Damaged Soul
a Soujiro-centric fic
by Lucathia
part 4
I softly stepped into the deserted streets of Tokyo. No one's awake yet. I've woken early...and had quite an early fight...a fun warm-up exercise.
Drip.
A little droplet of water dripped on my head. Rain? Elevating my head, I noticed puffy storm clouds rolling in. What happened to the happy atmosphere that was just here a while ago? I want the weather to agree with my plan! Clenching my hands, I smiled at the sky.
Stupid...everyone's stupid! Why don't they care about me? Why? Why is Nature leaving me too?
Then the rain came down.
And I knew my plan was going to be a failure.
Nature...Mother Nature is crying for Hajime-san...
How...how can that be? Why does Nature want to stand by his side now? Why? He deserved to die...he deserved to die...because he's a friend of Himura Kenshin...because...because...
I stood there motionlessly, drowning in the pouring rain. I've lost. I can feel my failure...I can feel her tears for Hajime-sa...I smiled bitterly. Why give someone who died so much politeness? She's crying for Saitoh...and I know it because...they felt like the same ones she had cried for me when I lost my innocence...
...when I first killed.
What's wrong with killing? Those people deserved to die...they did! I'm not doing anything wrong. They are the corrupted ones! They deserved to die...I laughed grimly to myself. Damn. I'm not convincing myself at all. I've just been repeating the same stuff over and over again...They deserved to die...don't they?
I snapped out of my weird thoughts when I heard extremely cheerful laughter. I immediately snuck behind the wooden barrels. I don't want anyone to see me so...depressed.
"I'm finally home!" a loud voice boomed over the barren streets.
That voice sounds familiar to me...have I heard it before somewhere? He sounds like...someone I know. I peeked from behind the barrels and grinned when I saw who stood before me.
A tall, stocky figure with a fishbone dangling in his mouth...My eyes trailed up to his spiky brown hair and his crimson headband. I noticed a rough beard sprouting from his chin.
Sagara Sanosuke...older, yet still the same.
Maybe Mother Nature left me, but luck certainly has not. I'd never give up on my revenge...no matter what! And I will never let the same thoughts that have made me lose to Himura-san before haunt me again!
Sneaking as quietly as I could in this pouring rain, I finally rooted myself behind his back without him noticing. This is the perfect chance for revenge. Killing Saitoh does not agitate Himura-san that much...they weren't that close even though they knew each other longer than all the rest. Himura-san is still closer to Sagara-san than any other guy...
Without a second thought, I placed my hands on his shoulder. He jerked immediately.
"What?" He turned his head quickly and just saw my smiling face. "S-Seta Soujiro! What are you doing here?" He started to brush my hands off but I did not let go.
Slowly, I moved my hands up towards his neck. When I finally reached my destination, I squeezed as hard as I could.
"Le...let..me.e..gooooo!" Sagara-san choked out these words while I started strangling him. I smiled widely. People look best when suffering. He struggled more against me. I felt him slowly loosening my grip, so I prepared to pull out my sword.
Just when I was about to let go and pull out my sword to kill him in a single strike, he stopped pulling at my hands and instead, grabbed my hilt with his left hand. "ARGH!!" Sagara-san yelled as he pushed my hands away from his neck. I fell backwards but managed to catch myself before I hit the wet floor. My eyes widened in surprise as a red mark slowly appeared on my left thigh. My gaze trailed up and I found my sword held in Sagara-san's hands.
He stood there scowling. "Damn you, what were you trying to do, strangle me? Che!" He turned his head and spit on the ground. "Do you think I'd lose a hand to hand fight with a weak swordsman like you? Yeah right!" He clenched his fists and grounded his teeth.
I lay, sprawled against the wet floor, getting rained upon by the sky who abandoned me. A wide grin started spreading over my face and wild, uncontrollable, "silent" laughter poured out of my mouth.
Sagara-san just stood there, his face blank.
I kept laughing and laughing my silent laughs. When I sat up again, I continued laughing hysterically. This is just too funny! This must have been the funniest thing on earth! I've beaten so many...no...uncountable numbers of highly skilled swordsman...and I lost...the second battle I ever lost...I lost towards this weakling? I grabbed my stomach as wracks of laugher surged through me again. Oh great, what was I thinking?
Laughing weakly, I stood up, not caring about all the mud on my already tattered clothes. When will my voice ever come back?
Sagara-san looked at me weirdly. He must think I'm crazy for laughing those "silent" laughs. And why was I laughing in the first place anyway? Then he spoke up again.
"You don't need to try anything on me. I know you can't do anything without your sword." He held up my sword for justification. I shrugged. I might not be able to do much harm without my sword, but I'm certainly not useless. Besides, I would never lose to the likes of him. Tapping the ground with my feet, I prepared my next attack.
Shukuchi(1)! I thought loudly in my mind as my lips parted and no words came out. I vanished through the pelting rain, indenting the uneven ground with heavy wounds. Sagara-san stood there, mouth wide open, spinning around wildly, trying to find where I was.
I gallopedright into his back as he turned around. I jumped up to kick him in the face. Seiten no Keishuku (2)! Sagara-san was stunned for a minute at how strong my kick was. Of course I'd be a powerful kicker. If I can run so fast, then that means I must have extremely powerful legs. I threw countless kicks at his left arm, freeing my sword from his grasp. It fell onto the wet ground with a loud clang before I flung it into my hands with my feet. Catching the hilt with my right hand, I extended my sword straight at Sagara-san's face.
It's payback time!
Sagara-san stood there, extreme shock etched into his face. He slowly lowered his head to look at his left hand. Of course my sword wasn't in his hands anymore. He's doomed; he can't win against me. I stuck my sword back into its sheath. I'm ready for the last attack.
Just as I disappeared from the human eye, a cheerful voice ran out.
"Aoishi-sama! We've finally arrived in Tokyo! Let's go find Himura and get ready for that big reunion(3) he mentioned!" A girlish voice yapped.
I didn't stop at that voice. I don't care if anyone sees me killing Sagara-san. I'll just finish them off together. Then, there won't be any more witnesses left alive. Thinking this, I bounced off the barrels and pushed off with great force to propel myself even faster. With my hand on my hilt, I appeared right next to Sagara-san...and
Shun ten satsu(4)!
He fell.
And the sky continued weeping.
"Oh no, Sagara!!" I finally turned around to see a girl with a long braid. She was clad in a blue ninja outfit. She ran towards Sagara-san's fallen body. A tall man dressed in a long trench coat ran along with her.
Makimachi Misao and Shinomori Aoshi.
So they came to attend Himura-san's so called reunion. Well, they'll get a nice reunion--they'll get a "death" reunion! I'm sure they're all going to get a nice reunion in the afterlife.
Smiling mockingly, I stuck my sword back in its sheath and leaned back against the wall. I'll let them take the first step.
She nudged Sagara-san's still body over and over again. "Sagara, wake up! Don't lie here!" She shook him ferociously as tears started to well up in her eyes. "You can't be dead...no..." Shinomori-san gently placed his hands on her shoulders as she continued to shake him.
"Misao...he's gone." Shinomori-san said softly.
Makimachi-san stood up slowly, letting her bangs cover her streaming eyes. "No...he's not gone...he can't be..." Abruptly she snapped her head up and gave me a deadly stare.
"I'll make you pay, Seta Soujiro!"
All I did was grin.
This is getting even more exciting.
to be continued
(1) Shukuchi- This is the "reduced earth" technique that Soujiro is most famous for.
(2) Seiten no Keishuku- This means "celebration of clear skies" if I translated it right. In my fic, Soujiro is very nature-loving, and he got angry when it started raining...so it'd make sense that he'd be happy if the sky is clear...so let's celebrate! It's a new move I made up for him.
(3) The reunion! - This was first mentioned at the very beginning of part two. This fic is sort of set before that little scene in Kenshin Kaden where everyone comes to the picnic except for Sanosuke and Saitoh. I borrowed the notion of a reunion from that, but here both Sanosuke and Saitoh came to the reunion as well.
(4) Shun ten satsu- Soujiro's famous succession technique even though it wasn't successful in his fight with Kenshin
This part was written on 1/31/01.
