Hello, long time lurker here. Figured I should contribute for once, probably. This story is based on the PSP game as I have never watched the anime. I prefer the open ended-ness of the game (so tragic... it's lovely O.O). I've also never written one of these before so I'm open for any ideas and suggestions.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except OC
~ Kyoto, January 1864 ~
"Huff, huff, huff." Small clouds of steam rose from the narrow alley as a young girl fled.
Yelling could be heard not far from behind. Her stamina at a limit, she turns a corner and ducked under some wooden planks, holding her hands to her mouth in an attempt to quiet down her breathing.
"Dammit where did he go?" One of the men, an unruly-looking ronin, rounded the corner and stalked closer to her hiding place. She gulped, her wildly beating heart thundering in her ears.
"EEEAAAAAGH!" A scream pierced the night, so close that she felt her hair stand on end.
"What the-!" The closest ronin turned back and ran into the street. She heard a gasp and the sound of metal tearing through flesh. He didn't even have time to scream. Only a gurgle sound came out of his mouth before it was drowned out by a maniacal laughter.
"Ehehehehehe..." She felt an overwhelming fear grip her. Her hands now clamped tight over her mouth, stopping a small scream. Another sound drifted into her ears, a repeated crunching, squishing sound. She peeked out from the cracks in the wooden board, her eyes widened with fear and disgust.
A group of men, clad in light blue haori, were mercilessly chopping down at the fallen ronins. Blades fell through the air like butcher's cleavers, hacking away at flesh and bone. She felt nothing from them but madness.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" The monsters seemed to enjoy this mindless slaughter, howling with delight as they savoured the blood that splashed their faces and clothes. She felt her throat close in terror. A moment of panic seized her limbs. Her leg twitched in fear and struck one of the planks against the wall.
"Aah!" The planks fell and revealed her small, huddled form. The monsters turned, their clothes drenched in blood. Hideous grins split their inhuman faces as their glowing, red eyes landed on her. She couldn't move. 'Is this the end?' she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut.
The clink of a sword being drawn echoed in the night, followed by the soft slip of a blade through flesh. She felt no pain. Confused, she opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. The monster, face contorted in a hideous combination of madness and pain, fell just short of her feet, a red splotch bloomed where its heart was. More sounds were heard and the other two creatures fell with a dull thud. Two men wearing the same blue uniform stood over them, surveying the scene.
'Am I saved?' She thought. Her head turned to face her saviours, but stopped short as she felt the coolness of a blade against her throat.
"Run, and I will kill you." A deep voice demanded. Her eyes followed the blade to its wielder, widening slightly from what she saw. The moonlight shone off his smooth, dark hair. His clear, violet eyes shone with cold fury and an emotion she couldn't quite identify. 'Could it be regret?' She thought. In that moment, it began to snow. The moonlight danced across his hair and reflected on flakes of snow. It almost reminded her of cherry blossoms blooming out of season. A shiver ran through her spine and, as a last thought before she fainted, she wondered if he liked cherry blossoms.
~ Osaka, July 1864 ~
An English merchant ship slowly docks near the port. On land, an inconspicuous-looking merchant convoy already awaits its arrival.
The crew unloads boxes of foreign goods in a hurried manner. An unvoiced excitement engulfs the crew. A merchant checked off a list as men stacked the goods onto the horse-drawn carts. He paused as a rather long and heavy-looking wooden casket was stacked on top of the other boxes.
"That's all, sir. Did you get ev'y thing you needed?" The captain barked from the deck with a good-natured grin.
"Yes, captain. However, there seems to be an extra item here. What is in this last box?" The merchant nudged his round-rimmed glasses quizzically.
"Aye, your kind provider asked me 'imself to get this one to Kyo. Must'a been sumthin awfully important, he told me be extra care with the seal. Dun want that one accidentally opened he says." The captain replied as he disembarked. "Might be sumthin you'll need!"
"Ah, I see. Well we must be off at once. Thank you very much for the delivery captain." He takes out a note and hands it to the captain, quickly bowing and turning to his men. "Off to the capital, make haste men!"
~ Kyoto, August 1864 ~
The men of the Shinsengumi gathered in the common room. Yukimura Chizuru, now Shinsengumi's ward, brought tea for everyone on a tray.
"Is this information reliable, Toshi?" Kondo Isami, the commander and the face of the Shinsengumi, sat at the head of the meeting. On either side of him sat Hijikata Toshizo, the vice-commander (though some might say Kondo deferred most decision to his trusted second-in command), and Yamanami Keisuke, the lieutenant, affectionately known as Sanan-san by most. Hijikata's gaze swept across the captains seated before them before returning to the commander.
"Hai, the Choshu spies we have apprehended yesterday yielded a map depicting the location of the stash from their most recent firearm smuggling operation. We made sure they told the truth." His eyes were cold and flat when he referred to the method Shinsengumi used to extract information.
Kondo, unaffected by the dark reference, grinned.
"Good job, Toshi. We will move out and confiscate the weapons before they realize their mistake." He looked at the rest of the group. "Toshi, you take Nagakura-kun and Saito-kun with you and raid the supplies. I will patrol the area with Harada-kun to cut-off any backup and escape attempts. Sanan-san, can you guard the headquarters while we are out, and make sure Souji-kun and Heisuke-kun don't sneak out?"
"That's mean, Kondo-san! We can't follow you even if we wanted to. My head still spins when I run and I don't think Souji-san can even walk without a cane." Heisuke complained loudly, he leaned back in a shrug.
"Heisuke, are you implying that I am an old man? You'd better watch out once I recover." Okita Souji smiled cheerfully, though his voice suggested that he regretted not being about the kill the younger man right now.
Chizuru shivered, she could never get used to Okita-san's constant threats of killing someone. She shook her head and turned to their leader. "Ano, Kondo-san, is there anything I can do to help?"
The commander's expression softened when he turned to look at her. "Yukimura-kun, you have done well at Ikeda Inn. So leave this one to us, I don't think it will take long. Please rest for a while and make sure Souji-kun and Heisuke-kun do too. I know they can be difficult sometimes but I know you can take care of them while we are out."
She blushed at the compliment, bowing her head low. "Yes sir, Commander!"
"Aww Chizuru-chan, I guess you're stuck babysitting us huh?" Heisuke grinned.
Okita smiled when he looked her way. "That's fine for Heisuke, since he's a kid anyways. But if you try to "babysit" me, I'll kill you, you know."
~ Outskirts of Kyoto ~
When the Shinsengumi men had arrived at the firearms stash location, they encountered hardly any resistance. It had seemed that the rebels have not expected to be discovered so soon and had not stationed more men on guard duty. The few ill-prepared guards were swiftly cut down before they could send for help, so the Shinsengumi wasted no time in confiscating and moving the smuggled goods.
"Vice-commander, there seems to be a large, locked box blow the riffle stash. It's too heavy to be moved easily." Saito Hajime, quiet and mysterious captain of the 3rd division, appeared before Hijikata at the storage entrance.
"Tsk, why didn't you just open it and see what's inside?" Hijikata replied impatiently. 'Does he really need to ask me about this?'
"It's... quite well built and decorated. Yamazaki reported seeing something similar before, a western-style coffin."
The vice-commander's eyes widened in surprise.
"A coffin? What's a coffin doing here? And you said it was heavy? It can't be..." Hijikata cleared his throat when he had regained his composure, slightly uncomfortable with the realization.
"Sigh. Let's go take a look. Grab Shinpachi in case something goes wrong."
Nagakura Shinpachi soon arrived on the scene with Saito, looking slightly confused. Hijikata explained the situation quickly as they headed towards the item in question. The two captains readied themselves as Hijikata sliced the lock in half and swiftly flung the cover open.
Shinpachi was almost disappointed when no smoke emerged from the casket and no eerie laughter accompanied the creak of the hinges as it opened. Then he took a peek inside, still hoping for something cool inside like a Youkai or Onryo or even Yomotsu-shikome! Instead, he saw a deathly pale, yet strangely elegant face, framed by long, flowing black hair. The person inside seemed to sleep peacefully, tucked away smugly in the wooden casket. He was dressed in a white shirt and black jacket with gold trims, and matching black pants. The snug fitting of the western-style clothing made him appear slim and delicate. A sword and a pair of pouches strapped to his belt.
"A body huh, I guess I shouldn't have expected much." Shinpachi sighed and turned to leave. However, a movement from the corner of his eye stopped him dead in his track.
Saito had drawn his sword. Suddenly, the indigo-haired captain pounced forward and placed the tip of his blade at the throat of the person in the coffin. Shinpachi turned and his eyes widened in surprise when a pair of blood red eyes slowly and focused to stare at the menacing trio in front.
"Don't move, or you're dead." Hijikata hissed, his violet eyes narrowed into slits.
'Wow, Hijikata-san, you're timing for irony has improved!' thought Shinpachi, before shaking his head and focusing on the situation at hand.
"Who are you? And why are you at the Choshu's stash?" Hijikata demanded.
Red eyes flicked towards the taller man, and much to their amazement, he yawned.
"Hey thanks for waking me up, but it's still a bit early, so..." He stifled another yawn.
The three men looked at him incredulously. Even Saito, whose emotions are rarely shown, couldn't help but widen his eyes and gape slightly. Had this kid just thanked them?
"Oyasumi." And with that, his head fell back down and he promptly went back to sleep.
Author's notes: Youkai, Onryo, and Yokotsu-shikome are all pretty scary creatures in Japanese myths.