I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!
This is when the good stuff starts guys, get ready :)
Chapter Seven
Past Interruptions
"Not what I had been expecting, but I will gladly take it."
Saito glanced at the woman that stood beside him. Katsumi had joined him on his route in the city that next afternoon. He had been hoping that the women were released from the Shinsengumi but that did not happen. Instead the Okami Pack had been added as their 'partners' once again. Saito understood that Katsumi had been excited about being released from the Shinsengumi so he knew she was disappointed about being forced to stay there with the men.
Katsumi wore a blank face as her hands were on her hips, gazing around the packed city. She was getting looks again but she ignored them all. The city was still the same as every day. Children playing with eachother. Men trying to pick up women(both drunk and sober). Salesmen standing in the streets, calling out prices to passerbys. Normally the food would affect the young woman but she seemed to ignore it. Katsumi seemed to ignore everything that was going on and the Samurai beside her, believe it or not, felt responsible for it.
Saito closed his eyes as they continued to slowly move through the street. "I apologize, Yamaguchi," He used her last name. Now that she and the others were going to be stuck here with them, he had to treat her like one. "Kondou tried but the men still feel that releasing you would turn out into a bad idea. Maybe a little further into the future would be better to ask again."
"Maybe," The woman gave a soft sigh. "No need to feel bad about it, Saito. Just gonna have to deal with it, now." She then gave a small chuckle. "I wonder how Tsukiko is doing."
Saito closed his eyes again. Tsukiko was, once again, Shinpachi's partner. They both were completely annoyed with that and refused to stick to the team…until Kondou forced them to. Both she and Saito were glad that Sanosuke and Yumi had to deal with the two of them at night as Saito and Katsumi were on their own. Ryoko and Chika were still left with Heisuke and Okita, leaving Hijikata to take care of Fuyu and her aunt, Asami. Hijikata hadn't been too happy about being left with two of the women, but Asami wasn't much of a talker so the two of them fit in together; especially when Fuyu decided to be the one to make 'problems'. They both knew how to put a stop to that really quick.
Katsumi stretched her arms behind her back and gave a smile as a few kids ran by with a ball. It reminded her of her brothers all those years ago. She used to either be sweeping the dirt out of the house or right in the middle of the pack. With the thought of that, she began to think about the trip to see her family again soon. Just a big problem, now that the Pack was stuck to the Shinsengumi. Were they going to let her go? It was a ritual for the Yamaguchi family to meet together at their old family home; had been for years. She prayed that Kondou doesn't put a stop to that. Maybe if she swore to come back…or left something here to make sure she came back.
"Saito," She began. "Do you have family?"
The man turned and looked at her. "Family?"
"Yeah. Brothers? Sisters?"
He paused for a moment. "I did, once. I haven't spoken with my family since I joined with Hijikata and the others. They did not…accept my ways, in the nice way to say."
"Accept your ways?" Katsumi lifted a brow. "Are you talking about you being left handed?" He glanced at her, a little surprised. He knew that she knew how to wield a sword but he just…hadn't expected her to pay that close attention. Especially to him. "That's kind of foolish, isn't it?"
"Samurai are supposed to be right-handed." He tried to tell her.
"Yeah, and use swords, not spears." She made a stab at Harada. "Why should it matter if you're left handed and not right handed? That's just people going out and searching for problems. Ignore them." She gave him a smile. "You kick ass the way you are now. You have honor that they don't. Changing it would be a bad idea. Just ignore the other goons. They're envious."
Saito stared at the woman for a moment before walking ahead of her in the street. Katsumi watched after the silent men for a moment before stepping after him. His dark violet hair cascaded down his right shoulder just as that white scarf did around his neck as he wore the blue Shinsengumi Haori around his shoulders. A small grin spread across her face again.
This man didn't know how to talk to women. It was apparent to see; and amusing. Maybe teasing him in the city this afternoon would be amusing. It would make her feel better, after all. She quickened her step and moved on ahead of the Captain of the third Squad. She could feel his eyes on her back as she moved forward to one of the stores but she ignored it as much as she could as her plan expanded.
Saito watched her disappear into the small shop and paused, wondering what she was doing. He was confused on her actions and raised a brow as she returned out to him, a treat in her hands. He stared at her as she held one of them out to him. It was a Wagashi; a Daifuku. The small, cute white pastry made the young samurai raise a brow.
The woman gave a frown. "I didn't poison it," She told him.
The man stared at it for another moment before reaching out and grabbing it; he took a small bite from it as he started to walk down the street again; she followed. Had Saito never eaten one of these before? Or did he really not trust her?
Katsumi watched from the corner of her eyes as the quiet, stoic man beside her let a small smile spread across his lips as he took another bite. A grin took over her face as she continued herself, pleased. More and more children passed around them, either playing ball or pretending to be samurai as the Shinsengumi continued to patrol the city. She felt…at peace for the moment, believe it or not. Inside the Shinsengumi grounds she felt caged like an animal but walking around out here like this, it was completely different. Maybe she could get used to something like this…
"I'm telling you, it's going to grow into a problem!" The man's voice caught Katsumi's attention, bringing her to a small pause. "You need to get rid of them, now! Before they do something they shouldn't."
"And if we do something now that they're already here," The elder man he was arguing with replied. "It'll just make it worse. Do what they want and we'll be fine when they're gone."
"But father-"
"I wonder what's wrong." She whispered aloud in a thoughtful tone.
"Rude customers, it seems." Katsumi gave a little jump; she hadn't noticed that Saito had paused beside her. "The elder man is the owner of the Inn."
Katsumi gave a nod. "There's always a few. One would think to be smart and peaceful in public but you always have the fools.'
"Indeed." Saito closed his eyes. "Let's continue."
~Five months of staying here with these men,~ Katsumi chuckled to herself. ~And still I can't understand what goes through his mind. He guards it.~ It was like a game. A game that she planned on beating. It would be entertaining to do so while they were stuck here. It would make time fly anyway, wouldn't?
As their day came to an end, they met up with Sanosuke and Yumi. The two of them seemed to be in a good mood.
"So, anything we need to keep an eye on?" Yumi greeted with a smile.
"Nothing too out of the ordinary," Katsumi answered her. "Same stuff, different day."
Saito apparently had different ideas. "I want you to keep an eye on the Inn tonight." He told Sanosuke.
The red-haired man looked surprised. "The Inn?"
"Yes. The owner and his son were having problems with someone earlier. Just to make sure, Harada."
Sanosuke nodded his head. "Not a problem, Hajime. I'll take care of it. When we see Shinpachi and Tsukiko we'll let them know as well."
"Good."
Yumi and Tsukiko were out in the city and Fuyu was in her room, not feeling too good today. Chika and Ryoko were down in the kitchen with Daiki as he prepared dinner and Asami was speaking with Isami and Hijikata in the 'office'. Saito had slunk off somewhere with Okita, leaving Katsumi to herself in the garden. She had laid back on the walkway, soaking in the warm sun as the cool air passed over her. It would begin to get cold any day now; she was waiting on it.
She must have fallen into a small nap because dreams of her childhood flooded her mind. How she took care of her brothers as their father worked in the city. She and the boys took care of the animals and the small gardens they had for food. It wasn't a good life, but it wasn't bad, either. It was hard but it had taught her many, many things that she would keep with her until the end of her own life.
"Are you all right?"
Katsumi was pulled from her dreams at the voice that came from nowhere and opened her eyes to glance at the man that stood over her. It was Yamanami Keisuke; everyone called him Sannan. He was the 2nd Vice Commander on the Shinsengumi, under Toshizo. The man was in his middle twenties at the height of 5'7' with long, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and glasses. Katsumi had never really…did anything with Sannan so didn't really know how to act towards him. From what she did know, though, was that he appeared to be a soft-spoken man who didn't like to make trouble for others. He also seemed to deeply care for his friends, the other Captains, and held deep admiration and respect for Hijikata. She pushed herself up to a sitting position as she stretched, taking note of the sun beginning to fall.
"Yeah, just a little nap, it seems."
Sannan gave a smile and took a seat beside her, hanging his feet over the side of the walkway. "Those are always good, but you need to be careful out here." She glanced at him. "Many of the samurai here hold honor and respect for women, but there are still a few that would…take advantage on finding you out here by yourself, close to the Captains or not."
Katsumi opened her mouth to object to that, to claim that she could take care of herself, but she caught her voice. Sannan was just trying to keep her safe. There was no need for her to be upset with him over that. Instead, she gave a smile. "I'll keep that in mind. I apologize for worrying you."
He shook his head. "Don't apologize, there's no trouble in making sure you and your friends stay safe while you are here. After all," Sannan gave a soft flush as he glanced away from her. "It's nice to have women around the grounds."
Katsumi gave a small laugh. "Tired of seeing men all the time, huh?" She teased. His face grew redder. "Well, at least you haven't found yourself attracted to other men. To be honest, the first few days here I was a bit worried. It would have been awful for all the cute guys around to have only eyes for eachother."
Sannan gave another laugh, this time loud. "I wonder what Shinpachi and Sanosuke would say to that if they heard you speak that way."
"Ah, so the two of them are the lovers, are they?"
"Very much so," the man told her. "If they don't have missions the next day, they normally don't come home, though Sanosuke controls himself a bit more than Shinpachi does."
"Another reason why Tsukiko and Shinpachi will not get along," She told him. "She despises men like that."
Sannan gave a sigh as he continued to smile. "It seems that your friend doesn't like many things."
"Tsukiko is…hard to understand if you don't know her story." Katsumi replied.
"Would it be dislikable for me to ask?"
The woman stared at the man beside her thoughtfully for a moment before giving a soft nod. "As long as you don't tell anyone, I don't see why. She doesn't like her story to be told too often. I believe I can trust you." Sannan watched her as she leaned against the beam to her right. "Tsukiko Hayashi is a half-breed. Her mother was Scottish, her father Japanese. He was a samurai that's ship had crashed on Scotland one winter night. No ships were to set sail for the rest of the winter, leaving him stranded in a land he had never been too and had no idea how to communicate with. It was there he met Tsukiko's mother. They couldn't speak to eachother at first, but her own mother was a teacher so they had somehow learned each other's language. When winter finally passed and Spring started, the samurai decided to stay in Scotland and learn more about this woman and her country. He was accepted by her family and by spring the year after, Tsukiko was born. Sadly, her mother was not…able to recover from the birth. The samurai refused to live in the country his wife loved and took their child back to Japan with him. He wasn't able to recover from her passing and slowly began to waste away, leaving Tsukiko on her own as a child. She was seen as an outsider due to her heritage and her father and had begun to harden into what you see now. It wasn't until about the age of twelve that Asami found her and took her in as a second niece about 13."
"So she's been with Asami since she was young." Sannan commented.
"We all have been." Katsumi nodded. "I've been with them since I was about 14; almost ten years. Ryoko joined us at about two years ago at 15, Yumi 7 years ago at 18, Chika 10 years at 14, and Fuyu has been with Asami since she could remember."
"Asami looks much too young to be Fuyu's aunt, though." Sannan commented. "But at the same time they look much alike."
"I've always wondered about that too, but it's not much a matter," Katsumi shrugged her shoulders. "She looks young, but she's always been like that. To be honest, I don't think Asami has aged a day since I met her. She got good genes, or something." The man nodded, thinking for a moment.
"She's just lucky," A voice joined them. "I envy her."
Katsumi gave a smile and watched as Yumi approached her. "Hey, how did it go?"
"Same as always, nothing too different." The woman gave a yawn. "The little Inn tidbit that you and Saito had us check on was a little entertaining though."
"Oh? And what makes you say that?"
"A group of men just causing problems. It made the night less boring. The Inn-owner didn't like the thought of his daughters being hit on or his sons being bossed around by the morons they were serving."
"Jerks." Katsumi hissed as Sannan lifted his head.
"What did you do about it?"
Yumi crossed her arms. "We put a stop to it when one of the men dragged a son outside. I wanted to see Sanosuke chop off a hand or a foot but he was able to calm the men down. They're leaving in the morning."
"Stupid morons." Katsumi hissed again, leaning back down on the board again. "I would beaten the crap out of them."
"Be glad that they're leaving in the morning." Sannan told her. "The less trouble there is, the better."
"I agree," Yumi nodded. "Besides, we don't want Bandits bringing too much trouble with them."
"Bandits?" Sannan and Katsumi asked together in surprise. Katsumi had sat back up, brows raised.
Yumi sighed. "Well, we weren't too sure, but Sanosuke said that he recognized the symbol on one of the men."
"Who did he say they were?" Sannan asked with a frown.
"Some Ogre or something stupid like that…" She searched her head for the word.
"The Bandits of Orgo?" Yumi glanced at Katsumi. Her eyes were wide as she stared at her friend.
"Yeah, that's it." She nodded. "Do you-" She paused in her words. Katsumi had jumped from her seat and took off down the hall as fast as she could; in direction of the gates of the compound.
Sannan stood to his feet as well, a frown on his face. "It seems that she knows the name."
"A little more than just the name." Yumi nodded. The look on the other woman's face before she jumped to her feet made Yumi's blood run cold. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Sannan nodded. "I'll go and inform Hijikata and a few of the others. Follow her, just in case."
Both of them hurried off in their own directions, neither of them noticing Saito as he disappeared into the shadows behind them.
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