her small frame. She could solve the problem of the too-long sleeves just fine by rolling them up, but every few seconds, the cloth would slip from her shoulders and expose just a bit too much of the curves of her chest. I’ll have to be careful not to flash him like a common harlot, she thought with a click of her tongue as she held the baggy cloth to her chest and bent over to pluck her soiled clothes from the wood floor. There was a small puddle of water glistening on the polished surface, though the kimono had only been sitting there amount a minute. The bunched cloth was heavy in Tae’s hand. Tucking it underneath her arm, she turned and opened the sliding door-

and was greeted by a surprised Toshiro, who was holding his fist up mid-knock.

As she jumped, he flushed a pink color and stepped back from the door. “S-sorry…” An awkward silence descended between them, so she meekly held out the wet clothing.

“Is there somewhere I can hang this to dry?” He led her to his laundry room, where she laid her kimono over a drying rack. They migrated back to his living room, where they sat at opposite ends of the kotatsu table. He had prepared some hot tea while she was changing and had already poured her a cup. Tae took it with both her hands, appreciating the way the warmth blossomed across her cold palms. Toshiro lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, then exhaled the smoke between them. Tae watched disconcertedly as the thin white-gray wisps slowly rose to the ceiling before dispersing against the support beams. “… Thank you. It was very kind of you to invite me inside,” she said finally with a dip of her head. Toshiro regarded her with lidded black eyes.

“What was I supposed to do? Let you freeze to death?” he grunted, his gaze falling to his own cup of tea, which he had not touched. “I’d have no reason to visit the cabaret club anymore.”

They simultaneously blushed. Tae’s head snapped up to stare at him disbelievingly, but he had already turned to the side, staring at the wall with an embarrassed scowl. I thought the guys always dragged him along, but… Does he actually enjoy coming to see me? Tae was a spitfire, to be sure. Many of the other girls were sweet and charming, but Tae’s reputation was of playful feistiness. Thinking back, Tae was almost always requested to serve the Shinsengumi’s party; she had reasoned that it was Isao’s doing, but now that she really examined the experiences, sometimes it was just Toshiro in charge. A heat rose to her cheeks as she considered the possibility that it was the vice-captain behind her exclusive catering.

Toshiro’s fingers drummed against the table’s surface as the quietude descended once more. Tae glanced out the window to see the snow piling up on the sill. She rose and shuffled over to the glass pane, adjusting the kimono as it slipped from her shoulders. The whiteness blanketed everything in sight; the street was no more, just a swathe of the rolling powder, and the houses across the street were laden with heavy pillows of it. Faint sprigs of dead grass poked out of the layer in the yard, rapidly being buried by the second. The slippery pathway which Tae had traversed only minutes ago was completely submerged. I could end up staying the night here, she reasoned. The thought made her heart quiver, and the heat in her face increase substantially. Curiously, she peered out of her peripheral vision at Toshiro, and found his gaze fixated on her.

Tae thought that it might not be a bad thing to be snowed in with the handsome police vice-captain.

“Well,” she smirked finally, making him straighten up. She held the loose fabric of the black kimono to her chest as she turned to him. “Since you like visiting the cabaret club so much, why don’t we liven up the atmosphere? Surely you have some alcohol here,” she chuckled as his eyebrow quirked inquisitively. “I don’t know about you, but brooding is not exactly my idea of a night in.” She strolled back to the kotatsu table, making a point for the fabric to slip in just a way to unveil her milky-white thigh. “Unless, of course, Mr. Vice-Captain isn’t man enough to drink with me?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Three shared bottles of sake later, Tae was pink-faced and snorting piggishly with laughter. Her hand repeatedly slapped the surface of the table as she giggled uncontrollably. Toshiro had just said it, but she didn’t even know what was so funny. He had rounded the table to sit beside her, and she was leaning heavily into his shoulder.

“Ahahahaha!” she howled as she swiped tears from the corners of her eyes. Toshiro released a long, contented sigh and slammed the most recently emptied alcohol bottle on the table before looking down at her with flickering eyes.

“I can’t believe you accused me of brooding.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. ‘Oh, look at me, I’m so grumpy and serious,’” she jibed with an unflattering mimic of his baritone voice. His eyebrows dove down over his eyes, but her coy smirk revealed his amusement. “What was I supposed to think you do for fun? Certainly not drink with beautiful women such as myself,” she said haughtily and flipped her hair over her shoulder. It had long since fallen from her bun and cascaded in waves around her upper arms. She had also long since given up correcting the kimono every time it slipped, so the black fabric was now loosely bunched around her biceps. With the tops of her breasts peeking above the dark cloth, she certainly did look like a prostitute. She was too inebriated, or maybe confident, to care.  

Toshiro purred and brought his face dangerously close to hers. Tae could smell the sake on his breath as he toothily leered over her.

“No, indeed. I’ve never had the pleasure. Those bungling oafs of mine always ruin it.” Sober Tae would blush and turn away, but drunk Tae was much less concerned with social propriety. Squealing, she clapped a hand to her blistering red cheek and shoved him in his thick shoulder.

“Oh, Toshiro! You tease!”

His voice rumbled in a purr with the intensity of a lion’s. A pleasurable shiver traveled up her spine at the sensation of his breath puffing against the shell of her ear.

“Tease? You presume too much; I’m being honest here,” he sighed in fake hurt. Tae giggled, girlishly holding her hand to her lips, her eyes rolling to peer at him through her peripheral vision. The smirk decorating his face was downright devilish. His eyes glimmered like obsidian, dark and dangerous and captivating. Tae was now wondering why she had possessed any inhibitions about Toshiro inviting her in. “Hey.” The sudden solemnness in his tone made her frown and glance up at him. His expression was suddenly very serious. “I am being honest, you know.”

The gravity of that utterance sobered Tae immediately. Flushing, she wrung her hands into the folds of the kimono but couldn’t bring herself to tear away from those smoldering eyes of his. His hand slowly reached up to lightly grab her chin, his thumb caressing the space just below her slightly parted lips. He tilted his head to the side and just stared, as if he were memorizing every detail of her face. The thought made another pleasurable tingle shoot through Tae’s nerves, but it was much more electrifying and exciting than the last. There was such an atmosphere of tension, of expectation, like the way the air crackles with energy before lightning strikes. She drew in a breath and held it, for she already knew what he was about to ask.

“Tae.” His voice was soft and inviting. Oh, how it drew her in. It felt like she was descending into warm water, floating in the dense space. She found her eyes threatening to flutter closed already, intoxicated on the deep bass of his voice alone. “Stay with me.”

Perhaps it was the alcohol. Perhaps it was the knowledge of the snow piling high outside, and the shrieking wind rattling the glass windowpanes, and the depressing gray clouds choking the night sky. Perhaps it was the excited gossiping of the girls at work every time Toshiro strolled through the door, accompanied by his posse of police officers. Perhaps it was all of that, but it was also most definitely the fact that her heart had been palpitating from the moment she stepped through the door.

“Of course.”

The moment his lips met hers, it felt like the entire world fell into place. It was just so incredibly natural, almost as if it had been a moment that Tae had waited her whole life for. A soft sigh slipped out of her, and her body sagged with contentment. Toshiro’s sturdy arms wound around her waist when she fell against him; so immersed in the kiss was she that it seemed too burdensome even to keep herself sitting up.

Their mouths moved together in sync, slow at first. Then the hunger and passion oozed in. Soon their lips were feverishly smashing and their teeth gnashing and their tongues dancing. Tae’s hand traipsed up his back to curl firmly into the straight strands of his black hair, coiling them continuously around the slim digits. She gasped when he sealed her brunette locks between his fingers and pulled, just hard enough to coax her head back but not enough to heart. Her eyelashes fluttered lasciviously when he began raining sloppy kisses across her jawline and down the column of her neck. “Toshiro,” she whined when he pressed a searing, enduring kiss to her collarbone. He nudged her body with his own, and she obeyed the silent command, falling back against the floor. He loomed over her, ceasing his incessant affections to stroke the soft skin that had been revealed by the loose kimono.

“I suppose it’s a little late to say that you’re beautiful,” he smirked down at her. Tae snorted, rolled her eyes, and shifted her hands down to his biceps.

“Maybe so, but a girl still likes to hear it.” He plucked one of her hands up and brought it to his mouth, pressing a sweet, lingering kiss to her palm. His eyes never left hers. It was so gratifying, that cherishing gaze of his, that she found herself smiling warmly. He finally pried his lips from her skin and pressed her hand against his cheek, then shifted so that his body pressed against her. It felt like her every curve locked so perfectly into place with the rugged landscape of his form. He swept some of her hair away from her face, then traced a finger down her jawline.

“I gotta say,” he smiled wryly. “I never actually thought I’d find myself in this situation.”

“Hard to believe that Toshiro Hijikata, vice-captain of the Shinsengumi, has been so afraid to tell a girl he likes her,” she teased, and stuck out the tip of her tongue when he scowled. She yelped when he pinched it between his fingers. “Ow! I’ne thorry!” she pleaded when she failed to tug it away from him. When he released her, she began laughing at the informality of it all.

“I gotta say,” she grinned when she finished snickering. “I never thought I would find myself in this situation, either.”

“You regret it?” His face had retaken on that serious note. Tae smiled wider and snuggled against him, shaking her head.

“No. Not at all. One thing, though.”

“What?”

“You’re taking me out for a proper date tomorrow.”

Toshiro smiled in amusement and leaned down to press a little kiss to the tip of her nose.

“You’re too bossy for your own good,” he purred. Naturally, their lips molded back together for a passionate embrace. Outside, the snow continued to fall and blanket the world in cold, cold white; but for that night, Tae found herself the warmest she had ever been.  

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