Hakuouki: Dragon Circles in Quiet Summer

Chapter 10

"What happened!?" They yelled as I carried Mei into headquarters.

"Nothing. I actually did this to her purposely and with good reason. She also gave me her consent to do so, so you can't get mad at me." I say as I lay her down on the futon.

"Was it important enough to knock out a kid?" Heisuke asks.

"Would you rather that I gave her to Amagiri and told him to take her outside?" They quiet.

"I wouldn't let her out of my sight either way so the second one wasn't an option." They agree reluctantly. "Oh and Amagiri will come later today so don't act hostile."

"What?" They all ask.

"Yeah he's helping me with this demon business."

"But-" They begin but stop when they hear Mei's small voice.

"Momma..." She whispers making us all watch her with sympathy filled eyes.

"I-I'll keep an eye on her until she wakes up." I say softly. I don't pay attention to their response. I just nod.

~~~

"Sakura, why are you crying?" I don't look up at Mei, who has just woken up.

"You were dreaming about your mom." She looks at me in surprise. I was not asking but telling.

"Was I talking in my sleep?" She asks but I ignore the question.

"You wouldn't feel pain if I had saved her. You wouldn't have to be this grown up if I would've saved her. If I had went back to her." I whisper.

"What?" She's confused. At first she thought she was talking about giving her mom the blood but she wasn't.

"I could've found another way to escape. I didn't need her. I could've saved her. That's what I was suppose to do. That's what I had to do. I was suppose to repay her and yet I left her. I killed her the day I left." My voice was broken, barley above a whisper. It seemed I was only talking to myself. However, Mei had heard.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Kaede, why did you save me? I killed the man you loved. I killed your friend. I hurt you, I hurt you, I hurt you, over and over and over. Why help me? Why didn't you hate me? Why did you let me do those things to you? Why did you save me and doom yourself?"

"S-Sakura? What's happening? You're scaring me." Mei says backing away.

"If I hadn't let you sacrifice your freedom you could've been happy and free. Mei could be fine, she would be everything you deserved. She wouldn't feel the pain I gave you, she wouldn't have to go through this."

"Sakura, stop it."

"I don't feel your loss. I said my goodbyes the day I abandoned you but yet, whenever I see Mei, I don't see her. I see you. I think I did it, I think I saved you. Nothing was wrong because you were right here with me."

"Stop it!"

"Why did you forgive me? Why did I abandon you? Why do I feel this now? Why did I save her? Why didn't you let me save you? You deserved it. You deserved to be happy, to be free. Like cherry blossoms, remember? They'll fly away to a better place, unbound from the trees. Why? Why...? Why, why, why?"

"Stop it now!" She hits me but I don't react. I let my head look down to where she forced it to turn.

"You should've let me die and rot in there." Hit. "I should've been where you were." Hit. "I deserved it." Hit. "I hurt you." Hit. "Broke you." Hit. "Killed you." Hit. Hit. Hit.

"What's going on in here!? Sakura!"

"Why are you still giving me these things that I don't deserve? Why give me something, someone you love when you know I can only break them? Do you want me to kill her? Did you want me to break her?" Hit. Hit.

"Someone! I need help restraining Mei!"

"What did you want me to do to her? I can't do anything for her. I can't protect her. If I couldn't protect you then I can't protect anyone." Hit-

"Get away from her!"

"Sakura! It's us, Yui and Minori! Snap out of it, or you'll go too far!"

"Hey! Don't touch her!"

"Protect, yes. You're trying to tell me, prove to me I can't protect anyone. Weren't you?"

"You must stop this or else you'll violate the contract!"

"Mei. Kaede. Ryou. Brother? No, Takeo."

"Sakura!"

"I failed. I'm a fail. No, mistake." The sound of blood. A spray? Splatter? Who? Did I fail again?

"Souji!" Something cracks across my body. Noise rushes in my ears. My vision returns.

I push off whoever is on top of me and immediately by his side. Judging by how it looked, he stabbed himself. I use one hand to ready the Healers Water and bring the other to my mouth.

I already drop the medicine in his mouth as I rip the side of my palm with my teeth and drop the blood in his mouth. I focus on my blood in his body and feel my connection to it. I rush it through his body until it reaches his stomach.

He gasps as he regains consciousness. I pull him to me burying my face in his chest. "Idiot, never do that again." I say in a broken voice.

"It worked didn't it?" He says in a labored breath.

"So close." I hear him say. Fuyu.

I turn around with wide eyes. "If these two hadn't alerted them what would've happened I could've had you and ended this foolishness." He growls glaring at Yui and Minori. "We will discuss this tonight. Even after your little episode, I still expect you there. You know what will happen if you don't."

"Yes." I whisper looking down at Souji's blood on the ground.

"You are to come in your true form."

"Yes." I could not fight him.

"No humans and not that damn parasite."

"Yes." Parasite...

"You will explain why this happened and its source when at the meeting."

"Yes." They were going to use it against me.

"That was vary scary... I would be afraid of what you'd do to the little parasite if you'd continue on with your line of thinking that leads straight to your dark heart. But that's just me, the rest of you can sum it up. See you tonight big sister."

"Yes." I take a second before looking up when he disappears. Mei was there with a bloody kimono. I looked down to see my own bloody body with stab holes in my clothes. I look back up and she drops her small bloody dagger.

"Sakura, what did he mean?" I ignore him, my eyes were on her. I just pull off my sash and tie it around my eyes. My eyes were no longer burning. I hadn't notice it was before but I guess it started when I laid my eyes on her.

I pull out the letter. It's edges stained in blood. I give it to Souji.

"Saitou, take Mei to get cleaned up. Yamazaki take her somewhere where she can calm down and then find out what happened. Souji you should rest and the rest of us will clean up." I stand up and walk away wordlessly.

"I only create more problems." I whisper.