Rooftop Fight

"You heard me, I want you to train me." Sogo reiterated himself.

"I heard you, but why? You're already being trained by Kondo or whoever here, right? Besides, how do you even know that I can train you properly?" Hiroto said.

"I just saw how you were able to handle my blade with ease. Being able to do that, would require an extensive grasp on blade techniques." Sogo pushed on.

"Hold on, Sogo." Kondo cut in. "You can't just ask someone to be your teacher, let alone an outsider. You're part of the Shinsengumi, and have learned from our Dojo."

Sogo nodded and said, "I know, I already honed my skills as best as I can. I just feel that if I learn from him I can hone my techniques even further."

"Wait, I haven't even agreed to this. Hell, I don't even want to train you." Hiroto cried out.

"Why?" Sogo asked, confused.

"What do you mean, why? I don't even know you! You just show up around my place, drag me over here so you can fight me, and then you ask me to teach you!" Hiroto ranted.

Sogo tilted his head, "So?"

"Oh god, this kid." Hiroto facepalmed.

"Sorry, Hiroto. I never knew that Sogo would be this persistent." Kondo apologized.

Hiroto sighed and said, "Listen, kid. I don't train people. I don't want to. I don't have the time nor obligation to do so."

Sogo took an envelope out of his pocket. "I can pay you."

"Look, if it was about anything else then I would've accepted your money. But not this time." Hiroto shook his head, controlling his head to stop it from reaching out.

As Sogo was about to speak up, Kondo interrupted him. "That's enough of that. I just heard on the radio that Toshi found that silver-haired samurai."

"Oh? Gin?" Hiroto said, raising an eyebrow.

"We better go before Toshi kills him," Kondo said, leaving the Dojo and leading the two towards a car.

"Killing Gin? He can go ahead and try." Hiroto shrugged.

"Is he strong like you?" Sogo asked, sitting in the front seat of the car.

"Hmm. He's strong." Hiroto said, shutting the conversation down right there.

Kondo drove off towards the construction site that Gin was at, stopping next to a building that overlooked it.

Hiroto pointed to the top of the building and said, "If we go up there we can get a good view of the action."

"Aren't you concerned about your friend?" Kondo asked, running behind Hiroto.

"He'll do fine," Hiroto answered.

As the group arrived at the roof, they saw Hijikata lunge towards Gin and swung his sword down, destroying a part of the room and sending dust-up, covering their position.

"Did he get him?" Kondo muttered.

Hiroto crossed his arms and said, "Nope."

As the smoke dispersed, Hijikata was seen still in the same position and Gin appeared from behind him, sending a kick towards his head.

"Quit swinging that sword around!" Gin shouted.

"Nuooh!" Hijikata muttered, as he fell forward, but then used the momentum to tilt his body forward into a frontflip and swung his sword up, slashing Gin's shoulder.

"Gack!" Gin fell back, clutching the wound on his shoulder.

*whistle* Hiroto whistled. "That Hijikata guy is pretty good."

"Of course he is." Kondo smiled smugly, "He's the vice-chief of the Shinsengumi!"

From where they stood, they saw Hijikata and Gin conversing.

Sogo saw that Gin still had the sword that Hijikata gave him sheathed.

"Hey, Boss. How come he still hasn't drawn his sword?" Sogo pointed.

"Who's your Boss? And the sword? He's just stubborn, that's all." Hiroto shrugged.

"Hurry up! Draw!" Hijikata shouted.

Gin stood back up after covering his shoulder with a cloth to stop the blood and drew his sword out to the side.

"See, told you," Hiroto said, resting his arms on the railing.

Hijikata then surged forward, shouting out, "Your life or mine!" Swinging his sword down. But instead of cutting Gin, he instead cut apart a piece of cloth covered in blood.

"It's over," Hiroto mumbled, bored.

Gin appeared next to him, too late for Hijikata to react and swung his sword downwards.

*clang*

Gin's blade passed through Hijikata's, severing it in half as the metal sound reverberated.

"Okay, fight's over." Gin said, covering his shoulder and walking away.

"You took mercy on me?" Hijikata muttered.

"Mercy?" Gin responded. "If I had any of that, I'd put it on my rice and eat it. You fight when you have something to protect. Like you tried to protect the Shinsengumi, after the events of the riverside."

Hijikata then asked, "Protect? Then what are you protecting?"

Gin turned his head to look at Hiroto for a moment and then turned back to Hijikata. "My own rules." He then walked away, jumping off the roof.

Hiroto yawned and said, "Well, there you have it. It's not like we want to fight. But when we're pushed to a corner, or there's something that we need to protect, we step up to fill in those shoes."

Hiroto turned and walked back down the steps, as Sogo asked once more. "Then why won't you train me? I want to grow stronger to protect those I care about."

Hiroto chuckled and said, "If you want to protect something, you need to rely on yourself. Otherwise, it's not you that's protecting anymore, but someone else."

As Sogo was about to continue talking, Kondo held him back and shook his head. "It's fine. You won't be able to get stronger with him anyways. A person like that has their own circumstances that forced them to grow."

Sogo stayed silent, and muttered, "I want to fight the silver-haired guy too."

"Hahaha, I won't let you." Kondo said, "You can't just go around fighting everyone you want. You're part of the Shinsengumi, don't forget why we came to the city in the first place."

Sogo ignored Kondo and was lost in his thoughts, thinking back to how Hiroto took his sword away from him.

On the streets, Gin was walking away from the construction site with his hand over his shoulder as he grumbled, "Dammit, this hurts. Police officer my ass."

Hiroto walked up beside him and patted his shoulder, "Hey, how's your shoulder."

"Agh!! Don't touch it!" Gin yelled out in pain, swatting Hiroto's hand away.

"Alright, calm down." Hiroto apologized. "So, how did you find it?"

"Find what?" Gin feigned ignorance.

Hiroto chuckled, "Nevermind, what do you think Kagura and Shinpachi are up to?"

"Probably just lazing around at the house." Gin said.