Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but Midori was my idea.
Midori lurked around the gates of the Kamiya Dojo, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. A shout of fury split the air, and Midori let out a sigh. Kaoru and Yahiko were fighting again. From the sounds issuing from the training dojo, they were trying to bring the building down as they pounded away at one another.
Midori thought about trying to track down a good fight for herself, anything to lessen the crushing tension that had plauged her for the past several days, since the disaster the night the Akabeko was destroyed. But such a wish was useless; the only person she knew aside from Kenshin who might be able to give her a good fight was Sanosuke, and Midori suspected there would be hell to pay for the both of them if a certain lady doctor found the two of them fighting for fun. Sanosuke was still, even after all this time, on strick orders not to overexert his left hand, which had been mangled badly when he had punch Makoto Shishio in the head with his Futae no Kiwame technique and it had backfired. Megumi would skin him alive if he disobeyed her command, and Midori would fare worse for asking him to do so.
So instead she paced the insufficiant length of the Kamiya Dojo's courtyard, feeling the closeness of the town more than she had in months. Paced, and listened to Yahiko shout his demands and then beg for Kaoru to teach him the succession techinques of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. The two had been fighting and arguing with one another in the training dojo since around noon; it was nearly dusk now. Their bickering had given Midori a killer headache, but experiance over the past year had taught her that it was futile to attempt to stop those two once they got going. Short of scaring them half to death with her particularly lethal glares and getting a lecture from Kenshin later, she would just have to wait until they tired themselves out and stopped for the day.
Midori wished that Kenshin wasn't being such an ass about letting her leave the dojo for a while. She wanted space, and peace, and a measure of quiet. She was not likely to get any of those surrounded as she was by people. The tension was starting to seriously wear on her nerves.
But worse than the claustrophobia and the tension was the waiting.
Waiting for another attack. Waiting to see who would be targeted next. Waiting to see if someone Kenshin knew in passing would show up dead some morning with a piece of paper declaring Jinchu tacked to his or her clothing.
Waiting for the ball to drop.
Sanosuke, at least, had managed to come up with an excuse to get away from the dojo. He was over at Megumi's clinic, pestering the doctor and watching for anything suspicious. If she were targeted, Sanosuke would be able to protect her until Kenshin or Midori or both showed up to help. Hopefully he could refrain from having Megumi kill him for the time being.
A voice called from behind the closed dojo gates.
"Umm...excuse me..."
Midori continued her pacing as Kenshin approached the gates with his hand poised to draw his sakabatou. The warning look on his face was soon replaced by a welcoming smile as he pushed the heavy gates aside to allow the slight figure of little Tsubame to enter the courtyard. The girl carried a small bag in her petite hands. Midori paused, her brow furrowed in question as Kenshin greeted the girl warmly.
"Kaoru-dono said you would be coming," Kenshin was saying as he took the little bag from Tsubame's hands.
Midori resumed pacing. Obviously the little girl would be staying with them for protection, since anyone connected to Kenshin was now in danger of attack. Why could the doctor lady not come to stay with them as well? It was unfair that Midori had to remain cooped up in this place when Sanosuke could wander where he wished. She shot a venomus look at Kenshin that he pretended not to see.
There was a renewed racket coming from the training dojo, and Tsubame was eyeing the building with trepidition.
"They...must be working very hard," Tsubame squeaked in her high-pitched voice. "Is it...some kind of training?"
Midori snorted in a most un-ladylike manner, drawing a near-scandalized look from Tsubame which she summarily ignored.
"No. Kaoru-dono and Yahiko-chan have been at it for half the day now," Kenshin explained, sounding as though it were as natural an occurance as the rising and setting of the sun. Tsubame did not seem soothed.
"Half the day? B-b-but what if they hurt themselves?"
Kenshin patted the girl consolingly on the shoulder. "It's better for them to be too energetic than otherwise. Let them vent some steam."
Here Midori growled low; he wouldn't let her vent any steam, the sorry bastard.
Tsubame edged closer to Kenshin as though afraid Midori would pounce on her at any moment. He draped an arm carefully around the girl's shoulder and began leading her away, still talking cheerfully.
"They'll be alright. They will get hungry soon and the fight will end on it's own. Now then, why don't we get you settled into the room you will be using..." His voice trailed off as they rounded a corner of the porch and vanished from sight.
Midori stalked to the porch directly across from the gates and plopped down, her mood black as tar. She wanted out of this damned dojo. As soon as Kenshin fell asleep tonight, she was sneaking off to the river. If he woke and came after her, the jackass would be taking a cold swim. She wanted quiet. She wanted to be alone. And she could damn well take care of herself, thank you very much Kenshin.
The shouting from the training dojo had stopped at last, and out of the corner of her eye Midori spotted Kaoru making her way to the bath house. The pounding in her head was growing louder now that she finally had her quiet, and Midori groaned low in her throat as she dropped her head into her hands and started rubbing her temples with her forefingers.
Could this day get any worse for her?
The answer was to come that night.
Midori was dozing on the porch with her back to a support beam, too full of steam and irritation to truly sleep. She had not made it to the river. Kenshin had spotted her as she made to leap the outer walls and had not been pleased.
She had been less than thrilled, as well. She was sick of him treating her as a child. Hell, she had killed more people than he had and she actually carried a weapon that would do more than bruise or break a few bones. She didn't need him to watch her constantly. His lack of faith in her would never cease to piss her off. She had been moody and short of temper all day and now she wasn't relaxed enough to be truly asleep, instead dozing lightly at her favorite lounging spot on the porch.
So when someone began banging wildly at the dojo gates long after the sun had set and the stars had illuminated the sky, Midori was on her feet and halfway across the courtyard with her katana unsheathed in a heartbeat. She could hear the others rousing as the pounding continued, heard Kaoru's voice call out to Kenshin in question. Midori herself made no sound as she lept to the top of the outer wall and peared into the gloomy night, trying to disearn who the visitor was.
When she saw that the man was bleeding from several places, Midori was quick to alight on the ground beside him, scaring the man so bad that he let out a loud shriek of terror.
"Hush," Midori commanded, sheathing her blade after a cursury glance around them and holding her empty hands out to the wounded man. "I will not harm you. What happened?"
"Himura-san!" The man grasped at Midori's outstretched hands with his own, scrambling for a hold with which to draw her nearer. "I must speak to Himura-san, the dojo, he has to help!"
Midori tore one hand free of the man's grip and pounded on the gates to her side, yelling for Kenshin to open up.
It took Kenshin a few minutes to get the man to calm down enough to speak coherently, but his tale when he began speaking was not pleasent.
"You have...to help us..." The man stuttered and coughed, taking short shallow breaths like one who had run a great distance in a short timespan. "The Maekawa Dojo...we were attacked...this man...he means to kill us all...I ran...the police can't help...please..."
Here the man reached up a battered hand towards Kenshin, the appendage shaking wildly. After a short moment, the hand fell, and the man passed out.
Kenshin and Midori immediately sprinted out off the gates, only to be brought up short by Yahiko's shouts from behind them.
"Kenshin, wait! I'm coming too!"
With no time to be gentle, Kenshin was overly harsh as he spun and shouted for Yahiko to remain where he was. Yahiko flinched at the denial, his eyes shining with hurt for a moment before he bowed his head. After sharp orders for Yahiko and Kaoru to bar the gates and keep watch, and a reassurance that they would be back by morning, Kenshin turned again and flew past Midori down the street. Midori wasted no time in following after him.
Since Midori had absolutely no idea where this Maekawa Dojo was, she followed closely behind Kenshin as he wove his way quickly through the streets of Tokyo. At one point, the pair heard their names shouted out, and where joined moments later by Sanosuke, looking like he had just rolled out of bed and was rairing for a fight. Beside him, bloodied and bandaged police officers straggled along; they had obviously been on the receiving end of one hell of a beating. They were very relieved to see Kenshin, who was on a first name basis with the police chief for reasons Midori had never cared to learn. Apparently the chief was indisposed and the police force was floundering without his leadership.
"He isn't here?" Kenshin repeated the words with shock plain on his face. "Why?
The police officers in front of them exchanged looks before a man with his arm in a sling answered.
"Um...there was some kind of emergency at the chief's own house..."
The bottom dropped out of Midori's stomach.
Someone was watching them.
Midori hurtled across the rooftops, running parallel to Kenshin down on the streets, and tried to figure out why she felt eyes upon her. It was close to midnight; the streets were basically empty; there was no reason for the hairs on the back of her neck to be standing on end. She tried to push the feeling out of her mind, tried to concentrate on following Kenshin as he ran towards the police chief's home. He had charged Sanosuke with the defense of the Maekawa Dojo and sprinted off without another word, leaving Midori to follow in his wake.
She'd worry more about invisible eyes when lives were not in danger right before her.
Midori didn't understand this. Why would someone attack another dojo to strike at Kenshin? Why attack the police chief? Surely they wouldn't hurt the man's family? What sort of justice was that, one that struck at the innocent to punish the guilty? Her fingers iched to wrap around the neck of the person responsible for these atrocious attacks that harmed innocent people.
If they came against Kenshin, she would kill them; that was certain. So as Midori raced across the rooftops of a nighttime Japan in hopes of saving the police chief from harm or death, she prayed to whatever gods were listening that Kenshin would be targeted directly. Soon.
Kenshin had stopped at a house at last, and Midori leapt down to stand next to him. They advanced on the open front door, hearing the crying of women and a man's voice moaning from inside. A familiar voice was talking, it's pitch grating on Midori's ears.
"Don't fret now, don't fret. I won't leave you ladies all alone. I'll send your whole family to the afterlife together! Isn't that lovely of me?"
Midori yanked her katana from it's sheath and would have charged into the buidling ready to kill if Kenshin hadn't grasped her elbow and shook his head.
He might kill them, he mouthed.
Midori scowled and pulled her elbow free, but made no further move to charge the house. They crept forward shoulder to shoulder, two blades out and ready. They came to the door, and Midori's blood boiled at the sight of the weirdly dressed man from the attack on her person the previous week.
"Don't hate me for this," he was saying, facing the police chief where he knelt on the floor with a katana pinning one hand and his family cowering against the wall. "If you need to hate someone - "
"They should hate me?" The words issued as a growl from Kenshin's throat.
As the man whirled to face them, Midori dove and rolled past him to put herself between him and the innocents present, her katana held at an angle to her body and a lethal look on her face.
"Himura-san!" the police chief bleated, seemingly caught between pained fear and relief at his savior's arrival. The attacker half-turned to look at the chief, only to be met with Midori's fierce scowl. He smiled widely at her.
"Oooo, you're that pretty little kitten from last week!" he crowed, his cold eyes glittering down at her crouched form. "Have you come to play with me, Zetsumei Kurohyou? I do so like to play."
Midori snarled at him, moving to attack only to be stopped by Kenshin's cry of "Kabu, don't!"
She stopped where she was, half-crouched to defend and half-poised to attack, her eyes seeking out Kenshin's figure in the doorway.
"There are innocents here," he reminded her firmly, his eyes gleaming indigo in the dim lighting of the room. "Protect them. Let me deal with this man."
Slowly, never taking her eyes from Kenshin's face, Midori sank back into her defensive crouch.
The attacker crowed in delight again, drawing Midori's gaze back to him.
"Oooo, so the little kitten is leashed by the mighty Battousai!" he cawed, tapping a finger to his colored lips as though deep in thought. "If he commands you to roll over or fetch, would you do so, Zetsumei Kurohyou?"
He turned away from the sound of Midori's furious snarls, intent now on engaging Kenshin and apparently confident that she would not strike while his back was turned. Midori gritted her teeth and cursed Kenshin for his hold on her even as she whirled to face the police chief. Before she could free his hand, the attacker was heard to order Kenshin to draw his now resheathed sakabato, and the chief cried out.
"No, don't Himura-san!" he yelled, the veins in his thin neck bulging in panic. "There's something strange about his left hand! He can fire a gun without even moving!"
Midori eyed the attacker over her shoulder. He held no weapon that she could see, yet he stood before Himura Battousai and commanded him to draw his blade. Did this man have a death wish?
"Let me ask one thing," Kenshin called from where he had retreated into the police chief's small yard. "For who's sake do you seek revenge against me?"
The attacker laughed as though a fine joke had just been uttered. "Oh, yes, that's right, that's right. It would be a shame to send you to the next world without knowing that. It was a friend of mine. A good man, he was. Those night in which we used to compete to see who could kill the most men...oh, I did so enjoy those nights."
Sickened by the man's words, Midori turned back to the pinned police chief. She firmly placed her hand on his wrist so as to hold his arm down, and with the hand that still held her katana she gripped the hilt of the weapon lodged in the police chief's own flesh.
"This will hurt," she offered by way of both warning and apology; and without another moment wasted she jerked the blade free of the man's skin. He let out a yell of pain and fell backwards. Midori tossed the bloody katana aside and turned in time to see the attacker lift his hand towards Kenshin.
"Himura-san!" the chief shouted in warning from behind her.
Kenshin did not crumple as though struck. One hand was clenched into a fist, from which a steady line of blood dripped to the ground. For a moment Midori though his fingernails were cutting the flesh of his palm, but then she glimpsed the crossbow quarrel he gripped in said hand.
"So this is your mysterious power," he declared as he tossed the quarrel away.
"Mmm, yes," the attacker agreed quite languidly, raising one arm and pulled back a kimono sleeve to reveal the crossbow strapped to his arm; the same weapon he had used to strike Midori a week previous.
"An assassin's tool," Midori hissed, furious that this man would attack with such treachorous, cowardly means.
"That's right," the man crowed. "My specialty is assassin's tools. No katana or martial art can match me! I, Otowa Hyouko, with these weapons hidden all over my body, will take down any target!"
Midori weeded out the bullshit of this fool's boasting and latched onto the important detail of what he had just said: he had more than one weapon. How many more? What kinds of weapons?
From the yard, Kenshin spoke quietly to this Otowa.
"If you want revenge, I will meet your challenge whenever you like. But this involvement of others will end."
Kenshin had not raised his voice or given the words undo infliction, but Midori knew from his flat tone that he was deadly serious. Apparently, Otowa missed that, or else he was supremely stupid in his confidiance; he turned his back on Kenshin to fetch the katana that had previously been pinning the police chief hands to the floor. Before turning back to Kenshin, Otowa caught Midori's eye and actually winked at her.
He will bleed for that.
But Midori was not given the chance to make that man bleed. A flick of his hand and a watery explosion later, and the yard and house were flooded with a strange fog.
Poison.
"Hold your breath!" Midori shouted to the people cowering behind her, her own nose and mouth blocked by her gi's sleeve. From the fog in front of her, she could here the man Otowa crowing with laughter.
"Oh, don't fret now, Zetsumei Kurohyou. The fog alone won't kill you, but it will paralyze you for four or five minutes. Plenty of time for me to make my escape. I had a few more tricks I wanted to show you, but that will have to wait until it's time for Jinchu."
Jinchu again?
"Bye-bye, now!" The man flapped his kimono sleeve in Midori's direction before melting backwards into the fog. Midori attempted to follow, but her limbs were grown heavy of a sudden; she must had inhaled a little of the poison fog warning those behind her. Damn it.
Kenshin plobbed into the police chief's house, moving much less gracefully than usual. Midori would have laughed if she wasn't so pissed. That coward! Paralyzing her and then running off like a frightened child! Literally adding that insult of implying that she were Kenshin's pet to the physical injury he had gifted her with the week before...she wanted his blood. She wanted it now.
Midori stomped over to where the police chief lay sprawled in front of his family, two women holding him tightly by the shoulders as he cradled his pierced hand to his chest. Another young man in police dress lay unconscious beside them. She reached down somewhat clumsily to help them to their feet; the heaviness had not yet left her limbs.
"...CHU..."
Midori's head snapped around at the sound of a faraway voice screaming into the night. The hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end; her muscled all tensed simultaneously.
"IT'S TIME FOR JINCHU!"
"Kabu!" Kenshin scrambled forward, grabbing the police chief and slinging the man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Out, out, get them out of the house, hurry!"
Midori did not waste time asking questions; the women were already running for the door after Kenshin's departing figure. Midori leaned down, heafted the unconscious police officer onto one shoulder, turned for the door -
The world exploded in a flair of pain.
Waking up was not a pleasant experiance.
Midori groaned low, pressing her throbbing head into the mass of red in front of her eyes as she squinted them against the morning sun. The movement of her body told her that she was being carried, cradled piggy-back style on someone's back. The mass of red she has hiding her face in told her who's back.
"Kuso..." Midori wailed softly. Her body ached in places that should never hurt like that.
"Don't speak like that in front of Kaoru-dono. You know how she gets." Kenshin's voice was soft, calming.
Midori responded with a fouler word that would have thrown Kaoru into a coniption fit.
"Put me down, Kenshin. What the hell happened?"
Kenshin stopped at once and lowered her gently to her feet, taking her hand in his as they began walking again. Midori looked around; they were walking a road that passed by a section of the river, a brigde to cross over the rushing waters not far in front of them. Her katana had been returned to it's sheath at some point; Kenshin's sakabato was likewise put away. They were alone.
And Midori felt like shit.
"What hit me?" she muttered, cutting a black look at her companion when he choked on a laugh at her question. Laughing at her when she felt like this...he was asking for it, that jackass.
"It was the same as the Akabeko," he quickly explained - the look on her face had apparently let him know just how close he was to loosing a limb or two. "A shot fired from a cannon. The police chief's house is destroyed."
"The chief? His family?"
"All largely unhurt. The man you were attempting to help is also fine; you were thrown through the outside wall of the house by the blast when the cannon shot hit, and he landed on you. You might have a few broken ribs - we will ask Megumi to examine you."
"Joy," Midori mumbled, stumbling slightly as her legs refused to cooperate with her will to walk forward. "Let the lady doctor poke at me and see where it hurts the most. Sounds like fun."
Kenshin's released her hand and placed his arm around her waist, steadying her with an annoyingly familiar worried expression on his face. "Are you sure you should be walking? You were thrown a fair distance."
Midori wanted to throw him a fair distance. "Stop babying me. I am perfectly capable of -"
The hairs on the back of her neck jumped to attention - even her hair hurt - and Midori's words cut off abruptly as her eyes swung to find the source of the feeling. Someone was watching her. She knew that someone was watching her, damnit, and it was going to stop.
Her eyes came to rest on a figure standing on the bridge ahead of them. She could not see his eyes, as they were shaded by his hair, but she felt sure that it was he who watched her. She nudged Kenshin in the side and nodded towards the man.
"Do you know that man?"
Kenshin, who had been watching her attentively in case she should stumble again, pulled his eyes away from her and focused instead upon the man standing stationary in the middle of the brigde they were about to need to cross.
Midori let out a growl of pain when the arm that had been steadying her suddenly wrapped completely around her waist and fairly yanked her to a stop beside Kenshin's abruptly still form. She turned to him intending to outline just exactly why he would be wise to stop yanking her around in her current state - and was stopped by the utterly horrified look upon his face. He was staring, open-mouthed, at the man before them on the bridge. Midori turned her head to do the same.
Under a shock of snow-white hair, the man's face was youthful, looking to put him of an age with Sanosuke. To Midori's mind, he was dressed somewhat oddly: one ear boasted a round dangling bauble while the other was unadorned; dark glasses rested upon his thin nose; a swath of black fabric wrapped across his shoulders, fluttering behind him like some sort of fancy man's cape. He wore a tunic of the Chinese variety, black in the middle and orange of all colors for the rest with a black stripe traversing the length of the sleeves. He wore pants of the western style, colored so as to match his tunic, and falling long to rest atop his booted feet. Behind one shoulder, a cloth-wrapped appendage was seen; it was large enough to extend the length of his torso and part of his legs. A rope, tied to the portion prutruding behind his shoulder, was wrapped several times around his currently fisted left hand.
Midori had never seen this man before in all her life.
"You...you're..."
Beside her, Kenshin was behaving as though in a trance, his words leaving his mouth reluctantly. His arm around her waist squeezed tight enough to bruise.
"Enishi," he breathed, like one who has just spied a ghost come to haunt them.
In front of them, the strange man smiled.
"T - Tomoe?"
That had Midori eyeing Kenshin in fear that he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. Why did he call her name?
The man was smiling more broadly than ever.
"What's wrong, Battousai?" he inquired pleasantly, like a host asking after the health of an honored guest. "Did you see my sister's ghost, too?"
What?
"Can you see her too? My dear sister Tomoe?"
His sister?
Midori was completely lost. This stranger was Tomoe Yukishiro's brother? What did he mean, see her? Tomoe was dead.
"That's right. She's always with me." Here the stranger raised his empty right hand and placed it lovingly over his heart. "Now, always...and forever. But you, Battousai..."
The smile faded from the young man's handsome face.
"There is no trace of my sister in you."
Midori had not the slightest clue what this man was speaking of. But what she did know, what she could see with her own eyes, was that he was causing Kenshin considerable stress. She pulled herself from Kenshin's tight grip and placed herself firmly between the strange young man and her friend.
"Go your ways," she warned quietly, her hand going up to wrap around her weapon's hilt.
That creepy smile was back.
"I have had a long night and am in no mood for this." Midori was growling now, angered by that smile that as much as said she was worthless against this man. "I gather from your impeccible timing that you are the one responsible for the recent attacks. Leave or I will color the wood of this bridge with your blood."
The man threw back his head and laughed. He laughed and laughed until tears rolled from his eyes, and then the laughter continued as Midori listed all the ways she wanted to hurt the son of a bitch for laughing at her like that. Finally he removed the dark glasses from his face and wiped at his eyes, still grinning widely.
"You know, the last time I saw you Battousai, it was right after the battle at Toshifushimi." He ignored Midori completely, looking past her as though she were not present and doing nothing to help her growing temper. "Has it been eleven years already?"
Midori glared at this man, this Enishi; he seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice, or perhaps the pain radiating off of Kenshin was what he found so enjoyable. Bastard.
From behind her, Kenshin took a halting breath. "Where ha-"
"Where have I been all these years?" Enishi interrrupted rudely; Midori bristled at him in fury. "I was in Shanghai. I didn't want to live in this new Japan that you Ishin Shishi created."
Midori checked her position on the brigde, a layer of caution blanketing her anger momentarily. This man had been in Shanghai for the last eleven years; Shanghai was synopsis with Hell itself. One did not simply show up in Shanghai and live a happy, carefree life; one showed up in Shanghai with as many weapons as one could carry, ready to defend oneself against anyone old enough to walk. If they were old enough to walk they were old enough to try to kill you in Shanghai.
In front of her, the stranger Enishi was crooning softly, speaking as though to a frightened child. His words sent shivers coursing through Midori's body.
"Shanghai...a demon city of the Orient, a whirlpool of riches and greed from both east and west...After the Boshin War, after I lost my sister, my family was scattered. For a kid driven out of Japan, to survive in Shanghai meant coming out on top of the fiercest competition. I drank from mud puddles. I ate dead flesh. I was always getting sick, always just about to die."
Midori wanted to plug her ears; not nesseccarily for pity of Enishi, but for the memories his words stirred in her blood.
Memories of lapping at puddles in the road as her masters dragged her from city to city; memories of hunger gnawing at her little stomach, of the taste of the bones that were her substanance for weeks on end when her masters were feeling vinidictive. The feel of a man's hand on her young body, feeling for fat on her arms and legs as she was sold yet again. The feel of a switch against her little back when her mistress was angry. The memories, long since surpressed, beat against the mental box in which they were stored.
Behind her, Midori faintly heard Kenshin's wavering voice.
"Stop. That's enough. Don't tell me anymore."
"You'll listen to this." The smile was still there, reminding Midori of others that had smiled at her with that same sickening expression. "This is the only thing I have to thank you for...
"Yes...I was always close to death, but I survived. My revenge...to avenge my sister's death was the only thing in my heart. Eleven years of that...I lived in Shanghai so long that I almost forgot how to speak Japanese. I crawled my way to the top."
Enishi's free hand vanished into the Chinese tunic, emerging moments later clutching a fancy hand gun like the rich police officers sometimes carried.
"The top of the Shanghai Mafia, controlling an entire continent of illicit arms manufacturers!"
Enishi laughed again, crazy and wild. He pointed his gun past Midori's head, fixing his sights on Kenshin.
"Kurjiranami's armstrong cannon, Otowa's assassin's tools...Bajin's cutom-made tekkou...Gein's explosives...ALL SUPPLIED BY MY ORGANIZATION!"
His voice rose higher and higher as his continued speaking, until he was fairly shouting at them from a few feet away.
"And...Makoto Shishio? Do you remember his battleship? I arranged for that as well."
Midori felt as though the wind was suddenly knocked from her lungs at the sound of that name.
Without warning, Enishi fired his gun several times in quick sessision. Midori whirled to find Kenshin, only to see him standing in exactly the same place as before. The ground at his feet was now peppered with lightly smoking holes. Midori turned warily back to Enishi, who stood serenely smiling at the two of them like some lofty god of old.
"But...that was a mistake, I suppose...I hardly expected you and Shishio to meet head-on...lucky this woman was there to save you, Battousai. I'm so glad you survived. Thank you for that, Zetsumei Kurohyou."
Here he nodded politely at Midori, who glowered at him menacingly in return.
"I understand, Enishi..."
Midori eyed Kenshin over one shoulder, unsure what he was saying. Her friend was staring at Enishi, all fear or pain gone from his face. He looked determined about something.
"You want revenge for your sister's death. That's perfectly natural. I can't deny your right for revenge."
Midori spun again to face Kenshin head-on, several biting comments on the tip of her tongue. Like hell he was going to allow himself to be slain. Not while she still drew breath.
"But there is one thing!" Kenshin continued in a hard voice, before Midori could tell him to shut up. "Don't hurt anyone else! Your revenge is against me alone. Only I should accept your punishment."
Midori wanted to smack him. Self-sacrificing jackass.
"No! My revenge isn't for you alone," Enishi corrected, drawing Midori's gaze back to him in time for that creepy smile to vanish at last. "It is for everyone."
His voice sickened Midori as he ranted.
"Those you hold dear, those you speak with. This Japan, that you built with your bloody blade. A Japan without my sister...it is a sin within itself."
"No!" Kenshin barked, taking a step forward; Midori matched with a step back, staying in between the two men but closer to Enishi. "Enishi, I'm the only one who committed the crime. I'm the only one who should be punished!"
Crime. What crime? Tomoe had thrown herself in between Kenshin and another man and killed herself. This was ridiculous.
"If you keep this up," Kenshin yelled angrily, "this won't be revenge, it will be a slaughter! Even it Tomoe would have wanted revenge, she wouldn't have wanted this!"
Midori took one look at the expression on Enishi's face and pulled her katana free of it's sheath. Clearly Kenshin had just said the way wrong thing.
The gun came flying towards her, and would have gone flying past to strike Kenshin if she had not cut it into pieces with a flick of her wrist. The useless tool fell to the bridge.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF HER!" Enishi shouted, totally enraged. The veins in his neck bulged with his ire. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT SHE WANTS? YOU TRY SAYING HER NAME AGAIN! TRY ONE MORE TIME, BATTOUSAI! TRY IT, AND TEN RENGOKU-CLASS BATTLESHIPS TURN TOKYO INTO A SEA OF FLAMES!"
Midori was now convinced: this man was totally insane when it came to his dead sister.
The three of them stood there in silence for a long moment, Enishi breathing hard from his outburst and Midori watching his every move like a hawk. At some point durning his tirade, Enishi had bitten a hole in his lip; after a minute or two he turned his head and spat a clump of blood onto the wood of the bridge. He heaved a calming sigh, looking at Midori and Kenshin from the corner of his eye with his head still turned.
"But, my sister wouldn't have liked all that uproar. She loved peace."
And yet he was violating the peace of this town to avenge her death?
That made barrels of sense to Midori.
"That's why I picked only those who hated you as I do. I kept my force to six, and targeted only those who had direct contact with you. If you have any complaints, I can happily make all of Tokyo a target instead." Perfectly calm again; telling them he had six minions, offering to destroy Tokyo like that was nothing of great importance. The three shared another short, tense silence.
Enishi's finger pushed the dark glasses up his nose.
"I'm done here. Today was just my declaration of war. The real battle will begin ten days from now."
"Ten days?" Kenshin growled softly. Enishi smiled yet again.
"That's right...the place will be the Kamiya Dojo. There you will witness our perfect Jinchu!"
Midori had had enough of this. She shifted her feet, prepared to spring; ignoring the pain that still sat heavy upon her body and the voice of Kenshin behind her.
Enishi began to turn away. "I hope you look forward to it."
Midori lunged.
Several hours later, the residents of Japan were subjected to the sound of angry cursing coming from the general direction of the Kamiya Dojo. This being a fairly common occurance, the residents ignored the noise and went about their business.
"Damn you, you stupid son of a bitch! You should have let me take him down! I could have ended this fucked-up game of his in an instant! I can't believe you actually tackled me!"
"Kabu -"
"Shut up! You did all the talking at the bridge and nothing was accomplished, so now I talk and you sit there and listen!"
Kenshin cowered at his seat at the dining table, his hands raised as though to defend himself from a physical assault. Midori paced back and forth across from him, absolutely fuming with rage. Sanosuke, Megumi, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Tsubame were looking back and forth between them like spectators at a game.
"Why did you tackle me, damn you! One well-placed wound and this Enishi would never bother us again! I wasn't going to kill him, you baka, not right in the middle of the open where anyone might see! He wants to kill you, Kenshin, or did you miss that while you were wallowing in self-hatred up at the brigde? He wants to kill you. And I refuse to let that happen! You will die in your sleep of old age, or I will kill you myself for utter stupidity!"
Midori was beyond enraged. When she had lunged at Enishi earlier on that bridge, she had fallen short of her target due to a certain carrot-headed jackass plowing into her from behind and knocking her off course. She had landed in the dirt to Enishi's right, her furious green gaze swinging from Enishi's lazily departing figure to Kenshin, who had held her pinned down in the road until Enishi was long gone. Not only had he stopped her from putting an end to the damned Jichu bullshit, he had put her face in the dirt in front of an opponent. Her pride would never recover.
She threw her sheathed katana down to the floor and stomped out of the dining hall, heading for the training dojo. She could hear the sound of feet racing madly after her, but did not stop or slow down or turn to tell the others to get lost. She needed to burn some steam. Badly. So she was going to go through the kata's of her style - the Tenrai dageki taishite ikazuchi-kurohyou - until she dropped from exhaustion. It shouldn't take too long, considering her bruised ribs and battered body; she'd wear down long before her anger was spent, but it would at least take the edge off of her temper.
She grabbed one of Kaoru's bokken's from the bracket on the wall, went to the head of the training dojo's floor, and plopped down in a cross-legged position. She sat the bokken down beside her, clutched at the knees of her hakama with her fists, closed her eyes, and began attempting to moderate her breathing.
The sound of feet entering the dojo annoyed her ears. A voice called to her.
"Midori-san, it isn't a good idea for you to train with those bruised ribs. You might break one of them. Also, with your weak heart, as your physican, I must insist that -"
Midori snarled like a wild animal. Her physican fell quiet, and no one else spoke as she worked to calm herself.
She did the breathing techniques, stretched, went through every move of her style over and over as Yahiko and Kaoru trained around her. They were careful to give her a wide berth; they knew better than to pester her when she was in such a black mood. Detachedly, Midori registered that Tsubame was sitting against the wall next to Sanosuke, who was having his hand wrapped by the annoyed Megumi. Kenshin was nowhere to be seen.
Good. Let that baka stew in his own muck while she cooled down. He should be alone, the way he had treated her; acting like he and that bastard Enishi were alone on that bridge, crying for his dead wife in front of her, tackling her to the ground from behind like she was a -
Midori snarled again, yanking her body through the required footwork; she noticed that Yahiko and Kaoru were even further from her than usual, but couldn't be bothered to care at the moment.
For hours, Midori pushed herself harder and harder, trying to burn some of the anger that raged inside of her. She wasn't just fighting against her anger for Kenshin, although there was plenty of that to keep her occupied. The words Enishi had spoken - those words about his life in Shanghai - the suffering he had endured...
The memories he had awakened with those damnable words infuriated her to no end.
At last, the door to the dojo slid open again, revealing a dirty, sleepy Kenshin. He had gone to nap directly after their shouting match, but it did not look as though his rest had been useful. One look at his pain-filled, exhausted eyes, and the rest of her anger with him evaporated in an instant. Midori dropped the bokken, suddenly feeling all her aches and pains, all the tiredness. She felt old of a sudden, and the feeling was not one she welcomed.
She went to Kenshin, and his head came down to rest on her shoulder as his arms loosely incircled her. She returned the embrace, stroking a hand through the tail of his hair, her hands shaking slightly from overexertion. She sighed; he echoed her.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. "For yelling."
He said nothing in reply. Midori tightend her hold on him, pressing him to her despite her body's complaints.
"I need...to tell them." Kenshin's voice was weak in her ear, exhausted as she felt in spite of his nap. His hands pressed to her.
"I need to tell them about the night I killed her."
"Who?" Kaoru had come to stand beside them; it was she that asked the quesiton to which Midori already knew the answer.
"Tomoe. My wife. The reason behind this Jinchu."
A/N: Please review.