3rd Year of the Keiō Era, 1867
It was a busy day unlike any another for the Shinsengumi. Kondou and Hijikata were currently out to meet Lord Katamori of the Aizu Clan, while Sanosuke and Shinpachi were out on patrol. Excluding the footsoldiers that didn't have duties that day, that left only Souji and Chizuru to hold the fort at headquarters.
Chizuru had her own work cut out for her, of course. The sun was finally shining after a whole week of rain, so it was time to air everyone's futons. Kondou's bedding was already hanging in the sunshine beside hers. Chizuru was headed for Hijikata's room next to grab his futon. She felt a bit uneasy about it as she wasn't allowed to enter the room of the Vice-Commander without permission (he had explicitly told her that himself), but she had a proper reason. Right?
Chizuru's worries had been completely unnecessary, however, because when she opened the doors, someone was already poking around in the room of the Demon Vice-Commander. The man looked up with a guiltless smile on his face as the girl walked in. "Why, if it isn't Chizuru-chan. You really shouldn't be entering Hijikata-san's room. I'll have to kill you if you learnt too much by accident."
"I-I-I just wanted to take his futon to sun." Chizuru stammered anxiously, thrown off by his threat. "But Okita-san, you shouldn't be in here either! You should be in bed." She nagged. Her gaze drifted to the book he had been reading before she entered. Her heart stopped. "Hijikata-san will hit the roof if he knows you were looking at his documents!"
"Oh, but this is different." Souji said, emerald eyes sparkling mischieviously. He closed the book and held it out to Chizuru. The girl did not have much of a choice, so she took it from him, her hands trembling at the prospect of possibly touching something forbidden. The book was entitled 'Hogyoku Poetry Collection' in neat cursive handwriting.
"What is this?" Chizuru asked she flipped the book open.
A haiku gazed back at her.
Chizuru's face went blank. Souji burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter, clasping one hand over his eyes and slapping the other palm on his thigh in his mirth.
"O-O-Okita-san... who wrote this ... haiku?" She managed to ask, while staring at the poetry with wide brown eyes.
"Why don't you take a guess?" Souji asked, lifting an eyebrow in his amusement.
"Um..." Chizuru tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps a geisha from Shimabara gave it to him? The handwriting is very feminine."
Souji was now lying on the floor, clutching his stomach as he roared with laughter. Poor Chizuru, who didn't have the slightest idea about what was going on, could only stare at the First Division Captain of the Shinsengumi in silent shock.
She gasped as a thought came to her. "Could it be Okita-san who wrote this?!"
Souji's laughter died down and he pulled a face. "Suggest that again and I really will kill you."
"E-Eh? Why? I think its a wonderful haiku!" Chizuru answered honestly. This time, it was Souji's turn to stare at her, but only for a moment, because the man was back to laughing himself into hysterics within a few seconds.
Chizuru rushed to explain herself."In all honesty, I feel that this haiku is great! See..." She started to blabber on and on with her own literary analysis about the poem.
Souji was only half-listening to Chizuru, although he was very amused about her apparent interest in Hijikata's terrible haiku. Then, an idea came to Souji and his face lit up with a wolfish grin. "Ne... Chizuru-chan..."
The first thing Hijikata did when he got back to headquarters that day was to check his drawers. Sure enough, his suspicion had proven right, and his poetry book was nowhere to be found. There were a few culprits that could be accused of stealing his poetry, but only one had remained in headquarters that day...
"SOUJI!" The doors to Souji's room flew open with a bang reminscent of a thunder clap. Hijikata loomed over the captain he had ordered to bedrest like an enraged beast, or in his case, a demon.
"Yes, Hijikata-san?" Souji smiled innocently at his superior.
"Don't 'Yes Hijikata-san' me. Give it back." Hijikata snapped. He stretched his hand out and curled his fingers, beckoning to Souji to return him what he wanted.
Souji cocked his head to one side, his eyes glinting like twin emeralds. "And? What's this 'it' thing supposed to be?"
"You really have to torture me till the end, don't you?" Hijikata muttered irritably to himself, closing his eyes for a moment. "You know what I mean, Souji. I want the Hogyoku Poetry Collection. Don't play dumb, I know you stole it."
"I believe 'borrow' would be a more accurate word, Hogyoku-sama. But I haven't finished memorizing the newer poems, so I'll be holding on to it a little longer, okay?"
"You damned-"
Just then, Sanosuke popped his head around Souji's door, cutting Hijikata off midway. "Hey Souji, about the- oh, Hijikata-san, you're back."
"Welcome back." Chizuru added in politely. She was standing behind Sanosuke, with a tray of sake and medicine prescribed by Matsumoto Ryojun for Souji. She stepped into the room and set the tray down in front of Souji, who immediately ripped the paper packaging open and poured the powdered herbs into his mouth, before washing it down with sake.
"How was the talks with Lord Katamori?" Shinpachi asked, appearing beside Sanosuke.
"It went well." Hijikata grumbled. "Then this thief had to go ruin my mood by stealing my things again." He pointed a finger at Souji, who simply smiled back and shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, I'll return it. If you ask nicely."
A vein was visibly throbbing in Hijikata's forehead now. Meanwhile, Shinpachi and Sanosuke had their hands pressed against their mouths, their shoulders shaking as they tried to contain their mirth. Chizuru looked confusedly between the two pairs of men.
Hijikata's face looked like a bowstring, taut, but ready to unleash hell on his unlucky target if loosened. He swallowed and spoke, "Souji, may I please have my book back? I will be very grateful." He ground out, the edges of his words sharp like a knife.
Souji considered this for a while. "Hmm, I don't quite like there's something about the way you said it." Hijikata's hands balled into fists, but Souji was quick to continue, "But you can have it back. Catch!"
Souji produced the book from under his pillow and tossed it. The book sailed high over Hijikata's head, out of reach even though the man jumped and tried to catch it. "Oops," Souji smirked, "I forgot that you're not very tall, Hijikata-san~"
The 'Hogyoku Poetry Collection' landed in Sanosuke's hands in the end. It opened up in his palms when it did. Out of curiousity, the man glanced down to skim through, but got the shock of his life instead.
Shinpachi peered at the book. "Woah, Souji!" He gasped in disbelief. "Your haiku is more terrible than the others. B-But did you just..."
"YOU WROTE IN MY POETRY BOOK?" Hijikata hollered so loudly it made Chizuru jump. He lunged forward and snatched the book from Sanosuke with a swipe of his hand, not unlike a giant cat. "'Neath the demon mask, lies a heart of gold, a soul of warmest sunshine. S-S-Souji..." Hijikata was stunned beyond words.
"Don't thank me too early. I wrote that, but I didn't make that."
"Then who did?"
"Why don't you tell them, Chizuru-chan?"
Several pairs of eyes turned to the girl kneeling beside Souji. Her face was so erubescent it could have been on fire. The penny dropped and the new information met with very different reactions.
"EH?! CHIZURU MADE IT?!" Shinpachi yelled. Sanosuke knocked him over the head.
"Great going, Shinpachi. Maybe next time you should look before you insult."
"Chizuru, you did this?" Hijikata asked, surprised. His face coloured, but the other men were too stunned to say anything about it.
"Y-Y-Yes..." Chizuru mumbled, averting her gaze from the Demon Vice-commander as she stood up. "Okita-san said it would please you, but I guess it really is horrible, huh?"
"N-No not at all! I-It's a great haiku! Don't listen to Shinpachi's nonsense." Hijikata said, sounding flustered. He coughed. "Thank you, Chizuru." His gaze softened and he flashed a rare smile at her.
"You're... welcome..." Chizuru mumbled. It took her all the courage she could muster, but she managed to look back up at Hijikata, and even curled her lips in a sweetly abashed manner.
Souji wolf-whistled, shattering the delicate moment all too quickly. The Vice-Commander and his so-called page broke their gazes. Hijikata cleared his throat and turned quickly to march out of Souji's quarters to return to his own. Chizuru picked up the tray she had brought for Souji and ran off in the opposite direction, yelling something about making dinner.
The three left behind exchanged glances with each other. "Hey, guys..." Shinpachi began, quite unsure about what he was going to say. "I could have sworn I saw Hijikata-san blush."
"Ditto." Sanosuke replied, scratching his head.
"Well, it is Chizuru-chan and Hijikata-san we're talking about." Souji piped up, twirling a finger suggestively in the air. He winked. "Anything is possible."
The three broke into laughter. The heart-warming sound echoed throughout the headquarters of the Shinsengumi, mingling with the golden rays of the setting sun and bringing closure to yet another extraordinary day.
A/N: And~ Chizuru still thinks some geisha wrote the poetry and not Hijikata. Hello everyone! I'm new here, so hajimeshite, dozo yoroshikune onegaishimasu! I've been drifting around this section for quite a while, because the anime's ending completely killed my heart. (SPOILER: Seriously, Hijikata lived in the the game, so...) Anyway, I've finally gathered courage of my own to post a story, because episode 5 of Hakuouki Sekkaroku had so much potential hehe. By the way, this takes place some time after Hajime-kun and Heisuke leaves with Itou, in case anyone is wondering where they went. And that's enough blabbering from me. I hope you enjoyed it!
P.S. Yes, I know my(Chizuru's) haiku isn't any better than the Oni no Fukuchou's. Shinpachi said so himself. There's a reason why I wrote this whole oneshot as a prose and not a poem. Just bear with it XD