To Not Give In

Twenty-Two || Two Katsurous

"Thank you!" He sounded so utterly relieved that I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. We walked side by side in comfortable silence.

"You don't have to be afraid of the captain being mad at you," I assured him after a few moments. "Knowing him, he'll probably understand and be loose about it. Now, if it was the vice commander..."

I trailed off, biting my lips and glanced up at the guy. He was looking down at me curiously.

"I suppose you've heard of his nickname, 'Demon Vice-Commander'? There's a reason why he's called that," I said dryly.

He gulped. "I understand." Pause. "I'm sorry if this is rude--I mean absolutely no offense--but, what's a girl doing in the Shinsengumi?"

Ah. I figured he'd ask that sooner or later. I exhaled. Well, I couldn't just straight out blab about the rasetsu business. So...

"Oh, about that." I laughed lightheartedly. I flashed a smile up at the guy. "I'm their hostage."

He stared at me with a 'what?' expression on his face.

"Well, I suppose I should explain it better. I saw something that I shouldn't have seen and so the Shinsengumi is now keeping me here so that I won't leak out any information to the public or Choshu guys. Not that I would. But you know--the Shinsengumi is so overcautious. So here I am, just hanging around headquarters." I sighed and shrugged. "It's quite dull here though."

"O-Oh...is that so..."

We rounded a corner to finally see a group of men in uniform rows doing exercise strikes. Heisuke stood behind them all, one hand on his hips as he watched over the group. I began approaching them with the guy a few steps behind me.

"Heisuke-kun!" I called out, waving a hand.

He turned and his eyes widened a bit as he saw me coming towards him.

"Sorry to interrupt. This guy here though--" I jerked a thumb back over my shoulder "--got lost on the way to the training grounds, so I just led him here."

Heisuke peered over my shoulder and the new recruit stepped forward immediately, shooting forward into a bow.

"Please excuse my tardiness!" he apologized hastily. "It won't happen again!"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it's fine. As you said, just be on time next time," Heisuke said casually. He pointed back at the group of men training behind him. "We're only on strikes right now. Go ahead and join them."

"Yes sir!"

Will you look at that. Heisuke was a 'sir'.

With that, the newbie scurried over to the group and quickly got into pace with the rest of the soldiers. Heisuke turned his attention back to me and grinned.

"Thanks for helping him."

I waved a hand. "No problem. Well, you continue being captain and train them well."

With that said, I ambled over to the steps of the nearby staircase of the corridor surrounding one of the buildings and sat down. I rested my head against the thick, wooden rails and watched as Heisuke surveyed the group, occasionally calling out the ones who were beginning to tire and were losing form.

Gradually, my eyelids grew heavy and started drooping. The voices of the soldiers training started fading away. It felt so relaxing being here, peaceful. It'd been a long time since I'd had this feeling. Sighing through my nose, I allowed myself to slip into sleep.

It felt as if only a moment had passed when I felt myself being shaken and my name being called out.

"Suzuran! Suzuran!"

My eyes fluttered open and I peered up to see Heisuke's face in shadows with the outline of the sun around him. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

"You shouldn't sleep here, you know," he said worriedly. "You could catch a cold."

My neck muscles seemed to tighten as I shifted and I winced, moving a hand to my neck. "And get cramps."

I stood up and looked past Heisuke. The men were beginning to scatter, going in different directions. "Done training?"

He nodded. "Just finished."

I caught sight of the guy I'd helped out earlier. Rivulets of sweat slipped down the side of his face and he was bearing his sword on his shoulder. Now that I thought of it, I never got his name even after I helped him out...

"Hey, you!" I shouted, running past Heisuke towards him. The guy I'd helped out turned with a surprised expression on his face

"I never got your name," I said once I was in front of him. I smiled. "I'm Katsurou Suzuran. Nice to meet you."

He smiled and gave a small laugh. "How coincidental. I also have the name Katsurou--my full name is Katsurou Daichi.

Katsurou....Daichi? My smile froze on my lips.

"Ojiisan, Ojiisan. How do you even know all this stuff about the Shinsengumi?"

"They were passed down generation to generation of the Katsurou line," he replied, looking down at me fondly. "It began with your ancestor, Katsurou Daichi."

"Katsurou-san. Katsurou-san."

I snapped out of my daze. "Oh, yes! Sorry, my mind wandered. You...reminded me of someone, Daichi-san."

"Huh? I do...?" He appeared curious, but then from the chuckle and the nonchalant expression which came after, I took it that he decided to discard that as nothing. "Well, that's another coincidence."

"Yes, quite a coincidence really," I said dryly. I cleared my throat and provided him my brightest smile. His cheeks grew slightly pink and his eyes a bit wide—though I had no idea why. Anyhoo, I told him: "See you around then, Daichi-san. Oh, feel free to call me by my first name. I'm younger than you and it would be a bit confusing to have two Katsurou-sans."

I winked. "Right?"