Sorry for the long wait! Things have happened, some horrible some very good. I've also had writers block on and off, please forgive me. I hope you are all satisfied with this new chapter, and now we can jump right in to all the good stuff that happens in the games~ (Because all the anime's follow Hijikata's route and he's not who I want Mei with for sure) so be excited~
"Hey, Mei..."
Mei looked up from doing the laundry, her eyes meeting Ryunosuke's. "Hm? What is it Ryunosuke?" She asked lightly as she got up and dried her hands.
"I wanted to say thanks. You helped me out earlier with my chores. You didn't have to." The boy murmured as he looked away from the woman. He seemed a bit flustered as he tried to show his gratitude, while simultaneously trying not to offend her.
Mei saw how hard it was for the smart ass of a boy so she laughed a bit before nodding, "Don't worry about it. I just did it for my own self-fulfillment." She replied before turning back to her laundry. "You should hurry and get those dishes cleaned. You never know if Serizawa will send you out on another alcohol run." She teased with her usual smirk.
"Oh shit!" Ryunosuke hissed before he rushed off to do as she had advised.
The woman glanced back and watched his form till it disappeared from her sight. Committing it to memory. Will this be the last day... where everything is okay? She thought lightly before continuing to do the laundry. Though not before she caught a glimpse of familiar green pants around the corner of the veranda. He's still suspicious... She sighed mentally as she looked back down towards the water.
Mei thought back to the plan she had discussed with Sanan, Hijikata, and Kondou. She would stay back in the compound and make sure Serizawa would go to sleep, and that no one would interfere with the assassination. She still had many mixed emotions about the whole ordeal, however, she knew better than to let it get in the way of her duty. If I really didn't want to do this, I should've just said so. She groaned.
Grabbing the laundry, she began to hang them up to dry, her body moving on muscle memory as she allowed herself to further in her thoughts. They were running through her mind so fast, memories, words, incomplete thoughts.
"Hey Mei...!" Heisuke called out as he ran over to her with Shinpachi.
Mei jumped a bit before setting a hand over her heart and looking at them. "Hey Heisuke, Shin. What's up?" She asked as she tilted her head a bit confused.
"We're all going to Shimabara, wanna come?" Shinpachi asked happily, "Serizawa and Okita said if you wanted to go, you can!" He smiled.
Laughing, Mei closed her eyes and shook her head, "No, I'm gonna stay behind today. I have a lot of chores to do and I've been feeling a little ill lately. I'm planning on turning in early tonight." She explained before pinching their cheeks. "You two go have fun~" She grinned.
"Ow! That hurts!" They whined.
"It isn't supposed to feel nice~" Mei laughed once more before she released them and turned back to the laundry, "Have fun, and save some drinks for me when you get back. If you can." She smiled as she continued her work.
The two males pouted, "Suit yourself then. We'll see you later~" Heisuke said before the two rushed off.
/~/~/
It was some time before she finished hanging the laundry then taking them off once they were dry. By then, the sun had set and most of the men were beginning to turn in for the night. Her eyes stared up at the night sky for a while, gazing in almost envy as they shined brightly above her.
"I thought you were going to turn in early."
Mei blinked in surprise before she turned to the voice at her side. Her eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed on the towering form of Serizawa, and behind him was Okita, Hijikata, and Sanan. "I just finished my walk, I was heading to my room. Was there something you need? Or did you feel the need to just stop me to waste time?" She stated.
Serizawa gazed down at her coldly before he walked up to her. "I don't think I appreciate your tone."
"When have you ever?" Mei grumbled as she looked up at him, glaring into his eyes.
"… Boy. I am going to borrow your page." Serizawa stated plainly as he grabbed onto Mei's arm.
Mei's eyes widened, very noticeably now before she grabbed onto the wrist of the hand that was latched onto her upper arm.
Okita stepped forward and smirked, "I don't think that's a good idea. She might be sick you know. It wouldn't be a good idea to keep her around." He said, trying to come up with an excuse. This wasn't the time to fight. The whole point of the night was to get Serizawa's guard down.
"No, I think it's fine. She looks healthy to me. I just need her for something. You can watch if you want." Serizawa stated as he glanced back at the men before he began to drag Mei off somewhere. The woman wincing a bit at the harsh grip he had on her as she walked with his pace.
The other men didn't waste time as they followed after Serizawa.
They were travelling to the quietest, less inhabited part of the compound, where his room was close to and Mei was starting to get the wrong idea, a very horrible image in her head. She started to struggle a bit more frantically before she was suddenly thrown at the floor.
A small yelp passed her lips in surprise as she rolled on the ground onto her hands and knees. "What the hell is your problem!" She growled as she glared up at him but looked thoroughly confused as he began to unsheathe his sword.
"Serizawa! What are you doing?" Hijikata asked, demanding an answer.
"Get up pup." Serizawa ordered, ignoring Hijikata, "I want to see what all this hype about your swordsmanship is." He stated.
Mei didn't move at first, but slowly she pulled herself from her confusion and got to her feet. "… Okay..." She murmured hesitantly.
"It'll relieve some pent-up anger I have." Serizawa grinned. "I need a plaything to beat up."
The woman growled in irritation before she unsheathed her swords, tightening her grip on them a bit. "Fine... You want to fight me, that's perfectly fine with me."
Okita looked at Mei, watching her every move. Along with Hijikata and Sana who were very confused by her actions.
Mei was relaxing, her muscles weren't tense anymore. She was grinning, excitedly. Like she was getting a kick out of the situation. She seemed totally in her element as she got in a stance and watched her opponent with a calculating gaze that didn't seem to fit the animalistic aura that started to leak off her. As if she was a predator staring at her prey.
"Should you two really be doing this at this hour?" Sanan asked with urgency. This wasn't the plan, but none of them could've predicted this outcome.
Serizawa pointed his sword at her before he got into his own stance, "I think this'll be just fine." He stated as he suddenly lunged at Mei and aimed for her torso.
Mei didn't let him even get close enough to graze her. She easily ducked from the attack and rolled to the side before she aimed for his legs. Her eyes widened when he moved and blocked her attack with his scabbard and brought his blade down to cut her hand. With a growl the woman blocked the attack with one of her blades, leaving both her blades occupied. She glared up at the towering man before she moved away from him and tightened her grip on her swords.
"Your style is very impractical." The man criticized as he glared back at her. "You have less openings but they show up frequently."
The woman clicked her tongue before she shut her eyes, "… Shut up." It was style that her family specialized in and she didn't want the man before her to criticize her on it.
"Did I strike a nerve?" Serizawa was suddenly in front of her.
A harsh growl ripped from her throat as she glared up at him. That's when she froze, her sight set on the look in his eyes. The clear confusion and surprise, before it melted into something like satisfaction at getting something right.
Mei bit her lip as she put away her swords into their scabbards and shut her eyes, rushing off to find a hiding spot till the assassination would be executed. Damnit! She pressed her back to the wall before she slid down to the ground and took deep breath. He had to have seen... She thought before she held her head in her hands. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and fell back, leaning on her hands for support as she looked up towards the night sky a bit painfully. "It doesn't matter anyways..." He'll be dead soon before he can say anything...
/~/~/
The page sat in a tree not too far from Serizawa's room, wearing her Chinese dress as if it was now a uniform to her, as she waited for her time to act, though hoped desperately that she wouldn't have to. An hour had passed since the incident between her and Serizawa, and it was time for the Shinsengumi men to act.
Do you see them? How hard they fight for power? Their hunger for power and control.
"Don't speak about them as if you know who they are..." Mei whispered as she watched the fight ensue. She knew fighting Serizawa would not be easy for the men, but his strength was something to admire, and so was their will.
Ah, but you forget, I do know them... Just as well as you do... But I see them for what they are inside... You only see what you want on the surface, Mei.
Mei bit her lip as she sat idly by. Her instincts told her to fight, to kill, to destroy, and she did everything she could to ignore it. This was Serizawa's fate, and she knew he'd prefer to die fighting, if he had to die prematurely at all.
"Stop it!"
Oh, the pup...
Mei's eyes widened in horror as she spotted Inoue holding onto Ryunosuke. "Ryu...nosuke? Damnit..." He desperate and silent prayers went unanswered once again, and the person she wished she didn't have to see that night was fighting desperately to save the man who saved his life.
"He's fighting an illness! Please! Stop!" Ryunosuke cried out over the rain. Almost everyone's eyes on him.
"So, what if he is?!" Hijikata barked back through gritted teeth, his sword locked in combat with Serizawa's. "Each one of us... has reached a point where there is no going back." Just as those words left his mouth, he was able to push back Serizawa and land a blow on his arm. The smell of his blood reaching Mei's nose even with the rain and sweat already mingling into white noise.
Her body moved quickly as she saw Inoue lose his grip on her fellow page. Jumping down from the branch she rushed at him, wrapping an arm around his waist and keeping a firm grip on him. When she thought it was over, a glass vial flew by her and Ryunosue's faces, breaking into pieces as it made contact with a stone lantern.
Humans will always struggle for power... Even if they have to give up their humanity to do it... Don't you realize that yet, Mei?
Mei slowly looked behind her to see the transformation of the man she hated so much. HIs hair taking on a snow-white color and his silver eyes beaming bright red through the night. This isn't good... Not at all... She thought in horror as she tried to get Ryunosuke to back away from the scene. She could hear it all, the bodies crashing into the walls and floor by the strength of Fury Serizawa. Heard his footsteps near them. Mei turned a bit to look at him, an exasperated look in her eyes as she kept her hold on Ryunosuke.
She tried to push Ryunosuke away as she saw Serizawa's hand reach out for him, but she was too late. Serizawa wrapped his large hand around his throat before kicking her down to the ground and pinning her there with his foot. The air was knocked out of her and she gasped for breath.
"The idea of a pathetic wretch like you saving my life, makes me sick with disgust." Serizawa spat venomously.
Mei looked up at Harada as he rushed at the large fury, before his attack was blocked and he was kicked away. The moment gave Mei a moment of rest and she tried to move away but Serizawa made sure to catch her with his foot once more before she got to move much, stepping on her ribs now.
Now Okita looked pissed, her eyes catching his before he also aimed to attack Serizawa. But like Harada, it was a fruitless attempt. The butt of Serizawa's sword met with his chest painfully and caused him to fly back on the floor.
"… Okita! Harada!" Mei called out in a panic, just as Serizawa reached down to grab her by her wrists painfully and brought her to her feet, squeezing them together as he pulled her a bit off the ground.
"But why? Why did it have to come to any... of this...?" Ryunosuke asked with tears forming in his eyes. "I don't understand any of you at all...!"
Mei saw them... And she saw a part of herself in Ryunosuke, the betrayal. The pain. "Ryunosuke..."
It was silent and Mei looked at Serizawa, her eyes almost pleading with him before he squeezed her wrists even tighter and getting a sound of pain from her.
"… Live... Mongrel..." Serizawa murmured so only Mei and Ryunosuke heard. "If you fight with all your might to live, even you... will come to understand us..." He said, slowly looking down at his servant with a rough smile before roughly throwing Ryunosuke off to the side. He then turned to Mei, pressing harder on her ribs. "… And you..."
The men would've noticed it, the movement of his lips as he spoke to Mei and knew she could hear him. His words were clear to her and she looked up at him with wide eyes before he kicked her towards Harada. Both of them releasing a groan as their bodies connected.
"Mei! Are you okay?" Harada asked in worry.
Mei groaned a bit before nodding, "Don't worry about me... Worry about the devil in front of us." She hissed as she slowly got to her feet. Her mind averted from Serizawa to Ryunosuke. That was her job... That's the job they gave her. She waited a few moments to regain her balance before she slowly made her way towards Ryunosuke.
Kill him already.
Mei set a hand on her katana as she grew closer to Ryunosuke, before he suddenly took off. Mei immediately rushed after him.
Why aren't you going full speed?
The voice in her head was irritated, and her head throbbed painfully. She didn't wait to see the rest of the show, she needed to get to Ryunosuke without drawing attention to herself, especially now that they were running through the city. When she saw her chance to strike, she picked up her speed till she was almost a blur and stopped in his path upon the bridge, drawing her katana, and frowning. "Ryunosuke..." She whispered softly, a pained look in her eyes as she gripped her sword tightly.
"… Mei... Are you going to kill me? Like they did to him? Are you!? I thought we were friends!" The boy screamed as he glared at her. The betrayal in his eyes hurt her, but she knew how much he was also hurting. He knew Serizawa, the real Serizawa, even if he didn't realize.
A Serizawa, even Mei witnessed.
"… Will you fight for your life...? Or die like a stray dog?" Mei asked as she stared him down. She watched his trembling form as he grabbed his sword at his waist.
Kill him damnit! Kill him now! Slaughter him!
Mei's vision blurred for a moment as she bit her lip, ignoring the screaming voice in her head. She waited for Ryunosuke to make a move, and finally, he did. He rushed at her, sword in hand and aimed to attack her free arm. Such an attack from someone so inexperienced was so fruitless, however, and she knocked the sword out of his hands with her own blade, but then, he suddenly threw dirt into her eyes and she swiftly blocked it. Though it had given him just enough time for an opening to get more distance between them.
"I want to live..." Ryunosuke said softly, causing Mei to look at him. "I will live... Whether you all like it or not!" He shouted firmly. "I will live!"
At first, Okita's page didn't move a muscle, instead she stared at him in shock. She remembered the stories Harada had told her about Ryunosuke when he first arrived at the Roshigumi, how eager he practically was to die. How he didn't know what he wanted or how he wanted to live. How scared he was to fight, of staring down an opponent's sword. Her eyes softened as she looked at Ryunosuke, "You've grown up so much..." She couldn't help but whisper before she neared him. Her bangs hid her eyes as she raised her sword, pressing the tip of the blade to his neck. She weighed her options. The look in his eyes, he truly wished to live. And he truly loved the friends he made at the Roshigumi, he loved Serizawa. Her heart felt heavy as she applied pressure to his neck. She should've just killed him. That's what they wanted her to do if he reacted this way. She knew that, but-
"… Please... Don't die... Keep living... and stay away from us..." She pleaded. "… Live for yourself..." She smiled almost brokenly before she moved her sword and hugged him tightly. "… I feel your desire to live... I want you to live..." She murmured before she pulled away, "So don't go down without a fight, Ibuki." She stated firmly, pushing him over the railing.
You will regret that... Mei...
No... I don't.. I don't think I will... She thought before she realized her headache was gone. "… I want to protect those I care about... I know that for sure... And you will not change my mind about that..." She whispered as she slowly looked up towards the sky.
"Mei."
The call of her name caused her to turn to the owner of that voice, and like many times before, her frosty blues met with his emerald and there was an unspoken question between them, and an equally silent answer. Slowly sheathing her sword, she turned to Okita and waited for something. A scolding, a slap, hell maybe even a sword through her chest, but instead...
"… Tell me everything that happened." Okita said calmly as he walked up to her, a hand on his waist. "With that look in your eyes, Hijikata will know for sure what your intentions were."
/~/~/
The next day Mei sat on the Veranda, Hijikata allowing her to have a breather for a while considering all that happened.
Okita took the fall for her, and had told Hijikata, Kondou, and Sanan that he was the one who pushed Ryunosuke over the bridge into the rivers rapids. They seemed to be fine with that explanation, but she knew that they were aware of who really did it. We all cared for Ryunosuke... She couldn't help but think. She stared up at the sky with a small smile as she remembered what her servants had told her...
"We picked him up, just like you asked. I will be watching over him till he can get back on his feet." Jun stated. "Once he has done that, I will be back with Lan to update you on any status about Li." She bowed.
A sigh of relief passed her lips as she closed her eyes, basking in the days sun as it warmed her skin. The slight breeze aiding in calming her, relaxing her. Slowly leaning against the pillar beside her, she closed her eyes and took softer breaths.
October came to a close, and November was soon to begin. Little did she know, more surprises were in store for her and the Shinsengumi, however, for now... She would cherish these quiet days with them, before something could swoop in and shatter them.
Hey guys! I hoped you liked the chapter~ Please Favorite, Follow, and review this fanfiction I always love hearing from you guys, it helps me push forward with my writing. Thank you to everyone who has already favorited, followed and reviewed I greatly appreciate the support! I will try to get the next chapter up quickly since I have the Games on hand now and don't have to rely on spotty wifi to get the Reimeiroku episodes to finish this up. I never thought I'd get this far with this so I'm so happy that I am!
If there any mistakes please forgive, my laptop is a little wonky at the moment thanks to smol children playing with sticky juice over the damn keyboard (-_-)" I've fixed what I could.
Sincerely,
Chess.