Chapter Twelve: Sell Your Soul
Rai's eyes went wide and she shook her head angrily to try and escape, making an upset "MMF" sound. Jaden finally pulled away, giving Rai a small "I-bet-you-thought-I-wouldn't-do-that-but-I-just-did" sort of smile, and sat back down. Roden had seen it coming long before anyone else—his hand had been placed exasperatedly on his forehead since the moment Jaden had stood up--but now he stopped to look at everyone else's expressions. Most of the businessmen had been kidding in the first place and were reprimanding Jaden for getting upset so quickly, while Daisuke looked amused, Itaru was a little upset at the breach in Rai's space, and Rai herself was indignant. Even when Jaden looked away and everyone else moved on, Rai was still staring with disbelief, brows drawn together angrily, her blue eyes more focused than ever before.
Roden couldn't help it—he suddenly laughed. For a month he'd had the picture of a stoic and cold woman in his head, but now was something new. And to his dismay, he couldn't stop laughing, even when everyone else in the room looked at him. "I-I'm sorry, Rai," he choked out, "but you just look so scandalized. It's funny."
She seemed to realize—with a start—what she must look like and turned brattily away from both Roden and Itaru, regaining composure. And still, Roden was happy to see more emotion—he would have been worried if she hadn't replied to the kiss in a frantic manner, in any case.
Talk continued—but with more distractions and more alcohol ingestion—until everything wound down near midnight. Rai's face and posture were back to normal, but her ki was still seething at Jaden. Itaru seemed to somehow know and smiled sorrowfully at her from time to time; furtive looks that said "Shit happens," but presumably with some other word, as Itaru didn't seem like the type who would have a foul mouth.
Suddenly, Itaru's father and Yukio Daisuke stood up and straightened out their clothes, excusing themselves politely. Itaru seemed not to realize until they were almost out the door and quickly called out to him, "Oh, Father! I'm going to stay and talk to Roden for a bit. Please don't wait up for me."
"You're an adult, do what you want," Daisuke said, turning to give Itaru a smirk, while Itaru sent back a small smile that made the feminine man turn grudgingly and leave with Outa. Meanwhile, Roden let out a sigh at almost the same time as Jaden, who had been standing to leave—the smell of warmed alcohol and farm boy samurai was getting to both of their senses. The other businessmen and geisha filtered out without any interest in the few remaining, ready to take to their beds and prepare to do the same thing the next night. Oume gathered Rai with a calculating smile, and the two stopped at the door—Rai only because her onee-san had her by the wrist. She looked about ready to leave and kept sending Itaru looks of discontent, to which the reply was always a shrug of the shoulders on his part.
"Ah, Kazunori-san," Oume said sweetly, batting her eyes. "You know, if you like Ayano so much, we could work something out, my darling."
Jaden caught Rai's sudden stiff posture and smiled wickedly, seeing a chance to both ignore Itaru and to make Rai squirm. "Sure, let's talk about that," she said coolly, standing and walking through the shoji with Oume. Rai stood in the door, sending Roden a look that clearly relayed, "Can't you control her?" He pulled a face and shook his head apologetically.
Itaru put his hands on the table suddenly, a big smile on his face. "Roden-kun!" he sang. "You know them! You know Shakespeare!"
Roden nodded slowly, unsure of where things were going.
"But how; that's the question, isn't it? See, I've searched everywhere for translated works, but I can't find them anywhere! I even know bits of Dutch, but it doesn't help because they're all in English! English, Roden. So how—no, where—have you found readable copies of Shakespeare's works?!"
The boy hadn't taken a breath through the whole speech, Roden thought, and now Itaru was staring him down expectantly. "Oh, well..." he started, thinking back and trying to remain calm and unmoved by the boy's over-enthusiasm."I've been to see those plays at some point, I didn't read them." At the confused expression following, he added, "English is my native tongue, you see, so I—"
Once more the table was leaned upon as Itaru's eyes went huge, a grin slit his face, and he nearly dove at Roden. "English! English; you know English?!"
Roden was glad for the table between them—after the night's events, his first thought had been that Itaru was going to lean in and kiss him. His answer was nervous and unsure. "Well...yeah. I'm actually from America, so—"
"America!
"Yeah, but I actually think I like London a bit more than any—"
"London!"
At this point, Roden figured on giving up on trying to speak, and waited for a point from Itaru. Rai watched quietly at the door and Jaden stuck her head inside for a brief peek. A strange silence, then, "Teach me English!" and Itaru was on the floor bowing.
Roden now saw the hole he had just dug for himself, but hoped to avoid falling in and quickly stood up and headed to the door. "Ah, gomen Itaru-kun, but I really need to take care of Jaden--Ah! No, I need to take care of Kazunori-san and—"
Jaden stuck her head in again. "I'm fine; who do you think you are?!"
"I'll pay you!" Itaru said, standing up and taking Roden's hands seriously. Roden pulled them away quickly.
"Maybe you should think about it, Ro. The Outa family pays well, so after a few weeks you could buy a gei—" Roden lobbed an empty sake bottle at her head. Itaru seemed not to notice, but Rai and Oume watched it scrape Jaden's ear with much interest.
"Itaru-kun, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'd make a good teacher," Roden said, turning and leaving the room quickly.
"Please, Roden!' Itaru went on, following him amongst everything. "You could even stay at my house so you don't have to travel! For free! We could be best friends, Roden!"
That was really more of a turn-off to the idea than anything else, and he continued stalking through the glow of the teahouse's lanterns until he made it outside. There the darkness had cooled the air considerably and he nearly stopped to enjoy it, while Jaden, Oume, and Rai followed the pair out into the night. Rai was watching Roden with a sour look, and then he remembered the promise to teach her about vampires and came to a sudden stop.
"Don't you miss anything from the West, Roden?! We've got a piano and books and we eat pancakes with forks and those sorts of things—" He ran into Roden.
"So, do you eat Western food a lot, Itaru?"
"Oh yes. I try to try a new meal from the West once a week and we've got lots of Western candy in stock for Sara—"
"Fine," Roden sighed, watching Rai's expression "I'll teach you English." Itaru took a large breath as if to yelp excitedly, but Roden cut him off sharply, fairly annoyed. "But I have sensitive skin so I'm pretty much nocturnal. Change your schedule to fit mine. And I'm not staying in your house." He expected an argument, but Itaru just nodded fiercely at him, blue-grey eyes round and excited like a child's. Rai also sent him a curt nod before she was pulled away by Oume, who seemed to have realized that Jaden's interest in her apprentice had been completely fake.
"Whoa, you just agreed?" Jaden asked, stalking between the two of them. Itaru suddenly yelped, waved goodbye to Rai, and then ran back into the teahouse. Jaden watched him with a half-amused expression. "Weird," she said. "He's weird."
A sort of semi-quiet finally sunk into the night as they waited for Itaru's return. Jaden stretched her arms into the air and looked up at the sky in hopes of seeing stars, but scowled upon seeing that Gion's bright lights blocked them out. Then, a sudden jump and she was glaring up at the top of the building.
"Takoda Jaden," sneered a voice from the darkness. Roden focused on the top of the building too now, and was surprised to see the blonde kunoichi crouching on the crest of the roof, staring down at them sourly.
"Oh, it's just you," Jaden replied.
"Just me? Should you act so lighthearted about it?" The kunoichi's voice was bitter and cold, full of scorn, dark eyes amused in a darkly playful sort of way though there was a frown on her face. Her hair that had before been straight was now in tight ringlets, but it was still loose, and her skin still just as pale. She was tall and very curvy, Roden now noticed, with large hips and breasts and a lopsided, half-caring way of standing—one leg supported her weight so as she could stick her hips out in a snobby way. The fact that she knew who Jaden was despite her still being dressed as Kazunori suggested a friendship between them, but everything else about the situation—their postures, their conversations—suggested loathing.
"Oh please. What are you going to do, you cow?" Jaden asked, smirking slightly.
"Listen, you breastless bitch," the kunoichi half-laughed, leaning forward slightly. "I just thought I'd tell you that Kazunori Toshiro sounds an awful lot like 'private fundraising' to me. Just a reminder that you'd best get rid of him."
Jaden snorted. "I've thought of that, slut. I just need to figure out how."
"I can help you with that. We just need some eyewitnesses, right? That boy there and Itaru-kun will work, right?"
Roden asked her skeptically, crossing his arms.
"You have terrible manners, boy. Now, Takoda, what do you say?"
Roden was about to reply with something about her manners, but Jaden briskly interrupted. "The Outa boy is coming back out, so hurry up with it."
Much to Roden's surprise, just as Itaru burst back through the door with a slip of paper in his hand, the kunoichi lunged at Jaden from the rooftop. He bristled suddenly, ready to come to Jaden's aid, but then something about the pair's almost relaxed ki helped him to understand their conversation, and he backed off—it was an act. Itaru drew in a sharp breath when he stepped out onto the engawa and saw the two fighting, and then called inside to the serving girls.
"Perfect," both women muttered, continuing their false battle. The kunoichi drew out a kunai from within her obi and once sure there was due attention, stabbed into Jaden's arm, drawing blood. Jaden struggled away, throwing the kunoichi off of her and taking off into nearby bushes. The sounds of a sword being drawn and battle ensuing made him think what an idiot and coward he must look like standing there, and so he raced after them, crashing into the brush and trees to find kunoichi making sound effects on her own while Jaden hastily rubbed spit into her wound and changed out of her Kazunori attire. She ran off, motioning for him to return to Itaru while she made a hasty retreat, and he turned around again, annoyed. He stopped quickly to say something to the kunoichi—she stopped making the false fighting sounds and stared back at him—but he couldn't think of anything to say. He noticed, though, that her eyes were brown, which seemed strange for a blonde, but then she made a hand motion telling him to return to the crowd and give a report.
"Roden!" Itaru shouted as he returned to the teahouse yard. "What—what was that?"
"Ah, Kazunori-san seems to have been attacked," he replied, realizing too late that he hadn't shown nearly enough emotion.
"Sh-should you be a little more upset about it? And is he dead?" An awfully worried expression was on his face for someone who seemed to have the opposite beliefs of Kazunori, and Roden realized he was one of those people. Like Hoshijiro, but not. He had the nice-for-no-reason covered, but he was much more bright-and-sunshine-y, which made him twice as annoying. Roden wondered if teaching the boy English solely to catch glimpses of Rai was really worth the trouble, but there was no backing out now.
Roden snorted. "I didn't like him that much. And really, I think we'll call him missing. The two weren't there when I went after them."
Itaru seemed a little shocked with the lack of emotion, but soon seemed to think of something else and recovered diplomatically. "Well then—here's my address." He pressed the slip of paper into Roden's hands with a bit more care than needed. "So when will you come?"
"When will Rai be there?"
"Huh?"
Shit, Roden cursed to himself. A slip there—not like him at all, really. When had he become so stupid? He decided to blame it on the Shinsengumi. Or Hoshijiro. "When should I be there?"
"Oh, I don't know," Itaru replied thoughtfully, putting a finger to his lips. He seemed not to have noticed the slip at all. "A week or so? Maybe? Just pop in sometime soon. Between my father, Sara, Daisuke, and me, someone should be there to let you in."
Roden nodded quickly and looked down at the piece of paper. The district wasn't far from Gion. In fact, it was in the high end of Kyoto. He looked Itaru over again—yes, the boy did look like a spoiled brat, and of course, he needed to fulfill his desires for Western things somehow. Money was the easiest way. "Will I recognize it?"
Itaru grimaced. "Ah—I think so. Don't ask; just take my word for it, ne?"
"O-okay..."
"So I'll see you then!" He shook Roden's hand roughly and looked around. "I guess I've got to go now. And uh...about Kazunori-san..."
Roden shrugged. "Whatever. I hate him. He's a Shogunate dog who can only see his own side of things—I'm glad to be rid of him."
"You really don't care?" Roden shook his head and stared at the slip of paper again. The serving girls were staring at the pair, but Itaru turned to look back at them, and they quickly disappeared into the teahouse. "Well then!" he suddenly snapped, looking to the top of the building. "Ready, Sara?"
To Roden's surprise, the kunoichi was back on the roof. "Go home by yourself." she said lazily, looking at her nails. "I'm going to Shimabara for a prior engagement. Should have been there earlier, actually, you rotten brat."
"But Sara—"
She relinquished the katana at her hip and threw it at him. He tried to catch it, but only managed to jam his fingers and let it clatter to the ground. "There," she said. "Now you'll be safe, right?"
"Sara!"
She swiftly left, jumping to the next building, then the next, and the next, until she disappeared. Itaru was sulking, looking dejectedly down at the katana. "I'm going to be killed..."
Roden hated himself. "Afraid of the dark, Itaru?" he asked teasingly, though counting on having to escort the boy home.
Itaru looked up at him, expression childishly indignant. "Roden, this is Kyoto! Shouldn't you be, too?"
"Aren't you a samurai?" he asked in turn. He'd had the impression of wealth and dignity, but a daimyo or merchant wouldn't be meeting with Kazunori Toshiro and the like. Samurai was the only option left.
He looked away a little guiltily. "I've been meaning to learn the sword, honest, but I'm just no good at it."
"Oh, so you're one those diplomat samurai," Roden said. He'd heard about them from Jaden—a breed of samurai who were samurai in name only. They practiced business rather than sword techniques and weren't as loyal to the bushido as the 'old samurai,' as Jaden put it. Tradition was flying out the window with this revolt, and more and more samurai were reverting to this quiet life. Itaru nodded. "I guess I could escort you home if—"
"No, I'll be fine."
"But you were just—"
"No. I'm a samurai, after all." Wounded pride had a definite tone, and Itaru was using it. He picked up the katana. "Foul kunoichi... Thinking I need this." He started sulking away, and Roden watched him go with a worried expression.
He weighed going after the boy, but found that finding Jaden and figuring out what the hell was up with that kunoichi, Sara, was surprisingly important. He set off in search for her, hoping Itaru survived his walk home, and found her not long after, barely out of Gion. The city was dying down in this part and lanterns were out and passerby scarce. He ran up to her side and looked down at her wounded shoulder as they crossed a bridge over a river—he couldn't remember which river it was. The wound seemed to be completely better.
"Fucking kunoichi," she swore, seeming to know what he wanted without even looking up. "Neat freak has to make sure everything looks authentic. Has to tease, has to fucking stab, rip, stabbity. Bitch. Hate her. Whore."
"She seemed to know Itaru," he mused, crossing his arms. "Is she Sonno Joi?"
"Yeah, stupid Choshu--"
"So why didn't you kill her?"
Jaden kicked a rock into the river, anger barely concealed. She peeked up at Roden quickly, and then stared at the ground again. "Can't," she answered simply.
"Can't? She's just a human, right? I didn't think—"
"No. Can't, because it's morally fucked up." As they passed a willow tree, she violently ripped a branch off.
"Has that ever stopped you from doing anything before? I think I'm missing an important detail."
She glanced up at him again, just as quickly, then looked away and said nothing for a while. Then, "Kazunori is dead, at least."
He suddenly and roughly pushed her without thinking, and she fell off balance and rolled down the bank into the river. He hadn't expected the tumble; under normal circumstances she would have been waiting for it and would have done something ridiculous like biting his arm. "What the hell? I didn't even push that hard."
"Shut the hell up! What was that even for?!" She climbed out of the water and back onto the bank, suddenly smiling evilly and jumping onto him. "A hug! A hug! A hug!"
"Get off!" He was trying hard to shake her off, and soon reverted to rolling around on the ground before realizing there was someone watching. The pair looked up at the spectator at the same time. He was a young boy, maybe fifteen, with short black hair, rolled-up white hakama, and an expression of mortification.
"T-takoda-san," he bit out with some distaste.
"Oh!" Jaden said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Tetsu-kun, I'm still not used to you. What is it?"
"Could you call me Ichimura-kun, at least?" The boy asked, looking down from a height only barely above hers and frowning."
"Oh, come on!" A short laugh, then she was happily patting his head, which clearly further upset the boy—who must've been up past his bedtime as it was. "We'll be sharing a master soon, so we should be close, right?"
This caught Roden's attention. He came to her side and started patting her head like she had done to the boy. "A new master, huh? That doesn't sound good. Who exactly..." he stopped, noticing that he was being ignored. The boy had handed a letter to Jaden and she flipped it open and read intently. He hung over her shoulder and noticed the neat writing, the professional look of the letter, then began reading when she didn't seem to protest.
Takoda,
I guess you got your way, huh? Damn bitch. But we'll put your powers to good use here, so I'm hoping you're not more trouble than you're worth. In any case, someone like you needs restrictions, so I've written you up your own personal Strictures. Consider yourself blessed and please sign away your soul below without a struggle, or else you're not joining.
1. Stick with the other Strictures. Set a good example or you'll be slitting your gut.
2. You're not getting paid for this. No arguing about it. Your skills will be a charity to our organization, though I suppose we can feed you at the very least.
3. I guess you like the night. Sensitive skin or something, you pussy? No promises, but I'll try not to leave you out long enough to get sun poisoning.
4. You're staying in my room. In the closet. Again, no compromises. You need someone to supervise you, apparently.
5. An order from above is absolute. And in your case, above is not Kondou-san, but myself and Yamanami, directly. It can't be overruled by the captains or Kondou-san or any other officers. Your soul belongs to us.
There was a long space for Jaden to sign her name, then next to it, the horrifying end to the letter; what Roden had expected and feared and hoped against since the informal "I guess you got your way, huh:" a neat and seemingly satisfied signature reading Hijikata Toshizou.
"Shishou!' he snapped suddenly, elbowing her."Why didn't you tell me?! When the hell did this happen?!" She shrugged nonchalantly. "You can't fucking join the Shinsengumi! It says right there you're signing away your soul! Are you that fucking stupid?!
"Quiet you. Anyway, Tetsu-kun, I'm glad that I know these now. Tell Hijikata I've got it down, and that he needs to work a bit more on his calligraphy." She handed the letter back to the boy without signing it, and Roden quieted as the he began to fold it up and turn away.
Suddenly he paused. "Hijikata-san said you would do that," he said accusingly, turning and thrusting the letter back into her hands. "Sign it!"
She turned surly. "Fucking hate that master of yours, Tetsu-kun."
"You mean your master."
"Too bad I don't have anything to sign with."
Messenger boy frowned and Roden smiled. She seemed determined not to sign, which showed that even she was thinking that the terms were a bit ridiculous, no matter how badly she wanted to join the Shinsengumi. She was thinking before making one of her almost trademark stupid choices, and it was a welcome change.
"Look, Takoda-san. I got up early today, just to hear that I had to hunt you down tonight. Do you know what time it is?" A shrug on Jaden's part. "It doesn't matter because I should be asleep right now. But I certainly can't go back without you signing, or it'll be no dinner and one hundred whacks to the ass come tomorrow. So sign the stupid thing." To Roden's horror, he produced a brush and container of ink from the folds of his gi.
She took the brush in her hand, but didn't take the letter back from the boy, who was holding it out with an annoyed expression. Roden watched her carefully—she was having an argument with herself, her hands moving everywhere in the process, from onto her hips to through her hair to almost reaching out for the letter. Tetsu soon grew tired of this and Roden almost thought he was going to give up, but to his dismay, the boy just reached behind him and pulled one of the katana from his back. He thought Testu might attempt to fight at first, but it was soon clear that that wasn't what was going on.
He looked a little guilty, a little put-out and went down on his knees, bowing. "Hijikata-san said that I should try to convince you with just words first, then offer a present," he said, averting his eyes angrily. "But he said if you're going to be stubborn and absolutely refuse then to go ahead and give you it as a bribe." He held up the gleaming katana. "From my master."
Jaden looked down with wide eyes, nearly drooling. Roden couldn't help but let his guard down and peeked as well—it was a rare beauty. Gleaming in places from the light of the red lanterns, it looked so elegant and wicked and seductive and so amazingly...expensive, and suddenly he knew this was it. Jaden took the sheath off carefully, and Roden knew that she couldn't resist the metallic shine and dainty, sharp blade, or the fashionably rounded guard or the surely famous signature beneath the tough metal hilt.
Before he could utter words to stop her, Jaden had quickly taken the letter away from Tetsu and dropped the sheath to the ground, then scrawled her name in the empty line. Tetsu was quick to grab at the paper again, as if he thought she might change her mind, while Roden stood terrified nearby. Even when Tetsu bowed and quickly ran away and Jaden stood holding and admiring her new katana, he wasn't sure what to do or say, because there was nothing he could do—it was done and on paper.
"Roden," she said suddenly, sounding dazed and looking up at him slowly. "I hate that man. I fucking hate him. He's so manipulative and clever, and it pisses me off. But everyone says we're just alike. Is that what I'm like?"
"No. You're manipulative and stupid." he bit out, coming closer. "And don't cry to me after I warned you, you moron."
"Sannan-san signed it too. I'll get to see him and Heisuke and the others all the time now, so it's okay."
"Yeah but—but at what cost?! I wish you would think things through! Hasn't this sort of thing happened to you several times now, and you still can't make a good decision?!"
"Shut up, Roden. You just threw your lot in with a loyalist pretty-boy, too, so I don't want to hear you talking."
"But I didn't sell my soul to him!"
"I said shut up!" she snapped, glaring at him and throwing her paper lantern to the ground in a childish fit of anger. "I've seen the Shinsengumi for the heroes they are for two years now, and finally I have a chance to join them—my friends, my little brothers. I couldn't pass it up."
"But you were going to!" he grabbed her by the collar of her gi. "You were thinking about it!"
"Well..." she looked at her sword again."Don't worry about me. I'll outsmart Toshizou and win in the end."
He raised her off of the ground so that they were eye-to-eye. "So this is a game to you? No one else is amused."
"It is a game," she said as calmly as she could manage. "At least, it is now. And I don't care what everyone else is doing or thinking, I want to win against Toshizou and I want to take down the Sonno Joi faction. Making it all part of one big game is convenient and fun."
"Fun for who?!"
"Put me down, Roden." Her voice was still calm, but warning and dangerous. Like before a storm. "Remember who the child is and who the master here is."
"Oh really?" A snarl. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so angry with her—she was telling him not to worry, and she was an adult, after all. But still, he was the one holding her more than a foot off of the ground while she was claiming to be so strong and great. "I'll kick your ass then bandage it up for you afterwards. Remember that I'm not your student anymore. I'm stronger than you; I'm better than you."
"You're not!" She squirmed and escaped his grip, then swiftly kicked out and knocked his feet from under him. "Stop being a brat!" she snarled as he landed on the ground next to the broken red lantern. "I'm going to see Hoshijiro or Sannan-san or Hei-kun or someone who isn't as stupid and childish as you are!"
Roden lay on the ground, hating her and hating himself and hating Hijikata Toshizou and Outa Itaru and even Rai, sure that things could only get worse from there.
--
A/N- Finally. I ran out of what was already written and had to do this chapter from scratch. :O So it took a while. I think everyone should just stop relying on me...completely. By the way, I'll be on vacation this coming week so...well, just don't expect anything. Though I doubt you would from me in that small amount of time anyway...
Anyway, that's how Jaden gets her sword. It was a tossup between here and later on in the story, but I just needed more for this chapter. Also, Itaru is just so cute here. The enthusiasm is too much. Sara, meanwhile, matches Jaden in foul-mouthedness. Blah. I don't know what else to talk about... Please Review.
Next Chapter: Life at both Shinsengumi HQ and Itaru's home seems to be not as terrible as Roden predicts. Jaden is happy and he's happy and no one he knows is dying yet. He learns a hobby of Sara's, then visits Ama-chan and runs into Yamanami.