Episode 5:
Aneko Vs. the Furo:
Bathing the
Aneko knew that she’d feel much
better—not to mention cleaner—once
she took the hot bath that Kenshin had so thoughtfully prepared for her…if it
wasn’t for one, tiny, itty-bitty little problem.
She had absolutely no idea how to go about taking one in
this place.
She stood in the inner chamber of an
old-fashioned Japanese furo, staring at the simple,
wooden tub filled with steaming water, beside which sat a plain wooden stool, a
large bucket filled with more water, and several clean, white towel-like
lengths of cloth folded neatly in a corner.
Kenshin stood in the outer chamber—what she assumed was a changing room,
or something—and waited patiently while she sought to get her bearings,
clutching her supplies to her chest and feeling generally like the biggest
idiot ever to grace the face of the planet.
There was no way in hell she was gonna ask him what she was supposed to do first! She didn’t know much about
She thought back to the summers
spent in her grandmother’s house, scowling irritably as she realized that,
although her grandmother’s washroom had been designed to look like a Japanese furo, it had in
actuality been very western in function, complete with a shower and working
faucets and everything.
There was not even a hint of modern
faucets or pipelines in this building; she doubted that actual plumbing had
even been invented yet. There was a small hole in the wall that any
excess water was apparently supposed to drain through, and a wooden-barred
window through which any steam could escape, but that appeared to be about it.
“Is there something wrong, Aneko-dono?” Kenshin’s quiet voice
questioned behind her, making her jump slightly in surprise; she’d almost forgotten
that he was there.
“Oh!
Um…well…no, nothing’s wrong,” she stammered, a little too
cheerfully. Kenshin tilted his head to
one side and regarded her sternly, knowing of course that she was lying, and
she gritted her teeth in annoyance. It
wasn’t fair, she thought sulkily, that the man was almost three inches shorter
than her, and he could still manage to make her squirm
beneath that gaze! But she couldn’t ask; it was too
embarrassing! She didn’t even know him,
for heaven’s sake! Certainly not enough
to get him to advise her on the intricacies of Japanese bathing habits!
“Aneko-dono,
if there is a problem, please tell Sessha so that he
might solve it for you,” Kenshin began reasonably.
She winced; and again with the Sessha. She was fast coming to realize that she
didn’t like it when he talked like
that, made himself lowly before her, as though she was better than him, which
she wasn’t. It made her feel guilty. She sighed, knowing that he’d won this
argument. Score another point for
him. Maybe she should start taking
count? “It’s just that…um…I don’t know
what I’m supposed to do,” she muttered sheepishly, playing self-consciously
with the ends of the braid that fell over her shoulder. “I mean…I’m from like, you know, the future,
and so the setup’s a little different and…oy, this is
embarrassing…well, things are done differently in
Kenshin’s expression cleared,
realizing her embarrassment as to what she was trying to ask. Ignoring his own slight awkwardness that lent
a faint twinge of pink to his cheeks, he gave her a reassuring smile and
briefly clarified how the furo was to be used. She nodded when he finished his explanation
and smiled. “Thanks,” she told him. “I think I’m okay now.”
“If that is the case, I’ll be just
outside maintaining the fire, that I will,” Kenshin replied cheerfully, bowing
to her slightly and turning to pad silently out of the room. “Call for me if you need anything.”
“Thank you!” she called after him as
the door closed behind him, leaving her alone.
She nodded firmly to herself, before stripping off the yukata and
preparing to bathe. She was embarrassed
at how much grime still covered her body from her impromptu dunking in the mud,
although someone had obviously given her a quick sponge bath during the time
she’d been out of it, at least around her face and neck, and her arms and
legs. It occurred to her that she
probably didn’t smell very good, either, having been in this state for a couple
of days now, already. A quick whiff
under her arm made her choke; it was quite amazing that anybody could even
approach her without keeling over. Then
again, it wasn’t like personal hygiene was big on the
“important things to keep up” list in this day and age. They were probably used to smelling sweat
around here. But she wasn’t. She grimaced and hoped to high heaven that
there was a stick of deodorant in with her bath things, but even so, what she really wanted at the moment was to clean
her hair; it felt like she hadn’t washed it properly in a week, and there was
nothing she hated more than an itchy, grimy head. Ugh.
Tomboy she might be, but even she
had her limits as to how boyish she’d appear!
She wetted her hair thoroughly and
poured a generous amount of shampoo into her palm, frowning absently as she
noticed that the small bottle was rapidly emptying. She then proceeded to scrub at her scalp with
her blunted fingernails until her skin stung, before carefully rinsing it out
of the dark brown strands. She eyed the
conditioner, deciding to forgo it this once.
Without it, her head usually wound up resembling an afro in dire need of
a trim, but the conditioner was hard enough to rinse out of her hair during a
regular shower. It would be near
impossible to get it all out using only a bucket of water and a ladle, and she
didn’t relish the thought of walking around looking like she’d dumped a jar of
wood varnish over her head or something.
How attractive would that
be? Yes, she decided wryly, better to
wage war on a few (hundred) snarls rather than wander about sporting a serious case of helmet-head.
After she finished thoroughly
scrubbing the remainder of the grime from her body, she eyed the high-walled
tub like a soldier eyes an impenetrable fortress and pursed her lips
determinedly. She didn’t really relish
the thought of sitting in a tub of water that other people had already shared,
but Kenshin had been so kind to heat it up for her, and besides, it wasn’t as
though anybody was dirty before they got into the tub, right? They all scrubbed themselves off beforehand,
right?
Except…well…except for if
they didn’t.
Aneko didn’t know much, but she did
know how her little brother was when it came to taking baths (apparently highly
allergic to them, judging by his normal wails over being forced to take one),
and that Yahiko kid reminded her a great deal of her
little brother. Who was to say he
actually bothered to bathe before
sitting in that water? It wasn’t like anybody stood over his shoulder to make sure he
scrubbed before getting into the tub, right?
So nobody’d really know if he chose to forgo the scrubbing-off part…
Aneko shook her head. Okay, now
she was just being paranoid. Besides,
since when did she turn into the
spawn of Mr. Clean? It was just a tub of water! Just a tub of water…that could’ve been
sitting there who knew how long
whilst being infested with any number of mildews and bacteria and…there was no
such thing as the Scrubbing Bubbles in this time period…
“Okay, snap out of it and just get in already!” she growled to herself,
giving her thigh a pinch. “The sooner in, the sooner out. You’re acting like Jonah for pity’s
sake!” Thus decided, she gave her head a
firm nod and attempted to carefully climb over the tub’s high, wooden side…preferably
without slipping and killing herself
on the way in, as she was more than likely to do. She didn’t think Kenshin would appreciate
having to fish her naked, drowned body out of the tub…then it would definitely need cleaned.
“Is the water too hot for you,
Aneko-dono?” Kenshin’s
light, calm voice suddenly called to her from just outside
the open window, making her jump in surprise and lose what precarious
footing she held. Her heels slid along
the slick bottom, and she landed on her rump in the pleasantly warm water with
a yelp and a loud splash. The water
closed over her head, and (after inhaling several mouthfuls) she finally
managed to surface amidst sputtering and coughing, her dripping hair hanging in
messy tendrils over her face.
There was silence from the other
side of the wall. And then a small,
hesitant, “Aneko-dono…?”
“I’m fine!” she croaked out. “Just…um…just
testing the…um…depth of the tub. You
know…making sure it’s not too deep and all…wouldn’t want anyone to drown or
anything…” She trailed off and squeezed
her eyes shut, gritting her teeth until they nearly cracked. Actually…drowning was starting to sound
pretty good right about now…
“Did you hurt yourself at all? It sounded like a bit of a painful fall, that
it did.”
“No…no. I’m fine!
Just peachy!” she squeaked.
Hmmm…maybe she could give it a shot…?
Of course, there was that pesky instinct of survival to contend with,
but…well…maybe if she knocked herself out first…
There was more silence on the other
end. Then, “If you’re certain you’re
okay then…”
“. . . .”
“Aneko-dono…?”
Aneko didn’t reply; she was too busy
beating her head against the edge of the tub to hear him.