I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

Just a note: This story was written because of a dream I had that just couldn't get out of my head; it only went up to a certain point so I decided to play it out as such :)

Considering this is my first story ever I invite you to please review with anything that might need a change or update, I'm always happy to hear constructive criticism! :)

A Twist of Fate

The sudden breeze against her arms and legs made Kurisutaru shiver, making the tiny hairs stand stiff on her skin. She never did enjoy the chill that ran up her spine and made its' way to her bones in the late fall, it was a kind of chill that you couldn't get rid of with any amount of clothing once it sunk in. She slowly blinked her eyes open, cautious about her surroundings. She wasn't sure why she had fallen asleep outside, and she always forced herself to be so careful with these things. Her past had given her a rude awakening that nowhere is safe, not even your own home.

Being the young half demon she was, she wasn't accepted by anyone. Her parents had died when she was young, forcing her to fend for herself since the age of 7. She had no other siblings, no other family she could turn to.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" The strangers called out as they chased after her.

She was running for so long, she didn't know where she was going; she just knew she had to get far from that place. Far from where that village was, as it haunted her every thought with images of her dead parents, her loving family that accepted her for who she was that was no longer there. All that was left in that village was pain, fear, and sadness.

As she ran the group of strangers chasing after her grew to a large number, she couldn't allow herself to be caught by them, by any means. She may have had the stamina of a half demon but she was still only a child, and it didn't take a genius to know that an adult will run faster than a child.

As if entertaining these thoughts, she tripped, stumbling a few feet, scraping her knees and arms causing blood to surface and drip to the ground. She had never been as frightened as she was at that very moment in time; what she wouldn't give for someone to take her away from this place.

Kurisutaru felt her heart pace quicken, her body pulsed as power surged through her.

'Oh no… This can't be happening' she felt her body pulse again and her breathing slowed steadily.

'What…. What's going on..?' She looked down to her shaking hands while her mind frantically raced for answers.

Her body had been scraped up badly from the fall and her arms and legs were worn out a bruised. Her long dark brown hair was normally tied into a neat ponytail, but now it hung loose against her face which was now wet with tears.

She had never experienced anything like this except what had been told to her, when she had nightmares of a terrible wolf-like creature clawing its way out of her. Her mother said it was her inner strength fighting its way out as an instinct for self preservation… and that sometimes when half demons are unconscious; their minds can be taken over by the full demon blood inside them…

She reached for her katana; it being forged with her father's very demonic essence it was said to be able to withstand and suppress the demonic presence inside of her but her hand grabbed only air above the sheath at her left side.

'It must have… fallen…. When… I… When I….'

Kurisutaru shuddered at her own memories, wishing they were something she had read about rather than experienced. She had never imagined she could have been the cause of such a tragedy

'That's in the past' she convinced herself 'I won't lose control of myself like that again, I'm stronger than that now'.

'I must have been asleep for a while' She sighed softly, pushing herself off the cold, hard ground, feeling a few blades of grass sticking to her legs she patted herself off as she straightened out. She took note of how dark it was around her and the crescent moon above her head surrounded by more stars than she had ever seen from her little temple home.

"Well I guess it's time to head to my room… No more strange teas before bed anymore… they're starting to do weird things to me even while awake" she muttered to herself amusingly.

"Maybe I'll calm down if I do some trai-" Her muttering was interrupted by a sudden shuffle and unsheathing of swords.

"Who goes there?"

"What's your business here?"

The two men continued their patrol towards the front gate as they did the night before and every night before that; it was their regular rounds and nothing new really seemed to happen. As they rounded the last corner of the hallway their eyes saw the silhouette of a young woman.

Her hair was dark brown-almost black with night time, but the moonlight revealed the truth of its' color- and long, it flowed gracefully as the breeze passed through it which caused it to almost dance under the moonlight.

She had bright golden brown eyes which were surrounded by thick, long eyelashes; her body was slender but well formed as she seemed to already be in adulthood.

Her clothes were the strangest part about her, it almost seemed as though she was hardly wearing anything at all, as she wasn't wearing a Kimono, or a Yukata, but a small amount of clothing wrapped around her tightly, exposing the curves of her body. The clothing stopped halfway down her thigh, and her arms were bare; yet she had excess clothing jutting out from around her collar.

She didn't seem like a threat until their eyes rested on her Katana, which hung protectively sheathed on her left side. It had a gold and black hilt, with a jet black sheath and it was no longer than any other Katana.

'there's no way this little girl is a threat' one of the men thought, rolling his eyes at his partner who unsheathed his sword as a precaution.

She tilted her head up, noticing both men were dressed in pale blue overcoats, with white symbols on the back, and white designs at the bottom, vaguely remembering that these were the same garments that a group in the 1860's wore.

'What did they call themselves….. Ahhhh yes, the Shinsengumi… If I remember they were a fearless group of samurai, true warriors of their era… but why are these men dressed like them…?' she felt utterly confused.

'I live in a small temple far outside of a village that is hardly populated so why are these men here…' she came to the conclusion that this must be a group of thieves who stumbled upon her temple; that's the only logical explanation

"Why are you dressed like that, and what are you doing within my home?" She realized that her voice hadn't sound nearly as convincing as she hoped it would, but no matter, she had her own ways of getting answers if words didn't prove to be working.

Gripping the hilt of her Akaiittou in her right hand, she didn't kill unnecessarily but she didn't particularly enjoy people who would 'pretend' to be warriors, it was a disgrace to their image, either you're a warrior or you're not, end of story.

"Our clothes? Hah! What about yours? Yours hardly cover anything!" one of the men scoffed at her.

"You're in Shinsengumi territory, Woman" howled the other man as his partner raised his katana threateningly.

'No dice, hey?' She sighed to herself; smelling the blood lust in the air disappointingly as she closed her eyes and unsheathed her Akaiittou. Her eyes opened to focus on the men in front of her and positioned her stance defensively.

The men stared at her with their mouths curved into a snarl as she took her stance.

"Ahhhhh!" the man on the left yelled as he lunged at her, hoping to surprise the young woman and overpower her but he had no such luck. She met his blade with her own and didn't move a muscle in surprise; instead she shifted her weight to the opposite foot, and re-positioned herself more aggressively.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I don't take kindly to people ruining the name of the Shinsengumi by pretending to be them, within my own property nonetheless. Now leave and I won't have to kill you" She growled at the men, forcing the man backwards, staggering as he fought to stand upright. She smelled the air surrounding her full of anger and surprise now; but no fear.

The second man ignored her threats and ran towards her, his eyes widened in shock to see her beautiful features curve into a smile and lean forwards, bracing for the impact of his blade he lunged into her with all his weight, pulled his blade back and clashed it into hers again.

"This is getting tiresome…" she sighed, flipping her blade around to face his with the blunt edge; she released her blade from its lock and whacked him on the side of the head with it, knocking him unconscious.

Hearing the padding of footsteps, she turned to see a man with reddish-brown hair, a brown haori and bright emerald green eyes grinning at her, followed closely by a man with dark hair that seemed almost blue in the moonlight, and a black haori; his eyes a similar color to his hair and a white scarf around his neck, he seemed to analyze the scene before him then returned his gaze to her.

"Who are you, and what business do you have with the Shinsengumi?" The indigo haired man questioned Kurisutaru cautiously as if he chose his words in a specific manner, his left hand hovering over the hilt of his katana.

'He is cautious and thinks much about his question before he asks it' she thought to herself as she analyzed the men in front of her.

'He must be an observant person if he's hoping to not only hear what my answer is but read into how I say it as well'

She had to be careful not to express any aggressiveness then; she didn't want to fight at all, she only wanted them to leave her home-if home is where she really is.

"Hajime-kun, you're too soft my friend. Just get a blade, that's the quickest way to get some answers from the little lady" the bright eyed man beside him formed the words slyly. He let a slight grin escape his lips that made her uneasy.

'As if these guys think they can kill me… all the same… I have no reason to fight them…'

Noticing that all these men wore a katana at their sides, something tugged at her mind that said something felt off about this whole situation.

'Why are these men here… Why do they act like I'm the intruder…? Am I not at home…?' the last question in her mind left her feeling lost. Another breeze of wind picked up and brushed against her body, causing her skirt to flutter against her thigh. She shivered as the cold made its way to her core.

'And to think, just when I was getting settled into my new home…' she couldn't do much else now but see what these men had to say.

'Maybe it'll give me some insight as to where I've ended up' closing her eyes and sighing quietly, she let her shoulders relax so that maybe she wouldn't give off such an aggressive appearance.

"The… Shinsengumi Headquarters…?" Her voice came out unsteadily and wavered with saying the unfamiliar location.

"I…" she sheathed her Akaiittou and bit her lip nervously, closed her eyes and took another breath of air, as if to ready herself for admitting she was lost

"I… Think I must be mistaken about where I am…" she exhaled that sentence as roughly as if she was admitting defeat.

She had never felt like she needed someone else to help her find her way but at this very moment in time, she knew she needed answers and they would be the most likely ones to give them to her.

The indigo haired man stepped closer to her and removed his left hand from his sword's hilt, eyeing her as she attempted to relax herself, this proved to be difficult since it was so cold and her muscles were tense from shivering, she was after all only wearing a black skirt with a green design along the right side of it and a black collared T-shirt which bore the same design as the skirt, reaching up her right side over her chest and stopping at her shoulder.

She felt them all staring at her as though she was a foreign object – it seemed like she was in a completely different era, and if that was to be true she could hardly blame them…

She watched him move closer until he stood not more than a foot in front of her, his gaze boring into her eyes, as if analyzing every movement made. He stretched his arm towards her, with his palm facing up.

She raised an eyebrow at this as her eyes flickered with recognition and a smile touched her lips; she reached her own hand out, clasped it within his and jerked it up and down – a handshake.

He seemed to have been shocked from this, his eyes widened and shifted from her eyes, to their hands and back to her face, quickly removed his hand from her grasp returning it to its position, facing palm-up.

"Y-Your sword please, we will need to take you into custody since you have trespassed into our headquarters without authority" he quickly composed himself.

"Oh… Oh!" She said lifting the now empty hand to scratch her head and giggling to herself.

'Well it looks like I'm really not at home anymore…' she thought as she removed her sword from her side and brought it to her chest, she hesitated before handing it to him

'What am I thinking?!' she thought, frustrated as she glared at her hands being willing to hand over the sword so easily.

"If everything goes fine and you're not a threat you will be given your katana back. I will guard it myself as such for its safe keeping" His voice was soft as he seemed to notice her hesitation.

Her eyes met his and she felt a warmth flow into her. She hoped he wouldn't lie to her about something like that; he seemed to understand the strong meaning between a warrior and their katana. Okay sure, so maybe he didn't fully understand the bond she shared with hers but that's not something she would just assume anyone would know.

Reluctantly, she handed him the sword where he then placed it along his side and looked her in the eyes again.

"My name is Saito Hajime, and this is Okita Souji. We are Captains of the Shinsengumi, this is the Shinsengumi Headquarters. May I ask your name as well, young lady?" He spoke formally, and was to the point; she didn't mind at all.

It was quite bothersome when someone beat around the bush when you needed information the most. She noticed that the whole time he spoke he carefully waited for any reaction she may have had to his words.

"Kurisutaru" she said softly with a slight bow.

"It is a pleasure Okita Souji, and Saito Hajime of the Shinsengumi" she raised her head from the bow and locked eyes with the emerald eyed man named Souji who was eyeing her suspiciously from head to toe yet still held the mischievous grin on his face.

'Oh! If I'm truly not in my era than my clothes probably look so odd!' she yelled in her head, looking at her own clothes and winced.

'They probably think I'm some poor woman whoring herself from the streets or something' with that thought she chuckled to herself as she watched Okita turn his back to her and start walking away with a grin on his face.

"If you don't mind coming with us," Saito motioned for her to follow them "our commander will need to speak with you about tonight and hopefully come to a conclusion about it"

Any normal person would have been relieved to hear those words but she read the meaning behind them.

"You mean you want your higher-ups to interrogate me and then decide if I'm a threat since a little girl in strange clothing just appeared on your front door and beat up two of your men without getting so much as a scratch?" she said innocently, yet bluntly; earning her a chuckle from the green eyed man in front of her.

Knowing her assumptions were right brought a smile automatically to her lips as she continued to follow behind Okita next to Saito on her right.

"Most people who interpret it in such a manner are usually guilty of something and don't smile afterwards," Saito stated glancing through his hair at her, "but they also fear to be caught, which keeps them from voicing their interpretations on the matter"

She nodded in agreement to his surprise, although it didn't show on his face.

"Well the way I see it 'Most' and 'Usually' are both words that leave room for an exception"

She tilted her head towards the man beside her so she could look at his face to see what reaction her words would provoke, but his face remained unchanged. Her words earned her yet another chuckle from the man in front of her.

"You really are odd" Okita stated amusingly before opening the door to a room ahead. She saw the light was on and a few men were already sitting inside the room waiting.