A string of curses went through Sano's mind when he heard Okita speak.  He'd heard that tone before, knew the look he'd see if Okita's eyes met his.  He'd seen it back when Kenshin fought Saitou, when the Battousai rose to the surface and no one but that rat-looking police chief had been able to get through to them both.  The big difference was though, Okita wasn't like Kenshin.  Okita didn't give a damn who he killed. And lucky Sanosuke happened to be right there. He couldn't win in a fight against Okita.  Sanosuke knew that, clear as day, didn't have a single doubt in his mind about it.  But he knew something else too.  He knew that Kenshin would be there any second, looking for Sano, and finding hell unleashed in Okita. 

"Hey, calm down."  Sanosuke was wary, watching Okita's swordhand.  He wasn't as quick as Kenshin, but if Okita went for the blade he'd see it, and he could dodge it. 

"Look, I don't know what happened, but we haven't done anything to break the truce."  Unless Okita didn't think it mattered any more since Homura had gotten messed up by the Institute.  It didn't matter though. Sanosuke still had to try, or things would get damn ugly damn quick.  Kenshin had already told him Battousai was under the surface again.  And if anyone could bring him back out, it'd be the guy standing right there next to him. 

Sanosuke couldn't let that happen.  Not that he had a fucking clue how to stop it.  But what the hell else was he supposed to do?