Author's Note:

So hopefully this chapter entertains and continues to sow the seeds for disast - er - I mean joyful happy times all around. Heh.

Also, probably at least one surprise, but try not to be too disappointed. ;)

A special thank you to Guest who posted a review very shortly after Chapter 28 went live: so nice to hear and always a relief to know that everything is ok with the story. :D

Thank you also to: red1Rogue, NyaPower, ArchimedesAckerman, nakigaoyuu (it is cruel to taunt me with the fact that you can play the new Hakuouki game and I can't, but I forgive you - Sannan's difficulties are not a direct result of my feeling thwarted by linguistic inability), Ciarei Ceryn, AnimeMango, AzureArchxngel, and kathryn1995

I really do appreciate your time, both in reading and in commenting/reviewing - and I've gotten to know at least a little about some neat people and ways to improve my writing and style.

Re Hijikata: I almost titled this chapter Hijikata Actually Gets Some Sleep (for a person who shall not be named lest she summons puppies); and I'm glad so many of you were amused by the Vice Commander's "take no prisoners"approach to poking fun at Saitō. I almost took out some of it before posting but decided that if I felt that way when exhausted, then why not him?

OoOOoO

Today: Shakespeare for Saitō

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. (And in the distant future, we hope.)

The course of true love never did run smooth. (Demons, Overtired superiors, Oni-Powers Messing Up Date Plans)

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. (And hey, you can do that now! Maybe.)

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. (Actually pretty important life advice. Who comes closest in the Shinsengumi?)

Chapter 29 – The Not-So-Calm Before the Storm

[I]

"You've been busy, Amagiri," came a mocking voice from above and to his right.

With a sigh, Amagiri waited for the other Oni to vault down from the tree and close the short distance between them. Lean and lithe as ever, long hair very dark against the golden sunrise, Shiranui Kyo stopped a pace away and pointedly inspected the bigger man from head to toe, hands hooked in his belt, both eyebrows slightly raised.

When Amagiri didn't respond, the marksman nudged him in the shoulder with a fist.

"Hey, you look pretty good for a dead man walking, you know?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that from what I've seen I think he's going to be less than happy with you. You were the one who told him not to fetch the Oni girl right away."

"What are you doing here, Shiranui? You don't usually run Kazama-sama's errands."

"True. I mean, he has you for that right? Oh well, I see you're in a mood. Come on, let's get out of the sun."

"I need to rest, Shiranui," Amagiri said flatly.

For the first time, Shiranui looked genuinely surprised.

"You? I figured out a long time ago that you don't need sleep."

"Nevertheless."

"Hnh." Shiranui looked thoughtful. "So I read it right then, there were wards in place and I thought there was a trace of Ritual magic. But I assumed it was for the Oni girl… And if she's really a pureblood then it couldn't have been that bad. Well, other than you interfering without letting Kazama be there. Was he wrong about her?"

Amagiri ignored him and continued up to the house. Shiranui trailed after him, looking a little uncomfortable. They stood for a few moments in front of the door, Amagiri expressionless and Shiranui casting him sidelong looks.

"I really do need to talk to you."

"Five minutes," Amagiri conceded as the door opened.

"Good morning, Amagiri-san. A room has been prepared for you. Shiranui-san, the Princess is not available at the moment; you will have to return later if you wish to see her."

Kimigiku stood in the doorway, once more wearing the deep purple kimono. She showed no surprise at Shiranui's presence, but she did not allow either man to enter either. Shiranui hooked his hands back in his belt.

"Oh, good morning, Kimigiku-san," Shiranui said airily. "No need to worry the Princess. I just needed a few words with Amagiri and then I'll be leaving."

"I will ensure that he leaves promptly," added Amagiri with a slight bow. There was an unmistakeable emphasis on the last word and Shiranui grinned slightly.

Kimigiku nodded and led both men to an upstairs guest room. Like most of the other rooms in the house, it was simply but tastefully furnished. Amagiri thanked the shinobi as she left; he then sat down and gestured for Shiranui to do likewise.

"What is it you need to tell me, Shiranui?"

Shiranui sank with almost boneless ease onto the tatami, transferring his pistol to the small of his back as he crossed his legs under him.

"Kazama paid me a visit – he knew I wasn't far off. He mentioned that you'd received an urgent request from Osen-chan and that he would appreciate it if I could make sure you were alright. Neither of us believed he was worried about you of course; he just figured I'd be interested in the news. I could smell trouble, but I was bored and I wanted to see my spearman, so I came. Kazama's good at getting people to do things his way."

"Your spearman?" Amagiri asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

Shiranui laughed.

"Oh he's nice enough to look at, but you know that's not what I meant. Anyway, when I saw all the magic around I knew something was going on. I assumed Osen-chan had talked you into trying to save the girl from Kazama's evil clutches, though I'll admit I was a bit surprised. Even when you don't approve you back him up."

"You didn't actually see Harada-san then?" asked Amagiri.

"Not really. I didn't get very close… I thought I could sense him but – hang on."

Amagiri waited patiently. Shiranui was more perceptive and – unfortunately in this case – more intelligent than some gave him credit for. The purple eyes widened.

"Then… That wasn't you? I didn't get any closer because I thought you were there and you're so damned sensitive. But you were already on your way here, weren't you? You just came the slow way. So who the hell was it?"

The indigo-haired Oni wore an unusually serious expression on his sharp face. Amagiri just watched him in silence, giving nothing away.

"Okay… I could see the left-over magic – nice job cleaning up after yourselves by the way, geez… You used to smack me when I was that sloppy…" He closed his eyes, clearly remembering what he'd seen. "I wasn't close and I didn't stay long, but I thought I could make out the Oni girl, which surprised me a bit until I thought maybe you did go ahead with the First Trial. Hmm… a flicker that could've been Harada… But yeah, there was an Oni signature with the girl and it was blue like yours so I assumed…"

His eyes flew open and he stared at Amagiri with mingled shock, dismay and admiration.

"Kuso! You tried it again didn't you? Stupid, bloody masochist… except this time it worked. One of the captains? Hmm… I only really noticed the one."

When the other man was still silent Shiranui almost twitched with annoyance.

"You really aren't going to spell this one out for me are you? Fine. But I told Kazama I'd tell him if there was a problem you know."

Amagiri rose, poured himself some water and then inclined his head slightly.

"You won't return to Kazama-sama right away. Give me a few hours' sleep and we will speak again. But I need to go back to the Shinsengumi compound soon after."

"Seriously? They invited you back?"

"Yes."

"Well, well… times are changing indeed. Last I heard you had no love for humans, Amagiri."

He received a pointed stare and raised both hands.

"I'll see you outside at about mid-day then."

Shiranui grinned, strolled to the window and leapt lightly to the ground below. With a flippant wave he was gone.

Amagiri partially closed the blind and stripped off his black coat and gloves. The burn on his left palm was gone, he saw with some surprise. Somehow, some part of him had been convinced it wouldn't heal properly, like those other burns from his last attempt. It was good to know, but now sleep wouldn't wait and then there was Shiranui to deal with afterwards. And the Deputy Commander of the Shinsengumi.

He unrolled the futon, lay down and automatically traced a small ward in the air above him. An instant later he was asleep.

[II]

In the small inner courtyard near the well and Yukimura's quarters, Saitō walked through his katas. It would have looked strange to the other captains, because ordinarily he moved much faster. Eventually he started to speed up, but he missed the familiar, balanced weight of his swords and he was becoming concerned about the way in which the changes in his body were throwing him off. It wasn't that he'd lost his previous skills. It was just that his speed and strength had improved even more than he'd thought and it threw off his timing and balance. He wouldn't dare test a novice as things currently stood; he would be too likely to kill them by accident.

He wondered how the furies managed it, although with only one notable exception there had been no furies who had been exceptional swordsmen. Of course, a fury might not have much need for the kind of control that Saitō expected from himself or any of the Shinsengumi leaders. After all, control was more important for not killing your opponent. It made him think about what Amagiri had said about the downside to the Oni form being that it was more difficult to retain control. Fortunately, more difficult didn't mean impossible.

Hmm. Not bad. If he didn't think about it, the timing improved. It increased his respect for whatever power had transfigured him from near-human to near-Oni. His brain and his body cooperated better than he had expected. It was just a question of practice, then. He automatically looked up at the sun, but it was still long before the mid-day meal. He estimated that he would have to wait at least another three hours for he could fetch his swords from the Vice Commander.

It was a pity that Yukimura was still asleep. Then he caught himself. He needed this time to train and settle his thoughts. To his chagrin, he involuntarily looked toward her room. He was caught wholly off guard when the memory of carrying her slight form in his arms intruded with perfect clarity on his calm. For a moment he found himself utterly conflicted, torn between great happiness and extreme irritation; his conviction that he could somehow manage both his feelings and his duties wavered. It had been a very, very long time since he had been so acutely aware of why it was safer to accept that personal sentiment of this kind did not belong in a life like his.

He closed his eyes and simply stood there for several minutes, the wooden practice sword still held lightly in his left hand. He allowed himself to examine both the joy and the anger. He acknowledged the underlying fear – that he would risk both aspects of his life, the old and the new, and end up with neither. But it was a matter of courage and self-discipline and surely, by now, he must know that he had both. He restarted his practice on the next breath, moving softly under the sakura and beside the well and near the garden that he had helped create. Most observers would not understand that the grim resolve on the swordsman's face reflected his permission to himself to be happy, but so it was.

"Hajime-kun!"

He had sensed the man long before the greeting, he realized. It wasn't exactly new, this ability, but in the past it had never been so clear – what used to be intuition was now certainty.

He stopped and turned. Heisuke stood peering at him from the raised wooden walkway, the light of the morning sun probably a little dazzling given his condition.

"Good morning, Heisuke. How are you?"

"I don't know exactly – better I think, although my head's still a little sore. I was hoping… while everyone else is asleep… could you tell me what happened last night?"

Saitō considered the request. In its most literal sense, the answer was no. There were still a number of things that he didn't understand himself. Moreover, there were certain critical points that he would prefer not to recount. However, it would be unreasonable to refuse at least a basic account.

Another familiar presence came out onto the walkway to stand near Heisuke. Sōji also looked much better than he had the last time Saitō had seen him. Of course, that wasn't really saying much.

"Well, I can tell you what happened, to a point, but I have no idea why it happened."

Okita's sharp green eyes raked over Saitō and frowned.

"If you're here, then I'm going to assume you've been cleared or something. But you don't have your swords."

The reminder was unpleasant, but Saitō had long since learned not to react to Sōji's casual malice. Of course, the First Division Captain rarely turned that malice on Saitō, which helped. Moreover, in the present case Sōji's comment appeared to be merely a statement of fact and perhaps a question.

"The Vice Commander informed me earlier that he and the Deputy Commander have decided that no further punishment is necessary," Saitō finally responded. "However, I could not reclaim my swords immediately and the Vice Commander is presently resting."

Heisuke was frowning, his face clearly working through the statement and finding that it left him even more confused about events.

"How about this," Okita proposed, "we'll go find some food and Hajime-kun will tell us all about what we missed last night."

Heisuke brightened. "Great idea, let's go. Hey, do you suppose that Chizuru-chan is up?"

Saitō was glad that he had turned away to wash his face and hands at the well. He was almost, but not quite ready to deal with Heisuke's and Sōji's reactions when they discovered that the Shinsengumi's least romantically-inclined captain had changed his mind on the matter of women – at least, one woman – rather decisively. Unfortunately, Sōji was very quick and knew Saitō better than most.

"I have no idea, Heisuke," Saitō heard the First Division Captain respond in worryingly sly tones, "but I have a feeling that Hajime-kun might be able to tell us."

"Oh – have you seen her, Hajime-kun?" Heisuke asked Saitō.

"Yes," Saitō replied, resolutely joining them on the walkway. "I saw her much earlier. As far as I know she is asleep now."

He felt Sōji's green eyes on him but the other man didn't press the point. Well, not directly.

"Will you make us breakfast instead, Hajime-kun?" Okita asked, eyes glinting mischievously. "I'm sure Chizuru-chan would appreciate it if you looked after us while we're still injured."

Saitō looked impassively at Sōji who smiled back at him. Heisuke looked back and forth between them, eyes narrowing.

"Since I need to eat as well, I will cook," said Saitō calmly.

"It will taste better," Heisuke agreed. "And Sōji can tell me what happened."

"Works for me," said Sōji, opening the door to the kitchen. "And it's pretty straightforward, really."

Saitō got out a pot for oatmeal and a larger one for soup. He might as well make enough soup for lunch, too.

"So?" Heisuke prompted.

"Well, you see, Hajime-kun has finally discovered girls."

Saitō continued his meal preparations. Heisuke yelped.

"What?! Whoa, you aren't going to piss him off while he's cooking are you?"

"Right, so anyway, he likes Chizuru-chan and she likes him…"

"I don't think I want to hear this," the long-haired Eighth Division Captain muttered, flushing and casting a nervous glance at Saitō. "And you shouldn't be talking about Chizuru-chan that way either."

"But," continued Okita, firmly overriding the youngest captain, "our innocent Hajime-kun left her to have dinner with Sano-san while he went out on patrol…"

Saitō started chopping green onions to flavour the oatmeal. Sōji sniffed suddenly.

"Oh come on… you know I hate onions!"

Saitō glanced over at him before returning to his neat slices.

"… I must have forgotten. And Yukimura says they are good for the health."

Sōji glowered for a moment and then smiled back at Heisuke, who waved his hands in an expressive "whoa, keep me out of this" way.

"Unfortunately, Sano-san scared Chizuru-chan while they were eating together – or something like that, I'm a little fuzzy on those details but I'm pretty sure she was scared – and then Hajime-kun, raced back through the streets of Kyoto and threatened to kill Sano-san, as I'm sure other injured lovers have done before."

"Um… I think I'll just go wait for breakfast in the common room."

"No, no, wait, I'm almost done… So, we all showed up – I'm not sure why, but probably the shock of Hajime-kun being overpowered by love dragged us from our beds…"

Saitō gritted his teeth and carefully added miso to the water for the soup. He would kill Sōji, except that in a strange kind of way he knew the man was doing him a favour. Well, in a strange kind of way that provided Sōji with the greatest possible entertainment of course. But it was unlikely that Heisuke would believe half of what Sōji was telling him at this rate. Besides which, if he could endure this then he could probably put up with the rest of them. It was like getting the worst of things out of the way so that you could stop worrying.

"Then, later on, Hijikata-san had to punish his model captain, which no doubt caused both of them a lot of pain – which woke us all up again, I think. Anyway, that's pretty much all I know about it, and some of it I had to get from Sano-san and Shinpachi-san when they dragged me back to bed."

He gave Heisuke – and Saitō's back – a final innocent-evil smile. Heisuke had his hands over his ears.

"Sound about right to you, Hajime-kun?"

Saitō looked over his shoulder at the First Division Captain. He was pleased that he felt no tell-tale blush on his cheeks.

"Out."

Heisuke shot a look at Saitō's narrowed eyes and left. Sōji pushed his shoulders up off the wall, ignoring the lingering pain, and strolled after him. Saitō took a deep breath. I can do this. From down the hall, he heard the door to the common room open.

"You know, I think Hajime really does, um, like Chizuru-chan," Heisuke said, blissfully unaware that Saitō could hear every word.

"Baka. Of course he does. So do half the guys here, right? Some of us more than others?"

Heisuke's response was low and muffled.

"You think I can't tell the difference between a thrashing and a sparring match? Geez – I just hope he can lighten up a bit, you know… poor girl."

"Sōji! You're pretty rough these days, you know that?" This time Heisuke's voice was clearly audible.

"Yeah, yeah," Sōji replied. "But you know what, Heisuke, Hajime's going to do okay – he's strong, he's tough and he'll get what he wants. I wouldn't worry too much about him."

Saitō paused in his meal preparations, frowning. There was a note of bitterness – of jealousy? – in the last part that bothered him. He and Sōji might have their disagreements – usually silent on his part and short-lived on Okita's – but they understood each other in a way that mattered more than mere liking. Back-to-back they'd always been unbeatable. It reminded him that he had planned to have a word with Yamazaki about Sōji's health.

[III]

Sannan Keisuke, Deputy Commander of the Shinsengumi, had gotten very little sleep after the Oni had left with Hijikata-kun. He was an exceptionally intelligent man and very good at reading nuance and implication. Amagiri-san, whoever or whatever he might be, had been indifferent to him when they had first met, and all but unwilling to speak with him after whatever it was that he had done to Saitō-kun.

Saitō-kun's transformation had been very similar to that of a rasetsu, although he'd never noticed a fever with the men who chose to drink the ochimizu rather than commit seppuku or, as in two cases so far, succumb to untreatable injuries. And Saitō's change to the white-haired form had seemed much more painful – which was saying quite a lot – but also seemed to have granted immediate lucidity and improved power. At least, that was the impression that Sannan had received.

The Deputy Commander was intrigued, because it suggested that there was still more to do in refining the quasi-mystical red potion, but he was also worried. All the reports about the three men encountered at the Ikedaya were conclusive on one point – they were incredibly strong and fast, and he himself could attest to their having some kind of supernatural powers. Or at least powers currently beyond him to understand. If, as he feared, these Oni now knew of the rasetsu, and did not approve of them, would they attempt to destroy all the Shinsengumi's – and his – hard work?

And if they did… He clenched his strong right hand around his all but useless left arm. He needed to ensure that if all hope was lost of recovering his skill as a warrior, he still had this one option left to him. He hadn't missed the possibility that he might have some kind of Oni ancestry himself. But there seemed to be even less guarantee with Amagiri-san's unknown ritual than there was with the ochimizu. Also – and his lips pressed together in a weary, unhappy smile – he couldn't imagine who would stand with him through such torment. Certainly not any of the strangers he had met over the past night.

A/Note: Thank you to all for reading, following and favouriting. Much appreciated! Muchas gracias! Danke sehr. Grazie! Milles mercis!

To continue with the previous sentiment... verse 2:

I hear hurricanes a blowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Well don't go around tonight,
Well it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

- Bad Moon Rising, CCR