Bad Situations

Chapter 1: I Got Captured!

Wakahisa Hinako, is an unlucky girl who just happens to get into the wrong situations each time.

Hijikata x OC

Just how did I get myself into this mess?

"Just admit that you're a part of Jouishishi and you will not be hurt in anyway." The man with the black hair scowled, while resting his legs up onto the metal table making a 'clang' sound. He took out a mayonnaise bottle from this uniform and flicked it open revealing what it truly was, a lighter. He placed a cigarette in between his lips and lit it up, sighing as he blew the smoke out of his mouth.

No matter how many times I tell them that I am not related to the Jouishishi, they just would not believe me huh? I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

~FLASH BACK~

"Zura ja nai! Katsura da! (It's not Zura, it's Katsura)" The man with long black hair shouted to the trio that was standing in front of him acting nonchalant.

The girl with long black hair who looks similar to the man whom was now trying to get the attention of the silver perm hair guy, sat silently at the Dango Shop nearby watching the scene with fascination.

Katsura? Isn't that the name of the Jouishishi leader? The one whom is involved in terrorist activities against the Bakufu, and is constantly on the run from the Shinsengumi? I have heard a lot of him and how he had always escaped from the Shinsengumi's eyes whenever he was on the verge of getting caught. To think that I would be seeing him in real life right now.

The girl continued to stare at the four people whom were stuck middle in the crowd not moving, having an intense conversation. She tilted her head to the right as she noticed a large white monster resembling a duck along with a large white dog, having an intense staring competition with sparks coming out of their eyes.

"Katsura-san… Is it safe for you to be walking around in the middle of the afternoon without any disguise?" The boy wearing the spectacles asked, with a worried expression on his face.

"Me? Don't worry I am the master of disguises~!" He replied with a confident look on his face as he put on the Groucho glasses while grinning confidently. "How does it look like Leader? You can't recognise me can you?" He asked the young girl whom was digging her nose, actions following the silver perm hair guy beside her. Both of them rubbed the 'gold' that they have dug from their noses onto Katsura's pale blue haori on top of his kimono, staining it.

"Zura, are you stupid?" The man with the silver perm hair asked in a monotonous voice, the young girl nodding her head in agreement with the man's question.

"I still don't know how you haven't been arrested yet-aru!"

After the statement left her mouth an explosion occurred to the store opposite of the Dango Shop. The girl with long black hair whom we had guess, the main character of the story, stood up in a hurry as she watch the event unfold right in front of her emerald eyes.

'BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!'

The Shinsengumi had found out Katsura's location. Instead of silently approaching him and catching him off guard, they decided to announce their presence to the terrorist in a flashy way. A bazooka could be seen on one of the Shinsengumi's shoulders, his sandy-coloured hair swayed against the blast. Behind him, the famous Demon Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi, voice bellowed out as he issue an order to capture Katsura. His katana reflected the sun rays and gleam brightly, blinding the long black haired girl's eyes for a moment.

"CHARRRRGEEE!" His voice rang out.

Unfortunately, our main character did not know that Katsura started to head towards her direction with Elizabeth leading the way. With the Shinsengumi trailing behind the pair and with the trio suddenly disappearing after the whole event took place. Our poor main character suddenly got dragged into the whole mess.

Katsura's gaze met with the girl and the first thing he thought of was that, 'She looks exactly like me!' Along with various bright fireworks in the back of his mind, he grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into the Dango Shop. After closing the entrance of the shop with various items to block the Shinsengumi's way in, the terrorists began to run up to the second floor of the shop with the girl trailing behind as her hands were still connected with Katsura's.

'OH MY GOD! Katsura, the Jouishishi's leader is holding my hand right now! What do I do! Is he going to make me his hostage? Is he going to kill me? But seeing him just now with the trio he seemed like an idiot somehow. Could the Joushishi's leader be an idiot in disguise?' She thought seriously as she watched the man ditch his so called 'disguise'.

Upon reaching the second floor the giant duck held up a sign saying, "We are cornered!"

Katsura's eyes widen in panic as he let go of the girl's hand. And truly, indeed they were. Hijikata Toushirou, stood menacingly in front of them with his katana pointed at three of them.

Wait a minute! Why is he pointing his katana at me too! Why am I so unlucky to be caught in this mess…?

Katsura and the giant duck being well accustomed with running away found a little hole in the Shinsengumi's advances. He took out an Nmaibo (corn snack) from his kimono and proceeded to throw it against the ground, engulfing the whole room with yellow smoke. He and his 'pet' sneaked out during the whole fuss when everyone was busy coughing and fanning the smoke away. Our main character was sadly left behind, coughing uncontrollably as some of the particles from the snack got into her lungs.

As the smoke cleared it was just her and the Shinsengumi members.

"Wait, before all of you jump into weird conclusions I will have to inform you that I am not a part of th-"

"Clink"

The Demon Vice-Commander had just handcuffed her without hesitation. The girl stared at his face unbelievingly, trying to read his facial expression.

Is he being serious? He isn't right? Someone please inform me that this isn't true!

Her panic-stricken eyes could be seen clearly by the other Shinsengumi members. Even though they wanted to tell their Vice Commander that he might be making a mistake, they do not dare to anger him. As he is the rule, no one dares to defy him. He is not called the 'Demon Vice-Commander' for nothing.

~Present Time~

"So let's say that you're not a part of the Jouishishi…" His voice trailed on as he looked at the girl in front of him, her eyes were big and clear. She nodded signalling the man to continue his statement. "Then you must be related to that man as you were running around with him."

Oh of all things he had to see that? Oh dear God, someone save me. I could already see my bleak future.

"Honestly, I do not know why he dragged my along into the mess." She replied truthfully.

The man frowned. He brought his legs down and moved his face closer to hers to examine her face. "You're not answering my questions." He stated blankly.

"You weren't even asking me a question!"

"Hmm… talking back now huh?" Hijikata sighed as he took the cigarette out of his lips to knock the ash that had gathered at the end.

"Hijikata-san, perhaps we have to resort to more drastic measures." The boy with the sandy coloured hair entered the interrogation room with a horrible smirk plastered on his face.

"Oii Sougo, we didn't bring her here to scare her."

"You are already scaring her with the glares that you have been sending her the whole hour." The boy shrugged. "Shouldn't we leave this to Kondou-san?"

"… Knowing him, he would be soft towards her." Hijikata turned his head to face the girl whom had been observing their conversation the whole time. "What did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't say it. My name is Wakahisa Hinako."

I have a feeling that this will take a long time.

My name is Wakahisa Hinako and I am 18 years old this year. My parents died during the Joui War and ever since then I had been living by myself. At first, it was hard trying to make ends meet but soon enough I manage to cope with the pressure. It started out small, me pick pocketing. After that I had to resort to more drastic measures such as stealing and now I am working in a cabaret hostess.

At this age and time working as a cabaret hostess at my age is not awkward. At the same workplace, there is someone called Shimura Tae, even though we are the same age our personalities are vastly different. I heard that she took up this job to keep her family dojo going. She is loud, strong and holds onto her bushido code. How I envy people with strong will and ambition. If only I have a goal to achieve too. I have been living my life in a blur, avoiding my landlord a couple of times when I do not have the money to pay for the rent and various other stuffs. This got me thinking…

Whether I am truly living my life the way I want it to…

The atmosphere inside the interrogation room tensed marginally as the Commander of the Shinsengumi came into the room. The interrogation room is not that big, having a total of 4 people inside the room is already considered a lot. The room had a small barred window where you can the sky outside. The opposite wall there is a glass window for the other Shinsengumi to watch the interrogation take place. There is a huge square table in the middle with a small table lamp on it. The walls are painted gray, a depressing colour in Wakahisa's opinion.

"Ahahaha Hinako-chan, that is a cute name you have!" The person whom is called the Commander of the Shinsengumi, Kondou Isao, resembling a gorilla scratched the back of his head. He laughed nervously as he watched the girl stared daggers at him.

"Don't call me that!" She snapped back.

He had just stepped into the room not long ago. She had just met him for like a minute and here he is calling her 'Hinako-chan'?

"Oii, woman! How dare you talk back to Kondou-san like that!" Hijikata barked, waving his clenched fists towards her.

"Now Toushi, men shouldn't resort to violence, especially when you are dealing with women!" He nodded with acknowledgement on his 'advice'.

The Demon Vice-Commander shrugged as he made his way to the door only to have his Commander to call out to him, "Toushi!"

"Hmmm…? What is it?" Hijikata turned to face Kondou.

"Ahhh… I need you to watch her."

"WHAT? WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THAT! Why not ask that sadist to watch after her." Hijikata complained as he pointed to the young boy with sandy coloured hair whom Wakahisa had now confirmed his identity as Sougo.

"Hijikata-san… I know you do not want any women to find out about your otaku collection but pushing her towards me won't help much in your situation." Sougo said in a monotonous voice along with Kondou nodding in agreement. He then smirked at Hijikata making him take a step back as he fully understands that it wasn't just a normal statement, it was a threat.

"Fine… I will watch her." Hijikata sighed.

Hijikata Toushirou, a man in his early twenties, sighed as he watches the girl struggle with the handcuffs which he refuses to unlock. He continued to observe her, taking in her appearance. She is wearing a light green kimono which compliments her eye colour, emerald. Her hair was long and black, worn in same style that the infamous Jouishishi leader decided to wear his. Her skin is slightly fair and her height is similar as that girl from the Yorozuya.

Wakahisa noticed the man staring at her. She stopped struggling and glared at the man.

"Just why am I in this position!" She demanded as she shook the handcuffs.

Apparently Hijikata was to look after this girl, since they do not know her connections with the Jouishishi and why she was being dragged along by Katsura. She could be dangerous, what if she is an assassin with great acting skills? They had decided to make him look after her until her guardian shows up to take her back, but they do not know that the girl does not parents let alone a guardian. He had brought her back to his room in the Shinsengumi Headquarters as Kondou kept probing him that 'girls should be treated with care'. The Commander of the Shinsengumi felt sorry for the girl that had to go through all the interrogation and decided that she should have a better place to sleep other than the detention cell.

Hijikata still suspicious of the girl decided to stab his katana against the walls of his room and hooked her handcuffs onto his katana, disabling her from moving her hands much. Her hands would be in plain sight. No sneakiness. No taking out shurikens or kunais to assassinate him.

He did not reply to her outburst, he continued light another cigarette, filling the room with smoke. He was not wearing his uniform anymore, since he had reported off duty after taking the girl from the interrogation room to his own personal living space in the Headquarters. He is wearing a black kimono. He leaned against the shoji doors, half of his body out in the corridor, the other half in this room. The door is opened inviting the orange rays of the sun setting to light up the room. The atmosphere was surprisingly relaxing, after a hard day at work. Hijikata felt that the silence along with the chirping of the birds in the background and the hypnotic sway of the trees was a nice treat after all he had gone through. It would be a long night with the girl he had to look after. With her presence in his room he tense as he notice that he should not be relaxing, he should be using this nice opportunity to make her spit out information, whether or not she is the enemy or not.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He turned to look at the girl. Had she stabbed him with a shuriken or kunai after all?

Wakahisa stared blankly at him as he showed symptoms of anxiety.

Wow, just what happened? Why is he looking at me as if I had just done something bad? Hey I am stuck here not being able to move! Suspect me all you want but I can't do anything in this situation. Not with my hands handcuffed!

'No it isn't her!' Hijikata thought nervously. 'Don't tell me her reinforcements had come to save her after knowing that she is being held captive!'

Sweat trailed down Hijikata's forehead as he continued to speculate his situation until he saw Okita Sougo in the corner of his eye. The boy was wearing a white kimono and was doing a weird occult ceremony which involved him stabbing a voodoo doll. Each time Okita stabbed the doll, a pain struck Hijikata.

"OIIIIIIII! SOUGOOO! What are you doing! You want me DEAD don't you! You are carrying out some weird OCCULT activities to curse me to death aren't you!" Hijikata shouted as he pointed his index finger accusingly to the young man.

"Ahhh... Hijikata-san. I am just purifying your soul. I want to make sure that you don't do any lewd activities to scare away Wakahisa-san…" Sougo replied as he continued to stab the doll making Hijikata's chest ache with pain.

"YOU ARE JUST OUT HERE TO KILL ME!"

"Nononono… I am helping you Hijikata-san."

"DON'T LIE! Why are you wearing such clothes! Are you getting ready to see my dead body?"

The other Shinsengumi members decided to take a peek on what is happening by sliding the shoji doors slightly. They could see that the young girl, Wakahisa Hinako had just dozed off after being in an uncomfortable position for such a long time. They are amazed that she could still sleep in such an awkward situation. They watched their 1st Division Captain and Demon Vice-Commander squabble about outside the room. The sun making their shadows dramatic and large as it continues to set, beckoning the night to come by.

The sneaky members looked at each other and thought that this will be a long night for the Shinsengumi, especially their Demon Vice-Commander in particular as he is currently having a girl located in his room. She is a suspect of whom they do not know her true identity and intentions. Could she be a part of the Jouishishi? Is she related to Katsura Kotarou? What if she is related to the Kiheitai? It would be disastrous if she is a part of them. What if she really innocent?

They can only tell when night comes.

End of Chapter 1