The stars, forever unchanging, they guide us on paths unseen...  

If only he knew what kind of problems this night patrolling would bring, he would've stayed at the compound.

It should've been a quick evening patrol, just a look at the streets, perhaps scare off some ronins, then back to the Shinsengumi Headquaters. Was it a gut feeling, or something else that brought him in front of a small temple? He didn't know. Perhaps, it was also his instincts that told him to dodge, when a hit came out of nowhere.

Quiet night filled a growl. A creature materialized before him, its eyes glowed in the dark, like a two blue embers. He could hear its heave steps, as the creature moved towards him. Okita took his stance, and waited for the monster to attack again. As it came closer, he could take in more details of its appearance. He invoulontary shuddered, when a thought of a demon crossed his mind. 

The roar shook branches on the trees, and the creature, Okita named oni, attacked. It's spear slashed through the night air, like a flash of moonlight. Okita stopped the blow, though he shouldn't feel surprised when it threw him backwards. He smirked, it would be a challenging battle for sure. Oni's eyes flashed in fury as another blow came.

Okita felt a sting in his shoulder, and before he could realize what it was, the spear slashed right before his eyes. Two enemies surrounded him, one he didn't know where it hid. He felt drops of blood running down his left arm, but he didn't dare to break his stance. He jumped and swung his katana at the oni before him. The demon growled and blocked his sword, and Okita felt another sting, this time his knee gave out and he fell.

Pushing himself up, Okita dodged another blow form the Oni. Where was the other enemy? He tried to spot him, but in the inking black darkness, his eyes were useless. His ears only detected one growling beast before him, rustle of the branches.

He hid behind a tree, watched and when the opportunity came - and before the creature could realize what was happening - he cut off his head. Okita didn't allow himself to take a breath of relief, another yokai was lurking in the dark.

He felt presence beside him. He slashed the air, cutting nothing. Something shook in the bushes surrounding the temple, and Okita waited for the attack. It never came, instead of the trees flew a flock of crows. For a second he saw enormous, human like birds on the branches, but when he blinked all he could see was black birds on the moonlit sky.

Sssword.

He heard a voices, as if he came across a wasp nest. The voices resounded from soft whispers, to loud buzz inside his head. He frowned.

Give usss the sssword.

What the hell, he thought. The birds on the tree moved, their wings flapped on the wind and in a whirlpool of feathers they shot after him in a flash. Okita jumped to his feet, and knowing he won't be able to protect himself from vicious yokai, turned away. His knee was hurting, and he was leaving a bloody path behind him, but he didn't stop. Without turning back, he run down the stone stairs. The crows attacked, he felt their claws on his arms and shoulders. He tried to push them back with his sword, but they were to swift.

He didn't know anymore where he was running. He spit, thinking himself of a coward, running away from dumb birds. But it was some kind of instinct deep down inside, that pushed him forwards. He Stopped before a river. His hand gripped the katana and he turned to the enemies. 

They were no longer crows. Before him stood enormous human like birds. Their faces, red, twisted in a grimace. He knew them, from festivals that took place in the city. The masks now looked more real than anything, and if he wasn't so sure he was chased by the flock of crows, he'd think it was some kind of sick joke.

He took his stance again.

"Well, let's finish it," he said. In flash, shorter than a second, he felt a pain in his abdomen. And he was falling into the water. Cold water filled his mouth, and all he could see was a full moon, slowly turning red.

He didn't know how long it took to die. But he was sure as hell, he was still alive. He opened his eyes, and it was still night, the moon still shone, and the pain was still real. It couldn't be some kind of afterlife. He pushed himself up, water dripped from his hair. He turned around, to see if the crow yokai, tengu, were still around. He gripped his katana and plucked it out of water.
Something felt weird. It was not as dark as earlier. As if the sky was brighter, but then again it couldn't be. There was still time before the down, and the shining moon proved it. Okita felt his head spinning. Weird lights appeared before him, around him, everywhere and he couldn't take it. He fell once again in the water.

***

Annoying, he thought, when he heard a buzz and a constant sound that reminded him of a rattling chain. He breathed in a scent, he couldn't quite put a finger on. Perhaps a mix of medicine shop and other weird chemicals he had no idea of. He didn't like it one a bit. Perhaps somebody from the Shinsengumi found him and brought him to the clinic. His body was stiff. He felt materials wrapped around him, bandages made of different kind of material.

Finally, he could open his eyes. He shut them again, when a light flashed in his eyes. He gulped, and tried again while creeping feeling of danger lit an alarm in his head. He looked around the white room. Everything was white, or in gray or blue. He moved his body, and to his surprise he was able to lift his hands. There was a string attached to his palm, and went above his head.

His head shot to the sound of a moving doors. He regretted it a second later. His muscles stiffened.

"Oh, hello," he was greeted by a female voice. He squinted at the newcomer. "It's good you're awake!"

"Who the hell are you?" he spat, ready to reach for his katana. Only – he didn't know where it was. He looked down, and his clothes were gone. He wore some kind of stiff kimono. He glared at the woman.

"I'm Kunizuka  ______," she smiled at him, and walked up to his futon. And another thing he realized, he was not on a floor, his futon was up in the air. No, not in the air, it was attached to a table. Not really, but it was his best guess. "I'm volunteer here."

Once again she send him a relaxed smile. "Hm, to be honest it's my last day here," she chatted, while taking out a parchment, or something similar. "Alright, what's your name?"

He glared at her. "Why should I tell you, missy?"

"Uh... so you can be properly admitted to hospital?" she blinked, and tapped on the paper. "We haven't found any ID on you, so you're kind of nameless now."

He squinted at her again. He was slowly getting used to the light that earlier blinded him. He gripped at the covers, when the female reached out to him. He caught her hand in midway causing her brows shot up.

"Ow, ow, ow, let go," she squeaked. "I just wanted to push you up, ow."

"Don't touch me."

"I wasn't going to, Mr. Anonymous," she shook her hand, giving him a pointed look. "Besides it's you, who's touching me."

He sent her last glare and let go. She messaged her hand, while he closed his eyes for a second, the pillow shot up. He was in the sitting position, and the woman was grinning at him with a rectangular box in her hand.

His head hurt.

"Alright, then. Back to the question. Name?"

He ignored her. Okita thought of a way out here, but first of all – where was this here? The woman acted natural, as if white rooms, and futons on tables were something common. She spoke Japanese, she looked Japanese – so he wasn't in another country.

"Please, work with me, sir..." she sighed. "We can always start with age. Or address. Or anything. I really need to fill up this questionnaire for doctor Matsumoto."

She slumped down and pursed her lips. "Soo?"

He looked at her, she didn't seem to be letting go. And she mentioned dr. Matsumoto. He wondered why the medic took a woman as a help but he could work with that.

"Okita Souji," he said. She jumped and smiled.

"Okita... Souji..." she scribbled on her parchment. Her hand stopped in midway. She looked at him and squinted her eyes. "Wait. Please tell me your real name, sir."

He frowned. "This is my name."

"You're joking, right? I mean, I know the Shinsengumi is popular. But seriously!" she tapped on her parchment with a brush, that didn't look like a brush. He glared at her, what did she knew about the Shinsengumi? "Fine. Let it be this way. Age?"

"Twenty three," he sighed. This woman was so exhausting, he thought, as she wrote down the information. He wished dr. Matsumoto was there. "Where is dr. Matsumoto?"

"Huh? He's with other patients," she replied. "Okay, date of birth?"

He noticed she wasn't wearing kimono. Weird woman.

"1844," he said and tugged at the string attached to his palm. When he looked closely, it was not made of wool.

"What."

"What?"

They were looking back and forth.

"Are you perhaps..."she gulped. "...an actor?"

"What."

"An actor, huh?" she clapped her hands. "I know there are groups that make real life costumes and do plays at the festivals! I like watching them," she nodded. "You play Okita Souji? I never imagined Okita Souji like this, no offence!"

"What are you talking about?" he was seriously wondering whether or not this woman was crazy.

"But sir, please, give me your real info," she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm serious," he replied. "Or are you too dumb to understand."

"Hey, sir, this was rude," she huffed.

"I'm out of here," he decided, and jerked off the string at his hand. He ignored the gasp of the girl and shook of the covers from his legs. He pushed her back, as she tried to stop him. He finally localized his katana, and with a swing of his legs he was down on a cold floor. He reached for the sword and checking if it's fine he rushed for the doors.

"Wait! You can't!" the woman called after him. He ignored her and looked through the corridor. 

It was pretty much empty, the light he was now used to seeing, reflected in the stone cold floor. He rushed to the left, when he heard the woman falling step in step with him. "Hey, mister, get back to bed!"

"Shut up," she snarled at her.

"Rude!"

He stopped for a moment by the stairs, but then there was nothing to lose and he run down. The woman was right beside him.

"Sooooujiii~!" she shouted after him, as he was still ignoring her.

"Since when we are at first name basis, missy?"

"Since you won't tell me your real name!" she huffed. "Please go back to bed!"

He looked around the hall. There were some other people in there, that really didn't pay attention to him and quickly went back to their business. Where was the exit? Okita tried to localize doors. The girl hooked her hands around his arm, and if he was in any worse condition she might've jerk him even further. He tensed his muscles, and watched as man walked out of the hall and into the darkness.

Okita decided it was the exit and made way for it. He stomped through the hall with the woman hanging around his arm.

"Uh, everything is under control!" she laughed. He followed her gaze to a man that stood behind counter. "We're just taking a stroll!" she shouted. The man raised a brew at him, but relaxed a little bit. Then she turned to Okita. "Don't be problematic, please!" she half yelled, half whispered. "I don't want to be fired. On my last day. For letting a patient escape!"

He glanced at her and smirked, "well, that's your problem not mine, isn't it?"

Okita found himself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. The ground was covered with stone cold plates all around. While looking around he noticed lights. He didn't knew that lanterns could give so much light as they did here.

He gripped his sword and walked further, ignoring the pain that he started to feel. He wondered why did it take so much, to feel his wounds?

Something flashed before him. And again. And again. One of those flashing things slowed down and drove to the entrance to the clinic. He watched as a cart made of shiny wood stopped. Where were the horses? How come the lanterns could give so much light. A man in foreign clothing stepped out of the cart and quickly went into the clinic. Okita wondered if this was land filled with yokai? Perhaps the cart was a spirit and didn't need horses.

"Can we go back now?" the woman tugged at his sleeve.

He didn't want to see it anymore, he turned on his heel and walked into the forest.

He sped up, and soon he was running. She was right behind him, and he was surprised she could keep up. After awhile, she slowed down, shouting curses at him.

"Gods! I had already my morning run through the park...!" she huffed. He heard a crow screech and looked up in the air. She caught up with him, just to see as the lantern explodes and darkness fills the forest clearing.

The tengu flew down and landed on the ground, its staff ready to attack. Souji was glad this time he wasn't surrounded by a whole flock of them like the last time. He pushed the girl back, she fell on her bottoms, but he ignored her protests.

"Hello," he said, his katana ready in his hands. "We've got a score to settle, crow."

...and you were written in my story, destined to collide with me.  

~~****~~

First chapter of my new fic is up! I always wanted to make a spin to a traditional time travel Hakuoki fic, so there it is. I hope you will enjoy how I torture Souji in this whole bright new world!

So, it's a reader insert - so it'll be written in second pov in next chapters. I wanted introduction in Okita's POV, and I might sometimes write in his pov too.

-the reader, a character, looks hovever you want her to look - I won't be writing things such as 'your eyes colour' etc, you're free to see it how you wish, same goes for clothing.
-the reader will be adressed as '______', 

-MC's surname is Kunizuka. I believe it's easier to follow through instead od gaps.

Also, this story as you can expect will contain a lot of japanese mythology, simply because I wanted to expand what the game gave us - oni. I will use japanese name ''yokai'' to describe these beings, because 'demons' doesn't quite explains. Today we had two yokai presented: oni and tengu. I think you know Oni are pretty much ogres. Tengu are crow like beings, in my story they can also turn into normal birds. They are usually depicted as humanoid beings with wings, and red faces with long noses. You surely will find them in google. I think that's all info I'll give you, for more visit yokai.com, it's really usefil site!

I hope you enjoyed, and till next chapter!