Setting
Once her mind was put towards traveling it took no time for her to get everything all together. With a small bag packed she was faced with one issue, the fact that travelling alone as a woman was probably one of the most dangerous stupidest things she could do. Scowling a little bit as she stared at herself in the mirror slowly she gathered all of her hair up at the top, raising an eyebrow a smile took the place of her scowl. Stealing an outfit of dark grey from her father, she stared at herself once more with a small smile. She was skinny for a boy but it would work for now, her father wasnât that far away in Kyoto and she didnât think it would be terrible difficult for her to find him.
The city was a sight to see. With wide eyes Emiko looked around taking in everything, it was the first time that she had ever been in Kyoto. She found it more exciting than the stories her father use to tell her about the place. Nibbling on the inside of her lip she carefully made her way through the crowds looking for the one person her father told her to trust, Dr. Matsumoto but of course that would have been too easy. âI am sorry but Dr. Matsumoto is out right now. If you come back in a few days he should be back.â The woman smiled as she closed the door gently in Emikoâs face. Standing there she had no clue what to do next, eyes were fixed on the closed door for a few minutes before she finally turned away wandering for the next few hours. Of course she had some money on her but nearly enough to stay in Kyoto for more than a few days. Pouting as she walked Emiko barely noticed that the sun had started to go down, too engulfed in her own thoughts. It was no surprise when her face suddenly collided into someone causing her to stumble and rub at her nose.
It took a few seconds for her to gain her composure, rubbing some more at her nose Emiko looked up at the man she had bumped into. He didnât look at that happy and was staring her down with dagger like eyes, quickly Emiko bowed her head dropping her hands, âI am very sorry sir!â It was hard for her to keep her voice deep and by now her throat was raw but she tried her hardest to continue to come off as a man.
âSorry my ass.â The man laughed as he looked down at Emiko with an eyebrow raised, âDo you know who I am?â Every part of her body felt like it weighed a ton as she slowly shook her head no which seemed to enrage the man causing his cohorts to laugh and egg him on in showing Emiko a lesson. When his hand moved for the hilt of his sword something took over her, suddenly the heaviness was gone and Emiko was running away from the small group. They called out and started giving her chase but there was one thing she could be thankful for at the moment was her size. She squeezed past small crowds of people with no issue while the burly men had to push their way past quickly slowing themselves down. Booking it into an alley she leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath, her legs burned from the sudden running. Muttering underneath her breath slowly hands massaged the sore muscles slowly the pain started to go away and a short lived smile crossed her face.
In the darkness of the alleyway a low growl caught her attention. Standing straight her eyes widened as she noticed something in the shadows, red eyes were the first thing her own met with. A lump formed in her throat as the eyes multiplied and stared in her direction. Making herself small she started to back up a hand moving to the kodachi at her waist, thanking her father for every little bit of self defense he taught her though a part of her knew it more than likely wouldnât be enough for tonight. Crawling backwards Emiko found herself hiding the best she could underneath flooring that had been leaned up against the wall. Closing her eyes she wondered if she should have just stayed home and waited for her father. Holding her knees close to her chest, the air in the alley changed but kept her eyes closed listening to the sounds of steel hitting bone. It made her stomach turn and instant feeling of sick coming over her. The sounds finally seemed to fade away and there was some low talking, slowly her eyes opened and she saw the shadows of men blocking her view and her way out.
With a frown Emiko wanted nothing more but to be out of there. Pressing herself closer to the ground she attempted to back herself out of the small space she wedged herself in but there was no use it was too small and the flooring that once protected her tilted and fell to the side with a loud bang. Frozen once more, she let out a small whimper as the shadows turned to her, âI didnât see anything!!â Her voice was a whisper and almost didnât come out at all but of course there was no way they could believe her and a short argument ensued. In the end she was taken with them, blindfolded and bound she was thrown into a room. Thankfully they took the blindfold off her and still believed her to be a man. Sighing Emiko looked around the dark room completely confused about the whole situation, she wanted her father even more.
âThe Choshu rebels have trained attack wolves to sniff us out and destroy us.â Yutaro heard the desperation in his own voice as he sighed and spun another lie, this one even more unbelievable than the last. âThatâs what those noises were. Okita-sensei and the other captains will take care of it, so please donât worry about it and go back to sleep everyone.â 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 Yutaroâs 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. âOkita-sensei! Whatâs happening?â Yutaro whispered sharply as he crossed the floor to approach his captain. Okitaâs eyes turned back to him, a look of annoyance at being disturbed turned into a predatory smile as he met Yutaroâs confused gaze. âWell, I canât tell you that ⊠or Iâd have to kill you,â he said in a voice of quiet menace, expecting this would be enough to deter his gochoâs curiosity. âBut those noises! Iâm not the only one whoâs going to be woken up! People will have questions.â âThen youâd better think of something to tell them, Sasaki-kun,â replied Okita, adding, âIâm counting on you,â 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 troopâs 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 âmakotoâ, 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. âOkita-sensei!â he called out in a quiet voice, and three pairs of hostile eyes looked round at him. âSasaki-kun, you have good timing,â 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. âIâve got a job for you,â 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. âWhat is it? A choshu spy?â asked Yutaro. This only earned him a particularly unimpressed glare from Hijikata. âHn. I donât think so,â said Okita, âKeep an eye on him, Sasaki-kun. Iâll leave him to you.â âYes, of course!â 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 hadnât 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 didnât 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 menâs 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. âHello,â he said. âWhatâs your name? Iâm Sasaki Yutaro. Do you know why you got taken prisoner?â Hopefully it wasnât so that Hijikata was going to torture her for information⊠even he wouldnât do that to a girl, would he?
The question of her name came up and all the thoughts in her mind stopped. âOh..â A few seconds passed before she tried speaking again, going out of her way to attempt to deepen her voice which was easily done thankfully because of itâs dryness, âYahiko Yukimura...I kept telling them I didnât see anything! Truly I didnât!â Her voice cracked as she talked, biting the inside of her lip a little bit. Her mind flashed back to what she had saw earlier that night, the red of eyes of the men in the alleyway as they stared her down with disgusting smiles on their faces. Every part of her wanted to forget what happened and was more than happy to do whatever she needed in order to ban the thoughts from her mind but it was a matter of making this group of men believe that she was able to do that. âI just want to find my father.â Whispering grey eyes looked at the ground she took a deep breath before looking back towards Sasaki, âWh..where am I?â A part of her didnât expect an answer but it was worth the try, every part of her was still confused, she hoped for something. shifting a little Emiko winced slightly as the rope burned at her wrists again. If these were going to be her last moments, she hated herself for not being braver, âI promise I didnât see anything.â
âYour father?â he asked, surprised that she had given out some information, even though it wasnât anything he expected. At first he had just imagined her whole name was fake, but there was something about the name âYukimuraâ that seemed familiar to him. Maybe she was the daughter of that Yukimura. âEh, your father wasnât a doctor by any chance?â he asked her. He remembered seeing that doctor once or twice, recognisable as such by his shaven head. He was skinny with a mild kind of face. As Yutaro recalled, he hadnât seen him around recently at all. And anyway, there were hundreds of people called Yukimura⊠âWhy are you looking for him?â
Mysteries aside, the girlâs next question was easy enough. âThis is the headquarters of the Shinsengumi,â said Yutaro proudly, sitting up straight as he answered. âWeâre protecting the city of Kyoto from rebels. Iâm pretty sure if youâre not some troublemaking ronin or Choshu spy, you donât have anything to worry about.â He smiled at her, but it wore a little forced around the edges, since he had as much idea as she did about what she was in for. Once again, she pleaded that she hadnât seen anything, and he sighed, just a little frustrated. âIf you really didnât see anything, why donât you tell me what it is you didnât see?â
She continued to sulk in her mind like that till the questioned about her father being a doctor broke the trance. Her face suddenly lit up as she looked towards him for a brief moment the fear leaving her body, shifting slightly she watched him as she started to bombard him with questions. âDo you know him!? Is he here? Was he here?â The ache in her joints reminded her the position she was in and quickly Emiko recoiled back letting out a small sigh, âHe was suppose to be home two months ago, I havenât received any letters from him.â Tears started to sting at the corner of her eyes, âHe was suppose to be in Kyoto for business, I was worried since itâs been so long. Normally he is always home when he says he will be or he keeps in touch so I thought I would try to find him.â It was weird but she felt better telling him her story, at least someone would know what happened to her right?
The Shinsengumi headquarters? Titling her head to the side Emiko was curious if her father could have been here at one point. Sadly he hadnât given her much information other than who to contact and that hadnât give her any help. The idea of spies and ronin was starting to give her headache the last thing she needed was to be mistaken for one of those. âI was trying to hide. There were strange noises, when I looked there were just these men with red eyes..they scared me so I closed my eyes. I only heard things, I didnât see anything.â Frowning she wondered if anyone would even believe her with one more deep breath she shifted again having a hard time sitting still due to her bindings, âEmiko...my name is Emiko.â
If that wasnât enough, once she started asking him questions about the whereabouts of her father, it looked like she was going to cry. He really hoped that those beads of water forming in the corners of her eyes werenât going to fall out. Even though it wasnât his fault, heâd certainly feel guilty about it, and he had no idea what you were supposed to do to comfort a crying girl. The best thing was to avoid it happening. Maybe he could cheer her up.
âYes,â he smiled, nodding, in reply to her questions about her father. âWell, I donât know him, but I have seen him a few times.â A small frown formed between his brows and he looked off to the side as he tried to remember where and when he had seen that bald head bobbing along. âMaybe he was visiting Kondo-sensei? It definitely wasnât in the last month or two though⊠but who knows, heâs probably still around the area somewhere.â He gave her a reassuring grin again, hoping it would lift her spirits, or at least distract her from crying.
Yutaro didnât think there was anything really unusual about not seeing Yukimura-sensei for several months, or that it meant he was gone for good. Kyoto was a bit like a maze, so it wouldnât be surprising if someone lived right around the corner and you didnât see them for months at a time. Where he grew up among the mountains and fields, there were few people, and in the village there was only one road and it sensibly went east to west, not round and round. Even though heâd been in the city a while, he still hadnât got used to it. As he nostalgically compared the capital city with his home in the countryside a thought struck him, and he looked back at âYahikoâ with a quizzical look. âSaaay, youâre from the east, too, right? You have an Edo accent!â He found himself warming to her a little and waited hopeful that he had guessed right. If she was from the Edo area, that lowered the possibility she was a Choshu spy. In fact, he had serious doubts that she was any kind of a spy at all, she seemed totally devoid of guile. Maybe he was just being naĂŻve. He should really be more on his guard, but it really seemed like the only thing she was concealing was whatever it was she had witnessed that she (unconvincingly) denied having seen.
Finally she decided to give her real name. Information for information, some kind of fair exchange, and maybe he was just a little closer to having his curiosity slaked about whatever it was that was going on out there. âEmiko-san, huh? Nice to meet ya.â Now they were getting somewhere, at least. âYou know,â he said, watching her appraisingly, âIâm sure you had your reasons for pretending to be a boy out there, but if you admit to being a girl, it will probably go easier on you. The Shinsengumi are all honourable men, nothing bad will happen to you. Youâd get treated more harshly as a man. Itâs up to you, I guess, but chances are the captains that brought you in already know. Especially the one that tied you up.â And nothing much got past Saito-san.
âEh⊠? Red eyes!â It was the first scrap of information he even had about what went on, but he wasnât going to leave it there. âThatâs all you remember? What did they look like? How were they dressed?â he whispered harshly. Damn it but if that one clue wasnât even worse than knowing nothing at all.
The girl shifted about uncomfortably in her bonds, and Yutaro stood up, tucking his sheathed sword back into his obi. âLet me take a look at those knots. Itâs not like they need to be that tight.â He moved around behind her, where her hands were tied, but before he touched the ropes that were expertly restraining her, he poked his head around over her shoulder to look her in the eye, his blue eyes narrowed briefly to icy shards. âYouâre not going anywhere, are you?â He asked, phrased coldly as a warning. He knew he was a soft touch and totally taken in by her story of her missing father, but he wasnât going to let her think that he would be easy to escape from. âIf you try anything âŠâ he hesitated to say it, but it was almost as though he could hear Okita-sensei slyly whispering the words â Iâll kill you He didnât want her even more terrorised, so he settled for âJust keep still and keep quiet or Iâll have to knock you out, alright?â Okita-sensei had definitely done a number with these bindings⊠they were so tight the girlâs fingers were turning white. He loosened all the ropes a bit, and retied all the knots. They should still be firm enough and yet at least give her a bit of wiggle room. âThere, at least your arms wonât have fallen off by the morning,â he laughed quietly.
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