When she came to the city of Kyoto, she merely hoped to find some clues on the whereabouts of Koudou-san. A big city like this one saw a lot of new faces everyday, and most people wouldn't notice a quiet man like him. When she finally caught the tail of an interesting lead, she ended up with the whole cat as she stumbled upon an undeniable proof: the presence of a Rasetsu on the Mibu Wolfs' grounds.
"GIVE ME BLOOD!"
The frantic command was heard again from the premises as the young woman tried to find a way in, half convince, half scared to death. Yells from the men inside responded quickly to the outburst of rage of the creature and the sounds of quick steps and brief orders could be heard in the night, even if it was muffled by the high walls surrounding the area. She knew it was stupid to run towards the monster, but it was also her only chance to catch a glimpse of its creator. And as her blood rushed through her veins, the young woman silenced her fears to commit to her quest of Yukimura Koudou-san.
Was that man in there too? Was it him who unleashed that beast or was it another failed experiment that escaped his vigilance again? Did the poor man even knew what was happening to him, why his hair was changed and his cravings appeared? Hadn't anyone asked for this sick experiment to stop yet? The man had become a tool of war, had he agreed on the consequences?
In desperate need of an answer, the girl piled up what she could find close to the fortification, mostly old crates and boards, to take a peek above the walls once she climbed her disturbingly unstable tower. It cracked and shacked and also nearly fell to the side as she stood on top of it, but the situation had led her to unconsciously leave any signs of danger astray to concentrate on any glimpse of information that could leak from the events taking place in the Shinsengumi's headquarters.
On the other side was the most ferocious battle she had ever witnessed. No blades were sheathed as not one, but two Rasetsus fought their way to a sought and so desired drop of blood in the middle of a ferocious counterattack involving nearly ten men and, oh surprise, a girl, from what she could hear with the screams of one of the members who nearly got killed by a powerful strike. The monsters had white hair, claw-like nails gripped onto their katana's handle. The worst part was their eyes, glowing red and matching those of a predator, even if the rest was still that of a human body. They got separated by a brilliant teamwork from the opposite team and one of them got defeated by a man with great sword skills. After a couple of briefs orders, the men repositioned themselves to search for the last enemy that had escaped. There were no signs of anyone matching the description the girl had of Yukimura Koudou, even if she stood on the tip of her toes, even if she leaned closer above the wall, and even if she listened with attention to the names that were called. She still searched for him with all her might.
Absorbed by her search for the scientist amongst the fighters, the improvised spy never noticed that the second Rasetsu had taken shelter right in the shadow of the wall she was leaning on; she was thinking about jumping inside and searching more efficiently, but also had serious doubts about this idea. Hopefully, the beast didn't seem to see her either, with only her hat and her eyes popping from the other side. However, when it felt it was cornered by the men who had finally spotted it again, it jumped with great strength to go over the barricade and tackled the young and terrified woman, bringing her down her shambling structure with it.
The ground took its toll on the monster as its ribs broke under the elbow of the unfortunate woman he had bumped into two meters above and who had fell on it. She got up with haste and turned to face her opponent as she was quickly retreating in a dark alley nearby, the bones of the creature already cracking and twisting as they were healing faster than any human being. It was, to her great surprise, a phenomenon she had never witnessed and it was utterly disturbing. Maybe that's the reason she stared instead of running for her life. She gagged when the gap hole created by the ribs she had accidentally broken took back its initial form, making her back off even more in the sordid alley.
A great commotion on the other side of the Mibu Wolf's wall made her understand that the warriors had seen her and the monster, or at least that they had seen the Rasetsu jumping over. The voices moved quickly toward the great doors to the west, along with the sound of hurried footsteps. The girl immediately thought of deserting before they got out and actually saw her, but she was pinned to the ground when she heard from the other side: "I'll get to it first!".
She glared in that direction to witness the formidable leap of a spearman who apparently used his weapon as a pole to get over the barricade in a second. He landed with the grace acquired by experienced fighters and immediately initiated a strike on his adversary. It took him an instant to take down the monster; it had no chances whatsoever against him. His blue Haori and his red hair were barely disheveled after the fight, or rather the execution.
The girl was properly terrified. Were all the men in that group just as strong as him and the other swordsman?
The spearman was rejoined by his allies straight away. Two of them, ordered by who seemed to be their captain, disappeared with the body. Their number had augmented so fast that the young woman had had no time to retreat to safety, and she was barely hidden in the shadows of the alley she had wandered in. She dared not move, as it could make them aware of her presence.
"Look for witnesses. There must be no one who knows of this", the same man added with severity as their actual onlooker tried to hide further in the shadows. But she was not a ninja, and the moon chose that inappropriate moment to show up and splat the scene with just the light it needed for a member of the group to spot the girl. She froze as she met the eyes of one of them.
"Hey, you there!" shouted the guy with the spear from afar.
It took her nothing more to take her legs and start darting in the opposite direction. Fleeing the scene with all the speed she could manage in the dark, the unwanted spectator dashed away from the sounds of many people rushing after her in the now very oppressing silence of the night. She could only hear their feet stomping the pavement, and she didn't have the guts to watch over her shoulder to see if they were getting closer in fear that she would stumble, hurt herself and finally get caught. She took a sharp turn half-running, half-sliding, and tried to hide between two very contiguous walls and crouched to make her presence as small as possible. After a couple split seconds, two men passed by without noticing the young girl. A minute went by, then two, and she finally decided to move from there and leave the place. Rising on her shaky legs, she crept towards the exit and peeked in the direction they left toward but didn't see anyone. As she was about to exit the rest of her body from her cover, she heard a polite cough on the other side of the alley and turned her head around hastily.
"Do not move and I may not hurt you before the others get here".
The man in scarf didn't react to her getting back hurriedly in her tiny hideout until she was completely stuck at the end of it. Then, he just gazed at his prey from the entrance of the dead end and started to wait in silence. From her side, he looked like a very freaky shadow with the moon in his back, probably inhabited by murderous intents towards her and she shriek internally at the thought of him getting closer. Another man arrived shortly after and she hit the panic button when she heard him laughing and asking for the spear guy to come over. A spear would easily reach her in that thin tunnel. Imagining herself getting stabbed did not help in the situation, but it was inevitable as she was gifted with a rather vivid imagination.
"Let me trough! I can reach him since I'm not as big as you geezers!" rumbled a voice from behind.
"Don't go after him in that burrow. If he has a weapon, you'll be at a disadvantage." answered another that had just arrived. "Let Harada do his thing".
She noticed they were referring to her as a man, which was good, actually, and she would do anything to let them think that way. The young woman didn't have to hear anything else to understand that she was in quite a pinch. Looking around, she confirmed that feeling. The only way out was where the tall guy was standing or up by the roofs. Having no other choice and little desire to die there, she tried to jump and grab old of the edge over her head but couldn't step high enough. So she jammed her forearms on both sides of the narrow alley and pushed as hard as she could with her feet and her hands to crawl her way up. Slowly, slowly, carefully, but still as fast as she could manage.