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Yin and Yang: Chapter 2 - Officer

by Author-chan ::: 12.Sep.2004

Fujita Goro was sighing to himself. He had only just left the house after wrestling control away from Saito. And, as usual, after taking back control of the body, he was late for work because of that damned wolf.

‘Che,’ Saito’s voice snorted in his head, ‘Don’t blame me. It’s your own fault that you’re so slow.’

"I have no idea what you mean," Fujita murmured under his breath, making sure that none of the people on the street heard him, "It’s not my fault that the body is out of shape."

‘Ahou,’ Saito growled, ‘I find it astounding that you are always running late for work, yet I am able to keep up with Battousai in a duel.’

"Sometimes I have the distinct feeling that Himura-san slows down just for you, Saito," Fujita hissed back, "After all, he is the kind of person to take pity on those weaker than him."

‘Ahou,’ Saito growled again. But the former Shinsengumi captain didn’t speak again, even as Fujita neared the police station.

"Late again, Fujita-san?" the young voice of the officer that guarded the doorway teased good-naturedly as Fujita entered the station, "Your old age must be catching up to you."

"But with age comes wisdom," Fujita replied, smiling at the younger officer who had spoken, "Besides, I am not that late."

"True," the other officer agreed, laughing casually.

‘"With age comes wisdom"?’ Saito repeated with a hint of a mental sneer, ‘That was the stupidest cliché I have ever heard from your mouth, Fujita! And that idiot over there actually enjoyed it! What sort of company do we keep nowadays?’

‘The good kind,’ Fujita retorted mentally. Saito snorted.

"So, Fujita-san, you know we have a new batch of troops for you to teach, right?" the young officer chatted on, oblivious to his superior’s mental conflict, "It’s not the usual hand-to-hand fighting either. All of these men are signing up for the Sword-Bearing Police. So you know what that means. Training, weapons, and all the paperwork that comes with it! Well, I suppose it’s time to meet your new students."

‘You mean, the new meat,’ Saito snickered. Fujita shuddered slightly. He could almost see the sadistic smirk forming on Saito’s face.

‘Don’t even think about getting anywhere near them!’ Fujita hissed at his other half, ‘They are under my protection.’

‘You’re like an overprotective mother hen,’ the Miburo scoffed, ‘How pathetic.’

‘Why won’t you just leave me alone, you old relic!’ Fujita cried despairingly.

‘Because I am the true owner of this form,’ Saito snarled, picking his words to make sure they bit deep and hard, ‘I am the Wolf. You are nothing but the sheepskin that I must use to live among the lambs.’

&&&

Cho was irritated. He was a warrior, damn it! He was Cho, the Sword Collector, a member of Shishio Makoto’s feared Juppongatana. He was not a babysitter, thank you very much.

But here he was, looking after a batch of new recruits, new recruits that Saito would be teaching.

Now Cho had only worked with Saito on undercover missions, battles, or raids. He had yet to witness the former Shinsengumi captain’s teaching skills. But what he knew of the old warrior, he was sure that he would be in for an entertaining time. That was more that enough to make up for having to baby-sit idiotic newbie cops.

‘That psycho wolf will eat them alive,’ the blond swordsman thought darkly, snickering to himself.

"Um, sir?" a hesitant voice inquired, jarring Cho from his gloating.

"What?!" Cho snarled, glaring at the young new officer who dared to speak to him. The young man cringed at Cho’s biting tone.

"We, that is the other recruits and I, wanted, uh, we wanted," the young officer began tentatively, "We wanted to know what our instructor would be like."

"What’s he like?" Cho echoed, surprise stamped on his features. The former Juppongatana stared dumbly at the recruits before him. All of the new officers had gathered around Cho waiting for him to speak about their mysterious teacher-to-be.

"Sai– I mean –Fujita-san," Cho began, quickly correcting himself to use Saito’s alias, "Fujita-san is…terrible. He’s demanding, cold, and cruel. He will push you to your limits and then ask for more. He will work you to death…literally. And if you are wounded or if you faint, Fujita san will sneer at your crippled body, run you through with his katana, and then sneer at your corpse before feeding it to the crows and wolves. He hates weakness, so pray that you’re strong, or you’ll die."

"You can’t be serious!" one of the recruits gasped, "Who would be able to survive his training?"

"Actually, I’ve never met anyone who has survived his training," Cho mused, grinning to himself when he saw that ever single newbie face became incarnations of pristine sheets of paper.

‘Oh yeah,’ the broom-haired man thought with a snicker, ‘I feel better. Saito is going to thank me. I got all of these idiots pissing in their pants for him!’

Then Cho heard a slight creaking behind him as the doors to the room began to open, and the familiar form of Saito Hajime appeared.

"Time to meet your doom," Cho told the new recruits, cheerfully, "Try not to scream too loudly as you enter hell."

&&&

Fujita strode through the doorway, trying to ignore the obvious wave of fear that the new recruits were emitting. Although Fujita did admit that the ki sensing abilities that Saito developed during the Bakumastu were helpful at times, sometimes being able to feel such strong emotions made Fujita’s stomach turn.

‘Damn it, Saito!’ Fujita growled at his other self, feeling his protective instinct kick in, ‘What did you have Cho do to them?’

‘Nothing,’ the darker half replied, ‘Cho seems to have riled them up all on his own. Heh, imagine that. That ahou actually has enough brains to think on his own. Unlike you, my dear mother hen.’

Fujita sighed at the ridiculous nickname, but didn’t bother to answer Saito. Instead he carefully plastered his disarming "Fujita Goro" smile on his face and prepared himself to reassure his chicks (I mean troops).

"Ohayo!" Fujita greeted cheerfully, his smile wide and warm to reassure the new men, "I am your instructor, Fujita Goro. As I understand it, all of you desire to become part of the Sword-Bearing Police. Your paperwork has already been processed, or is on its way in being processed. You’ll be issued a weapon once I believe you are ready to wield one. You all have the potential to become master swordsmen, just work hard and do your best. I will be here every step of the way, and you can come to me whenever you wish for help, whether it is police business or not. My door is always open. Now, if you will all follow me to the training area, we’ll begin."

&&&

Cho was in shock, total shock. Even his shock in discovering the feared Hitokiri Battousai was a tiny redhead that looked more like a child than a legendary demon was nothing compared to this. Heck, if Shishio appeared from out of hell wearing a pink kimono with an obi tied in a matter that would have made Kamatari green with jealousy, Cho would have been less surprised than he was at the moment. Okay, so that last part was an exaggeration, but still!

Saito Hajime, one of the feared Wolves of Mibu was smiling! No smirking, smiling! Saito didn’t smile, not like that! The current smile the Miburo was sporting was so warm and kind it would have put fluffy pink bunnies to shame! And although Cho couldn’t read ki as well as Saito could, the aura of cheerful reassurance oozing out from the Bakumastu veteran was so strong, any idiot within miles could feel it. Was he actually trying to calm the troops? Well if he was, it was working. All those stupid little innocent newbies were relaxing in Saito’s presence. Well how could they not when that senile old wolf was acting more like a kindly big brother than the fierce warrior he was!

‘Chikuso!’ Cho swore mentally, ‘After I got them all terrified of him and everything, he goes and ruins it! What is he thinking?! Did he pick a fight with Battousai and get whacked over the head one too many times? Or maybe this is some sort of weird Saito plot to make me think that I’m going crazy…That has to be it! That wolf always had it out for me…He’s just waiting for me to flip my lid so he can laugh his ass off! KUSO!’

Satisfied with his answer, the blond smirked to himself, leaned back, and plotted revenge against his superior.

"No one makes a fool of Cho the Sword Collector," the former Juppongatana member muttered to himself, "No one."

&&&

Fujita was feeling much better as the day wore on. He eventually was able to convince the troops that he was absolutely harmless, to the chagrin of Saito (and Cho). Saito, in some dark corner of his mind, was muttering something about ruining "his reputation". Saito also kept saying that Fujita looked like and utter fool (But then again, Saito said that everyday). But Fujita didn’t mind in the slightest. The troops were relaxed in his presence and that was all that mattered. Their attitude towards him caused the teaching environment to be that much better.

At the moment Fujita was having the recruits go through some basic body building exercises. Earlier, they had done various stretches and running/reflex drills. After seeing their performance on the drills (as well as the level of the troops ken ki), Saito had snorted and wrote them all of them off as a lost cause. Fujita, although he agreed that the recruits did need some major improvement, believed all of them had potential. But one thing was for sure: none of them were going to hold any type of sword anytime soon.

"Alright class!" Fujita called out, "Let’s call it a day. I will be expecting all of you here tomorrow at the same time. Good day."

As the troops filed out, Fujita took note of the usual grumbles new recruits always had: sore muscles, tiredness, and lack of actual sword fighting. He was pleased to note that there was not too much complaining on him himself. And there were no mentions of him being cruel.

"Okay, what the hell was wrong with ya today?!" Cho’s snarling voice yelled out when the last new recruit left.

Fujita turned to look at the Juppongatana who had since become his personal lackey/assistant, blinking as much as his all but closed eyes would allow.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Cho-san," Fujita said in a pleasant tone, his award-winning smile firmly in place.

"‘Cho-san’?!" Cho yelped, clearly taken back by Fujita’s politeness, "Alright, that’s it! Who the hell are you and what have you done to my boss?!"

"That is a terribly rude thing to say, Cho-san," Fujita scolded gently, "As I recall I am your boss so hence I have done nothing to your boss. I have no idea why you’re so jumpy today, though. You’re acting like I should be someone else. If I recall, I have always been like this."

Cho sputtered, trying not to faint. Meanwhile, Fujita congratulated himself mentally. Even Saito sent a bit of praise towards his other half, abet grudgingly. If there was one thing Saito and Fujita had in common (besides Tokio and the body) it was the enjoyment they got when tormenting/confusing Cho.

‘If I had known introducing you to that ahou would have rattled him up this badly, I would have done it ages ago,’ Saito snickered, finding amusement in Cho’s discomfort, ‘And you didn’t lie once when you talked to him.’

‘Cho-san is easy to stupefy,’ Fujita commented, ‘If I can convince him that we have always been like this –been me that is –he’ll think he imagined all the times you’ve been bastard to him. He’ll think he went crazy.’

‘And if we were to switch again,’ Saito pointed out, ‘He’ll go completely insane.’

‘Do you think he’ll ever figure it out?’ asked Fujita. There was a moment of silence.

‘No,’ both sides chorused.

&&&

Cho stared at his superior, his mouth hanging open like a gaping door. Saito, Fujita –whatever the hell he wanted to call himself at the time –was freaking him out! It was –kind of –understandable to act all nice and freaky and stuff when the recruits where here, but now that they were all gone, Cho thought it would be perfectly fine for Saito to drop the whole Fujita act. After all, Cho knew Saito. He knew what the wolf was capable of. He knew that the former Shinsengumi captain was a complete bastard. There was no need for Saito to hide.

"ARGH!!! Quit messing with my head you psycho wolf!!!" Cho yelled out loud, before storming off, away from his boss’s sight. Cho walked out of the station and didn’t slow down his pace even when he reached the main street. The blond snarled at anyone who would dare to get near him or try to jostle him.

He knew Saito was messing with his head, but still, he let the wolf get to him. He couldn’t understand it. Needless to say, Cho’s mind was in turmoil. Maybe the reason he was so freaked out was because while Saito had been claiming that he had always been kind and cheerful, Cho couldn’t detect a lie in his boss’s eye or tone. Something in Cho was convinced that Saito was telling the absolute truth. Could the wolf have always been kind and Cho was delusional and just imagined him being evil?

"Damn it, I need to kill something!!!" Cho yelled out loud…in the middle of the street.

Quickly, everyone and everything with in ten feet of Cho moved away and vanished. But something took their place in an instant. A group of police officers, none of which that worked with or knew Cho, came up to him.

"Sir, we have to ask you to come with us," one of the police officers said in a calm voice, while another brought out a pair of silvery handcuffs.

Cho did the only thing he could do in his situation.

He swore.