It had been a rainy night, a young woman had been traveling from across the sea, the full moon was a tint of red. She looked up at the sky an let out a sigh, in her mind a red full moon was a bad omen. She was still getting used to Japan, she loved it but sometimes Ronin gave her trouble simply for being a woman. Her long black hair blew in the wind, the wind then brought her the scent of human Ronin. "Great, just what I need," she muttered to herself as she noticed men starting to surround her. Alarmed, she placed her hand on the double sheathes on her back which held her kunai, she had other weapons on hand as well.
Well, well, well, what do we have here boys?" One of the Ronin asked as he approached her as if he had the advantage. She moved her eyes around as each man approached her, this is bad she thought to herself. Crowded fights were not her forte. There was only one option, she had to get away from them and she had the perfect way to do so. She put her hand in her satchel, grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it onto the ground causing smoke to surround her and the men around her. Using the smoke as her opportunity, she ran from the men as swiftly as she could.
Not long after the smoke cleared, shouts followed her as she ran to hide from the crowd of men. There had been at least seven Ronin, they were always drunk or causing trouble, or both she thought to herself as she continued to run. She then noticed a small alleyway that she was able to squeeze into as they ran past the area. Breathing hard, she tried to catch her breath from the running. To her dismay a plank of wood fell not far from her, the men heard it and ran to her location to see if it was her.
Letting out an exasperated sigh she stood and began running again, almost tripping over the wood she hurt her foot. A searing pain went through her leg, though she did all that she could to not make a sound so she would not give her location away. This slowed her speed down quite a bit, making it so she had to run a little and find a hiding spot so she would not stress her foot too badly. She leaned her head back against the wall of a building enduring the pain of her ankle," must've sprained it," she whispered to herself.
The voices of the men started to draw close again, so she started to move again, that was when she met him. A man with dark red hair and dark amber eyes. She was drawn to him almost instantly, as if it were love at first sight. He looked her way for a moment, he was wearing white and red clothes under a blue coat with white stripes and had white bandages around his hands. His eyes widened as he saw the young woman, she was soaked due to the rain./p
He looked over to his men," Go on without me, I will see to her. I won't take long," he promised them. His men nodded and walked ahead of him. He was surprised with how tall she was for a woman, putting that thought to the side he noticed her wincing as she put weight on her foot," you shouldn't move on that ankle, you will only make it worse," he warned her as he leaned down and checked her ankle," You have a pretty nasty sprain," he informed her. So, she had been right about that she thought to herself.
Why did you stop to help me, a stranger?" She asked him confused. He looked up at her and smiled, "I saw that you may be injured and wanted to help. Not everyone needs a reason to help someone though," he explained. She returned his smile with some shyness to it. Their moment didn't last long as shouts were soon heard once again," Great, they're almost here. They don't give up," she said with an exasperated sigh. He looked down the street and saw the Ronin that had been chasing her.
He narrowed his eyes angrily, "Don't you worry ma'am, I won't let them touch you," he assured her as she was leaning her head against the building in pain. As the men approached them, he took his spear in one hand and readied a stance as he stood in front of the young woman. She watched him surprised, fighting was nothing new to her but having someone protect her instead of the other way around, that she was not accustomed to. She couldn't take her eyes off him, not because she was in love, but from awe and respect for someone that would go out of his way to protect a stranger.
He slammed his spear to the ground," You have disturbed the peace, so you will be punished for it. Chasing a young woman to the point she gets injured is dishonorable!" he yelled at them angrily," I, Sanosuke Harada Captain of the tenth division of the Shinsengumi shall defeat you all if you refuse to back down!" he declared as he lowed himself into a fighting stance holding his spear with both hands. This had caused the men to back away slightly," A mibu wolf," one of the men whispered in fear. One by one, the men ran in the other direction not wanting to deal with a member of the Shinsengumi. Once the men had scattered, he leaned his spear against the building and picked the young woman up and then asked one of his men to carry his spear for him.
Surprised she looked up at him, her amethyst eyes meeting his dark amber eyes. He smiled as if to reassure her that it would be ok. "I don't need to be carried off like a princess by a white knight," she told him with a surprised tone in her voice. He laughed at her analogy," No, but your ankle must hurt bad, so I rather carry you to our headquarters to have it treated over you making it worse. There aren't any doctors awake at this hour otherwise I'd take you to one of them instead," he responded with a smile.
"So, your name is Sanosuke Harada huh? That was quite the intimidating speech you gave them, since I already know your name, I suppose I can give you my name. My name is Xai Celestial," she told him as she looked up at him as he carried her. From time to time she looked back at the men following them back to the headquarters. Each step he took, and her ankle hit part of his body, pain was sent up her leg. He looked at her with concern noticing that she was enduring a lot of pain," It's nice to meet you Xai, endure a little longer we are almost there," he told her with a concerned look.
A little farther and he felt a weight on his shoulder, when he looked down, he saw that she had passed out from the pain. He looked at her with concern and continued to the headquarters. Wanting to get her to the headquarters quickly and since she had passed away, he decided to sprint there, the men followed behind keeping pace with him. Within five minutes they arrived at the gates, though to an angry man. His purple eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms.
"I told you your curfew, be lucky that I don't make you take the punishment for breaking the rules," he snapped. He looked over and then noticed a woman in the arms of Sanosuke," Why did you bring a civilian here?" he asked coldly looking her over head to toe with his eyes. He moved his black ponytail behind his shoulder and approached Sanosuke," she faint? Her ankle seems swollen too, let's get her inside since you brought her here there is no saying what she may or may not here. If it comes to that there is no saying what will happen to her. Do you accept such responsibility on your shoulders for bringing her here?" he asked him as he looked Sanosuke square in the eye.
"I do accept responsibility, Vice Commander Hijikata. I apologize for being late, I had stopped to help her. At least seven ronin were chasing her, why I don't know but I doubt it was a good reason, I will take any punishment you decide on," he told the man with a serious tone to his voice. Hijikata thought for a moment and let out a sigh," Let this be a warning. I will let it slide since you were helping someone. Hard to know what they would have done if they caught up to her," he admitted as he led him into the headquarters common room. Once there, he laid her on a futon that Hijikata had rolled out, he smiled at him knowing that he wasn't often this lenient.
After laying Xai down, Sanosuke left the room and came back in with a first aid kit. Bending down on one knee he opened the kit and took out some bandage and wrapped it around her ankle so that it wasn't too tight but tight enough to support the ankle so that I could heal up. After he finished wrapping her ankle, he took a cushion and placed it under her foot so that she could elevate her foot. Sanosuke looked over at Hijikata," I will sleep in here tonight so that I can be here in case she needs something," he told him as he pulled out a second spare futon. Scoffing Hijikata shrugged and muttered," do as you wish," then he walked off to go to bed himself.
The next morning, the common room was crowded with the rest of the captains of the shinsengumi. Most of them were looking in shock at the fact that there was a woman sleeping in the common room. Sanosuke greeted them as they came in. A man with dark brown hair and blue eyes approached him," Where the hell did you find a cute girl like her?" he asked clearly jealous. Sanosuke laughed," Shinpachi I didn't bring her here because I wanted to. She was being pursued by a group of ronin and hurt her ankle, with no doctors around at the time I brought her here to treat her ankle," he explained.
Shinpachi nudged at him sheepishly thinking he was just covering up, Sanosuke shook his head at his best friend sighing in exasperation. To shut him up he pulled his green bandana over his eyes. Shinpachi let out a yelp of surprise and took a minute to fix it, once he fixed it he shot his friend a playful glare. Another man that approached didn't look to be a full-grown man despite being such, he had long brown hair in a ponytail with bluish eyes, he wore a yellow top mixed with purple. "Hey how come you two get all the fun?" He asked complaining.
"Heisuke, I already told all of you, I only brought her here because at the time there were no open doctors. It was also raining, and she was soaked, and I didn't want her to get sick," Sanosuke explained once again showing signs of irritation since no one was listening to him. A man with a smirk on his face approached the two of them, he looked at the sleeping girl and then back at Sanosuke," That's what you say, but how are we to know you just don't want to say that to avoid punishment?" he asked with a smirk as he leaned over to touch her hair and Sanosuke stopped him with a glare.
"Because, I was there when he came in with her, now knock your shit off Souji," Hijikata snapped as he entered the room. A man with sandy brown hair, and hazel eyes, he wore a blue kimono and bowed in a sarcastic manner as Hijikata entered the room," Good morning, Sannan," Hijikata greeted. There was a man that had been standing in the back silently watching, he had purple hair in a low ponytail which trailed over his shoulder and bright blue eyes, he bowed to Hijikata as he entered the room," Ah, Saito there you are was wondering where you were. I will have some work for you later," he told him as he sat down. Saito nodded at him," understood," he muttered quietly.
In the hall as the men were quieting down and finding their places to sit, two men entered the room. A man wearing a yellow kimono with black hair in an updo which showed some balding and then another man wearing a black kimono laughing as they entered the room, he too had black hair though unlike the other man his hair was not balding, and he had light brown eyes instead of hazel. Hijikata looked up as the two entered," Kandou, Inoue I'm glad you made it for breakfast, though Sanosuke was going to wake our guest so we may all eat," Hijikata said in greeting to the two as he shot Sanosuke a looked as if it had been an order.
The two men looked over where Sanosuke was sitting in surprise," oh my, there's a young lady here," Inoue said with a tone of surprise. Kondou had a look of surprise as well," This is unusual, she doesn't know anything does she?" he asked before Sanosuke shook her lightly to wake her up. Hijikata shook his head to affirm that she did not know anything that she should not.
As she stirred, she opened her eyes and looked around and tried to sit up though it was obvious that it was not comfortable for her to do so. Sanosuke noticing this, helped her to sit up by letting her lean on him as he sat her up and repositioned her foot so that it was not being strained. "Where am I?" she asked quietly with a confused look.
"You're at the Shinsengumi headquarters," Sanosuke explained," I had to bring you here since it was late and a doctor wouldn't help you if you were with me," he continued as he held a somber look. A smile crossed her face which caused hearts across the room to skip a beat. "I appreciate you helping me then, most doctors are useless these days anyway," she admitted as she sat up a little more. "The pain has gone down thanks to your help, anyway I don't think I have met your comrades," she said as she looked at the other members sitting around the room.
Kondou sat down and looked at her with a smile," Well, welcome to our headquarters. You are welcome to stay as long as you need to heal up. I am Isami Kondou, I am the commander of the Shinsengumi. Next to me is Genzaburou Inoue," he told her as he motioned at the man next to him who had bowed at her," It is a pleasure miss-"He motioned at her as if asking her name," Xai Celestial," she responded with a smile. "Beautiful name, I am the captain of the sixth division," he continued.
Kondou motioned at the next one in their sitting circle, a sly smile crossed his face," Souji Okita Captain of the first division," he shrugged and tilted his head to the next person," Hajime Saito, captain of the third division," he told her quietly with a bow and then looked at the person sitting next to him,"Heisuke Todou, captain of the eight division!" he said excitedly in what was almost a shout. Shinpachi hit him on the top of the head causing him to rub the top of his head in pain," Shinpachi Nagakura, captain of the second division," he told her with a smile as he sat back down from hitting Heisuke.
Sannan nodded at her with a smile that was hard to distinguish if it were sincere or not," Keisuke Sannan, I am the other Vice Commander much like Toshizo Hijikata," he said motioning at Hijikata who was scowling at Heisuke for acting out once again. He then looked over at Xai," Like he said my name is Toshizo Hijikata, there are two other members but you may or may not see them, they come and go," he explained as he crossed his arms," now that everyone introduced themselves let's eat," he said as he picked up his chopsticks.
"Well, it is nice to meet you all, thank you for allowing me to stay though I am unsure why you told me your ranking as well as your name," she admitted as she ate some of the rice rather slowly since it had too much salt. Shinpachi noticing the expression looked around," who used too much salt again?" he asked rather disgruntled as he shoveled the rice in his mouth. No one answered his question, as everyone was eating their food.
As soon as most of the men left the room, Xai checked her ankle noticing that it was nearly healed already. She touched it lightly when none of the men were looking her way so that she could finish the healing of her ankle. Then she removed the bandage," Looks like it is better guess it wasn't as bad as it felt," she said with a smile. Stating that, she stood up to test her ankle out and like she had expected there was no pain. Sanosuke smiled at her," I am glad your pain is gone, what do you plan to do now?" he asked her curiously.
She thought for a moment, "I will probably go back to town and check into the hotel I was supposed to show up at last night. Given what you guys said about your reputation around here, I will just tell them I got delayed by a day," she told him with a shrug. He smiled wryly and nodded," probably a good idea, otherwise they may not allow you to stay there," he told her with a somber look. Xai looked at him sadly but nodded and picked up her satchel, she shrugged it onto her shoulder and then started on her way out. Though she was stopped by Sanosuke," Let me at least walk you out of the headquarters," he offered. With a smile she nodded accepting his offer. The two of them then walked out the door together, he walked her to the gates that he brought her through the other night. "Be more careful so this doesn't happen again, can't always be there to help you," he advised with a smile. "Don't worry, Sanosuke I will be careful, that only happened because of the rain causing a plank of wood to fall on my ankle," she explained. The two nod at each other and with a wave she left for town.
Going the long way so it wouldn't seem that she came from Mibu took longer than she had expected, as it was nearly sundown by the time, she reached Kyoto. Sighing, she looked around looking for the hotel she was booked to stay at. She then spotted it, a brown little building with the words 'Ikedaya Inn' plastered on the side of the building. "There it is," she muttered to herself as she crossed from where she was standing and walked inside.
"Oh, welcome to Ikedaya Inn," a woman at the front said with a bow though she had not been expecting a customer at the moment. "Hello, my name is Xai Celestial, and I had reserved a room. I had planned to check in yesterday, but the rain delayed my trip from Edo," she explained. The woman smiled at her and nodded," Ah yes, I am glad that you made it safely your room is right this way miss Celestial," she said as she motioned for her to follow her to her room. Xai followed her and as they reached the room, she thanked her and the two bowed to each other and then the woman walked off to return to her duties.
She looked around the room, it was on the small side with a rolled-up futon in the corner with a blanket folded next to it. "I still can't get used to how different it is here," she said to herself as she looked out the window. Despite having no where to go overseas where she was from, she missed it all the same. She closed her eyes to stop herself from crying.
It was then that she sensed someone above her room's roof, looking up she removed part of the roof and heard footsteps moving away from the room, not appreciating being spied on, she jumped up there herself crouching low enough that she was able to move across just as quickly and cornered the person not far from her room. The spy had in fact been a man with long brown hair held a ponytail with purple eyes," who are you and why are you watching my room?" she asked him angrily. The man looked at her shocked," You were able to tell I was there despite how silent I was," he stammered. "Of course, I could, I can feel energy from people around me. Tell me are you one of those two members Hijikata spoke of that I would or would not meet?" she demanded as she held him by the scruff of his shirt.
"Yes, now if you would kindly release me, I will tell you why I am here, preferably in your room," he told her as he grabbed at the hand that was grabbing his kimono. "Fine, but no funny stuff as I move in front of you," she warned as she made her way back to her room. Once in her room, she backed away from the hole in the roof and he jumped down and joined her and then another man appeared after him. She raised a brow at the two of them. "Ninja, huh?" she asked to no one in particular.
The two looked at her in surprise but said nothing, "First let's get to know each other I am Susumu Yamazaki, and my companion here is Kai Shimada," he told her as he motioned at the bigger man. He wore a green kimono with a black trail where it folded. The other man wore a red kimono, he had his black hair in an updo, and he smiled at her with kind looking amber yellow eyes. She thought for a moment as she heard their introductions.
"I would normally say it's nice to meet you but right now I am not so sure since you were spying on my room. Where I am from, they call that a peeping tom," she told the two of them irritably. They looked at her confused," So, you aren't from Japan normally?" the two of them asked. She shook her head," No, I'm from overseas, why I am here though is my own business that I don't wish to share with you," she told them in a mater of a fact tone. "I'm assuming I don't need to tell you my name either since you work for Hijikata," she said a little irritated. The two of them nodded to confirm that she was right, she shook her head and looked at the ground.
"Anyway, know that we weren't sent to spy on you but to warn you of an attack that will happen here soon," Yamazaki informed her as his partner nodded his head as to confirm what he was saying. She stood there and thought for a moment," So be it, I have nowhere else to go so I suppose I will just have to be aware of the attack and make sure innocent people aren't dragged into it," she told him with a small smile. "I do appreciate the warning though you could have just come through the door and then you wouldn't have alarmed me in the manner you did," she told him as she crossed her arms. He smiled at her wryly," I suppose you are right about that, though he ordered us not to be seen by the other members- "she raised her brow and tapped her foot," perhaps a message then?" she said growing more irritated by the second.
The two men averted her eyes and then bowed and excused themselves having finished their jobs. As soon as they left her room they returned to the Shinsengumi headquarters, they looked as if they wanted to drop where they stood. Hijikata looked at the two of them," Is there a problem?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Yamazaki shook his head, "No, vice-commander, just surprised that she could tell we were above her room despite not having made a sound," he informed him which had caused a surprised look from Hijikata as well.
He thought for a moment on what he had just been told, it was clear to him that she may need some actual observation. "This woman appears to be rather unique, they to observe her from a distance without being caught if possible," he ordered though he got two nervous looks in response. He gave the two of them an exasperated look and dismissed them. That was when Souji came into the room," able to find them when they are silent she sounds like fun," he told Hijikata as he let out a laugh," I wonder how she is in a fight," he wondered aloud as Hijikata shot him a glare as a warning which caused him to leave the room.
At the inn tension could be felt in the air, sitting in her room Xai was able to hear every conversation going on around her. She closed her eyes as she focused on a certain conversation, talk about an attack and then there was word about the place and time. "It would seem those two were right about their information but will they see through their trickery I wonder," she wondered aloud to herself. She then stood and started to change from the purple kimono with yellow butterfly decorations to a black garb that was easy to move in. There was a piece that covered her mouth as well as black boots and gloves. If she was to warn the innocent people she wanted to be an unknown person.