I have a tendency to want to retell the story of things such as games, manga and such…
I've decided to do Hijikata's side of Haukuouki by IDEA FACTORY…
Mainly since his story is the longest
However if this goes over well with those who decide to read it then I might consider doing the other stories as well…but only if someone requests it of me…
DISCLAIMER
This is purely for entertainment
I am NOT claiming this story as mine .
I hope you enjoy
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HIJIKATA TOSHIZO
PROLOGUE
January 1864
"So this is Kyoto..."
It was awfully impressive, there was no denying it. Even the simple hellos between people passing in the street seemed warm and friendly.
They nodded and smiled to one another almost as if they were family, not strangers about on errands.
Still...
There was something else as well. something that made the city feel strangely cold. Almost as though there was a great invisible wall, shutting out anyone who wandered in from the country.
"Um..."
It wasn't particularly comfortable, I had to admit.
"...No. No, that's all in my head."
I had walked quite some distance to reach Kyoto, and it occurred to me that my mind and body were both very tired. Even so, tiredness was no reason for me to stand about feeling sorry for myself. I couldn't afford to, after all.
"Um, excuse me!"
With new - albeit forced - resolve, I tried to stop a passerby.
"I'm sorry, but I seem to be a bit lost, could you...?"
xxxxxx
"What am I supposed to do now?"
I was lost again, but in a different sort of way.
I sighed and found myself looking up at the darkening sky. The sun was beginning to set.
The people I'd spoken to hadn't been unkind, and they'd given me the directions I'd needed, but...
"Couldn't he have chosen a better time to leave the city?"
Apart from my father, there was only one other person in the city who I could rely on: Dr. Matsumoto.
Dr. Matsumoto was a doctor in the service of the shogunate.
I had never met him myself, but my father put a great deal of trust in the man.
He had told me that if I should run into any trouble during his absence, I was to contact Dr. Matsumoto.
Unfortunately...
Dr. Matsumoto was apparently out of town on business, and would not return for some time.
"Was I too hasty? Perhaps I should have waited..."
True, it is rather rude to visit unannounced, which was why I had sent a letter ahead of me. Of course, if he'd been gone for very long, then he had almost certainly not read my letter.
Perhaps, I thought, I should have waited for a reply before traveling alone to a city I'd never even seen.
"But..."
No. I knew I could not have waited any longer.
Flashback
"Chizuru..."
"Is something wrong, Father?"
He paused a moment, and looked at me.
"I... It seems I must go to the city of Kyoto for a time."
"Work again?"
He had been leaving the house often then, sometimes for days at a time.
"How long will you be gone?"
"...I'm afraid I can't say. A month, perhaps. Maybe two." He looked to me with a frown.
"Oh..."
There was no hiding my disappointment.
Nonetheless, I wasn't a child anymore. I couldn't beg him not to go, or some other foolishness. Yes, I'd be lonely, but... I was much more worried for him.
"Please Father, be careful. They say that the city of Kyoto is dangerous."
He only smiled and nodded.
"You needn't fret. I will be sure to send you letters as often as I am able, so that you will have no need to worry."
This brought little comfort but it was enough.
"...Okay. You promise?"
...
Father kept his promise.
A new letter arrived every day, and I scarcely had the time to respond before another would arrive. He told me that he worried about me, home all by myself.
Then...
...the letters stopped.
A whole month passed, with no word from my father, and I began to worry.
End Flashback
"Father..."
They say Kyoto is full of ronin. It is not a safe place.
Usually a samurai is paid by their house, but...
Ronin with no house to report to often rob people in order to make ends meet. They're nothing more than violent criminals who hide behind the image of the samurai.
Such is the state of the city of Kyoto: The city of ronin.
Small wonder, then, that I worried for my father's safety. My mind would concoct horrible possibilities and I inevitably found myself depressed and tense.
"Hmm.. First, I suppose I need to find a place to stay."
Lost in thought, I hadn't noticed that night had already fallen. If I was honest with myself, I hadn't the first idea how long it might take to find my father.
I'd taken some money with me, but it wasn't much. Enough to last me a month, I hoped, if I used it wisely.
If I could find Father in that time, so much the better. If not, hopefully Dr. Matsumoto would return before my funds ran out. Should I be unable to find either of them, then it seemed I would be forced to return home.
"Well at any rate... I should try and be as frugal as possible..."
And so I lengthened my stride and set off down the street. Fortunately for me, men's clothing was much more conducive to such a pace than my usual dress would have been.
I'd decided early on that Kyoto was far too dangerous for a girl from the country to explore alone, and that it would be wise for me to dress like a man - or at least a boy.
My disguise, such as it was, had proven successful, and I'd made it all the way to Kyoto unmolested.
Perhaps that success had gone to my head, and let me think a girl dressed as a boy could explore Kyoto as she pleased.
But Kyoto is not a safe place.
I should have remembered that.
Instead, I had somehow convinced myself that whatever dangers the city held did not apply to me.
"Hey, kid."
I was about to discover otherwise.
"Eh?!" I squeaked.
I spun around. In the street in front of me were three men. Ronin.
"Can I help you...?"
I did my best to keep my voice calm as I reached in what I felt was a nonchalant way for my kodachi.
My father had made me take lessons in self-defense. I'd kept with them, and actually done rather well. My skill was enough to defend against most attacks then again...
Perhaps it was my confidence in my skill that had put me in this situation in the first place.
I'd messed up and let my guard down. My fault. There was a chance I could take them on and win, but... There were three of them, and one of me.
"Pretty nice blade you got there, kid."
Only then did I realize they were far more interested in my sword than they were in me.
"Looks like a bit much for a pup like this one, am I right?"
The first ronin nodded and turned to me with a sneer, "Give it here, okay? We'll use it to defend our country."
I took a step back, "But...this is..."
The sword wasn't just some blade I'd picked up: It had been passed down through my family for generations. There was no way I could give it to the ronin.
Unfortunately, I had the feeling they wouldn't understand.
...
...
In such a situation, the best decision was undoubtedly...
...To retreat!
And so I turned and ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
The second ronin was the first to react to my decision to escape, "Hey! Get back here, you little bastard!"
A short time later...
"Gosh, they sure don't give up easily, do they!"
I felt like I'd been running for quite a while, but I could still hear the ronin behind me, cursing loudly. I ducked into an alley and flattened myself against the wall.
After deciding they weren't to close, I crept farther into the alley.
Someone had left a couple sheets of wood leaning against one of the housed. It was a perfect spot to hide.
With luck, I thought as I knelt down to shuffle under them, this will get me out of this mess...
...
...
"...Huh?"
Something was wrong. I'd expected to hear the ronin yelling to each other, looking for me, but...
Seconds turned into minutes, and I heard nothing. I was about to sneak out and have a look, when -
"EEEEEAAAAAAAAAAGHH!"
One of the ronin was being brutally attacked... They began to scream.
I froze, "Wh-what?!"
My plan to investigate was immediately halted.
Remaining silent and hidden was clearly more important.
Still...
"Damn you!" came the rage filled voice I came to recognize as the second ronin's.
The next fearful voice belonged to that of the third ronin, "What is this?! Why won't you die?! Dammit! We gotta get out of here!"
It was then that true fear began to set in.
There was something out there, something very, very dangerous. Something quite possibly lethal.
The possibilities were... Well, my imagination conjured up no shortage of gruesome theories.
Even so, I could feel that itch of curiosity... I wanted to know what was out there.
Slowly, carefully, I edged up to the corner and looked out. Cold moonlight glared back at me from the bare blade of a drawn sword. My eyes followed the blade up, to the arm that held it, clad in a coat of light blue.
...Had this person saved me?
But no sooner had it appeared, that hope was dashed.
"Heh...Hehehehehe..."
The cornered ronin trembled as he tightened his grip on his sword, "H-Help...!"
I could hear the ronin beg for his life as he stumbled back. The person in the blue coat said nothing, just stepped forward, his sword raised.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
"AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
A high, screeching laugh cut through the man's scream.
The blade fell through the air, more like a butcher's cleaver than a sword: No technique, no skill. just death. The scream turned suddenly wet, caught, and disappeared like air leaving a half-empty bellows.
My eyes went wide. I had just witnessed a murder.
Whatever strength adrenaline had given me was suddenly gone. My legs gave way, and I crumpled to the ground.
My eyes had gone so wide I thought they might never close.
The ronin had died with the first blow, but as I watched the blades kept falling, carving deep lines into the corpse.
The soft slip of a blade through flesh; the crack as it struck bone; the silent creep of blood across ground.
I felt nothing from them but madness.
Their only desire was raw, animal violence. Whatever they were, it wasn't human.
They were...broken.
"Hgkk..."
I could feel my throat closing up. I couldn't breathe.
A warm, dark smell brushed against my face... It took me a moment to recognize the coppery tang of blood. An icy bolt of fear ran down my spine, crawling its way out into my limbs and freezing me in place.
I was terrified.
What was I going to do...?
What could I do?
"...You have to run, Chizuru."
I forced my jaw open and drew a ragged breath.
This was the only chance I'd get. I had to -
"Aah!"
But my body, still numb with fear, was less than responsive.
I lurched sideways, into the wood stacked against the building. With a rough clatter, it collapsed.
The creatures turned, their blue coats drenched in blood. Hideous grins split their inhuman faces, glowing red eyes shown behind white bangs and they shook with an animal excitement at finding fresh prey to slaughter.
"A-Ah!"
I had to run.
I couldn't die yet.
...But my legs refused to move.
That hideous, cackling laughter began again. I was going to die.
My body was frozen with terror. I couldn't even scream. This was it. This was the end.
"Wh-Wha...?"
I watched them raise their bloody swords, the moon glinting off the metal.
Then there was a flash of light, and a soft splash of blood. I could feel it, warm and sticky.
Bile began to rise in my throat, but before disgust took hold I heard a voice...
"Really...?"
The words suggested disappointment, but the voice sounded...happy.
"And here I was, planning to take care of them all on my own. Couldn't you have picked another day to work so fast, Saito?"
As he spoke the strange man smiled, almost as if he were enjoying himself.
I slowly glanced at them.
If I weren't still on the verge of barfing I might have been able to feel relief that these two strange men in blue coats were quite handsome and not inhumanly grotesque.
"I only did my job. Unlike you, I take no pleasure in battle."
"Well that's not a very nice thing to say."
He laughed
"...You don't even bother to deny it." The man called Saito sighed with the air of a long-suffering companion, and looked over at me.
The other man smiled and crossed his arms also glancing at me, "Maybe, but if you'd just staid back and let them kill her you could have saved us some trouble."
His tone was light, but his words confirmed my fears. I had left the frying pan, yes, but I was now in the fire.
"Perhaps. But that decision is not ours to make."
"Huh...?"
Then...there was someone in charge of these two?
Their conversation seemed to suggest they were part of an organization of some sort. As I thought about it, I remembered hearing stories of a group of men with blue coats...
"Ah-!"
My thoughts were interrupted by a dark shape sliding into view.
"Oh..."
I swallowed hard.
The moonlight shone off his smooth, dark hair. For reasons I couldn't fathom, in that moment the light on his hair made me think of fluttery flower petals... Almost as if the cherry trees were blooming out of season.
"Luck is not your friend tonight."
His voice was cold and quiet, like a blade of ice.
Blue-white moonlight lit his slender face and shone from the blade he held pointed at my chest.
But it wasn't the sword that made my breath catch in my throat.
It was his eyes.
They were fierce and hard, but somewhere behind them I could catch a glimpse of...something else. There could be no doubt that he was prepared to kill me, and yet he looked troubled.
Not kindness, but perhaps...mercy?
"Run, and I will kill you. Do you understand?"
I nodded. There was no doubt he'd meant every word he said. He stared at me for a moment, then grimaced, and with a sigh put his sword away.
"Wh-What...?"
I was too surprised to stop myself from speaking, and it quickly became apparent that I wasn't the only one.
"What? Wait, Hijikata, are you sure about this? This kid saw...well, everything. That can't be good."
As he spoke to the man he'd called Hijikata, his eyes narrowed. The man called Hijikata frowned back at him.
"Shut up. If you keep that up, you know what we're going to have to do."
...
I wasn't quite sure what they meant, but it was clear enough that what I'd seen was something they wanted to keep hidden.
Still, the more they said, the more I understood, despite the fact that none of us wanted such a thing.
The man whose name I had yet to learn smiled a wolfish grin, "I really think it's gonna come back to bite us in the ass if we let this kid go."
The way he looked at me made me feel as if he'd read my mind.
...
...Perhaps it would be best if I didn't think too hard about things I wasn't supposed to think about.
Hijikata glanced at me then back to the other man, "So we should just kill people so they don't bother us later? No, I'll decide what we're going to do with this kid when we get back."
The other man started to open his mouth to protest but Saito cut in, "I agree with the commander. If we remain here, we are likely to be seen. Again."
He spoke with quiet confidence. He glanced around, possibly looking for other witnesses. Then he looked down at the creature he'd killed, almost as though he'd forgotten the whole ordeal.
"If they have this sort of reaction to blood, then they don't seem like they'll be very practical."
Hijikata groaned, "...Damn. I didn't think they'd gotten this bad."
He peered down at the corpse, his face an emotionless mask. When he looked back up at his companions, however, his eyes narrowed.
"As for you two... Drop the 'Hijikata' and 'commander' stuff. We're supposed to be keeping a low profile."
Saito grimaced but the other man folded his arms again and smiled.
"What?! Come on, you can't be serious... You don't think our blues are a bit of a give-away already?"
He was right... Even I had heard stories about a gang of cruel men in blue coats who cut people down in the streets.
But-
"No...no. Don't think. Ignore them."
I did my best to be stern with myself, but it came out sounding more pleading than commanding. My mind swirled with thoughts and worries. I was being drawn into their world...
...A world where there is nothing strange in carrying on a normal conversation in the dead of night, with corpses for company.
Saito's voice brought me out of my thoughts and to the horror that was this night.
"What shall we do with the bodies, then? There doesn't seem to be any physical signs, but..."
Hijikata thought for a moment before he spoke.
"Just take their blues. Yamazaki can deal with the rest."
Saito nodded, "As you wish."
"Another man cut down in the street, huh? Doing a great job, aren't we?"
The still nameless man gave a derisive bark of laughter.
"So long as we keep out mouths shut I don't think anyone will connect us with this."
Hijikata looked directly at me when he spoke, and I got the distinct feeling that his words weren't meant for his companions.
It was common for people to be murdered in Kyoto. It was a dangerous city, after all. I knew that, of course...
But to see it happen? That was something else entirely.
If death was such as easy thing in Kyoto, I thought, then the city itself must surely be mad.
"Ah yes... We did save you, didn't we? Aren't you going to thank us?"
"Huh...?"
I didn't realize immediately that the third and still nameless one was speaking to me. When I did, my eyes went wide.
"What do you mean, you saved me...?"
...
Well, he did have a point. Despite their threats, they had saved my life.
I stood up as steadily as I could manage, brushed some of the dirt off my clothes, and bowed.
"Um... Thank you very much. I apologize for not thanking you earlier. I was... There was so much going on. I was a little confused."
I glanced up at them, tentatively.
The man called Saito was showing some confusion of his own. His eyes were wide, and he had an expression I couldn't place.
Hijikata looked as though he'd taken a bite of something sour.
...
...
"I-I know it seems weird to...say that... But he told me I should say thanks, so I-"
I looked up. Saito and Hijikata were both looking pointedly at anything but me, and the third man was shaking with laughter.
...
"Ha! Oh man... Well, my apologies. I certainly did tell you to, didn't I?"
He broke out in laughter again, so much so that he was forced to wipe a few tears from his eyes as he straightened up.
"Well, you're welcome, I'm Okita Souji. Nice to see a kid who knows how to be polite."
...
"Thanks for helping me..."
Not quite sure what else to do, I bowed again.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Okita?" acquired Hijikata.
"Commander, I understand your concerns, but we must move."
Whatever mirth I might have inspired gone, the man called Saito spoke with quiet urgency. Hijikata nodded.
The man who'd called himself Okita grabbed hold of my wrist, gave me a smile, and began, to lead me down the street.
His grip was a touch too tight to be friendly; his fingers like iron cables around my arm. there was no question about my situation.
If I ran, I would die. Quickly, at least, but still.
Even if I did as I was told, my life was in the hands of these strange men. I set my jaw and stood up as straight as I could. My eyes met those of Saito as he looked up from the bloodstained coat.
"It would be best if you prepared for the worst. I doubt this will end well for you."
His words were like a dagger in my stomach.
What was going to happen to me? Was I...was I going to die?
As we walked through the cold Kyoto night, I felt horror begin to crawl its way up my spine once again. The cause of my horror wasn't the gruesome end that almost certainly awaited me, but something else entirely.
I'd spoken with these men, and had watched them speak to one another, not feet from a still-warm corpse soaked in blood. That I had done such a thing terrified me in an altogether different way.
Perhaps, I thought, this is what it is like to go mad.