Hakuouki: The Masked Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 23

~~Sakura's POV~~

I snuck back into headquarters vary late, well at least tried to. I had tripped on a rock and fell against the wall giggling. I had unknowingly caught someone's attention. I quickly stood straight and tried to act normal as I heard someone approach.

"Hey, Sakura, there you are. Hijikata and Kondou-San got worried. You alright?" It was Sano followed by his two best friends.

"Yeah... Just doing some... Uh, investigating." I lie horribly.

"Really? I'd hate working like you. It would be tiring." Heisuke says.

"Yeah, yeah so that's why I was just gonna go and... Rest." They don't seem to notice me and thankfully I could keep my fidgeting body in the shade.

"Oh, okay. But did you get anything? Was it on the new people?" Shinpachi asks and everyone turns to me.

"Uh, yeah, I mean no... Just a lead I don't wanna bother you with." I chuckle nervously.

"Whose out there?" I hear Saitou ask. The door opens and him and Souji come out. Oh great...

"Just Sakura. She just got back and we were asking her about what she found out." Sano explains and those two come over. No!

"Oh, Kondou-San and the two others were just wondering about where you went." Souji gives me a smile.

"In any case, what did you find out?" Saitou asks.

"Oh... Nothing... It's just a lead so it's not really going... Anywhere..." They look at me skeptically.

"Are you alright?" Heisuke asks picking up on my peculiar tone and odd pauses.

"Yeah, yeah! Just like... Super tired and all from doing all this... Investigating." I end dumbly.

"You sure? You keep pausing." Souji says studying me closer making me stumble back as he gets closer.

"Yeah! I'm fine! I just wanted to... Go... To sleep? Yeah!" He grins wider.

"Sakura, are you... Drunk?" Everyone comes closer to study me. My eyes widen.

"No! I would never... Well like... No... Maybe... I don't know! Stop looking at me like that!" I yell at him, flustered. The others eyes widen.

"What!? Really!?" The trio asks pulling me into the moonlight to see my flushed face from the saké. They look at me in surprise and start laughing. I cross my arms, looking away, embarrassed.

"Maybe just a little drink." I mumble. They laugh and Souji grabs my hand.

"Come on! Kondou-San and Hijikata-San won't believe this!" He starts dragging me to the room.

"No! Don't! Agh- no.... Hey... Kondou-San..." I say as I'm shoved in the room. I straighten up looking away from him as the other come in.

"Sakura, I was worried. Where did you go?" Kondou asks.

"Umm... Like... Someways that way and then a little of the other way and... Investigating?" The others start laughing as the three leaders look at me confused.

"Is something wrong, Sakura?" Hijikata asks.

"No!"

"A fever? You looked flushed." Sannan says.

"Um yeah! Sure! So I'll be going to my room to... Rest and... Recover..."

"Why does she keep pausing?" Hijikata asks the others.

"It seems our little Sakura got herself drunk." Souji grins as he puts his hands on my shoulders.

"What!? No! Never! Shut up, Souji!" I smack him in the arm. The three stare at me closely and then grin. "Don't look at me like that! It was like... One, two, three, four, five... Like zero-ish drinks! Like defiantly no more than one." I lie horribly causing everyone to laugh as Souji has me sit down.

"So you got drunk? Why? And considering how much you drank at Shimabarra, you must've drunk a considerable amount to get this kind of... Outcome." Hijikata says.

"Like... Nothing... Maybe I just wanted to... Celebrate? Relax? Um... Have fun?" I ask myself extremely fuzzy. I rub the back of my neck laughing. "But the thing that matters is that nothing happened and there was defiantly no fight so don't even like... Try asking." I look away shutting my eyes preparing.

"What!?" He yells.

"Um... It wasn't my fault. How should I put this... I was protecting myself from... Okay, so maybe I overreacted... But..." I put up a hand. "I defiantly did not break anyone's nose or teeth or anything. Because I'm more responsible and reasonable than that. So don't ask. I didn't." Again, words seem to fly out of my mouth.

"What!?" He yells again as everyone laughs.

"But I already paid for the damages that I did not cause or do, and apologized for the fire that I did not do." I nod.

"What!? How do you even do that!?" My eyes widen at his harsh tone and I feel tears coat my eyes and lip quiver. Everyone's eyes widen.

"S-Sakura?" He asks worriedly. He gets up and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Look, I was just mad you put yourself in danger." He explains.

"R-really?" I look up at him. He smiled with a nod and I pull him down in a hug.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" I cry into him.

"Hey, Hijikata, why'd you have to make her cry?" Sano asks.

"I didn't mean to!" I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up and see Kondou.

"It's okay, mistakes happen." I smile and jump up hugging him.

"Thank you!" I say taking his hands and spinning in a circle. We all laugh and I hear the door open.

"Let me guess, saké?" I stop and see a blurry Hiro. I run up and jump on him.

"Hiro!" He catches me and cradles me while rocking me back and forth.

"Ah, little Saké, it's been a while." He says laughing as he twirled me around. I laughed and giggled as he had me sit between his legs. I lean back against him.

"Hi." I smile looking up at him. He laughs.

"So... How much did you drink?" I think.

"Um... Six or seven." I smile. He laughs looking at the others.

"She means six or seven jugs."

"What!?" I laugh laying in the middle of the room, looking up.

"So I should probably explain what will happen when Sakura gets drunk. She either gets really childish or fidgety. She won't sleep and won't let you either." I giggle rolling on to my stomach and resting my chin on my hands.

"Can we play a game?" I ask.

"No." Hiro says.

"Sure." The others say. I cheer standing up.

"Now you've done it." Hiro mumbles.

At top speed I take the hair ties from everyone but Sannan-san's glasses since he didn't have a hair tie. "Catch me!"

I yelled running outside as the called after me, trying to catch me.