Chapter-1

-*Year 1863-

The members of the Roshigumi confidently walked into the red-light district, after all, who wouldn't when they were just taken in by the Aizu clan. They now had funds and Imperial Court recognition to help them become well known men in the city. With Serizawa-san leading, the young Captains and members that joined along were surprised with the women walking around. Mainly Heisuke and Ryunosuke, as they hadn't seen anything like this before in Edo. They were welcomed openly in Shimbara, the owner having known of their leaders work before coming to Kyoto. If anything, it was a frightened welcome rather than a warm one that most would receive. The geisha and maiko were excited to be able to serve the young men that followed in, very different from the older drunk ronin that were usually their customers. As the group followed the owner to their room, Heisuke bumped into someone as he walked in, causing Souji and Ryunosuke to look at the person. Heisuke glanced over the see hisbrunette friendhad pulled out his sword and was pointing it at the person he had bumped into.

"Sorry, are you alright?"It was a woman's voice, a dialect that Heisuke wasn't able to pinpoint. When he looked up, he understood why Souji had pulled his sword. The woman was a foreigner, with curly hair tied up into a ponytail, her eyes as dark as the moonless night sky. She was straightening up from a bow, looking down at Heisuke because she was a little taller than him. The woman seem undeterred by the katana that was pointed at her neck, the three men that were left behind by their group noticing a blade on her right hip as well. The western men ahead of her looked on worriedly, while a Japanese man rushed towards the small group.

"She's not used to the narrower paths yet." The man said, causing Ryunosuke to look at Souji and nudge him.

"Come on, Okita-kun. Stop."

"He's not going to attack her, is he?"The western men continued to say, not having any idea what was being spoken.

"I-It's alright," Heisuke finally said, noticing that the girl in front of him had no intent on fighting him. He was too confused about the whole thing that he continued to stand their.

"Oi, oi. You can't pull a sword on my customers!" The owner yelled, getting everyone's attention as he returned to the hallway. Finally, Souji said his mind.

"What are westerners doing in Shimbara?"

"We are trading art goods to members of the Aizu." The woman replied, bugging Souji all the more. "Surely, that won't be any problem."

"Souji, we can't mess this up." Heisuke quickly said, Souji even had to admit it was a weird circumstance but they were just recognized by that vary group.

"Fine, fine. You know I wouldn't have actually done it." He said, sheathing his sword.

"Yea, well she didn't." Ryunosuke said, turning to the girl to see her bowing to them.

"Enjoy your evening." With that, the girl and the owner that came to her help caught up with their group, entering a room at the end of the hall. Ida looked around the room to see that the man that had come to her aid was sweating. "Is something wrong?"

"Were you not scared?" The man asked.

"Yes, but I've learned it's best to pretend you are not." She paused for a moment, noticing that the man was incredibly shaken. "Who were those men?"

"The Roshigumi. Nothing but ronintaking over the city." The westerners called the man over tostart the art transactions as Ida stood off on the side to think about what just happened.

The three males that were slowed entered their group's party room, getting curious looks from Harada and Shinpachi. "What was the hold up?" Shinpachi questioned.

"Nothing." Heisuke smiled. "Just ran into a server in the hall." Harada and Shinpachi saw through it, knowing something happened out there that Serizawa would have gotten angry about and possible have caused a scene.

Soon the party for the Roshigumi started, drinks being poured and food served, everyone quietly enjoying themselves. That was, until Souji decided that he would make it obvious that he was watching Serizawa.

"Hey Okita," the deep voice said, "you've got an odd sense of taste to stare at a man after coming to the red-light district."

Everyone worriedly looked to Souji, noticing the glare he was giving the burly man. "Not really, I have no interest in places like this."

"Huh? Then what did you come here for?"

"I thought I might catch an opportunity to cut you down if I came along." He smirked, causing Serizawa to let out a boisterous laugh.

"Cut me down? By some brat like you?" Another laugh left his lips, "What a great joke!" It took him a moment to calm down and it was only irritating Souji more. "Your death threats mean absolutely nothing to me. Although I can't say the same for Hijikata."

"What? Hijikata-san?"

"When he glared at me at the Honjou Inn, I actually felt a shiver go through me for a second. Compared to him, your threats are just childish prater."

Serizawa knew he was playing at Souji's pride, and he was easily taking the bait. "If you like, I'd be willing to seriously have at you-"

"Souji," Saito quietly said, not looking up from his meal. He knew Souji was doing something that may bite him later and needed to stop him quickly.

"There is a man who has killed more than one or two people." Serizawa commented. Souji was surprised to hear this and looked to his friend. "He is far more imposing than you." The older man grinned, irritating Souji even more. Things slightly defused over some time and Ryunosuke excused himself soon after, walking out to the hall and looking into the night.

He hadn't noticed it at first but the girl Heisuke had run intowas also outside, leaning against the railing just outside the room she had entered. Ryunosuke was surprised at how relaxed she looked in the uniform she was wearing, the fitting clothing easily showing she wasn't a male. When she glanced to look his way, Ryunosuke quickly looked to his right, luckily seeing a young maiko and geisha walking towards him. He bowed to them and stared as they entered the room he was taking a break from. The male turned back and saw that the girl in the other hall was talking to a western man looking much older than her, seemingly unaware of how odd it is that she was there. Not long after, a male yelled causing the three outside to look towards the room Ryunosuke was supposed to be in. Rushing in, he saw Serizawa standing and the young maiko that caught his eye was staring up at him. Angry.

"Do you know who you are talking to?!" Serizawa asked, his voice deep and forced. "How dare a lowly maiko speak to me in such a manner?!"

"I merely said precisely what I thought!"

Ryunosuke looked at the thrown food as Serizawa was in disbelief. "Do you have any idea who I am!?" Ryunosuke quickly glanced to his right to see that the western girl and the local man that stood up for her earlier was coming toward them. The girl's face determined to find out what was going on. The western man she was talking to, standing in disbelief as he watched his accomplices come towards the large party room.

"You are a powerful samurai, are you not? Then please do not take advantage of your money and rank to act with such arrogance!"

"Say what?!"

"Serizawa-han, please forgive her!" One of the older women beside her said, seeing their customer getting outraged.

"She is still but a child." The other quickly said. "Kosuzu-chan, hurry and apologize!"

Ryunosuke could feel people looking in behind him but refused to look away.

"No, there is nothing wrong with what I said." The young maiko said stubbornly. Serizawa, in a fit of rage, threw a sake cup at the young girl, hitting her in the face. Ryunosuke rushing in, seeing his 'master' start to raise a hand at the young girl.

"Serizawa-san, what are you doing!? Cut it out!"

"You're in my way!" He kicked his 'dog' back and realized he had a new target. This is when the other Captains stepped in to calm the situation. The maiko and the two geisha walked by the people at the door and bowed as they left, the two that had arrived first not realizing a crowd was gathering behind them. Serizawa looked to the door to see the western girl standing there, not realizing the man beside her was with her. "What are you looking at, filth of a *****."

"I'm the filth?" she quickly said defending herself. "Last I checked, I wasn't harassing women for speaking their minds." The ease of their language coming from her mouth threw Serizawa off for a moment but quickly narrowed his eyes on the sword attached to her body.

"A woman, with a sword? Get her out of my sight!"

"Ida-sama, please let's leave this." The man beside her whispered, not wanting those around them to get in a fury as well. "They have it under control."

"'Sama'?" A thin man asked, Ida not liking the way he was looking at her.

"She is a guest of my Lord," the man with her quickly said. "She is of status in England."

"But not here." Serizawa said, taking steps towards the intruder and was surprised that she didn't back away.

"Serizawa-san, they're leaving." A tall man with brown hair said, glancing behind him as he got in-between his commander and the girl. "I'm sure they were concerned about the girls, since they screamed."

"Ida, get moving!"A British voice yelled, causing Ida to glance behind her to see that the artists she was protecting looked concerned.

"Run back to your master, dog." Serizawa chuckled. Ida smirked.

"Let's hope yours keeps his lead on you too long." With that she turned away, her smirk now a full smile. As she made her way to the room she was assigned, a pair of men froze when they saw her. With a sincere smile she bowed and went to rejoin her party.

"Was that…" Kondou started asking Hijikata, confused at what they saw.

"We can worry about it later. Let's deal with one thing at a time."

Ida watched as the men gathered their things, their translator frantically trying to keep up as they talked with a local artist, walking towards the door."Damn, I forgot something in the room."One said, causing Ida to sigh as she shock her head.

"I'll get it, you all stick together with the escorts. I'll meet you back at the inn."Ida knew this was going to who can't hold their drinks shouldn't drink at all…she thought, explaining the situation to the person at the front and he agreed to allow her in with the servers cleaning up the room. As she did, she could hear yelling coming from the room where she had encountered the samurai, curious to know what was going on.

"It wouldn't have gotten this carried away if that's all you did!" The voice was obviously angry, Ida not recognizing it as one of the men she had run into. The server gave her the item she was looking for and smiled as she took it. Instead of leaving, she took a seat on the railing and listened in. However, it seemed whatever conversation they were going to have stopped there, and Ida watched as the man she confronted walked away, not even noticing her. Leaning in a little, she was able to see the two men she saw as she was leaving, the longer haired male obviously more frustrated by this than the other. Suddenly she heard, "This makes us no different than those rogue samurai!"

Poor guy,she thought, sighing as she stood to leave. "Oi, oi, foreigner, get out of here." A man said to her, causing her to turn to see a small group of men step back as they see she is a woman. However, the one at the front of the group smirked. "I always wanted to sleep with a foreign girl. I heard they are wild in bed." He smirked, taking a few confident steps towards her.

"Why are they always so obnoxious?"Ida asked herself out loud, sighing as she watched him reach for her. "I'll kill you if you touch me." She threatened, pulling out a pistol and pointing it at the man's forehead.

"You bitch!" The men were confused, unsure if it was an empty threat or not. Souji, Kondou, and Hijikata watched in surprise as the ronin decided to run off, having left their katanas and kodachi in their room. Returning the pistol to its place inside her coat, Ida glanced to her side a little to see that three men were curiously looking at her but not willingly getting closer. She couldn't help but giggle before walking off, to meet up with the group that she was travelling with. Kondou and Hijikata talked to one another about the two quick encounters, Souji being silent about it, finding the discussion and Kondou's intrigue, concerning.

The next day, Hijikata and Kondou met with Sannan to speak aboutwhat had happened at Shimbara, trying to figure out what to do to stop Serizawa from possibly ruining their name more. Kondou couldn't help but bring up the girl they saw. "She pushed off those ronin with one threat. It was quite interesting to see." Kondou wanted to learn more about the girl they saw, his childlike curiosity making it sound like he was taking the foreigners side.

"Ronin are not real men," Hijikata said.

"Toudou-kun mentioned running into an armed girl at Shimbara yesterday." Sannan said, a curious look on his face. "I wonder if it is the same one?"

"Heisuke did?" Kondou questioned, Sannan nodded. "Did he seem concerned?"

"He mentioned that Okita-kun had pulled his blade onto her and she didn't flinch."

"Really?" Hijikata asked, shocked.

"That's enough to be worried about," Kondou said to himself, knowing Souji's urge to kill was very easy to sense. The other two agreed, only all the more curious how to deal with this new possible threat.

A few days went by and Ida had noticed that the men that had started the fight with the maiko were all around Kyoto. She found it interesting as she stood beside one of them and they did not seem to notice her, even when she spoke.I guess they may have been focused on what I was wearing that night…she laughed. One morning, Ida awoke before the sun, glancing to her right to see that Ninja (pronounced Nin-ya) was fast asleep."I thought you agreed to protect me,"she laughed, patting his head and watching his eyes slowly open. His tail wagged in excitement, the face of his owner awake making him realize there were lots of things possibly happening that day."Ready to get up?"His small whimpersounded like he was agreeing, Ida laughing as she stood and got dressed, looking at herself over and over to make sure the simple kimono was on properly. It had taken her almost a week of practice to be able to put it on herself correctly, but she was always worried that something was wrong. The two started walking around the compound, the girl knowing well that she would be worrying the British politicians she travelled with."I need a day to myself,"she said, glancing down at her companion."That would be nice, wouldn't it boy?"Ninja gave a strong bark and Ida could only giggle."You're right."

The day went on and Ida found the opportunity to leave the compound she lived in, without an escort."Ninja will do a better job of protecting me than any of these arrogant pricks."Iba said to Sir Alcock. The Belgian Malinois walked proudly at her heel, waiting for any command. Lord Milton had acquired the dog at the request of his daughter and soon it was terrorizing the house because she was not training it. Ida stepped in, worried they would put him down, saying that she would be able to train it and take care of it.

"My men could bethe escort."

"That was who I was talking about."

"You little -"Immediately Ninja started growling, causing the man to step back."Lucky for you that the beast was trained by you. I wouldn't hesitate to sick it on you, put you in line."

Ida left the compound with a sense of relief. She hated being in Japan, she missed her old life. Even though it was still somewhat limited, she missed her old freedom in Canada.

Kyoto residents looked on in worry at the sight for the dark foreigner with the dog, having never seen that type of dog before and was wondering if the girl was able to control it. However, Ida had no interests in their stares, she was used to it. Instead, when she noticed the young long haired brunette from Shimbara that she had run into, she decided to follow him through the city. She was able to blend in well, her height the only thing she had to worry about of all things. The natural bustle of the city at this time provided the natural cover, similar to what she would look for when fighting. Within the hour, she followed the boy deep into a large , I don't think I know how to get out of here…she thought, though committed and knew she should be able to pull off the 'lost foreigner' card without much issue. Ida admired the large estate, thinking it looked like it was broken up similar to how a landlord in Canada would break up property. Areas that the landlord was using and areas that the tenants used. Coming to a gate, Ida looked at the yard in awe, the large trees and landscape layout very different to what she had gotten used to.

"Oi, who are you!?"A voice yelled behind her, causing Ninja to turn and start to growl, protecting his owner, while she backed up a bit. Ida turned to see that it was two men who had watched her pull a pistol on some ronin, the man with them wearing glasses looking at her curiously.

"Oh, you're that girl…" The man wearing yellow said, his face much friendlier than the others, which Ida was surprised she was getting.

"Ninja, platz."She commanded her companion, the men curious when it immediately reacted to what she said. "Sorry, he is trained to react like that." Ida bowed, smiling genuinely. "I don't believe I've had the honour of formally meeting you." She looked at the three men and saw their confusion easily. "My name is Ida-"

"What are you doing here?" The man with violet eyes and long dark haired barked, Ida curiously raising a brow at the harsh tone.

"I think I am free to wander as I please. I don't see any problem here." She glanced down at Ninja to see he was more hovering than laying down, causing her to say the command again to have him relax.

"It's strange for a Westerner to be walking about this area of Kyoto," the man with glasses said, Ida noticing his voice was quite calm, as if he was trying to tell his friend to do so as well. "I think I speak for all of us when we say it makes us suspicious."

Ida chuckled a little, remembering the first time someone was 'suspicious' of her in her life. She was sitting in a park and some boys started telling her to leave.'We don't want you dirtying the play set.'They had barked, causing her to go home crying.

"You think this is funny!?" The long haired male yelled again, causing Ninja to growl and Ida did not stop it.

"Toshi…" Kondou tried to urge him to calm down.

"No, you're trespassing! We will force you to leave if-"

Suddenly, the owner of the estate walked around the corner, causing Hijikata to quiet down and watched as he looked surprised at the foreigner. However, nothing could have prepared him for the interaction he saw. "My, my, Ida-chan, what are you doing in these parts of Kyoto?" He happily said, walking up to the woman who calmed her dog and talked casually with the older man.

"I was just wandering," she bowed as she shyly smiled. "before I ran into these men. I didn't know you had guards on your property."

"No, I am leasing them space. They actually work for the Aizu," he quickly corrected, looking to the three samurai that were beyond shocked. "Ida-chan introduced me to an incredible European painter." He told the men, pulling the girl along with her to introduce them. "Ida-chan, this is Kondou-san." Ida's dark eyes widened as she looked from the estate owner to the man he pointed to, seeing Kondou nervously smiling and unsure how to react.

"And this is Hijikata-san and Sannan-san," Kondou added, pointing to the two men that flanked him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ida bowed. She glanced down to see Ninja wandering up to the men and quickly corrected him."Ninja, sitz"and the dog came up to her and sat at her heel. "You are just as the Aizu representative said, Kondou-san."

"You've met the Aizu?" Hijikata said, no longer able to process these crazy things.

"Yes. I think I will be seeing you all much more soon." She smiled, noticing that the sun appeared to be going down. "I don't mean to be rude but I should get going." Ida said her goodbyes, the estate owner begging her to visit again, and the girl left with her companion right beside her.

The next morning, Hijikata, Kondou, and Sannan were confused. The letter seemed to come out of no where. Kondou took it as a sign of their hard work to win the Aizu's favour but Hijikata and Sannan were skeptical. "Why didn't they ask this before when they initially took us in?"

"Things like this take time to organize." Sannan pointed out. "The Lieutenant General probably had some other priorities first." Hijikata didn't want to seem unhappy about the event but it just seemed odd. The girl they keep running into. Serizawa's continuing antics. He was worried that this was a calm before a bigger storm.

Ida was in the courtyard at the compound, curiously watching one of the residents practicing his swordsmanship. In uniform, she glanced down at the sword at her hip and wondered if she should see if her sword had any chance against the Japanese metal. "What are you looking at, girl?" The man asked, causing the girl to flinch as she thought she was well hidden.

"S-sorry, I was just admiring your skills." She said honestly as she stepped forward, Ninja in tow. "Japanese fighting styles are very different than European sword fighting."

"It's superior," the man said, pointing to the girl with the blade, the sun hitting the blade, almost blinding her.

"Both blades have their pros and cons, one is not firmly stronger over the other."

The man seemed annoyed by what she said and started yelling at her. "There is no comparison!" Ida gave him a confused look and it just bothered him more. "It's about respecting the old ways! Respecting the work that goes into that samurai way!"

"Is everything alright?" A voice asked, causing both to look over to her left to see that the man in charge of translating and the British art merchant. Ida didn't realize it but her hand was on her sabre and in a defensive stance with Ninja growling and prepared to strike.

"Ida, what's going on?"The British man asked confused.

"It's nothing," Ida said, standing tall and walking away, telling Ninja to follow. For some reason, what the man said bothered her. She wondered if her sword really did have a disadvantage, but then remembered what Sir Alcock had told her.

"We are here to gain their trust. Do what you need to do, even if you have to sleep with one of them."Coming up with the best way to get a hold of a katana and kodachi, getting ready to put this plan into action*.

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