Crimson
This is the opening line of a rather hilarious episode that turns exceptionally dark at the end. Yamazaki is sent on a mission to investigate Masuya, a man they suspect to be a traitor. Tetsu desperately wants to prove to Hijikata that he's just as good as Yamazaki when it comes to shinobi work, and he follows Yamazaki's lead, dressing himself in a kimono and taking to the streets. However, whilst Yamazaki's beauty stuns all who he (she?!) comes into contact with, everyone repulses Tetsu on sight. Honestly, he looked like a lousy imitation of a clown, but I'll leave it up to you to decide when you watch that episode.
Yamazaki gets really angry with Tetsu for following him around, and tells Tetsu that he's a 'halfwit' who can't even do his simple job as page right. At the same time, three good-for-nothing samurai are kicking up a fuss outside Masuya's shop. Tetsu, demoralized, is about to walk away when he hears one of the samurai call Masuya a "halfwit". At this, he turns, and yells "I'm not a halfwit!!!" The samurai take this as an act of defiance and start taunting him instead. Incidentally, the ronin are bullying Saya, a cute girl about Tetsu's age (and equally short too). This is also the episode that Tetsu and Saya first meet.
Tetsu attacks the samurai in typical Tetsu-style, just flailing about him and scoring lucky hits when the samurai are off-guard. There comes to a point where the samurai get tired of the little red-haired pest that just won't seem to go away or be intimidated, and one of them draws a sword. At this juncture, Okita steps in. He taunts the samurai, saying that it is very 'unbecoming' for a samurai to draw a sword over a 'petty quarrel'. Just as Tetsu is about to call Okita by name, Shinpachi steps in and says that Okita 'isn't anyone worth naming.'. Tetsu calls Shinpachi 'the short one', to which Shinpachi retorts 'you're one to talk!' Shinpachi and Sano take care of 2 of the ronin, but the last one disappears.
Tetsu and Saya escape with Okita, running through a back alley where the last ronin confronts Okita. Tetsu screams out Okita's name, after which the samurai realizes just which "Okita" he's referring to, Okita of the Shinsengumi. Okita is then forced to kill him to prevent him from running to warn his Choushuu comrades.
Tetsu is deeply traumatised by this, and confronts Okita about it when they get back to the tonsho. He angrily demands why Okita didn't just let the samurai go since 'he'd already won'. Okita refuses to answer at first, not wanting Tetsu to know that it was actually his fault that that he had to kill the samurai. Tetsu presses for an answer, and is horrified to learn that he is the cause of the ronin's death.
Okita then shows Tetsu the 'Internal Rules and Regulations of the Shinsengumi', or, the 'rules for living like an oni'. Tetsu stares in shock at it, and it is only then he realizes just what it means to be a member of the Shinsengumi.
The focus then shifts back to the Choushuu, where Masuya is trying to explain what happened that afternoon when the ronin were bullying Saya. Yoshida executes the ronin in question without mercy.
The episode ends with the Choushuu-hanshi that Masuya is talking to declaring what it is to be a member of Choushuu, and the values that are indispensible to them. Frankly, he sounds like a raving lunatic to me, and I can't remember exactly what he said. When I watch it again I'll update it.
