Uneasy Foreshadowing

By the time Shiro gained consciousness the sun seemed to be setting. She felt her stomach growl as the smell of food could be detected. She could also smell Sen's scent still at the compound.

I can't believe that she actually decided to stay.

Shiro fixed her kimono slightly to make herself look more presentable, took off her hoodie, and left the room to walk over to the room where the others were at. She leaned against the door frame as she watched the lot interact with each other. They seemed to like Sen which was good. It was entertaining to see how the noble girl acted a bit awkwardly amongst the group of rowdy samurai.

Sen turned to Shiro and smirked at the deja vu she felt seeing Shiro's position which was identical to Souji's when he first entered the room earlier that day. Shiro let an eyebrow shoot up questioningly at her new friend's behavior, but only got a shake of the head. She didn't feel very reassured but she brushed it off.

Isami looked up when he noticed that Sen was no longer paying attention to the group of rowdy men and smiled. Shiro had taken off her hoodie letting her completely show her face. She had started opening up to them. It made him happy to notice that.

"You all are a bunch of idiots." Shiro said aloud getting the attention of the group in the room.

"Well goood morning! We saved a big dinner just for you!" Shinpachi greeted with a big smile on his face. As boisterous as he acted at times, the hulk of a man was like a sweet, caring older brother. Shiro nodded in recognition as she felt hunger starting to poke at her. She made herself next to Sen and sat down in front of the meal set aside for her.

"Akayuki-san it's nice to see that you made such a good friend!" Isami smiled kindly at the two women sitting next to each other. Sen blushed slightly before smiling, but Shiro scoffed earning herself a sideways glare from her friend. Shiro ignored the glare and grabbed her chopsticks with much anticipation.

Just as she took a big bite, Shiro was forced to quickly swallow the extremely spicy food without getting to enjoy it. Placing her hand over her mouth the young woman felt her tongue tingle in pain. The men near her looked at her sympathetically, since they had previously gone through the same experience. They had to rinse out their food just so that they could properly taste their food. Sen quickly patted her friend's back with an amused smirk on her face.

"Souji was in charge of dinner tonight." Sano said knowing that Shiro was about to yell at whoever made the nearly inedible food. He only shrugged when Souji shot him a glare for ratting him out.

Shiro shot her head and hollered at the cook for that night. "What the hell were you thinking Souji?! I know you like your food seasoned, but this is freaking ridiculous! Are you trying to destroy my sense of taste?!"

Souji shrugged with a smirk on his face to cover his guilt. He had been losing his sense of taste lately and if the meal wasn't extremely seasoned then he felt like he was eating sand. Shiro quirked an eyebrow at him as she noticed that his haughty smirk didn't reach his eyes.

Something's not right here. Damn it! Because of the strong taste of seasoning I can't properly smell anything.

Shiro grumbled under her breath before gulping down the food so that she would not have time to taste any of it. Sen held in a burst of laughter as the other Captains watched Shiro in awe. She was probably the only one that they had ever seen do such a feat. Shiro then proceeded to gulp down her tea to get the spiciness out of her mouth.

This is it. I'm never going to be able to taste my food properly again because of this idiot.

After regaining her composure, the youkai looked over at her friend to see her trembling uncontrollably - from laughing out loud. Shiro felt a vein pop at the sight and nonchalant let her hand jab the other girl in the side earning a gasp from the men. Sen doubled over in pain and shot a deadly glare at the other female that made the room feel suddenly cold.

"Maybe you shouldn't be laughing at someone whose stronger than you… my dear friend." Shiro said innocently, making sure to make the last part sickly sweet.

"Stronger than me? Says who?" Sen questioned as she sat up in a dignified manner. She did enjoy a challenge when presented one since they came far and few in between.

"Oh do you need me to kick your ass to accept it?" Shiro said as she closed her eyes and sipped from her second cup of tea.

"Are you saying that you'll spar with me then? Oh, it has been such a while since I've done such a thing! Maybe I can ask Kimigiku to come referee for us!" Sen brightened up as she clapped her hands together.

"Hm. That doesn't sound too bad of an idea." Shiro contemplated as she looked down into her tea cup thoughtfully.

"Absolutely not!" Sano yelled in a panic. When the two young ladies looked up, the Shinsengumi captains looked absolutely horrified at the idea of the two girls trying to fight each other with weapons. Souji, on the other hand, felt an excited anticipation rise within him. If Shiro could fight then he wanted to witness it - or if not, then he had something he could make fun of her for.

"Little girls such as yourself should not try to play with weapons against each other." Toshizo reprimanded. This statement earned him a dejected look from Sen, but a hard glare from Shiro.

"I don't give a damn about what you silly human men have to say. If we say we're going to spar, then we will. You can go sulk in a corner for all I care!" Shiro hissed; she had forgotten how in this era women were to be fragile and if they were strong it was because they were shinobi used to seduce information out of men. She hated such an outdated way of thinking. Souji stifled a chuckle making Toshizo pin a cold glare at him before letting it go to the defying woman.

The nerve of this little brat!

"Akayuki-san how about this? Can you and Sen-san wait a bit, at least to think it over, and we have a visitor coming in tomorrow." Isami asked kindly. He didn't want to see them spar either, but he wasn't going to try to tell them how to live since he was also curious of their fighting ability. At least with a couple days to think about it, maybe they could be swayed otherwise. Also he didn't want their visitor, Kashitarou Itou, to think ill of them on his first day seeing them in a while because of such a spar.

"Fine. We won't spar the first day of having your guest over, but once he's not around I'm kicking her ass whether you like it or not." Shiro huffed at having to compromise. Isami sighed but nodded nonetheless. Souji shook his head at Shiro's rough way of talking to Kondou-san.

"Kicking my ass? I'm going to have to break some of your ribs then to make you see that I'm not weak!" Sen crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Heisuke, who was sitting next to Sen, quickly whipped his head around look at her with wide eyes when he heard her curse. She seemed so soft spoken.

"Not if I break some of your bones first!" Shiro countered with another sip of her tea. She smirked just as the cup came to her lips to hide it since she began sense the men starting to panic further from their conversation. This was going to be too funny.

After some more chatting, Heisuke thankfully had changed the conversation, they all left to rest. Sen had left the headquarters after much persuading that she did not need an escort to return home. Shiro sighed, after seeing Sen off, and walked to her room slowly. Some muffled speaking caught her hearing though, just as she stood in front of her room. Closing her eyes she concentrated on the low whispering of some lower ranked men that stood at the entrance of the compound. She could hear them crystal clear since there was little noise in the compound or city.

"So Kashitarou-sama is coming tomorrow?" One man inquired with a reluctant sigh.

"Yes. I heard that he wanted to speak with the Commander and the Captains about something. Who knows what that could mean." The other man with a deeper raspy voice, indicating he was older, whispered.

"God that man gives me the creeps! He's a good asset for the Shinsengumi and all but… Could you imagine how Akayuki-san will feel if that guy sees her?" The former man said a little loudly earning him a harsh shush.

"You idiot! You can't say such disrespecting things loudly! He is a distinguished samurai and we cannot be rude to him." The older man scolded in a hush voice.

"But you know exactly what I mean! He has this aura about him that's like fox." The younger man refuted more quietly. The older man let out a sigh and then no more words were spoken.

Shiro shuddered at what she had learned from their conversation. She contemplated staying in her room the whole time the following day so that she wouldn't have to deal with such an ominous character. Either that or she could spend the day with Sen and Kimigiku; anything to get away from what they, even the men here, considered a creep.

Heaving a long and exhausted sigh, Shiro entered her room and to rest more since she was still tired from the night before. She, unfortunately, was only able to go into a fitful sleep.

In his own room, Souji sat on his futon with a grim frown on his face. He had heard the rumors about Kashitarou Itou. He was a cunning and skilled swordsman, yet infuriatingly effeminate and lecherous. Even though he had once tutored Heisuke, if he so as dared tried to get close to Shiro in a suspicious manner Souji was going to teach him a lesson he would not forget.

The man is going to learn that bad habits die hard.

With that last dark thought, Souji laid down and fell into a restless sleep.