It had been three days since Rin had spoken with Sen about Yukimura Chizuru and the Shinsengumi. Rin sighed as she swept the floor of the shop. She would have to provide an answer today, and the thought of refusing Sen's request made her feel anxious. She was grateful that her old friend had made an effort to find her. It had been so long since she had been able to call anyone a friend, nevertheless an acquaintance. She couldn't help but wonder how differently her life would be now if she hadn't been kicked out of the academy…if she had been born a full-blooded oni…if she hadn't been an orphan…

If…

Rin scolded herself for being so melancholy and began to sweep with more fervor. She couldn't dwell on the "ifs" of her life; she had to continue living the life that she had. In all honesty, Rin had not given much thought to Sen's proposal. It was obvious that Rin could not do such a thing. She had a job that provided enough for her to eat and a room that she could call her own.

Suddenly, she heard a loud commotion outside the shop. She leaned her broom against the doorway and stepped outside, curious as to what she would find.

"Get out of the way!" a voice screamed.

She was pulled to the side, just as a large ronin fell crashing into the spot she had just occupied. The ronin was bleeding from his arm and seemed to be injured. He stumbled back up, staggering and waving his blade as he sputtered out indistinguishable cuss words. These rogue ronin were always causing trouble and creating havoc on the streets.

A hand grabbed the back of her neck from behind and pulled her away from the screaming ronin.

Rin spun around and let out a small scream. The man that had pulled her away from the danger was a gruesome sight. His light blue haori was soaked in blood, and the katana that he was holding was dripping blood on the street. He was tall, with brown hair, and even through the layers of dirt and blood, she could tell that he was handsome. His emerald green eyes gave her a quick glance.

The man suddenly raised his katana and swung it towards her head.

Rin shut her eyes tightly and waited for the blade to hit her. She waited for what felt like forever, but there was no pain and she was relieved to find that she was still alive. She heard a deep voice gurgle behind her, and then felt a warm liquid fall on to her head and the back of her neck.

She opened her eyes. With shaky fingers, she touched the liquid that was flowing down her neck and shoulders. She was surprised to see that her fingers came back smeared in red. The liquid that was running down her shoulders was blood. Was it her blood? It couldn't be… she had felt no pain.

The tall man was still standing in front of her, his green eyes looking over her head at the target his katana had hit. Rin stepped out to the side and looked back in horror, finally comprehending the situation. The man had swung his katana over the top of her head to hit the ronin who had stood up behind her. His katana had hit his mark, and was now fully embedded in the ronin's chest. The blood that ran down her back, was the ronin's blood, that had spurted from his open artery.

The man with the green eyes pulled back his katana and the ronin fell forward, dead, crumbling on to the street.

Rin couldn't stop shivering. She felt sick, knowing that she was covered in the blood of a man who now lay dead. The man with the green eyes sheathed his blade. Rin was horrified to see that the man was smiling as he looked down at the corpse.

His glance turned towards her and she took a step back.

"Souji!" A shorter man was running up to them. He was dressed in the same blue haori and his long brown hair swung in a ponytail above his head.

Rin looked up at the taller man. So his name was Souji.

"Heisuke," Souji answered with a grin. "What took you so long?"

Heisuke bent over to catch his breath. "I told you to wait for me! You always do the fun stuff by yourself!"

Fun stuff? The man named Heisuke couldn't possibly be talking about the fight, or the killing right? Rin looked at the both of them, not quite sure what to think. She looked closer at the shorter man's haori and gasped in realization. She had not noticed earlier because of all the blood stains, but both of these men were wearing the official shinsengumi attire.

Heisuke, finally noticing Rin, questioned Souji. "What happened with her? She looks awful…"

Souji took another look at Rin and nodded. "She does, huh? Well, I told her to get out of the way, but she just kept standing there."

"Eh?" Heisuke sighed. "We're gonna get in trouble if Hijikata-san finds out about this."

"We won't get in trouble, because she's not going to tell anyone about this."

Souji turned to Rin and gave her a chilling smile. "You aren't going to tell anyone about this, are you? That is, if you value your life."

Rin shuddered and shook her head. "I won't tell anyone. I promise!"

Souji looked down at her with a satisfied smirk. "Good girl."

"Souji!" reprimanded Heisuke. "Now you've gone and scared her!"

Heisuke reached out to Rin, as to offer consolation, but Rin took a step back.

"See?" Souji said bitterly. "She's already scared of all of us. To her we're just brutal killers. That's how everyone else sees us Heisuke, just accept it already."

Heisuke scratched the back of his head and sighed.

He turned to address Rin. "I know you're scared right now, but we're good people, we really are. That man Souji killed was a spy for foreigners, we were doing our job."

He gave her such a big, unassuming smile that Rin couldn't help but smile slightly back.

"There you go! You look much better when you're smiling!" Heisuke came off and wiped off some of the blood that ran down her shoulders. "Just take a bath, and forget all this ever happened. We'll take care of the body and it'll be just like none of this ever happened, I promise."

The man named Souji rolled his eyes and started to direct his men, who had now caught up with him, to dispose of the corpse.

Rin stared in silence as the shinsengumi members cleaned up the evidence and walked away. The small street was quiet again and Rin was all alone.

Rin sighed as she sank deeper into her hot bath. This was the second tub of water that she'd had to prepare. The first one had become red with blood so quickly, that Rin had rinsed off the dirt and blood as fast as she could before she had dumped the crimson water out.

Her body was clean now, and the water was clear. She had burned her clothes that had been stained. There was no evidence of what had occurred earlier and Rin wondered if it could all have been a dream. She then remembered the intensity of the man's green eyes, and sighed into the water. There was no way that she could have imagined that.

"Enjoying ourselves, are we?"

Rin looked up in surprise to see a pair of red eyes staring at her from across the room. She would have recognized those crimson eyes anywhere.

"Kazama Chikage…"

Chikage was another demon who had attended the academy with Rin and Sen. Due to his pure-blood heritage, he had always received special treatment. There had been numerous times when he had gotten away with pranks on Rin because none of the instructors dared reprimand him.

"Hmm. So you remember me Rin-chan?"

The red-eyed demon walked into the light and sat down on a wooden crate. He was staring at her very intensely, with a sly smile.

Rin looked down at herself and blushed and notice how visible she was through the water. "Chikage-kun! Turn around!"

He smirked at her. "There's not much to see anyways Rin-chan. Don't get so worked up…"

Despite his rude demeanor, Rin was glad to see that he had turned around. She got out of the water and quickly put on her clothes.

"Why are you here Chikage-kun?" demanded Rin.

This was her house. He had no right to barge in, nevertheless make rude comments.

"Well, I'd heard through the grapevine that Sen had finally found you. I got curious about an old friend and thought that I should visit. Aren't you glad to see me?"

Rin didn't answer. If Chikage could find her this easily, then others could as well. She knew there were oni out there who would hurt her to get back at the Miyazawa clan. Not that the clan cared for her wellbeing, but if Rin were to be hurt, it could easily disgrace the noble clan's dignity.

Chikage looked around the room in disgust. "I didn't think you would be living in such a place though."

He walked up closer to her. "Even though you were always poor," he continued, "I assumed you had some pride…but even I can be wrong sometimes I suppose."

Rin glared at him.

Chikage laughed. "Oh, did I offend you? I guess even animals have feelings."

Before she knew it, her hand was flying through the air, ready to hit his smug face. He stopped her before she could make contact and he grabbed her wrist.

"See? You're lashing out just like an animal."

Chikage was no longer looking at Rin with humor, but with an intense anger.

"You're an oni, Rin, or have you forgotten? No matter how small of an amount, oni blood runs through your veins. Yet, you run away from your own kind and work like a servant for those vile humans. It's unacceptable. It's disgusting."

Rin struggled to free her wrist from his grasp, but his fingers felt like iron on her skin. She felt like lashing out him, screaming at him, hitting him… But deep inside, she knew that he was telling the truth. No oni should ever put themselves below humans. It was an insult to their kind, and for years, she had done just that.

The both turned their heads, as the door flew open. Sen and Kimigiku walked in, followed by the screaming shopkeeper.

"You can't just walk into my house!" the shopkeeper yelled.

Sen and Kimigiku stared at the scene before them and Sen nodded to Kimigiku. Kimigiku ran across the room with amazing speed and pulled Chikage's hand off of Rin.

"Why, hello Sen," said Chikage.

Sen glared at him and walked over to pull Rin further away from him. "Kazama… I should have known you would cause trouble."

Chikage glared back. "I wasn't causinging trouble. I was just educating our little friend here."

The intensity that ran between the two oni was broken by the shopkeeper's yelling. "What are all of you doing in my house?! Leave, I tell you! Leave!"

Chikage turned to the shopkeeper. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

"Wh-what did you say to me?" sputtered the shop keeper. He turned to Rin and narrowed his eyes. "It's you, isn't it? You brought all these people here. I knew you were going to be trouble! Make them leave immediately! I'm going to be cutting your wage for this month, you worthless-"

Chikage interrupted by slamming the shopkeeper across the head with his sheath. The shopkeeper's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground.

"You put up with this kind of treatment?" Chikage asked Rin. "You're worse than an animal."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Rin shivering in Sen's arms.

This day was too much for her. Rin buried her face in Sen's shoulder and started to cry. Sen made soothing sounds and rubbed Rin's back.

"It's okay," she whispered. "Rin, it's okay, don't cry."

Rin started sobbing. "It's not okay Sen! It's not okay! Chikage-kun is absolutely right, I'm a disgrace to the oni. I don't want to live like this anymore Sen, I can't live like this…"

Sen waited for Rin's sobs to abate and then looked into her teary eyes.

"Then don't Rin. No one is making you stay here."

Rin was ashamed of how she was acting, and she quickly wiped away her tears. "But I don't have anywhere else to go."

Sen smoothed back Rin's hair and gave her another hug. "Rin, if you would like, I can give you a new start. If you are willing to accept the challenge and go live within the shinsengumi, I can give you a whole other identity. Kimigiku and I have recently discovered that their leader, Kondou Isami, had an older sister whom he lost contact with when he was younger. We've also found out that his sister had a daughter who is your age. Unfortunately, they contracted disease and both are now dead."

Rin looked up at Sen, confused as to where she was going with this.

"I was thinking Rin," Sen explained, "that you could pretend to be his niece and enter the headquarters. If you entered as their leader's niece, I doubt anyone would give you any trouble. I've already prepared the identity and travel paperwork that name you as Kondou's niece. Despite, the rumors about the shinsengumi, Kondou is a kind man and he will treat you like family."

Sen grabbed Rin's hands and looked at her imploringly. "Please Rin, won't you do this for me? I know I'm asking for a lot, but it will be a better situation than staying here."

Rin blinked away the last of her tears and took a deep breath. Sen was offering her a second chance- a new life with a normal identity, and a family member who would truly care for her. Rin knew that it would all be fake…but she had been alone for so long.

A sense of courage Rin hadn't felt in years began to fill her chest.

"I'll do it," she said. "I will live go live with the shinsengumi as Kondou Isami's niece."

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Author's notes: Hi everyone, I finally finished chapter two! This was a long chapter and a lot happened to Rin. I know alot of you are waiting for her to enter the headquarters and I'm sorry if it's taking too long, but I wanted her to have a solid foundation before she entered. I hope you guys liked Souji and Heisuke's appearance in this chapter. Souji's always a bit mean, isn't he?

Anyways, please follow, favorite, and review! I love hearing comments back from you guys! Hakuouki fans really are the best.

Here is this chapter's epilogue! Enjoy!

Chapter 2 Epilogue:

Heisuke Interview:

Interviewer: Heisuke-kun...I can call you that, right? You won't mind me addressing you by your first name?

Heisuke: Nah, I don't mind. It's more comfortable for me.

I: So, looks like Souji beat you again to the fight.

H: *sigh* He's really intense, you know? When he gets ready to kill, no one can stop him.

I: Were you disappointed?

H: Eh? A little bit, but I get my fair amount of action too...but... *Ruffles hair* Damn it Souji! Always stealing my fun!

I: On another note, what did you think about that girl?

H: That girl that was next to Souji? I thought she was a ghost for a moment. There was blood dripping from her hair and shoulders!

I: Pretty gruesome, huh?

H: Yeah, I felt for her. She was cute though! I'd like to see her again if she's not too scared to be friends with me.

I: Well, you never know what will happen in the future... Also, do you think Hijikata-san will get mad if he finds out what happened?

H: Ooooh, yeah. I wouldn't want to be Souji when that happens. There's nothing Hijikata-san hates more than getting bystander's involved. Souji's gonna get skinned alive.

I: Don't you think you'll be in trouble too? You were on duty with Souji...

H: Well...Damn it Souji! I'm always the one that gets in trouble when I didn't do anything. *shrugs* But that girl will probably never meet Hijikata-san so he won't find out.

I: Mm hmm... Well, thank you for the interview. Until next time...