Trees, rocks, and debris of all kinds littered the ground as if a tsunami had ravished the area. In the middle of it all stood Sanosuke, panting and sweating like an animal. After another month of recuperation, he was still having a hard time fighting up to his normal standards. And that was nowhere near good enough.
"I'll never get stronger like this," Sanosuke growled, and doubled over, panting. As he let his body rest for a moment, his mind began to wander without him. He began mulling over in his mind the hard time he was having.
For the past month he and Katsu had been on Saitou and the stranger's tail, but the trail had gone cold after the day at the Akabeto. Neither hide nor hair of both of them came up. They had tried all of Katsu's sources, and had even been to the police department to ask if Saitou had come through there at all.
"Yeah he came through. Over a year ago," snapped the guard at the desk. "Now get out of here, Sanosuke. I don't want to have to see you unless I need to arrest you ... again."
Sanosuke punched the ground. What good were the police if they couldn't keep track of their own officers? He punched the ground again. What good were sources if they had no information?
He let his feet fall from under him and rested on his knees and elbows. His forehead touched the cool earth beneath him. He closed his eyes and saw Saitou Hajime walking out of the Akabeto. That was all he saw when he closed his eyes. And then there was the dream. Between Saitou and the dream, Sanosuke could knew he was slowly losing his mind. Saitou was in his head constantly now, like an obsession. He was an obsession. The stranger barely factored into his thinking anymore: it was all Saitou. Why hadn't Saitou been the one who stopped the stranger? In Sanosuke's mind the stranger became like a puppet under Saitou's control; like a trained attack dog.
His knees began complaining under him, so Sanosuke rolled over onto his back. He looked up into the darkening sky above. A few stars were out, but only the brightest of them. Sanosuke let himself be hypnotized by them, the twilight blue calming his spirit. Then, as the blue faded to black, Sanosuke decided it was time to give up and go home.
The moon was full that night, lighting his way in the dark. He stopped at the bridge that was built over the river. He often passed that bridge when he was on his way to the Kamiya Dojo, where Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko were probably already fast asleep. Sanosuke leaned over the railing of the bridge and stared down into the quickly moving water. The silver moon behind him reflected into the river, making the tips of the fast moving waves like thousands of stars flowing through the water.
As he stared into the river, he began to think about Saitou again. However, this time the frustration did not come with it. Sanosuke just began to wonder exactly what type of a man Saitou was and why he was that way. He was a strong man, he didn't have to be manipulative. So why was he? Why did he exploit an opponent's weakness so? Where was the honor in that? And wasn't honor important to a member of the Shinsengumi? There was a burning curiosity to know exactly what made Saitou the way he was. Was it the feudal times he lived in, or something more?
Sanosuke sighed as he realized that he would never know. Saitou was as good as gone. Except for in his own head, of course. Sanosuke was seeing Saitou in his head so clearly at that moment, it was as if he was standing at the edge of the riverbanks.
Sanosuke kept staring. His mind went elsewhere, but the image of Saitou was still there in front of him. Sanosuke's heart sped up. He blinked several times. Saitou was standing at the edge of the riverbanks. Sanosuke hitched in a breath and took a few steps back.
Saitou was half-naked, dressed only in a pair of ragged trousers. He didn't even have shoes or socks on. As the moonlight reflected off him he looked as if he were made of marble. His amber eyes seemed to glow like lanterns in the darkness, illuminating his face. And there was some other change, something Sanosuke couldn't see physically. He had gained some sort of strength since the previous year, something great and untamable. Inside, Sanosuke chastised himself for not noticing it before.
Sanosuke darted to the end of the bridge. He couldn't help himself; there were so many questions that needed answering. He jumped down to the banks and felt his knees underneath him complain. He took a moment to grit through the pain and find balance again. That moment was all that was needed. When he looked up, Saitou was already running down the riverbank with a speed he'd never seen him run before.
Wasting no time, Sanosuke began running after him. His legs burned underneath him, the muscles threatening to tear, or worse. But he kept moving, keeping his sights on the man ahead. Gradually, Saitou began to disappear further and further over the horizon until Sanosuke couldn't see him anymore. Sanosuke kept running, his determination to catch up to Saitou pushing past all pain. He ran to the peak of a hill and caught sight of Saitou running many yards away. Then Saitou disappeared into a thick of trees.
Sanosuke caved in and skidded to a stop. Doubled over and holding his knees, Sanosuke forced the air into his lungs. Once he caught his breath, he took in his surroundings.
He had ran further than he had noticed. There were no signs of urban Tokyo anywhere. It was all trees and river.
"Saitou, what in the world are you doing way out here?" Sanosuke wondered aloud. He picked up his feet again and sped towards the last place he had seen Saitou.
There was a break in the trees and Sanosuke stopped in his tracks. He was suddenly faced with a monolith of a house, jutting up from the ground. "Mansion" was a better word for it. The mansion was almost as grand as the old Edo castle, but it had touches of Western architecture mixed in with the traditional Japanese techniques. It was hard to believe that it was so well hidden amongst only a wall of forest.
Sanosuke heard sounds behind him. Quickly, he dived behind a bush. Several people sped past, barefoot and dressed in tattered clothes. Sanosuke watched them as they reached the outer wall of the mansion. They disappeared behind a curtain of ivy. Sanosuke eyed that spot closely.
"That must be where Saitou is," Sanosuke thought. He eyed a tree next to the wall. Its branches reached over the top, and it was bushy with leaves. Sanosuke grinned to himself. It was the perfect spying vantage point.
Sanosuke grabbed the branches and pulled himself up as high as he could before the branches were too small to support his weight. He looked over the wall and still couldn't see much. There were too many leaves in the way, and he wasn't close enough to the wall. He inched to the edge of the branch, slowly and carefully making sure his weight wouldn't break it. He leaned over once again. He saw that there was a gathering of people below, which struck Sanosuke as odd, seeing as how Saitou wasn't much of a social person. Through the leaves, he could only see their silhouettes, so Sanosuke held out his arm to move the veil of leaves aside and get a better look at the actual people.
That was when he felt the cold steel of a blade at the nape of his neck.
Sanosuke froze. He pulled his hand back and held the branch to balance himself out as he slowly turned, his eyes following the long blade of the katana to the person who was holding it.
The man was tall and lean, his skin sun-tanned, most likely from hard work in a field. Sanosuke could see the muscles move underneath the skin with every movement. His hair was so blonde it was white, yet he wasn't a foreigner. It was cut short and spiked up, either from gel, or hair that didn't apply to reality. His mouth was unnaturally wide as he curved his mouth up into a smirk. He reminded Sanosuke of a man he had met in Kyoto: Cho the sword hunter. Sanosuke grimaced at the memory.
"What are you doing up in the trees, kitten?"
Sanouke twitched at being called "kitten".
"I'm lost," Sanosuke spat out, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
He then looked at the way the man was holding his sword. He was obviously too confident. He was barely gripping it at all.
The man snorted out a laugh. "Lost, are we?" He tilted his head to the side and looked at Sanosuke in a way that made him very uncomfortable. "Little lost kittens don't spy. What are you doing here, kid?"
Sanosuke snorted. He answered by throwing a punch, a punch that would have landed if the man hadn't caught his fist and thrown him off the branch. Sanosuke fell onto the ground with a loud thump, landing on his front. He could feel old bruises and wounds hurting again. Then he felt a strong and calloused pair of hands grab his wrists and hold them behind his back. With his free hand, the man grabbed a thick handful of Sanosuke's hair and pulled him up onto his knees.
Sanosuke felt the line of the man against his back. Although Sanosuke struggled, the man's grip was too tight. His breath came hot against Sanosuke's ear as he whispered into it: "You are a pretty kitten. I wonder if the Ou-sama will let us have a bit of fun with you first ... " The man licked Sanosuke's ear quickly. Sanosuke hitched a breath and sat in shock for a moment, his eyes wide. Then, with a roar of anger, Sanosuke head-butted the man and turned around to hit him.
Before Sanosuke knew it, he was against the wall, his head shoved against the brick with one hand pressing at his face and the very edge of a sword touching the tip of his throat. A single bead of blood seeped around the tip of the katana, which was held with frightful precision and skill for someone who had seemed just a moment ago to be just full of steam.
Sanosuke had a brief flash of memory of the day in the alleyway. The stranger blurring to existence before him, and the sounds of bone cracking and flesh hitting flesh came to him suddenly. Sanosuke stood still, afraid of what trouble he might have run into by following Saitou.
The man took the sword away, seeing the look in Sanosuke's eyes. "That's a good kitten. Decided to cooperate?" The man bent down. His lips were centimeters away from the wound at the nape of Sanosuke's neck when ...
"Yukio!" A voice rang sharply through the quiet. The blonde man turned around sharply and glared at the man who now stood a few feet away. He was taller and stronger than the blonde by far. He carried himself less like a criminal, and more like a warrior. Immediately Sanosuke thought to himself: "ex-samurai". His hair was still worn long, and was brown as soil. His eyes were the same brown as his hair. He seemed very plain and non-descript, but the way he carried himself changed all that. He had a katana at his side, sheathed, but looked ever-ready to draw it.
"I was just having a little fun, Toshiro," laughed Yukio, raising his face away from Sanosuke's neck.
"I know what your idea of fun is, Yukio," Toshiro said in a tone that sounded like a scolding teacher who is tired of a student, "and it will not be tolerated while I am around."
Yukio pulled his hand away from Sanosuke, who immediately lashed back at Yukio, not being so scared of him anymore. But before he could do much, Toshiro was already behind him, pulling him back.
"You are paying for that!" Sanosuke threatened, trying to tear himself from Toshiro's grip.
Yukio only winked, then turned his back to continue patrolling the perimeter of the courtyard walls.
Sanosuke growled in his throat. Once Yukio was out of sight Toshiro stopped holding Sanosuke back and he brushed himself off. He began mumbling under his breath, every once and a while a word came spiking up, but he said nothing discernable.
"Thanks for getting him away from me," Sanosuke said, turning to Toshiro.
"Do not thank me," he said in a calm, almost soothing tone, "for you have yet to deal with the Ou-sama."
Sanosuke frowned. "Shit. I thought you were one of the good guys."
"I am." Toshiro held out his arm, guiding Sanosuke in the direction of the portion of the wall covered heavily in vines.
Sanosuke weighed the possibilities. The man seemed honorable enough ... and judging from the look of him, he was probably stronger than Yukio. At the time, Sanosuke wasn't up for another beating. Besides, what better way to see what was inside, than to go inside? He could always fight his way out later if things got rough.
Toshiro led him to the curtain of vines and revealed a wooden door imbedded in the wall. He opened the door and shoved Sanosuke inside quickly. Sanosuke turned around once inside, but the door was already slammed in his face. He banged against it once, shouting a loud "hey!"
But he only hit it once, for he felt eyes upon him then. Not just a few. He knew there were many people behind him, and he could feel their anger of his trespass burn against his back. Slowly, he turned.
The crowd of people was rather large: around thirty, if he estimated right. They were all standing in a bunched circle around him. They all stared at him, each with one of three emotions on their faces: curiosity, anger, or apathy.
As he searched the crowd, he felt himself go red in the face. At least half the people were either half-naked, or they had opted to not wear clothes at all.
A hard shove pushed him further into the courtyard. Sanosuke began to turn around again, but another hard shove knocked him in the shoulder and he tripped over his feet, falling to the ground.
Sanosuke pushed himself up onto his elbows and glared up at the man who had pushed him. This man had hair that was cut close to his scalp. His head was circled with a white, wrapped headband. He was built in the same way as Toshio was, but seemed a lot meaner.
"Hey, asshole! What do you think you're doing, pushing me around like that?" Sanosuke spat, showing no fear in the face of the man's scowl.
"Get back up," the man commanded, jutting his chin in the direction he wanted Sanosuke to go.
Sanosuke picked himself up, and glared at the guy.
"Go!" he said, motioning with a stick where he wanted Sanosuke to move.
"No," Sanosuke refused. "Don't tell me what to fuckin' do."
Sanosuke was struck in the side of the face with the branch. It stung, but didn't do any damage. Sanosuke held the spot and stared at the man.
"What the hell was that for?"
"Just 'git!" he yelled.
Sanosuke gritted his teeth. "Did you just slap me?"
"Go," the man said, his tone dangerously low.
Sanosuke felt the anger spike up the hairs on the back of his neck. Immediately, he knew he wasn't going to like this guy. But he turned and went, just as was asked of him, but with his hands stubbornly crossed over his chest.
The people in the crowd were still watching him, and their eyes had become seemingly more curious than before. There was a strange stillness to the crowd, and there wasn't a single sound except the sound of Sanosuke's feet beneath him. He turned back to see that the man with the stick was still standing where he had been, but with enough authority in his eyes to make Sanosuke keep moving.
Sanosuke eventually found himself before a stone chair. It was several flat beds of rock arranged into the shape of a throne, and several artifacts adorned it: animal skeletons, beads, herbs, and stains that looked like blood. A gut feeling made him cringe and he took a step back.
Out of the corner of his eye Sanosuke saw an amber gleam. It made him whirl his head around immediately. Saitou's amber eyes were glaring at him. He was standing on the outside of the circle of people, and his glare couldn't be deadlier.
Sanosuke glared back.
"You," Sanosuke growled. He began to walk towards Saitou, but something else caught his eye.
A man had appeared just behind the throne. He was standing with his arm over the back of it. This man was elder, but not old. His hair and chest-length beard was white, yet his body and skin showed little signs of deterioration. Unlike everybody else there, who were dressed like they were homeless, or not dressed at all, this man was wearing robes fit for a Shogun lord of old. They were white and lined with purple chords, ties, and thread.
"Boy. Your name," the man demanded.
Sanosuke was so taken aback by the power in the older man's voice that he answered "Sanosuke" before he even had time to think.
He moved closer towards Sanosuke a few steps, but was still not very close.
"Hajime?" the man asked. "Do you know this man?"
"Just an ahou, who feels the need to prove himself in order to justify his existence," was Saitou's reply.
"My name is not ahou, its Sanosuke!" He snorted and went red in the face.
The Ou-sama and Saitou regarded Sanosuke for a few short moments before conversing with each other again.
"Just send him on his way. He's not much of a concern for our well-being," Saitou reassured the Ou-sama.
"I'm not a concern for you?" Sanosuke inquired.
"Are you sure, Hajiime? We cannot risk our unmasking, not now," the Ou-sama continued, ignoring Sanosuke.
"He wouldn't know enough kanji to write a police complaint," said Saitou, deadpanned.
"I don't know. A king shouldn't be so trustworthy of strangers ..." said a low, wispy voice. The voice struck Sanosuke like a ton of ice, chilling him to the bone. Behind Saitou stepped out the stranger that had attacked him in the alleyway. He wasn't naked, but damn close to it; he was only wearing underwear. He put a hand on Saitou's shoulder and leaned against him. Saitou seemed to cringe at the touch.
"So this is where you've been hiding, you bastard." Sanosuke punched his fist into his other palm. "You and I have a bit of a score to settle."
The stranger only continued on, but with his icy eyes locked onto Sanosuke's. "We should do with this one what we've always done to trespassers. Kill him."
Sanosuke's entire body jerked and his eyes went wide. He looked quickly to the Ou-sama. Luckily, he didn't look like he was considering it.
"That was the past, Masayo," the Ou-sama argued.
"It is our way," Masayo replied. "These traditions have been in place since the Shogunate Era, and in the ages before."
Saitou raised a hand and Masayo fell silent. "In these days of the Meiji, disappearances and deaths will not go unnoticed, as they did in the past. Better to let him go, and make him forget what he saw."
"It'll be easy enough to kill him. If his friend hadn't showed up, and Hajime insisted that we leave, he would be dead right now. So why don't I just finish what I started?" Masayo hissed.
"You assaulted this man before? You are responsible for leading him here. Why shouldn't I punish you?" the Ou-sama scolded.
"Come on, old man," said Masayo. As he said it there was some shuffling in the crowd. Calling him an old man was obviously disrespectful. "It won't be so bad. His blood is very sweet."
Sanosuke and the Ou-sama collectively jumped.
"That's disgusting!" cried out Sanosuke. "After you ... you tasted my blood? You had no right ... that's my body!"
"Not for much longer ..." teased Masayo.
Sanosuke growled and posed himself for a fight. "Come over here and say that to my face, you sick bastard."
The Ou-sama saw something in Masayo's movements that Sanosuke wasn't aware of. "Masayo, control yourself!" he shouted.
Sanosuke held his fists up and braced himself as the blur of motion sped towards him. But before he could even throw his punch, not just Masayo, but also Saitou was in front of him. Saitou was holding Masayo's fist in his palm, blocking Masayo from reaching Sanosuke. Before Sanosuke could even realize how unexpected Saitou's move had been, he was distracted by a noise: a disgusting, squelching, organic noise.
He turned and saw that many of the people in the circle were now on their hands and knees as if praying, but they moaned as if in agony. A popping, snapping sound was coming from them, and Sanosuke didn't know why. Some were crying out and Sanosuke felt the need to help, but he didn't know what to do for them.
There was one boy in front, only a few feet from Sanosuke. He was around Sanosuke's age, nineteen or twenty. The boy looked up at Sanosuke and his eyes glowed with a hazel hue, as if someone were holding fire behind his brown eyes. The boy was regarding Sanosuke with curiousity, but the pain twisted his face, and he lowered his head to the ground again. There was a splitting sound and the skin on his back opened. Sanosuke recoiled in terror, but was shocked to see that the boy wasn't bleeding. Rather than blood, an oozy, milky substance seeped from the wound, covering his body, and dripping into a puddle beneath him. Beneath the split skin was something dark and wet. Sanosuke first thought it might be muscle, but it was too black, and didn't bleed.
Sanosuke couldn't even scream. He'd never seen anything like this, and had no idea how to react. As he backed up, his back hit something hard.
"Saitou, it must be Saitou, fighting Masayo," Sanosuke guessed. He turned around. His plan was to stop the fight and ask what the hell was going on. But that plan was derailed.
The force of the impact was strong enough to knock Sanosuke on his back. He felt the weight of someone else, perhaps two people, on top of him. He hadn't caught his wind again when he felt cuts go across his body. Sanosuke's first thought was that Masayo and Saitou were sword fighting. But swords did not come so quickly and so many, no matter how you handled them. He tried to open his eyes but the last thing he saw before he passed out was a flurry of motion. He felt something soft against his skin and saw glimpses of things pale as ivory, and as sharp as bone. But then he felt something clamp down onto his neck. Like a million stab wounds they pierced his flesh, causing Sanosuke to cry out in agony. Yet still more pain came, tearing at him. He felt himself become faint, lying in a pool of his own blood. Then the world became black.
He raged on against the wind once more. He was so much closer to It. His fingers touched It and It was his! Sanosuke felt the anticipation of gaining something he had worked to achieve for so long rush through him as he held It up to finally see what it had been that he was chasing after all this time.
Even in the dream, Sanosuke's face fell. In his hands he held a man's heart, still warm, it's blood oozing down his arm. He screamed. Screamed until the very ground beneath him shattered like glass and he was falling through an abyss. There was nothing to grab on to, nothing to catch him. He was falling, falling forever, the echoes of his scream his only companion.