Kokoro No Itami Nakunaru Made Zutto: The Will of the Rurouni
By: Hitokiri Gentatsu
Author's Note/Disclaimer: I own nothing here except the plot and a few characters. Hope you are enjoying this. To those of you who are reviewing thank you so much.
Chapter Six: Shadow Hunted
"Your bloodstained hands can't let go of the sword can they? Be honest with yourself Battousai…"
Udo Ji'ne
RK Episode 31
Subtitled
Sweat was dripping from his brow and he was panting with the effort that standing required but at least Kenshin was on his feet again. He smiled and was for the moment content with making his way slowly across the room to its outer door. This he slowly slide open, finding that his limited strength was just enough to do so.
He looked out at the inner garden of the house, covered with a blanket of melting snow. The sun was shining brightly and sky overhead was a startling shade of blue. Kenshin stood on the doorway, transfixed by the sky and the high clouds that moved over its surface. A small breeze blew through the garden, stirring the wind chime that hung from a nearby beam, causing three notes to sound. The wind played like fingers through his hair and pulled playfully at his gi and hakama. He smiled and closed his eyes, letting the wind wash over him and smelling the fresh and slightly warm air.
"It's good to see you awake and moving about again," Toshihiro said from the opposite door. He was holding a tray of food and smiling at his friend.
Kenshin turned and smiled at Toshihiro who grinned back. Standing, framed by the doorway, Kenshin looked almost well, had it not been for the fact that his normally pale skin was paler and his slight frame was now so thin that bones jutted out from his face.
"That's hardly surprising given his illness," thought Toshihiro.
The fever had very nearly taken the life of Himura and his body had been severely weakened by it. He might never regain his old strength again unless he was extremely careful.
Toshihiro brought the tray of food and fragrant tea over to where his friend stood. He set it down and motioned for Himura to join him on the floor.
"Father wants to speak to you but he said you should eat first."
Kenshin nodded and slowly sank to the floor, his back leaning against the doorframe. The effort of doing so cost him what little energy he had and caused sweat to form on his forehead. He brushed it away from his face and brushed back the bangs that had fallen into his eyes before taking up a bowl of rice and beginning to eat slowly. He was not really hungry but he knew he had to eat if he wanted his strength to return. He paused and looked again at the barren garden and then turned to Toshihiro, a serious look on his face, wondering what Asukara wanted to speak to him about but afraid he already knew the answer.
"Your father wishes to speak to me about my illness."
Himura's statement caused Toshihiro's brown eyes widened in surprise for it meant that Himura knew what it was that his father wanted to discuss.
"And there is also something I wish to speak to him about." Kenshin's eyes were slightly amber as he continued to eat his rice.
Toshihiro nodded at Himura's statement and noticed the change that had come over his friend. For a moment, Toshihiro saw why this man had been so feared by the Shogunate. There was an aura of danger and death about Himura that could be felt by those around him. He felt this for a moment before Himura's attitude changed again and the man he had come to know was back.
Kenshin looked back across the garden. "It's good to feel the sun again," he said quietly, the food in front of him forgotten.
Toshihiro smiled. "This is the first really nice day we have had."
Kenshin continued to sit, his eyes closed, feeling the sun warm his face and body. He breathed in and out evenly, using the rhythm of his breathing to calm himself. He listened to the sounds around him and he could hear people on the street talking, the squeal of children and the shouts of the vendors calling out their wares to passersby. He smiled at the normal sounds of the village but under it all there seemed to be a hint of tension in the air. Kenshin frowned. Did the people talking sound a little fearful? Was the cheerfulness in the vendors voices forced? He continued to listen and finally heard a sound he was hoping never to hear again: the sound of booted feet and, in the distance, the faint shrill calls of a police whistle.
His eyes snapped open and he felt the hitokiri within him beginning to rise. He pushed him back down and turned his slightly amber gaze to Toshihiro.
"What has been happening? The people outside feel afraid," he asked quietly, not mentioning the presence of the police and army where there had been no one before.
Toshihiro's face fell and he looked away for a moment. "There have been five people in the past month who have been brutally murdered in their own homes."
Kenshin's eyes widened at the information and he nodded for Toshihiro to continue.
"They have all been killed with one stroke of a sword and the killer leaves behind a note attached to the body, which reads 'Heaven's Justice'" he suppressed a shiver.
Kenshin's eyes narrowed as the words 'heaven's justice' hit him with the impact of a practice blade and he lapsed into thought.
"There is another hitokiri here. I have been trying to warn you for weeks but you would not listen. He's brought the police and army here."
"It would appear there is more to this village then first appears."
"We are now the ones in danger. We must protect ourselves. Shall we leave?"
Kenshin was surprised by Battousai's question. Normally Battousai was of the act now, think later mentality.
"No not yet. No one knows we are here."
"But if we don't leave then we run the risk of being found and we do not want to be found. Not yet."
"They are of no threat to us I tell you. What concerns me more is the presence of this hitokiri that cannot stop killing and that he is taking the lives of innocent people. He is the real threat and I will not allow him to continue to do so." The hitokiri muttered but agreed with Kenshin's assessment of the situation.
Kenshin looked into Toshihiro's apprehensive face and spoke in a calming voice as he rose carefully to his feet. "Take me to your father now."
*
Kenshin sat across from Asukara, digesting the information he had just been told by the doctor. Finally, after several moments deep in thought, he looked up from his folded hands, locking eyes with the Asukara.
"So your saying that I might never fully recover from this illness and that it will eventually sap me of all my strength?"
Asukara looked sadly at the young swordsman before answering carefully. "The fever has severely weakened your body. That, coupled with your previous injuries will, in time, weaken you farther unless you get the required rest now."
Kenshin nodded slowly and pushed back the hair that had fallen over his eyes. "I understand, Asukara-dono and I will try to rest but there is something I must tell you first in order for you to decide whether I can stay here until I am well enough to travel again. In Kyoto…in the past I was known as…"
"The Hitokiri Battousai," Toshihiro finished for him. "We already knew that."
Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise. "How…?" he said, completely stunned.
"You spoke in your sleep, while you were ill and you also look as the rumors say you do."
Kenshin bowed his head, his mind working feverishly and his heart panicking for a moment.
"They know. They must be silenced now. Do it now before they give us away." the hitokiri within him raged.
"If you know who I am then you also know you could
be putting yourselves in danger by harboring me in your home." His eyes were
squeezed shut under his hair and his right hand balled into fist in his lap as
he waited for those familiar words, his heart in pain and the voice of the hitokiri
becoming more forceful in his demand to silence those who knew his identity.
The expected words never came and Kenshin's head snapped up as he heard Asukara's next words.
"We accept the risks and have done so since the beginning. All people deserve respect and as a doctor I cannot allow anyone to suffer no matter who they are."
Kenshin's eyes widened and he bowed deeply from his seated position, relief washing through him.
"Arigato Asukara-san. I thank you for your respect and your protection even though I am deserving of neither. I think I will go and rest now."
Kenshin rose, bowed again and left the room silently, deep in thought. For once the hitokiri's voice as silent, apparently also stunned by the doctor's kind and unexpected words.
"Such a humble young man." Asukara said quietly. "He carries so much on his shoulders and still remains humble."
Toshihiro looked at his father surprised and Asukara looked back at him with wisdom in his eyes.
"When you get to be as old as I, then you will understand what I say. I have seen many of his kind in my lifetime, ones who are a result of war or famine and who have allowed their gentler natures to be overcome by the baser instincts of survival at any cost. Himura is such a man and yet his spirit has remained both humble and gentle despite this. If the will of his spirit is strong enough he will be able to restore his gentler nature without having to maintain this truce between the two parts of his soul. He will become one man again."
Toshihiro nodded in agreement with his father not really understanding but accepting the truth of the words and rose from his place, bowing to his father. "I must mind the shop now, Father."
Asukara dismissed his son with a wave of his hand and Toshihiro left him still deep in thought.
*
The next several days were restful for Kenshin and he began to feel his strength slowly returning. After a week more had passed, he began to grow restless, his body wanting more exercise than walking the garden paths provided. Finally, he asked Toshihiro to visit the Hirayoshi farm and bring back his sakabatou for him since he could not travel over long distances yet. As soon as he had returned with it, notwithstanding the fact that it was nearing sunset, Kenshin went to the garden to practice.
He put the saya through his obi and immediately felt more secure then he had in a long time. He went into battoujutsu stance and slowly practiced each of the Hiten Mitsurugi battoujutsu techniques, knowing that most of the other techniques were beyond his present capability. Toshihiro watched him and immediately saw why Kenshin had become one of the most feared assassins in the war and why his name was already a legend. He was fast and his strikes were fine tuned and accurate.
"No wonder his is called the strongest," Toshihiro thought as he watched.
Kenshin ignored his audience and continued with his exercises until he was too tired to do any more. Then he flicked his sword and sheathed it, turning to where Toshihiro sat in the shadows of the porch. He walked over and sat down, leaning against the railing with his sword resting against his shoulder and his eyes closed. Toshihiro said nothing but sat next to his friend, waiting for the man to speak. The long silence was broken at last by Kenshin's quiet voice.
"The sword is a weapon meant for slaying others, for taking lives. These techniques are those of a killer and that is what I was and what I will forever struggle with." Toshihiro watched him rise.
Kenshin went back inside the house, leaving Toshihiro outside alone with his thoughts.
*
//The sky overhead was an eerie shade of red; red like the blood he had shed. All around him were the cries of the wounded and the dying overlaid with the sound of cannon and the crackling of flames that was all that was left of the villages of Tobu and Fushimi.
"Its over. Its over," he thought as his heart thudded in his chest. "Finally over."
He scanned the field though the haze of smoke from the cannons, which was stained crimson from the dying sun. The cannon fire from both sides had rent the ground, which was soaked in the blood of the many hundreds of men who had been willing to die for their beliefs. The bodies of friends and foes alike lay mingled at grotesque angles there. Now they were no longer friends or foes, just victims of the senseless bloodshed. The cries of the wounded and dying continued and Kenshin closed his eyes, trying to block the sights and sounds from his head, but knowing that he would never be able to forget.
"Never again. It is finally over and I will never again return here or take up the sword of the hitokiri." He shook his head and plunged his sword into the ground but when he tried to let go of the hilt his hand seemed fused to it.
He opened his eyes and stared around him in horror. All of his victims were grouped around him, pulling at his clothing, their wounds still bleeding and leaving deep pools of crimson on the ground. They formed a wall around him so that he could not move or escape them. Then they began to chant, their voices cold and full of bitter rage.
"You can never let go of the hitokiri's sword. Your past deeds can never be forgiven and never forgotten for they are marked upon your flesh. We want vengeance. We demand justice. Heaven's Justice will fall upon you soon murderer."
They pulled him down and he could feel himself smothering as the smell of blood and rotted flesh assailed him, overpowering in its intensity until everything disappeared and all that was left was its metallic odor. He felt himself spinning out of control, as the urge to kill grew stronger within him. He struck out at his attackers with a battle cry.//
He sat bolt upright on the futon, his breathing rapid and the smell of blood still in his nostrils. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and waited but the smell of blood grew stronger instead of dissipating. He opened his eyes and found, to his horror, that he was not imagining the smell. The floor around him and his futon were soaked in blood and his hands were covered in its stickiness. His right hand was clutching his sakabatou, which had been unsheathed. Kenshin's body began to tremble as he looked around the ruined room. There was blood everywhere and, looking around the scene, he soon found its source.
Dr. Asukara was lying in a widening pool of blood, his body slashed from right shoulder to left thigh. Kenshin's eyes widened and he could feel himself beginning to slip away into unconsciousness. Then his eyes fell on a note, scrawled in an untidy hand in the blood of the slain man.
"Heaven's Justice. This is our Heaven's Justice for your crimes, Hitokiri Battousai."
