Chapter 10: Crimes of a Brokenhearted Woman

Reo stood nervously as she tried to read his reaction; her feet froze from where she was and waited for a reply. The wind blew softly as it dragged the fallen leaves to a faraway place. She finally confirmed her feelings for him, but wavered as well.

Souji was confused as well, but he knew what to say, "Obviously no, it's a privilege for someone I love. I don't need you to worry about me," that said, he walked away, grinning; he finally got back at her.

Her rosy cheeks turned green and started to blurt out angrily, "Gross! Why'd I say that?!" Was it really gross…?

She stomped her feet and punched the tree beside her, "I'll kill him next time…!" On her way back to the manor, she saw Saitou looking blissfully at the cherry blossom trees, the man was alone as usual and so she decided to leave him be.

"Wait!" a hand stopped her from behind, "Where's Haru…?" the voice sounded shy to ask but had to courage to do so.

"Go away. You almost killed me last time! Haru doesn't love you anymore!" she shouted at Saitou who was losing his patience from the immature response. Saitou took a liking of the dog, he started taking care of it ever since Reo let him touched it.

"Stop acting like a child. You've been neglecting your dog."

"Am not! Stay away from Haru!"

"…"

This woman…

"W-What…?" Saitou glared at her sharply, she twitched, since she might have stepped on a mine.

"The dog."

"…He's in my room…" she murmured softly.

"All right."

"It's all you bastards fault…"

"What did you say?"

"N-Nothing!"

"…"

"…. Uhmmm… I'm going to my room too, come on."

Saitou nodded and followed her. Like always, there would be an awkward silence between them, though Reo seemed to be first one to make small talk, this time Saitou took the initiative. He paused his steps and took a deep breath.

"Wait…"

"What is it?"

He was hesitating to ask if she actually liked Souji, he had heard their conversation earlier. A bright shade of red painted across his face, "What…"

"Spit it out," she tapped her shoe on the floor, showing impatience.

"What… is… Haru's favorite food…?" he didn't say it right, but he thought it was better that way.

Reo's expression became neutral and answered vaguely, "Anything safe."

"O-Oh…"

They arrived at her room and Saitou was still red from embarrassment. This is awkward… She quickly unlocked the door and led him in, but the dog was nowhere to be found, except the blood and feathers all over the floor.

"He must've snatched some chickens from next door agai-"

Pain struck her whole body, making her fall on her knees and cling onto her blood-lusting throat. Not now… The guy with her was suspiciously silent from her transformation into a fury. Reo coughed and reached for the drug on her table, but she remembered that San'nan said she needed blood, for his medicines can no longer suppress her bloodlust.

"Chizuru…" she mumbled softly.

"Y-Yukimura…?" Saitou finally spoke up, she turned to him, but at sight was a creature like her. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and forced her closer to him, "…" it was obvious to tell what he was trying to pull, he whispered to her ear, "… Blood…" his hand flew to his throat as if clawing it from tingling thirst.

Confused as she was, she decided to help someone like her, he was at his limit, "Let me… drink your… blood too…" she couldn't think of hesitating, her mind was no longer clear of what was right. With a letter opener she found on her table, she made a small cut on his wrist while Saitou decided to cut an opening on her shoulder. Whatever… They both feasted on each other's blood.

At last, their bloodlust had subsided.

xXx

Yells and insults were heard from the manor where the Shinsengumi was staying, temporarily. It was a stubborn argument between Souji and his good foe: Reo.

Souji was complaining about the red paw prints in his room and had told Reo to clean the place up, but she refused saying that he had no evidence that her dog was the culprit of the big mess.

"Ah! Refusing orders from your captain?" he crossed his arms and smirked, the privileges of having the authority made him gleeful, "Before Hijikata-san finds out, you better mop up the whole house."

"Whaaaat? But it was only your room!"

"No buts~! Clean up the whole place and I'll forget everything," he held his laughter as he went off.

"I'll show you clean…" she clenched her fist and punched the wall.

xXx

It was only a mere 2 hour labor of cleaning the manor, she wiped the windows clean, dusted the ceiling, and waxed the floor and she made it extra shiny and extra slippery.

She laughed aloud in her mind and waited for Souji to see the results of the punishment.

"Hijikata-san, abou-"

Unexpectedly, two wrong people fell or slipped on her trap. Shit! It's Saitou and Hijikata! Before Hijikata could take another step, he tripped over Saitou who menacingly trying to get up from the accident but couldn't.

"Hijikata-" she too had slipped on the floor while she warned him.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Hijikata tried to get up with one hand but his face immediately slammed on the floor again, "Whmho is reponshble fer chis?!"

"Give it up Heisuke! Big guys need-"

"Shinpatsu-an! That's my meat! Give- Oh no!" and the two who were playing a chase over food slipped on the floor as well. It was a doomed situation since no one could get up.

After a couple of minutes, there was one person who appeared, "SOUJI!" they yelled, "WATCH OUT!" he had a playful smile across his face, and his eyes seemed to be laughing.

"Hmmm-hmm, it seems Reo-chan did a good job with the cleaning," he laughed loudly, the other guys glared at Reo who was hiding her face of embarrassment, "We should demote you as a maid!"

"Enough shit! Help us up!" Hijikata commanded.

"Okay, okay."

"Hey… help me up too…" she pleaded.

"Like I'd help someone who cheated on me," he replied.

And what the hell does he mean by that...?

Hey guys! It's been a while T^T *hugs*
I've been working on my exams and requirements and all... and this chapter was like deleted magically 2x I dunno how on earth it happened in my com. And I saw a request for Saitou and Reo moments LOL (have I gone too far? "oTL)

Thank you for reading!