Another sad chapter, but we're almost at the end! This chapter has been edited as of February 2021.
Halfway through the morning of the sixth day, they finally arrived at Kaiya's village. Despite the doubts that had been plaguing her, she was extremely happy to see it. She guided Morita to where her house was located near the village. When they finally came to a stop in front of it, Kaiya couldn't help but think it looked a little depressing. She invited the Morita's inside, but they insisted that they needed to be in Edo by tomorrow morning. So, they said their goodbyes, with Kaiya inviting them to spend the night on the way home and parted ways.
In the large garden patch that was once been largely dominated by herbs, now had weeds growing up to her waist. Deciding to ignore that for the time being, she approached the front door and slid it open. It was very dark inside and smelled very musty. With a depressed sigh, Kaiya stepped inside, not bothering to take off her shoes for the moment, the floors were insanely dirt covered.
Kaiya immediately went to work opening all the windows and doors, trying to air the place out. Then she found a bucket and walked back outside to the well and pulled up some water, then went back into the house and instantly went to work washing the floors and every possible surface. Although her ankle was feeling nearly back too normal, it was extremely difficult to do everything with just one hand and took quite a bit of time.
Halfway through her cleaning, a small knock came at her door. Kaiya walked back to the front of the house and found a familiar little face staring back at her from the doorway. The moment Kaiya came into view, the little girls face lit up.
"Kaiya-sensei!" The little girl squealed as she ran up to Kaiya and gave her a hug around the waist.
Kaiya smiled, "Hana-chan! My, you have grown!"
"What took you so long?" Hana said trying to cross. "You said you'd only be gone for a month; you were gone for at least two!" Hana had to stepped back and put her hands on her hips and frowned at her.
Kaiya chuckled lightly, trying not to disturb her broken ribs. "Well, that was the original plan but Mitsu-chan's brother wanted me to stay longer, so I did."
"Was he nice?" Hana took her shoes off and stepped into the house. Kaiya followed as the little girl navigated through her house like she lived there and picked up to rag Kaiya had been using to clean with and continued cleaning the floors for Kaiya.
"You don't have to do that Hana-chan."
Hana dunked the rag in the bucket, swirled it around and ringed it out again. Then as she unraveled the rag and spread it out on the floor as she said.
"Your arm is hurt Kaiya-sensei. It must be very difficult to clean with one arm. But sensei, you didn't answer my question!"
Kaiya smiled as she sat down. Hana put both her hands on the rag that was on the ground, stuck her butt in the air then took off down the hall pushing the rag along the floor in front of her.
"Yes, he was very nice and he did his best to take care of me while I was there. I made some friends in Kyoto too. I wish I could've stayed longer but I couldn't." Kaiya watched as Hana ran back and forth.
"I'm glad you came home, Kaiya-sensei but why didn't you stay?" Hana was seven, much too young to understand so Kaiya put it simply.
"I was just in the way. Souji never said as much but I know I was burdening him."
"Oh." Was all Hana said as she dunked the cloth in the water again. Kaiya loved how simple a child's mind was. They didn't need the details just a general answer was usually enough at that age.
As Hana ran up and down her halls again, Kaiya picked up the bucket and got fresh water to replace the now blackened water. Hana moved on to the room that was used to tend to patients and went about washing that room. Kaiya found another rag and used it to wash the walls, doorways and windows. About an hour and a half later they were all done.
"Thank you so much for the help, Hana-chan! If you come back tomorrow, I'll try and make you something nice!" Kaiya lightly ruffled her hair and smiled down at her.
Hana clapped her hands in delight, "Ok! Maybe momma will let me help you weed your garden! But I should go now, supper must almost be ready! Bye sensei!" Hana waved vigorously as she ran out of her house. Supper, thought Kaiya where was she going to find that?
Kaiya closed up several of the windows as a cold draught started blowing through house, then walked outside to her garden. She had planted some vegetables a few weeks before leaving but wasn't sure if any of them had survived being completely ignored. Surprisingly, Kaiya could see some carrots and beets sticking up between the weeds. Kaiya sighed, there wasn't a lot one could make with just beets and carrots.
In the morning, Kaiya could pull some of her herbs that didn't normally grow in this region, to make some poultices and sell them at the village market and buy some food to feed herself with. Kaiya grabbed her small hand spade that still sat at the edge of the garden and dug up enough beets and carrots to make her reasonably full. Then, since she was already out there and with the sun light quickly fading, Kaiya pulled some more herbs to make herself a better pain killing poultice.
After going inside and munching on her vegetables, (thankfully her cheek was now fully healed) she made herself a poultice as well as a tea to treat her pain with. Then she went to her own room and pulled out her futon. Rolling it out Kaiya realized she probably should have also aired it out and beaten out some of the dust, but it was now dark, and the tea was taking hold of her. So, she no longer cared as she crawled into her musty smelling bedding and just passed out.
111
The next morning Kaiya didn't wake up until about mid-morning and as it was, it was Hana who woke her up. Embarrassed for sleeping in so late, Kaiya got up quickly as Hana ran back out into her living area. Kaiya quickly combed her hair and organized herself before stepping out into the living area as well. Kaiya stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted a woman bent over her stove cooking what looked like a pot of rice. The woman turned as she heard Kaiya approach. It was Hana's mother, Akari.
"Hana-chan!" She scolded "You should've let Sensei sleep! I'm sorry Kaiya-sensei!"
"It's alright." Kaiya said as she knelt down beside her. "It was time for me to get up anyways. Not that I'm complaining, Akari-chan, but what are you doing here?"
Akari lifted the lid of the pot and, as Kaiya thought, it was rice. "Hana-chan came home very excited last night, saying that you had just got home and how she thought she should help you since your arm was injured. I figured you mustn't have any food right now, so I thought I should come and make you some breakfast. As it turns out, I was absolutely right."
"Oh, you shouldn't have. I do hate being a burden!"
Akari gave Kaiya a smile. "Oh no burden at all. I do believe we still owe you for taking care of Hana-chan last winter when she came down with the cold."
The kindness of neighbours was something she definitely missed, and something you rarely found in the cities like Kyoto. Akari finished making the breakfast and served it to Kaiya as well. When she was done eating, all three went outside and started weeding her garden. It took about an hour for them to completely weed the garden. When they were done, Kaiya made them some tea from the Jasmine that was growing in her garden and when everyone was done with their tea, Akari and Hana left to go take care of their own chores at home.
When they had gone, Kaiya decided it was best to haul out all her futons and bedding. She laid the futons in the front yard and grab a stick and beat the dust out of them. She then grabbed a huge washing basin, filled it with water and dumped the bedding into it and let it soak as she went back to her garden with a weaved basket and gathered a large bundle of various herbs then brought them inside.
Once inside she went into what once had been her father's room and where all her apothecary equipment lay. She sat down at her table and just stared the tables contents for a moment. There were many memories here. This is where most of her lessons stemmed from and she could almost still feel her father's presence there. Then, with a sigh, she focused her mind on the task at hand and went about blending various things for various common ailments. Once she was done, she placed her mixes into various containers and labeled them, then put them into a special carrying case that would prevent the glass from fracturing.
Gathering everything together, she stepped outside and headed of in the direction of the village market. It took her almost twice as long to get there, even though it wasn't far, because as she walked along, various neighbours stopped to say hello to her and some asked if she could stop by when she had time. It was nice to instantly have work, both to keep her mind busy as well as to keep food in her belly.
There weren't too many vendors for Kaiya to choose from but Kaiya was particularly familiar with one man of whom she had pretty much grown up with. His parents had lived very close to her and her father, and as children they played together frequently. He was almost guaranteed to buy something from her, whether or not he thought he could resell it.
When he saw her approach, his body language visibly changed from a bored stupor to one of excited happiness. He waved at her as he saw her approaching and greeted her warmly when she was within ear shot.
"Kaiya-chan! My goodness, it is so good to see you! It's been way too long!"
Kaiya awkwardly put down everything she had with one hand.
"Good day, Haru-kun." Kaiya said with a smile.
Kaiya had once been attracted to this man once, right up to the time when she left but now seeing him again, he seemed somehow plainer. I wonder what's changed, thought Kaiya to herself as she smiled at him. When Haru saw her favoring her right arm he instantly grabbed it to see it which caused her to hiss in pain. He instantly let go when he heard her hiss.
"Kaiya-chan what happened?" Concern was clearly writ across his face.
"Oh, I just ran into some trouble in Kyoto. It's fine, don't worry about it Haru-kun. Now I'd like to sell you some thing's, if you can afford them."
He continued to look at her in concern but answered, "Of course Kaiya-chan, I'll do anything to help out."
Finally, he stopped staring at her and looked through what she had brought. In the end he taken all her herbs and several of her most common concoctions.
"The farmers will be happy to see these tomorrow when they come in. A lot of them have been grumbling about me not having any of Ishikawa's famous health potions." He laughed to himself as he counted out the money, he now owed her.
"So, I imagine with you being gone for so long, you found your cousin?" Haru leaned up against his booth and studied her face.
"Yes." Kaiya said with a smile, it was the question of the day. "Souji asked me to stay so I did for a time."
"Souji, huh. You must have gotten really friendly with him. Why did you leave?"
"I love Souji, he's like the little brother I never had. He reminded me so much of Mitsu-chan. But he's a warrior and I was only getting in his way." Kaiya had decided to stick with the explanation she'd given Hana, for it wasn't a lie but it left out all the uncomfortable bits.
"There's more too it isn't there." Haru said after studying her for a moment.
Dammit! Kaiya thought. He knew her well enough to see when she was trying to hide something. But fortune was with her today, as a customer came up to his booth and started asking him questions about his prices. Kaiya took the chance to quickly gather up what he hadn't bought, waved goodbye and took off for another booth to go purchase herself some food. Kaiya had enough money to buy enough rice for a month and enough salted pork to last her a couple of weeks. It would keep her fed for a while and by the time she ran out, she should have the means to buy more.
Kaiya had just enough money left over to buy some wagashi, which she intended to give to Hana as promised. So, Kaiya made her way home, dropped her groceries off inside her house than headed off to find Hana. She found her in front of her house, playing with several other children from the village and when they all saw her approaching, they all came up to her screaming "Sensei! Sensei!"
Kaiya received several hugs from several of the girls and even the boys seemed happy to see her. The all started talking at once asking questions about her trip and what it was like in Kyoto and other such questions that curious children ask. She answered as best she could and eventually, they became bored and went back to their game, all but Hana. Hana stood there expectantly, clinging to her kimono and staring up at her with her big brown eyes. Kaiya patted her on the head and handed her the small package with the wagashi in it.
"This is for you." She said, "It's that gift I promised you!"
Hana laughed excitedly as she took the package from Kaiya gave a little bow and said thank you before she ran inside her house. With her mission accomplished, Kaiya returned home and set about finishing her chores. Her bedding now had plenty of time to soak, so she went about scrubbing it on a wash board than hung it from the clothesline. She had a couple extra kimonos inside that hadn't seen the light of day for some time now and she decided it was time to wash them as well.
Two of her kimonos were fancier kimonos, which she only wore to special events. They had been her mother's long ago and were really quite expensive. One kimono could probably feed her for a year if she sold it in Edo or Kyoto, but she couldn't bare to part with them. The other was just another simple kimono that she sometimes wore. It was newer than the one she currently wore but when she decided to go to Kyoto, she thought it was better to continue wearing her older kimono so she wouldn't ruin the newer one.
Once she was done washing her Kimonos and any other remaining linens in the house, she sat down and made herself a very late lunch. Her ribs were really starting to bug her from all the moving around she had done, so she decided to apply more of the ointment to them.
As the afternoon faded into the evening, Kaiya found herself with nothing to do. She tried to find something to occupy herself with for just a little longer but still the moment she'd been dreading since she got home came crashing down on her. The loneliness suddenly hit her like a tonne of bricks.
Kaiya hadn't been truly alone in this house since Souji's sister Mitsu had passed. The villagers were constantly visiting her giving her their condolences and keeping her company as best they could, especially Haru. Kaiya felt kind of bad dodging him this morning, but Kaiya wasn't ready to talk about her last day with Roshigumi and he'd surely find a way to pry it out of her.
Now Kaiya was also finding that she was missing the friends she'd made with the Roshigumi, especially Souji and Saitou. She couldn't contain her tears anymore and she broke down and sobbed. Part of her was annoyed with her tears not only because of the physical pain it brought her but also how weak and pathetic it made her feel. Finally, after what felt like hours of crying Kaiya settled down into her freshly washed bedding and quickly drift off to sleep.
