Have you ever tried to understand the japanese calendar compared to the occidental one ? It is an extraordinary thing.

Heisuke and Shinpachi were fighting for food, again! Chizuru sported an uneasy smile upon her face, trapped between Harada and Okita at the back of the room. None of the three commanders reacted to the loud – insanely loud! – cries of the young captain, struggling with a ruthless opponent.

This raised my hackles, but I knew not to intervene to preserve Heisuke's honour. My past dealings with the guy's code had already trampled his mercilessly; it was no use adding insult by stating he couldn't defend himself.

Sanan, Hijikata and Kondō sat in silence, eating fried fish as if it was ash, a dejected look upon their faces. I'd not seen them so depressed since Itō's assassination, but their world had just been rocked again. On 9th of November, the 15th Shōgun resigned from his post in favour of the emperor; they already called it the Meiji restoration.

The Kyōto commisionary, aka Mastudaira Dono's post, was abolished. Aizu's Daimyō had been sacked, orphaning the Shinsengumi of their founder and main support in the capital.

Albeit Chōshū and Satsuma clans protested that The Shōgun still had far too much power, and wanted to dismantle his organisation brick by brick, including Daimyōs – the equivalent of our feudal lords – the Shinsengumi was now uncertain about its path. For two hundred years, the Togukawa's Shōgunate had ruled Japan with an iron fist; they were the steel that allowed the system to linger. Today, though, their supreme chief had just relinquished his power to another authority. And even though Emperor Meiji was but a teenager, they now bowed to him and his supremacy.

Unsettling, right? And none of this fixed the problem of foreign intrusions in the country. The imperialists were like Itō; they wanted Japan free of western influence. Hence the modernisation of the army, and the creating of Rasetsu. A mad dash for power, when they knew that the arsenal coming at them would crush them without mercy.

For a moment, I wondered if the war I felt coming would oppose us to westerners, on behalf of the empire. Would I fight my own countrymen? My own culture ? It would be ironic, but not unheard of. I had faced Frenchmen – corsairs – during the last war, and didn't care one bit. My loyalty was to the Shinsengumi now, as it had been to the Surprise's crew and its captain at the time.

Politics was so complicated, so out of my grasp that I didn't make head or tails of it. Fortunately, Kondō-san and, surprisingly, Nagakura-san were always ready to explain some of it. I felt like a cat trying to find the end of a woollen ball.

For a moment, I watched Heisuke and Shinpachi struggle, and a smile lifted the corner of my lips. They reminded me of the knights of the round table after a boozy night. Damn, politics had been much easier in Arthurian times. Kick the Saxons' ass, flip the bird to the Romans, and make an alliance between Picts and Britons. There, a Kingdom had popped. All hail to the King.

"I'm gonna kill you for that!"

Heisuke held his chopsticks in the air, ready to battle the bigger man. I snorted in my bowl.

"You really need to be more creative with death threats," I scolded the young captain. This got their attention, and I prayed it would keep them sane for a moment. A quote from Buffy came to my mind.

"You could suggest to rip his ribcage and make a hat out of it..."

Several pairs of rounded eyes greeted my proposal, and I cringed; those guys probably had very few notions of anatomy ... not enough to picture what a full skeleton looked like, maybe?

"All right, maybe too scientific. Pluck your eyes out with a spoon? How about make a canoe out of your skin?"

Heisuke addressed me a large smile, but it was Okita who broke the snickers with his usual drawl.

"My my, Kitsu-chan is devious. Don't let her in at night in your quarters..."

This earned a scoff from me, and a pissed look from Hijikata who seemed to be debating whether to scold Sōji and sell himself, or let it slide altogether. I furtively nodded to him, and returned to my meal, satisfied with the settled atmosphere.

I should have known it wouldn't last.

"Don't need any ladies' threats to squash that insect," Shinpachi boasted, rolling his muscles for show. I sighed. Hopeless.

A short battle ensued until Heisuke started howling, holding up his throat. This time, Hijikata had enough. "Knock it off!" he bellowed. All of us jumped; his voice, strong and harsh, silenced the belligerents at once. Oni no Fukuchō huffed and returned to his rice balls ... the item broke into pieces as he tried to pick it up. Hijikata scowled, his face positively murderous.

"What's with this?" he muttered, his voice dragging in annoyance.

"Neee," Okita smirked. "Those rice balls are too big, Heisuke."

"I know," the young captain admitted in defeat. "I just thought, why the hell make three, when you can make one?"

Harada chuckled as I considered how to tackle the massive item in my plate. Eventually, I decided that using the miso soup spoon might do the trick, and poured the rice into the empty bowl. With the current agitation, no one would remark the unorthodox method, right?

Unfortunately, my favourite brat's eyes were everywhere.

"Not too much of a handful, I hope, Kitsu-chan? Not too used to big balls, perhaps ...?"

"Sōji!"

How often did Hijikata bellow Sōji's name the same way ? Why he still bothered was beyond me; Okita-brat didn't give a damn. I giggled then, thoroughly amused; some of the captains still had trouble understanding how different from their women I was.

"I am of the opinion that bigger is not necessarily better, Sōji-kun. It's all a matter of skill."

I caught a look of disbelief upon Okita's face before he smirked. But his side, Shinpachi scoffed, absolutely nonplussed by the sex talk.

"Do you hear that Heisuke, you still have a chance with women after all!"

This time, Kondō sighed. "Nagakura-kun, there are women in this room." He seemed so weary, that poor man, that the captain just hummed in response.

"Don't worry, Kondō-san," I sniggered. "I've heard worse..."

And done my fair share. But I left it at that; there was no necessity to tell about my long lost virginity. Hijikata was the only one who knew I'd been married. Then my eyes caught Chizuru's. Her cheeks were so red, her head dipped down into her miso soup that I cringed. Surrounded by this rowdy bunch, I had totally forgotten that a fragile psyche was having a sex talk crash course.

Still, after three years living in a soldier's compound ... how innocent could she be? I addressed her with flourish.

"Chizuru-chan, you and I need to have a talk about bees and flowers...", then my eyes travelled to the tall man looming by her side. "You never know when you might need the knowledge, after all."

The little woman blinked at me, looking terrified. "Hai, Kitsu-san," she breathed.

Oh, this was nasty, and I suddenly felt bad for dragging her in the spotlight. But damn, Okita's uncomfortable fidgeting, by her side, was worth the word.

Payback time, Okita-brat.

His eyes narrowed at me, and I grinned evilly.

"Perhaps we should find another source of conversation," Sanan mused from his seat. Always so subtle ... the perfect counterpart of Hijikata's bluntness.

Great, at least, our banter had shaken the stupor out of our commanders. Gentle conversation struck at the back of the room within the Baka trio – strangely subdued – and I roamed my brain to find something to entertain them with. Given I sat near the door, I was closer to them than anyone else save from Saitō.

"Why do you wear glasses, Sanan-san?" I blurted out.

"Because I need them," he smirked.

Smart-ass. Hijikata snorted in his tea, and I rolled my eyes; getting a straight answer out of Sanan was doomed to fail. Unless I left him no room to flee. So I went for the kill.

"You perfectly know what I meant, Colonel. Myopia? Astigmatism? Hypermetropism ?"

"Short-sighted, which can be pretty annoying in battle."

I nodded thoughtfully. Short sighed – myopia – could impair his fighting, especially when you needed to anticipate and calculate an opponent's blade trajectory. My best friend, at home, was so near-sighted that she couldn't see a car coming down the street.

"Does it mean you cannot see from afar? Or from close?" Harada asked.

Sanan made a show to remove his glasses, and blinked once.

"It means, Harada-kun, that if you weren't wearing red, I could mistake you for Sōji-kun."

Laughter rose at the jab, and I smiled. Funny, how none of the captains had ever dared asking this personal question to a man that fought by their side for years. Sanan really was a commander through and through; no one dared question him, or approach private matters. They teased Fukuchō mercilessly, but never dared turning their sights upon the scientist.

The Colonel retrieved his wired spectacles, and I wondered when the art of sealing glasses into a frame became common knowledge. After all, Stephen, too, had been wearing some in 1804. I surmised I'd be putting another note in my book to research when I came back. If I ever did. This thought sobered me up so much that Sanan's next address startled me.

"Any other question; Kitsu-kun ?"

Mischievious man. Had he caught my pensive state? Was this revenge for putting him on the spot earlier? But his eyes gave nothing away; he was so unreadable that he might have beaten James Bond at poker.

As the atmosphere became lively again, I remembered a promise I had made to a white-haired Sanan, months ago.

"Always. I need to understand your calendar."

The scientist nodded, the familiar gleam of excitement shining in his eyes.

"Perhaps you should just move over here with your rice ball."

I laughed out loud, catching an appalled look from Hijikata. Whomever thought Sanan a frigid brainiac was missing a great part of his personality. I moved both cushion and food to join the commanders; it surely was against etiquette, but I'd been invited after all. Thus started a lesson over the moon calendar inherited from the Chinese dynasties. Kondō-san chimed in, now and then, about historical and legendary figures such as Emperor Wu of Han while Hijikata hummed in his tea now and then.

In the end, though, I realised that the Japanese calendar worked with the moon, for the first day of the month always took place on a new moon. It also used a six days' sequence like we would use our seven, with lucky days and less favourable ones.

"Wait," I frowned. "How many days are there in a year then?"

"354, it's an adjustment from the Taichu calendar."

Which meant eleven days less than earth's revolution. In that case...

"But ... don't you have season shifting?", I asked, puzzled. Eleven days corresponded to one third of a month, which would cause, pretty early, summer to come in January and vice versa.

"Hai," Kondō confirmed. "There are seven months added per period of nineteen years to keep seasons aligned."

I blinked, my brain going into overdrive. None of those rules held a common denominator, how did they even make sense of it? The truth was that they did, while I was pretty incapable of wrapping my head around the concept. Sanan sported an amused look when he saw how I struggled to transpose both calendars in sync.

What of birthdays? Did they shift as well? Did they actually calculate 365 days from the previous year to know when they were born?

"How ... how do you celebrate your birthday, then?"

Both Kondō and Hijikata exchanged a startled look; they had no idea what I was blabbering about. But Sanan pushed his glasses upon his nose, understanding my plight. Gods, I would never thank that man enough for bridging our two cultures together.

"We do celebrate at the beginning of the year."

I frowned: "Altogether ?"

Sanan seemed taken aback by mu puzzlement and I slid a glance to a clueless Kondō. "Hai. How do your people celebrate ageing ?"

Incredible ! Once more, the Japanese turned individuality into togethernress. Now, I was the one feeing stupid. Well, that was a good way to avoid the issue and make a point. Especially for people born in intercalary months, like the 13th. It would be akin to our unfortunates 29th of February babies.

"We celebrate on the day we were born every year."

"That makes a lot of celebrations," the bespectacled man mused, absentely stroking his chin.

I grinned: "Yes, the more the merrier."

But deep down, I knew the opulence of the modern western world might seem completely foreign. Outrageous, even, to a culture that spared no effort to efficiency.

"Mm, that's an interesting concept. Which would mean I would celebrate my birthday..."

"As if...", Hijikata snorted. The Colonel sent him a playful glare, and I smiled ... only to watch Sanan's eyes gleam with a new idea. He then schooled his features, and went on as if he'd never been interrupted. "Very well, Hijikata-kun would celebrate his birthday on..."

Fukuchō's brows furrowed, his whole body ready to spring.

"Neeee!" he protested. "Don't go trading..."

Sanan ignored him entirely, well aware that the other captains had grown bored with the discussion a long time ago. " ... 5th of the fifth month, every year."

Fukuchō groaned, hiding his face in his hand as for a moment. His attitude caused a smile to bloom upon my lips. 5th of may. Taurus or Gemini? I'd have to find the correspondence on his birth year... This meant, however, that their age actually shifted from a few days every year according to intercalary months popping up in the calendar. Fascinating.

"Incidentally," Kondō-san added. "This is also Tango no sekku, the day dedicated to boys' good health and growth."

I perked up at this, giving a thoughtful look to our Fukuchō who was blushing from the attention.

"Funny," I mused. "I was born on woman's day."

Kondō's puzzled look caused me to add: "8th of March. Er, the third month of the year." Sanan smirked, and I saw his eyes twinkle in mischief behind the spectacles. Fortunately, seriousness returned to his face as he followed the initial line of thoughts, forgoing further teasing of our Vice Commander.

"But it wouldn't work anyway, because the fifth month of the year doesn't start at the same astrological moment than it did last year", I retorted.

Sanan nodded. "Yes. That's why we just age together on the first day of the year, knowing that in a span of nineteen years, it will correspond to nineteen revolutions around earth."

Of course! I slapped my forehead theatrically. "Damn, I'm so single-minded sometimes. It is obvious. You simply are a little younger than the standard earth revolution, right? Until your calendar catches up."

"That's right."

"Well, it's neater than our old Gregorian Calendar. I think a Pope had to skip five months because he was fed up with flowers blooming in January."

A flicker of interest shone in his eyes.

"Oh? Which Pope was that?" I deflated. "I have no idea. Sorry, history is not my strongest suit. Anyway, now we have 365.25 days, which is pretty close to reality."

Both Sanan and Kondō seemed a bit disappointed, but the scientist didn't allow this to deter him. If my historical knowledge was lacking, he could count on me in the physics department. Which, incidentally, was the one I worked with at the moment.

"So how long is the earth year, exactly?" Sanan enquired.

Ah! This was something I knew by heart ever since I'd gone to geology school. Why was the number stuck in my head? Just like Pi, I just kept it stored for further use. Or disuse ... for who actually needed to know the exact time of earth's year, uh? Apart from a very curious Sanan-san, of course.

"365 days, 5 hours, 59 minutes and 16 seconds. So we have an extra day every fourth year."

"So you see, your age also deviates from a quarter of a day every year."

Nailed. Gaping, I realised that Sanan was, once more, absolutely right. I had never considered that no calendar could ever be exact. My scientific mind wasn't used to changing base, but I was glad that Sanan had pointed out the slight shift in my reference; it allowed me to broaden my mind. To gather than, even though I knew figures and equations, the western world wasn't the depositary of all exactitude.

"Your precision is astounding, though."

"We have tools, now, that the others didn't have. Which, in retrospect, commands respect for the old ways."

Sanan hummed, and I watched as both Kondō-san and Hijikata exchanged another look. I didn't get time to dwell on it, for the scientist's thirst for knowledge descended upon me.

"Do you tools allow you to observe other planets?" Sanan asked.

I nodded, amused by his almost boyish enthusiasm.

"I've got so much to tell you, I wouldn't know where to start."

"Perhaps we should move this to my office."

I smiled; seeing Sanan excited brought a balm to my heart. I'd do anything to get him to dream of something else than his impending death, or descent into folly. As I acquiesced, though, my eyes drifted to Hijikata. His features were closed, his face half-hidden behind the dark strands that usually danced about his face. Damn, he looked sour, our Fukuchō.

I'd have to ask Chizuru to get me some sweets at the market, without poison. Perhaps that would do the trick.

So now you know that every fiction where they celebrate birthdays before the occidental calendar was adopted (1869) is a sham hehe :)