With new recruits coming in, we all meet in the meeting hall near midday. We listen to the introductions of the new recruits, and some of them are quite interesting. Yamazaki is the most interesting to me, since he has some medical knowledge. But with all of the new recruits clear on one fact, no matter where they come from and what kind of upbringing they've had, that that will be treated as warriors, we are ready to get them into training.

Kondou picks a few people from our group to go to Osaka with him and Serizawa, including Shinpachi, Souji, Sannan and Saito, as well as a few of the recruits. That leaves Ryunosuke, Sano and Heisuke to hang out with me. And Nimi gets left behind, so he runs off with the doctor to continue the experiments. Heisuke gets assigned to watch Nimi and the doctor while Hijikata and Sano run errands.

My task is something complicated. Hijikata has assigned me to designing a regimen for training a couple of agents for more covert missions. And my experience as an assassin should come in handy for training such agents. So, I start designing a regimen of observation, stealth, disguise and practical exercises.

When the group gets back from Osaka, everyone but Souji is fuming and Serizawa is as comfortable with all of this as usual. Hijikata decides to get to the bottom of this. "Sannan-san, did something happen?"

Sannan hesitates a moment, and his tone comes out biting. "There was a scuffle with some unarmed sumo wrestlers in Osaka." Hijikata becomes a little wary as Sannan continues. "Serizawa-san, and Okita-kun, struck down the wrestlers."

That explains why everyone is so grim-faced. And I can't imagine that Hijikata is going to stay quiet about this. He's just inches from becoming furious. "They did what?"

Heisuke is shocked. "They got into a fight with unarmed sumo wrestlers? Why'd they do that?"

I shake my head sourly. "I don't know why they got into a fight. But knowing Hijikata, this is not the last we're going to hear of this…"

And like I predicted, we all meet about it later. And Kondou is noticeably upset. "If only I hadn't taken my eyes off of Serizawa-san…"

Souji isn't bothered by any of this in the least. "The two of us weren't in the wrong. Seriously, those sumo guys were the ones who came looking for a fight."

Sannan expresses his regret, quietly. "And none of us could openly defy commander Serizawa's orders."

"I don't give a shit about your excuses! So what if they picked a fight? Why the hell did you draw your sword against unarmed men!?" Hijikata, as expected, is completely livid.

"Then it's settled. I'll spill my gut for straying from the way of the warrior." Souji says it so bluntly, so callously, that I stare at him with disgust.

Everyone is shocked, especially Shinpachi. "Souji! What's gotten into you? This is no time for jokes."

"What joke? I'm dead serious." Souji's callous and unconcerned tone really bugs me. Dead serious is right, with an emphasis on dead if you push this any further you idiot. Hijikata is livid.

Finally, Hijikata loses it. "Give it a rest Souji!" His anger is understandable, and Souji did cross the line. "Your entrails alone aren't enough to resolve this issue." And Hijikata walks off without another word. And I know that he's going to need some time to seethe, and then calm down.

And that is when I know that there is going to be a serious fight between Serizawa and Hijikata. Those two have such vastly different views of life that it amazes me that they haven't killed each other yet. My opinion stands, such a fight was unnecessary, and therefore not something I would have gotten involved with. But Souji seems far too eager to spill blood, and that unsettles me.

And so, Hijikata sends Shimada and Yamazaki to me, sending me a note ahead of time with the details of this assignment. He has made them into inspectors, and wants me to teach them some of the stealthier arts to aid in their duties. And when the two of them meet me, there is some hesitation on Yamazaki's part. He looks me up and down, frowning. "And who are you, may I ask?"

I cross my arms over my chest and smirk. "I'm your new teacher. Hijikata wants me to train the two of you in the arts that I have spent years mastering. Stealth. Espionage. Reconnaissance. These are what I will be teaching you, and what you will need to master in order to do your jobs effectively. And for that, I'll be prescribing you certain exercises, both mental and physical."

He blinks. "Hijikata-san did not inform us that our teacher would be a girl."

My eye twitches. "Well, then I suppose he also failed to tell you that I am a former assassin, spy, and mercenary?"

His eyes widen, and the other one, Shimada, bows respectfully. "I look forward to learning from you, Ciara-san. Nagakura-kun has told me many things about you."

I smirk at the thought of Shinpachi the gossip. "Well, I'd say that probably half of what he told you is true, a quarter is over-exaggerated, and a quarter is under-exaggerated. And if he told you that the first time he met me, I'd just killed nine people, defending myself, then yes, that's true. If he told you that he and Sano took down another fifteen guys after that, he's lying, there were only four left by the time I was done."

Shimada chuckles softly. "I see. Well then, I look forward to learning from you."

So I set them with a regimen of exercises so that they can learn some techniques that will aid them in rooting out spies, as well as staying undetected. Most of them constitute understanding body language and tones, detecting when people are lying or not being entirely truthful. Behavior can reveal much about a person, as can tone of voice, and word choice. They'll have to pay attention to every little detail if they want to excel at their new jobs.