Hakuouki drabble collections

The Emotions of Saito Hajime

"Vice Commander!" Saito called from behind the closed doors to Hijikata's room.

"Yes, Saito. Come in." Hijikata answered, still very much focused on his work.

Saito entered then and put himself in a position ready to give his daily report to the Vice Commander, and as he spoke, Hijikata patiently listened to him as he always did, hearing the status of the patrols, soldiers in the Shinsengumi and any other matters that were relevant to the group.

"...Finally, Vice Commander, you have some Ishida Powder here, don't you? Unfortunately, I seem to have caught a headache and I need some medicine."

"Yes, Saito. There should be some in the drawer over there. Help yourself, I have to finish writing these documents now." Hijikata responded, guessing what Saito would ask next.

"Thank you." Saito nodded.

Not intending to delay taking the medicine any longer, he went straight to the drawer to retrieve the Ishida powder. "Vice Commander, there is a different packaging of medicine in this box, they are all the same right? Only Ishida powder is stored here?"

"Yes." Hijikata answered without much thought to his answer as he was already absorbed in his writing.

Now with the go ahead, Saito consumed the first packet of the medicine he laid eyes on, it had an odd and horrible taste, but he was sure that it would be effective.

"Thank you, Vice Commander. I shall be going now."

"Hm, okay, Saito. Wait! Saito, hang on a second." Hijikata paused as he recalled a gift that he had received a few days ago from a fellow medicine pedlar and had stored it along side his own stock of powder.

"What packet of medicine did you take?" Hijikata had a bad feeling about what the reply would be, but at least he would be able to warn the other of the effects it may or may not have.

"It was the one on the top of the pile with an odd pattern on the packaging." Saito replies wondering why the Vice Commander would ask such a question. It became clear from the sigh the Vice Commander let out, that his answer wasn't the answer that he was hoping for.

"Saito..." Hijikata sighed. "That wasn't Ishida Powder...but rather something else."

"What do you mean Vice Commander?" Saito asked, slightly unsettled now and curious as to what he was on about.

"Ah, well, a few days ago I received a medicine packet from a medicine pedlar, like myself formerly, however they said it wasn't a medicine to cure illness but something else and so therefore they suggested reading the instructions beforehand. I kept hold of it out of interest to what it was, and I don't believe it to be a harmful drug, but perhaps you might want to look at it yourself." Hijikata explains.

"Very well then." Saito nodded, trusting the Vice Commander's words. As instructed, Saito fetched the piece of paper which he had left in the box before, assuming before it was for something else, and started to read what effects this powder that he had taken had. As he read the label, his face turned into a frown. It didn't seem like this would bode well for him. He could tell what was written down just spelled trouble and he wished that his headache had never had happened, or that he had taken this drug, although his headache was now gone.

"Vice Commander! What is the meaning of this?! A powder which makes a person's emotions heighted? What sort of drug is this?" Saito demanded, wanting an answer from the Vice Commander. Just what had he eaten? What would this do to him? "It says that while this drug is in effect it will make any emotions of that person appear openly and the change in emotions could happen at any time."