Chapter Eighteen: Runaways

"I didn't know it but a few weeks before that, he had fled the Shinsengumi and made quite a name for himself in doing so. Allow me to tell you what I know…" Chisa tucked her hair behind her ears and continued.

15 years prior in Kyoto:

Chisa was immersed in a dream about nothing in particular, mostly fighting with Chutaro. Like siblings, but particularly twins, they found themselves quarreling occasionally and dreams were no exception. In this dream, however, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard. She took a swing at him, but it felt like her arm was punching through thick mud. He just kept shaking her. "Chisa!" He yelled at her.

She punched again, to no effect. "Chisa!" He yelled again and shook her harder.

He shook her so hard that she woke up. When she opened her eyes however, her nose was centimeters from Jine's. She went to scream out of surprise but he put his hand over her mouth before she could. He was no longer in his Shinsengumi garb and he had cut his hair.

"Shh…Be still." He whispered, removing his hand from her mouth slowly.

"Jin-e…" She spoke so softly, knowing her parents were asleep in a nearby room, and having no idea how he snuck in without waking them.

"I'm going to ask you once. If you say no, that's it. I'll never bother you or try to stay in your life again. You'll be able to move forward." Jin-e was solemn.

"What is it?" Chisa knew a tough decision was going to have to be made. Her eyes welled with tears in preparation for whatever was about to be said, for better or worse.

"I want you to come with me to Shiga to live. The preparations have already been made. I just need you to pack a bag." He sounded urgent.

"Jin-e, I can't just leave my family. There are so many decisions that go into this…" Her eyes were racing back and forth processing everything she would be leaving behind.

"I'll tell you one more time, Chisa. If you say no, that's the last you'll ever hear from me. We have to leave within the hour." He gestured to the door.

Chisa's heart was racing. Everything she had ever known had been in Kyoto; her family rarely traveled. Even though Shiga wasn't too far away, the prospect was still terrifying to her. Akari was in Kyoto and she was newly widowed, which was a great worry. But then she thought about the past five years: The worry if Jin-e was living, the worry of who he had become, the worry about being married off into an unknown family. She thought about how long she'd been waiting for him to want to be with her; how she'd been imagining that was how the course of her life would look.

She got out of bed wordlessly, and got dressed. She could see his face light up out of the corner of her eye, which made her smile. She threw some clothes and a few personal effects in a suitcase and penned a quick note to her family.

Mother and Father,

Please know I mean no ill will. I am moving not far from here and I shall be in touch in the future. I will be safe.

Akari,

I will be in contact with you first.

Much love to all,

Chisa

Jin-e grabbed her, kissed her, and the two quietly snuck out of the house into the night.

"Why now? What of the Shinsengumi?" Chisa was still confused but excited at the prospect of what was coming, not knowing what her life would eventually become.

"That's a story for when we are settled. We had differences in opinion in my role, we shall say." He kept his eyes forward and focused, hoping Chisa would drop the subject for the time being.

Jin-e had arranged for a very early morning carriage to take them as far as Otsu, after which it was a two hour walk on foot mostly uphill. They took their time, but walked in relative silence. She tried to keep in mind their surroundings, noting any landmarks in case she would ever have to find her way back there from the main city. It was still a bit too dark to see much, although the sun was finally beginning to rise. Chisa had no idea how long they had walked and he had not told her how long the walk would be, she just knew that her feet were hurting and that she was sweaty. She was hopeful they were close.

At last, at the crest of a hill was a farmhouse with a small amount of pasture and room for a garden. Jin-e turned to look at her and smiled, seemingly proud of himself. "This is it," he said. "I bought this property a month ago for us. I've been preparing things in the meantime for you to arrive."

"This is…ours?" Chisa sounded confused. "You purchased this on your own?"

Jin-e seemed taken slightly aback. He felt by Chisa's tone that she was implying that since he had been poor his whole life she was deeply shocked that it wasn't still the case. This wasn't what she intended, but that is how the comment was interpreted.

"I could have purchased something larger, you know, but I didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. This will suit our needs well." He sounded defensive.

Chisa decided to not ask any more questions about the property in that moment. Something about it was a touchy issue, but so was the Shinsengumi. She wondered what he actually would tell her.

They walked into their home together. It was plain and empty, but clean. The kitchen was closely attached to the living area which was right inside the front door. There were two bedrooms, one large and one small, and one bathing area, something that Chisa was very much looking forward to using. "Oh, I'd love a hot bath after that walk!" She said enthusiastically.

Jin-e went to heat the water with some wood he had cut and piled. While he was preparing that, Chisa meandered around the house a bit, opened her suitcase, and began to put the few things she brought away. She opened a chest to put away some clothes, but he must have already claimed the spot. All of his clothes were put away, but none of them were anything from his past in the Shinsengumi. It was all very odd.

He came and found her. "The bath is ready for you."

He stood for a moment in the bathroom, and Chisa looked back at him. She pulled at her obi, not breaking eye contact with him. "You can stay and keep me company."

Jin-e smiled, but there was a hint of apprehension with it. Almost like the whole thing was a trap. In spite of their liaison at the fishing spot, he had never seen Chisa fully nude. He turned his back to her out of courtesy, she undressed quickly, and lowered herself into the hot bath. He sat down by the tub, still turned away from her.

"You have to tell me what happened, you know. I have to know why you brought me all the way out here. Why is it, when you spent years preparing for your service with the Shinsengumi, that suddenly you have seemingly abandoned your post and have run off with me?"

"I told you, the leadership and I had differences in opinion." He said curtly.

"I'm going to have to know more than that if you want me to stay here." Chisa closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the edge of the tub.

"You don't need to know. I'll tell you when and if you need to know anything about it, and right now you don't need to know anything." He sounded irritated.

Chisa quickly twisted her body around in the tub, put both hands on his shoulders, and pulled him to face her. Jin-e looked surprised. She put her forehead on his.

"I'm telling you, I want to know. I deserve to know." She insisted.

He smiled, this time a different type of smile, but with the same air of apprehension. He would much rather just enjoy spending his time by Chisa in the bath. With that in mind, however, she would find out soon most likely if he wasn't the one to tell her.

"I'll tell you, but when you decide to leave I cannot take you all the way home. When you get to Otsu, you can catch a carriage back to Kyoto. You cannot give away my location." He instructed, certain she wouldn't stay.

"I'll be fine." She said softly.

"You don't understand the situation." He was angry now. He stood and turned to look down at her.

"I want to know what happened. I'm not afraid of you, I just want to know." She truly wasn't afraid of him at the time like she would be just a few months from that moment.

"I'm a hitokiri, Chisa. I'm not just a lowly servant to the shogunate. I have the power over life and death. And even among hitokiri, I have power that is unmatched by nearly all. I am superior." He was smiling again.

Chisa looked up at him with serious eyes. "So the Shinsengumi?"

"I was going to be disciplined for taking on contracts beyond my duties, contracts that I deemed necessary. I had to cut the head off the snake." He explained.

"What do you mean by that?" She didn't break eye contact.

"It was their heads or mine."

"Understood then. I only have one other question: Will I be safe here?" That was the first time she had looked concerned.

"I swear it. I will enjoy killing anyone who tries to hurt you." He smiled at her and knelt down beside her again, leaning in to kiss her on the neck.

Back in present day Tokyo:

Chisa had skipped over a couple details for Yahiko's sake, but told them what she knew.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, then back at Chisa. "Did you ever find out how devastating his exit was for the Shinsengumi? How it actually went?"

"I did." She nodded. "I assumed he was telling the truth when he said he cut the head off of the snake, but my understanding is that decapitation became a bit of a hallmark for him at one time."

Kaoru scowled for the first time since the previous day. "You knew that much and stayed by his side when you were that young?"

"It's hard to explain, really. It seemed rational when I didn't know any better. I didn't know just how many people he had killed at the time. Of course, any number is too many for most people, but at the time finding a man who had served and hadn't killed anyone was a bit rare."

"And when he called himself a hitokiri?" Kaoru continued.

"I don't know what you are looking for me to say, Kaoru. I do not think I always made rational decisions, and I regret some of those decisions I made, but I cannot say I regret all of them." Chisa's eyes flashed at her.

"You let him continue under your own watch. You could have walked away." Kaoru challenged her.

Chisa felt like she was speaking to her daughter. She sighed and looked at Kenshin. "Well what do you know about that night with the Shinsengumi?"

Yahiko was watching Kenshin intently, which made Kenshin a bit uncomfortable given the topic. "It was a bloodbath by all accounts."

"That's what I heard. I know that there were at least twenty casualties, with few alive to tell any tales." Chisa looked down, knowing that Kaoru (and Chiori) had a point to their arguments.

"At least thirty, Chisa-dono…" Kenshin cringed slightly. "He told me when I was with him a few days ago that he had used a technique called…"

"'Grasp of the demon.' I am familiar." Chisa met Kenshin's eyes.

"Did he ever say anything else about that night with the Shinsengumi?" Sanosuke interjected.

"He did. He said he allowed himself to be arrested. He made a joke of them. When they brought him before the council, he waited until most of them were present and he used that technique. He, from what he said, destroyed his bonds, paralyzed the lot of them, and slaughtered them without question. He said at one point that he never experienced anything as thrilling as that night…" Chisa's voice dropped a bit.

"What was one of the most thrilling nights of your life, if that was his?" Kaoru asked, hoping to make things more pleasant for the older woman.

"The night my son was born, I would say, though that's an easy answer. There are others I could recall as well." Chisa sighed, thinking of Yuuta. She missed him terribly.

"You have a child?" Kaoru's expression changed, realizing some of the complications in Chisa and Jin-e's relationship.

"Children. We have...I have two children." She looked towards the door, hoping that maybe Akari would have followed her.

"Children…" Kaoru repeated.

"So what's next?" Yahiko asked.

"Let me see…" Chisa trailed off, still thinking about Yuuta.