It was a few hours later when Kondou called Hijikata into the meeting room. Feeling better after beating Yamazaki up, he slowly made his way to the room, meeting Okita Sougo in the hallway. Okita was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, his eyes dulled with boredom, slightly sparking as Hijikata passed him.
"Hijikata-san, did Kondou call you to the meeting room as well? Do you have any idea what he wants to talk about?" Okita kept with his pace, syncing up their steps. "You reckon he's firing you and promoting me? I bet that's it." He snickered. "This is going to be really embarrassing for you isn't it?"
"I don't know, maybe he has a raid planned out." Hijikata ignored Okita's taunts and walked into the room. He looked up and instantly halted, Okita smashing into his back.
"Geez Hijikata-san, I almost stabbed you up the ass with the hilt of my sword. These kinds of fetishes should be kept outside the work area." Okita whined and kicked him out of the way, spotting Kondou.
He was standing with his back towards them, conversing with someone Okita could not yet see. He was about to ask Hijikata what his problem was, but Kondou noticed them and turned around.
"Hey Sougo, Toushi. Thanks for coming." Kondou wore a strange expression on his face. His eyes were drooping as if all his dreams had escaped into another dimension, but they glimmered with the hope of a wonderful future. He grinned at Hijikata, who wasn't paying attention to him. "I'd like to introduce you to our new recruit."
'Oh please God, anything but this.'Hijikata was dumbstruck, as the woman from earlier stepped out from behind Kondou in one of the Shinsengumi uniforms. The jacket didn't fit her very well, hanging loose on her body, and coming up short at the bottom, exposing a thin slice of skin of her stomach. Her pants clung to her hips with the aid of a belt, but the bottom of the legs bagged on top of her new black glossy boots. Her hair was tied up in a high pony tail, which trailed down her back, her bangs loose around her face. He didn't notice until now; now that she was not wearing that horrible jumper, but even through the ill-fitting clothes, there was a hidden strength within her small stature.
She stepped forward, "My name is Nachi Natou. I have joined in order to learn and train in the ways of the Samurai. Please take care of me, Okita-senpai, Toushi-senpai." She smirked as she bowed, her familiarity causing Kondou to laugh.
"Now, now, Na-chan, you must treat Toushi with respect, or he might get upset." He shot a warning smile at Hijikata's tense posture. Kondou pulled Hijikata away from Nachi and Okita, who in just a few short seconds were immerged in a hushed conversation.
"Toushi, for a while, you'll be partnering up with her at all times, to teach her how the place works. Na-chan is from abroad, so even though she knows Japanese, she still needs to learn how to speak to her seniors." Kondou whispered; his tone brimmed with authority.
Hijikata swallowed back the protests that instantaneously rose up his throat, and spoke through gritted teeth. "Kondou-san, why did you let her join? She probably has no experience on the field, and I have no time to baby-sit a woman playing samurai." He seethed at the idea of spending another second with the newcomer.
"That is a little unfair; she was actually part of the specialist police force in her home town, and she has trained in the way of the sword." Kondou looked away from Hijikata's glare, and his cheeks reddened. "She was also, very, um, persuasive. In the end, it's a win-win scenario for both of us." A dopey smile spread across his face and he chuckled.
Hijikata shivered, "I don't want to know what happened while you two were gone, please. Did you even think about how the men would feel about a woman living with us? The poor girl will probably get molested in her sleep." He ticked off all the cons in his head, hoping that one of them will get her kicked out. Remembering how ditzy she was, he didn't even want to think about the havoc she would cause to innocent people if she had a sword in one hand.
"Oh she assured me that she'll be able to handle things like that, and I trust her strength, and I trust you." Kondou's hushed reply struck him like an arrow. "You will be sharing a room with her." Kondou swooped next his ear before he could complain. "Please Toushi, I have a good thing going here, can you please just do this one thing, for me?" His tone of desperation caused Hijikata to sigh.
"Fine, I'll watch her, but her safety isn't guaranteed in my hands, and I will not be responsible for her death." He forfeited his list and regrettably accepted the decision that will ruin the quality of his life from this point.
Kondou chuckled, oblivious to Hijikata's inner turmoil. "She does seem to like to make fun of you, but don't take it to heart, she seems like a nice girl. Look, she seems to be getting along well with Sougo." He left him standing there and walked towards the other two, who instantly stopped whispering as he moved closer.
"Kondou-san, her getting along with Sougo is the biggest warning flag." Hijikata's foreboding observation left unheard, he followed Kondou.
As he walked towards them, Nachi and Okita turned towards each other, sneakily shook hands, dropped them and feigned indifference. He knew that if he were to survive, he needed to keep those two away from each other, at all costs.
Kondou, seeming a little pleased with himself, walked towards Nachi and whispered in her ear. She grinned and nodded. Kondou waved at them before leaving with Okita in tow. Nachi walked towards Hijikata, stopping right in front of him, and saluted him.
"Hijikata-sensei, Kondou told me you will be the light to guide me through my training. I will treasure you as a teacher and be your loyal student, as long as you keep your sexual fetishes in check and don't peek on me while I'm on the toilet."
"Who would want to watch you take a shit?" He raised an arm and smacked her across the head, a satisfying thwack causing him to grin. She looked at him while rubbing her head, her lips twitching, slightly turning at the corners. Her reaction was unsatisfactory to him, so with pleasure of hitting her gone, he grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket and pulled her towards him. "Kondou left me in charge of you, so if you don't want to die, you better listen closely to every word I have to say to you." An idea popped into his head, his eyes lit with evil intent. "Where did you leave all your stuff?"
"I swear this is an abuse of your power, Hijikata-sensei." Nachi sulked as she watched him tip all of her stuff out of the giant backpack she brought with her. She sat on the edge of the veranda outside of the training quarters. The night had closed in to end the day, the moon reflecting its gentle light over the two of them, replacing the lost light of the stars, which were now hidden behind the light pollution produced by the terminal.
"A samurai does not find happiness in material possessions. I will allow you to have two spare changes of clothes, and your undergarments." He picked up one of the flimsy pieces of material on the ground. He smirked. "Is this even considered underwear?"
As he chuckled to himself, he didn't notice Nachi moving towards him. Before he could react, she launched herself as if she was a torpedo at him and somehow accomplished a head-butt with the force of her whole body.
"Sexual harassment missile!" She screamed, as the both they both crash landed on the ground. The both rolled around in pain, clutching at their heads. With what little strength he had, Hijikata smacked her across the head.
"What the hell are you thinking; do you want me to become stupid like you?" He growled, throwing the underwear at her. Ignoring her and the throbbing of his head, he continued to go through her stuff. Most of her belongings were dolls, utensils, post cards and masks; the majority of them in the shape of animals or had pictures of them.
"You're like the worst type of tourist, how did you even carry all this shit with you?" He shook his head as Nachi finally stood up.
"But, they are so cute." She pouted, snatching one of the little wooden dolls, this one in the shape of a dog. "You shouldn't make fun of a woman's belongings; cute things are what stop her heart from hardening into stone."
"I wouldn't believe that you have a heart, even if they ripped it out of your chest and showed it to me. You are the type of woman my mother told me to watch out for." Finally the bag was empty. The last item clattered noisily when it hit the ground. Hijikata looked down at the cause of the sound. It was a sword. He bent down to pick it up but Nachi swiftly pushed him, and with a skilful forward roll, she picked it off the ground and tumbled away.
"Oh? Even you have something special amongst this trash, I wonder if you can even handle that weapon." He turned towards her.
Surprisingly she didn't say anything, just sat there and hugged the sword with her eyes closed and a soft expression of melancholy adorned on her face. The sheath was decorated with cherry blossoms and small white bunnies, which danced around the branches as it crept up towards the hilt of the sword. The red string at the end of the hilt was attached to a small silver bell, chiming softly as it hung loosely.
Her trance broke abruptly, and she met his eyes and laughed. "Sorry sensei, but no one is allowed to touch this sword. If you do, I might accidentally kill you." The way her light hearted tone carried her threat somehow dragged a smile on to his face.
"I would love to see you try, woman." He leered. He watched her as she slowly stroked the sword gently as if it would break. The moonlight gave the illusion of a gentle woman holding her precious child.
He shook his head, trying to rid the image from his mind. "Gather up the clothing you want to keep, the rest of it is going in the trash." He kicked the junk on the ground into a pile.
"Hijikata-sensei, please delve into that tar pit you call a heart and let your cute new recruit keep all of her precious belongings." Nachi placed her sword down, picked herself up and stood in what seemed to be the crane stance. She waved her hands towards him and muttered under her breath.
"Are you trying to cast a spell on me?"
"A powerful one, this one will turn you into a kind sensei and rids your body of all perverted sexual fantasies. I met a mage on my way to Edo, and he thought I might find this spell useful." She walked towards him, stopping so she was standing with less than a metre between them, and resumed the stance. She stood perfectly still, staring straight at him. She held the stance in perfect silence.
"Shoryuken!" An uppercut socked Hijikata's jaw. His head snapped back, causing him to take a step backwards.
Nachi walked up to him, and waited until he finally was able to look at her. "Did the spell work?"
His shoulders shaking with rage, he walked towards the makeshift pile and drew his sword. "You tell me." he started cutting her junk and clothes to shreds.
She stood there and watched as her belongings were annihilated by her fuming sensei. His strokes were full of malice, and there was not a single slash that was a movement wasted. "Pssh, what a rip off, the spell didn't even work." She grumbled.
"The only thing you did was punch me in the face!"
"But it worked on the mage." Disappointment showed on her face for the second time today, and once again Hijikata wanted to cut it off. "He even went down on his knees and bowed to me, the ultimate form of respect for his student."
"Oi, I think you just knocked the mage out, and forget mage, I think he was just an old geezer who played too much Street Fighter." He was tired of falling into her pace, her stupidity bringing out his straight man quips remarkably quickly. He put away his sword and shot her a scowl.
"Clean the mess up, and let's head back inside." He walked towards the veranda, but got soccer tackled to the ground. He continued to lie there, watching the night sky, hoping that multiple suns would rise and set and send this woman away. Nachi got up, and looked down at him.
"Clean up your own goddamn mess, Toushi-sensei." The moonlight was caught on her snarling smile and her eyes, giving them an eerie luminescence. She held out a hand to him, her snarl softening to a grin. He took it, jumped up and followed through with what seemed to be now a trademark smack to her head.
"It might be the student's job to make a mess and for the sensei to clean it up. Though as samurai, we have an equal responsibility to clean up each other's messes." He walked back inside, leaving Nachi to stare at him.
"Hijikata-sensei, stop acting cool, it doesn't suit you!" She shouted after him, before bending down and picking up the debris.