Disclaimer: See initial chapter
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AN: I've decided to try to use the honorifics now. Before, I wasn't sure of the placements and decided to use the English translations since it was easier. Even now, I'm still a little worried about mistakes, but I'm confident enough to use them as well as revise the past chapters using them. Practice makes perfect, right?
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"UAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!"
The swordsman was screaming as he ran away into the woods from a frozen still Soujiro; the stumps where his hands used to be waving about in tatters of blood as he ran. Misao began to slowly rise from the floor, keeping her gaze on Soujiro, who still had yet to move. But his eyes...his face...was in frozen in shock. She had never seen him that way before. The closest she could remember was that time when she had seen him awaken from a nightmare. He had been so scared then. But this...what she was seeing right now...was pure terror.
"So...Souji..."
But she was unable to finish before the young man's eyes switched over to her, the horror in his eyes increasing. In panic, he stepped back away from her and before she could try anything else, he ran away into the trees.
"Soujiro!"
Unseen to her, another figure crept out of the woods and reaches a hand out to her shoulder from behind. Feeling the light touch, Misao quickly whirled around and launched a fist at the intruder, only to have it caught in with the person's other hand. Misao's eyes widened as she saw who the newcomer was.
"Oh...hi..."
He had to run...
He didn't know why...
He didn't know where...
But he had to run...
Panic-stricken, Soujiro dashed on through the woods of the forest. His thoughts were a turbulent mess of emotions and feelings, all confusing the young man and driving him onward. Where was he running to? Why did he feel this way? What was he feeling? Why was he running?
Just as quickly as he had taken off, Soujiro slowed down and stopped, stumbling down to the floor and breathing heavily. He didn't know how long he had been running, but that didn't matter. His shortness of breath was more from his mental anguish than his physical exertion. He just couldn't get over what he had done. Logically, he hadn't really done anything wrong. He was defending himself and his friend from an attack. Severed a man's hands, yes, but there were no fatalities. He hadn't killed anyone.
But he...wanted to...
And that's what really scared them. He had never felt that before. When he was hitokiri, he had simply killed under his master's order. But it wasn't as if he had wanted to kill them. When he slew those men, he didn't feel anything, at least, not at the time. But in his duel against Kenshin, he learned that he had indeed felt something. All those people he had killed, he learned that he never really wanted to. Even with his malicious family, he had only thought to scream in horror at the sight of what he had done.
But he had done it to survive...
But now, to actually have wanted to kill someone... It left him so confused and conflicted that he didn't know what to think. 'Was Lord Shishio right after all...? The strong live and the weak die... But if so...why am I still alive...? I'm not strong... But I'm alive... I don't...'
His face twisting, Soujiro tried to subdue his thoughts before they became turbulent again. It was at this point that he looked up and took in his surroundings. But upon doing so, shock entered his mind again at seeing where he was. This was where he had been journeying to all along.
Mount Hiei… His master's final resting place.
Or at least what was left of it. Even after all this time, the rock outcrop was darkly charred from the explosion that had erupted within. Soujiro stood still as he stared, not sure as to what to think right now. Even in a panic, he managed to make his way to this place. Did that mean something about...himself? Before his thoughts became turbulent again, a clear, but sharp voice broke out from behind him.
"So you've made it."
Soujiro turned around to meet the lone form of Aoshi coming out of the trees, dressed in his dark Oniwanbanshu garbs. A sheath was at his side and drifting lightly by his fingertips.
"Aoshi-san…"
Aoshi took a few more steps before stopping a few meters away from the young man, not taking his eyes off him for a second. A few moments later, the brush from behind him moved and from the trees came Misao.
"Soujiro!"
With a smile of relief, she began to advance on him, but a hand from Aoshi stopped her. Giving him a confused glance, she saw that he was still staring ahead at Soujiro with cool eyes.
"Aoshi-sama?"
"Stay here, no matter what." he replied
The confused expression deepened on her face. When Aoshi found her in the forest, she had told him what had happened, how they were attacked and Soujiro's panicked run. When he replied that they would search for him, she was glad. She didn't know what happened to him and wanted to help him.
But it seemed Aoshi had other ideas…
"I suspected that this would happen." he spoke to Soujiro with a dispassionate voice as he took a few steps toward him. "You are a hitokiri after all."
"Aoshi-sama… What…?"
Unlike Aoshi, Misao's voice was beginning to shake with worry. She had a feeling she knew what Aoshi was going to do and she didn't want Soujiro to have to face that. Nevertheless, she remained where she was as Aoshi continued to talk to Soujiro.
"And I can not let someone as dangerous as you go around where you could harm someone else."
With that, Aoshi grabbed hold of the sheath by both ends and pulled out his signature weapons; nito-ryu (dual) kodachi. Soujiro only stared blankly at Aoshi as he approached, his blades gleaming in the light.
"You won't ruin me, boy!"
"If we report the traitor, we may even receive a reward!"
Shock appearing in his eyes, Soujiro felt his arms and legs shift automatically into a fighting stance. The sword he held was put back into its sheath, but he still held the handle in his hand. He didn't know how he did it. At the moment, he felt like he was out of himself, simply watching as his body reacted to what would be a battle between him and the Oniwanbanshu okashira.
Aoshi watched Soujiro's switch into the battojitsu stance and held out his arms to the side slightly. Suddenly, there were random images of Aoshi all around Soujiro. Misao recognized the technique immediately. 'Ryusui no Ugoki' (Flowing-Water Movement). Soujiro stood as he was, not looking around or anything. In fact, his eyes seemed dead. But he was more than aware of what was happening because when Aoshi emerged from his technique and attacked, Soujiro whirled about to meet him, pulling the blade out of the sheath with amazing speed.
Ksssshhh!
The two swords came together in such a harsh clash that forced Misao to cover her ears briefly. Aoshi continued to glare at Soujiro with cold eyes. He had already known that Soujiro would be faster than him. A guy who was capable of striking Kenshin in the back during a fight would have to be. But that didn't matter at the moment, because as their swords locked, Aoshi was already bringing in his second kodachi, striking the back of the first one that was locked with Soujiro and resulting in forcefully pushing Soujiro back.
Misao blinked at Aoshi's move. She recognized that technique as well. 'Onmyo Kosa' (Shadow-Light Cross). But it was normally a defensive move used in counter-attacks that could break or damage the opponent's weapon. While it would be a good move offensively, it wouldn't be as effective. 'So why would Aoshi-sama do that?'
Meanwhile, Aoshi looked on at the recovering Soujiro, his eyes remaining as stoic as ever. "What are you waiting for, Tenken?"
Soujiro half-winced at the hearing of his hitokiri name. "Huh?"
"Show me who you truly are." Aoshi responded as he began to stalk toward Soujiro again.
"I... I... don't know..."
"Then you are even more dangerous than I thought."
In a blur, Aoshi was coming at him again. On instinct, Soujiro dashed away, three steps short of Shukuchi. But he was surprised when Aoshi managed to track him and wheel around with his blades. Soujiro lifted his own sword to block and was successful, but the force of Aoshi's blow was enough to make him stagger.
"Not even certain of your own identity... Why are you even alive still?" Aoshi then hit Soujiro with a swift kick that sent the young man backward again, this time to the ground. Soujiro groaned as he began to rise up from the ground, but just as he looked up at Aoshi, his eyes widened in shock.
"Dirty, nasty, ungrateful little brute!!"
"Here's your chance to test those swords."
"HYOH!"
Panicked, Soujiro quickly made his way to his feet and unknowingly took his battojitsu stance. Aoshi continued to advance on him until Soujiro began shifting his body low, his hand drifting forward. 'I see... Battojitsu combined with that speed of his. In that case, I suppose I should do no less.' With that, Aoshi reversed the hold on his own swords, angling them upward.
'No! He's actually going to do it!'
Misao had been watching the exchange between the two with great worry. While not defying her Lord Aoshi's order, she was hoping that Aoshi would stop at some point before things went too far. But now it seemed that he was going to go all the way. 'No! This couldn't be right.' Soujiro hadn't done anything wrong. Quite the opposite, he had protected her.
"Aoshi! Please!"
It hadn't occurred to her that she hadn't called him Aoshi-sama, neither had it occurred to her that Soujiro may wind up killing Aoshi instead, given his current stance. She was only concerned that Aoshi was about to kill a friend. But while Aoshi gave her no response, Soujiro seemed affected by it, his lowered hand trembling slightly. His panic slowly ebbed out of his mind, and his thoughts seemed to merge with a recalling of words of the past.
'Why am I still alive...?'
-"The strong live, and the weak die." That is Shishio-san's truth, as taught to me.-
'But... I'm not strong... I learned that after my second duel with Himura Kenshin... But I'm still alive... So Shishio-san...'
-"I cannot say that he was wrong. Shishio-san and his blade saved me from death. That will never change. But, as Himura-san said…I need to find my answers on my own."-
'Yes... My own answers... I wanted to find my own answers.'
-"The truth must be found not through battles, but over a lifetime…as one makes amends for the crimes one has committed."-
'What truth...? Why am I alive still?'
-"This one tries very hard to remember, but…he cannot recall the 'back then' you refer to. Even so…if it's not too late…can there be another chance?"-
'Another...chance... That's what I wanted. Another chance...at life!'
Upon this realization, Soujiro blinked, finding himself right back to his silent standoff with Aoshi. Quietly, he lifted himself out of his battojitsu stance and stood in neutral. He was still trembling, but for the first time, it wasn't out of fear or confusion.
Conviction...
"I want...to live...my own life..." he answered to Aoshi."To live simply...as Seta Soujiro."
Aoshi remained in stance. "And the Tenken?"
The young swordsman lowered his head. "I can not change that. Being the Tenken is a part of me."
-"Even so... It must hurt, to be cut by a sword. If just being beaten hurts so much, then a sword...!"-
"But...I'd rather not see anyone hurt." With that, he held the still-sheathed sword out to the side and placed it on the floor. "I've seen enough pain in my life and I do not wish to inflict such pain on others if I can help it."
Silence reigned over the two for a couple of minutes, with Misao on the sidelines not daring to breathe. Listening to Soujiro's words, fighting the instinct to jump in and stop them from killing each other; she practically seethed tension. Aoshi and Soujiro continued to stare at each other for a minute longer before Aoshi lowered his arm and swiveled his wrists, inserting the dual kodachi back into the sheath at his side.
"Then... there's no reason to fight."
