Hakuouki: The Masked Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 24

I wake up alone but on the top branches of the tree. I feel terrible. My vision is blurry and I'm disoriented. I rub my eye clear and stretch.

I get down and figure everyone is eating breakfast. I stumble to where they're eating with a pounding headache. "What happened to me?" I groan as I walk in. They all laugh until I shush them.

"I can't remember anything..." I run my head.

"You took our hair ties." They say. And I notice all of their hair down. Sannan was barefaced.

"And my glasses." Sannan says with narrowed eyes.

"Well you look good without them... Agh, what did I do? How much did I drink? I don't remember anything." I groan.

"Actually... Are those our hair ties braided in your hair?" Souji chuckles eyeing my hair.

"What?" I pull my hair over my shoulder and its braided with different colored strands. I slump back against the wall.

"Where are my glasses?" Sannan asks.

"Actually..." I pull out a cloth from my sash. "This was digging into me..." I polish his glasses and hand it to him.

"Sorry." I mutter to him. I sit back down and start unbraiding my hair.

"Sakura?" Souji puts a hand on my frozen hand. I put my hands down and close my eyes.

"I... I don't know. It's just a massive headache."

"Here." I feel Souji unbraid my hair gently.

"Go rest when he's done. Souji, go and escort her to make sure she'll be alright." Kondou says.

"Seven jugs? I'm surprised you're still alive." Shinpachi laughs. I hum in agreement. I feel Souji take my hand and I stand up stumbling into him.

"Here." He picks me up letting my hair flow down.

"You got really long hair! Longer than mine!" Heisuke yells. I hum as a response and tuck my head into Souji's chest to keep the light from my eyes. He holds his breath for a moment before carrying me out.

"You sure your okay?" He asks.

"No, I'm not. When we get to my room I need to check something. Because I think I did something stupid." He nods and rushes to my room.

He sets me down and I sit up. I quickly untie my sashes and search. Nothing but money and my fans and another hidden thing. "Damn." I say looking up at Souji.

"What's wrong?" He asks worriedly.

"I had at least ten jugs of saké." I put my head in my hands.

"How do you know?"

"Because I had ten vials of poison and they're all missing." His eyes widen.

"What's gonna happen? Is there a way to fix it?" He begins to panic.

"No, but I know I won't die from it. I'll get really sick though. So I'm gonna ask you to please keep this to yourself. I need you to cover for me and I hate that I have to ask but I'm not going too good with Yamazaki."

"You sure?" He asks.

"Yes, it was another part of my disappointing past. Endurance..." I whisper the last part as I felt a wave of sickness. I lay back down. "I can usually only take half that. This is gonna take at least this whole day and tomorrow and it'll only get worse. Promise me you'll cover for me." I look at him.

"This is-"

"I know, I'm sorry. I hate that I'm asking you. This is my own dumb fault and this is selfish. I can get to an inn and wait it out. It'll be less risk and I can say it's for investigating." I start to sit up but he pushes me back down.

"It'll be stupid if your alone. I'll keep an eye on you but I'll tell Yamazaki if I think you were lying." I grin.

"Thanks... Could you get out? I wanna change but I prefer to be alone without any perverts around." He grins.

"That's just what you wanna think." He smirks as he leaves.

This is gonna be hell.

~~~

I was in my sleep robe when he came in. I hid the red stained cloth under my blanket. "I told them you'd be out on investigation but you said it would take two days so you'd be out for a while." I nod.

"Thanks... You shouldn't be doing this..."

"It's no problem. I have nothing to do and I get to be alone with you." I laugh. He picks up my stack of masks and insists I owe him the best stories for each mask since he was doing this for me. I comply and we spend the day laughing at my stories and eating smuggled food in secret.

Whenever he leaves I make sure to cough while I can and hide the evidence of my condition.

~~~

The next day I can barley sit up. Souji looks worried. "I'm fine... It's just how this works."

"You look like... What's this?" He pulls the cloth that was poking from under the blankets. I can't stop him as his eyes narrow at the blood.

"Souji..." I try but he dropped it and stormed away. When he comes back he brings him.

"Why are we going here? Isn't Sakura off-" Souji gets him in the room without attracting attention. Yamazaki stares at me in shock before rushing into action.

"It was the poison, wasn't it?" He asks as he feel my feverish forehead. I nod.

"She'll be fine but considering how much she took, it'll take another day for recovery. The blood is probably the burns that the poison must've caused in her stomach. She'll be fine."

"You really know this? How?" Souji asks.

"Nothing that's worth sharing." I interject. Yamazaki sighs.

"She's right. It is not my place to tell. She'll get better. I know it." He says and I look away. "It would be best to give her some time to rest alone in peace and check up every few hours. I know everyone else is suspicious as to where your disappearing to." Souji smirks.

"I'll be fine. I know I'm not the best company in the world and I'm tired of your face. Get out of here." I smirk back weakly.

"If you say so." They leave but linger at the door before leaving. I let myself fall in easy sleep.