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A Cicada In Winter	By : roryheadmav Category: +G to L > Haru wo Daiteita Views: 3347 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Haru wo Daiteita, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
This non-profit
work is based on Nitta Youka's Haru Wo Daiteita prequel "Fuyu No Semi".
Original copyright of the HWD characters solely belongs to Nitta Youka
and Biblos. Absolutely no monetary gain was made from this work.
A CICADA IN WINTER

By Rory V. Pascual
CHAPTER TWO
"I don't understand why we should
learn the language of the gaijin. This is our country. It is they
who should learn from us."
"You know that the Shogun does not
trust the gaijin. While it's true that the country has opened its doors
to the West, only a few ports have been selected for this purpose. The
Shogun is still very much in control. And what better way to remain in
control that in having learned men who understand the gaijin's language
and are capable of dealing with them."
"The best way to deal with treacherous
gaijin is through the sword, just like what we did to those arsonist Choshu-jin.
Not with stupid books!"
Books tied with straps sailed through
the air and landed in the middle of a small heap of burning leaves and
twigs. As the two men walked away, they did not notice the eager figure
that crept out of the bushes and quickly salvaged the tomes from the fire.
Amber eyes glittered with joy as
they stared at their precious prizes. Rubbing his cheek against the smooth
leather finish of the books, Kusaka giggled in glee, "One man's rubbish
is another man's treasure!"
So overjoyed was the young soldier
that he did not sense the approach of a scowling Aizawa.
Grimacing in disgust at the happy
man at his feet, Aizawa crossed his arms over his chest and declared, "Kusaka?
Just what are you doing?
To his chagrin, Kusaka thrust his
precious find right before his eyes. "Look, Aizawa! Books!"
"I could see they're books, but what
are you going to do with them. You can't read a single letter of English!"
"That may be true," Kusaka began,
"but these books are my ticket to learning English."
"And where, pray tell, are you going
to get your education in the gaijin's language?" Aizawa asked him, although
he knew all too well what his best friend's answer would be.
"Why, at the academy, of course!"
Fumbling inside his pocket, Kusaka pulled out the piece de resistance of
what he hoped to be was a scholarly ensemble � a pair of spectacles that
he pushed up his fine nose with great flair. "Well, what do you think?
Don't I look like a man who is determined to get a fine education?"
"You look more like a Choshu-jin
who is apt to burn the academy down than study in it," Aizawa put in sarcastically.
The Choshu-jin warrior gave his comrade
a resentful glare. "That overused description is grating on my nerves."
"That's how people think of us and
there's nothing you can do about it. A small price we have to pay for upholding
our ideals."
"I may be a Choshu-jin, but it doesn't
mean that I approve of the tactics of our leaders in achieving our aims.
'Ideals', you say? The Choshu-han cry out against the opening of Japan
to the West, but the very weapons we use are being purchased from these
same gaijin. It's all hypocrisy! So much more could be achieved through
peace and a good education. Oh, the wondrous things we could learn from
other lands! Aizawa, I desire knowledge of the world beyond Japan's borders,
and the academy is the only way for me to achieve this goal."
"If you gain this knowledge, what
are you going to do with it?"
"I'll use it to change things here
� to let all Japanese know that the gaijin are not to be feared and that,
with learning, we could stand beside them as equals."
A wry smile formed on Aizawa's lips.
"Coming from a soldier like you, Kusaka, those are very lofty dreams. But
they are dreams you are better off forgetting. You've tried and tried for
the past few months. There is absolutely no way that the teachers at the
academy will allow you to enter. All in the Bakuhan hate us."
"No, not everyone. There's one who
understands us," Kusaka readily countered. "That samurai who helped us
to escape that night�."
"He's probably dead by now because
of that very act of lunacy � perhaps tortured first by the Shinsengumi
before being executed."
A small smile formed on Kusaka's
lips as he shook his head. "He's not dead. I have this gut feeling that
he still lives. Once I find out where he is, I intend to keep my promise
and meet with him again."
Aizawa's face darkened at that last.
He and Kusaka had been friends since childhood, and this was the first
time he had seen the other so interested in one person. Admittedly, Aizawa
did not like it one bit.
In truth, he was harboring a secret
attraction to his idealistic comrade. Who wouldn't? Dashingly handsome
with chestnut hair and twinkling golden eyes that made him look more like
a gaijin than a fellow countryman, a body that was slender, graceful yet
nicely muscled in all the right places. Add a cheerful, exuberant disposition,
and all these made Kusaka Touma a charming and very attractive fellow.
Aizawa was not at all surprised that everyone in the Choshu-han � from
superior officers to the lowest of mercenaries � lusted after him. His
friend, however, seemed oblivious to their more-than-chaste attentions.
To hear Kusaka speak of another man
so passionately, and an enemy at that, was like a sharp poker stoking the
fires of jealousy inside his heart.
Amber eyes blinked owlishly at him
from behind wire glasses. "Is something wrong with my face, Aizawa?" Those
same eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you angry with me?"
Seeing Kusaka's handsome face hovering
so close to his own stirred the fire in his rousing loins. Aizawa was greatly
tempted to grab his friend, drag him off into the nearby bushes, and ravish
him right then and there. Rather than give in to the urge, Aizawa turned
away before Kusaka could see the trace of his heat rising up his cheeks.
"Get rid of those spectacles!" Aizawa
fumed. "You look ridiculous!"
A voice suddenly piped in, "No, he
isn't! I think Kusaka-san looks very handsome and wise with spectacles
on."
Hearing that praise, Kusaka happily
hugged the Choshu-han's errand boy, Shizuka Takeshi. Aside from the fact
that Shizuka was absolutely smitten with his best friend, Aizawa had another
reason why he gazed at the boy with displeasure. If Shizuka's hair were
shaved into the sohatsu style, and if he did not have that mole in the
corner of his left eye, he would look exactly like the mysterious Shogunate
samurai who had spared their lives.
Kusaka's nose curled up in distaste
as he caught a whiff of the boy's breath. "Have you been smoking again,
Shizuka-kun?" Assuming a stern form, he gave the boy a scolding glare.
"I told you smoking those English cigarettes is bad for you. Do you want
to end up coughing and hacking up a storm like Murasami-sensei?"
"Actually," Shizuka began with a
sheepish scratch of his head, "it was Sensei who told me to try one. He
said that I should sample my goods once in a while."
"That oyaji is a bad influence,"
Aizawa clucked his tongue, head shaking. Looking at Shizuka, he asked,
"But I know that you're not really interested in the cigarettes. Did Murasami-sensei
give you what you truly wanted?"
The two men stared, brows knitted
into tight frowns, as Shizuka held up his prize � a cigarette trading care
of a naked gaijin woman lounging on a chaise.
"Do gaijin women really have breasts
as large as that?" asked Kusaka in mixed awe and disbelief.
Aizawa grimaced as he perused the
picture closely. "If you ask me, I'd say those aren't breasts but papayas
painted to look like bosoms."
But Shizuka readily shook his head.
"No, no! Those are real! Glover-san's mistress had breasts as large as
watermelons!"
Aizawa swiftly rapped the boy on
the head. Thomas Glover was the merchant supplying arms to the Choshu-han.
"Glover-san is a dangerous man, you baka! Are you so desperate to die from
a bullet in your head? Only a fool would watch him in sexual congress with
his whore!"
Shizuka rubbed his aching crown.
"All the men were peeking through the hole in their wall because they were
making so much noise." The boy made obscene squeezing gestures with his
hands. "I like something smaller than that! About the size of pomelos would
do nicely."
"Aren't you doing that the wrong
way?" asked Aizawa dryly, as he moved his hand up and down as though squeezing
the udder of a cow.
"Aizawa�" Kusaka growled, not wanting
his friend to fuel the boy's already wild, amorous fantasies about him.
He was dismayed to see Shizuka's shining, greedy eyes focused on his crotch.
When Kusaka shifted his body to the
side to hide his lower body, a pout of disappointment marred Shizuka's
lips. "I wish we had women smokers in the Choshu-han. You should see Yasu-kun's
stash!" Saying this, he ran back to the quiet boy who just stood observing
them a short distance away. As Shizuka dragged the boy along, the two men
could see the becoming blush that colored his cheeks.
Kusaka smiled warmly at Kanzaki Yasunori,
who was the cousin and lover of Kyoto's most popular geisha Sumire Hayama.
A vision of radiant loveliness, only a chosen few � he, Aizawa and Shizuka
included � knew that Sumire was not only a Choshu-han spy, but also a man,
and not a woman, as most people believe him to be.
"And how are you this morning, Yasu-kun?"
Kusaka greeted the very shy boy.
"I'm fine, Kusaka-san," Yasunori
answered, his voice barely rising above a whisper.
"And how about Sumire-san?"
"She's fine too." It was an unspoken
agreement between them to always refer to the geisha as female.
"Shizuka has been telling us about
your precious collection," Aizawa told the boy, who blushed even harder
and threw a dagger look at his impetuous friend. "I never figured you to
be the type who likes to see naked women, like Shizuka-kun here."
"But Shizuka-kun doesn't like naked
women," Yasunori quietly put in. "He's been selling those cards at a price
much higher than a pack of foreign cigarettes, so that he could buy a different
set of cards from me."
"'Different'?" Kusaka's eyes narrowed
in suspicion. "What do you mean 'different'?"
From inside his sleeve, Yasunori
pulled out a small leather pouch. Untying the string, he produced a deck
of cards and deftly spread them out like a fan. While Shizuka stared with
undisguised greed and lust at the cards, the eyes of Aizawa and Kusaka
nearly popped out of their sockets.
"NAKED MEN?" the two Choshu-jin soldiers
blurted out in unison.
Aizawa pointed a trembling finger
at a goateed man flexing his muscles in order to draw attention to his
semi-erect member. "Are the rods of gaijin men really as large as that?"
"Uh huh!" Yasunori answered simply,
his head bobbing up and down. "Sumire-san told me about a gaijin who was
a favorite customer of one of the girls in the brothel, and he was as hung
as a horse."
"I could only thank my lucky stars
that I wasn't born a female," Kusaka declared in relief. "That thing's
gotta hurt!"
"Actually, no. Mayuko-san told me
that it was�exquisite. Some of the boys who service gaijin, who desire
those of their own sex, said the same thing."
Shizuka then interjected, "Yasu-kun
makes a small fortune with these cards. They sell better than the female
nudes."
"And I'm never short on supplies
because Sumire-san's clients always gift her with boxes of cigarettes,"
added Yasunori.
"Show them your top seller, Yasu-kun,"
Shizuka suggested in eagerness. With great resentment, he remarked, "I
have one card on reserve because Yasu-kun charges such a high price for
it."
"That's because it's one of two cards
that's so difficult to find," the other boy explained, taking out a small
tin from his sleeve. "These cards join together to form one larger image.
You'll be surprised. The first half is popular among the Bakuhan while
the second half is a huge seller among the Choshu-han."
"Why's that?" asked Aizawa, his curiosity
piqued.
Then, Yasunori showed them the first
card, and Aizawa's eyes flew wide.
"NANI? Isn't that�" The question
died in his throat as his head slowly turned to his stunned and very pale
comrade.
Kusaka was scandalized and outraged
at the sight of that card. It was a picture of a handsome young man lying
on cool grass beside a sparkling river. Gloriously naked, his left arm
was crossed over his pale chest to fondle a pink nipple between his fingertips.
His right hand hovered above the chestnut curls of his groin. But that
gentle, serene face belonged to Kusaka.
"That is NOT me!" Kusaka exclaimed
with heated vehemence. "There is no way on earth that I would pose like
that!" He snatched the card out of a startled Yasunori's hand. "Yasu-kun,
I want you to burn every single copy of this card that you can get your
hands on."
Grabbing the card back, Yasunori's
voice rose a notch as he retorted, "Why should I do something as stupid
as that?"
"I don't like people believing that
that's me! Listen, I'll pay you for every card that you find."
"With what? Those measly wages that
the Choshu-han give you? I think not!"
"Kusaka-san�" Shizuka interrupted
with an impish grin on his face. "No one believes that that's you, because
everyone knows you look a hell of a lot better than this man. Still, why
deprive us, your admirers, of this wonderful, oh so delicious replica that
we could focus all our fantasies on."
"It's what your fantasies are about
that's what worries me," mumbled Kusaka.
"I could tell you what Shizuka-kun's
fantasies are," Yasunori quickly suggested. "He's gone through three cards
already. They always end up a mess. Urashima-sensei is much worse. He's
gone through ten, and he paid me in advance for more."
At that revelation, Kusaka felt ill.
Among the Choshu-jin, Urashima Takeo was noted for his perverse activities
with his male bed partners.
Clutching his books to his chest,
Kusaka waved goodbye to his friends. "Ja ne! I hope the sensei at the academy
don't know about this or else they'll never let me in." As he walked away,
the young soldier shuddered all over. "Urashima-sensei�why do I feel so
violated?"
When his friend was a good distance
off, Aizawa pulled out a gold piece from his pocket. "Let me get that card
off your hands, Yasu-kun."
Shizuka glanced warily at Aizawa.
"I never knew you were interested in Kusaka-san in that way, Aizawa-san."
"Don't get me wrong, Shizuka-kun.
Kusaka is just a good friend," Aizawa gave the boy a cheerful smile. "I
thought I'd help preserve his chaste reputation."
Somehow, Shizuka was not convinced.
The boy was all too aware that the Choshu-jin soldier harbored animosity
towards him, the reason of which he did not know. But it was too obvious
to him that Aizawa resented anyone who became close to Kusaka.
Yasunori gingerly bit into the coin.
Seeing it was real, he suggested, "This could buy you the two-card set,
Aizawa-san. Why don't you get both?"
Shrugging, Aizawa said, "Sure! Why
not?"
As Yasunori handed over the two cards,
Shizuka exclaimed, "Amazing, don't you think, Aizawa-san, that the Bakuhan
find me very attractive?"
"What do you mean?" Looking down
at the cards in his hand, Aizawa gasped.
The whole image was actually that
of two naked men resting near a river. The other man was leaning against
a sakura tree. Like his lover lying on the ground, his right hand was poised
just above the member nestled in a bed of ebony curls. His left hand was
reaching out to beloved. But what seemed to stop him from touching the
other was a red beam of afternoon sunlight.
As if they were lovers destined to
be apart.
The man sitting under the sakura
tree was the spitting image of the mysterious Bakushin samurai.

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A Cicada In Winter