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sotsugyou;;

Yukimura Residence.
Tokyo, Japan, March 2014.

Graduation. A time for growing up, moving on, and... getting really drunk, apparently.

Chizuru appreciates that her friends have come to celebrate her graduation - especially since, strictly speaking, they didn't really have to. Heisuke is two years older than her, already twenty to her eighteen years, and Sen graduated last year; Kosuzu, meanwhile, still has another year to go. Surely they had other things they could be doing - but they've chosen to be here with her. For that, she is incredibly grateful.

But... she does wish "becoming an adult" wasn't synonymous with "drinking alcohol" in some people's minds. Her father had left them to their own devices, and that means he trusts them not to get up to any trouble - but Heisuke is the only one here who's old enough to drink and yet all of them (except for Chizuru, who is politely abstaining) have been doing so. Kosuzu, at least, is only taking polite sips; Sen is a little more tipsy, and Heisuke...

Well, she loves him, but Heisuke has had so much to drink already that he's sleeping it off with his head in her lap even though it's only a little after eight in the evening. It's cute - endearing, even, the way he has his arms wrapped around her waist and he looks so comfortable in his slumber - but she feels a little embarrassed, mostly because Kosuzu and Sen are both here. She thinks she would mind it less if there wasn't anyone else around to see it.

At least Sen's teasing is relatively minimal. Of course, the three of them who are still awake are neck-deep in girltalk - that's only interrupted when the doorbell rings. Chizuru looks down at Heisuke's head in her lap, but Sen tells her not to worry and trots off to answer the door herself.

A few moments later there's a delighted giggle and an "Oh, my!" before Sen calls back to them - "Ah, come here! You have to see your father's taste in graduation gifts!"

Chizuru exchanges a puzzled glance with Kosuzu before gently shifting Heisuke's arms from around her waist and settling his head on the couch, and then she's on her feet and heading for the entranceway -

...that's a man, not a gift. She pauses and stares at the man in the doorway for a few moments. "Um..."

Kosuzu, evidently more tipsy than she's been letting on, tugs on Chizuru's sleeve. "Your father got you a military man for your graduation?" It sounds as though it's meant to be a whisper, but it's loud enough for all of them to hear. Chizuru blushes crimson.

"N-no, that's... um...!"

Poor Hijikata. His timing is atrocious, really.

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Hijikata doesn't even hesitate to take it when she offers, although it's fair to say he's indeed quite occupied that he doesn't even really offer a thank you for her efforts. It's only when he finally take a sip of it that he pauses and glances up from his papers over to Chizuru.

By now, she's sitting on the other end of couch quietly, and he hesitates just a second about saying anything at all ( she seems a lot more content than she had when her friends were here ) before he decides to go for it, because, honestly.

"...You didn't have to go through such effort for tea." Because he has always been picky and he's always been able to tell the difference and this is good tea. There's no way she pulled this from a prepackaged teabag. He hadn't really thought on the time it took her to bring the tea, but now that he's tasted it, everything seems to have come better together. She shouldn't have felt the need to do it like this... even if he has to admit it's some of the best tea he has had in a very very long time.

"Eh?"

She blinks a few times when Hijikata speaks - and then, when she looks over to him, her attention wanders down to his teacup and she smiles.

"Oh, no..! That's... how I always make tea. Um, I've always thought, if it's worth making, it's worth making right...!"

The -ate -- --- -----en--mi rests on --is tea. Don't s---w it up!

Her cheeks flush a little, and when she looks off to the side, it's out of modesty, not discomfort - that much is evident in her body language. There's no strained tension in her shoulders like there had been before, when her friends and boyfriend were drunk and (mostly) underage in front of a military officer. "...I'm glad you're enjoying it. Um, your job must be very stressful and very difficult, so I hope it helps you to relax."

When she glances away he has to let a small amused sigh escape, silently turning back to his tea instead of bringing attention to her shyness. Hijikata doesn't glance to her again when she speaks, looking back at his papers.

"I'm a JAG lawyer; it's been a while since I've done any field work." Not that being a lawyer isn't stressful or difficult, but he's long come to realize that usually when someone makes a statement like that they are picturing a warrior that is fighting for their survival against all odds to protect the country and its people. He'd done something like it once ( and truthfully on the field with his troops is where he wanted to stay but somehow he ended up in this, anyway. At the very least he did his best to continue what he did on the field then now, particularly protecting those who need it—he just does it by making sure men and women in uniform have someone to protect them when it comes to justice. Joining the military meant giving up certain rights as a citizen but it didn't mean they weren't protected. Likewise, they weren't above or exempt from consequence when behavior or actions went out of line.

"But that involves a lot of paperwork, doesn't it?"

Writing essays is hard! Or at least, Chizuru thinks so; composition hadn't been her best subject in school. It must be so much more difficult to have to do it for court, because people's lives could depend on it, sometimes. "You have to be sure to get every little detail right, because people are relying on you to help them. And you have to take what you've learned and use it to make sure the truth comes to light even if people are trying to hide it. That kind of responsibility... I think it's very impressive that you're able to do it."

There are lots of ways to protect people - and sometimes, facing down a judge or another lawyer and keeping one's cool can be even more difficult than taking a weapon and facing down physical danger. It must take an enormous amount of mental strength to do.

Hijikata give an amused chuckle at her words, having paused in taking another sip of his tea to listen.

"I guess that's why we do things, though, right? Because they're not something everyone else can or will do. Gives some flavor to an otherwise boring and lonely life." His words, although, somewhat melancholy are said casually and matter affect, taking little emotion from them and equally giving out the same or less in turn to her as a listener.

There is a pause while he tends his tea a little more, before finally adding something else. "Your father used to fret you might be more suited to be a lawyer than a doctor at times, but you have become less forward than when you were younger."

It's not meant to be an insult, since Japanese women these days were particularly sought after for their docile and nurturing grace and dedication. Hijikata had never told Kodou outright for fear the old man might have heart failure at the thought, but he had found her spunky little personality rather colorful and far more worthwhile than the traditional timid japanese girl.

Even if she was only six.

He had often wondered if Kodou would get her to become the model woman so many sought after in their country or if he would encourage her more assertive qualities.

Then again, maybe it was just a child thing, as she seems quite shy now more than repressed artificially.

"You shouldn't say that...!"

What was that about Chizuru being less forward? Because she's not exactly acting demure now, with the way she's leaning over a bit with her eyebrows knit into a serious expression. "Talking about your life like that, as though it's boring or lonely... it's too sad. If, um, if you need more things to do, then..."

...what is she even going to say? She's a high school student-- No, high school graduate, but she barely knows this man and it's too presumptuous of her to say something like You can come and see me.

Her cheeks warm as she realizes she's tried delivering a lecture to a man who probably doesn't need to hear such a thing from a girl so many years his junior. She ducks her head and leans away from him, flustered, and only becomes even more flustered when the rest of what he'd said registers on her.

"Did he? That's..." Oh dear. She sneaks a glance at him before returning her gaze to her hands. "He has nothing to worry abut, I wouldn't know the first thing about becoming a lawyer anyway, um..."

Ah, such is his mistake. He finds it cute that she thinks in such a concerned manner for someone she doesn't even know. In fact, Hijikata has to wonder if he merely sits here and lets her do all the talking how embarrassed she'll make herself by the end of this.

But, in the end, he simply puts his papers down and uses that hand to outstretch across that couch in offer to her to take it, although he doesn't look at her or verbally insist she take it, merely suggesting it with the presentation that it's what he's looking for and not for her to hand him something or some such. No wonder her friends take so much advantage of her, she's a good kid but seems quite unsure of herself when she realizes she's doing something that may not be acceptable or will bother another person.

He holds out his hand to her, and she really isn't sure what to do.

On the one hand - they've just met. What would her father say, if he arrived back home and found her hand-in-hand with a man who is a relative stranger (though he has memories of having met her one already)? On the other, Hijikata has gone out of his way to set down his papers and extend his hand, so this might be important, and...

She glances from his hand, to his face, to his hand again, before slowly reaching out to take it. Her touch is very soft and very hesitant, as if she's not really sure whether or not she's being too forward.

When her hand finally touches his, he carefully closes his own around hers, finally looking to her now.

"While I don't think you're meant to be a lawyer, don't ever let something like that stop you from going after something you want. If you want it bad enough, you'll get it, regardless of how far out of reach it is."

There's a bit of a smile present giving her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. "But, anyway, don't be so nervous in your own territory, kid. And don't feel like you have to stick around and keep me company when you'd rather be doing anything but sitting here." Because, well, he sure as hell know if it were him this sort of thing would be torture.

Chizuru's eyes go wide when his hands close around her own, and she can feel the heat pooling in her cheeks. Her first instinct is to look away and keep looking away, but when he speaks, she feels compelled to look into his eyes.

His words are so sincere, and his smile... it makes her heart skip a beat, and he lets go just in time for her to bring her hands back to lightly put one over her chest as she tries to force herself to calm down. She smiles - that he's gone out of his way to say something so encouraging is so kind of him, and she can't repay that kindness with just being flustered.

"Thank you, Hijikata-san... for your encouragement."

But then she sits up with a start when he says that she doesn't need to feel like she has to stick around. "Ah...! No, no... I... It's not that I would rather be doing something else." She smiles faintly. "But, although I didn't want to be a bother to you, while you were looking over your papers... I've enjoyed getting to speak with you."

He watches her in her silence and although he refrains from commenting about it, Hijikata feels as if he's seen this this before, and not when she was a child but... long before that. The flustered part is lesso the familiarity so much as the natural inability to understand how it is she would not only rather sit around with him but also willing to do so in silence because she doesn't want to bother him?

"—stay with—!"

. . .Somehow.

"Anything memorable happen so far? Graduation is a big deal and sometimes comes with a lot more than you expect. But hopefully you've gotten at least one or two nice things or experiences so far."

"Well, I--"

I got to meet you.

The words almost slip out but for once in her life Chizuru manages to keep from saying what she's thinking; instead, she blushes faintly and looks down at her hands. He would surely think it was very strange if she said something like that, wouldn't he..? Or if not strange, at least silly. And she's not sure she wants to be thought of as silly.

There is a moment or two of pause as she struggles to come up with something that makes sense. "I got to spend time with Sen-chan and Kosuzu-chan... and Heisuke-kun was very fun to spend time with as well, before..." Oh, wait, she doesn't want to bring up underage drinking to a lawyer. She looks off to the side. "I'm glad to have been able to spend time with my friends."

Hijikata furrows his brow slightly at actions partly her shy blush and looking down. She's got a really pretty look to her especially when blushing although he catches himself thinking that and wonders where it came from, causing himself to inevitably glance down at his papers.

It's a modest list and he notices it's all spending time with other people. "So no memorable gifts or wild plans for adventure before setting into the mundane adult world, then?"

"Eh..?"

She looks up briefly and her brows furrow. Memorable gifts or adventures... she shakes her head slowly. "My graduation ceremony was exciting," Chizuru replies. "Well... right after it was, anyway. I suppose you could say that was sort of an adventure."

But big, flashy presents or expensive trips to go let off some steam before taking her place in the adult world... they feel a little too indulgent for Chizuru to want. She's sure Sen would have loved to dress her up and take her out for a night on the town (and maybe that was part of the plan, before everyone else got too tipsy to function), but she would have just felt awkward and out of place. "I'm... looking forward to getting a job. My father is going to let me help out with his work so I can get some experience. Not everyone has that opportunity, so... I'm very lucky."

"So you are," he says with a soft sigh and he puts his pen down now as well as his papers before reaching into his jacket to pull out a small box wrapped up neatly with a ribbon bow to add to the presentation.

"I'm not normally prepared for such things, but..."

Well, he turns now to offer it out to her. "I think this might pass for an acceptable graduation gift."

"Eh..?"

Chizuru takes the box, looking from it to Hijikata as if wondering how he even came to have it. It's not as if he knew she was graduating today; he'd come here to see her father, not her... why would he have brought a gift? It confuses her so much that all she can do is stammer out an "Um, thank you..."

...and then there's the sound of the door unlocking, and her father arriving home.

In the ensuing shuffle, Chizuru has no chance to politely demur or give the box back. Hijikata gets what he needs to from her father, and then goes on his way - Chizuru is left with the box. She doesn't open it until much later that night, after her father has gone to sleep and the memory of the day's events is just that - a memory.

The beautiful amethyst necklace it contains isn't a memory, though. It's more than that, and she isn't sure she deserves to wear such an expensive piece of jewelry, but she has no way of returning it and it would be so ungrateful not to wear it at all... She'll just wear it for special occasions, she decides.

It's a few weeks later when just such an occasion presents itself. As chance would have it - Hijikata, it seems, has gotten engaged, and her father has been invited to his engagement party. Chizuru, being an adult, has the opportunity to attend (mostly, she's there so her father won't feel so lonely).

She can't help but feel incredibly out of place, though. She's only just barely an adult, but here she is among so many other adults. Her dress is pretty enough, but it feels almost too pretty to suit her, and she's mostly keeping to her father's side and glancing around while fiddling with the necklace around her neck to see if there's anyone at all that she recognizes.

(Chances are, Hijikata will be the only one.)

This place is full of things that should be making him happy, but it's times like these that he wonders if he's really cut out to do this sort of thing and isn't simply married to his career.

His friends are definitely enjoying themselves a hell of a lot more, and they're also a lot less sober even with the party not having officially started that long ago. But, that's just them he supposes and he sighs as he listens to one of them tell some ridiculous made up story that definitely never happened ( ... well, most of the time the ones they recite drunk never happened...) but somewhere during it he's gently grabbed at the shoulder from to get his attention away from them.

...And, that would be why he is no longer simply watching that display and carefully making his way around to greet any newcomers. But, the truth is, Hijikata took the request as an opportunity to get away because even though he insisted he didn't have his cell phone with him, he definitely does. But, as he gets no answer on the other end and no messages are left, he just looks aggravated at the phone before glances towards the party itself towards no one in particular.

...Or, it wasn't supposed to be anyone in particular and he finds himself surprised when he ends up noticing her. Any doubt he might have had that it isn't Chizuru is negated by the fact her father is quite near, albeit busying himself with some individuals he seems to know.

God... why is she here? Not that she can't be here, but suddenly it feels all wrong, as if he should be feeling guilty for her having to be here and sit through this, as if he's done her a disservice. And that's something he can say he's never ever felt about anyone ever, nevermind a barely-adult young woman that he didn't even truthfully get to spend enough time with for her to remember him.

Nevertheless, despite what he feels... he has to eventually make his way over, particularly when he notices she's really going to be bored here most likely not knowing anyone.

"You are letting yourself grow up way too fast to be here," he sighs goodnaturedly when he's in speaking distance. "Don't you think?" Although anything else he might have been meaning to say is muddled in his head as he notices the necklace she is playing with idly.

Considering that she really doesn't know anyone, she isn't expecting to be spoken to; so when Hijikata addresses her, she looks over to him with a start, her eyes widening when she realizes that first of all, someone is actually speaking to her, and second of all, it's Hijikata.

"Hijikata-san..!"

Her cheeks flush faintly and she pulls her hand away from her necklace - she doesn't know if he's noticed it yet, but she's very aware of the fact that it's the present he gave her, and she doesn't want him to think she's shamelessly trying to draw attention to it. Not during his engagement party, of all occasions...

"I'm not... trying to grow up quickly." She smiles. "My father needed the company, that's all."

...and yet, she wonders if that's really it. Now that she's seen him again, she can't help but be strangely aware of how glad she is to be face-to-face with him. Glad, and... somehow sad, too. Because she's seeing him again, but only because he's going to be married to someone else, and only because he happens to be acquainted with her father.

When this party is over, and he goes off to get married... she won't see him again, will she?

It's a selfish thought. She has no reason to be sad about him living his life. It's not as if she has any claim to him at all, anyway; she has to snap herself out of this, somehow. Or at least not let her own strange feelings get in the way of his day.

"Congratulations, by the way...!"

She probably should have started off with that.

It takes him a moment to register her congratulations and what it's for and somehow it feels... not like something he wants congratulations for and that he especially doesn't want Chizuru to be aware of. It's ridiculous, of course, but it's difficult to push away even as he smiles. "It's been a long time coming, so I've been told."

Lifting his attention, he takes a short few seconds to glance around before looking back to her. He wants to make idle chatter but it's not something he is good at, especially with his attention drifting back to the necklace.

It looks perfect on her—better than perfect, even, as if it was made for her. Still, he also is vaguely aware he can't stare down a young woman especially at his own engagement party. "I see; how is it so far for the both of you, then?"

"Ah, is that so..?"

This was most likely in the works even when they'd met the night of her graduation... she should be glad for him, she knows; if it's been a long time coming, then surely this is something he wants. And yet... she can't help the slight twinge when she thinks of what must have led up to this point. He met someone, spent time with her, and then ultimately grew to care for her enough to ask her to marry him...

That bothers her. It bothers her so much more than it should.

He's asking her a question, though, and that means she at least has something else to focus on. For the both of you means herself and her father; maybe she'll just... avoid the subject of herself. It's her father he's acquainted with, after all, and surely that is who he wants to hear about.

"I think my father is enjoying himself." She looks over in the older man's direction, then smiles as she sees him chatting easily with a pair of his acquaintances. "...he's been working very hard lately, so I'm glad he's getting the chance to relax here. And I'm sure he's very happy for you, too... if he hasn't had the chance to tell you so yet."

"I used to spend a lot of my time chasing this girl in my dreams because I was convinced she was out there," he sighs lightly before giving a small shake of his head. "They told me me I had to eventually face reality." Meaning, more or less, this wasn't ending like that sort of prelude sentence would normally take a topic. The woman he's marrying, although he does certainly care enough for him to marry her (...he supposes, anyway, what does he have to compare to?), is not the woman of his dreams.

Maybe he's just learned reality will never be as good as the idealistic things you can make up in your head.

Hijikata glances over towards her father, as well, glad to see he's glad, but before he even can think on it he asks curiously without looking to her, "What about you?"

Edited 2014-07-06 10:04 (UTC)

Chizuru thinks for sure that he's going to follow up that beginning with something along the lines of And now I've caught her and I won't be letting her go, so it surprises her when he finishes it the way he does. Her eyebrows knit together and she brings a hand up to fiddle with her necklace again - subconsciously; she clearly doesn't realize she's doing it. Her eyes are locked on him, even as he looks over at her father.

Why marry someone if you're not sure they're the person you want to spend the rest of your life with? That just seems too sad to her. She can't help but think that Hijikata deserves better.

(It occurs to her a few seconds later that she should probably wonder why she's so concerned with what he does and doesn't deserve, and how she would even determine what it is he deserves, anyway, but his question takes precedence.)

"I'm glad I came. It gave me the chance to see you again." The words come out quickly - it's only after she's spoken them that she realizes she's said it out loud. Now she looks away from him, so that she can duck her head and attempt to hide the blush on her cheeks. "...that is, um..."

Ah, that's a cute look. Normally, if anyone said such nonsense he'd probably get flustered right back and quickly push it away as nothing. Here, he takes it as nothing, either, just a small wish that he could view it as something or even the hope of something.

Her smiles but he has to glance away himself after a moment, although not before noticing her playing with the necklace. "...You wear it well, by the way," he mutters, not really sure if he should be acknowledging her wearing it at all.

It seems inappropriate but he can't help feeling some form of elation over this result. But, when Hijikata tries to formulate something further about the accessory, it becomes something else entirely: about just he and her alone.

"I'm glad you came, too. I've missed you."

"Eh..?"

She looks up just enough to glance at him briefly - unsure if she really heard what she thought she heard. He thinks she wears it well..? Her gaze drops down to what she can see of the necklace and she brushes her fingertips against it, mulling it over for a moment or two. "Only... only because Hijikata-san has very good taste in jewelry."

(Chizuru still hasn't really questioned why he had a necklace and was prepared to give it to her; that's a can of worms she's just so unsure if she should open up or not.)

"...coming here is a little bittersweet, actually." Her voice is very soft - because she's not entirely sure that what she's about to say is something she wants anyone around them to be able to hear. It might even be a little improper, but there's something in her that makes her feel very much like she would regret it if she didn't at least try to say it. "Because... um... After this... will we have the chance to meet again?"

She doesn't think so. He's soon to be a married man; she's just the daughter of one of his acquaintances.

"But... I really am happy for you. And I hope you find real happiness in this match, Hijikata-san."

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sotsugyou;;

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