It was the middle of the night – the lack of activity on board the Kiheitai's ship, the hush over the world outside, and the fact that his work for the day was done confirmed this. Nizou sat in his room, the window open to let in a cool breeze. The air was crisp; the sky must be clear. The moon was up there somewhere, nearly full according to snippets of conversation he'd heard around.

Apparently Benizakura glowed red in the moonlight. Though red was a near-forgotten concept by now, when the only colours he ever saw were fleeting flashes at the ends of lives. No one he'd killed that day had a red soul. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen one.

A soft sound interrupted his thoughts – there was the background noise of the sea and the city all around, but this one was out of place. Closer; right outside the door he'd left open a crack. Muffled footsteps, the result of trying desperately to walk silently in boots on a hard floor. Nizou knew the pain.

He was upwind and couldn't smell who it was, but that was no problem. Something even more recognizable drifted along – somewhat distorted strains of music turned up too loud. There were plenty of men in the Kiheitai who would be sneaking down the hall at this hour, but only one who would do so with headphones on.

Nizou smirked. "Going somewhere, Bansai-kun?"

Bansai froze, taking a heavy step back. Caught completely off guard, even though he had to have known Nizou was there. What was so startling?

Ah, right. He must have thought he could pass undetected. Ironic that he would forget about the music that accompanied him everywhere he went.

"Good evening, Okada-san," Bansai said finally, with all his usual calm. He was difficult to read: his gestures were impossible to detect and his voice was always carefully regulated. Usually he smelled more like a variety of artificial products than anything that gave hints. Tonight, though, he smelled like blood.

"Seems you just got back, huh? How did your mission go?"

"It was mostly talking, but it went excellently. Did you expect anything less?" It was hard to tell whether this was intended to be interpreted as a boast or not. "My mission now is to get to bed, however, if you'll excuse me."

"You're carrying your shamisen."

"I always am. Had you not noticed?" Certainly he did always seem to have an instrument on him, but there was something different from usual in how he carried it, and his faint hesitation confirmed it. Another detail he'd thought would escape a blind man. He was on his way to play music with Takasugi, wasn't he?

Nizou never got to do that. He liked to think it was just because he didn't have any musical talent.

"Anyway," Nizou said, "I thought I told you, there's no need to be so formal. I know you talk like that to fool people, but we've worked together long enough – there's no need to use it on me. We can be honest with each other, can't we?"

"Yes." Bansai didn't sound so convinced, but he stepped into the doorway nonetheless. The door squeaked slightly as it slid open further. "What is it you're after, Oka... Nizou?"

"Do I have to be after anything? You should relax a bit. Being so uptight all the time can't be good for your health. You'll get constipated."

"I like to think all the Yakult I have to drink counteracts that." There was a hint of a smile in his voice, but it faded as he continued, "I haven't the time to sit around and chat; it has been a long day, and I leave first thing in the morning for space."

"Right... doing business with pirates now, are we?" Nizou recalled hearing a few things about that – though he felt he was strangely out of the loop. Considering how important he was to the plan, you'd think he would have been told a little more.

Bansai couldn't possibly know everything either. But he replied as though he did, "I have been meeting with their representatives over the past few months. I believe I've got them all figured out – the next step is to convince them they're the ones gaining an advantage here." He laughed quietly to himself, the only way he ever seemed to laugh. "They'll most likely want to come down here and meet the allies they're gaining before they make any final agreements, so do your best to look like a good choice. Get a half-decent haircut, to begin with."

"I don't want to hear that coming from you."

"You can't even see my hair."

"I can always recognize you by the scent of your hair gel, so I imagine it's not too inconspicuous."

Bansai continued his train of thought as though it had never been interrupted. "You'll need to be presentable, as both a good ally and the most experienced swordsman among us. Think of it as a marketing strategy."

"Since when were you an expert in marketing? I thought you were an assassin."

"I do what I must. I killed three people today, if that's in any way a consolation."

"Three? Hah. I killed six."

"I was not aware we were competing, Nizou." That wasn't what he'd said the week before when they'd been sent on the same mission. "You used that new weapon of yours?"

"Benizakura, you mean." Nizou indicated the sword sitting beside him with a fond smile.

Bansai paused, presumably taking a good look at the sword in question. He must be jealous. "I've yet to see that Benizakura in action, but I hear it's quite impressive."

"I was waiting for you to bring that up. You heard correctly. It's almost like it's got a mind of its own, it's that good. You should watch out."

"Again with this competition? My position is not such an enviable one; you would soon regret taking it." How typical of him, to interpret a threat to his importance before anything personal. And it was not personal either, was it? If only he could take a joke.

"You're right, how silly of me." Nizou looked down, feigning some sort of sheepishness, before finally deciding it was time to bring up what he'd wanted to talk about all along. "Say... Bansai-kun, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"You will ask it either way, I expect."

"How did you know? Well, have you ever thought that maybe... it was about time we did something more than this? You of all people must agree with me. I mean, what sort of mission were you on today? Where will it take you in the long run?"

"To an alliance with the universe's most powerful crime syndicate, from which the Kiheitai as a whole will benefit. I've no idea what you are trying to say." There was something in his voice now – something almost offended. "We are following through with this plan, Nizou. It would cause terrible trouble if you were to stray now. Not to mention, it would be dangerous – allow my part to be the most risky."

"So you can steal all the glory?"

"So you do not have to die in vain on the assumption that there is any glory to be had in the first place," Bansai replied with a cold precision: apparently these were important words to him. Then he took on a casual, curious tone. "Were you always like this? I rather think you should switch back to a regular sword until you truly need that one. So far as I was aware, you were not meant to be testing it out on strangers at all."

"You know about that?"

"I have heard some rumours; I took a wild guess." There was no guessing in his voice – he knew from the start, didn't he. "People have begun to notice what you are doing."

"They notice what you do too, Bansai-kun."

"Not with any sort of connections between incidents; I should know as I read the news. Does it excite you, to be the mysterious tsujigiri? Is that your idea of glory now? What is it that you are truly after?"

Nizou's hand moved toward the Benizakura almost of its own accord. "Hey... I told you to be careful."

"Perhaps it is you who should be. There is something different about you; you are losing control. I am aware that you were only assigned one target today, which makes the other five unnecessary cases of drawing attention."

This one Nizou had a simple answer to. "The blade needs to be used as much as possible, so it can grow. It's just like a little person. Besides, aren't you the one who managed to kill three people while making negotiations?"

Bansai was not at all shaken by this observation – in fact, it almost seemed like he'd been waiting for that to be pointed out. "A matter which I may soon have to discuss with Shinsuke, and which I am certain he will understand. You have yet to tell him what you are doing."

"He knows."

"Oh, without a doubt."

"Then what kind of point are you trying to make?" Nizou's voice came out more hostile than intended, but he didn't feel any particular need to correct it.

Bansai remained unaffected. "Have you never wondered why it is he has not been talking to you?"

"He has seen no reason for it, of course. That should be a good thing." When Bansai didn't respond to this, he understood what the question really meant. "Are you insinuating I've fallen out of favour, after all I've achieved?"

"I am insinuating that you may find yourself falling further than that." Bansai took a step closer, almost confrontational.

Nizou got to his feet, instinctively picking up the sword. "He let me take Benizakura, did he not? That doesn't strike me as a lack of faith."

After a few seconds of tense silence, Bansai backed down. Good. Things could've been unpleasant otherwise – the blade was almost crying to be drawn. "I suppose that's true," he replied somewhat uncertainly, "he did trust you with that. Perhaps I'm imagining things."

"I'll say. Are you sure you–"

"But I could not have imagined the change. You'd do well to be wary of that."

This change he spoke of – hadn't his own attitude changed more than anything he was trying to point out? But it seemed far more specific than what he was saying. "Is this about your music, Bansai-kun? It's hard for me to be wary of something I don't know about."

"It is not my music; it is yours. If you will not heed my warnings for me, or even for yourself, might you at least take into consideration Shinsuke's wishes? But I must go now, or I shall never be able to negotiate properly tomorrow."

He moved back to the doorway, only to pause. "One last thing, Nizou. No, two – firstly, I do understand recklessness is your preferred approach to most situations, but it'd be best if you did not take any unnecessary action. Should I return to discover you have been causing trouble for us in any way..." A faint sort of threat, left to the imagination, lingered in the air. They both knew it would not be Bansai acting on it were such a thing to happen.

There was something else Bansai knew, something he'd just pieced together now – Nizou scrutinized him for a moment, but found no clue as to what it could be. "And second?"

"Secondly... do not go drinking Yakult that has been sitting around. That is the finest advice I can offer."

And with that, he was gone, leaving in his wake silence and unanswered questions. The faint noise and breeze spilling in through the window soon erased any sign anyone had been there at all.

"Shinsuke's wishes, huh?" Nizou repeated idly, laughing to himself as he sat back down, taking a moment to get comfortable again. As though he was acting in any other interest to begin with. Perhaps Bansai would understand when this was over. Or not. Everyone on board seemed to have a curious fixation in the way they viewed things.

Author's Notes: Hello it is I, the sole representative of "Nizou-loving Trash" within this fandom. Unless you also like him, in which case we should talk. Since today (the 23rd of December) is his birthday, I decided to finally revise and finish this half-assed thing that had been sitting in my computer somewhere for at least half a year now. It was my first ever attempt at writing him, mostly for the fun of describing things without using the most obvious and easy sense to write. Also because no one writes fic about this guy. There is not a single fic under his name on this site. That's pretty cold, you guys. Well, at least now there's one fic.

This is just 100% foreshadowing for Benizakura arc - both Nizou's eventual fate and echoes of what he says to other characters, and of course touching somewhat more on Bansai's role because people seem to forget how important he is to... the entire Kiheitai (you all already knew I was Bansai-loving Trash, this part isn't news). And of course, since I'm looking at this in hindsight from our current point, we also get things like Yakult jokes and hardcore dramatic irony.

But Nizou and Bansai. They've stood next to each other in official art once or twice. I was always pissed off that we never got to see these two in the same scene when they would have such a fun dynamic... in my head, at least. Not to mention the sheer amount of people who could end up dead. So I had to fix that. I hope you guys liked it, this was really like the fanfic equivalent of one of those 2-minute scenes you get more out of every time you rewatch them, not meant to have a bigger plot. Expect to see more fic with these two in it some day. Like as soon as I get more ideas that happened in this part of the timeline, probably something fun and full of murder because that's the general aesthetic. Also subtly fighting for Takasugi's attention (in contrast to Matako who gets nowhere by not being subtle at all) because let's be real here.