I totally just realized that I accidently posted chapter 4 again over chapter 5! So sorry! I've finally fixed it (A year later). Technically edited Feb 2021 but actually posted in Jan 2022. Stay safe people!
Kaiya knelt in front of Saitou in the meeting room early the following morning, barely able to control her excitement. They had gotten up extra early so that Saitou could give her lessons privately without interference. Saitou was usually too busy during the day to give her any lessons.
"Are listening to me, Kaiya-chan?" Saitou looked at her sternly.
"Yes sorry. I'm just a little nervous, I've never had to do such a thing before." Kaiya gave him a bit of a rueful look.
"I will start you small, but I intend to progress as quickly as possible. Today will involve no swords, first we need to teach how to hit somebody properly and how you use your small frame to your advantage."
Kaiya listened intently as he went on to describe the proper way to throw a punch with causing little to no damage to herself. He then had her stand and went about showing her how to do it. When he was satisfied with her skill, he went about showing her areas of the body that a well place jab could incapacitate an enemy; most of which made complete sense when she thought about the anatomy of the body.
Throughout most of their first session together she mostly listened to what he had to say, watched when he gave examples and the few times he asked, she did her best to execute what he was teaching her. She could see why Kondou thought of him as a good teacher and she totally agreed. Despite being extremely quiet, he was very skilled at communicating what she needed to know, and when she didn't immediately grasp what he was trying to tell her, he was patient.
Finally, he said, "we are done for today."
Kaiya gave a polite bow, "Thank you for everything Saitou-kun."
He returned her polite bow, "I'm only doing my job."
"Today, maybe but you didn't have to suggest this in the first place."
"It was the best thing…for all of us." Saitou paused for a moment then looked her square in the eye. "Quite frankly I am surprised you accepted Kondou-san's terms and even so, I had fully expected him to assign Souji to teach you given your relationship with him."
"So, you regret giving the suggestion?" Kaiya was shocked with how sad this made her and hurt with how cold he was acting towards her.
Saitou sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm not as accustomed to dealing with women in such a way. I have…enjoyed teaching you, truly. You are, in fact, a good student." Kaiya had bit her lip to keep back the smile. "Souji is very protective of you and everyone can see you trust him most. Considering what happened I thought Kondou-san would have Souji teach you solely because you trust him."
"I trust you as well, Saitou-kun. Besides, you were the one who saved me." Kaiya let out an internal sigh, he was starting to relax a bit.
The corners of his mouth twitched up for a second then fell flat and his stoic expression returned. "That brings me to the other reason why you accepted Kondou-san's terms. By being a member the Roshigumi, you are now obliged to answer any order given to you by Serizawa-san and you can't just leave here if your situation with him becomes too uncomfortable; you'd be considered a deserter and that is punishable by death." Saitou face was now extremely serious.
Kaiya bowed her head for a second then looked up into Saitou's face. "I know that. Trust me I considered it but I've been running and hiding from men like him since my father was murdered. They ruined my life, but I will never be able to stop running if I don't learn to stand up for myself. I need to start learning to do that now."
His face softened as he looked down into her passion filled eyes. "Very brave and admirable of you. Most would keep running, I think. I promise I will not fail you; you will learn to defend yourself…and others. I will make you my best student."
Kaiya gave a grateful sigh and bowed again. "Thank you" she said as she exhaled. Then she bowed again, this time more deeply.
"I won't take it easy on you, your lessons will be difficult. Today was just a small taste of what I can teach you." His face became hard again.
"I look forward to it." She said with a smile.
111
After about the fourth session, Kaiya was beginning to regret accepting his challenge. He was a man of his word, and he was indeed not taking it easy on her. He been teaching her various throws and counter attacks, letting her land hard on her butt which led him to teach her how take a fall and even roll back onto her feet…this took more than a week to learn and was still shaky in her landing.
One evening after a long day of training and then doctoring, Kaiya sat in her room nursing the various bruises she acquired when a knock came at her door. She immediately assumed it had to be Souji, coming for his regular update. Every night he would come just before she went to bed to make sure all was well. Sometimes…well most of the time really, he would enquire about her lessons and what she had learned that day. She always hid her bruises from him, not wanting him to take issue with Saitou and his rough treatment of her. During the day she generally cursed Saitou for being so rough with her but at night when she had the time to think about things, she was more grateful than anything knowing that his not holding back benefited her in the long run.
Kaiya quickly pulled her sleeve down over her bruised forearm. "Come in!"
When the door slid open, instead of Souji, Saitou stepped inside carrying something in his hand. "Forgive the intrusion."
Kaiya wiped the shocked expression from her face and smiled at him. "No, not at all. I was just expecting you to be Souji. He's been showing up almost every night lately to check on me."
"I don't intend to be long." Like always he sat down in front of her placing the mysterious object he had carried in when he entered, in his lap. "We haven't had much time to talk beyond our morning sessions, we've both been busy people lately. I hardly see you at any of the meals lately."
A couple of the meals Kaiya had just decided not to show purely because Serizawa had decided to dine with everyone. Ryunosuke was always kind enough to give her warning of his showing, and she had become quite fond of the young man. He showed up regularly with bruises from recent encounter with Serizawa and sympathized with her not wanting to be near him. He had even started asking for her advice for talking with a girl he'd become infatuated with. Most of the time though, she had real reasons for not showing. With the increase of men, as well as the increase of Ronin roaming the streets, there was inevitably an increase in injuries.
After Kaiya's encounter with Serizawa, Kondou had assigned Yamazaki to be on call for any evening emergencies. Kaiya was only disturbed when it was something beyond his means, which was occurring less and less frequently with all that he was learning from Kaiya. It truly seemed that Kaiya and Saitou only met each other in the morning for their sessions and Saitou was always right to business, not leaving much room to chat.
"I had intended on giving you this, this afternoon but I have been indisposed of until now." He handed her the object that lay in his lay lap, wrapped in cloth. "I saw it in the market this morning while I was on patrol. It seemed appropriate."
Kaiya unwrapped the present and found a beautiful small dagger in her hand. "Are you going to teach me how to use this?" She asked excitedly.
Saitou couldn't help but smile at her excitement. "Of course. This is the sharp end you stick it into the bad people." He said sarcastically, which made Kaiya a little shocked since he was always so serious around her.
She laughed and swatted him in the arm, knowing full well that the man allowed her to hit him. She removed it from its sheath to admire it better. The blade was definitely a piece of art, likely expensive.
"It's beautiful" she breathed "but it's too much."
"I don't think it is, I have been very hard on you. I think you deserve a reward and besides, you may hate me for giving it to you once I start teaching you how to use it."
Kaiya smiled then bowed her head politely. "Thank you so much."
Saitou started to blush, "I wasn't looking to find you a gift…I just spotted it on my rounds and thought it suited you." He let out a huff of frustration then put out his hand. "Put out your left arm and give the dagger to me." Kaiya did as he instructed. He took the dagger and then showed her how to attach it to her arm and where it was ideal to position it. She smiled again, deepening his blush. After an awkward moment he suddenly stood up and turned toward the door.
"That is all I wanted." Saitou approached the door and stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I will see you in the morning." Then opened the door to find Souji standing there with his hand raised about to knock, looking shocked at the door suddenly opening.
Unfazed, Saitou nodded to him. "Good evening Souji." And moved passed him. Hand still raised Souji watched as Saitou left and then turned back to Kaiya with a confused look. She waved him to come in and he sat down in front of her replacing Saitou.
"I'm not use to seeing men leave your room." He said watching her face.
Kaiya chuckled, "He was just preparing me for tomorrow's lesson."
111
Unfortunately, the following morning Saitou did not show up, instead it was Hijikata who met her the following day. He sat waiting for her in an outdoor garden that she and Saitou had been practicing in lately. On the ground beside him sat two Bokken.
"Good morning, Kaiya-chan. I know you weren't expecting me." He said as he saw her approach.
Kaiya chuckled as she sat across from him. "No, I wasn't, but I imagine something requires Saitou-kun's attention."
"Yes, I'm afraid he's going to be gone for a couple of days. Saitou told me you hadn't yet started training with a sword. I don't want to get you mixed up with the things he has already taught you, so I'm not going to even touch hand to hand combat. To be honest, Saitou is much more of an expert in that field than I am. So, I'm going to teach you the fundamentals of swordsmanship, he can build on from there as he chooses."
Kaiya smiled, "I take it we aren't starting with real swords."
Hijikata returned her smile and got to his feet. "No, not until I feel comfortable you won't hurt yourself and besides, when we spar, we use Bokken."
He helped her to her feet and handed her a Bokken. Then proceeded to show her how to hold it properly, then to swing it technically sound.
"It's good to practice your swings this way, it helps build the proper muscle tone but only has limited practical use."
Unlike Saitou, Hijikata was quite sociable during their practice session and quickly learned a great deal about him. She had learnt that both Hijikata and Kondou came from farming families and had learned their swordsmanship from the same dojo. Happily, she had learned quite a bit about both Hijikata and the sword and became quite fond of him. She noticed that he was generally more friendly with her most of the men, which was likely due to her being a woman.
The rest of her morning went on as it normally did, with her mending mostly minor injuries. The afternoon was a little less…comfortable. It had started like normal; her sitting at her desk, preparing various ointments and salves for both current cases and future emergencies. Yamazaki hadn't yet arrived and wouldn't for another hour. Ever since he had been declared the "evening" medic, he no longer started until well into the afternoon and he didn't generally stay in the clinic.
Suddenly the door slammed open causing Kaiya to flinch. When she turned to see who had entered, she was horrified to see Serizawa entering the room with a bleeding hand.
"Ishikawa-san! Fix this!" He hollered as he marched towards her.
Kaiya took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself, then motioned to the spot beside her desk. "Please if you could take a seat, I will do what I can."
Kaiya steeled herself as he approached her. When he moved to the side, she saw that Ryunosuke was following behind him. When Serizawa sat down, he looked up at Ryunosuke and flicked his hand at him.
"Go get me some sake, dog!"
Ryunosuke glanced at her and she gave a small nod. Serizawa didn't seem to notice the silent communication between them but grew impatient with Ryunosuke for lingering.
"NOW!" he hollered thumping his good hand on her desk.
Ryunosuke turned and rushed out of the room, giving her another glance as he left, leaving the door open. Serizawa shoved his bleeding hand in her face.
"Now fix this."
Kaiya gingerly took his hand in hers and inspected it. Upon looking she found a deep gash running across the back of his hand right from his pinky almost up to his thumb. She carefully released it and got up to get what she required to clean and stitch it.
Once she sat down again, she set about repairing his hand. As she worked, she could feel his intense scrutiny and after she cut the thread on his last stitch, he grabbed her chin with his good hand and forced her to look at him.
"Such beauty. It even makes up for your rotten personality and unfortunate relation to Okita. You've even bewitched Kondou-kun into making you a permanent member of the Roshigumi without my consent. Well, I suppose there is a good side to that. I can order you to do whatever I want and you can't say no. Not even Kondou-kun dares to say no to me."
Kaiya tried to pull gently away but he didn't let go. "Please Serizawa-san, I haven't finished with your hand."
Just then Ryunosuke rushed in with a tray carrying Serizawa's sake and a cup. He finally let her go when he looked up at as Ryunosuke. Ryunosuke set the tray down beside Serizawa and poured him a cup, Serizawa grabbed the cup and gave Ryunosuke a kick in the leg.
"About time dog!"
Kaiya quickly applied the ointment to his hand and wrapped it up while he kicked back his first cup and held it out for another. She tried to work quickly hoping that he would leave once she was finished. He continued to leer at her but now his eyes started to roam down her figure, lingering on her chest and on her folded legs.
"Oi, Kaiya-chan you got a minute? I got this pain in my…" Kaiya looked up to see Sanosuke standing in the doorway looking surprised. "Oh, sorry Serizawa-san didn't expect to see you there."
Serizawa kicked back the last of his sake and stood up. "I needed stitches." He said holding up his now bandaged hand.
He turned and pushed passed Sanosuke. Kaiya grabbed the small jar of ointment from her desk and handed it to Ryunosuke.
"Apply this twice a day for a week," she said quietly "the stitches are made from a material that will dissolve in time into the skin, so they won't need removing."
Ryunosuke smiled at her, "You certainly think quick don't you."
He patted her gently on the shoulder, then stood up and left taking the tray with him. Sanosuke took Serizawa's spot beside her desk and stared at her intently. Kaiya kept her mind blank to prevent herself from freaking out, then remembered what he said as he entered the room.
"Did you need my help with something?" She asked quietly.
"Nope."
Kaiya started becoming uncomfortable with his staring. She knew he was staring for an entirely different reason then Serizawa, but she wasn't comfortable enough to be sharing her emotions with him. Suddenly another thought popped into her head.
"You knew, didn't you?"
Sanosuke gave her a smile and surprisingly it helped her relax a little. "Yup, when Serizawa-san sent Ryunosuke to get him sake, he made a mad dash to find someone to come rescue you. I thought that if I followed him in immediately, he'd realize what Ryunosuke did and we'd all be in trouble. So, I decided to hang back for a few minutes then come barging in like I was looking for your help. And it worked like a charm. Genius, aren't I?" A big grin broke across his face.
Kaiya tried to force a smile, but it didn't work. She looked down as several unpleasant memories swirled passed her mind's eye, nearly choking her with tears that wanted to be released but she refused to let flow. She flinched a little when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Kaiya looked up as he pulled back his hand, his face had turned very solemn and worry was very evident there.
"Hey," he said gently "Are you ok? Did he do something?"
Kaiya nodded her head and took another deep breath. "Yes." She said shakily "But I'll be fine in a moment, I just got a little shaken up. Pathetic, aren't I? I can't even talk to that man without getting emotional." She glared angrily down at her hands.
"There's more to it isn't there? Not just his one attack." Sanosuke continued to study her while he spoke. "Other men like him have done things to you, haven't they?"
"Sano-kun that's none of your concern!" She said sharply, he had hit a cord and the tears started welling up again.
Just as he was about to respond another knock came at her door. She looked up but quickly looked away when she saw who it was. Kaiya couldn't decide if he had good timing or rotten timing. It was Souji, armed and dressed in his haori, looking like he was getting ready to leave for a patrol.
"Kai? What the hell did you do, Sano-san!?" He shouted as rushed up to her.
"Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm the rescuer here." Sanosuke crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Souji cautiously, probably remember the last time he'd been that close to her.
Kaiya wiped away the tear that had escaped. "He's right Souji. Sano-kun and Ryunosuke-san came to my rescue."
"Rescue? From whom? Serizawa-san?" He gently turned her face up towards him. "Did he hurt you?" Kaiya could see the rage filling his face.
"Not this time, Souji. He just needed some stitches…but he said things." Kaiya stopped and pulled her face away as her voice failed her.
"What did he say, Kai?" She just shook her head, speechless. Souji just sighed and rubbed her back, knowing that she wouldn't say anymore to him right now.
"Well, I came to see if you wanted to tag along with me while my unit went on patrol. We'll be passing through the market, but I doubt you want to go right now."
"No!" She said as she jumped to her feet. "I do! Getting out of here for a while is just what I need right now."
Souji scratched his head, "Are you sure? I can't have you melting down on me halfway through our rounds."
She grasped the front of his haori and looked up into his face. "Please Souji, let me come!" He looked straight into her eyes, but she didn't look away. He sighed then surprised her with a kiss on the forehead. "Fine, you can come. Damn you're stubborn."
Kaiya heard Sanosuke mumble, "Must run in the family" from his place on the ground.
Souji turned and started to leave. Kaiya turned to Sanosuke again and bowed. "Truly Sano-kun thank you, your genius may have saved me. I owe you…and I'm sorry I yelled at you."
Sanosuke laughed than gave her a wink. "Any time Kaiya-chan." She could still see him worrying over her, but he knew that Souji would look out for her.
Souji stood by the door waiting for her, when they left, he gave her a strange look.
"Genius? You never call me a genius." Kaiya couldn't help but laugh at his childish expression.
