Title: The Unfortunate Werewolf

Author: That Dastard Cerberus

Characters (central focus): Chizuru, Kaoru, Oni, Shinsengumi

Pairings: playing with all pairings, final one will appear near the end

Rating: T on FF / E on Ao3

Warnings for the reader: werewolves, horror (on Ao3, graphic violence, sexual scenes, and morbid imaginary)

Setting: standard setting, but with dem fluffy puppies

Summary: Her life changed completely that night. Her life was spared, yet she was also cursed. Now she must carry a horrible secret for the rest of her life, knowing she is balancing on a thin rope between humanity and the madness of the beast within. Little does she know that that night years ago not only changed her own life, but every person she cares about

Genre: drama, tragedy, horror, supernatural, mystery, romance

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Idea Factory/Otomate does. But if I did . . . well, let's just say some people would lose their sanity, while others would . . . erm . . . yeah.

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-::The Unfortunate Werewolf::-

-:Chapter I – Nightmare:-

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~*January 23 1864*~

Her earliest memory could best be described as a nightmare.

Claws, fangs, fur, the scent of copper, screaming, wailing, snarling. Her senses were overloaded with information, her mind confused, her body in pain. Everything was spinning, and nothing made sense at the moment. Blurs faded in and out of view, until finally she could no longer see the pale white moon above her head.

Much like the moon above her head right now. Not quite full yet, she could still feel its power sweeping through her veins, twisting within and empowering her small stature. A part of her wished for it to be full, to unleash her power unto her foes instead of fleeing from them. A monstrous, rage-fueled entity she only knew as The Wolf.

Yet another part of her was glad. She'd hope to arrive in Kyoto a few days before the full moon had come, so she had time to find a temporary place to hide while under the moon's spell. She had also hoped to find her father shortly thereafter, yet what little of her plan she had bothered to make was snatched from her hands from the untimely arrival of rogues only known as ronin.

Keeping her breathing steady, she leaned further back against the wall, eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of her pursuers. Opening her mouth a bit, she sniffed the air cautiously, only for her heart to stop seconds later, the metallic odor of copper rich on the gentle breeze. A scream followed shortly thereafter, causing her heart to hammer against her chest. Her hand slid up to her kodachi, and, carefully, she leaned out, nostrils flared. Her keen brown eyes soon found the source of the noise, only to wish she hadn't.

Swords catching moonlight came down on freshly killed bodies; fast, mechanical movements, void of purpose, moved the blades up and back down, metal craving into flesh, sick, wet noises echoing through the dead silence of night.

What those creatures were, she didn't know. She could only smell the blood, only see the scarlet liquid ooze out of the corpse as the creatures repetitively stabbed it again and again. She saw the moonlight reflect white off the hair of the monsters and the bright red of their eyes. She stopped looking when she noticed one turn, its face twisted into a gleeful expression of madness. She didn't even bother to see if they were pursuing her when she sprinted away in terror.

All over again, she was reminded of that night, years ago, when her life changed. Something pursuing her, moonlight her only witness, terror seizing every bone and muscle in her body.

Her leg collided with something, throwing her off balance. She managed to catch herself, landing on all fours and twisting her head around to see the three monsters closer than she had hoped.

The Wolf snarled and roared, clawing inside as panic froze her in her place. The moon, though not complete, beckoned and called, and The Wolf responded, howling to be released.

She could only scream as one of the creatures raised its bloody sword above its head.

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All of this was a dream. No, not quite a dream. More like a vision.

Sen blinked her eyes open, rubbing the sleep from them as she rose from her bed. The vision had started like any other, a simple dream that quickly turned into something else. This vision, however, was terrifying, to say the least. Staring at the rice paper wall before her, she thought back to how the dream played out.

A creature. A monster hidden in the shadows. It was large, ghastly, its body covered head to foot in thick fur. Its eyes gleamed dangerously, a haunting amber, much like her oni eyes. Yet there was no logic, no reason in those eyes. Only anger and hatred.

The monster slowly rose from the shadows, growing in size until it towered over every human and oni she knew. Sen trembled as she recalled how the monster had roared, its large mouth revealing sharp, lethal teeth. Its long claws reached out toward Sen, as if to drag her to the deepest pits of hell.

Cold sweat now caking her body, Sen shook her head, trying to break the spell the monster had managed to put on her, even though it was merely a vision. But it was exactly the point that it was a vision that Sen feared the worst.

Never had she dreamed of such a beast, one that bore lupine features yet still retained the image of a man. She had no name for the beast, yet she knew to fear it. It only wove death, knew only death, and nothing more.

Looking outside her small window, Sen could not shake the foreboding feeling she had upon seeing the moon. Something told her that the large sphere in the sky would be responsible for bringing such monstrosities to Kyoto. She knew it would happen, and she knew it would happen soon.

No longer able to sleep, Sen stood up and went to her writing desk. Rolling out a piece of parchment, she took to paper all that she remembered from her dream. The memory rapidly faded, as it was wont to do, yet she somehow managed to put it all on paper without breaking into another cold sweat.

Rolling the scroll back up and sealing it, she placed it off to the side, noting that she should give this to Kimigiku when morning came. But until then, she would stay awake, looking up at the moon, dreading the day her vision came true.