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The Choshu Chronicles: Chapter Three

by Omasu Oniwabanshi ::: Jan.2005

The murmur of voices rose and fell above the rhythmic slap of the oars in the water. Kenshin sat near the middle of the long rowboat making its way towards a Dutch vessel moored in the Shimonoseki Straits.

In the front of the rowboat, Katsura sat with Ito, his interpreter, giving him some last minute instructions. Nakamura claimed the next nearest bench for himself, leaving Kenshin to sit with Sakamoto Ryoma instead. The rest of the benches were taken up with oarsmen.

On the dock, Ryoma had allowed the others to precede him, while he stared at Kenshin.

"AHA!" he'd burst out, pointing. "I remember you, you're the bodyguard from that mansion. You didn't know where the apothecary shop was."

Kenshin nodded and stepped into the rowboat, crouching down as he'd seen the sailors do, to keep from tipping over. Luckily, Hiko's training had instilled in him a healthy sense of balance.

Ryoma followed, grabbing the side of the rowboat and dropping expertly onto the bench by Kenshin. "You'd make a good sailor." He told Kenshin. "You should come join my Kameyama Company after the Bakufu have been defeated."

At Kenshin's bemused look, Ryoma laughed. "What? You don't think we'll win? The shogunate is going down. Japan will be strong again, and my shipping company is going to be a part of it."

"Shipping company?" Kenshin muttered.

Ryoma looked a little embarrassed. "Well, we haven't got many ships yet, but we will. I tell you, kid. Steamships will change shipping forever." His eyes gleamed. "I can't wait to get my hands on one. Did you know an American steamship, the Wyoming, sank two Choshu battleships and nearly sank a third one in minutes? It happened two years ago right here in the Shimonoseki Straits. Minutes! Think of it!"

Kenshin stared.

Ryoma laughed. "Do you think me callous? The American ship was only getting back at Choshu for firing on American and other foreign ships in the Straits earlier. Think of it as a good lesson. If it hadn't been for that, Choshu wouldn't be buying up newer, better warships." He sighed nostalgically. "I would have loved to see the Wyoming in action."

Nakamura's voice, low and angry, burst in. "Don't take Choshu lightly! Satsuma got worse from the foreigners the next July." His voice took on a dark, satisfied tone. "I hear their capital city of Kagoshima was nearly destroyed by British warships, and all because they cut down an English foreigner who did not show the proper respect toward lord Shimazu Hisamitsu's procession."

Ryoma pursed his lips and nodded. "True, Satsuma also suffered from foreign warships, but the point is, those warships were steam powered. Steamships are faster and bigger than any ship Japan has. If we're going to be taken seriously by the rest of the world, we need them too."

"Just so we get them before Satsuma does." growled Nakamura.

Ryoma opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it as the rowboat came alongside the Dutch vessel.

Rope ladders were slung over the side. In a short time, everyone was standing on the deck of the largest ship Kenshin had ever been on. White skinned men in slim trousers and shirts went about their duties, sparing curious glances now and again at their visitors.

Only Katsura, Ryoma, and Ito were allowed in the cabin to see the Dutch Consul General. When Nakamura began to protest, Katsura silenced him with a quiet word. Frustrated, the samurai glared at the closed door and then stationed himself on the left side of it, leaving Kenshin to stand on the right.

Kenshin didn't expect Nakamura to speak to him. Nakamura never did. An hour later, Katsura, Ryoma, and Ito came outside. They made their way over to the railing and descended back into the rowboat.

This time, Ryoma and Katsura sat together, Ryoma talking excitedly, and Katsura nodding, and looking pleased.

Ito, the interpreter, sat on a bench with Kenshin, Nakamura once again claiming a bench for himself, close to Katsura.

Nakamura leaned over to Ito. "Well? What happened?" he asked.

Ito, a small man with a quiet manner, smiled. "The Dutch Consul General denied it. He said the report from Kokura is a lie, and he'll be happy to tell that to the shogun or anyone else who asks."

Nakamura smiled grimly and sat back. "Good."

The trip back to the dock seemed to take less time. Unlike Ryoma, Ito didn't speak to Kenshin, so he was able to watch the docks growing larger and larger as they approached, and to enjoy the heat of the sun reflected up from the water.

At the docks Katsura and Ryoma spoke a while before parting ways. Ito, his job finished, left immediately.

Kenshin kept his eyes on the loiterers and workers on the dock, but none seemed to be dangerous or even interested at all in Katsura. However, there was someone interested in Nakamura. A young girl, a maidservant by the look of her, who'd been waiting at the dock, rushed up to him.

She bowed hurriedly, gave him a bit of paper, bowed again, and rushed off. As she hurried away, Kenshin saw that she kept her hair tied back low on her neck, with a length of ribbon twisted around and around it. Like Tomoe had worn her hair. He wrenched his gaze off her quickly, and transferred it to Nakamura.

The man was reading the paper the girl gave him. Sensing Kenshin's regard, he looked up, glared, crumpled the paper and thrust it into his sleeve.

"Don't be so interested in the dealings of your betters." Nakamura spat at him, as he brushed past roughly to stand near Ryoma and Katsura, who were saying their goodbyes.

Back at the inn, Shunme demanded a full account of the trip, first from Nakamura, then later from Kenshin.

Kenshin obliged, mainly so that Shunme would let him alone. "When we got back to the dock, Katsura and Ryoma spoke some more then Ryoma left." he finished.

"Did you hear what they said?"

Kenshin shook his head, then hesitated.

"What is it?" For being such a pleasant, jovial man, Shunme could be very insistent. "Did you remember something they said?"

"No. Nakamura walked up to them when they were saying goodbye. Maybe he heard something."

Shunme's eyes narrowed. "So Nakamura wasn't standing at Katsura's heels the whole time like he usually does? Now why was that, I wonder?"

Kenshin thought of the way Nakamura had crumpled the paper. It had been almost furtive, yet the maidservant had come to him in broad daylight where anyone might have seen her.

Decision made, Kenshin answered. "Nakamura got a message from a girl. He read it, then he went to Katsura."

"A girl?" Shunme laughed. "Ah, was she pretty? Who knew Nakamura would be a hit with the ladies?"

"It wasn't like that. She was just a maidservant delivering a message." Kenshin stopped himself from saying more. Why was he defending the girl? Because she wore her hair like Tomoe had? That was stupid. He turned away from Shunme abruptly and went to the corner to get a wooden box of cleaning supplies.

Kneeling by the window, he began cleaning his sword, unsheathing it to look over the blade and check for nicks.

Undaunted, Shunme plonked down next to him on the tatami mat flooring. "So what did she look like, this maidservant?"

Kenshin removed the menuki, the decorative fastenings on the hilt, and began to patiently tap out the mekugi pegs holding the hilt onto the metal tang of the blade. "She wasn't his girlfriend, Shunme."

"Oh ho, and you being such a man of the world would know this? How do you know it wasn't a love letter she was giving him?"

Kenshin concentrated on tapping the hammer until the mekugi peg came out, and pulled the hilt off the sword's tang. "It wasn't a love letter." The tsuba, the rectangular guard that prevented an enemy's sword from traveling down the blade and slicing off fingers holding onto the hilt, came off next, followed by the hibaki, or collar that separated the tsuba from the blade.

"But how do you KNOW it wasn't a love letter?" Shunme wheedled.

Holding the blade by the tang, Kenshin used rice paper to wipe it. "Because he frowned when he read it."

"Did he now?" Shunme's voice took on a speculative note.

Kenshin set the dry rice paper aside and reached for the powdering utensil, a stick with a round fabric ball containing cleaning powder. He began tapping it carefully along both sides of the katana, sending clouds of powder onto the surface of the blade. "Yes."

"Well, then if it wasn't a love letter, there's no harm in telling me what the girl looked like, is there?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kenshin paused his tapping and looked at Shunme, who shrugged and threw himself down on the floor so he was lying with his head propped up by his hand, elbow on the floor.

"I'm curious. There's not much else to do around here, and I was stuck on an errand for Katsura so I didn't get to go."

Kenshin finished powdering his sword and reached for more rice paper. Folding it, he drew it along the blade, wiping away the powder. "She was young. Ten or eleven maybe. She wore her hair low in a ponytail down her back."

Finished, Kenshin dropped the soiled rice paper and reached for another stack of rice paper, this time grabbing the ones moistened with clove oil.

"What was she wearing?" Shunme asked quietly, as if he didn't care, and was only making conversation.

"Blue, I think." Kenshin drew the oiled paper slowly up the blade, twice. "She wore a dark blue kimono with white on it. Small white circles or flowers maybe. That's all I remember."

Shunme rolled to his feet. "Thanks Kenshin." he said, and walked away.

Kenshin stared after him. Why was Shunme so interested in the girl who'd given a message to Nakamura? What could it possibly matter? If her hair hadn't reminded him of Tomoe for a second, Kenshin probably wouldn't have remembered her at all. Sighing, Kenshin re-assembled his sword, sheathed it, and headed for bed.