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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
- 2
- 3
- 4
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 THREE
It was a strange early morning. No
chirping birds. No rustle of tree branches in a gentle breeze. Not even
the soft padding of servants' footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside
his room.
Akizuki was seized by a sudden dread
of leaving his room. Though the desire to go to the academy early was strong,
even greater was his urge to return to his bed and dream of twinkling golden
eyes, rather than to go outside and face the unknown.
Slinging his two swords on the belt
at his left hip, Akizuki took a deep breath. Is it going to be one of
those days again? A dark frown knitted his brow as he gathered his
books. Well, I'm not waiting to find out!
Quietly, Akizuki slid his window
open and stepped over the sill. He carefully climbed down the trellis,
stealing a momentary glance at the closed window of his father's chamber.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, he broke into a run before anyone could
see him, going through the small woodland behind the family mansion.
In his haste to flee, Akizuki had
almost forgotten that the woods served another purpose.
The sharp snap of a breaking twig
was warning enough for the young samurai. He swerved to the left just as
a shuriken whizzed past his ear, the deadly spangle embedding itself in
a tree.
"You're in such a rush," an amused
voice echoed all around, "and you have not even graced your loving family
with a warm 'Ohayo gozaimasu'."
"Suimasen," Akizuki apologized half-heartedly.
"I overslept and I'm late for my first class."
"On the contrary, it's still too
early for you to be going to the academy. It's been quite some time since
we last sparred. Care to cross swords with me again?"
"If I were carrying a shinai, perhaps
I could accommodate your request. I have no desire to unsheathe my katana
unless it's life or death situation, and a sparring session is not."
Wicked chuckles. "I'm not too sure
about that."
Out of the corner of his eye, Akizuki
saw a wisp of cigarette smoke rise from within a clump of bushes. Then,
a dark blur burst forth, sunlight flashing against the sharp edge of the
katana held in a white-gloved hand.
Rather than draw his own weapon,
Akizuki nimbly leaped and dodged the thrusts and swipes of that deadly
blade. But his attacker quickened his pace, making it more and more difficult
to evade those precise moves. A sweeping side slash cut through the sash
around the young samurai's waist.
As the length of cloth slipped to
the ground, his adversary said tauntingly, "Still wish to play the pacifist
with me? Draw your blade if you want to survive!"
Akizuki's jaw hardened, a noticeable
tic on his left temple. Nothing angered him more than to have his principles
tested like this.
There was a sharp glint in his eye
as he gazed at his foe. "I don't need to draw my sword to defeat you."
"If that's the case�" the other mumbled
menacingly, "�SHINE!"
Akizuki stood his ground as his attacker
charged, sword poised to strike. With teeth gritted, he raised his left
hand and seized the other's sword wrist, keeping it at arm's length and
preventing his adversary from thrusting his blade. The sudden advance of
a hard moving body caused Akizuki to slide backwards, and his back hit
the tree behind him. Stormy gray eyes glared at the heavily breathing face
before him, not wavering to even glance at the sharp edge that was curved
above his throat.
"You're dead, Kei-chan," his adversary
muttered, a wicked grin of triumph on his face.
To his attacker's surprise, Akizuki
granted him an equally fiendish smile. "Tell me, Oniisan. Which move is
quicker � a sweeping slash over a bared throat or a thrust through the
gut?"
The adversary blinked down to see
he tip of Akizuki's bamboo scabbard pointed at his belly. Before he could
step back, Akizuki drove the point home, and he fell to his knees, clutching
his aching abdomen.
"Game over, Oniisan," Akizuki told
his older brother.
Akizuki Masakazu grimaced at his
younger sibling who had just bested him. "Didn't anyone ever teach you
to respect your elders?"
Before Akizuku could quip back, a
booming voice called out, " KEIICHIROU!"
Both men whirled to behold the stern
form of their father. Judging from the ruddy color of his face, the old
man was very angry.
As his father approached him, Akizuki
felt as if his heart would pound out of his chest. Something was terribly
wrong. His mind whirled in confusion, trying to figure out what he had
done to incite his father's rage.
"Oyaji�" The tremor in his voice
betrayed his nervousness.
The old man's answer was to throw
what looked like a small card in his face. As he caught it in his hands,
Akizuki could smell the faint scent of cigarettes emanating from it. However,
his eyes bugged out of their sockets as he finally got a good look at the
card itself.
"Keiichirou!" his father rumbled,
his ancient eyes flashing daggers. "You'd better have a damned good explanation
for this!"
"There is nothing to explain, Oyaji!"
cried Akizuki in vehemence. "That is not me! I would never do something
as indecent as that!"
Masakazu inched close to his kin,
fixing his spectacles as he peered over their shoulders. Pouting in disapproval,
he remarked, "He certainly looks like you."
Akizuki gave his brother an evil
glare. Judging from the tone of his voice, Masakazu obviously knew something
about this obscene picture.
Before the young samurai could say
something in his defense, two gnarled fingers reached out and painfully
pinched his ear.
"You're coming with me, boy!" his
father exclaimed. "Damn it, Keiichirou! Why do you always cause a lot of
trouble for your family?"
Akizuki could only cry out in pain
as his father pulled him along by his ear, leaving behind Masakazu who
was shaking his head in exasperation.
Groaning, the elder Akizuki sibling
mumbled, "Oh no! Not again!"

~~~~~~~~~~
Akizuki emerged from their ancestral
home already an hour late for his first class at the academy. With great
resentment, he rubbed his right ear, which was still smarting from the
pinch and the scolding he got from his father. His cloudy gray eyes darkened
even more when he saw the solemn figure dressed in a dashing black military
uniform following close behind him.
Unable to control himself any longer,
Akizuki whirled around to face his older brother. "This is absolutely ridiculous,
not to mention so humiliating! Oniisan, I am no longer a child needing
to be chaperoned to school!"
Nonplused, Masakazu walked past the
infuriated younger man and answered back, "After all the scandals and the
shame that you have caused our family, give me a damned good reason why
I should not keep an eye on you!"
A fuming Akizuki found himself tailing
his sibling, arguing, "Oniisan, I am a grown man � free to make my own
choices and decisions!"
Masakazu stopped at that declaration
and lit a cigarette. Blowing out a puff of smoke, he calmly added, "And
does that include posing naked for a cheap cigarette picture for the hentai
and the gaijin to lust over?"
Akizuki's eyes flew wide in realization.
"So it was you who gave Oyaji that picture!"
"Regarding that matter, I plead innocent.
You know how Oyaji hates to see me smoking, even if it's the milder women's
cigarettes. But to be very honest with you, I HAVE seen that picture before.
Not surprising if you have soldiers who are closet okama under you. Then
there's Commander Higuchi�."
Akizuki paled at the mention of the
name of his brother's superior, Commander Higuchi Tatsuya of Shinagawa's
formidable battery. The man was a known hentai among the Bakushin. What
was worse was that the man was attracted to him. The last time his brother
had invited Commander Higuchi home for dinner, on the pretense of looking
for the toilette, the man had pushed into a dark corner as he was escorting
him to the washroom. Akizuki never told his father and brother about the
mauling he had to endure. But up to now, Akizuki's skin still crawled at
the memory of Higuchi's touch.
"I was going to bring this matter
up with you privately," Masakazu continued. "I never thought Oyaji would
beat me to it. He must have found the card in the cigarettes he had confiscated
from me. Still, I must admit seeing that cigarette picture never fails
to shock. That man in the card looks exactly like you. It's uncanny."
"Just because the man looks like
me doesn't mean that he is me," Akizuki heatedly retorted. "How many times
do I have to tell you that the naked man in the picture isn't me? Use your
common sense! Those cigarettes, including that picture, were made in England.
I've never left the country!"
"Even if you weren't the man in that
obscene picture, you cannot deny that there is one transgression that you
are indeed guilty of. How can we forget how you helped those damned Choshu-jin
arsonists to escape?"
Akizuki stopped at once. Every single
argument with his older brother and father always returned to that fateful
night. His mouth hardening, he reminded him, "As I testified before the
Shinsengumi, as I also told you and Oyaji, those men were not responsible
for the embassy fires. I will not condemn innocent men for a crime they
never committed."
"But they are Choshu-jin!" Masakazu
insisted strongly.
"Yes, they are Choshu-jin, but we
must not judge them guilty through mere association." The memory of expressive
amber eyes filled his mind, and a warm smile went up Akizuku's lips. "Besides,
one of them shared our views. He was agreeable with the plan to open the
country's borders to the West. If he were an arsonist, he wouldn't have
tried to put out the blaze, and at the great risk of being captured by
the Shinsengumi."
Masakazu eyed his younger brother
with suspicion. That Choshu-jin samurai� In every discussion, Akizuki never
failed to mention him. "You always speak of that man with great fondness."
"No, not fondness, but admiration,"
Akizuki admitted. "He is very brave to contradict the ideals of his comrades.
And like me, he desires the civil unrest to end." He breathed out a weary
sigh. "Let's not talk about him anymore because he is not the real issue
here. Oniisan, then and now, I only speak the truth. Why won't you and
Oyaji believe me?"
Masakazu fixed his spectacles. Flicking
away his cigarette, he said in turn, "We're trying, Keiichirou. Believe
me we're trying so damned hard. But you are always so stubborn, and you
do things behind our backs. Up to now, you haven't given us a good explanation
as to why you happened to be at the embassy that night."
Akizuki lapsed into silence, knowing
that his brother was trying to bait him into disclosing his clandestine
activities. Masakazu was very shrewd, a talent which led to his immediate
rise as Sub-Commander of the Shinagawa fort. But he was not about to confide
with the older man, especially since the peace of the country was at stake.
Secrecy must be kept.
Masakazu shook his head in disappointment
at his sibling's silence. "Oyaji and I only want what's best for you. With
your brilliant mind, you can become a Bakuhan administrator like Oyaji.
Or maybe you can become a military official and join me at the Battery.
You possess the fighting and sword skills for it, and even Commander Higuchi
agrees with me on this. But look at yourself! A perpetual student!" Masakazu
flicked a finger at the two locks of hair that fell over Akizuki's forehead.
"And your hair�"
"Call it vanity if you will, but
I never looked good with a sohatsu. As for the other matter, I could never
be a good administrator like Oyaji, especially with people, including my
own blood, constantly doubting my words and actions. With my strong views
on pacifism, I could never be a good military man. I've played the dutiful
son enough. At father's and your insistence, I had participated in many
battles against the Choshu-han and the Satsuma-han. My blade is drenched
with the blood of brave men, who were merely fighting for what they believed
was best for the country. A right ideal acted upon wrongly, for what good
can be achieved through discrimination, violence and bloodshed? All I want
now is to be free to pursue my dream of getting a higher education. It
is through knowledge that peace can be attained, that is what I strongly
believe in. Tell me, Oniisan. Is that such a bad thing?"
"No, Keiichirou. Pursuing an education
and a grand ideal as what you believe in is not a bad thing. It's what
you're doing outside of the academy, that's what worries me." Masakazu
breathed a heavy sigh. "If only we could trust you� If only you could trust
us�."
"Oniisan�" Akizuki gave his older
brother an understanding smile. "Believe me! I've done nothing wrong for
you and Oyaji to be ashamed of. My conscience is clear, and I can still
hold my head up high with dignity and pride."
A reluctant smile formed on Masakazu's
lips. "For your sake, I truly hope what you're saying is true. It may not
seem like it, but Oyaji and I worry about you." He then surprised his younger
brother by throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close in
a warm hug. "What am I going to do with you, Kei-chan?"
Akizuki wiggled out of his brother's
embrace, although he was inwardly preening from that rare display of affection.
"Well, for starters, you can stop treating me like a child. If my schoolmates
see us like this, it would create a much bigger scandal at the academy
for me."
Masakazu winked mischievously. "Why
don't you just admit that you'll be the envy of your classmates because
you have a loving oniisan protecting you?"
"ANIKI!"
"All right, all right! Oh you youngsters
nowadays!" Masakazu saw the gates of the academy looming ahead. "We're
here! I'd better be going as well. I'll be drilling some fresh recruits
today. Besides, I don't think it would be do your reputation any good to
be seen with me. As you have told me many times, you are a grown man after
all. Have a nice day, Kei-chan!"
"Don't call me that!" Sighing, Akizuki
bowed respectfully to his older brother. "You too, Oniisan!"
Masakazu was about to leave, but
he turned one last time to his flustered younger sibling, unable to resist
the temptation to tease.
"Keiichirou?" he called out innocently.
Akizuki, who was about to enter the
gates of the academy, could hardly suppress his snarl as he answered, "Hai,
Oniisan?"
"Be sure you're home before ten o'clock!"
Masakazu simply ducked his head to
avoid the rock his younger brother had thrown at him, and he sauntered
off, his laughter still ringing in the air.
Akizuki let out a good-natured snort
as he watched his brother walk away. Such wholehearted laughter was rare
for Masakazu, who was always stern and dignified.
As he went through the academy gates,
he mumbled, "Family! Can't live with them, can't live without them!"

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A Cicada In Winter