Author's Note: Just to tell you readers ahead of time, this chapter was rushed so it might not be up to my usual writing level or whatever. This entire week has been very hectic for me so that should explain why the quality of this chapter is down compared to the rest of my stuff. Anyway, I'll make it up to you guys in the next chapter, I promise that it'll be much better than this one. Well, you might as well read this one, but it's still vital to the entire story.



Chapter 29: Four Destinies



Okita Soushi was my target that evening, I've heard many things about that man. I know for a fact that he is indeed the leader of the first Shinsengumi squad, but I have not fought him up until that point in my life. He was said to be the greatest swordsman in the entire Shinsengumi other than Saito Hajime, whom I have fought twice so far. Okita was also known to be ill, coughing up blood quite often, I thought this would make him an easy target.

During the rest of the day, I had not returned to the Satsuma Camp, instead I stayed in the city and wandered a majority of the time. Of course, during my wandering I slaughtered a few more of Mibu's Wolves and a few witnesses, adding more steps to my reunion with Shinta and more guilt upon my shoulders. Night had fallen quickly that evening; I was lying in wait for my target at the Yasaka Shrine. I sat at the steps of the shrine, my right-hand holding Shinji's old tobacco pipe before my mouth as my left clutched the hilt of my sword.

"He's here," I took one last puff of tobacco.

A flash of sky blue had entered the corner of my eye, along with several footsteps. I tapped the contents out of the gold-laced tube before hurrying behind a statue. As I hid, I was able to hear their whispers. They were talking about how the body count of their men rose drastically recently, saying that they don't know who or what attacked them. I knew who it was that killed most of their men, it was me.

"Are there any witnesses that survived the attacks?" I heard one of them ask.

"No, not one," another answered. "Even witnesses were killed on the spot."

"Any patterns on the attacks?"

"All of the victims were killed in secluded areas, that's all we know for now."

"And Kondou-sama wants me to eliminate this threat...," one of them muttered, "just how are we supposed to kill what we know virtually nothing about?"

"Those who know anything will die," I stepped away from my cover.

"Who are you?" one of them began shining their lanterns upon my figure.

"You need not know my name," I answered.

"Che, it's just a girl trying to act as a soldier," one of them scoffed.

"I'm no ordinary girl," my eyes began to narrow.

Several of the men began to back away suddenly, but one stood his ground. He looked rather young, about eighteen or so, there was a smile stretched across his face. His hair was a dark brown color, it was virtually black; his eyes were also of the same shade. The young man had a rather strong stench of blood on him, it was obvious that he had killed many. It didn't take me long to realize who this young man was, it was Okita Soushi, leader of the first Shinsengumi squad, and my target for that evening.

"It's you," he said, that smile never leaving his face, "you're that girl who went after Jin'eh two years ago."

"What of it?" I asked, my hand drifting toward my sword.

"I have no time for idle chatter, we have a city to patrol," Okita began to turn away.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" I began to raise my voice. "Take one more step and that pretty boy face of your's will be wading in a pool of your own blood."

"Why you...!" one of the soldiers began to take hold of their sword.

"Stand back!" another stood in front of the man. "How dare you...!" the Wolf sprung forward as he drew his blade. "Huh?!" his blade met with the guard of mine.

Without wasting a single second, I began my attack. With my left hand, I pushed my sheath forward and out of my belt, striking the man in the abdomen. After a cry, he lurched forward, just as my katana's blade aligned with his back. I pushed down with all my strength and his body split in two, creating a large blast of crimson after. As the body fell to the floor, my foot met with half of his back, springing me upward toward the heavens.

"Stop her!" Okita pushed two more of his men forward.

They pointed their blades upward, hoping that it would catch my body as it returned to the earth. I had anticipated this, instead twisting my body as I fell back down. My blade swung with my body's turn, splitting the steel slabs of my enemy just as I landed beside them. With the wave of my sword, my enemy's swords had split in half. Regardless of their broken weapons, they continued to charge. One Wolf swung his broken blade from the west, the other from the north. Both weapons came down in unison, only to strike the air. I had escaped their attacks' path at the last moment, finding my back turned toward their's. I spun once more, this time my blade swinging upward at the base of their skulls. Steel met flesh in a split second, slicing through their necks as if a hot knife was going through butter. Another shower of ruby erupted from the top of their necks, their skulls soaring in the air for a mere second before finding their final resting place on the floor. There were two more men left other than my target; both of these men were both paralyzed by fear.

"It's your turn," I glared at the final two.

"Stop this," Okita ordered me. "Let these two go, there's no need to get bystanders involved in my affairs."

"They aren't bystanders," I told Okita, "they're your men, your soldiers, how can they be simple bystanders?"

"This fight is between the two of us," Okita told me, "there's no need to get others involved."

"Fine," I nodded, "you two, get out of here!" I glared.

Just as I had finished saying those words, the steel slabs within their hands suddenly clattered to the floor and their forms began shrinking in the distance.

"Kill them!" Kensai suddenly appeared next to me.

"Nani?!" I looked to her for a second.

"I said kill them," she repeated.

"You heard Okita, there's no need to...," the invisible scar around my eye suddenly began to burn.

"Do you want to bear the pain of our contract?" Kensai asked as I placed my palm over my eye.

"No, but I just...," the burning began to worsen.

"Stop wasting your breath," Kensai ordered me. "Even if they were bystanders, do you think those dogs won't report this to the pack? Think before you speak, Mina, those two men will report to their comrades and return with more men."

"But I...," I tried explaining once more.

"Do it."

"I..."

"Do it!" she ordered practically yelling, the searing around my eye burning even more.

"Do-Ryu-Sen!" I screamed as my sword rose to the air.

"What are you...?!" Okita asked before my blade met the ground.

The steel slab split the road with ease, it's force traveling beyond my blade and into the gravel. Stone began to rise from my strike, hurling toward the cowardly Wolves. The first screamed as a blade of earth impaled itself into the back of his head, the other was too slow to react before he died just as the sharpened rock met with his back. One fell after another, puddles of their life breaking their fall. The grip around my sword began to loosen as I watched those men die, just as the burn of my scar began to cool. Okita turned to his dead allies, I know there was a look of disbelief in his face, even with his back turned.

"Beautiful," Kensai simply said as that evil simper stretched across her face.

"Beautiful?" I turned to her. "How can you say such a thing?! I just killed two people, how dare you...!"

"Here we go again about killing the innocents," she sighed. "Didn't I tell this is all going to a just cause, Mina?"

"But still...!" I yelled at her.

"I think you should focus your anger onto someone else at the moment," Kensai said as her finger pointed to the Wolf still before me.

"Naze...?" he asked as his head practically dragged to the floor. "Why did you slay them?! I asked you to spare their lives and you broke your word!"

"Gomen, I...," I tried to explain.

"Your apology is nothing to me, Hitokiri!" Okita yelled, the hold on his sword tightening with the raise of his voice. "Now ready your blade so I can avenge my allies!"

"Kill him too," Kensai ordered.

"I was ordered too, but...," I began to lower my blade further.

"You can change the course of this war with his death," she whispered as her hands met with my shoulders. "Kill him."

"I can't kill him," I told her, "but...," my fingers began to inch toward my ribbon.

"I can be the one to stain our sword with his blood!" Kensai screamed once my ribbon was undone.

I had become a spectator in this duel, I felt bad enough that I killed his allies that I couldn't take his own life. The pain had become too great at that moment, I just couldn't bring myself to fight. I had to let her fight this one.

"Kyah!" Kensai's scream escaped my lips as she swung our sword.

A loud crash erupted when Okita's blade met with our's. The two swords were locked for only a second before Kensai pushed the young man away with my foot to his stomach. The Young Wolf staggered back, only to regain his balance a step later once Kensai brought our sword toward his side. Another crash echoed in the area, this one louder than the last. Kensai broke their hold once more, this time following her swing with a swipe from the lower left. The two steel slabs met again, pushing away from one another upon contact. Numerous swings followed from both swords after, each one placing the two metal curves against one another over and over again. The stalemate had lasted for an unaccounted amount of time, neither warrior was scratched yet.

"Uh...," a river of ruby began to escape the Young Wolf's lip.

A blast of the same substance escaped soon after, summoned by a small cough. The small geyser fell upon the floor as another flood of blood escaped his lips with another hack of his lungs. Kensai stood there with her smirk widening as she watched the young warrior's life slowly withering away without any of her input.

"He would be a great step toward your reunion with your brother, don't you think so?" Kensai asked as she readied her blade once more.

The whistle of a bamboo reed suddenly filled the area, as well as the sound of marching steps. Kensai lowered my blade as she turned toward the source in the east. The distance was covered in a sky blue hue with the beats of thunder as the color grew closer.

"More prey," Kensai smiled as my tongue dabbed the flat side of my blade, slurping the scarlet liquid which engulfed it.

"Gross!" I wanted to scream but the words never came.

"How would you know?" Kensai asked me as the colors grew brighter. "You've never even tasted blood before."

"I have thanks to you!" I snapped. "But forget about that now, we better make a run for it!" I ordered as more of Mibu's Wolves came into view.

"And pass up this opportunity, I don't think so," Kensai readied her blade once more.

"I'd run if I were you," Okita said between his coughs. "There's no way you can take on the entire third squad of the Shinsengumi."

"Keep your mouth shut!" Kensai spat.

"Kensai, come on, we can't take the risk," I tried convincing her once more.

"Not now," she yelled at me, "I haven't been on the battlefield since our contract was formed, let me indulge in this rare moment!"

"What about those two men you had me killed?" I reminded her. "You told me that I should kill them so they wouldn't be able to report back to the others."

"That was to save us from doing this later," Kensai explained, "but then again, you're the one who has less stamina than me and..."

"For God's sake, listen to me!" I screamed at her. "There's no way we can take on all those guys, you know it, and I know it!"

"Have some confidence in me, Mina," she smirked as the pack began to grow closer.

"I do, why else do you think I agreed to your contract," I told her.

Kensai began to step forward, despite my words. The sky blue colors were growing even closer now, covering even more distance than we thought. She turned to our katana for a moment and then returned her view to the incoming pack. She turned to Okita once more who had passed out on the floor, his lips suckling against the crimson pool in front of him.

"Che, you win," Kensai spat as she brought the silk material underneath my hair.

"Your life's been spared for now," I told Okita as I fastened the ribbon in place.

Without another word, I returned to the shadows without taking a look back. This was the first and only time I ran away from an assassination mission. I never regretted retreating that evening, despite how many times Kensai yelled at me and the such. My wait for my brother could be postponed for a little while longer, at least that's what I thought at the time, but that little while longer has... No, it's too early to say, I'll speak of it later.

I returned to the Satsuma Camp shortly; darkness had consumed most of the camp. Shion was still awake though, there was a small flash of red and orange coming from her window. I entered our barracks shortly after, not even bothering to take a bath beforehand. Shion was sitting in the corner of the room when I entered, but she moved away from her seat as soon as I returned.

"Mina, where were you?" she asked, practically scolding me. "You had me worried. Just where were you the entire time, young lady?! You didn't kill anymore people, did you? Oh why am I asking, of course you did, just look at your clothes!"

"I didn't come back for a lecture," I told Shion as I brushed passed her. "You sound like my mother, you know that?"

"Mina, I'm just concerned, that's all," Shion told me as I took a seat in one of the room's corner's pulling out Shinji's pipe from my pocket.

"Is this about what happened earlier today?" I asked as I lit one end of the tube.

"Of course it is, what else would this be about?!" Shion said practically yelling.

"Don't get caught up in my affairs, okay?" I told her as I inhaled some of the pipe's contents.

"Mina, I don't even know what's going on with you anymore," Shion told me, "you're always being so distant now. Ever since you joined the Satsuma Clan you've been like this, just what happened to you, Mina?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said calmly, trying to ignore her.

"It's because of her, isn't it? Just what is going on between you and Kensai this time, Mina?" the question suddenly caught my attention.

"Between me and Kensai?" I asked.

"Hai, what is going on between you two?!" Shion demanded.

"You can't tell her what's going on between us," Kensai's voice suddenly whispered into my ear.

The sound of her voice paralyzed me once more. My skin flinched as her hand trailed down to my shoulder, slipping downward as her palm slowly slid against my skin. Shion stood there with her arms crossed, her face annoyed. She couldn't see Kensai, nor could she hear her, I was the only one who can feel her presence whenever she wasn't in control of my body.

"Well, speak already!" Shion ordered once more.

"You can't tell her," Kensai whispered as her hand found its way to my face, petting the area around my left eye.

"I...," I began trying to explain, only to draw back once the tingling around my eye began to burn once more, "I'm...afraid...," were the only words I can muster.

"Afraid?" Shion began to calm down. "Just what are you afraid of?" Shion asked as she knelt down beside me.

"I'm afraid...," I tried to tell her once more.

"Don't tell her," Kensai whispered once more as the burning grew stronger.

"...of hurting you and Tetsu," I answered.

"That's a good girl...," Kensai said as her presence began to fade away.

"Why are you afraid of hurting us?" Shion asked.

"I don't want to share my pain with you," I answered, "because if I do then you'll all have to suffer as well."

"You're talking about the guilt of all those you killed, is that right?" Shion asked.

"Hai," I answered, "no matter how many times you lecture me and no matter how many times I do it, I can never get used to it."

"I see...," was the only thing she said after.

What I told her was the truth, even if it wasn't the whole truth. I could never get used to killing, I could never get used to being a murderer or a soldier, I just couldn't bear taking lives. I had been a soldier for two years, and I still had issues when it came to killing, even if I did show no mercy on the battlefield, I'd still feel the pain later.

"I guess I'm the same as you then," Shion admitted after a moment of silence.

"What?" I asked. "Shion, I thought you..."

"Despite what you have told me, I still feel guilt over killing," Shion said. "There are no innocents in war, but even so, who gets to say that those people were once innocent? I ask myself that question every time I go into combat, before I kill, but I always tell myself, that was the past, this is the present, live in the moment, that's all that counts. But then later I realize that's a lie, everything counts, past, present, future, all of it, that's what makes a person who they are! I don't know what I'm saying, this whole concept makes me go in nothing but circles, there is no definite conclusion that can come out of this! Even if there is no conclusion, the best thing to do is to not dwell on it."

"And how do you do that?" I asked.

"I read books," she answered.

"You mean those romance novels of your's?" I referred to the books she keeps in the corner.

"Hai," Shion nodded, "at times I think that sometimes our lives really are just books, we live through the good times and the bad, some end happily, others end sadly."

"What about our lives," I asked, "how do you think they'll end?"

"I don't know," Shion answered, "I try not to dwell on it too much."

"I see...," was all I could say. "Hm, what's this book?" I turned to the side to find a novel I had never seen before.

The cover and pages were all in good condition, not a scratch or mark anywhere. The pages were neatly written, not a single blotch of ink.

"Oh that book, I haven't read that one yet," Shion answered, "it's not even my favorite genre."

"'The Crimson String and the Four Destinies'," I read the title, "do you know what it's about?"

"A little," Shion answered. "It's about four individuals who grew up together, but eventually went down different paths in life. One lead the life of a wanderer, another a follower, the third became a criminal, and the fourth was unsure of what he wanted to do in life. Each of these individuals were blessed by Fate in a number of different ways. One was blessed with a scar, another was given a mark, one of the others was blessed in the heart, and the last one was blessed with Fate's tear. The majority of the story takes place after a war, when their country has just entered a new and uncertain era. It basically speaks of each of their lives up until their reunion, in which all four of the individuals engaged in combat with one another. Each of them had a different perspective on how the new era for their country should be shaped, but in the end, only one perspective was kept while four were discarded."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "I don't get it."

"I don't either," Shion said, "you can read it if you want, I won't pick it up anytime soon."

"The scar, the mark, the heart, and the tear," Kensai's voice lingered back toward my ear, "doesn't that sound familiar," she said, obviously referring to me and Shinta.

"I can understand the scar and the tear part," I told her, "but what of the heart and mark?"

"You'll just have to see," Kensai snickered.

The scar, the mark, the heart, and the tear, whoever wrote that book sure had some weird imagination. But now that I think about this in the present, could that book have possibly been referring to my life somehow? Was it referring to Shinta's as well? What about... no, I can't say their names yet, I haven't come to that part of my story. Either way, that book may have some kind of key to my destiny, a destiny I am still awaiting...

Chapter 29 Liner Notes



What is Yasaka Shrine?- Yasaka shrine was one of the first Shinto temples ever built in Japan, much like the Touji Temple mentioned earlier in the story. The Yasaka Shrine also holds many of Japan's old treasures from the Tokugawa Shogunate, mostly gifts that were presented to the shrine by the emperor himself.



(Next time: "Destiny draws closer, I continue to dance as Fate's marionette as a moth would with a flame. The fires of hell have entered the shadows once more, but will they be able to sear a devil...?" -Himura Mina)



Author's Note: I swear, I'll make up for the lacking quality of this chapter in the next one. Go ahead and review me, but no flames as usual. My schedule for this week shouldn't be as bad so I don't think I have to rush the next chapter. Just to let you know ahead of time, that book that Shion has, 'The Crimson String and the Four Destinies', will play a large role in the later books, it's presentation will be greater there than this chapter. Well, five more chapters left and this story's over, hope you're all enjoying it so far.