RuroKen Star Wars, a Rurouni Kenshin / Star Wars crossover fanfic by Raberba girl
Episode X - The Best Sake In the Galaxy (ROUGH DRAFT)
This one will never know if such pain and suffering could have been avoided if he had only listened to Shishou from the beginning.
0-0-0
"No...no...Akane-nee, Kasumi-nee, Sakura-nee...NOOO-! Ow! Ow..." Kenshin winced and rubbed at his butt, which he had landed on after falling out of bed. He blinked muzzily around the room. It was still deep night; the moon shone quietly through the open doors to the balcony.
Sighing, Kenshin untangled the sheets from around his legs and went in search of a shirt. It was cold...but more than that, vibes from countless distant fangirls were making his bare flesh creep.
Early in the morning, before breakfast, Tomoe found him sitting on the railing of the balcony, gazing out across the lake. She came up beside him and stood in companionable silence for a while, leaning her arms against the railing. Finally she said, "Good morning."
"Mm...oh- Good morning, Tomoe." He smiled a little sheepishly. "Forgive me for not greeting you, I was...preoccupied."
"With your nightmares."
Their eyes met. His were startled, hers like calm waters. "My...?"
"I heard you."
"Oh." He dropped his head, letting his bangs hide his face. It felt nice when Tomoe leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Is it about your sisters on Tattooine?"
"I miss them," he said softly. "I've worried about their safety ever since I left."
"Ten years is a long time to worry," she murmured.
He blew out a frustrated breath, and she lifted her head to look at him. "I've always worried, but my fears seemed unfounded until - until just recently." He breathed again, trying to gather his thoughts. "Lately I've had a bad feeling...I keep seeing them in my dreams, suffering...it's so vivid, like I'm actually there, watching. I feel so...so helpless."
"You're going, aren't you."
He looked at her. "I hadn't decided for sure until this moment, but - yes."
She nodded. "Very well. I am going with you."
"Wait- what? You can't!"
"And since when does an upstart young apprentice tell a senator what to do?" she said coldly, and turned to drift back inside.
"I- that's not what I- Wait, Tomoe! I didn't mean- I'm glad you're coming!"
0-0-0-0-0
The Hiruma brothers were looking rather the worse for wear these days. Too poor to keep slaves anymore, tired and unshaven with unkempt clothes and unwashed hair, even their seediest customers were growing leery of visiting the increasingly disreputable mechanical parts shop. That was why Gohei was so wearily delighted when two people entered the shop, especially since they looked rich.
"Welcome to Hiruma Mechanics!" he cried at once, rushing around the counter to shake the hands of his new customers. Both wore cloaks. The woman's beautiful face was barely visible within her luxurious sky-blue hood, and the face of the man in the black cloak was in complete shadow. "We have the best parts in the whole region, how may I-" He suddenly stopped. "You're not police or bill collectors or anything, are you?" he asked fearfully.
"Hiruma Gohei. It's been a long time. How's business?" It was the one in black who had spoken, who now moved aside and picked up one of the broken droids the brothers had been too lazy to work on.
Gohei frowned. "Have we met before?" He was about to order the stranger to get his paws off the merchandise, when the man tipped back his head and let the hood fall back, revealing a dry smile.
Gohei froze. He would know that red hair and that smile anywhere. "It...it can't be...Shinta?"
Kenshin made one last adjustment and then set the droid on its wheels. He touched the power switch and watched it scuttle off to work. Then he turned back to Gohei. "Hiruma," he said with a nod.
Gohei frowned, then laughed ruefully. "Sounds weird hearin' my name coming from you."
Kenshin straightened, and his face suddenly grew hard. "As you might have guessed, we didn't come here to visit. Tell me, Hiruma - are my sisters still here?"
Gohei swallowed. "Well, uh...that is- Let me get my brother!" He hurried off into the back of the shop, yelling frantically for Kihei to come and sort the mess out as always.
Kihei was quick to appear, and he stopped dead for a moment when he laid eyes on Kenshin. "Shinta...so it's true. You really have come back!"
"I have come for my sisters," Kenshin said sharply. "Where are they?"
The brothers exchanged an uneasy look. "They're, uh...well...hey, how good are you with that light-sword thingy?"
Kenshin drew and ignited it in one move. "Would you like me to show you?"
"Eep! No, no! We sold them to a nice guy, a really nice old geezer, lives out on a moisture farm in the boonies! Don't hurt us!"
Kenshin frowned. "A moisture farmer? What is his name?"
"L...Let me go check the records," Kihei said weakly, stumbling to the back room again and rather alarmed when Kenshin went with him.
With the threat removed, Gohei sighed in relief and then eyed Shinta's lady-companion appreciatively. "So, toots, wanna check out the master who taught Shinta all his moves?"
Tomoe, already irritated from her lack of lines in this scene, drew her blaster and pointed it at Gohei's crotch. "Please do not speak to me again."
Gohei's mouth fell open. "But - but you're a girl! You're not supposed to play with guns!"
"I played with guns in the Nubian Revolution. Some people thought I was pretty good. Unfortunately, you won't be able to discuss my abilities with them, because they are all dead."
"Niisaaaaaaaan!" Gohei shrieked, fleeing after his brother and thinking that he ought to have known better than coming on to a Jedi's girlfriend.
0-0-0-0-0
"Father, that Jedi is following us."
Fujita glanced at his young clone, then at his spaceship's rearview mirror. "I don't see anyone. You're imagining things."
Hajime sighed.
0-0-0-0-0
The first person to greet Kenshin and Tomoe at the moisture farm was - Tsubame. "Master Shinta!" the droid exclaimed, promptly dropping the basket of tools it had been carrying.
Kenshin smiled and reached to pick up the scattered objects. "It's really good to see you, Tsubame-chan. They've given me the name 'Kenshin,' by the way."
"Oh...oh, please, let me," the droid said in distress, but Kenshin waved it away.
"Don't be silly, I'm more flexible than you, and it's no trouble." He grinned as he straightened up and carefully placed the basket back into its metal arms. "Besides, I was the one who startled you into dropping it, right?"
"Oh...well...that is..."
"You look so beautiful now that you're complete, Tsubame-chan," Tomoe said warmly.
"Oh!" the droid gasped. "Well, I- it's difficult to keep clean here, I know that my plating is in such terrible shape...but, oh, Tomoe-san! It is so good to see you again."
Tomoe smiled and patted Tsubame's shoulder. "It's good to see you, too."
"Tsubame-chan," Kenshin asked earnestly, "I've come looking for my sisters. Are they all right?"
"Um...well..." Tsubame creaked nervously. "Please, come into the shade, I will fetch Master - that is, my new master at once." It inclined its head a little. "Forgive me, Master Shinta - I mean, Master Kenshin, I told them that I belonged to you, but I was sold off anyway..."
"It's all right," he assured her. "As long as you are well cared for, I don't mind."
The middle-aged moisture farmer who soon came wheeling out to greet them was pretty rugged and scruffy looking, skinny but wiry. Yet his eyes gleamed and his laugh was infectious from the first. "So! We have visitors today, Tsubame-chan?"
"Y-Yes sir," Tsubame stammered, sounding pleased despite being flustered. "This is my maker, Master Shinta - I mean, Master Kenshin. And this is-"
Kenshin noticed, to his surprise, that Tomoe had been staring at the old man with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. Then she suddenly moved forward, threw her arms around the old man's neck, and burst into tears.
"There, there now," he said gently, patting her back. "I'm glad to see you too, honey."
"Father," she whispered, pulling back with some effort and gazing at him with swimming eyes. "Your leg is injured...what happened?"
'Father?' Kenshin thought in astonishment.
The old man sighed, taking her hand in his and patting it sadly. "Perhaps you two had better come inside."
He told the story as Tsubame served cool drinks. Kenshin soon forgot to continue politely sipping. He sat silently, listening with bowed head. Akane, Kasumi, Sakura...those loving, beautiful girls, freed by their new master and adopted as daughters, captured one morning when they had gone out to work, disappearing into the desert sands as if they had been taken by ghosts...
"You hurt your leg going after them, didn't you," Tomoe said softly.
Her father nodded. "Thirty of us went out, including Kasumi's new husband and Sakura's sweetheart - only four came back. I'm sorry, lad," he said compassionately to Kenshin. "They've been gone a month. It's likely that...well, you probably don't need me to tell you."
"I'm going after them."
Father and daughter looked silently at Kenshin, whose face was covered by his long bangs.
"Tomoe..." Kenshin looked up. "Will you stay here and wait for me?"
She nodded. "I hope you're able to bring them back safely, Kenshin."
He released a sudden breath, then stood and bowed to the old man.
"You're leaving now?" the farmer said in surprise. "Perhaps you ought to-"
"As you said, they have been in enemy hands for a month. I will not make them wait for me an instant longer than they have to."
Tomoe walked with Kenshin outside, her heart full but her words frozen. She wanted so much to touch him, but could not bring herself to. She was almost afraid that he would leave and possibly get hurt or killed, without a word spoken between them, when he paused before mounting the speeder and glanced back at her. "Tomoe, is that really your father in there?"
"Yes," she said quietly. "He was...exiled, a long time ago. When Yuki was a child."
To her surprise, he nodded and asked no more questions. "To think, it was your father who set my sisters free..." He paused. "And took them on as his own family. Does that make you and me brother and sister?"
"Of course not."
He smiled a little before leaning to kiss her. "I'll be back soon, Tomoe," he promised. "I'll have all three of them with me. It will be all right."
0-0-0-0-0
After eavesdropping on a roomful of suspicious-looking aliens, Katsura sat in the shadows, frowning in concentration as he drafted the message he would have to find a way to deliver to far-off Coruscant.
Dear Jedi Council,
Sure enough, after an uncomfortable fight in heavy rain, I was unable to stop the bounty hunter Fujita Gorou from leaving Kamino, so I threw a tracker on his ship and followed him to Planet Geonosis.
Just as anyone would think from his squinty eyes, he is a bad man who is plotting with the Separatist leader Kiyosato Akira to take over the galaxy. Or something. In any case, Fujita's not really the important one; he was hired by some grudgeful viceroy to assassinate the Senator of Naboo, but that's only filling a plot hole and not of any real interest. In fact, none of this is, I am just killing time until Kenshin comes back onscreen.
Anyway, if Kiyosato (or whoever is controlling him, hint, hint) has his way, the Separatists with their outdated droid army are plotting treason, yada yada yada, even though we know from the get-go that they have no chance because clone armies are the new fashion. In other words, we had better nip this clone army thing in the bud if we don't want to spawn some sequels. An exercise in futility, I admit, since we're already in a prequel to begin with.
The point is that the Jedi are in trouble, and if we at the very least don't want an installment titled Return of the Jedi, I suggest we work very hard to make sure that the Jedi Order maintains a consistent existence and is not required to return at all. Again, this is an exercise in futility, since if Kenshin the Last Jedi survives, apparently it's all good.
Love,
Katsura
P.S. I am sensing through the Force a very strong feeling of Impending Doom. Make of that what you will.
Katsura read over his draft, then laughed and deleted it. "Let me try that again."
0-0-0-0-0
Hiko gritted his teeth when he realized he was out of sake. Trekking over the desolate dunes of Tattooine was NOT FUN in the first place, but without sake to take the edge of misery off, it was unbearable.
'Unbearable?' he thought in disgust. 'Remember who you're talking to, idiot.' Himself, apparently, which was pretty pathetic. In any case, nothing, not even a lack of sake, was going to beat Hiko Seijuurou the Thirteenth, though it was going to make him pretty irritable. As if he hadn't been to begin with.
'That little brat...it's all his fault.' Hiko sighed, knowing he was being unfair. After all, who was the one who had decided to go tromping off after the little red-haired brat anyway? 'Still! He didn't even say he was in town!' Granted, the extent of Hiko and Shinta's relationship had not gone very far...for all he knew, the brat had completely forgotten him. Kids were often stupid and inconsiderate like that.
Hiko stopped walking. "Fine!" he shouted. "I'm the one who's being foolish this time!" His voice dropped after that painful admission. "But I swear, it will be the last." He trudged on again.
Shinta...the sweet-faced little slave, the racing prodigy who had a habit of capturing people's hearts, or at least their attention (if the people in question, like himself or the boy's ex-masters, had no hearts). The boy seemed completely artless, yet he had managed to get himself freed and whisked away to an adventurous life as a Jedi Knight. That couldn't have been an accident, could it? Especially since it had happened right when Hiko had begun to entertain the idea that perhaps he had found his successor at last.
Hiko grinned. "Now that you're back, kid...don't think you're going to escape a second time." He would have to assess, of course, to see what the boy had made of his Jedi training. But if Shinta still showed promise, Hiko was determined to take him on as his own apprentice. The years were passing, after all, and unless he managed to get his hands on a hyperdrive generator soon, there was very slim chance of anyone else suitable showing up on this rotten piece of the middle of nowhere. "You hear that, Shinta? You're the one. The best I've got, sadly. So don't you dare disappoint me."
0-0-0-0-0
Kenshin easily got past the sentries on the outer perimeter of the Tusken camp and slipped into the tent where he could sense a fading life force.
Kasumi and Sakura were already dead. As he held Akane in his arms, looking at her ravaged smile, his mind, for a while, seemed to go blank. He could see nothing except his sisters, as they were when he was a child, as they should have been; laughing together as they walked down the street, humming as they went about their work, teasing each other and hugging him, their love spilling over through their expressions, through every touch.
He could feel Akane leaving him, knew it the moment when her spirit departed. He knew she had spoken to him, but her last words were lost somewhere in his mind, as if they had entered but never found the right place to be delivered. Perhaps one day he would remember what she had said. In his heart, he already knew: "We love you, we're so proud of you." He had always known that, they had told him every day of his life with them, in action if not in words. That did not seem to matter now. He couldn't think of anything that did matter, just a single truth, that he was sitting here holding a dead girl in his arms, and nothing else existed.
"Move, you fool!"
The shout passed through Kenshin's mind with only the dimmest perception. He heard noises, more shouting mixed with the alien cries of the Tuskens; the sound of weapons crashing, commotion throughout the camp. Something warm was trickling down his face...blood. Kenshin touched his face and now stared at the crimson wetness staining his fingers. He was not in pain, or at least his body was not. This was not his blood.
He put his arm back around Akane and held her close.
"Get up, boy! GET UP!"
"Go away," Kenshin mumbled. His body suddenly rocked forward as pain blasted through his shoulder. Distractedly, he saw the butt of a Tusken staff and realized that he had been attacked. It was not something he particularly cared about at the moment.
"Get off him!" A wet slicing sound, as of a blade through meat. "Boy - Shinta - get to your feet RIGHT NOW and draw your weapon, or I'll leave you to these dogs!"
Kenshin blinked. "Shinta?" he whispered. Hazily, he looked around and saw utter chaos and devastation. Somehow, half the tent had collapsed, the fabric ripped to shreds. He was surrounded by Tusken corpses; more warriors with their spine-chilling cries were swarming around a large figure wrapped in a blood-stained white cloak.
Hiko swept his sword through three of the worst annoyances, which gave him just enough breathing space to snatch up a pot and fling it at the idiot. "Wake up, you fool!"
Kenshin winced as the pot smashed on impact with his head. Now the blood running down his face was his own. "Shinta," he repeated stupidly. There was someone else here. Someone...someone was fighting. Too late. Too late to save his sisters. "You're too late," he said dully. "Why didn't you come in time?"
Yet it was not this man's fault. It was Kenshin's. "Why didn't I come in time?" he whispered.
"You know what?" Hiko snarled, "Forget it. You fail." He turned his full attention on the Tusken Raiders, whose numbers were now thankfully dwindling. A few more strokes and he would be done. He could not wait to get out of here and wash his hands of the whole wild goose chase. "Hah!" A swirling strike to get the closest ones off his back; kick the charging one in the face, use the momentum to slash at the one attempting a sneak attack. "Who's next?" Hiko thundered.
No one, apparently. There were only three left, who seemed shaken at the slaughter of their comrades. One turned tail and fled. The other two charged vengefully, and were cut down in short order. Oh, wait, the fleeing one was actually going for some sort of long-range weapon; take care of that with a Hiryuusen. Done.
Hiko sighed, surveyed the damage distastefully for a moment, then strode over to the boy. "What do you think you're doing?"
Kenshin stared at him. "Kasumi, Akane, Sakura...they're dead."
Hiko raked a hand through his hair and sighed again. "I know. Come on."
The two of them worked silently, digging graves for the girls and setting them carefully to rest. Kenshin had nothing to offer but grief; Hiko had nothing but sake, so that is what they gave. They stood a moment longer in respect to the dead. Then, Kenshin turned away, still gripping the shovel.
"Look," Hiko said awkwardly. "Obviously this has been...tough for you. I'm sorry...but I don't have a lot of time. The galactic government is getting more and more evil, and- What are you doing?" The red-haired young man had started digging another hole. "...Was there a fourth sister or something?"
Kenshin did not answer. Hiko sat down, sipped at his sake jug and watched until he finally realized that Kenshin intended to bury the Tuskens. "What are you doing?"
"Digging graves," Kenshin answered dully.
Hiko got back to his feet, cursing. "For crying out loud, we don't have time for this." When Kenshin showed no sign of paying attention, he took hold of the young man's arm and shook him. "Enough of this foolishness. Let's go, Shinta."
"Get off me," Kenshin snapped.
Hiko frowned, watching him continue to work. "Shinta. They were only raiders, bandits. Why are you doing this?"
"Shinta is gone," Kenshin mumbled. "They gave me another name. I'm Kenshin now." For a moment he paused, his hands tightening their grip on the shovel. "Shinta is...gone...he couldn't...I couldn't protect them..."
Hiko sighed. Then, silently, he picked up the other shovel again and got to work.
0-0-0-0-0
Katsura frowned. "I sense a great disturbance in the Force," he murmured.
Then he shook his head. "For goodness' sake, Kenshin, you're almost as bad as the female Jedi Masters when they're PMSing." He redoubled his efforts to get the long-range communicator on his ship working, sensing that getting in contact with some allies was now even more urgent than before.
0-0-0-0-0
"Frankly, he's not my optimum choice, but he's all I've got."
Farmer Oibore nodded, and both he and Hiko glanced out to the garage where Kenshin had disappeared to as soon as they returned.
"I lost him once before," Hiko went on. "It's been ten years, no one even remotely suitable has even showed up, and I'm not getting any younger. I need him. It'll be a long battle, and I won't last long enough to end the fight against what this galaxy is becoming." He hissed out a breath between his teeth. "Why does the most likely candidate for apprenticeship have to be such an idiot?"
"That young man is strong," Oibore said, nodding. "Difficult to control - impossible to control, even. Yet that is what makes him so valuable, eh?"
Hiko chuckled darkly. "You might have a point there, old man. Might. Doesn't make my job any easier."
In the garage, Tomoe sat quietly on the counter, watching Kenshin carefully work with a bit of hardware and several fine tools. He seemed completely immersed in his work, but she did not miss the unusual brightness of his eyes or the tense lines in his face that had not been there before. "Kenshin," she finally murmured.
"I don't want to talk," he said tightly, each word forced out between clenched teeth.
"...All right." Carefully, she allowed just enough cool reproach in her tone to warn him, but not enough to disrespect his grief.
Tomoe was very good at what she did. It only took Kenshin a few seconds to sigh and pause in his work. "Tomoe. I'm sorry," he said, unable to keep from growling. "I...I shouldn't take it out on you, it's just-"
She slipped off the counter and came up silently behind him. He stood very still, tuned to her presence, trying to blot out the dark thoughts by focusing on her energy.
"Kenshin," she said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "Tell me about them. I only met them once, and I could tell that they were good people. You knew them for years...tell me. Even now they smile down on you, and watch over you."
For a moment he seemed like he was about to break down and weep, but then his face changed. He put the tools down, and he let her hold him as he told her in his soft voice about the three young women who had cared for him and protected him. Tomoe could hear the grief in his voice, but there might also have been...something darker, something that belied the calm expression on his face. He missed his sisters, their deaths were a tragedy. There was also guilt that he had not reached them in time. He said nothing of this, but it was clear in his tone. This worried Tomoe, for it seemed like the guilt was what might be giving that dark edge to his grief.
"Kenshin," she said quietly at one point. "It was not your fault."
"I know that," he snapped. Then, apologetically, "I know. I'm sorry."
She stroked his hair, thinking, knowing that he was lying. "You loved them. It was not you who took them away from their home, or caused them pain. It was not a crime to continue in your duties rather than listen to nightmares."
For a moment his fingers curled, tightening his grip on her clothing. Then he relaxed. His voice was perfectly calm when he said, "I know, Tomoe. I don't blame myself. I just wish I could have done something to stop it. Wouldn't you feel the same?"
She realized that he was not hearing her, that he would not listen to reason. The guilt was deeply subconscious, and neither he nor anyone else could reason himself out of it. "I would."
Kenshin drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. "If I was...stronger...if I knew the ways of the Force better...maybe I could have done something."
Her heart began to beat a little faster in alarm. "You're only an apprentice. You did your best. You're already a prodigy, Kenshin. How could you have done anything more?"
He had been leaning against her, but now he pulled away and stared off into the distance as he spoke. "I've been training for all these years...but there must have been something. Something more I could have done."
"There was nothing you could have done," she said, her apprehension making her tone sharper than she meant it to be. "I know that you've been working hard. You did your best."
"My best wasn't good enough," he growled, still not looking at her. "My sisters are dead."
"Then maybe you weren't meant to save them," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "Everyone passes from this world sooner or later, Kenshin. We do our best to protect people, but we're only human. If it was the time for your sisters, who are you to think you could intervene and change their fates? You tried as best you could."
"There's so much I still don't know about the Force," he mumbled. "There might have been a way to save them that I simply don't know about yet."
"Kenshin. It's too late for them. Learn, study, train, work for your future; but, please, let your sisters go." He was frightening her, because she thought she knew what he was really talking about.
"If I just knew more...if there just weren't so many - rules preventing someone from seeking knowledge..."
0-0-0-0-0
Akane, Kasumi, and Sakura were buried on the homestead where they had found freedom. Kenshin, Hiko, Tomoe, and her father laid the girls to rest and paid their respects. Hiko, seeing that this was not the time to be recruiting Kenshin to a cause, soon returned home, though not before sternly ordering the young man to be ready for another visit in the next few days. Oibore could not stay longer, either, for despite the droids he had to help, there was still too much work to be done that only a human could oversee. By midday, only Kenshin was left to keep vigil, as Tomoe had gone to find something she might be able to coax him to eat.
It was around then that Tsubame finally came trundling anxiously out to its maker. "M-Master Shin- Master Kenshin!"
"Hello, Tsubame," he said tiredly.
"Master Kenshin...your ship is upset," it said timidly.
Kenshin frowned in confusion. "What?"
"Your ship," it tried to explain. "Someone keeps contacting it, but it can't reach you and it's really worried because the message sounds important."
"You can talk to my ship?" he said in surprise.
"Yes, sir. Um, the message is from that man - Master Katsura."
"Master Katsura?"
A few minutes later, Kenshin was in the cockpit, listening intently to the holo-message from Katsura.
"Hello, Kenshin. I cannot reach Coruscant, and I need you to relay this message to the Jedi Council, since for some reason you happen to conveniently be on Tattooine instead of doing your job on Naboo. Anyway, a man named Kiyosato Akira is plotting treachery with a bunch of aliens on some hole-in-the-universe called Geonosis. I'll rendezvous with you as soon as I- Never mind, scratch that, I have just been captured. Hope to see you soon."
"Master Katsura!" Kenshin yelped. He leaped up and rushed for the exit ramp, calling over his shoulder as he did so, "Tsubame, get the ship ready for takeoff! Tomoe and I have to leave right away!"
"M...Me?" the protocol droid gasped. "Get the ship ready for...?"
0-0-0-0-0
Katsura eyed his captor from where he was strung up in some sort of force field. "Hello."
"Hi," Akira said warily.
"...This is a bit undignified. Is there any way I could be transferred to more comfortable accommodations?"
Akira shrugged. "Sure. You're just bait anyway, to get Himura here so I can strangle him."
"Oh. That makes me feel very special." Once Katsura had been moved to a comfortable prison cell, he asked, "So tell me, is there any particular reason you are interested in strangling my apprentice, rather than trying to turn me to the Dark Side, get all the other Jedi killed, and overthrow the entire galactic order?"
"That scumbag stole my girlfriend," Akira snarled, clenching his fists in remembrance.
"...Sounds reasonable."
0-0-0-0-0
Prince Yukishiro of Naboo fidgeted impatiently as he listened to the schpiels of other representatives. Evil Separatists joined with evil Trade Federation oh noes what do we do world is ending blah blah blah. Someone was trying to hurt his sister, and he wanted something done about it NOW. "I'm going out there," he finally told his advisors.
"Wait, my prince," they clamored in alarm, "we need to-"
Yukishiro had already made up his mind. He pushed some buttons so that their unit came floating out onto the floor of the Senate. "I have a proposal," he said imperiously.
To his satisfaction, most of the other representatives agreed with him. Supreme Chancellor Shishio should immediately be given the "emergency" powers of a dictator in order to "help restore peace to the galaxy." And to find Tomoe's would-be assassin and kill him or her painfully, of course.
"I accept these responsibilities very, very reluctantly," Shishio announced with a level of gravity bordering on mockery, "and will most definitely lay them down as soon as this crisis is over." He could not resist a smirk then. "That is my promise. Really."
0-0-0-0-0
"Um...how did we end up in this unpleasant situation, again?"
"Well," Tomoe mused, "you and I went racing to Geonosis to save Master Katsura, we utterly failed and were captured instead, and now we are about to be publicly executed for the entertainment of an audience of bloodthirsty aliens."
Kenshin sighed. "This is all my fault, isn't it."
"Not everything is, you know," she said kindly.
The two of them were handcuffed as they stood in a chariot and waited to be brought to out face their doom. Gazing into each other's eyes, Kenshin opened his mouth to speak again, but Tomoe stopped him gently. "Dear one...please don't spoil this moment with cheesy dialogue."
"...Oh. Okay. Then can I just, um...kiss you instead?"
"You may." They did so as the chariot finally trundled out into the arena, where Katsura was already chained and waiting.
"Hello, Kenshin," he said easily as they approached. "I would be happy to see you, but it looks like you will be rather useless in getting me out of this situation."
"Sorry, Master. Tomoe said it wasn't my fault this time," Kenshin added hopefully.
"Really? That's good, Kenshin, you're improving."
As it turned out, the three prisoners were not as helpless as their captors might have liked. Two of them were Jedi Knights, after all, and were able to extricate themselves from their bonds. By that time, Tomoe had glared the chains off her wrists and was now perched atop the pole she had been tied to, waiting with chain in hands to lash out at anything that might have mistakenly thought she would make an easy meal.
"Master!" Kenshin shouted as he struggled to stay seated on the howling monster that had tried to eat him, "What will we do once we've defeated these creatures? We won't be allowed to leave the arena!"
"One bridge at a time, my young padawan," Katsura called back, preoccupied with fending off his own wild beast.
Up on her pole, Tomoe was saying coaxingly to the feline thing trying to get at her, "Now, sweetheart, just calm down and listen to me for a second. Tender girlflesh is all well and good, but wouldn't you much rather want to take a bite out of the jailers who have so mistreated you?"
As the feline thing paused thoughtfully, Katsura finally killed his assailant and Kenshin had managed to convince his mount that it would get both a square meal and sugar cubes after it had helped its new friends escape. "All right," Kenshin said, huddled with his companions in a defensive circle, "Raging execution monsters dealt with. Now, about escaping the arena?"
After a baffled pause, Katsura finally suggested, "We could always just have someone rescue us."
Right on cue, a small army of Jedi Knights came leaping out of nowhere, running around slicing droids apart with lusty yells.
"Good call, Master," Kenshin said admiringly. "Now what happens when our vastly outnumbered Jedi army gets defeated?"
"Hm," Katsura murmured. "There's always the clone army."
"This is a bit too much of a cop-out, don't you think?" Tomoe commented when said clone army dropped down conveniently out of the sky. "Especially considering that there's no Mace Windu equivalent and the Yoda one has yet to show up."
"Wait," Kenshin said urgently, "we're going too fast. What about the bounty hunter?"
Fujita had been cheerfully fighting Kiyosato Akira (who was angry at him for letting Tomoe get chained up in an execution ring and then preventing Akira from rescuing her), until he was shot by his young clone while distracted by combat. "Hajime," he murmured as he lay dying, "Why?"
"Three words, 'Father,'" Hajime said flatly. "Aku, soku, zan."
"...Figures," Fujita sighed. "I suppose I should have known better than to expect that you would stand quietly by as I betrayed the Republic and tried to murder an innocent young woman." Fujita smiled. "My mistake. Goodbye, Hajime."
Hajime watched the bounty hunter take his last breath, then turned and glared at the staring Katsura, Kenshin, and Tomoe. "Kiyosato's escaping. Go catch him, morons."
Kenshin and Katsura, racing ahead of everyone else, caught up with Akira as the young man was trying to make his escape in a starship. "Stop right there, Kiyosato!" Kenshin shouted, lightsaber at the ready. "We're not going to let you get away with this!"
"Why not?" Akira yelled back. "You still need me for the opening of Revenge of the Sith, you know!"
Kenshin blinked. "Um...so?"
"Looks like I'd better handle this," Katsura said, stepping past him with his own lightsaber casually gripped in one hand. "Kiyosato, plot necessities aside, Kenshin and I have you outnumbered. You would do best to surrender quietly."
"I'm afraid that assessment is not quite accurate, Katsura-san. Forgive me, but now that Himura-san has grown up, you are now more a danger than a useful pawn."
Everyone turned in surprise at the sound of the new voice. A slight figure in a black cloak moved gracefully into view, the blade of a lightsaber glowing attractively against the dark surroundings.
"You!" Kenshin gasped. "You're a Sith Lord!"
"You're right, Himura-san," Soujirou agreed cheerfully. He glanced over his shoulder at Akira. "I'll take care of this, Kiyosato-san. You run along now."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks!" Akira scampered onto the ship and blasted off to safety.
Kenshin was upset. "He got away!"
"Unfortunately, we have more pressing problems to deal with," Katsura said guardedly. "This man is not an opponent to take lightly."
Kenshin found this to be true when his first attack resulted in him getting flung halfway across the hangar, where he hit a pipe and slumped to the ground in a daze. "...Ow...so much hurt..." It took him much, much longer than he wanted to drag himself back to his feet and limp his way over to where Katsura and Soujirou were whirling in a blaze of clashing lightsabers. "H...Hang on, Master. I'm coming."
He arrived a bit too late, since just before he reached the dueling couple, Soujirou brought his lightsaber down on Katsura, was blocked, and used the opportunity for an attack with the Force, which he had been planning all along. Katsura was flung backwards, and Soujirou followed him. Katsura managed to deflect the worst of the attack, but lost his lightsaber in the process. He hit the ground rolling; Soujirou pursued relentlessly, inflicting some light injuries in his attempts to cause a fatal one.
Kenshin came descending like a whirlwind of fury on Soujirou's back. The dark lord was forced to turn away and defend, allowing Katsura just enough time to get unsteadily to his feet. Kenshin, skilled but young, therefore not in complete control of his emotions, had his neglected guard taken advantage of, which allowed Soujirou time to flash back and kick Katsura halfway across the room before whirling back again to intercept Kenshin's retaliation.
"Master Katsura!"
"I'll give you some advice," Soujirou said conversationally as he lopped off the distracted young Jedi's arm and sent him flying after his master. "First of all, no matter how angry you are, no matter how outraged at the thought of a friend getting hurt, it will only work against you. Your focus needs to be on your defense and your plan of attack, not your emotions. It's your own emotions that are the real enemy. Secondly - don't be distracted. Didn't they teach you that in Jedi Martial Arts 101?"
Kenshin was not really in a state to answer. Groaning as he slumped against Katsura, he touched the fried stump that was all that was left of his arm and tried to remember how to string thoughts together coherently.
Soujirou raised his lightsaber, those clear innocent eyes darkening a little. "I hate to do this while your apprentice is watching, but it is time, Katsura-san."
"I don't think so," Katsura muttered, calling silently for his lightsaber.
It flew across the room toward his waiting hand, but was chopped to pieces in mid-flight by Soujirou's blade.
"...Well, it was worth a try." Katsura tiredly dropped his head back onto his arm, wondering if he could push Kenshin off of him and struggle back to his feet fast enough to be able to defend himself, bare-handed, from Seta Soujirou. Ha ha. LOL.
The Sith Lord took one step toward the fallen Jedi, then another. His lightsaber rose gracefully in preparation for the killing strike. Katsura tried shoving Kenshin off anyway, knowing it was in vain. Kenshin groaned and lost his concentration right when he had managed to get the first two thoughts strung together (the first one was "Ow," the second one was, out of kindness to the author's delicate sensibilities, censored). It seemed like time was up for Katsura Kogorou, until a deep voice suddenly rolled through the hangar, just in the nick of time, of course.
"After more than ten freaking years, I finally achieve my life's ambition, and still I find myself saving your sorry skin. Well done, Shinta. Kenshin. Whatever the heck you're calling yourself now."
Katsura and Soujirou glanced over in surprise at the bulky figure that was heroically silhouetted in the entrance. "Hiko Seijuurou-san?" they said at the same time.
Hiko lifted his sake jug and took a deep, satisfying draught before bothering to answer. "Duh."
"Your help is appreciated," Katsura said, his tone perfectly composed and polite, though his eyes were practically dripping with relief.
"Hm." Soujirou adjusted his stance, studying Hiko warily. "Looks like this'll take a little longer than I expected." In the next fraction of a second he was all the way across the room, unleashing a powerful attack on Hiko - who countered it with Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki.
Soujirou went flying.
Katsura watched in awe as the Sith Lord crashed to the ground, while Kenshin succeeded in stringing a couple more thoughts together ("Whoa" and "Hiko sake here what?").
"...Hiko-san," Soujirou murmured, as his blood began slowly pooling around him, "forgive me...for under- estimating..." He delicately drew in a pained, shallow breath, as Hiko came over to crouch down next to him. "Two steps...short." Soujirou smiled through bloodied lips. "Though even...full strength...no match for- you." His eyes closed, and he did not breathe again.
"That should have been obvious from the start, you little fool," Hiko muttered. In the second before he bowed his head, an oddly sad expression could be seen on his face, but by the time his moment of respect was over and he rose again to march over to Kenshin and Katsura, he was back to business. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Being rescued, apparently," Katsura said, finally at leisure to help both the half-conscious Kenshin and himself to their feet. "I thank you, Hiko-san."
"How's the kid?" Hiko asked brusquely.
Katsura eyed his apprentice. "Kenshin? I know you're...kind of missing an arm now...but, ah, how are you holding up?"
"Hiko sake here what?" Kenshin mumbled into Katsura's shoulder.
Hiko rolled his eyes. "Idiot. After losing out on a bet that should have been a no-brainer, it took me ten more years to get my hands on a hyperdrive that would repair the ship I used to fly here to Geonosis and obtain my long-sought prize."
Katsura looked at him curiously.
Hiko held up the jug that always hung from his belt. "Geonosis. Home of the best sake in the galaxy. Mission accomplished."
"I congratulate you, Hiko-san," Katsura said politely. "Now, if you will excuse me, I've got to get medical attention for my apprentice and deliver the news that the Separatist leader has escaped to try to wreak more havoc in Episode III. You are welcome to join us."
"No thanks." Hiko roughly ruffled up Kenshin's hair and then turned to stride out of the hangar. "See you later, kid."
Katsura, a little spooked by the almost threatening tone, moved to follow. "Stay with me, Kenshin. Just concentrate on one step at a time...that's it, keep going..."
0-0-0-0-0
A few weeks later, as the clone army was spreading throughout the galaxy to the accompaniment of ominous foreboding background music, a certain couple were off getting married in secret on Naboo.
"Tomoe," Kenshin said softly. He started to reach for her hand, realized that he was using his right arm, and quickly amended the gesture with his left.
Tomoe let go of his left hand and firmly grasped the ugly metal prosthetic that had replaced Kenshin's lost right arm. "Yes?" she replied, looking so beautiful in her wedding gown that he wanted to cry, or to kiss her.
He decided on the latter. "I love you," he whispered afterwards.
Tomoe smiled.
The priest cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um, 'scuse me folks, but do you think we could get through the actual ceremony first?"
"Oh." Kenshin turned back to him sheepishly, Tomoe's hand still grasped in his. He really hoped he was not hurting her - he couldn't feel anything through these stupid, clunky metal fingers. "Sorry."
"Please continue," Tomoe said politely.
Their eyes crept back toward each other as they spoke their vows, as if they were physically unable to stop looking at each other. At last the priest finished and moved sedately off to give them some privacy.
Tsubame, who had been given back to Kenshin by Tomoe's father and was the only other witness to this ritual, made a happy whirring noise. "I am so happy for both of you!"
"Thank you, Tsubame-chan," they said together, then glanced at each other with amused grins. "Now be a dear," Tomoe added, "and make sure we are not disturbed until tomorrow morning. Late tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Ma'am," Tsubame said obediently.
They watched it moving away with its awkwardly charming gait, then turned back to each other. "Late tomorrow morning?" Kenshin repeated. "I like the sound of that."
"Come." Their hands still entwined, she began moving toward the bedroom, pulling him after her. "There are certain activities we ought not to be engaged in while we're still in sight on the balcony."
"Yes." His thoughts were starting to get a little incoherent again, but for much more pleasant reasons than having just lost an arm. "Yes!"
0-0-0
Our love was more fragile than we knew. For one precious, priceless year it blossomed - then the poison began to creep in.
To be continued...
Author's Note: See the author's notes of the previous chapter for my apology on venting my frustration with the Star Wars prequels too heavily in this fic.