A/N We do not own Hakuouki and its characters. But still we decided to write a fic ^^

The story is not connected to the original plot at all. It's an one-shot that has been written when the authors were inspired by the song "Lady in Red" by Chris Deburg. And it means that the story takes place in a modern world and has nothing to do with Shinsengumi ^^'''

Those three words

When he received an invitation to Yukimura twins' birthday party, he was a little disappointed. Holding a beautiful invitation card in his hand, the heir of great Kazama clan sat on a luxury sofa. His face showed nothing but annoyance.

"She could tell me personally. I'm her groom after all" he whispered indifferently, clenching the poor piece of paper in his fist.
A view of her blushing shy face appeared in his thoughts. It made his lips turn into a brief grin.

"That weirdo…"

Now he had to find a present for a certain brown-haired girl. And Chikage Kazama hated to waste his precious time for doing so. Oh, it wasn't just her birthday. Chizuru Yukimura had a twin brother who just happened to be born at the same day and time.
No, that guy was none of his concern. Chikage had other problems to think about.

"She deserves something outstanding"

Kazama was surprised by his own thoughts. Why did he even bother?

The girl made him feel so many different emotions that he couldn't understand and find the right words to call.

It had been a month since the day he offered her a false engagement. And every day she tried her best to beat a confession out of him. It was a little game of theirs. Their parents had made a deal many years ago to bring them together when she comes to an age of 18 and make them get married. It was a deal that could not be canceled. And yet… Chikage had other point of view. He had never liked the girl and didn't plan to marry her or some other girl in the near future. And then a month ago, he came to her and told her that he didn't like her and never would. Even when he saw those little tears in her brown eyes, he managed to fake a smirk. Yes, he was the best variant for her family. He was the great Kazama's heir after all and their parents were dreaming of the day when they unite the two of the most famous clans in whole Japan. But Chikage Kazama wasn't that easy to defeat. He was a real die hard to that. But even as a tough guy as he was, he could feel the changes she caused with her small request. And the only thing she asked him was to give her 3 months and during that time she would make him fall in love with her.

It felt confusing. She was a girl he had nothing in common with. And it couldn't settle in his brilliant calculative mind how he ended up offering her an engagement! A false one, but an engagement none the less!

"Alright. I will give you this time. But I will also announce the date of our wedding, dear Chizuru. So, if you don't make me fall in love with you, I will reject you in a public".

He said those words a month ago and didn't feel any pity for her and the situation he was putting her in.

"You'll see. I won't lose the bet," was her answer and at that very moment he could swear he saw a flame of determination in her deep dark eyes.

Chikage stood up in irritation and approached the huge window of his cabinet. His hands were hidden in the pockets of his black brand-new jeans that he bought at one of those expensive boutiques.

"I will never tell her those three words no matter how hard she tries me to" a sadistic smile found its place on his right shaped lips.

OooooO

Sano was watching her every move.

Chizuru couldn't get enough of trying to make herself look more admiring.

"Emmm… Chizuru-chan, you're beautiful, believe me. I think you don't need more of that mascara" said Kaoru rubbing the back of his head. It was million dollars' worth of view seeing his twin-sister wearing a gothic make-up. And truth to be told, it felt really scary.

The girl turned to the guys and smiled in anticipation.

"Will he like me?" she asked, blinking innocently.

Kaoru sweat dropped, while Souji's jaw fell on a floor, when he entered the room and saw his niece's outstanding appearance.

Sano's eyes narrowed.

"Listen, Chizuru-chan, if he doesn't like you the way you are, there is no chance that he will like you wearing make-up".

Her cheerful face fell. She looked at the floor with her saddened eyes for a minute. Harada was about to say some encouraging words to the beloved girl, but Chizuru interrupted his intentions by whispering the next words.

"I won't know until I try, right?"

Souji, still recovering from the heart-attack he got after seeing his young relative with that gothic make up on her pretty face, came to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder encouragingly.

"That's my niece for ya!" he exclaimed. "She will make that brat of Kazamas lose the bet. Sano, make her look like a queen!" Okita ordered and then patted the girl's head kindly. She looked in her uncle's eyes with her dark teary orbs.

"Now-now, don't cry, my dear. You have to look perfect tonight! Everything will be alright," he storke her hair and wiped her small tears away with his fingers.

Okita knew that Chizuru was totally in love with a stone named Chikage Kazama. Well, Souji didn't like the guy at all, but if he was the one her heart chose, then he wouldn't mind.

The red-haired young man glanced at Chizuru sadly. She was looking in a mirror trying to look happy.

"I won't lose you to him," Sano thought in irritation and started to put a professional make up on the girl's face. After all, he was a profy in that kind of activity.

OooooO

The party was held in the Yukimura's mansion. Of course lots of wealthy guests were invited to share the celebration and all SS members were among them.

When Kaoru saw Sen, he lost his gift of speech. She came to him in her light-pink spaghetti dress with long sleeves. Her beautiful eyes were shining with love and joy, that Kaoru had to look away to hide his shyness.

When Chikage arrived at the place, the party had already started. Truth to be told, he didn't like crowded places, they irritated him, especially all the stupid guests who wanted to look cool and cocky.

"Stupid weaklings" was his arrogant thought.

As hard as it could be possible for him, Chikage tried to look for his said bride. But the result was unsuccessful and it annoyed him.

He found her twin brother who had a lovely chat with his rich girl-friend.

He noticed Saito who was too busy trying to look calm and concentrated among the female guests who wished to catch his attention and ask to dance with them.

The gaze of his ruby eyes shifted to the centre of the hall.

"Oi. Why are you here?"

Chikage turned his head to glare at the person who dared to disturb his train of thoughts. A corner of his smooth lips curled up a little showing an arrogant grin.

"Why. I was invited as a very special guest to this event. Do you have anything against it?"

The annoyed look on blond-haired young man's face made the other guy's blood boil with anger.

"You don't care about her, admit it. Stop playing with her feelings!"

Kazama let a laugh escape his throat.

"My-my…Didn't anyone told you earlier not to stick your nose in other family's relations, Harada-kun?"

The golden-eyed man gritted his white straight teeth.

"She is not a part of your family. And I won't let you take her away and break her heart!"

Kazama looked in Sanosuke's eyes sharply. It was a challenge between their strong spirits. Chikage's husky voice broke the killing silence between the two. His tone was calm but the gaze was stern and dangerous.

"Oh, really, Harada-kun? But don't forget that she is already mine…"

Sano's eyes widened in terror and his lips parted a little after hearing those words, but the blond continued his sentence.

"…fiancée".

A sly smile found its place on his lips.

"You are a heartless animal, Kazama!"

"No" he said casually "If I were an animal I wouldn't have talked to you, Harada-kun. I'm a human, as you are".

With those words Chikage left his fiancée's friend standing alone in his own hard feelings.

OooooO

Chizuru felt embarrassed. She didn't ask her father to order stylists to make something with his daughter. But no matter how hard she struggled against several men that held dresses in their hands, Chizuru had lost the battle. After some time that seemed like eternity, she looked in a mirror and gasped. There was no chance that Chikage would like her in such an extravagant dress.

The girl sighed heavily. Her father approached her from behind and put a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Dear, you look wonderful! Your groom will lose his head when he sees you".

Chizuru chuckled bitterly.

"If only it could be true, dad," she closed her eyes and let a long sigh escape her lungs.

OooooO

Chikage was drinking some red wine in the main room. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He was getting irritated because there was no Chizuru in sight. It annoyed him. He didn't like the feeling in his chest. It had been 40 minutes since his arrival to this place and he still didn't see her.

"Chizuru-chan is so beautiful today. By the way, where is she?"

The Kazama heir heard Sen's comment. He turned his head to the source where the voice came from and noticed a couple who went right past him, not even paying attention to his presence.

"She said she needed to do something" Kaoru answered happily, holding the girl's hand in his. They both looked like they didn't belong to this world.

Chikage was really aggravated. Oh, how he hated that lovey-dovey relations! He felt nausea just by looking at those couples in love.
He stood in a corner of a large ballroom with a dark aura around him. Some guests were dancing; some of them were having a good time sharing some interesting talk.

"Stupid commoners" was all he thought. His face showed total contempt.

Slow beautiful melody filled the room giving the lovely couples a chance to share a dance. Kaoru outstretched his hand to the beloved girl and the beauty accepted his offer, letting her boy-friend to lead her to the centre, where many guests were dancing already.

Chikage crossed his arms on his chest and glanced at the crowd. He didn't expect that something would catch his attention, but it did. A mixture of brown and red. When he looked up and tensed his eyesight, he recognized a certain brown-haired girl in a centre of a crowd of young wealthy men. They were asking her about something and she just smiled shyly in return and shook her head in negation.

The blond straightened himself and made several confident steps towards the crowd. But then he stopped on his tracks as he heard what the guys were saying.

"Please, Chizuru-chan, just one dance. Give us an honour to share a dance with you".

But she never replied. All she did was smiling and shaking her head "no".

Kazama felt confused. He didn't want to interrupt the moment somehow. He had never seen so many men asking her if she wanted to dance. Of course they were looking for a little romance.

"Like they have half of a chance" a thought ran through his mind.

The young Kazama placed his eyes on the girl in front of him. She looked so lovely tonight. He had never seen her shine so bright.
The deep-red long dress she was wearing suited her slim figure perfectly. Thanks to little short sleeves, he could witness the beauty of her slender arms. Her skin was creamy and looked very soft. He didn't know why but he felt an unbearable wish to touch it and make sure if it really was as silky to touch as it looked like.

A sudden feeling of warmth appeared on his face as he continued watching her.

The highlights in her luxury hair caught her shining eyes. He had been so blind not noticing the beauty of her always kind brown orbs earlier.

There were so many people who just wanted to be there by her side. She looked like a rare precious stone that attracted everybody's attention.

Chikage wasn't sure if he wanted to touch the mysterious beauty that made him feel so confused and confident at the same time. Confused—because he didn't understand what was happening to him when she was near. Confident—because he knew that only his three words could make her belong to him any moment. But did he want her in the first place? And again the question brought him back to the confused mode.

He didn't know the answer. He was ready to start a family, that was for sure, but he didn't want to tie his life with a promised bride only because their parents had made a deal many years ago. It irritated him to no limits that someone tried to control his life and desires. But every time she looked at him with those innocent eyes, he caught himself on a thought that it wouldn't be that bad to step on a new path of relations with her. But again, every time the thought crossed his mind, he just tried to kick it out of his head.

Argh! All those stupid thoughts were driving him crazy!

Chikage didn't notice how his gaze travelled back to the girl in a red gown. The moment he placed his eyes on her again, Chizuru looked away blushing due to the compliment she had been given by one of the guys.

And she saw him…

He was standing not far from her looking at her with those deep ruby eyes. Chizuru couldn't do anything but blush, not because of someone's words, but because of attention of those mysterious eyes that she adored so much. A sincere smile touched her lips when she fully comprehended who she was seeing.

When the girl turned to him and smiled, he felt his heart skipped a beat. Her smiling rosy lips and sparkling brown eyes took his breath away.

It seemed like she began shining even brighter when she noticed his presence. Her eyes expressed some strange feeling, a mixture of kindness, care and happiness. Or so he thought.

"I've never seen you looking so gorgeous as you are tonight," the words were dancing in his mind as he couldn't force himself to break the eye contact.

She was trapped in his nets and didn't want to gain the freedom again. The girl was so happy that he was there for her, to share her celebration. Her lips were about to whisper his name when she felt someone's touch to her left forearm.

"Chizuru-chan, may I ask you for this dance?"

She recognized the voice. It belonged to her dear friend, almost big brother who was in love with her.

The girl took her gaze away from the blond-haired man and looked up at Sano's face, who was smiling at her sincerely.
She was unsure of what to answer. On one hand she couldn't decline his offer, but on the other hand neither she could accept it, because she felt like it would not be right at the moment.

But to her great luck (or maybe misfortune) Chizuru felt strong aura appeared behind her. A deep smooth voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

"The lady in red is dancing with me tonight".

Chizuru blushed. She didn't need to look at the man who said those words. She recognized him just by his presence but still the girl decided to glance at her said cavalier. And when she did so, she saw a challenge in his eyes that were looking right in Sano's. And suddenly Yukimura felt alarmed.

"I don't see any of your signs on her, that means she is free to dance with whoever she wants and likes".

Chizuru felt as she was standing between two burning flames. She didn't like the current situation at all. The girl didn't want to be a cause of their upcoming fight. She was about to say something to ease the charged atmosphere, but felt as someone touched her right hand and took it in his.

"This cute ring on this little finger is the sign that she belongs to me today and any day".

Chikage demonstrated the little shining object around the girl's wedding finger to the red-haired man. A grin of triumph played on Kazama's lips.

Chizuru didn't know how to hide her blush. Her face was deep-red, maybe the same colour as her dress. She took away her guilty gaze from Sano's face. Somehow she couldn't look at him. She felt like betraying him, but at the same time she felt happy that Chikage showed up. Could it mean that she wasn't indifferent to him?

Something soft, smooth and warm touched her hand. When she looked to see what it was, Chizuru was shocked. Kazama had kissed her hand right in front of the crowd and right in front of Sano's eyes, whose jaw squared visibly.

"Now excuse us, I would like to dance with my future wife," sending the other man a sly grin, the young heir of Kazamas walked her to the centre where lots of couples were dancing. When he chose a suitable place, he turned to his fiancée and put one hand on the small of her back and then he took her right hand in his left one.

The girl's cheeks coloured red.

They were so close to each other and it was scaring her a little. She felt her heart lost its rhythm due to the fast beating. She carefully placed her left hand on his shoulder and lowered her head to hide the result of her shyness.

The blond started to lead gently, catching the rhythm of the music. He was a good dancer, Chizuru noted, but somehow the thought of Sanosuke didn't let her enjoy the moment.

"Chikage-kun…"she began softly and bit her lower lip not knowing if she should continue or not.

"What could have happened that you decided to talk to me?" he asked annoyed.

"I wanted to ask you something".

Kazama's eyebrow arched elegantly.

"And what can it be?"

"I…I wanted to ask you not to tease Sano-nii".

She was afraid to look at his face. She couldn't predict his reaction and it made her feel thrilled.

He was silent for some time and she never dared to look in his eyes.

"Let it be as you want" he said finally. "But I want a reward in return".

"Eh?" she looked up and noticed a sly smile on his face.

"W-what kind of reward?"

"Hahaha" he laughed out loud. "You are really a weirdo. I haven't decided yet. I will tell you when I know".

"Oh…alright then," she whispered and lowered her head again.

"You are so shy. It's annoying" he said with slight irritation in his voice. "You should look at your groom's face and admire it".

Chikage felt as her body tensed in his hands. She looked up slowly and met his confident gaze.

Her shining eyes, rosy lips, innocent blush on her face…How could have he been so blind not noticing such beauty before? He felt as warmth began spreading up and down his body. And that feeling made him feel confused again. Why? What was happening to him when she was near?

"I feel shy because it's the first time we are so close to each other" she said softly.

The young man chuckled to that statement.

"You call it being close to each other?"

With one quick movement he pressed her body to his with the help of his hand that lay on the small of her back.

Her soft breasts hit his firm chest.

Both faces reddened.

Both hearts began beating twice faster.

Her shocked brown orbs locked with his excited ruby ones.

They felt each other's hot breathing on their cheeks.

Their faces were centimeters apart.

It was embarrassing. He didn't plan that his joke would make him feel so dizzy and hot. Chikage made a deep inhale and found some strength to say.

"This is what means to be close to each other".

She didn't reply. But her next actions surprised him to no limits.

She carefully took her right hand away from his and threw her both hands behind his neck, hugging him gently. Her face buried itself in the crook between his left shoulder and neck.

"Oi. What do you think you are doing?"

His hands fell to the sides like they didn't know where to put themselves.

"We can't be even closer than now, can we?" each word that flew from her mouth was burning his skin. Somehow, he felt panicked, but tried not to show it.

"Well…" how could he say that actually they could get even closer during their wedding night and the nights after that? "That weirdo! Makes me think of such things!" he shouted in his head.

"I like your perfume". Chizuru whispered in his neck. It seemed like she didn't need the answer to her previous question that startled him so much. "You smell like… roses".

"Roses? Roses?" Kazama tried really hard to understand why he smelled like flowers when he used citrus cologne. And then he remembered.

"It's not my perfume. It's the smell of those roses that I have brought you for your birthday. Now I have to change the cologne since mine lost to some flower".

"But this scent suits you. You smell like Prince Charming from a fairytale that my mother used to read me when I was little".

Chikage rolled his eyes, but smiled weakly. It was really a pleasurable feeling to hear that you had been compared with royalty.

Yukimura was enjoying the moment. She didn't know why she suddenly felt an urge to hug him, but now she didn't want this moment to end. It was warm and comfortable standing next to him and feeling his fast heartbeat next to hers.

The man of her dreams stood still, not daring to move. The music was playing around them. There was nobody there, just two of them in their own little world. Chikage didn't notice as his hands found their perfect place wrapping themselves around the girl's slim waist. He didn't notice as he began moving their bodies along with the music. All he knew at that moment, that he had never had such a feeling before: such a strange feeling of lightness and pure bliss that he felt right now.

He felt as her hands hugged him a little tighter and she laid her head on his left shoulder facing his neck. Her luxury silky hair fell to the side revealing the gracefulness of her fragile round shoulder. He couldn't but notice the creamy young skin that was just in few inches away from his face. What was that tickling feeling in his stomach? What was she doing to him? Why he wanted to press his lips to her shoulder and taste the sweetness of silky her skin all of sudden?

"I love you…" he heard her melodic voice in his ear.

Chikage's eyes widened in shock as if he had been struck with lighting. She had been telling him those words many times before but today they sounded different, like they held a deep meaning in them.

The guy breathed out the air that he didn't know he was holding.

"Stop wasting your time. You must know that I won't fall for this trick," he said with a fake annoyance in his tone.

She didn't say anything, just remained the same position.

"That girl...she is full of surprises," the thought ran through his clouded mind. He still couldn't calm himself down after her sudden confession. Truth to be told, he hardly knew this beauty by his side. He was drawn to her like a magnet. She was an opened book to him that he never had an interest to read. But now it was different. He felt like he wanted to know her better, but…what for?

Until this moment Kazama was sure that he would never accept her as a real fiancée, but now…everything seemed so confusing. Those new strange feelings that bloomed in him for the first time in his life during that short evening…they were making him lose his mind as he tried his best to get a clue of what he was feeling.

"I really feel this way about you" she said softly, tickling his ear with her warm breath.

"I told you to stop your tricks. Will you ever listen? You won't make me say those words no matter how hard you try!" he said in irritation because she had interrupted his train of uneasy thoughts.

"I just want you to know that," she sighed heavily and stopped the dance by breaking their embrace.

He looked at her with a mute question in his eyes as she sent him a beautiful sad smile and turned to leave.

Chikage felt a great lack of her body's warmth as he watched the girl's retreating figure. She left him standing alone in the middle of their dance with a feeling that he finally could give the name.

"A feeling of being loved".

"I believe you, my lady in red," he smirked to himself and headed to the garden to get some fresh air.

OooooO

It was new experience but starting from that fateful evening, every time he looked at the girl Kazama had a thought that he must stop himself in time before telling her the words that could change his and her lives forever.

And when he came home that night, he looked at the night sky through the large window of his room. The image of a gorgeous brown-haired girl in a long red dress appeared in front of his eyes. He would never forget the way she looked that night, the sweet scent of her aroma, her shy looks and innocent smiles, the warmth and softness of her silky skin, the melody of her unique voice…

She was his lady in red and no one else's.

And only in the privacy of his room he could whisper those three words that he had never thought would ever slip from his tongue.

"I love you…"

The end.

A/N So? Any reviews? We will be glad to know what you think about the story~