Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan: Find Love in War (Hajime Saito)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Raid On The Choshu

After Haruka woke up from her nap, Saito has informed her of what he and the others were discussing about. They stop nearby between Chizuru's room and the common room. Chizuru of course couldn't sleep as she ponders on her thought on how to help the Shinsengumi. As Chizuru sat in her room, doing her best to think of something, anything else, she heard voices nearby.

"I see. So, the Choshu are crazier than I thought." Haruka has fought with a few of the Choshu warriors about 2 years ago. It was quite an embarrassment to the Choshu to be beaten so easily by a kid; luckily, they didn't know she was a woman then or they'll be even more embarrass to be have been beaten by a woman.

Chizuru discretely walk out of her room, and listen to their conversation.

"How are we going to prevent the Choshu from putting their plan into action?" Haruka asked.

"We're planning to move out tonight," Saito replied.

"I see."

Harada saw Saito and Haruka, and walk up to them. "Hey, Saito, Haruka."

"Hey, Harada."

"Saito, Harada, about tonight, do we have enough men?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have enough men. Kondou has only ten soldiers ready to fight," Saito replied.

"Hijikata and I have twenty-four apiece, right? Man, half our guys are out with stomachaches...Not exactly a laughing matter, eh, Saito, Haruka?" Harada laughed. "So...you think we'll bring them along on this one? It's a night mission. It'd be perfect..."

"Don't know about that. We might not need them for back-up," Haruka said with a shrug.

"Confident, are we?" Harada said with a grin.

"I'm confident we will come out alive."

"Ah. I see." Then Harada asked, "We lost a couple the other day, but there should still be a few left, right?"

"I heard they won't be seeing combat for a while. They're having...difficulty adjusting," Saito said.

"It's too bad. I wish I can help." Haruka could really help, but that would only cause more problems, for her that is.

Harada crossed his arms. "Even if you can help, that'll only cause more problems."

"They're blood-thirsty, Haruka. I rather you not think about that idea of yours," Saito suggested.

Haruka let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, alright. I won't think about it anymore."

"And besides, the second they see blood, they stop listening to orders and lose control. It's...inconvenient," Saito mention.

'What? I swore I heard something about a reaction to blood before...' Chizuru thought.

"They've gotta be spinning in their graves...Didn't they choose to do this so they could fight?" Harada said.

"Sano, you only say that after someone's actually dead," Saito said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. They aren't really dead, are they? In fact, they're even harder to kill now..." Harada mentioned.

'No! I shouldn't! I'm not supposed to...' Chizuru cover her ears and close her eyes tight. That was the best thing she could do to make sure she didn't hear anything more.

Kondou was walking around when he notice Chizuru. "Oh? What are you doing here, Yukimura?"

Chizuru open her eyes to see Kondou standing in front of her. "U-Um...I...I was...I couldn't just sit there..." Chizuru told Kondou the truth about her feeling useless, and left her room to find some way to help.