Chapter 12: The Forbidden Quest
His face hardened at this new discovery as only one thought crossed his mind: She's deceiving them. There were also many other possibilities as to why he wasn't shocked, but that was the most predominant of all of them. He was fond of the woman, but she was dangerous. He didn't like the prospect of killing her, but if he had to he would. The Shinsengumi was his life and she was not going to destroy it. He quickly made his way to inform the Vice-commander and await further instructions on how to deal with this new predicament.
That morning Akira awoke, troubled by a dream. She hated herself for not being able to remember. It was important and only one word stood out in her mind: eternity. She didn't know much about being a witch, but did know a bit. She knew that throughout time, every quest for anything eternal ended badly… But was it really something she should worry about? It was a dream after all.
Dreams are something meant to be seen.
Akira quickly sat up when she heard the voice however, it was too quick and her head began spinning in circles. When she finally steadied herself, there was no one in the room. It frightened her because it wasn't the first time she heard the voice. When she was with Hijikata the other day, they both heard the voice and found no one as well.
"Dreams are something meant to be seen… if that's the case, then why can I not remember anything?" she mused aloud. It was then she realized that she finally realized that she was inside a room.
All thoughts about her dream were blown away with this new discovery. She was absolutely sure she was waiting outside Saito's… wait, was she inside Saito's room? After giving the room another glance, she determined that, yes; she was in Saito's room. Heat crept up to her face as she realized that she fell asleep outside his room. She felt like a stalker, but they didn't have stalkers in this era. What would they call them… spies? Spy. That's right; they still didn't trust her completely. No, it was obvious they didn't trust her. She had foreign blood running through her veins, had supernatural powers, and acted too friendly.
As she got up, she wondered if she should put his futon away. It was only polite, but she decided against it. She was sure her actions last night got her into enough trouble; there was no need to bring more. Yet, there was still the nagging feeling that he still allowed her into his bedroom. Because he's a gentleman, she reasoned with herself, but her maiden heart wants to believe that there was something more.
Author's Note:
The muses are obviously not happy with me because I obviously have no inspiration T-T. Inspiration Please Come Back To Me! Anyways, this is the most coherent thing I've been able to come up with so far. I feel terrible for it being short, but I also feel terrible for not updating sooner. Hope you all forgive me!
P.S. I deleted the snow woman conversation from the previous chapter b/c it wouldn't fit into this one. I really do like this 'eternity' and 'dream' thing I added here and want to expand on it. Where the story is heading to, I don't know but I hope I get there soon.