Re-edited February 2021
A few months after Itou's arrival, early one morning, Souji came knocking on the clinic door while Kaiya was replenishing the clinics supplies.
"Good morning Kai. You weren't in your room earlier…again."
"Because I was here, obviously." She replied as she rolled her eyes.
"No, earlier than that." He gave her a little bit of a suspicious look then let it drop. "Anyways I was feeling quite a bit better today, so I was hoping you'd let me out to go out with everyone again."
Kaiya frown "You're going out? Just with your fellow captains or is Hijikata-kun and Kondou-san going too?"
"Just Hijikata-san. You can come too." He said with a wink "I swear I won't even offer you a drink." He came further into the room and sat down beside her. "Chizuru-chan will be coming again. Sano-san is treating us with the reward money he got for protecting that sign and you definitely deserve a reward…more than I do." He said a little mopey.
"You've been sick. Now let me look at you and listen to your chest then we'll see about letting you go. By the way you won't be drinking, even if I do let you go, for the same reason I didn't let Hajime-kun last time."
Souji stripped down to the waist but complained while she started feeling the glands by his throat. "Aw come on Kai!"
"Trust me Souji, you'd regret it. Alcohol and that tea don't interact well together." She got him to lay back and felt around his abdomen. "Well, I don't feel any more swelling. I can probably take you off that tea that will prevent you from drinking. Although I still want to keep on putting that ointment on your back. Your lungs are still not sounding good." She pulled a drawer open in her desk pulled out the ointment she had specifically for Souji.
Souji sat up again and Kaiya put her ear to his chest and listened to him breath. When she straightened up again, Souji turned his back to her.
"Aww, that feels nice!" He said as she massaged the ointment into the skin of his back and then his chest. "I don't mind the ointment; I get a free backrub almost every day because of that stuff." Souji continued, earning himself a slap which made him chuckle.
Once it was dry, she then listened to his breathing again. "Well, you aren't quite ready for active duty, it'll probably be another couple days but, I suppose you can go out tonight."
After he redressed, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. "You're awesome Kai!" He said as he got to his feet.
"Take care Souji. Your body isn't fighting off infections like it should!" Kaiya was quite concerned about him still, even though he had made some progress since she had first noticed the illness back at her village.
"I will. You never answered my invitation!" He pointed out as he walked to the door.
Kaiya sighed, "I guess, although I think it should be Sano-kun doing the inviting since it's his money. I feel like I have to make sure you don't drink; I don't trust you. Is Hijikata-kun and Sannan-san doing tomorrow morning's patrols?"
"Nah. Hajime-kun never drinks a lot to begin with and Shinpachi-kun promised he wouldn't as well. Now don't tire yourself out too much for tonight eh?" He winked at her and left her alone.
111
After breakfast Kondou asked Kaiya to remain behind while everybody else left. When everybody else was gone, he gave her a bit of a guilty look.
"The Bakufu are sending us a doctor to give checkups to the men."
"Why? Don't they know you have me?" Kaiya asked while trying to keep her face neutral.
"Yes, they do, and I told them that it really wasn't necessary, but they insisted. They probably don't trust a woman's judgement. I'm sorry Kaiya-chan." Kondou's expression was pained, his felt guilty so Kaiya couldn't hold it against him. It wasn't his fault.
Kaiya sighed. "It's not your fault and sometimes it's good to get a second opinion. When is he coming?"
"In the next hour or so, I believe."
"Alright, I'll get the clinic ready for checkups. Is there anything else?" Kaiya tried to sound as normal as possible. It was probably time for checkups again anyways.
Kondou smiled with relief. "That's all for now. Thank you for being so understanding."
Kaiya laughed. "I know I can be a handful sometimes, but I think the only time I'd ever scold you is if you did something to compromise your health. Now if you'll excuse me."
Kondou smiled broadly and nodded his head as she got to her feet and left the room. She headed straight for the clinic and immediately opened up all the doors to let traffic flow freely through the clinic. The more Kaiya thought about the situation the less it bothered her. They had had several new men arrive since she had last performed a compound wide checkup and in particular Itou and his men. She was avoiding the awkward situation of having to do a checkup on that man and now this male doctor could do it and save her the trouble.
Just as Kaiya pulled out her massive medical journal with all the men's health records, a knock came at the door. Kaiya turned and saw a bald, middle-aged man with a soft smile.
The man bowed. "I am Matsumoto Ryojun. You must be Ishikawa Kaiya. It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope I am not intruding."
Kaiya returned the bow. "Not at all Matsumoto-sensei!" She held out the massive journal. "Here are all the records that Yamazaki-kun and I have been keeping on the men. I hope it will be helpful."
Matsumoto took the journal and leafed through it a bit then smiled at her. "You are indeed a meticulous woman, Ishikawa-sensei. May I ask where you got your training?"
"From my father, Sensei. He was passionate about medicine and passed both his passion and his knowledge down to me." Seeing Matsumoto left an ache in her heart. While the man was younger than her father, he very strongly reminded her of him.
"He must be proud of you." Matsumoto smiled at her.
"He was." Kaiya gave a sad smile.
"How careless of me, I'm sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder.
"No, that fine…" Kaiya was going to say more but was interrupted by Itou loudly entering the room.
"Are you that Bakufu doctor coming to give us all checkups?" Kaiya and Matsumoto both turned to him.
"Yes. I am Matsumoto…" Matsumoto started to respond.
"Good. I'd like to get this done before everyone else shows up, although I don't know why we need it when we have our own doctor. I've never been ill myself, but I hear she is quite good." Itou sat down on a stool that Kaiya had set up.
Matsumoto glanced at her sideways than he walked over to the other stool and then he too sat down. "I've never done any checkups or dealt with any injuries for Itou-sensei so he doesn't yet have a record, neither will most of his men who all have recently arrived." Said Kaiya.
Matsumoto nodded and tried to pull Itou's clothing open, but Itou immediately pulled away with a mortified look. "What are you doing?"
"You need to expose your upper body so I can properly check you over." Matsumoto said patiently.
"I don't think so! You'll have to make do with my clothes on!"
"If it's because I'm here" Kaiya said. "Then I can step out."
"Oh no, Ishikawa-sensei, it's not you. I'm just a very modest man." He gave her a winning smile.
Matsumoto sighed. "Fine. I won't be able to tell as easily if there is something wrong with you but that is for you to deal with."
By the time Matsumoto was finished with Itou, a line up had started to form. Many of the men gave Kaiya a guilty look while they were being looked at and when Matsumoto was done, they all gave her a respectful bow. Some of the men who'd been with the Shinsengumi longer even protested having to be checked by a different doctor.
When it came to the first of the captain's it was Shinpachi who got looked at first. He immediately started flashing his muscles although he seemed to be posing just as much for Matsumoto as he was for her. Hajime was directly behind him and was shaking his head, although a small smirk was on his lips.
From a few men back Heisuke said "Yeah, Shinpatsu's body is strong and tough. It's his head that needs lookin at." He shook his head.
Kaiya laughed then shook her head as Shinpachi turned towards Heisuke. "Talk like that and I'll strangle ya!"
Matsumoto let out a sigh. "I'm sorry about them, they can be quite lively sometimes. Especially Shinpachi-kun and Heisuke-kun." Kaiya apologized.
Shinpachi blushed and finally sat down. After Matsumoto was done, Shinpachi reluctantly got up and as he walked by Sanosuke, Sanosuke flashed his muscles. Shinpachi stopped and then started flexing his muscles again and flexing match started between the two. Suddenly Chizuru laughed at their display, Kaiya hadn't even heard her enter the clinic.
Hajime sat down and let Matsumoto inspect without a word. Matsumoto looked up at Kaiya. "This scar doesn't look all that old."
Kaiya shook her head. "It isn't. It's only been fully healed for a couple of months. No substantial damage was done to his organs, I have extensive notes in my journal on his healing process, but it no longer affects him."
Matsumoto glanced at her notes on Hajime then continued his examination, paying close attention to the area around his scar and even following it down to where the scar hid still under his clothes. After his extensive examination he have Hajime the nod.
"You are quite healthy considering the extent of your injuries."
Hajime looked at Matsumoto coolly. "Of course, I am. Kaiya-sensei is the very best."
Kaiya was a little surprised to hear him call her "sensei", but he was trying to prove a point and she was grateful for his support. By noon they had checked pretty much everyone but Souji who hadn't shown up. After everyone had eaten Kondou came and paid them a visit.
"So? How did everything go?"
"You're doing quite well, as a whole. Mostly just minor injuries, most of which Ishikawa-sensei has already been treating. There were only a few unreported injuries. Most, from what I gathered, are new members and haven't quite learned to trust her. This place could use a cleaning but it's not terrible. The Shinsengumi are fortunate to have acquired such a skillful doctor. But I'm sure you already knew that." Matsumoto smiled.
Kondou returned his smile. "Yes, thank you for your time Matsumoto-sensei." He turned to Kaiya. "Now if you could excuse us, Kaiya-chan." Kaiya nodded and went back to work.
111
Later that evening, Kaiya sat in the clinic making one last check on the man from Sanosuke's unit who'd been injured the night before while protecting the sign. She was waiting for Hajime to come and get her, so that they could meet with the others by the gate. Kaiya was just pulling the blanket over to cover the man's chest when the clinics door opened. Kaiya immediately assumed it was Hajime.
"I was just finishing…."
As she stood and turned, she saw it wasn't Hajime standing by the door but Itou, holding his wrist. He smiled at her in that weird annoying smile he had. Kaiya had come to like the man less and less. He was constantly flirting with her whether Souji was there or not. There had been more than a few instances of Hijikata coming to her rescue when Souji was not in sight, they all had been keeping a close eye on her from the moment that Itou had stepped foot in the compound. Unfortunately, Kondou didn't seem to notice Itou's slimy nature.
"You obviously weren't expecting to see me." He said as he walked up to her.
"No, I was expecting Hajime-kun or Yamazaki-kun. What can I do for you, Itou-sensei?" Kaiya asked pleasantly.
Itou held out his wrist. "Our practice got a little out of hand, I think. My sparring partner caught me on the wrist, it's much more swore than it should be."
Kaiya reached up and took his wrist into her hands and gingerly inspected it. It hadn't been sprained but was a little swollen. "It should be okay. It may be a little tender, for a couple days, but it's not sprained. I'll go grab you something to help with the pain and swelling." Kaiya turned and walked to her cabinet.
"I still don't understand it, Ishikawa-sensei. What is a beautiful woman like you is doing here? I even hear you have noble blood on both sides of your family! It's quite visible in your feature's you know."
Kaiya pulled out what she was looking for and scooped some into a smaller container. "I enjoy helping here and I don't really have a home anymore. I'm not sure where you heard about my bloodlines, but that person failed to tell you that both of my parents were disowned, so that option was gone before I was even born." She took some ointment into her palm, then instructed him to hold up his wrist and she applied to his wrist.
"Oh, I hadn't heard that. You poor thing. Surely you could still find yourself a well-off husband to look after for you, treat you the way a woman such as yourself should be treated!" He looked at her kindly but it still creeped the heck out of her.
"I'm not exactly the trophy wife type. My father may have raised me to be a little too independent." Kaiya closed her own container, then put the lid on the smaller jar and handed over to Itou. "This is for you to take back with you. Apply it three times a day for the next three or four days."
"It's such a shame, I know I'd take care of a woman like you. I don't think these country men know how to take care of a woman like you." He was about to reach up and touch her cheek when the door behind them, opened again. When Kaiya looked around Itou, she saw Hajime entering.
"Good evening, Itou-san." Hajime said respectfully. "Kaiya-sensei, are you ready to go? The others are waiting." Kaiya couldn't get use to the others calling her sensei. They only seemed to do that when Itou was around, she supposed they were trying to make a statement.
"Yes, unless Itou-sensei needs help with something else?" Kaiya was unbelievably relieved to see Hajime, she didn't like the direction Itou was taking their conversation.
"No, Ishikawa-sensei. That is all I was needing." As Itou turned to leave, Yamazaki entered the room from the other side.
"Yamazaki-kun, perfect timing!" Kaiya smiled at him.
"I'm sorry. I got delayed but everything's taken care of." Itou slipped out the other door while Kaiya had addressed Yamazaki. "I hope you weren't waiting for me."
"No not all. Hajime-kun just got here too."
They both gave the other a silent nod of greeting. Kaiya couldn't help but notice some of their similarities, which probably helped them get along so well. Yamazaki smiled at her. "Have some fun Kaiya-chan."
Kaiya smiled, "I will do my best."
Both her and Hajime turned and walked out the outer door and across the compound to the gate where everyone was waiting. They all greeted them happily then headed off for their favorite tea house. Kaiya was already laughing hard by the time they reached the tea house. Always their own comedy show, Heisuke and Shinpachi were already razing Sanosuke.
They were ushered into a room that was big enough for the eight of them. Shortly after everyone had sat down, the geiko entered the room and introduced herself, and they were served their food. When the geiko looked around, she seemed surprised by Kaiya's and Chizuru's presence. Chizuru looked at the woman in awe, obviously taken aback by the woman's beauty and a little intimidated. Kaiya, on other hand didn't care much, she had the man she wanted, and he wisely didn't seem to take much notice of the other woman.
They woman instantly went over to Hijikata, as he was obviously a man of importance. As Kaiya looked around her, she could tell the liquor was getting to the guys. Even Hajime's cheeks had begun to flush as he had started working on sipping from his second cup. Eventually the conversation had turned to the incident that had bought them all their meals and sake.
"Hey Sano." Said Shinpachi turning to look at him. "Why'd you let them go? If there were eight of them, you should have been able to figure something out."
"Yeah. I thought that was weird, too." Put in Heisuke. "At least some of 'em got caught, right?"
Sanosuke looked like he was deep in thought then looked up at Chizuru. "Chizuru. Did you go out that night?"
"Huh? No." Chizuru looked both surprised and confused.
"Truthfully?" He stared at her hard.
"Yes. I'm always at headquarters at night." Chizuru answered.
"Hey what's up Sano?" Shinpachi asked.
"It's just, when we went up against Tosa soldiers, someone who looked like Chizuru was there. And then our cordon fell apart…" Sanosuke let his thought drop off.
"It can't be!" said Chizuru somewhat confused.
"Hey, could it be that girl you, Heisuke and I met on patrol before?" Suggested Souji. One of the three who were still sober, much to his disgust. "She said her name was Nagumo Kaoru, right? She did really look like you, huh?"
"But that's not big enough too…" Chizuru started but was interrupted by Heisuke saying "I didn't think so but…the other one was dressed like a girl."
"Then we should have Chizuru dress in a girl's kimono." Suggested Hajime.
Chizuru looked around the room panicked, as they all stared back at her.
"Chizuru." Heisuke said jumping up.
"Oh yeah! That's a great idea!" Said Shinpachi also jumping up beside him. Shinpachi looked over at the geiko. "Hey Kimigiku-chan! Would you dress this one in a girl's kimono for us?"
Hijikata got annoyed and started to rise, "You all..." but the geiko put her arm out to stop him.
"Very well I shall do my utmost." She said with a smile.
Chizuru looked panic stricken. "Chizuru-chan I can come with you if you want?" Offered Kaiya. "Or you can say no, and I'll make them leave you alone." She glared at all of them.
Chizuru took a deep breath. "No. If it'll help Harada-san, I'll do it." Chizuru got to her feet.
"Hey why don't we get Kaiya-chan dressed up too?" said Sanosuke as he gave her a wink.
Souji jumped to his feet to knock Sanosuke's lights out but Kaiya intercepted him. "I don't think so Sano-kun. Only in your dreams." She gave Souji a glare and he then sat back down.
"Man, Souji. I know she's your cousin and all but you're way too quick to react man!" Scolded Sanosuke.
"You're one to talk." Mumbled Heisuke into his sake.
Kaiya ignored them and turned to Chizuru. "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Kaiya offered again.
Chizuru smiled at her weakly. "Yes, I'll be fine."
Then she turned and the two women left. After she left, the conversation resumed and was quickly getting loud again. Souji watched in quiet amusement while the other three were having a war of words over who was the better man. Hijikata had gotten up after finishing his food and wandered into the neighbouring room. Hajime hardly stopped looking at her since they had sat down, even when they weren't talking, looking like he wanted to get more cozy with her but not drunk enough to follow through.
"Doesn't this remind you of the good ole days, Hajime-kun? You know before we came here to Kyoto. Stuff was so much easier back then." Said Souji after a time.
"It does. We don't take nearly enough time anymore just to enjoy each other's company. Sadly, we don't seem to have the time either, more often than not." Hajime finally stopped looking at her for a moment to look at the other's arguing on the other side of the room.
Finally, the door opened again, and two well dressed women entered. It took a second for even Kaiya to realize that the shorter of the two, was Chizuru. Chizuru's eyes were downcast and obviously embarrassed with how she looked. The men in the room all stopped what they were doing to stare at Chizuru, mouths hanging open. Kaiya gave Chizuru an encouraging smile.
"H-huh? That you Chizuru?" said Heisuke breaking everyone's revere.
"Y-yes." She answered meekly.
Kaiya got to her feet walked over to Chizuru. "This look really suits you." Kaiya said enthusiastically.
"Well. Talk about change." Said Souji with a coy smile. "For a second, I didn't know who it was."
Hajime turned his head and looked at Sanosuke. "Well? What do you think, Sano-san?"
"Hm?" Sanosuke blinked a couple times as he looked at Hajime then back at Chizuru. "Well, I don't know. Chizuru's so pretty I can't tell anymore."
Chizuru's face turned scarlet as she gasped at Sanosuke's bold compliment. Heisuke jumped to his feet again.
"You said it! Chizuru's pretty huh?" He said enthusiastically.
And just like before, Shinpachi also jumped to his feet exclaiming, "Yeah! She's quite the looker!"
Kaiya giggled at their outbursts; they obviously weren't used to thinking of Chizuru as a woman.
"Huh? Shinpachi-san, fallen under her spell?" Souji teased.
Shinpachi laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Idiot. Don't make me blush."
"Please, stop it!" Chizuru suddenly burst out of the room into the one Hijikata had disappeared into.
"Chizuru-chan!" Kaiya called but she thought it best not to follow.
"Hey Shinpatsu! Why do you gotta say such weird stuff?!" Heisuke shook his head like Shinpachi's conduct had shamed him.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Shinpachi said sitting down.
"Honestly Shinpachi-kun!" Said Kaiya as she returned to her seat beside Hajime. "It's no wonder you can't get a girlfriend!"
Everyone present burst out laughing, even Shinpachi. Everyone started teasing Shinpachi at once until he finally managed to deflect them with suggesting Sanosuke's 'stomach show'.
Kaiya gave them all a confused look. "Stomach show? Dare I ask what that is?"
"I'll do better, I'll show you! Souji get Hijikata-kun and Chizuru, Shinpachi get me the ink and brush." Sanosuke suddenly started opening his shirt to expose his abdomen better.
"Oh dear." Said Kaiya worriedly as she glanced at Hajime.
He just smiled back at her, the look in his eyes made her shiver somewhat though. He wasn't thinking too much of what was currently happening, just what he wanted to happen. After a moment, everybody was back in the room and the show began. Kaiya couldn't help but laugh a long with everyone else with how ridiculous they all were behaving. It was like being stuck in a room full of five year old's, if she hadn't known better she'd have never thought that these men were deadly warriors.
When Sanosuke was done, Hajime got to his feet. "I think I shall call it a night. I still have to go on patrol in the morning."
Shinpachi sighed. "Yeah, so shall I. Man, just when things were just getting fun too!"
Kaiya go to her feet as well. "As shall I. Unless you want help, changing back Chizuru-chan?"
Chizuru smiled up at her brightly, obviously no longer embarrassed with how she was dressed. "No, I'll be fine Kaiya-chan. Good night."
Kaiya looked down at Souji and glared, then looked at Hijikata. "Hijikata-kun, can you make sure he doesn't drink." She indicated Souji.
Although somewhat blurry eyed, Hijikata gave her a nod. "When I leave, he leaves." Satisfied Kaiya followed the other two out.
