What makes history (Hijikata x OC)

Oni blood

Sanan wanted to know the truth; could Chizuru's blood be a cure ?

I owed it to the man, but damn, it frightened me to even consider the question. I shushed the screaming part of my mind by invoking the idea that Chizuru might just have to give a few droplets of her blood, and be done with it. Still ... it chilled me to the bone. This was a dangerous slope...

Taking a deep breath, I fixed my eyes upon the ground and invoked the analytical part of my brain. Something in Chizuru's blood had acted as countereffect to bloodlust.

"If we consider what Kazama said, putting aside his arrogance, the Rasetsu are partial versions of Oni, caught between human and demon."

Sanan nodded, like a professor asking for a student to go on.

"I think that Rasetsu are missing something to become full demons, and that Chizuru's blood provided a balance, somehow. But instead of turning you into a demon, it actually allowed your human self to return and take control. It reversed the process, instead of countering it."

"Yes."

"But it is temporary, right, since you're still a Rasetsu."

There was disappointment in Sanan's voice when he confirmed it, and my heart ached for him. My mind flew, at once, to the earlier conversation. Was life laying a choice before me, Sanan against Chizuru? No, this couldn't be it. Quelling the dread, I reverted to the biology student I'd once been.

"You think that if you could isolate that thing in her blood, considering it can be extracted though science, you might revert the effect of Ochimizu?"

"No. But it might keep us in control."

There were too many 'if' in this. I knew, for sure, that the Valar used their magic, and that the strength of legendary beings also resided in that inner power. Would a Maiar's blood grant us, mortal, higher powers?

What if Sanan's recovery only came from Chizuru's magic? But the scientist before me was looking for answers, and mysticism wasn't about to cut it. He had called upon my knowledge of science, so a scientific response I would give.

"The Ochimitzu is contained in a ridiculous vial, right? If Chizuru's blood had the same kind of power, it would have reverted the change, wouldn't it?"

"You mean to say that the effects are not proportional to quantity."

"Yes. Unlike most medicine that tends to have a dose effect."

Medicine other than homeopathy, that is. Chemicals. Still ... what if we could synthethise something out of Chizuru's blood? It would, at least, calm bloodlust. What were our chances to find that compound, if it even existed, and synthethise it with antique means? I'd take a team, a modern lab, and probably months in my time.

Sanan nodded, his face blank as he thought. A pregnant pause stretched, and I wondered if he had caught my drift. It was a dangerous slope; yes, Chizuru's blood could be a solution. But in this world, I didn't think we could find any way to synthethise anything without draining her. This was just what I told him.

"If such a compound even exist, provided it's not a synergy effect, I don't see how we could isolate and reproduce it. We'd have better chances at trying plants with similar components."

His lips thinned, his brain already working full time behind the carefully blank mask.

"Do you know what blood is made of?"

That was a good question actually. And thanks to my few years studying biology, I knew a bit about that. But the Rasetsu defied all logic; I had no doubt they very essence was magical, and not chemical.