For the prompt: Okita sharing with Kagura a childhood story about his sister Mistuba.

Ode To Sister

She never thought that being bored and having nothing to do would make her into a stalker. Following a person without him knowing is considered stalking, right? She wasn't that sure of it though, she wasn't interested in the sadist like the gorilla commander was interested in her Anego.

Oh yeah, did she forget to mention that she was following the sadist?

Normally, Kagura would let it slide, being unnoticed by him was a good thing, he wouldn't be able to annoy her. But something about his empty expression as he walked throughout the streets of Edo intrigued her, and so she followed suit.

He stopped by a flower shop and bought a single, lone flower. He was even polite to the shop's owner, which was a thing that confused her even more.

If she didn't know any better, she would've thought that the sadist looked... sad.

He walked and walked and walked, oblivious to the chatter and life around him, until he reached to a cemetery.

It was weird that he didn't notice her yet, maybe her luck finally blossomed or something.

So... who is he visiting?

She saw him in front of a headstone at the farthest corner, his face taking on an unusual sincere expression as he spoke animatedly about his year.

Now here's something you don't see every day. She read the letters on the headstone, curious about who could possibly make the sadist act with such fondness.

Okita Mistuba.

That name looked oddly familiar, didn't Gin-chan talk about a funeral for someone with that name a year ago? She was the sadist's relativ- no sister.

Oh...

At that moment, Kagura felt like she was intruding on something she had no right to intrude and immediately set to leave.

"What are you doing here, China?"

She winced, of all the times he could choose to catch me, why did he choose now? "I was following you." She sighed, opting to answer truthfully.

"And here I thought that you were better than to cowardly sneak around people." He sneered, his eyes sending chilling glares.

She would've fought back, showed him that she was rather offended by his notion and smashed his head onto the ground. But then she remembered where they were at and chose against it.

The sadist was clearly surprised by her sudden quietness, his cold glares melting into curious looks. "Well, since you're here and everything, introduce yourself to my sister. It's rather impolite to visit her and not tell her your name, isn't it?"

The asshole is using his sister to irritate me. She chose to ignore his amused smirk and bowed, paying her respects the way her Anego taught. "My name is Kagura, you can call me the Queen of Kabukichou if you'd like," the sadist snorted at that, "your brother is alright, if he dropped his sadistic ways anyway. He's fine and dandy from what I've seen so you don't have to worry about him."

She could feel the sadist's eyes on her, and she turned to see why. I didn't say anything wrong, did I?

He wasn't looking at her with hostility at all, only surprise and confusion.

She shrugged it off and stood up to leave, but then he called out after her, his attention was once again on his sister's grave, "Wait for me at the gate."

Kagura raised an eyebrow at his request but found herself nodding in acceptance anyway.

Maybe he wanted a fight?

She waited for a short while before she finally saw him heading towards the cemetery's gate, chugging a full bottle of hot sauce along with that.

Taking her confused look for a curious one, he explained, "She used to add hot sauce into everything she ate. She always tried to convince me that it would taste good." His fond expression twisted in grimace. "I love my sister, but there was no way in any hell that I would eat a watermelon with hot sauce."

"But you drank a full bottle like water just now," Kagura noted, pointing at the empty bottle in his hand.

"I'm trying to get myself to like it," he answered simply.

Kagura snorted. "Well, it's obvious as hell that you don't like it. You were almost crying by the time you finished the bottle," with a smug grin, she continued, "your sister must be laughing wherever she was at your pathetic attempt."

"You think so, huh?" the sadist asked, a smile slowly widening at the idea of his sister laughing at him.

She nodded, her eyes absently staring the wide sky above. "Sisters are cool, they're kind and generally awesome. You're a lucky bastard." From the way she saw him talk about his sister, she knew she was a good person, a great sibling.

She envied him really. He and Shinpachi had a sibling to look up to, a sibling who'll be always be there, with body or soul.

A sibling who cared.

"Oi, China..."

The unusual tone of his voice pulled her away from her musings, and she turned towards him to see what he wanted.

To her surprise, the sadist was actually smiling at her. "Thanks for what you said back there. Knowing my sister, I'm sure she would still worry about me, your assurance definitely put a stop for it, at least for now."

Kagura blinked in response before smiled at him in return. "No problem."

They parted ways after that, on the silent promise that they'll resume their bickering and rivalry tomorrow.

As she walked back home, she though again of this encounter and hoped.

Maybe, someday, that idiot will be a decent sibling.

Then again...

She opened the door, only to see Shinpachi screaming at Sadaharu for soiling the floor, Gin-chan sleeping and oblivious to the ongoing drama.

I have them, she thought with a fond smile.