CHAPTER ONE
Fortuitous
"We are all dead people with living dreams"
"Shiharu-chan, if you won't stop playing with that game console, your eyes will go bad." Hinowa gently reminded the vermillion-haired girl; clearly, the latter was too engrossed in the new game at hand.
Who knew that Monkey Hunter would finally be releasing its PSP version?
Kamiya Shiharu simply rolled her crimson eyes as she re-positioned herself on the couch, pretending as if she didn't hear a thing at all.
Hinowa sighed as she finally gave up on prodding the girl to stand up and do something worthwhile for once— after almost a hundred times of trying, the girl still wouldn't move her lazy ass off the couch, unless she needed to eat or go to the bathroom.
'Ah, such a waste', she thought. The girl had potential to be a courtesan, and if only she took things seriously, she would have been at least a Shinzô[1] by now.
But then again, this is one lazy girl we are talking about. Learning how to at least look presentable, and be a proper attendant of a courtesan, was out of the question in her vocabulary.
Cooking, proper etiquette, finesse, and everything a lady should at least have were also, unfortunately, not present with the name, "Shiharu".
She'd rather learn how to play various video games rather than learn how to play the shimasen.
If Hinowa wasn't any nice person around the block, she'd most likely be shamed from the walls of Yoshiwara by now.
The girl also wasn't capable of joining the Hyakka, since Hinowa herself would not like a scar to be embedded on the girl's skin; Tsukuyo, on the other hand, could only slap her forehead whenever the girl actually attempted to be useful for once and tried practicing the martial arts with her.
Tsukuyo practically gave up on the first day of teaching her in Kabuki-cho, after the incident with accidentally throwing a kunai at the ass of Shinsengumi's Commander while he was doing his daily routine of stalking Shimura Otae occured.
Rather, Shiharu wasn't allowed to touch any kind of weapon or sharp object anymore.
Oh, the joy.
But Shiharu was indeed talented in one thing: Video Games.
Despite being physically weak and untalented, she was actually very good whenever it came to strategizing, and playing MMORPGs. For every game that existed, those that she tried playing, she always turned out to be Top 1.
But to the eyes of others, she was simply ignored and mocked once that she'd end up being a Madao in due time if she didn't do or learn anything useful that would actually help her earn money, not lose it.
If only she'd been to Pewdiepie's generation, she would be hellish rich by now.
Tsukuyo frowned as she approached Hinowa, disappointment evident in the courtesan's eyes.
"So it was a fail again today, huh?"
Hinowa nodded sadly in response. "I've tried everything, but nothing happens. I tried confiscating the console once, but the next day, I saw it in her hands once again. Be it the PC, PSP, DS, Wii— all of them I tell you, but still to no avail."
"Isn't it about time we try being rough on her for once? The kid needs to learn at least a thing or two." Tsukuyo nonchalantly suggested, while puffing her kiseru.
Hinowa frowned once again. "That is not possible, I don't want to scar her further. It's bad enough that both of her parents are gone."
"Well… we'd have to do something about this sooner or later, if she doesn't want to end up being like that Shinpachi from Yorozuya."
In actuality, Shiharu was never a legit family of Hinowa; she was merely an orphan who was seen living in a dumpster, who was eventually saved by the Tsukuyo during her patrol duty in Yoshiwara.
Considering that she was a Kamiya, her lineage was tracked down to the Joui Wars era, wherein all of them have been reported to be wiped out, her parents included.
According to the friends of her parents, they told Shiharu that her name Shiharu was actually composed of two seemingly opposite characters: shi (死), which means 'death', and haru (春), which stands for 'spring'.
It is indeed ironic for spring and death to be combined into a single name.
She was taken into the orphanage as a baby by a Joui rebel who was a friend of her parents, but she immediately escaped at the tender age of 7, and has been wandering around since then.
As soon as she had been taken in, Tsukuyo then proceeded to put her in a brothel as a Kamuro[2], at least she was allowed to live; it was either work or die during Hosen's time.
She was at first taught the basics, learning the alphabet, reading and writing— you name it.
For the other basic things a Kamuro should know, well… she always helplessly failed at it.
There was even this one time when she was close to being executed due to her useless self.
Tsukuyo would like to put her under the care of the Hyakka, but at that time, she was far too young to be holding a kunai.
That was why, as soon as Yoshiwara had changed its king, things went all for the better.
But now being 16 years of age and lazy, none of them is honestly sure whether Shiharu is included in those 'better changes'.
'Dang, my eyes are tired. I think I have to rest them for a bit.' Shiharu thought as she finally put the game console down, stretching her arms and legs on the couch like a cat.
Seita came inside carrying grocery bags, and scowled at the girl upon seeing that she was lazing around as usual.
"Hey, you freeloader! Come and help us for once. All you do is eat, sleep, and play all day." He grumpily said as he proceeded to go to the kitchen to hand to his mother the groceries.
Shiharu rolled her eyes once again in disapproval.
There was no way in hell would she go out to 'shop', rather, go out in general.
In fact, she hated going out.
If a homebody was to be described, she would perfectly fit in it— although she would be better classified as an extreme homebody.
"Okaa-san! Why can't we make Shiharu do the groceries for once, she's being completely useless again!" Seita whined, slumping his head on the table.
"Seita!" Hinowa gently scolded. "Never say that about your nee-san, nobody is completely useless."
"But she's not my—"
One motherly glare was all it took for Seita to shut his mouth.
"She's considered as family now, considering that nobody would like to take her in anymore. Somehow, there is potential, we just have to give her a little push."
"But how many pushes would we need?!"
Hinowa didn't respond, rather, she couldn't respond.
How many pushes would indeed be required in order for the girl to do something worthwhile?
Tsukuyo frowned; it was most likely her fault that the girl had been more of a lazy ass now.
If only it weren't for a certain samurai who briefly told her about Monkey Hunter…
The brief silence was suddenly broken as soon as Shiharu emerged from the living room, rubbing her eyes as if she just woke up from a deep sleep.
"Oh, Shiharu-chan! It's nice of you to finally get up. Would you please be so kind to help me in the kitchen? We will be having yakisoba for dinner." Hinowa cheerily greeted the girl, her hopes getting up.
Shiharu gave a blank stare before her stomach growled.
Before she could point at Seita to help, the boy and Tsukuyo suddenly disappeared from the kitchen.
She could only grunt in response as she despondently approached the courtesan.
"Alright, now I will be teaching you how to make at least this delicious meal."
Shiharu rolled her eyes. 'Oh no please.'
Seita was snickering while Tsukuyo smirked as they made their way to the Yorozuya.
It was about time they did something to somehow help his nee-san, he thought. Tsukuyo, on the other hand, was more than ready to give out an earful or two.
Oh how Gintoki was really gonna get it.
"Kagura nee-san! Open up!" Seita called, banging his small hand on the shoji door.
But the Yato was nowhere in sight; she currently has her hands full with a certain Shinsengumi officer, battling it out in the park with Sadaharu.
Instead, a very much annoyed Shinpachi opened up for them instead.
"Is there any other way you know, any other gentle way you know on how to properly knock?!" He scolded the young boy, a vein popping on his forehead.
Seita glared at him, giving an annoyed huff in response. "At least I didn't break the door, megane."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Tsukuyo, ignoring the argument, merely said, "Is Gintoki here? I'd like to have a word with him."
Shinpachi shifted his attention to the Hyakka leader who was currently frowning at him.
He had a bad feeling that this would not be ending well.
"W-well… he's inside. Would you like to come in?" He cautiously responded, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his face.
"Certainly."
Seita smirked in triumph while the glasses boy glared at him in response, allowing the two to come in.
As usual, Gintoki was busy lazing off, reading the latest issue of Jump.
Tsukuyo's right eye twitched as she briefly was reminded of this position.
If only they didn't know Shiharu's history, they would've honestly thought of her as being the samurai's child.
They even had the same color of eyes, surely it is possible…
… or not.
Tsukuyo approached him and stood, glaring at him.
"Oh, hello." Gintoki lazily greeted her as he flipped the page.
"Would you care to take responsibility?" She seethes, giving the samurai a death glare. If looks could kill, Gintoki would have dropped dead by now.
"Responsibility for what? Ah, just make megane-kun over there take responsibility for it, since he's the most responsible out of us three."
"WHAT?! I'M TIRED OF BEING THE STRAIGHT MAN IN THIS ANIME!"
Out the distance, the fourth wall crumbled to pieces with a sickening crack.
"Ne, I'm the main character here, so I always hog all the screen time. Maybe it's about time you make yourself useful. Young boys shouldn't grow to be lazy bums, or you'll be a cherry boy for life."
If only the fourth wall could repair itself just to crumble yet again, it would have happened by now.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I'M NOT A CHERRY BOY! I HAVE OTSUU-CHAN! AND AREN'T YOU BEING THE LAZY BUM HERE? WHO KNOWS GIN-CHAN, YOU MIGHT BE A CHERRY BOY YOURSELF!"
"Hai hai, tons of Otsuu figurines at your Otsuu altar. And no, Pachi-kun. Your old Gin-san here is a master of women, I know everything about these species." He drawled, only to earn a whack in the head by the Hyakka leader, after snatching the precious manga from his hands.
"If you knew everything about women, then I'm sure that you would be able to know about our girl as well. Thanks to you, she wouldn't get up unless she needs to attend to her physiologic needs." She icily responded, giving Gintoki the shivers.
If only he wasn't up against someone like her, he would have been running for his life by now.
"What girl? I have not laid in bed for— wait you don't need to know that!"
WHACK!
"Uh Gin-san, I think it's best if you just stopped talking."
"How hurtful of you to say that, glasses-kun. I have not—"
"I AM NOT GLASSES-KUN! I HAVE A NAME!"
"I have a favor, no, order to ask of you." Tsukuyo interrupted, getting more impatient by the second. "We have this certain freeloader kid who has been doing nothing but play games all day, not play with men, as you have implied."
Gintoki gave her his trademark dead fish eyes expression. "Eh, Seita-kun? But he's with you now, isn't he?"
"Not this one!" She irritatingly responded. "Shiharu! The female kid living with us!"
Gintoki and Shinpachi looked at each other with confused looks. The glasses boy was the first to respond.
"But Tsukuyo-san, during our visits we are sure that we haven't seen any other female you are pertaining to."
"Well that's because she's too busy lazing around, locked up in her rooms for goodness knows how long."
"Isn't this supposed to be your job then? You have a whole Hyakka to lead, and I'm sure you're a fine and dandy leader." Gintoki responded, picking his ear.
Tsukuyo slightly blused at the compliment, silencing herself for a minute.
"Uh… Tsukuyo nee-san." Seita gently nudged her, bringing her back to reality.
"W-well unfortunately, my so-called leadership skills were of no use to that brat. We couldn't put her up for training as a courtesan, nor to be part of the Hyakka. That is why I need your help, considering that the both of you share the same trait."
Shinpachi sheepishly responded, scratching his head. "But Tsukuyo-san… are you sure about that? We ourselves are freelancers who do only jobs once we have customers. We can't say for sure that we will be able to… help out Shiharu-san."
'And besides, she might turn out to be lazier once she gets to hang out with Gin-san', he silently cringed at the thought.
"Nevertheless, I am still putting her under your care for some time, until she learns how to do something worthwhile. Besides, who knows what trouble might brew in our place. Yoshiwara may be safe for now, but we still can't tell for sure." She replied, puffing out smoke once again from her kiseru.
"Also, I'll be giving you compensation for your hard work, once we have seen her improved even for just a bit." She added, tossing a bag of coins to Gintoki. "Take this as some form of advanced payment."
Ka-ching sounds suddenly emanated within the heads of the two Yorozuya members.
Gintoki immediately stood up and eagerly shook Tsukuyo's hand. "Okay then where's the girl? We'd be more than happy to have another member with us!"
Seita rolled his eyes in response. 'Well, at least I have okaa-san all to myself now.' He silently smirked.
"Th-thank you Tsukuyo-san! Yes, we'd be more than happy to help!" Shinpachi beamed.
"Alright, it is settled then." Tsukuyo smiled.
Now that would be one less problem now for her to fix.
Or so it seems.
"Ah, Shiharu-chan, would you be so kind enough to buy some more tea leaves for me? I would go there myself, but unfortunately, I have my hands full with cooking." Hinowa regretfully said, earning a frown from the girl.
She sighed. Well, dang it. Hinowa's tea was good, and she couldn't pass off the opportunity to drink one of her heavenly drinks.
"Okay." She responded while putting her small palm up towards Hinowa.
The courtesan giggled. "Here, and keep the change. You deserve something for yourself, since you agreed to help me. Take care on your way!"
Shiharu gave out a small smile and nodded.
At least I'm still being treated nicely despite my uncooperativeness, she thought as she proceeded out the door.
As soon as she stepped out, she felt this foreign feeling of the cold breeze caressing her face; it has certainly been a while since she has gone out of the house.
No wonder she was pale— she was honestly mistaken for being a Yato once by some of the courtesans due to her skin color.
If only they knew the real reason.
She walked quickly towards the tea shop, fully aware that no matter how seemingly safe Yoshiwara was, it was still actually a far cry from the safe haven from above.
She immediately made her purchases and bought some packs of bubblegum for herself, as a reward.
It wouldn't hurt to splurge herself since she rarely goes out, right?
Feeling satisfied and somewhat eager to go home, she briskly walked away, deciding to use a shortcut instead to decrease her travel time.
However, the said shortcut was practically like walking into the lion's den; almost all of the hardcore brothels that contained the brute and rudest of the rude men were located in the area.
Not that Shiharu was aware of the important fact.
As soon as she passed by the dark alleyway, a pair of hands roughly yanked her towards it.
"What the— mmff!" she surprisingly uttered, before having one dirty hand cover her mouth.
It stinks, she thought with disgust for a moment, before a manic laughter was heard.
"Lucky win! Look at what we have here, men. After being penniless from the damned pachinko, we finally have a beauty to satisfy our needs." The man snickered; he was with two others who were dressed in samurai outfit as well, but seemed to reek of thrash and alcohol.
"Nice one, dude. Now we won't need to worry over earning money to have fun in the brothels." The second man sneered, violently pushing Shiharu to the wall her back ached with a loud thud.
The third man approached her, restraining her arms over her head with one hand, while the other lightly traced her cheek downwards towards her collarbone, revealing a bit of skin that had always been hidden by her black kimono.
"Such beauty indeed, those red eyes keep on tempting me to rip her right here, right now." He said maliciously, looking at her with lust-filled eyes.
The other two snickered as they proceeded to surround Shiharu, who at the moment, was mentally cursing at herself, regretting that if only she had paid more attention to Tsukuyo's teachings and trainings, she would have been able to defend herself and at least escape towards a safer place.
Thanks to me and my laziness, she regretfully thought.
However, surprising as it was, even though Shiharu was practically about to die from fear and dread, she seemed to be perfectly calm and collected on the outside, much to the slight disappointment of the third man, who seemed to be their leader.
"Ah, it's a shame though that she seems so unemotional. It'd be more fun to have a feisty one with us."
"But man, we can't be choosy now. It's rare for us to abduct a beauty like this." The second man said, moaning afterwards as he started to remove the girl's obijime, while the first man violently yanked her hair, inhaling the vanilla scent it gave off.
Shiharu was close to tears but forced herself not to cry. She had been trying to scream for a while now, but as if she was the unluckiest person on the face of the earth right now, no sound came out.
Soon her obi dropped to the dirty ground, gradually revealing her inner wear, much to the delight of her three assailants.
What a perfect day to go out, she sarcastically thought as she desperately continued to pray to the heavens to at least spare her a bit of grace.
"Danchou, it's a surprise for you to visit your own 'kingdom'. I will be as well damned to see you finally take interest in things males your age should be paying attention to." Abuto heartily joked as he and Kamui walked along the streets of Yoshiwara.
"Shut up Abuto, I'm just checking around the area for strong opponents who might be wandering around. Besides, it's boring back at the ship." Kamui, who currently had his face wrapped in bandages, cheerfully said as he punched his Vice-Captain on the cheek, earning a frown and a silent cuss from the latter.
'Yeah, it must be too boring to do the paperwork an Admiral should actually be doing, huh?' Abuto grimly thought as he gave a brief hold of his now swollen cheek.
It was really rare of Kamui to visit Yoshiwara, despite being the new King of the Night. In fact, he almost never really visited at all after Housen's death.
So for Abuto, it was indeed quite a surprise for them to be strolling down his domain at this hour.
In all honesty, Abuto was silently wishing for the Admiral to be a little bit nicer, to act as how an Admiral should, even for just a bit.
He also had this secret wish of having him experience the wonders of being a man, since clearly, Kamui was lacking in the department of expertly managing girls, being a gentleman at that.
He wasn't even gentle to food, which was supposedly his first love.
If Abuto had been given a choice, he would much rather be cooped up in the office facing mundane paperwork that had to be submitted and turned in within the week, instead of casually taking a walk with the vermillion-haired lad.
Sometimes, he honestly thought if the boy considered him as his personal nanny.
Not that he had the guts to ask though, or he might be joining Ungyo in Yato Heaven soon.
If ever Heaven existed for Yato like them.
It was strange of the Kihetai to temporarily depart with them after a while, reasoning out that a 'vacation from planning to destroy the world' should be done by both parties— the thought itself seemed ludicrous.
Who would want to enjoy the wonders earth can give, only to destroy it after?
Worse, none of the two Yato knew when they would come back to continue on with their plan, leaving his hands full of Kamui, paperwork, and more Kamui.
And more risks of being dead at the soonest time possible.
It was a wonder that Kamui never seemed to care about the current arrangement.
He was always on 'vacation' anyway.
Abuto sighed for the nth time and was about to ask the Admiral if he could go back into the ship instead to finish the paperwork that needs urgent attention, when the latter suddenly stopped.
"He he he look at that precious skin~~ You would be better off being my personal bitch! Mmmmhmm!" A lewd voice resonated from a corner to the right, earning a creepy smile from the young lad.
"Ne, Abuto, do you hear that? Would you like to check it out?"
Abuto mentally banged his head to the wall as he sighed, "Danchou, for all we know, they probably would just be some two people fucking their parts off to each other like rabbits. Let's just give them the credit and respect their privacy."
His mouth gaped in surprise and was close to carrying his boss sack-potatoes style back towards the ship as soon as he realized that he didn't listen to a word Abuto said.
Not that he had the courage to do so though.
Kamui pretended as if he didn't hear anything as he proceeded to go towards the direction of the sound.
'Ah, I will definitely be damned', Abuto thought dejectedly, following his boss towards wherever he planned to go to.
This definitely won't be pretty, since nothing good really came out of peeping on other people's 'activities'.
"He he he look at that precious skin~~ You would be better off being my personal bitch! Mmmmhmm!" the third man obscenely said, while burying his face in Shiharu's neck. The latter was scared as hell, but never made an attempt to move or at least spare herself some dignity, since fear decided to be a bitch, paralyzing her.
She closed her eyes and thought about how she must be a very bad person, to be punished severely like this. Her body shivered from the cold, a tear threatening to leak out from her right eye, by which she stubbornly willed herself to not let fall.
"Well, well, what do we have here? Shouldn't you be doing intimate things like this in a proper room? Not like I care though." Kamui cheekily said from behind as he casually walked towards them as if he was strolling down the park, followed by a very much unhappy Abuto.
In Abuto's dictionary, nobody really wanted to be walked in on, especially when things were getting good.
Not that it was good at all for Shiharu though, who suddenly opened her eyes in wide surprise and hope, upon realizing that the interruption she has been hardly praying for has finally arrived.
However, the three men who were suddenly disturbed from their lust were not happy.
Rather, they were livid the moment Kamui decided to join in the fun.
Shiharu's eyes widened as soon as she saw a male with vermillion hair with a braid that was loosely hanging on his shoulder, his face completely covered in bandages, save for his strikingly cerulean eyes. He also seemed to be accompanied by a tall, broad man with ash-brown hair. Both of them also carried intimidating-looking umbrellas.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing brat? Get away from here if you don't wanna get hu—" Fsssh. The first man dropped to the floor, blood spluttering from his throat, rendering him unable to finish his sentence, or rather, last words.
"I don't think it's nice to interrupt while other people are talking." Kamui lightly said, his smile still plastered on his face.
'If only you'd apply that to yourself Danchou, I would have been so proud of you right now.' Abuto sweat-dropped, clearly not happy about the situation they were in. He'd rather be completing paperwork than be a peeping tom on two, no, three men who seemed to be having fun just a while back before they were interrupted.
The two men released Shiharu at once, with the third one roughly shoving her inside.
They proceeded to attempt to run away, only to be silenced by Kamui, after bashing one of their heads to the while, while stomping on the other head with a sickening crunch.
"Ah, that's no fun. I thought I would finally have a good fight too. It must be that only Samurai-san is the capable samurai, the one worth fighting for." Kamui sighed, he was about to leave when he finally noticed a vermillion-haired girl slumped to the corner, her clothes currently a mess.
For a while he honestly thought the said girl was Kagura.
Abuto thought so too, except, this girl had chest-length hair, and there was no sign of the trademark buns China girl had.
Curiosity got the better of Kamui as he approached Shiharu, lifting up her chin in order to take a good look at her.
Shiharu was filled with surprise, as she stared wide-eyed to her savior, or dark knight, as she would now call it.
Kamui himself felt briefly surprised as he curiously peered into those crimson eyes; they awfully looked similar to Gintoki's, but this one didn't have a dead fish expression.
The girl shivered in fear upon noticing that bloody hands, bloody hands stained from the lifeline of her assailants just a moment ago, were currently staining her chin as well.
Kamui chuckled in response. "You seem like a scared little weakling rabbit, I see."
Abuto frowned. That was such a horrible way to greet someone who was about to be raped, he thought.
Shiharu opened her mouth to respond, but again, no words came out.
She honestly feared for her life at the moment; if this vermillion-haired guy could kill three men with ease, never batting an eye, what more would she, a mere weakling, be able to defend herself?
That's paralyzing fear to you.
"Eh? Are you mute? Thinking about it now, you don't seem to be talking." Kamui mused, finally releasing the girl's chin and standing up.
'This is boring', he thought. 'Time to leave.'
"Danchou, be more gentle with her." Abuto chided, the girl clearly was shaking in fear, but his thick-headed boss seemed to be too dense to sense such an obvious thing.
"Let's go back Abuto, I'm starting to get hungry." Kamui ignored the former comment as he turned to his subordinate and was about to leave, when suddenly Shiharu was able to fight off her fear and mumble quietly.
"Thank you. P-please have this in return." She fearfully said, shaking hands holding up the back of bubblegum she bought earlier.
Kamui turned around once again to face her, cerulean eyes meeting crimson ones.
"Oh no no girl, please don't mistake me of saving you. It's just my principle that women may be able to bear strong children, whom would possibly be worthy as an opponent of mine in the future. Children would also have the possible potential of being strong too, so no, as much as possible I restrain myself from killing women and children." He casually said, his trademark grin returning, taking the said bubblegum from her hand.
'I also wouldn't deal with weaklings. No use in wasting my time with them.', he thought.
Shiharu gave him a surprised look before slowly nodding, while the two proceeded to walk out, until they were finally out of her sight.
Suddenly feeling the trauma and exhaustion, she collapsed to the dirty ground, surrounded by the three men, or rather, corpses. The tea leaves and remaining pack of bubblegum were now scattered about as well.
"I guess I should start reforming myself into a better person." She stated, as silent tears stubbornly leaked out, staining her pale face.
After almost half an hour of remaining in place, she finally stood up, her painful body writhing in pain as she did so.
Fixing her kimono as neatly as she could, she slowly picked up her purchases and tearfully hurried home.
In her mind, she mentally swore to never step out of the house again no matter what, not after experiencing something as horrible as this.
"Ne, Abuto, what do you think this is?" Kamui asked as he popped a piece of bubblegum into his mouth, their ship finally in sight. "It tastes sweet and feels rubbery."
Abuto restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "That's what you would call, bubblegum, Danchou. It's practically gum you can chew with, but you don't really eat it at once and gulp down."
"Oh, so can it make bubbles then?"
Abuto's eye twitched in response.
He silently contemplated whether he should just join Ungyo in peace or not.
"Okaa-san, where is the freeloader? I'm hungry!" Seita whined for the nth time.
All of them were seated in the dining room for half an hour now, but still, there was no Shiharu to be found.
Tsukuyo finally decided that it was time to look for the girl. "I'll go out for a bit and look for her. Who knows what could have happened to that—"
Slide
Tsukuyo was cut off as the front door was opened, revealing a disheveled Shiharu, her eyes swollen from the tears. The two women and Seita could not believe their eyes, as Hinowa hurriedly approached the girl, hugging her like a mother would.
"Shiharu-chan! What on earth happened to you?!"
Shiharu grimly smiled in response. "Well, I slipped and fell."
The two women would hear none of her excuses, Tsukuyo gently chiding Hinowa to hand the girl to her.
"Seita and you could proceed to eat dinner; it would be a waste to leave the food turn cold." Upon seeing the panicked eyes of Hinowa, she added. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Shiharu-chan."
Hinowa silently nodded, slightly shaking as she returned to the table, with a very much concerned-looking Seita.
Tsukuyo silently brought Shiharu to the bathroom as the latter looked as apathetic as possible.
"You were about to be assaulted, weren't you?"
Shiharu looked at Tsukuyo with surprise, letting silent tears fall once again as she saw the sorrowful expression Tsukuyo's eyes had.
She slowly nodded, hugging the Hyakka leader immediately as soon as she couldn't take it anymore.
Shiharu rarely cried, but when she did, it was only because of traumatic things.
And this would be the first time she experienced something terribly traumatic as this.
"Ssh, don't cry… at least you're safe now." Tsukuyo soothingly said, while combing the girl's hair. As soon as this was all done, she would definitely hunt the bastards who dare touch their own girl. No matter what, Shiharu was still family, and it would always remain that way.
Shiharu finally let out quiet sobs as she continued to shake under Tsukuyo's motherly hold, the latter gently prodding her to tell more.
"So how did you escape?"
The girl forcefully let herself calm down for a bit in order for her to somewhat coherently respond.
"Braids… Orange man…" she responded between hiccups and tears.
'Braids, orange man?' Tsukuyo silently wondered until the realization hit her.
"Don't tell me he's—"
Shiharu unknowingly interrupted her. "I think his name is Danchou."
Tsukuyo absent-mindedly pulled Shiharu's cheeks, frowning at the girl. The tender moment was obviously forgotten for a minute.
"His name is not 'Danchou', you brat. He's the new King of the Knight, Harusame's former 7th Division Captain, now an Admiral, Kamui."
Shiharu looked puzzled for a moment. "But the Abuto guy called him Danchou."
Tsukuyo could only slap her forehead in response.
A/N:
Hi! It's Juuno again. XD I decided to make a new fic featuring Kamui and an OC of mine, since I was quite disappointed with the first fan fic I made about him. ._. *hides from a murderous-looking Aika*
Also, I would like to thank GinkoxKaguura and BloodyCamellia in giving input on the latest chapter of my other fan fic, which is now discontinued. Your reviews and opinions really helped me a lot with my decision to start anew. ^-^
Please do tell me as well your thoughts regarding this chapter, y'guys! Thank you so much for reading. :D
[1]Shinzo – (新造, lit. "newly made") were courtesans-in-training, usually 13 to 23 years of age, who usually served as attendants to higher-ranking courtesans.
[2]Kamuro – (禿) were children, usually seven to fifteen years of age, who served as courtesans' attendants.