I own nothing but my OC.

Chapter 44: The Other Side of the Other Side

"How was it?" Koudou asked when Kazama and the others returned later that evening. He was currently checking on his other patients, Satcho's wounded from the previous encounters with the Bakufu at Toba and Fushimi.

"Just as she said." Kazama replied with the hint of a smirk.

"Yeah, aside from watching that huge building go up in flames, it was really uneventful." Shiranui added with a shrug. "Where is she, still in bed? I wanna ask how she knew."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait." Koudou replied calmly as he finished putting his medical tools away. "She's resting now. She used up all her energy and wore herself out earlier. You can talk try talking to her again tomorrow."

"Tch, that's no fun." Shiranui remarked with a disappointed frown as he turned and walked off to find something else to do to pass the time. "I was gonna have her entertain me since I'm getting sick of being surrounded by all these sweaty guys…"

"She's only half oni. Her recovery rate is slower than ours." Koudou reminded him with a sigh, shaking his head. "She'll need to rest for a couple of more days before she can have such a rowdy visitor…" He mumbled.

"Is her condition still that severe?" Amagiri asked.

"Well, her life is no longer any immediate danger," Koudou replied, frowning slightly, as he started heading back to his room to put his medical kit away, "but not only did the bullet didn't just pass dangerously close to her heart, she's recovering from a punctured lung as well. So she's only able to breath in and out half the amount of air she normally… Are you listening, Kazama-san?" He asked as he and Amagiri both turned to make sure the younger oni was paying attention, but the spot where Kazama had been previously walking behind them was now empty.

Amagiri let out a sigh. He must have gone to see her again. Ever since they had brought Miyagawa Sumiko back with them, Kazama had been acting like a child fascinated with a new toy. Even though she had been unconscious over the past two days, Kazama had often sat in the room they were keeping her in for the duration of what little spare time they had.

"And here I just said she wasn't up for visitors yet…" Koudou mumbled disgruntledly as he rubbed his bald head, jumping to the same conclusion as Amagiri.

–∞–

SLIDE.

"Here kitty, kitty." Sumiko called gently.

"Hn?" Kazama said, pausing in the door way as he watched Sumiko wave at a cat that was sitting on the porch just outside the room. He was surprised Koudou had left the outside door open after going on about how she was still recovering. "I had heard you exhausted yourself, but you seem to be in a lively enough mood now." He commented as he watched the cat respond to her beckoning and enter the room.

"It's an easy thing to do when you're recovering from a punctured lung." Sumiko replied casually as reached out to pet the feline, which started rubbing up against her. "And sometimes having a long cry can be good for releasing pent up stress."

"You were crying?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"Yeah, I've a surprisingly emotional day. But for same reason I was crying earlier, I'm in a good mood now." She replied rather enigmatically. Not even a visit from her kidnapper/benefactor could dampen her spirits. "Is this the lord's cat? It looks too pampered to be a stray." She smiled as it flopped onto its side beside her and purred. "Look at you, you big softie. You like that, huh?" She asked it, grinning, as she stroked the bobtail calico's soft fur and scratched it under its chin.

"Hmph. You really like animals, don't you?" Kazama asked with a slight smirk as he watched her play with it and smile like an innocent child, completely letting her guard down around the feline.

"Yeah. I've always had a soft spot for cats. They wouldn't let us keep a pet at the orphanage, but I'd feed the strays that would sometimes wander into the courtyard. I guess I sort of empathized with them, being a stray myself." She replied with a wan smile. "I've always liked animals because they were easier to read than the people around me. What they wanted was obvious, and if they didn't like what you were doing, they'd let you know right away and forgive you almost as soon as you corrected it. They didn't hold grudges or have ulterior motives, and even when they occasionally bit or scratched me, I knew it wasn't out of malice. Everything a wild animal does is geared toward survival and nothing more. They were just doing their best to live in a concrete jungle built by humans, and that was all they had to communicate with me."

"It sounds as though you like them more than humans." He commented. Maybe convincing her to stay with them would be easier than he had thought.

"Maybe… The orphanage I was in was mostly run by a group of corrupted adults who cared more for themselves than the children they were supposed to be responsible for. It felt like I was living in a shark tank most of time. Animals are safe. They're easy to predict. If you act according to the rules of their nature, you'll know exactly what to expect. But people aren't like that. They're harder to please and quicker to turn on their own kind. They're dangerous… but it's not like I hate them." She said solemnly, turning back to face him. "I know that not everyone is like that. Humans can also be as kind as they are cruel. After all, despite how different I was, there were still a few kids who were willing to call me their friend and let me play with them, and I had Annie and the Miyagawas to make up for the rest of the adults in my life."

"Annie?" Kazama asked curiously. Wasn't that a foreign name?

"She was my main benefactor before I met the Miyagawas." Sumiko replied with a fond smile. "Annie was only part Japanese, and she had pale blond hair and hazel eyes. I thought she was beautiful, but she was teased a lot for it when she was younger and given a hard time because of the way she looked. To top it all off, she was born and raised in America for the first half of her life, so she didn't act like your average Japanese, and even though she'd been living in our country for over a decade already by the time I met her, they still called her 'foreigner', like it was something bad. Annie never really fit in, and I guess that's why the two of us got along so well. We knew both what it was like to be the nail that sticks out and gets hammered the most. She protected me from the people who would show up every now and then, who wanted to do experiments on me, saying: 'She's a child, not a pincushion!'" Sumiko laughed as she remembered some of the bewildered and frightened expression on the faces of those doctors and lab technicians when Annie had really let them have it. "Annie could be a real spitfire, terrifying when angered. But even when I was a brat, she was always really patient with me. The other adults, once they realized they couldn't use me, saw me as a nuisance since I was 'a strange and troublesome child' and always breaking things because I couldn't always control my strength. I think a lot of them were actually afraid of me… but not Annie. Even when I accidentally hurt one of the other kids while we were playing, and the other adults wanted to yell at me and punish me, she'd just smile kindly and say things like: 'You're twice as strong as all the other kids, so you just have learn to be twice as gentle.' And she'd take her time teaching me how to interact more carefully with others. I really owe a lot to Annie. She taught me self-worth and how to stand up for myself. She played a huge part in forming my personality and helping me become the person I am today."

"Hm. So, she's the one who laid the foundation for you to become a komainu…" Kazama said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, she… What?" Sumiko asked, furrowing her brow as she glanced up at him with a darkened expression. "Tell me you did not just call me some kind of dog again."

"Do you have a problem with komainu?" Kazama asked. "They're brave and loyal creatures, worthy of respect. And I don't recall ever having ever compared you to a dog before."

"You possess a really convenient memory, don't you?" Sumiko asked, chagrined. "You called me a mongrel when we first met, before I ever even did anything worth being insulted for!"

"You're still holding a grudge over that?" Kazama asked with a frown. "Do you even know the definition of that word that offends you so much? Mongrel: 'an individual resulting from the interbreeding of diverse breeds or strains, especially one of unknown ancestry.' Did it's use not accurately describe your situation?"

"I don't deny it's accuracy…" She replied hesitantly, furrowing her brow as she frowned. "But where I come from, it's usually only used in a derogatory sense and refers to dogs of a mixed breeds, like calling someone a mangy mutt. And anyway, I just learned from Sensei that I'm probably his niece, so the 'unknown ancestry' part no longer applies."

"You're Koudou's niece?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah. That's time travel for you." She replied with a sigh as the cat abruptly rolled back onto its feet and scampered off to seek more attention elsewhere. "It's a cornucopia of confusing and disturbing concepts."

"So, you're of the Yukimura bloodline, too…" He said thoughtfully.

"Yep. It looks like I'm cousins with Chizuru. Who'd have thought? I guess it's a small world, after all…" She said, staring up at the ceiling. She still wondered why Koudou had never even told Chizuru about her being an oni, but for some reason, she had found it really difficult to ask… "Ah! But don't go getting any strange ideas!" She said quickly, glancing over at him. "I'm still only half oni."

"And as such, she needs her rest!" Koudou said firmly as he slid the door open and entered the room, followed by Amagiri. "She won't be able to recover properly of you keep badgering her like this."

"Hmph. We'll finish this some other time." Kazama said, frowning slightly as he stood up and turned to leave, disappointed and somewhat irritated that they had been interrupted just when he had finally been able to have a real conversation with the komainu.

"You have shown a surprising amount of interest in Miyagawa Sumiko." Amagiri commented as they walked down the corridor together. "Could it be you have come to favor her over Yukimura Chizuru?"

"And, what if I have?" Kazama said calmly, surprising him. "Do you disapprove… Amagiri?" He asked, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, as he eyed the older oni.

"Despite being only half oni, Miyagawa Sumiko has her own merits..." Amagiri answered slowly. "However, Yukimura Chizuru's pure blood makes her irreplaceable. It is without question that she should be brought back to our race."

"Naturally." Kazama said. "Whatever I decide in the end, even if I have lost some of my personal interest in Yukimura Chizuru, I have no intention of leaving her with the humans. For her own safety, she must be brought over to our side."