SORRY IT'S SO SHORT! I'M TRYING TO BE QUICK! AAAAH!
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Disclaimer:...heehee...Hahahahaha....BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHH!!
(eyes get swirly) I...don't own him. Nope, I don't. Heehee.....own him....
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Chapter 6
Why is it every time I start traveling, it rains?!
The captain wiped his soaking face, feeling the drops fall from his saya,
water streaming from his clothing. They'd been traveling for over two
days now with no decent meals and no place to sleep, the heavy rain having
ruined thier food and after losing what money they'd had in the mud.
The captain had never been so embarrassed in his life. He slipped in the puddles and managed to get both him and Himura soaking and muddier than they'd been before.
If we don't find a dry place soon we'll drown, he thought irritably. This kind of weather is for the mandarin ducks.
"How far is the next town?" Himura asked. He sounded exhausted.
"Don't worry, we'll stop in a few minutes," Haiyashii assured him. "The inn's right up ahead."
The boy had been leaning on Haiyashii for support for almost the entire trip. Finally he'd gotten so tired and weak that the captain had offered to carry him. He was on his back now, piggyback style, head lolling as water trickled down his hair into his eyes. The red gold flowed down his back like blood, a cascade of liquid crimson in the darkness.
They were almost there; the captain could see the soft, yellow glow of its lights in the distance. At this rate it would take ten, twenty minutes to arrive. The dirt path was steep and a little narrow, but wide enough to let horses pass. The visibility of the slippery road was reduced to almost nothing. The only thing he could see was the light.
"Hey, you hanging on back there, kid?" Haiyashii craned his head to look the hitokiri in the face.
"I'm alright, let's just get there soon," the boy murmured, blinking to escape the water splashing in his eyes. The kid looked as though he were ready to pass out.
"There," he said, pointing. "You see it? That's where we'll stop, okay?"
"Okay...mm..."
The captain made his way up the steps to the entrance. He rapped on it with a quick, "Gomen kudasai!" and walked in. The interior wasn't very big, just large enough to allow a good many guests to 'check in' at once. Further down the hall sliding doors could be seen, leading to the rooms.
An old woman approached them. "Irasshaimase," she said with a polite bow. "I assume you'll be needing a place to stay." The woman pursed her lips in a scolding manner, putting a hand to her mouth. "My. You look like you've been traveling for a long time."
"I have," the captain told her, "but I have a bit of a problem; you see, I lost all my money in the storm, and this boy is very tired. If you could just lend us a room for the night--"
"Ah, I see," she nodded, looking over his shoulder. "Well, I'm not one to turn out a little one. Douzo, right this way."
The grey-haired woman led them down the corridor to a room, which was occupied with about eight men. "I'm sorry, but what with the storm I can't give you a room of your own," she apologized. "Will you be comfortable here?"
"Hai, this should do fine. Would you mind bringing some tea?"
"Of course not. I'll bring it up right away. Poor boy," the woman said sympathetically, as he sat down on the pillows, completely drained, soaking and muddy from the rain.
He looked up at her sleepily, and his eyes widened slightly. "Okami-san," he muttered almost incoherently, a small smile spreading across his face.
It was true, the woman did remind him of Okami-san, but neither of the
two knew what he was talking about. The woman nodded and smiled at
him, noting his confusion with amusement.
They think I'm babbling, he thought, his thinking fuzzy. He smiled again.
Then he pretended to nod off.
"Well, I'll go get that tea now," she said, still smiling at the boy.
"Thank you, et-to..."
"Ah, sumimasen. Call me Michiko. Yoroshiku..."
"Aa. Haiyashii des'. Douzo yoroshiku, and thank you very much. We will pay you for the room, if you want we could work for you--"
"Iie, I refuse. You two may stay, my treat." Michiko's grin broadened, then she bowed and left, sliding the door closed behind her.
"You know, you end up being so incredibly lucky no matter what you do," he told Himura. "She could have just kicked us out."
"Yes, but she didn't. She reminds me of Okami-san." Haiyashii raised an
eyebrow. "The old woman who was the caretaker of the last in I stayed in,"
he explained. "She was kind too, only she had the bad habit of embarrassing
me sometimes." The boy blushed at an unknown memory. Then there was a
brief flicker of pain which was quickly replaced with calm.
His mask.
Haiyashii decided to let it drop. He lay next to Himura on the pillows and told him to get some rest, propping up his own upper half to keep watch.
So far he didn't think the men had noticed them, but they were in Kyoto, and here there was not a single man who didn't know the name and trademark appearance of Battousai, even if they'd never seen him.
Himura fell asleep almost immediately, and Haiyashii almost followed. The soft crackle of the fire across the room and the swash of rain on the roof were almost like a lullaby, and the quiet whispers of the other men in the room were almost his undoing, had not Michiko-san come with the tea. She set it down with a "douzo" and quickly left. Haiyashii knew she must have many other guests to attend to.
What he didn't know was who shared the inn with them at that very moment, in a room only two doors down.
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"Oi, is something wrong?" the boy asked a cloaked figure sitting across from him.
"No. I feel someone...a fighter is here in the inn. Very strong ki, one of the strongest I've felt...can't tell if it's Shogunate or Ishin, though." The man's voice was clouded in thought.
"What's our next move?"
"Your next move is to head back to headquarters. I take on the manslayer alone."
"But--what if you can't..." The boy almost faltered under the glare the man gave him. "...take him..." He gulped.
"I can take him," the man growled. Then he gave a sleek smile. "And even if I couldn't do you think I would pass up the opportunity? The strongest Imperialist versus myself...Should be interesting."
"Sumimasen, I apologize for the wait," Michiko said hurriedly, opening the door and depositing their tea in front of the men. Suddenly she coughed.
"G-gomen n-nasai, but could you please put that out?" she choked. "We don't allow smoking."
Saitoh gave her a narrow eyed glare, dousing his cigarette in the teapot. She hurried away to get another, a little intimidated to say the least.
"Saitoh-san, was that necessary?" asked yet another cloaked figure from a dark corner of the room, scowling as he lit up a second one. "She was merely stating policy."
Mibu's Wolf puffed another breath of smoke into the air. "Doesn't matter. I won't refrain from my pleasures just because of policy, as I'm sure you well know. Anyhow, I need to concentrate on bigger things." He inhaled again.
The man sighed, leaning against the wall. "Fine. I honestly could care less. You'll probably die in battle first anyway."
"You'll see. I'll kill Battousai this time, no matter what it takes." He smiled at that thought, imagining the hitokiri's blood covering his blade. "This should be very interesting indeed."
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Interesting...
"Oi, Himura, what's wrong?"
"Hm?" The boy looked up, pushing a few crimson strands out of his eyes. "Nothing. It's just...someone's here..."
Haiyashii's brow furrowed. "Friend or enemy?"
"I don't...no. Not friend. I don't know exactly who but definitely not friend." He took up his cloak and covered himself with it, pulling it over his head.
"Could be," he lowered his voice, "could be Shinsengumi. It feels like more than one, with that ki. I'd bet my life it's them."
"What should we do?"
"Let's stay for now. Chances are they won't find us, not for a while anyway. I'll be able to walk in the morning. We'll head for the inn tomorrow, see Katsura-san, and take them out later on in the game. Let's get some rest."
"Alright. Let me see if--"
"Oi! I knew it! I knew it! It's you, isn't it? You're the Battousai!"
One of the men had seen him before he'd covered his hair. They'd stayed in the corner while the men were talking, and playing dice in supposed secret, but apparently one of the men was not as absorbed in the game as he'd thought.
Great. I love a challenge.
The man urged his comrades to look, pointing and talking loudly. "See, didn't I tell ya? And you said red hair wasn't unusual. Hah! Look, he's even got the swords. That's him! The hitokiri Battousai, the executioner of Kyoto!"
Murmurs became louder and louder. The men were getting ready to talk.
One was leaning out the door, about to yell."Okay, kid what do we do?" Haiyashii gritted.
The boy smiled. "Play dumb. Watch." He looked over at the men with large puppy-dog eyes, curling up in the cloak like it was a security blanket.
"W-what? A hitokiri? Who's he? Are there bad men here?" He turned to Haiyashii with wide frightened eyes. "Tou-san, there aren't any bad man here are there? I'm scared!" He latched onto Haiyashii like a baby. "Play along," he whispered into his ear. He raised his voice. "Tou-san, they're scaring me! Make them stop!" Haiyashii quelled the urge to laugh.
"There, there, Kenji-chan, it's alright," he told him seriously, cradling the
'frightened' boy in his arms. He glared angrily at the men. "How dare you
scare my little boy like that! He's only ten! All he wanted was to meet
some people other than his family at the shrine, and you have to go on
scaring him with tales about some hitokiri! You should be ashamed!"
Don't lay it on too thick, Himura thought sourly, keeping his expression
terrified.
The men looked extremely confused, and even a little foolish. Haiyashii tried again.
"How dare you do that to a little boy," he fumed. The captain held Himura to him protectively. "He already gets enough grief about his..." Haiyashii made a pained face, "unusual appearance. So what if he still plays with toy swords? Didn't you ever play with toys?"
The men all stared at their feet. The man who'd spoken earlier looked uncomfortably at the cowering boy. The poor kid looked on the verge of tears. "Er, sorry about that, kid. I, uh, just got a little excited is all. Um...Would you like some tea to make up for it? My treat."
Himura looked up at the captain. "...T-Tou-san?"
"Why don't you leave him alone? The poor boy's already scared enough," Haiyashii snapped. "Go on and play your games, talk all you want. Just leave him out of it, understand?"
The group of men eventually went back to their routine, talking loudly about anything but the boy. A few of them even whacked the loud-mouthed man over the head, scolding him for jumping to such conclusions.
Haiyashii set Himura down and pretended to comfort Himura as he trembled in fear. He leaned down to whisper some 'encouraging words' to his son. "That was possibly some of the best acting I have ever seen. Worthy of a Noh performer."
Himura gave a small, almost invisible smile, keeping up his act. "If I have to do that ever again, I'm going to puke," he said sweetly.
Haiyashii chuckled softly, shaking with silent laughter. Himura grinned. The two of them rocked with silent giggles, and soon fell asleep next to each other. They had a ways to go.
And soon their fun would be over, to be replaced with fierce battle.
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Hahaha... How's that?
I try.
Anyhow, please review. I'm working on two stories at once, this and Pay
Attention, Class. So stick with me!
I know, I know. Not enough Saitoh. And I'm repeating myself in my author's
notes, right? Oh well.
Anyhow, I PROMISE I'll have action. It's coming. Really!
Ja ne? Yakusoku da! (Whoo...)