As the sounds of cars faded and the peaceful noises of nature took their place, Chise finally began to prepare herself for several weeks of camping. Although it was not the first thing she would have chosen to do for summer break, her uncle had been adamant about getting out of the house and spending some time outdoors.
"The fresh air will be good for you. Besides, Sen and Chikage are going, too." The muscular, red-haired man had pointed out, skillfully ignoring his niece's face when he mentioned a certain blonde.
"There is plenty of fresh air here, Uncle. And it's not like Chikage volunteered to go, either. No doubt Kazuo-sama is kicking him out of the manor, so it isn't very tempting when you say Chikage-kun will be there, as he'll most likely be in a foul mood the whole time."
Although her argument was valid and she expressed her desire to remain home in a (fairly) mature way, the girl's guardian had made up his mind and sent her to begin packing for the trip. "Don't forget two extra pairs of tennis shoes, Chise," were his parting words.
So, here she was, in the backseat of her beloved uncle's van with her suitcase full of clothes and feminine necessities waiting for the stoplight to turn green so they could pass the intersection and pull into the campgrounds. Simultaneously unzipping a pocket in her suitcase, Chise turned her phone's power off and slipped it inside. Kyuju had threatened to confiscate it once she returned home if it was used for anything other than calling him or her fellow camp-goers, so she made sure the action was visible to him from the front seat.
A minute later, the light turned green and they crossed the road into an empty parking lot. Suspicious but not yet concerned, Chise unbuckled her seatbelt and took her baggage from the car, shutting the door before waving at the redhead as he drove away.
"Now I have to wait for everyone to get here. I just hope it won't be long.. I didn't eat as much as I wanted to because I was anxious, but now I'm really hungry." She murmured to herself, not expecting a reply and nearly flinging herself up a tree when she heard a soft voice.
"Ah, excuse me. Are you waiting for the Hakuouki camp counselors, too?" A girl with brown hair and eyes asked, her voice almost inaudible despite there being no other sounds around them. Answering her with a nod, Chise joined the girl on a fallen tree that doubled as a seat to relax on. Even though she might have trouble standing back up, the ebony haired teen decided to think about that when it actually came time to leave.
"Yeah, I am. My name's Chise Amagiri. What is yours?" She inquired, her greeting sounding a little muffled as she had to crouch down before sitting on the tree. Whereas the other girl merely plopped down and smiled. "I'm Chizuru Yukimura. It's very nice to meet you, Chise-san. I hope you have as much fun this year as I had last year."
Chise returned the smile with half as much enthusiasm and cringed a little when Chizuru used the -san honorific. Brushing her off with a nod of her head, red eyes scanned the area immediately, quite a bit on edge since there was still no sign of the counselors, or anyone else for that matter.
"Same here, Chizuru, but you can drop the honorifics. We're the same age and that kind of stuff really doesn't matter to me so much. Anyway, do you know a guy named Chikage? He came here last year, and judging by your last comment, you must have done this camp last year as well. I was thinking that I could give him a call and see if he could grab something for us to eat on his way over here. His friend, Shiranui has no doubt convinced him to drive through some fast-food place and if I contact him fast enough, they could bring something-" Chise cut herself off when the other girl's face turned pale and she scooted further away from where she had been sitting.
Guessing by her reaction, Chikage must have frightened her- or maybe it was Shiranui, you never know- last time they were here. "What did they do? Oh gods, I hope they didn't dunk you in the lake! Those men have a twisted view of fun, so I wouldn't put it past them. No, wait! Let me guess.. Chikage asked you to marry him under a big oak tree in the middle of the night and when you said no, he tried to abduct you using a speedboat? OR, he put a bug in your hair and then swatted at it while it was still on you?"
At the look of terror in her eyes, Chise snorted and pulled her phone out of her suitcase. "I'm sure it was all three if you have that look on your face. Oh well, I'll ask Shiranui then. He's less likely to hide an insect in the hamburger wrap, though not by much."
In record time, Chise had dialed the number and gotten a response on the first ring, a grin then spread across her face when she heard a low groan from somewhere in the background. Shiranui must have her on speakerphone, so that was probably Chikage after realizing just who had called.
"Save the greetings, Shiranui. I wanna know if you guys have grabbed some food yet. My uncle dropped me off at the camp five minutes ago and since nobody is here, I would rather not starve while I wait. Oh, and this Chizuru girl is here with me, so get her something, too. Just make sure it's not expensive. The gods know how much Chikage likes to spend on a single order of chicken strips alone." She chuckled, also ignoring the older blonde's choice expletives in response to her joke. A broken laugh and loud but manly screech later, the owner of the phone spoke up.
"Easy, Chise.. We're going sixty miles an hour and your snarky comment almost caused Chikage to flatten a biker. Now, what do you want to order? I can't promise we'll get it, especially since your lover boy is paying, but I will take it into consideration. One more thing.. If you use my last name while we're at camp, I'll shoot you. And that's not a metaphor."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Shi-ra-nu-i. I'd like a cheeseburger meal with fries and a chocolate milkshake. Don't mess it up or you won't be the only one shooting people. Got it?" She asked, only half joking and putting extra emphasis on the syllables of the tanned man's name. Chise was really beginning to lose out to her hunger, and she barely noticed this was probably frightening Chizuru more than the fact that the devils of camp Hakuouki, Chikage and Shiranui, would be bringing her food.
Two men, one with short honey-blonde hair and the other wearing his midnight-blue hair in a high ponytail, exited a McDonald's each carrying a bag of food. Both remained silent until they reached a black car, after which the blonde man spoke up. "Do not get any crumbs on my leather seats, or I swear Shiranui, you will walk the rest of the way." At this insult to his pride, Kyo Shiranui stuck his tongue out at his companion and buckled his seat belt, giving it a sharp tug. If the trip to the restaurant proved to him that Chikage did not have a steady hand at the wheel despite his claims otherwise, he made sure the strap was secured across his chest. He didn't want to risk flying through the windshield if a random squirrel tried to cross the street.
"Quit whining, Chikage. Look, I'm putting the bag on the floor, so start the damn car. Chise's tone was not polite and I'd hate to keep the lady waiting. We both know better than to underestimate her threats."
This elicited a scoff from Chikage and he had to force down the urge to eat a fry from said girl's bag. His relationship with the ebony haired female had a rocky start and only went downhill from there, but neither of them bothered to take any measures to make it right, and continued to treat each other the same. The first time he met Chise was during a business meeting that the younger girl had begged her uncle to attend. Now don't get him wrong, Chikage couldn't keep his ruby eyes off her, thinking it was strange for a girl to be interested in his father's SEO Corporation.
Nevertheless, he decided to excuse himself to the restroom to splash some water on his face in an attempt to wake him up, but that turned out to be a mistake. After drying his hands and entering the hallway, Chikage bumped into the very person he had been trying to avoid. She was a rather small child, and he had wondered if her stature came from her mother's side of the family as both her father and uncle were muscular and tall men. Even so, the way she held herself gave her the image of someone with authority and Chikage had almost flinched when she pointed a short, stubby finger at his face. Although he was much older and could have easily pushed her aside, her stunning red eyes held him in place.
"Staring is rude, you know. If you want to say something, tell me now. It was more than a little awkward to see you looking across the room at me and even my uncle mentioned it. Now if you want to just stand and gape at me, then please schedule it for another day. The lecture Shiranui-sama was giving about data analysis intrigued me and I would like to continue listening."
She had blurted out, her manner of speaking quite refined for a ten year old girl whose appearance was anything but. Her jet black hair was messy and unkempt, and her clothes were rumpled as if she had worn them to bed.
"Excuse me? That is no way to speak to someone who is clearly your senior. Apologize. Now." He had quickly shot back at her, immediately regretting his words. Not only did she laugh at him, but she also made fun of his hair. "Apologize? Oh, I'll think about it. And I had assumed seniors were supposed to have gray hair, not that ugly mess of blonde you have." At a loss for words, he had whipped around and stormed down the hall to the meeting room, ignoring her jibes at his pride and hairstyle.
Shaking his head to rid himself of that horrid memory, Chikage, now twenty-five years of age and spoiled as hell, started the car and drove off. His destination? A cranky little girl and run-down camp. Shiranui, unsure of what else to do, turned on the radio and set it to station 102.9 before staring out the window at rows of trees and bushes. Although he was glad to finally be out of his stuffy house, the tan devil was not quite looking forward to spending more than three weeks in the same cabin as the blonde beside him. It's not like he wasn't clean or woke him up early, but just knowing Chise Amagiri would be there to antagonize him was nothing short of a nightmare. He enjoys spending time with the girl, he had to admit, but her rocky relationship with his best friend ruins almost everything.
It started getting hard to manage his feelings for the black-haired beauty and his friendship with the Kazama heir once they turned twenty. Shiranui had never really payed attention to females until he met Chise; she caused his heart to flutter and made him feel like a man. However, Kyo felt like a boy compared to Kazama and forced himself to stay in the background upon learning of the other's crush. If Chikage was in love with her, then he had no chance.
The two were soon drawn out of their minds when the car pulled into the campgrounds and Kyuju Amagiri met them in the parking lot. The large redhead appeared troubled and they sensed something had gone wrong, both taking the time to scour the growing crowd of teens for a certain girl. When there was no trace of her, Chikage faced Kyuju and spoke up, his deep baritone voice causing goose bumps to creep up on Shiranui. "Oi, Amagiri. Did you use the old website and mix up the directions again? If so, then we're never going to hear the end of it..."
I forgot to mention this at the beginning of the chapter, but the characters of Hakuouki do not belong to me. I do not own any of them no matter how much I want to. The only person I own is Chise, since she's my OC. Also, since oni don't go back on their promises, (wink wonk) I will dedicate this chapter to EmmaLanna. Thank you so much for supporting me!