The Ordinary Life of Chizuru Yukimura

Disclaimer: Hakuouki isn't mine.

Chizuru had so far today managed to avoid meeting Heisuke's friends. He'd suggested they go and eat lunch with them but she had insisted she wanted to start their biology homework and so she'd managed to spend the whole hour in the library. It was a bit of a distraction to have Heisuke there too but it was nice that he actually wanted to be friends with her. Normally she was one of those anti-social people in the corner of the classroom.

The problem was that Heisuke was now even more determined that she should join the kendo club. She'd hoped he would be happy if she found another club to join and let him down gently. The only club she'd ever joined before was cooking but as this club would be full of females she thought she'd avoid it. Girls may notice more easily.

Sadly whenever she mentioned the possibility of looking at other clubs to Heisuke during their study period at the end of the day (Kannan had decided to disappear apparently), he had other ideas.

"But you said you didn't have any other clubs you were thinking of!"

"Well I don't but-."

"Then you can join the kendo club."

"But I don't know anything about kendo…" The only thing she'd done involving kendo was when she and Kaoru had found their father's swords from his school days and nearly concussed themselves.

"You don't need to, you can learn." Heisuke was pretty pushy when he wanted something.

"I'm not good at sports either…" Last year she had fallen on her face trying to jump a hurdle.

"Don't worry Ruo, it's not so much about sports." But it's a sports club… "It's about the fun, you know? The male bonding!"

"That sounds nice." She tried to smile but inwardly she was panicking. The main reason she was nervous was that it was highly possible that one of Heisuke's friends may be likely to see through her disguise. Being close to people was something she'd hoped to avoid this year so as to go undetected. Ok, she had talked to Heisuke today but that was because his desk was behind hers.

If she joined a club it would mean she'd be in close contact with a group of people. Kaoru may find it easy to act like a girl but she wasn't very masculine. Spending every afternoon with a group of guys would end up outing her for definite.

Perhaps slipping out would work… She could always say she felt ill and go home. It was with much envy that she looked over at Kaoru who was enjoying a chat with Sen. Everything went well for him it seemed.

"So, you ready?" Heisuke was smiling at her and looking keen.

"I guess…" It seemed she was going to be escorted to the kendo club so she may as well accept it. Chizuru knew it was likely she was going to have to change schools after only one day.

"It's great having another guy in my class I know. Normally I only stick with guys from the older years."

"Oh." This was nice. Guilt at lying to someone she'd only known a day. "I don't normally have… other guy friends."

"Really? Woah, no wonder you're so shy." Heisuke slapped Chizuru on the back causing her to flinch. "Don't worry, you'll love the guys. They're awesome."

"I guess they must be." This was pretty terrifying but she was going to have to get on with it. She didn't want to lose to Kaoru.

The club room for the kendo club was in a wooden building behind the main school building. One half was taken up with the judo club, the other half with kendo. There were a lot of guys going into the judo club side but the kendo side looked pretty deserted.

This was confirmed when they went inside to find the room completely empty. It was obviously well used with the exception of the actual kendo gear, most of which was covered with dust.

"Ah, guess they aren't here yet." Chizuru hovered in the door awkwardly but Heisuke had no such qualms. He pulled his shoes off, threw his bag on the side and went and sat by a table to the side of the room.

"Heisuke?" He looked back at her. "Shouldn't we wait for someone to get here?"

"It's fine! I know these guys." He was quite a chilled guy. He gestured to a space next to him. "Stop worrying and come and sit down."

"Ok…" Chizuru was reluctant but she did as he asked. For a while she hoped they would be the only ones there but her heart rate increased when she heard voices coming closer.

The door slammed open and two clearly older guys entered the room. One was tall and built with short spiked, dark red hair. For some reason he had a green sash tied around his head. The other was smaller with chin length red hair.

"Hey, Sano, Shin." Heisuke waved.

"That's Shin-Senpai to you, you cocky brat."

"And you've already made yourself at home I see." The guy with the longer red hair was the first to notice Chizuru. "Who's that?"

"My classmate Ruo. He's kind of shy but he's nice. He's got no other club so he's gonna join ours." Clearly the shorter guy noticed Chizuru's look of terror.

"Heisuke, don't force people to join the club. Sorry about him, he's always going too far."

"I-it's fine." Oh god, too high pitched.

"Woah, he's even smaller than Heisuke!" The bigger guy had gotten close and was staring at her.

"Shin you dumbass, don't scare the guy." At least one of the two was quite reasonable. "As you can probably tell, this moron" He tapped the taller guy on the head, "is Shinpachi. I'm Sanosuke."

"Tsuruo Yukimura." It was so weird introducing herself by this name.

"Yo Ruo." Shinpachi slapped her on the back, an action that made Chizuru flinched. He's picked up the nickname. "I'm Shin. You may call me Shin the almighty or Shinpachi-Sama."

"Ummm…."

"Or Shin the dumbass."

"Screw you Sano!"

"It's not my fault it's true." He looked at Chizuru. "Most people call me Sano."

"Nice to meet you… Shin-Senpai, Sano-Senpai." She couldn't quite bring herself to use only their nicknames. She was too polite for that.

"Did you hear that Heisuke? 'Senpai'. That's how you should be talking to your elders." Shin started ruffling Heisuke's hair leading to a full on fist fight. Chizuru was concerned at first but glancing at Sano and seeing his lack of interest, she guessed it was a common occurrence.

"Damn, where is everyone else? Class finished ages ago." Sano glared at the clock and scowled.

"Others?" She had remembered hearing other names earlier.

"Our captain is Hijikata, he's a third year. He's the only third year, since everybody else can't be assed with all the shit they have to do this year. Then from our year Saito who's in the same class as us and Souji who is in class four." Sano was counting them through with his fingers. "And… that's it. Thank god we've got you two this year or we'd be screwed."

"O-oh." She felt like an intruder. These guys had all known each other for a long time.

"Never seen you around before Ruo." Shin and Heisuke had stopped fighting and she was once again the centre of attention. She didn't like it.

"He's new. Just moved in with his twin sister." Heisuke's voice changed slightly at the mention of sisters and he started wriggling his eyebrows.

"Twin sister? She hot?" Shin wasn't subtle. I think I'm going to be asked this question a lot.

"Err… Well she's my sister so…"

"Ohhh I get ya." He looked at Heisuke. "Is she hot?"

"She's kind of cute." Kaoru will be pleased.

"Guys don't scare the kid off." Thank god for Sano. He seemed sensible.

"I'm surprised you're not asking." Shin threw a cushion at him.

"Yeah, you are obsessed with girls."

"I am not obsessed, I just appreciate all women."

"Yeah, yeah you old perv." The bickering continued and Chizuru inwardly sighed with relief. These guys almost continuously bounced off of each other, leaving nothing for her to do. This didn't last very long.

"Who threw all the pillows over here? Dammit I've told you guys." A tall boy with long black hair had come in. He was not impressed.

"Oh chill, it's only a few cushions." Shin received another scowl. He then turned his attention to Heisuke who waved.

"Hey Captain, I bought another new recruit." He pointed at Chizuru and the man she assumed was Hijikata turned his attention to her.

"Name?"

"Tsuruo Yukimura." He walked over to a chest of drawers in the corner and opened the top drawer, pulling two pieces of paper out of it. He placed both sheets on the table in front of them.

"Heisuke and Yukimura, fill out the application forms."

"Ehh… You know who I am, can't you do it?"

"Do it yourself." He glanced at Chizuru who grabbed the nearest form and started filling it in. She got halfway through before realising that she was trapping herself. Hijikata had just creeped her out.

"Where's Saito and Souji?"

"God knows." Sano lay back on the floor, legs spread our under the table. For a sports club it was pretty relaxed. Especially in comparison to the judo club next door where they were all yelling at each other.

Soon after the group had started discussing things and mostly ignoring her, the two boys she assumed were Saito and Souji appeared. One had black hair that hung around his face, the other light brown hair, part of which was held up at the back. The brown haired boy looked quite relaxed with a slight smile on his face whilst the black haired boy seemed quite blank.

"Where were you guys? It's the first day of term!" Hijikata did not sound pleased.

"A certain someone got a love letter." The brown haired boy smiled whilst the other started going red.

"Woah, nicely done Saito. What was she like?" Shin was sitting up.

"Umm…" Saito, now revealed as the black haired boy was flustered.

"He took one look at her and ran." The one she assumed was Souji started laughing.

"Aww you let down." Shin rolled his eyes and looked away. Saito and Souji came to join the others with Souji sitting between Chizuru and Sano. When he sat down he noticed the newcomer.

"Who are you?"

"Err…" Her brain had frozen.

"That's Tsuruo Yukimura, also known as Ruo. That's Saito and that's Souji." Thank god for Heisuke.

"N-nice to meet you." Please talk about something else.

"Likewise." Souji yawned. "Can we get this over with quickly? I've got stuff to do."

"Like slacking?"

"Harsh words Captain." The older boy rolled his eyes.

"Just make more of an effort later."

"I usually do."

"Right, practice-"

"'Practice' you mean?" Shin, Sano and Heisuke sniggered.

"Practice will be for one hour every day after school," He continued, ignoring the fools. "We'll also have two hours on a Saturday." Heisuke looked horrified.

"Heisuke and Yukimura, hand in your forms tomorrow."

"Y-yes."

When they were finally released and she was able to escape she sighed. Heisuke appeared behind her and slapped her on the back.

"See you tomorrow Ruo."

"Y-yeah, see you tomorrow!" She waved as he wandered off and she could see the other assorted members of the kendo club walking off.

I just need to avoid getting overly close to them… And then maybe none of them will notice…