Archive of Our Own ^beta

Starting a life with China was one of the biggest decisions he had ever made, and he didn’t think the choice was any easier for her either. Unlike her, Sougo was able to maintain a calm and peaceful front when he had brought up the idea, concealing his apprehension behind his usual wall of indifference. She, on the other hand, displayed her emotions so clearly, it was almost pathetic when she still tried to cover them up. When he pulled out the ring, her face turned the colour of her hair and she became a giddy, nervous mess, sputtering confused questions, insults, obscenities, death threats, and something demeaning about tax robbers, but somewhere in that disorderly outburst of anxiousness and bewilderment was a ‘yes’. 

He bought a reasonably sized house for the two of them. A traditional minka with a kitchen and a number of other rooms, as well as a garden and pond outfront. He thought she would like that. She brought minimal belongings; her clothes, her umbrella, nearly three dozen packs of sukonbu, a few knick-knacks including photos, certain products, and the monster she keeps. Whatever. He would have to accommodate for him too. It maked a good guard dog.

It wasn’t that Sougo couldn’t afford anything on the more luxurious side, he just thought something smaller would suit them better. They only needed a place that they could both come home to everyday. A place in which they could love and enjoy each other’s company in. A place that was theirs. And whoever decided to barge into their lives.

He also didn’t think China wanted to regularly clean a big house. She would probably throw a fit everyday and the thought of that wasn’t very pleasant. 

Over the five years he had come to know her, Sougo always thought of her as the lazy type considering the lifestyle she became accustomed to. When she lived at the Yorozuya, it would always be the glasses-wearing-a-human who cleaned and did their chores, so he supposed housework would probably not be done as frequently as he hoped in their house.

To his surprise however, he began coming home from work to a relatively polished house everyday, with clean dishes, folded laundry (albeit a bit clumsily), and tidy floors. When he brings it up to her, she simply says she couldn’t handle the mess and asked (threatened) Shinpachi to teach her, since “housework is a requirement for any housewife, yes? You’re stupid if you didn’t know that sadist!”. He holds off on teasing her because he doesn’t want to risk putting an end to her house cleaning ‘obligations’. 

Cleaning wasn’t the only new skill China acquired, but Sougo only found out about the second one on accident. When she invited the boss and the glasses for dinner on one of Sougo’s days off, she cooked katsudon and miso soup for the four of them. In between bites, the boss complains about how China would only cook egg-on-rice for each meal, back when she still lived with him, and apparently it was the only thing she could cook, but now she was able to make something like katsudon.

This was obviously news to Sougo because, as far as he was concerned, China was capable of making a variety of dishes, and only ever made egg-on-rice for herself. She looks away when Sougo brings this up though, and she mutters something about beginner’s luck.

But that’s when the glasses speaks up, and apparently he has been teaching her how to cook more foods, in addition to cleaning. Sougo can only assume China made that request because she was moving in with him, judging from the embarrassment on his wife’s face, and the way the explanation is interrupted. She launches an egg at the glasses before the poor man could finish, and he yells at her for that, but then the boss throws chopsticks at his face because his nagging is annoying, then Sougo joins in because the collective torture is amusing and he is left out, and in mere seconds a war breaks out at the table.

When the boss and the glasses leave, food bits and stains littering their clothes, Sougo turns to his wife with a manic smirk on his face and, before she can try to escape him with some lame excuse about feeling tired or something, he traps her in his arms, pulling her close so her back was against his chest and his breathe on her skin. 

He can’t hold it back anymore. He has to tease her. 

He calmly speaks into her ear about what the glasses said, but China struggles in his arms and acts like she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and it’s so pathetic because her acting is terrible. He teases her because he never would’ve expected she would make the effort to be a ‘good wife’ for someone like him, a.k.a someone she had made deliberately clear to multiple times that she hates his face and would take any chance to end his stupid existence and rid the world of his sadism.

China just stays silent because she has nothing to say, and he laughs at the deep blush that slowly creeps onto her face. If he were nicer and if it were anyone else, he would probably leave it at that. But because he is a sadistic bastard and this is China girl, he pries to know her reason for this (even though he already knows, he just wants to hear her say it).

When he pries enough, she finally mutters the ”because I love you stupid chihuahua” that he was looking for, and he smirks at the coerced confession. He loosens his hold to encircle her waist in a hug because he feels the same about her. And she knows that.

Sougo often sees her whenever tasked with patrolling the streets of Kabukichou, an aspect of his life that remained mostly the same even after their marriage. Sometimes China is staring into the window of a boutique, studying the dresses or accessories on display with a sort of sparkle in her eyes. He keeps a distance whenever he encounters her like that, but when she leaves, he goes to the store she was looking into, memorizes the name and location, and tries to figure out what she was probably looking at, taking into account her usual tastes and preferences for fashion.

When the work day comes to an end, he makes a run for the store before it closes and purchases the item. Her style tends to be on the more expensive side, but he deems it worthwhile when he sees the look of delight on China’s face upon receiving the present, how giddy and excited she gets, but then gets embarrassed and tries to act like she doesn’t really care, except she does really care, because when she declines, he says the gift is actually for Kondo-san since a piggy like her isn’t fit to wear something this nice. That’s when she gives in, and she takes the gift from his hands and claims that something this pretty would be wasted on a gorilla, so she’ll simply “hold onto it”, before muttering a barely audible “thank you” and hesitantly placing a kiss on his cheek, and it’s this indirect language they speak that makes everything worth it.

He never knows if he gets the right item though because she always has the same ecstatic reaction.

Other times Sougo sees her, she’s usually with the Yorozuya, either doing work or being a burden to society, he can’t tell sometimes, but when she’s by herself, he’ll take the time to irritate her as much as possible. This was definitely not an excuse just to spend more time with her or anything, for real, he has a job that he takes very seriously, even though most of the time he goes against his boss’ orders and takes naps in parks, but that has nothing to do with anything. 

If there’s enough time to spare before Hijikata starts bombarding his phone with angry messages to get back to work, he’ll treat her to dango or ice cream or both, and walk with her while she rambles, her hand in his, maybe insult her when an opportunity rises, just keep her around for as long as he can, because he finds the world is always 1% brighter whenever she’s with him.

He notices that China enjoys cuddling, but she gets embarrassed whenever he even mentions the word. Sougo really doesn’t mind this habit though, and a satisfying smirk always tugs at his lips upon seeing how flustered she gets when he brings the topic up.

Despite expressing no hatred when he first voiced his desire to sleep together, she was always too shy to get close to him, and used a lame excuse every time; he smelled like sweat and gorillas, it was too hot, he’s gross, he’s an ugly chihuahua, she might extract some sadist disease, he’s stupid, she’s too beautiful, etc. As a result, she would start off on the far edge of the futon every night, her backside the usual sight he sees before falling asleep, but by morning, they would somehow inevitably end up in each other’s embrace.

There was one incident in particular that had Sougo waking up at the ungodly hours of the night to find himself trapped in his wife’s iron grip around his chest, making breathing almost difficult. He’s about to shake her awake so she can loosen her damn hold, but then he sees her shivering under the blanket, her mouth muttering inaudible words between soft whimpers, and Sougo is taken aback by how completely vulnerable she looks at this moment.

And he is reminded then, that even if China belongs to one of the strongest known alien races in the universe, possessing superhuman strength that could potentially level buildings and mountains, comprised of some of the most powerful warriors out there (two of which were her own family), and where engaging in battle was the social norm amongst themselves,

she was still just a regular person who had regular problems, who possessed regular fears and regular weaknesses, and who regularly dealt with pain and tackled the regular everyday struggles of life.

Instead of waking her up, he gently traces circles on her back with the palm of his thumb in the hopes that the motions will soothe her. He isn’t sure if it helps, but her arms unravel from his body, and her small hands find his clothes, clutching it like a life-source. She sighs into him and he drapes an arm over the small of her back, before planting a soft kiss on her forehead. 

The following morning, he asks her if she had a nightmare last night. 

She confirms this.

He asks what it was about.

She tells him they had run out of rice and she had nothing to eat her egg with.

For a while he is silent and just stares at the innocent look exhibited on her doll face.

Because Sougo is unsure of what to feel, he feeds her egg-on-rice to the dog before he leaves for work, and she violently attempts to stop his ‘villainous’ act, through angry protests and tears.

On one of his days off, China reticently says she wants to do something nice for him, after all the nice things he had done for her. He tells her not to bother since nothing she could do would ever pay off her huge debt to her awesome husband, which roughly translates to: her presence and love was more than enough for him, so she shouldn’t worry about anything like that. But she absolutely insists to do something and she’s so bothersome about it that he lets her.

What he expects: Several bowls of egg-on-rice topped with hot sauce, his own dozen packs of sukonbu (that he will never eat mind you), and 300 yen.

What he gets: What he expects, except it’s actually 400 yen.

To her credit, at least she managed to surpass his expectations.

And because Sougo is such a kind and generous husband, he tells her she can have his food, and her face lights up like a child on Christmas. It was rare for her to initiate kisses, but she tugs him down for one now. Her lips are soft and have the disgusting taste of sukonbu, but he revels in the moment nonetheless. 

That night, it starts raining and he finds China outside sitting on the engawa, gnawing on one of his packs of sukonbu. He asks her what she’s doing and she tells him she’s looking at the stars. Sougo stares up at the dark rain clouds that shroud the night sky, engulfing the atmosphere and effectively blocking out any stars that may have appeared that evening. He turns his gaze back to her, holds it for a heartbeat, then grabs one of the sukonbu packs from the scanty pile at her side, nibbling at the sour strip of seaweed as he takes a seat next to her to look at the view, the roof of their house barely large enough to shelter their bodies from the rain.

Somewhere in the expansive universe, outside that horde of dark atmospheric fluff, her father is travelling from planet to planet, hunting down aliens one-by-one. Her brother is out there as well, probably seeking out or killing opponents he deems worthy to satisfy his never-ending bloodlust. 

China rests her head on his shoulder and he slings an arm around her, pulling her close.

Meanwhile, their youngest family member had chosen to settle down on one planet and formed another family of her own, consisting of a sadistic bastard, a permed samurai, and a pair of naggy glasses, as well as several other morons she met on this little rock in the universe she called home. Hell, the entire Kabukichou district could be considered her brood. 

Sougo’s train of thought is brought to an end when he hears the sound of soft snoring. He looks down to see her sleeping complexion, her strip of sukonbu half-eaten and dangling out of her mouth. He smiles at the pleasant sight before him, then lifts his wife up and carries her inside. He lays her down on their futon and throws both their sukonbu strips in the trash, because that’s where they belong. He snuggles up next to her tiny form and he can feel the warmth of her breath on his skin as she continues to snore in her sleep.

It’s moments like these that he’ll never be able to pay her back.

They weren’t really the type of people to go on dinner dates or get super lovey-dovey with each other, that he would call her “angel” or “cutie pie” or some other vomit-inducing name. In fact, he was sure she would break his ribs if he ever did call her that. If any person heard the usual childish back-and-forth banter that they called conversation, the former would probably think he and China were anything but romantically involved.

Sometimes she brought up the lack of “romantic atmosphere” (as she liked to call it) between them and he would in turn tell her to lay off of the corny soap operas.

He likes to think that in their own confined space of each other, they were comfortable, and simple gestures like holding hands were enough for them. Though she has become considerably less tsundere since their marriage, she’s still against any public displays of affection (even hand holding was a stretch for her), and he suspects that, in a way, she’s also fine with the boundaries they set up.

But there were times when she secretly wanted to take things further, hence, she demanded he make more time for her during the week. Even so, the time he occasionally set aside mostly consisted of stargazing or treating her to dango, or if there was a movie she wanted to see, he would take her and they would fight over popcorn while the movie played, then hiss death threats at the employee who tries to kick them out for being disruptive.

By far though, the best date yet was an evening walk in the park, licking their own ice creams and trying to lick each other’s ice creams, when they spotted the Shinsengumi vice-chief across the street. Sougo’s shift had been over already, but Hijikata was still working and from the looks of it, he was giving someone a speeding ticket, “because that’s all you evil tax robbers do, yes?” China had commented.

And because the vice-chief’s perfect, respectable form automatically pisses Sougo off, he pulls out his bazooka and fires at Hijikata’s stupid face. The latter barely dodges (of course he does, dammit), and he expects China to yell at him for suddenly ruining the date you stupid chihuahua, but she adjusts her umbrella and takes aim at the vice-chief, before firing a series of bullets that the man poorly avoids.

Through actions alone, they wordlessly make a game out of this abrupt torturing of the Shinsengumi vice-chief, taking turns trying to kill the honourable officer who had done nothing (everything) wrong. 

This was justifiable. Sougo was sure that if the Yorozuya boss was with them, he would probably join in on the barrage if he felt like it. After all, this was Hijikata. Just the sight of him being all Hijikata-like was so sickening, anyone would want to blow him up.

When the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon, the two sadists survey the damage they caused (because of Hijikata). The car that received a speeding ticket had sped off a while ago, but the road was littered with holes and pieces of broken concrete, and there was a very angry demonic vice-chief in the middle of it all, still alive, unfortunately, as he screamed obscenities at the two of them and ordered Sougo to commit seppuku.

The evening couldn’t have been better in Sougo’s opinion. There was nothing like enjoying one of your favourite pastimes with the person you fell in love with.

Sougo often forgets that his wife is beautiful. Well, he knows she is beautiful, because he sees her lovely doll face every single day and never gets tired of it. But it usually slips his mind that other men also find her attractive, and he’s sure even China notices their glances when she walks down the streets, her looks and movements giving off an almost alluring aura, even though her character is anything but alluring. As far as Sougo is concerned though, no one has made any moves on her, and he thinks it’s because a majority of them are aware that she’s already married, and to the Shinsengumi first-division captain on top of that. He likes to think the men know better than to flirt with his wife, and Sougo can’t help but feel satisfied with the knowledge that he has that kind of effect on people.

But he supposes not every man in Edo was aware of this fact.

China never wore her wedding ring because she was afraid she would lose it or get it dirty, or even break it, because that carelessness was just in her nature. He didn’t care at first because he believed a simple band of gold was not the binding force that decided their relationship or status as husband and wife. He also just really didn’t care.

Except one lazy afternoon on patrol, he sees two punks forming a wall around a smaller woman, obnoxiously flirting with the lady and preventing her escape from their barrier. Because Sougo is a cop and the sight sickens him, he’s about to interfere by threatening the men with arrest if they didn’t stop harassing her.

But he gets a better look at the woman when he steps closer, and he sees bright waist-length vermilion hair adorned with a chinese ornament, oceanic blue eyes, a long white cheongsam, black boots, and a huge purple umbrella that looks very familiar to him and he can't help but notice the woman's striking resemblance to his wife,

and that's when it clicks.

Sougo knows China could easily handle them, admittedly better than he could, that she could easily just pummel them into the ground or toss them into the sky, or just knock them over to get them out of her way. Except she wasn’t going to do any of that because she disliked injuring people unless absolutely necessary, so she would only use her words to try and get them to leave her alone. He knows all of this.

But because he isn’t thinking at all anymore, he’s becoming irrational, the sight of his wife being cornered by men that would want to take her, take her away from him, as if she was just some toy that they could treat that way, as if her opinions on the matter were not important, as if her feelings and emotions meant nothing, 

Before Sougo is able to get his own thoughts together, he unsheathes his sword, because there was seriously no damn way he wasn’t going to get involved.

He grabs China by the waist, pulling her to him, and he meets the bastards at eye-level, his murderous red eyes shooting daggers, while their frightened pupils eye his Shinsengumi uniform. Sougo raises his sword at their necks, and he sees them shudder upon the sharp weapon coming into contact with their flesh, before he calmly threatens to rid their ability to ever procreate or have fun with another woman again if they didn’t piss off from his. 

As they run away, he can see that they wet their pants, but he can’t find it in himself to laugh or even smirk.

And when he looks back at China, her face quickly changes from surprise to anger. She punches his arm hard and scolds him for being so violent and that she could’ve handled those guys by herself, and he knows this dammit because these were things he had already addressed before he impulsively acted upon his instincts.

Sougo doesn’t try to argue with her though. He simply releases her from his hold and brushes past her to continue his patrol, but not before telling her that from now on, she should wear her wedding ring whenever she goes out.

From twenty three years of experience, Sougo has learned that everyone has their unexplainably good and bad days. Days where fate either plays in your favour, or decides to play dirty tricks and place the agony where it hurts the most, and he supposes that was just a part of life. 

But there was one set day of the year that Sougo knows, in advance, will be agonizing. A day where, no matter how much he tries, he can’t run away from the emotions or memories, a day where he’s forced to deal with all the suffering because he doesn’t know how to cope with it, a day where he unintentionally displays his misery to the world like he's a school project and everyone’s judging him, but he can’t find it in himself to care because on that day he wants nothing to do with the world.

On that day, he prefers to visit her grave by himself. Not in the company of the boss, or Hijikata, or Kondo, or even China. By himself, where he can unravel without the stares or presence of anyone else, where it’s just him and his sister.

Sougo goes to work like any other day but doesn’t speak, and everyone knows why so they make sure to stay out of his way. It wasn’t out of fear or anything, more so just to respect his space. Or it could also have been fear. It didn’t matter either way.

Kondo lets him off early that day. When his shift ends, he visits the flower shop by the cemetery to grab a bouquet, then makes the trek up the hill to her grave.

When he gets there, he inspects the bouquet of flowers and spicy c already at the sight, and he assumes Hijikata had come by earlier. Sougo lights his own incense and places the spicy crackers and flowers next to Hijikata’s, before wishing Mitsuba a happy birthday, and proceeding to converse with her.

Sougo feels the tears streaming down his cheeks but pays them no mind. 

And as he continues, he can’t help but feel the literal ghost of a hand fall onto his shoulder. Though, he doesn’t look to see what it is, because he’s afraid it’ll go away.

The sun is setting by the time Sougo finishes up at his sister’s grave. Even though the journey back home is long on foot, he decides to walk anyway, forgoing the taxi route so he has more time to think, which was terrifying, but it also an opportunity to reflect.

He comes home to a clean house like always, the smell of sukiyaki and miso soup filling the air. But none of that is what he’s looking for. 

No, what Sougo’s looking for is wild red hair that smells like strawberry shampoo, a soft cheongsam, and a pale white shoulder that he can tuck his head into.

And he finds what he’s looking for in the kitchen, her back to him, washing dishes and setting them aside to dry. She knows he’s there, but she doesn’t say anything and continues scrubbing at the dirtied porcelain.

Not a single greeting, insult, curse, or “yes” is spoken. His silent footsteps make their way to her, and he wraps his arms around her waist before burying his nose into the crook of her neck, taking in the anticipated scent of strawberry shampoo, and, as always, sukonbu.

China remains silent, but she puts the last dish away and settles a hand in his hair, gently sifting through the light brown locks, causing Sougo to release a tired sigh.

He isn’t sure when it happens, but he starts crying into her shoulder and, even though neither of them had uttered a single word, she knows why. She turns around and places a hand on his upper back, bringing him closer, while the other is still playing with his hair.

It’s this indirect language they speak, through actions and insults alone, that they can get their messages across just as effectively. 

And through her embrace, she’s able to drag him back up and remind him that even without his sister, there are still things in his life that he can continue living for, still things that he can cherish and love, still things that would never change, still things that can put a smile on his face,

still a wife at home who loves him very much, despite being so indifferent about her feelings, who enjoys cuddling and trying to break his bones all at once, who had the most beautiful face of all, but had the gluttonous appetite of a Saiyan and the headstrong personality to match, who appreciates everything her husband does for her and enjoys spending time with him, and is one of only two women he’s ever known to fully understand him and know what he wants, what he needs.

And it's the times when he forgets about this that he needs her the most. Her warmth, her smell, her closeness, her existence in his life and knowing that she's here for him to embrace those qualities any time he needs it.

Starting a life with her was definitely one of the biggest decisions of his life. And Sougo looks forward to seeing what else this change would bring him.