The Ordinary Life of Chizuru Yukimura

Disclaimer: Hakuouki isn't mine.

Chizuru had known today was going to be an interesting one. For a start, one of the first things she had seen when entering the gates was Heisuke and Shin having some kind of wrestling match. Over what, she was not sure. All she knew was that Saito was sitting quite happily with a book, ignoring all their foolishness. He nodded at her when she approached but otherwise remained oblivious to the world.

Chizuru could hear a few people whispering but most of the older students in particular were used to Shin and that group in general, and so ignored any of their loud fights. It was hard to know the reason for the particular altercation but it apparently had something to do with bread. She decided in the end that it was best not to ask and made her way into the school.

It was strange to her that she was becoming so accustomed to the loud and strange behaviour of the other club members but she felt happy about it. It was nice to be having fun instead of worrying all the time.

Entering the classroom, she could see Kaoru chatting with Sen at the other side of the room. She wasn't feeling envious of him like she had at first. In some ways, that looked really boring. This Sen girl seemed really nice but didn't seem the type of person to run around having toast fights. The memory had her grinning to herself.

This still complicated her feelings about the situation though. It was hard to lie to people who were becoming good friends. Smile gone, she sighed and sank her head on to the desk. Losing to Kaoru would bring about an irritating penalty so she didn't want to say anything. Not to mention what the hell would other people think? Kaoru would get a lot of crap, but she'd probably be avoided with him.

Chizuru was a neurotic type of person so this bothered her for a while. It was hard to forget and distract yourself when you were like this. Truly, an annoying personality trait to have. The only distraction she had was Heisuke throwing things at her whenever he was bored. This happened frequently throughout the day.

"Seriously though, why do we have to study so much useless crap?" He announced this at the end of history, slumping over the desk.

"Because life is unfair and strange."

"It really is. Ugh I need caffeine."

This had them walking to the lunch room, which led on to the second interesting incident of the day. Namely, Heisuke hyped up on coffee. She hadn't known that this was a bad idea; no one else had ever told her. Though when Heisuke was sat there twitching, occasionally kicking her under the table she found out for herself.

"You gave him coffee didn't you?" Sano was scowling in her direction whilst Shin was watching Heisuke with a smirk on his face.

"Is this bad?" It wasn't like she could have stopped him buying something with his own money.

"He's kind of a twitchy pain in the ass."

"I guessed." She was happy to let the others deal with his weirdness.

Heisuke having coffee turned out to be a bad thing for her in the end. Ten minutes after Shin and Sano, Souji decided to join them since Saito was busy and he was bored. They were sitting and watching Heisuke, listening to him jabbering at three times the speed of usual. And then he got a bit over-enthusiastic in his hand gestures and knocked the remains of the coffee onto the person sitting opposite him. Sadly this was Chizuru.

"Oh shit! Sorry Ruo!" She could only stare at the growing stain on her shirt.

"You dumb shit! Why am I not surprised?" Sano stood up. "Come on Ruo, you can borrow one of my spares."

"Umm…" This wasn't good. Not good at all.

"Let's go. Shin can deal with twitchy." Souji had grabbed her arm and was pulling her along.

"I-I can deal with this by myself!" This seemed a recipe for disaster. They were dragging her towards the boy's changing rooms, somewhere Chizuru did not want to be going.

"We're not gonna strip you or anything, I'm just getting my shirt." This was the reason Sano was coming anyway; Souji was probably with them due to boredom.

"No, really! I'm fine!" They'd already pulled her into the room and were heading into the depths. No one else was around luckily but just these two were bad enough.

"Ok, here's my spare. Knock yourself out." Sano threw her a shirt.

"Ok, I guess I'll head to the toilets then…" She turned stiffly but Souji had grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Why are you so prudish?" There was a glint in his eye as he said this. Sano rolled his eyes and started messing around with his locker. He wasn't interested in Souji bothering people.

"I'm not prudish!"

"Seriously, do you have a tattoo or something under there?"

"No! I'm completely ordinary! I just don't like people watching!" The problem was that Souji was a sadistic bastard. He didn't know that he was dealing with a girl; to him it was an awkward guy. So he yanked up her shirt.

"Don't be such a-!" Although she pulled it back down, he had definitely seen. She didn't have much in the way of breasts but the binding was obvious. This was the first time she had seen him look lost for words. Sano hadn't noticed but he'd realised something was wrong.

"What? What's going on?" Souji opened and shut his mouth a few times. And then he laughed nervously.

"Well… That explains… things…."

"What does?" Souji looked at her.

"…I'm really sorry!" Oh god, I am so screwed. They're all gonna be really mad at me! And Kaoru will screw with me and everyone will know!

"For what?" Sano was now glaring at both of them. "Will someone tell me?"

"For lying about her gender I believe."

"Her?" Sano leant right in and stared. "I see…"

"I-I didn't want to do it!" She was really panicking now.

"Right… You go change and then we'll talk."

"Ok…" She felt her heart hammering in her chest as she headed to the toilet. She didn't know what to do. Once she returned, Sano and Souji were waiting for her. It was hard to look at them right now.

"To the club room," announced Sano. She gulped.

-Page Break-

Chizuru had expected all the others to be there. It had seemed to be a likely outcome. However, the room was empty when they arrived. When the three of them were sat around the small table, Souji started.

"So… you're female?"

"Yes…"

"Dressing as a guy?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Both of them were looking at her.

"I-It was my brother's idea!"

"…Oh!" Surprisingly Sano started to laugh. "Shin likes a guy."

"He's gonna love that." Both of them shared a grin. "Why are you guys doing that?" They were both gazing at her so she figured she may as well just come out with it.

"We used to do it a lot as kids… And then when we moved here, he said we should try it at school. I thought he was joking! But he was the one who sorted out all the paperwork so…" Chizuru sighed.

"Why is that a problem? Didn't you guys just switch names?"

"No…. He changed them." Probably because it was the only way to force her to do it.

"Hmm… He's good." Souji seemed genuinely impressed. "What's your real name then?"

"Chizuru… And he's Kaoru."

"Oh." Then there was silence. Both of them were looking at her and considering something. She couldn't take much more of that though.

"Are you going to tell everyone?" This was her main concern. Especially as Kaoru would want her to pay up on her bet. Sano and Souji shared a glance.

"What happens if you're found out?"

"I have to do whatever he says…" She sighed. It would probably be something really sadistic.

"Well I don't know about you," said Sano, "but I don't mind keeping this quiet."

"It could be interesting~." And Souji had a devilish grin on his face. Though worried about that look, she was focused on what they had just said.

"R-Really? What about the others?"

"Hmm… Well Hijikata is kind of a prude…. And Saito and Shin are awkward around women. And Heisuke is a huge blabbermouth. I'd say we should just stick with the three of us." Souji nodded as Sano spoke.

"Thank you so much!" She was almost crying with relief. At least for a little while longer, she'd be safe from Kaoru.

"No problem." Souji did unsettle her though. He seemed to be enjoying this scenario and was looking at her as if she were a particularly interesting new toy.

"Damn… Shin is gonna be so freaked out when he finds out he's been talking to a girl…" Sano sniggered. "He usually starts stuttering and blushing."

"He'd be really weirded out then?" She kind of liked Shin. He was a funny guy, if a bit over-enthusiastic.

"Probably. And you slept in a room full of guys. I bet your brother loved that one."

"He did." She furrowed her brow. Remembering some of the things he'd said pissed her off.

"Damn… I can't believe we missed it before. It's so obvious!" Souji was scrutinising her face with his head tilted on one side. "You really are feminine. And you have curves."

"Kaoru looks pretty feminine too though." He looked even better in a skirt than she did; a fact that made her more than a little dejected.

"He is. Do you think he just wanted to become a woman and so was using this as an excuse?"

"I have no idea… I think it's mainly to piss me off." Especially as it had been his favourite activity since childhood.

"He sounds like a pretty fun guy." Both Chizuru and Sano glared at Souji.

"Ah well, don't worry about it. We'll help you out." Sano at least, she could believe.

"Thank you… And I'm sorry for lying…"

"Well as long as you weren't faking your entire personality, I don't mind."

"And maybe we could have a little bit of fun with your brother…" Souji chuckled a little.

"Fun?"

"Don't start him off."

"I just thought, we could encourage Shin to err… pursue the object of his affections."

"That would be unfair to Shin wouldn't it?"

"No, he has a point..." You've changed your mind quickly!

"He'd do the same to any of us if he could. And he's always made comments about my sister so screw him!"

"I see..." Although worried about what Souji might be plotting, she felt a lot better then she had in weeks. Sano and Souji hadn't been mad. She smiled. Things were starting to look up.