Moonlit Rose: Hakuouki

Good Night

Oh goodness, I wasn't sure if I had everything worked out in my head.....wait, I'm SURE I didn't have everything worked out in my head when I stared on this update, but somehow I finished it........ Either way, I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm trying to get as far into this story as I can before college hits. Since I'm majoring in medicine.......my life will be done for once classes come. No ifs ands or buts about it. *sobs* What have I sighed myself up for? 

But enough whining! Onwards to the story! 

"Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." - William Shakespeare 

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Good Night

If Saito understood what having tunnel vision meant, he would immediately confess that he has tunnel vision the moment Mizuki stepped into their little dining room. The reason his eyes could see no one else isn't because the beautiful kimono and makeup she has on.......well, not the main reason. Perhaps it's just him. Actually, Saito hopes it's just him that seem to be unable to resist Mizuki's pull. 

Even back when he thought Mizuki was a man, his eyes never failed to find the other samurai no matter the surroundings them found themselves in. Everything about her sucked him in, and as he got to know her better when they fought side by side, he felt himself sinking deeper and deeper until he felt like he was underwater in an air bubble: surrounded by the unknown but safe and content. 

Then, his bubble popped when Mizuki's figure fades into the ink black night when Kazama first took her away. All the water crashed in on him. All the pressures he never realized Mizuki was slowly and carefully lifting from his shoulders dragged him under until he felt like he was drowning. The first week was terrible. He clawed desperately at anything and everything for something that would hold. He recklessly trained. He recklessly patrolled the city alone in hopes of getting any clue for where she could be. Some days, he would spend motionless in his room. Everyone assumed that he was meditating, but truthfully, he was moping. He wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, to scream, but that's not possible, not anymore. He wasn't a child. He was a samurai, a captain of the Shinsengumi, and he is a pillar and guide for his men. He can't crumble. 

It got better. Over the course of several months, his fellow captains, his friends, gave him the handhold that he needed. He was never fully out of the water, but his friends buoyed him to the surface and helped him swim. He doesn't know where he's swimming to, but he trusts his friends to not lead him astray. 

And he's eternally grateful that he listened to their advice because it payed off. There she is, the woman that he's been dreaming of, the literal woman of his dreams, in front of him. He feels short of breath again, but when their eyes meet as she shuffles over to serve him a drink, the pressure begins to lift. The message in her eyes is a clear as it has always been. 

Everything will be fine. If you can meet my eyes without guilt, if you can trust me still, if you can love me still, then we'll be fine.

Saito doesn't doubt it for a second. He refuses to doubt it when his world is turned upside down with the presence of oni. His eyes doesn't leaves Mizuki's back as she pours tea for Hijikata on his right and Chizuru on Hijikata's other side. He slowly lifts his cup to his lips, surprised when the sweet smell and taste of hojicha* floods his tongue. The tea reminds him of Mizuki's warm presence and isn't the standard tea that is served at places like these. He surreptitiously glances at Chizuru and Hijikata's cups. Hijikata has the standard green tea in his cup while Chizuru has a cup of hojicha as well, like him. Hojicha requires the normal tea leaves to be roasted to the correct consistency before they are brewed into tea. It's usually not served at inns like this since it's time consuming to prepare. Lifting his eyes from their blank gaze down at the red-brown swirls of tea, he catches Mizuki's eyes one more time as she and Kimigiku finish up serving their food for the evening. A sly smile and wink that he receives is enough to send him into cardiac arrest if he were a weaker man. Instead, Saito quickly lifts his tea cup to his lips and takes another slow, careful sip to distract himself until Kimigiku and Mizuki settle in their places against the sliding door where they first entered, ready to refill as needed.