Snippet #2700222

“Wolves.

“The Choshu rebels have trained attack wolves to sniff us out and destroy us.” Yutaro heard the desperation in his own voice as he sighed and spun another lie, this one even more unbelievable than the last. “That’s what those noises were. Okita-sensei and the other captains will take care of it, so please don’t worry about it and go back to sleep everyone.” He bowed. Conversation over.

He lay back on his futon, eyes wide open as he listened to the sounds of the rest of the troop re-settling themselves, some making grumbling noises that indicated they were as unconvinced by Yutaro’s explanation as he was himself. This was getting ridiculous. How many more excuses could he come up with for the bloodcurdling sounds and nocturnal activity that was going on around the Yagi house in Mibu? And how long could he possibly keep asking everyone else to mind their own business and go to sleep when he was burning with curiosity himself?

It had been several months ago, and back then the captains had shared the sleeping quarters with the men, when Yutaro had woken up to the sound of the shoji door sliding open. Okita was stood by the doorway slipping on his sandals, already armed with both his swords, and lurking outside in the shadows of the moonlight was Saito, in silent alertness as he blended in with the darkness. Strange howls could be heard in the air, and the sound of running along the rooftops. “Okita-sensei! What’s happening?” Yutaro whispered sharply as he crossed the floor to approach his captain. Okita’s eyes turned back to him, a look of annoyance at being disturbed turned into a predatory smile as he met Yutaro’s confused gaze. “Well, I can’t tell you that … or I’d have to kill you,” he said in a voice of quiet menace, expecting this would be enough to deter his gocho’s curiosity. “But those noises! I’m not the only one who’s going to be woken up! People will have questions.” “Then you’d better think of something to tell them, Sasaki-kun,” replied Okita, adding, “I’m counting on you,” before disappearing off into the night with Saito. Yutaro leaned on the doorframe and looked outside warily, but there was no trace of either the two captains or whatever had made those noises, so instead he had closed the door, gone back inside, and begun covering the tracks just as Okita-sensei had ordered him.

Now, as he lay in the sleeping quarters, waiting for everyone else to go back to sleep, Yutaro decided that this had to be the last time. He had spent a lot of time thinking of excuses to cover for his captain, but now he had definitely run out. He made up his mind that tonight he would wait for the captains to return and ask them again. It was just possible that Okita-sensei was exaggerating when he said he would have to kill him… he did say things like that a lot. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the silver thread on the troop’s flag stand out in the grey of the room, as the banner hung from the rail that ran around the room at door height. The character on it was “makoto”, sincerity, truth. How could he sleep under that banner and make up outrageous lies every night? It bothered him. No, he would confront Okita-sensei tonight and ask him the truth!


A couple of hours later, and Yutaro, waiting in the courtyard, heard the sound of the captains returning. Okita, Saito and Hijikata were all splattered with blood. Something had definitely happened. He ran up towards them, feeling determined. “Okita-sensei!” he called out in a quiet voice, and three pairs of hostile eyes looked round at him. “Sasaki-kun, you have good timing,” said Okita, as the captains and the Vice Commander kept walking on, the other two not acknowledging him at all. He had to walk along with them or be left behind. “I’ve got a job for you,” he continued, not giving Yutaro any opportunity to raise the question of what the hell was happening. Okita was carrying a strange human shaped bundle along with him, and they stopped in front of an empty room, Saito opening the door while Okita dropped the bundle in, not particularly gently. “What is it? A choshu spy?” asked Yutaro. This only earned him a particularly unimpressed glare from Hijikata. “Hn. I don’t think so,” said Okita, “Keep an eye on him, Sasaki-kun. I’ll leave him to you.” “Yes, of course!” replied Yutaro, readily receiving this new order.

The officers all left with serious expressions on their faces, and Yutaro was left alone, on guard, with the trussed up prisoner. He hadn’t been given a chance to ask his question, and now he was left with another unexplained mystery. He closed the door behind himself as he entered the room, and walked a circle around the prisoner. It didn’t look much like a Choshu spy, but then, what would one even look like? There was something odd about the person, and once he got a little closer, and peered at their face, and their rather expertly bound hands, he understood what it was. Although she was dressed in men’s clothes, this was definitely a girl. What was her connection to whatever was going on? Well, no one had asked him not to talk to her while he was guarding her, so Yutaro untied the cloth that was bound around her mouth. He tilted his head to the side as he talked to her, crouching down in front of her and giving her what he thought might be a reassuring-looking smile. She did look rather scared and probably with good reason. “Hello,” he said. “What’s your name? I’m Sasaki Yutaro. Do you know why you got taken prisoner?” Hopefully it wasn’t so that Hijikata was going to torture her for information… even he wouldn’t do that to a girl, would he?