To Not Give In

Twenty-Two || Two Katsurous

I rubbed my hands and breathed into them in attempt to warm them up. As I drew them back, I noticed that my skin was stretched tighter over my bones now, which was turning into a unusual shade paler--like I turning into a vampire or something

I frowned and clenched my hands into fists.

As Sannan-san had instructed, I'd taken up swordsmanship with Saito-san again. He was a good teacher, though really intense. He had me do five hundred exercise strikes a day. For goodness sake, how was he expecting me to wield a katana when my arms were just about to fall off? Then again, it was better than with Okita-san. I made the mistake of letting Okita-san teach me once, and I could have sworn he was actually aiming to kill me.

But anyways, I was stronger now. I hoped.

The captains had also invited me to have my meals with them from now on. According to Harada-san, "food tastes better with company". Even bland ones, I suppose. The strange thing was, it was a bit true. Even with the tasteless miso soup, rice, grilled fish, and vegetables--I was actually beginning to enjoy them. It was always fun to see Heisuke and Nagakura-san snatching at each other's food too.

Of course, I still helped Chizuru with the chores around headquarters. We chatted with each other as usual whenever we did the chores together. Lately, the conversation had been about her little escapade at Shimabara, where she spied disguised as a geisha on some ronins who'd been plotting against the Shinsengumi. It was hilarious.

Yamazaki had pretended to be a ninja who served Chizuru ("he called me a 'princess'!" she'd exclaimed to me), Harada-san, Nagakura-san and Heisuke had ended up in a brawl with the ronins, and--here was the juicy part--Hijikata-san had brought her home and erupted in a fury when he was accused of eloping with a geisha girl as precious as a gem. Now the fiasco was the gossip of the city. Okita-san had been having fun lately teasing Hijikata-san about this matter.

Looking up, it suddenly occurred to me that it was late December by now. Fluffy, white snow blanketed the temple roofs and the ground. Smiling, I knelt down to touch it. The coldness bit at my fingers but I didn't draw my hand back. The snow--it was pure white. Like clouds.

Has Christmas passed yet? I wondered as I examined the frosty flakes on my fingertips.

Treading through the snow, I found Heisuke sitting at the steps leading up to the hall. He was all gloom and doom. Behind him though...the shoji doors were full of holes. I gaped at them, then slowly lowered my eyes to Heisuke.

"I'm taking you did this," I said slowly as I approached him, still staring at the shoji doors.

He nodded wordlessly.

"And I'm taking that Hijikata-san caught you and ran you through the ringer."

He looked miserable as he nodded.

"It's all Sano-san's and Shinpachi-san's fault," he grumbled. "They're also responsible. Cowards. The bastards ran away."

I couldn't help but curve my lips up at what he said. At the look he shot me though, I quickly bit down on my lips and made the corner of my lips go downwards.

"I see..." I sat down next to him, pressing my knees together and clasping my hands over them. "So. What's the punishment?"

"I'm responsible for patching up all the holes."

"Ah." I nodded, glancing back. "That's quite a lot of holes back there."

"Don't even mention it," Heisuke-kun groaned, slapping a hand to the side of his face. "Dammit. Ah, Hijikata-san is really a demon!"