Chapter 36
"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." ― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
"Hmm… you're just as short as she described you to be." said a friendly, lighthearted voice from behind me as I was hanging the laundry.
"Eeek!" I jumped and embarrassingly shrieked at the sound of the voice.
Who was that and how come I didn't detect anyone? While I wasn't as sharp as everyone else, I was still fairly hard to sneak up on. I quickly twirled around to see an extremely handsome looking man smiling down at me.
This man was fairly well built, but not overly muscular like Shinpachi-san was aiming to be. His frame was fit, but also had a certain leanness to it along with the promise of hidden strength. His spiky, light black hair was shorter than that of the average hair that was deemed fashionable in Tokugawa Japan, but it was tastefully arranged as fell around the sides of his face. But out of all his features, it was his smoky gray eyes that stood out the most. His eyes were sharp and eagle-like despite the friendly look on his face.
His clothing was very clearly Japanese in nature but, at the same time, was very different from what the average man wore in Kyoto. He wore a formfitting black top with its long sleeves ending short above the elbow with another looser, green, short sleeved shirt worn over the black shirt. His pants were a dark gray color and worn in the same style as Shinpachi-san's pants. He had a large, wide, red sash tied around his waist and a long black scarf around his neck. The palms of his hands up to his lower arms were bound with dark red bandages. On the left side of his hip, a tachi[1] and a kodachi[2] were held in place by his sash.
"Ouch, that shriek hurt my feelings." the strange man said jokingly with a happy grin. Of all the times to leave my naginata propped up against the wall in my room.
"You're not hurt yet." I said with narrowed eyes after I composed myself. I quickly went to stomp on his toes, like one would when trying to step on an annoying insect.
The unknown stranger quickly hopped back with a blinking expression to dodge my foot.
"Hey! What was that for?" he whined almost pathetically. "She told me you were friendly…"
She? Who was she? As I opened my mouth to ask, a tired, winded voice from behind the compound walls called out.
"K-Kenji!" Kyoko-chan panted tiredly as she pulled herself up the other side of the wall. "W-wait for me! You're too fast!"
"Kenji?" I repeated after Kyoko-chan. This man was the childhood friend Kyoko-chan was supposed to marry?
I suddenly felt slightly envious of Kyoko-chan. She was going to have some really pretty children in the future. It was no wonder that Kyoko-chan told me that Kenji didn't mind her looking at other men. Seriously, with those looks, there was no competition. Kyoko-chan and Kenji were like one of those really good-looking supermodel couples in the future.
"You told me she was friendly," Kenji whined back to Kyoko-chan as she was pulling herself over the wall, "but she just tried to break my toes!"
"Of course I would do that!" I snapped back before Kyoko-chan could answer him. "You're a strange man that just broke into the Roshigumi's headquarters and you snuck up on me! How did you think I was going to react?!"
"Pfffttt!" Kyoko-chan snorted before she broke out into a fit of giggles at Kenji's puzzled expression. "She got you there."
As soon as Kyoko-chan managed to regain control over her giggles, she quickly grabbed Kenji's arms and brought him closer to where I was standing.
"Time for a proper introduction!" Kyoko-chan exclaimed. "This is Fuma Kenji and that is Okita Shizuka-chan!"
"Ah," I said before straightening myself up and bowing, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kenji-san."
"Yeah, you too." he said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly before nodding back at Kyoko-chan with a serious look.
"Hey, Shizuka-chan." Kyoko-chan said seriously while making eye contact with me. "Is Hijikata in? I have information on Yukimura Kodo."
"He and Otou-san are currently in Osaka right now, but—"
"Both of them should return later this afternoon." Sannan-san said, interrupting my answer, as he turned the corner of a nearby building.
"Sannan-san?" I asked. When did he get here?
"I rushed here at the sound of your little shriek." Sannan-san answered me with a friendly smile before turning to Kyoko-chan. "Is what you found serious?"
"Yes, but what I have must be said directly to Hijikata." Kyoko-chan said to Sannnan-san before looking around cautiously. "Especially because it involves the Water of Life."
Sannan-san's eyes widened in shock as silently turned to me to demand an answer. I shook my head at Sannan-san with equal shock. I never told her about the Water of Life. How did Kyoko-chan and Kenji-san know about it? Was the Roshigumi's dirty little secret not as well kept as we had hoped?
"How do you know about the Water of Life?" I questioned seriously.
"I'm sure you know that the Bakufu obtained it through trade before passing it off to Yukimura Kodo to improve." Kenji-san said with a hard look. "Zero points for guessing which merchant family was used to obtain it for the Bakufu in the first place."
"Why don't you come inside to wait? Both Kondou-san and Hijikata-kun are scheduled to return in about an hour." Sannan-san said as he led both Kyoko-chan and Kenji-san inside before calling out to me. "Go ask someone to accompany you to wait for them to arrive at the harbor as soon as you're done hanging the laundry."
I nodded at Sannan-san before quickly I finished hanging the laundry messily and ran off to find Saito-san. He didn't have patrol until later today, so he was probably practicing at Mibu temple.
"What do you think Kyoko-chan found on Yukimura?" I asked Saito-san while sitting on a bench near the harbor. Saito-san was standing next to me as he leaned against the wall with crossed arms.
"It must be something serious if Wakahisa-san wanted to speak directly to the Vice Commander without irritating him first." Saito-san answered before pushing off the wall. "Let us go. I see the ferry docking."
I nodded before padding off after Saito-san. Both of us greeted Hijikata-san and Otou-san as they stepped off the ramp and back onto dry land. With one look, Hijikata-san was able to deduce that Saito-san and I were not here to welcome them back and immediately asked us what happened.
"What happened?" Hijikata-san asked with hardened eyes. "Did Niimi-san do something while we were away?"
"No, that's not it." I answered. "I kept Niimi busy by lacing his food with a potent laxative. He's spent most of his time occupying the facilities rather than working on his project."
"Shizu-chan!" Otou-san scolded me. "There are other ways to distract the man rather than to do that!"
"You what?" Hijikata-san asked at my statement with a stunned expression. "Nevermind. So what happened?"
I merely shrugged unapologetically before focusing my attention back onto Saito-san.
"Wakahisa-san arrived at headquarters an hour ago with information regarding Yukimura Kodo and she wants to speak directly to you." Saito-san said.
"I see." Hijikata-san said before looking at Otou-san. Both men then followed both Saito-san and I back to headquarters.
"Who are you?" Hijikata-san immediately asked when he saw Kenji-san sitting on the floor next to Kyoko-chan with Sannan-san. Saito-san had left for patrol as soon as we arrived back at the headquarters.
"I'm Fuma Kenji." he answered. "I'm sure you've heard of me from Kyoko."
"But that doesn't tell me why you're here."
"He's here because I was having trouble finding information on Yukimura Kodo and his information network is larger than mine." Kyoko-chan said, cutting the conversation short.
"Information network?" questioned Otou-san. "How do you have an information network? Aren't you a merchant?"
"Yes, but I also come from a ninja clan with a vast information network." Kenji-san explained nonchalantly.
"Ninja clan?! That's quite shocking to hear!" Otou-san said in awesome wonder.
"Back to the main reason we're here." Kyoko-chan said to steer the conversation back on track. "I was having difficulty finding information on Yukimura Kodo. For a supposedly normal, Dutch trained doctor, he covers up his movements fairly well. All I managed to dig up was that he had a daughter back in Edo and that he was either not married or his wife died and he never remarried. I had to ask Kenji to help me to find some more meaningful information on Yukimura Kodo."
"He's from, or rather was from the large Yukimura clan further up north in the countryside." Kenji-san continued on in Kyoko-chan's place before he was stopped by Sannan-san.
"What do you mean 'was'?"
"The Yukimura clan no longer exists." answered Kenji-san. "Twelve years ago, the Western domain ordered the Yukimura clan to fight for them, but the Yukimura clan refused claiming that they prefer to live in peace. The Western domain retaliated to their refusal by burning down their village and killing everyone in sight. Yukimura Kodo and his daughter are the only known clan members that managed to survive and escape the slaughter. Now for the important parts: when the Bakufu was looking for skilled doctors to improve the Water of Life—"
"Wait! How do you know about the Water of Life?!" Otou-san interrupted in alarm.
Kenji-san sighed at the abrupt interruption with annoyance, "My family was the family that the Bakufu used to obtain the Water of Life through trade. Anyways, Yukimura Kodo actually volunteered himself when he and a small group of doctors received summons from the Bakufu. It seemed like he already knew what the Water of Life was before the Bakufu gave their explanation. I remember the amount of glee I saw on his face when the Bakufu handed off the project to him at the meeting—"
"You were at that meeting?" Kenji-san was interrupted again, but this time by Hijikata-san."
"Yes." Kenji-san said with annoyance. "Stop interrupting me. If you have something to ask then ask it after explanations are done. I hate being interrupted. Back to the subject… Given that his tragic past and the glee he showed when given the Water of Life project by the Bakufu, I assume that he intends to use the completed Water of Life for his own purposes. Perhaps he means to get revenge on the Western domain for their trespasses or maybe he had a high from experiencing the trill of holding such power in his hands."
A tense silence filled the room after Kenji-san had finished speaking. If Yukimura had his own intentions in improving the Water of Life, using the Bakufu's orders as an excuse, he would be using the Roshigumi as his guinea pig and develop the Water of Life to his own usefulness, whatever it may be.
"What should we do?" I asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. We couldn't let Yukimura use the Roshigumi like this.
"There's nothing we can do at the moment." Hijikata-san answered with closed eyes. "All we have is an assumption and not actual proof at the moment. All we can do for now is watch Kodo-san closely. We can only take action if we get proof or he makes a mistake."
A mistake? When will that be? According to Kyoko-chan, this man was a master at cloaking his own movements and he had a perfect mask on all the time. By the looks on everyone's faces, everyone was thinking the exact same thing.
Hijikata-san opened his eyes and turned to Kenji-san, "You said you have an information network. How big and how good is it?"
Kenji smirked confidently before presenting his answer, "My family's network covers from the Satsuma domain all the way to the Hirosaki domain. As for how good it is, I just gave you information regarding the secretive Yukimura clan, so why don't you tell me how good it is?"
"How would you like to work with the Roshigumi?" Hijikata-san smirked back, impressed by Kenji-san's confidence. "You don't have to join the Roshigumi as an official member. Think of it as a partnership."
"Haven't I already started to work with the Roshigumi?" was all Kenji-san said to Hijikata-san. "I'd say we're already partners."
"Besides, Shizuka-chan's and I are like shimai[3] and family helps family, right?" Kyoko-chan added on to Kenji-san's statement with a smile as she reached over to grab my hands.
"Sensei, do you have a moment to talk?" Yamazaki-san asked me as he entered my lab space.
After that little encounter with Souji on the day that he joined the Roshigumi, Yamazaki-san had settled on just calling me Sensei. If he called me by my first name then he would ignite the wrath of Souji and if he called me by my new last name then he would get me and Souji get mixed up quite a bit. Sensei was a good median to him. It was showed respect and there was a certain amount of closeness to it due to the slight teacher-student relationship we had going on.
"Sure." I answered cheerfully while putting down the flask. "What do you need?"
"Are you aware that the Vice Commander created a new post called the Inspectors?"
"Oh! Yeah he mentioned it to me briefly and told me that you'd explain the rest. So what do the Inspectors do?" I asked curiously.
"The Inspectors will investigate matters both inside and outside the Roshigumi. Both Shimada-san and I will be filling the post." said Yamazaki-san.
"So Hijikata-san wants to keep a closer eye on Serizawa and Niimi?" I asked. That had to be the main reason.
"Yes, or as the Vice Commander puts it, 'putting the bell on the cat'. This was also done to keep the Water of Life a secret. With these new duties, I will be busier and may not have as much time to spend learning new medical techniques." explained Yamazaki-san. "I will also be training with Fuma-san to improve my information gathering abilities."
"I see… I can lighten up your workload, but keep in mind that there are some medical techniques I will still be requiring for you to learn. Let me know if you ever feel like you're being overworked, okay?"
"Yes, Sensei!"
Yamazaki-san was going to be really busy soon with his double post as medical assistant and inspector. I only hoped that he wouldn't be overworked, but Yamazaki-san was a talent man and had really good time management skills, so maybe the double post would be more doable for him than for other people.
"Ohhh…that feels good..." Souji groaned from his seat as I rubbed the spot between his shoulder blades to loosen up his muscles in our room at night.
Right after patrolling all afternoon, Souji went over to the Mibu temple to train without taking a break first. I had noticed that he looked a bit stiff during dinner and had later learned that he had been training nonstop since his patrol ended and only stopped when it was time for dinner. I doubt that it was his first time doing this. There were other nights when I noticed the same stiffness in his back. Souji always pushed himself hard, but it wasn't healthy for him if he continued to push himself this hard without rest.
"I know you want to continue to improve, but pushing yourself continuously without rest is unhealthy." I scolded from my kneeled position behind him as I continued to knead the spot I had just pressed. "If you get sick or obtain a chronic injury then all your hard work will be undone."
"Mmm…" he hummed happily as he ignored my warning. "I need to keep practicing because Kondou-san will need skilled swordsmen. Besides I like it when you massage my back like this."
"If you want a back massage then all you have to do is to ask for one," I pointed out, "not overwork yourself every day to get one."
"But it's more satisfying to get one after a hard day of work." he said with a pout as he turned his head towards me.
I sighed at him before giving him a small smile. "Fine, but you need to stop being so picky with your food. Instead of giving me all your green onions, you should eat them."
"Boo."
"And you need to at least have one day of rest between your training days."
"Boo."
"Stop saying 'boo' at me."
"Boo." he said with a smirk just to irk me.
There was just no winning with him. I narrowed my eyes, I wasn't going to lose that easily. As I moved to playfully whack him on the shoulder, he quickly moved his shoulder out of the way and pulled me into his lap by grabbing my outstretched arm.
"I win." he whispered into my ear. Darn it.
"Why do I always lose?" I grumbled in his lap. These little playful moments were always fun, but I always lost in our little games and losing all the time gets old rather fast.
"Because I'm just that much faster." he said with a smug grin before his expression softened as he moved his arms so that a hand rested on my lower abdomen.
"Souji?" I called, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over us. "What is it?"
"Just thinking." he said before pressing a light kiss on top of my head.
"About?"
"The future and the day we'll become parents. Hopefully that won't be too far off." he said while pressing his hand firmly but gently against my belly before changing the topic. "Do you remember when we first met?"
"It's one of my fondest memories." I said while thinking back. "Though I didn't know it at the time. I remember handing you that sakura branch when we first met."
"Oh! That's right! I still have that branch somewhere in a box." Souji exclaimed.
"Eh? Really, but that was so long ago." I said in surprise. I would have expected him to throw it away, especially because he wasn't a happy child when we first met.
"Yeah, I never threw it away."
"Oh. I would have expected you to. You didn't look too happy when we first met and you definitely didn't want to spend any time with me at the time."
"Yeah, I guess so…. My ane[4] had just left me when Kondou-san agreed to take me in. My first thought when I saw you was that I didn't need someone younger and smaller than me pitying me. Interesting how things turn out."
"Yes." I softly agreed as I snuggled closer to him. I liked it when he wanted to cuddle. "Who knew we would get married."
"You were always a source of interest." Souji said, continuing down memory lane, though it seemed like he was talking to himself more than me now. "You were so small, but you never acted your age. While there were kids that tried to act like adults, you didn't have to act. You always understood most things almost instantly. There was so much strength in your small frame and even more gentleness. You always spent more time looking out for me rather than yourself."
Souji fell silent once more after speaking. After pondering on whatever he was thinking about in the short silence, he looked me in the eye with a gentle, yet unreadable, expression.
"You would make a great haha." he said quietly with a ghost of a smile as he began to rub my belly with his hand.
"Really?" I asked doubtfully.
Me a mother? I wanted children, but I always thought I would make a terrible mother because of my terrible habit of spoiling everyone, especially those closest to me. If I had a kid, then it probably would be spoiled beyond all belief.
"What? You don't believe me?" he asked with a slight frown.
"No, it's not that. I just always thought I would make a terrible okaa-san." I explained. "I have a horrible habit of spoiling everyone close to me too mu—"
"AAHHHHWAHH!" a shout rang out through the night followed by a loud thud.
Souji and I froze at that loud cry before springing into action. I only heard one cry like that before. It had to be another rasetsu, but Sannan-san wouldn't be doing an experiment right now, especially without telling everyone. This had to be Niimi's fault. I grabbed my naginata and followed Souji out the door towards the source of that cry. We had to get there now to deal with the rasetsu! It would spell disaster for us if the normal soldiers of the Roshigumi found out about the Water of Life or if the rasetsu managed to escape.
"What the hell was that?!" Hijikata-san asked both me and Souji as he joined us as we ran towards the disturbance.
"How do you think I would know?" Souji replied with annoyance and sarcasm as we approached our destination. "I can't see through walls."
Hijikata-san opened his mouth to retaliate but was interrupted before he could actually say anything.
"What was that?!" Heisuke asked as he and the others joined our little group.
"It came from the back!" answered Shinpachi-san as he ran up to us from behind.
Everyone arrived at the location were the cry had originated only to find Ibuki-kun falling to his knees with the look of intense fear etched on to his face.
"Ryunosuke," Heisuke immediately cried out, "what happened? Are you okay?"
"Hijikata-san!" Shinpachi-san said, quickly pointing out the giant hole smashed into the side of the Maekawa house.
Hijikata-san's eyes widened in horror when he realized what must have happened. He quickly turned to Ibuki-kun.
"Where did he go?!" he forcefully demanded an answer from Ibuki-kun.
Still unable to recover from his intense fear, all Ibuki-kun could do was shakily point in the direction the rasetsu ran while making unintelligent sounds.
"After him!" Hijikata-san ordered fiercely. "Souji! Shizuka! Sannan-san!" he then listed the people who were to go with him.
We quickly followed Hijikata-san through the hole in the Maekawa house and into the building to investigate what happened to result in the escape of the rasetsu while the others sped out of the headquarters to find the escaped rasetsu. Unsurprisingly, we found Niimi picking up his notes inside, at the scene of the crime.
"D-Do you need something?" Niimi asked nervously while hugging his notes to his chest as we approached with Hijikata-san in the lead.
"Don't play dumb!" Hijikata-san barked out angrily. "That was a rasetsu's voice."
The word 'rasetsu' must have been the magic word. Once hearing that word, Niimi's nervous mask shattered and became one of panic as he froze in place.
"Want to die?" Souji asked with a dark look as he pushed his katana slightly out of its sheath with his thumb while I raised my naginata in a threatening manner.
That did the trick. Niimi now openly displayed his fear and as it looked like he was about to beg for us to spare his life, Serizawa appeared while looking totally relaxed and unconcerned at what caused the loud disturbance in the first place.
"What's all the commotion?" Serizawa asked before scolding us. "You're making a ruckus."
Niimi quickly and pathetically scrambled behind Serizawa for protection as we turned to face the relaxed man that had just appeared.
"I-I was just testing the Water of Life." Niimi fearfully explained.
"Who did you administer it to?" Hijikata-san snarled while stepping forward.
"Not one of our own. I used the ronin that Serizawa-sensei arrested." Niimi said as he referred to the ronin that was arrested earlier today as he defended himself from behind Serizawa while shivering in fear.
"Niimi-san, why did you do that without consulting us?" Sannan-san angrily scolded the cowering man.
"I did it to improve our results faster! Plus it wasn't a COMPLETE failure this time. He was able to retain his senses at first."
"But ultimately, you allowed a monster that will indiscriminately attack people break free." Hijikata-san said, completely unimpressed at Niimi's flimsy defense. "How will you take responsibility for this?"
"E-even if you wanted me to take responsibility…" Niimi stammered before looking to Serizawa with hope that Serizawa would intervene.
"Henceforth," Hijikata-san yelled harshly causing Niimi to flinch, "I will not keep my peace with you. Breaking the Code is punishable by seppuku! Don't forget that."
"I-I will be sure to bear that in mind." Niimi said with absolute fear while covered in cold sweat at Hijikata-san's words and glare while Serizawa smirked at Hijikata-san's fierce expression.
"Souji! Shizuka! Go help the other's with the search!" Hijikata-san ordered shortly after Serizawa left the room with Niimi scrambling behind him. "Sannan-san and I will go deal with the soldiers in the barracks. They were bound to have heard all the commotion and are probably wondering what's going on."
"Understood." I answered while nodding at Souji before splitting from Hijikata-san and Sannan-san.
"Man." Souji complained. "This wasn't how I wanted to spend our night."
"It can't be helped. Let's focus for now. We need to catch that rasetsu before it has the chance to attack anyone."
[1] A tachi (太刀) was a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (nihontō) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tachi style of swords preceded the development of the katana — the first use of the word katana to indicate a blade different from tachi appears toward the end of the twelfth century.
[2] A kodachi (小太刀 atau こだち), literally translating into "small or short tachi (sword)", is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (nihontō) used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Kodachi are from the early Kamakura period (1185–1333) and are in the shape of a tachi. Kodachi are mounted in tachi style but with a length of less than 60 cm.
[3] Japanese word for sisters.
[4] Used to address one's older sister.