Chapter 4: Lesser Evil

Ten years had passed, Reo and Souji had been good rivals, and though they showed distaste with each other the respect they have as a good swordsman hadn't disappeared. Although Reo wears women's clothes ever since then because there was a slight growth on her chest that can never be concealed by wearing men's clothes, and Souji's treatment towards her had changeda bit; they're not kids anymore. She's a woman and he's a man.

They're no longer in the old run-down dojo in Edo; they have a headquarters, and are now the 'Shinsengumi', a group of elite samurais. Kondou is the commander, Hijikata is the vice-commander, and Souji is the 1st division captain. While Reo just remained as an ordinary soldier that can't engage in wars and just patrols around Kyoto and the reason behind that was Hijikata who refused to send her off since she's a woman and that she must respect herself as one and as she must value her life as well.

xXx

Wearing a white kimono with a slit that extends just below her thighs on each side of her legs, and a obi that rounds up her waist is no other than Reo. She wore a red haori as part of the Shinsengumi and as the only woman there. At first she didn't liked it since she attracts too much attention, but Kondou insisted to dye her haori red. Her appearance can't be overlooked too, so it also attracts attention from some soldiers, and since it's quite risky for a woman to live in a barracks, she vowed to kill anyone who'd peak on her while she takes a bath or change clothes. Perverts were never tolerated for her.

"Why is there a woman in the Shinsengumi?" one of the merchants gossiped.

"Well you know they're mostly men… entertainment is always needed-" Reo drew her sword at the man who said 'entertainment'. Her eyes were fierce and ready to slash the man in half.

"…Entertainment? How about you entertain me with your gut-" Souji was on patrol with her, so he had to stop the fight. He covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her away from a commotion that's about to start.

"Don't worry we don't need entertainment so we'll fire her soon."

"…!"

"Look, I'm the boss, to be exact your boss. Oh! Don't give me that look," he chuckled at Reo's furrowed brows, "If you don't want to be punished, then do as I say," he smirked as usual.

"Hands off…"

"Okay, okay, geez you're so grumpy today, you wanna head to the dango shop?" he offered, but clearly he didn't really care about the attitude she showed a moment ago. Reo ignored his offer like always, he only does that just to make it look like they're together, which is a new way to tease her, "Come on Reo-chan! I'm treating you today."

"… I don't care."

"How rude!"

"Don't go and poison the minds of the dango shop owner and his customers, we are not together," she stressed out each word.

"Then I'll go there by myself so-"

"I'm coming with you…!"

"To ear on every word I say? No need," he turned his back on her to hide his playful grin.

"I don't care, I'm going with you."

Souji snaked an arm on her shoulders and was later pushed away by her, "Oh really now! Don't you love me?"

"Aren't you the police…? Why don't you bring justice to me by stop humiliating me…" she murmured.

"Shhh!" he placed his index finger on her lips, "People are looking."

"Forget it… I give up…" she didn't want to lose composure in public and also not because of Souji. She was really on the verge of snapping out, but she took a deep breath and followed Souji to the shop.

Souji knows her well, they grew up together after all, but apparently Reo didn't bother know at least one thing about him other than the fact that he teases her all the time.

"Hey, one for this lady here," Souji pointed his thumb at Reo.

"I'm not eating anything."

"Oh right, you're only here to stalk me around," he looked away to hide his laughs.

"…"

"Ah sir! Together again, huh? It must be nice to be young. Here you go."

Souji took a stick of dango and ate one piece, "You're right mister. You can say that again." They both laughed completely ganging her up. She gave off an inaudible sigh and stood up, "Hey, where're you going?"

"Somewhere…"

She headed towards the HQ on her own, "Got in a fight with her, sir?"

"Sort of…" he stroked chin as he thinks.

"Well it was your idea after all," Souji's facial expression didn't change, smiling as usual.

"You may be right, well I'm off."

xXx

As soon as Reo arrived she immediately headed towards the courtyard to see her dog 'Haru', a very big black vicious dog. She trained him to be hostile to anyone else but her. She might have been possessive as well as overprotective to the dog.

"Don't let that dog near me. I'll kill it," Souji warned, he was never in good terms with Haru since the moment he goes nears Reo; the dog would always bark at him loudly.

"If you say so…" she hands over a piece of meat to Haru.

"My, my, you're always so nice to me!" he laughed at his own awkward joke, "I wonder why."

"Right… and severely punished for it…"

"What?"

"…"

"You know, you have your own way of humoring people," he approached her and while she told Haru not to bark at him.

"That wasn't funny."

"I don't think everyone here is an animal person though especially with the way that thing treat other people," he pointed out.

"He's not a 'thing'! It's Haru and I'm not much of an animal person neither, it just so happens that these creatures are more of a friend than people," she patted her dog and scratched its belly.

"I see… well it's time for dinner. You coming?"

"…"

Chizuru made a way to the scene of Souji and Reo's awkward silence, "Okita-san, dinner is ready."

"Yeah, I'll be right over."

"Reo-chan, will you join us?" Chizuru asked withe her usual warm smile.

"No…"

"Oh don't worry about her, I diagnosed a while ago that she's suffering from rage of defeat," he concluded, "A bitter one at least."

Reo was gritting her teeth behind Souji, "…"

"Huh?" Chizuru got confused.

"This morning Hajime-kun defeated her in a practice spar, so she doesn't wanna see me and Hajime-kun anymore, especially during meal time."

"… Why don't you tell everyone how you defeated me…" Reo walked away.

"I told you, Hajime-kun discovered it on his own," Souji sighed, "She doesn't believe a word I say."

"Does Reo-chan hate you and Saitou-san?" Chizuru's confused look hadn't disappeared.

"Not really, she's just bitter about being defeated. After all the two of us are the only ones that could beat her…"

"Oh… Okita-san I really think you should go easy on teasing her a bit..." she lowered her eyes.

"Hmmmm? I'll try to think about it. Ya know when we were younger I used to bully her, but now I just tease her-" he was cut off by Chizuru who sounded angry out of concern for Reo.

"Okita-san!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll lay off the tease for a while," he chuckled.

xXx

The sun is about to set when Reo hasn't eaten anything since she was finished patrolling around town, she loves to read and would always read it to the end before anything else. Every words and quotes on the book were quietly read by her, she told herself that if she wasn't a swordsman or even a woman she would've pursued a life of a writer. It is a very easy job that requires inspiration and proper knowledge.

Even though people were starting to gather around her she didn't bother to look at them especially at Souji and Saitou. "What are you reading Reo-chan?" Souji asked.

"…" she covered the contents of the book.

"Hey, have you eaten yet?" Heisuke asked bending down to look at what she's reading, "Ah!" his gasp made Souji snatch the book from Reo.

"Reo-chan~ you seem awfully perverted despite the attitude you're showin'."

"Give that back…!" she tried to take the book, but Souji was too tall and out of reach. Saitou on the other hand remained his eyes on the sunset.

"Souji, lemme see!"

"It says here- ah! You finally got it," she finally retrieved her book, "It's because your so small."

"It's an art of literature…" she explained, "Art of love, have you not understand?"

"Art of love? And art? Why don't you read it aloud then?" Souji challenged. Reo twitched and blushed a bit while Saitou left them to not get involved.

"S-Souji I don't think it's a good idea…" he noticed that Souji had no intention in taking back the challenge so he followed Saitou, "Hajime-kin! Wait for me!"

"Come on. It's only art right? Oh! How about this, if you proved that its art by reading it, I'll read it loudly afterwards. How's that?"

"Fine…" she got done in by Souji's trap; she went back to the page he told her to read, "Uhmm… Satsuki-san, please o-offer yourself to m-me…" she took a deep breath for the next line, Souji was holding his laugh.. "Hiroto-kun… you… you… LIKE HELL I'LL READ IT! YOU IDIOT! GO DIE SOUJI!" she snapped and ran off. He's really planning to quibble on his deal with her, in short just to make her the only one to read the embarrassing lines.

"Oh geez, I'll have to apologize to her…" he sighed.

xXx

"That idiot… why is he doing this to me?" she hid on top of a tree, "He's gonna punish me as soon as he finds me. No doubt, even if he's the one at fault…"

"I wonder about that Reo-chan, you could be wrong about the possibilities," Souji appeared from below.

"Then go away…!"

"No can do, I have to apologize," he reached for her hand and pulled her down to him, "I'm really, really sorry for teasing you all the time…"

"I… I… got used to it…" she turned away to hide her red cheeks. She wasn't expecting Souji to apologize to her and it caused her mind to get all fuzzy.

"Ahahaha…! That's cute."

Reo turned to face him with a glare, she wasn't pleased at all, yet Souji's grin remained. She doesn't want to say anything further to him or else she'll be in trouble. A punishment from Souji is something she doesn't wish to happen to her, but the thought of him apologizing makes her waver about what's in her mind, but she decided to ask it anyway, "Do you like me or hate me?"

He thought about her question for a few seconds, "Who knows," he smiled. He knows well himself that he neither hates nor likes her and decided to leave that question on her imagination. And either way it was an obvious response from him. She lost interest in the thought. He would always confuse her no matter what.

Do review if you've read it. I'm still on vacation so I can update if you give me the right amount of reviews for a chapter (remember the formula: 2+reviews = 1 chapter), a very small price to pay to see what happens next right? (This story has a thousand of views yet it only receives few reviews, that doesn't seem fair right?)

Review while you can, if my vacation's over I might not update in 2 or more days but rather in a few weeks or even a month.

Thank you for reading.