#fisw

Harada x Burado (my OC, you can learn more about her here)

Summary: Burado-chan is a shinigami, who was destined to take Sanosuke's life. Unfortunate thing is that she fell in love with him.

Also a little disclaimer - English is not my native language, so if you find any mistakes in the text feel free to share, I always look forward to improve my writing skills ✨

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Summer 1856, Matsuyama.

"Hey, Harada, why are you hanging out? Is there no work at all?" shoved his comrade, who was dozing on the straw, into the back without malice, Shinichi laughed out loud.

He was older and taller than Sanosuke by almost a whole head, and had already killed his first man, which he constantly boasted about in the estate. Therefore, rubbing his bruised shoulder blade with displeasure, Harada cursed softly. If it were one of the younger guys, he would have expressed a couple of affectionate words a long time ago, or maybe he would have hit him. Everyone in the Matsuyama estate knew that he was a rare brawler and once again tried not to get into trouble. But Shinichi is quite another matter, all these dull years spent in the service of the Matsuyama family, he was almost like an older brother to him. The only one who could drive at least some common sense into Sanosuke's violent, adventurous head.

"Look, the hostess will see you and leave you without food again. You will ask, I will not give you a piece of my own!"

"Ah, let her find me first, and then we'll see," Sanosuke waved off, shamelessly yawning so that his mouth ached.

He dusts himself off and gets to his feet.

"A pity …" smiling conspiratorially, Shinichi plopped down in a pile of hay, crossing his legs. "They will punish you, then we will not go to the summer festival, you will clean the stables all day. And there are girls in colorful yukats, and there is a lot of food…

"What a fox you are!" Harada immediately started up, glaring angrily at his older comrade. "That's what you should have said right away!"

"Maybe. I was just waiting for you to open your eyes after sleeping", Shinichi laughed loudly, throwing up his chin and clutching his stomach.

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The village, filled with laughter, the roar of ritual drums and the light of paper lanterns, met them in the midst of the festival. Impatiently following the smug Shinichi, who ostentatiously kept both hands on the hilt of a long sword, Sanosuke looked around with joyful anticipation. There were stalls with festive snacks like tricolor dango and takoyaki, festival masks and paper lanterns. Maybe it will even be possible to sit down with some already drunk company and drink plenty of sake at someone else's expense, as they sometimes did with comrades from the estate.

"This is Tamako," blushing embarrassedly, which suddenly made him look ridiculous, Shinichi nodded in the direction of the girl in pink yukata, who was waving at them from the stone bridge. " I'll be quick, just say hello. And you take a walk for now, see what interesting things there are here!"

"Pf, as if I didn't see something at these festivals," - Sano snorted, but immediately took pity on the would-be lover. This idiot hoped that now that he had begun to achieve any success in his military career, the girl's parents would allow her to become his wife. "I'll be nearby"

Slapping him on the shoulder one last time, Harada moved towards the kiosks with a wry smile. His friend's stupid desire to start a family seemed ridiculous to him. The girls really interested Harada a lot, with their thin, white hands, and what they had under the thick layers of kimonos was tempting for him, an unsolved mystery for the time being, but for some reason he was sure that it would not be for long.

Anticipating the summer fun, he did not notice how he knocked someone down. There was a soft groan in his ear. Staggering, Harada involuntarily put out his hand, grabbed the soft fabric. Looking up, he collided with someone else's eyes, amber-yellow, which sent a chill down his spine. In front of him stood a girl, very young, dressed in a black yukata and a simple festival mask with oni's face.

With a soft gasp, she looked at him for a while, glancing at the young man with unusual bright yellow eyes, and bent down, picking something up from the ground. Harada had just noticed the bright red festival umbrella with the face of a yokai made of oiled paper. As if not noticing him, the girl began to shake the umbrella from the dirt and stuck leaves of the yukata sleeves.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered to herself, either to Harada or to the umbrella.

The ugly face from the painted paper looked at him mockingly.

"Nothing, after all, I bumped into you"

"Yeah …" bowing, the girl moved on, as if looking for someone in the crowd.

For a while, as if fascinated, he watched the girl's slender figure disappear into the crowd. A white festival mask, worn over wild, curly hair, flashed between the tops of the heads. Like a dope, an unusual obsession in the form of a swarthy gaijin with unusual eyes. He had never met such a girl in his life, and even though she was different from everything that is considered beautiful, even from what he himself considered beautiful, the thought flashed through his head like lightning that he would never meet such a girl again. Aroused, Sanosuke did not come to himself immediately, finding that he was covered with goosebumps from head to toe. Wolfish yellow eyes frantically ran around the crowd, trying to make out a familiar silhouette. Without thinking for a second, he rushed headlong after her.

However, luck was not on his side. He managed to run around several blocks with endless kiosks and festive entertainment, even missed the launch of fireworks, but he could not find her. The mysterious girl seemed to disappear into thin air. Cursing, he clasped his hands in anger and plopped down on the wooden steps of the tea house. Covering his face with his hands, he could still see her mournful, swarthy face in small red freckles. Lost in time, Harada sat there for an eternity. Shinichi was probably already looking for him. Everything dissolved, it became so unimportant. He had never felt this way about a woman before.

"Are you going somewhere, beautiful?" A hoarse laugh from a dark alley caught his attention. Some already heavily drunk company of Ronins surrounded someone, not letting them pass.

"Why don't you have a drink with us, huh? We won't hurt you," another warrior, tall, as tall as Shinichi, guffawed.

They exchanged drunken, unkind glances. Sano visibly tensed. He was a scamp and a brawler himself, but he would never stoop to molesting women. It is the duty of any samurai to protect the weak.

"Take your hands off," an icy, insinuating voice coming from the gateway made him shudder. Everything inside turned cold. " I don't drink alcohol with strangers. Let me pass"

He didn't notice how he jumped to his feet. It was her, the girl.

"We'll just get to know each other better and you'll go about your business," the third ronin, who was already moving his tongue with difficulty, hooted. His big, swarthy hand clutched her sharp chin, forcing her to look into his drunken, glossy face.

"I said take your hands off," Gaijin growled through tightly clenched teeth, her fingers tightened on the handle of the umbrella, turning white. "Leave me alone if you don't want to regret it."

Two yellow eyes flashed unkindly, withstanding the evil, oblique gaze of the Ronins. She did not back away, did not ask for forgiveness in a frightened way and did not beg, recklessly straightening her back, as if she was ready to fight back.

"Gaijin arrogant bitch!" Before a huge, rough hand could hit her, Sanosuke rushed at ronin, grabbing him by the neck from behind. Without letting the drunk come to his senses, he kicked him under the knee.

The girl did not lose her head, snatched out an umbrella and loaded it on the head of another samurai, causing him to stagger with a loud cry and fall backwards to the ground. Throwing up an elegant thin leg, she kicked him on the back of the head, immediately knocking him out. Breathing heavily, Harada struggled with the savage ronin, hanging on his arm, preventing the warrior from drawing his sword. He didn't want him to stab the girl.

"On your right!" Gaijin shouted, warning Harada about the third drunkard's punch. "Look out!"

Swinging, she hit him between the eyes with the metal handle of the umbrella. Harada shoved his opponent in his direction, causing two drunken ronin to collide and to clumsily ploppe to the ground, preventing each other from getting up.

"Run," grabbing her by the hand, he rushed as fast as he could to the other end of the street, ignoring the loud, loud curses.

They ran forward, skirting narrow alleys and weaving between people until they were exhausted. Breathing heavily, Harada doubled over and put his hands on his knees. In the silence that followed, only his hoarse sighs could be heard.

"It seems they broke away from us," the girl, straightening the crumpled floors of the yukata, looked out of the dark alley into the noisy main street. The holiday was coming to an end, the merry crowd was already beginning to thin out, but there were no traces of drunken Ronins. She wasn't even sweating, she wasn't exhausted.

Sitting down next to him on the ground, Gaijin gently stroked the folded umbrella and said, "Are you okay, friend?"

"Ah, I-I 'm w-well, I wasn't even touched…" he broke off in embarrassment when he realized that she was saying this to the umbrella, and immediately blushed to the roots of his hair.

Smiling mockingly, the girl raised her head, measured him with a curious look.

"You didn't have to help me"

" Are you kidding? There were three of them!" Her emotionless reaction threw Harada into a real shock. Is that what she has instead of gratitude?

"So what?" She chuckled, putting her hands on her hips. At the same time, his eyes looked at him fervently, as if they were laughing. "You were in much greater danger"

"It would be polite just to say thank you," Sanosuke muttered, turning away. "By the way, my name is Harada. Harada Sanosuke, I serve the Matsuyama clan. And you?"

The simple polite question about the name seemed to upset her. Frowning, the girl abruptly got to her feet.

"A name has too much power to be called so recklessly. Besides, you have nothing to know it for, Harada Sanosuke," she said unexpectedly seriously, adjusting her festival mask. "We will never meet again"

She had already taken a step towards the main street, without even giving him time to recover.

Harada roused himself and grabbed her arm. Only now did he notice how cold the girl's small, calloused palm was. It was like an electric shock hit him. "I want to know who I saved. In… gratitude"

She seemed to be thinking for a couple of moments, which seemed like an eternity to Harada.

"Blood. My name is Katherine Blood"

"B… Burado?"

"Let it be Burado, if that's what you want. I have to go," pulling her hand out of his grasp, the girl who made such a strong impression on him left as if nothing had happened.

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"Ah, nasty mortal!" Tokabo Shigure cursed when they left the city. Covering her face with a bamboo hat, Burado remained unnoticed. Finally, once in the forest, she built a fire and warmed her chilled palms by the fire. Eternal cold was part of the curse that all souls who gave up their lives voluntarily were doomed to feel. "Stuck like a leaf. And you also charged me on the head!"

"Stop grumbling, you won't crumble from such nonsense," the girl chuckled and looked at the angry youkai. Stretching out his long black arms, her umbrella hovered over the fire.

"By the way, I'm almost five hundred years old!" Sigure shouted indignantly, his large pupil narrowed warily, and his ugly one-eyed muzzle became even scarier.

"We never found the soul, got into a fight, and I also crumpled!" youkai continued to spray. The less the hostess paid attention to him, the angrier he became. "At this rate, I will not work off my debt until the arrival of the Last Judgment! Emma-sama, give me strength with this girl!"

"Didn't you feel it, Sigure?" She grinned, twirling the oni mask in her hands. Swarthy fingers fingered the red ribbons. "This Sanosuke. He's on our list. In twelve years he will die"

"What's the use of that? Souls need to be collected now, fresh and warm!" He pulled out a long yellow tongue in anticipation. The girl just clicked irritably.

This mortal with his yellow wolf eyes did not leave her mind. He was… so alive. Young and full of energy, the gods alone know what lies ahead of him. Twelve years is a very short time by the standards of an ordinary person. He was so kind to her, and he looked at her like no one else before. Would she have to take his life, too?

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"Everything will be fine, the pain will recede soon," she picked up the body of a tall young samurai, handsome and young. His chest was pierced by a quick, precise blow right to the heart, and bright red blood was oozing from his pale, bluish lips. The girl gently lowered him to the ground, not paying attention to the fact that blood soaked the floors of her yukata, soiled her hands. She stroked the young man's hair, conjuring up visions of his mother's warm hands at the last moment of his life. "You were a good man, Shinichi. I'll give you an easy death"

With trembling fingers, the girl pulled off the oni mask from the top of her head, covering her face. Her bright yellow eyes lit up in the heavy, night darkness of the city, and her hair turned white.

"Toukabo Shigure, come on," she held out her hand, summoning the damn umbrella.

He opened his wide mouth in anticipation. Waving an umbrella, Burado cut off Shinichi's soul from his body. Suddenly the wheezing stopped and his eyes closed. With a loud sigh of relief, Shinichi breathed his last.

"Done," Burado finished and got to her feet. Shinichi's blood dripped from the sleeves of her black yukata. "He has a long journey ahead of him. Emma-sama, be merciful!"

"You look upset, did you feel sorry for the little man?" Shigure chuckled, taking the form of an ordinary umbrella.

She sighed heavily, looking at the mask in her hands.

"I despise people", putting the mask on, the girl saw every corner of the mortal's soul, every minute of his life and sins. "But this one was a good man. Taking his life was not a pleasure for me"

"Shinichi! Where are you, Shinichi?"

A familiar voice made her freeze in place. It was the same man, Harada Sanosuke.

Emerging from the alley, he stared in shock at the blood-stained yukata, and then at the body of his friend at the girl's feet. The samurai himself was covered in blood. They got into a fight with hostile samurai and managed to split up. Burado looked at the young man a little wearily, wondering if he had heard her last words. The two were friends.

"Did you kill him?!" clenching his teeth, he gripped the spear shaft until his fingers turned white. "Do you work with them?!"

"I don't care what's going on here," she replied in a calm, sorrowful voice, but she didn't deny her guilt. "But I took your friend's life"

"W… why, Burado—chan?" What did he do to you? his voice trembled with ill—suppressed anger.

The girl shuddered at the mention of the ridiculous nickname in the Japanese manner that he had given her just a week ago. Wearing the mask, she saw Harada Sanosuke in the memories of his comrade. He was cheerful, reckless, full of life. And so kind. It is said that seeing a person off on his last journey, the reaper of death lives his life. Seeing Harada through Shinichi's eyes, she felt like she had known him for a long time. As if she valued him as much as his friend. That's why it was even more painful to see anger and disappointment on a beautiful young face.

"I'm sorry… Harada-kun," was all shinigami could say, swallowing a heavy lump. "Now go to sleep"

Suddenly she was behind the spearman, running icy fingers through the hair on the back of her head. As soon as she touched Sanosuke, he felt his head begin to feel heavy.

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"What?! To return to Jigoku? And who will fulfill the debt?!" Sigure was indignant when the girl, white as a sheet, was walking along a forest path towards the mountains. After that encounter with a mortal, she seemed to be not herself, hardly spoke. "Stupid girl!!"

She just sighed heavily. Mr. Hozuki won't be thrilled when he sees her at the door of his office. In her head, she could hear a voice, joyful laughter, and before her eyes stood Harada's smiling, full of life and youth.

"Shinichi, well, you've aged! A couple more years, and I'll catch up with you! "

"Let's help, it's not for a samurai to watch others suffer"

" Yes, I can drink even more than you! "

"A face in the crowd" - Harada x Burado (OC)