PROLOGUE

I know I shouldn't write another story when my other story has not finished yet, but I just lost my motivation due to lack of reviews and readers. This is set a few days before Ryuunosuke came.

"If I were a magician, I'd hand out broken compasses. It's all about misdirection."
-Jarod Kintz -

The chilling wind of autumn touched Hijikata's cheeks. That night was one of the coolest night in Hijikata's opinion, of course it was to be expected, remembering that autumn has arrived. He sighed, though it's hard to admit, he missed those times he spent with his family back in Edo, though of course he already made a final decision to stay here in Kyoto in order to follow Kondou, but there's something that made him hate the atmosphere here in this place.

Serizawa Kamo

That man from the Samurai lineage, who is very arrogant and in his opinion, cruel. It's not surprised anymore that he hates their guts because of THAT incident. Just as he decided to go to sleep to clear his mind off things, a voice could be heard from the front gate of the headquarters.

BRAK

Hijikata looked back in surprise. "What the hell was that?" He wondered. For a moment, the voice subsided and nothing could be heard, but he was sure he heard something from the front gate.

THUD

And now the voice of something fell. Could it be someone fainted in front of the front gate? Not wasting any time he quickly get up on his sitting position and quickly went towards the front gate, to see what it is that made those sounds.

When he found himself in front of the gate, he was surprised. He saw a girl, with a small body with long black hair fainted there, her baby-face feature and round face was a quick giveaway that, that person is a she, and from her body and height, she was no older than 15.

Hijikata quickly took the girl inside and put her in one of the empty room in the Roshigumi headquarters.

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"Nggh…"

Heisuke's head perked slightly hearing a voice beside him. Hijikata had asked him to watch over the fainted girl last night. She had not shown any signs of waking up… Well… until now at least.

Heisuke watched as the girl opened her eyes, revealing a clear and bright aqua blue eyes beneath those eyelids. She got up and rubbed her eyes lazily.

"Ah, you're awake! That's a relief." Heisuke said.

"Mhhmmm?" The girl mumbled as she turned to look at him. Now that he thought about it, this girl actually looks pretty cute with her baby-face and round eyes. She wore a long black robe over her hakama.

"O-oh… umm… who are you?" She asked curiously. Her voice, when it is sounds to be girly enough, for some reason it sounds a bit boyish, like how a boy would sounds like when they are not through their puberty yet.

Heisuke shrugged it off and smile at her, "Ah, I'm Toudo Heisuke. I'm glad you finally came into, you were found by Hijikata-san last night, fainting in front of our lodging." He explained.

"O-oh…. I'm sorry to cause you such trouble." She said politely. "I'm called Ookami Wilfried. I'm half Japanese and half Germany. It is pleasure to meet you Toudo-san." She said politely.

"Oi, no need to be so formal." Heisuke said, "You can call me Heisuke, I could tell we probably at the same age." Heisuke said nicely.

The girl smiled, "Heisuke then. You could call me Ried." She said.

Ried? That sounds like a boyish name, Heisuke thought, but perhaps it was due to this girl being a tomboy? Heisuke shook his head, shrugging the thought off. "Ried then. By the way are you okay? Did you hurt anywhere?" Heisuke asked.

"Ah, No. Umm… you see I'm a traveler but last night some rogue samurais stole my money and I'm ended up starving due to lack of money." Ried said honestly, "So the reason why I;m fainting was because I was starving…." Ried confessed.

Heisuke nodded in understanding. Poor girl had to encounter such a bad luck, at least she was lucky that she was still alive. "You're lucky that you are still alive you know. Most of the rogue samurais will not hesitate to kill you or do something bad to you." Heisuke said concerned. Red smiled.

"Ah, can I meet this Hijikata person? I want to thank him properly." She said.

'What a nice girl.' Heisuke thought. "Sure, but first, let's get you something to eat."

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"So Hijikata-san was out?" Heisuke asked.

After Ried ate her lunch, which was prepared by a man called Gen-san, she and Heisuke quickly went out to find Hijikata. Heisuke decided that this was also an opportunity to introduce her to some of the member of Roshigumi.

"Yeah. He will be back at the afternoon." A man with red haired, tied into a low ponytail, wearing a white outfit said.

"I see. Thanks Sano-san, by the way this is Ried." Heisuke said, introducing her.

"My name is Ookami Wilfried, nice to meet you." She said.

"Likewise. I'm Harada Sanosuke, and this is…" Harada said, pointing at the other man with spiky hair and green headband behind him.

"Nagakura Shinpachi! Nice to meet'cha!" He said. Wilfried gave them a wide smile, making Harada and Shinpachi blushed at her cuteness.

"Damn, Hijikata-san found a cute girl…" Shinpachi mumbled.

"Pardon?" Ried asked.

"Nothing!" Shinpachi said quickly. Ried nodded slowly.

"What's this? Our guest has awoken at last?"

All of them turned to see a man with auburn hair walking towards them. His hair was tied in a Japanese knot and he wore a red outfit with green pants.

"Souji." Heisuke greeted, "Yep, this is Ried." Heisuke said. "Ried, this is Okita Souji." Heisuke said, pointing at Souji.

"Pleased to meet you Okita-san. I am Ookami Wilfried, but you can call me Ried." He said.

"Well alright then, Ried-chan. Anyway, should you be up? You were fainting in front of our lodging last night." Okita said.

"Ah I'm alright, I was just too hungry last night that's why I fainted. Umm… I was planning to go to this Hijikata person who saved me but… He's not here so maybe I'll have to wait until this evening…." Ried said.

"Just Hijikata-san? You're not going to thank Kondou-san?" Okita asked.

Ried blinked, "Kondou-san…?"

"He's the highest-ranking person in Roshigumi." Shinpachi explained.

"Oh… Then, umm…. Could you take me to him…?" Ried asked. Okita nodded and all of them head of to bring her to Kondou.

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"Kondou-san, do you have a moment?" Okita called.

"Oh, Souji? Come on in." Okita slide the door opened and Kondou's face brightened seeing the girl that Hijikata had saved last night looking all better.

"Oh, Are you all better?" Kondou asked. He was concerned with the girl when Hijikata had reported to him about this girl last night. There is no visible wound but she looked pale last night that it worried him if she was sick or something, plus Kyoto is a dangerous place, especially at night.

"Ah yes!" Ried said. She and the other Roshigumi member then sat in Kondou's room and soon after a bi-spectacle man came in and brought them tea, he introduced himself at Keisuke Sannan.

"Umm… I heard from Okita-san that you're the one who gave me a room and asked the others to take care of me." Ried began and bow to him, "I'm very grateful for your help, Kondou-san." She said.

"Now, now, It is natural for men to help a woman in need." Kondou said. Ried snapped her head, looking at Kondou with questioning eyes.

"Eh?"

"When you saw a woman in need of help you just have to help. But what were you doing in the street in the middle of the night?" Kondou asked. Ried blushed furiously, making the others looked at her confused. She looked down In embarrassment.

"Umm… Did I say something wrong?" Kondou asked.

Ried took a deep breath. Ried had lost counts of how many times people had asked Ried of this question and how people had confused of Ried's identity.

"Kondou-san… Before that, I want to correct one thing…" Ried spoke carefully, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Kondou-san, everyone… I'm not a girl, I'm a boy."

TBC

Hahaahah! XD thought I tried to make a cute trap character for this one XD the idea just popped up and I just write it just like that! Hope you like it! I kept write him as a she just to make the last part a surprise and also because the others thought he was a girl ^_^