32

32. O-Yuki

Toshizou let his sword drift over to the right. Above his head was the roof to the gate of the Echizen estate.


The flexible rafters of the structure were bent upwards, as if coaxed by the hand of a beauty, and were sticking up toward the rainy night.


"Villain!" The voice cursing Toshizou with a variety of terms was heavy with a Totsukawa (Nara) accent. Lately, rural samurai from Totsukawa, Yamato had been cropping up in the capital.


'Someone from Totsukawa?' Toshizou was staring straight ahead, with unflinching, starry eyes.


The Vice-Captain had a habit of letting his sword drift gradually to the right, and did not even glance at the naked blade to his left.


Around 19, Tosa native Tanaka Mitsuaki (who became a Baron after the Restoration) visited Ritsujoutou Middle School in Kouchi prefecture to give a speech about his memoirs surrounding the journey from his homeland to the capital during the end of the Tokugawa Period.


"The Shinsengumi were frightening. Especially Hijikata Toshizou. When you saw him leading his soldiers, glaring around with those infamous eyes of his, everyone would go flying into the alleyways like little spiders."


And now, the assassin from Totsukawa was planning to kill this man.


He must have had some guts.


Other men were surrounding Toshizou from a distance, in the rain. The only people in close range of him were Shichiri Kennosuke on the right, and the Totsukawa man on the other side.


In a flash, one blade came searing down towards Toshizou from his left.


Raising his own sword, Toshizou stepped 10cm back towards the pillar behind him. The katana from Totsukawa ripped through the Hidarimitsudomoe crest on the Vice-Captain's sleeve, sinking low enough to carve into the ground.


The assassin's upper body was wide open.


In the next instant, Toshizou's sword sliced through the Totsukawa man's right shoulder straight down to his nipple.


But the one to fall forward was Toshizou.


At the same moment when he attacked the Totsukawa assassin, Shichiri Kennosuke had violently charged him from the right.


There was no choice but to run.


Toshizou tripped himself over the corpse and fell. He got back up quickly. Waiting for him above, however, were Shichiri Kennosuke's dual blades. He wouldn't be able to take both of them and leave alive.


In order to avoid the attack, Toshizou fell once more. His body was far from the gate by now, by the side of a rain-filled moat.


Having the moat behind him was reassuring, but he couldn't see a single tree that would be suitable to act as a shield.


"Ready a lantern," Shichiri calmly ordered to his subordinates.


There were numerous lanterns strung along the alcove of the gate that Toshizou had been using as his fortress up until now.


"Go on, light one," Shichiri commanded in a low voice.


With a flash, the shadow of Toshizou standing by the moat was illuminated.


"Toshizou...looks like the time has come for you to pay up your Bushuu debt."


"I wonder about that." Toshizou was still poised and statue-like, his katana leaning slightly to the right. Despite the softness of his voice, both his eyes were wide open. No matter what kind of fight it was, this man was always prepared for death.


"Tonight will be the night we settle the score." Shichiri leisurely approached, his katana in an upper position.


At that interval, the rain started pouring down hard. Streaks of water splashed on the ground, white drops shining in the light.


"Shichiri. How's the Choushuu food?"


"Pretty bad." Shichiri was also calm. "But, Hijikata..." he kept his eyes carefully fixed on the space between them. "It's been getting better lately. You men of Mibu don't understand the trends of the times."


"Ufu," Toshizou's eyes were the only thing to laugh. "Seems like swordsmen crawling around Bushuu, no matter how much they stink of horseshit, come to talk pretty big after climbing up to the old capital."


"Hey, Toshizou. I'm not the only one who stinks of horseshit here."


'He's right about that,' Toshizou grimaced within.


Shichiri's right leg took a wide step forward, and his sword swung down from above.


Toshizou parried. His hands went numb–the force was unbelievable.


Unable to strike back, Toshizou kept his blade pressed against Shichiri's, pushing the man back one, two steps. He was trying to get into the advantageous position on the ground.


Shichiri tried tripping his foe. Toshizou hastily lifted his legs up.


"What are you guys all doing?!" Shichiri roared into the darkness. "Get him now! C'mon! It's not like this bastard is a demon or something!"


The patter of footsteps could be heard from both sides.


Toshizou summoned up all his strength and charged Shichiri's body as hard as he could. As the assassin fell back, he outstretched his left arm and aimed for the side of Toshizou's face.


However, his sword cut through only air. Toshizou wasn't there any longer, and had run off to the left.


As he fled, the Vice-Captain cut down one man from the side, ducked into an alley on the south side of the Echizen Fukui estate, and ran east. This fighting genius knew that no matter how skilled a swordsman was, they would always be at the disadvantage when outnumbered in a battle.


After coming to Nishinotou Temple, Toshizou finally slowed to a walk, and then gradually turned south.


'Ow,' he pressed down on his left arm.


He found a wound big enough to fit a finger in on his upper arm, unsure of where it had come from in the first place.


That wasn't it, though -- there was also a wound on the back of his right leg. Toshizou had received this one when dodging the attack from the Totsugawa man.


But that wasn't the real problem here. His right thigh felt sticky, and as he lifted his hakama up, he saw a wound about 10 cm long, with blood gushing out of it.


'They really got me back there.'


Toshizou had ointment in his medicine case. Having worked as a pharmacist for many years, he knew that stopping the blood first would be the best thing to do, and quickly took a look around. Dealing with the injury on a wide road like this could mean trouble. He could be spotted by them at any time and attacked once more.


Toshizou searched around for a suitable back alley and slipped inside.


'I wish I had some shouchuu on me,' the Vice-Captain thought. He unsheathed his wakizashi and then began to cut up his hakama, in order to use it as a tourniquet.


That's when it happened: a window over Toshizou's head slid open.




"This is very kind of you." Toshizou stepped into the house, walking straight up onto the tatami. He moved into the back, where the inner well was, and stripped himself naked. This was in order to wash the mud and blood off.


"Please excuse me," he called inside. His voice was subdued. It wouldn't be hard for neighbors to overhear. "I would like to use some of your shouchuu."


There was a large pot of Tetsuyuu brand leftover. On its side was a label written in a beautiful oie style.


'This must be a household of women,' Toshizou thought. At the time, however, any normal house had shouchuu kept for tending to wounds.


"Ah..." the calm female voice returned. "Please use as much as you like. We also have incision ointment. It is called Byakuyukou, from Kawachiya in Kyomachibori, Osaka. It is said to work quite well, would you like some?"


She had a soft way of speaking, but it did not feel like she was forcing any of the words out, and even seemed a bit smart.


"Yes, if you don't mind." Toshizou analyzed the woman's speech. She didn't have a Kyou accent. She sounded more like the daughter of a warrior. 'I wonder where she's from?'


After the window opened and he was invited to enter, Toshizou had rushed inside and taken a glance at her. At that moment, the woman had been standing there, holding a candle with paper wrapped around its bottom as a makeshift lantern.


When passing into the kitchen, Toshizou could remember gulping at how surprisingly beautiful she was.


She appeared to be 25 or 26, and from the looks of her clothes, she didn't seem like a single girl. And yet, she neither appeared to have a husband.


Her house was small. He could tell just from where he stood.


'Oww...' It burned. The shouchuu burned. Even Toshizou felt like he was going to faint.


The Vice-Captain was leaning over the well, clad in only a fundoshi. He was washing his wounds by himself, with no assistance. Such a feat would be impossible for anyone without an exceptionally sturdy spirit.


The woman was watching him from the entranceway, as she lit some lanterns. The fact that she didn't move closer to him was proof that she hailed from a family of samurai.


Paying no mind, Toshizou oiled his own wounds, tying each of the trio with some of the cotton she had given him. "Sorry, but could you please go inform a guard and have him call a palanquin for me?"


"Who are you?"


"Eh?" His wounds were screaming.


"Um, are you..."


"Oh, that's right, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Hijikata Toshizou of the Shinsengumi. If you tell that to a city official, there shouldn't be any problems."


'This person is...?' Toshizou's name had echoed to even the most remote locations of the old capital. The saying that he could silence even a crying baby was no over-exaggeration.


"I owe you great thanks."


"..." The woman nodded in silence. After fumbling around in a corner of the room, she procured an umbrella, and left.


Shortly thereafter, the clear sounds of raised geta returned.


Toshizou's clothes were still dirtied with rain and blood. "If you don't mind..." the woman pulled a set of kuroki crest clothes out of a chest. It wasn't just a haori and hakama, but included a white juban about 2m long. It was most likely the outfit of this house's deceased master.


She placed the outfit on the floor.


'Clever girl,' Toshizou raised his head, staring at the woman in the shadow of the candlelight. She didn't have the face of a Kyou woman at all, and seemed more like one of the women who would take part in the worshiping at Senzouji Temple in Edo on Green Day.


She had smooth eyelids, full lips, and was lightly tanned.


"You're from Edo, aren't you?" Toshizou asked casually, in a tail-accentuated Tama dialect.


"---" The woman, per her habit, stared intently at Toshizou, blinking only a few times. Finally, she nodded, as if to say "yes."


"What's your name?"


"Yuki."


"You're the daughter of a warrior, aren't you?"


"---" The woman was silent. She didn't need to answer.


"It's rare to meet a lady from Edo in the capital. I guess I was lucky tonight."


'Why would a girl from Edo be living in the capital by herself, though?' Despite his suspicion, Toshizou said nothing, and placed a fist on the top of the chest.


"Well, I will accept your kindness only. I still haven't stopped bleeding yet...it'd be a shame if such fine clothes were soiled." Toshizou wrapped his naked body up in the cloth, grabbed his swords, and then stood up.

"Are you going to return like that?" The look in her eyes expressed how incredulous she was that the famous Vice-Captain of the Shinsengumi would reveal himself in such a state. "Please, take them."

She didn't give him time to answer; the request was more like a command. The crisp sound of the woman's order sounded so nostalgic to Toshizou that he almost felt like it was making him more dizzy. This was a flavor that no Kyou woman possessed. Edo women, despite their gentleness and repressed natures, would always have their partners follow them.

'Ah, I forgot all about this feeling...'

Toshizou grew up in rural government-owned land, and had always lusted after the women who lived over 50km away in Edo. Since these feelings still remained in his heart, Toshizou just couldn't get used to the soft-hearted women of the capital.

"In that case, I shall borrow them." As he passed his hands over the fabric, Toshizou was surprised to see a Hidarimitsudomoe crest. "What a strange coincidence," he stared at the design. 'Things may not turn out so bad with this one.'

The woman was being extremely reserved in her behavior, but there was clear affection for the man in her eyes. Whether that affection stemmed simply from the fact that he was a man of the same eastern land as she, or whether it was toward the being known as Hijikata Toshizou itself, is unclear.

Eventually, the landlord, his manager, and a town official came to greet their guest.

The landlord was the owner of the Oumiya pawnshop out front, and the manager was a withered old man named Jihei.

"I will return soon to pay you my thanks." Toshizou was walked out into a palanquin, whereupon he left.

Meanwhile, the HQ was in an uproar. After being informed by the servant Fujiyoshi, Harada Sanosuke and Okita Souji had taken their divisions out to search the neighborhood, but could find no one, alive or dead.

Toshizou still had yet to return, so the men gradually took their search out to the far corners of Kyou. That is about the time when the Vice-Captain strolled back into the HQ, wearing a well-ironed outfit.

"What's going on?"

After hearing the news from some soldiers, Toshizou merely smirked, walked inside and shut himself into his room. A doctor was soon called to tend to the man's wounds. After he left, Okita Souji came in.

"You sure know how to agitate people."

"Sorry."

"What happened?"

"I ran into Shichiri Kennosuke again in front of the Echizen Fukui estate. It's like that bastard's possessed me or something."

"Sure sounds like you're having enough fun with him, alright." Okita unsheathed the blood and rain-stained Izumi-No-Kami Kanesada. Countless bloodclouds were tattooed across the blade. "And it looks like you've been busy, too."

"They almost had me. Their group must have hid in the Doshuu or Satsuma estate after Choushuu retreated from the capital. There was even a guy from Totsugawa. From the way he was commanding them around, it seems like Shichiri has made a sufficient name for himself here."

"From what our scouts heard, Shichiri keeps saying that he'll be the one to kill you, no matter what."

"Son of a bitch is cursing me."

"Ufu," Okita laughed. 'It's all because you didn't want to play nice with him,' his impish eyes said.

"By the way, Souji," Toshizou said with scintillated eyes. "I think I've fallen in love with a woman."

"Eh?" Okita brightened up.

Toshizou had never used words like 'love' in regards to a woman before.

"Don't you dare tell anyone in the squad. Not even when Kondou comes back from Geishuu."

"If you're that worried, then why did you even tell me in the first place?"

"You're special."

"Only I'm special? This is like torture!"

"Hah...it's perfect for you."

Around ten days later, Toshizou had the borrowed clothes washed and re-sowed, then took them to Oumiya. There, the landlord called out the manager and sat down.

Toshizou found out that the woman was the wife of a vassal from Oogaki named Kada Shinjirou who was stationed in Edo. After his clan was ordered to come protect the capital, Kada initially came up by himself. Moving to a new station by one's self was normal in all clans, regardless of status, so Kada naturally did not bring his wife or children with him.

However, O-Yuki demonstrated some peculiar behavior, and actually followed her husband to Kyou on her own, quietly living in the town like this and keeping things secret from the clan itself. This wasn't to say the two were especially close, however. O-Yuki had artistic talent, and even to this day, several of her pieces remain in both Kyou and Tokyo under the pen name Kouka. Her artistic skill, however, was not as exceptional as her character.

The reason O-Yuki came up to Kyou was to study Shijou Maruyama style under the artist Yoshida Nagamichi. Not long after, her husband died of illness. O-Yuki was left alone in the capital. She should have returned immediately to her own home in Edo, but as her family ran the Kaneiji Temple, they were quite wealthy. As long as their financial assistance kept coming, she could manage to keep living her days in peace.

Next: Red & White