"I don't believe that is so," Shin responds. "To Samurai, true purity of the soul is based more on the motive behind your actions. What pollutes our inner purity is selfishness, bitterness hatred and greed. Cleanse yourself of these emotions and you can become spiritually pure."

"From our brief conversation you don't come across as selfish or filled with hatred." Shintaro didn't sense Tully was filled with hatred, fear was more likely. He didn't feel she knew her place in the world and preferred avoidance over finding the inner strength to stand against those of lesser status but aggressive demeanor.

The topic of how his beliefs dealt with killing another person was both simple and complex. There were plenty of samurai he had seen or heard about how killed without reason, either unwilling or unable to master themselves to avoid needless bloodshed. The time of chaos before the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate he had killed many rebels and even a traitor to the Shinsengumi. He had enjoyed taking life but he never lost control of himself to the point he killed without honour.

"Killing as part of one's duty is honourable and accepted," he responded honestly. "As a samurai and member of the Shinsengumi, killing law breakers, ruffians and rebels was accepted, even expected. If peasants or other lower class members killed, it almost always would be considered a crime depending on the situation."

Tully considered his words for a moment, then frowned.  "Ya mean just because I ain't some fancy name, I can't hurt someone who's tryin' ta hurt Frances?"  She looked up at Shin.  "She's blind, an' so frail...he busted her ribs, put a hole in her lung...she almost died."  Sighing, Tully shrugged.  "He would's killed her, an' me, too.  I'd do it again, even if it meant goin' ta Hell."

There was no way she could have lived with herself if that man had killed Frances.  It was bad enough that he'd terrified her and harmed her, and Tully was still trying to reconcile with that.

"Was my fault," she murmured quietly.  "Thought it was th' church in th' fog, an' I just wanted ta get away from him.  But it was th' Women's shelter..."  The circumstances had been out of her control, but the one thing she could control was fighting back.  "But I don't regret none what I did.  Don't see as that was wrong."  She shrugged again.  "Maybe I'm one'a them Shinsgumi, too?"

Shintaro frowned, remembering the kind blind woman he had helped out at the saloon the day he arrived. Some low life had thought it would be funny to trip her, such a dishonourable action. To think somebody had tried to kill her filled him with anger. He drew a slow breath and let it out, knowing anger wouldn't help anybody. Besides, from what Tully was saying, she stopped the one who had nearly killed Frances, most likely killed him.

"What you did was honourable and definitely not going to send you to hell when death comes for you." Shintaro didn't think it would be necessary to mention if she had killed a samurai, she likely would have been put to death regardless of her reasons. "You definitely didn't need any fancy name to do the honourable thing."

"No, you aren't a Shinsengumi, but you do seem to be an honourable person," Shin responded. He didn't quite understand what she was muttering about but could guess she had a rough life. "Honour is very important to the Japanese and one of the main principals of the code of Bushido, which all samurai live by."

Tully chuckled and shrugged.  "Reckon it'd be easy ta stay honorable if I don't be around people too much!"  After all, if there wasn't anyone to torment her, there was no reason for her not to be honorable!

"Is it much different fer ya here?" she then asked him, looking up.  "Do ya miss home, or did ya even really have one there?"  For Tully, there had never really been a 'home', a place that was safe and comfortable, that she came back to every night.  At least until now, and while most people wouldn't consider a storeroom at the back of a business 'home', it filled the criteria for her.

"Honour isn't about hiding from society," Shin pointed out. "Nor is it connected to the action of others. Those thugs who tormented you and attacked Francis, they are the ones who are acting without honour. A samurai would never torment the weak, in truth they would protect the weak from those thugs."

"Honour is something anybody can uphold, such as defending the helpless as you did with Francis when she was attacked. Being honest, keeping your word, obeying the law and respecting your superiors and elders are also part of being honourable."

"It took me some time to adapt to how life was in American," Shin admitted. "I started learning English before I left Japan and becoming fluent by the time I arrived here was a huge help. Dealing with those who had no respect for anybody not born here was a challenge."

"There are times I do miss Japan." In truth he missed the way Japan was before the Shogunate was abolished and everything he had worked so hard to accomplished fell apart. Even after the war was over and he hadn't been executed for his actions during the early stages of the Boshin War, he was discontent. So many changes were occurring in Japan during the first few years of the Meiji Restoration his home quickly stopped feeling like home anymore. In the end he decided if Japan was going to Westernize completely he might as well move to America. It would hurt less not being around to see his beloved country turning into something completely Western.

Tully had no way to even imagine how life was different in Japan, nor anywhere else for that matter.  She'd only ever been in Nevada and Montana, and there was no tangible difference in the way people lived besides there being more snow here in the winter.

"Virginia City was pretty much like this, only not so many trees, an' plenty more mines."  She thought for a moment, then added, "There's this ridge where ya can see somethin' like a hundred miles ta th' East, an' it's mostly all just...dirt.  Some small trees an' such, an' low hills, but it just seems like it goes on forever."

It was a magnificent view, but it always made her feel small, like the world never ended, but there was nowhere to go.  Maybe that was why she had gone north when she'd finally decided to leave.

"Waddya miss most about Japan?  If it ain't intrudin', of course.  Ain't nothin' I miss about Virginia City."

"America is incredibly vast," Shintaro said, recalling the amazement he felt when he saw the US for the first time. Compared to the islands of Japan, it was immense. Even though he saw the coast of Korea and China as he sailed away from his home on an American black ship, the coast of North America seemed much larger. "I haven't travelled through much of it, mostly just from San Francisco to here. The mountains are impressive especially their snow capped peaks and so many of them. Japan has many mountains and the most impressive is Fiji-Yama."

"No, you're not intruding at all," he responded. Shintaro didn't say anything for a few moments, clearly thinking of what he missed the most about his homeland. "I miss many things, some of which is difficult to put into words. I miss the food mostly, I haven't been able to find familiar food here outside of San Franscisco where I could get rice on a regular basis. Besides food I miss the beauty of Japan and the respect given me by others."

"I reckon Cecil Bartow respects ya plenty now," Tully observed with a grin.  "Never had rice...heard'a it, seen it, but not had it."  She shrugged.  "Sometimes I'd hear some'a th' lessons th' children had, look in on them, pretendin' ta be dustin'er whatnot."  One thing about being a 'servant' was that people tended not to pay you any mind, once you'd learned the places where you were unseen, and the nursery of the children in her care had been one of those place.  The lessons had fascinated her, so she'd taken whatever opportunity she could to listen in.

"Sometimes, real early in th' mornin', when everyone was still sleepin' an' th' Sun was comin' up, I'd go into the library an' look at th' pictures in th' books, seen all sorts'a fanciful things."  She shrugged and chuckled.  "All of it looked made-up, like pyramids an' castles an' some wall that goes fer miles an' miles...Atlantis, Paris, Athens, Avalon...Don't seem like none'a them are real, but if they are, I'd truly like ta see them one day."  Not that that would ever happen!

"Rice is a stable in Japan and China," Shintaro said. "I expect I could arrange to have some brought here from San Francisco, quite a bit is imported for the Chinese who live there." He had no idea how much it would cost to bring it all the way to Kelispell, most likely more than he could afford. If he was more versed in how to cultivate rice, he could try to grow it. Something to think about later.

"The taste is similar but different than potatoes, less grainy and more filling. If you are wealthy enough to have milled rice, it's even better tasting." Shintaro remembered eating white rice nearly every meal once he joined the Shinsengumi. Previously it was mostly a treat his family would enjoy during festivals and other special events.

Shintaro realized Tully couldn't read, something he had learned at the local domain school. Perhaps such schools weren't available to all civilians in America. His English reading skills weren't as good as his Japanese but he was always improving given the importance of not only speaking but being able to read and write English in his life now.

"You weren't able to attend a terakoya when you were young?" he asked, then realized she likely had no idea what a terakoya was. "A church school...we have them in Japan for commoners to attend to to learn basic skills, I don't know if American has anything similar."

"There's schools," Tully explained, "only just th' Tully's had their own teacher that came to th' house, so th' children didn't hafta go there."  She shrugged.  "Didn't see th' need fer me ta learn, but I tried at first, just listenin' in, but then they always found somethin' for me ta be doin'.  Heck, I didn't even have a proper name until th' orphanage, an' they called me Tully after th' family, an' Nevada fer th' state."

She wasn't sure that it had been exactly spiteful, but regardless, she had been excluded, and that had, in part, led to her rebellion and eventually landed her in an orphanage.

"I know things they don't," she then declared proudly, "how ta start a fire an' find shelter in th' rain."  How to find food when you were hungry and clothes when you were desperate.

"Miss Orr is teachin' me ta read, an' so's Mr. McVey an' Miss Bowen, so I'm gonna be proper educated one'a these days!"  She laughed at that, then shrugged.  "There's Sunday School, too, but that's just about Jesus an' God an' th' Bible.  Reckon they figure ya already know about readin', but then, some of it don't hardly seem like English!"

She was progressing fairly well now with her reading, and was applying herself as much as she could, but some of it wasn't so easy.  "Mr. McVey says if I can get good at it, there's plenty'a stories I can read...Ivanhoe, Roland, Triste and Isold...like, knights an' princesses an' castles.  Ya got castles where ya from?  Japan?  An' Kings an' whatnot?  Or a President, like we got?"

She was far more talkative than normal, but Shin put her at ease and didn't seem to mind.