Trying to Kill Each Other Doesn't Count as Flirting (or Does it?)

Chapter 2

As she sat on a bench, looking up at the sky and enjoying the cool breeze, she felt something sharp prick the back of her neck. She slapped it, expecting to find a mosquito, but found a dart, instead.

A tranquilizer dart.

Oh, well, she thought as she collapsed on her side. This is slightly inconvenient.

~o0o~

After checking every clothing and jewelry store in Edo for a wealthy-looking girl with a silver hairpin, Okita was exhausted. He seriously considered leaving her to the kidnappers—that would piss Hijikata off immensely, after all—but it would also disappoint Kondo, and probably lead to a pay cut, so he kept looking.

Finally, after two hours, he checked the park. There, he found something on a bench—(F/N)'s hairpin. The hairpin, but no girl.

Well, this is slightly inconvenient.

~o0o~

Finding a missing girl with nothing to go on but a hairpin was no easy task. Okita tried asking around town with no success, looked into the local gangs with even less success, and even considered actually doing his job and organizing a search party, but that was a lot of work, and he wasn't exactly ready to admit to Hijikata that he'd screwed up and lost the girl.

After an hour, he returned to the park, exhausted, and irritated, and seriously considering abandoning her and getting ramen. Then the world went dark, and he felt a splitting pain in his head.

"Yes, that's right, Sadaharu! Bite his head off!"

Oh, great. Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse.

He pried the monster dog's jaws off his head, and spun around, reaching for his sword. Sure enough, there was Kagura, perched on her dog's back with her umbrella ready to fire.

"Assaulting an innocent Shinsengumi officer is a crime, you know," he reminded her. "Do you want me to take you down to the station? Maybe rough you up a bit?"

"In what world are you an innocent Shinsengumi officer?" Kagura asked, patting the dog's head. "Sadaharu doesn't bite innocent people. Isn't that right, Sadaharu? He can smell the badness on your skin, you know. It's probably seeped into your clothes by now. Maybe you should go to the laundromat, not that it would do you any good."

"That's it, now you've assaulted an officer, and hurt his feelings. Better take you down to the—" he paused, hand halfway to his handcuffs, and grinned.

"Actually...there's something else you can do for me." He held (F/N)'s hairpin up for her to see. "How good is that dog's nose?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What, did your girlfriend run away from you?"

"She's not my girlfriend! Just give me the stupid dog!"

"Not gonna happen. You just insulted him! Sadaharu's got feelings, too, you know!"

"I'll give you a month's supply of pickled seaweed."

Kagura hesitated, and slid off the dog's back.

"You're probably being too forceful," she said as she held the hairpin to Sadaharu's nose. "Girls are sensitive, you know. Give her some space. She'll come back when she's ready."

"I already told you, that stupid rich girl is not my girlfriend!"

~o0o~

As it turned out, the kidnappers were hiding out in the single most predictable place possible—an old, abandoned apartment complex near the edge of town. Okita said goodbye to Kagura at the door, and vowed to himself that he'd never admit to anyone that he'd sought out her help. Then he drew his sword, and crept inside.

The building was entirely empty, and he wondered if Kagura's dog really was as useless as he'd suspected. Then, as he stepped onto the top floor, he heard voices. He followed them to a door near the back, and waited a moment before kicking it open. Then, once he got a good look at the situation inside, he froze.

"Well, that's a surprise."

Author's note: Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please remember to vote! Thanks!

-Marguerite Partello