Finding Kenshin
Chapter 1
The moon made its nightly course over the starry sky. The trees rustled in the gentle summer breeze and the crickets whistled loudly, but those were about the only sounds that night. The walls of the Kamiya dojo stood stiffly beside the worn road, its doors shut to protect its inhabitants.
Kenshin Himura laid on his futon, eyes staring at the ceiling of his room, deep in thought. The calm and serene Ki that emanated from Kaoru's rooms adjacent to him soothed the redheaded Samurai in his thoughts. But no matter how hard he tried that night, he couldn't go to sleep.
Silently slipping out of his futon, Kenshin stood up quietly and found the new, dark-blue gi that Kaoru had bought him. He wrapped it around his bare body and braced his Sakabatou at his waist. After securing his outfit, Kenshin slinked to the door and gently slid open the paper doors.
The gentle breathing coming from down the hall continued.
"Good, Kaoru-dono hasn't been disturbed." Kenshin silently voiced his thoughts before setting out into the courtyard where the moon shone brightly overhead. Kenshin stood for a moment in the nightly breeze.
The scent of smoke suddenly caught his senses. The seasoned swordsman turned his head into the direction of the smell and saw, to his dismay, a sky painted red. He could already hear the distant crackling of a raging flame.
"Kaoru-dono!"
The Kamiya Kasshin adjutant master woke to the urgent call of Kenshin Himura, her adopted boarder. She drowsily pushed herself off of the futon and saw the shadow of Kenshin outside her door, his shoulders were stiff and his posture was tense.
"What is it Kenshin? What time is it?" She asked tiredly while one hand rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"Kaoru-dono, you must get up!" The apparent sense of urgency with which Kenshin spoke caught Kaoru's attention, "a fire has started near here, and you must get out of the house quickly before it reaches the dojo!" Kenshin paused, "get up quickly, I'll go alert the people living near by." His voice faded as the sound of footsteps sped away down the hallway.
Kaoru's training kicked in after a moment. She climbed out of her futon and quickly changed into her training outfit. After grabbing her favorite boken from off the wall, she ran outside.
"Kenshin!" She yelled into the night, trying to find him, but there was no reply, she looked to the East, and sure enough, the sky was painted red from the fire, "shit, it'll get here soon." Kaoru didn't know what to do, never before has a fire threatened her dojo. After contemplating for a few seconds, she thought that helping to fight the fire would be the best solution. She ran to the well and found the water bucket, after disconnecting it from the rope binding it, she ran through the main gate towards where the fire was.
BattousaiI think all the neighbors have been woken up, damn, who would've thought that a perfectly peaceful night could turn out like this.
I took a moment to survey the location of the fire.
If I remember correctly, the fire is coming from the direction of the department of internal affairs.
If THAT building burns down, then the morals of Japan will be crushed. That fire has to be stopped!
I turned and made a full sprint towards the fire. I wonder if Kaoru-dono has gotten out of the house yet, she better have, or she'll be in great danger.
No time to worry about her, right now, I should put stopping this fire as my top priority.
The Adjutant masterWhere the heck did Kenshin go! That idiot, why would he just run off like that!
I noticed that a lot of people were out of bed already, still in their sleeping robes, and running away from the fire.
At least the good news is everyone knows that there is a fire, well, the bad news is that they're all running away. Can't they see that it'll be much more beneficial to help stop the fire rather than running!
BattousaiI rounded one final corner and, to my dismay, my suspicions were confirmed. The department of internal affairs was burning. And it wasn't JUST burning; it was engulfed in flames; even from my distance, I could feel waves of heat rushing over me. The department of internal affairs is a big building; this fire must have been burning for at least an hour to engulf the whole thing. If my experience with fires in the Bakumatsu had taught me anything, it is that this building was beyond saving.
Shit
I spotted a group of police officers and some residents already helping to put out the fire. I run up to a young officer who was busy fighting the fire. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face me.
"I am Kenshin Himura, explain the situation to me, are there anyone stuck inside the building?" the officer immediately recognizes me.
"Oh, Himura-san! I'm glad you're here!" His voice is trembling like crazy, "usually by this time, everyone is gone. So we don't know why this building would catch fire. Unless someone deliberately set fire to it."
"Can the fire be contained before it spreads?" I asked urgently, noting a loud thump from inside the building, most likely from a collapsed pillar.
"Yeah, it'll be easy, the building is surrounded by a huge courtyard, and so we should be able to keep it from spreading to other houses."
I give the boy a pat on the shoulder before looking for a bucket of water…
The fire of Tokyo blazed for the better part of the night. It wasn't until the sun rose on the second morning that the charcoaled frame of the building finally collapsed in a heap of rubble, only a few walls were left standing, sticking out like tombstones from the ruin.
Kenshin was one of a few officers among the rubble, looking for clues to the fire, he was tired; after a valiant effort put up by both the men of the police department and helpful civilians, at least the fire was contained to just the internal affairs building, and nowhere else. Kenshin fingered the black surface of what appeared to be the remains of a window frame and the material immediately crumpled into dust. Nothing was left.
"Okubo-san! Where is Okubo-san!" The panicked cry caught Kenshin's attention and he turned to see a short, stout man standing stiffly before a group of police officers. The man must have been referring to Okubo Toshimichi, the minister of internal affairs.
Naturally, Kenshin kept an ear open to what the man was saying as he resumed his own investigations.
"I just heard about this fire this morning, so I came as quick I possibly could!" he blurted urgently. Kenshin turned and saw the frantic wrinkles pasted on the man's face. He was serious, his fists were tightly balled at his sides and his outfit was hastily done; beads of sweat were rolling down the side of his face as his eyes darted from place to place quickly, as if looking for something.
"Owaji-san, please calm down." a young officer said, placing one gloved hand on the trembling shoulder of Owaji. "The fire started late last night, normally, everyone in the building except the guards would have already went home by then."
"But," Owaji paused momentarily before continuing, "but I already checked at Okubo-san's home, he isn't home. Where else could he be!"
"Owaji-dono, there isn't any reason to be so panicked about the situation." Owaji turned his attention from the police officers onto a red-headed swordsman who was approaching from the rubble.
"You are Himura Battousai, Okubo-san often speaks of you." He averted his eyes from Kenshin and wiped some sweat from his face as the former-hitokiri came closer. Kenshin kept a close eye on Owaji's face, noting any and all suspicious tremors.
"Owaji-dono," Kenshin began slowly, "why are you so worried about Okubo-dono?" Kenshin paused a moment, "surely there isn't any reason to believe that he was in this building when it caught fire. When this one came upon the scene late last night, I did not sense anyone inside the burning building at all." Owaji kept his eyes leveled with the ground and refused to answer.
"Himura-san!" Kenshin and the officers turned to the call for Kenshin. An officer, already out of his uniforms and his face was covered in a fine layer of charcoal, stopped in front of the group. "We, we found a body amongst the rubble!" There was a moment of silence as the officers stood numbly, but Kenshin was in motion.
"Take me to the site of the body, quickly." he cast a final glance behind him towards Owaji, who still stood, staring at the ground before following the officer into the fray.
The adjutant masterI sat beside the stream as police officers hurried about, carrying all sorts of goods. I never knew that we had so many of them in Tokyo, there has to be at least 200 of the police running about.
Even after a whole night spent fighting the fire, we still couldn't save the building. Oh well, at least the fire didn't spread to other houses, or I'd have a lot more things to worry about right now.
I took a sip from my cup. I still haven't found Kenshin after the entire night. I hate it when he just takes everything onto his own shoulders; he always treats me as if I were a liability, when I'm not. When I get my hands on him, I'll give him a taste of my rage.
Just then, I caught a flash of red amongst the crowd and I instantly knew that it was Kenshin. No one else in my entire life had had the distinctive red hair that Kenshin has. I stood up from my resting place, and after dusting off my hakama, I chased after him. Kenshin may not seem it, but he is in with the government, and if I'm to get any information on this fire, it'll be best to stick with him.
BattousaiOwaji is suspicious, he may be Okubo-dono's butler, but he is acting strangely. He had already said that he came straight here from home, and later claims that he had first checked at Okubo's house. And then he wouldn't stare me in the eye. He is definitely up to something; I should speak to him after everything is settled here.
"Himura-san, this is the body." The prompt from the officer I was following woke me from my thoughts; I looked down at the ground and saw a body already covered in a straw mat. I kneeled down to the ground and lifted the mat so that I could see the face of the victim. The first thing that came to me was the sickening smell of a roasted body. And then I saw the victim's face, it was badly mutilated by the fire, but I could just make out the basic features of his face.
It can't be.
My head whipped towards the officer in charge.
"Is this who I think it is?" If that body is Okubo, then this must be not just a simple fire. The policeman tried to find something to look at besides me, what is it with these people. I stepped forward and grabbed his collar. "IS this who I think it is!" It was no longer a question, I demanded an answer, and the officer finally turned to look at me. His eyes were swimming with tears. Slowly, he nodded.
I dropped him to the ground, noticing that the officers there began to slowly back away from me. Why?
I caught myself, I should control my anger, I need to investigate this situation more deeply. First I need to find Owaji. If anyone knows whether the body is really Okubo, it is him.
I turned and tried to find Owaji, but he was gone.
Author's note: I already have 5 chapters of this story done, and I'll update in equal intervals depending on how many reviews I get, yes, I am a review whore.
Story wise, this is set in the 4th year of Meiji, yes, the fourth. Kenshin is 22 years old. Kaoru is 18 years old. I changed their ages and the time frame because it would be more beneficial to the flow of my story and some of the events.
Hopefully you'll enjoy this CANON story, and don't forget to review!