A/N: Hi all! Thanks for reading, I just have a few things to say about this story.

Firstly, updates will most likely be sporadic, my hours at my work are unreliable and most days after getting up too early then getting home too late, I just don't feel like writing. On top of that, I spend a lot of time reworking and revising these things so that I'm happy with what I put out.

That being said, while I used to write a lot in highschool, I am very out of practice now and, to be honest, I've lost a lot of confidence in my skills. I am writing this story with the hopes of improving my writing skills, so please feel free to leave a review with some constructive criticism! I would love to hear some advice and feedback, and work to make this story the best I can make it!

Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Ayama Keiko is my character, but otherwise, I own nothing.

Chapter 1

"Nagakura, what is the meaning of this?" Hijikata was more than a little annoyed. What was his subordinate thinking, bringing a woman here. And crazier still, asking to let her join the Shinsengumi? Surely, the muscular brunette must have lost his sanity. Kondo seemed hesitant as well, glancing between the bowing Shinpachi and the woman, who had refused to belittle herself to them. He took a cautious glance at Serizawa, only to find a sly smile gracing his face. He wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad sign.

"Please, just trust me! Just watch her fight, I promise you will see what I mean!" Shinpachi almost yelled, his excitement from earlier not having died down just yet. Keiko smiled slightly at his desperation. She must have made quite the impression on him for him to be begging for her to stay like this. She almost snickered to herself.

Before Hijikata could refuse again, Serizawa's booming voice interrupted any train of thought he may have had. "DOG!" He nearly shouted, making Keiko grimace. His voice was loud and unpleasant. The door slid open and a blue haired boy poked his head in. Before he could speak, Serizawa bellowed out his orders. "Bring me some more sake, dog!" His order was short and to the point, and although the boy sighed he did as he was told and left to fetch it.

"I trust you, Shinpachi. But… If this woman is as spectacular as you say she is, I think I would like to witness that myself." Hijikata almost physically reacted to this as Serizawa spoke the words. You could feel the resentment burning in him, you could see him trying desperately to keep his composure as he spoke. "Serizawa-san… Regardless of her "skill"... She is still a woman!" Kondo jumped a little as Hijikata's rage surged in his last sentence. He grimaced, but said nothing still. Serizawa only chuckled.

"It is that mindset which could get you killed one day, boy." He teased. "Whether you are a woman or a man, your skill in battle is what will keep you alive. I think I know who she will fight then…" Just as he reached his decision, the blue haired boy slid the door open and carried in the sake. "Not in here you fool! We are going into the courtyard." The boy had a look of confusion on his face, but followed quickly as Serizawa picked himself up and began to stroll towards the courtyard. Keiko smirked as she rose from her sitting position. Hijikata glared up at her. "I hope you realize what you've agreed to, woman." He spat. She only grinned down at him, not offering any kind of answer.

At this point nearly everyone in the complex had come to see what was going on. Shinpachi, in his excitement, ran over to his two curious friends. "Heisuke, Sano! You guys are in for a treat tonight!" He shouted, energetic as ever. Keiko smiled as Shinpachi hastily explained his earlier interaction with her. Slowly, other men joined the group to listen in. Once Shinpachi had told everyone, they all turned to stare at the strange woman.

"ALRIGHT!" Serizawa's voice echoed throughout the courtyard. "Woman, state your name." He demanded. She tilted her head in recognition before raising her own beautiful voice.

"I am Ayama Keiko. Pleasure to meet you." She dipped her head in a slight bow in greeting. Serizawa seemed pleased by this.

"Good. Now then. Shinpachi here brought this woman to our complex with the promise that she could put on a good show for us." He started. "Supposedly… She is a very talented fighter. Perhaps we might get a couple volunteers to test her skills?"

Heisuke, who had seemed unusually quiet throughout the entire ordeal thus far, seemed visibly distraught by the implications at hand. "But… Serizawa-san! We can't fight a WOMAN!" The distress he was going through made Keiko snicker, almost sardonically.

"Don't worry about me, little one. I can handle more than you could throw at me." She winked as she teased him, chuckling as she noticed a crimson blush spread across his face at her remarks. The other men laughed, Harada wrapping an arm around the younger man's neck in teasing reassurance.

"Anyone else have a problem with it?" Serizawa bellowed, staring deliberately at Hijikata. Hijikata stared back, but said nothing. "Alright then, volunteers?"

At first, all the men only looked at one another expectantly. Keiko stood patiently, analyzing the crowd of men to see who she would be facing. Her eyes found two noteworthy men, besides the commanders. A tall man with reddish-brown, messy hair tied halfway into a topknot, and a quiet man with purple-tinted, long hair tied neatly on his right shoulder. She could sense that they were skilled, perhaps even more so than Shinpachi had been. She hoped one of them might challenge her.

To her surprise, it was Heisuke who timidly raised his hand. Her eyes widened slightly as she tilted her head. He cleared his throat, a slight blush tinting his cheeks.

"Well If no one else is going to!" He blurted out. She smiled at this. This young man was quite endearing, she had to say. He walked over to a stand holding multiple wooden swords, grabbing two off of it.As he walked back to stand a few feet in front of her, he tossed one of the swords to her. She caught it without effort, smiling as she did so.

"Listen," She hesitated as she spoke, her smile wavering for a moment. "You seem very noble. Please try your best… Don't go easy on me because all you see is a woman." Her voice was firm as she spoke. Heisuke seemed a bit surprised, but he quickly regained his resolve and nodded to her. They both held their fake swords in front of them, taking a stance ready for battle. She could see in his stance that he was skilled, but not to the degree that Shinpachi had been. She made a mental note to try not to hurt him.

He lunged first, striking towards her chest, however she easily dodged his strike. She did not attempt to strike back just yet, allowing him to recover from his initial surprise before he attempted another strike at her head. She dipped down to avoid the sword before swirling around and sending a strike towards him. Heisuke just barely blocked her strike before pushing her back and attempting another jab at her abdomen. She smirked, sliding her sword along his to quickly rush towards him. In an instant, she was right beside him, smirking evilly down at him as she kicked at his ankle to trip him over. She quickly had her wooden sword to his throat as he landed square on his back.

The fight had been very quick, only a couple of moves had been made. Heisuke was shocked, his eyes wide as her sword was pressed to the skin of his throat. The other men had gone completely silent. Hijikata was now glaring at the woman, silently assessing her. Suddenly, he spoke up.

"Alright. You've got my attention now." He looked towards the crowd of men. "Saito." He called out, and the quiet purple-haired man stepped forward, nodding towards the other, more stoic man. He then turned his cold gaze to Keiko as she helped Heisuke to his feet. She nodded her head in a slight bow to him, he bowed slightly deeper in respect, then walked back to his friends. Keiko turned her attentions to her new challenger, Saito.

Neither opponent needed to say anything. Their eyes were equally chilled as they stared each other down, analyzing one another simultaneously. This time, Keiko decided to begin the fight first.

She lunged toward him, swinging her sword in an upward motion, only for him to dip back and avoid her easily. He the lunged towards her, his sword moving blindingly fast, and yet she still caught it with her own. The two of them lunged and leapt towards each other, neither one of them relenting in the slightest, both pushing forward with immense power. Keiko grit her teeth as she pushed his latest strike away from her, before turning on her heel to run backwards. She heard a gasp from the men as she ran away, but she could sense that Saito was not fooled. He chased after her, only for her to leap atop the stand holding all the swords. A wicked smile crossed her lips then, causing everyone present to go silent.

As Saito continued rushing towards her, she kicked out the swords at him. She kicked one towards his head, then immediately two towards his legs. He grunted as he tried to avoid the flying weapons, only for her to push herself off of the sword stand with immeasurable speed. Saito barely had time to react as she closed the distance between them, bringing her sword down towards his shoulder. He quickly brought his own sword up to block her, and she grinned as he did so, causing him to doubt his judgement.

Taking advantage of his momentary shock, she reached out to grab onto his scarf with her free hand, and proceeded to pull it up and over his face. Saito gasped out in shock, trying desperately to pull it off while not giving up pressure on his sword. She dipped backward a step, dropping her sword before sidestepping around Saito to grab his sword arm and twist it behind his back. She brought her foot to his ankle and tripped him, as she had done with Heisuke, before quickly applying pressure onto his arm, which was now firmly twisted behind his back. She huffed as she looked down at her captive, trying desperately to repress a giggle as she looked at him. He still had his face covered by the scarf, she hadn't given him enough time to remove it before defeating him.

The crowd burst into a thunderous laughter, some of the men also applauding while they chuckled. She released him, but he didn't move yet. She wondered absently if she might've hurt him, but dismissed the thought when she saw a portion of his face. He was blushing madly, not even bothering to move the scarf. He slowly pushed himself off the ground to stand, then turned to face her. Avoiding her gaze, he bowed deeply to her. She smiled and bowed as well.

"That was quite challenging, Saito-san. Thank you for the match." She said quietly, he only blushed more. He nodded before marching over to Hijikata and bowing perhaps even deeper than before, but he did not say anything. He only walked to the back of the crowd to stand beside the reddish haired man, who had a devilish look in his eyes.

"Perhaps I could take a shot at it next…" The man said, his voice laced with mirth. The other men chuckled, nodding their approval.

"Good luck, Ayama-san! Okita-san isn't one to play around when it comes to sword fighting!" Heisuke beamed from his spot in the crowd, already accepting Keiko into their group. She smiled back at him, nodding her acknowledgement.

"I won't play around either then." She stated as the man called Okita walked out.

"Ayama Keiko was it? I'm Okita Souji." He smirked playfully as he continued. "How about I call you Keiko-chan?" His devilish grin spread as Keiko's immediately fell. She glared at him before retorting back. "Perhaps I will be the one offering such disrespect. You should win before you gloat, not the other way around." Her voice, a clear and pleasant sound before, had turned into something much more primal, very nearly a growl. Souji almost lost his sardonic composure at the sound of it, but he quickly took his fighting stance to recover.

Keiko didn't even bother picking up her sword, she darted towards him with intense speed. He gasped as she started sending strikes towards him without a weapon. It was all he could do to block her attacks, while she slowly pushed him back. He almost lost his footing a couple times, as he had underestimated the strength behind her blows. He saw now what a grave mistake he had made by teasing her before their battle, and just how much she had been holding back for the other two.

Keiko saw the recognition in his eyes and smirked before relenting ever so slightly, enough that he could manage a strike of his own towards her. She easily dodged it and leapt backwards. A devilish smile played on her lips. While she did consider herself to be kind, she was also quite proud, and she would absolutely not stand for someone like this man to insult her, even in a teasing manner. She demanded a certain amount of respect, and was not one to relinquish that to anyone. As she picked up her assault on the over-confident man before her, she caught a quick glimpse of Hijikata from the corner of her eye. He appeared… Very amused.

Okita did not want to give her the chance to get ahead of him again, so he stepped into her path to thrust his sword forward before she could strike out at him again. He immediately regretted it as she stepped to the side only slightly and reached out to grab his wrist, halting his sword from moving at all, while using her other hand to latch onto his shoulder. He expected her to trip him, as she had done with the other two, but when she didn't move and instead he felt her grip intensify, he hesitantly looked over to her.

Her ice-cold eyes were glaring into his emerald green ones, demanding the respect he had denied her earlier. The sun had completely set by now, giving way to the cold light of the moon. Under it, her eyes almost seemed to glow, radiating a kind of power that he had never felt before. He felt his knees shake slightly as she stared at him. Despite him being taller than her, he felt as though she were looking down at him, down into his very soul. The cold from her eyes froze him in place, seeming to freeze his essence right to that spot. He felt something he hadn't known for a very long time; fear. The menacing cold that radiated from her gaze seeped into him, the firm pressure she was applying to his wrist and shoulder suddenly feeling much more threatening than it had before. Souji realized then that this woman was not a person to be toyed with, and that she demanded such respect because she deserved it. The regret from his earlier comments hit him hard, and he felt his knees shaking even more than before.

Finally, his legs gave out under the pressure. She released him from her grasp, but she did not release him from her gaze. The entire courtyard had gone completely silent as they witnessed Souji being brought to his knees by this strange woman's cold stare. After another few moments, Souji finally bowed down in front of her.

"I… I'm sorry." He whispered, his voice wavering as he spoke. She relented then, her gaze softening considerably. Then, to everyone's surprise, she adopted a mischievous look rather than such an intense one.

"I will forgive it, Souji-chaaan~." She said flippantly. His head shot up at this, just as everyone in the courtyard burst into laughter. He glared at the other men, but decided against saying anything as he got up and stormed towards the back of the crowd, where Saito was.

As a defeated Souji was skulking away, an extremely energetic Shinpachi bound out towards Keiko. He grabbed one of her hands in his and pulled her over towards Hijikata, Kondo and Serizawa, all of whom were still snickering from the fight with Souji. "You see?! I told you she was amazing!" Shinpachi exclaimed, her hand still tightly trapped in his. Kondo looked just as enthusiastic as Shinpachi.

"Indeed! Now that I've seen her in action, I wouldn't want to see her on the opposite side of the battlefield!" He laughed out, his voice friendly and inviting as usual. Serizawa chuckled at his comrade's enthusiasm.

"Yes, that was quite impressive indeed. However," He looked towards Hijikata then. "There is one more person I wish to see her do battle with." A devil's grin was plastered across his face as he maintained eye contact with Hijikata. Hijikata stared back, his own violet gaze equally as intense, before finally sighing and hanging his head.

"If you insist." Was all he said before he rose from his seat. His cold eyes turned on Keiko and she steeled herself, ready to take on this final challenger. Shinpachi reluctantly released her hand and backed away from her as Hijikata raised his arms to fight her - without swords.

Keiko grinned and did the same, taking her own unique battle stance. The wind blew a wisp of clouds across the moon, temporarily removing the light from the silent courtyard as the two glared at one another. As the moon revealed itself again, the fight began.

Hijikata was the first to move, leaping forward with a loud battle cry as he brought his fist flying towards her face. She was impressed with his speed, and she didn't need to feel the blow to know how much force was behind it. She dodged him, sending her own kick towards his head. They danced around each other, both coming close but neither making direct contact. As Keiko reached to send another kick at Hijikata, and he dodge it yet again, she began to grow more and more irritated by the match. It was becoming tiresome.

Finally she opted to just face him head on, if only to actually get somewhere. He brought his fist downward and she raised both of her arms up to block it rather than dodging to the side. Hijikata took advantage of his close proximity and of her lack of available limbs, and sent a heavy punch into her gut with his free arm. She coughed out at the impact, her arms falling limp around his as she fell.

"Sorry, but it looks like you aren't as good as you thought you were." He whispered, barely loud enough for the rest of the men to hear. She chuckled then, a strangled sound. Confusion washed over his face as she grabbed onto his arm, which was still against her stomach, and looked up at him. A bit of saliva had fallen from her mouth from when he punched her, and her eyes were half lidded as she squinted through the pain, yet she still looked as proud as she had when Souji bowed before her in defeat. Hijikata's eyes widened when her nails dug into his arm, securing him in her grasp.

"Well… heh, I guess that goes for you as well." She gasped out before she stood abruptly, throwing all of her weight into tossing Hijikata over her shoulder and onto the ground. She stood over him then as he grunted from the impact, and pressed her foot to his throat. He gasped out from the pressure, before glaring up at her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she stared down at him, mirth shining in her eyes. Hijikata's eyes widened in shock.

"Did… Did you take that hit… On purpose?" He choked out from beneath her foot. She only smiled down at him, denying him any kind of answer.

Suddenly, Serizawa burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Excellent! Just wonderful! I don't think I've ever been so amused!" He was shouting out his praise, but it did not give Keiko any satisfaction. She still grimaced from the sound of this man's voice. She turned her gaze to Kondo, and she couldn't help but to smile. He was beaming at her, and his smile was so friendly and inviting that she just couldn't bare to feel anything but happy. She turned back to Hijikata to find a slight smile on his face as well as he slowly sat up.

"Well… I really can't argue with Kondo's logic." He started. He looked up at her, his smile widening ever so slightly. "I would hate to see you on the other side. If you really are interested, then we will welcome you into our ranks, as a warrior." Keiko grinned and stole a glance at Shinpachi. Him and Heisuke had their arms linked together, both of them beaming at her, their smiles shining brightly with excitement and anticipation. She turned back to Hijikata, her own anticipation boiling over.

"I accept your invitation. I will join the Shinsengumi."