Looking around the crowd of distinguished guests, Okita Sougo was looking for his first victim of the night.
That evening he was in charge of protecting the younger sister of a prominent politician, a job he has been doing for a couple of months now with the help of his other companions. This particular night, however, a ball was held at the politician's mansion that required formal attire. Because of this, he was now dressed in a tuxedo that drew even more admiring looks his way. He was already quite well aware of his attractive looks, and he intended to make full use of them for his purposes.
With a platter of delicacies on his left hand, he walked toward a group of young ladies who had trouble keeping their eyes off him.
"These are the most delicious sweets you'll find this evening ladies. Would you care to try some?" he said, flashing them his most charming smile.
It was going to be so easy. It would almost be boring, but he still had to wait for their reaction. The reaction was always the best part.
The ladies all grinned at him mischievously. That wasn't supposed to happen.
"The most delicious sweets?" one of them scoffed. "I would almost fall for it, if we hadn't been warned ahead of time by a nice young man earlier this evening."
"You mean the mean looking guy who ate a bowl of mayo in front of us? I certainly had my doubts, but I guess we'll have to go and thank him after all"
"What a shame. I would've totally asked for your number too." the youngest one winked at him.
"Better luck next time" they said as they left the room.
While his expression hadn't changed during their conversation, he couldn't deny having felt surprised. It wasn't often his plans were foiled like that. He definitely needed to kill Hijikata next time he saw him.
"Hey are these free" a voice behind him spoke.
He turned around to find the source. A redhead who seemed to be a little younger than him was focused on the platter he held.
"Yes you can have as many as you like." he replied, smiling.
The redhead stared up at him and that's when he noticed she had blue eyes. Big, innocent blue eyes that were shining happily at the thought of free food.
It seemed like he would have his fun this night after all.
"Thank you for the meal" she said earnestly.
What happened next surprised even him.
Instead of grabbing one of the delicacies he had so carefully crafted, she grabbed a handful and stuffed them in her mouth. Before she had even finished chewing the first handful she went for a second, trying to fit in as many into her mouth as she could.
Dreams really do come true.
He could see the happiness being replaced with confusion, then terror as she started to realize what was happening. What she had eagerly stuffed in her mouth were not the sweets he promised, but instead were small balls of the hottest pepper flakes he could find stuffed inside beautifully decorated cake balls
Her face soon matched the color of her hair and he couldn't stop grinning. This prank went beyond his expectations.
As soon as she saw his grin, she understood the situation immediately. Gone were the happy lights that shone in her eyes. He had done this on purpose. The quickness and intensity of her glare caught him a little off guard.
"You bastard" she growled.
"Hey I think you definitely need this right now." a tall man with black hair and smoky gray eyes materialized next to them, holding a tall glass of water that he offered to the redhead."Sougo, stop fooling around and come help. It's time".
"Die Hijikata." Sougo glared at the older man. "I'm on my break."
"Your older sister is here."
That made him change his tune.
"Guess I can't play with you anymore tonight." He smirked and started walking away. He turned around. "Little kids should not be so trusting."
The redhead had already finished her glass of water and the pitcher, so she seemed a bit better. As soon as Sougo spoke, however, the aura around her changed to something quite menacing.
"Who are you calling a kid, brat? You're not much older than I am. Keep on acting high and mighty. That way it'll be more fun to watch when I send you on the express train to hell."
"Don't worry. I already have a nice property reserved. You're welcome to stay there anytime." He waved goodbye to her as he walked away, smiling to himself.
"Your expression is disgusting and it's creeping me out. Stop it." muttered the older man.
"Your existence is disgusting. Hurry up and die, bastard."