Sweet and Sour

SWEET AND SOUR
Chapter 1

Slumping back against the rough wooden wall, he lifted the cup to his lips and let the hot, pungent sake trickle onto his tongue. He ignored the drunken cer oer of the others, allowing the haze in his head to obscure all unwanted thoughts. He found himself staring at a small stain on the heavily scuffed floor. It was vaguely crescent-shaped, only marginally darker than the stains around it.

It wasn\'t very interesting, but it was better than thinking about her.

\"Oi.\"

Saitou glanced up, forced his eyes to focus on the white-clad figure standing unsteadily before him. \"What do you want, ahou?\"

Sanosuke grinned and sat down across from him. \"I\'ve never seen you here before.\"

Saitou grunted and resumed his examination of the stain. Still not very interesting, but better than talking to Sano, too.

Sano picked up the jug of sake resting on the low table and poured some into his own cup. \"I hope you\'re not going to bust this place.\" He tilted his head back and downed the sake. \"I hang out here a lot.\"

Saitou grunted again. The stain reminded him of the first time he\'d kissed her -- the moon had been waxing, and she’d been wearing a crimson kimono made of silk that was almost as soft as her skin. \"What do you want?\"

\"I\'m bored.\" Sano emptied his cup, refilled it. \"Megumi\'s in Aizu. Kenshin and Kaoru won\'t be back from Kyoto until tomorrow.\"

\"What about the boy?\"

\"Yahiko?\" Sano drained his cup again. \"Yahiko spends all his time following Tsubame around these days. But -- since you\'re here...\" He picked up the sake jug again.

Saitou reached across the table and removed the jug from Sano\'s hand. \"I\'m busy.\" He closed his eyes and put the rough rim of the jug to his lips, swallowing hard several times. The sake was getting cold, and it left a sour taste in the back of his throat.

\"Weeell... if you\'re not here for a bust -- you\'re not gambling and you\'re not drinking with anyone else...\" Sano\'s voice took on a conspiratorial tone. \"You must be here to get away from the wife for a few hours.\"

Saitou slammed the jug down on the table. \"Given that the doctor is out of town, don\'t you think you should be a little more careful?\"

Sano shrugged, picked up Saitou’s jug of sake, and wrapped the thin cord fastened to the neck of the jug around his fist. \"You going to finish this?\"

Saitou thought about the pile of half-finished reports on his desk at the station. He thought about going home and crawling between the cold sheets on his futon, knowing that he was going to wake up in an even worse mood than he’d been in the night before.

He thought, Sano is an moron, but sometimes he’s an entertaining moron.

\"I\'m only going to ask you one more time, ahou. What do you want?\"

\"More sake, to start with.\" Sano grinned, sensing a successful night of drinking ahead. He waved to the serving girl, gesturing for another jug.

\"Hmph.\" Saitou pulled a cigarette out of the shirt pocket of his uniform, and lit it. “Make that two.”