Day 32: Lunch

[damnrudecock]

Sanosuke hadn't quite been ready to part ways from Kenshin, but his nurse was insistent, and she was offering food. That second thing was what really got Sano off the couch and headed to the cafeteria. And at the very least, the thing about Okita had been settled, which meant the fighter could focus on his meal

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[damnrudecock]

Sanosuke could see where Zuko was looking, and really, he understood the feelings. The fighter could practically smell the heat radiating off the peppers when he was near them, leaving him to question eating the ones he'd gotten as well.

"Don't know how safe they'd be to try." Sanosuke reached down to poke one with his finger, then shook his head. "There's this girl I kno--I knew back home. She's a terrible cook. She'd probably be able to do hellish things with something like this."

He'd meant it to be casual, just funny conversation. But having to correct himself, remember yet again that Jo-chan was dead and no one had been able to stop it...that was enough to make the smile fall from his face for a minute.

Thankfully Zuko asked something, and Sanosuke could mentally kick himself. Moping around didn't suit him, and Kenshin would be able to change things. If he remembered that, he'd be good. "We weren't together last night. Guess that Homura guy decided to split us up cause things hadn't been working. Managed to get metal though, so last night went okay." Despite the ghost thing.

"As far as Kenshin goes, I didn't ask him about his assignment. He finally got his sakabato." Which was a huge relief, even if Adel had been the one to make it. "And he wasn't hurt, unlike you with that leg of yours. What happened? You okay?"

[on_my_face]

Zuko looked up in time to see Sanosuke's expression change when he spoke about a girl. Girls weren't Zuko's favorite subject either, it just made him think of Mai finding his letter and being pissed off at him. He let the comments slide, moving on to answer the next question.

"That's good that he's armed." After his last outing with the two of them he wasn't sure that they could manage that task. "The last time was probably... just bad luck?" He still thought they were incompetent that night, but he felt obligated to say something nice.

Zuko looked at his leg. "It's fine, ran into an angry cat," he grumbled as he poked the pepper with a fork. "I was hoping this would dull the pain a little... but you're right, it's probably just going to make things worse."

[damnrudecock]

"Bad something." Sanosuke hadn't quite forgiven Adel for being an ass the last time they'd met, but the guy had made Kenshin's sword. And since they had enough to deal with here without holding grudges, Sano figured he could let this one go. It was too much of a pain to stay pissed off forever.

"A cat, huh? Looks pretty bad for just a cat." Of course, Sanosuke hadn't seen the special Landel's sized version of the felines, but in a way, he wished he had. A cat he could at least fight, but that ghost had been impossible.

"You could still try it. It could take your mind off of the pain, maybe." Might as well be optimistic about it, since they'd gotten the stuff. Currently, Sanosuke was torn between his standard refusal to reject any food, and deciding if the peppers actually counted as food in this case. "It kind of looks like you might be used to pain though. Your scar is pretty bad."

Not as bad as some; Shishio Makoto came to mind, a man who was so badly burned that a decade later his body had spontaneously caught on fire. "How'd you get it, anyway?"

[on_my_face]

"It was a big cat."

Zuko wouldn't underestimate the animals again. He speared a pepper with his fork and gave it a closer look, but quickly turned a warning glare at Sanosuke for his question. Nasty retorts raced through his mind-- if the guy wanted to pry into Zuko's business then maybe he should ask him what happened to his girlfriend after all. That's what Azula would do, find a weakness to stab into and give a good twist... but the guilt he would feel afterwards probably wasn't worth it.

"In a fight, when I was younger," he answered calmly, stabbing the fork and the pepper back into the pizza. Hopefully that was enough for Sanosuke's curiosity.

[damnrudecock]

Somehow, when Zuko said it that way, it seemed kind of funny to Sanosuke. It wasn't really, and the fighter knew it. He only had to look at Zuko's leg to tell it had been no joke. The way the kid had moved had told Sano pretty early on that he could handle himself in most cases. So a big cat was trouble.

"So you reconsidering going out by yourself this time?" The kid would have to be careful if he was; probably would get assigned to be alone again if he didn't say anything, since he'd gotten the job done last night. "Can't say I don't understand why you would. We didn't exactly get much done those first couple of nights. Which was partially my fault, and I'm sorry about it."

Sanosuke watched in silence as Zuko put on his little display, then leaned back in his chair. "You know Shaggy, if someone asks something you don't want to answer, all you have to say is 'I don't want to talk about it.' I know enough guys with scars that don't go blabbing their stories to everyone they see."

Scars were difficult subjects, often in his world. Guys like Shikijo wore them with pride, proof of the efforts they'd gone through to become the best. Shishio had used his burns to justify his mad plans for Japan. And then there were others. "Kenshin didn't tell any of us about his scar for almost six months, and even then, there were...circumstances. Guys like me, on the other hand, we'll tell anyone who asks, so long as its the right time."

But for different reasons. Kenshin's scars were marks of a tragedy, as was Sano's aku. The difference was, there was a warning, a truth in Sanosuke's brand. Kenshin's cross was just a sad reminder of his mistakes, and of the fact that the guy hadn't been able yet to forgive himself for what he'd done.

[on_my_face]

"I'd be better off with a weapon than a partner, but if that's my only choice for now..."

Zuko gave Sanosuke a deadpan stare. This was just like the night with the weaponsmaker when the fighter made stupid assumptions about people he didn't know and ran his mouth. He let out a derisive laugh, maybe Sanosuke really was trying to be friendly... or something, but his comments rubbed Zuko the wrong way.

"If you're so perceptive then why didn't you pick up that I didn't want to talk about it in the first place?" Zuko shrugged. "But thanks for the lecture, I guess."

[damnrudecock]

Okay, now Zuko was just being a smart ass. Thanks for the lecture? Sano would give him something to 'thank' him over. The fighter turned his plate, and flicked one of the peppers so it launched up at Zuko's forehead, right above the bridge of his nose.

"I just told you, different people were different, didn't I?" His grin was strained with playful frustration. He really had just meant for it to be friendly advice, but Zuko was just too moody. Kind of like Aoshi.

Zuko probably couldn't hold his liquor either.

"But since you liked that lecture so much, here's another. There's only so much you should take up on your own, you know. You get hurt any worse, and probably there's someone who'd be sad or upset over it. Even a happy guy like you has to have friends, right?"

[on_my_face]

"Hey!" Zuko shouted, slapping the pepper away before it made contact with his face. It caught him by surprise, but he should have expected an action like that from someone as immature as Sanosuke. What he expected after that was shouting and maybe a fight, so when the other boy remained friendly-- albeit forced, Zuko was almost shocked.

Friends? "I don't," Zuko replied impassively. Mai probably hated him, he never got the chance to apologize to his uncle and show that he changed, and he failed to find the Avatar and his friends in order to join their group. That left no one.

[damnrudecock]

Score one for Shaggy's reflexes. It was pretty impressive that he avoided the hit, even if it made Sanosuke just want to fire off another one. But any more and Pinky might get upset, and the last thing Sanosuke wanted was another one of those damn needles in his arm.

"No friends, huh?" What surprised Zuko just meant that he and Sano didn't know each other well enough yet. The fighter just wasn't good at restraining himself at all. Truth was, he wasn't mad at the kid across from him. Just a little annoyed at the guy, but it was harmless.

"Tell you what then. I'll be your friend. And if you do get seriously hurt for no good reason, it'll piss me the fuck off." Not to mention Kenshin. And even if Zuko didn't take Sanosuke seriously, Kenshin just wasn't a guy you wanted mad at you. "Besides, it's only a matter of time before someone you do know shows up. Since you seem like a pretty good guy, I'll bet there's someone who cares about you, even if you don't want to admit it. Or if you don't realize it either."

Maybe this was what Aoshi was like when he was Shaggy's age. If nothing else, the more they talked, the more Sanosuke was reminded of him. A little like Yahiko too, but definitely Aoshi.

[on_my_face]

Zuko poked at his uneaten pizza with his fork as Sanosuke spoke, raising an eyebrow at the idea that the fighter considered him a friend after such a short amount of time together that mainly consisted of disagreements. "Fine," he muttered. It wasn't that he was against being Sanosuke's friend, just confused by it.

"With my luck it'll be my crazy sister," Zuko tried to joke, but he realized that since Sanosuke didn't know Azula that it probably wasn't very funny. Zuko wasn't very good at jokes.

[damnrudecock]

"Try not to sound too excited about it. You're not a bad kid. Kind of like someone I know back home. More fun to tease though." Somehow Sano didn't think calling Aoshi 'Shaggy' would've gone over nearly as well as it did with Zuko. And maybe once the kid actually relaxed, he'd see that not everything was an insult or an affront. Just had to get him there.

Wasn't too easy, considering the hellhole they were in. But Sanosuke would do his best.

And already there was something; Sano recognized a joke when he heard it, sometimes. "Crazy, huh?" The fighter grinned. "I've got a younger sister. She's not crazy, or anything. Just overprotective." Which was Sano's fault for leaving, but there's nothing he could do about that now. And more to the point, there wasn't anything he would've done about it then, either. Sanosuke never once regretted joining the Sekihoutai, even after they met their end.

But it had been nice to go home again, and see how they were all doing.