A/N:

I do not own anything to do with Hakuouki. Just the OCs...well sort of.

Chapter 20

~Months Pass; The Concert~

As we waited days turned into weeks and then weeks into months. The two bands competed hard core on the charts and the outcome varied minutely between them as to who was number one each week. Girls tended to like Umarekawaru while guys cheered more adamantly for The Oni Complex.

Nobody knew about Cat and me and it didn't seem like that would change anytime soon. We kept to our faith though, that the guys loved us and that they would come back. Cat and I still planned to go to their concert but there was never one nearby. Shukke still somehow always knew when Umarekawaru or the Oni Complex would be on the radio or T.V and force us to watch or listen, but it hadn't been as painful since I decided to believe in Hajime.

Me and Cat even each bought a copy of their album, We Live Again. I liked to think he was being honest when he told me all the love songs he wrote were for me and the album was full of them so I was happy. Finally a concert was booked here in Rochester at the Blue Cross Arena and with those love songs in mind I had agreed to follow through and buy a ticket with Shukke and Cat.

It was like the stars aligned when we went shopping at Marketplace Mall the day before because Hot Topic had just the right outfit in my size.

So resplendent in my halter corset dress with a tutu like skirt the color of Hajime's eyes and thick black swirls through the fabric and a white cord tying my hair in a high ponytail, I waited in traffic with Cat and Shukke a block away from the arena. Shukke was driving so there was a lot of horn blaring and swearing, but she smiled the whole time like a bi polar Tourette's patient. Her smile seemed a bit forced but considering all the traffic and stop and go I didn't blame her.

Parking was always difficult in the lunchbox on wheels, something about parking garages just didn't agree with it you know, so we borrowed my sister's car for the concert. Parking it was much easier. Easier than getting her to loan it to us in any case.

Everything seemed to be going right though. I would finally see them again. I would finally see him again. We were walking towards the big glass doors that marked the front entrance to the Arena when Shukke grabbed me and Cat by the arms and dragged us to the back door.

Confused I saw her flash something from her coat pocket at the security guard outside the smaller entrance and he calmly stepped aside allowing us into the small atrium with a couple dozen girls crowded along the walls. They had formed a line and were getting a meet and greet with the guys before the show.

Cat and I joined the line thinking there wasn't much else we could do while Shukke stood against the wall to wait. The line moved slowly but eventually we were next. I had a bad feeling though when I noticed none of the Shinsengumi were even glancing at us. Sannan had caught my eye once and there was something decidedly sad about the way he nodded in greeting. He had not looked at me since.

As we got to the table the band members all stood, rather mechanically, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" I cried, thinking it was just a bad dream. It might have been my imagination but Hajime looked like he stopped and almost turned around before he called, his back still to us, "Sorry miss, sound check."

"But Hajime!" I called, while Cat called out to Souji. But they just kept walking. I stood in shock for a moment, but soon they were all gone, except Sannan who turned and looked at me and an equally distraught Cat with pity. "Sannan-san." I took a few steps towards him but he just raised a hand to stop me.

I was pissed. All that hope over the past few months had been false. All the love I felt for Hajime, a love strong enough to have its own life, turned black. Reaching down to my belt loop I pulled the ever present katana, sheathe and all and made to hand it to him.

Taking it, the bespectacled rock star asked, "Do you want me to tell him anything?" As he looked around, careful to be quiet enough so that other girls could not hear.

"It should be message enough." I told him. He looked to Cat to see if she would be returning her borrowed katana to Souji.

"Tell him I am keeping it, but only so I can use it to decapitate him next time I see him." She said, sounding as pissed as I felt at the physical betrayal. It was like my worst nightmare come to life when he called me 'miss' and walked away without even looking at me.

They won't have a choice but to explain, since they love us. Cat had said that months ago when this plan was hatched. And all I could think was that I guessed it meant they didn't love us. Cat must have been feeling it too.

Umarekawaru:

It was definitely one of the more difficult things Hajime had ever had to do; sitting there knowing Ryane was in the room but being unable to run over and embrace her. To have her so close, but so unattainable…it surely must have been a punishment for all his sins. Or at least that's what it felt like.

She and Cat had approached the bench and Shinpachi and Harada stood up at that moment, an imperceptible second before the rest of the band, and made for the door leading to sound check. No matter how much it hurt to think that way, Hajime and Souji had both been incredibly grateful for that excuse. How could they treat those two girls like any other fan? Even with their manager hovering at the end of the bench, waiting for a slip up.

It was only when they were all on the other side of that door that the two men felt the absence of Shukke's death glare bouncing off their backs.

Souji plastered a half-hearted smirk on his face and walked beside his best friend to a nearby food table. Safely out of earshot he muttered, "I'll be damned if we ever do that again."

"It was good to see that they were well when they arrived though." Hajime said quietly. "I don't think they will be all right now, unfortunately."

"They seemed pretty happy to see us too. I bet given time they'll forgive us again, right?" Souji said with a bit more joy then he felt.

"I'm afraid I have to disagree." Sannan interrupted after walking up behind them quietly. In his hand was a familiar short sword that made Hajime blanch. "She didn't have a message for the action." He told Hajime with a carefully emotionless voice and blank face. "She said you would know what it means."

"And Cat?" Souji asked, his mouth dropping the smirk that was usually present.

"She said she was keeping yours so she could use it to decapitate you next time she saw you." Sannan reported, still emotionless. "She seemed serious."

Hajime reached out and grabbed the sword that meant more as an extension of the girl he loved than it had ever meant as his own weapon; his eyes holding a pain that Souji could not quite identify with words, but felt just as keenly as he mulled over Cat's words.

Hijikata saw those eyes and Souji's as well and walked over as Hajime slid the sword into his belt. Taking in the sword and both men's stricken expressions he said, without looking at either band mate, "The show must go on."

Ryane's Point Of View:

The ride home seemed longer than it was without the sword that had been a reminder of his love next to me at all times. Even if the reminder was a lie, I missed its solid presence. But I knew now, Hajime would not be coming back. I need to stop calling him Hajime now, I realized. And that realization was what sent me over the edge into tears.

Cat and I were in the back of my sister's car and Shukke was driving again. Shukke didn't have that fake smile forced onto her face anymore, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that she knew this was going to happen, had set up that meet and greet pass knowing we would be in heartache now.

"How much more do you know Shukke? What was the point of this?" I asked sharply through the tears.

"Would you have listened if I told you the concert was a bad idea?" At least she had the decency to sound aggrieved. "I told you before I cannot tell you why things are happening how they are. Against better judgment I gave my word. Things are much better off even now to how they could be."

"What does that even mean?" Cat grated through grinding teeth. "Let me guess, you can't say."

Shukke just sat tight lipped in the driver's seat.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Stop the car!" It was more of an order then a request at this point even though we were still several miles away from our house.

As Shukke complied, Cat tried to be the voice of reason. "We are on the high way, Ryane. Just relax and when we get home…"

"I don't feel like going home right now. Between her lying about everything and you acting like everything is going to be okay, I just can't be around that. Not right now." My voice sounded harsh, but I didn't feel bad about that.

"Oh, so you're breaking up with us too, huh?" Cat yelled. I knew she was mad, she had a right to be, but I didn't really think on it enough to care. All I could feel was that emptiness at my hip. "You know what? Fine! We can be a family without you anyway. We don't need you if you don't need us!"

And to her tirade I got out of the car on the 490 interstate and slammed my sister's car's door in a way that would have been impossible in the bus. It was satisfying to do, and I wondered if Shukke had planned this out to. I didn't get the chance to ask because as I shut the car door she floored it back to the house. I did the only thing I could think to do that would actually get me somewhere and pulled out my phone to call a friend.

Stacy's Point of View:

There are a few things in life that you don't expect to ever happen. One of those things for me was to have a good friend in the form of Ryane Bell call in tears asking for a place to stay. I thought those three would stick it out through thick and thin and always maintain their sisterhood. It reminded me of the bet I had going though and as I sighed, internally at any rate, I grabbed my car keys pausing to glare at the bass I would now have to practice. I had lost the bet after all.

I hated highway driving. There was too much going on and being in a little convertible purple punchbug, even though the car was really cute with silver butterflies painted on it, made me feel like one wrong move would find me squished under a semi. But it was for Ryane so I mustered up my courage and turned onto the highway I didn't want to be on.

Of course, I could have asked my friend to walk to the nearest exit ramp and as I pulled up next to her I stared dumbfounded at the ramp about fifty feet away. Yeah she was impossible. But then I caught a look at her in her cute Hot Topic dress which she had the skirt of fisted in her hands, smudged black eye shadow and lipstick that matched her blue dress and thought, I am being selfish, even though most people would disagree, because Ryane looked distraught.

Heartache is a terrible thing. I didn't have a concrete plan on how to help my ailing friend but I figured the first step was to get her into my little bug and go from there.

She didn't need much prompting and, indeed, upon seeing the car she slouched over and jumped in. "If you ask me, 'how are you?' I might have to resort to violence." Her joke came out rough and mechanical and her voice was just as lost as her appearance.

It wasn't that I was speechless, necessarily. I just had nothing appropriate to say that would not upset her. Everything either brought up what was wrong or was a really stupid question that was best left unasked. Things akin to how are you and the like. So in the end I stared dully at her for a minute or so and then told her to "buckle up for safety!" Which at least got a somewhat normal reaction out of her as she rolled her eyes.

I enjoyed driving in my beetle, it lifted my spirits, and I could see a small smile, similar to the one Hajime Saito had flashed at that Christmas party so many months ago, emerge on my new roommate's face every time we passed a car where someone invoked the 'punchbug purple, no punch back!' rule and slammed a friend or family member with their fist. Of course it would be ill advised to tell Ryane she was smiling like the man who had broken her heart so I let that slide. While not as violent as Cat, Ryane was in a certain state of mind the required delicate handling.

The ride to my house was quiet. I think that she was expecting me to ask what happened, but due to the bet I already knew. The person I bet against had warned me against acting like I knew the situation though, and while I was normally adverse to lying, that person had sent me pictures of bruises that I didn't want to receive. I would have to play the fool, because I knew that person's plan, and I agreed that while the method of the plan was wrong in many ways, it might be the only way to bring about the happy ending that that person so desperately wanted.

And it all started with a bet a handful of days after Christmas.

The phone was ringing...and ringing…and ringing. I just wanted to stay in bed but that incessant ringing was driving me nuts. Something told me this call would change my life. It was a weak feeling in the pit of my stomach but it was there as I looked at the caller id and saw Shukke displayed in proud yet digital letters.

"Hello," I answered dully.

"Hey, Stacy… I got a bet for you." Shukke sounded her way to chipper for seven in the morning on a Saturday self, but aside from that, I was curious. I…

"STACY!" The car jerked to the right as Ryane grabbed the steering wheel and pulled. "That was a red light you idiot! Where is your head? We almost died!"

"Sorry…" I offered softly, stunned at the close call Ryane had scraped us through by weaving through the oncoming traffic.

"Sorry, she says… you're lucky this car is so small or we would have been hit." But her face fell from angry to sad as she said this, and I could only imagine the memory she was having of a much bigger vehicle full of her friends and some rockers who had left them for greener pastures.

"Ryane," I began. But I stopped, it was time to decide if I tell her the truth and Shukke's crazy plan, or if I act like I know nothing and play into said crazy plan. She decided it for me though.

"It was all a part of Shukke's plan, whatever that is. I think it's to make us miserable. She knew they would act like that though, like they never knew us. She knew and she took us backstage somehow and gave them the opportunity to hurt us. She has been up to something this whole time. And I don't even know if it's over, but if it isn't it better be a good ending."

"It's not over." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "And the happy ending only comes through the secrecy of the plan. She's gonna kill me for telling you even this little bit, but… It's not the guy's fault. It's their management. And the only way to fight it is to get even. That's more than I should have said. But it's certainly enough to figure some of it out."

Ryane sat in thought for a long time and then said, "Plan B huh?"

Shukke's Point of View:

"How much did you tell her?" I was trying to remain calm while on the phone with Stacy, really I was, but I could feel my anger slowly coming forward into plain sight as she told me exactly how much she had revealed to Ryane. "Is she still mad at me?" I asked, but somehow I knew the answer before she said it. Ryane would have called me herself if she were not. As sad as the fact was, her being angry with me was a good thing. It meant most of her negative emotions were centered on me, which meant she was not focusing them on Saito.

"Shukke, what's going on?" Cat stood outside my door, which I forgot to close to take this call. It was all for the best I guess; Cat had the right to know everything Ryane knew about the situation. I would have to tell her… without giving more away.

"Thanks for telling me Stacy," I said into my phone while holding up one finger to silence Cat. "Keep me posted." And I hung up.

"What's Stacy got to do with anything?" Cat asked, suspicious. Well I deserved that I suppose.

"Ryane is staying with her for now." I answered, shocking her with the fact that I was open with any information. I deserved that too.

"Well we have to go get her!" Cat shouted. I knew she was upset that our little family was broken, but I had other plans.

"We can't." Again she was shocked that I was actually talking about something like I had a plan. "She needs to stay with Stacy for a while."

"What?! Why?" She wasn't going to make this easy on me.

"Because it's a part of my plan." There I admitted it. This was going to be difficult.

Several hours and many partially unintentional slips later Cat smacked me on the back of the head with an open palm and declared, "You should have just said so in the first place, God!"

I smiled meekly at her and waited to see if she said anything else. When she spoke next she surprised the hell out of me. "I don't think Ryane should know too much of the plan right now though, or she would never go through with it. She and Saito deserve happiness and I agree this will get them the results they need, but she needs to be in the dark because lord knows she is stupid stubborn."

I had honestly expected a more emotional and therefore less logical response from her. I thought she would hit me and demand to know the full plan and that I tell our friend immediately. But Cat seemed to take the bulk of what I told her, which was about half the plan by the time she was done questioning, and process it into the concrete belief that I was right. I was shocked.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you for drugging us or anything. Please believe something bad is coming to you, but I guess it can wait." She informed me relentlessly, causing no small amount of fear to creep up my spine. Her giant smile belied her angry words though and I had to think that maybe I had gotten a bit of redemption in the face of at least one of my friends. I knew I wasn't completely forgiven, that would take time, but at least for now…this was enough.