Taichou! [A Touken Ranbu FanFiction]

Chapter Three

Kasen breathed in the crisp morning as he found himself taking a walk through out the citadel on his way to wake his Aruji up for breakfast.

It's been about a week since he's arrived at the citadel and each day had been filled with them cleaning, moving things around, and making the citadel look presentable for the arrival of future touken danshi.

As he walked by, he found himself passing the fields and gave a small smile when looking at all the work they did. Although they were messy, Kasen was proud of Hitomi for overcoming her problems and trying her hardest to plant the seeds as best as she could.

Continuing on his way, Kasen finally found himself at Hitomi's room and gave a knock before opening the door.

"Aruji-sama, it's time to- oh..." Kasen trailed off as he saw Hitomi looking back at him in surprise. Her eyepatch laid on the ground and both of her eyes were on display for Kasen to see.

Two different colored eyes, one blue and one amber, stared back into his own aquamarine ones and for some reason, Kasen got the sense that he was seeing something that no one was supposed to.

He thought for sure that Hitomi would get upset at him for not waiting for her to answer and invading her privacy but she simply gave him a small smile.

"Good morning, Kane-...Kasen" Hitomi said and corrected herself when remembering that Kasen asked her to refer to him by his first name.

"Your eye..." Kasen muttered as he stared at the amber iris.

"Sorry if it bothers you" Hitomi said as she picked up her patch and tied it around her head.

Kasen had his wonders about the patch but never said anything as he thought it would be rude to, but since it seemed like Hitomi wasn't too bothered by it...

"Aruji-sama...why do you wear that disadvantageous piece of cloth?" Kasen questioned as he looked at the woman.

"Ah, this? Some people find it displeasing to look at so I thought it'd be best to hide that ugly part of me" Hitomi said and although she was giving a polite smile, Kasen saw that it didn't reach her eyes.

"But...it's completely fine. It doesn't bother me at all" Kasen protested.

"Haha, thank you but it's alright. You shouldn't worry, my vision is perfectly fine even with the patch" Hitomi explained and crossed over her futon to shake the small sleeping fox that kept her company the night before.

Kasen watched with thinned lips as Hitomi woke Konnosuke up. He had his opinions that he wanted to voice, but if his Aruji didn't want him to worry about it then he had no choice but to trust her.

Once Hitomi was finished getting ready with Konnosuke, the pair walked out of the room where Kasen was waiting outside for them.

Together the trio headed into the dining hall where Kasen had breakfast laid out and ready for them to eat.

"So, Aruji, what's on the agenda for today?" Konnosuke asked and Hitomi gave a small hum.

"I'm thinking of trying to summon another sword" Hitomi admitted and Kasen smiled.

"That's great. I'm sure you'll be able to do it" he said and Hitomi nodded.

She had been trying to decide when the right time was as she felt a little drained from summoning her first sword, but it's been a week since then and Hitomi was now feeling more confident in her ability to summon a sword.

"Let's finish our food first, Aruji needs to have all the energy she can get!" Konnosuke said.

After finishing up breakfast, the trio headed off to the smithing room and when they reached it, Hitomi came to a stop in front of it.

"This is always a little nerve wracking, isn't it?" Konnosuke asked as she looked up at Hitomi. Hitomi gave a slight smile but said nothing else before walking into the smithing room.

Once again, Hitomi gathered up the stored power that she had been building up and let it rest in one place before calling out a loud 'Sa!'.

Just like that, standing in front of her was the newest touken danshi addition.

'This one's tall' Hitomi thought as she had to crane her neck to look up at the tall sword.

"Ka! Ka! Ka!" Hitomi was thrown off by the obnoxious laughter of the sword and was even more surprised when she was met with a firm handshake.

"My name is Yamabushi Kunihiro, a tachi! It is nice to meet you!" Yamabushi cheered and Hitomi gave a mere nod.

"Welcome, Kunihiro-san. This is Kasen Kanesada and Konnosuke" Hitomi said as she stepped to the side to show the two companions by her side.

Yamabushi's welcome was just as rowdy and friendly towards the other two as it was to Hitomi which made her thankful in a way. It had been really quiet and although that was peaceful, it never hurt to have someone to liven the place up.

If only she had known just how much livelier it was about to get around her citadel.