[A/N] - Congratulations to Maikaze for breaking 5,000 hits and gaining over 50 reviews! And then some. It went over 6,000 and 60 by the time I finished typing this. I would have never EVER imagined this story to be so popular. Thank you everyone! Hugs for all! ;w;
Review responses are at the bottom, but you might have to dig a bit for your name. Read the [A/N] above them please!
Oh, and this one too. Heehee.
School has started yet again for me, and let me tell you, it's as boring as I remembered it to be. As such, I needed a break from writing my essay for English and doing my homework, so I turned to this as a reprieve.
Now, regarding what I mentioned last chapter about my new story, Edge. If you forgot, the options for the vote were:
A - To update a chapter of Edge and alternate stories
B - To only update Maikaze
As it turned out: -epic drumroll-
A has seven (7) votes.
B has three (3) votes.
… It looks like people really want Edge. Many thanks to my reviewers who reviewed and voted at the same time like I asked them to! You are all super-special-AWESOME!
In the same breath, I can say that it won't always be one story, then the other, then back, then the other, ect. Edge does NOT have a rough draft like Maikaze does so it may not come out very often, or easily on my part. But you have asked, and you shall receive (eventually)!
Before I let you get onto the story, two more notes.
One: please review! The fact that I have 5,000(+) hits and yet only 66 reviews makes me a bit curious - all you'd have to do is press the "Review this chapter" button and leave a word or two. On the other side of the link, there are cookies! And I'll respond in the next chapter! I'm an interactive author, so don't be shy~
Two: ever heard of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro? Those neet-o people that have me on Author Alert would have seen that last month, a couple days after I updated Maikaze, I posted the first chapter of Can't Give the Same Gift Twice, a story I made in celebration of my own and one of my friend's birthday. If you know of this anime/manga, give it a try! If not, I highly recommend the anime/manga for those who aren't extremely sensitive to blood, as it is a supernatural, murder-mystery kind of anime/manga.
… Eesh, I wonder if people are going to read this A/N. Even I think it's a bit too long. Oh well.
Oh, and always check my profile to see if I've updated the status of a story! Okay, I'm REALLY done now.
It was dark. Darker than she could have ever imagined.
"Where am I?" Chizuru cried out. "Where is everyone?" She couldn't see anything. She could feel herself moving, but lacked the vision to see what was really happening.
It was cold. Colder than she had ever experienced.
The white vapor that rose from her exhalations floated stark white in contrast to her environment before rising and disappearing into the interminable dark around her. She curled in on herself, closing her eyes to the darkness and trying to cling to her own body's warmth as it escaped through the invisible floor below her. She found no difference between the dark outside her body and the blackness from her closed eyelids, leaving her little comfort.
It was empty. There was no one there.
She felt so alone.
"Anybody…"
"Chizuru."
A quiet murmur of her name struck through her ears with sudden clarity. Looking up, she saw the faintest outline of a person walking towards her. The person had no discernable features due to the surrounding darkness other than their height, seeming to be taller than her. Sitting with her legs underneath her, she stretched out a hand to the unknown person, a silent plea for help. Somehow, she could see the person doing the same towards her, but with their hand being an extension of assistance.
She hadn't realized that the person's eyes had been closed until they'd actually opened.
The obscure eyelids lifted, revealing glittering eyes of the deepest forest green.
Chizuru snapped to consciousness, waking up with a started cry. The first object her eyes alighted on made her think that she was still asleep. Souji sat next to her, legs crossed with one arm propping up his head. His tilted eyes were exactly the same shade of forest green she'd seen in her dream, leaving her a little shaken. Why was I dreaming about Souji? And such a frightening environment too… I didn't know I could scare myself with my own dreams so well.
"Evening, Chizuru-chan." Even his voice had been perfectly represented in her dream. "You must have slept badly again this time - you don't have any tatami marks on your face." A smirk completed his statement and creased his eyes in the corners, narrowing them slightly.
Chizuru rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe the dream away from her memory while waking herself up a bit more. "Well, maybe that's because someone gave me a futon this time instead of throwing me on the floor to freeze."
Souji laughed outright at this, grinning. "Hey, blame Hijikata-san for that. I was only following orders. Come on, it's time for dinner - and by that, I mean it's time for you to make dinner. Heisuke's already waiting for us in the kitchen." He held out a hand to her, his eyes opening from the laughter that had caused them to inadvertently close. Struck again by the similarity of reality to her dream, she took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the warm, red blanket.
She took a moment to straighten out the blanket on the futon before following Souji out of the room. The crescent moon hung low in the sky, shedding soft moonlight over the newly thawed grass and bushes in the courtyard outside the room. The stone lanterns scattered throughout the corners of the courtyard were illuminated by the candles burning lazily inside. Moths skirted around the flame, casting tiny shadows onto the stone.
I wonder if anything has ever caught fire because of those lamps, Chizuru wondered idly as the two made their way to the kitchen.
Chizuru and Souji found Heisuke perched on top of the wooden cooking counter, sitting back with his weight on his hands.
He grinned at their arrival and greeted, "Evening, Chizuru. It's a good thing you didn't sleep in, or we'd be going hungry."
Chizuru crossed her arms. "I'm sure you'd both perfectly capable of cooking dinner if I had happened to choose otherwise."
"But everything would taste bad in comparison to your cooking by this point," Souji commented.
"Yeah, now I can definitely say that Shinpat-san's cooking is terrible," Heisuke added.
"Flattery won't get you a bigger meal."
"Aw…" The dual sound of disappointment almost made Chizuru change her mind, but she held her ground.
"So what's for dinner anyway?" Heisuke inquired.
"Ah, well, it's supposed to be a surprise, so you two can find something else to do with your time until I'm finished," she explained. "Just make sure no one else sees you."
Souji's eyes shifted to the side. "Bossy little girl."
Chizuru bristled a little. A slight hint of annoyance prompted her to draw his attention to the short sword at her waist by grasping the hilt tightly with her right hand. Eyes narrowing slightly, she said sweetly, "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Say again?"
Souji's seemingly perpetual smirk widened and he held his hands up in surrender. Chizuru released her sword with a small smile on her face. Little had Souji known that she herself knew that she would have never had the gall to draw a sword against him.
"I got it, I got it. We're gone. Come on, Heisuke. Let's go before I give her a chance to do that to you." Souji walked out, beckoning to Heisuke with his hand.
The shorter warrior quickly followed after exclaiming, "That was awesome, Chizuru! Do it again sometime!"
He had just rounded the corner when a sharp thwack reached Chizuru's ears, followed by a pitiful, "Ow…"
Chizuru couldn't help but laugh. She let the sounds of merriment out, a smile obvious on her face. She hummed nonsensically while she busied herself rifling through the cabinets to see if the kitchen had the ingredients she needed.
Setting the equivalent of a large wash basin on the cooking fire, she filled the pot with water and added salt, soy sauce, and a tiny bit of sugar. A pan with a generous amount of sesame oil was set nearby. She let both sit and heat up while she prepared another part of the meal.
She took a wooden bowl large enough for her to sit in and carefully measured a massive amount of wheat flour, pouring water and salt over the pile once she'd made a small mountain of flour. She began kneading the water into the flour, quickly and efficiently until the dough smoothed out. With no need to allow the dough to set, she sprinkled flour onto the counter and dumped the rather sizeable ball of dough onto it, using a rolling pin to flatten it. More flour fell on top of the dough. Chizuru rolled the sheet of dough into a log and quickly sliced thick noodles off of the end.
Not long after she began, the log had become a pile of udon noodles.
The broth she'd started for the noodles had finished boiling. She found a bottle of nihonshu in the back of the cupboard and added a few drops to the broth. Somehow, she made all of the udon noodles fit into the pot of broth without it spilling over. She stirred slowly and spread the wood underneath the pot to lower the flames.
So I have the main dish finished…
Searching around, she found some potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. She proceeded to chop them up and dump them into the udon broth to boil and absorb the flavor. At the same time, she quickly mixed together some flour, eggs, and water for some makeshift tempura batter. After dipping a different set of vegetables and mushrooms in the batter, she dropped them in the pan, yelping when a spot of hot oil landed on her hand. Rubbing at the red mark on her skin, she glared lightly at the sizzling pan.
"Okay in there, Chizuru?"
Chizuru flicked her eyes to the doorway in surprise when Souji's voice sounded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit of hot oil is all."
"Then that's fine. I wouldn't want you to be on the eating tray tonight anyway, so be careful." She could hear the evident laughter in his voice.
"Hmpf."
Chizuru returned her full attention to the tempura and took out the finished batch along with the crunchy bits of batter on the side of the pan. Those bits went into the udon broth to add flavor. The last addition to the main meal was a daikon, far longer and wider than Chizuru's forearm. She grated it down into a large pile and added vinegar and soy sauce, allowing the white vegetable to turn a light tan.
Those are the main dishes… What about desert? Do they normally have desert? Chizuru pouted in slight thought. … Well, if they don't, it might compromise their physical stature if they do. I suppose I'll just make tea then.
She found a fairly large teapot and set it onto the cooking fire after filling it with water. She strained to set it down as gently as she could manage with it trying to bring down her arm. After rummaging around in the cooking cupboard, she found a ceramic pot filled with sencha leaves and set it on the counter.
"Souji? Are you still there?" Chizuru called towards the open door.
"I wonder."
"Oh, just get in here and help me, please. Where's Heisuke?"
"Right here, Chizuru." Heisuke appeared in the doorway, Souji shadowing him.
Both sets of verdantly shaded eyes widened as they took in the spread of food before them. Heisuke's jaw dropped down as he eyed the dishes with glee. Souji raised an eyebrow and clapped appreciatively.
"Not bad, Chizuru. Now all that's left to see is if we're going to die right after we eat or after it sets in for a day or two."
Chizuru huffed while Heisuke exclaimed, "I'll die happy then! Chizuru, this is awesome! I never knew food could smell this good!"
She smiled to herself at his exuberance towards something as simple as food. But then again, since they're warriors, I suppose they don't get very elaborate meals. "I wanted to ask you both to set up the trays with the food since I'm not sure how well I'd be able to divide up the portions. Can I trust you both to give an equal amount to everyone?" Chizuru stressed the condition for their assistance.
"Don't worry, Chizuru. You can count on us," Souji assured her, though the smirk on his face made her consider rethinking her decision. "We'll make sure everyone dies at the same time."
"Yeah, we'll be good," Heisuke added, seeming to disregard Souji's last statement. "With all this food you cooked, I might not even have to steal from Shinpat-san's tray tonight."
"Okay… Anyway, if you can set up the bowls and plates for the food, I'll steep the tea and serve the cups."
"Okay~"
Rattling, clattering, rustling, and cursing soon ensued. Trying to balance a column of plates in one hand and a stack of bowls in the other, Souji tried to maneuver around Heisuke without tripping. The shorter warrior made it more difficult for him, moving back and forth between the different foods while filling up the settings Souji had already placed on the trays.
"Heisuke, move out of the way," Souji complained, his arms out to either side of him with the dishes stacked precariously on top of one another while he attempted to toe Heisuke in the ribs to get him to move.
"Hey, watch out - if this soup spills, who do you think is going to have to clean up?" Heisuke was practicing his own balancing act, three bowls filled with sloshing soup sitting on his arms while he made his way back to the counter with the trays atop it.
Chizuru moved quietly around them, bringing the empty teacups to the large tea pot on the cooking fire and filling them with boiling water. With the repetitive movements of carrying, filling, and carrying back, she gained more confidence in her steady hands and quickened her step. She went back and forth twice more, until she had only one cup left to fill.
However, with that last cup filled, she caught the edge of her sleeve on the counter and found herself jerked back while she tried to move forward. A startled cry escaped her lips when she found her foot slipping, sending her plummeting to the floor with the cup of scalding water falling out of her hands. Heisuke's startled exclamation echoed in her ears after the tinkle of a breaking cup rang through the small kitchen. Bracing for the imminent impact, she closed her eyes, bringing up her arms and attempting to shield her face from the broken ceramic on the floor.
No… Don't let this happen now!
A strong arm encircled itself around her waist before she landed gracelessly on something solid. Surprised, she noted that she hadn't landed on the hard floor or the broken shards of the ceramic cup. She cracked open her eyes slowly to find herself pressed against Souji's chest, the black fabric of his nagajuban soft against her jaw. The sharp scent of pine trees emanated from Souji and Chizuru couldn't help but thank that it was a fitting scent for him.
"Are you okay, Chizuru?" Souji's voice reverberated in his chest, making his words deeper and clearer in her ears.
"I-I'm fine. What about you? Are you injured?" Chizuru asked worriedly. "You landed on the broken cup, didn't you?" She pulled her face back from his chest as much as she was able with his arm still wrapped around her waist.
He laughed, the sound echoing in Chizuru's head. "I swept it aside with my other arm before I hit the ground. I'm fine." He held up his other arm, showing her the small cuts and tears on the sleeves of the outer kimono and the nagajuban.
"Souji, Chizuru, you're both okay then?" Heisuke's worried eyes darted over them.
Chizuru moved to stand up. Souji let his arm fall from her waist and tucked it into his outer kimono after standing up. Heisuke held a hand out to Chizuru, which she accepted gratefully.
Souji ruffled the brown hair on Heisuke's head. "We're both fine, no thanks to you."
Heisuke grumbled, trying to shoo away Souji's hand with his own. "Yeah, well…"
"Thank you, Souji," Chizuru said sincerely. For giving me more time. "Is there anything I can do?"
Souji waved her off. "There's nothing to thank me for. I'd rather not have to do that every time you decide to cook though." He smirked at her, one eye blinking closed in a discreet wink. "You can fix my clothes later, though, if you'd like."
"Okay." Chizuru nodded with a smile, turning to Heisuke. "Do you have another cup somewhere?"
"Definitely," he affirmed. "Let me find it."
He turned to the various cabinets on the walls and cracked them open while Chizuru went about setting chopsticks and cups on each of the trays. Despite her doubts, Heisuke and Souji had managed to give each person a fair share of noodles, tempura, vegetables, and daikon.
"Here you go, Chizuru." Heisuke caught her attention with the cup he held in his hand. "I think this is Sano-san's special cup, but I don't think he'll care."
"Oh, thank you." Chizuru accepted the light, red-painted cup carefully, filling it with boiling water and letting the sencha leaves steep for a few seconds before removing them and dropping them outside of the nearby window. She set the cup on the last tray without its own drink. "If you two can take out seven of these trays, I'll take out the last two. They'll be your trays, so leave your spaces empty."
"Hm? Do we get something special?" Souji raised his eyebrow while he began picking up multiple trays, eventually balancing two trays on each arm. Heisuke moved around him to pick up the last three designated trays.
Chizuru shrugged slightly and made to shoo them out of the room. "Heisuke, make sure you give Sano-san the one with his cup, please."
"Got it!" Heisuke grinned at her over his shoulder, one tray in his left hand and two trays on his right arm. He followed Souji out of the room. Chizuru listened to their footsteps echo down the hallway before turning to the two remaining trays.
I think I saw some leftover rice in the pot from earlier…
Sure enough, when she checked the pot next to the cooking fire, there was enough rice left there for two more onigiri. She recovered the fillings from earlier in the day and replaced them in the two new onigiri she quickly rolled out. She paused for a moment, looking at the ceramic jar of umeboshi and the cup of tea on one of the trays. She giggled to herself a bit before taking one of the dried plums and dropping it in the cup.
A cup of umecha won't hurt him… much, if at all.
Satisfied, Chizuru picked up the two trays and walked out of the kitchen, making her way towards the dining room. Before she could reach the door, she saw Souji and Heisuke waiting outside the sliding door with all their trays still on their arms, inadvertently telling her that they hadn't served the food yet.
She padded up to them quietly, opening her mouth to question them when Souji and Heisuke shook their heads, with the latter trying to motion towards the door with his partially free left arm.
"Listen for a second," Heisuke mouthed to her.
She did so, opening her ears to the conversation inside the doors.
"… the hell are Souji and Heisuke taking so long with dinner?" Shinpachi's voice filtered through the door. Chizuru could imagine his stomach rumbling at that moment.
"Stop whining. I'm sure they'll bring it out eventually." Sano was the peacemaker between Shinpachi's mouth and his stomach at that point.
Chizuru heard Kondou's distinctly hearty laugh. "Well, for Nagakura-kun's sake, I hope that's soon. Even we Shinsengumi don't have the stamina to wait for too long on dinner, am I right?"
Souji straightened up. "That's our cue," he whispered, his voice nearly imperceptible due to the laughter coming from the other side of the door.
Chizuru took in a deep breath. "Excuse us!" She used her foot to slide open the paper-thin door, revealing the six other Shinsengumi officers - Sannan, Hijikata, Kondou, Shinpachi, Saitou, and Sano all turned their heads to her at the sound of her entrance.
"Oh, hey, Chizuru-chan," Shinpachi greeted her. "Did you have a nice rest?"
"You wouldn't happen to know where Souji and Heisuke are, would you?" Sano questioned, sitting back while leaning on the heel of his hand.
"We're right here!" Heisuke popped up behind Chizuru's left shoulder, leaving her right side open for Souji to appear.
"You took your time," Hijikata noted.
"Where's dinner? I'm starving," Shinpachi grumbled.
Heisuke rolled his eyes. "What's new? Besides, I think you should savor this dinner for once, instead of stuffing your face like you normally do."
Sannan allowed himself a small smile, seeming to have figured out the idea behind their small play. "Oh? And why might that be, Toudou-kun?"
"Because…"
"Chizuru made dinner." Souji finished Heisuke's statement and ushered the other two forward, revealing their arms, laden with trays full of food.
"Make room, make room!" Heisuke called. "These trays are heavy and it's not my fault if one falls on you."
"Heavy with what, exactly?" Saitou asked.
"Question for the chef," Souji said, smirking at Chizuru as he set a tray in front of both Saitou and Hijikata simultaneously.
"Erm… I made udon for the main dish. I used the udon broth to boil some vegetables for one side dish. Another is made of tempura mushrooms and potatoes. The last side dish is grated daikon with soy sauce and vinegar. The tea is made with sencha leaves." Chizuru shifted on her feet while Heisuke and Souji took their seats. "I didn't make dessert because I thought it might compromise your metabolisms."
She moved to give Heisuke and Souji their respective trays while Sano said, "You should have just gone for it, Chizuru-chan. We all burn off whatever we eat - and then some - so there wouldn't have been a problem."
"Extra onigiri for us? That makes it all worth it," Souji said, laughing once he noticed the extra plate on his tray with the onigiri set in the middle.
"We have some?" Heisuke, distracted by the others' comments, looked down to the tray Chizuru had put before him. "Alright! Thanks, Chizuru!"
"What?" Shinpachi drew out the question in an injured way,. "Why do they get extra food?"
"They helped me arrange the trays. It was a lot of work," Chizuru said, trying to explain the lack of an onigiri on everyone else's trays after she'd sat down in her usual place between him and Sano.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!"
Slurping of noodles and crunching of tempura ensued. Chizuru could almost laugh at the expression of bliss on Shinpachi's face.
"You know, I say food tastes better with a bigger crowd, but it's not like it doesn't help if the food is really good too," Shinpachi said, eating by stuffing his face with one bite of each plate and washing it all down with a gulp of tea.
"Chizuru-chan, where'd you learn to cook so well?" Sano asked in between neater bites of udon, though he ate with just as much enthusiasm as Shinpachi.
"I was at home by myself often, so I taught myself how to cook to pass the time." She raised a piece of mushroom tempura to her lips, quietly satisfied with the crisp outer layer of batter.
"If that's not a productive use of time, I don't know what is," Souji commented, holding his cup of umecha to his mouth.
Everyone ate in a comfortable silence after that. Chizuru looked up from her bowl from time to time to see everyone enjoying the food. Even Saitou had a rather pleased look on his face. Sannan was actually eating, so she considered that to be an accomplishment. Kondou and Hijikata ate their food properly and quietly. As if to offset their manners, Shinpachi and Heisuke were doing all they could to eat quickly and noisily, despite Heisuke's earlier words of slowing down and enjoying the food. She could see Souji doing what she was, watching the others eat while he himself was eating. Their eyes met and she could see the amused smile forming on his lips.
"Oh, hey," Sano said in surprise. "You found my special tea cup." He lifted the ceramic cup into the air after taking a sip of the tea inside, letting the candle light highlight the red streaks of glaze on the outside.
Chizuru shook her head slightly. "That was Heisuke. He looked for it after we found we needed one more cup." She gestured to the shorter warrior, not noticing how Heisuke froze up.
Sano narrowed his eyes. "So that's why it's been missing for the past two months! Heisuke, where the hell did you hide it?"
Heisuke laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head with one hand. "Ah, Chizuru, you just ratted me out…"
Chizuru held her hands up to her mouth in mortification, her eyes going wide. "I'm sorry!"
Sano sighed and smiled at Chizuru. "It's fine, Chizuru-chan. You have nothing to be sorry for. On the other hand…" Sano tilted his head back to look past Shinpachi and Chizuru at Heisuke. "Heisuke can't complain if I decide not to pull a punch again."
Heisuke winced, as if he could already feel the bruises forming on his body.
In an effort to steer the conversation away from him and his imminent bodily harm, Heisuke said, "You really should cook more often, Chizuru." While he took bites out of his onigiri without pausing to swallow separately from his chewing, Chizuru could see Shinpachi eyeing the quickly disappearing rice ball from the corner of his eye.
She smiled. "I wouldn't mind. But I'm sure you have some form of rationing, as far as portions go, so I wouldn't make this kind of food all the time…"
"You're right. We do have regulated portions for each person," Hijikata told her, "and I'm fairly sure you just used about two day's worth of ingredients."
Chizuru blushed, a soft pink appearing on her cheeks. She tried to hide behind her teacup. I knew something like this would happen.
Souji came to her rescue. "We only ration because none of us wants to be caught outside grocery shopping. So if you did that for us, we wouldn't have a problem with you cooking too much."
"She hasn't been given permission to leave headquarters," Saitou reminded him.
Souji shrugged. "I'm sure we can make an exception to save us the trouble." He glanced at Hijikata, hinting as to whom was supposed to make the aforementioned exception.
Hijikata sighed. "Regardless, this is a very good meal."
"You always were one for understatements, Toshi." Kondou laughed and clapped Hijikata on the shoulder. "Give Yukimura-kun a bit more credit."
"Indeed, this is an exceptionally prepared meal. I commend your cooking, Yukimura-kun." Sannan tilted his head towards Chizuru slightly.
"Ah… Thank you, but it was really nothing." Chizuru felt slightly embarrassed to be the subject of such praise. "I just wanted to be able to do something for everyone."
By then, everyone had finished eating. Each and every bowl, cup, and plate had been wiped clean. Shinpachi and Heisuke had somehow managed to make it through the meal without stealing each other's food. Both of the warriors seemed to be full, the first time Chizuru had seen them as such.
"Well, you've done so much that now we look bad. We'll clean up tonight," Souji declared.
The others agreed and stood up, trays in their hands. Souji walked over and took Chizuru's tray while she tried to protest. She followed the others out the door to the courtyard where the stone well was.
"But I made the food, so I should have to clean up the mess -"
"But we ate the food, so we should have to clean up the mess." Souji cut her off, smiling at her. "It's fine."
"But I-"
"None of that, Chizuru-chan," Sano told her, tapping her head with his free hand lightly. "You can watch us clean up if you want to, but we're not going to let you help."
Chizuru sighed and nodded.
She actually did end up watching the men wash their own dishes. She eventually had to hide her mouth behind her hand as she laughed when Heisuke decided he hadn't messed with Shinpachi enough for the night. The shorter warrior filled his dirty bowl and flung it at Shinpachi's face, completely dousing the older man with leftover broth and chilly well water. This incited an all-out water war between the two, with the rest of the men either trying to break them up or shield themselves from the splashing water. Hijikata managed to break them up and lectured them on the waste of water and potential for injury they'd created. Both Heisuke and Shinpachi ended up being the only ones at the well, now responsible for washing all of the dishes by themselves. Hijikata stood close by, watching them with narrowed eyes.
Chizuru found herself being walked back to her room, Souji close behind her.
"I thought you said you trusted me enough not to have to watch over me anymore," Chizuru commented.
"I don't think I have to watch over you because I think you won't run away, but I have to anyway because Hijikata-san told me I have to."
"Ah, I see."
Souji yawned behind his hand. "Either way, I don't mind. As long as I don't have to stay awake all night just to make sure you don't sneak out, I'm fine with it. It wouldn't really matter anyway, since you don't really have a reason to escape."
They had both stopped in front of Chizuru's room, standing on the edge of the platform that elevated the building from the ground. Both looked out to the courtyard, with the sky above darker than black silk, glittering with the crystalline pinpricks of stars shining far away. Higher up than before, the crescent moon shone as a graceful arc in the sky. Chizuru could fully appreciate the beauty of the night in the moment of comfortable silence.
"I suppose not," she agreed eventually. "Whenever you can, you can give me your clothes so I can mend them. I feel bad that I caused them to become ripped in the first place."
Souji held his sleeve up to the moonlight, letting the soft glow suffuse through the small holes and tears in the fabric. "Not a problem. I've had to replace these completely more than once because of some things that've happened on patrol, so it's not that much of a tragedy."
"Still…"
Souji lowered his arm and set his hand on her head. "Well, whatever. It was worth it to save our little chef."
Chizuru blushed. The warmth of his hand seemed to seep through her skin through the locks of hair on her head. "If Hijikata-san allows me to, I wouldn't mind going shopping in the markets for meals."
"Oh, that's not a problem. You know, they say that you can take over a man's heart through his stomach." Souji waved his hand airily. "If that's actually true, then you've got pretty much everyone here wrapped around your little finger."
Chizuru couldn't help but steal a glance at the shortest finger on her right hand at his statement. Souji's hand fell from her head to rest on her shoulder. She felt the weight on her shoulder increase and looked questioningly back at Souji.
The forest-eyed warrior simply smirked, his face level with hers from leaning down and using her shoulder as a brace.
"Next time, put two in the cup. It wasn't salty enough."
[A/N] - These get monstrously long, don't they…
Not quite sure when Edge will come out at this point. It actually took me two weeks to get this chapter out: starting to type, stopping when my mom made me do stuff, stopping for school, stopping for work, stopping for me life in general… Can you see the start-to-stop ratio there? I can. It's kind of depressing.
Anyway, thanks for reading this far along! I personally really just can't grasp the fact I'm at Chapter 9 with this entire story being over 20,000 words… But what really shocks me is that Maikaze is this popular! You all give me the incentive I need to keep writing this! Thank you so much! Domo arigato gozaimashita! Minna ga dai~suki dayo!
(If you're looking for your review responses, skip the terminologies. But those terms help you with the story, so consider reading them!)
~ Some Japanese terminologies that will help you understand the chapter, in order of when they come up in the story:
~udon - thick, wheat-flour noodles normally served hot in soup - my personal favorite Japanese food next to sushi and sashimi. Don't make them the way I described here - you have to let the dough set before you can roll and cut it. Just assume Chizuru is enough of a good cook to let that step slide - besides, she needs to get this food out before people (namely Shinpachi, really) starve!
~tempura - a general name referring to battered and deep-fried vegetables and seafood. Hot oil is dangerous - be careful!
~nihonshu - known as sake to the English-speaking populace, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice with an alcohol content ranging from 15% to 20% - weaker than that of the other common Japanese alcoholic drink shochu, which has an alcohol content ranging from 25% to 30%.
~daikon - the big white radish you see at least once in every other anime/manga you see. Remember Spirited Away? The radish spirit? I'm fairly sure his mustache is made of two daikon.
~sencha - a type of Japanese whole-leaf tea, made without grinding the leaves into powder and instead steamed, rolled, and dried.
~nagajuban - a kimono-shaped robe worn under a kimono to keep the kimono itself clean, usually worn so that only the collar is visible. Of course, Souji is too much of a bishie for that, so he wears it loosely to show his chest.
~onigiri - rice ball. Who doesn't love rice balls?
~umeboshi - dried plums that are insanely salty. Normally used for fillings in onigiri, but they can also be used to make a certain tea drink with supposedly refreshing sourness known as:
~umecha - a tea drink made with umeboshi said to possess a refreshing sourness. I wasn't able to find much information on it, so please, don't try to make it the way Chizuru did. Because I'm fairly sure that's not how it's made.
For your review responses… There are a lot. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Okita Souji Fan xD - Yes! It was a miracle! Thanks for liking my chapter and sticking with the story!
Arcee-chan - Thanks for your vote! I understand the sympathy behind it, and honestly, I can say I'm a little scared of doing that myself. I don't have confidence in my time-management skills. And I explained the little kitchen bit to you, but I still commend you for being a reasonable, perceptive reader!
KiraKiraKaya333 - Thanks for your vote! I appreciate your praise of my story! Those kinds of comments are what keep me going to write more, so thanks muchly!
PappilonBarajo - Thanks for reading! I have thought that myself… Definitely taking it into consideration now.
xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thanks for your vote! Yes, Shinpachi and Heisuke make quite a pair of comedians. I hope you enjoy the banter in this chapter - I mostly did those scenes freehand since I hadn't written them in beforehand. I'm rather scared of writer's block too, but I still have my rough draft for now, so I'm lucky, right?
(There would be another review response here, but it was unsigned with no name for an anonymous reviewer… Thanks anyway!)
sleepyshiki501 - Thanks for your vote! Bedtime story… Never thought of it that way. Good change of perspective.
Litschi - Thanks for reviewing! I don't mind if they're late - you can take however long you want to enjoy the story. I'm still waiting on that longer review you promised~ Heehee.
LilyFragrance - To be honest, whenever I update a new chapter nowadays, I always look forward to your uber-long reviews, so I don't mind if it takes a while. They're like a little story in themselves and I'm glad you think this story is good enough to squander your time on them. But don't worry - everyone has brain farts - like me, when I try to remind myself to update this story. o3o
… I think you're the only voter who used the letters. That's a bit funny to me for some reason. Thanks for voting! I understand your concern; frankly, I'm concerned for my wellbeing once I get that first chapter up. Reviewers are scary animals when they want to be… Determination I seem to lack at times, but we'll see what happens. (I always forget to do my summer homework, so I tend to start the class with a bad grade.)
How can I not say nice things to you? You're my bestest (ignore the fact that's not a word) reviewer ever! I think it's important for the author to at least be courteous to the reviewers, as the reviewers should be to the author. I've had my share of stress and language blocks in my life, even though I've never had the trouble of teaching someone else a language. (The problem is my entire family is Vietnamese, and I just happen to not be able to speak or fully understand it.) I long for humorous situations where I actually get the joke though. xwx
I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, but I was actually waiting until your month of teaching was over. In hindsight, it would have made more sense to post it while you were teaching but… eh. Too late.
I used a bit of that scene you mentioned, but in the kitchen. Isn't it so fluffy that you can sleep on it? I like to think so.
It might have been the way I worded it, but I never intended to drop this story. o3o To me, this story is a mess, but I'm glad you think otherwise. Ahhhhh. Got it. I'm assuming Souji just likes to make a lot of different jokes. I just go along with them because they're funny and give him character. And yay for it being your favorite!
Food makes up the bulk of jokes for Heisuke, I think. I expanded on the scene in the anime for that. Chizuru's getting a bit bolder than I thought she would. Anpan! With mochi inside! Reviews can be about food - I like food. *q* Yes, Hijikata's a bit harsh - I'm trying to lighten him up a bit, but he refuses to let go of the stick in - nevermind. Saitou strikes me as the cool, calm, quiet, collected type. I'm trying to reflect that in his dialogue.
Personally, Sannan is my least favorite, but he does have his moments, so I kind of forgive him. Doesn't really change the fact he's a jerk more often than not. Writing this chapter made me hungry… Just assume Chizuru is an awesome cook. And assume that all of them have a genetically-set alarm clock or something.
I try to make my chapters more and more epic, just for you (and the other readers, shhh.)! This one took a while, but it got past 5,000 this time as well! And no, I don't think I can beat your OVER-9000! epic chapter. o3o Go for it! At your rate, it's a possibility - at mine… Bleh.
This was definitely not rushed. xwx And my responses get longer and longer. Might make people think the story is longer than it actually is…
XxRuroKenxX - Thanks for your praise and vote! All of it means a lot to me! I understand Chizuru's meekness in the anime, but like most Hakuouki fans, it annoyed me. And I haven't considered a love triangle, to be honest. I'm not sure where, what, or when the conflict in their relationship is, so we'll see. I haven't gotten so far as to think about Kaoru. He's included in my new story Edge for sure though. Yes, the anime is sad… The manga and games are just as sad, if not worse… I'm getting depressed.
-smacks self- Better!
I appreciate all opinions from my readers as long as they're polite and civil - so far I haven't had a problem with that, so yay! You've definitely made up for your other times of non-reviewing, so don't worry! I can't say this was updated soon, but it was updated. I don't plan on getting rid of you, my enthusiastic reader, but you have to keep faith that I'll update in these long pauses, 'kay? Thanks again!
oXinfiniteXspaceXo - Thanks for reviewing and voting! Planning on Edge, so it'll come out somehow. I'll try to make time, yeah?
SighingWinter - Thanks for reviewing and voting! I felt that Chizuru was a tiny bit straitlaced in the anime, so I did want to give her more character without making her one of those all-get-out heroines that are just far too unoriginal for my tastes. I've been considering different point of views, but I'm fairly sure I'll stick with Chizuru's with a few other people here and there, like I've been doing now. I'm already a bit overloaded as is.
No, no! You couldn't possibly offend me! I just hope I don't offend you by responding so late! I do intend to add scenes, but a better word would be "expanding" on scenes that were already present. If it wasn't already obvious (because it is to me), I don't have a very vivid imagination, so most of the scenes I write may seem very cliché. I apologize if this is a bother to you. -bows-
I will update! Somehow. Edge may be the one to come out next, so we'll have to see if I can get those creative brain cells going. Thank you for your high praise, and I'll do my best! Oh, and thanks for saying happy birthday. I dedicated a (I forgot which, spare me!) chapter to you for that~
Litschi - And I found your longer review! Long chapters take a long time, but I'm glad you like it! Yes, my terminology gets rather far in because I research stuff before I put it in the story. Actually, I didn't know I was making Heisuke and Chizuru seem like a pair… I wasn't planning on that, actually. -sweatdrop- We'll see what happens, yeah? Again, can't say this was updated soon, but I did my best~ Everyone's busy, including myself, so don't worry! Hijikata is a bit mean… Oh well. I hope I made him seem a bit better in this chapter. I could try that scene~ We'll see! Thanks again!
OueenieIzzy - Thanks for your review! You reiterate a point I've seen many of my reviewers say, which is understandable - it wouldn't be like that if I didn't think so either. I don't want Chizuru to be perfect - a Mary Sue, she'd be called - but rather flawed yet stronger for it. I try my best with grammar and spelling because I put about thirty percent of my faith in spell-check. I'm glad you appreciate it. So soon, after you wrote this review, you're lucky - you get this chapter!
Thanks to Arcee-chan, xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx, yue14121990, vampirente (x2), phoenixflamemarauder, easily1994addicted, SighingWinter, vvnhonk, and QueenieIzzy for your mixed Favorite Stories, and Story and Author Alerts! Doing my best for you all too!
Once again, I'm honored to dedicate this chapter to LilyFragrance for making me spend just as much time on her review response as the story itself! Just joking, but I appreciate it!
And review please! It'll make me happy and update faster!