"What do you think you're doing?" Okami asked Kenshin and Miryu, who were lifting Tomoe to their room. Forcing herself not to think negatively, she scanned their bodies, and found splashes of blood everywhere.
"There was a fight, and…" Kenshin tried to explain. His violet eyes were filled with fear of what Okami would think. A man and two women in a room, it sounded quite preposterous.
"Okami-san we saved her from a pair of roughnecks, and got sidetracked by a hitokiri of the Bakufu" Miryu said in her most sincere voice. She knew that her puppy-dog eyes could not trick Okami, a strict disciplinarian.
"Are you sure that the both of you didn't just get her drunk?" Okami asked, once she listened to their explanations. "Alright, I'll do this for you, just this once. Miryu, you can start by helping me bathe and dress her before going to sleep"
Miryu agreed, leaving Kenshin to change the position of the bamboo blind in their room. He didn't mind though, since the room he shared with Miryu was large in size. Fitting another in wasn't a problem; the only thing gnawing at his heart was what the others would say after the night.
"Don't worry, what's the worse that could happen?" Miryu comforted him, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Miryu woke up and found Tomoe already awake. She put on a dark blue kimono and walked towards the kitchen, where she knew she would find Okami. But instead seeing Okami, she saw Tomoe.
"I've seen you've awoken one-san" she greeted cheerfully. "I hope the fight last night did not frighten you"
Tomoe was so shocked that she could not speak. Despite Miryu's angelic facial expressions, she could sense that she has seen much bloodshed. She was the one who murdered Kiyasato, her fiancé, along with the man with red hair. "Find a woman gaijin blue eyes, and a man with red hair. They're Battouryu and Battousai" Tomoe could remember an accomplice say. She could feel her hands shake, and dropped the porcelain bowl she was cleaning
"Here, let me help you, one-san" Miryu said, picking up the shared if the bowl. Her sapphire eyes were filled with confusion. Why was Tomoe afraid of her when she'd saved her life just a night ago? She could not answer her own question, but she knew that it would not do any good to ask further questions.
"Th…Thank you" Tomoe stammered as she disposed of the porcelain shards.
"Miryu, please don't go everywhere scaring people like that" Okami scolded the moment she saw Tomoe trembling beside the young hitokiri. "Not everyone is used to seeing a hitokiri in a fight, you know"
"It's nothing, Okami-san" Tomoe said, and introduced herself. "I'm Tomoe, pleased to meet you"
"I'm Miryu, Tomoe one-san" she said in reply. "The guy with the red hair from last night is Kenshin. We grew up and trained under the same master together"
"Now that you are fully acquainted with each other, I'll need you both to carry these trays to the dining room"
"Hai", came their replies. They giggled, and went on.
"Hey, how're you feeling" Kenshin asked Tomoe.
"Much better, thank you very much" she replied. "I was just drunk last night"
"Your name?"
"Tomoe. Yukishiro Tomoe"
Miryu told Tomoe to go ahead, and turned to Kenshin, "That's strange; you do not treat anyone of the female species with such concern"
"What do you mean?" he asked in return.
"You don't even care about what I've done in the past ten hours" she chuckled, and went with Tomoe.
Kenshin stared at the six-foot tall hitokiri, trying to register her words into his mind, but with no avail.