A/N: So here we have another fanfic for Hakuouki. I just can't seem to stop writing them. Not that it's a bad thing.
This story is centered around the characters of Hakuouki: Reimeiroku. Reimeiroku is the newest Hakuouki game they've come out with. Which means that you will not understand this fic if you've only watched the anime/ and/or played the other Hakuoki games excluding Reimeiroku.
You don't necessarily need to have played Reimeiroku to understand this fic, but you should probably at least know the basic plot and characters, anyway. Information on Reimeiroku can be found in the Hakuouki LJ, if you really want to. One note: This thing will probably also have spoilers for Reimeiroku as well.
I'll put a bigger explanation of Reimeiroku at the bottom if you want to know about it before reading iit. There won't be much though, since I'm here to give you a fic and not sell you Reimeiroku XDD
Special thanks to Tokio_Fujita on LJ for all of her Reimeiroku information, which I used in the fic. Not everything in the fic is true to the game though.
"Haha! What a weakling of a kid! This was easy." The ronin's voice echoed emptily through his head. "We got some good money out of this one."
He lay face down in the dirt, his face stinging with pain. A trickle of blood rolled down from his forehead to his cheek, and finally into the ground. He watched the ground absorb his own blood with lifeless, uninterested eyes.
Mother...
A foot kicked into his back. "Let's leave the kid here. He'll die soon, anyway."
He couldn't lift his head. He could only lie there, listen to them leave with all of his money.
Mother...
He didn't know how long he had lain there. But he could feel his body weakening with every passing hour. His stomach growled; a reminder to his brain. He had not eaten for days.
I'll probably die here. But it doesn't matter anymore. I'll be reunited with my mother, and I won't have to serve as a damn samurai.
A dry crunch sounded by his ears. The sound of a foot stepping on the dusty, gravel-strewn ground. A low growl of surprise emitted from the source, before he felt a tug on his dirty, messy blue hair that forced his head up.
He gazed blankly at what was ahead of him-a neat, expensive brown hakama, clean white socks, and good shoes. Then a hand swept down in front of him, holding out a cloth-and on that cloth was one perfect, salted rice ball.
Just one, single rice ball that was being held out to him for taking.
He reached out with his grimy fingers, determined to get that rice ball from that cloth into that mouth of his. His fingers grazed the soft rice before it was pulled away and stamped on with the foot in front of him.
"That was the last one. Tough luck for you, kid. Seems like your fate ends here." And then the one with the brown hakama laughed a roaring cruelness of hilarity.
He blacked out.
"Ryu-kun! Ryu-kun!"
"Mother!"
She smiled gently at him. He felt his own face break into a smile. "Mother! You're all right!"
His mother suddenly gasped, and began to cough. Blood splattered from her mouth, and suddenly she fell to dust in front his eyes. "Become a samurai, Ryu-kun." Her words hung into the empty air.
"MOTHER!"
When he awoke, he was dazzled by the bright light that flooded in. He lifted his hand to shield it, and suddenly noticed the opened paper doors that were letting in the light. He was in an unfamiliar room.
Then he realized there was a boy watching him.
"Gah! Who the hell are you?"
"Oh. You're awake. I didn't mean to scare you, sorry. I'm Heisuke. What about you?"
"...Ibuki. Ibuki Ryunosuke. Where the hell am I? How long have I been here?" He sat up. "Why did you save me?"
Heisuke's expression fell a little bit. "About that...we weren't the ones who saved you. Serizawa-san did. You've been unconscious for a week. You're with the Mibu Rōshigumi."
Thwack!
Serizawa-san's heavy metal fan smacked against his forehead, leaving a large, painful bruise.
"Damn, what a useless servant," he growled. "You're hopeless! I should have just left you on the side of that shitty road."
Ryunosuke said nothing, but his eyes dropped to the ground. He knew he was indebted to Serizawa-san for saving him, but he couldn't help the small bubble of feelings that sprouted deep inside him.
I hate samurai. They should all just eat dirt!
She winced in pain, holding delicate fingers to her now-red forehead. Serizawa-san brandished his fan at her. "You've got nerve, pretty bitch!"
"H-Hey, Serizawa-san!" Ryunosuke cradled Kosuzu in his arms. "Don't you think you're going a little far?"
"Me? This little dancer girl had the nerve to speak back at me! We paid fair and square for her entertainment, and we get this useless thing." Serizawa-san spat. "She doesn't deserve a place at this teahouse!"
Shaking with fury, Ryunosuke gritted his teeth. If this is the kind of samurai that Mother wanted me to become, then she must have been crazy! I hate samurai!
"It shouldn't have turned out this way!"
Shaking with pain and anger, Hijikata-san held out his sword in front of him, watching as blood dripped off the gleaming blade. "Nobody should have died! If only I had noticed Niimi's plot earlier…" His fist shook. "But I failed to. And now dozens have died at my hand for no reason."
"And yet you're still using the Ochimizu," Yamazaki continued. "Why must you push yourself to this point?"
Hijikata heaved a sigh, before hardening his gaze. "This is out last chance to become samurai," he said. "I will not let go of that dream."
And for the first time, Ryunosuke felt a twinge of understanding deep inside him.
"I want you to become a samurai, Ryu-kun. Follow the steps of your father, and your family."
"I don't want to, Mother. I don't want to kill, nor do I want to protect the Shogunate. I just want to be my own self."
And yet was he doing here, holding a sword in his hands?
He knew the answer. Ryunosuke held up his sword to moonlight, watching the diamond pattern on the handle become bathed in a pale, silvery glow. Ryunosuke unsheathed the weapon, watching his own reflection in the moonlight.
"I don't kill," he whispered. "I protect."
With his hands, he had protected—and he could do more of it in the future. He could protect Kyoto, the Shinsengumi, and Kosuzu. He could protect what he truly wanted. Ryunosuke was sure that there was a future for him, now, and he could find it with his sword.
I want to become a samurai.
I used...a lot of dividing sections.
Anyway, for Reimeiroku information: Reimeiroku takes place before Chizuru comes to Kyoto. The main protagonist is a boy named Ibuki Ryunosuke, and he comes to meet up with the Shinsengumi (known as the Mibu Roshigumi at the beginning, but they were given the named "Shinsengumi" by the Aizu clan later) after Serizawa finds him. His mother is dead, and she really wanted him to become a samurai, but he hates samurai. Anyway, Serizawa finds him, and he becomes Serizawa's servant to repay him after saving him. And the rest of the game is more or less a history lesson with friendship and other stuff XD By the way, Niimi is one of Serizawa's men.
A hakama is a kind of Japanese clothing that men wear. It's what Chizuru/Serizawa/Hijikata/whatever wear.
...Please Review...