What makes history (Hijikata x OC)

Moonlight shadows

The giant 'dai' bonfire still burnt on the hill, watching over us both in the silent night. The moon played hide and seek with the clouds, creating shadows that danced in the breeze. In my head, the song moonlight shadow started playing, and I found myself humming in the silence. It was a peaceful moment, suited to internal musings and contemplation.

The man by my side slightly shifted and I stopped at once, afraid I had offended him.

"What are you singing?"

I blinked, like a deer caught in headlights. Except that those eyes stole the breath out of me; much more efficient that any car's artificial lamp.

"Er...", I mused, looking for the proper translation in Japanese."Shadow of the moon?"

Hijikata lips curled, his anger pushed away for a moment. "Are you answering, or asking?"

Right. I didn't quite know to repond to that, wondering whether the volatile man beside me would explode or settle. His breaths seemed more even, but my chest couldn't seem to get enough air.

"Sing, then."

It was an order. If I'd learnt anything from Hijikata-san, it was that he commanded naturally. But singing, really? I took a deep breath. Well, it wasn't the first time I sung for other people. I had a strong soprano voice, and the memory to file up a hundred songs, in so many different languages. After all, in the past, it sometimes was the only entertainment to be had.

So I sung, gazing at the moon, the only piece of the song I knew. I couldn't remember the first paragraph for the life of me.

"The trees that whisper in the evening
Carried away by the moonlight shadow
Sing a song of sorrow and grieving
Carried away by the moonlight shadow

The man beside me only watched; I could feel his gaze, even though my eyes were closed. His inability to understand English – or so I surmised – didn't prevent me from starting at the words that came out of my mouth. It was an easy song to me, soft, and perfectly in my range. Much less difficult than an Ave Maria.

So why did I feel so breathless when I started the next paragraph?

"All she saw was a silhouette of a gun
Far away on the other side
He was shot six times by a man on the run
She couldn't find how to push through"

Guns. Shot. Death... I swallowed and opened my eyes, finding my neighbour lost behind the bangs that framed his face.

"I stay, I pray
See you in heaven far away
I stay and I pray
See you in heaven one day."

I just couldn't stop. Little by little, the words I'd never taken time to analyse sunk within my body. And I knew, in this moment, that it was my soul trying to communicate. Was Hijikata destined to die by gunshot?

Was I supposed to die as well? Meet him in heaven? Why? I couldn't think of it anymore, as the next paragraph popped in naturally.

"4 a.m. in the morning
Carried away by the moonlight shadow
As I watched your vision forming
Carried away by the moonlight shadow"

I just couldn't stop, the words picked up from my subconscious. As if, by singing them, I unravelled the tale of future events. The knowledge was there, buried inside me in a song I'd not heard for years but kept pouring out of my lips.

"Caught in the middle of a hundred and five
The night was heavy and the air was alive
She couldn't find how to push through"

I breathed out. Wow. I had never experienced such a thing. It was entirely surreal. If the Vice Commander had caught my state of unrest, he didn't push me. His words, thought, weren't casual.