To Not Give In

Twenty || Blood and Sufferance-He Will Endure

Inoue-san and Sannan-san left early, but the commander stayed. Kimigiku-san continued to serve the Shinsengumi and we basically did the Edo period version of party all night. More sake was gulped down. More food was served. More laughter. More laughing. More dancing.

It was the first time I'd enjoyed myself so much in Edo period. Chizuru had kindly declined the sake, but I just grabbed the whole bottle and finished it in seconds.

"It tastes just like water!" I declared.

"Unbelievable!" Heisuke shouted.

"More, more!" Nagakura roared.

"One down!" Okita-san called out.

Grinning, I grabbed another bottled and chugged it down my throat.

"Two!" Okita-san sang.

I felt a hand resting on my shoulders and swung my head around to see Harada-san with a brow up.

"Maybe it's not the best for you to be drinking so much at your age."

Laughing, I pushed his hand off my shoulder "It's fine. I've had way more before!"

At one point, everything just seemed like a blur of brightness, color and sound. My head felt thick and I felt like I was walking on clouds. The sake bottle slipped from my hand and I quickly caught it before it met the ground. Along the way, I pitched sideways, sprawling onto the tatami mat.

"Suzuran-chan!" Whose voice was that? Harada-san? I peered up through bleary eyes to see a familiar smudge of auburn and grinned.

"Oh, she's utterly drunk."

"That's right, Okiiitaaa-saaan!" I sang as Harada-san looped one of my arms around his shoulders. I swung my free arm out, nearly dropping the sake bottle again. I was giggling uncontrollably. Everything looked so funny for some reason. Mm...Harada-san smelled nice. It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I sighed before throwing myself off of him, but this time I didn't collapse onto the ground.

Lurching my way to the center of the room, I spread my arms wide and spun in a full circle on the balls of my foot.

"Now listen, y'all!" I slurred. I jerked a thumb to my chest. "I...Katsurou Suzuran...am from the future!"

"She's definitely drunk," I heard Hijikata-san mutter. "She's making a fool of herself."

"Future? You don't say!" Heisuke shouted, raising his sake cup.

I giggled, teetering over to him and leaning down so that I was inches from his face. His face, which had been flushed rosy pink, turned into a deeper shade of tomato red. I grinned then stood back up.

"Yes!" I confirmed loudly. Swaying at the center of the room, my brows knitted together and I stuck out my index finger, then the next, counting down the events as I listed them. "And my name...is Avalon Green! Let's see...I was coming from New York and got off at Osaka...I bonked my head and electrocuted the hell out of myself...and here I am in the Edo period of Japan!"

"Hey now," Nagakura-san piped up. "I thought you said that you...came on a wagon...or somethin'...what's 'electrocuted'?"       

I tittered and pointed at him. "That's somethin' in the future!"

Ignoring his cries of protest, I stumbled over to Saito-san, who was calmly sitting at his seat and sipping sake from his cup. I frowned and plopped down in front of him, slamming both hands onto his ozen tray. He looked up, startled, midnight blue eyes widening a bit.

"Saito-san!" I whined. "Why are you serious all the time? It wouldn't hurt to have some fun you know!"

The dark-haired captain turned away, visibly flustered. "I...erm...well..."