Chapter 11 – Misunderstood

Chizuru stood there, taking in the spinning world in front of her. She didn't know what to do, Kazama and the other two men already knew that she was there, so how could she? Then she heard soft footsteps behind her, slowly growing louder with each step. Finally, her first chance came and she made a run for it. Suddenly, she heard the sound if a sheath and sword sliding past one another, and the sound of air sliced right past her shoulder.

But Chizuru saw that the aim had not missed. Her shoulder spout bright red liquid, oozing out from the deep cut in her arm. The impact made her fall forward and onto her knees, but she did not waste any time in hurrying to get back up and onto her feet again. With the sound of fast feet moving towards her, her heart almost leaped out of her chest when a shadow fell away the light in front of her.

She ran into the shadow of a man it seemed, and noticed that whoever had been chasing her before had ceased doing so and stood in place behind her.

"Already getting you into trouble again, Chizuru?" she recognized the voice, and almost broke into a teary fit before she brought herself back to reality.

"Okita?" she clarified.

Then a familiar face popped out from behind him revealing a smile of sincerity "Hey there, Chizuru!"

"Heisuke, but what are you doing here?"

Okita moved Chizuru behind him towards where Heisuke was in a protective manner "You might want to stand back Chizuru, rematches can get messy."

Chizuru had almost forgotten about her pursuer. She quickly spun around to face Kazama, an irritated look splitting his face. Behind him came two other men. One that seemed older than the other, he had blue eyes with deep red hair tied back in a low pony tail. The other man was younger; he had light eyes and dark black hair tied back up in a high pony tail, a lot longer than the red-haired one.

The one who sounded like the man named Shiranui lifted a pistol and pointed it straight at Okita "Looks like we have a full party here." He snickered.

"You really think so pal?" Okita said, but he didn't seem that confident in his words.

But then Heisuke stepped up in front of Chizuru and drew his sword "Think we have a chance?" he quietly whispered to Okita.

"Depends." He said, still smiling.

Then, Kazama went back to a neutral stance, turning himself around to walk the other way. Chizuru almost felt her instincts reach out a hand towards him, not wanting him to leave. But she held her hand down with her other one, hoping nobody noticed her recent reflex.

Kazama stopped when Shiranui spoke "Bored already, Kazama?"

Kazama only turned enough to reveal one crimson eye to Chizuru "I got what I came for, now just comes the time to wait."

The red-haired one turned to Shiranui who had let down his pistol "I agree this would be a pointless battle."

And with that, she all disappeared without a trace. Only leaving behind the skulking shadows in silence; Chizuru just stared at the ground though. And it was then that she realized her legs were fresh out of energy, she had run too far, and too fast. With all the pressure, she had become light headed without noticing. So she dropped to the ground in a mess of blood and tears. Her consciousness faded from her mind, and left her as an empty shell lying on the ground.

And as she faded away, she could hear the voices of Okita and Heisuke call out to her, begging. But while in the faded part of her mind, she had dreams. Well, not dreams, more like memories from when she was young; some of the memories, she actually didn't have any of them stored in her head. She was going through the last piece of faith she had. She watched herself flee from her village which she was born in, and watched herself go through her father's patients. Caring for each one like her life depended on it. She never thought once who they were, she just wanted to be of use. Wanted to have a role to play in this world; a place to be wanted, a place where she is able to stay to the end of her days.

But then came yet another memory, one concealed in darkness. It was of her and a golden haired boy. Chizuru was grabbed from behind by bandits, planning to sell her off to other merchants. Then when they turned, she saw a boy about her age, wielding a katana, swing at the bandits. And he didn't stop until each one was drenched in the smell of blood. He even got some on himself.

Chizuru watched herself embrace the boy in fear, looking for a hand to hold. She watched the boy lift up her face and press their foreheads together, in a calming way. She saw herself eventually drift off back to sleep in his arms. But this memory she had not yet seen. The boy carried her to her house, knock on the door and talk to her father.

'It's almost like they know each other….' Chizuru said faintly.

After speaking, the boy handed her over and exited the residence.

'Wait up,' Chizuru failed to say 'you still have more to say.'

Chizuru lifted a hand to stop the boy, but her hand slipped right through. Chizuru jumped back in surprise, trying not to strain her already sleepy body.

But without another moment, the memory changed to another one. It showed another one of the boy and her, he was visiting. They would play and go all around town together, just like any kid would. The boy smiled like an angel, unrelenting. He seemed to enjoy the company of her, but Chizuru felt confused. She saw this now, but she has no actual REAL memory of it. She can't remember the face of the boy, so in her visions, it remained blank. Faceless, like a puppet; while she thought of this, another memory appeared.

It was of her when she was around ten years old. She was in a room alone with the boy, intently looking at him with a happy expression.

"Promise, forever and ever?" Chizuru's face gawked at her words that she watched herself speak.

The boy brought their faces closer and spoke "Yes, I'll make you my bride when we're older, I swear on my life."

Younger Chizuru pulled away from him and said sadly "Don't say that; you're not going to die!"

The boy spoke again with a little laughter in his tone "I'm just kidding," he pulled them both together again "But no matter what, I will hold my promise." The boy lifted his head up and kissed her forehead.

'Who did,' Chizuru noted 'who is this boy? I want to know.' Chizuru lay deep in the arms of thought until the screen of her memories flickered to life yet again of when she was still ten, but in a different situation.

Chizuru watched herself in silence "You can't go! I won't allow you to! It's so unfair; you're so unfair to me! Why can't I go with you? You can't do that!"

Chizuru watched the boy in front of her younger self, he was standing up, but rock-still. He wouldn't move no matter how many times she hit him.

Finally, in the midst of her anger, the boy spoke "I'm sorry," he spoke with no emotion "But I can't have you come with me. There's a war coming, and you can't be there when it happens."

Her younger self shouted again "I don't care! I can learn to defend myself! So please…." She was starting to sob.

"I'm sorry." The boy knelt down next to Chizuru who was now on her knees, fighting with her own spirit to stand back up "But you can't remember me after this." He lifted her face and came closer.

The present Chizuru suddenly had her point of view changed. She was now seeing through her younger self's eyes. And this time she could see the boy's face. He had silky locks of blonde hair, and two shining red crimson rubies as eyes. His face came closer and closer, and unable to control herself, she fell into his control. Her eyes were halfway closed when something came to rest on her lips.

She felt something slither into her mouth, quickly delivering a small stone sized object. The boy's lips rested a little longer on her lips before departing from the kiss. He stared down into Chizuru's cloudy eyes that now looked at him as a stranger. But before she drifted off into a fantasy sleep, she had one last glimpse of the boy's hot cheeks let loose a small fountain of tears.

Then Chizuru was facing herself, her younger self in fact. Chizuru almost spoke before the little girl beat her to it "Hey miss, are you a demon."

Chizuru took a small step backwards while a few words spilled from her mouth "What are you talking about?" her tone failed in keeping calm.

"You don't need to hide it miss, I can see right through you." The little girl's eyes clouded up and she looked deeper into Chizuru "Demons are scary aren't they? They're going to all eat us alive unless we do something." She little girl let out a small demonic chuckle and in her place came a Rasetsu.

Not just any ordinary one either, he wore a Shinsengumi uniform and had his long drifting hair up in a tight pony tail. His eyes looked down upon her with a want for bloodshed, a want to harvest the blood in her veins. Chizuru fell backwards when the creature leaped forward.

But it quickly disintegrated when her eyes revealed to her Hijikata, he wore a strained face, saying something rapidly "Chizuru snap out of it, Chizuru!"

Chizuru realized what she was doing; she held her short sword only inches from the tip of Hijikata's forehead. He held her arms and hands, trying to prevent her from advancing any further. Blood ran down her arm, and her bangs were tangled in front of her face like ropes.

But when Chizuru fully took in her situation, she released her strength from the sword, and let go. Hijikata also had a hold of it, and he quickly threw it to the side.

"Hijikata what are you doing here?" Chizuru whispered to herself.

She looked around herself and saw that she was sitting on top of Hijikata, on his torso which had blood from her wound on it. That's when the door to her room was thrown open by the rest of the Shinsengumi, holding weapons at a fighting stance.

Sorry for being a bit late with this one! School has started back up so I may only be publishing on the weekends now! So there will be another chapter so you can find out Chizuru's dirty little secrets! _-