#passionate manly bathhouse battle... 2!!!

[meadowmines]

OC-Tober Day 21: Different Era

[WOE. ISHIN BE UPON YE.]

It's not often that Aoyagi gets to enjoy a bath in a nice bathhouse at a reasonable hour. He usually just comes in the middle of the night because the place is deserted. But sometimes, just sometimes, the combination of Shinsengumi money burning a hole in his pocket and the stress of having to feed his fellow troops to earn that paycheck line up just right and the second he can get away with shutting the kitchen for the night he puts out the fire and runs like hell to catch a nice hot bath.

Look, do you have any idea how much these animals can eat? You try feeding a pack of ravenous Mibu Wolves and see how much sanity you've got left by the time dinner's over. Sure, it helps that this Saito guy that's just joined up can cook a little and grows some veggies and brings some eggs and fish and stuff in once in a while but goddamn.

Anyway, he said fuck this shit I'm out, grabbed his money, ran to this nice bathhouse, slammed a whole ryo on the counter for an hour of private bathtime, and now he's just letting his cares soak away without having to worry about who might see what's under his clothes.

He thinks he hears some conversation out front, the attendant talking, then a woman's voice (he thinks) saying something he can't quite make out. He ignores it. It's not his problem.

It's not his problem, he thinks, until he hears someone walk in on his private bathtime. His first instinct is to cover up, and he goes as far as sinking neck-deep into the water before he opens his eyes to glare daggers at whoever just walked in. "I dunno if the guy out front told ya," he starts, "but I paid a whole-ass ryo for an hour in private. Wait yer turn."

"Oh, that's fine!" Same voice, but now Aoyagi recognizes it.

Oh. Okay. It's that Sonno Joui asshole. Great. Awesome. Just what he needed tonight.

"I do that too, you know. For the same reason, even!" And without the least little bit of self-consciousness Yamaoka steps right into the water and sits just far enough away that Aoyagi can't bitch about it. "Hey. No need to be shy. We're all men here, right?"

"Sit on a sea urchin," Aoyagi grumbles, averting his eyes. Yamaoka is tall and slim and he's got long legs and big hands and feet and he probably doesn't even have to bind his chest. Aoyagi is chubby and stubby and lives in constant fear that his shit's going to come undone at the worst possible time. Very few people know what's under his clothes--his brother, Captain Okita, the chief, this asshole, and that's about it and he'd like to keep it that way. "C'mon, man. Ya can't wait one hour?"

"Aw, don't be like that!" Yamaoka shrugs innocently. Innocent, Aoyagi's entire ass. "I never see you around anymore. Heard Okita's working you and your brother half to death."

It's not exactly untrue but like hell is Aoyagi going to admit to that right now. "The Captain saved my life," he says as mildly as he can. Now that part is true, even if Aoyagi suspects the man was more excited about adding a few new bloodstains to his collection than he was invested in saving anyone. "I owe him for that."

"Hey, good loyal men like you don't grow on trees. He doesn't know how lucky he is." Yamaoka says with a shit-eating grin. "You know I could get you into the Sonno Joui. Just say the word."

"Really," Aoyagi deadpans. "The way I hear it, my blood's got too much of the West in it for your outfit."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Yamaoka says, casually waving a hand in a way that just happens to flick water right into Aoyagi's face. "We know you're one of the good ones."

"I'm gonna pop ya a good one if ya don't shut the fuck up while I'm tryin' to relax."

All that gets out of Yamaoka is a laugh. Maybe not the heartiest one--sure, Aoyagi makes most of his coin in the kitchen but he picks up a fair bit of scratch kicking asses that need kicked, and he's no slouch with a sword. Yamaoka is a flashy bastard (he struts around Kyo with not one but two revolvers, what kind of asshole even does that!?) and he's got a pretty scary reputation that isn't unearned. He's a crack shot and deadly at range, but he's shit in a close fight and he's got to be considering his chances if Aoyagi just snaps and starts pounding the crap out of him right here in the middle of the bathhouse.

"All right, all right," Yamaoka finally says, hands held up in the most nonthreatening possible gesture. "Yamaoka-no-nii-san's just trying to help, no need to get a big tail about it. So hey, you see the chicken races last night? My girl picked a few winners, let's just say I got lucky more than once..."

Aoyagi holds his nose and quietly slips under the surface of the water and wonders if he can hold his breath until this asshole stops talking.

[cryingcow]

Have you ever asked yourself, “What would Ryuji think of Kiryu if he wasn’t so obsessed about being the Number One Dragon?”

Well according to Ancient Japanese Ryuji, the answer is to that is “really gay thoughts.” ¬‿¬

Disclaimer: I haven’t watched Ishin beyond the Passionate Manly Bathhouse Battle and the date they went on right after, I’m just basing on RGGO stuff lol so don’t take this as serious facts XD

So where am I pulling this out from?

1. Ryuji thinks fighting with men is hot. “Temperature hot”, not “sexy hot”, but really there are only many ways you can interpret / say “The thought of fighting men makes me feel hot”. Does this mean anything? Ehh not really, cuz regular anime protagonists who love fighting say that too. I just wanted to put that out there. Moving on:

2. Ancient Japanese Ryuji Saigo’s Event. If you’ve read Sera’s Event, there’s a portion where he reveals his thoughts about certain characters. Sometimes the character’s pictures are included. How does he picture Ancient Japanese Kiryu Ryoma / Hajime?

Wet and naked, apparently. But hey, it’s understandable. If I got in a naked sumo match with the hottest guy in Japan and he slaps my ass, I too would forever have that image burned in my brain. ¬‿¬

And lastly:

3. Saigo’s heat move. From what I’ve seen so far, there are two types of heat moves in RGGO. The first one is the generic heat move, which uses a blue silhouette and looks like this:

Most cards have these kinds of heat moves, so multiple cards can utilize the same heat move (like Nishiki and Majima both having Essence of Knife Stabbing, for example). Some cards have unique heat moves, like Yumi’s rather explosive heat move.

And Saigo’s heat move?

Yup, it’s Ryoma living rent-free in his head. ¬‿¬

Man, I wish I could daydream about Ryoma fandancing personally for me to restore my HP too T^T

tldr: Saigo has the hots for Ryoma, and if Ryuji didn’t try having a pissing contest over who has the best tattoo, he could’ve had more brother-sister bonding with Kaoru by fighting over Kiryu. (￣︿￣)