Ah, good evening Hijikata-san," Okita greeted with a smile. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," came his frigid reply.

Hijikata stepped out into the clearing, letting the moonlight illuminate his prone silhouette. Chizuru was consumed with dread as she caught sight of the katana held in his left hand. His face was masked in shadow, giving sharp angles to his expression, but when he spoke, his voice was disconcertingly soft.

"What are you playing at, Souji?"

Okita lost his casual pretense. "I've come to help Kondou."

"So you turned yourself Rasetsu?" Hijikata snarled.

"It was a small price to pay," he said with a hunch of his shoulders. "It was a decision to be made and I made it. End of story."

His comment upset the oni-fukuchou.

"No, this is not 'end of story'. You deliberately abandoned your assignment and left Sannan to defend headquarters alone." Hijikata growled. "This is an offense punishable by seppuku."

"Hijikata-san, please," Chizuru intercepted with raised hands, "We can't afford to fight like this."

The Demon Vice Commander fixed her with his smoldering gaze.

"You have also broken protocol," he chastised severely. "Do you think wearing a Shinsengumi uniform allots you special privileges?"

"No, it's not like that," she tried to explain, but Hijikata would not be swayed.

"To what point must I fight in order to keep those under my protection safe? Do you want to jeopardize this mission?" He voiced aloud his frustration. "Why is it that whenever there is a wrinkle in the plan, I always find you two?"

Okita took a step forward.

"Hijikata-san, we are being followed by Kaoru Nagumo," he informed the raging lieutenant. "He has been waiting for an opportune moment to snatch Chizuru. He tried to kidnap her just now."

"Kaoru Nagumo?" Hijikata repeated with a quirked brow. "I do not know a Kaoru Nagumo."

"He is my twin brother," Chizuru said quietly.

The meeting with Kaoru still seemed surreal, but as much as she wanted to denounce him as a blood relation, she could not deny the truth of his confession. He was her brother. She had felt it in the power emanating from her celestial sword and she had seen it with her own eyes. He was in every possible way her other half. Her omega. Her twin.

Hijikata regarded her with open cynicism.

"You have a sibling." He stated flatly. "And you choose now to tell me this?"

"I didn't know I had a brother either," she said, rubbing her forehead. "This is news to me too."

Pacing agitatedly between the two swordsmen, Chizuru rested a hand on her hip in thought.

"Kaoru says that I am under an enchantment. For whatever reason, Koudou wishes for me to forget my brother and go on believing that he is my father." She reflected. "But now that I have awakened my power, the spell is starting to diminish, and I am beginning to remember things differently."

Now this confounded the Demon Vice Commander.

"Koudou Yukimura is not your father?" He asked. "How can you be so sure?"

She ceased her pacing long enough to close her eyes in a moment of thought.

"Right now, my memories of Koudou are veiled in a haze," she admitted. "But I am beginning to see a disparity in my recollection of things. Kaoru could very well be telling the truth."

She continued massaging her temples. There was so much to be sorted out.

"Your headache," Hijikata intoned, "Is it from the enchantment?"

"Yes." She sighed. "It only just started bothering me this afternoon."

Seeing her in pain made him uncomfortable.

"Why would Koudou do such a thing?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Okita interjected. "He's plotting something that involves Chizuru somehow."

The notion was perplexing. Koudou had been nonexistent in her life these past couple of months and the Shinsengumi had yet to discover anything about the missing doctor. The idea that Koudou might be benefiting from her state of ignorance maddened her.

"You might be right about that. Kaoru and Koudou are working together," She added with a frown. "He offered to take me to him. He knows Koudou's whereabouts."

"Do you think your...brother... knows about the medicine?" Hijikata asked.

"I'm not sure," she murmured, "He didn't mention it."

Okita was very careful to neutralize his expression. It was Kaoru's vial of Ochimizu that turned him Rasetsu after all. He had decided to keep Kaoru's nightly visit on the down low, but the nature of their conversation was what had convinced the swordsman that there was a conspiracy brewing between the Nagumo kid and the doctor.

"We shouldn't trust them." He declared ambiguously. "Sorry, Chizuru."

"It's okay." She replied. "But I will have answers. I want to know what they are planning."

And she wanted her sword back too.

"Kaoru will show his face again eventually," Okita warned her. "There is no doubt that he'll make another attempt to abduct you."

"I won't let that happen," Hijikata vowed.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he drew her close.

"Chizuru, from this moment onwards, you are to stay by my side." He ordered. "I want to protect you, but I can't do so if you always take matters into your own hands. You have to trust me."

"I do trust you," she responded. "I will stay by your side, but let me help you. I can fight too, you know."

"No, I will not ask that of you." He replied. "You are not a soldier."

"Aren't I though?" She challenged him hotly. "I have the same cares and concerns like everyone else."

"Yes, but that does not make you a soldier."

"Why do you think I've been working so hard to master the Demon Arts? So that I can sit on the sidelines helpless and vulnerable? No!" She fumed. "I want to help."

"Chizuru, your place is not on the battlefield."

She pulled away from Hijikata and tossed her hands into the air with a humorless laugh.

"Ah, but it is!" She rebuked. "Don't you see? Kazama wants me as his bride, Koudou wants me as his daughter, Kaoru wants me as his sister, Itou wants me as his captive...I can't forever be at the mercy of someone else, Hijikata-san. Everyday my circumstances are changing, and it is putting the Shinsengumi at greater risk. I have to fight."

"So my protection means nothing to you," he seethed.

"It means everything to me," she whispered. "That's why I want to help you."

I love you, she wanted to confess. She wanted to confess it so badly. But the frustration and humiliation of having her sword taken away by her conniving brother was still fresh on her mind. Being reminded of the true extent of her ignorance had also been a nasty pill to swallow. No matter how hard she tried to do the right thing, to become her own person, someone was always coming along to threaten her existence. It was enough to make her burst into cobalt flames.

Taking a deep breath, she caught an unnerving metallic fragrance and gasped.

"Oh no..." She breathed, forgetting her anger.

Okita and Hijikata paused.

"What is it, Chizuru?" The captain asked.

She quickly withdrew the wakazashi from its scabbard.

"We're being attacked," she said.

Sure enough, the sounds of metal filled the air, dispelling the eerie quiet. They could hear the horses neighing out of fright as well as the sound of shouting soldiers. Orange flames stirred in the distance, casting strange shadows against the trees.

Chizuru raced behind Hijikata and Okita as they made way for camp.

"I don't understand," Hijikata voiced above the rising conflict, "Itou's forces should not be this far outside Satsuma territory."

"Someone must have seen us coming," Okita replied.

"Kaoru," Chizuru guessed with a groan.

Yamazaki and Inoue were both simultaneously brandishing their swords and issuing orders to the men. What had once been a dark, quiet encampment transformed into a fiery battleground filled with ronin forces. Someone had cut the horses free so that they could escape the fire that began to enflame the perimeter. Hijikata pushed Chizuru aside just in time to miss the sharp hooves of a speckled charger as it made a hasty exodus. The oni-fukuchou shielded her with his body.

"For the sake of my sanity, Chizuru, stay with me." He told her.

She didn't have time to respond.

Three arrows whizzed past her head, sinking into the bark of the pine tree behind her. The arrows had been wrapped with strips of silk doused in lamp oil and set on fire. Another was aimed for Hijikata and would have caught him in the back, but she waved her hand creating a fragment of demon crystal that stopped the arrow in its tracks.

"I'm with you," she nodded.

They were surrounded on all sides of the camp. Ronin samurai ran into the firelight in groups of two and three, shouting and slashing their swords. The Shinsengumi Recovery Division was hard pressed to match their assault, but the majority of the soldiers fell into formation seamlessly. Banding into a tight circle, they were able to absorb the shock of the attacks and keep the enemies at bay.

Inoue had dispatched three assailants by the time Chizuru and Hijikata reached him. The trickster swordsman had broken off and melted into the medley, only too eager to exact vengeance with his new strength.

"Inoue, what's happened?" Hijikata bellowed.

The swordsman was breathing heavily.

"I'm not sure, Commander. They sprang on us so suddenly." He replied. "They killed our watchmen."

"No," Chizuru bit out in shock.

Hijikata slipped into governance mode and began instantly dispensing orders.

"Inoue, I want you to hold your ground here. Yamazaki-"

"Hai, Commander!" The Shinsengumi spy shouted from his place on the opposite side. He was engaged in combat between two ronin that tried to pin him down with their blades. Moving with deft grace, he eluded their advances and cut them down with his katana.

"Gather the men and collect the horses. We can't stay here, we have to press onwards," the oni-fukuchou ordered. "We're no use to Kondou if we die here."

"Right!"

"Also, Souji has joined us. He's a Rasetsu," he announced candidly.

"Great. The more, the merrier," was Inoue's casual reply.

"Hijikata-san, watch out!" Chizuru called out in warning.

A rebel soldier had jumped from the bushes beside them only to rush the lieutenant with duel blades in his hands. Hijikata met his attack head on, twisting his entire body to perform a three hundred and sixty degree cut that ended the rebel's life in one fatal blow. But just as he slumped to the ground, two more took his place and rushed Hijikata from the sides.

Chizuru stepped in and managed to block the aggressor from the left, but Okita's wakazashi felt strange in her grasp. Without the demon power of Tsundora, she was back to the basics she had learned in the dojo. Realizing this, she parried his advance and when the rebel met her gaze, she forced him into a coma using Hex Gaze. Watching the lucidity extinguish from his eyes, she tried to quell her shock as the rebel collapsed to the ground lifeless.

Hijikata caught her hand and dragged her out of the path of another adversary, plunging the tip of his katana into the ronin's belly. Chizuru watched in horror as blood bloomed across his chest. He died instantly.

"Let's get out of here," he suggested, clearing his sword of blood.

It was the ambush in the capitol all over again. Chizuru watched as bodies fell to the ground, staining the grass in blood. The wounded cried out in pain, dying of their extremities, but there was nothing they could do but press onwards.

The fire began to blaze across the camp now making it difficult to see through the flames.

Hijikata caught the reins of a horse. The animal reared, its eyes rimmed white with fear, but he was able to calm it enough to hoist Chizuru up into the saddle. Mounting the horse behind her, he took hold of the reins and steered it away from camp. Several other soldiers had managed to collect their horses in the flurry of chaos and followed the Demon Vice Commander.

Pressed against his chest, Chizuru could feel Hijikata's heart racing. He was breathing just as rapidly as she was too. The horse galloped with great impulsion, eager to be free of the mayhem. At this pace, they would be able to escape the fight, but it did nothing to erase the fear and anxiety she felt for the soldiers left behind.

Inoue, Okita, Yamazaki...what would become of them?

Something flew past Chizuru's shoulder.

"Hijikata-san!" She screamed.

Struck by an arrow, the lieutenant lost his grip of the reins and began to slip from the saddle. Chizuru felt his weight disappear from behind her, but the horse would not stop. Grabbing the reins, she yanked backwards fiercely, but it only caused the horse to lurch forward against the bit. She had no choice. She had to hop out of the saddle. Throwing her leg to the side, she let gravity pull her to the ground where she tumbled painfully against the solid earth.

Smarting from the fall, Chizuru's head swam.

Fuzzy blotches of light and dark danced across her vision. Blinking back the daze, she caught sight of a looming shadow as it rose from the flames.

"Hijikata?"

She heard a laugh, and the sound of it made her insides coil.

"I see the Demon Arts had made you no less clumsy," the shadow droned with delight.

Chizuru watched as a pair of feet sauntered towards her, increasing her hysteria.

"Kazama," she cursed.

The Demon of the West was no illusion this time. He stood before her as real and portentous as the screams of agony floating in the night air. Dressed in his black and white silks hemmed in gold, the feline pupils of his red gaze gleamed from the firestorm. A heady aura surrounded the demon prince, causing her neck to tingle and her brown eyes to dilate. Every inch of her body became hypersensitive as he pinned her with a devious grin.

Pure primal instinct forced Chizuru to her feet.

"Don't come any closer," she threatened, drawing Okita's wakazashi.

As way of response, Kazama took his precious time sweeping her figure with an appraising look.

"You are always so eager to fight me, Chizuru." He mused languidly. "Do I repulse you that much?"

"I don't like you if that's what you're asking," she murmured.

The demon advanced and it took the entirety of her willpower not to back away.

"I see the Shinsengumi has dressed you up as a soldier. Your protectors must be eager to exploit your abilities now that they are aware of what you truly are. Tell me, how long do you intend to remain their puppet?" He asked.

Chizuru swallowed.

"I am not a puppet."

"No?" Kazama glanced at the discord behind him thoughtfully.

"Humans are capricious creatures. They are greedy by nature." He stated, withdrawing his katana. "Your power will only serve to draw them in, Chizuru. They will destroy you in the end."

She clenched her teeth.

"With all due respect, Kazama, I disagree." She said. "And I have no interest in becoming your wife, so we can cease this game of ours."

The oni's smile vanished, replaced with something much more frightening.

"You think this is a game?" He glared.

Chizuru's senses peaked in alarm as the demon melted into nothing. Utilizing her training with Senhime, she tried to pinpoint the source of his chikara, but he was so fast. Materializing right before her, he struck a blow with his katana that ripped the short sword from her hands. Grabbing a fistful of her silk haori, he drew her close enough that her vision swam with red and gold.

"If you think this is a game, you are sorely mistaken," he mouthed dangerously. "Don't think for a moment that I won't dismantle everything that ties you to these pathetic humans just because you know a few tricks. I will."

He had them locked in a staring match, but the demon prince lowered his gaze to her lips.

His voice was soft and muted as he said, "Perhaps then, you will be able to understand me."

Chizuru shivered as she felt the blunt edge of his katana slip under her chin forcing her head up.

"Let her go, Kazama," Hijikata warned.

Chizuru glanced past the demon's shoulder and saw the lieutenant standing tall and lethal with his katana poised for an attack.

Kazama closed his eyes and the unscrupulous smile returned to his lips. Peering at Chizuru, he murmured, "How about I start with him?"

She fought against him.

"Don't you dare!" She hissed.

Kazama tossed her aside uncaringly as he focused his attention on the Demon Vice Commander.

"Oni-fukuchou, it is good to see you again," he hailed. "I haven't gotten over the fact that our last fight was interrupted. Shall we continue where we left off?"

Chizuru rolled back onto her feet and pounced, but with a flick of his wrist, Kazama created a demon barrier as massive as a glass dome. It settled around the two swordsmen. When she collided with the crystal shield, she was jostled backwards against a tree. The impact left her stunned.

"Chizuru!" Hijikata shouted.

"Relax, she can't disturb us now." The oni explained. "Besides, I want her to watch."

Hijikata tensed.

"Chizuru, pay attention," Kazama beckoned her from inside the dome. "We'll consider this another lesson to add to your understanding of the Demon Arts. Tonight, you will learn the true frailty of humans."

Chizuru was in a state of shear panic. She knew Hijikata had been hit by an arrow. He was standing on his two feet, but she could see that he was favoring his sword arm. Thin red lines began to appear on the back of his hand and she could see that it was blood. It wouldn't be a fair fight. She had to get in there.

"Enough of this, Kazama," said Hijikata. "I don't have time for you."

"What's this? You don't want to fight?" The demon taunted in mock surprise. "You must know that I'll actually kill you this time, demon imposter."

"I am not an imposter." He growled.

"You are not a demon either, so what are you Hijikata?"

Wishing to start things quickly, Kazama rushed Hijikata head on and was pleased that the Demon Vice Commander responded to his challenge. The pressure of their swords drew them inwards as they strove for dominance. When Kazama changed the direction of his force, angling his katana downwards, Hijikata responded with a counterattack that reversed the strike. There was no moment of reprieve. Hijikata instantly stepped into a diagonal thrust that forced Kazama to take a lengthy step backwards.

Kazama grinned.

Chizuru watched their treacherous fight in growing alarm.

She couldn't believe the irony of her situation. Had she not vowed to never let this happen again? That night in the compound when Kazama descended on the Shinsengumi and nearly killed Hijikata, it had been the defining moment for Chizuru to learn the Demon Arts. She had worked so hard in the hopes of protecting herself and her loved ones from harm, but the moment she stepped outside headquarters she had become insufferably useless.

She wanted to scream, she was so furious.

Anger swelled in the cavity of her chest. She let it fill her heart, her lungs, her stomach. She let the sizzling, electric burn course through her veins until she felt faint with fury.

Letting her anger serve as a conduit for her fear, she began to assess the crystal dome.

"There has got to be a way to shatter this thing," she determined.

The only problem was that the crystallize power surrounded Hijikata too. If she did manage to break the barrier somehow, she needed to worry about the likelihood of him surviving the explosion.

She began to brainstorm.

Meanwhile, inside the glass dome things remained at an impasse.

"Chizuru is too much for you," Kazama continued to goad with each killing stroke. "She's worthless in the hands of a mere human, but priceless in my possession."

"I could care less," Hijikata rebounded with equal force, blocking each stoke with a parry. "She will never be yours."

Kazama attacked from the side, causing Hijikata to stagger.

"Is that a formality, Commander, or a sentiment?" The oni laughed. "I'm beginning to believe you harbor affection for her."

"What kind of samurai would I be if I let her slip into the hands of someone like you," Hijikata smirked. He had a burst of energy that allowed for an elegant counteroffensive flourish. Grasping at the teeth of Kazama's katana, the Mibu wolf cut viciously into the demon, causing Kazama to reel back in pain.

Assessing his body, he was disgusted to see a shallow flesh wound stain his kimono red at the forearm.

"I can't believe you cut me," he voiced aloud in vexation.

Hijikata was breathing hard and his face was taut from the pain in his shoulder. His wound continued to flow freely which was making him lightheaded with every passing minute. The edges of his peripheral vision began to blur. He was not prepared when Kazama returned at his side in a flash of motion. As the demon swung his sword, Hijikata blocked the attack but felt the steel cut into his torso.

He let out a pained breath.

"Hijikata-san! Hijikata-san!" He heard Chizuru scream through the crystal cupola.

"I am very curious to see what happens when I kill you, Demon Vice Commander," Kazama lilted, "Chizuru might finally realize that you are nothing but a mirage, an imposter, a fake."

The demon caught the ghastly stench of killing intent exuded from the lieutenant, as Hijikata clenched his sword with a growl. Dark shadows masked his face, but his lavender gaze fixated on Kazama through the black threads of his hair.

"So what if I am a fake?" Hijikata murmured quietly. "I've been a fake my entire life. I'm just a farmer trying to be a samurai. But my warrior spirit is not an illusion. The goals and aspirations that guide me are not a mirage. My understanding of honor and integrity is unquestionable, even to you, Kazama."

Slipping his hand into the folds of his plum haori, Hijikata withdrew a small parcel wrapped in silk. Watching from the other side of the crystal dome, Chizuru recognized it as the same parcel Sannan had given to him right before they left headquarters. Shaking the silk loose, Hijikata revealed a small glass vial.

"No!" She wailed in misery. "Hijikata-san, don't drink it!"

She was shouting at the top of her lungs, but the swordsman didn't seem to hear her.

Hijikata flicked the glass stopper with his thumb.

"If I am a fake in every sense but spirit, then why not take this illusion even further?" He rasped.

Hijikata threw his head back and swallowed the Ochimizu in one gulp.

Chizuru knew the instant the medicine was ingested; the madness would take over its host in a burning rage. She watched horrified as Hijikata's black mane turned a ghostly white, the lavender of his eyes turn ruby red, but instead of screaming in agony, the Rasetsu lieutenant sauntered toward Kazama in bone-chilling tranquility.

The demon watched his opponent with fascination.

"As if that will save you," he scoffed with a leer.

Hijikata moved with inhuman speed. Lurching forward, he surprised Kazama with a powerful attack that forced his feet to scrape deep into the dirt by the heels.

"What the matter, Kazama?" Hijikata drawled with a sinister grin. "Overwhelmed by the power of a fake?"

The oni snarled ferociously.

They engaged in another round of dangerous swordplay, but now death loomed behind every stroke as wolf and demon strove to vanquish each other once and for all.

Chizuru set to work on her plan immediately.

Studying the composition of the crystal dome, it wrapped around in a huge circle before curving into a glass ceiling way up high above the tree canopy. If she wished to disarm the stability of Kazama's chikara, she couldn't do it from above ground...but what about below?

Sinking to her knees, she pressed her ear against the earth and listened for the hum of demon power. Kazama's barrier caused slight tremors along the surface, but lost its intensity underground.

Her suspicions were proven true. It was a hemisphere.

This realization produced a burst of relief.

Taking a breath, she knew she needed to calm herself for what she was about to do. Taking a relaxed position on the grass, she crossed her legs and tried to drone out the sounds of metal ringing in her ears.

Hold on, Hijikata, she prayed, I'll get you out of there.

Kazama tsked.

"I can't believe it," he said with incredulous golden eyes. "I've slipped into my demon form for the likes of you. Now I must truly kill you, oni-fukuchou."

The demon prince and Rasetsu wolf fought pale in the moonlight. Kazama shed all reservations as he pursued Hijikata in a relentless show of combat dexterity. The lieutenant took his advances head on, delivering quite a few flourishes of his own. Hijikata felt confident that he could dispatch this troublesome foe now that he exuded the power of a Rasetsu.

His body convulsed painfully.

Dodging one of Kazama's attacks, Hijikata took a knee to the ground as his whole body tremored. The power of the Ochimizu drug was fading from his skin, and he could feel the severity of his wounds once more.

He dropped a curse.

"It appears that our fight has come to its end," Kazama sighed, lifting his katana high into the air.

There was a deafening roar followed by an intense explosion. The walls of the crystal dome shattered on all sides, and the aftershock flattened both demon and lieutenant against the earth. The barrier groaned as the power molecules began to go berserk. Hot sparks bright as lightning traveled along the glass ceiling until the whole structure shattered and collapsed.

Hijikata felt a pair of small arms wrap around his body and caught the sweet perfume of lilies.

"I'm with you," Chizuru whispered in the shell of his ear.

Catastrophe rained down all around - sparks, shards, fire, splintered trees - but she held onto him fiercely, not daring to let go. The sound was drowned out in his ears by crushing silence. Deep cobalt flames began to consume his vision, but he stared deeply into a pair of copper eyes fringed in lashes. As he felt Chizuru's akuma no chikara blaze to life, his vision grew blurry.

"Chizuru..." He moaned.

Hijikata took once last breath before falling unconscious.