Hakuouki: Hitsuzen

A Test of Skill

"Wh-What  just..." Chizuru stuttered, still stunned. Okita laughed as he hopped off the porch and picked Chizuru's sword up off the ground.

"Surprised?" he asked. "Hajime-kun is an expert at the quick draw." He held her sword up for her to see.

"Huh? Huh!?" Chizuru gasped, astonished, when she realized what he was holding, looking down at her own empty hands. "No way! That one second..."

"You mean, you didn't notice?" Sumiko asked, sweat-dropping. It had flown out of her hands the instant Saito countered her first attempt to attack.

"If Hajime-kun were serious, you'd be dead," Okita told Chizuru, returning her sword.

"Thank your teacher," Saitou said, looking directly at Chizuru. "Your sword shows no hesitation."

"Huh?" Chizuru said, surprised. Didn't she just fail miserably?

"Your skill is such that you'll at least be of no inconvenience to us outdoors," he said.

"Hajime-kun gave you the okay, huh?" Okita said smiling. "That's pretty incredible."

"Good job, Chizuru!" Sumiko cheered, patting her on the back. "Let's see how I'll fare against him."

"You'd better come over here," Okita told Chizuru waving her over to the porch, while Saito and Sumiko got into position. Sumiko drew her sword and held hers reversed, too, intending to use the back of the blade to strike as well.

"If you please," Sumiko said, signaling she as ready to start. For a moment she just stared at Saito, but then she suddenly launched herself forward with great speed. With the same speed  and accuracy as before, Saito drew his sword. His eyes widened in surprise when instead of trying to block it, she ducked so low that her sword was almost touching the ground, and she shot straight past him, pulling herself up into a standing position as she spun around to face him when he turned to strike again, effectively blocking his sword with hers. There was an intense moment of silence as two of them stared at each other, searching for any signs of weakness.

"Very good," Saito said as they both simultaneously backed down. "It would seem you had an excellent teacher as well."

"A-Amazing..." Chizuru said, stunned. She hadn't realized just how good Sumiko was until now.

"Wow," Okita said smirking. "I wouldn't mind sparring with you sometime."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure that's such a good idea... I wouldn't feel safe with you," Sumiko replied frankly, sweat-dropping. There was a predatory gleam in his eye. Okita would probably rip her to shreds. "What really helped was that I got to see Saito-san's moves ahead of time. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to block his first strike without loosing my sword, so I just avoided it altogether and waited for the one with less momentum behind it."

"Uh, um..." Chizuru said hesitantly, hoping they hadn't changed their mind about her after seeing how skilled her friend was.

"We'll ask the vice-commander to let you two accompany us on our rounds.

"Thank you very much!" Chizuru exclaimed happily, sharing a triumphant grin with Sumiko.

"But if you try to escape, or get in the way of our rounds... We'll kill you," Okita added with a sly smirk, narrowing his eyes slightly at them.

"Okay!" Chizuru replied enthusiastically, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, I believe you," Sumiko said, smiling wryly, as she let out nervous laugh. Okita smiled in amusement and turned to follow Saito inside.

"Thank you very much!" Chizuru called after them as both girls bowed to show their appreciation, though Sumiko felt they could've done without the threat.

"I grant you permission to go outdoors," Hijikata told the girls later after talking with Saito and Okita, though he didn't look too thrilled about it.

"Thank you very much!" they both replied in unison, glad it had all worked out. Now they could finally do what they had come here for.

"Accompany the officers patrolling the city. Make sure you obey the commanding officer," Hijikata said firmly.

"Hai!" they replied obediently, excited to finally be going out.

"Souji. Heisuke. You're on patrol today, yes?" Hijikata asked.

"I'm ditching them if we encounter rogue samurai. Okay?" Okita teased, smirking.

"Huh?" Chizuru gasped while Sumiko deadpanned at the bad joke, if it was a joke...

"That's no excuse!" Hijikata said sternly, glaring at him in disapproval. Okita just laughed, having successfully ruffled their feathers. "Those bastards from Choshu are acting up," Hijikata said, turning his attention back to the girls. "Normally, this would be no time to let you outdoors, but we've received word that someone resembling Koudou-san has been spotted.

"My father?" Chizuru asked excitedly as she and Sumiko perked up at this news.

"I could postpone your release, but it would do nothing to help find your father."

"Thank you very much!" the girls said, smiling gratefully as they bowed.