HijiChi Week - Day 2
This takes place after Hijikata’s battle with Kazama at Utsunomiya Castle.
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“The castle is on fire!”
Chizuru rushed out of the tent she had been waiting patiently in to see men running into the encampment. Her heart raced as she searched the crowd for the familiar purple eyes of the man she had sworn to remain by. As each man passed her by, Chizuru’s throat tightened with the realization that Hijikata wasn’t one of them. She was hit with the very real possibility that he was gone, and while she didn’t want to give that thought any credence, she knew it could be true.
The stream of men began to ease, and soon, it was just stragglers–the badly injured–that were shuffling their way into camp. Chizuru remained rooted to her spot in the middle of the path, hoping to catch sight of the one person that mattered the most to her. But as the minutes ticked away, she grew more and more despondent. She dropped her head and began to turn away to return to the tent.