Chapter One
"What's happening over there?"Shironosuke asked Heisuke as they spied a large crowd, who seemed as though has they were watching something. Whilst most were silent watching the goings on, some were whispering to each other throwing anxious glances in the direction of whatever they were watching, just in case the people who were causing the disturbance turned on them.
"Looks like some rogue samurai have found a new victim. Come on, let's show them who's boss," Shinpachi smirked, his eyes shining with mischief. Shinpachi and Okita broke through the crowd and approached the disturbance, the common people hurrying out of their way when they saw the blue coats. As soon as the Shinsengumi Captains saw who the rogue samurai were picking on, they froze in shock.
A boy, almost as tall as Okita stood with his back to them; his brown hair was pulled into a high pony tail, letting the ends cascade down his back in an untameable waterfall.
"All I asked was whether you could give me directions to the Shinsengumi headquarters, I didn't expect to have to pay for the information," the boy narrowed his eyes dangerously at them, "If you are so poor that you would put aside your pride to openly demand money from strangers, you would do better to put down your swords and do an honest paid job." The samurai swore at him and unsheathed their swords and attacked him, only to be stopped by Okita, who walked in front of the boy and glared imposingly at them.
" Yukimura, this way," the boy turned and fixed his eyes on Shinpachi, who shivered when orange eyes met his. There was no recognition on his face, only cold understanding as he dashed over. The boy flashed his eyes over Heisuke and Shironosuke as he passed them and sensed them following as they ran down the alley.
"Don't worry about Okita, his squad will take care of the rounin," Shinpachi called back over his shoulder. They ran for a good long while until they stopped outside the gates of the Shinsengumi headquarters.
"Come on in," they walked in and Shironosuke noticed a number of soldiers, who had been with the Shinsengumi for a long time, whisper to each other and pointed at the boy in front of her. They walked round to the back of the mansion to where Kondou, Hijikata and the other captains were sat discussing business. Shinpachi opened the door with a grin, interrupting them.
"I brought a guest back," he said, Hijikata narrowed his eyes.
"You know the rules! Strangers aren't allowed back h..." Shinpachi slid the door open fully and everyone gasped when they saw the boy standing there.
" Yukimura-kun," Kondou breathed, a frown on his face.
"Heh, last time I saw you, you almost wet yourself when I pushed you off that bridge," Sanosuke sneered, fingering the hilt of his sword. A flash of anger flickered in the boy's eyes before he closed them.
"Is that so?" he walked over and sat in front of Kondou, his back to Sanosuke, "that must mean that you have become a lot weaker since we last met."
"Teme, fuck you!" Sanosuke snarled, only to stop when Yukimura turned his head and fixed his eyes on him. Once the boy was satisfied that Sanosuke wouldn't attack him, he turned back to Kondou.
"Sir, how did you know my name was Yukimura?" he asked, everyone looked at him confused.
"Ryunosuke?" Heisuke ran over and grabbed Yukimura's shoulders and shook him;" don't you recognise any of us?" Yukimura looked shocked for a moment before trying to remove himself from the other man's grasp.
"Let go!" he warned. Heisuke shook his head and continued to shake the blue haired man.
"Not until you answer me!" No one noticed Shironosuke open the door, carrying a tray of tea. Yukimura jumped to his feet and snarled at the shorter man who was refusing to let him go. Feeling a breeze on his face, he knew that the door was open and kicked the 8th division Captain out of the door; he caught sight of Shironosuke and instinctively ran towards her, shielding her from Heisuke's flailing arms as he fell and steadied the tray. Shironosuke looked up at him with wide eyes, he sighed in relief, pulled the tray out of her hands despite her complaints and returned to the room where Kondou sat blinking as he tried to work out what had just happened.
"Forgive me, I should not have lost my temper," Yukimura inclined his head.
"It is of no matter. I think anyone would have lost their temper at being shaken like that," Hijikata said with a gentle smile, "Heisuke, get back in here!" The young man picked himself off the floor and walked in grumbling to himself.
"As you have said I am a Yukimura, however my name is Yukimura Chizuru." Everyone stared at him in disbelief, there was no way that Ryunosuke could have a child the same age as Chizuru. They knew that he was hiding something but decided not to question him on it.
"He sent me here as part of my training and I have a message for the captains of the Shinsengumi."
"What do you think Saito?" Sanosuke asked the man with a white scarf wrapped around his neck, who stared at Chizuru and then nodded.
"This man is definitely not Ryunosuke. Unlike his father's trickle of chi, this man has a tsunami at his disposal." Sanosuke sighed and murmured how it was impossible to make sense of what he said. Chizuru laughed, the warm sound echoing around the room.
"I think we should hear your message," Kondou said, smiling as he felt the tension drain out of the room. The orange eyed boy nodded and collected his thoughts.
"Right, I'll just recite everything," Chizuru took a deep breath and turned to the commander, "Firstly, to Kondou-san and Hijikata-san. I hope that you do not mind that I send my son to you without first consulting you, I am sure that he will prove more useful to you than I did. I sincerely hope you take good care of him, he is my youngest child and my pride and joy."
"I'm surprised he didn't die of embarrassment when he said that," Heisuke sniggered.
"He is merely recounting a message, if you look carefully he has no expression on his face, it's as if we are listening to him read out a letter," Saito said, his eyes fixed on Chizuru. Shinpachi and Heisuke started and looked at Chizuru, seeing that what Saito had said was completely right.
At that point Chizuru turned to Sanosuke, a pained grimace on his face as he bent down into a low bow, his head touching the ground.
"Harada-san, I feel that I must thank you with my whole being. I am grateful that you showed me mercy by pushing me into the river rather than striking me down with your sword. Due to that whim, I was able to continue living and I built an honest life for myself."
"Ah really?" Harada rubbed the back of his head, "I should have just killed you when I had the chance."
"Saito-dono," Chizuru turned to him and once again bowed with a pained expression, "You have my undying gratitude for teaching me the basics of sword play, and such basics I have passed down to my son. I have a favour to request of you. My son is stronger than I and so I can no longer teach him. Please, show him the way of a true samurai and finesse his abilities. I know that you would be able to help him tame his passion." Saito narrowed his eyes for a moment, examining the boy in front of him.
"Very well, Chizuru-kun, raise your head," the blue haired boy did as he was asked, "I will take you in as my pupil and you will be able to stay here. There is a small room next to my chambers where you can sleep. You must be aware that I will not go easy on you just because you are the son of my former pupil. In fact, quite the opposite, after all, I have a reputation to uphold."
"I understand," Chizuru answered, his eyes smouldering with determination.
"First, I need to see what stage of ability you are at," Saito stood and beckoned to the boy before he walked out of the room. Everyone else followed the two to the dojo where Saito handed Chizuru a wooden sword. The orange eyed boy walked to the edge of the room, removed his katanas from his belt and left them leaning against the wall, his hand pausing on the hilt before he turned away. Saito followed suit and joined him in the centre of the room.
"Attack me," Saito ordered, his eyes narrowed in readiness," with your full power." Chizuru closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as his body flowed into a starting position. His eyes opened slowly as a calm expression slid onto his face, the only thing that showed that he was taking this fight seriously was his burning eyes which focused on Saito.
For a moment he disappeared from sight, only to reappear in a clash of swords, Saito's eyes widened in shock as he defended himself against the younger man. After a few minutes of parrying his attacks, Saito lunged and tested Chizuru's defensive capabilities. Soon Saito was forced to use one of his signature moves, where he ducks below his opponent's sword and slices at their side. However, due to the speed of Chizuru's swing, Saito was unable to stop his wooden sword and felt a rib crack when his blow connected. For a moment the two fighters stood frozen, a small trickle of blood escaped the corner of the boy's mouth.
Suddenly Chizuru snarled, his eyes growing red and his canines extended. He threw his wooden sword at Saito who only just managed to miss getting impaled by it. The wooden sword flew through the air, buried itself in the wall and hung there. A cut opened on Saito's which bled onto his scarf, dying it crimson. The boy flew at him with a fist ready to strike, a murderous expression on his face.
"Stop it!" Shironosuke cried, her voice resounded in Chizuru's head and he stopped instantly, his features returning to normal, "Please stop it," tears were running down her face. He stared in shock at her before noticing the pained groans around him. Shinpachi and Heisuke were lying on the floor; Shinpachi was staring in surprise up at the ceiling and Heisuke was cradling a bleeding nose.
"What happened?" he asked, the pain in his side getting worse.
"They noticed you lose control and tried to stop you, I guess from the way you acted, you didn't really notice them," Hijikata explained, a frown on his face.
"Forgive me, that should not have happened," Chizuru gasped, clutching his side. Shironosuke ran up and knelt beside him, putting a gentle yet hesitant hand on his shoulder.
"Miss, I have to thank you for stopping me. Your voice saved at least two lives today," he smiled at her with pain filled eyes, before looking at his duelling opponent, "Saito-dono..." Saito silenced him by raising a hand.
"I am at fault as well. I should have stopped that last attack but you had pushed me into a corner. Unfortunately, due to my error, your rib is now broken." Shironosuke gasped, knowing what sort of damage a broken rib could do. Chizuru let out a chuckle and nodded over to the two captains who were picking themselves off the floor.
"I think I deserve a little pain in compensation for taking them down." Heisuke jumped to his feet and started yelling about how he let himself be hit and that there was no way a weakling such as Chizuru could take him down. This lightened the mood in the room considerably as everyone started to laugh at his antics. Saito walked over and knelt in front of the injured boy.
"At least let me bind your wounds."
"Thank you but no, I can take care of my own wounds," Chizuru stood and slowly made his way out of the room.
"Running off to lick your wounds, you're as much of a mutt as you father was," Okita sneered.
"If my father was a mutt then I am a wolf. I'm sure you know the pride of being a wolf, Shinsengumi Taicho-san," Chizuru hardly looked at Sanosuke as he passed him in the doorway.
"Teme..."
"Sano, enough! You were asking for that," Hijikata spoke sternly before turning to Shironosuke, "Go see if you can offer him any assistance with his first aid."
"Yes sir," Shironosuke ran out of the room and found Chizuru bracing himself against the wall, pained gasped slipping between his gritted teeth.
"Let me help you," she ran up and put an arm over his shoulder and half carried him to the room he would be staying in. As they stood outside the door, he tried to push her away.
"That's enough, I don't need any more help," the way he was trying to get rid of her was desperate and made Shironosuke curious as to what he was hiding.
"You will let me help you!" she mimicked Hijikata's commanding tone, she felt the man next to her tense.
"Is that an order?" She looked up to see his orange eyes inspecting the expression on her face. He watched as her jaw was set with determination, his eyes softened.
"It is!" she seemed so unused to giving orders that he couldn't help the gentle laughter that escaped his mouth. She blushed brightly and opened his door; she let go of him and hesitantly turned back to close the door. She squeaked when she felt his arms wrap around her, his chest pressing against her back.
"You know, you haven't told me what your name is yet," he breathed in her ear making her shiver and moan as the warm air tickled her skin.
"Chizuru Yukimura," she managed to whisper.
"Well Shironosuke, I'll let you know now," Shironosuke turned round and looked at him confused, "I will never touch you or anything like that." Shironosuke had begun to take off the top half of his kimono, she paused in her efforts.
"I don't understand." Chizuru stared pointedly at the door and she realized that there was someone outside listening into their conversation.
"You may find me disgusting but I am into guys not women." She froze and he took the chance to shrug out of the rest of his top clothing, gasping painfully when he aggravated his wound. He turned his back on her as he curled around his wound, easing the strain on it. Shironosuke shook her head and looked back up, only to gasp when she saw a long half healed slash that stretched from his right shoulder across his back to end at his left hip. Half of the cut was hidden by a bandage which was tied tightly around his chest.
"How did this happen?" she whispered as she gently traced his injury, not quite touching it.
"I awoke to my bloodline before my eldest brother. What you see before you is the result of his displeasure. He used our father's katana which, unfortunately, is one of the 7 devil slaying swords. As you can see, despite a month passing, I am still healing." Shironosuke sighed and went to unwrap the bandage only to have her hand caught in Chizuru's hand.
"The wound probably still weeps, you will have to have to get fresh bandages and a bucket of water with a clean rag, else this will get messy."
"Right," Shironosuke ran out of the room, leaving the door wide open.
"Darn that kid," Chizuru pushed himself up onto his knees, "left the door open." As he began to climb to his feet, he felt something tear on his back. His body spammed as a wave of agony flowed through his body, throwing him to the floor. His breaths came out as broken pants as he fought the urge to scream.
Somewhere on the edge of his consciousness he heard footsteps approaching and forced his body to roll onto his side so that he looked like he was asleep. He heard a masculine gasp and hurried footsteps towards him. He felt something push against his back, aggravating the old wound, he couldn't help the yelp that ripped from his throat and flinched away from the man.
"Easy, you can't leave your back bleeding like that." Chizuru cracked a feverish eye open and looked up at a young man with brown hair and piercing purple eyes.
"Yamazaki-kun?" Shironosuke walked in, only to spot the state Chizuru's back was in, "Chizuru-kun, what happened?" He shook his head and gasped in pain.
"Shi...Shironosuke," he gasped, "Close...Door." She jumped to her feet and slammed the door, not noticing Sanosuke walking away from his seated eavesdropping position.
"We need to remove these bandages," Yamazaki said, Chizuru flinched and grabbed his hand, stopping his movements.
"Both of you," he snarled through gritted teeth, "Promise not to tell anyone about what you will see. Promise me or leave!" They stared at him in shock before both promising on their honor that they would not reveal his secret. His body went limp as his strength fled from his body; it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. Together, Shironosuke and Yamazaki unwound the bandage and blushed as she took in Chizuru's chest.
"You're a woman," she spoke almost silently; Chizuru nodded and held and arm up to cover as much of her breasts as she could. Yamazaki froze and blushed brightly as he saw her curvaceous body.
"Please don't tell, Mister," she whispered as her eyes flickered shut and she gave into the feverish pain.