A/N: My first attempt at writing, writing in English and writing a fan fic. This is a bit of an alternative Universe thing, since there are some extra things, but other than that I am trying to stick to the anime's main story line also I should warn that I am absolutely hopeless about Japanese culture. I decided to start before the anime starts, in August 1863, but as I learned about the games that act as a prequel to this series only way after starting to write these they get a little bit less attention. Also the rating is something that I was horribly unsure about, now it is just mostly slightly gory things, but I started to feel oddly citrusy, but we'll have to see about that. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan.

Chapter 1. New Members

The air was unusually heavy with humidity even though it was already the end of August. The previous day had been almost painfully hot and it seemed that the day that was peeking over the horizon was going to be just as horrid. Because of the unbearable weather it seemed that everyone tried to exert themselves as little as possible and it was common for people to travel between the short hours after the sun set and midnight or very early in the morning before the sun had the opportunity to rise too high on the sky. It was maybe because of this that one of the younger members of the Shinsengumi guarding the gate to the headquarters was not so surprised when a traveler appeared at the far end of the road. The night watch had been as boring as one could expect; the Mibu village was sleeping peacefully and the guard was slightly curious about the new comer and decided that he would speak to the man when he would pass the gate. It was always interesting to hear news from the passersby and the guard was truly bored. As he squinted towards the traveler for a moment he thought he saw three dogs, one larger and two smaller ones accompanying him, but as he looked again the animals had disappeared. Probably they were some of the many masterless stray dogs that much like the Shinsengumi had adopted the Mibu village as their home. The young guard forgot quickly about the dogs as the traveler was already at talking distance. He never got the chance though to start the conversation as it was started for him.

"Good morning" the traveler said a bit too cheerfully for it to be so early.

"Good morning!"

"Is this by any chance the Shinsengumi headquarters?" the traveler asked and nodded just very slightly towards the gate.

"Yes, yes it is!" the guard announced proudly, both to be doing his duty as a guard and also because the stranger had called the place the Shinsengumi headquarters instead of the Yagi house where the Mibu wolves stayed.

He then remembered that there were even a sign telling this. It was only temporary though, since as soon as the group had been informed about their new name just a few days ago a sign had been ordered. It had been agreed upon that the Vice-Commander's brother who was recognized for his beautiful calligraphy would write it and now the gate was only waiting to be adorned with the new sign. Instinctively the guard turned slightly to look to his left where the sign would be and as he did this he realized that he was currently standing right in front of the temporary one. He blushed and to cover for his slight feeling of awkwardness he put his mind in to concluding his duty.

"May I inquire what business you have with the Shinsengumi?" He addressed the traveler as sternly as he could, but him being only 15-years of age he didn't manage scariness not nearly as well as the Vice-Commander would have.

"Yes, of course" the traveler said readily and reached to take off the bamboo hat he had been wearing.

The young guard noticed that the hat had a net to protect the wearer from mosquitos and momentarily he felt a tinge of jealousy; one of the worst things about standing in guard was the fact that one did not move and was thus the perfect target for mosquitos. He would have appreciated the hat. While he was still deep in his dark thoughts about the irritating sides of the unavoidable night-time duty the traveler had straightened up and approached him. He was of lean build and taller than the young guard which was a bit unusual and wore his hair tied up into a ponytail. He was wearing a light colored summer yukata and carried with him a longish bag, neither of them in anyway fancy, but still not worn out. He was not armed nor did he have any other signs on him what his social standing might be to the great distress of the young guard. The only thing that stood out was that he was wearing a rosary around his left wrist and his neck.

"I came here to join the Shinsengumi" the traveler said, his voice was calm with a feeling of being self-assured. He spoke very refined and had an Edo-accent.

The young guard was so surprised by this that he could not help himself and he looked up to see the stranger's face. He had a very pleasant face at that, maybe a tiny bit handsome the guard thought, he was probably a nice person, though there were something odd about his eyes. Quickly the guard looked away and returned at the matter at hand. It was odd for people to want to join the Shinsengumi; new recruits did not come often as the group had a rather bad reputation and they did not have much to offer to new members. The Shinsengumi was not even half year old and already Serizawa-sensei and his group had almost entirely managed to destroy their reputation in Kyoto. It was better now with their new name and mission and Matsudaira-sama's support but the fact that the group was practically broke and lived scattered in the Mibu village and that it was so tightly associated with Serizawa did not really help them. The imperial capital was rather hostile towards the pro-Bakufu group. The guard looked up and said slightly wearily.

"If you want to join the Sinsengumi you have to be over 15"

"That won't be a problem. I am 23" the traveler said and now he was actually smiling and did indeed look rather handsome. The guard blushed again.

"You also have to pass a test. It is held in the dojo once a week or so. It is a match or a series of matches fought with the shinai. You have to fight the other applicants or one of the members of the Shinsengumi. But I think you got lucky there are two men who came from Edo yesterday and you will probably face them. I mean it would be more difficult to go against the more experienced members or the captains, right?" the guard said feeling good about himself for being able to give the friendly traveler such good news.

"I am sure it would" the traveler agreed and adjusted the bag on his shoulder and looked towards the horizon at the rising sun "When is the next test going to be held?"

"Two days from now. I could ask for it to be arranged especially for you today, but it is just that everybody's been really busy lately and there are no regular daily practices now because of the heat. Everybody kept fainting from the heat so now we are trying to get used to it. The test is after the practice".

"Very well. Then I will return in two days" The traveler said and tied the hat under his chin and turned to go.

"Ah, no wait! I need your name. You can wait and then officially announce that you want to participate, when everybody wakes up, but if you want I can take your name to Sannan-san. He is in charge of listing new members" the guard offered. He liked the traveler whom he was already thinking of as a new member and wanted to help him to pass the test. He didn't seem like a bushi, probably some younger son of a merchant family who wanted to experience adventures.

"Thank you very much, that would be really helpful" The traveler said and bowed his head slightly "My name is Sekiya Kazumi"

"I am Maeda Hisato. Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too. Thank you again for the help. Then, good bye"

"Good bye Sekiya-san. I will see you in two days!" Hisato yelled and waved.

Even though the month was nearing its end the weather was still agonizingly hot and the Shinsengumi kept having only half day practice and combat exercises. Still the days during which the entrance tests were held managed to collect most of the members not on duty into the makeshift dojo which was situated close to the Yagi house. Hisato like many of the younger members were especially curious to see the matches, since sometimes they were especially tight between equally skilled swordsmen. Today Hisato was more curious than usually. They had a sensational four new applicants and one of them was the traveler he had met. Hisato was sitting with some of his comrades on the floor and waiting. Sannan-san was with the applicants standing at the back wall, most likely explaining them the rules.

"Who is going to be refereeing the matches?" Hisato asked from his neighbors.

"I think it is going to be Okita-sensei. I saw him earlier in the yard. I mean it is about time it is his turn again!" his neighbor said.

He was a few years older than Hisato and belonged to the unit under Harada whereas Hisato was in the third unit and even though there were some competition between the different units the lower ranking members were all rather closely connected spending much time practicing together and sleeping in the same quarters. Hisato looked around and thought that also some members from Serizawa's group had come, but as they lived often in different houses, the Kondo group favoring the Maekawa estate over the Yagi house he did not know the other group's members that well.

Everybody fell obediently silent as the Vice-Commander stepped inside flanked by Okita and Saito. The three went to sit at the back wall. Also Sannan sat with the other Shinsengumi executives and the applicants seated themselves on the remaining free wall.

"I am Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi and I will be refereeing the matches between the applicants" Okita said from his seat and two of the applicants rose from their seats and faced each other in the middle of the floor.

Usually he did not bother to take part in every practice session or even to come to see all the tests, but today Hijikata had given in on Souji's endless pleading and came with the two captains to see the matches. He tended to trust his two best swordsmen and their judgment when it came to accepting new members. Be it that they were amongst the youngest Shinsengumi captains; they still saved him a lot of trouble in this matter. Souji was ruthless and meticulous when it came to swordsmanship and Saitou-kun had a very good eye for evaluating people's skills, techniques and character. Besides today it was so hot that even thinking felt sluggish and he was curious to see who the men who had come all the way from Edo were.

"Exciting, ne, Hijikata-san?" Souji said grinning, sitting cross-legged and turned to look at the two combatants not really expecting a response.

The first match was fairly short and ended when the taller red clad swordsman got a hit to his right shoulder. The combatants greeted each other and moved to the side to make room for the next pair.

"Well?" Hijikata said, maybe slightly impatiently.

"The red clad person lost" Souji offered helpfully.

"I wasn't talking to you" Hijikata hissed to him, knowing full well that Souji knew this too. But the other just smiled as if he had just been thanked for his considerate help.

"It was an unnecessary mistake on the part of the defeated. I am sure he is the better of the two but his technique is not honed, he doesn't know what to do with his feet, so he does not utilize all the space available" Saito-kun said and thought for a moment "The one in black is also decent, but I think had it not been for the mistake he was closer to lose. Neither of them is exceptionally good, but they are not too bad"

"I talked with them earlier and it seems they are friends from Edo who practiced at the same dojo" Sannan-san said quietly "maybe they were not being honest with their skills having been forced to fight against each other in such a new and maybe more demanding than usual situation?"

With Saito-kun apparently not having a viewpoint on the matter Hijikata decided to move on to more interesting matters.

"Will they be of any use to us?" He asked from Saito-kun.

"Yes. Aside from some mistakes that are correctable they have acceptable technique, they just need more strict and constructed practice"

Slightly disappointed Hijikata had to agree with Saito-kun; no matter how much they were in need of new members, many of those who came to apply were not always in possession of horribly good skills, but were more often than not very enthusiastic about swordsmanship being sons of samurai families who would not inherit after their fathers but wished to use their skills for something.

"Alright, next pair. Begin!" Souji said and the two combatants who had been waiting moved to meet in the middle of the floor.

Concentrated Hisato followed how the traveler who had introduced himself as Sekiya stepped out to take his place on the floor. The Vice-commander was talking with Okita-sensei and Saito-sensei and the two men were waiting. Just like before Sekiya-san was wearing the light blue yukata, the obi neatly tied and his shoulder length hair up. In the brighter light of the day his hair was pitch black like coal but his skin was slightly pale and Hisato thought that he noticed he had light green eyes. He also looked much more relaxed than he ought to have given the situation and Hisato was wondering if he maybe didn't really want to join after all. The match turned out not horribly interesting, though Hisato was very pleased with the outcome as Sekiya-san won. The combatants proceeded so that in the end everyone would have fought at least one match against the others and the last match was between those who had the most wins. Sekiya-san won all his matches and was the other remaining swordsman. The other man was a very tall and broad shouldered man who had come the day before and slept over at the Yagi house. Pleased but in the name of honesty rather surprised Hisato had to admit that Sekiya-san had been better than he had initially thought that he would be. It was just that he didn't look all that strong to him.

"Begin!" Souji shouted and the two men charged towards each other and met with a loud bang.

"Hmm? They are much more serious this time. Ne, Hajime-kun? Especially the big guy" Souji said smiling wryly and turned quickly to slightly to look behind his shoulder.

Hijikta also looked at the other captain, but Saito-kun didn't say anything to this which Hijikata interpreted this time as a sign of agreement. According to one of Hijikata's many pet theories about the people in the Shinsengumi Saito-kun was someone who wished to eliminate saying unnecessary or obvious things. He then turned his attention to the two combatants. It seemed the man that Souji had referred to as the 'big guy' was truly much more serious about the final fight, but still Hijikata had a naggy feeling that he would lose despite of his efforts. Rather annoyingly Saito-kun was refusing to say anything about the other man other than that he was sure this one was the best among the four and that he would not know anything certain before the guy would have the good grace to take his fights seriously. Well, it doesn't really matter right now, Hijikata thought, no matter what, they are all good enough to be allowed to join and that's what matters. The fight ended almost at the same moment that Hijikata thought of this with the blue clad man landing a direct hit to the bigger man's abdomen. Souji ended the match and got up to go to greet the men.

"Sannan-san, list them all" Hijikata said.

"Very well" Sannan-san said warmly "How should I assign them to the units? Shall we keep the previous plan? Is it still necessary?"

"Yes, but this time let's make it a bit easier for the three first units as well. They are still outnumbered. Was it Nakagura who got the last time's winner?"

"The man that was assigned to Nakagura-san's unit was the rather gifted blacksmith, two weeks ago" Sannan-san said looking through his papers.

"Then Souji can take the big guy, the winner goes to the third unit. And the two others… was it the ninth's and eight's turn?" Hijikata said and got up to leave.

"It is somewhat unfair for Okita-san" Saito-kun said.

"It is fine. We can't keep on relying on individuals too much and overwork the captains. I can't have you or Souji fainting from over exertion just because you are given the least talented newcomers to look after. It should go this way around once in a while also. Besides we need to keep the units around the same size anyways with not too many differences with their ability. If we do indeed get more members in the future then we can adjust things further" Hijikata said flatly "I am sure Souji won't mind. Or do you object further?"

"No"

"Good. Sannan-san will inform the new members. So tell this to Souji as well, please" Hijikata said and turned around and left the dojo with Sannan-san.

Saito turned to look where Souji was talking to the four new members and pointing to the yard. He said something which was inaudible for Saito which made the big guy and the two friends from Edo laugh loudly. The fourth man merely smiled and instead turned to look towards the others who had been sitting on the other wall as if he heard his name called. Saito did not wish to join the group and got up to leave the dojo as well, he could talk to Souji later as he would most likely come by the back garden during his evening practice anyways.