IC Journal

[willing_sheath]

CANON TIMELINE

September 1845--Born
(June 1849--Kenshin born)
May 1854--Enishi is born, mother dies, Tomoe age 8/9
Spring 1862--betrothed to Kiysatto Akira, marriage set for Spring 1863, Tomoe age 16/17, Enishi age 6/7
Fall 1862--Kiyosatto joins Mimawari-gumi, wedding delayed to Spring 1864, Tomoe age 17, Enishi age 7
(Early 1863--Kenshin quarrels with Hiko and leaves, joins Kiheitai and is taken to Kyoto with Katsura Kogoro, Kenshin age 13/14)

1864
Early March--Kiyosatto is killed in Kyoto
April 4th--news of Kiyosatto's death arrives from Kyoto
Mid-April--Tomoe runs away to Kyoto
Late April--Tomoe arrives in Kyoto and is found by the Yaminobu
Early May--Meets Kenshin and is brought to the Kohagiya
Mid-May--discussion of "madness" with Katsura Kogoro
Late May--window incident, "now a sheath to hold back your madness"
June 5th--Ikedaya Affair
July 18th--Kinmon Incident
Late July--Kenshin and Tomoe are married and go into hiding outside Otsu, Tomoe age 18, Kenshin age 15
Late December--Enishi arrives in Otsu
December 31st--Tomoe dies, Tomoe age 19, Kenshin age 15, Enishi age 10

Comments

May 1864

[willing_sheath]

It has been two weeks. It is somewhat disturbing to me how easily it is to fall into a routine of work for the inn, though I imagine it isn't so different from life in Edo as I had done much the same in our home. Always it has been survival first and everything else later. Kiyosatto-sama's death has been the only time where it wasn't so.

If I didn't know who these people were it would be very easy to see them as any other common men. Put them in a group and it is always the same--bawdy humor with little care as to who is in the room. They have said little to me aside from pleasantries. Perhaps it would be different if I wasn't seen as "Himura's woman". There is that much respect at least. Some of them try to joke with Himura-san in regard to me. He flusters and bristles each time and I can't help but find it amusing with the contrast of the image in my mind to the reality. And then that becomes unsettling as well. How on earth could this... boy have found himself in this position? Surely he was still a child when he was brought into this clan... thirteen or fourteen at the oldest. How long has he been killing? Why did he start? It makes no sense to me, and even with the proof all around me and having seen the evidence with my own eyes I still find myself questioning the validity of who he is. He is soft spoken and unimposing. There is a gentleness about him when he isn't trying to be purposefully off-putting.

I can tell when he's had an assignment. His demeanor changes. He doesn't speak much to begin with, but it is a comfortable sort of silence. After he has killed it is different. There is a weight about him that I can almost feel in the air. He will stand for hours washing his hands over and over despite the fact that there is nothing on them. I have stood and watched him several times now and he ignores me, or tries to. Perhaps he feels me judging him, or trying to. The last time I asked him if he intended to just keep killing like this and the only answer he gave was to plunge his hands back into the water and continue scrubbing at his hands.

I imagine I should feel some sort of satisfaction seeing that he is tormented by his actions... but I don't. I can't help feeling as though I'm looking at someone trapped... What is wrong with me? He is a killer. A murderer. He has killed over one hundred men including Kiyosatto-sama. What sort of woman am I that I can look at him with anything other than hatred?

Re: May 1864

[girlofsteele]

[thirteen or fourteen and being expected to kill. that sounds nightmarish. she knows that her society at her time views adulthood, childhood, and maturity one way and that Tomoe's would have to see them differently and that it's no fair to judge, but at the same time. thirteen or fourteen! that was almost obscenely young. and no one would react the way he apparently did if it wasn't getting to him]