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!"
"And you're really an idiot," I talked back matter-of-factly. "Who told you to play in a way where the snowballs would hit the doors? Even I would have been smarter to think first."
I shook my head.
Heisuke scowled, turning to me. He pointed an accusing finger at me. "Hey, aren't you suppose to be cheering me up? Hello? Depressed soul here?"
"Depressed, my ass." I snorted, but then sighed. Now he'd made it feel a bit guilty. I patted his shoulder. "Fine, fine. I'll help you patch up the shoji doors."
His face immediately lit up. "Really?"
"You better not plan to push it all on me just because I'm a girl," I warned him. "I've been picking up some swordsmanship from Saito-san lately, and I just might use it on you."
Heisuke laughed, but at the dead serious look on my face, he gulped. "Right."
Ha! I was a really good actor. I let out a delighted laugh and clapped my hands together, grinning. "You really thought I'd gut you, Heisuke-kun?"
"Wait, what? I mean, no! I was just--!"
"Right, right. Anyways, try not to get into as much trouble now. This favor is only happening once," I warned him as I stood up. Stretching out my arms, I sneezed and rubbed my nose.
"Hey, you better not catch a cold," Heisuke reminded me, standing up. He placed either of his hands on my upper arms as his brows knitted together. "Everyone would be really worried if you caught a fever."
I smiled. Heisuke was really adorable. There was concern and warmth in those teal eyes of his as I looked into them. Nodding, I gave him assurance that I'd take care of myself.
"Thank you though," I said, beaming. "What you said made me really happy."
***
"Oomf!"
My face planted itself into something hard, solid and soft. I stumbled back and rubbed my nose. Wonderful. Third time today that I'd ended up with my face plastered to someone's chest.
"Sorry, sorry--" I began, the words coming out of my mouth automatically. I peered up to see a flustered-looking guy. He appeared to be pretty young, maybe a few years older than me, and he donned a simple outfit of a plain, navy-blue hakamashita and gray hakama. He didn't have a chonmage, and his dark hair was unruly and his brown eyes were wide open as he looked down at me.
"It's quite alright," he said absentmindedly before stepping past me and going down the hall in the direction I came in. As he walked, I heard some mumbles coming from him. I was able to distinguish some of his words. I turned, staring at him as he rubbed the back of his head in a seemingly distressed motion.
"Crap, I'm late. I'm late. My first day and I'm late. The headquarters is so big..."
Could he be lost? I crept up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He twisted his head back with a questioning look on his face.
"Hi, um...do you need some help going somewhere?" I asked politely.
"Huh? Oh--yes! Yes, I do. I'm trying to find the training grounds for the eighth division," he told me rushedly. His eyes were wide and he looked absolutely desperate. "I'm new here, so I haven't been quite use to the Shinsengumi headquarters yet."
So he was a new recruit to Heisuke's squad then. I nodded. Might as well help this guy out since he was a newbie. I smiled warmly up at him.
"I see...alright, follow me. I'll lead you to Heis--I mean, the eighth division training grounds," I quickly corrected myself, then turned and began walking down the hall.
"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?"