HAKUOUKI: Back in Time

Chapter 62

HA HA! I am back! Finally! Sorry about the wait guys. 

~Why not listen to music while you read?~

I had trouble sleeping that night. My mind kept running on what Hijikata had said. After some time of tossing and turning, I noticed that Saito had quietly gotten out of bed and snuck out of camp. Was something wrong? Where did he go? Wait. It isn't my business to pry into his life. It would be best for me to just leave him alone.

After several minutes of contemplating, I decided that was not the case and I should at least try to see what he was up to. It didn't take long to find him. He had moved far enough away from the camp that he wouldn't be seen, and then stopped to stare up at the sky.

The stars in this time period hung there, so large and bright that it felt as if their weight might pull them down from the sky to come raining down onto Earth.

His face was as expressionless as ever, but somehow , his eyes looked... sad. "Oh?" Caught up in the scene before me, I had forgotten stealth and my hand bushed against an nearby shrub, rustling its' leaves.

"Who's there?" His voice was like steel."I will give you ten seconds to show yourself before I cut you in half."

  Dang it! I should have been more careful.  He thinks I am an enemy soldier.

"W-Wait! It's just me!" I ran out from my hiding spot and Saito's eyebrows shot up. Then he frowned.

"Why are you here by yourself? I thought you had learned your lesson, but clearly, I was mistaken."

"Sorry, I just couldn't sleep and then I saw you get up and leave, so..." He looked down at me, his face flat and unreadable. I braced myself for another lecture , but instead, he fell silent and turned back to the night sky.

"So, uh...What are you doing out here? Are you taking a walk or something?"

He did not answer. His eyes narrowed, almost as if the light from the stars was too bright for him to look at. I felt sure that his heart was full of feelings that he couldn't put them into words, and so he was struggling to sort them out himself.His way to deal with it?;to say nothing to me. It felt wrong to interrupt his calm, but there was something on my mind that I had to ask.

"What did you think? About what Hijikata said earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if he is right, then we are going to lose this battle."

"I have no doubt that he is right." 

My eyes widened at his answer. 

"Our guns are old and outdated. They are no match for the modern weapons the Imperial Army is carrying. The new men we've recruited barely know how to fire a gun. Even if we had modern weapons, they'd be next to useless."

"That is true... Then, what about swords?"

"DO you really think a man who has killed would be free to wander the street as he pleased? Perhaps you can swing the stick well in the training hall, but that's of little use on the battle field. Skill is irrelevant; what matters is the ability to kill another man."

I couldn't disagree with him. He was right. No number of inexperienced soldiers could make up for even a few hardened veterans. My heart sank, just as it had when Hijikata had told us he didn't think we could win.

"Are you not scared, Saito? I mean, you're going into a fight you can't win. You might die..." I didn't know if there was much of a point in asking him. Saito has seen battle many times and each one could have meant his death. Though I could not understand why, the look on his face suggested that he feared neither the upcoming battle, nor death.