Chapter One

The Okami Pack

"Stop it, Katsumi! Stop it! I…can't…breath!"

"Beg me."

"I am begging!"

"Say it!"

"Say what?"

"You know what!"

"All right, all right! Katsumi, you are greater than I. There is no way that I can ever defeat you and I don't know why I continue to try."

"Good." Katsumi removed herself from the other woman and went to make her way to the food on the table but was jumped on again. "Gah!"

"Come on, Ryoko," A third voice called from the table. "You know you'll never win."

"Shut up, Yumi! I'll never give up! Eve-ahh!" She grunted as she was pinned beneath the other woman again. "Dammit! Come on, Katsumi, let me win! Just once! Please?"

"Nope, not in your dreams. If I did that I would never hear the end of it, from you guys and my brothers!"

Katsumi Yamaguchi was about 24 at the height of 5'7' with brown hair to her shoulders with matching eyes. Her skin was a light tan as she was dressed in clothes from the West; the rest of her group was dressed the same. Her pants were black with a white top and matching boots.

Katsumi had been wrestling around with Ryoko Ito. Ryoko was 5'6', 17 years old, and had long black hair curled into a braid and bright blue eyes. Her skin was a pale color, but healthy, as she wore black pants like Katsumi while her shirt was a dark red.

Yumi and the others were around the table, eating while watching their friends wrestle.

Yumi Sato was at 5'7' and about 25 years old with short blonde hair and grey eyes. Her western outfit was gray pants and a dark blue top.

Tsukiko Hayashi was the same age as Yumi and reached the height of 5'9' with long red hair and brown eyes. Her heritage was a bit different than the others, seeming as how her mother was from Scotland, but after living here nearly her whole life she had gotten accustomed to Japan. Her pants were black and her top was a dark green.

Chika Suzuki was about 24 with long black hair and green eyes as she reached the height of 5'7'. Her outfit was black and an orange/yellow.

Fuyu Kimura was 5'6' at the age of 23 with medium black hair and green eyes, having taken on her aunt's look by not only hair and eyes but clothes as well as in the black, western-style pants and a bright pink, fancy top.

Asami Kimura was the one that you would call the 'Head of the Pack' with long black hair and green eyes. She appeared to be in her middle twenties and at the height of 5'8'. Her outfit was much like her niece's but her shirt was a dark purple.

Finally able to join the others around the table, Katsumi began to shove the food in her mouth. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"We're going to check Kyoto out." Tsukiko told her. "We got in late last night so I want to see what they have here."

Talk broke out amongst them all for a moment on the idea of what they were going to do around the city when Asami opened her mouth. "I would like for you all to keep out of the city problems. I do not want a repeat of Edo to be happening here in Kyoto, understand?"

Everyone, but Asami, turned to look at Ryoko and Katsumi again. Ryoko flushed and hung her head while Katsumi crossed her arms with a smirk. "Well, the men shouldn't have tried to touch those other women. I wasn't just going to stand there and let them have their way with them."

"Yes, but you didn't have to pulverize them to near death," Yumi told her and then added under her breath- "Though I would have done the same thing."

"Still, I'll take Ryoko with Yumi and I," Tsukiko decided to say. "It would be a smart idea to go off in groups in this city."

No one seemed to think to argue and so, in the end, Tsukiko, Ryoko, and Yumi went off together. Fuyu went with her aunt, like always, and Chika and Katsumi decided to stick together.

"Not too bad!"

Chika watched Katsumi as she continued to shove the food in her mouth as they walked through the streets. "How can you eat like you do and still stay so thin?"

Katsumi swallowed what was in her mouth and grinned. "Because I'm just awesome that way."

Chika rolled her eyes but smiled. Without Katsumi in the group it wouldn't have been as fun as it normally was. The woman knew when to be serious though; that's why everyone loved her.

They had been walking around the large city all morning, the sun now reaching high in the sky and telling the two women that it was about mid-day now. They had seen the other women a few times but as the day went on they had taken notice to the men walking around in the light blue haoris the samurai would wear. They were all over the place, almost like a guard of the town. Katsumi had asked one of the owners of a small store who they were. The elder man, haven given them a weary look due to the fact they were dressed as westerners and had sword of their own, told them that the men were members of the Shinsengumi. Katsumi had heard of them. The Shinsengumi were a group of rogue samurai that were currently under orders of protecting Kyoto.

"Well, to be protecting the city they seem very calm in letting people with swords into the city," Chika grumbled under her breath, glancing at a few of the others there with their own swords.

"Stop worrying," Katsumi told her companion. "You're ruining the mood."

Chika pulled a smile at her companion's words. "Yeah, you're right."

Katsumi might have seemed unworried to her friend but she was truly very cautious. She always was. They were women traveling around Japan in the clothes of the west and with swords. There was no way for them to be mistaken for men due to some of their…ah, attributes, so it just made it worse in some villages and towns. She liked fighting but she didn't like the trouble that followed it. If there was to be a fight broken out amongst any of these people her in Kyoto then an even large problem from these Shinsengumi would follow; especially if they were within that group.

"Westerners? Here?" Chika and Katsumi paused for a moment as they stared at some trinkets on the table before them. So someone had finally taken notice of the strangers in town, hmm? "And with swords. I thought that you favored guns." The man continued in a playful voice.

Chika turned first, unable to keep herself from replying. "Oh, and here I figured that the men here all wore dresses."

"A woman?" the man's voice sounded surprised now. Katsumi turned to get a look at him now as well. "Two of them?" She tried not to laugh. After all, after seeing them from the front it was rather hard NOT to notice that they were women.

The man that had been talking reached the height of 6'1' with brown hair and green eyes. He wore clothes of red/orange and gray beneath the light blue haori and the white tasuki of the Shinsengumi.

The man beside him was close in height, just a bit shorter, with dark hair and blue eyes as he dressed in black beneath his own haori and tasuki. There was a white scarf around his neck, despite it being in summer, and he wore a plain face as he glanced the two women over himself.

"What's wrong?" Katsumi decided to grin. "Never seen a woman before?"

The man's surprised look disappeared and was replaced with a smirk. "Are you sure that you can call yourself women while going around dressed like that?"

Katsumi's eyebrow twitched. She was instantly reminded of her third out of the seven brothers she had. The look on this man's face made a flashback reel and she felt like jumping on that man and pounding on him.

"Listen here buddy," Katsumi made to take a step forward but Chika placed a hand on her shoulder and kept her in place.

"We're not here for any trouble," She told the two men. "We're just traveling around. You can tell that we're from Japan; we just find the western clothes to be a bit more comfortable than our regular clothes. There's not crime in that, is there?"

"Not really, but then again women traveling around with swords is not something that you see often." The man continued with that small smirk of his.

"So only men are allowed to carry weapons?" Katsumi narrowed her eyes. "Where's the sense in that?" The man lost his smirk and opened his mouth to reply but his companion beat him to it.

"Your coat," The silent man began. "What does it stand for?" They only stared at him. "You both wear it so it must have a meaning."

"Well, what do you know," Katsumi grinned again. "One of you is smart."

Understanding that he wasn't going to get an answer, the blue-eyed man turned and began to walk away. His companion gave the two women another look before following the other.

Chika let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't think that they would just walk off like that," She silently said. "I wonder why."

"Who cares?" Katsumi shrugged. "Let's just continue on. If they come back then we'll deal with them then."

But they didn't come back. They didn't even run into a problem after that as the day turned to night and they met back up with the others to have dinner before heading back to the inn they were staying at. Asami and the others had taken notice of the Shinsengumi men as well and had been approached themselves. Asami told them that it wasn't a good idea to stick around for too long and so they would be leaving Kyoto the next morning before trouble aroused. They were on their way back to the Inn when a scream brought them to a halt.

"Oh no," Yumi shook her head, her Scottish accent popping up a bit. "No, we're not getting involved with this." There was s second scream and Asami and Tsukiko moved off quickly, the others following them; Yumi gave silent curses along the way. What they came across wasn't what they had been expecting.

A group of men were kneeling on the ground in a circle over the body of a young woman and a child. At first, Katsumi thought that they had come running to the screams as well since they were wearing those light blue haoris of the Shinsengumi but it appeared that that wasn't the case. These men were apparently the causes of the screams; it was easy to tell so when the women spotted the blood on their hands and faces.

"What the fuck…" Ryoko's voice sounded disgusted as the men stood up and turned to face them. Their eyes were a glowing red and their hair was white as they wore looks of hunger and lust. One of them ran forward with a roar at the women. Katsumi was the closest to him so she quickly whipped out her sword and knocked him to his back with a large slash splattering his blood at their feet. She smirked but it quickly fell as the man stood back up, completely healed like nothing had happened at all. But that wasn't possible. The cut on his shirt was there but the wound was gone; not even a mark to show that it made been there.

"What the hell?" Katsumi cried at the sight of the white-haired man getting back up.

"So," Yumi grinned as she pulled her own sword out. "Normal attacks won't work, huh?"

"I don't know," Tsukiko pulled her's out as well. "Perhaps we should try them headless. What do you think?"

"Works for me. If they can move without heads you can take all the money I have." Chika decided to join in with the dup, her own sword drawn.

There was only three men so Katsumi and the others let the three of them have their fun as she stood there, still thinking to herself. She had cut that man; the blood was there to prove it. So why had he healed? There was no way that he could heal like that. It was just impossible.

"Don't worry about it, Katsumi," The woman turned to look at Asami. The leader of the pack was staring up at the sky for a moment as the battle finished. "We'll get our answers soon enough."

"What do you-"

"Would you look at that," A voice cut her off. "They actually killed them!"

Yumi's eyes winded for a moment. "You three again."

Katsumi turned from Asami to see that a group of men in those blue haoris surrounded the seven of them; this time none of them wore that creepy looks or the red eyes and white hair. Her eyes traveled across the men that stood before them.

The one that had spoken was a young man, appearing to be around Ryoko's age, with long brown hair in a high pony-tail and blue-green eyes. Beneath that blue haori were the colors black, yellow, and purple.

Beside him there was eight other men.

One was in his middle twenties with short brown hair and a green bandana around his forehead and a tan, muscular body beneath the blue haori and

violet shirt.

Beside him, at the middle twenties again, the man had long red hair her kept pulled back in a low tie with golden-brown eyes as his clothes beneath the haori was red and white.

The next man Katsumi found sharing a glare with Asami. He gave off the air of being in charge for some reason. This young man was the tallest of them all with black hair that trailed down his back and a set of dark, purple eyes. Beneath his Haori were the colors black and purple.

The last two men were one with glasses and medium brown hair and the other had brown hair that was pulled up much like that Okita fellow had been. Speaking of which…

"You!" Katsumi growled, pointing at Okita as he stood there with the group. He had his arms crossed as he wore that smirk of his that she just wanted to slap off. "What do you want this time?" Before the man could answer the sound of a sword being drawn made Katsumi turn. It was the other man this time; the silent one from before. When the sword had drawn all the women had placed their hands on their own, readying themselves for a fight.

"What's wrong? Not scared of a few women, are you?" Chika asked as her gaze traveled between the men that now gripped their own swords.

"Considering that you are the Okami Pack and not just your ordinary women, it seems like it would be a smart idea to be cautious at first." The silent man replied.

Katsumi grinned at the man again, ignoring the blade he held at her. "Like I said before; you're the smart one."

Fuyu looked at all of them for a moment before sighing and letting go of her sword. "Is this really necessary?" She asked them, taking a step forward as she rubbed the side of her head. "Can't we act like civilized people and talk instead of trying to kill eachother?"

One of the men, the one without glasses, let out a laugh and let go of his own blade; the others followed suit. "You're right. I'm sure that you all have questions. Perhaps we can handle this-"

"Koudou," The man that had been glaring at Asami now looked at the other man. "You know quite well that-"

"Toshizo, they're women! What can we-"

"We are standing right here, you know." Katsumi growled, placing her hands on her hips. "Either you talk or we're going to leave, got it? Some of us are tired."

Their eyes turned back to her as she continued to stare at the one called Toshizo.

"I'm confused," the young man with the ponytail scratched the side of his head. "Saito called these women the 'Okami Pack'. What does that mean?"

"The story is," The redhead beside the teen answered him. "That a small group of samurai mercenaries formed in the south and have been traveling all over the country taking on tasks and missions that other find to be…either too hard or too foolish. Rumors had been going on about the group being ex-warriors of the army or something like that, but apparently that's not the case anymore."

"Yeah," The muscled man commented now, crossing his arms. "Who'd ever thought that it would be women?"

"Why does everyone make that comment?" Yumi hung her head as she glanced over at Tsukiko. "Are women warriors really something that strange?"

"Men are just idiots and thick-headed," Tsukiko gave the muscled man a glare. "Thinking that they are the only ones capable of fighting."

He didn't seem to like that. "What did you say?"

"Hold on, Shinpachi," The redhead grabbed his friend as he ran forward.

"No, let him go, Sanosuke," The teen laughed. "I wanna see him get his butt kicked."

"What did you say, you runt?" Shinpachi rounded on the other man.

Sanosuke shook his head. "You just make it worse, Heisuke."

Toshizo looked like he wanted to murder the two of them as the others stayed silent. The man in glasses decided to step forward. "The point is, Koudou, you saw what I did. We have a problem."

The man nodded and rubbed his chin. "Yes, we do." He thought for a moment, closing his eyes before looking back to Asami. "You are the Okami Pack, aren't you? The symbols you wear on the back of your coats are the same as the stories say."

Katsumi glanced at the coat that Chika wore. They all wore the same thing over their regular clothes. The coats were long and black with the white design of fire and a furious looking wolf on the back.

"And if we are?" The leader of the group replied.

"Then that can either make it better," Koudou then frowned. "Or worse." He took a step forward to Asami. "I am Isami Koudou, the commander of the Shinsengumi. Would it be too much to ask you and your companions to come with us to our headquarters?"

Asami locked eyes with him. "It appears that we have stepped over the boundaries and into something that needs a lot of explaining."

Koudou gave her a nod. "Something that cannot be explained out in the open."

She gave him a few more moments of a silent stare. "How do I know that you will not jump on us?"

Koudou's face was serious. "I swear on my honor as a samurai."

Asami turned her head and closed her eyes. "Then you'd best hurry with your explanation."

"How can we trust that?" Fuyu asked her aunt. "The last time-"

"This is not the time, nor the place." Tsukiko cut the other woman off. "If you're aunt tells us to go then we shall go."

"Don't worry, Fuyu," Katsumi gave her friend a thumbs-up. "They won't be able to touch us!" But again, Katsumi had a strange, cautious feeling in her stomach as he gaze turned back to the white-haired bodies on the ground before them. Something very strange was going on here.

"Come on," Katsumi tore her gaze from the bodies to see that the others had begun to follow Koudou and Toshizo. Heisuke and the man with the glasses had stayed behind to do something to those bodies and it was the silent man that had been speaking to her. She stayed silent herself as she followed him after the others, thinking to herself.

"You," She looked at the man. "How did you know who we were?"

His blue eyes were cold as he gazed at her while they continued to walk. "I didn't," He told her.

"Just a hunch, huh?" Katsumi gave a small laugh. "Damn, you really are a smart one, aren't you?"