Hi everyone! It's been almost a month since I've updated but school has been super super busy and I've had to do a lot of research for this chapter. Yumi's gonna crack some boob jokes and meet some interesting people. Hope you enjoy!
As a major note please READ THIS... Anything dialogue written in Italics is in English. This might be confusing but basically, all the characters are speaking in Japanese. Words like this are being spoken in English. Normal words like "this" are being spoken in Japanese.
Italics = English
Saitou stood in front of the washing basin scrubbing away at the stubborn sticky rice that coated the bowls. Most would groan when the chore list switched to their week but he surprisingly enjoyed it. It was quiet, peaceful, and free of any other humans. Depressing as it sounded, he preferred to be away from people a lot of time. Or at least most people.
He didn't mind the company of a few people. He respected Hijikata-san with all his heart but he wasn't who he'd consider a close friend. Okita annoyed him to a certain degree but was pleasant enough for sparring. He didn't talk much with Harada and-
He had to stop his thought. It wasn't just Harada; he really didn't talk much with anyone. But with Chizuru and Yumi being the slight exception. They really seemed to make headquarters seem a bit brighter. The smile that both of them flashed towards everyone. The vases of flowers Chizuru put in the Captain's rooms. Yumi's small talk and jokes. Maybe this was what people would call a woman's touch.
" Oi Saitou what you up to?"
Okita leaned against the wall with his trademark fox grin plastered across his face. Without stopping the rhythmic scraping of the dishes he replied coolly," Washing the dishes and finishing my duties. Unlike a certain somebody standing in front of me."
The redhead feigned surprize raising an eyebrow," And what are you accusing me of my dear Saitou-kun?"
" Today is actually your day to do the washing up. I didn't realize that until I saw you sneaking off quickly after breakfast."
Giving the look of a defeated child he pouted playfully," Mah mah Hajime you're no fun."
" I'm not here to be fun."
Now grinning again he said," Well suit yourself. Anyway, Hijikata wants to see you."
The scrubbing stopped momentarily," Hmmm? Did he specify a reason?"
" No he didn't. Just go and see him"
" You wanted to see me sir?"
Hijikata was kneeling in front of his desk staring at the wall. His eyes shifted towards Saitou for a quick moment before returning towards their original "point of focus". " Yes I did. Take a seat."
The purple haired man walked quietly towards the older man and sat down wordlessly in front of the other. Both men sat quietly as minutes seemed to pass by.
" Say Saitou, the cherry blossoms can tell a lot about people. Wouldn't you say so?"
Cocking an eyebrow at the sudden analogy," Hmmm?"
" Some may scowl that the blossom's life is short lived much like the good in this world filled with corruption. However, others may say that its beauty out-glows all and is like a miracle. Sparse yet most welcoming."
" I agree."
Hijikata finally met Saitou's eyes and put a hand on his comrade's shoulder," Behind those eyes of yours lay a very strong and wise conscience but, I did not ask you to come here just to ramble about flowers. I need you to do me a favor. I'd go myself but my paperwork says otherwise. I need you to deliver a message to McCarl if you could."
" Of course. What should I tell her?"
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Something he did only under intense pressure and stress. " Later today, probably in a few hours, we will be expecting some important guests. A foreign business man is here to negotiate a certain deal. While the main guy of the party seems decently fluent in Japanese, I'd still like some backup. If I remember clearly, the group is from Britain."
" Where Yumi's also from."
" Exactly. I'd like to ask Yumi for a favor. I need to her help us translate if needed. Could you tell her that?"
Saitou was already at the door. " Of course Hijikata-san. Am I excused?"
He smiled warmly at the other man," Of course. I hope you will join us when our guests come."
" I hope you should expect nothing less.
" You guys don't believe me?! Fine I'll just show you then"
Heisuke and Yamazaki sat cross-legged next to each other as they stared in utter confusion at the blue eyed girl standing in front of them. In her arms she held a cantaloupe that looked like…
" Don't they look like of breasts?!" she almost shrieked with excitement," I found them in them in market while I was shopping for tonight's dinner and the minute I saw it, I knew I had to get it! It was so cheap too since nobody wanted it."
The grin on her face was almost comical and the two men couldn't help but chortle when she held the "interestingly shaped" melon to her own chest with a smirk. Often times Heisuke would wander to Yumi's room on his off time to chat with her. Sometimes, Chizuru would be there. Other times it was Harada and Shinpachi. In other words, she had a lot of visitors. To her, it was just fun to chat with people and joke around them with them. However, when she had returned from the market neither Yamazaki or Heisuke was in her shared room. She had quite literally searched headquarters from hell and back to find the two of them and show them her findings.
" Is this the only things you called us here to show us?" Yamazaki asked with good humor and a playful eyebrow raise
She nodded and passed the melon to him with enthusiasm. " It may look ugly but just think of it as two fruits for the price of one. I typically cut them before bringing them to dinner but tonight's gonna be treat."
" Let me guess, you're going to cut it in front of everyone?" Heisuke said
" You got it!"
Suddenly a firm knock on the door interrupted their chatter. " Is Yumi in here?"
" Yes! Come in!"
Saitou walked in casually with his usual stoic expression. " Hijikata wanted me to tell you something. Are you busy right now?"
She shook her head," No. Not at all go ahead."
" Apparently later today Hijikata-san will be be meeting with some foreign businessmen and he would like to ask you for a favor. He believes that you may speak the same language as them as they come from Britain. Are you willing to help?"
" If I can do my part of course I'd love too! When are they arriving?"
" Possibly in roughly two hours."
She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder," Well then Saitou, tell him that I'll be there."
He nodded and was about to walk back out when she grabbed the melon and thrust it in his face. " Don't these look like breasts?"
And then...he did something that made the entire room fall silent. A redness started at the apples of his cheeks and then slowly spread all the way to his ears. The great calm and stone faced Saitou Hajime was...blushing. He was blushing.
None of them had any words as they stared at the purple haired man with wide eyes. Yumi had no idea who started first but suddenly someone started shrieking with raucous laughter. Then soon, everyone was laughing except Saitou, who's cheeks were growing redder with the second. He may be cold but he wasn't a stone wall.
Yumi was practically dying with laughter by the time she managed to breathe. Tears were squeezing past her eyes and she used her sleeve to wipe them as she caught her breathe.
" Haa I'm sorry Saitou-kun. I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. This melon is just quite fascinating and," she almost started laughing again," I'm just showing everyone this cause it's not everyday you see a freak of nature like this."
He shook his head and mumbled," Ah no need to apologize. Is it ripe enough to eat for dinner tonight?"
" Should be. I'm going to cut it in front of everyone so they can see this beauty I found." she returned proudly.
He nodded and excused himself as quick as he had come.
The minute he left, everyone in the room burst into peals of laughter once again. They stayed that way for what seemed like forever till Yumi caught her breath and started pushing Heisuke out of the room.
" Sorry Heisuke-kun I'm going to need to kick you out. I need to get ready for the visitors."
" Wait wha-"
He never got to finish his thoughts as was successfully forced out of the room. Yamazaki had already returned to his desk to the mountain of papers that never seemed to end. Walking up behind him she gently put a hand on the side of his neck," Yamazaki, you need me to do some of those? If I do half later tonight, you'll get through them by nightfall."
Without looking up or ceasing his writing, he put his left hand over hers. " It's alright Yumi I'll be fine. Please don't worry about me too much. Remember to leave some left for yourself."
" No really it's fi-"
" You have to help Hijikata out later anyways. Just focus on that and getting ready okay?" he turned over slightly and smiled reassuringly.
With a defeated sigh she mumbled," Okay then. But please please please; if you ever need help, I really want you to ask me."
He nodded and returned back to the books. She shook her head head in slight disbelief. That man was truly going to work himself to death one day. And she thought she considered herself dedicated.
While it didn't seem like it, she did enjoy her fair share of cosmetics which was probably the work of her cousin. She didn't like to go all out but just some like blusher and rogue could do wonders for her. Despite having to pack light, she did manage to take some personal items.
Reaching into the worn leather bag she took along on her journey, Yumi pulled out the only dress and petticoat she had taken with her. It was made out of navy blue cotton with a white peter pan style collar. The hem of the dress was lined with white lace ruffles and fell five inches above her ankles. On the front bodice, five golden buttons were neatly sewn into a row. The long sleeves were puffy and had a white color with a gold button to close it. Even though it seemed absurd, this dress was on the plain side compared to the many others that she owned. All of them, happened to still lay in mahogany closet on 809 Berkshire Street.
Her Aunt had absolutely detested corsets and forbade her and Adelaide. " It will work absolute hell on your back and lungs when you reach old age. And trust me, I'll get you two to at least sixty if I can help it." was what she'd say every time her cousin would beg for one. All the girls at school wore it and she felt left out to a certain degree without it. Finally, six months after Ada had first started pestering, her Aunt had finally given in allowing her to have a glimpse of the horrors a corset could bring. After fitting her for one, she had allowed her over excited cousin to walk a week with one. However, the condition was that she had to keep it on during the day, and at night when she slept. Although her popularity suddenly peaked amongst her female classmates, the novelty of it was short lived. All of her friends only wore their corsets during the day and took it out for the comfort of sleep. The exhaustion and pain of wearing it finally grew on Adelaide and finally, before the week was even up, she came running to their Aunt begging to take it off.
But really, it didn't matter too much since both girls had a slim figure. Of course Yumi's cousin still pined for the extravagant pinched waist, lifted bosom, and the stuck out rear end; but her comfort was enough to keep those wants at bay.
She turned the dress around only to find a small rip on the skirt…
Picking up her skirt she prepared to get up when suddenly she realized she couldn't. Everytime she attempted to get up, the box would rise with her. Reaching down on the back of her skirt she felt the cool metal of a nail.
" Dammit", she mentally screamed. A nail from the box snagged her skirt and it was stuck. The man's bellowing got louder and louder. If she didn't leave soon, she would be caught.
" If I just get up quickly it'll probably rip off" she thought. Rising full force and attempting to break out in a run, she heard a loud crash.
The nail was still stuck her her skirt and she had successfully managed to knock the box over. " Great just fucking great".
However, she only realized that it gave out her clear location to her pursuer. Grabbing the thick cloth of her skirt, she yanked it hearing an audible ripping of fabric that set her free to run.
It was from the incident that night. The only reason she ever found Chizuru. And the only reason she would have ever found her within the hands of the Shinsengumi. Although she still highly disagreed of the way they played out that night's events; she understood why to some extent. Even though she still harvested an ample amount of distaste towards the fox faced Okita, he was good enough of a person. The same went towards everyone in the Shinsengumi. All of them were honorable men with good hearts. They held a cause and dream dear in their hearts, and mercilessly chased after it.
After starting with plain white wool stockings, Yumi pulled the lace frilly petticoat and pulled it up towards her waist. It had six tiers of ruffles which made it as poofy as a "travel" underskirt could possibly be. Her Aunt had tried to stuff a foldable crinoline skirt into her bag, but as expected, it didn't fit. So a simpler skirt had to do.
Her fingers slowly unbuttoned the blue dress, clumsy after almost a whole year without running through this normally regular action. Pulling it over her head, she smoothed the skirt over the petticoat, trying her best to unwrinkle the dress to her best capability. It had been ages since she had worn a western style dress. She mainly wore men's clothing like Chizuru; on the except for New Years where she and her friend had dawned kimonos for the annual shrine visit.
Feeling the heavy and thick cotton she smiled. It felt good. But some part of her stomach twisted a bit. Wearing clothes like this…
Yumi couldn't help but feel a little homesick for England.
She mused over her emotions as she coifed her hair back into a simple braided bun and tied it up with a few pins and a blue silk ribbon that was supposed to be the sash for the dress. Dipping her fingers in the rogue pot, she smoothed the soft red color over lips and cheeks. She inspected her face in a small mirror and smiled softly. Her Aunt had always said to never let anyone know that she used cosmetics to enhance her appearance. Makeup was for *harlots and whore women so she should never be caught even dead with it. All products must be used sparingly and softly.
" Are you done changing?" Yamazaki's voice startled her a bit
" A-ah yes. D-do you need something?" she stammered softly
He had wanted to go to the kitchen to get some water but that meant he would have to walk through Yumi's side of the room. Even though they were opposite sexes, they could coexists in the same room easily. None of them really announced that they were "changing" and it was just something they both knew when it happened. But recently, Yamazaki started asking her. And Yumi couldn't help but ask herself " what happened?" and "why?". He never did that in the past; so why now?
" I see. I just needed to get some wa-"
Yumi turned around to look at him and he almost choked on his own words. He had seen pictures of Western female models in market stalls that were sold as novelty items and souvenirs. She looked exactly like them. Soft, pure, and esteemed. Her usual cheerful expression matched perfectly with her attire. Yamazaki tried his hardest to push away what he was thinking but still, she looked really nice.
Her face grew bashful as the brown haired man continued to stare at her with his mouth just slightly open. " Do I-I look strange?"
Suddenly he realized that he had been caught looking too long and stumbled," A-Ah no I-t's just...tha-that y-you…" He was a big mess.
" Yamazaki...are you alright? Your face is really red, are you running a fev-" before she could walk over to touch his forehead he finally forced it out.
" It's just that you look really pretty!"
And he knew...that he goofed up. There was a long silence where she just stared at him, her blue sparking wide open. Her cheeks reddened as well and for a while both of them just stared at each other dumbfounded and red faced. Finally Yamazaki shook himself out of it and walked out of the room in a hurry. He didn't say a word leaving Yumi standing there.
Slowly her parted lips twisted upwards in a smile. He had just called her pretty. Yamazaki had just called her pretty! Her smile widened even further as she cupped her cheeks with her hands. The amount of happiness surging through her veins was overwhelming.
" Whoa Yumi-chan!"
The door had been left wide open and now Heisuke stood right in front of it. He also looked a bit shocked. " Is that really you?"
She nodded coyly and laughed," Who else would it be?"
" U-uh you're right. It's just that look so different than you normally do. I-It's not a bad thing. You look nice." he replied while rubbing the back of his neck.
The blush returned back to her cheeks and she awkwardly smiled to thank him. " Oh and Hijikata wanted me to tell you that the guests are here. So whenever you're ready. They're in the main meeting room."
" Thanks for telling me! I'll leave right now."
Yumi left in a hurry fearing that she was late. She knew that Hijikata hated nothing more than being behind schedule. The entire headquarters and courtyard seemed to be almost devoid of people. There were just a few of Harada's men chatting near the water well. All of whom gave Yumi weird glances as they saw a girl dressed in stuffy western clothes running for all hell.
" I'm sorry I'm late!" Yumi frantically apologized the second she banged the doors open
All of the Shinsengumi captains were already seated neatly in seiza position as were the visitors. Her heart began to beat. There were five of them in the group. They wore either neatly tailored waistcoats or suits. Their crisp button up shirts showed beneath and all of the men dawned neatly stitched trousers. Some of them wore top hats but all wore typically dark colored *day gloves. They had the prime appearance of an English gentleman.
Their blonde and brown hair. Blue, green, hazel eyes. Mustaches and goatees. She hadn't seen anyone that looked like them in such a long time and it felt surreal to her. " Yumi?"
She napped back to reality. Kondou glanced softly at her. " I'm sorry, what did you say?" she mumbled in embarrassment.
He smiled," I was just asking you if you wanted to introduce yourself to our guests?"
" Oh of course!" She bowed her head slightly to them
" Good afternoon gentlemen. You speak English right?"
A middle aged man with dusty blonde hair and gray eyes coughed slightly," We all do Miss. We would like to apologize for continuing to *sit as you came in. It was quite rude of us."
" Of course sir. What do you wish me to address you as?"
" Mr. Edison would be more than delightful. As to you Miss?"
" Please just call me Marion. I don't care much for formality." she said as she shook her head.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion," But Miss, we absolutely must. It would be unkempt to use your *first name. Please, I insist."
She sighed slightly. That was the only thing she didn't miss. The list of absurd manners and formalities she had to take on.
" If you insist, I'm Miss McCarthy. Feel free to use both to your liking." he furrowed a brow slightly but remained silent nonetheless," I'll be your translator for today."
The fine lines crinkled around his eyes as he smiled slightly," That would be lovely my dear. I'll say that my Japanese is decent yet still has a lot of improvement to be desired. It would be great to have some help. But I'm afraid to say that you might not understand what we're discu-"
She set her face slightly," Not to sound crude Mr. Edison, but you should try me. I know I'll be more than fine."
He looked like he was about to say more until she heard Hijikata cough from his seat. Their "introduction" was taking too long.
" Are you all about ready now to start?"
" Of course Hijikata-san." she said curtly.
The meeting was quite dull as Yumi had to admit. There was a lot of talk about trade routes for guns and gunpowder. It was quite a contradiction to Hijikata's beliefs. He was a very traditional Japanese man as he rejected any idea involving Western weapons and concepts. To him, guns was a weapon of cowardice. Although the Choushuu had already implemented firearms into their fighting tactics, the Shinsengumi had yet to do so. This put them at a huge disadvantage. Whenever there was a skirmish, the biggest injuries were from gun wounds. No matter where they were located within the body, they were insanely difficult to remove. Originally, Yumi was able to take care of those herself but when the numbers of those injured swelled, she had to spend a good two days teaching Yamazaki to do the same.
Somehow she knew that either Kondou or Sannan had managed to talk him into considering the idea. She was very impressed though. On the most part, all of the English men were pretty proficient in Japanese. Their pronunciation was a bit spotty but she pretty much didn't have to do anything. She didn't want to admit it, but, hearing English after so long was one of the most comforting things to her. It was a bit strange but it felt nice.
" And we can set up trade lines in the Pac-" Edison was interrupted mid sentence when the shoji doors slammed open loudly.
" I'm sorry I'm late sir! I got lost on my way here!" a male voice frantically painted.
A slightly disheveled young man stood at the doorway. He had light brown hair and soft hazel eyes. His face was strong and broad that still carried evidence of his youth. A loud sharp crash echoed through the room. Bits of ceramic were littered around Yumi as her hand shook. She had dropped the tea cup she was sipping from. Saitou glanced at her with concern. Her face was as pale as corpse and it looked like all the color had been suddenly drained out. Slightly parted lips trembled as her hands shook violently. " She looks like she's seen a ghost or something." he thought to himself. Yumi's blue eyes were opened wide. Everyone followed them to look at that young man standing in front of them.
His eyes too were wide open as he stared back at her. The room suddenly grew cold.
" Marion?"
Thank you for reading this update chapter and I hope everyone enjoyed it! I am very interested in fashion and if I could choose a career that I really wanted, it would be to design costumes and clothing for movies. One of my favorite fashion eras was the Victorian era. Clothing back was just so beautiful and complicated. So I applied as much knowledge as I knew to this chapter. I also had to dedicate a few days for research on manners and more clothing rules. Here's some notes below to make it easier to read.
* whore women - basically, there was this rule back then which was a "no makeup rule" for women. Cosmetics were associated with prostitutes so sophisticated women wouldn't dare to be caught wearing them. That didn't mean they didn't use it though. They would sometimes send their servants to other towns to buy products so it would be descreet. When they applied makeup, it had to be very soft and natural. the main thing used was rogue and powders.
* Day gloves - men and women had to wear gloves in public and for men there was a rule. Dark colors such as grey and black were worn during the day. White or cream colors were worn at night. Gloves that were not made of kid, leather, or "high class" materials such as cotton were considered disgraces.
* sit - Women and men had a lot of rules to follow etiquitte wise. For men, if a woman entered a room, they would have to stand up to show respect. Yumi is around the age where men would have to follow this formality.
*first name - both men and women were barred from adressing anyone using their first name in public. It was only done in private with very close people. There was a whole system on how to adress someone.
