Chapter Eight: Making Friends

Kenshin was familiar with Jin-e's swordsmanship style naturally, but everyone there (with the exception of Yahiko) was acutely familiar with shin-no-ippo, Jin-e's paralyzing technique that assisted him in killing so many. This was of interest to Yahiko, a young swordsman, acting as an information sponge. Kenshin changed the subject just to be safe. "So, it seems your friendship developed from his relationship with your father?"

"At that point, we wouldn't even exactly call ourselves friends. We just occupied the same spaces at times. It wasn't until his mother became ill, as well as something else that happened, that we got closer. She developed liver disease when we were twelve and, while she was able to function, my mother still felt the need to help provide for her." Chisa took a sip of tea.

"Jin-e spent the bulk of his time at the dojo, but when he wasn't there he was at our home keeping an eye on his mother or at his own house. He had a complicated relationship with her. Of course she was cruel to him, but she was also the only family that he had. After her diagnosis, she did slow down on the drinking which slowed down the abuse, but things were certainly not perfect." She continued.

"So what happened that shifted things to friendship?" Sano asked.

Chisa paused for another sip of tea and took the time to fix her hair that the wind had disheveled. He couldn't tell if she was stalling or not. It seemed that she was.

"Long story short, Jin-e fought my brother over me. Being twelve, everyone was moody and restless all the time. We got into a disagreement about something trivial; I think he accused me of telling our father about him talking down to a housemaid. He shoved me." She sighed, knowing how this tale concluded.

None of the Kenshingumi had much experience with siblings, and so they assumed these types of family relationships could be especially complicated. Chisa had three siblings in total, with Akari being the oldest and little Rin being the youngest. Akari was out of the house at this point living with her now husband, the man that fathered her child. Rin, who was eight, bore a striking resemblance to Chisa although she was much more outgoing. Rin loved Jin-e.

"When Chutaro shoved me, he made the mistake of doing it near Jin-e. I don't know if Jin-e had begun to grow fond of me or if he felt it was his duty as my father had instructed, but we've already established that my brother was not a fighter. Jin-e, on the other hand most certainly was. He still found himself in street scraps occasionally, but he was greatly taller than boys his own age and was roughly as tall as boys much older. He had begun to become muscular from the four years of training paired with puberty. He had a reputation as someone who should just be left alone." Chisa took another breath, smiled slightly, and then became more serious.

The thought of having training under his belt and being more muscular at the age of twelve was especially exciting to Yahiko, who was anxious to continue to defend those he cared about; to be just like Kenshin.

"This flipped a switch we hadn't seen in Jin-e's eyes. He mostly fought in self-defense rather than in the defense of another person. He grabbed Chutaro by the collar and head butted him. Chutaro in a daze took a lucky swing at him and connected right with his nose, breaking it. The blood flew and we knew this was not good. I ran to get our father. Mother and Rin followed behind him."

Kenshin thought back to breaking Jin-e's nose as well with the sakabato. He simply snapped it back into place with his fingers. He wondered how many times his nose had been broken so that he knew how to fix it so easily. Kaoru was thinking the same thing.

"It was a rainy day and the two slipped in the mud. Jin-e hit my brother in the jaw and then the temple. Although it was clear that Chutaro was done, Jin-e took a few more shots for good measure. Father pulled Jin-e off him and our mother helped him up. Mother was livid. Father knew that both parties were at fault and he scolded both, telling them that they both deserved what they got. This did not satisfy my mother, but she took Chutaro back inside wordlessly after my father was finished lecturing the two."

"Those extra shots seem kind of dirty…" Sano chimed in.

"I'm just telling you how it happened." Chisa shrugged. "After my father was finished with Jin-e, he went back inside as well. I came up to Jin-e, who was lightly touching his nose and wiping blood on his shirt, and thanked him for what he'd done. Things escalated more quickly than they should have with Chutaro, but for the first time I felt a flutter of…something, but I didn't know what it was." She smiled. "No one had ever done something like that for me before. So I hugged him around the waist and ran back inside, where my mother was silently preparing dinner.

Around an hour later, when it was roughly time for Jin-e and his mother to leave, my mother called my brother, Rin, and me to the table. Chutaro showed up but Rin never did. We called her name and checked her room, but she wasn't there. We knew she went outside when our mother and father did, but no one ever saw her come back in." Chisa took a deep breath. In her head, she wished Jin-e was there to tell this part.

"There was mud everywhere and the rain had picked up. We couldn't see or hear Rin at all. All of us, my whole family, Jin-e, his mother, as well as the few other house staff were searching inside and outside. Suddenly, we heard my mother wail. It was one of the most horrific things I have ever heard and I hope I never hear anything like it again. We looked and her cries were coming from the pond, and so we all ran as quickly as we could. There in the water, Rin was floating face down. Mother was trudging as fast as she could through the pond to get to her, but it was clear she was gone already. A small toy boat was floating beside the body, and slip marks could be seen on the side of the embankment."

Kaoru winced. Kenshin patted her arm.

"Father grabbed my shoulders and spun me around so I couldn't see. He pushed me to Jin-e, who grabbed my hand, and told us both (as well as Chutaro) to go inside. We listened and ran as fast as we could. We weren't even crying, just entirely shocked and confused." She continued.

"All three of us huddled together silently, putting all petty arguments aside. We just wanted Rin to be ok, even if we already knew she wasn't. After a half-an-hour or so, our father returned inside with our mother, who was inconsolable. He put her to bed and approached us, huge tears running down his face. 'Rin is gone. This may be the first time each of you has truly experienced death, but it won't be the last. Go to bed. Jin-e, come here in the morning before you go to training and I will have a doctor set your nose.' He said. I thought that was odd that in his grief, that was one of the few things that was going through his mind. Maybe it was just because it was something he could control."

"So sorry you went through that." Kenshin nodded towards Chisa.

"It is simply a facet of my life that shaped where I am now. It cannot be changed." She added.

Everyone seemed uncomfortable and not sure what to say, including Chisa. She finished her tea and Sanosuke poured her another cup. She accepted it and took another sip.

"So that's how Jin-e and I became closer: Through blood and death. I should have known that those would become themes in our entire relationship." Chisa ran a finger around the rim of her tea cup.

And it continued that way her entire life, with every happy moment punctuated by blood and death.