"Damn, I didnt finish my work from yesterday..."
"Whats the matter Hijikata?" I asked.
Hjikata and Sannan were walking me to some place, I dont remember where, but as Hijikata put it, "I was being lazy and had too much free time to do absolutely nothing"
"Your massage made me fall asleep" He grumbled.
"I-isnt that good!?"
"No! I had..I have lots of work to do"
So much for getting on his good side...
"Sorry"
"Mmhmm" He replied. "Do you know a man named Yamapi?"
"I think Suzu mentioned him before..about helping me"
"Yes. He has been a great help to the Shinsengumi" He continued. "Since hes always working, he isnt able to help care for his home"
"Thats where youre taking me to? To help out?"
"Yes"
NOOOOOOO!
"Cant I just help you guys out?" I groaned.
"No" he glowered, "What did I tell you yesterday?"
"But I dont-"
"Were doing this because we owe alot to Yamapi" Sannan added. "Besides, you're in debt to us..after all, we did take you in"
"Yeah, yeah" I mumbled.
Its not like I was being "selfish" or anything, I just didnt want to work...
It took us half an hour to reach Yamapi's place. It was located far into the woods.
I never understood why people would want to live so far away from others.
Wouldnt it get lonely?
"Were here" Hijikata announced.
"Finally!" I moaned. It was so humid, there were mosqitous all over the place.
"Look at my arms, theyre all red and splotchy!"
"Stop being a baby" Hijikata sighed.
A baby!?
"I-im not a baby!"
"Good Morning!" An old lady greeted us, as we entered the house...well I guess you could call it a mansion..
IT WAS HUGE!
The house was at least 20,000 square feet.
Yamapis family must have been pretty important to live in luxary like this..
"Nice to meet you Coco" The old woman smiled, she looked to be in her mid 50s. "My name is Chou"
"Dont cause any trouble for Chou" Hijikata warned before he left.
"Y-yes sir!"
"Ill have someone pick you up when youre done.."
"Ok, see you later"
It was surprisingly kind of sad to see Hijikata go.
"Lets get to work" Chou chirped.
I mopped the floor, swept it, polished the dishes, cleaned the laundry, cooked the food and alot of other things.
By the time I was done, it was four in the afternoon!
This is even worse than what my mom made me do...
"Where is the rest of your family?" I asked as we set the dinner. A multicourse meal called 'Kaeseki'.
"Theyll be here shortly. I have two sons, and one daughter. One of my sons is married, and has two daughters"
The rest of the family finally came and Chou introduced them to me.
"This is my husband Hideki, and my eldest son Kei and his wife Ren, and their two daughters Yasu and Yoko, and my other son Yamapi, and my daughter Iwa"
"Hi" I introduced myself, "My name is Coco, Ill be helping out around here" Hideki, like Chou had graying hair. Kei had short spiky black hair and tan skin. He was also lean and tall. His wife Ren was short and petite. Their twin daughters were adorable and had their fathers tan skin and mothers petite shape.
Yamapi looked to be around Sanosukes age, he had brown hair tied into a loose ponytail at the back, and tan skin like his older brother. Their daughter, whos name was Iwa, was frowning at me.
I could tell we werent going to get along already.
"So i hear your a foreigner" She mused, "How come youre so good in japanese then?"
Crap.
I couldnt just tell her that the ability to speak japanese fluently just came to me when I arrived in Kyoto.
"I had japanese friends..." I lied.
"Really? You knew japanese people in the west?!"
"Y-yeah..my father had some friends.."
"Oh..then you must be rich, because most people in Japan cant afford to travel all the way there"
"N-no im not rich"
"Then what are you doing here exactly?"
"Iwa stop being rude and sit down and eat" Chou scolded.
"Hmph!" Iwa sat down and we all began to eat.
It was awkward, I could only eat the fish and vegtables because that was the only thing I could use to pick up my chopsticks. I left the rice alone.
After I was done eating, I left. Chou reminded me that someone would pick me up, but I said I was fine and wouldnt need any help.
I found my way around town, and walked around bored. I didnt want to go to the Shinsengumi immdiatly, then Hijikata would make me do some work...
"Why hello there" A dirty man said, stopping me in my tracks. "Would you like to buy a bracelet?"
"No thanks" I smiled politely and kept walking.
"You look like you could afford one, please buy one!"
"Sorry,I dont have any money on me"
'Selfish bitch!" The man spat.
"What did you just call me?!"
"You rich folks think that youre better than anyone else!"
Im not even rich!
"Get away from me asshole" I hissed.
"I hate you people" The man growled, "You deserve to die!"
Uh oh..
The man brought out a small knife from his pocket and charged at me.
I screamed and backed away, but as I did, I suddenly tripped over a large rock and fell down, face first.
The man hovered over me, then brought down the knife to my chest.
I felt a seering pain. The knife had sharp and ragged ridges, and when he pulled it out, I could feel it tearing at my ligiments and muscle.
I struggled to breath and then blacked out.
"Hey you ok?"
I opened my eyes, and found myself staring at a young man with shoulder lenght wavy green hair and emerald color eyes.
He was hot!
"W-who are you?" I sputtered.
"My name is Kaede" He smiled, "I found you on the ground, with blood all over you"
Oh yeah!
I felt my chest. There were bandaged over it.
Im pretty sure I should have died from that...
"I think you were grazed by a knife" He continued.
I definetly was not grazed, that knife was plunged into my chest.
Wait a second...
I was techincally dead already.
Like Suzu said, my body is somewhere in rubble.
"I-i-i.."
"Huh?" Kaede brought his face closer to mine.
IM INVINSIBLE!
"Omigosh this is so cool!" I screamed.
"Okay.." Kaede chuckled, "Did you hit your head too?"
"Ah..never mind"
"Whats your name again?" He asked.
"My name is Coco"
"Ah, Coco.." Kaede smiled at the name, as if it brought a happy memory to him "You can stay here for as long as you like"
"Thanks!"
"Ill come back with some tea, just rest ok?"
"Okay"
I looked around the room I was in. It was very large, and decorated with beautiful scrolls and flowers.
Kaede must have been loaded.
Maybe the part of Kyoto I was walking around in was very wealthy..
That would explain why the man thought I was being selfish.
But still, he shouldnt have stabbed me like that!
"Im back" Kaede entered the room with cups and a tea kettle.
"Do you live here alone?" I asked as he poured me a cup of green tea.
"No, I live here with...friends"
"Oh.."
"They are on a trip now, so were all alone"
All alone...
I blushed finally realizing that Kaede saw my chest.
How embarrasing...
"Youve got a nice house.." I commented.
"Ah..yes, its beautiful. It belongs to my friends family"
I thanked Kaede for the tea and quickly drunk it up.
"Sorry Kaede, but I have to get back home..like right now"
"Oh..you have to leave so soon?" He frowned.
He was so cute!
"Y-yeah..my..brother...is very strict and wants me home as soon as possible" I lied,"But we could meet up some other time!"
"Yeah, we should" Kaede smiled and helped me out of the house.
"You sure you dont need an escort? Its pretty late.."
"No its fine!" Its probably better that no ones knows my realtions with the Shinsengumi.
"Alright, see you later Coco"
"Bye Kaede.."
Firm hands shook me, and i awoke to find a pair of blue eyes staring back at me.
"Are you alright?"
It was Saitou.
"Huh?"
I looked around my surrouding. I was in the middle of the woods and it seemed to be late in the night.
"Where am i?!' I stood up ad noticed that my kimono wasnt even on my fully. It was half way open and my bandaged chest was showing.
I turned a deep red, and started to fix my kimono.
Saitoi turned away.
"How did I get here?"I groaned.
"I think you passed out" Saitou guessed.
"Great.."I mumbled.
"Probably because of your injury, tell me what happened"
"Uh..some guy attacked me..with a knife"
"Is that all?"
"And another guy bangaged me up, and gave me some tea. After that I left his house and started to walk back home"
"You probably lost alot of blood" he mumbled.
"What time is it now?"
"Its ten pm"
Whoa...
"Hijikata sent me to pick you up from Chous, but she said you had already left. So i looked around for you and found you here"
"You looked for me for that long!?"
"...yes"
"Omigod Saitou, youre so kind!"
"...thankyou..."
"Youre such a gentleman" I continued,
"..."
"The world needs more guys like you!"
"This is the first time a man has searched for you?"
"Uh..well what I meant was, what you did was very..loyal!
"Oh.."
"Most people would have just walked back home and waited, but you kept on looking because you sensed that something was wrong yes?"
"..yes"
I smiled brightly and pulled myslef up.
So Saitou wasnt such a bad guy after all.
"You give me too much praise" He mumbled. I could see him blushing.
Omigosh he was blushing!
How cute!
"Ill carry you" Saitou whisked me up and we began our journey back to the headquarters.
My happy moment was destroyed as soon as I got home...
"Are you fucking stupid!?"
Shit!
"Language Hijikata.." Kondo mumbled.
"Who wanderes into the woods alone?!"
"I-i uh..."
"When you obviously was injured"
"Um.."
"You should have waited at Chous place"
When we returemed to the headquartes, Hijikata already seemed to be in a bad mood.
Now we were in a room, with him, Saito and Kondo.
He was shouting so loud, im pretty sure every member of the shinsengumi could hear him.
"S-sorry.." I mumbled.
"We dont even have to have you stay here" he continued, "You could he in the streets for all i care"
Meanie..
"You should be grateful, but nooo you go around causing trouble, while were here fighitng battles"
"Ok sorry i wasnt really aware of this" I grumbled.
"Werent aware of this!" He shouted.
"Maybe if you arent wandering arund, youll see that our men have been fighting"
"Ive been working too!"
"Dont talk back to me!" He snapped.
Bitch! Hijikata was a mother-
"Your under house arrest"
"House aresst!?"
"You cant go anywhere"
"But-"
"For a month"
"Thats not fair it wasnt my fault!"
"Learn responsibility, you cant go anywhere but Chous place to help out"
"That house is full of people! Why the hell does she need me anyways?"
Hijikatas face turned red, and I was afraid he was going to spew out and hit me.
"Fine" I mumbled walking out of there and into my room.
I was about to cry, he really humiliated me,and in front of everyone.
I shut the door to my room, and closed my eyes.
I heard a soft knock at the door.
It was Inoue.
"Yes?" I moaned opening the door.
"Its time for dinner" he smiled awkwardly, probably because he heard Hijikata chewing me out.
"I dont wanna eat"
"Hijikata says so..."
When I sat in the room, I avoided making eye contact with the others.
Especially Hijikata.
"Hey Choo Choo" Heisuke greeted.
"Mmm" I replied sitting besides him.
I noticed that he had bandges all over his body. So did the others.
"You ok..?"
"Yeah" he chuckled, "Just a little sore"
"Want a massage?"
"Ha, stop flirting with him" Okita snickerd.
"I wasnt flirting!"
They mustve been in a battle..
Wow, now I know why Hijikata was so pissed. They were all battered up!
We all sat in silence eating our food when suddenly a song interupted our thoughts.
"Where have you been all my li-i-i-i-ife~"
Hey thats my ringtone!
I pulled my phone from my pocket and relaized that i accidently pressed on 'tones'
Nobody called me...
Of course they wouldnt..
"What was that?" Shinpachi asked. They all seemed stunned.
"...Rihanna..."
"Who?"
"Shes a singer..where i come from.."
"Thats strange.."
"You guys never heard of music like this!?"
"No.."
...
"Omg i have so much to show you then! My ipod is full of music!"
I pulled out my ipod and started to play Shinees Sherlock.
"Oh Im curious yeah! So jee so neega!"
"Wow, its very interesting" Heisuke murmured.
"Turn that racket off" Hijikata snapped.
"Its not racktet, its Shinee!"
"I dont care who they are, just turn it off or ill chuck that thing down a river"
"Fine.." I grumbled, putting my ipod away, "Ill show you later..."
Hijikata was really pissing me off, I could tell he was an ass when I first met him, but damn did he really have to be so scary?
"Hes just in a bad mood.." Shinpachi whispered into my ear.
"Hmph thats no way to talk to a lady" I whispered, loud enough for Hijikata to hear.
"Dont press me.." He growled.
Okay..backing away..
After I was done eating, I went back to my room and slept.