Chapter-4

*Ida could feel herself sweating through the clothes she wore as she sprinted around Kyoto, running from something. Ragged breathing was all around her and eyes seemed to watching her with an intent that she hadn't felt before. They wanted to tear her limb from limb as they purposefully tormented her in this chase. This wasn't the first time that Ida felt a true fear like this, like she had zero chance of escaping. Her throat felt like it was closing up like her was having an allergy to something. It was causing her difficulties and she needed to fight through it. Ida ran and ran along what seemed like an endless street, she couldn't get away. A cry and howl behind her caused her to look behind and the red irises that came towards her made her freeze.

Gasping and bolting into an upright position, Ida frantically looked around her room to see that Ninja was right beside her, trying to lick her face. "N-Ninja…that's gross…stahhpp" she giggled as she lightly put her hands under the shoulder joint and forced him on his hind legs and away from her. Taking the back of her hand, Ida wiped her forehead and was confused about how much she was sweating. "I had that damned dream again," she thought to Ninja, watching her companion tilt his head like he was listening. She groaned as she got up, quickly changing and then heading towards the bucket of water that was used for bathing. Quickly taking a towel she cleaned her face, neck, and shoulders under her shirt, keeping some buttons loose to do so. She paused to stare at her reflection in the water, her hair draping her face and the ends almost touching the water. Maybe I'll keep it down a bit today…She thought, feeling her scalp pulling every day to try to keep it back. Taking her ribbon, Ida tied her hair into a low ponytail, her bangs and small pieces in the front framing her face. Having spent so many years with short hair, she forgot it was so much work to manage all this hair. Standing up tall, Ida starting buttoning up her shirt and turned when she heard a voice mumble something behind her. "Lieutenant…" She quickly did up the last button and bowed. "What can I do for you this morning?"

The man around her age blushed and glanced down to Ninja as he took some hesitant strides up to him. "I thought I would invite you to my training this morning. Augustus said you wanted to learn."

"What? Really?!" She couldn't contain her excitement. She had been trying to warm up to the other men for weeks to get them to give her a basic lesson but it never worked out.

He simply laughed. "Of course. Why don't you change and I'll wait for you in the courtyard."

"Thank you so much, sir!" She bowed low and bounded with a call to Ninja as she sprinted to her room, quickly changing into a set of clothes she never thought she was going to wear. The 'mens' clothing that would make it easier for her to maneuver, then grabbing her swords she had bought, and suddenly forgetting about the dream.

Why is this so hard!? Ida yelled at herself as she huffed and puffed, hands on her knees. The Lieutenant had left hours ago but had requested his instructor to stick around to teach Ida more. "If you would simply switch over to a right hand lead this wouldn't be so hard." He commented as he sighed.

"Shouldn't a skilled instructor…be able to teach anyone?" She said through her ragged breathing.

"Do you want my help or not?" He hissed, telling Ida she was close to losing the only person who was actually going to teach her.

"I'm just saying, shouldn't it be simple to switch over to a left-handed stance?"

"If you can't learn from someone who is right-handed, you might as well give up." Gritting her teeth, Ida stood and entered her stance again. "No! Have you been paying attention at all!?" He snapped at her.

"This is how you were standing!"

"Just switch to your right hand or I'm not going to teach you." He finally said.

"I can't just switch!"

"Then get lost, we're done." Ida watched in astonishment as the instructor left, leaving her frustrated and even more pissed. Glancing over to the side, she noticed that some of the men were standing there laughing at her and she knew that she would just continue to get chewed out if she stuck around the compound. "Ninja, come," she ordered, storming off out of the compound and into the bustling nightlife of Kyoto. She knew that she shouldn't have been going out at this time, drunks were wobbling passed her heading back home already. The laughing and yelling of the city wasn't helping her stay focused on thinking that she wanted to do. Ninja was also giving her a hard time, begging and whining because of wanting to get attention from some of the kids that were out with their parents for the last festival of the season. Groaning, Ida decided to try and find a quiet space for Ninja to fool off and she could think. Walking briskly, she eventually found a small bridge and the river than split Kyoto in half. Taking a seat at edge of the river, Ida let Ninja do his thing and placed her head in her hands to think about how she was going to find a teacher. I thought I was getting used to it but something just felt so awkward about the form. She thought, remembering the feeling of the katana in her hands but couldn't seem to just get the balance quite right. Not entirely paying attention around her, consciously making the decision to ignore it, she didn't make note of the people that were watching her.

Sanosuke and Shinpachi wandered around the city, having gone to Shimbara and was trying to sober up before heading back to the compound. As they wandered they happened upon a bit of a commotion at the bridge. A few well known ronin were encircling a single person and their dog as they clumsily swung their katana back and forth. As they looked around as they considered helping, they noticed Yamazaki hiding between two buildings. "Hey, what's going on?" Sano whispered as they came up behind him.

"It's that girl that the Aizu hired. They ambushed her."

"W-What?" The two didn't hesitate to draw their swords and charge in.

"I said back off!" Ida yelled as she swung the katana again.

"All these foreigners starting to dress like us is starting to piss me off," A leader of the group hissed at her, thrusting his katana at her and she almost failed in dodging it. The clang of the swords almost drowned out the growling of Ninja beside her, watching her back and barking and lunging at the men that tried to attack Ida from behind.

"Oi!" Sano's voice boomed, causing the members of the group that weren't fighting yet to turn and set their sights on new targets. Shinpachi behind him only grinned at the thought of getting the opportunity to fight someone, attacking with Sano. Everyone soon became preoccupied and people quickly turned the other way when they saw the commotion. Ida wasn't able to fully pay attention to her opponent, now concerned of the two men that joined into the fight. Shit, shit, shit…I should be able to fucking handle this…Ida barely escaped blows, unable to use the katana the way she would with a sabre. Suddenly, the man she was fighting screamed and looked down to his leg. Ida quickly followed and started to drive forward for a killing blow, to protect her companion who was pulling and shaking his leg. The sword in Ida's left hand easily drove through the man's chest, his flailing suddenly stopping as he dropped to the ground. Ida didn't hesitate, she turned around to see Sanosuke and Shinpachi finishing off the men they were fighting, turning to see her ready to fight them.

"W-Wait! We're helping!" Shinpachi said, raising his hands as Sanosuke relaxed and placed his katana back in its scabbard.

"How do I know you're not just pulling my leg?"

"What?" Sanosuke said in confusion, Ida realizing that she used a phrase that probably wasn't common yet.

"How can I be sure you're not just going to stab in the back?"

"Why don't you come to our compound to get cleaned up?" Sanosuke smiled, almost in a way that Ida would consider him flirting. "I'm sure that Aizu wouldn't be very happy with you walking back like that?"

Ida looked down at her appearance and she had blood splattered all over her. She quickly looked to Ninja and he too had blood all over him. They're right but..There was always that 'what if' going on in Ida's head. She was still struggling managing and navigating this time period. Small things could piss off the wrong people. "Sure, thanks." She said quietly, quickly bowing and following a few steps behind. Ida noticed that they would purposely slow down so she didn't get too far behind them.

"What were you doing out here anyway? Dressed like a guy?" Shinpachi said, his slurs from the alcohol making his statement sound like he was still trying to believe what he was seeing.

"I don't think that's any of your business." She quickly said, finding the confusion on both the mens faces. I could probably get in trouble if they knew…"I just needed some space to think about something." She admitted, not being a total lie just not the 100% truth.

"Without a guy?" Sanosuke asked as they walked into the compound.

"I can take care of myself. Plus, I had Ninja. We would have gotten out of it fine."

"It's okay to say you needed help, you know." Shinpachi slurred, leaning at the hip in front of the girl to look at her at eye level. "Nothing wrong with admitting you were in trouble."

"I think I was doing fine before you two showed up." The trio turned into a slightly closed off area where Ida was just able to make out a well close to the building that encased it with the border.

"Wait here," Sanosuke said, going into the building with Shinpachi but coming back with a crowd.

"So you are here," Hijikata sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. Souji, Saito, and Kondou-san came out with him as they stood on the porch.

"Listen, I don't want any problems." Ida said, looking to Ninja as she continued to speak. "They offered to let me get cleaned up. That's all I'm here to do." She thanked Sanosuke as he passed her a rag to start wiping the blood with the water in the bucket.

"They said you were in a fight when they got there?" Souji smirked. "What did you do to piss off those ronin?"

"You think I'm stupid enough to pick a fight with a group of 6 people alone?" She bit back.

"Okay Souji, that's enough." Kondou-san said, noticing that Souji was about to say something back to the girl. Hijikata continued to stare at the girl that cleaned herself up silently, noticing that she didn't seem too bothered by the fact that she had killed people. He knit his brow as he watched the girl stand to make sure she wasn't missing anything before she called Ninja to start cleaning him up.

"Thanks buddy. You did great." She said quietly to him, slightly pulling his head onto her shoulder before she resumed cleaning him up.

"Are you learning how to use a katana and short sword?" Kondou-san quickly said.

"Kind of…" She admitted.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Hijikata said, his voice agitated.

"I started learning this morning but my teacher gave up on me." Sanosuke and Shinpachi chuckled a little while Souji let out a full laugh. "He said he couldn't effectively teach someone left handed." Ida sighed, tossing the rag into the bucket of water.

"Why not just use that sword you usually have?" Kondou-san asked. "Instead of learning a new style?"

"My sabre? No, you would find my dead before I used that thing." She replied, standing as she brushed herself off.

"Is it just a decoration?" Sanosuke asked, following Ida's motions as he stood.

"No, it's just old and not well made. Damn thing would shatter when it took a blow." Ida looked around when she heard some yelling on the other side of the border wall, turning back to the men that were successfully interrogating her. "I don't think it's bad to feel like I need to protect myself here. You let people carry katana's everywhere but not guns so I need to have something."

Everyone just silently stood there, Ida glancing around and looking to the indigo-haired man that had not said a word since he walked out here. When no one was saying anything, Ida sighed and was about to thank the group until he was the one that spoke up. "I would be willing to teach you, if you want to learn that badly."

"Saito?" Kondou-san questioned, quite shocked.

"Would you really?"

Saito hummed in agreement. "It's probably best you learn from a left-handed instructor. Right-handed instructors will just try and force you into a right-handed stance." Ida could tell he was speaking from experience.

"However, there will be condition." Hijikata quickly said.

"Of course there is…"

"You must come here to learn." Ida knit her brow at the condition but quickly realized that it was pretty reasonable.

"That works for me." Ida agreed. "If that is okay with you, of course." She turned to Saito.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." Saito said. Everyone watched as Ida struggled to hide her excitement as she bowed to the group, thanked them, and headed out to walk to the Aizu compound.

"I'm surprised you offered to teach her, Saito-san." Souji said, everyone thinking the same thing.

"Maybe he has something more than a new pupil on his mind," Shinpachi drunking-ly slurred.

"Alright, Shinpachi, time to get you to your room." Sanosuke chuckled, grabbing his friend to bring him to his bed.

"It's hard for someone that wants to learn to be unable to find an instructor." Saito quietly said. "Plus, isn't it better to have her closer to us?"

"And you're sure it had nothing to do with what we saw yesterday?" Souji questioned.

"Yesterday?" Hijikata piped up, Kondou equally confused.

"Saito-san and I saw her when we were in town. She was walking around with the translator that the Aizu hired. We followed them for a bit and people in town really seem to like her."

"What was she doing?" Kondou-san asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Buying fabric and had joined the crowd that was watching Serizawa-san make that arrest."

Hijikata thought that was interesting. That sounds like someone that is going to be sticking around for some time. "We'll talk about this later. Get to your rooms." Hijikata didn't wait for anyone to follow up, he simply went on his way and found him thinking about everything for a while longer before falling asleep.

Hijikata awoke the next morning unrested. He had been tossing and turning all night, trying to figure this girl out and have some plan to deal with her. Being so close to the Aizu, he knew killing her was not an option unless ordered to do so. "What the hell is going on?" He mumbled to himself, getting dressed and deciding to walk around the compound before breakfast. As he wandered, he heard the loud hitting of wood on wood, causing him to knit his brow and walk towards the sound. Hijikata ran into Sanosuke along the way.

"You heard it too?" Hijikata simply nodded as they walked to the courtyard. They froze at the view they had of the sun barely up and Saito was training with the westerner. As they watched, Saito continued to get hit after hit in before Ida threw the training sword down.

"I'm not getting anywhere with this." They had already been at it for a couple of hours and she was getting beaten to a pulp.

"You have the basics of control, it's just a different movement pattern that you have to get used to. Try again." Saito calmly said, passing Ida the training sword that he had picked up. Ida took her stance and took a big breath before she started to consider what to do. Saito always waited for her to make the first move so she had no choice to continue to do so. As she was thinking, Saito changed it up and lunged with incredible speed towards her face, causing Ida to duck out of the way. "Stay tall." Saito quickly said, not slowing down as he continued his attacks. She blocked a couple strikes before she was able to attack to give her time to straighten up. However, Saito easily saw the weakness to her left and hit her ribs. Ida hissed as a hand went to the area, giving the man a glare as she tried figure out how to do all this.

"She's slowly getting better…" Kondou-san's voice commented as he walked towards Hijikata and Sanosuke. "Saito's been slowly working closer and closer to his full capacity." The group didn't add anything else to the conversation and just turned to continue to watch the lesson. Instead of Saito being in front of her he was now beside her, holding the training sword in a traditional starting stance that was slightly different than how Ida was standing. She adjusted to mimic him but then the group overheard something that surprised them.

"I just don't think I'm getting the balance right in my hands. I'm used to just working with a blade that uses a single hand."

"Start with the strength of your pinkie fingers," Saito commented, flexing his finger but not pinkies, "and go up from there." Ida glanced to the side quickly to see that Saito was holding the training sword with just his pinkies and looked forward to get that strength. "But not like that."

"What?"

"Don't hold it from the side. You control your strikes with your thumbs."

That's where it's different…Ida thought to herself, adjusting her hands around the hilt more. She had taught herself to push and control everything with her palms rather than her fingers.

"Try an overhead strike with your katana."

"Ninja, bring." Ida called out, the dog bounding from his spot under some small trees with a long bundled fabric. She shooed him away after grabbing the katana, the blade reflecting off the morning sun.

"Set up without thinking first," Saito commented, and Ida followed. Saito could easily see a few things wrong but didn't correct her. "Now, set up like we practiced." Everyone watched her look at herself and adjust things slowly then focused on her grip. She took a breath and closed her eyes, thinking about the feeling she had felt with the training sword. How balanced and comfortable it felt. The three men off to the side noticed the small difference, the clarity the sword's reflection suddenly had. "Now, strike." It was strong and powerful without and hesitation. "I'll leave it at that today. Why don't you come in a week? Try and get that form to be natural."

Ida looked at Saito speechlessly. That seemingly little instruction had made all the difference. The men off to the side also were surprised and worried. Just from what they had seen here and the potential they saw from the demonstration in front of the Aizu, they were wondering what would happen if she ended up on the other side of the coin. Ninja must have realized that they were done on his own, once again grabbing the bundle and bringing it over to Ida, letting out a small bark before sitting down. She shook her head and put the blade back into its scabbard before arranging the fabric to carry her katana and short sword back to the Aizu compound.

"Well, well, it seems Saito has a new prodigy." Sanosuke commented, stepping forward and letting the two know of the Commander and Hijikata that were also watching from afar. "Early start as well." He laughed, bending down as Ninja came up to him and started patting his head.

"I thought it best," Saito simply said, walking to Kondou and Hijikata to bow in greeting. Everyone glanced to Ida and she quickly bowed and mumbled a 'good morning' before standing straight.

"You are learning quite quickly." Kondou smiled, trying to reduce the tension coming from Hijikata.

"It's probably because Saito-san is such a great teacher." Ida quickly said, thinking it was 100% the truth. "I'll get out of your hands before the rest of your group wakes up."

"Well, feel free to come whenever you like. The more practice the better." Kondou said, reminding Ida of her grandfathers' face when she was trying something new.

"T-Thank you. Have a good day." She bowed and called Ninja to her side and rushed out of the compound to start her day*.

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