HAKUOUKI: Back in Time

Chapter 3

~Why not listen to music while you read?~

"...Hmm...?" Was it morning?

What had happened to me?... Ah right. All the events of the previous night rushed back. If only this was my room, I thought. I looked over to see the person who ran with me awake and bound. They had tied us up well.

If only this were a strange nightmare... But it was not. I had almost been run over by a car, found myself in an unknown place, ran from people with swords with someone I did not know, and met those men.

The men seemed really familiar though. I never saw them before but their names were strangely familiar. Its like the Shinsengumi! No way... I couldn't have traveled back in time! Their swords were real though and they are wearing traditional clothing, I thought.

"I see you two have woken up." With a soft smile, he introduced himself as Inoue. "I'm sorry we have to treat you this way... Hold on a moment. I'll loosen the ropes alright?" He smiled as he removed the ropes, working quickly and skillfully. Our wrists however, were left bound.

"Thank you" we both said as we bowed to Inoue.

"Now, if you will follow me. They have been discussing what to do with the both of you since this morning." "For now, they have decided to hear exactly what you two saw last night."

"...Okay" We nodded and stood up. My body was a bit stiff from being tied up all night however. The man who called himself Inoue was very polite and almost kind, but it was quite clear that we were to do as told. He must have been able to read my thoughts because he smiled at me and winked.

"You don't have to worry. I know they see scary but they're all very nice."

The Shinsengumi nice? The textbooks described Hijikata as the demon vice commander. That is already scary. It was hard to imagine the demon vice commander and the others as...nice.

Inoue led us to a room and opened the door. I stepped with the other person and found myself surrounded by the leaders of the Shinsengumi. Their eyes dug into me like a million knives. I froze.

"Good morning! I hope you slept well?" I remembered him...Okita. Perhaps it was because I was surrounded by strange men, but it was a bit comforting to see a face I recognized...Even if it was the face of a rather frightening man was almost certainly willing and able to kill me.

"Well, it wasn't particularly...comfortable." replied the person next to me. Maybe it was because I was frightened yesterday but the person looked pretty feminine.

"Really?" His face twisted sideways to a grin. "Because when I went to have a look at you two earlier, you didn't budge, no matter where I poked."

He did that?! The famous Okita Souji is actually a pervert?! His grin widened as the both of us turned red.

"He's only teasing you. Souji didn't go anywhere near your room." Saito said while rolling his eyes.

"Aah, I just wanted to see them squirm a little. Not very nice of you, Hajime, calling me out like that."

"Shut it. You sound like a bunch of kids." Hijikata's voice left no room for an argument. Okita shrugged and went silent, but the smile stayed in his eyes.

"So Hijikata...These are our witnesses?"

The man that spoke was... Well, he looked more like a boy than a man.

I always thought the leaders of the Shinsengumi were a bunch of old or middle aged men but they all looked quite young. In fact. they looked like a group of young thugs.

"Just a stick and a girl huh. Just kids ." that was Toudou.

On the way from the room, Inoue had given us a brief description of the people I was about to meet. Supposedly, Toudou was the youngest captain in the Shinsengumi.

Um I am 20, Mr. Toudou. You on the other hand are 18 years of age. I am older than you. Well technically, you are like 200 years older than me but-.

"You're...calling them kids, Heisuke? That's rich" He chuckled as he spoke.

"Right you are. To anybody else. I'll bet the two of you just look like another pair of scrawny little brats." The man across from him nodded with brows drawn, as if it was a serious subject.

However, I remembered Inoue telling us that two on the men in particular were...somewhat immature, to put it nicely. He had said that the one with short hair was Nagakura, and the other, with longer hair, was Harada.

The act like highschool boys... exactly...just like them.

"Buzz off, you grumpy old bastards." sighed Toudou

"The hell I will, boy! You think you can get away with talking to us like that?!" yelled Nagakura.

"Besides I'm hardly mature enough to be called 'old.' Shinpachi maybe. but... not me." laughed Harada.

"Hey! I thought were were friends!" exclaimed Nagakura. "Ha ha ha ha! C'mon, Shin! Would an adult get so worked up over something like that?" Toudo teased while smiling.

I take it back...they are like middle school boys, I think to myself.

"I apologize for all of this frightening behavior. Please do't give them the pleasure of unsettling the both of you." The man's voice was calm and warm, and I felt myself relax slightly.

"Are you serious? You're the scariest out of all of us, Sanan" Hijikata remarked with a slight smirk.As he finished speaking, the rest of the men nodded in agreement. I found it very hard to believe that this man could be as scary as they seemed to think.

"Oh? How crude. I can understand their feeling, but that even our demon of a commander should think so..." The man called Sanan smiled as he spoke.

"You're lucky to have a friend like Sanan, Toshi."