The sleep that was casted on Soujiro wouldn't be his last, as he
discovers that the spell he heard wasn't the first either...
THE WANDERER'S EYES
(Chapter 12: Secret to Raising Cain)
The wind was fair, but the day wasn't. A white spotted dove flew into Soujiro's room carrying a little piece of paper in its mouth. Soujiro's eyes slowly opened. He rubbed it with his soft, gentle hands. He was sweating badly. The basin that was just by his bed was gone. Everything was back to the way they usually were except that the chess set had been played again, which in his mind must've been the ghost's doing. He felt relieved to be out of the gruesome finger of the ghost. He felt so strong he can dance through air. So he did.
He went out of his room to visit his dear friend Gyenryu to ask him about Kitsune. Every second he had, the more he forgot about the chant she said. He assumed it was a song of a different dialect. Little did he know, that the "song" he heard was taking effect on him the more he thought of it.
The silver door was in front of him. He stared at his reflection and saw himself to be in better shape than he was even before he was ill. Thank you very much Kitsune-chan, he said to himself. He raised his arms and pushed the door that stood in-between him and the irritable man.
Gyenryu was on his back, reading a novel by Miguel Cervantes Saavedra called "Don Quixote De La Mancha". He coughed, but didn't bother to look at Soujiro in the face, "I see you've changed for six months..."
"Six months?" Soujiro gasped "I was only gone for about four! What happened?"
"I don't know with you, old chap. I do know that I've seen less of you. Care for a cup of tea and buttered toast?"
Soujiro sat down beside him and held a teacup and a saucer made of porcelain. It was fragile indeed, for everytime Soujiro tried to even pinch it to be balanced, they heard a crackling sound. Gyenryu didn't put down his book and was more attending to it than ever.
"How could I be gone for that long?"
"If I would've known," Gyenryu joked "You were in a spell or something, my dear man."
"What's that you're reading?" Soujiro asked noticing the book to have a colorful cover.
"Don Quixote de la mancha is about an old man who thinks of himself as a knight and tries to rescue damsels in distress and all that chivalric stuff. It is a very long story. You should try reading it, my good fellow."
"I barely know a paragraph from what you're reading." Soujiro stated with a frown. He saw that the words were neither in English or Japanese, but in a strange German-like form.
Gyenryu apologized astonishingly, "Oh yes. I can't believe I said that. Terribly sorry, my good man, terribly sorry."
"Gyenryu, sir, what is a damsel?"
He was even more surprised with the inquiry than he was at the language barrier subject, "By the lion's crest, I'd never suspect. A damsel is a lady who is... well, a lady."
"Much like Kitsune-chan?" Soujiro brought up. He didn't know what the reason for that for, but Gyenryu nearly jumped out of his seat by the word of it.
He gulped, "I would prefer that she would not be in MY list of damsels. I see know why you've been sort of... bewitched..."
"I have not!" Soujiro declared with his most infuriating voice.
"DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT EVER SHOUT AT A DESCENDANT OF A ROYAL KING! THAT IS UNLESS YOU'D WANT YOUR HEAD BE SERVED IN AN ELEGANT SILVER PLATTER!" Gyenryu erupted, like always, in the most deafening tone he ever shouted. Soujiro feared that would happen, and that Taro would come by and see what was wrong.
"I'm sorry" he apologized again "I've been out of control. I can't do my business here, you know."
Soujiro, trying to be as polite as he can be, blurted, "What sort of business do you run? I've never heard that you worked for a living."
"I- um... You do know when nature calls..."
Soujiro blushed. He thought of something else. He never knew that Gyenryu meant bathrooms.
"No need to be so pink. You're lucky you don't look anything like my second cousin Oliver. He looks like a fat pig with a yellow mustache when he sees his beau."
"How come you never left your room to, well, you know-"
Soujiro tried dangling a piece of buttered toast on his mouth to get his mind of the word. He didn't feel comfortable talking about bathrooms and doing one's business.
"I've never left my bedroom. Not once since five years ago. All I knew was that I had an infection. I can't remember a thing that happened. All I know is- is- is bright light."
"Bright light?"
"Yes, I saw bright light. I don't remember anything else after that. I remember Nagi-chan visiting me. By the name of Jodraul, I was wounded but I felt strong! Queer isn't it?"
Soujiro glanced at himself. How come I'm still wrapped in bandages. He noticed. He was bloody and helpless. He felt like he can move mountains, but the truth was he barely lifted his teacup without spilling a few drops on the saucer.
"I do wish I can go out of my room. It's been ages since I've seen good friends. Modhra comes by every two months to give me my practice. I love sword fights."
Soujiro grinned. He loved them too. He heard of the name Modhra too when he first came to the room. Perhaps he could have a chance to see his friend's skill. He saw a cabinet full of swords behind him. He never knew that such a practical Englishman or Frenchman was a fighter.
Gyenryu took another bite off his toast, "Modhra taught me a lot. It is I though that taught him that there is no such thing as good or evil."(A/N: I quote that and this from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) He let out a big cough. "If I may repeat myself, there is no such thing as good or evil. There is only power, and those that are too weak to see it."
Soujiro saw a light like the one Shishio has in Gyenryu. He had the very same principle Shishio had. He said that the strong shall survive and the weak shall perish and that is that. He was no different.
"I-" he let out "I want to challenge you my dear man. I've not fought anyone at all really. I'm a scholar than a warrior. Only Kreuss(he said it without the /s/) and Modhra were the ones whom I've seen fight. I can tell you are one too. Grab a sword from my artillery and I'll grab mine."
Soujiro saw Gyenryu stand up for the first time. He didn't appear as what he assumed. Under the covers, the clothes he expected to see where old, tattered Japanese clothing that the doctor had given him to wear. The truth was that he was wearing a formal-like clothing that a European would wear.(A/N: If you know Yutaro from one of the episodes in Ruroni Kenshin, he dresses exactly like that) He tied his somehow long hair into a ponytail, where he resembled Soujiro a little bit. Soujiro thought about a ghostly bride, but he never knew what that meant.
Soujiro chose a nice Katana that reminded him of the ones he used when he was Shishio's right-hand man. Gyenryu, at first, chose something of the same as his, but then he returned it for a spear clad in leather with a lion's head at the base.
Gyenryu positioned the way Hajime Saitou positions himself. His stance also reminded him of Ounuma Usui's stance. He wasn't blind like Usui, but he had a mixture of the two strong fighter's stance. Is he rather going to have the mixture of their skill too?
He waited for Soujiro to move first. He commanded, "Fight me the way you'd fight your brother for gold. I don't mind getting beaten up badly. I'd rather die than be thought a coward. Go on. I won't be mad."
He looked at Gyenryu as if he was concerned he'd hurt him. He was already sick, but is there really any reason for him to die just for a fair fight?
Soujiro checked his shoe if it is right and he folded his clothing like the way he did when he fought Kenshin(the final battle where Soujiro's past was revealed). He was up on his toes to begin his Tenken abilities. SWISH! Gyenryu striked with much force. Soujiro was able to dodge it while at the same time being able to move faster than what the eyes may see.
"I've seen that,"Gyenryu spoke with quite a boast "That's the Shukuchi, isn't it? Modhra told me of that. You are able to move so fast, you move like the light. I can use that." Within that moment, he was able to do a perfect imitation. Soujiro was spellbound. It was flawlessly executed and exactly like the way he did. He was beginning to wonder if he had more to show.
Gyenryu had a new stance like the one of Chou when he begins a fight. He dashed across the room and hollered, "This is MY Shun Ten Tatsu!"
Soujiro gasped. Could that be his Shun Ten Tatsu?
THE WANDERER'S EYES
(Chapter 12: Secret to Raising Cain)
The wind was fair, but the day wasn't. A white spotted dove flew into Soujiro's room carrying a little piece of paper in its mouth. Soujiro's eyes slowly opened. He rubbed it with his soft, gentle hands. He was sweating badly. The basin that was just by his bed was gone. Everything was back to the way they usually were except that the chess set had been played again, which in his mind must've been the ghost's doing. He felt relieved to be out of the gruesome finger of the ghost. He felt so strong he can dance through air. So he did.
He went out of his room to visit his dear friend Gyenryu to ask him about Kitsune. Every second he had, the more he forgot about the chant she said. He assumed it was a song of a different dialect. Little did he know, that the "song" he heard was taking effect on him the more he thought of it.
The silver door was in front of him. He stared at his reflection and saw himself to be in better shape than he was even before he was ill. Thank you very much Kitsune-chan, he said to himself. He raised his arms and pushed the door that stood in-between him and the irritable man.
Gyenryu was on his back, reading a novel by Miguel Cervantes Saavedra called "Don Quixote De La Mancha". He coughed, but didn't bother to look at Soujiro in the face, "I see you've changed for six months..."
"Six months?" Soujiro gasped "I was only gone for about four! What happened?"
"I don't know with you, old chap. I do know that I've seen less of you. Care for a cup of tea and buttered toast?"
Soujiro sat down beside him and held a teacup and a saucer made of porcelain. It was fragile indeed, for everytime Soujiro tried to even pinch it to be balanced, they heard a crackling sound. Gyenryu didn't put down his book and was more attending to it than ever.
"How could I be gone for that long?"
"If I would've known," Gyenryu joked "You were in a spell or something, my dear man."
"What's that you're reading?" Soujiro asked noticing the book to have a colorful cover.
"Don Quixote de la mancha is about an old man who thinks of himself as a knight and tries to rescue damsels in distress and all that chivalric stuff. It is a very long story. You should try reading it, my good fellow."
"I barely know a paragraph from what you're reading." Soujiro stated with a frown. He saw that the words were neither in English or Japanese, but in a strange German-like form.
Gyenryu apologized astonishingly, "Oh yes. I can't believe I said that. Terribly sorry, my good man, terribly sorry."
"Gyenryu, sir, what is a damsel?"
He was even more surprised with the inquiry than he was at the language barrier subject, "By the lion's crest, I'd never suspect. A damsel is a lady who is... well, a lady."
"Much like Kitsune-chan?" Soujiro brought up. He didn't know what the reason for that for, but Gyenryu nearly jumped out of his seat by the word of it.
He gulped, "I would prefer that she would not be in MY list of damsels. I see know why you've been sort of... bewitched..."
"I have not!" Soujiro declared with his most infuriating voice.
"DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT EVER SHOUT AT A DESCENDANT OF A ROYAL KING! THAT IS UNLESS YOU'D WANT YOUR HEAD BE SERVED IN AN ELEGANT SILVER PLATTER!" Gyenryu erupted, like always, in the most deafening tone he ever shouted. Soujiro feared that would happen, and that Taro would come by and see what was wrong.
"I'm sorry" he apologized again "I've been out of control. I can't do my business here, you know."
Soujiro, trying to be as polite as he can be, blurted, "What sort of business do you run? I've never heard that you worked for a living."
"I- um... You do know when nature calls..."
Soujiro blushed. He thought of something else. He never knew that Gyenryu meant bathrooms.
"No need to be so pink. You're lucky you don't look anything like my second cousin Oliver. He looks like a fat pig with a yellow mustache when he sees his beau."
"How come you never left your room to, well, you know-"
Soujiro tried dangling a piece of buttered toast on his mouth to get his mind of the word. He didn't feel comfortable talking about bathrooms and doing one's business.
"I've never left my bedroom. Not once since five years ago. All I knew was that I had an infection. I can't remember a thing that happened. All I know is- is- is bright light."
"Bright light?"
"Yes, I saw bright light. I don't remember anything else after that. I remember Nagi-chan visiting me. By the name of Jodraul, I was wounded but I felt strong! Queer isn't it?"
Soujiro glanced at himself. How come I'm still wrapped in bandages. He noticed. He was bloody and helpless. He felt like he can move mountains, but the truth was he barely lifted his teacup without spilling a few drops on the saucer.
"I do wish I can go out of my room. It's been ages since I've seen good friends. Modhra comes by every two months to give me my practice. I love sword fights."
Soujiro grinned. He loved them too. He heard of the name Modhra too when he first came to the room. Perhaps he could have a chance to see his friend's skill. He saw a cabinet full of swords behind him. He never knew that such a practical Englishman or Frenchman was a fighter.
Gyenryu took another bite off his toast, "Modhra taught me a lot. It is I though that taught him that there is no such thing as good or evil."(A/N: I quote that and this from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) He let out a big cough. "If I may repeat myself, there is no such thing as good or evil. There is only power, and those that are too weak to see it."
Soujiro saw a light like the one Shishio has in Gyenryu. He had the very same principle Shishio had. He said that the strong shall survive and the weak shall perish and that is that. He was no different.
"I-" he let out "I want to challenge you my dear man. I've not fought anyone at all really. I'm a scholar than a warrior. Only Kreuss(he said it without the /s/) and Modhra were the ones whom I've seen fight. I can tell you are one too. Grab a sword from my artillery and I'll grab mine."
Soujiro saw Gyenryu stand up for the first time. He didn't appear as what he assumed. Under the covers, the clothes he expected to see where old, tattered Japanese clothing that the doctor had given him to wear. The truth was that he was wearing a formal-like clothing that a European would wear.(A/N: If you know Yutaro from one of the episodes in Ruroni Kenshin, he dresses exactly like that) He tied his somehow long hair into a ponytail, where he resembled Soujiro a little bit. Soujiro thought about a ghostly bride, but he never knew what that meant.
Soujiro chose a nice Katana that reminded him of the ones he used when he was Shishio's right-hand man. Gyenryu, at first, chose something of the same as his, but then he returned it for a spear clad in leather with a lion's head at the base.
Gyenryu positioned the way Hajime Saitou positions himself. His stance also reminded him of Ounuma Usui's stance. He wasn't blind like Usui, but he had a mixture of the two strong fighter's stance. Is he rather going to have the mixture of their skill too?
He waited for Soujiro to move first. He commanded, "Fight me the way you'd fight your brother for gold. I don't mind getting beaten up badly. I'd rather die than be thought a coward. Go on. I won't be mad."
He looked at Gyenryu as if he was concerned he'd hurt him. He was already sick, but is there really any reason for him to die just for a fair fight?
Soujiro checked his shoe if it is right and he folded his clothing like the way he did when he fought Kenshin(the final battle where Soujiro's past was revealed). He was up on his toes to begin his Tenken abilities. SWISH! Gyenryu striked with much force. Soujiro was able to dodge it while at the same time being able to move faster than what the eyes may see.
"I've seen that,"Gyenryu spoke with quite a boast "That's the Shukuchi, isn't it? Modhra told me of that. You are able to move so fast, you move like the light. I can use that." Within that moment, he was able to do a perfect imitation. Soujiro was spellbound. It was flawlessly executed and exactly like the way he did. He was beginning to wonder if he had more to show.
Gyenryu had a new stance like the one of Chou when he begins a fight. He dashed across the room and hollered, "This is MY Shun Ten Tatsu!"
Soujiro gasped. Could that be his Shun Ten Tatsu?