The fire.
The screams.
The loss.
The memories of her family's dojo burning down still haunted her every waking moment. She was entrusted with an ancient dojo that had been in her family since the way of the samurai was coined and she lost it to the rogue samurai, whom the word "nationalist" is wasted on. Many of the men were killed, but some did survive, only for her to see them off to new dojos around Japan before she set off on her own journey to find a new one to call her home. Many of them rejected her simply because she was a woman; "women should not be warriors" they would say before casting her out. They never gave her opportunities to prove her worth in combat; she had mastered a couple of different weapons and techniques, but it meant nothing to the samurai men.
It had been two years since the dojo was burnt down and a year since she had started her own journey around Japan to find herself a new home; she had arrived in the capital, Kyoto. This city was ridden with rogue samurai that loved using their samurai status to take what they wished from innocent civilians, showing that they were unfit to wear the title of a warrior, in her own opinion. She had heard that this city was the stomping ground for the Shinsengumi, a clan of ruthless warriors, some of whom were not born into a samurai bloodline, which made almost all of the "real" samurai hate them. Given that this clan of samurai warriors was heavily judged a discredited, surely they wouldn't be in a position to judge her the same way, right? There was only one way for her a find out: she had to go to the Shinsengumi headquarters and meet with the commander and vice commander. As she approached the gate, a small group of the warriors were being lead out, assumedly to go on patrol. The group stopped in their tracks and the captain of the group looked her up and down.
"Not exactly a conventional outfit for a woman." He said, with a smile on his face. She ignored the remark and bowed politely.
"I am Kachi Sato, formerly a commander of a dojo that once housed many soldiers. I would like to speak to your commander and vice commander, if you don't mind." The group of men looked a little surprised, but the smile returned to the captain's face.
"I'm Souji Okita. I'll take you to 'em, the rest of you guys go on ahead; I'll catch up." The team obeyed Souji's command and went on ahead. After the team left, he gestured for her to follow him. As she was guided through, she looked around, focusing on the groups that were training; she was in awe at how focused and skilled the soldiers were – truly admirable.
"Hey, Hijikata, Kondou, there's a girl here to see you." Souji said as he stopped outside one of the buildings. There was a brief pause before she got the OK to go in. She entered the room and took her place opposite the two commanders.
"What business do you have here?" One said, wearing a cold, emotionless expression. If he was always like this, if she got accepted by them, she would be avoiding him at all costs.
"I am Kachi Sato, formerly a commander of an ancient dojo. I have come requesting assistance." She stated, bowing for them. The other commander's brow furrowed while the stone-faced one remained stone-faced.
"I am Isami Kondou, the commander of the Shinsengumi and this is Hijikata Toshizo, the vice commander. What do you need from us?" Kondou seemed much friendlier and approachable than Hijikata, whom was still remaining stone-faced.
"Two years ago, my family dojo was burned down by rogue samurai and I spent a year afterwards finding the men that survived new dojos to call their homes."
"But what have you spent the last year doing?" Hijikata chimed in, still with an emotionless expression plastered onto his face.
"Searching for a dojo that I can fit into. I have been rejected by all the other ones I have been to simply for my gender."
"And what makes you think we are going to be any different?" The more the vice commander talked, the less she liked him. His emotionless expression and his stern way of talking made him intimidating.
"The Shinsengumi is not just comprised of people of samurai descent and for that, you are ridiculed by the ones that consider themselves to be "real" samurai. I would expect much more understanding from you." The pair looked slightly surprised at her words, but her boldness was admirable.
"Hm…are you any good with a sword?" Kondou asked, sounding like he was seriously considering letting her join this clan.
"Yes. I've been trained with a short sword since a young age in my family's dojo." Kondou nodded, clearly having a deep think about whether or not he wanted to add her into the clan. Hijikata and Kachi watched him as the cogs in his head turned, piecing together his thoughts. She didn't keep her hopes up, not after all the other clans that rejected her prior to this.
"I guess one more soldier can only be considered a good thing, so I don't see why you staying would be a problem." The commander lilted with a smile. She looked at him with pleasant surprise, while the vice commander looked at him with shock and displeasure. "You'll have to prove yourself by duelling with Hajime Saitou. If you need to work on anything, we'll be happy to train you." Hijikata heaved a sigh ad directed his sight back to Kachi.
"If you are to stay, then you must go find Saitou and ask him to test your abilities. You will find him duelling in the courtyard." She fought back a smile in order to keep up her professional appearance and bowed to the two men.
"Thank you. I will do everything I can to prove my worth to you." And with that, she got up and left the building to find Hajime Saitou. The Shinsengumi headquarters was much more organised and friendlier looking than her old dojo, not to mention considerably bigger. She passed by groups training vigorously and stopped in tracks when she spotted a duelling pair in the courtyard; it was only safe to assume that one of those men was Hajime Saitou. The pair's swords were moving quickly, slicing through the air. The pair looked evenly matched until one managed to disarm the other, launching his sword into the ground a couple of feet away from Kachi. The one that was disarmed let out a laugh before her presence caught his attention.
"Oh, what brings a pretty girl like you to a place like this?" Her eyebrows raised, but she decided to disregard the comment.
"Is one of you Hajime Saitou?" The flirtatious one looked surprised for a moment before winking, nudging the other man and grabbing his weapon, promptly taking his leave. The one remaining, assumedly Hajime Saitou, let out a sigh and put his sword away as he walked towards her.
"I am Hajime Saitou, and you are?" His voice was quiet and his demeanour was extremely calm – characteristics she rarely saw in a samurai. She bowed to him.
"I am Kachi Sato, I was told by commander Kondou and vice commander Hijikata to duel with you in order to prove my worth here." His expression didn't alter, he simply nodded.
"Okay, draw your sword." No questions? Not even one? The lack of questions was surprising to her, but he didn't seem to be the talkative type, so maybe it wasn't too surprising. She drew her sword and got into position; she hadn't been in a real sword fight for a long time and was probably out of practice, but it was worth a shot. Saitou drew his own sword and got into position too. "If you're worried about killing me, you can hit me with the back of your sword. Don't hold back." She nodded once and focused on Saitou. She made the first move, charging toward him and swinging her sword; he blocked the blow with his own sword while she delivered a kick to his abdomen, knocking him down. It was safe to say that Saitou was surprised by her move, but it didn't get to him. He quickly got to his feet and lunged at her, bringing his sword down from above, but his move was blocked; he quickly moved his sword back and swung it in from the side – she blocked that move, too. He promptly kicked her in the abdomen, knocking her to floor; she looked up at Saitou and saw him about to bring his sword down onto her again, causing her eyes to widen and for her to roll out of the way. When she regained sight of him, she kicked his sword out of his hand and they watched it as it landed several feet away. She got to her feet again – a warrior was vulnerable if they remained on the ground in front of their foe. Her gaze landed on Saitou, whom was still looking at his weapon with evident surprise. Was she a great swordsman or was he just terrible? She couldn't tell. He collected his sword and put it away before returning to her with a look of satisfaction on his face.
"You show a lot of promise as a warrior. I'll inform Hijikata and Kondou of what happened. For now, I will leave you to explore the grounds for yourself." And with that, he left her alone. With a smile on her face, she put her sword away. It had been a long time since she felt like she was welcome anywhere and she was glad that she was being welcomed by the Shinsengumi. She had heard of the Shinsengumi and how they handled the rogue samurai, protecting the innocent civilians in Kyoto from them. They were great warriors and she wanted to live up the expectations they had for her.
She sauntered off to look around, attempting to learn the layout of the grounds. While she was wandering around, three men caught sight of her; she knew one as the man that was duelling with Saitou earlier.
"Hey, who's that?" One asked loudly, causing her gaze to turn to them. They didn't seem like an intimidating trio, so she approached them without giving it too much thought. "What's your name?"
"I'm Kachi Sato. I was formerly a commander of a dojo that had been passed through my family for generations." She had gotten sick of introducing herself to everybody as a former member of an ancient dojo a long time ago – she was looking forward to introducing herself as a member of the Shinsengumi.
"Formerly, huh? Well, I'm Shinpachi Nagakura, the one that was sparring with Saitou before. I've never seen a female samurai before." He said with a slightly flirtatious smile. She was being considered a samurai? Even amongst her own soldiers, she wasn't considered to be a true samurai because of her gender, but she was greatly respected by them.
"Yeah, neither have I. And I would ever have dreamed of her being so pretty. I'm Sanosuke Harada, by the way. If you ever need anything, anything at all, just let me know." He said with a smile and a wink. She had grown used to men behaving like this toward her, so she developed a habit of thinking absolutely nothing of it.
"Yeah, right, Harada. I'm Heisuke Toudou. If you ever need anything, don't go running to that guy, come ask me, 'kay?" Heisuke didn't have that slightly predator-like vibe about him, he was just being very obviously friendly. "So what brings you here?" He asked, patting a place next to him as a gesture for her to sit down; she took her place next to him.
"My family's dojo was raided and burnt down a couple of years ago. After I helped relocate all the men that survived, I started looking for my own place to go. None of the other clans wanted to accept me because I'm a woman, so you guys, the Shinsengumi, were my last hope." The three men all nodded in understanding. Her hopes of being accepted by them were raising themselves; they seemed to understand her more than the other clans did.
"You know, it's awfully noble of you to relocate the soldiers you trained before yourself. I bet you were a great leader." Harada commented. She had never thought it a noble move, only something any real leader would do for their me. "I bet you would've had to rule over those guys with an iron fist, too. You know how men are."
"Actually, the fear in them was more like the fear a husband has of his wife; he respects her highly and is relaxed around her, but he doesn't dare get on the wrong side of her." The trio chuckled.
"If that's true, I'd hate to get on your bad side." Shinpachi chuckled. "You know, if you want to stay here, they're probably going to make you help out with cooking and cleaning. I hope you're good at those things."
"I cooked for my patrol group at the end of a night in the old dojo and we all had our own buildings to keep clean just so no one felt like they were being treated as our dog." The trio seemed happy with her response; they knew they weren't going to be poisoned. Before they knew it, Saitou had managed to locate her again. She was hopeful that he was going to bring her good news.
"Kachi, Hijikata wanted me to give you the news. He's allowing you to stay on the condition that help out when you're asked. Is that understood?" She grinned widely alongside the trio of men and nodded happily.
"Yes, I understand. Thank you so much. I'll do everything I can to be of use to you all."
"Congratulations, Kachi. Welcome to the Shinsengumi."