A/N: I want to start off with thanking fallingwisteria. To have gotten an amazing reader such as yourself, I must at least be doing something right. Many thanks, dear girl, because it your comments that really keeps me going!

This chapter is rather Mio-centric and is necessary for the story development, but the next would focus more on the Shinsengumi members, so fret not!

Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favorites!

The door slid open and Mio's eyes darted to it, only relaxing when Chizuru stepped in. The girl was making good on her promise, her hands laden with a nondescript brown tray bearing two steaming cups of tea.

She let out a mental sigh of relief. That was smart, really smart, Mio. Continue to be this jumpy and it would be such a wonder if they do not have your head on a platter by the next dawn.

Unbeknown to her, near the doorway, Saito did not miss slight tension on the girl's face, hinted only by the minute frown she wore.

Many thought he was silent to a fault but in exchange, Saito tends to be more perceptive than most. And this girl, Saito noticed , this Hayashi Mio, she was afraid. He did not blame her, knowing the reputation that the Shinsengumi held among the commoners.

Still, it was not within his duty to worry about that. And with Chizuru here, his job was done, so he saw no point in remaining in the room any longer.

Mio was just accepting a cup of tea from Chizuru when Saito stood up, leaning over slightly as he whispered something into Chizuru's ear.

Chizuru nodded and Saito simply walked out, not sparing Mio a second glance.

Well, he is quite the talkative one is he not.

"Is he always like that?" Mio asked Chizuru as she sip the hot tea slowly, nodding at the door the Shinsengumi captain just went through.

"Eh? Do you mean Saito-san?"

Mio nodded.

Chizuru thought for a while, taking a small sip of her own tea before answering. "He tends not to talk much, but he is a pretty nice guy."

Mio almost choked.

Pretty nice guy. That was a first. Never before have she heard anyone complimenting the Shinsengumi. The comments were usually along the lines of "heartless bastards" and, if the people were feeling particularly generous, "cotton-headed monkeys".

Mio understood their fears. She understood why they, the Shinsengumi, were shunned, as they should be. The Shinsengumi were under the rule of the Tokugawa. That, in itself, was reason enough. After all, she had seen for herself what cruelty Shogunate's soldier were capable of. What is to say that Shinsengumi would be any different?

Her green eyes hardened, and it must have shown because Chizuru was looking at her with an apprehensive look on her face.

"I know that I am in no place to tell you this but..." Chizuru trailed off before pushing on in a stronger voice. "But the Shinsengumi really are good people. What happened is unfortunate, but they really had no ill intentions!"

Mio felt her lips twist into a familiar bitter smile, long forgotten dark emotions washing over her with surprising ease. "'Good people', huh... I'm sorry Chizuru, but I doubt it." And somewhere in there, Mio knew, was Araki Mio speaking.

Not the fabricated 'Hayashi Mio' but the real Araki Mio, who lost her family to the Shogunate forces eleven years ago.

She pushed that memory to the furthest depths of her mind, burying the ghosts of her past. Focus. She have to focus on the mission at hand. She have not thought about it for many years. Why should she now?

And come to think of it... What is a girl like Chizuru doing among the company of these soldiers anyway? Mio gave her a quick once over while the girl was busy feeling uneasy and sipping her tea. And what she saw still did not change. Chizuru did not seem like a warrior woman, as young and fragile looking as she was, and she did not seem like a courtesan either.

Curious, Mio voiced her question to Chizuru, and the brown-haired girl's eyes widened in surprise as her cheeks colored. "You know I'm a girl?"

Mio gave her a sheepish grin. "Oops...Was it supposed to be a secret?"

Chizuru gave a defeated sigh, shoulders slumping a little. "I guess it must be really obvious, if even you can tell."

"So, why are you with them?"

"Ah, about that. I was looking for my father and-" She stopped all of a sudden, a guilty look on her face.

Well well well, what do you know. The Shinsengumi are quite the paranoid bunch aren't they.

"It's fine if you can't say. I understand. I would be suspicious of a stranger too."

Chizuru shook her head vehemently. "No, it is not that! I'm not in the position to say anything much yet."

Her hazel-brown eyes were wide, as if willing Mio to trust her, and Mio was taken aback at the raw emotions in the clear depths.

She have encountered many people in her life, her position in the Araki clan and job as a hired assassin leading her to meet all sorts of people with equally diverse -and disgusting, might she add- characters. But this was the first time Mio met someone like Chizuru.

She was like an open book, wearing her heart on her sleeve, and Mio was torn between wanting to shake Chizuru awake so that she could get a proper look at the world (not everything is as it seems, Chizuru dear) and wanting to thank the gods for her luck (at least there is always someone gullible enough to believe -and in turn, support- her when she spin her lies for the Shinsengumi).

Either this girl was speaking truth...or she was a very good actress.

Mio made a mental note to mind what she say to Chizuru. It would be so easy, oh-so-easy for her to get swept up in Chizuru's pace and let her guard down around this girl.

They made small talk, and soon, the futons were out and Chizuru's soft rhythmic breathing sounded next to her.

In the dark Mio sat up silently, pushing away her given blanket as she stood up. The cool air of the pre-summer season kissed her skin, her long black hair tumbling down now that they were released from the bun. Sweeping her hair over her shoulders, Mio walked soundlessly towards the door and was just about to slide it open, but halted herself in time.

She dropped to the ground, pressing her ear against the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, the soft muffled sound of footsteps approached and then stopped. There was a murmur of indistinguishable words before another set of footsteps, a heavier one this time, padded away.

Mio smirked. She wasn't Araki's spymaster for nothing. After scouting out so many places, she would recognize this anywhere.

The changing of shifts.

It was not enough that Chizuru slept in the same room as her, but they had to have her watched too.

As she said, Shinsengumi: paranoid.

Mio returned to her futon, a wry smile on her face as she laid down.

Then again, it does pay to be cautious, Mio thought, as she withdrew her metal hairpin from within the folds of her kimono and slipped it under her pillow.

It was dark, all around her was an endless sea of nothingness. But she knew where she was. There was that oh so familiar scent. Of smoke and burnt wood, of ashes and dust. And slowly, the formless darkness started to take shape and colour, the scene before her flickering into existence. Suddenly, things slid into focus.

The blood-red sunset color of the sky.

The heavy footfalls.

The piercing scream of a woman.

Mio jolted up instantly, fingers tight around her makeshift weapon, wild eyes darting around.

There was the fire. And the soldiers and- Ahh...crap.

She groaned, pulling up her knees and burying her face into her arms, hair casting a dark shadow over her features. That dream again. How many times must she re-live through that bloody thing. She had grown up. Surely they will fade in time, as all injuries do.

It was not like she was living in regret and have yet to carry out her revenge. Sure, she do not know who the soldiers were. But she had dealt the Shogunate quite a few severe blows when she took up some offers by the Choshuu and Satsuma clan to take some Shogunate bigwigs out of the political scene, and at the same time, off the face of the earth.

Mio ran her fingers through her tangled hair, grimacing a little as she tried to work through some stubborn knots. Her trashing in her sleep, she wondered if it had been quite the sight for Chizuru to see. Her sweat-drenched kimono clung to her skin uncomfortably and she itched to peel them off. She was half considering doing just that -damn the consequences- when the door slid open.

She looked up, and her eyes met with that of a lazy ocean.

Saito glanced down at her, and was just on the verge of saying something, but his words got stuck in his throat, deep blue eyes widening slightly. His features reddened, ears taking on the faintest pink as he averted his eyes from her.

"Umm... Is something the matter...?" What Mio really wanted to know was if she should be prettying herself up. Because if they found her out and wanted to behead her, she wanted to at least go in style. But that would be after she make an attempt to escape and assuming that they manage to catch her, of course.

"N- Nothing." Saito still wasn't looking at her, and seemed to have taken to speaking to the door frame. Mio vaguely wondered if that was how they told people of the death sentences. Guilt too much to bear huh, Mister Tough Guy?

"A meeting will held to discuss your situation at the earliest time possible, and the commander will be requesting your presence. But due to some complications, it have to wait. Until then, you are to make yourself comfortable within the confines of this room. Chizuru will bring your meals here," Saito told the wooden structure.

And with that, he deftly stepped out and slid the door close again, leaving Mio to stare at the empty outline of where Saito once stood.

She frowned. Okay...what was that all about?

Then something slid further down her shoulder, and Mio looked down at herself. Her kimono was now hanging on precariously by only one of her shoulder, the other having already slid half-way off, the sash -most possibly loosened when she was trashing in her sleep- only giving the kimono more incentive to bare more of her pale skin.

Did she...did she just...

Mio wanted to bang her head against the wall. She totally did flash Saito.

And that was how Mio started her first official morning in the Shinsengumi compound.

So as usual, if you have any comments, critique, or would just like to rant, feel free to drop a review!