I wonder if I'll get reviews...Reviews are nice. Ne? (hopeful look)
PLUS honest opinions are very much valued. Jaa...
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Chapter 5
Morning came all too soon.
The first thought that popped into Himura's head was: Where am I? The second was: Who was holding the sledgehammer last night?
The hitokiri's temples throbbed and his vision had yet to clear. If he could have seen himself he would have probably gasped and fallen over again for the umpteenth time in the last few days. His hair was in complete disarray, his cheeks red and hot. He felt as though someone was weighing him down.
With a groan Himura rolled onto his back in an attempt to get up. He fell back with a hand to his temples, wondering why the sky pulsed.
Hiko.
That's right, last night his master had taken him out again. And he still hadn't been able to give the men any useful information. His master seemed dead set on simply getting him drunk every night.
I'll bet everyone thinks I'm useless now...
...wait. Himura's eyes snapped open.
Is that why he was getting him drunk? So he couldn't teach the men?
He sat straight up from his waist, pain and dizziness gone at a new realization. Was his master trying to keep him from teaching Hiiten Mitsurugi? He knew Hiko did not want the style to be passed on further than him. And if it was taught to a bunch of weak, amateur swordsmen, well...
"Yare yare. You look like someone beat you with a lightening bolt."
He jumped. Turning toward the source of the sound was painful. The hitokiri looked up sheepishly to see his master sitting on the edge of the bed, his white cloak strewn over one side.
Hiko gave a small half-grin."I was wondering when you'd notice I was here. You were out like a light last night. It wasn't that hard to see why; you drink your sake like a schoolgirl."
"I'm really not used to it, master," he said apologetically.
"No kidding. I watched that student drag you off last night. You couldn't stand up."
He had watched them?
Himura straightened uneasily. Had he eavesdropped as well?
"Anyway, I've decided to cancel our little program for a while. I need to talk to you."
Himura studied his master with a sideways glance. He looked almost
thoughtful, hands clasped in front of him, sake jug discarded on the floor.
Suddenly the manslayer remembered his own question for his master.
Better ask before you're passed out on the floor again.
"Shishou?" Hiko looked up questioningly. "May I...may I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you here? I thought you never left the mountain." Himura recalled how Hiko had carried him home that one night. "Why did you come to see me?"
"Because, like I said, I need to talk to you." He paused. "About a certain front that was won a very short time ago."
Himura froze.
"You know what I'm talking about." Hiko's eyes narrowed accusingly. "I witnessed that entire battle. I saw everything."
A sudden chill was running down the hitokiri's spine. "Everything?" he said in a slightly high pitched voice.
"Everything."
Himura swallowed. "Then let's step outside. I need to dress."
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Five minutes later Kuroi was strolling down the road, accompanied by Tarou. The two were wearing their practice gi and hakama and had decided to fetch their sensei from his now not-so secret place to attend class. It was hard to simply spar and practice knowing that their teacher, the best in the country, could be showing them techniques at that moment. Impatience had set in.
"Honestly, I don't know what's up with that guy," Tarou complained. "You claim he's the best, but all I've seen is a bad attitude and a penchant for getting the Battousai floored."
"You didn't see their battle? Come on, all those tales weren't told for no reason. He could probably even kill the entire Shinsengumi without even breaking a sweat," Kuroi insisted.
"And why are you so set on the manslayer? You've done nothing but talk about the man since we knew who he was."
"I'm fascinated, that's why. Himura-sensei has fought in hundreds of battles since he was only fourteen and he's never lost a one! How many others can say that? And hey, have you ever watched him practice his kata? He pulls them off so freaking fast! I just wish I could see more of the Hiiten Mitsurugi Ryuu."
"Geez, where do you get your enthusiasm? You sound like you're still ten years ol--"
"You don't understand, Shishou! Killing those men was necessary; it ended the battle in our favor!"
"Yes, but at what cost? You sacrificed those people for no reason other than to end further battle when it wasn't necessary!"
The two men stopped immediately at the sound of voices raised in argument over the next garden wall. Tarou and Kuroi exchanged glances.
It was Battousai and the tall man from before.
Kuroi motioned for them both to listen. Slowly the two put down their weapons and stayed quietly against the outer wall.
"All you wanted to do was end it! You had pledged to help the Imperialists, and not that I care, but you promised them that you would help them fight and that does not include killing your own men once the battle is over!" Hiko roared.
The two hidden men were utterly shocked. Himura had killed the rest of their men?
"Shishou, you didn't even want me to leave in the first place! I don't see why you should care about soldiers who were only going to cause more war! Those men enjoyed that battle! They enjoyed the killing!"
"And how are they any different from you?" Hiko said from between clenched teeth. "You were doing your job fighting the Shogunate and they were doing theirs. It is no concern of yours how they felt about it when they were doing it."
Himura had gone absolutely livid, his eyes burning. "How can you just sit here and let the world go by?!" he raged. "You stay on your mountain and watch everything happen and never do anything! At least I decided to actually help someone other than myself at the cost of my own innocence! The sooner the war ends the better and at some point in my life I think I won't even care who wins!"
Hiko was about to explode. "Damn it, boy! Do you honestly think I consider myself innocent?! Won't you ever understand?! When are you going to decide where your loyalties lie?!"
Himura's blood turned to ice. "...What did you just say?"
"You heard me the first time. I simply cannot grasp how the hell you can
stay with someone for years and then suddenly decide you don't care and
you just want to end it all! Just because you change your mind about
something doesn't change your obligation to them! And if you can't stay
with these people then don't keep pretending to fight for them, I simply
can't stand it anymore!! You couldn't even pretend to ever care enough
about one person to stay on their side for more than a few meager years.
Don't even pretend that I'm the selfish one!""
"YOU--"
The world suddenly seemed to go in slow motion as Himura's hand went for
his sword. Hiko had turned away and abruptly the manslayer realized he no
longer felt angry. He had turned off, just as he had with every
assassination--
No. Oh no.
Milliseconds later he opened his eyes to see his master watching him with
a soft expression, their faces inches away. As he looked down he caught a
flash of their swords locked in combat--and blood coming from his own
arm. Only when they disengaged did he see the very large wound in Hiko's
side.
"SHISHOU!!"
The master gave him a half smile before dragging himself to the bench and sitting on the edge, his sword still drawn. "Glad to see you've improved--when you're not drunk," he commented haltingly.
"Himura-san!" Tarou and Kuroi rocketed from the trees to the manslayer's side.
"Shishou! Shishou, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean any of it! Shishou--"
"Himura-san, you're bleeding--"
"No, not me, not me, get Shishou! Shi--" The boy tore himself from the
men's grasp and ran to Hiko. "Master, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please, just
come with me, I'll get you fixed up, please, I can help--"
Still that same little boy he used to be.
Hiko reached a hand into his cloak, and brought out what looked like a
piece of cloth. "Here," he managed. "This is yours, I believe."
Himura's heart was in his throat as he realized it was a sash.
Her sash.
"I'll be back tomorrow," he grinned. "I have someone to meet. And my own place to go to."
With that he leapt up onto the wall and ran down its length, disappearing in the wind. And suddenly Kenshin realized when Shishou had been talking about loyalty, he had also been referring to himself.
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The next day Himura had been on time for training with his students. They had gone through every kata, every stance, and he had corrected each one personally with a bandaged arm, though no less quickly. The men were surprisingly silent, as each man knew what had taken place the day before between master and apprentice, and the Battousai himself was looking extremely displeased. He was also looking up at the walls every now and again, searching.
Himura knew he had severely injured his master, something that he would never have deemed possible. If he was alright he would show up, just as he'd said. Today he wore Tomoe's sash around his neck once again, fingering the soft fabric on occasion.
Did his master know what had transpired on those few fateful days?
He was snapped back into reality by a question from one of the men. He answered, but his heart wasn't in it. His shishou's words from the other day had hit home. Where were his loyalties?
...Had he really hurt his master that much?
"Oi! Himura-san! It's time to go to the mess hall," Kuroi called.
"Hai, I'll meet you all back here in one hour."
The men stared, then shrugged happily, grateful for the long break. Himura stayed where he was as the men filed out the door. Alone, he studied the huge stone walls, wondering where his master had gone, and what he had meant by 'someone to meet'.
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Night came.
There was no sign of Hiko, and Himura was growing anxious. What if his master hadn't made it back to his place in time? Slowly he scanned the darkened walls one last time.
Nothing.
Sighing, Himura headed back to his room. His sword dragged along the ground, marking his passing, his shoulders sloping toward the floor. To kill for a living...such a strange phrase...was bad enough. And after what had happened with Tomoe.
But to injure his master! The man who had taken him in, saved him, taught
him to defend himself, fed him, raised him...
Himura froze a he spotted a note sitting on his pillow. When did--?
He held the note gently in his callused hands, reading the fluid
brushstrokes:
Kenshin,
Couldn't make it in today. The person I had to meet wouldn't let me. I will be there tomorrow. Please don't feel bad about yesterday. In fact, don't feel about it at all. I let you get to me, and that's something you normally would never do. If not for anythimg else, I am at least happy to see that you have grown up a little.
Hiko Seijuro
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Weird, hunh?
Well, I tried. Now then, I'm gonna try to have more humor in the next chapters.
And hey, are you reading out there, Unseen Watcher? Man, I love that name. Now it's time for you to make good on your end of the deal. Let's see a chapter of Something in Common, ne?
Oh yeah, and now that I'm actually getting a schedule together for homeschooling, I have all of Tuesday to myself. That's gonna be like my weekend. So now I'll be able to everything and everyone once a week without fail!!!
Kakkoi ne!!!
Jaa, see you all next chapter!! And I would really recommend reading Unseen Watcher's fics, he's REALLY good...