Kondou waited patiently for his captains to return from their assigned tasks. Knowing the administrative paperwork would only pile up in Hijikata's absence, he felt determined to keep himself busy…However, Kondou could only get so far as dipping his brush in the ink before his focus became buried in worry and anxiety. Were they feeding Hijikata? Were they giving him enough water? Were they torturing him for information? Kondou hoped he was at least able to stay warm; he knew Hijikata would never admit it, but he did have a sensitivity to the cold. He recounted all the times he would peek around the corner into Hijikata's room and find him falling asleep at his desk, shivering from the frigid air. It didn't happen often, but Kondou could see how Hijikata often overworked himself and shouldered too much of the burden of keeping the Shinsengumi afloat. Sometimes, Kondou felt Hijikata would've made a better commander, but Hijikata always disagreed. Since they had known each other for many years, Kondou knew he wouldn't be able to change Hijikata's mind. He hated thinking about the innumerable ways Hijikata supported him, and yet allowed something like this to happen to his dearest friend. If they mistreated Hijikata in any way…
Kondou slammed his brush down and massaged his temples in frustration. No, this was not the time for worst case scenarios. This was the time to prepare and rescue Hijikata.
He stood up from his desk and grabbed his swords as he left his room, basking in the afternoon sun for a moment. He felt the best use of his time while waiting for everyone would be to train in the courtyard and hone his swordplay skills even more. He often didn't have much time to train because of meetings with political allies, meetings with visiting military officials, meetings with patrons, and there were just too many meetings! Whenever he walked by the courtyard before dinner, he would often find Saitou practicing his swordplay by himself. He never ceased to be amazed by Saitou's abilities and dedication to the way of the warrior, and often felt sad that his position kept him from training with his men.
He stepped into the courtyard, taking in the tranquil quiet of his surroundings. He unsheathed his sword and took a deep breath, preparing his stance. He lifted his sword above his head, then swiftly struck down through the air in front of him. Ever since he began his training, he learned to embrace the basic drills as the roots of the samurai. From those roots, more complex moves can grow and blossom, but if the roots are not solid, nothing can grow from them. To make sure the drills would remain solid for him, he repeated his drill almost one hundred times. He didn't even realize how much time had passed before a soldier appeared around the corner and called out his name. Kondou stopped mid-strike and stared at the soldier as he ran towards him.
"Commander, Captain Okita has requested to speak to you. He said it's urgent," the soldier huffed as he caught his breath.
"Oh, Souji's back?" Kondou asked as he sheathed his sword. "Wonderful! I'll go see him now. Is he in the meeting room?"
"Yes," the soldier replied, but Kondou walked past him and didn't seem to pay any attention to his response. Kondou didn't even say thank you as he hurried off. Whatever message Captain Okita has for the Commander must be pretty important, the soldier thought to himself. Everyone knew Kondou was a kind man, so if he didn't say thank you, something heavy must have weighed on his mind.
Souji and Chizuru sat in the meeting room, waiting patiently for Kondou. Chizuru stroked her thumbs over her kimono sleeves, anxious of what Souji might tell Kondou about her powers. She looked over and found Souji looking back at her, leaning casually against the wall wearing his usual smirk. Even if he did tell Kondou about her abilities, surely they wouldn't kill her after staying with them for so long, right? Just thinking about the possibility of losing them along with her life made her stomach sink.
The door slid open suddenly, which startled Chizuru out of her thoughts. Before Kondou set foot into the room, Souji's smirk quickly morphed into a warm smile.
"Souji, Yukimura-kun, welcome back! One of the men told me you have an urgent message," Kondou offered warmly.
"Yes we do," Souji replied. "We think we know where Hijikata-san is." Kondou stared at him in hopeful shock.
"Really? Where?" he asked hurriedly.
"At a manor house on the outskirts of town. Chizuru overheard a rogue samurai tell his friends about a job he's working there, and mentioned Hijikata-san by name," Souji explained. "Isn't that right, Chizuru-chan?"
"Yes," Chizuru answered. "He said the Demon Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi is a 'guest' at the house, and it sounded like they were hurting him." Chizuru's voice became quiet as she gazed down with a sad look in her eyes. Upon hearing this news, Kondou's expression turned from sadness to anger.
"Those bastards," Kondou said under his breath. "Where did you hear this?"
"At a tea house while on our rounds," Souji continued. "We don't know which manor or who the employer is yet, but one of my men is following the samurai as we speak until he reaches the manor and has orders to report back immediately."
Kondou nodded in agreement. "Good. That's good. Great work, both of you! Have you heard from the others yet?" Souji and Chizuru both shook their heads.
"That's alright, that's alright. Why don't you both rest up until they return, then we'll reconvene and see if they can provide more details on the intel you gathered?" Kondou suggested.
"Yes, sir. I'll go make preparations for dinner," Chizuru offered as she hurried out the door. Souji stood up and followed behind her, shooting another warm smile at Kondou.
"Don't worry, Kondou-san. We'll get him back," Souji reassured as he also left the room, leaving Kondou to his own thoughts once again.
As Souji creeped up behind Chizuru, she stopped and turned around so fast that Souji almost ran into her. He took a few steps back to give them both space.
"Why are you following me?" Chizuru asked.
"To help you with dinner, of course. Why else?" Souji retorted.
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little on edge."
"That seems to be going around," Souji joked as he walked around Chizuru and continued to the kitchen. Chizuru hurriedly followed after him, showing signs of irritation.
"Okita-san, this is hardly the time to be joking–"
As she turned the corner to enter the kitchen, she ran directly into Souji and fell to the floor, even more irritated than before.
"Ow! Why didn't you move? You knew I was following you."
"Then you shouldn't have been so distracted by my joke," Souji teased as he helped her up. "Also, you still haven't told me how you could hear those samurai earlier."
Chizuru froze. She hoped he would forget about it or just keep it to himself and never bring it up again, but even she knew that was nothing but wishful thinking.
"Do we have to do it here?"
"Come on, just tell me. It won't take any time at all, and then we can start preparing dinner." Chizuru pondered this thought for a moment, in a way to buy some time for herself to calm down and think up a way to tell Souji her secret without scaring him.
"Ok, fine. I'm…I'm a demon," she blurted out, keeping her voice low. Souji stared at her, then chuckled and patted her head.
"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" he asked as he pulled out one of the kitchen knives and began to chop vegetables. Chizuru stared back at him, stunned.
"Wait, you're not surprised or freaked out at all?"
"No. I already knew from that incident at the Ikeda-ya Inn that you were different," Souji explained, his hands continuously chopping. "I just wanted to hear you say it out loud."
Chizuru heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Are you going to tell Kondou-san or the others?"
"There's nothing to tell," Souji replied. "Now we both have a secret to keep, don't we?" Chizuru didn't need to answer that. She couldn't tell if this was another one of his mind games, or if he was seriously blackmailing her so she couldn't tell anyone about his condition. Even before the day's events, she promised Souji she would keep his secret; she didn't need him to force her to keep her mouth shut. At this point, it didn't matter: she would take Souji's secret to the grave, and her own, unless she had absolutely no other choice.
Chizuru carried on with her original duties of making dinner for the captains, with Souji's assistance. As Chizuru walked to Kondou's room to tell him dinner was ready, she heard familiar voices on the other side of the compound. She rushed along the stone path leading around the building to the main gate and found Saitou, Harada, Shinpachi, and Heisuke all returning together. Chizuru's face beamed as she raced to greet them.
"Welcome back!" she greeted as she bowed. "You're just in time. Dinner's ready!"
"Alright! I was getting hungry," Shinpachi grinned as he sprinted ahead of the group. Heisuke raced after him, eager to receive the best serving of food before Shinpachi could steal it from him. Harada picked up his pace and promptly followed them, always alert when Shinpachi or Heisuke would act like children and embarrass him and themselves. Chizuru admired that big brother quality in Harada. She giggled as Shinpachi and Heisuke wrestled with each other every other step to assume the lead, then gently massaged their heads after Harada gave them both a good smack. Chizuru walked back to the meeting room with Saitou in peaceful silence. When Chizuru looked over at Saitou, she noticed a sad look in his eyes.
"Saitou-san, is everything alright?" she asked, concerned for her friend. Saitou looked back at Chizuru and briefly nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern," he responded as they approached the meeting room. Chizuru gave him a warm smile before running off to the kitchen to grab everyone's trays. Saitou followed everyone else into the meeting room and sat down, making themselves comfortable. Kondou and Souji were already in the room.
"Welcome back everyone," Kondou greeted warmly. Saitou appreciated the company of people like Kondou and Chizuru: they were kind people who gave him warm smiles and could make any room or place resonate with the feeling of comfort and home. Growing up, Saitou did not truly feel at home with his family or in the dojos he frequently passed through. The other students constantly mocked him and undermined his abilities all because he was left-handed, and that drove him to find belonging elsewhere. Only amongst the first few members of the Shinsengumi, training in a poor dojo in the countryside, did he truly feel a sense of acceptance. Hijikata was the first person to acknowledge his strength, so Saitou made a vow to himself to use that strength to find Hijikata and bring him home safely.
His thoughts were distracted when Chizuru entered with the dinner trays and handed one to him. He took it from her hands and nodded in thanks.
"Thank you, Yukimura-kun," Kondou said in a serious tone, one which he did not often use when giving thanks. Chizuru simply nodded and continued to hand out the trays.
"Alright. Now that everyone is here, Souji and Yukimura have a lead on Toshi's whereabouts," Kondou began. "There is at least one rogue samurai that we know of, who is currently working at a private manor outside of town, and told his friends that Toshi is being held there. We don't know which manor just yet. Souji, any update from your subordinate?"
"Not yet," Souji responded.
"I see," Kondou continued. "Shinpachi, Heisuke, do you have anything you want to add to this from your stakeout?"
"Well, we followed the instructions in the letter, and we just found ourselves in an open field. There were a couple scattered houses nearby, but no manors. We did notice quite a bit of foot traffic around that area, though, which is weird. The men passing through looked more like samurai than farmers," Shinpachi explained. "So out of curiosity, we followed a group of them through the fields, and lo and behold, we found a manor."
"It's pretty well-guarded from what we could tell," Heisuke added. "They had two guards at the front of a wooden gate, which was opened and closed by a couple more guys on the inside. The whole thing gave me a really bad feeling, like they wanted to hide something dangerous or important." Shinpachi nodded in agreement.
"I see," Kondou said as he processed the information. "Did you recognize anyone that came and went from this manor?"
"There was one guy in particular I recognized, but I can't remember his name. He was talking with the guards at the gate like they were buddies," Shinpachi replied. "If I remember correctly, he has ties to the yakuza."
Kondou's eyes grew wide. "The yakuza? If we assume that they're involved, why would they want Toshi?"
"Well, it's obvious from their letter they don't like the Shinsengumi," Harada chimed in. "They know they can get to you through Hijikata-san, which would serve as the ultimate power move. Getting rid of the Shinsengumi's top officials while showing they can reach anyone? That sends a message. If I were their enemy, I'd be worried."
"Let's not forget this could also be a personal vendetta against Hijikata-san on behalf of the Shinsengumi," Heisuke added. "Maybe Hijikata-san crossed paths with the wrong person and now their friends or family want revenge. If I were them, I would take my revenge on Hijikata-san and use him to take Kondou-san down as well. That's like killing two birds with one stone." Heisuke immediately realized the gravity of his words and stammered in apology to Kondou. "Not that I would take revenge on you or Hijikata-san, of course, Kondou-san. I would never do that."
"I know, Heisuke," Kondou responded warmly. "You both make good points. Harada, Saitou, did you find any more information on the men that took Toshi?"
"Unfortunately not," Saitou answered. "From the people we interviewed in the area, nobody remembers hearing any commotion around the time Hijikata-san was taken. I'm truly sorry we could not retrieve more information."
"That's quite alright, Saitou-kun. You both did your best," Kondou reassured. "However, we still don't know if this manor is the correct one until we hear back from Souji's subordinate. If we move too quickly and raid the wrong house…"
"They could kill Hijikata-san," Harada finished, slamming his fist into the floor. "There's gotta be something else we can do instead of waiting around."
Just then, a soldier slid open the door, drawing everyone's attention to him. Chizuru recognized him as one of the soldiers posted at the gate to the compound.
"Apologies for the interruption, Commander, but there is a woman here who insists on speaking with you. She said it's urgent."
"A woman?" Kondou asked. "Who is it?" A grave look crossed the soldier's face.
"She didn't give her name, but she said she's the one who kidnapped the Vice-Commander."