It Has To Start Somewhere

What's in a name?

Who is Okita Sougo?

She never called him by his name -no, not even in her head. Now, it feels so weird looking him up in her phone whenever she wants to leave him a message -which now happens really frequently ever since they exchanged contacts. It completely escaped her that the sadist doesn't have her number.

"China," she recalls him typing out loud on his phone register, to which she snapped by saying "Oi, I have a name."

".....
Kagura."

It goes without saying that she was taken aback by that sudden surrender as she had known him to oppose or mock her for proposing such familiarity. He had been oddly quiet at that time, almost kind, and she wondered at how soft his features actually are when he lets his guard down.

"Kagura..."

Then, as subtle as a feather landing on her shoulders, he smiled.

She recalled those few times she saw him smile. It was as common as rain in the desert, all of them either to insult or bring mischief. Never real.

But there they were on his lips like they've always belonged there.

Okita Sougo is a mystery.

There had been no fights since that day; he cancelled all of them. However, he would always reiterate the title of strongest belonged to no one yet...that next Friday afternoon will be her demise. But 'Next Friday' never came and tomorrow is no exception. Tonight's O' so familiar excuse is something about "not free tom afternoon but here's a picture of Hijikata-san using mayonnaise as his face mask before going to bed."

Not this week either, huh?

She hoped this time around would be different and the sadist would actually know what tomorrow means to her. She brushed the uneasiness aside and typed, "let me guess, he eats them in his sleep. The disgrace of the Shinsengumi....second only to you."

Kagura let out a chuckle, not realising she's been staring at her phone for a good half an hour, waiting for a reply. When she realised he's not texting back, a certain kind of discomfort crept up her insides. There was a time she would find the thought revolting but now, she missed the banters. She missed hurling insults she never meant. She missed winning and losing to him. She missed his smug handsome face...the smile she saw only once...and all the smiles she hasn't seen yet. She missed having his undivided attention even if it's between fights or verbal assaults. She just missed talking to him. She missed him.

"Kagura, get your ass over here and help me throw the garbage!" cried Gintoki in the other room. Her earth dad is probably talking either about the huge pile of month-old left-over takeaway in the fridge, Sarutobi Ayame, or his rotting dignity.

"Alright, already!" she screamed her impatience. Throwing trash at such an ungodly hour? Unbelievable.

She took one last look at her phone and something ached. Like not being wanted. But not the kind she knew from Pappi and Baka Aniki leaving her in her childhood days. This is an entirely new feeling. It reeks of 'petty' but it hurts to know she's not as important to him as she wanted to be.

She opened the closet that is her bedroom and stepped outside, vowing she would ignore the boy completely from now on because he's a huge jerk. Her resolve shattered at the sound of her phone beeping, to which she leapt like a rabbit to see who...

"Okita Sougo. 1 message."

She never knew it was possible to be filled with so much emotion at the sight of one's name. It was electric.

The message contained a shaky video of a man snoring, subconsciously eating all of the mayo in his face -to which a hand from behind the screen appeared and topped up the clean surface with more.

"It goes on and on. It's so disturbing I won't be able to eat for days," the message read.

Sougo wasn't ignoring her: it was the opposite! The world suddenly stopped and in her tiny space of a bedroom, Kagura was in the clouds.

"You didn't put tobasco? I'm disappointed," was her response.

"Good idea. Didn't know you can think."

So many things you don't know about me, it's funny. Like, tomorrow...

"I didn't know you were so slow," she said.

"I've thought about it but Hijikata can die some other day. I want to do something else."

"Ho. What is that? Humour me."

Minutes ticked away. Silence.

"I want to hear your voice."

She sat upright trying to make sense what she just read.

"You're joking, I will kill you."

"Say yes or I'll arrest you for breaking the policeman's heart," he replied, ignoring her completely.

"Yes? But like, what? Now?"

She straightened herself and braced for the inevitable call. She would start by teasing him for missing her and that it deserves to be added to her score of wins. Inspite of herself, she's breathing heavily now, thankful for the first time for the distance that separated them. He would've seen her face red as a tomato and her smiling from ear to ear. She couldn't have kept an unperturbed façade if he were anywhere closer.

"Kagura," Gintoki's voice startled her from behind the sliding doors. Not wanting to be disturbed even by the end of the world, Kagura said, "go away, I'm sleeping!"

"Souichiro-kun is outside."

Oh. Now.

Kagura's heart jumped a few inches.  On her right hand, her phone read,

"Yes, birthday girl. Now."