Disclaimer: I do not own Hakuoki. This amazing anime was created by Asuka Yamazaki, Kazuhiko Hasegawa and Mitsutoshi Ogura. I only created my OC!

Editor / Beta Reader: Waffle (Thank you)

Rated Teen for violence, blood, coarse language and / or sexually suggestive scenes (rating may change to Mature in the future as story progresses, readers have been advised).

Slight alteration to Hakuoki plot - Demons in this story are actual pureblood vampires and Rasetsu are humans who were turned by purebloods.

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Kiss Of Snow

By: Swanna

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Chapter 1 – The Sunrise

"You have to go. Now." It was an instruction so absolute, it demanded obedience.

"No! Mitsuru came for me because I am her primary target. I won't leave you behind to fend her off for me just so I can escape," Senhime snapped back with stubbornness. "There's still time, we can leave together!"

"There is no time," she glanced to her right and saw the cart with barrels still stationed at the side of the path. The owner would return with his horse any moment now. "Hide inside the barrel and keep quiet. You should be taken to a nearby town."

"I said no! I'm not leaving without you."

"Your presence will only become a distraction for me," she said in an indifferent tone, revealing the harsh reality of the situation. Senhime's face was contorted with what she had recently learned to read as sadness.

Although they were both demons, Senhime wasn't a full-blooded demoness. Her ancestor had mated with a human many generations ago. Since she had some human heritage in her blood, Senhime was able to coexist with the humans as she shared their common emotions and feelings.

Unlike Senhime, she was a solitary pureblood demoness that didn't know how to feel or interact with another being. She had been by herself for longer than she could remember, detached from the outside world and residing deep in the woods alone. Human emotions were both foreign and confusing to her until she had met Senhime. She still could not grasp human emotions herself, but right now she felt a strange urge to keep Senhime safe. It was a newborn sensation for her, a desire to protect.

Senhime's light brown eyes welled up tears, she was…crying. It was a physical signal associated with sadness, she remembered. How did it feel to cry? Unthinkingly, she wiped away the tears with a finger as they rolled down Senhime's cheeks. It felt moist and warm to the touch.

"Why are you crying?" Her head tilted as she asked with curiosity. "Are you afraid? I will be here to protect you."

For some reason, Senhime wept louder at her questions. "I'm crying because I'm sad that we have to be apart."

Why would sadness bring about tears? If it wasn't fear then why would Senhime feel sad to part ways with her? They had only known each other for days and Senhime barely knew anything about her.

"I will come find you," she didn't understand what had brought on this commitment. Somehow she just knew Senhime needed the reassurance in this instant, so she said what the young demoness had wanted to hear.

Senhime's eyes widened at her unexpected declaration. "You promise?"

Promises were akin to oaths among their kind, they were never mere words to be taken lightly.

"I promise. Hurry and go now."

Hesitating, she took two steps towards the cart but stopped. Senhime suddenly spun around and threw her arms around her neck, tightening her hold. She stiffened and stood motionless, unsure of how she was expected to react to this form of physical contact.

"You must come and find me," Senhime whispered. "I will be waiting for you."

She felt as if something was clenching her heart, constricting it tightly to the point of suffocation. "We will see each other again."

Senhime gave her a weak nod and smiled before dashing away. She watched until Senhime concealed herself out of view inside an empty vessel. Convinced of her safety, she turned to head for the open field where the battle awaited her.

The silver-haired demoness, Mitsuru appeared, fully transformed and ready to strike. "Just you? Where is the Princess?"

From a distance, she saw the owner had returned to retrieve his cart and was now riding his horse in the direction further away from the battleground. Remaining wordless, she unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Mitsuru.

Mitsuru's lips curved and took out her shortsword. "So you're my opponent today? Very well, the Princess can live to see another day. I will kill you first and then hunt her down."

Taking the life of a fellow demon was extremely rare, as their race had been driven close to extinction by humans many years ago. However, if eliminating Mitsuru would guarantee Senhime's safety, then she would cross the line as many times as needed. After all, she was a pureblood that made her own choices; a demoness who was unchained by any rules and ordinances of the demons' realm.

With a deep intake of breath, she leaped forward with lightning speed. Mitsuru jerked her head back when she dodged the sharp blade with her weapon, clearly surprised by her display of strength. Their skills in swordplay were evenly matched as they each parried and dodged the opponent's oncoming attacks with ease. Neither of them was gaining the upper-hand thus far.

She stared impassively as Mitsuru cried in frustration and charged forth with a burst of vitality that pushed her back across the dusty ground as she blocked the potent blow. Before she had a chance to recover, Mitsuru swung her shortsword towards her neck but she deflected the attack with ease. The clash of metal on metal resounded through the birth of the dawning sky.

"What's the matter?" Mitsuru sneered, her blood red eyes glowed, completely devoid of any remaining traces of humanity now. "Why aren't you in your true form? You really think you can defeat me without transforming?"

"I do not require my true form to kill you," was the cold reply.

Mitsuru snarled with fury. "I will make you suffer a slow, painful death for underestimating me."

Mitsuru sucked in a breath of cold air before lunging at her, and once again their blades met. She slid her blade back causing Mitsuru to stumble forward before she spun around to deliver a quick kick to Mitsuru's ribs. There was an audible crunch as bones gave way under the weight of the attack and Mitsuru clutched her side with an inhuman growl.

Not missing an opportunity, she brought her weapon down in a tight arc and sliced the flesh on Mitsuru's left arm. Blood spouted from the slash but the exposed skin tissue mended almost in an instant.

"My turn," a wicked smile crossed Mitsuru's face as she advanced towards her, raining down continuous blows, relentless in her impetuous attacks.

Breathing hard, she could hear nothing but the rapid beat of her own heart. She barely parried the oncoming assault and was forced backward until her back collided with a tree trunk. Momentarily distracted Mitsuru was able to land a blow, and she felt the sharp blade pierce muscle and bone.

She grimaced in pain and didn't have time to react as Mitsuru abruptly pulled out the weapon and impaled her with it again, this time closer to her heart. Blood spurted furiously, staining the white fabric of her clothing crimson.

"How does it feel to be impaled by a weapon that can actually hurt purebloods? This demon slaying blade is our family heirloom from the Demon Clan of the North," she grimaced when Mitsuru rotated her blade slowly and snickered. "Your wounds will not heal right away, you are no different than a pathetic mortal now."

From the adrenaline rush, she could barely register the pain anymore. The metallic scent of her own blood in the air was so pungent and overpowering, it was blurring her vision. She knew she was starting to lose control of her anger, and she felt the beginnings of bloodlust take over. She grabbed Mitsuru's hand and held tight as she wrenched it out of her chest.

She took Mitsuru by surprise when she thrusted her own sword into her opponent's body. She twisted the still stunned Mitsuru's wrist around and impaled Mitsuru's heart with the demon-slaying shortsword. Silence reigned in the quiet of dawn as the demoness went still, her unblinking wide eyes became vacant. Mitsuru's body gradually disintegrated, reduced to nothing but a pile of ash.

She slid down slowly, leaning her back against the tree for support. She still couldn't sense the pain from her bleeding wounds. All she felt was a numbing coldness that swept through her body. Each breath became physically harder, shallower. They were becoming so small and gentle, it was almost as if her breath was fading away. Was this what it felt like to pass on to the next realm?

She glanced up, her eyes were steady on the fiery red orb of light that rose above the horizon, mingling with the rolling clouds. Golden orange hues bled like fire beyond the visible lands ahead. Senhime would have appreciated this view of the heavens. That was the last thought that reverberated through her mind before darkness claimed her world.

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AUTHOR NOTE:

Hi readers, here is the first chapter of my new Hakuoki fic! At first I actually didn't know about Hakuoki until one day I've came across an AMV on youtube featuring the anime. I ended up finishing the series in two days and oh my goodness, it's been a while since I've shed so much tears from watching an anime!

But then I've heard that the anime was based on the game so being an obsessed fan as I am, I've bought the game online and played it on my PS3. That was the best experience ever since I got the chance to play through all of the guys' routes (in my opinion, Sano has the sweetest ending with Chizuru but I won't spoil it for anyone).

I love the storyplot but I wasn't a big fan of their version of Oni and how they got horns…which was just way too weird for my taste. So in my story, I decided to make some changes and turn it into a vampire fic instead – I might as well since they involved sucking blood and all lol.

Special shout out to Waffle, he will be my beta reader for this story. Thank you for your help as usual!

Last but not least, I want to express my thanks to readers who gave this fic a chance! I hope you will be enjoying the plot and I will try to update as frequently as possible. Feedback and reviews are much appreciated! Thank you!

See you in the next chapter.