~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Ten
"You."
Hitokiri Battousai gazed at his target with absolute hatred. The war raged on around them, not touching either man. A few of the Shinsengumi tried to subdue the hitokiri at first, but any attempts to stop the manslayer from reaching his goal were brushed aside like mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes with very...messy...corpses.
Battousai kept his eyes on his enemy, walking forward with a slow, smooth stride, shoulders drawn up, sword clenched in one hand.
It was bending under the pressure.
Now Saitoh was a little worried. Make that very worried. The hitokiri's glare made him want to reflexively take up a defensive position, but he quelled the urge away.
"Come." The captain jumped at his tone. "I've been waiting for this. Bastard," Battousai said, his teeth bared, clenched. His eyes flared yellow.
Saitoh gave himself a mental shake. Come on, get ahold of yourself, Hajime. The manslayer is weaker than you. Now is the time to finish the job. You've awaited this moment for years; don't back down like a coward now that it's finally here!
Suddenly the captain snapped into a guard as he saw Battousai reach for
his sheath. The manslayer dropped into the stance for Battoujutsu, the
technique that had given him his name.
Best not let the yarou make the first move.
With a cry Saitoh leapt to meet his adversary...and met air. WHACK! He
was down! Hit in the back of the head with the saya. Mibu's Wolf gasped as
red flashed in his vision. He had barely registered the attack when another
hit him full in the chest
WHAM!!
Saitoh choked and sputtered from the force. Apparently Battousai didn't
want a sword fight.
He wanted to beat the living hell out of him first.
With a series of vicious blows the manslayer had the Shinsengumi captain on his knees. He dragged the man to his feet, then back-handed him to the ground again.
"What's the matter? You wanted this fight, didn't you? You were willing to do anything to get me to face you in battle. Now you change your mind?"
Battousai yanked Saitoh up by his neck. He put the captain's face directly in front of his.
"Too late."
He slapped him away. Hard. Saitoh landed almost twenty feet from the hitokiri, coughing blood. The captain looked up to see Battousai heading for him again. He gathered as much of his wits as he could and sprang forward with a Gatotsu, slashing for his stomach. The manslayer dodged, but he was slow.
The blow caught his sword arm.
Saitoh grinned in triumph. "I wouldn't be so cocky now, Battousai. You won't be able to beat me to death before I slit you in ten. You can't use that sword now. Come on, manslayer. Come for me again, unless you 'changed your mind'?"
Battousai turned his head to look at the wound, very slowly. He lifted his bloody arm, dripping, then turned back to the captain. Saitoh's grin failed.
He wasn't even flinching.
Someone had obviously forgotten to tell the hitokiri that he was human.
Mibu's Wolf was furious. He would not be beaten by a stripling!
"Haaa--"
Saitoh whirled for his next attack and was immediately met with cold hard steel. Battousai pushed the sword in as deep as it would go, using every once of strength he had, determined to kill this son of a-
The captain leapt away from the horrible bite of the katana, a scream pulled from deep in his chest. His entire torso had been soaked; the pain was so great he couldn't tell where he'd been hit. He looked down to see his own collar bone shining white through the red. His shoulder and arm were completely ripped open.
Shakily he looked up at the manslayer. His expression of grim fury was still unchanged.
"Ha--happy now--Battousai?" he spat out. "You--you--" The captain staggered.
Battousai glared at the fallen man. "I don't want to hear it. You're a disgrace to the Shinsengumi. You have something you want to say, say it to me in the afterlife. Because I'll be joining you where you're going. Understand, Mibu's Puppy?"
"Kk...yarou..."
Battousai lifted his sword high above him. Saitoh tried to move, but his legs were numb. There was nothing he could do.
He was going to die.
Finally. I'm going to get rid of you like I should have. Before Haiyashii died.
Before...be...before...
Battousai stared at the man laying on the blood-soaked ground in front of him. Why was he...doing this? The man was fighting for what he believed in...
The manslayer met Saitoh's gaze. He glared back at the manslayer with pure contempt, disgust...and hate.
That was what made him snap.
This was the one responsible for all those things...
He swung his sword down in a sweeping, sharp arc at the captain's head.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
FLASH!
A white clad figure stood in front of the wounded Shinsengumi warrior,
black hair flowing, pale features pleading. Battousai froze upon seeing her
features clearly.
'Please beloved. No. He has more to do. He has a part to play.'
Saitoh watched as the color drained from Battousai's face. He was shaking
like a leaf, sword almost falling from his hands.
"To--Tomoe--"
'Please, koishii, don't kill him. He has another role to play, in your life and
others. Spare him now. It's important that he live. Don't kill him. Please...
With that, she disappeared like mist.
Saitoh stared painfully and confusedly as the hitokiri felt the air in front of him and put a hand to his head, trembling. He looked down at his intended prey almost fearfully.
What had she meant...?
The glow faded from his eyes. He retrieved his sword from the ground and walked away without a last glance at Mibu's Wolf.
Saitoh watched the manslayer's back as he left. His lip curled in a snarl.
"How--could he--"
He wouldn't even give me my honor. Not even that.
Agonizingly he struggled to his feet, surveyed the battle once more, then
limped away into the woods, wondering what the new era would be like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What--SLASH--did--WHAM--she--THWACK--mean?! RRRIPP!
Himura...yes, Himura...was fighting with everything he had. Damn it, this
battle was going end if he had to win it all himself. Haiyashii had died
fighting this battle, and he would not let his efforts go to waste. He could
still see his tunic amidst the bodies, far on the horizon.
SLASSSH! Five men fell. Abruptly he realized he had just killed two of his
own men as well as the Shinsengumi.
He didn't care.
The fighting would stop, and that was all he cared about now. He carved a pathway through countless men, Ishin and Shogunate alike, losing himself in the blood.
Later he would find that he did not even recall exactly what happened during that time. But he would remember each of their faces for the rest of his life.
Himura forced himself to keep slashing. Hours passed, soldiers fell, the
hitokiri's strength was failing him. Men were getting some shots in on the
manslayer before they fell, most not very serious. But as the battle wore
on the accumulated injuries were taking their toll; at that moment Himura
would have sold his soul just to be able to breathe easily. He pushed
himself to the limit, killing countless numbers of men, taking all they had
and would ever have, taking them from their loved ones--
No. NO! Stop it. Don't think!
Just keep stabbing. Keep killing them. Keep going. This must end, this
must--
The hitokiri was at the end of his rope. How many? How many more?!
Himura could feel himself slipping. He whirled to face the next enemy, panting...only to see a small group of men running for the trees at the far end of the clearing.
The last of the Shinsengumi.
Himura turned quickly, searching for an enemy, any one that might be left... All he found were the slightly larger group of soldiers that were his side.
One of the generals was left along with the others. He approached the manslayer carefully. "Himura? It's us. Alright? We've done it. We won. You need to come with us now."
Himura stared blankly. "We...won?"
The man smiled. "Yes. This battle is finished." his expression turned grim.
"However, we don't know how the others fared, They're going to send some
men here to retrieve us and inform us of what happened." He reached a
hand toward the manslayer, who was wavering on the verge of collapse.
"Now come with us. You're injured."
Hunh? The hitokiri looked down at himself.
His body was in tatters.
Well, who'da thought? he wondered weakly. But...can't go yet. Got
something to do first...
"I'll join you in a moment." He kept his voice falsely steady, sheathing his
sword. "Wait here."
The men watched as Battousai walked away in the direction of the corpses.
"Men, someone keep an eye on him," the general said quietly. "The manslayer's in worse shape than he thinks."
"Yes sir."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Himura knelt down next to the captain's still form. Tenderly he reached down and turned Haiyashii's face toward him.
There was a gunshot wound on the side of his head.
"...I'm sorry. Please forgive me...for not being there when you needed me. I didn't want this to happen," he told him softly. "I'm so sorry."
He stayed there, head bowed for a long while. Then he spoke to him again.
"I was fighting for you out there. We won, do you hear? You don't have to worry. We won."
"Good. I was wondering what was going on. You can't see anything from this perspective."
Himura jumped. His head snapped back, eyes wide, yanking his hand away as though he'd touched something hot. "You--you--"
Haiyashii smiled and opened his eyes. "Hey kid. Unh--"
"H--how did--?!"
"The bullet grazed the side of my head," he explained. "Not enought to kill me, but the momentum and force of the shot knocked me out. I couldn't move, so I just stayed where I was."
Himura was at a loss. "You--you--" Haiyashii watched, grinning, while the hitokiri tried to form words.
"--You idiot!! You scared me to death! I thought-- I thought you were--"
"It's alright, kid. Sorry if I scared you."
Himura wrapped the captain up in a bear hug. "You're--you're really alright--"
"Gkh...I will be once you let me breathe a little..." he choked.
"I'm--I'm sorry," Himura said softly. He let him go and sat down.
"Don't worry about it, kid. We won, didn't we?" The boy nodded. His head was down. Haiyashii pulled himself out from under the bodies. He glanced back at them and shivered. "I hope I never have to do that again," he muttered.
There was a sniffling noise from Himura's direction.
Haiyashii stared at him in alarm. He lifted his head. Tears were running down his cheeks. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. The captain waited patiently.
"...Mattaku...You...you baka!" he exploded finally. "Don't you ever scare me like that!"
Haiyashii smiled.
He stood and Himura followed likewise. "Ja, shall we go back to the men? And get you cleaned up, I might add. You look worse than me. Your clothes look like they're about to fall off!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Look! Look, general!"
Himura turned in the direction of the lookout. Haiyashii and the others had been waiting for hours now, waiting to see what had become of Katsura. Now five soldiers came riding on white horses, accompanying--
"Katsura-san!"
The man smiled as he saw the approaching men. He waved. "Himura! Good, I was afraid you might have needed more men. I have news."
Katsura and the other men dismounted and went to join them in their makeshift camp. Once everyone was gathered the debriefing commenced.
"Alright, first of all, I want to apologize for deceiving you," he said slowly.
"Deceiving?" Haiyashii and Himura exchanged glances.
"What do you mean, Katsura-san?" Himura inquired calmly.
"The plan I gave you was, in fact, what I had concocted for the Shogunate years ago," Katsura began. "But that was not the real plan." He took a deep breath.
"The three armies I sent, yours included were actually a distraction from
the real event. The Shogunate assumed that this plan, one that they knew
must be mine, was the one they had been warned of by their spy. The
Shogunate has three known safehouses. But recently I had been informed
by a very reliable source that the Shogunate leaders had another. This
fourth safehouse was where the government leaders hid when they were
desperate.
"I made sure that they really believed the only armies I had dispatched
were the three attacking the forts. Then I took the largest group of men
and waited for them to arrive at the fourth safehouse, the only one left
now that I had armies attacking the other three. We took them completely
by surprise. All of the Shogunate leaders are now in our custody.
Gentlemen...we have not only won this battle, we have won the war."
Katsura met Himura's gaze. "The revolution is officially over."
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~