Chapter 21

The journey had only taken a day with their fast pace, so when they arrived at Chizuru's old home dusk had fallen on the quite village. A chill ran down her spine has she surveyed her home. It looked as if no one had been living there for months. She had only left a month ago.

When her father's letters had stopped, she immediately became worried. She had traveled to all the villages on the way to Kyoto just in case he may have stopped in one on his way home. He never mentioned coming home in any of his letters, but it was still a possibility that she couldn't overlook.

Wind swept fallen autumn leaves past the house and the skittering sound they made brought goosebumps to her flesh at the memory it brought back. She had been sixteen at the time when she had faced against the creepy, crawly creatures of the Zen Forest. Maseru had sent her squad to oversee an investigation of an uprising of disappearances in the surrounding area.

*********FLASHBACK*********

"How many victims have there been total?" Chizuru asked the village elder. His brow furrowed as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"I would say at least twenty in the past month." His voice was coarse and grated against Chizuru's ears.

"Twenty? Are you all stupid?!" Shiranui shouted in disbelief.

"Kyo! Be respectful!" Chizuru admonished him. 'Honestly he never knows when to shut his mouth', Chizuru thought to herself as her eyebrow twitched. None to gently, Amagiri grabbed Shiranui's collar and dragged him back outside the small house. Chizuru thanked him silently.

"Do the victims share anything in common? Hair or eye color, family ties…anything?" Chizuru questioned further.

"They are all young. The same age actually…Sixteen," the elder man replied.

"That explains why it smells like prunes here then," Kazama's cold tone drifted to Chizuru's ears and caused her more annoyance than Shiranui had.

"Chikage, please wait outside already…", Chizuru gritted out through her teeth. A small smirk dawned his face, but he left anyway.

"I'm sorry. I apologize for their rude behavior. Now you were saying they are all….." Chizuru's voice died instantly. The old man in front of her was glaring at her through a thick mane of silver hair. But his eyes were blood red and glowed back at her.

"Finally….I have you alone now. You succulent thing you." His voice turned her insides to stone and dread filled her head. The room became cloaked in darkness and emitted a dark ominous feeling. Chizuru jumped back and grabbed her sword and leveled her blade at his face in a quick, effortless movement.

"Kazama! Amagiri! Shiranui!" She shouted their names quickly and waited for the thunder of their feet.

But it never came.

"Silly girl….they can't hear you now. You're all alone with me. With no one to come to your poor little rescue" He started to circle around her, Chizuru keeping him in front of her the whole time. "You'll make a lovely meal. You're the perfect age. Ripe and ready for plucking." At his words he started to drool. Chizuru made a face of disgust.

"Honestly you're disgusting. What the hell is wrong with you?" The demon in front of her simply threw his head back and a maniacal laugh ripped from his throat. Chizuru grabbed her head at his piercing bellow. 'If he keeps this up my ears will start to bleed!' The scream was deafening. She looked up to where he had been standing to find him gone. His laughter had faded into the back as she whipped her head around searching for him.

"So scared now are we!? Where is all that tough talk now little one?" His voice bounced off the walls and assaulted her ears from all directions. "Come on now…let me hear a scream. I always LOVE it when they scream." His laughter faded and a deep silence filled the room.

Chizuru stood as still as a stone straining her ears for any sound of him. Quietly at first…then building to an overwhelming volume came the sound that she could only describe as dead leaves skittering across the ground. All around her grotesque beetles with little glowing green eyes began to crawl from every crevice of the room. They fell from the ceiling and out from behind the shelves and came up through the floor boards.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" she screamed! Reaching into a small pocket in her pants she threw two pellets at the ground that caused a large chunk of the now writhing floor to burst into flame. And to her horror, the beetles screamed.

********END OF FLASHBACK*********

It had been an ugly and very…gooey fight. She had finally found where the ugly man had hidden himself and pierced his heart to finally get rid of all the bugs. When she had emerged from the house Kazama and Shiranui had gawked at the state of her appearance.

'What a time to remember something so trivial' Chizuru mused. Yamazaki and Shimada had actually been very nice companions for the trip that she almost didn't even notice the day go by before that had arrived.

"Thank you for accompanying me. When we get inside I can prepare a proper meal too." Chizuru smiled warmly at the men by her side.

"Oh no we couldn't!" Shimada raised his hands and smiled largely causing her own smile to widen.

"Honestly it won't be any trouble. Come, let us go." Chizuru turned forward again and slowly approached the house. However Yamazaki stopped her before she could continue. Her smile faded as she took in his solemn expression.

"This is your home. I understand. But familiarity breeds contempt and destruction. We need to sweep the house and make sure no one is lying in waiting for you." Chizuru paled for a moment. She hadn't even thought of such a thing. And she should have. She may not be in charge of a squad anymore…but there were still lives in her hands that she had to take care of.

Chizuru nodded in affirmation. "You talk to the roof. Shimada, you take the perimeter and I will take the inside." Grimly the two Shinsengumi soldier's nodded and all three quickly sprang into action.

Silently, Yamazaki took to the roof as Shimada and Chizuru quietly stole themselves to the house. Chizuru opened the front door, sliding it quietly to the side as Shimada began to survey the side of the house and disappear around the corner. After watching his back disappear, Chizuru slowly crept inside the front doorway. She peeked an eye around the corner and peered down the hallway to her left and quickly to her right.

The hall was dark but it was quite. Graceful and silent as a cat she began to creep down the hall and search each room. To her relief each room yielded nothing but quite stillness. Slowly she made her way towards her father's lab. As she grew nearer, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Something was off.

'It feels like someone has been here…and recently.' Chizuru lightly sniffed the air, using her demon nose to take in a new array of scents previously hidden from her human nose. She smelled a light burnt smell but nothing else. Slowly, blade drawn and at the ready, Chizuru slide the panel door open.

Before her lay her father's lab. In disarray as usual, you almost couldn't tell if someone had looted the lab or not. A stack of books to her left however, were sprawled across the floor and pages had been torn out. On his desk, vials had been spilt and broken and one of the shelves was overturn in the corner. Her eyes however were fixated on a single candle on the desk.

It was still smoking from being blown out.