Chapter Text
Rengoku Koujirou did not expect this.
He was too late.
There were reports of a demon in an area, and he acted on it, and there was, and he killed it.
But he got called for help. This time, by a man who reported a Midwife freaking out because a man hired her to help his wife with Childbirth, only to come to a horrible scene.
He had been too late, as he rushed to the scene.
The young man is clearly in shock, and the look on his face was that his world crumbled beneath his feet.
How can he blame him? He lost his wife and unborn child while he was gone on the day his supposed child was to be born!
He cannot blame the young man for his despair.
It took him days to snap him out of his stupor, and helped him bury his wife's remains. But none of his baby's. Its fate was cruelly obvious.
A family tomb was erected for his family in the yard outside the wreckage of the house. The names of his wife Uta, and his child whose gender was unknown was written on the stone. But Yoriichi put two names on the tomb 'just incase'. Had his child been a boy, he would have named his son Katsuya. If a girl, Akane. Both named after his mother and brother who at least cared for him openly and secretly through one kanji. He posthumously gave them his surname as well.
He later learned his name when he was well enough to talk.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi. A young man from a renowned samurai clan, but due to twins being a bad omen believed by nobles and buddhist priests at the time, and him being deemed he weaker twin due to his birthmark and mannerisms that he was perceived deaf and mute, his treatment in his home was abysmal to say the least, that only his mother and older twin who got the chance to live in privilege, cared for him, until the day Yoriichi ran away from home than be a Priest or 'a spare' incase anything happens to his older twin.
A spare he may be, but if the unthinkable happens, nobody would care for him due to his flaws. That he would be 'just a tool for convenience' that his ill mother who was dying urged him to flee and find happiness he would never find if he stays. While Lady Akeno loved her husband and was loved back, he was also politically and status-minded man who was also very superstitious, believing in Fusui taught by Buddhists.
By running for many days without stopping, it was how he met an orphaned girl whom he happily lived with...eventually married at 16, and were supposed to be happier at 17...until...this.
How unlucky!
'Then...would you not come with me and join Kissatsutai?' he asked the weeping, devastated widower. 'Everyone who lost family or towns to these monsters band together to fight these monsters, while hopefully finding the Demon Progenitor who is the Precursor of our suffering, Kibutsuji Muzan. No ordinary sword can harm these freaks, we need a special alloy alongside our skills just to kill them.'
Yoriichi accepted, if only wanting justice for his lost family. Otherwise he had no reason to live.
And just as they were about to go, a ball of flames appeared before them.
And a young child tumbled out of it, wearing strange clothes and shoes, and she was carrying a rather shiny pink...was that a Temari? They have never seen anything like it! Her hair is also an unusual shade of brown. The palest of brown. Her eyes are a dark brown, at least.
'W-where is Ame-chan? Touchan? Jiichan?!' she was terrified with obvious reasons. 'Where'd my house go?'
'...oh dear...she must be another victim of those Kekkijutsu of theirs...' Koujirou felt pity for the clearly, foreign girl. Human, not a demon otherwise she would have turned to ashes by now under the sunlight. Moreover, she appeared from a giant golden fire! 'What is your name, ojouchan?'
'Ame-chan is Sawada Hisame.'
OK, not a foreigner but clearly has blood of one.
And yet...only prominent families own a clan name. This girl has a clan name. Peasants don't, not even Merchants.
'Ame-chan too young to know how to write it though. Not yet time for school.' Hisame wilted at that. 'Kaachan and touchan say I'd know how to write it in kanji when I start school this Spring.'
This stunned the men.
School?
The only schools they know of, are Martial Arts Schools where they teach Literacy, Arithmetic, Etiquette AND Martial Arts!
Only men are granted education in their Wakoku. Women only have this privilege, albeit different subjects befitting of future wives, if born into aristocracy, priest and samurai households. Yet where she's from, even women can have it?!
'...then, I'll give you one.' Yoriichi offered. 'Hisame will be this for you until you get home one day.' he wrote two kanji. One hisa = long-lived and ame = heaven. 'It means long-lived and heaven. Do you like it?' Hisame was amazed and accepted it.
'Mm! Ame-chan like it!' she smiled. 'Can ojisan take me home?' she asked hopefully.
'Erm, we have no idea where you live, but you can stay with us in the meantime.' Koujirou offered kindly. 'That fire that took you here...well...we need to know who can recreate it as your way back home as you're clearly not from here.' he said awkwardly. 'Why are you glowing in fire?'
'Don't know...Ame-chan fell off a tree trying to get my ball back...and I was on fire...then I was here.' said Hisame. 'Don't hurt though?'
Koujirou and Yoriichi exchanged looks.
And so...
'So that's what happened...I'm sorry to hear that.' Koujirou's young lord, Ubuyashiki Chiaki shook his head upon learning of the civilians taken to the corps. He is currently ten years old as his father passed away and his older sisters married out, leaving him and his littlest brother Asuka behind, Asuka who is still a little child with their mother, hidden in safety until old enough to join Organization Affairs at age ten. He is also currently engaged to his future priestess wife Moriyama Asami who is older than he is, by two years, sitting with him and before them, are their nine strongest swordsmen. 'How is Sawada-dono and Tsugikuni-dono?'
'Well, Sawada-dono is easily content as long as she feels safe and has that shiny smooth temari she got on her birthday from her mother...she is very far from home...time wise.' Koujirou choked out. 'She is from Kanoe Ne, Heisei 32, the Emperor is named Akihito.' he got horrified looks from the clan master and fiancee and his own peers.
There is no era name of that name as far as they know backwards.
Their current era is Eikyo 1!
'That child is from the future?!'
'What manner of Kekkijutsu can do that?! Monster!!'
'We don't know what Kekkijutsu that struck her but she says the flames didn't hurt her, just displaced her back to our era from the future as there is no Emperor in our studied history declared Heisei as our era name until now and we are currently in the middle of Muromachi, Eikyo has just begun. Unless she is struck again by that same power somehow, any hope of her going back home is lost, she may as well be adopted by a well-meaning father until she gets lucky in either a good marriage or a path back to her time is open.' Koujirou sighed.
'For now...let's leave Sawada-dono to Tsugikuni-dono. They got along well during our travel here and having a daughter might help him heal from losing his wife and unborn recently.'
'No encounter I hope?' Koujirou is bodyguarding two civilians after all. It'd be difficult protecting a widower and a displaced child all alone.
'There were a few...but Sawada-dono never showed fear nor panic, thankfully. She just thinks they're delinquents in costume and er, we want to keep it that way so Tsugikuni-dono distracts her while I slay the monsters. She's young in mind and heart for her age. Her parents must have sheltered her so. Well...she would have to grow quicker than they hope in order to live, as our time is harsh.'
'Very true. To live happy and carefree is luxury worth more than gold nobody can afford, not even Emperor himself.' said Chiaki with a bitter smile. 'If they can afford such a life, it means our battles and sorrows weren't for nothing. That we built a future like that for all our descendants after countless hardships. That gives us hope for the future. That a child like Sawada-dono can exist. That children can live in peace, albeit at the expense of being too relaxed. I hope for her sake, that is fixed soon if she wishes to live long enough to see her family again.'
'I'll be sure to tell Tsugikuni-dono to raise her properly.'
'In the meantime, we investigate the Tsugikuni Family to ascertain Tsugikuni Yoriichi's claims that he did come from there. The servants will talk as Yoriichi-san is aware he does not exist on documentation because of his father.' said Asami. 'Or perhaps, making sure his identical twin Michikatsu-dono indeed exists in that household as sufficient evidence.' she added. 'Inform them while we listen from afar what they think.'
'How did the meeting go?' Yoriichi asked Koujirou.
'Well, it should be fine if you adopt Hisame as your daughter.' said Koujirou. 'She likes you enough as it is, but she must learn how our world works as our era is merciless compared to hers, while you practice the way of the sword.' he said. 'I know you have some basic childhood skill but that is not enough and you know it.' he said. 'You must formally train in Iaido and Battojutsu.'
'Aa...but what about Hisame? She expects to go to school in spring...how do we tell her that aristocrats and military clans are home-tutored and not taught in dojos? Terakoya exists only for the Ikko Ikki loyalists, last I checked and she can't go there, they're hypocrites of the worst sort.' Yoriichi fretted out. 'The school she has in mind is different based on her own upbringing!'
'Ehhh...might as well tell her now. Be blunt and upfront. Moreover she would need a kimono. Foreigners with clothes like hers are appealing to slavers, she's vulnerable!'
Once the men explained in an easy way for a child to understand...
'EHHHH?! Ame-chan didn't end up in some random province but way back?! And school is different?!'
'Y-yes...'
'Aiyaaa...w-well, even in my time girls can learn martial arts if only for self-defense...because men in future are delinquents into petty crime and worse! Burglary in homes, Bag snatchers in streets, kidnapping and stuff!' Hisame croaked out. 'Stuff like punching people or kicking them because owning weapons need a license.' she explained. 'Carrying one without a license gets you in jail because people will think you're gonna kill someone soon if you carry a weapon, but don't got a license!'
'Whaaat?!' with demons around, owning weapons is illegal?! Unthinkable! To Koujirou and the eavesdroppers, it's anathema! 'That's bad!'
'It is, right?' Hisame clearly misunderstood him due to her modern mentality. 'Its why learning martial arts by using punches and kicks are taught, unless you're strong enough to throw people over, like sumo or judo. Or simply kick bad guys where sun don't shine.'
It took seconds for that to translate.
"Does she mean jujutsu?" 'Well, its not like one can get arrested for owning hands and feet anyway.' Yoriichi sweatdropped. 'Er...kick bad guys where sun don't shine? Where is that?'
'Between man's legs!' the two men and some eavesdroppers choked in horror. 'Kaachan says bad men crumple like wet paper if bad men are kicked between the legs and they let loose a weird scream and fall on the ground. Easy to deal with afterward.'
And apparently, school is different where she's from. Very basics, and more involved with socializing children before actual lessons begins!
At the beginning of ages 4-6, it begins with Language Basics and Manners, before having students acquire wide-ranging knowledge and education, fostering the value of seeking the truth, and cultivating a rich sensibility and sense of morality and virtues boys and girls should and must have, as well as building physical health and value of balanced diet, when combined with physical exercise, builds a strong body.
Teachers then begin developing individuals' abilities, cultivating creativity, and fostering a spirit of autonomy and independence by respecting the value of the individual, as well as emphasizing the relationship between one's career and everyday life and nurturing the value of respect for hard work. This is for kids of Age four.
Finally, fostering the values of respecting life, caring about nature, and desiring to contribute to the preservation of the environment. They even learn where their food came from and how long it takes before farmers sell them to stores to people and their costs. Cheap foods are those that ripen real quick, and expensive ones are those that take half a year or more to ripen. Thus kids are taught NOT to waste food and finish everything, and to never be picky eaters. They are also taught how soy and rice products are made and Hisame remembers those lessons because students are made to watch how for easier understanding.
Then after that, teachers must foster and emphasize the values of respect for justice, responsibility, equality between men and women, and mutual respect and cooperation, and forge respect for tradition and culture and love of the country and regions that have nurtured them. This is for kids of Age five.
Then for last year, Foundation of Maturity and Creativity. The goals are to have a sound mind and body, encouraging individuality, independence, creativity, achieve goals without giving up and feel a sense of accomplishment, and act with confidence. Then beginning of learning values of right and wrong, honing morals and ethics, learning empathy and sympathy, reflecting on one's actions, developing communication and social skills and encouraging development of talents. Be it music, arts and crafts, and so on...
'Wow, that's a lot.' Yoriichi was impressed. 'And I don't think my family taught most of those to my brother at your age. Then again...being a samurai and all it entailed was what matters for father in a military household...'
'You actually have it happier and you ended up living much of those with your friend-turned-wife for years albeit unwittingly.' said Koujirou dryly. 'Well, those are indeed great for raising kids. Next are educational subjects and martial arts and that's our job. Oyakata-sama is willing to hire teachers to teach her out of respect for her culture.'
'Eh? Really?! That's wonderful!'
'Um...what do girls learn here?' Hisame asked them.
'Well, other than manners, language, arithmetic, geometry, social studies, cultural studies, aristocracy and military clans and matters, manners, cooking, household and financial management, needlework, but noblewomen are expected to know music, art, fashion, and things that will help her husband elevate their household by socializing with ladies of other households, talking with merchants and gleaning information for him through servants. Glean what's beneficial and what's bad for family.'
'Heee...so that's how its like here huh? What about martial arts? Medicine?'
'Erm, finding medicine teachers is difficult these days as there are few masters who truly had money to study and more fake scammers out there, they charge a lot but more often make things worse than help...let's settle for martial arts for now.'
'You mean nobody travels abroad to study? Nobody goes to the country west of here across the sea to study medicine?'
'...that's too expensive here...' the men sweatdropped. 'You'd have to be a child of Shogun to afford that...'
'Awww...'