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The Blood Ties That Bind
She was bleeding out, haemorrhaging through her pink kimono and onto his hands faster than her body’s healing abilities could stem the flow. Her eyes turned a deep shade of gold, and her hair flushed silver from the roots to the tips from the effort. She was struggling to breathe, fighting for each shallow gasp.
This was all his fault. She had recklessly thrown herself between him and the blade of an angry ronin, and received a huge bloody wound on her side for her trouble. Chizuru was no warrior, but she was as brave as any man he had ever commanded.
“Hiji-kata-san” she gurgled through the blood bubbling up in her mouth.
“Don’t talk,” he said, brushing her hair out of her face “Just focus on breathing”
But it didn’t matter what encouraging words he had to say to her. She was dying, right in front of his eyes. He didn’t know how many times he had acted as the witness for his men’s last breaths, but this feeling of helplessness was new. It had been his job to protect her, and he had failed. The helplessness bubbled up into frustration.
“There has to be more you can do!” he snapped at Yamazaki, who was hurriedly packing her wound with dressing.
“I’m doing everything I can. If she was a normal human, she’d already be dead!” Yamazaki replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kondo, Harada and Shinpachi comforting a sobbing Heisuke.
He racked his brains. The Water of Life would likely have no effect on her, given her special condition. Besides, even if he wanted to try and give her some, he wasn’t carrying any, and even as fast as Heisuke could run she would be long dead before he could return with some for her from Sanan.
There had to be something, there had to be something, there had to be something-
In a moment of terrible brilliance, he shoved Yamazaki’s hands away from her and pulled her onto his lap.
“Hijikata-san what are you-?” Yamazaki balked as he drew his wakizashi and made a cut, creating a fine red line of blood along his forearm that dripped down his elbow. He brought his wound to her face, and propped her up with his other arm. Chizuru turned away from him, struggling in his arms with the little strength she had left.
“Chizuru, you have to do this!” he barked
She continued to struggle, whimpering in protest.
“That’s an order, Chizuru!” he roughly grabbed a fistful of her ponytail and forced her head up. Closing her eyes, she extended her tongue and lapped at his blood tentatively, her face contorted with disgust, before a deep shudder wracked her body. Her eyes opened wide, pupils blown. Her teeth extended into pointed fangs that she sank into his arm, and began to drink greedily.
“What the hell-!” Yamazaki exclaimed.
“She should be alright now” Hijikata said weakly. His head was beginning to spin, and all he could do was shut his eyes against the intense feeling of vertigo overwhelming him.
From up on his brother’s shoulders he felt like he was flying, head back and arms outstretched as the older boy ran through the fields of wildflowers towards the river. From his vantage point he could see the golden evening sunlight sparkling along the ripples of the stream,
“Wait up Kiroku!” his sister shouted.
“Not a chance, right Toshi?!” the older boy shouted, speeding up even faster. Kiroku ground to a halt in front of the river, where he flipped his brother over his shoulders and set him down so he was standing opposite him in the cool knee-high water. When Shu reached the edge of the riverbank, the two boys began to splash her, laughing maniacally as they drenched her. She retaliated in earnest, wading in to widen her angle of attack. She came up behind him and pulled him close, lifting him off his feet to hug him. When he twisted in her arms to wrap himself around her torso like a baby monkey, he swore he could see a woman standing amongst the flowers, the red ribbon in her hair blowing in the breeze. Although he couldn’t make out her face, he could see she was crying-
He came too again with a start. He sprang upright from where he was lying flat on his back in the dirt, and felt around for his sword.
“Toshi!” Kondo called to him, rushing to support him “Are you alright?”
He could only nod weakly. His body felt as if it was made of lead, and it took an inordinate amount of effort to wheeze out “Chizuru…?”
Kondo turned him towards where she was being tended to by Yamazaki and Heisuke.
“I don’t believe it” Yamazaki said, dumbfounded “She’s almost completely healed!”
Chizuru was cradling her face in her hands and rocking backwards and forwards, crying softly. With a jolt, Hijikata realised that there were hot tears running down his face in a steady stream too. No matter how many times he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his blue and white patterned haori, he couldn’t stem the flow.
Yamazaki pried her hands away from her face and tried to lay them down by her sides before dropping them in shock. Two small sets of curved horns were protruding from her forehead through her silver hair and her eyes were still a deep shade of glittering gold, shimmering over with tears. Her pointed fangs were stained light red with blood. His blood, he realised with a strange twinge in his gut. She looked… like a monster. A deeply, deeply ashamed monster. He felt terrified of her, and desperately sorry for her all at once.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Enough bizarre things had happened to the men of the Shinsengumi in a such a short period of time that at this stage seeing their dear Chizuru transformed into a blood-drinking demon was just an average day, so there was no awkwardness or trepidation from the other men at headquarters when she returned to light duties a few days later. Despite Yamazaki’s warnings to take it easy and rest and Heisuke’s fussing over her, she seemed stronger and more energetic than ever.
Hijikata, on the other hand, had never felt so terrible. Despite the sunny May weather, he was cold all over and his joints ached with every movement. He was chronically exhausted no matter how many hours he forced himself to sleep for. H felt so weak that a gentle breeze could easily knock him over. Not to mention, his frustration with his condition was making him extra cantankerous and crotchety, and although he knew he was picking it out on his comrades he couldn’t stop himself.
“Toshi, why don’t you take the rest of the evening off?” Kondo said to him, as kindly as he could muster during a particularly difficult meeting as he rubbed his temples exasperatedly. “I don’t think you’re up to this today. We can pick it up tomorrow.”
Chided, Hijikata resigned himself to spending the rest of the night shivering on his futon. Maybe he would ask Chizuru to bring him a cup of tea, he thought as he made his way back to his room. He stopped in front of her room, and paused as he heard the muffled sound of girl’s laughter coming from inside. He knocked on the door and slid it open to find Chizuru and her friend seated on the floor. Osen, he believed her name was. Like Chizuru, she was the last of the line of an ancient demon family. Hijikata couldn’t even pretend to understand what that could mean, but he was glad that Chizuru seemed to have someone she could confide in outside of a group of uncouth samurai.
“I apologise for interrupting the war council” he said, mustering his first wry smile in a week.
“It’s no trouble, vice-commander” the other girl said brightly. “I had just come to see how Chizuru was recovering from her injury. But I see she’s in good hands.”
“He saved my life you know, Osen!” Chizuru said enthusiastically “When my body couldn’t heal itself, he gave me some of his blood, and he-”
“He WHAT?!” Osen cried, dropping her cup and spilling the hot tea all over the tatami.
“Huh? Is that bad?!” Chizuru squeaked, clapping her hands over her mouth.
Hijikata swallowed thickly. His worst fears had been confirmed. He stepped across the threshold of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. It wouldn’t do for the others to hear this.
“No, no, not bad at all” Osen said, hurriedly cleaning up her mess “It’s just…Ah I suppose your father never told you about any of our culture’s traditions did he? I suppose you couldn’t have known…”
“Known what?” Hijikata growled, wincing as he manoeuvred himself into as passable a seiza as his accursed body would let him at Chizuru’s side.
“Well it’s just… As you know, we don’t need blood to live, but in a pinch it can save your life. However that’s kind of frowned upon, because exchanging blood is part of a sacred rite between demons. When you drink someone’s blood, sometimes you’re not just taking blood, you’re taking a little bit of their soul. It’s all very intimate so it’s usually reserved for marriage ceremonies” Osen said.
Hijikata’s eyes went wide, and Chizuru gave another terrified squeak.
“So that means… I took a bit of Hijikata-san’s soul?” she said through her hands. “I ate a bit of his soul?!”
“It’s possible. There’s only one way to be sure though. Chizuru, while you were drinking the vice-commander’s blood, did you see some sort of vision? Like a memory?” Osen asked.
“That’s right!” Chizuru exclaimed “I could see three children running through a field towards a river, and then the youngest boy was-”
Hijikata’s mind was reeling. That was the memory of the day his brother and sister had taken him to the Tama river to distract him while their mother lay dying and bedridden. The day his life had changed.
“Alright, that’s enough” Hijikata cut across her. There was no need for more people to hear it. “So because Chizuru saw one of my memories, she… Took part of my soul?”
“That’s it, exactly. She saw one of your most precious memories, one you treasure deep in your soul,” she paused and smiled coyly “I can only imagine what kind of things lurk beneath that strong silent face-”
“-What does this mean now?” he interrupted again through gritted teeth.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything, if you don’t want it to” she said “I mean, you didn’t drink any of her blood so the rite wasn’t completed, and you’re a human too so I don’t think the impact will be quite the same…”
Osen laughed out loud at Chizuru’s terrified face.
“You can calm down now, Chizuru-chan,” she said, before turning her attention back to Hijikata.
“You must be feeling lethargic right now” she said “But don’t worry. Everything will be back to normal soon.”
Strangely, he wasn’t entirely sure things could go back to normal ever again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chizuru was largely silent for much of the evening after Osen left.
“Are you troubled by what Osen said?” he asked her, as she handed him a cup of tea as he sat huddled in a bundle of blankets. Who knew losing part of your soul could make you so cold.
“N-no” she said hurriedly, tucking another blanket around his shoulders. “It’s just…You’ve saved me two times. I guess I owe you my life two times over now…”
She looked down, her face flushed with shame.
“I’m only sorry that… It’s cost you so dearly this time… I wish there was something I could do to repay you…”
He scoffed at her.
“Don’t be ridiculous” he sniffed “Just don’t make me regret it, and we’re even”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He’d been close to death before, but never this close. The wound on his side wasn’t healing, despite his fury abilities. He was so so tired. He just needed to close his eyes for a little while and rest-
“Hijikata-san!” Chizuru’s voice cut through his consciousness “Hijikata-san! Can you hear me?!”
“I can hear you, I can hear you” he grumbled “You don’t need to shout”
“You need my blood, Hijikata-san, it’s the only way!”
“No!” he barked, twisting away from her.
He couldn’t take her blood. Not after everything else he had taken from her.
Years of her life. Her home. Her future. Her innocence.
He couldn’t possibly take any more from her. Not a piece of her soul. Not without adding another stain to his already blood-soaked conscience.
The rich, coppery scent of blood roused him back to full consciousness. Chizuru’s lips were pressed against his, pouring her blood into his mouth. She tilted his head back, forcing him to swallow, and he took in a shaky breath before his vision faded to white.
It could have been any summer day in Kyoto. The sun was beating down on the cobble-lock paved streets of Gion, and the cicadas were chirping away at their usual monotonous tune. A young girl sat in the shadow of an umbrella in front of a dango shop, a cup of cold hojicha in hand. A man sat next to her, in the armour of a samurai and a sky-blue haori. They were laughing together over something, sharing a rare moment of peace together. The girl turned in his direction and beamed at him, her eyes shining with adoration.
He came to with a gasp, and pulled Chizuru close to him and kissed her fiercely on the mouth.
“You shouldn’t have done that. I told you not to hurt yourself” he wheezed ruefully, caressing the side of her face “No man wants to see the woman he loves in pain”
“Well I can’t bear to see the man I love in pain either” she said, taking his hand and placing a kiss on his palm.
“I guess I owe you one now too” he said, smiling dryly at her.
“Just don’t make me regret it” she replied wryly, helping him up to his feet. “Let’s go home, Hijikata-san...”
The End