Hakuoki : Tale Of Yuki

Chapter 11: Decisions

The next morning arrived and Saito was practicing his katana with Souji nearby and while Chizuru was doing some chores by the well. After a while, she stared at him swinging his katana back and forth.

"Do you have something you want to tell me?" Saito turned, caught her staring at him.

"Ah! No... but," Chizuru stuttered. "...I was just wondering if I could go outside to search for my father..."

"That's impossible," Saito said, turning back to his position and spoke with his usual monotone voice. "We have too many wounded mens now... We don't have enough personnel to escort you"

"I see...," Chizuru mumbled in disappointment.

"But we can still take you with us when we go patrolling," Souji stated.

"Really?" Chizuru turned to him, excited. "Then please let me go with you"

"But we risk our lives on our patrol. Warrior can die if they did something wrong out there... you must at least be able to protect yourself. Otherwise, we can't bring you along"

"I know self defense," Chizuru insists. "I've attend kodaichi  dojo before.."

"Then...," a new voice spoke up. " Hajime-kun, can test you out"

The three turned with shock seeing Sannan suddenly appeared.

Ever since the banning to see Yuki. They hardly sees him around. Sannan no longer isolated himself but most of the time he spent his time accompany Yuki. And Yuki didn't even talk with Hijikata or Koudou. For some reason, two had become quite close.

"... Sannan-san... how's Yuki doing?" Chizuru asked with concern.

"He's fine," Sannan answered with a smile. "Recently, I thought him how to read and write. It turns out, he is really smart and learn fast. His handwriting is beautiful too."

"I see.."

'Sannan-san looks like a proud parent,' Souji thought. '... at least that child is in good hand...'

"Back on the matter on hand, Yukimura-kun... if you pass a test against Saito, I'll give you the permission to go join the patrol," Sannan offer. "If you please, Hajime-kun"

Saito nodded and faced Chizuru. "You don't need to hold back. Come and try to hit me wherever you like."

"But....," Chizuru hesitated.

"Is that short katana is just an ornament?"

"That's not true!.... if you get stabbed by the katana, you'll die, Saito-san"

Suddenly, Souji burst out laughing. "Hahaha, you sure are great if you tell Hajime-kun, you're afraid to kill him. Hahaha! You're the best!"

"That's not a thing to be laughing about!" Chizuru defends.

Sannan "Well then... how about this? You use the back of your kodaichi instead... that way you won't accidentally hurt Hajime-kun"

"I see," Chizuru nodded and did as told. When both of them are ready, she takes in a deep breath then attacked Saito... but it was easily countered by him and Saito had his katana just an inch away from Chizuru's neck. It was a complete victory for Saito. Exactly how everyone else predict it would be.

"What... what happened just now?" Chizuru asked, shocked. It was too fast, she didn't realize when she lose her katana. "How? Just in instant!"

"Were you surprised?" Souji asked. "Hajime-kun katana Iai skill are at a master's level... if he was fighting for real, you would've died already"