A few days had passed since Valerise had come to see Chiyo. Chiyo was still haunted by dreams of her killing Chizuru without a care. Nobody knew about her abilities as an exorcist and she preferred it to stay that way. It was a late night. Chiyo sat at her desk and worked on translating. Her aunt had wanted her to translate some Japanese medical books into English. She hacked into it and soon her hand seemed like it lost all feeling. Yamazaki had already went to bed. They exchanged very little words although Chiyo wished she could get to know him more. She sighed and continued writing. Only the sound of crickets could be heard outside and she suddenly felt very peaceful. Late quiet nights like this was her favorites. All of a sudden there was an explosion and the sound of cracking wood. Did someone just break open the gate?! Out of curiousity Chiyo grabbed her sword and headed outside to check out the strange noise. " I remember the noise coming from the gate." She thought.
Running with all her might she ran to the gate which was right in front of the courtyard. She gasped. She was right...the gate was broken into splinters but what was even worse was that there were intruders. There was a man with blond hair and a sharp cat like glare. Another man on his right stood next to him with a black vest and had tattoos on his dark skin. In his hand was a pistol and his black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. On his left was an older man with red hair and a heavy robe. He had no weapons at all and had a more gently look on his face.
Chiyo shouted sternly," You there! Who are you and what business do you have by destroying the Shinsengumi property?"
Instead of shying away as she thought they would; the blond haired man snickered at her and glared.
" I am Kazama Chikage and I am here to take Yukimura Chizuru. Give her to me or else the consequences will be dire."
There was warning in his voice but honestly...just asking for something like a spoiled brat. Plus, he was asking for Chizuru. What business did he have with her? Suddenly the image of the three men blurred in front of her eyes. When her vision unclouded she saw...they had horns and yellow eyes. Demons.
" Kazama-san, it's obvious that they aren't going to hand her to us. Let's just take her by force. These humans are no match for our strength." said that dark skinned man.
Their voices drowned out of her head as she thought," Valerise...did you see that? What should I do?"
" Just do your job Mistress. Just do what you have done all these years."
Her face hardened. Suddenly Harada n Saito walked up next to Chiyo. " Neh, I guess you've just met these three eh?"
She looked at them curiously," You've seen them before?"
Harada scoffed," Seen them?! We've had so much property ruined already! Those bastards keep on coming here to kidnap Chizuru!"
Soon after some more men arrived outside but none of them seemed surprized to see the three men. " Alright Valerise. What should I use?"
" Use your gun. There's something strange about them and I want to figure it out without you swinging and whacking me all over the place!"
She whispered to Saito and said," Saito-san, I'm going to call for backup. Something tells me that we need more men than we do have right now."
He nodded and said," Hurry." Instead of running of to find other men, she ran straight for her room. Out of breathe she huffed and desperately searched amongst her items. Things were flying and crashing noises were almost too audible.
" Yakamura-kun...what are you doing causing such a ruckus in the middle of the night?"
Yamazaki was staring at her with sleepy eyes and a confused glare. Really...sometimes that guy made her feel uncomfortable with how strict he was.
Still out of breathe she shouted," T-There are hah hah In-Intruders. Courtyard. Hurry!"
Still catching her breathe she continued to rummage amongst her items until she found exactly what she was looking for. She pulled out a mahogany case that shinned and smelled of polished wood. There was a flower engraved onto the cover. Chiyo reached for the snap locks and snapped them open to reveal a shining ivory revolver. It glowed like the stars in the moonlight and felt cold in her hand.
" What's that?" Yamazaki was getting dressed and ready to leave.
" It's a gun. You ready?"
There was a velvet drawstring pouch and clicked with the sound of metal bullets. The gun made a satisfying noise as the bullets were loaded into the cartridges. " Locked and loaded."
Without saying bye, Chiyo ran out of the room and back into the courtyard. Fighting had already broke out she she could hear the clangs of swords and men grunting. Her heart beated fast and painfully against her chest. " Alright..here I go."
The whole world seemed to stop and only the agonizing sound of her heart beat could be heard. Everything seemed to be under water and she aimed. Closing one eye and squinting through the other, she narrowed her shot onto the blonde man's shoulder. After all he seemed to be the leader. Once aimed she's counting 1-2-3 before hearing the click of her hand pulling the trigger.
Hijikata and the others heard a loud bang echo around the premises and suddenly heard Kazama shout in pain. Kondou looked in the back and saw Chiyo holding a Western gun aimed at Kazama which still had smoke coming out from the shot fired. Kazama's right shoulder had blood pouring out of it and a black hole.
" Kazama-san! Are you alright?!" yelled the red haired man.
" Yes Amagiri...just leave me alone! The wound will close up in a few seconds."
Chiyo interrupted," Not meaning to burst your bubble but that wound won't heal. That bullet I used was dipped in Christian holy water. It leaves just as weak and vulnerable as a human. If I was you, I would leave right now. However, if you choose to stay…," she loaded her gun once more," I will kill you without hesitation."
Heiske looked confused and shouted," Yakamura-kun what's going on?! Why do you have a gu-?"
" Heisuke stay out of this! It is a personal matter between me and demons that none of you will understand. Those men are not human!"
Chizuru who stood behind Hijikata gasped," How did Chiyo-chan know?!"
Everything was in utter pandemonium. " I am an exorcist and my job is to purify any demons that cause trouble to the human world. Now I'll repeat myself once more...leave now or be killed!"
Kazama sighed and growled," Come one. I don't want to waste my time dealing with these pathetic humans. Let's go!"
All three men disappeared into the midst and their shadows disappeared. Chiyo had won the battle but...now she just had a lot of explaining.
" It's been my job to kill oni for as long as I can remember. I personally wish that we could just live in harmony with them...but we as humans have just severed too many ties with foreign forces. Oni and humans have been fighting for centuries and it's just something that we can't undo."
Everyone was huddled into the dining room where Chiyo was frantically explaining the history of exorcists. Exorcists were chosen people that God exposed to demons from an early age. Because of exposure, they were able to see the true form of demons and not the human mask they put on.
Shinpachi said," Than what was your exposure?"
" It's Chizuru actually."
All eyes zoomed onto Chizuru. Everyone was quite shocked. Was she implying that Chizuru was a demon too? How did she know?! Afterall, it was supposed the be a secret.
" I have known for a while that Chizuru was a demon. Don't lie to me. I know that you all know that Chizuru is an oni. Afterall, I can see it."
An uncomfortable silence washed through the room. It wasn't really the secret getting exposed part but more of that she had to kill Chizuru. Chiyo's mind swarmed with different thoughts.
" I can't kill my best friend!" she thought worriedly.
No amount of chocolate could fix this. Even though, something sweet would have been nice. " No focus! I understand that you didn't have dinner but anyways...focus!" yelled Valerise. It really was a turn down that Valerie could hear her thoughts. She really had no privacy.
" S-s-so does that mean y-you have to k-", Chizuru paused before her look darkened," kill me?"
Her voice was so tiny and she looked truly scared for her life. Chiyo sighed. She knew that she would feel the exact way if her best friend had to kill her. Chizuru probably felt betrayed at the exact moment. Wouldn't anyone in this situation also feel betrayed?
" I-I don't know." Chiyo responded.
" You can't! How could you do that?! She's you best friend!" yelled Heisuke.
" As the Shinsengumi, we agreed to protect her. If you are a threat to Yukimura-kun...we will get rid of you." Hijikata growled and his eyes narrowed.
A sweat drop fell from her head and she stammered back," H-Hold on there buddy! I never said that I would. Just listen to me!"
After taking a breath and continued," I don't want to kill her. We are best friends! I haven't known anyone longer than her and we have a deep history. Friends don't kill each other even in a messed up world. I would kill myself before killing her! She's safe!"
Everyone seemed to calm down a bit. However Hijikata still wasn't buying it," How can we be so sure?! You are the one who just that you didn't know what to do!"
" Hijikata-san calm down. If you fear Chizuru-chan's safety so much; than you should just kill Chizuru. There problem solved." mumbled Okita
" Why that little stinking rat" thought Chiyo angrily
Hijikata glared at Chiyo. He was a sensible man after all. Hijikata-san wouldn't do that to her or would he? He was always close to Chizuru. Infact no one would be surprised if they ended up together. They would have made the cutest couple! Or course Chizuru's life was less important than Chiyo. Chiyo gulped.
Kondou face grew beet red," No Toshi! I won't allow this! You aren't thinking straight! We can't possibly kill our own men!"
" But what if our own men kill the ward that we are supposed to protect?!"
" Stop it!"
Chizuru's voice cut through the room. She had never liked verbal fighting because it made her insanely antsy. Even though she normally got beaten for it, Chizuru was always the one who broke up fights amongst the boys in their old village. Chiyo could also count on her to show up while she was cooking dinner. Chizuru would come in with a sheepish smile, bruises on her face, and scratched up knees.
Chizuru stammered," Hijikata-san that's too rash. Shame on you Okita-kun for even thinking about such a dire idea. I believe Chiyo-chan. We have been friends for so many years! After that...how could she betray me?!"
Chiyo's eyes widened," Chizuru…"
" And when we were younger, we made a blood promise to always protect each other! You guys are all jumping to conclusions!"
