Title: Mibu no Monogatari A Mibu Story - Shieikan Chapter 5 Final Chapter
Series: Peacemaker Kurogane/Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker
Although it is listed as a PMK fic, it's a historical fan fiction with a combination of elements from PMK, Shinsengumi, and other literature with an interpretation leaning towards that seen in PMK. Also, this is FICTION, which means that it's not necessarily true.
Rating: PG-13 Mild-language and implied sexual situations
Disclaimer: The characters by no means belong to me--they are who they are, but if they must be credited, they would most resemble Nanae Kurono's creations.
Summary: Due to his family's desparate situation, nine-year-old Okita Soujirou came to the Shieikan dojo as a servant (page). Kondou Isami tells the little one a story about two young boys growing up in Tama. Mibu no Monogatari is a series of several story arcs that may cover up to the beginning of SI Peacemaker manga/anime timeline.
Night descended upon the Shieikan dojo. The sun had long sunk below the horizon and the sky had faded to a deep inky blue. Fireflies fluttered in the mid-summer breeze--waxing and waning points of light against the dark shadows of trees and roofs in the distance. Most of the residents of Shieikan had gone to bed, leaving a wake of silence where the bustle of daily activity had taken place. Kondou Isami was about to blow the flame out of the lamp when he heard the soft patter of footsteps several paces away from the outer shogi doors of his porch. He slid open one door and glanced outside. Isami barely discerned the profile of a small slender child from the surrounding darkness; Soujirou, barefoot, stood motionlessly on the porch gazing out at the fireflies.
"Soujirou-kun? You're up so late?" Isami kept his voice low as not to disturb the sleeping students in adjacent rooms. The boy turned his head at the sound of Isami's voice.
"Isami-san, I'm sorry to disturb you. I couldn't sleep."
"That's alright," the expression on Isami's face softened as he stepped outside onto the porch next to Soujirou. "I wasn't able to sleep either." He peered over the edge of the roof up at the sky. The stars had begun to show themselves--sharp yet blinking points of light in the sky. "You can see the stars out already. Want to go on the roof to see them better?"
"We can?" The younger boy's voice betrayed just a bit of excitement.
"Of course." Isami winked at Soujirou a bit mischieviously, "However, you better not tell anybody, and we have to be very very quiet." Soujirou nodded, and followed the older boy.
Isami led Soujirou to the side of the dojo close to the tall outer wall where slabs of solid rock jutted out unevenly from the stone fence. Slipping off his clogs, he tightly grasped both walls, braced his feet against the stones and the wall of the dojo, inched his way up, and pushed himself up onto the roof. He turned and extended a hand down to the younger boy.
However Soujirou was already following Isami's example, and much to the older boy's surprise, he shimmied up the walls nimbly despite his shorter legs. Isami had noticed before that despite the boy's small frame, he was quick to act, but he was also impressed with the child's agility. Soujirou, unaware of Isami's thoughts, seated himself promptly next to the older boy.
"The stars are so nice at this time of the year! I heard somewhere that there are pictures in the sky, but I can't see them."
Soujirou giggled, "I never heard that story before."
Isami smiled faintly, "A friend told me a few years ago, but I didn't believe him, so I can't remember who told me that. It was probably a foreign story or a dream he made up." Isami turned to the younger boy, the expression on his face more serious now. "Soujirou, you know why I called you up here, right?"
"Because you want to talk where no one else can hear?"
"You are very sharp. I noticed you with that look on your face during practice earlier today, but we didn't get a chance to talk afterwards." Fude had returned later that day and kept Soujirou busy for the rest of the afternoon. Kondou Shusuke and Isami had also left to pay a visit to a shrine. Soujirou's eyes lowered in response to Isami's remark, eyelashes casting a stark shadow upon the alabaster of his face in the moonlight.
"Forgive me for interrupting class."
"No, it's not about that. Father didn't mind. But after seeing you like that, there's a story I want to tell you."
"A story?" The younger boy was taken by surprise, but he turned to face his senior.
"Yes, a story about two peasant boys growing up in Tama. I want to tell you about how a young boy named Katsugoro met a boy named Toshizou on his way home one day..."
6 Years Ago
Miyagawa Katsugoro, a youth about twelve years old, was on his way home after visiting the Shieikan dojo. The first time he had paid a visit, the kindly master of the dojo, Kondou Shusuke had taken a liking to him, and at the master's request, had been allowed to stay and watch class. Kondou Shusuke was the third master of the Tennen Rishin Ryuu--an ancient school of martial arts that focused on kendou, bujutsu, and aikijutsu for warfare--but outside of Tama, the school had very little fame, thus the dojo was constantly in financial straits. The man was also childless. Despite Kondou's situation, he had never turned away a single student.
Katsugoro stopped in the middle of his tracks as he heard the shouting of several children up ahead followed by the sound of scuffling and the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the ground. His hands quickly fell to his waist, where his wooden practice sword was wrapped.
Stepping closer to the scene, he finally discerned the figures of six boys kicking and yelling names at a huddled figure of another boy lying on the ground. Five of the boys did not have weapons, but one of them who appeared to be the leader was holding a practice bokken.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Katsugoro called out as he came within earshot of the boys.
The boys paused at the sound of his voice and turned their heads toward Katsugoro, but made no move to spare their victim. The boy lying on the floor also looked up towards Katsugoro.
"Isn't it unfair for six to fight one?"
The boy holding a wooden sword took a step towards Katsugoro. Even though he was slightly taller than Katsugoro, he was probably around the same age--very likely 12, but no older than 13 years old. He pointed toward the boy lying on the floor.
"He owes us an apology and refuses to apologize."
The boy lying on the floor spat back defiantly at him, "They are sore losers! Because they couldn't beat me one at a time, they all came at me at once." Immediately, another of the boys pushed his head back into the dirt.
"Apologize right now or we'll break both your arms!"
"That's enough!" Katsugoro shouted, and the boys loosened their grip slightly on their victim. "My name is Miyagawa Katsugoro. What's your name?" He turned to the boy lying in the dirt. The kid looked roughly Katsugoro's age and he had quite a pretty face, but it was difficult to see that when it was smeared with dirt and grime and sported an angry scowl.
"Hijikata. Hijikata Toshizou."
"Hijikata-kun, it is wise to apologize to them." Katsugoro advised, and turned to the boy's captors. "You'll let him go as soon as he apologizes, right?" They nodded in response. The boy angrily glared at Katsugoro.
"It's none of your business, and even if it is, I don't owe them an apology. If anything, they should be the ones on their knees begging for forgiveness!"
"Why you son of a bitch--!!" The one holding a wooden sword made to swing it at the boy named Hijikata. Katsugoro jumped out and stilled his arm before it struck.
"Stop! I will apologize in his place. Please accept my apology." Katsugoro knelt down in front of them. The leader holding the sword sneered.
"You have some guts, Miyagawa Katsugoro. Very well, I will accept your apology, Ka-chan."
He spat in the dirt beside Katsugoro, and began to walk off. The other five boys let go of Hijikata and tailed behind him. When he was certain the boys had left, Katsugoro finally stood up and brushed the dirt from his knees.
"You have a sword. Why didn't you use it?" The boy named Hijikata had also stood up and was wiping off some blood from a split lip, watching him warily from the corner of his eye. Up close, Katsugoro could tell that the boy was very pretty; his unruly bangs accentuated his pale skin and his narrow eyes curved up in a mysterious way. Years from now, Katsugoro could foresee that Hijikata would have many girls chasing after or clinging to him.
"There are things you can deal with without a sword."
"Heh." The other boy sniffed in response to Katsugoro's answer. "Why did you save me anyway? You could have just let me be."
"I don't know. Maybe it was that look in your eyes--you looked as if you'd never give in even if you had to forfeit your life. I've never seen that in anybody before."
"Of course I won't give in to those spoiled brats! Just because they are the children of samurai, they think they can push me around."
"You're from a farming family nearby?"
"Of course. What about you? You don't look like a samurai yourself."
"Well, no I'm not. I'm also from a farming family nearby."
"Hm." Hijikata Toshizou brushed most of the dirt from his smock and pants and brushed his dirty bangs from his face. The scowl had faded a bit, but he was nowhere close to smiling. "You said your name was Miyagawa Katsugoro? I'll remember that name, but I doubt we'll ever see each other again."
"Maybe not."
Hijikata finally turned around, studying Katsugoro for a while before saying, "Want to come to my house?"
"Huh?" Katsugoro was taken completely by surprise. "Well, um...okay."
"You did save me after all, so I should at least do something." Hijikata muttered, eyes turned away. It was the closest to embarrasment that Katsugoro had ever seen him.
Katsugoro suddenly broke into a smile and laughed. "Haha! You are kind of cute afterall."
"What was that--!?!" A vein began to throb on Hijikata's forehead.
"Hey hey!! I was just joking around..."
"Is he your new friend?" Hijikata Onobu motioned to Katsugoro as the two stepped inside Hijikata's home. Onobu, the elder sister of Hijikata Toshizou, was a beautiful young woman with a graceful maternal air about her. If it were not for the fact that she looked so young, Katsugoro would have mistaken her for Toshizou's mother.
"No! It's not like that!" Hijikata Toshizou shot back with a vehemence that surprised his sister, but she suddenly chuckled and turned to Katsugoro.
"Miyagawa-kun, please don't be put off by his attitude. This is the first time he's ever brought anyone home. Toshi doesn't have many friends."
"Onee-chan!! You didn't have to say that to him!!" Hijikata protested grumpily.
"Now now, what's all the fuss?" An older man in his late twenties peered into the main room from one of the halls near the rear of the house. "A visitor huh?"
Katsugoro bowed low to the older man. Onobu, nodding in her husband's direction said, "Dear, this is Hijikata's new friend Miyagawa Katsugoro. He is also from a family nearby." And turning to Katsugoro, she said, "Miyagawa-san, this is my husband Satou Hikogorou. He specializes as an apothecary. He creates medicines that can heal wounds and treat coughs."
"Have a seat, Miyagawa." Satou motioned to an empty spot on the tatami, and Katsugoro sat down in seiza. Satou seated himself opposite to Katsugoro all the while studying the boy carefully. "What I like about you, Miyagawa, is the way you sit. For somebody your age, you seem exceptionally mature and serious."
(seiza is a sitting position in which the legs are folded under the lap, and the knees and the back form a triangle when observed from above.)
"I'm honored to hear such words from Satou-sensei."
Satou cleared his throat and continued while Onobu began to administer to the cuts and bruises Toshizou had received from the brawl.
"Originally, we've had a small but dedicated group of clients. However, lately after treating some patients from the Aizu region, the number of clients is increasing lately. I need someone to help me distribute our medicines. Some of our clients hail from as far as the tip of the peninsula."
"That's amazing, Soutou-sensei!" Katsugoro responded geniunely.
"I've been trying to get Toshizou to help me out, but he keeps slacking off and complaining. If only he had even an ounce of your maturity, he wouldn't be getting into fights like this all the time." Hijikata scowled visibly and squirmed away even as Onobu cooed over him and tried to wipe the last traces of dirt from his face.
"I am envious of Hijikata-kun." Katsugoro exclaimed enthusiastically and turned to Toshizou, "Not only do you have such a great brother-in-law who is knowledgeable in medicine, but you can also go see the world while peddling medicine."
"Is that such a good thing?" Hijikata Toshizou replied dubiously. "I hate going around looking like a beggar."
"Not at all! Beggars ask for money. As a peddler, you receive money fairly through the exchange of goods. Plus, you can always hear the latest news from talking to clients. I think there is no better life than one who can travel and learn about the world."
"Oh, Miyagawa-kun, so you are interested in learning more about the world?"
"Well," Katsugoro lowered his eyes and blushed, "I've heard stories that people who live near the ocean have sometimes spotted strange foreigners from outside Japan. Some of the foreigners have hair the color of sunlight. Though I've never seen anybody like that, I do believe that there is a strange new world outside of Japan beyond Formosa and Chuugoku."
(Formosa was the ancient name for Taiwan. Chuugoku is what the Japanese called China.)
Satou smiled in response, "You and Toshizou are complete opposites."
"That's not true!" Hijikata countered, and turned on Satou. "You wouldn't let me leave Tama! The farthest I've ever gone is to the outskirts of Edo!"
"That's because I caught you wandering around the red light district! That's not a place for kids!"
"I'm not a kid!!"
Katsugoro laughed politely. "Satou-sensei, will you let me help Hijikata-kun? I'll look out for him."
"You will? You really are a kind person and good friend to Toshizou."
"But we just met today!" Hijikata protested gruffly, but then finally admitted. "Fine, you can help me, but you better not get in my way, Miyagawa-kun."
"Of course I won't." Katsugoro smiled, ignoring the barb in the other boy's voice, "You can call me Katsugoro."
"That's too long." Hijikata screwed up his brows in thought, then finally said, "I guess you can call me by my first name as well. I know! I'll call you Ka-chan." He grinned with a devilish light in his eyes.
"Whatever you want." Katsugoro sighed.
...And that was how Miyagawa Katsugoro first met Hijikata Toshizou.
"Toshi!! Wait up!!" Katsugoro called out after his friend, desparately trying not to lose the tell-tale red string in his friend's hair while weaving through the crowds and apologizing to people he bumped along the way.
It had been about four months since they first met, and the two boys had often seen each other since, Katsugoro often accompanying Toshizou when Satou sent them out to peddle medicine.
"Please excuse me," Katsugoro apologized to a couple ladies when he nearly knocked the groceries out of their hands. They stared curiously after him, whispering as his figure was obscured by other passersby.
Finally, he slowed his steps as he saw his friend's slim figure leaning against the wall. He tapped the younger boy's shoulder gently.
"Toshi? You're not acting like yourself."
Ever since they had attended a funeral that morning for a swordsman from the Aizu clan who committed seppuku after he was caught opposing the Imperial Loyalists, Hijikata Toshizou had been acting more moody and unpredictable. Katsugoro had noticed that his friend had been tight-lipped with an angry expression on his face throughout the ceremony.
"It's none of your business!!"
"You can tell me. I'm your friend."
"I don't care if you are or not. I'm not obligated to tell you!"
"Well," Katsugoro started, lowering his hands to his side, "I don't understand why you are so angry all the time. Sometimes, it's okay if you don't hold it all inside."
"Kuso!" Hijikata punched the wall right beside his friend and his fist made a dent in the wall just mere inches from Katsugoro's face. Katsugoro did not flinch, but stood quite still, his unwavering gaze fixed sympathetically upon Hijikata. The younger boy slowly withdrew his bleeding knuckles, his body beginning to quiver. "He died like a man. He died the only way...a man can die. The only way..."
Katsugoro slowly lifted his arms and gingerly pulled his friend into an awkward embrace. Hijikata made no move to push his friend away, and the quivering gave way to choking sounds as Hijikata clung tightly to Katsugoro.
It was the first and only time Katsugoro had ever seen Hijikata Toshizou cry.
End Flashback
"But even as I held him, I still couldn't guess at the words he never spoke in his heart." Isami said, almost absently gazing at the night sky. He finally turned to Soujirou and managed a small grin. "Maybe there will be somebody out there who is special enough to touch him and comfort him."
Soujirou added thoughtfully. "The Toshi in your story sounds like somebody I know."
"Well, it might not be a coincidence."
"I've never seen him smile, and most of the time he's scolding me. Even so, I still think of him as a friend." Soujirou drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
"Because he looks so angry, people are scared of him and it only makes him lonely. But he's like the sun hiding behind the clouds. Sometimes, when I glimpse the light peeking out, I can feel its warmth."
"Like the sun behind the clouds." Isami mused, "I think you already understand him even more than I do."
"I just don't know why he didn't say goodbye."
"Maybe he couldn't bear to say goodbye." Soujirou turned his head and started at Isami's words. "Maybe," Isami continued, "If he tried to, he wouldn't be able to make himself leave."
Soujirou blinked and froze, surprised by those words. Then he slowly turned his face away shyly and tried to hide the blush that welled up in his cheeks. "I don't know..."
Hijikata Toshizou sighed with frustration. He was near the end of his patience. Earlier, his sister was complaining to him in a motherly fashion about how disappointed she was that he rejected every single prospective bride she and Satou had selected for him. He had gruffly reminded her that he had no intentions of marrying, and that the girls had all been mistaken. She then scolded him for falsely leading them on, and another argument had broken out between them. His brother-in-law simply sat nearby serenely sipping his tea and refusing to comment.
Hijikata Toshizou was always in a rotten mood after these arguments. Sometimes, his sister could match him in stubbornness--especially when it came to issues about his marriage.
Turning on his side, he glanced through a crack between the outer shogi doors; the full moon spilled a thin line of silver light upon the tatami. Reaching under his futon near his pillow, he pulled out a rough binding of loose pages and slid open the closet an inch. He reached behind the closet doors and pulled out an ink brush. He had kept one within easy reach whenever he was inspired to write poetry. Hijikata loved poetry, but he never told anybody about this--not even his family or his best friend Kondou Isami.
Just now, he had thought of a perfect line for a haiku. He scribbled it down on a blank page, then placed the brush back carefully into the closet. Pushing the "book" under his futon again, he turned over and involuntarily glanced to his other side.
An apparition of a memory from yesterday floated in his mind. He could almost hear the even breathing, barely see the steady rising and falling of a small chest, and imagine the silver highlights upon rich violet locks. The ghost of his vision opened its eyes to smile at him softly. His eyes were playing tricks with him again. Hijikata clenched his fist tightly, grunted in annoyance, and quickly buried his face in the pillow to shut out the light from the moon. There was no doubt the next three days would be very long.
End of Chapter 5
TBC
Research Notes: This was not exactly how Kondou and Hijikata met, so please forgive my fictional rendition of it. Kondou came over from Shieikan to teach at Satou's dojo, thus the two boys met--I actually wanted them to have met before then, so when they met at the dojo again, they were already close friends.
I apologize for turning out the final chapter to this story arc almost a month late. ; Thank you for being patient, and for continuing to read this story; I hope it was worth the wait. Also, this chapter is NOT the last chapter of Mibu no Monogatari; it merely closes the Shieikan Arc. Look forward to the next chapter of a new arc: Encounter The Longest 3 Days Chapter 6.
In Response to
Starshadow: I didn't upload this chapter yesterday because just as I was about to, a technical blooper jumped out at me, and being too lazy to fix it at the hour, I just simply left it out. It's been fixed now in this version. Prize goes out to anyone who can figure out what was wrong. :P
(And yes, Saizou will make an appearance in later chapters. :)
Shadow Mystic: I can easily say that I'm in need of an editor, and anyone who is willing to take that task upon herself has my sincerest gratitude. E-mail me, and I will worship you. (just kidding!) Right now, I'm working full-time, but as soon as class starts next week, it is 17 units of class work for me. Life is fun.