Author's Note


Kiai: literally "spirit shout." It's a martial arts term.


Chapter 10: Reflections in a Still Pond


"Good morning little one! Time to rise with the sun. Kondo-san wants you downstairs as soon as possible!"

Tokio groaned and pulled the blanket up over her head she could feel the light break into the room as the shutters where pushed open.

"For a top notch swordsman you sure are lazy! Come now, get up or I will tickle you until you are awake! I have a lovely little feather, and I know where you're feet are."

"I'm up! I'm up!" Tokio looked out through her sleep fogged eyes and slowly focused in on the man standing across the room from her. Her eyes felt sandy from crying the night before, but she knew that was something best left to herself.

"Who are you?"

"Aww… that hurts. That really, really hurts! How can you forget me after all that we've been through!"

This guy was really starting to get on her nerves. She focused on his face but for the life of her she couldn't recognize him. She was almost positive that this was the first time she had ever seen him before.

"Hmmm… what exactly have we been through?"

"Why waking you up this morning of course! Other than that absolutely nothing!" He gave her a big playful smile before introducing himself. "The name is Yamazaki Susumu. It's a pleasure to meet you! Kondo-san, asked me to wake you up and make sure that you're injury was tended before beginning you're training today. It seems you made quite an impression! Kondo-san doesn't take students easily. Anyway let's get a look at that arm of yours."

"Oh no. I'm fine really! It doesn't hurt anymore at all!" Tokio tried to reassure him.

Yamazaki reached over and poked her where the tanto had bitten into her shoulder. She flinched so badly it was obvious that she had just lied about her recuperation.

"It's really not such a big deal I mean… Hey what are you? Let me go!"

Yamazaki wasn't one to normally be quite so rude, but he had been given a task to complete, and he was going to complete it! It was a good thing he had the for site to put Okita's sword over in the corner, he could tell by the way he was fighting that if Okita could have he would have tried to hit him with his blade.

"Oh come now! It's not a big deal. It's just a silly little knife…"

Yamazaki's hand hit against something soft… it couldn't be… could it?

"Let me go!" Tokio shrieked. How dare he!

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Saitoh stood in the entrance, his sword in hand.

"Put me down!" Tokio shoved her elbow right into Yamazaki's face, making him drop her. Right onto her bad arm.

She couldn't completely hold back the cry of pain begging to be released but she did muffle it into her futon. Much to everyone's dismay her loose sleeping yukata parted enough in the front, and she had landed at such an angle that it was obvious to everyone in the room.

Okita was indeed a female.

Saitoh pushed his sword back into the belt of his hakama and closed the door with a resounding thud. This whole thing was beginning to really get out of hand. Yamazaki wasn't the best person in the world at keeping secrets so he wondered what they were going to do.

Damn it! She should have been half way home by now, and not making things even more difficult. Didn't she realize that if the truth was known she would have to die!

"So tell me Saitoh-san… was this was the secret you vaguely mentioned last night huh? Well I never would have guessed."

He watched stunned as Saitoh helped the girl sit up. Both of them had taken stabs with tanto's before and they both knew just how painful they were. It was quite amazing that a girl could take that kind of pain.

Yamazaki was having more than a little trouble accepting the fact that the one who had killed the hitokiri had been nothing more than a frail little girl…

Well maybe not so frail.

"If you say a word about this to anyone I swear I will kill you myself. Okita won't be staying long anyway, so you have no need to concern yourself with her."

"Damn it!" Tokio didn't care how much it hurt she pushed Saitoh away from her with all the strength and speed that she had in her. "Do you really think I'm going anywhere? Huh? This is my life. I will decide how I want to live it. I have a promise to keep and I'm going to keep it!"

"A promise?" Yamazaki just looked at her in amazement. "You're here because of a promise? Let me guess… You promised to warm Serizawa-sama's bed at night? What woman in her right mind would stay…"

"If you say another word I will kill you where you stand."

Saitoh's words carried an edge to them that neither of them had ever heard spoken before. It was far more effective than any kiai could ever be. It was as though Yamazaki's insult had actually insulted Saitoh more than it had insulted Tokio.

"The promise was to my cousin. He was the one that was supposed to be here not me, but he died. A group of Rurouni came to our village. They demanded everything that we had, and we gave it to them without complaint, but the leader decided that he wanted me too… and my Soushi he… he wouldn't let them take me. We fought back then, but when my cousin killed the leader Soushi… he died too.

"We had promised each other that if either of us failed to do what we dreamed of doing the other would complete it for them. I have to keep my cousin's dream alive. All that he wanted was the peace. He wanted people to be happy… Soushi believed that the Shogunate was capable of making that dream a reality. That's why… that's why I'm here. To make his dream come true. I don't care if it costs me my life. I just want to see his dream become a reality. That's it."


Chapter 11: to be continued…