damned_institute | Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

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[For Kenshin]

Sanosuke was actually smiling when he came into the showers. Today had been good so far, from breakfast all the way through lunch--which had been spent eating. Eating was good, even if there wasn't any company to go along with it. A hell of a lot better than not eating. And the company he had found was pretty damn great too. Maybe not so much Badou, who was entertaining if nothing else, but Yuffie had been a nice change of pace from everything being so serious and somber. Almost seemed a shame to bring the serious stuff like night shift into it.

But then again, she had wanted to show him her skills. What better opportunity?

He figured Kenshin would find him quickly enough, so Sanosuke set about washing himself. The western baths--showers, or so Pinky called them--were still pretty weird in Sano's mind. A good soak would've felt worlds better, but at least being able to get clean was nice. Even if he was just going to turn around and get dirty again that night.

Lunch with "the Doctor" had been...odd, but it had been pleasant enough. The tall, lanky man was quirky at best and downright bizarre at worst, and the rurouni couldn't help but wonder who, exactly, this "Doctor" really was.

Ah, well. It wasn't his business to pry. If the Doctor wanted to be quirky, bizarre, and mysterious, that was his prerogative. After all, Kenshin himself was hardly the most forthcoming person on the planet when it came to his own past.

At any rate, it would be nice to get to the showers and wash off several days of accumulated grime. They were just going to turn around and get dirty again, but at least he would feel clean for a few blissful hours. He was used to bathing much more frequently.

Life at the Kamiya Dojo had spoiled him, he decided. And he didn't care in the slightest.

Kenshin spotted Sano right away and went to stand at the shower head next to him. His friend needed to know about Homura and the possible danger that their "truce" with the two Wolves of Mibu was in, and he'd have to learn before Nightshift began. There wasn't any time to waste.

"Homura was taken for experimentation last night," the rurouni began without preamble. "They somehow erased hundreds of years worth of his memories. He no longer has any recollection of this place, or of the position of 'War Prince of Heaven' that he apparently used to hold."

...Well shit.

Sanosuke's smile and his good mood vanished quicker than his lunch had. Guess he should've figured it was too good to last anyway, but fuck. This place really knew where to hit a guy, didn't they?

"Hell, is he okay?" Sanosuke had never met Homura at person, but he seemed okay enough. Kenshin was willing to follow him, and even the Shinsengumi guys were too. He couldn't be too bad, right?

Of course, thinking of the Shinsengumi just then didn't leave Sanosuke with a very pleasant thought.

"Oh fuck...Fuck!" The curse was practically whispered the first time, then screamed in frustration the next. If Homura didn't remember anything, then he didn't remember the truce. And damn it, it'd probably be the perfect opportunity for Okita to take advantage of it. At least if something wasn't done quick. "Hell. Do you think they'd break it, Kenshin? I mean, taking advantage of something like that is pretty damn cheap, right?"

The Shinsengumi were Kenshin's enemies from the past, but they were supposed to fight with honor. Saitou was always talking about his 'Aku Soku Zan' and crap. Wouldn't something like this go against that?

"Physically, he seems fine," Kenshin replied, reaching for the soap. It was still very odd to be washing this way, but he was slowly getting used to it. Odd washing definitely trumped no washing at all.

...Somehow, the rurouni knew that Sano would react that way. Kenshin sighed and faced him.

"This one doesn't know." He was being honest; he'd stopped mincing words with Sanosuke a long time ago. "They like to think they're more honor-bound they are, and for all of our sakes, this one hopes that they are. However, they might see 'getting rid of that damn Choushuu hitokiri and his friend' as being the more honorable thing, now that they've been released from their contract." He snuck a surreptitious glance at Okita, who was talking with Homura on the other side of the room. "This one has no desire to fight them, but if he must...Sano, this one isn't going to lie. It's worrying. We can't make the first move. We have to wait and see what they decide to do."

Sanosuke agreed with Kenshin when it came to the idea of bathing weird versus not bathing at all. The only problem was that at the moment, he was more focused on Okita, who was at least talking to some guy then, instead of running at Kenshin with a plastic spoon or something. That was good at least.

Question was, how long would it last.

"Yeah, I hear you." Sanosuke wasn't going to provoke them now anyway. Without Homura being himself, it'd probably be even easier to break the truce than it had been before. God damn it. "We just have to be careful."

Sanosuke paused for a moment, then gave Kenshin a flat look. "You sound weird cursing when you're normal, you know. It doesn't suit you, even if you were just copying someone else." For guys like Sano, sure. He was rough way further in than the edges, and it just matched him to curse. Kenshin the rurouni though? Way too clean to just throw around shit like that.

After a few moments of silence, Sanosuke began to scrub himself, without stopping his watch of Okita in the process. Seemed like as good a time as any to bring up his own new. "Hey. I met this girl today, Kenshin. I think you'd like her too, but that's not why I'm bringing it up. She wants to go over the wall, like those people were talking about, and I don't think it's a bad idea. We can probably talk those History Club guys into letting us go and explore some, right?" Hell, they'd want to go over eventually. They had to, unless they were insane. Better to know what was out there, do recon and crap like that.

Kenshin smiled. It wasn't a very big smile, and it didn't quite make it to his eyes, but it was start. "Would you rather this one used something tamer? Fiddlesticks, perhaps?"

Homura was now washing Okita's hair, so the rurouni figured it was safe to look away. This...wasn't good for any of them. Not only had they lost a leader, they'd lost the only person keeping them from falling into squabbles and infighting. Homura had recruited only the best fighters for his "History Club," and that could be its downfall. Without him at its head, there were simply too many cooks in the kitchen.

But at least things were moving to slightly more comfortable territory. Kenshin would be able to tease again, at least, and they could try to momentarily forget the truce and the headache that its possible breakdown was giving them. "Oro? A girl?" he asked innocently. Sano probably wouldn't be fooled. "Megumi-dono will be so disappointed when she finds out!"

Sano did have a point though. The rurouni paused, thinking, before he nodded. "It is a good idea. This one doesn't think that Kenren will mind."

"How about 'really stubborn grass stain'?" Sanosuke's grin was a bit more genuine, especially when he noticed how hard Okita was struggling just to stay up. He must not have noticed them to be making himself so vulnerable like that, and the fighter figured it was better that way. So he focused on his friend instead, and tried not to think too hard about what would probably go down when Okita was up and about again.

Wasn't too hard when Kenshin started teasing him.

"What's the fox lady got to do with it?" Sanosuke gave Kenshin a flat look, which was about the best he could do without getting Pinky and the Needle Club on him. The rurouni was lucky he hadn't gotten a punch to the head, though that was still a possibility. "Your mind is too damn dirty sometimes."

Sanosuke nodded, then grinned. "Yeah, I have those sometimes. I'll put up a note on that board thing for him. Ninja girl too. She might be getting my roommate to come along, so we'll just need a place to meet."

In a way, it was almost nice to have the threat of sedation constantly hanging over their heads. It kept Sano from giving Kenshin goose-eggs every five minutes. It was a lot less painful this way.

The rurouni did his best to look innocent. "How so? This one wasn't implying anything. Megumi-dono just seems like the jealous type." Wasn't implying anything. Right. Of course not.

"Ninja girl?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've found another Misao-dono, have you?"

If Kenshin kept pushing his luck like that, Pinky would need every single needle in her brigade to keep Sanosuke from making up for lost time and friendly punches. As it was, he shot Kenshin another look, teasingly balling his hand into a fist.

"Oh, yeah. Now you're going to try and act all innocent and pure." Like hell Sanosuke didn't realize Kenshin was implying a lot of things, about Yuffie and Megumi both. But as far as Sanosuke was concerned, both of the women were just friends. Friends that liked to tease a hell of a lot, sure. But Megumi wasn't anywhere close to being over Kenshin, and Yuffie was--hell if Sano knew.

"She's a lot like Misao, yeah. Less annoying than the Weasel Girl though." Mostly because she hadn't resorted to tactics like trying to bite Sano's hand off. Or was that Yahiko that did that shit? In any case, even as flaky as she was, Yuffie was easier to consider a woman, even with the nickname Sano gave her. "I think you'll like her. Maybe not my roommate though. You know, come to think of it, Sunshine's a hell of a lot like Aoshi. Kind of brooding. And not like that bastard Saitou either."

Huh. Damn funny coincidence, really.

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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