A/N First Hakuouki story, definitely written due to a personal vendetta; I did not like the ending of Hakuouki Record of the Jade Blade, the anime, and was forced to write a continuation. But this was mostly written due to an intense love for Hajime Saitou, and I despised how he "died" or "didn't die" in the anime. So story will be AU, and continue some days after the ending of the anime. Read and review.
Hajime Saitou stared at the cup of Sake situated on the table in front of him, his deep blue eyes full of the emotions that he usually refused to allow himself to show. He'd survived the battle, but it seemed that no one else had. Hijikata had yet to contact him. It was the same with Harada and Shinpatchi, and he had no idea of where Okita might be. Also, Chizuru hadn't turned up, and secretly, he feared for the young girl's safety. He remembered his oath to her "I will not die", he'd kept his vow, but had she?
Saitou shook his head and closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. He would not give up hope until he was given irrefutable proof that those he cared about were deceased.
"Sir," A calm voice said, breaking Saitou out of his reverie as he turned towards the voice, "Are you alright?" the voice finished, shaking a little bit. A woman stood beside his table, an expression of fear upon her face due to how quickly Saitou had turned his head towards her.
"I am fine, merely deep in thought." He replied, turning back to his Sake and taking a small sip of the white liquid.
"You are one of the Wolves of Mibu, are you not?" The woman questioned. Saitou's head whipped around to face her and before he realized what was happening, his sword was unsheathed and positioned at the woman's throat.
"Who are you, and what do you know of the Shinsengumi?" Saitou asked, his voice icy cold and his eyes full of blue fire. The woman blanched as the sword grazed her neck, drawing a thin trail of blood that dripped down to the floor at her feet. Saitou stared at the blood, and it became apparent to him that he'd let his emotions get the better of him, a mistake very rarely made by him. He turned away from the petrified woman and sheathed his sword.
"You- you used your left hand, rather than your right, did you not? Would you happen to be-" The woman began to ask, only to be cut off by Saitou.
"I am Hajime Saitou, captain of the 3rd Division of the Shinsengumi, and a master of the left-handed style of fighting." Saitou said, enunciating his words slowly and deliberatly, as he turned back to face her, "and I asked you a question; what do you know of the Shinsengumi?" The woman sighed, and relaxed a little as it seemed that Saitou was not intending to kill her. Yet, anyway.
"I am Toku-" She began, but was interrupted by an irritated Saitou.
"I did not ask what your name is, I believe that I did ask you-" But to his surprise, he too was interrupted. His, in her opinion due to not knowing Saitou, blatant interrupption got the better of her.
"Fool, I know what you asked me, and I was about to tell you. I am Toku Hijikata." She snarled,putting extra emphasis on the Hijikata, although she flinched when Saitou's eyes turned to slits; he was usually very composed, and even respectful, if not even a tad bit shy around women, but this particular lady was grinding on the wary samurai's last nerve. And to top everything off, in his angered state, he had missed the part about her last name being "Hijikata".
"I do not know who you are, but calling me a 'fool' for no reason is uncalled for, and considering who I am, most would agree that it is downright idiotic to anger me." Saitou said, his voice eerily calm. Toku stared at him, afraid that if she pushed any further, the man with the purple hair and intense blue eyes would actually kill her. She wondered why Toshi hadn't infomed her of how difficult to speak to a person she was to find. She sighed and met Saitou's ocean blue eyes with her startlingly purple one's
"I will repeat myself again, and this time, I want you to listen closely, and do not interrupt me." She said slowly, waiting for Saitou to respond before continuing. Noticing this, Saitou offered a barely perceptible nod of his head. Toku began again.
"I am Toku Hijikata, Toshizo Hiji-"
"You are Hijikata's sister?" Saitou asked, his voice sounding utterly bewildered. Toku nodded, surprised at how much shock she had obviously caused the seemingly stoic captain.
"I am. He asked me to find you and bring you news of how the battle fared." She said, but stopped as the sound of Saitou's thankfully, now empty cup landed on the table in front of the young man. She looked at him, only to find that his eyes were closed, and his hand was still hanging in the air, from where he had lost his grip on his glass.
"Saitou..." Toku said, drawing out his name as if prompting him to answer her silent question. Saitou's intense blue eyes opened and narrowed into slits as he stared at her, at the same time lowering his hand back to his side.
"So, Hijikata-san is alive, then?" He asked, his voice as impassive as ever. He could not afford to allow himself to hope. Toku's purple eyes softened at his reaction; she could see the warring emotions under Saitou's carefully crafted apathetic mask; the man clearly cared for her brother.
"Yes, Saitou. Hijikata was wounded, but the young girl traveling with him, Chizuru, I believe, got him help." Saitou's face turned shocked, his lips drew into a thin line, and his deep blue eyes widened, his mask falling away and showing the raw emotion underneath.
"Chizuru is alive as well?" He asked, forcing his emotions to coil up again; he hated feelings, and tried to hide them as much as humanly possible. Toku smiled as Saitou closed his eyes once again in relief. She placed her hand carefully on Saitou's shoulder, but moved it as the left-handed samurai's eyes popped open and his aforementioned hand became reflexively poised on the grip of his Katana. Realizing who had touched him, Saitou removed his hand from his weapon and coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment; he had never had much interest in women, though he could feel sexually attracted to them, he simply did not seek out relationships, causing him to feel very awkward when around them, especially one who insisted on laying her hands on him. Toku pretended not to notice the handsome swordsman's awkwardness.
"Saitou, would you care to come with me to see them? I imagine that you must be worried; it has been some days since the battle, has it not?" She asked, meeting his gaze which had once again became trained on her.
Saitou smirked, the left corner of his mouth quirking up as he looked at her and shook his head, as if saying, "Of course I want to see them, why would you ask such a stupid question?" But then his expression darkened.
"Why, when you first spoke to me, did you refer to the Shinsengumi as 'The Wolves of Mibu'? That is a derogatory slur often used to insult us; why would someone as close to Hijikata as you claim to be refer to us in such a way?" He asked, his voice once again filled with venom. To his surprise and annoyance, Toku laughed.
"It upsets Toshizo, does it not?" She began, but ceased laughing when she noticed Saitou's glare. "I'm sorry Saitou, but upsetting Toshizo is something that as his older sister, I feel it my duty to do. Do you have sibilings, Saitou?" Toku asked, her purple eyes innocent. She expected the answer to be a solid "no", due to his apparent lack of understanding of the concept of sibiling rivalry. But Saitou surprised her.
"As a matter fact, I have a younger sister and two younger brothers; I am the eldest." Saitou began, pausing as he noticed Toku's shocked expression, but he, with little regard to the fact that he'd surprised the woman, continued, "but I fail to see how whether or not I was an only child is relevant to the matter at hand." Toku simply shook her head, wondering if Saitou's mask had been something that he'd put up since early childhood, or something that had happened later in life, causing him to forget how he had acted around his sibilings, though she was well aware that making small talk with the samurai would not go in her favor; she'd just ask Toshizo about it later.
"It doesn't matter now, Saitou. I'll explain it to you at a later date, but for now, we should get to Toshizo and Chizuru. It is late, and they will worry; Toshi isn't fully healed, I'd hate for him to try and find us, in his condition." She said, bitterness filling her voice at the mention of her baby brother's injuries.
"How badly was he injured- will he recover?" Saitou asked, once again feeling fear for the Demon Commander's sake. Toku forced herself to smile, an honest attempt to ease his worrying, but she could see how intellectual that the man was, and knew that though he didn't seem great with emotions, he was very good at reading people, and how half-hearted her expression was would not be lost on him. Nonetheless, Toku smiled.
"Yes, he will be fine. Let us go to them, now. Shall we?" She asked, gesturing for Saitou to stand, which he did.
"We shall." Saitou replied, and they began their journey back to Edo and to Hijikata.