Chapter Eleven: Drifting Away
It had been a week, since the unexpected visit of Okubo Toshimichi to the dojo, and life had seemingly resumed its' peaceful flow. Tetsunosuke watched as Kenshin did the laundry; snickering softly when Sanosuke kicked him into the tub.
"This is no time to be doing laundry! What're you going to say?" Sanosuke asked, irritably, before continuing, "I know you probably won't, but I'm still afraid you're going to listen to Okubo."
"I also feel that way, Sano...and yet, worrying will get us nowhere." Tetsunosuke murmured.
"You're right about that, Tetsu. But I've got a bad feeling about this...Something smells bad. If the government itself stinks, don't expect the man at the top to smell like flowers." Sanosuke growled; suspicion laced into every word.
"You truly hate the government from the bottom of your heart, don't you, Sano?" Kenshin asked, with an uneasy smile. Sanosuke growled and shoved the elder rurouni back into the tub with his foot.
"Shouldn't I? I'm Sekihoutai, remember?" Sanosuke grumbled, irritably. This got a muffled 'Of course' from Kenshin, before his head got shoved into the suds again.
"But if Okubo-sama is just another corrupt revolutionary, living for wealth and fame, wouldn't Saito have already slain him?" Kenshin questioned, when he'd managed to get out from under Sano's foot, and gave his companions a somber look.
"That crazy cop?.! You're joking!" Yutaro shouted.
"Yeah, he's just another government dog!" Yahiko agreed. Tetsunosuke shook his head, and gave the two boys a grave look.
"No. Before the fight, Saito spoke of justice. No dog would dare to use such strong words. 'Aku Soku Zan' was the code of justice common to both the Ishin Shishi, and the Shinsengumi. He's still a Wolf of Mibu, and his fangs still glow with 'Swift Death to Evil' in the darkness." Tetsunosuke stated, then silently added, "And I would like to believe that mine still do, as well."
"Aa...but it also means that he's not someone we'd be friends with." Kenshin muttered, as he climbed out of the tub with a sour look on his face.
"Duh!" Yahiko and Yutaro grumbled.
"You said it!" Sanosuke agreed, cracking his knuckles when he slammed one fist into the palm of the other hand.
"I hates him!" Kaoru snarled. Tetsunosuke chuckled and shook his head; he could almost hear Saito's sneezes from where he now stood. And yet, he could tell that Kenshin was still thinking about what he was going to say to Okubo...and what the decision would ultimately be.
"I suddenly have the sinking feeling that this might be our last morning here." Tetsunosuke mused, sadly; knowing that death could await both him and Kenshin in Kyoto, but still determined to carry through with his own choice.
"So then...The hanging up is left to you and Yutaro, Yahiko. Sessha is going to Okubo-sama's mansion." Kenshin stated, quietly.
"Why? He said he'd come here." Kaoru said, concernedly.
"Okubo-sama is a very busy person. It will be faster to go than to wait." Kenshin replied, turning when Megumi entered the dojo's yard.
"There you are! Ohayo gozaimasu Ken-san!" Megumi called, amiably.
"If it isn't the kitsune-onna. What're you after, so early in the morning?" Sanosuke asked, ignoring the chuckle-disguised-as-a-cough that came from Tetsunosuke in response to that remark.
"You do realize that you're speaking to the person who'd saved your life?" Megumi retorted, as she gave him an almost scathing look. Tetsunosuke hid a smile behind the hand that still covered his mouth; he knew where this sort of argument usually led, and only had to watch and wait for the fireworks to begin.
"What do you want, Megumi-san?" Kaoru questioned, curiously. The other woman laughed and smiled mischievously.
"Uh-oh...This can't be leading anywhere good!" Tetsunosuke thought; a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head when Megumi began to explain herself.
"Today's the day for your reply, right? I brought something to help you decide!" Megumi brightly said, getting a confused 'Oro' from Kenshin before she slapped a collar around his neck, and Kaoru started shouting at her for being so outrageous.
"I am so glad my brother never met Megumi-san...otherwise, I'd probably be on a leash myself right now." Tetsunosuke muttered, his deadpan expression speaking volumes of what he thought of this turn of events.
"True enough..." Sanosuke agreed, as they both watched Kenshin remove the collar.
"Enough. Sessha is going." Kenshin said, firmly (yet with a hint of exasperation nevertheless)
"Do you even know where his mansion is?" Kaoru asked.
"No. But word has him in Akasaka today. If the route is way of Kioizaka, then intercepting him is likely." Kenshin replied, with his usual smile.
"Then we'll go with you!" Kaoru shouted, as the elder rurouni started to walk away.
"No. It will be a complicated conversation. Only Tetsu can come with sessha, this time." Kenshin stated, as a surprised expression appeared on the younger rurouni's face.
"Are you sure, Kenshin? Okubo had said that he'd only wanted you to go to Kyoto." Tetsunosuke said, quietly, as they left the dojo's grounds behind them.
"You had also survived the bloodshed in Kyoto over ten years ago, Tetsu, so you have more of a connection in this than they do." Kenshin answered, seriously.
"If that is indeed the case, then you must know that I will return to Kyoto as well...But I have a bad feeling about all this. There's more to it than even Okubo himself knows." Tetsunosuke said, getting a nod of agreement from Kenshin as a response. Little did they both realize that what was about to happen would force their hands, and make their decisions for them...
Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv(divider)
By the time the afternoon had rolled around, a whirlwind of events had already played out. Okubo Toshimichi, the Chief of Internal Affairs, had been assassinated, and the first 'meeting' with one of Shishio's men had already occurred. Tetsunosuke listened grimly as he, Kenshin, and Saito all met with Kawaji inside of Okubo's mansion.
"These are the methods of Shishio! He plants spies throughout the nation and uses their discoveries to commit heinous crimes like this! He never reveals himself, and he chisels away at the Meiji government until the day they revolt...Okubo-sama..." Kawaji angrily said, as tears of rage flowed freely down his face. He didn't even look up when another man entered the room behind him.
"Excuse me." the man said, softly.
"Yamayoshi-dono, the prefectural governor of Fukushima...and the last person to exchange words...with Okubo-sama." Kawaji murmured, as the man politely nodded to Kenshin, Saito and Tetsunosuke, then began his explanation.
"We'd just finished discussing the plans for Tokyo...I visited him this morning to say goodbye. I never expected anything like this to happen...We had been discussing the rate of growth in this new government for the country...the past ten years, were the years of 'creation'. The next ten will be the years of 'growth', when politics and ideas unite. And after that, the final ten, would be the years of 'maintenance', which would be left to the future...and the rebirth of Japan into a 'nation-state' would be complete." Yamayoshi stated, thoughtfully.
"A nation-state...in which citizens can choose their own paths, free of the oligarchy of Edo...or of Meiji, so far...A distant dream." Saito murmured, breaking his silence for the first time that afternoon.
"I agree with that, Saito-san." Tetsunosuke quietly agreed.
"But it was a conceivable dream...as long as Okubo-sama was with us." Kawaji whispered.
"Yet, I was curious about one thing. Okubo-sama, who was usually a man of few words, was unusually talkative this morning. I don't think he was expecting his own death...but he did believe that today, in some way, was an important one for the future of Japan." Yamayoshi said, before the three swordsmen quietly took their leave. As they walked down the hall towards the door that led to the street, Tetsunosuke could only sigh, and wish things could have been different.
"Kawaji-san was quite shaken." Kenshin murmured, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over them.
"He was originally discovered by Okubo. But Kawaji isn't the only one shaken. Now, the last of the 'Three Greatest Revolutionaries' is gone, and the government is in the hands of drones. It is now a certainty...chaos will engulf Japan." Saito muttered, darkly.
"And Shishio will not let this opportunity go." Tetsunosuke added, his soft voice almost lost even in the midst of their footsteps.
"Time has begun...to flow once more." Kenshin silently mused, as he and Tetsunosuke parted ways with Saito, and started on the trek back to the dojo. He never knew that Tetsunosuke's thoughts were along the same lines, nor that the younger rurouni's sense of foreboding was just as strong, if not stronger, than his own about all that had happened. But he was soon going to find out...
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv(divider)
Night had long since fallen, as Kaoru waited by the dojo's gate. Both Kenshin and Tetsunosuke were late in returning from wherever they had gone, since the news of Okubo's death had spread like wildfire; negating the need for the two rurouni to go to his mansion (or so they had thought, at first).
"Kenshin...Tetsu...Where are you?" Kaoru wondered, as she gazed in the direction Sanosuke and Megumi had gone, on their way to an emergency that had demanded Megumi's attention. She perked up, however, when an abrupt wind kicked up around her, and she turned to find at least Kenshin standing there; with a soft, sad smile on his youthful features.
"Kenshin!" Kaoru shouted, joyfully; her happiness dissipating when she saw his expression.
"And Yahiko and Yutaro?" Kenshin asked, since he'd seen Megumi's and Sanosuke's sudden departure from a good distance away.
"Um...oh. They both got tired of waiting and went to sleep. You know how kids are..." Kaoru replied, a little nervously, then asked, "Where's Tetsu?" She got no immediate response from the suddenly somber rurouni.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru questioned, concernedly.
"Okubo-sama was murdered this morning." Kenshin said, changing the subject completely.
"Yes...we heard." Kaoru stated, her heart almost freezing when she heard his next statement.
"The real killers are Shishio and his men. They can't be allowed to run loose, Kaoru-dono, so...sessha is off to Kyoto." Kenshin said, as the wind picked up in fierceness, and howled through the street they were standing in.
"Shishio Makoto...will you assassinate him, then?" Kaoru asked, her face pale and her hands suddenly clammy.
"No...maybe so. If sessha can remain a rurouni...it will be enough to meet and talk with him...to defeat him, if needed. But if sessha becomes Battousai again, as in the battle against Saito..." Kenshin shook his head as his thought took a dark path, and tried to get back to what he really wanted to say.
"During the time spent here, it seemed that life as a normal swordsman was possible...Days were spent with peace in the heart...Sessha is certain that Tetsu feels that same way...But, as it was shown in the fight against Saito...deep inside of sessha's heart, the hitokiri still lives." Kenshin said, grimly, barely looking up when Kaoru grasped his shoulders and gave him an almost frantic look.
"But you can turn back! However close you get to Battousai, Kenshin is still Kenshin! It was the same during Jine and Saito! You'll be fine!" Kaoru cried, jumping when another voice interrupted her.
"This is different, Kaoru-san. Kenshin had told me of the previous incident. With Jine, the Battousai emerged in response to Kenshin's desire to save you, and departed once your voice was heard. But with Saito, Battousai emerged to fight him." Tetsunosuke stated, as he emerged from the shadows; his red-brown eyes showing a grave concern for all of his companions. Kenshin slowly nodded; silently agreeing with the younger rurouni in that.
"Your voice didn't reach, Kaoru-dono. So this is different...When we first met, you understood. Even after you found out about Hitokiri Battousai. 'I don't care about people's pasts' you'd said...and it was an amazing thing..." Kenshin murmured.
"You even said that after you all found out about my being former Shinsengumi, Kaoru-san. It felt good to belong somewhere again, after so many years of wandering." Tetsunosuke added, quietly.
"Yet, to the government and Shishio's men, and even to everyone else in this country who had hated Hitokiri Battousai, sessha is still him..." Kenshin said, before he did the one thing that stunned the girl before him into silence; he wrapped his arms around her, and held her close.
"Thank you for everything, Kaoru-dono...and sayonara. Sessha is a rurouni...and once more, sessha will drift." Kenshin whispered, before he gently released her, and started walking away. Tetsunosuke paused briefly before walking after the other rurouni, silently bowed, and followed Kenshin into the darkness. He tried not to hear when Kaoru sorrowfully screamed their names, and allowing only the darkness to see his own tears as he left his first home in ten years behind...possibly forever. For on this day, he and Kenshin became rurouni once more, and they disappeared, side by side, into the darkness.
Author's Note!
Now the Kyoto Arc can truly begin! Sorry about the long wait between chapters, minna!
Gemini14