It's been a while~ school started out rough, and it's only gonna get worse since I'm moving to Texas Dec. 20th, so I haven't been in a writing mood. Depression and writing don't mix very well. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter. You could say 'Turning Page' by Sleeping at Last was the inspiration...maybe.

I don't own Hakuoki or any of the characters except for Kira!

The room was quiet and dimly lit, and the sound of light footsteps and paper rustling could be heard. It smelled of aged paper, and something else, something Kira couldn't put her finger on.

"Oi, do you even know where you're looking?" Okita's voice sounded next to Kira, an amused chuckle rung through his voice.

She prevented herself from rolling her eyes and tried to keep herself composed. "No." She said bluntly.

Ever since that attack, Kira sparked a curiosity about these demons. Not only would it allow her to be out of Headquarters, even for an hour, she could possibly find something as to why she was brought here. She remembered in class that the Greek gods and goddesses had powers, so why not Japanese demons?

So she was accompanied to a small building with archives of all sorts, a library basically. At this point, she regretted not learning more of the language. Trying to search for something without knowing how read was tedious, and with Okita teasing her, it didn't help the situation.

Displaying his usual smirk, he said, "I've found a few things you're looking for." He nodded his head in the direction of where he found them.

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"You looked kind of cute, looking so hard, even though you can't read." He mused and walked away. Kira widened her eyes and glared at his back before following him.

After turning at a corner, Okita pulled out a small bundle of paper and handed it to her. Lifting a brow, she offered it back to him, "You're having fun with this, aren't you? Genius, I can't read this."

He kept his smile and took it back and flipped through the pages. Kira could smell the rush of aged paper and ink from the little book and cringed slightly. The smell of books wasn't her favorite.

A long pause.

Kira shifted and probed. "Well?"

"I'm reading."

She stood next to him, looking at the foreign characters. It looked like a jumbled mess, not even sure which way to read it. And that wasn't the only thing that she was focusing on.

She could hear his steady breathing, and catch a whiff of his faint, masculine scent. Kira was having a hard time focusing on pretending to read. It was so overwhelming.

"Hey." His voice snapped her out of her trance.

"Hmm?"

"There's not much. It's pretty vague," he said, skimming over a few more characters.

"Well that's just the first page."

"Ahh, you want me to read the entire thing?" He pretended to sound frustrated, but took out a few more books either way. Taking a seat, he patted the spot next to him, and Kira followed, sitting on the cold, wooden floor.

"We might as well use up this hour." She said and stretched out her legs, and then reaching out to touch her heels. Force of habit due to dancing. "Now start reading." Kira sat up and looked at him, and then at the pages.

"Yes, ma'am," he mocked and flipped a page, "want me to read it to you?"

Kira was unsure if he was joking or not, so she gave him a little shrug with a subtle nod.

Throughout that hour, Okita managed to read to Kira three quarters of the book. From what he was saying, the book was just describing demons in general, how devious and malicious they could be. They brought undesirable things to humans: curses and plagues. They're described as powerful and hideous, something Kira would agree on. Immense strength and those piercing eyes, inhuman radiated off of the demons she met, though they didn't match the ogre-like description of them.

Yes, there were no descriptions of individual demons, something Kira found annoying. It was like this trip was for nothing. Her questions were still unanswered.

"Hnnn…" she stretched and stood up. "I guess we'll call it quits. We need to head back."

"Really? And we were just getting to the good part!" He sounded like a kid. "I thought you wanted to go through the entire thing!"

"It's not worth it." She replied. "Besides, I don't want to get you in trouble…or get caught by Kazama."

"Please, Hijikata-san is nothing." He chuckled and stood, returning the books to the proper spots. "But if Kira-chan insists." Okita shrugged.

Kira nodded, feeling the disappointment settle in. She was back to square one. She pursed her lips and headed for the door, only to get stopped by a gentle tug on her wrist.

"Kira-chan."

No sound of teasing was in his voice. It sounded serious. She looked over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Don't worry, you'll find answers soon." Emerald eyes met hazel. They felt…sincere. Completely different than the playful glint she was familiar with. She couldn't help the small smile that curled her lips. These were one of these rare moments, when she saw him as a normal guy, instead of a flirt.

"Hopefully…" her voice was soft.

Together, they left and started their trip to headquarters. Kira didn't realize they were holding hands all the way back until she finally got past the gates.

Kira is finally noticing smaller details about Okita~ developing an attraction maybe~ This has broken my 1,500 word minimum. Sorry for the crazy short chapter, it's just that this was a ridiculously slow part of the story, and the next chapter is much more eventful. (Felt like adding some more bonding time for these two) I don't expect a lot of reviews for this chapter, but they're still appreciated~

-Jen