14
All of this hate
And all of this pain
I'll burn it all down
As my anger reigns
Till everything burns
EVERYTHING BURNS – ANASTACIA FT. BEN MOODY
Tokyo, 1878
I drained the last of the sake and placed my cup down next to me before leaning back with a satisfied sigh and closing my eyes.
"It sure is hot today, ne Nee-chan?" Jasmine asked.
"Uh huh."
She was right. It was one of the hottest days we'd had this season, and you could see the heat waves hovering above the ground. Despite the rise in temperature, there were still people milling around in the streets, going about their business in their usual fashion.
I couldn't help but feel glad that we had arrived in Tokyo the previous day, as I didn't much like the idea of traveling in this oppressive heat.
Jasmine and I had no home; or rather the whole of Japan had become our home. With the ending of the Revolution, I had become too restless to stay in Kyoto, and so I decided I would travel. Jasmine of course came with me, and so together we traversed the country, spending the past 10 years doing whatever we felt like doing.
We had been in Tokyo before, but the place had increased in size since our last visit here.
"Excuse me, but would you two ladies allow me to buy you a drink?"
I opened one of my eyes to look at the man making the offer. He had a hopeful look on his face as he waited for an answer. Jasmine seemed to be waiting for me to decide.
"Iie."
"What?"
"Are you deaf, you insolent fool? I said no."
Jasmine bowed her head as the man quickly walked away.
"Was it necessary to be so harsh?"
"Don't start this again."
"But you're not being fair! I know you're angry, but not every man is Kenshin!"
"I'm not having this argument again. End of story."
Jasmine looked like she had so much more she wanted to say, but wisely she held her tongue. Her silence didn't last long however, for as soon as I had ordered another cup of sake, she resumed her attack.
"What if he's here?"
She asked this question whenever we came to a new town. I found it to be very unlikely. 10 years of being constantly on the move and we'd never run into Kenshin. For all we knew, he was probably already dead.
"If he is, then he is. If he isn't, then he isn't. It makes no difference to me either way."
"When will you stop lying to yourself?"
A woman arrived, carrying a small bottle of sake which she used to refill my cup. I lifted the cup to my lips, but paused before taking a sip.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."
I could see this angered her as she turned her body towards me.
"You still think about him."
"You're right. I wonder why I ever cared for that jerk in the first place. I should never have taken him in on that night he collapsed in front of our house. I should have left him out there to bleed to death."
"You don't mean that."
Shrugging, I downed the sake in one gulp, feeling it burn its way down my throat. It was a good feeling, like my insides were being cleansed, like the bad memories were just being washed away.
"Alright, let's get going."
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know about you but I'm hungry, and we still need to find some kind of temporary job, or maybe I should try my hand at gambling again. I got pretty lucky last time."
Jasmine scratched out some money and handed it to the woman who had served us before following me. She didn't say much, but I knew she always got this silent when I deliberately avoided the subject she had brought up.
Though I never said it out loud, I was terrified that she would one day decide she had had enough of my stubbornness and go her own way. Jasmine was all I had left in this world. She was the only thing I'd ever had in the first place.
"Jasmine, let's not fight ok?"
"Ok," she agreed, trying hard not to smile. This was how it always went. We would argue, I would change the subject, she would be mad at me until I apologized, and then things would be fine again.
"Jade-san, is it that really you?"
I paused and glanced back at the caller. My face split into a grin when I recognized the man.
"Well well, if it isn't Kaita-san."
"What brings you to Tokyo?"
"I'm here to take your hard earned money of course."
The man laughed and placed a friendly hand on my shoulder.
"You never change. I don't think you'll be so lucky this time."
"Well we won't know unless we play."
"I was actually just on my way to play with some of the others. Why don't you join us?"
"Only if there's enough sake."
Kaita laughed again and continued walking, leading us through the back-alleys to where they frequently met to gamble. I had met Kaita during our previous visit to Tokyo where he had introduced me to the world of gambling. I had been surprisingly lucky and ended up walking away with everything they had. Not that that was much to begin with since they only ever used small change when gambling.
Kaita and his friends were some of the few men I could tolerate since they saw me as one of them. They acknowledged the fact that I was not like other women and respected me for my strength.
Kaita stopped outside the small shack and opened the door, allowing us to enter first. There were a few faces I didn't recognize, but Kaita quickly made introductions and offered us seats. I sat in their circle while Jasmine took a seat behind me. She preferred not to get involved which was fine by me.
After drinks were passed around, the games began. I watched the first few rounds before getting involved myself. I lost the first game, but quickly made up for it by winning the next three rounds. Just as I was getting into the swing of things, the door opened and in walked a tall, dark-haired man wearing white clothing and a red headband. He glanced around at the crowd of faces, his gaze lingering on Jasmine and I.
"Sano, you're late as usual."
"What's going on here? I didn't realize we would be having extra company," he asked, his eyes narrowing when he glimpsed the sword at my side.
"Ah, this is one of my old friends Jade and her sister Jasmine. They're just visiting for a short while so I thought I'd bring them over. Ladies, this is one of our other friends, Sagara Sanosuke," Kaita explained. I took a slow sip of my sake, waiting for the man to say something. I could tell by the look in his eyes he didn't much like the idea of having us around.
"Kaita you should know better. This is a dangerous part of town for two young women."
"Oh you don't have to worry about them. These two are –"
"Big girls who can make their own decisions," I interrupted, not wanting Kaita to reveal that we were manslayers. I wasn't yet sure if I liked the look of this guy. He didn't seem to have anything to say, so I decided to push him a bit further.
"How about a game of dice, Sagara-kun? Or are you too afraid to be beaten by a girl?"
I could see him grinding his teeth together in annoyance and secretly relished in the sense of satisfaction that came from knowing I was the cause. Men were such idiots sometimes. They never believed us women could do anything other than cook, clean, and give birth to children.
"Fine, I'll play," he replied, moving to sit down across from me. Kaita took up a position to our right, holding the dice and cup in hand.
"What are the stakes?" he asked.
"I'll bet half my winnings so far."
Sanosuke scratched through his pockets and tossed some small change onto the pile before folding his arms across his chest.
"Ok, the rules are whoever guesses right wins. You cannot guess the same thing, got it?"
I downed the sake in my cup and slammed it down, my eyes locked with Sano's.
"Let's do this."
Kaita raised the dice, giving them a small shake before releasing them onto the small bamboo mat. They jumped around a few times before Kaita quickly covered them with the cup.
"Alright, take a guess."
"Odds!" Sano and I called in unison. The moment the words left our mouths, we were glaring at each other.
"I called odds first!" I argued.
"No, I did!" Sano countered.
"You're just copying me because you know you're going to lose."
"You're the one who's copying me!"
"What happened to "ladies first"?"
"Oh so now you want to act like a lady?"
We leaned towards each other, our faces inches apart and invisible bolts of lighting shooting out from our angry eyes.
"Kisama. You have a problem with the way I act?"
"What if I do?"
"Nee-chan, please calm down," Jasmine intervened, trying to stop us from fighting.
I ignored her, reaching for my sword.
"Let's take this outside."
"Fine, let's."
The two of us rose and made our way outside into the narrow street. The rest of the men and Jasmine crowded around the doorway, trying to get a good view of what was going to happen. Jasmine looked panicked, and she tried several times to talk sense into my head, but I was long past listening to reason. This guy just pissed me off, and I fully planned on setting him straight.
"You realize I carry a sword, right?" I called to him when I realized he had no weapons on him.
"I've fought a swordsman who's a lot stronger than you with my fists and lived to talk about it."
"Baka, he must have been going easy on you then."
"You know, I've had just about enough of your attitude. Women like you should just stay at home with their children and leave getting into fights to the men."
"That's the problem with you men. Always underestimating us. Do you think that just because you're a man you can order me around as you like?"
"What I'm saying is that you should listen to your sister and stop this before you get yourself hurt. I'm not the type of guy who fights with women."
"Oh how very noble of you." I paused long enough to draw my sword before raising my eyes back to his.
"If you don't take me seriously, then you're the one who's going to get hurt."
I could see he was thoroughly wound up, and in a split second he was rushing at me, his fist raised and ready to strike. I blinked, and it was no longer some arrogant punk running towards me, but Hideki. My blood turned to ice and I froze. Jasmine noticed the look on my face and quickly jumped in front of me, holding her arms out to the side as if to shield me.
"STOP!" she shouted.
There was a flash of movement and when I next saw, there was another man standing between Jasmine and Sano. He had stopped Sanosuke's punch with his own hand.
"Now now Sano, you know better than to raise your fist at a woman."
"Come on, you know I wasn't going to really do anything."
"I'm sorry about my friend, ladies. He just –"
The man stopped when he had turned to face us. I felt my stomach drop at his familiar face. Just when I thought I'd had my fill of intolerable men, he had to show up. Neither of us seemed to be able to say anything, so I decided to be the first to end this meeting.
Sheathing my sword, I turned my back on the men.
"Come on Jasmine."
"Jade wait!"
I stopped and turned halfway to look back at the red-haired swordsman – the man I loved; the man I hated.
"I. . ."
I waited for him to continue, but when he didn't, I closed my eyes and sighed.
"After all this time, that's all you have to say to me? You're even more pathetic than I thought, Battousai."
His eyes widened at my use of his nickname, but I turned and walked away before anything more could be said. Jasmine lingered a while longer, looking uncertainly at Kenshin before hurrying after me.
I hadn't believed I would see him again, and considering all the forgotten memories his appearance stirred up, it would have been better if I had been right.
"Onee-chan, are you alright?"
"Fine."
I wasn't fine at all. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. So many conflicting emotions were swirling around inside of me that I felt like throwing up.
"Jasmine, do you have the money we won?"
"Hai."
"Good, let's find a tavern. I need a drink. . .or two. . .or three."
"Nee-chan – "
"Please Jas, don't say anything, ok?"
She fell silent. I knew she was just trying to help, but the only thing that would help now was to get drunk.
Really, really drunk.