Disclaimer: Kenshin and Soujiro are not my property.
Amakusa Shougo struts into the room with hundreds of followers behind him. Magdaria stands by his side.
Sanosuke looks over to them and says, "What the hell is going on here? I thought you got over the whole thing about you being the son of God."
Amakusa Shougo smirks.
Sanosuke glares at him. "Tell me what the hell is going on!" He begins to get up and walk over to them.
Magdaria calmly steps over to Sano and places a hand over his chest. "Please, there is no reason for you to get so upset with my brother."
Sano looks over at the girl and his eyes soften. "Sayo . ."
She smiles.
Amakusa Shougo grimaces. "Stay away from my sister, tori-atama."
Sano's eyes shoot daggers at the voice. "Make me … you . .. you … impersonator!"
Shougo laughs. "You do not understand .. I am the son of Nobuhiro Watsuki! I control anything and everything that is related to Rurouni Kenshin!"
Sanosuke smirks at the comment. "Re-a-ll-y . . ."
"Just watch," Amakusa Shougo replies with a snap of his fingers.
POOF!
Sano's head feels all of a sudden lighter .. and .. much breezier? His face distorts into horror as his fingers reach over to the top of his head.
"MY HAIR!!!!!!" Everyone turned around to see a bald Sagara Sanosuke.
"I warned you, Sagara. Don't touch my sister!" Shougo says with a maniacal laugh, not noticing his sister walking towards him.
"To hell with you, onii-san!" Magdaria says, totally OOC.
Amakusa Shougo stands there stunned to the core as he watches his sister tramp off the set with a bald and shocked rooster-head in tow.
Special Thanks to Wolf ^-^x and Lolinia84 for adding me to your Favorite Authors List! Thanks so much! *author blushes . . =)
~ A Memory Forgotten ~
Chapter 18
Dr. Genzai was deep in thought as he heard the three retreating footsteps. Megumi was taking his two grandchildren to bed. How could this have happened? I never . . never thought that I would hear of Fujimoto Akane's name once again. How did he find out? How? How? How am I going to break this to the others?
"Megumi-san. I need to see the others tonight. There is something that I must tell them."
The woman nodded and without another minute's delay, the old man had walked back out into the night.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Battousai . ."
Kenshin turned around behind him and found the tall, looming figure of Shinomori Aoshi. He let out a mental sigh as his hand let go of the hilt of his sword.
"Ao .."
"HIMURA!" Makimachi Misao jumped from out of the room and successfully glomped him in a fierce hug.
"M-M-Misao-dono. . I can't breathe," Kenshin rasped in between breaths. Misao none too gently let him go as she turned and smiled a winning smile at her Aoshi-sama.
"Feh. What's the weasel-girl doing here?" Yahiko stammered as he came onto the scene.
Misao's eyes darted with deadly accuracy towards the origin of the voice.
"Why . .. you .." she took out a couple of kunais and waved them threateningly in the air. Yahiko promptly shut up. However, the rooster, being the baka that he was didn't notice.
"Oi weasel-girl, you don't look any different from when I left. You haven't grown at . . ." Sanosuke was promptly cut off by a couple of kunai pinning him to the tree behind him. He sweatdropped as he looked over to the shorter girl skipping towards the direction where the men had gone. Che ..
Kenshin and Aoshi paid no heed to the happenings around them as they made their way back into the dojo. As Aoshi kneeled down, Kenshin went to prepare some green tea for the both of them. When he had returned, he found the rest of them gathered around the same area. All anxiously waiting to hear what the Oniwabanshu had found out about Kamiya Kaoru.
Aoshi took a sip of his tea and gently laid it back down onto the table.
"Battousai, since you've notified us of Kamiya's disappearance we have not come up with anything useful. However, we have found out that this man, Fujimoto Akane, has enlisted a large group of men in his underground faction. Their motives are not yet clear to us, but we Oniwabanshu are keeping a close eye on them.
Also, you have also mentioned the name 'Higurashi Miroku'. This man, as we have found out, used to live in Japan during the Bakumatsu era working under the Shinsengumi. We also understand that he betrayed Fujimoto and ran to hide in China. However, his wife was not as lucky."
Aoshi took another pause as he drank another sip of the tea.
Misao looked astonishingly at the object of her affection. I didn't know he could talk so much. Aoshi-sama! Her eyes gleamed and sparkled at the thought. The dumbfounded looks on both Sano and Yahiko's faces expressed the same kind of bewildered sentiment.
Kenshin was not so interested in Aoshi's newfound ability to speak in a string of sentences, "Are you saying that Fujimoto killed Higurashi's wife?"
Aoshi gave a blank look and nodded.
Sanosuke, Yahiko, and Misao gave a sigh. Back to the old routine again.
Kenshin began again, "We've found a location on Kaoru-dono's whereabouts. We believe that she went to Shanghai, China in search of the man called Higurashi."
". . ." (A/N: Aoshi . .who else? ^_^ )
Misao looked thoughtful and asked, "But why?"
Sano interjected, "Some guy said that the boss said that Higurashi was Jou-chan's old man."
Misao was confused. "But I thought Kaoru's father had died. And wasn't Kaoru's father Kamiya Koshijiro?"
Kenshin replied, "Hai. This is what we're unclear about also."
"I can explain."
All heads turned towards the sixth new voice that appeared from outside the door.
"Dr. Genzai," the four murmured beneath their breath.
"What do you know of this, Genzai-sensei?" Kenshin asked as he motioned for the older man to sit next to him while preparing him some tea.
"Aa . . it's a long and complicated story, which I do not very well know myself. However, I will tell you what I have learned from Kaoru's late father."
"Please continue," Kenshin said. All five faces intently perked their heads and ears in interest at what the doctor and old friend of the Kamiya family was about to say. Even Aoshi's eyes showed some gleam of curiosity.
"Kamiya Koshijiro's wife could not bear a baby."
Gasps of surprise were heard from Misao, Sanosuke, and Yahiko.
"Back then, Kamiya Koshijiro was a bodyguard of the man, Higurashi Miroku. Once Fujimoto Akane had learned of Higurashi's betrayal, he vowed to kill his entire family and friends. Luckily, Higurashi heard about Fujimoto's plans and promptly made plans for him and his family to escape Japan. In order to ensure the safety of his child, he gave her to his most trusted bodyguard, Kamiya. The father gave her to his friend, the child was only two weeks old.
When Kamiya came to me and told me what had happened, he asked me to create a falsified birth to make it seem like this girl was truly his and his wife's baby. I did and no one had suspected anything in the least. I never.. never thought that it would come down to this. Kaoru herself . . she does not know."
Misao, Yahiko, and Sano choked up from the intenseness of the story. Kaoru . .Kaoru's dad is Higurashi Miroku. That's why Fujimoto wants to find her and kill her. He wants revenge for what had happened back then.
"He will not take Kaoru away from us!" Misao said confidently with her hands tightening into a ball. Sano placed a firm hand over her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze.
"Has Higurashi ever tried to contact Kamiya again?" Kenshin asked.
"Sumimasen. I do not know, however I doubt that he had. I don't think he would have wanted to endanger the lives of his daughter and friends."
"Aa."
Dr. Genzai began to get up. "Kenshin, I'm sorry. . demo . . I do not know any more information. However I do believe that our Kaoru is a strong person and I know that she will come back to us."
Kenshin paused as he let the old man's words sink in. "Arigato."
Dr. Genzai methodically walked to the door, bid them all good night and went on his way back to the clinic.
- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?!?!" a voice bellowed through the hall.
A timid and short-statured person nervously walked over to the source of the sound and answered, "Fujimoto-sama, he hasn't reported back in a day. We've sent out men to search for him."
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" he yelled frustratingly as he clawed at the hand rests beneath him arms.
The timid man below him cringed.
"HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO KNEW WHERE TO GET INFORMATION ON THAT NO-GOOD ASSHOLE, HIGURASHI!" He pounded his fists onto the armrests and it shattered into pieces.
The servant cringed some more.
"LISTEN HERE!"
The servant straightened up as he bowed down slightly to take the orders. "Hai!"
"In the meantime, I want you to gather as many men as possible so that you can find where he had gone to to retrieve the information."
"Hai," the servant replied submissively.
"What are you waiting for?!?! Go now! Hurry!" The angry man bellowed as he slammed his fist into the sides of the chair. The servant jerked up from his bowing position and belted out of the room.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In Kamiya Dojo
"So what do we do now?" asked Misao as she looked at the others.
"To China . . . to find and bring Kaoru-dono back home," Kenshin replied confidently.
"I'm going with you also!" Sano and Yahiko both responded at the same time.
"I'm going, too!!" Misao replied enthusiastically. She looked over to Aoshi to see what he would say. He gave a nod. Her smile brightened.
"Well then . .what are we waiting for?" the genki girl said as she jumped up from her sitting position and started to skip her way outside of the gates. Before the others could utter a word, Misao was out the door.
"Uh, should someone go call her back?" Yahiko asked bewildered.
Aoshi just gave a blank look directed at the gates.
After a couple of seconds, the girl came jumping back. "Gomen, I forgot it was already so late." She stifled an embarrassed giggle with a hand over her mouth. The other four didn't respond as they made their way back into the confines of the dojo to get ready for bed.
- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -- - - -
The five residents of the dojo woke up bright and early the next morning. Kenshin, having woken up a bit earlier, had breakfast set out for the rest of them. After they ate, they went about preparing themselves to leave for China.
Makimachi Misao was especially excited at the prospect of traveling to a foreign country with her Aoshi-sama. She was imagining a scene of both her and Aoshi standing next to each on the boat staring into one another's eyes as she heard,
"Oi~ weasel girl, go buy the tickets!"
Damn that rooster-head, she thought as she was jerked out of her daydreams. The ninja girl grumbled as she started to make her way towards the ports.
After an hour trek, she finally reached the area and asked where she could buy tickets for the next boat out to China.
"Gomen-nasai little girl . . ." One of the older sailors started.
I'm not a little girl, Misao thought in anguish as one of her eyes started to twitch.
"Demo the next boat out to China doesn't leave port until next week."
"NANI?!?! But we have to leave NOW!"
"Sumimasen," the man replied once again as he turned around to leave. Misao looked at the other guy in defeat as she walked back home to relay the depressing news to the awaiting men.
-
-
-
-
- To be continued
Author's NotesPlease read and review!! Thanks!
Someone mentioned that Aoshi refers to Kenshin as "Himura" instead of "Battousai", but after watching the anime series. .he still continued to refer to him as "Battousai" even though Aoshi returned to the Oniwabanshu. He refers to everyone else by his or her last name.
Briar : Thanks .. your comments were really insightful. The idea about Tokio and Kaoru meeting .. wow =D I think I'll definitely do that. Thanks for the idea!!! =D hehe . .
Papaya! – I hope that this clears it up for you some =D .. finally the truth about Kaoru's real father is revealed! Hehe . .and I didn't leave a cliffhanger for this one either. ^_^
Gracianeko – Yes! Kenshin's longing for Kaoru is very very infectious . .. when the three of them meet, you know that tensions are going to arise. His reaction towards Soujiro .. well, you'll find out in the later chapters. Oh yes, the chapter where Megumi had found out that Kaoru had amnesia was Chapter 9 .. it was not mentioned .. I'll add it in later when I edit it .. but Sano and Yahiko would have told megumi that Kaoru has amnesia. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy it! I really like reading your comments =D
Califpinay3001, Kat-gurl1, Inugirl, Saotome, Ryoga, Lolinia84 – Thanks for your comments! They were really helpful and encouraging. I'm glad you like the pairings. Hehe ..I enjoy writing cliffhangers. .but this chapter didn't have one though. Sigh . .oh well
Wolf ^-^x – Thanks for your comments and everything.
Rc – Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the fic. Hehe . . I have a friend that likes to just find out what happens in fics instead of reading them also. .how funny
Princess of Darkness and me – Apparently, Dr. Genzai has been hiding a lot from the Kenshingumi earlier. =) I hope that this chapter answered your questions.
^_^ - Saitou has tickets .. but they are for himself and Tokio. He would not be soo nice as to give them to Kenshin. Also. You guessed right .. it was Aoshi =D hehe .. I'm glad you like the story so far.
Kenshinfan – Thnx for the comments. Hehe .. they're always very entertaining to read.