Hallo! I return and I bring a new chapter! Aren't you all exited? Um...This one might be a bit slow...I guess it depends what mood you're in. In any case, I like it, and I hope you do too. Anyway, here you go:
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Rurouni Kenshin.
The five stepped out of the portal and found themselves on the outskirts of a city, presumably, they were located just outside of Tokyo, or rather, Edo. Cherry blossom trees lined the side of the dirt road that led into the city. The road wasn't very busy, as it was early, and when they could, most people traveled by train. Though it wasn't as crowded as usual, there was still a steady stream of people going in and out of the city.
"Well, now what…?" Kuwabara questioned, being the first to take in his new surroundings. "How should we find this 'Tomochi' guy?"
Kurama looked up, turning his emerald gaze on to Kuwabara. "I would suggest that we ask around and find out about Tomochi's past victims, as well as seeing if he has announced any new targets," he advised calmly.
After the course of action was decided, the group made its way into the city, finding themselves caught amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The sounds of the city soon seemed to engulf them: on all sides they could hear various street vendors trying to sell their wares, there was the clatter of carts and occasionally the sound of horses hooves. Always in the background there was the low murmur of voices, speaking about the rising prices of rice or just passing on the most recent gossip.
The team split up, hoping to cover more ground than what they would achieve as a group. They agreed to meet again in a few hours to report back to each other whether they had learned any information or not.
Now on his own, Kuwabara wandered the streets pulling aside every so often to question various people: an older looking man carrying a barrel of rice on his back, a young woman walking with her small child, various men who looked as though they could have been part of a gang back home, and several others. Despite the wide variety of people Kuwabara chose to question, none of them seemed to be able to tell him anything about Tomochi, or even just a wandering samurai.
In the cases of Hiei, Botan and Kurama, there was also very little luck. Hiei, being as uptight and stubborn as ever, refused to even speak to the people in the streets. Instead, he chose to haunt the roof tops, using his hidden jagan eye to see the thoughts of the humans below him. Despite this added aid, he learned nothing. Equally fruitless, the people Kurama and Botan questioned either chose not to speak the truth, or truly knew nothing about their rouge demon. It seemed as though Tomochi had gone to vast efforts to make himself relatively unknown.
Even Yusuke seemed to be having intense amounts of trouble learning anything, until, by chance, he struck gold. He had wandered around for a good quarter of an hour, asking people left and right and learning nothing in the process. Eventually, he found himself in front of a kenjutsu--sword arts dojo. The dojo sign, located to the right of the large, closed doors, read Kamiya Kashin Ryu. Yusuke found himself vaguely interested, and decided to try his luck at the dojo. After all, Tomochi was posing as a swordsman, too, right?
From the outside, the dojo appeared small, and when it came right down to it, it could even have been called unkempt, as though it hadn't really been used in quite some time. There were a few trees here and there that littered the yard, and a few more could be seen in the back. It was quiet, lacking the metal sound of swords, grunts of fighters, as well as the clatter of armor one would expect to hear inside a school of fighting. In any case, the silence did not seem befitting of a dojo.
Urameshi pushed open the front gate, the hinges creaking slightly. He was about to enter into the main yard when he was stopped by a guy who seemed to be even taller than Kuwabara, who already outranked Yusuke in height. The man had spiked up brown hair that was held back by a red head band. His open jacket as well as his hair blew in the wind as he faced Yusuke, cracking his knuckles in a menacing manner, prepared to 'remove' any intruder that happened to be unwelcome. In this case, that unwelcome intruder was Yusuke.
"What're you doin' here? What's your name?" the stranger demanded, his voice demanding and imposing.
Yusuke couldn't help but take a step back: this guy wasn't your usual annoying thug. "Whoa, hold on there buddy! I didn't mean to intrude. I'm Urameshi Yusuke. I was just checkin' the place out, really," he said, putting his hands up, palms forward, showing he didn't mean any harm. It was probably better not to cause trouble.
"Humph. Haven't you ever heard of knocking? Oi, Kaoru, you've got a visitor; get your butt out here!" he called over his shoulder. "Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, my name's Sagara Sansosuke," he added, turning back to Yusuke.
From behind Sanosuke ran a girl with long black hair. She kept it tied back in a high pony tail, but that didn't seem to matter too much as it was coming loose. Sweat beaded down her forehead, and as she ran, the shinai she held in her right hand flailed dangerously. A young boy trailed after her, also holding a practice sword, and he snickered as hers almost hit Sano in the face. His messy black hair stuck to his hot skin as sweat dripped down his forehead as well. From what Yusuke could guess, they had been practicing in the dojo. He must not have heard them.
"Oh, hello!" the girl greeted, panting slightly, though that subsided in a moment.. "I'm Kamiya Kaoru, assistant master of this dojo. What brings you here?" she inquired: it wasn't often her small dojo had guests.
"Uh…Hi…I'm Urameshi Yusuke…Heh…I kinda have a few questions to ask…" he said slowly, now rather uncomfortable. His presence had, in the end, caused more of a fuss than he had wanted.
"I see. In that case, why don't you come inside?" Kaoru offered, motioning with the shinai for him to enter.
Yusuke walked in, following slowly after Kaoru, Sanosuke, and the boy. As he entered, he looked around curiously, taking in his new surroundings. In the back of the room was a sword shrine, common to all dojo, and on the wall behind it was a plaque that read Kamiya Kashin Ryu. Next to it, a few other plaques listed the students. It seemed to Yusuke that there was a rather small amount of students, there being only two plaques that actually listed names: Tsukayama Yutaro, and Myojin Yahiko. The former was only a reserved spot. It seemed, as he turned his eyes back to the kid from before, that he the only active student at the dojo.
After a moment, the spirit detective took a seat on the floor, sitting cross-legged before Kaoru and the others. "I was wondering if any of you had heard of a rouge samurai--a ronin. He's supposed to be really strong, and from what I've heard, he's pretty new to this area as well. I think he's behind some of the recent murders that I've been hearing about around town. Have you heard of him?"
His question seemed to have a huge impact as the boy leapt up from where he had been sitting, the answer bursting from his lips before Kaoru could even begin to react. With anger crossing his face, he cried: "That's the guy that's after Kenshin!"
Well, there's the new chapter. I guess it's a bit of a cliffhanger. Any constructive criticism or guidance would be appreciated. Flame if you feel the need for I have hot dogs. Until next time!