Chapter 8: The Rejected

Shiori met Souji by the streets and thought of talking to him, she found out that he had been hitting on Reo and would like to give advice on how to please the aloof girl.

"Oh mom, fancy meeting you here," Souji's tone was as playful as ever as he faced the elegant woman.

"My, my calling me that already?" she laughed, "you seem to be a reasonable man," Shiori complimented as she caressed his cheeks gently.

"Reo-chan will be mad if she sees you doing this, right? Though I'm actually enjoying your touch," he chuckled.

"What a playful one," her eyes sparkled through the sunlight, "and your type is something she'll never like," she went to the point of their encounter.

"…" he stroked his chin whether to believe her or not. Well she is her mother.

"She's a shy one, so don't tease her that much," she winked at him.

"I see…"

"Have you tried asking her nicely?"

Souji thought of all his previous approach on Reo and realized that all he did was mess with her all the time. He gave her a sly smile. "…" he thought for a while for his next reply and how everything might be different if he could've been nice to her, "No, I haven't."

"I knew it," she sighed, "Well try it. I'm sure she'll accept your feelings. She may be peculiar when she tries to love, but once you understood her, you'll think she's sweet."

"Well, I do prefer it if she became possessive of me."

"She's direct with her feelings too, so try not to tease her all the time."

"Note taken. Does that mean you approve of me?"

"You can take her hand in marriage too."

"Really?"

"That depends on her."

xXx

With the right information in mind, Souji went to see Reo immediately. She was sleeping with her dog on the fields again. He thought of poking her face with a branch, but he remembered what Shiori him not lay off the teases. He waited patiently while lying beside her. He noticed how the peaceful the grass fields were and how it made him quite sleepy. In no time he took a little nap.

After a while, he felt like he was rolling all the way downwards, his eyes fluttered open quickly, he immediately grabbed the hand pushing him off to a pond, "Got you," the blonde girl was stunned and did her best to push him some more to the waters. Souji countered her by flipping her over, with him on top of her. Oops, I forgot to be nice to her. He moved away from her, her eyes widen by the unusual act of the man, she remembered that he normally tried to seduce her.

The brown hair he possessed was in a shade of auburn he rubbed it with slight of nervousness, "Shouldn't you be teaching other members or something?" she wondered.

He didn't hear the question, "I love you."

"I already heard that."

"Well that was unexpected."

"What?"

"You know your mother likes me."

"She only has me to love," her azure eyes narrowed.

"That's not what I meant, she wants me for you," he exaggerated what Shiori said a bit.

"That's only her opinion. I don't have to rely on it."

"Ouch, you really like hurting my feelings don't you?" quite disappointed, he thought of the only words that can be said to her, "They say that even the most dignified spirit can be broken with love, but I don't believe in that anymore," he took his leave, it was the last time he'll say that to her.

xXx

The day ended with the captains gathering around their badly injured commander, Kondou was shot on his trip which made his men grieved and angered. Especially Souji, his condition had gone worse, he could no longer fight for his most admired Kondou-san.

That night he couldn't sleep thinking about a way to be useful somehow, he then reached to his sleeves, for the Ochimizu, with it his strength will be recovered in no time. He immediately chugged the concoction, causing his throat to dry up, his auburn hair turned into white, and his eyes were crimson red. He reached for his sword and uniform. Souji sprinted outside for his revenge, the source of the gun shot.

Along the way he bumped into someone familiar, with red eyes and long white hair, they belonged to Reo, "Looks like we thought of the same thing," she smirked, "Don't forget. I want to protect Kondou-san any more than you do." She too was a fury.

Before anymore idle-chat, they headed towards the culprits, "Heh, someone fell for it," he aimed his gun at Souji and pulled the trigger. But fortunately Souji deflected it with one swing of his sword, "What the hell?!" he threw his sword directly at the offender's throat, and then went closer to rip him apart.

The other guys surrounded Reo, but in a blink of a second, they were chopped in half. Her white kimono was blanched in red. Souji and Reo felt the power of the Ochimizu, and the pure strength flew in their veins was drastically amazing.

Souji, on the other hand approached the man who owned the gun, they froze at Souji's dark aura, and as a result he impaled his blade through their hearts. They slashed and chopped each and every man at sight.

About three or more ronin attacked Souji from the back, but they had already lost their heads from Reo's lethal attack. The cesspool had them in nostalgia from when they were beating up the bullies together when they were kids. The corpses surrounded the area. The blood almost looked like a sea from its amount. Souji was intrigued of Reo, "You're a fury too."

"I drank the Ochimizu before you did," she explained, "The war is about to start, I don't want to just stand by and watch as Kondou-san and the others fight for what we believe in."

"Does Hijikata-san know about it?"

"No… only San'nan-san does, he convinced me to drink it. He said it was the only way for me to be useful," Souji didn't respond, he absolutely couldn't care less about her well-being, helping Kondou is the only thing in his mind. He finally dropped his feelings for her. The girl on the other hand didn't bother to notice. They didn't get along from the start, so it wasn't surprising if they did so in the end.

He returned from being the person who was incapable of expressing their feelings to others, a person who isolates their true self. He could smile, laugh, and have fun, but it was just a mask to hide his cruel and apathetic nature, which was born from despair he once had. Souji have always enjoyed the sweet victory of having his sword drenched with blood of uncountable people he had killed, and that was everything there is for him.

xXx

The age of swords was nearly fading and advanced weaponry was the focus of many. Warrior spirits have changed, a man must not die in battle for honor, but stay till the end and assure a victory for glory, and clearly the bushido won't be necessary anymore. Western people have loathed the hara-kiri or seppuku, to them it was a meaningless form of being a coward.

xXx

As time passed, Souji and Reo just became casual comrades, everything that had happen to them were immediately forgotten. They were mature enough to not burn food if ever they don't get along, and so they often spar when they do.

The painful sunlight put Reo to sleep, since if she stood wide awake, she'd be killing herself. So as the sun sets she would always practice with her dual-weapons, a sword and a gun she found while she killed some foreigner. It was a weapon of her choice, no matter how hard it was to harmonize two weapon of a different kind; she didn't give up on learning. She believed that if the enemy can shoot, then so can she and if her allies can parry a sword, why can't her.

She devised a tactic with her weapons: her sword is to defend and attack while her gun will just purely attack for short and far distances, but no matter how good she became, she just manages to lose to Souji and Saitou, causing her to sulk every time it happens. It wasn't new though, she has flaws that are hard to overturn.

In time, she sought never to challenge them, for she'll just be humiliated again. The two were just plain too good to beat, they were equally powerful, but had differences in terms of techniques and skills.

"Reo-chan, try not to poison us next time, it's not good for the health," Souji referred to himself and Saitou, who sat next to him.

"…" she once tried to give them spoiled food, but she failed because of Saitou's good senses and it was too obvious from the aroma of the rotten food. She really just hated them for beating her all the time. And ss punishment she was to be on kitchen duty for a month.

"Back then you were all about burnt food and now you're into spoiled ones? What next?" he chuckled.

"Real poison."

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