Love at first sight (Heisuke x OC)

Chapter 60: Sanan's betrayal

April 1868

{The battle at Koufu Castle had gone exactly the way Hijikata had predicted it to, with the Kouyou Regulatory Company's bitter defeat. Despite facing the deadly carnage of a modern gun battle, Kondou still believed we could win if we got close enough to the enemy. This was the final straw for Harada and Nagakura as they decided to leave the Shinsengumi after Koufu. Bit by bit, the captains I'd met back in Kyoto were disappearing. Harada and Nagakura had left...Souji was still trying to fight off his disease...Inoue and Yamazaki had passed away...Losing my nakamas was more than a little saddening, but I was given no time to dwell on losing them. The Imperial Army, following on the heels of their victory at Koufu, spread their influence into Edo, driving the Shinsengumi north once again.}

The wound that fury had given me left me out of commission for the rest of March, but I had now completely healed. Much to my relief. Not being able to get anywhere by myself without being in pain was more then annoying. It was currently nighttime and Saito, Heisuke and myself had been called urgently by Hijikata-san. For some reason, Kondou-sama wasn't present for this emergency meeting. "I called you all here because we've got a problem"
"What kind of problem?" I asked.
"A fury problem" That caused all of our expressions to darken. "There have been reports of killings, identical to the ones in Edo. Any people lucky enough to escape have reported seeing people with white hair and red eyes"
"You think Sanan-san is behind them?"
"There's a reason Kondou-san isn't here Heisuke. He doesn't know what Sanan-san has done and I'd like to keep it that way"
"Understood Commander. What will you have us do?"
"I want the three of you to split up and search the city. If you encounter Sanan-san, bring him back here alive...I need to have a few words with him"
"What about the furies?"
"Kill on sight, there's no telling how dangerous they are now that they've drunk Sanan-san's blood"
"Hai sir" We bowed and stood up to leave.
"Hey" Hijikata-san called out to us before we left. "Be careful"
"We will Hijikata-san" We left our headquarters and went out into the streets.
"If any of us encounter Sanan-san, signal the others for help. He's unpredictable and dangerous so we shouldn't try to engage him on our own"
"If I'm honest, I don't want to engage with him at all..."
"Don't worry Chiyeko, we have your back" Heisuke grinned.
"You're not in this alone"
"Arigato Heisuke. Arigato Saito-san. I appreciate it. I guess I can't put it off any longer, let's start our search!" They nodded and we all went off in separate directions.

Ten minutes later

Heisuke, Saito-san and I had split up to cover more ground and find Sanan. Ten minutes without incident had passed as I cautiously walked down the dark streets. Please don't let me run into him. I knew both Heisuke and Saito-san could at least defend themselves against Sanan, but I had no chance of defending myself if Sanan challenged me to a fight. He'd been using a sword for at least double the amount of time that I'd been using one. Just then, I heard some people talking a ways ahead of me and quickly hid myself in the shadow of a building to listen to their conversation. They appeared to be surrounded around what I think was a corpse. "That was a good meal"
"Yeah, I haven't tasted blood that good for ages" My heart nearly stopped right then and there. They're furies, that means they're probably from the Shinsengumi's Fury Corps.
"Oh by the way, why do you think Sanan-san's letting us go crazy tonight?"
"Beats me, but who cares? As long as I get a decent meal, I'm good" They all laughed boisterously at his comment. I have to tell minna about this! I backed away slowly and turned around to go find Heisuke and Saito-san when I came face to face with someone I wished I hadn't.
"Ah Kazama-chan, I was hoping to find you. And you're alone, perfect" His voice alerted the other men to my presence. They all quickly grabbed my arms, keeping me from running away.
"What should we do with her, Sanan-san?" I struggled with all my strength, but it was useless.
"I've got something special planned for her" Sanan grabbed me and that's when I struck.
"Someone help!" I yelled loudly before elbowing Sanan in the chest causing him to loosen his grip around me. Now! I pushed myself off him, which caused him to fall over. Now that I was free, I tried to run, but the furies had other ideas. They swiftly blocked my path with their swords held out menacingly.
"Silly Kazama-chan, did you really hope to escape me so easily?"
"You leave her alone!" I whipped my head around to see Heisuke running towards us. The furies raced to meet him with their swords, but Heisuke wasn't playing around. He quickly took care of the furies and when he finally reached us, he stood in front of me with his blade raised.
"Toudou-kun, defeating you with my blade will be too easy of a proposition. Yet you still stand before me, despite knowing this"
"Damare! I'll do anything to protect Chiyeko!" He yelled before swinging. Sanan effortlessly dodged his swing and sighed;
"If you let yourself be overcome by emotion then you'll never best me, Toudou-kun" Sanan's hair and eyes changed colour before he kicked at the ground, thundering towards Heisuke. His movements were so fluid, he glided across the ground as if it were a frozen lake.
"Argh!" Although Heisuke was certainly no pushover, Sanan's increased strength appeared to have caught him off guard. Like a master of swordsmanship, he weaved around Heisuke effortlessly and closed the distance between them in mere seconds. At this rate, Sanan will kill Heisuke! I couldn't let that happen. Without giving a thought to what could happen to me, I jumped between the two. Sanan abruptly stopped and looked at me curiously. "Chiyeko, are you an idiot!? Move outta the way!"
"But he'll kill you if I do and I can't let him do that!"
"Oh Toudou-kun, it would appear that your precious Kazama-chan is, indeed, a baka idiot"
"Sanan-san, don't!" Unfortunately, his pleading fell on deaf ears. Sanan moved faster than my eyes could follow. Suddenly, he appeared right in front of me and along with his sudden appearance came the burn of cold steel piercing through my chest. "Chiyeko!!!"
"N-Nani...?" My vision blurred and I tried to call out to Heisuke, but no sound came out. All that escaped my mouth was a pungent, frothy wave of blood. My body soon became numb and I collapsed to the ground.
"Chiyeko! Chiyeko-!" The last thing I heard was the faint sound of Heisuke calling out to me. I let out a quiet gasp as my blurred vision caught sight of something. Now the furies had been dealt with, I could clearly see what they had been surrounding. There's no mistaking it...that's a corpse...and it's cut to ribbons, just like the others...That means that Sanan and his Fury Corps are, without a doubt, the killers...Those were my last thoughts before my consciousness swiftly faded.