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The Choshu Chronicles: Chapter Six

by Omasu Oniwabanshi ::: Jan.2005

The summer of 1865 passed slowly, the June storms giving way to heavy July and August heat waves. Still the Choshu militia drilled and practiced until they thought and acted as one. Katsura's other bodyguards sometimes joined them, learning how to load and fire the new breech loading rifles which Sakamoto Ryoma's trading company had bought for them from foreign merchants in Nagasaki, while pretending to buy them for Satsuma, the clan favored by the Emperor and the shogun.

Kenshin practiced as well, alone at dawn outside of town. Spurning the rifle, he drilled only with his sword, executing the Hiten Mitsurugi style movements over and over, though he knew them by heart already. Sometimes Shunme would come to fetch him if Katsura had an early engagement and requested them as bodyguards for that day.

With the Fall came more rumors that the Tokugawa shogunate, the Bakufu, was again planning a second expedition to punish Choshu. The rumors had died down after the Dutch Consul General's repudiation of Kokura Clan's slander against Choshu. Rumors, however, seemed to have a life of their own, and resurged like the swirling incoming tide on Shimonoseki's shores.

Kenshin and Shunme were cleaning their swords in the common room of the inn when Nakamura, Takahata at his heels, entered. Oshio and Hojo, the two newest recruits to join the squad of bodyguards, were guarding Katsura that day.

Nakamura glanced around the room, dismissed Kenshin and the common soldiers scattered around the tatami mats, and marched up to Shunme, the only other samurai seated on the floor.

"Have you heard?" He demanded, as his shadow Takahata joined him to stare down at Shunme.

"I've heard lots of things, which do you want to discuss?" replied Shunme flippantly.

Nakamura clenched then unclenched his jaw. "The Emperor has agreed to open two more ports to the foreign ships! He's bowing to the shogun's wishes. And probably Satsuma's too!"

"Now, Nakamura," Shunme laid down his oiled rice paper and set his sword's hilt end on his knee. "Why would Satsuma want the Emperor to open more ports to the foreigners? What could they possibly gain from it?" he asked reasonably.

"Why do those dogs ever do anything? All I know is Kobe and Osaka are going to be filled with foreign ships. And why? Because in exchange for that, the shogun got the indemnity reduced for the time we fired on the foreign ships in Shimonoseki Straits. You know what this means, don't you? Those Satsuma rats are going to blame the opening of the ports on us. They're going to say that if we hadn't fired on those ships to expel the foreigners then there wouldn't have been an indemnity payment to begin with, and we wouldn't have to open the two ports closest to Kyoto now! They're going to make it sound like it's all our fault!"

Nakamura began pacing in agitation, left hand planted on his hip, right cutting through the air to emphasize his points. "It's just giving the Bakufu one more reason to turn against us, and the Emperor is so angry it's likely he'll never let us back into the imperial court. Satsuma will have his ear forever!"

Shunme sighed. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down." Nakamura burst out angrily, but paused to let Shunme continue.

"Then think about this logically. We can't do a thing about Satsuma's control over the Emperor. We tried that before, remember?" Shunme paused and waited until Nakamura stopped snorting in fury at the reminder of the Forbidden Gates conflict. "All we can do right now is prepare for the invasion. It looks like the second expedition is really going to happen after all. First things first, I always say!"

Shunme grinned and began to re-assemble his sword. "Don't worry. I heard from Katsura that Choshu is going to buy another warship. We'll blast the Bakufu out of the water if they try to come for us. Barring that, there's always me."

Takahata cocked his head, and Nakamura stared. "There's always you what?"

Shunme stuck his sword back in its sheath. "I'll protect you of course! You'll have nothing to fear with me by your side." He pounded his fist into his chest and struck a valiant pose. "I'll protect your body, your honor, and your virtue too, assuming you want that protected, and…"

"You go too far." Nakamura burst out through clenched teeth. He wheeled, forcing Takahata to scamper out of his way, and strode across the mat.

Kenshin sat quietly, having watched the whole exchange without speaking. As Nakamura passed, he kicked at the box of cleaning supplies Kenshin had been using, scattering rice paper in his wake.

"You shouldn't bait him like that." Kenshin told Shunme, and calmly began to retrieve the rice paper.

Shunme sighed, and crawled over to help. "Nakamura takes himself too seriously. Everything's a drama with him. He needs a little loosening up."

Kenshin simply looked at him.

Shunme grinned unrepentantly. "You know, if you stood up to him a little more, he might not be so mean to you. You could always try to find out one of his vices or secrets and hold it over him. Guys like that always have a secret life. That's why they're so easy to annoy, don't you think?"

Kenshin shrugged, and replaced the wooden lid on the box of cleaning supplies. It wouldn't do to have Shunme find out about Nakamura's dying concubine. He'd be likely to throw it in Nakamura's face one day. Kenshin might not like Nakamura, but he respected his privacy. "Is it true, what he said about the ports and the Emperor?" he asked, changing the subject.

Shunme lay down on his back and stared up at the inn's timbered ceiling. "Yes, he got that part right, but it's also true about the ship. There's a wooden sailing vessel called the 'Union' up for sale. Rumor has it that Ryoma's company is going to broker the deal. He sent a guy named Chojiro to help out. I hear he's a nice kid from good merchant stock. He's a bean jam maker's son." Shunme laughed softly. "That's Ryoma for you, always looking at ability over birth."

His cleaning completed, Kenshin replaced his sword in its sheath and set it by his side. Ryoma didn't care about social stature? That explained why he'd bothered to remember Kenshin, and why his friend Nakaoka Shintaro had thanked him. For the first time, he thought seriously about Ryoma's offer to allow him to join Ryoma's Kameyama Company. Then he considered Shunme, the source of this information. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

A big grin covered Shunme's face. "It's like I keep telling you. People like to tell me things." He rolled over onto his belly. "I'm interested in people, I like to talk to them, and I like to listen. If you'd just show a little more interest in the people around you they'd like you too."

Kenshin stood and tucked his sheathed sword into his obi, the long sash wound around his waist. "I don't need to be liked to get my job done." As he walked away he heard Shunme call out.

"There's more to life than fighting, you know!"

'There was' thought Kenshin to himself. 'But not anymore.' Now there was just his obligation to Katsura, and his determination to finish the job of destroying the Bakufu so that they'd never destroy another life ever again. If that meant continuing to fight, even to kill, then so be it, but at least he wouldn't be killing from the shadows anymore.

Kenshin left the inn and walked out into the street outside, lifting his face to the pale autumn sun.

o-o-o

It was a breezy day in the waning days of September when Katsura left the Choshu administration building before dusk. He was walking quickly, conferring with Shunme, as he left the building. Kenshin immediately fell in behind, and found himself lengthening his stride to keep up.

He tried not to listen, keeping his eyes and attention on the pedestrians they passed, scanning them for threats or hostile looks, but he couldn't help but overhear Katsura's words now and then.

The man positively radiated excitement. Words like "Okubo," "Rice," and "Shimonoseki" were bandied about.

Katsura kept speaking all the way to the gate of his home, where Takahata, who seemed to be the favored guard for night duty, waited for him.

With a last few words to Shunme, Katsura looked up, noticed Kenshin for the first time, and nodded approvingly at him before turning to go back inside. It was good to see that Katsura had gone back to treating him normally.

For a long time after Tomoe's death, Kenshin saw guilt in Katsura's eyes whenever he'd spoken to him. It was as if Katsura kept him around to torture himself with the reminder that he'd set the events into motion that led to Tomoe's death. Kenshin never blamed Katsura for what happened to her, but he'd never found the words to tell that to Katsura. Whatever happened today had made Katsura forget his self-torture.

"You'll never guess what just happened today." Shunme burst out the minute he and Kenshin began walking back to the inn.

"What?" asked Kenshin, resigned to a long, drawn out story.

Shunme hummed for a minute, then said, "On the other hand, I'm not going to tell you yet."

Kenshin simply looked at him.

"Nope! This news is too good to tell over and over. Besides, I want you to see Nakamura's face when he learns it too. So I won't tell you yet however much you beg." Shunme paused, and waited.

Kenshin kept walking.

"I really won't tell you no matter what."

Kenshin stayed quiet.

"Not even if you offer me money."

Sighing mentally, Kenshin let Shunme go on and on about all the things Kenshin could offer him to get him to talk until they reached the inn.

On the side of the courtyard, Mariko, the innkeeper's wife, and Tama were taking the last of the linens off the clothesline and folding them into a basket. Tama had to stand on her tiptoes to keep the linens from dragging in the dirt. Her mother sighed and took them from her before they landed in the dust.

"Good evening, ladies!" Shunme called out. Mariko's tired face relaxed into an indulgent smile as she bowed low in greeting. "You're out late with the wash, I see." Shunme observed.

Tama pouted. "I'm helping!" she informed Shunme. "It won't take long now."

A quick roll of Mariko's eyes over Tama's head told them that Tama was more of a hindrance than a help. She lifted the basket to her hip, wished them a "good evening" with a quick dip of her head, and then took Tama's hand and led her around the side of the inn.

"I bet this was a quiet little inn for travelers before we took it over." Commented Shunme. "I've never seen innkeepers work so hard."

Kenshin frowned. He should have realized that the full house of warriors was a hardship for one young couple to take care of on their own. He wondered why they didn't hire more help, then realized that all of Choshu had mobilized for war. There were no extra hands for hire.

Shunme bounded up the steps to the porch and slide open the main door dramatically, standing in the doorway as Nakamura and the others looked up.

"You'll never guess what happened." He announced.

Kenshin came up from behind, intending to pass by Shunme and remove his zori sandals so he could go sit on the tatami mat, but Shunme kept his arm across the doorway, forcing him to stand behind him and look over Shunme's arm at the faces staring at the melodramatic samurai.

"Today, the officials received word that the second expedition against Choshu is certain,"

A collective sigh went up from the soldiers.

Shunme held up one hand. "I know, you already know that, but there's more. Okuba of Satsuma flat out refused to join the expedition against Choshu. Satsuma will not fight us in the coming battle." He turned his gaze pointedly at Nakamura. "I guess Satsuma isn't so bad after all."

The wooden fan Nakamura had been holding snapped in half. "Yes they are. Have you forgotten what happened at the Forbidden Gates? Katsura will never forgive them for that."

Pleased with the response to his announcement, Shunme's eyes scanned the room, reveling in the reactions. "Actually, yes," he told Nakamura in a mock-apologetic tone. "At the meeting today the officials, including Katsura, took Ryoma's suggestion and are planning to send rice to the Satsuma soldiers in Kyoto as a gesture of gratitude for taking a stand against the expedition. Well, that and allowing us to buy guns using their name since the shogun won't let us buy them legally. It looks like the only weapons Katsura will be launching at Satsuma are rice balls."

Shunme laughed, his trademark belly laugh rising infectiously out of his mouth. Some of the soldiers grinned back instinctively, but Nakamura, his face a mask of fury, threw his ruined fan to the ground and marched out.

Still laughing, Shunme entered the room and stood to the side. Kenshin moved back out onto the porch, quickly vacating the path Nakamura had to take.

Nakamura was so angry that he didn't even see Kenshin, he just stomped down the steps, across the courtyard and out the gate. Because he was standing on the porch, Kenshin saw the top of Nakamura's head moving away from the inn toward the street where his concubine lived.

As he watched him disappear, Shunme reappeared in the doorway. "You coming inside, Kenshin?"

"Yes." Kenshin moved past Shunme, who remained in the doorway. "Aren't you?"

Shunme shook his head. "No, there's something I have to do." With that, he went down the porch steps, across the yard, and out the gate, headed in the same direction as Nakamura.

Kenshin sighed. He hoped Shunme would have the sense to stay out of Nakamura's way. Nakamura's behavior wasn't the best, but he wasn't the only arrogant samurai in Choshu, yet Shunme seemed determined to push him. Was it to get back at him for his rudeness to Kenshin and the other non-samurai bodyguards? Or was it personal?

Dismissing those thoughts, Kenshin went back inside the inn.