Hey! Here's a bit of a short chapter! Its a bit on the depressing side and the next couple will be also but it does get happier later on! There is some very adult content in this chapter, where the suggestive content comes in and the M rating comes from. Just a heads up!
Also this master of procrastination has edited this chapter as of 2021 so it should read better!
That night Kaiya didn't sleep well as she tossed and turned. The following morning an overwhelming sense of foreboding overcame her. Kaiya kept telling herself throughout the day that she was being ridiculous, that it was just a conversation. He had no interest in her, he was just being a letch and a jerk. Besides, he had a girlfriend already…if you could call her that.
She had to work hard to focus on her daily tasks but apparently, she wasn't succeeding. The morning on the second day after her encounter with Serizawa, they were midway through their practice session when Hijikata stopped what they were doing and looked her square in the eye.
"Are you ok, Kaiya-chan? You've been so quiet and reserved these last couple of days. I've even noticed Souji-kun watching you extra carefully lately."
Kaiya looked up and smiled at Hijikata, trying to disguise her uneasiness that had been plaguing her. "I'll be ok. I've just been scaring myself."
Hijikata frowned as he continued to study her. "Did something happen that I wasn't told about?"
"No, it was nothing. Its ok, I'm just over analyzing." Kaiya could feel his eyes boring into to her, trying to read her while she looked down.
Hijikata crossed his arms over his chest and gave his best vice-commander glare. "What happened?" He said firmly.
Kaiya sighed, it was obvious she wouldn't be able to deflect Hijikata like she did Souji, who was concerned about upsetting her.
"I just had an uncomfortable encounter with Serizawa-san. He'd injured his hand and needed stitches. Yamazaki-kun hadn't yet arrived so I was by myself when Serizawa-san sent Ryunosuke-san away for some sake. Nothing happened really, just some unpleasant conversation but Sano-kun came to the rescue and Serizawa-san left without any problems. It's nothing really. Like I said, I'm over analyzing things."
"But you still feel uncomfortable, like he might do something again." His expression softened to that of concern.
Kaiya shrugged, "I don't know, I'm just being silly. It's sweet of you to worry about me, Hijikata-kun, but don't bother yourself with my foolishness."
"Don't be afraid to come to me…for anything. I know I can come across a little…cold sometimes and I'm not very good expressing myself but I do look out for my people and your concerns are my concerns."
Kaiya chuckled. "So, the demon commander has a soft side."
He smiled and gave her a wink. "Don't let anyone else in on my secret."
After a short laugh, they returned to the lesson with a bit more of a merry mood. When the lesson came to an end, Hijikata gave her a bow before they parted. "Today is probably the last day you will receive a lesson from me for a while. Saitou should be here tomorrow to continue your lessons from where he left off."
"It has been a privilege. I think I could tolerate learning more from you." She said with a chuckle.
They gave each other a polite bow and Kaiya headed off to her med clinic. The day started like normal, Kaiya replenishing the supplies used up from the day before but by noon she was suddenly slammed with a sharp intake of patients. Apparently, several of Serizawa's followers had still been out early this morning drinking and on their way back to the compound when they picked a fight with some Choshu. There had been only three of them to start with when the fight with the Choshu broke out, all of whom had been seriously injured, but the morning patrol happened to pass by as the fight broke out and turned a seven on three to a seven on twelve brawl.
On top of the original three who had been injured three other Roshigumi had been injured though they had won the day. Yamazaki had to be called in after only a few hours of rest to give her some assistance. Four of them could be attended to by Yamazaki. Even though they all had deep lacerations, with what he'd learned so far from Kaiya, they were injuries were well within his skill set.
The other two weren't so lucky. One had been run though and Kaiya suspected several organs had been hit, the other had lost his hand as well as deep lacerations to the torso. Kaiya decided that the man who'd been run through had highest priority and that the other man's injuries could be managed until she could get to him.
Yamazaki did what he could for the second man to stop the bleeding and lessen his pain then sewed up the laceration's lesser lacerations on his torso but could do no more. When Yamazaki was done tending to the other four men, he did his best to assist Kaiya with her operation. It had been as she thought, three organs had been affected by the blade passing through his body. It had taken Kaiya six hours just to repair the one man.
By the time she had finally sewed up her man, her eyes and body ached and was covered in sweat. Kaiya took a quick moment to eat a quick meal and drink some water, as she had begun to feel lightheaded from not eating anything thus far. It had been well past noon approaching the evening when she took her quick breather. As she took a quick bite, Hijikata came to talk to her.
"Can I have moment Kaiya-chan?"
"I don't mean to be rude, but this had better be quick. Once I'm done my snack, I have to repair what's left of that man's arm." Kaiya impatiently put a sweaty strand of hair, hanging in her face, behind her ear.
Hijikata grimaced, "That bad?"
"Four with deep lacerations, but they should recover. One was run through and I just finished putting him back together. I have yet to work on the one who lost his hand, but Yamazaki-kun sewed up some lacerations on him as well. I haven't eaten anything yet and was feeling a little lightheaded, so I figured that I better eat something before I pass out."
Hijikata nodded "I just wanted to let you know we were all going to be out for tonight for a celebration. You could come if you want to, but Serizawa-san will be there."
"Yah that's deterrent enough, but I need to be here to look after these guys." Kaiya put her empty bowl and chopsticks down. "Now if that's all?"
Hijikata smiled at her brusqueness. "Yes, go ahead."
Kaiya gave a polite bow as she stood up and went back into the med clinic. She returned to her duties of repairing what damage she could in the man's stump and then finished sewing him back up. By the time she was done the sun had begun to set. As she sat in front of a basin washing her hands, Yamazaki sat down beside her.
"You must be tired Kaiya-chan. You should call it a night."
"Me? What about you? You couldn't have gotten more than a few hours of sleep."
Yamazaki chuckled, "The evenings aren't exactly difficult. I'm sure I can get a bit of a nap and besides, I'm a little more accustomed to operating on minimal sleep."
Kaiya considered for a moment; she really was rather tired, but those men needed attention. At the same time Yamazaki had become very competent and would be able to manage. It would show that she had faith in him. He also seemed quite insistent.
"Fine." She finally conceded with a sigh.
He patted her on the shoulder as she dried her hands. "I'll come get you if anything bad happens."
Kaiya smiled as she slowly got to her feet, "That would be appreciated." She started for the door and as she crossed the threshold, she looked back. "Thanks, Yamazaki-kun." He just smiled at her and nodded as she left.
111
As Kaiya walked to her room, she couldn't help but berate herself. She was letting one man ruin her life. The Roshigumi was largely filled with good men. The captains and most of the Roshigumi had been great to her, they had begun to be her family…other than Souji, who was her family. They certainly bickered like a family.
Kaiya tiredly opened her door and stepped inside. She stopped dead in her tracks when her door slammed shut behind her then jumped away as her protective instincts kicked in and looked at the wall beside her door. She couldn't exactly see him, but she could tell from his outline that it was Serizawa. Kaiya started backing toward her interior door.
"What do you want, Serizawa-san?" She asked, barely keeping the fear from her voice.
"You!" He growled as lunged forward.
Kaiya tried to dodge out of the way but was only half successful. Serizawa was quick and managed to change his direction enough to capture her leg. Kaiya kicked out trying to kick him in the face but only got his shoulder, which only enraged him. He completely wrapped her legs up and pulled himself up her while she continued to struggle to get free. When he was within arm's reach, she tried to break his nose but he saw the blow coming in time to turn his face aside and her blow only landed on the side of his face. Kaiya tried one more time to free herself from his grasp, but only ended up more tied up than before. She finally decided to use the blade that Saitou had given her, she had been carrying with her ever since she'd received it, before he immobilized her hands and left her completely defenseless.
She ripped it from its sheath and tried plunge it in at the base of his skull but only ended up giving him a shallow wound to his shoulder. He had grabbed her arm and then slammed it hard on the ground which caused the blade to skid across the room. He now had her completely tangled up, to the point where she could barely move. Panic was finally starting to rear its ugly head as the evitable was beginning to happen. In a last-ditch effort, she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that there was someone still nearby.
Serizawa back handed her with a closed fisted, causing Kaiya's world to blur and she lost all sense of feeling. Serizawa chuckled and said something, but her ears were ringing too loudly and her brain too fogged to understand what it was he said. Then blessedly, she blacked out.
111
When finally, Kaiya came to again, she wasn't sure she was really awake. It was so dark, and so quiet that she thought that she must still be asleep but then it occurred to her that it must now be night-time. After laying still for several minutes Kaiya finally became bitterly cold as the front of her kimono was open. Kaiya lurched up into a sitting position as the memories of her last moments of consciousness came back to her.
Her whole body screamed out at her in pain, particularly the right arm and her left ankle. After a moment Kaiya finally broke down as what happened to her finally hit home. She cried bitterly for several minutes before collecting herself and painfully getting to her feet.
She refastened her kimono and limped towards the door. The first thing she did was limp to Souji's room but when she opened the door, she found it empty. Then she went to Saitou's room, as he was supposed to have returned from whatever he had left to do but once again there was no one home. Kaiya wanted to cry again but knew it wouldn't help her situation. Obviously, everyone had gone out for whatever celebration they were having and hadn't yet returned.
She finally decided to head to the med clinic, surely Yamazaki was still there. But when she limped up to the door there was no light coming from within. When she opened the door, and all she saw was the heavily sedated patients within. Kaiya closed the door, then slid down to the ground as her body protested at her movements. She looked at her right arm in the dim moonlight. Even in the dim light, she could tell her wrist was broken and when she looked at her ankle it was definitely swelling.
Kaiya considered her options. She couldn't risk sitting where she was, for fear of running into Serizawa again. She was also afraid to return to her room and didn't think it wise to hide in Souji's. Even if he was lucid enough when he returned to see her, he would undoubtedly go off in a drunken rage and try to kill Serizawa. Not that she was particularly against him killing Serizawa, but she was just afraid of what the repercussions would be for him if he did succeed and was scared that Serizawa might kill Souji if he didn't.
She needed to go to either Kondou, Sannan or Hijikata with this. Kaiya hauled herself back to her feet despite her pain and hobbled out of the compound past the guards…who happened to be asleep, much to her displeasure, and headed off to the teahouse that she knew most of the Roshigumi frequented when they wanted to celebrate.
As Kaiya hobbled along, she was disgusted with how many people simply ignored her. She was obviously injured, but no one seemed to care. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it to the street that the tea house should be on. Kaiya took a moment to lean against a building to both catch her breath from walking with a bum ankle and to gather her courage.
Just as Kaiya pushed away from the wall again, she heard loud voices coming from the direction of the tea house. When she looked up, she managed to catch sight of Ryunosuke running from the establishment with Heisuke hot on his heels, then finally Harada came bursting out with Saitou behind him.
Kaiya couldn't believe her luck, or the lack of it. Something had happened and in the process of trying to avoid the busiest streets, she'd missed them as they were leaving to deal with whatever they were running after. Kaiya considered hobbling over to the tea house to see if anyone remained but as she stood there thinking, panic once again set in. She couldn't face them, especially Saitou. He'd gone to great efforts to teach her how to protect herself, and when she got attacked, she utterly failed. Shame and fear finally overcame her.
Instead of turning to head back to the compound, she decided to head for the city limits. It took her a lot longer than it should have but after some time, she was finally well outside the city. When she couldn't walk any further, she decided to take refuge in a nearby forest. She sat down with her back to a tree. She knew that she should tend to her injuries. She probably should have done that before even leaving the compound but in the stupidity that her fear had brought on her she hadn't even thought to fix herself until now.
Putting a piece of wood in her mouth to prevent herself from biting her tongue accidently in pain, Kaiya set the bone in her arm in its proper places. Blinking through her tears of pain, she put short branches she'd found on the ground, on either side of the break to stabilize it. Then using the straps from the sheath of the dagger that Saitou had given to her, she tied the branches to her arm, storing the sheath in a pocket.
She felt gingerly down her sides and discovered two broken ribs, which she awkwardly set but had no way to properly bind her ribcage. She found no lacerations, just bruises and breaks. Lastly, she tried to inspect her ever worsening ankle but she had nothing to wrap it with nor the ointments to reduce swelling and pain. Exhausted, Kaiya finally slumped back against her tree and quickly fell asleep.
