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My handsome DND character - Wanese human bard

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Sunny and quiet

Nex from Winx Club

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Professor Avalon from Winx Club

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Brian May as the 4th Doctor

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"Flowers in spider webs" [3]

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 ✨

__________________

Squeezing the metal handle of the umbrella in the form of a clawed paw harder, the girl already wanted to swing for a blow. They were surrounded by a whole crowd of people, it was impossible to reveal themselves to so many eyes. Sighing heavily, shinigami submitted to the will of the ninja. He grabbed her by the elbow, preventing her from making sudden movements and led her to the side, into a dark alley. Burado walked warily through a deserted alley, waiting for a convenient opportunity to put the Shinsengumi scout to sleep and disappear without catching Harada's eye. Shigure was quietly snuffling, also nervous from the delicate situation in which they found themselves.

The ninja was a master of his craft, he did not take his tenacious eyes off her, and the sharp blade of the kunai was all this time directed at the back of the head, most likely into some important artery. When trying to escape, a quick and accurate blow would have killed a mere mortal, but the girl lost her life many years ago.

"Where are you taking me, for interrogation?" she chuckled, looking around. There was no one around, it was enough to immobilize the ninja and escape, taking advantage of the situation.

Before the ninja could hit her, the girl pulled down the mask tied on top of her head in one quick movement. The world turned bright red, and she felt a familiar sense of power. Youkai power splashed at her fingertips, she felt both the tense, vibrating aura of the enemy, and the approaching squad of samurai. This scout is not so simple, somehow managed to inform Shinsengumi about her presence.

"Yamazaki Susumu," his name appeared in red letters above the young man's head. Many years ago, the girl had a good reason to tell Harada that a name has great power to tell it so recklessly to a stranger. "Sleep now!"

"You see what your stupidity leads to!" Toukabo Shigure shouted as they jumped over the ninja's weakened body and rushed out of the alley.

"Hey, are you running somewhere, lady?" plunging into the wall opposite, the sharp blade of a katana blocked her way. Turning sharply, she collides nose to nose with a tall, muscular samurai, almost crashing into his hard chest. He groans softly, feeling the woman's hands on his muscles, they were also so cold. She sees the warrior's face turning pink. The Shinsengumi had to kill and detain not a single loyalist in the last few months, but they had never come across a woman among the opponents.

Swinging, Burado hit him right between the eyes with the metal handle of the umbrella. Such a blow can knock down a healthy man and deprive him of consciousness, but the fellow not only did not faint, but even stood on his feet. Cursing loudly, he grabbed his head, shook his head and swung his sword at random, not seeing anything because of the black spots in his eyes. The girl deftly dodged, ducking under the warrior's arm. Shugenjia's monastic robes allowed her to move as easily as a butterfly. Unlike hers, the enemy's blows were aimed with only one desire - to kill, no one was going to spare her life.

"Shinpachi, are you doing dancing here?" there was a laugh behind her, which made the girl goosebumps.

From the other side of the gateway, a detachment of Shinsengumi was approaching, surrounding, all the warriors held swords and spears at the ready, depriving any opportunity to escape.

"Harada Sanosuke," dodging another blow, she slipped behind his back. He was adept with the spear, very adept, she had to concentrate properly so as not to get serious wounds. Raising her umbrella, the girl pointed directly at the spearman, forcing him to stop. "We don't have to kill each other!"

Burado feverishly remembered that she was still wearing the oni mask, and that the others could not see her face. However, Harada was not looking at it at all, but at the pommel of the umbrella with the ugly face of Toukabo Shigure, which remained strikingly quiet with the appearance of the crowd of mortals. The grin of anticipation for the fight faded from his handsome face. The girl looked at him in the red light of the mask, for the first time having the opportunity to see him so closely. The years have changed him beyond recognition, turning a shaggy, pugnacious boy into a tall, muscular man. They used to be the same height, but now she have to raise her head to look into his eyes.

"Kumichou, do you know this woman?" the spearman boy to Harada's right said in shock. His voice made Burado remember that there were other Shinsengumi warriors in the alley besides the two of them.

Her heart started beating loudly. She was sure it wasn't because of the recent battle at all.

"Yes," Sanosuke said, tightening his grip on the spear and taking a fighting stance, ready to strike her at any second. "She works with Ishin Shishi. A few years ago, she killed hatamoto Tazuka Shinichi!"

"Two Shinsengumi squads against one woman?" she chuckled, chin up, meeting the hostile stares of the warriors surrounding her, just like many years ago when he met this girl on the street during a festival. And this time, despite the direct danger, Burado does not bow her head and does not ask for mercy.

The auras of the Shinsengumi warriors were filled with poorly restrained anger. Sighing heavily, she mentally apologized to Toukabo Shigure and released the metal handle in the form of a clawed paw. The umbrella hit the ground with a resounding thud. Under Harada's watchful gaze, the girl threw her empty palms up, letting them make sure that there was nothing in them, and finally reached for the ties on her mask. Finally, Sanosuke saw her face.

All these years, he remembered the strange gaijin he met at the festival, her image had already been erased from his memory over time, but one glance was enough to understand that Burado had not changed for a day. Bright yellow, sullen eyes stared at him.

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I'm really really glad to share, that now my story about Harada x Burado is on ao3!! ^^

You can read it here

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'Let us be in love Let's do old and grey I won't make you cry I will never stray I will do my part Let us be in love tonight' The Killers - A White Demon Love Song

I put my soul into this comic. It based on my faforite song and can be a little addition to this part "The last goodbye" one shot + illustration

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spoilers for a new comic

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Nex meets Layla's parents

I'm pretty sure Teredor would never have liked him. He loves his daughter, but has too outdated views

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"Flowers in spider webs" (FISW) MASTERPOST

Here I put together all the comics and chapters for my Hakuoki story with Harada and my OC Burado

About my girl Burado

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2 + illustration "A face in the crowd"

CHAPTER 3

"Flowers and snow" illustration

"Face to face" illustration

"The our of Wolf" illustration

"The last morning" illustration

"The last goodbye" one shot + illustration + "A White Demon Love Song" animation

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AU in which Harada becomes rasetsu (fury)

Also if you have any questions (about my headcanons, requests and etc), you can ask me anything in the special form! Would be glad to share the new information ✨

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AU in which Harada becomes rasetsu (fury)

"W-what have you done?!" angry tears rolled down Burado's cheeks. Pursing her lips, she threw up her hands in despair and burned Harada with a look of bright yellow eyes. "You have tainted your pure soul! Now… now it's cursed, you've destroyed it!"

"I had to," Harada muttered, steadfastly holding her gaze. "I left my wife and son in Edo, I had to protect them"

The mention of his family touched something inside the girl. Frozen, she sobbed softly and muttered, "The souls of rasetsu are cursed. You should have gone to Jigoku! You were innocent, you should have gone to heaven! Now nothing awaits you but darkness and oblivion"

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"Flowers in spider webs" [2]

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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"How are you, Shinichi? " she didn't go to the Heaven very often, only when she was visiting an old friend.

For some inexplicable reason, Burado started visiting him. In Jigoku, she was bored, almost no demon normally perceived shigigami, such as she was treated with caution and prejudice. Suicides were not welcome here. Coming to the Garden of Eden, walking among the peach trees among the soothing, thought-provoking silence, she often wondered if she could also live here, help the local deities. A calm, full of silence life seemed to the girl something unattainable, even if she was no longer that scared beginner shinigami. In five years, she and Shigure have transported many souls to the next world, they have become much stronger.

"Don't worry about me, Burado-chan," he smiled radiantly as always, stroking the rabbit, peacefully snoring on his lap. They often chatted while sitting under the shade of a peach tree. After thinking for a couple of moments, the samurai looked into the sorrowful face of the girl. "You haven't seen him since, have you?"

"Oh… Who are you talking about?" the girl asked, even if she already knew the answer.

"Harada, my friend," the gentle wind ruffled his dark brown hair. "Sometimes I wonder what he has become over the years…"

"Yes, me too," she sighed heavily, as she always did at the mention of an old acquaintance.

Shinichi had heard that such strong feelings were alien to youkai, but looking at how the girl was overcome by an irresistible longing for something, he began to doubt. She saw Sano through his eyes and sometimes spoke of him as an old friend, albeit not without a touch of bitterness. According to Shigure, he thinks that the girl is to blame for his death.

"If fate brings you together again, say hello for me, okay?" he patted her on the shoulder, helping to cheer her up a little and distracting her from sad thoughts.

_______________________

February 1866, Kyoto

By the end of winter in the mortal world, she and Shigure managed to collect five hundred souls. The situation in Kyoto became increasingly turbulent, a serious political conflict was brewing, and Burado began to notice other reapers of death scurrying among people unnoticed, as if a dark omen of coming changes. During these ten years that she and Tokabo Shigure traveled around Japan, the girl managed to get used to the customs of the East, which she previously considered alien and barbaric. Even though she came to this country as a little girl, it was difficult for Katherine Blood to come to terms with other people's mores, her father raised her as an English lady and a Corsican donna. Now his lessons seemed so far away, forgotten. Having died in a foreign country, she became a part of it, another stone in the huge wall of Jigoku. Mother would never have believed it if she had found out what her daughter was doing.

"Do you feel that sour smell?" Shigure grumbled in a barely audible voice as they strolled through the large market square in search of a new target. The person on their list was an ordinary peasant who would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a few days, the father of five children and the only able-bodied person in the family will be hacked to death by drunken ronin, who mistakenly decide that he is spying on Shinsengumi. "Land demons are hanging around here"

She had already heard from Mr. Hozuki about land demons. They were incredibly strong, hardy and, unlike their afterlife representatives, never served in Jigoku. They didn't care what the other youkai were involved in, moreover, they preferred not to notice them. Shigure always spoke of these demons with such contempt. Once he belonged to one of these demons, he cursed his beloved umbrella and doomed him to an immortal existence. Angry at the whole world, Toukabo Shigure devoured the vital energy of his new owners, caused them all sorts of trouble and spoiled karma in every possible way. For this, Mr. Hozuki almost burned youkai on a brazier with hot coals, taking from him the word to atone for all his sins. Thanks to Shigure's efforts, new souls arrived in Jigoku ahead of time, and Hozuki hated overtime work.

"What are you talking about?" exhaling a translucent cloud of steam, Burado turned around at the strange ominous aura. A tall, long-haired man in flashy clothes, with a tattoo on his entire arm, he seemed to deliberately attract attention with his impudent appearance, looking at the crowd around him with arrogant contempt. Without noticing her, he passed by.

"Arrogant bastards," Shigure swore.

The demon seemed to have sharp hearing. As soon as youkai finished his sentence, he suddenly stopped. The bare muscular back tensed.

"Are you talking to me, girl?" he turned around slowly, breaking into a cold smile that looked more like a predator's grin. "You don't want to live at all, huh?"

A dark, sinewy palm rested on the belt, on which hung a holster with a revolver. Burado had seen similar weapons before, her father once had such a revolver.

"Our forces are almost equal," over the years spent in wandering, with each new collected soul, she and Shigure became stronger. If alone she could lose to a more experienced, battle-hardened demon, then together with a partner with the support of his youkai power, the demon was not such a problem. Burado felt like she was getting tougher and stronger every day, and at the end of last year she received a fifth-rank mask from Hozuki. Lifting her chin, she boldly responded to the cold, arrogant gaze of the demon. There was barely contained anger in the violet eyes. "If you want, we can somehow measure them, but right now I have no desire to participate in a quarrel. Forgive my friend, sometimes he can be short-tempered"

Despite the indignation of Shigure, who was already itching to fight with the demon, Burado took a step back and bowed low. The man watched her with a tenacious gaze.

"Who are you, girl?" crossing his arms over his chest, the demon threw. Despite the fact that he never accepted her apology, he looked less threatening now. By the scarlet mask with oni's face and the youkai companion, he probably already guessed who he was talking to.

"It is indecent for a girl to introduce herself first" - she chuckled, ignoring the grinding teeth of Sigure, who did not like this conversation at all. He expected them to kick this arrogant upstart's ass instead of chatting amiably with him.

"Hey, hey, are you making eyes at him?!" a pale scarlet glow began to emanate from the oiled scarlet paper of the umbrella.

"Shut up," Burado ordered, grabbing the umbrella so that she covered the ugly gaping mouth with her palm. Of course, she didn't make any eyes.

"I'm Shiranui Kyou".

"And I… " she hesitated, remembering how almost everyone in Jigoku could hardly pronounce her name. "I'm Burado"

The nickname given by Harada Sanosuke fell off her lips by itself. Involuntarily, something pricked in her chest at the memories of the spearman.

"Burado and that's it?"

"I have no family or clan. I serve Emma-sama"

Shiranui looked her over meticulously from head to toe and grinned at something. After parting with Harada and receiving the fifth rank of shinigami, she changed a lot in appearance. Now it was hard to confuse Burado with a girl who accidentally ran away from the festival. The simple black yukata was replaced with spacious clothes of the shugenja, extremely comfortable for traveling in the harsh northern climate. And the wooden mask didn't look so pathetic now, the new one was given out by Mr. Hozuki himself. Its lacquered, scarlet surface glistened in the sun, and empty demonic eyes were now devouring Shiranui Kyou. Concentrating, the girl could even see through the slits of the mask, even when it is not on top of her head, but is somewhere very far away. It was very convenient to monitor her targets.

"That's what I thought, you're one of those snotty bureaucrats who are always getting in the way, collecting the souls of mortals… There are a lot of you in the city today!"

There was some commotion in the crowd of people that filled the market. Looking around from the height of his height, Shiranui shook his blue-black hair pulled into a ponytail and cursed softly.

"We'll chat later, dead girl," he called over his shoulder, already disappearing among the excited people.

Katherine didn't even have time to say anything, as the tall figure melted into the air, taking advantage of the commotion. After staring at the empty place where Shiranui had been standing for a couple of moments, the girl turned around at the screams of people. There were some strange whispers, people were talking quietly now and then and exchanging frightened glances. An old man cursed loudly and spat contemptuously at his feet. For a while, the girl couldn't figure out what was going on until she noticed a column of Ronin in pale blue haori. They were all young men with stern, focused faces. The crowd devoured them with hostile glances.

"The Mibu Wolves are coming!" she heard a tense whisper next to her. Two old women selling snacks were talking. "Ugh, damn Shinsengumi!"

"Hush, Mita," her friend said, looking around in fright to make sure that no one had heard them. "Keep quiet if you don't want any problems"

Two squads of Shinsengumi, swordsmen and spearmen, who looked like a motley collection of young samurai in pale blue haori, crossed the market square. Burado, hidden in the crowd, devoured the backs of their heads with her eyes. There were a lot of rumors about Shinsengumi in Kyoto, mostly not the most pleasant. They were called cruel murderers and robbers, but she and Shigure had not yet had to come for the victims of the Shinsengumi. From the outside, especially looking at the captains walking on the right side of the rest of the column, the warriors looked more like bohemian thugs from adventure novels, young, flashily dressed. Despite the hostile stares of the townspeople, they managed to exchange restrained smiles, discussing something in a low voice. They didn't even care about the people around them.

"Shigure, do you feel it?" the shinigami's instinct, developed over many years of wandering and collecting souls, suggested that there was someone in the ranks of the walking warriors whose soul they would have to take away. There was a familiar, weak energy emanating from this man, which indicated that this was going to happen in a couple of years.

The fact that one of these people was going to die didn't surprise her at all. The situation in the country was gradually heating up, besides, samurai are always on the verge of death.

"Pf, big deal, you smelled someone's soul! We still have two more years to wait," youkai snorted, still sulking at her because of the conversation with Shiranui. However, despite his touchiness, he did not know how to take offense for a long time, especially if you offer him expensive sweets.

Burado pursed her lips, peering into the faces of the warriors, trying to figure out which of them was her target. Or he will be her target in a few years. Maybe a stooped skinny kid with a naginata? Or a stern swordsman with a samurai bun, looking at the townspeople with hostility? Or is it a tall, red-haired unit captain with a spear lying across his shoulders?

At some point, the tall captain looked back at her, as if feeling the eyes on him. His yellow eyes swept the crowd with a quick glance, as if searching for the one who was staring so intently. The man frowned slightly and returned to the interrupted quiet conversation.

The look of the wolf's yellow eyes seemed to burn her. Bouncing away from the shock further into the crowd, she shook her curly hair in disbelief. Burado barely recognized him. If not for the warm, bright red aura of the color of the setting sun, she would never have believed that this tall, muscular man with disheveled dark red hair was the same lively, laughing young man whom she met as if in a past life and for whom her heart ached.

"This is…" she pressed her cold palms to her cheeks, feeling them begin to burn. "Harada Sanosuke!"

"That mortal again! Are your lifelines stuck together!?" Shigure growled irritably.

Burado did not hear his words. Panting, she gasped for air and tried to recover. She no longer hoped that she would meet this man ever in her life, she was already used to nursing a wound on a broken heart.

Without thinking for almost a second, the girl moved after the column of soldiers, bypassing the people coming towards her. Harada's shaggy dark-brown tail loomed somewhere ahead, his crown towering high above the rest. The girl didn't know why she was following him, it was like picking up a badly healed wound. He has become so... big, tall, it seems, he has grown into a real warrior. Before going further, she wanted to succumb to a selfish desire to take a closer look at him.

"Girl, where did you run off to?!" Toukabo Shigure was indignant, but his words had no effect on her.

Her heart was beating like a wounded bird in her chest. At one point, she managed to sneak up so close that she saw his muscular arms, tanned from frequent exposure to the sun, every wreath and muscle on them, the folds on the pale blue sleeve of haori. Holding her breath, Burado watched him pass by, just an arm's length away. To him, she was a vague shadow, another face from the crowd.

"Who are you?"

Before she could react, the cold blade of the kunai pressed against her back.

[blueblood99-art]

So there's gonna be a little thing (some kind of imagine I guess) about Harada being rasetsu (fury) and Burado's reaction to this (spoiler: she'll be not so happy about it :D).

Here's a little sneak peek:

I also started to translate the second chapter of my story, it'll come out in 2 or 3 days

[blueblood99-art]

"Flowers in spider webs" [1]

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.

______

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.

__________

"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?

_______________

"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.

________________________

"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! "

Burado felt her head gradually splitting, as she felt sick. She needed a break.

[blueblood99-art]

"The last goodbye" - Harada x Burado (my OC, a shinigami)

She came to Ueno to take his life

This is gonna be my favorite comic so far ^^ You also can read a little scene that I wrote recently here.