Hunter x Hime: Chapter 36

Yeddo

...

"Do you have a name?"

"Of course I have a name!" Himeko sneered in reply, "But shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking me for my name?"

"My name is Shinatobe."

"Shinatobe sounds awfully similar to Shinatsuhiko," Himeko thought. "Could this woman be her?" Himeko continued to observe Shinatobe clumsily mashing the herbs together to make the ointment to apply on Himeko's wound, spilling some of it on the floor before losing her cool and panicking. "No way, if she is Shinatsuhiko then that would just be an insult to gods…"

"I stated my name, so you should state yours," Shinatobe said, while wiping the spillage with her kimono's white sleeve making Himeko cringe. She was way too old to be using her sleeves as a cleaning cloth especially since it was white. That was going to be a hassle for her to clean, but it was nothing Himeko cared about. She could scrub all she wanted to get her kimono clean since Himeko would be long gone before that. But just watching Shinatobe made her a little irritated and she couldn't sit around in that tiny hut any longer.

"I am someone you don't need to know. Save yourself the hassle with whatever you are trying to make there. This wound will heal by tonight and I'm not planning on staying here until then!"

Himeko got back on her feet and started to make her way out, and Shinatobe accompanied the stubborn girl to the door and watched her open the door as it creaked open. She felt like it no use keeping her back any longer. She was going to leave no matter what she said and besides, half of the ointment she made spilled so there was hardly any ointment left. As the door opened, Shinatobe caught a peek outside and at the sight of a group of men marching towards her little hut, and she pulled Himeko back inside and shut the door fast before the men could see them.

"Quick, go and hide somewhere!" She ordered desperately in a panic. "They can't see you!"

"What are you talking about?" Himeko questioned. Shinatobe was acting strange. Surely it wasn't just because she wanted to make another batch of ointment to apply to her wound. Shinatobe was afraid of what was approaching her little hut and whatever it was, Himeko couldn't be there out in the open for them to see.

"I'll explain later. Just go and hide in that closet over there!"

Without giving Himeko another chance to speak, Shinatobe rushed Himeko towards the mahogany closet and pushed her inside before shutting it and locking it with the key hanging on the lock. She then took the key and hid it at the top of the closet before she turned around and waited anxiously for the knocks on the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

As she had expected, she heard the knock echo loudly in the little hut soon after she pushed Himeko into the closet. She calmed herself down first. Now that Himeko was hidden, she had to make sure not to act suspicious. Then she slowly made her way towards the door again and opened it, letting the men in. Himeko couldn't see anything from inside the closet but she tried to listen closely. Based on the footsteps and the different rhythm and distinctive sound of each, there were four of them. However, three of the footsteps soon stopped and only one was left lingering around the little hut.

"We just came to see whether you were still staying in this little hut of yours or whether you have decided to run away." Himeko heard a deep and coarse voice from where she was sitting. It must have been the man who was still walking around the hut.

"I'm not going to run away and abandon my younger sibling!" Shinatobe's voice sounded a lot different than it did previously. Her voice was a lot softer before, but now her tone was harsh and determined. Himeko couldn't make much of the conversation so far. It was all too vague, but whatever it was it sounded shady.

"That's great to hear!" The man simpered. "That means we will be expecting you there this evening."

"Who the fuck are these creeps? I hope this woman hasn't gotten herself involved in some fishy business."

"I'll turn up tonight so you don't have to worry." Shinatobe was trying to keep in mind that Himeko was still in the room and tried to get rid of the men as fast as she could. "I gave you my word, so I'm asking you to trust me."

The fact that Shinatobe was starting to become a bit pushy became obvious. "One more thing, I feel like you're hiding something from me."

"Oh no, I can't let them find the girl in the closet."

"That's one hell of a sharp motherfucker!" Himeko cursed in her mind. "He must have seen me when I opened the door."

"It must be your imagination." Shinatobe stated, trying to waver his attention. "A rat must have gotten inside the hut."

"So I'm a rat now?"

"Rats do seem larger now than they were before."

"Well excuse me for being a fat rat!"

Himeko sat tightly in the closet, listening to every single word of their conversation. Based on the vague detail alone, she had a gut feeling that Shinatobe was in some sort of trouble and that they were making her do something against her own will by using her younger sibling. It didn't take the men long to leave the little hut though after reminding Shinatobe to appear to the said place at the said time once more. As soon as the coast was clear, Shinatobe reached for the key on top of the closet before setting Himeko. As soon as she stepped out though, she send a glare in Shinatobe's way. Being stuffed in a dusty closet was one thing, but calling her a fat rat was just plain rude. Himeko contemplated on what to do next. It was Shinatobe's own problem and Himeko didn't want to meddle with it. She had her own problems to worry about but then again, she needed to know where she was first of all and it seemed like not everyone around the place was trustworthy. For now, Shinatobe had to do.

Shinatobe was preparing to show Himeko out as the men were finally gone, but Himeko just sat back down on the floor which confused Shinatobe a little. This bipolar girl wanted to leave the hut as soon as she could a couple of minutes ago and now she's making herself comfortable to stay a little longer.

"What are looking at?" Himeko questioned, raising a brow. "Sit down!" Shinatobe obediently followed her order and sat in front of Himeko in silence, waiting for whatever Himeko wanted from her. "I'll be asking you a series of questions, and you will answer them all!"

"This girl is quite arrogant, isn't she?"

"Firstly, is there a shrine belonging to Goddess Shinatsuhiko around here?"

Shinatobe shook her head. "This is the first time I actually heard that name."

"Now, could you tell me where I am?"

"Are you not from around here?"

"Just answer my question!"

Shinatobe frowned before answering her question. "You're in Yeddo."

"Yeddo, huh?" Himeko thought. The name of the location sounded very familiar, she had read about it in history books before. That's right, Yeddo doesn't exist on the map. Well, not anymore. "As far as I remember, Yeddo was renamed Kioto quite a long time ago. So I'm in the right place, but I'm just not in the right time frame. According to her, the shrine didn't exist in this time frame but then again I don't know how old the shrine is. I need to find out how far back I am and how I'm supposed to get back."

"Where are you from?" Shinatobe asked curiously, trying to bring Himeko back from her thoughts. So far, she didn't know one thing about Himeko and it bugged her how Himeko asked so many questions without telling her anything about herself.

"For now, I'll be asking the questions," Himeko answered. "If you answer them, I'll answer your questions."

"What an impudent little girl!"

"I'd like to know who those four men were. I do hope you're not involved in anything bad." Himeko could have just asked which year it was, or asked for the directions to the mountains, but the fact that those four men waltzed in on a women living by herself and told her to meet them in the evening still bugged her.

Hearing that, Shinatobe sighed. "It's not prostitution, if that is what you are thinking." The fact that she cleared it up made Himeko feel a little relieved but then again, it raised the question of what else those men wanted from her.

"Then what is it?" Himeko asked.

"The war, it's getting out of hand. They need more men up front, so they passed a law that one man from each family has to join the troops."

"A war? There were a couple of wars involving Yeddo in the past, so it must be one of them. They are getting desperate enough to send in more men meaning things must be getting out of hand. If I'm not mistaken, the war between Yeddo and Kanto was quite bad. It lasted for around ten years and was the biggest war Yeddo was involved in. But that must mean that I'm around 500 years in the past."

"Ojou-chan?"

"Kou. Call me Kou instead!"

"Kou?" Shinatobe questioned. "What a strange name."

"My given name is Himeko, but I prefer to go by the name Kou." She explained. "That aside, what does the war have to do with you in the first place? From what I can see, you are clearly a woman."

"You are right, but I only have a younger brother. He should be around your age, and he is clearly not ready to go into war."

That was when she understood.

"That's absurd!" Himeko interjected. "Clearly, neither you nor your brother are fit to fight in the war. This is just going to end up as a mass murder! What is the shogun* thinking?!" Shinatobe was surprised by Himeko's sudden outburst. All this time, she didn't sound like she cared even a little but now she seemed like a completely different person. Himeko noticed that she lost her temper for a moment and blew her bangs to cool down. "Sorry about that!"

"They will execute anyone that doesn't follow the law."

"Nonsense! The bakufu** should have done better than send children and women into the war. But then again, the shogun of this period was assassinated at the end of the war. Serves him right!"

"The troops are leaving tonight."

Himeko bit her lip while listening to Shinatobe. She clearly didn't look like a fighter, so she wouldn't last a minute in a war if she were to go. "Are you really alright with leaving? You can just try to convince them to let this slide."

Shinatobe shook her head in response, "They won't let me go that easily. They are insisting that I fight in the war along with them because I can use magic."

Himeko's attention completely turned to Shinatobe. She knew that people believed in all kinds of nonsense back in the days, but this woman believing that she can use magic just takes the cake. "Magic? You?" She asked in a mocking manner, raising a brow in amusement.

"Yes." The fact that a little girl was making fun of her just completely and utterly embarrassed her, but then again she wanted to prove that she was right. "I'll show you, just watch!"

"Okay, let's see what kind of magic she's going to pull."

Shinatobe left to get a glass of water and placed in in front of Himeko. "Please, taste the water."

"This trick. I think I know where this is going…" Nonetheless, Himeko obediently tasted the ice cold water fresh from the well before Shinatobe did just what Himeko expected. She used Ten.

"Please taste the water now." Himeko just went along with it all and tasted the water. It was a little sweeter than it was before. "You see, not many people can see what I can see so I have to do this to prove myself."

"No, I could see your aura." Himeko commented. "What you used right now, it's not magic or anything. From where I'm from, it's call Nen."

"Nen?"

Himeko put her hands together and made a small twister in her hands to prove her statement. "What you are seeing in front of you, it's called Nen. I can use it too."

"Who are you? And where are you from? How do you know about this Nen ability?" After Himeko showed her Hatsu, she was soon flooded with questions. Judging by her curiosity, Himeko could conclude one thing.

"Nen seems to be quite rare in this time frame. That might explain why she is so surprised to see me using it." Himeko clapped her hands together and the little twister disappeared.

"Please, I've answered all your questions. Answer mine!" Shinatobe pleaded.

"Fine! Just stop your annoying begging!" Himeko interrupted. "My full name is Himeko Inoue. Telling you where I'm from will be no use since you won't know. Let's just say I'm from a far away place and where I'm from, Nen is quite common. Quite a lot of people use it for all sorts of things. It's become part of our daily life."

"Inoue? Are you perhaps part of the Inoue clan?"

"No, I just happen to have to same surname." Himeko lied. "Anything else you need to know?"

"Yes, please teach me more about this Nen!"

Himeko sighed, knowing this question was going to be asked. "Listen up, I'm not an expert, nor am I a qualified teacher. I'm a student myself and I have only started learning Nen a couple of months ago. I won't teach you anything."

"You have more knowledge than me. It will benefit me for when I'm entering the war."

"You have a few hours until the sun sets and you have to leave then. You won't be able to master Nen by then! Forget entering the war, run away from this place and stay hidden until the war is over!"

"But my younger brother-"

"Use this time wisely to think of a way to rescue your brother then!" Himeko yelled. "Me teaching you Nen and you learning Nen for the next few hours won't do you any good. Nen has to be learnt with patience, rushing the training will do you more harm than good. Find a way to get hold of your brother in this remaining time and run away with him. You out of all people aren't fit to fight in a war, you're too soft!"

"But-"

"Good luck!" Himeko stood back up and made her way towards the door. "I have my own problems to worry about. I'm not from here, and I have to get back to where I came from before I end up in big trouble."

"Why won't you help me? Don't you at least feel sorry for me?" Shinatobe screamed in anger. "My brother has been taken away and the only way for me to get him back safely is to enter the war. Do you know how it feels like? You didn't just come out of no where, I'm sure you have a family too. Stop being so selfish and try putting yourself in my shoes for once!"

"What an annoying old hag you are! I don't have a family and the only family member I have left is god knows where doing god knows what!" Himeko snapped back. She had to chase her older brother around the world when it was meant to go the other way. He was supposed to look after her and watch over her. Why did she have to go around the world to find him? "I know how it feels to suffer the loss of family members but there is a reason why I can't help you."

"Why? Is that reason really good enough for me to lose my brother?"

"I can't meddle with the past incase something were to change in the future." Himeko thought to herself. She couldn't tell her. Telling Shinatobe about Nen was already bad enough, meddling with things further could change the outcome of the war. Their fate was already settled and Himeko couldn't do anything to change it. She would have had to deal with everything herself even if Himeko didn't show up. "I have my reasons. I can give you one tip though. You can increase your aura by meditating, but that's all I'm going to say."

Shinatobe didn't talk back this time and just let Himeko go. It was no use trying to convince her. She had to fight her own battle by herself and she couldn't rely on anyone anymore. Her eyes followed Himeko who didn't bother looking back. She couldn't look bad after all. She felt bad for Shinatobe but in order to not change the past, she had to leave now before she has a change of hear and decides to help her. Himeko reached for the handle and opened the door.

"I knew I smelled a rat somewhere. It turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected!"

*Shogun - a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan appointed by the emperor. Because of the military power concentrated in his hands, the shogun was generally the real ruler of the country.

**Bakufu - The government system of the feudal military.

So in simple english, the shogun is the big shot and the bakufu are the government officers working for the big shot.

A/n - Dun dun dun, cliffhanger :O Had a maths exam today, 4 more to go! Then I'll be a free bird TT_TT Well, I don't have much to say so yeah I'll move onto the reviews. Oh I did remember something! Thank you for reading and all the support! Also, sorry for the short chapter -_-'

Replies to reviews

Queechi - I didn't really understand the first bit of your review so I won't comment on it xD

If you are a Natsume to your younger sister, then you should feel guilty, lmao! He made her enter a forest filled with all kinds of mystical beasts with a badly drawn map that he probably won't be able to read either to clean an abandoned shrine built in the middle of no where, just because he couldn't be asked. But then again, Natsume is my favourite out of the dojo boys xD And Himeko is forever on the search for her brother. Maybe I should write a parody with her searching for Takumi, but then the readers would just get frustrated. Like Himeko seriously, keep your brothers in one place and stopped chasing them around the world xD

And I died at the 'try hard conductor' part xD If he didn't blow the whistle, she would have caught up with Hakuryuu and now she has to wait for another phone call from pedo clown to know his location. P.s Pedoclown didn't pick up cuz he was busy stalking Gon and Killua in Greed Island. Also, you don't have to review on a different chapter now I think.

TangoUnicornA - I'm glad you like this story and Himeko as a character, and hey, you tuned in at the correct time for an OC arc. I hope you are liking her own adventures so far ^^ Who she's going to end up with is something for you to think about. I'll give you a tip; you'll have to think about the boys' situation more than Himeko's. She doesn't really have much to worry about (well that's a lie but still). Until then, you can just cruise around on a ship and hope that I'm not going to sink that particular ship xD

Nikaa-san - Welcome back! It sucks that your account got hacked :( Make sure to make up a long and ridiculous password for all your social media and stuff! To be honest, every review counts in my point of view and they motivate me to do better. That aside, I'm glad that the story is getting better. It's a good indication! Don't be afraid to drop me a PM anytime, I tend to reply quite quickly since I personally feel like it's rude not to reply. But then again, that's my opinion xD