Chapter 8: An English summons

Disclaimer: I don't own Hakuouki, American McGee's Alice/ Alice the madness returns or Black Butler.

Hijikata was furious and terrified, watching Alice run into the fight like that, causing him to fight harder than ever before only to chase after her, during all of this he noticed that she had treated the walking wounded as well as Heisuke who was knocked unconscious during his duel, and was left with a head injury.

It was then, that he heard Okita yelling at Alice, calling her foolish before he passed out, he realized that Alice had started a duel with her knife, quietly he approached the door and looked in and was shocked to see that Alice's knife had changed it was huge, and heavy judging by her stance, he heard them exchange words and blows, only to see her opponent flee the scene leaving Okita and Alice alone in the room. Upon hearing the clattering of Alice's weapon on the hardwood floor Hijikata rushed in to catch Alice in mid fall as she blacked out, with a smile on her face. Carrying her back downstairs, he revelled in holding her whilst glaring at the odd stares he received.

Too an onlooker, it looked as if this bear like man had abducted a small child, however those of the Shinsengumi, knew that the child was a grown woman and the man was their vice commander, they he wouldn't harm an innocent let alone a woman. Harada and Shinpachi noticed the way that Hijikata held her was different from the night they met Alice, it seemed to be more gentle and tender than that night where he just scooped her up in a clumsy, haphazard way, it almost looked like he was coming to see her as an asset rather than a liability, worthy of his respect, he was terrified at the mere thought of losing her.

Once the Shinsengumi returned to the headquarters the wounded where instantly taken care of by the on site doctors while Hijikata slipped off carrying Alice back to her room, knowing that she was probably exhausted, as he tucked her in he noticed a pale pink powder fall from her neck and cheek onto his coat sleeve, it was odd but he thought nothing of it until more of it came away to expose scars that he hadn't seen before but he doesn't dare touch her. Placing the blanket over her, Hijikata quietly walks out of her room and back to his room. Gently he pulled off his coat and carefully wiped the powder off of it, bringing his hand to his nose, the powder smelled slightly floral with a hint of her natural essence, causing him to ponder over who Alice truly was, at first she was a stranger, a damsel in distress, but there was so much more to her than met the eye, she proved that she could look after herself, she new basic care when it came to the wounded, but there was so much more he wanted to know about her.

That night was spent in a fitful sleep for Hijikata, his dreams were filled with Alice's piercing green eye's and billowing flames, his mind brought him to an old house completely engulfed in flames, he heard people knocking and crying out for help only to be interrupted with the shattering of glass and a heavy thud as he saw a small child collide with the ground, he ran to the child to see if it was alright only to see those bright green eyes staring back at him as if to ask who did this?, causing to was with a start. It felt so real, he could have sworn that he felt the heat of the fire, smell burnt flesh and heard the people cries, he truly believed he was holding the younger version of Alice as she bled from her wounds.

Believing there was a fire, Hijikata was prompted to check in on her safety, if only to settle his own soul, in a blind panic and sleep befuddled state, he grabbed the well bucket and rushed over to Alice's room, as soon as he got there he tripped over his own feet causing him to throw the water over her, shocking Alice awake and causing her make up to be washed away staining her collar of her shirt pale pink.

The sudden shock from the cold water cause Alice to let out a ear piercing scream, waking everyone in the headquarters, bringing Hijikata out of his state, making him realize that there was no fire and that it was just a nightmare, leading to this awkward situation.

Suddenly there was a rumble of feet as half of the Shinsengumi appeared with weapons drawn only to witness their vice commanders humiliation and the sight of a rather wet and exposed Alice.

"Alice I... Uhh"Hijikata started before he was interrupted.

"Get out!"Bellowed Alice he eyes narrowing and her cheeks burning a bright red "you owe me a new futon!"she yelled throwing her knife at him as he ran to avoid it.

After Alice slammed her door shut, Hijikata looked up at his fellow soldiers causing him to go pink with embarrassment.

"Alright! Back to bed All of you!" Commanded Hijikata irritably as he stomped back to his room, and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Alice was not only humiliated, she was cold, confused and incandescent with anger at the invasion of her privacy, after drying herself, she eased herself out of her clothes, corset and into her nightie, and once she managed to procure some bedding from one of the cleaner men, settled down for the night.

The next morning was spent in an awkward silence for everyone, this was due to the hysterics of the night before, causing exhaustion from either laughing or from panic, and in Alice's case screaming, after a relatively quiet breakfast, everyone went about their business, from cleaning and laundry to training and cooking, Alice on the other hand was bored, and when she was bored she got into mischief.

This time she decided to wander off into town on her own, while the people knew her since she had been living in the area for two years, they still stared at her because of her clothing and other attributes that not many other local women had, to them she was still new and strange, it made her feel like a one woman freak show. Over the course of a couple of hours Alice had made it to the edge of Kyoto and up the hill to see the city in all of it's glory, there she sat and just watched as she allowed a warm autumn breeze blow through her hair.

It was then she heard a snapping of twigs directly behind her causing Alice turn to see a young man in Englishman's clothing.

"Hello?" Said Alice in a semi questioning tone not knowing what he wanted.

"Are you Alice Liddell?" Was the man's reply in perfect English.

"Yes, why? And who wants to know?" Alice replied in her mother tongue, narrowing her eye's with suspicion.

"My employer, the earl Phantomhive requires your presence for an important matter" was the man's reply.

"That's impossible, the Phantomhives are dead" Alice said sternly as she remembered Ciel but that was nearly twelve years ago for her, he was barely two when she had last seen Ciel and that was a few months before she was sent to the asylum.

"The young earl has returned and he recalls his fondness of you, he wishes to see you in order to catch up with you and request your help on a case" the man said with a slight smile as he handed Alice an envelope addressed to her.

"Okay I'll read it later and give you the answer when I have to" was the only response Alice could give as she picked herself up and headed back to the city, once she arrived at the headquarters she was met by a lot of concerned people asking her where she went.

"Settle down I was fine, I went for a walk, if only to get some air and clear my head" Alice said trying to reassure the men as she walked back into the headquarters, and back to her room, once there she pulled the envelope out of her coat pocket and opened it to read the letter.

Dear Alice

It has been many year's since you've seen me and I understand that you've not been well enough to be out and about, but I also know about what happened three years ago, and how you were treated and I'm sorry that none of us were there to protect you. A few months after that you seemed to have dropped off of the face of the earth until I ran into Madam Sharpe who told me that you moved to Japan of all places.

Anyway now that I've found you and have all of the pleasantries out of the way, someone is targeting young women in Whitechapel and since you have some medical knowledge I feel that you'll be of great use to me in this case, not only as a medic, but as a pair eyes and ears and other uses.

I expect to see you soon, I gather that you've got some associates and if you believe that they may be of some assistance, do bring them along, I've also included a money order with this letter that should cover up to ten others passages to London plus expenses.

See soon

Ciel.

For the first time in many years, Alice genuinely smiled as she remembered the little boy who was her brother in all but blood, however her smile turned into a frown when she was reminded that she had to tell the members of the Shinsengumi not only did she need their help but she also needed them to go to England with her. Carefully checking the envelope for the money order, gently folding the letter and money order back up and placing it in her pocket she exited her room and headed to the main dining hall.

Once seated and everyone was eating Alice decided to make her announcement, to say it caused alarm was an understatement that resulted in Heisuke begging Alice not to go, Sannan to raise an eyebrow in curiosity, Harada and Shinpachi laughing and Hijikata going pale with fear and concern.

After the meal, Hijikata decided to hold a meeting, to argue the pro's and con's of this trip to England, to him this was going to be a trip to hell because it was where Alice had run away from, where she was abused and where she lost her parents, but it was an opportunity to learn and evolve his tactics and obtain weapons in their fight against the Choshu and the imperial army, he also can get an understanding of the difference between cultures along with other things, however the main pro for him was that he could decapitate the person who had hurt Alice enough to be hospitalized for nearly ten year of her life.

After two hours of debating and arguing the group of commanders had agreed that Hijikata, Saito, Heisuke, Harada and a few others would join Alice on the trip to London, but they were reminded that this wasn't going to be a fun filled holiday, they where helping Alice and her friend, thus they had to be on their guard the entire time they were there.

The initial journey was taken by ship, where they docked in London and were collected by once of Ciel's business associates, then escorted to the Phantomhive townhouse, where Alice and Ciel had a rather somber reunion, that gradually grew into a joyous occasion.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day that you'd become lord of the Manor Ciel" Said Alice chuckling softly as she watched the twelve year old go through his paperwork and his lessons of the day (mathematics, literature and music).

"And I believed that you had been committed to Rutledge for the rest of your days" replied Ciel with a slightly frustrated tone as he worked on a rather difficult problem.

"Darling you can't keep a good girl down" Alice replied nonchalantly as she got up from her chair and reached for a tea cup of Darjeeling tea, she sipped it quietly closing her eyes in pleasure, seeing that it was the first time in three to five years that she has had a good cup of tea like that.

Meanwhile as Alice and Ciel talked Hijikata watched their interactions. He couldn't help but let his jealousy rise at Ciel because of how easily Alice could talk to him as well as smile and laugh at their antics. He longed to be able to talk with Alice like that, but as long as certain things hung over their heads, her abuse, his duty, and a whole slew of other things, much like Solomon and Sheba convention reared it's ugly head and came between them.