Saitou Tokio. A life.
by Mara, written in 2002
Standard disclaimers: You know I'm not Watsuki, I don't
own Ruroken, Watsuki
and some big name companies do. AND I'm not Nick Cave (but a fan).
BUT: the characters and the story-line here is mine, I don't mind when
you
use them, but it would be nice to ask me FIRST. =^^=
First posted: 1st January 2002
Revised: 30th March 2002
Edited by Morgane: 7th April 2002
Re-posted: 18th April 2002
Second re-post: 11th December 2002
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This story is already finished, but it is rated NC-17 and was therefore
removed from Fanfiction.net on October 12th 2002.
Historical correct? NO!
Please remember: THIS IS AN ACTION/ADVENTURE!!! That means there won't
be
a deep character development =^^=.
WARNING:
This story is NOTHING for the weak stomach!!!
It is rated NC-17 for hentai- AND violence-content.
Furthermore I am not a native speaker, so mayor grammar and vocabulary
mistakes might be ahead, hopefully you are not distracted by them =^^=.
I'll stick to the hiragana-reading of the names and the oriental way of
reading them (surname first, then the given name).
There are some Japanese expressions, I know no translation for. They still
ring in my ear, I had to include them =^^=:
So desu
So desu ka
Oishii
and stuff like that. If you have experienced Japan, you know what I mean.
Enough blabbering, on to the story =^^=:
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CHAPTER 1: ARRIVAL
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I found her on a night of fire and noise
Wild bells rang in a wild sky
I knew from that moment on
I'd love her till the day that I died
And I kissed away a thousand tears
My lady of the various sorrows
Some begged, some borrowed, some stolen
some kept safe for tomorrow
On an endless night, silver stars spangled
the bells from the chapel went jingle-jangle
words by Nick Cave (Do you love me?)
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Today is June 26th, the 13th year of the Meiji era.
I'm Saitou Tokio and I'm thirty years old.
I'd say it is a wonderful day, sitting in a room opened to a small Japanese
styled garden, in the middle of our house. Hearing our children's play
and
feeling the warm summer-sun on my skin. Times haven't always been this
peaceful.
I will tell you some episodes of my life and I will start with the day
Imet
Saitou Hajime. One of many fateful events, but this was the most cutting
one.
The one, that changed my further life more than any other day. Looking
back,
I'd say it was destiny, we were destined for each other and our meeting
was
something that could not be avoided.
*****
Everything started when I reached Kyoto at late afternoon in May 1867.
'What a beautiful city,' I thought, looking over it from a hill.
I dusted of my hakama and kimono [1], arranged my swords and entered the
streets of Kyoto. In those days of chaos and bloodshed I always travelled
as a Samurai, it was safer. I preferred being killed within a fight than
being raped and killed afterwards.
The box with my belongings was settled on my back and it was getting heavy.
Of course, I did not own many things, but I carried the box all the way
from
Osaka and with the time the weight lasted on my shoulders. I decided to
drop
it in the house I was told to go and stay for the night. The house was
in the
Mibu district of Kyoto, I had been ordered here by the family who had
sheltered me last year, to take part in an arranged marriage meeting.[2]
Although I didn't like the idea being married to a foreigner, I had agreed
and
joined in. I'm afraid my education about obligations, honour and tradition
was too strict. To be honest, the thought of stepping out of an arranged
marriage never occurred on my mind. There would be some other women, we
would be introduced to the suitor and his "boss" would choose the woman
fitting to him. There was a good chance he would take one of the others.[3]
After wandering around and asking some passer-bys for the right way, I
reached
Mibu and spotted the house, the Shinsengumi headquarters, which was comfortable
and large.
In the basement was a kitchen, a ceremony room, an eating room and a bit
separated a bath-house. In the back was a wonderful Japanese garden with
arranged stones and water floating out of a spring. And a large dojo, of
course, being the house of a "military" organisation.
The rooms for the men and their families living here were upstairs [12],
obviously only some more important members of the organisation were residing
here. Being a visitor, pretending to 'prepare' the room for the woman arriving
later, I got a guest-room near the dojo, it was space enough to put down
my
box and to unfold the futon I was given.
I had some time left, the meeting would be in the next morning and I decided
to have a look around Kyoto. The sun was settling down as I wandered through
the streets again. It seemed so peaceful, despite the fact we were in the
middle of a revolution, the end of the Tokugawa era.
Deep in thoughts I walked down an isolated street as I heard a woman's
scream.
I shrieked of my dreams and rushed forward, I had been so absent-minded,
that
it had passed my attention that it was already dark.
There they were, two women, threatened by six guys of the Ishinshishi as
I
could tell from their clothes. The women's kimonos were sliced, two of
the men
were approaching them, the other four obviously already had their pleasure.
These bastards! A raping was something I was not able to ignore. I felt
my
blood lust building up and drew my katana.
"Fight me!" Taking an offensive stance I challenged them. They turned around
facing me, realised I was serious and rushed forward against me.
At that point I got pissed off. No honour, all attacking at once, no strategy
or order in their attack, they seemed to be low ranked. I figured out quickly,
that they were no match for my sword-fighting skills, there would be no
need
for my wakizashi, no need for a special attack. [4]
"Kya!" I took the offensive, leaping over the first one in full speed,
kicking
him my foot in the face, feeling his face bones cracking. He was prepared
to
defend my katana, not my foot. I turned around in midair, raised my sword
and
slammed it down on the second man, slaying him from right shoulder to left
hip. Blood was spreading. I landed on my feet, challenging the other men.
Seeing my first move, they seemed a bit more aware, realising I was a threat.
I attacked again, moving my katana from bottom to top through the third
man,
cutting him up from stomach to throat. I twisted my sword a bit and rushed
it
down on the forth man right through the middle of his head, while kicking
the
fifth in the throat what finished him. Not completely. I used my katana
again.
They were too shocked to even defend their-selves.
Bad luck that I was around, while they tried to commit a crime (a crime
in my
eyes, of course). Blood spilled everywhere now. I lifted my sword and licked
away some blood, while staring at the last man standing. His eyes panicked,
but not for long, a second later I decapitated him.
I cast a glance around for the women, they had disappeared, a wise decision.
Turning back to the limp corpses I told them what I thought about men like
them.
"Justice is to slay evil immediately, remember!"
Suddenly I noticed the obvious presence of two more men, I had sensed them
already before. They had been there during the fight, but stayed hidden
and I
had decided to ignore them. I took out a cloth to clean my sword while
speaking to them.
"You can come out now!"
They stepped out of the shadows that had hidden them before, allowing me
to
have a closer look at them. Light-blue haori with white triangles on the
sleeves. I recognised them by description: The wolves of Mibu.
There was rumour nobody could tame one, I was alarmed but showed a cool
expression to them, re-sheathing my swords.
"What an impressive fight, boy." One came a step closer. He was tall, long
black hair bond in a high pony-tail. I took a closer look on his face.
Small,
amber eyes, sharp features and a deceitful expression around his lips.
I bet
at that point most people would have run as fast as they could to escape
him,
but to me he looked damn attractive. His fighting spirit and
blood-thirstiness
nearly let the air around him explode. [5]
But stop! What did he say? BOY? IMPRESSIVE? A bad joke? I shot a death
glare
at him, always aware of hiding my eyes. They would betray me everywhere,
being
of an intense green colour.
"Don't call me boy again, DOG. And don't try to be funny. That was impressive
as a cup of tea. You are making a fool out of you." 'Was I gone nuts?
Tokio, he is dangerous!' [6]
His eyes began to gleam in the darkness of the street.
"Insulting a miburo in his district, at night time, slaughtering men. You
are
really courageous or stupid to no end, SQUIRREL." He prepared to fight.
'SQUIRREL? What was that for? A second bad joke? Oh, there are two of us,
remember!' I longed for my swords.
"Ma,ma. Calm down." The second man interfered and stepped between us. He
was
smaller, brown haired and he had a baby-face for sure. "No need to kill
each
other here. If we would have wanted, we had interfered earlier."
The taller man relaxed, baby-face seemed to have a strong influence on
him.
"Remember, we are still looking for men like him." Baby-face addressed
sharp-face and sharp-face's will to fight fainted, not completely. He even
smiled at me, but I still remarked a sarcastic expression.
"You are right, Okita-kun. Would you join us with sake and soba, SQUIRREL?"
His smile got wider and my feeling of lust to punch him my fist in his
face
grew stronger.
I still didn't understand the squirrel-thing and this self-content grin
was
annoying. But my need for sake and soba was stronger than my need to fight,
besides, it would be quite interesting with these two. My third thought
was,
that sharp-face would kill me if I refuse.
I nodded my head, only a little bit, I didn't want to lower myself too
much.
"Yes!" [7]
Sharp-face laughed out loud.
"You are a courageous SQUIRREL. Don't try your luck."
I felt anger rising up.
"Ma,ma." Baby-face managed to calm us down again. "Maybe we should introduce
ourselves. This is Saitou Hajime-san, leader of the Shinsengumi squad three,
and I am Okita Soushi, leader of the Shinsengumi squad one."
Indeed, quite high ranks. I should bow lower. Next time.
"I am Takahashi Toki from Osaka." Using my male name I bowed back.
"What are you doing in Kyoto, Takahashi-kun? You have Samurai swords. Are
you
a Ronin?" Saitou inquired. He was really insisting and annoying, but he
did
not ask for my travel-pass or another identification. [8]
"No, I'm not a Ronin [9]. I was sent to Kyoto by my father to participate
in
a meeting here, which is none of your business." I decided it was wise
to give
them a bit information, but not too much. Hopefully he would not investigate
further.
Much to my luck, Okita coughed and distracted Saitou from his investigation
by this.
"We should look for a place in a pub." Okita suggested, Saitou reached
into his
sleeve, revealed a cigarette and lightened it.
"ONE of your bad habits, ne?" I gave it a sarcastic under-tone.
"My habits are none of your business. I really start to like you, SQUIRREL."
Saitou answered in an icy tone. I felt my jaw dropping to the ground, he
can't be serious, he makes jokes about me! IDIOT!
"Let's go." Okita waved Saitou and me indolent to follow him.
The pub was in the same street as the house, at which I was staying, how
lucky. The place was crowded, but with two wolves of Mibu, one looking
scaring, we found a free recess. To be precise, Saitou stared at the men
sitting there, just for a second, and they left. I started to like him,
he
was not only attractive, but impressive also.
We ordered sake and soba and began to drink, talking about politics, the
way
of a samurai, bushido [10]. They tried to figure out my attitude, but itwas
not my intention to choose a side in this revolution. I wanted justice
in my
way. Kill evil immediately, the way of a samurai. As long as I could pretend
to be male, of course.
During our discussion Okita started to look worse and began to cough harder,
some time later, he stood up.
"You have to excuse me, I must have a rest, Takahashi-kun. It was a pleasure
to meet you and I hope, we meet again." He nodded, I bowed. "The same to
you,
Okita-sama."
Alone with Saitou, it started to get interesting. We ordered more sake,
and
despite the fact the place was crowded, the sake arrived in no time. He
was
smoking one cigarette after another during our conversation and he made
no
effort to stop either drinking or smoking. I felt the alcohol in my veins
and
liked him more.[5]
"What about women?" I started to get private.
Taking a deep, voluptuous drag of his cigarette, he gained his bored expression
"Nothing interesting. Just a short pleasure. They can't even handle a sword."
You are completely wrong, guy. I raised an eyebrow questioning.
"Go to a brothel, pay money, have your pleasure and leave. Nothing worth
a
second thought." He flicked the ash from his cigarette to the floor.
I had to cough and he turned his attention to me. "I meant the handling
of a
sword, excuse me."
"Oh, I see, you are still too young, SQUIRREL!" There he goes again, teasing
me. "I mean, have you ever seen a woman handling a sword?"
This guy was completely clue-less. Before I could answer, a brawl came
up the
next table. One man drew his sword and cut another from shoulder to hip,
Saitou took another delightful drag of his cigarette. Blood spread over
the
place, people jumped up, screaming, it crowded. He flicked away some ash
from
his cigarette.
Looking in my cup I saw the clear liquid intermingling with a thicker,
red one.
"There is blood in our sake." What mattered, it was still sake, I swallowed
it
with one gulp.
"You know," he smiled,"I really like you." raising his cup and drinking
his
bloodied sake "Bring a woman inside here and you scare her to death. There
is
no fun in that. They can't handle a little bit violence and blood. Too
sentimental. And this romance stuff, boring to death! I prefer being killed
by a sword and not by boredom.""
The brawl around us began to settle down, they dragged the dead man out.
We
continued to drink, Saitou continued to smoke, of course. I liked him more.
When I started to imagine his hands running across my body and to feel
over-sexed, I decided it was time to leave and stood up.[11]
Oooo, the world was turning, or was I? Saitou stood up in front of me,
eyes
clouded, he seemed a bit out of his way. I nearly fell down the step from
our
recess to the ground, but I managed to grab Saitou's kimono and re-gained
control. I stayed clinched to him, it was safer. He was not turning after
all, like the restaurant was.
"That was more than I can handle." I resumed hardly.
"I was surprised how much you are able to handle, SQUIRREL!"
Huh, he was speaking a bit "unclear", he was obviously drunk, too. He laid
an
arm around my shoulder, over-sexed as I was, it felt wonderful.
"Where are you staying, SQUIRREL?"
'IDIOT! What's that squirrel-shit about? Attractive or not, I can take
of
myself!'
"Just down the street. Can manage alone."
"Oh, you don't look so."
I had to sneak in. With him around, I had no chance to do so. For a second
I
considered to knock him out. To stay realistic, I had no chance to succeed.
In this condition, no chance. I stiffened, stood upright, determined. Still
wondering why everything turned and doubled. Analysis. Advanced stadium
of
alcohol consume. VERY BAD. I started to walk in one direction.
"Wait, squirrel-boy. I have the same way." He caught up uncoordinated.
I let myself drop against his chest, relieved I had a fixed point in the
turning world, not bothering anymore about the squirrel and boy.
"I think I can give you some guidance", I offered him.
"You are welcome." He smirked recognising my offer for what it was, a lie,
and laid an arm around me. We walked down the street arm in arm, better:
he
dragged me down the street till he stopped in front of an house.
"Here's my place." Could it be? It was the house I was staying at! My eyes
nearly bulged of their sockets.
'Tokio, you are an idiot sometimes. You should have realised earlier.'
"Oooo, mine is only a few steps away. I can walk alone." I forced him to
enter the house, by pushing him in the direction, he looked weird back
at me.
"Really?"
"Yes!" I was lucky, that he was too drunk for a discussion, I had trouble
forming a clear thought. The alcohol, I can tell you!
"So desu ka? I hope we meet again." 'Huh, that is for sure, Saitou.'
"Have a nice sleep, Saitou-sama."
I bowed and was relieved when he finally entered and closed the door. Before
I sneaked in, I waited for few minutes to be sure not to run into Saitou.
It was a miracle I wasn't discovered, drunk as I was. Seeing my futon,
I
happily dropped everything including myself and fell asleep.
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TBC...
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TO CHAPTER 2
MARA'S
FANFICTION
RUROKEN
FANFICTION
HOME
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I'm not a history freak and I know the manga and the TV-series.
So, don't complain about OOC or wrong history. I think it was still a time
Samurais killed people without reason, something people were used to. [10]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes:
I don't mind when you want to use parts of my notes, but it would be nice
to
ask me FIRST and not when I read them somewhere =^^=. Mostly these are
my own
notes, not copied somewhere. The knowledge I gathered is a mixture from:
1. Books, I will give the reference, but it won't help you because most
are in
German:
a) the manga 'Blade of the Immortal' by Samura Hiroaki, you are given a
lot
of background- information there
b) 'Japan: Kulturen erleben', Polyglott-Verlag, Serie 'Land & Leute'
ISBN 3-493-60583-8 nicht wirklich zu empfehlen, es gibt besseres, ich habe
trotzdem ein wenig lernen können
c) 'Kulturschock: Japan', Reise Know-How Verlag, ISBN 3-89416-055-1
Mir gefällt der Stil des Buches nicht besonders (mich stören
die
'Reiseimpressionen' eines Paares), aber ansonsten das beste, kompakte Buch
auf
dem Markt =^^=
d) 'Japan', Polyglott-Verlag, Serie 'Apa Guide', ISBN 3-8268-2382-6, viele
schöne bunte Bilder, Impressionen. Komischerweise hatte ich nicht
das Gefühl
so gut über den kulturellen Hintergrund informiert zu werden wie im
'Kulturschock'
e) 'Tokyo', lonely planet, ISBN 1-74059-059-7, www.lonelyplanet.com
f) 'Kyoto', lonely planet, ISBN 1-74059-060-0
2. Internet, especially about the historical Saitou Hajime:
http://committed.to/shinsengumi
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanford/130/bio.html
http://www.miburo.com/info/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/5770/shinhis.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/4081/file104.html
As Watsuki wrote, I would also not recommend to have a look at Saitou's
picture... you can find it on my homepage =^^=
3. My notes from my studies about Japanese background/culture at University.
4. My poor own experiences in this odd country.
[1]
About Japanese clothes:
The kimono worn in today's Japan is the one from the end of the Tokugawa-era.
If you want to dress alone in a woman's kimono with an obi, you have to
be
very skilled and still need one or two hours.
Men's kimono:
The woollen men's kimono is dressed quite easily. It is of a dark, firm
material, men use a small, hand's breadth obi, the knot or bow is on the
back
(have a look at Shinomori Aoshi in volume 28 where he and Misao 'meet'
the
'ghosts' of the Oniwabanshu).
If you are on the street, you wear a 'over-jacket', called 'haori' over
the
kimono.
Men's formal kimono:
Over the kimono you dress with a hakama (with fine strips) and a longer
'over-jacket' (mon-tsuki), it is altogether more elegant. On the mon-tsuki
you find the three/five family-'crest' (mon). You wear white socks (tabi)
and
elegant sandals (zori).
mmm, walking the first time in Japanese sandals (hehehe: inside an old
ninja-hideout in the mountains).. Mara fell on the floor much to the
amusement of her friends.
Women's kimono:
You find more variations here: The length of the sleeves indicates if a
woman
is married for example, the sleeves of unmarried women's kimonos are longer.
The colour indicates the age, the colours are subdued for older women
(dark-green or dark-blue as I have it here is quite unusual for such a
young
woman).
For a complete kimono you need a 'under-dress' (naga-juban) and the actual
kimono is hold together with the obi. There is only one size for kimono,
you
have to adopt the length by folding under the obi. Under the obi you bound
a
shawl to support it. Around the obi you bound a cord (obi-ji-me) which
ties
it. The colour of the cord indicates the occasion on which the kimono is
worn
(red = happy, grey/black = sad, white = normal)
Woman's formal kimono(names refer to the outer 'layer'):
furi-sode: long sleeves (tamoto), for just 'grown-up' women, unmarried
tome-sode: black, short sleeves, for married women
homon-gi: for formal visits
mofuko: all black, funeral service
tsuke-sage: for parties, tea-ceremonies, uniform colour
ko-mon: 'every-day' use, with small pattern
uchi-kake: bridal-kimono, usually red or white, you wear two more layers
(kake-shita)
yukata: woollen kimono you wear at home, summer-vacation, ryukan, sleeping
Usually kimonos are folded and stored in chest of drawers, only uchi-kake
are
placed over a rack.
[2]
YES, she travels as a Samurai here, kind of a disguise, not THAT unusual
as
some of you think.
To the arranged marriage:
First: I stick a little bit to history.
Second: It is Saitou we are talking about.
I chose an arranged marriage, because I simply can't imagine him getting
heart-eyed at a woman he meets on the streets. Furthermore I am the author
and I don't believe in love at first sight. That is for romantic
personalities, not for me.
But, hey, I'm Mara, I believe in attraction at first sight, which is
something completely different. I hope you experienced this already.
And, well, attraction alone is not a good basis for a relationship.
[3]
You don't expect me to explain arranged marriages here, do you?
This was common in Japan and is still today. Even some of my friends met
their
wives this way, but 'love-marriages' became more popular the last years.
The 'real' Saitou Hajime's marriage was arranged by the Daimyo and his
wife
Tokio Takagi was the daughter of a successful official from Edo.
It was very common that Samurai married the daughter of a merchant, advantages
for both sides, I guess. The higher social status of the Samurai in exchange
to the money from the merchants.
The arranged marriages are one reason for the famous and large red light
districts, I guess. The 'kanai' (meaning: woman in the house, different
from
okasan) was responsible for the household, children and stuff like this,
she
was not supposed to be very amusing. In most times they did not have a
close
emotional relationship to their husbands and did not care when they visited
some prostitutes. I don't expect you to understand this, but well, be a
bit
realistic about love and romance.
[4]
You think, Japanese women did not learn a fighting skills in the Edo-period?
Well, one look in a book about Japan could help you. Archery was and is
very
popular among Japanese women, even at that time.
'Naginata-jutsu': Naginata is in principle a halberd, developed during
the
Momoyama-period as a weapon, used to defend one's house. On ancient pictures
you can see women in a kimono defending Edo-jo with these weapons.
[5]
GEEZ, people! This is ATTRACTION, NOT love! She IS NOT falling for him
here.
[6]
Well, yes she is a bit imprudent and hotheaded.
[7]
The bowing is dependent from the 'rank'. Bowing only a little bit, as Tokio
does here, is not very polite and wise, nearly a provocation considering
the
men she is facing.
About the bowing and nodding:
Grown up in a western civilisation, I feel always uncomfortable in Japanese
meetings. I'm always afraid to do something stupid. But hey, I'm a foreigner.
They forgive me almost everything.
The bowing is, of course, dependent from the importance. Same as here in
good,
old western tradition. I know one Japanese professor, you feel soooo unworthy
in his company, he only closes his eyes a bit, instead of bowing. It gives
me
the creeps! I am so unworthy!
[8]
Of course, Samurai working for the Daimyo in Aizu had every right to stop
persons they did not know on the street and ask for an identification.
If there was any doubt, they would have killed you BEFORE you were able
to
submit your pass/identification. At times like these you always had to
carry
an identification with you, it was safer for yourself =^^=.
At that time Japan was divided in feudal domains (han) and travelling around
was restricted (you might have learned that from Takagi Megumi). There
were
checkpoints (sekisho, Edo-han) on the roads run by a certain class of Samurai
(banshi).
At these checkpoints, travellers had to submit a travel-pass (tegata, a
woodden pass) to be allowed to leave the domain and enter the next one.
The
privilege of controlling/running/manning a sekisho was often passed down
from
father to son, these families were loyal to the shogun and the banshi
especially were really pretty sharp.
I think if you run such a control point you develop a 'sixth sense' for
who is
lying and who is telling the truth. However, if you get caught trying to
pass
the checkpoints without permission, it is the death-sentence, meaning
execution without an exception. Of course, there were always ways to pass
these points: with the right connections, enough money, being more sharp
than
the banshi... but it was a high risk, I think.
People trying to change the domain had to be really desperate in my opinion.
Otherwise you would not risk your life on such an attempt. AND: of course
getting a travel-pass for women of the Samurai-class were even tougher.
I
have no exact idea why, I could imagine that they did not like the idea
of
their women travelling around.
[9]
A Ronin is a 'wandering' Samurai, a Samurai without a 'master' he serves.
There is an interesting story about 47 ronin..NO, not here.
And there is a difference between Ronin and Roushi... erm. Enough.
[10]
Believe it or not: Samurai were allowed to slay people of lower classes
for
minor reasons and nobody would bother about it (no wonder there was the
Bakumatsu)
About bushi-do:
'Bushi' means 'samurai'/'warrior', '-do' means 'way, road'
Plainly translated: The way of a samurai
I'll explain it more detailed in one of the following chapters, enough
information in this one. =^^=
oh: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAMURAI AND KENSHI!!! Kenshin is a kenshi,
his parents were peasants!!!
I'm sick of reading stories were Kenshin is a Samurai, even if Watsuki
himself calls him so somewhere.... still there is a BIG difference, and
for
sure Hiko doesn't teach Kenshin 'how to be a Samurai'. THIS IS A INHERITED
PRIVILEDGE.
[11]
GEEZ, people! This is ATTRACTION, NOT love! She IS NOT falling for him
here.
AND: SHE IS DRUNK! THE SAME GOES FOR SAITOU!
[12]
This wasn't usual... there weren't any families living with the Samurai,
far too dangerous. However, I am the author, I changed it for the story,
please don't expect historical correctness here.
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