Epilogue: Four months later

"You're leaving? But why?" Okita pouted, not his normal cheerful self. "We just lost the first battle; we're going to need all the help we can get, inconspicuous or not!"

I calmly tied my belongings up, sparse as they were. "We've been over this for a while now, Okita-kun. I have no reasons. I'm just leaving."

"I give up; Saitou-san, please try to talk to her," he said, annoyed.

Saitou looked at me intently. I could feel his golden probing eyes trying to coax an explanation out of me. "Please explain why you're leaving now, of all times, Sokusai-san. If you really have no reasons, then you might as well stay."

I sighed and turned around. "Saitou-san, Okita-kun, with all due respect, I have no reason to give you an explanation. I never said that I would join the Shinsengumi, but merely cooperate. And I have cooperated over the past four months, whether or not I was useful, I'd rather not know. Please don't think of me as ungrateful; I really am indebted to the Shinsengumi for the help they gave me. However, I do believe it is my time to leave. I am now sixteen; I should be all right out there by myself."

Saitou sighed. "Twitchy little peacock, aren't you?"

I managed a smirk. "You calling me arrogant?"

"Somewhat. Well, Okita-kun, looks like we have a loss in the Shinsengumi, in addition to all the casualties that we had from the last battle."

Okita growled. I had never seen him like this before, pouting and sour.

"Saitou-san, you were supposed to convince her," he complained. "You just listened to her and let her go. How is that helping me?"

Saitou shrugged. "You're going to have to let her go sometime. Sokusai-san, when are you leaving?"

"In the evening, when nobody can see me."

Okita sighed. "Well, looks like there's nothing we can do…the Shinsengumi's done for, anyway."

"How can you say that? I'm just one person; I hardly helped out anyway…"

"Well, our defeat is basically inevitable, so there's nothing we can do about it. Just wait…wait to see when fate will unravel itself."

******************

The moonlight shone overhead, illuminating the dark alleys of Kyoto. It was a pleasant evening; a gentle cool zephyr blew gently across the sleeping city. It was rather odd to see it so quiet, with all the cannons and guns that were shooting throughout the day.

Okita and Saitou walked me to the outskirts of the village.

"Well, where are you going now, Sokusai-san?" Okita asked, smiling. What a show he can put on.

I glanced up, and said determinedly, "The mountains. I want to go to the mountains, and see what I can find there."

"Dirt."

"What?"

"I said, 'dirt.' C'mon, Sokusai-san, please, why don't you just stay…" Okita's voice trailed off when he saw me grinning.

"Okita-kun, I'm glad to hear that you'll miss me so much," I laughed. "I really appreciate it, and yes, I'm serious," I added in response to his disbelieving face.

"Sokusai-san, lighten up some at the mountains," Okita smiled back. "You have a nice laugh. Surprising, but nice."

The sound of my laughter had startled me as much as it had startled them, but I didn't mind. It felt nice to laugh again, like a normal person. Why I couldn't do it before then is beyond me. But as I walked away from them, towards the dark rural mountain, towards the starry sky, I felt the weight of loneliness leave me. The fact that Okita-kun would miss me made my stomach lighten.

Friends. It was such a long time ago. A year since I had felt this way. I lifted up my head to the night sky and the moon that seemed so ominous only a year ago and said under my breath,

"Smile away then; till fate unravels itself, till it unravels this tangled web."

End: Legend of the Ages.