Hakuouki: Hitsuzen

Silver Bullet

"Hold up. Blood transfusion?" Sano asked dubiously.

"It's just how it sounds. It's a process where you take blood from a healthy person and put it in the patient to replenish the amount of blood they've lost to a more stable level. But it has to be the right blood type, or Kondo-san's immune system will attack it, and he could end up dying from that. I can start doing a simple test to make sure his blood won't reject the donor's, but first we have to eliminate anyone who might have an illness that could be transferred along with their blood. Even if they look healthy, they could still be a hidden carrier for certain things... I'll have to review the health logs for the troops," Sumiko said thoughtfully.

"Yukimura-kun and I can do that. Just tell us what to look for," Yamazaki said.

"What else do you need?" Saito asked.

"If possible, I'd like to get my hands on that medicine the rasetsu use to suppress their bloodlust," Sumiko said, surprising them all.

"What?" Sano asked, furrowing his brow.

"Relax," she said before they could get any more worked up. "It helps suppress their bloodlust because it imitates the nutrients in blood, right? If so, then it can be used to help treat Kondo-san's anemia to a certain extent, too."

"I'll be right back," Saito said as he got up and left to get some medicine from San'nan-san. Yamazaki and Sumiko began applying a proper dressing to Kondo's wound.

"The war council at Nijo Castle was finished," Shimada continued, explaining how the terrible crisis came about to Hijikata and Inoue while the others worked desperately to save Kondo, "and on the way back to the magistrate's office he was suddenly shot."

"You brought him back here like that on horse?" Hijikata asked.

"Yes. If he'd fallen from his horse, he could have succumbed to his injury. I'm very sorry," Shimada said regretfully, bowing deeply. "I couldn't protect the commander..."

"No," Hijikata said tiredly, closing his eyes. "Kondo-san insisted he needed no guard, but his protection was lacking. Being unable to persuade him otherwise, the fault is mine," he said grimly.

"Vice-commander," Yamazaki said as he approached them, wiping the blood off his hands. "Tonight will be the worst of it." The four men glanced across the room and watched while Sumiko gently elevated Kondo's head and carefully administered the faux blood nutrients that Saito had returned with, mixed with water, to Kondo-san with help from Chizuru. Tonight would decide whether Kondo lived or died, whether he would slip into a coma or not.

They didn't notice Okita watching everything while hiding behind the shoji.

"Kh!" Okita winced as he leaned against the wall for support while staggering back to his room. "Nngh!" he grunted in pain when he fell to his knees, but he gritted his teeth and pulled himself up to open the door and enter. "Ah-ungh!" He fell to the floor and crawled over to his futon, where he had left his swords lying on the floor, covered in a sheen of cold sweat as he forced his trembling arms and legs to keep moving while he reached for his sword. They were going to pay for this, the people who hurt Kondo-san! Okita closed his hand around his long sword and used it to brace himself as he struggled to get back on his feet, but his sick body refused to listen. "Ungh!" Okita groaned and gasped in pain as he fell and sat back on his heels, unable to get past a kneeling position.

"No matter how much I want to kill who did this, I can't even wield a sword, huh?" he said bitterly, berating himself for having fallen into such a pathetic state while Kondo's life was in danger. Hadn't he decided long ago that he would always follow and protect Kondo-san for the kindness he had shown to a brat like him, back when everyone else was against him!? When did he become so pathetic? All he was ever good at was killing, and now he couldn't even do that...! Okita pulled the vial of Ochimizu out of his sleeve and stared at it. Nagumo Kaoru's words from that time floated through his mind.