I'm working as fast as I can with my parents breathing down my neck, and all my stupid schoolwork is piling up, so pleeze bear with me here!
Okay, let's see...I think I'm going to include Okita's name, and maybe the kid too, but Saitoh is going to be separated from them, 'cause he wants to do Kenshin in himself. Does that make sense? I hope so.
Okay, here goes...
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Disclaimer: I refuse to say more on the grounds that it may cause my
insanity. Please see second, third, or fourth chapter if you want to know.
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Chapter 5
Sun.
It was filtering through something, maybe trees; he saw dark spots in the red. His chest was aching. He could feel the warmth of sunlight against his face and the beat of his own heart, his breathing. He also felt the softness of the blanket over him, and the mat beneath him.
"...h...uhn..." Slowly he stretched his arms, breathing deeply. He reached for
his swords.
They weren't there.
His eyes snapped open and he searched frantically around the floor.
"Looking for these?"
He turned around quickly at the sound of the captain's voice. Haiyashii held the katana and wakizashi up over his head. He regarded the boy solemnly.
"You had a very high fever. You were poisoned from your bullet wound, and you'd almost stopped breathing, so I took you here like you'd told me."
Himura held out his hand, and Haiyashii placed the swords in it. The hitokiri laid back on the mat, holding them to his chest. He was staring at the ceiling again.
The captain sighed. "How do you feel?"
"Fine. I guess." He looked at the captain for a moment, then sat up straight.
"...Why did you save me?"
The captain remained silent, thinking to himself. When he finally spoke, his expression was both dark and confused. "I'll answer your question. But not now. Right now I have something to ask you."
Himura cocked his head, puzzled. He nodded for Haiyashii to go ahead.
The captain took a deep breath. "What happened?"
"What?" the boy said, confused.
"Tomoe." He froze. "Who is she, and what happened?"
Himura closed his eyes. He hesitated. "...of all the questions you could ask...why this one...?" He seemed to be talking to no one in particular. Resolve gripped his features as he opened his eyes.
"Alright. I owe you this much. You saved my life as much as she did, and I owe it to both her and you."
The hitokiri took a deep, shuddering breath. Haiyashii could see how much it was going to hurt him to tell him this, but he couldn't back down. The captain had thought about it almost all night for the two weeks Himura had been recovering, and he'd made his decision long ago.
"...It was one of my first assignments," he began slowly. "I had just taken
another name to be...eliminated...and I'd gone to a restaurant to eat. I met a
woman there; beautiful, long raven hair, coal black eyes, skin the soft
color of flower petals. The air around her was always filled with the
scent of white plum."
He paused, eyes unfocused, watching a face that was visible to only him.
"She was being bothered by some thugs, so I helped her. Later that night,
another man challenged me; a manslayer like myself. I disposed of him
rather...messily. He ended up bleeding all over the woman. She'd followed
me..." Himura struggled with the words. "She told me it was to thank me
for...saving her..." He swallowed, cleared his throat.
It was amazing how uncomfortable the boy looked.
"Later I learned she'd deliberately been trying to find me, to take revenge. I'd...killed her fiancé, in a battle. She was to be wed to him when he returned." The boy's face was ashen. Haiyashii had a feeling that he hadn't talked about this since it happened.
"Tomoe had originally wanted to fake getting close to me, so that the
Shogunate could take me out. But she didn't foresee that the two of us
were actually in love. She changed her plans of revenge. We had pretended
to be man and wife as a cover, but she told me she wanted to do it for real.
So we were married. And for the first time in my entire life, I was happy.
We were happy...
"Then it was discovered we had a traitor. I had been set up. I was nearly
killed; the battle was losing. But I gathered my strength for one
last...attack..." Himura choked on the words. He was crying.
"Tomoe...my beloved...she wanted to save me, so she threw herself in front
of me, ready to defend me with her dagger..." No. It couldn't be. Haiyashii
was beginning to see where this was heading. It was scaring him.
Was that really it? This really happened? But how could-- The rumors
never said that he'd--
"I couldn't stop, I never even saw her until I--until...I..." The tears flowed
freely now, streaming down his face. "Tomoe...she...was bleeding. All over
the ground, all over me...it was all my fault, I could have stopped, I could
have just died...she'd be alive right now, if..." He surpressed a sob. The boy
buried his face in his hands, head bent over shame, grief, and numerous
other emotions the captain could only guess.
Haiyashii stared at the hitokiri. He was in shock. Only sixteen, yet he'd gone through so much. The captain could only imagine what the last few years had done to the hitokiri, what kind of pain he must still be going through. Himura stayed with his head in his hands, crying as if he'd never stop.
His shoulders shook silently. Haiyashii sat there for a few moments. Then he stood and walked to the boy's side. Himura looked up with confused, tear-stained eyes as the captain sat down next to him and took him in his arms.
It was more than either of them could bear.
Haiyashii held the boy to him, rocking back and forth, stroking his hair as
he cried inconsolably into the fabric of his gi. He lay there curled up in the
captain's arms like a child. The two stayed that way for a long while, a
father and son sharing time. For even though Haiyashii was in no way
related to him, Kenshin was growing to know the captain as...his father.
Father...? My...father?!
Suddenly Himura began struggling to escape the captain's arms.
"No," he gasped, writhing in his grasp. He sounded frightened. "I can't--you have to stay away from me--I'll kill you--you'll die, you'll leave me just like all the others--"
"Shhh, shhh..." The captain tightened his grip on the boy's arms, trying to calm him down. "I'm not going anywhere, kid. Just relax, you're not fully recovered yet."
"You don't understand! Let me go! Let me go..." Kenshin slumped, his shoulders falling. He was too tired to fight anymore. He lay there in the captain's arms, somehow comforted and miserable at the same time. The silence was enough to break a man.
Captain Hayashii gently put the boy back onto his mat. "We'll leave when you're well enough to walk. I'll take you where ever you want." He hesitated. "Where is it you need to go?"
Himura's expression was suddenly even. "I must return to Katsura-san. He hasn't heard from me in over a month. Rumors say I'm dead, so I'll need to get back and tell him they're wrong. Give my report, receive instructions for the next battle...whatever else needs to be done before this war is over." His voice was flat, the emotion completely cut off from his being.
Haiyashii regarded the hitokiri with a new respect. The boy put aside his own conflicts and struggles, even staining his own soul to bring forth what he must see as a new era, full of promise for the future, where people could stop their battles and cease the flow of bloody rivers.
The captain's brow furrowed in thought. How many times had he thought about what it meant to be a soldier, yet never really brought himself to see the truth?
"Haiyashii-san?" A voice called him from outside. It was the village leader.
"Come in here," Haiyashii called. "We can talk inside."
Himura wiped his face as very timidly the leader entered, accompanied by a few other men from the village square. They peered at the hitokiri with frightened eyes. "O..ohayou, Himura-san." The boy nodded solemnly.
"What news have you for me?"
"Well, um, the third Shinsengumi captain has made his first move. You told us if he ever went to that particular area and...and traveled without his men..."
"Yes. Thank you." Himura sat up and painfully climbed to his feet. He stood, shaking.
"Oi, what are you doing? You can't walk yet, you're too weak," Haiyashii said with concern, taking a hold of the boy's arm. "If you're really going anywhere, I'm coming with you."
"No!--" Himura stopped himself. "No. You'll get in the way. I don't want you hurt."
"I can take care of myself. You can't," he said bluntly. "You can hardly stand, let alone walk. I'm coming with you and that's final, young ma--" Haiyashii pulled up in surprise at his own comment. The captain blushed.
His father had said the exact same thing to him when he was h--
He stopped himself in mid-thought.
If the captain had even thought to himself the words "when I was your
age," he didn't think he'd be able to stand it.
"Anyway, I'll leave now if you want, but only with me accompanying you." Himura smiled weakly and leaned on the captain's shoulder. "Thank you."
Exactly two hours later the pair had left, traveling side by side once again down the road that led to Kyoto. And the Kami only knew what awaited them there.
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I know, I know, it's short and Saitoh isn't in it yet. Really.
I'm sorry for the short chapters in this thing, but it's the only way I can
get them out fast. Bear with me!
Oi oi. Back to the writing board...
Let's see some reviews. Oh, and how do you want Saitoh's name spelled?
Saitoh or Saitou?