Listen, people: Before you go ahead and read this, I advise you to take note:
First of all, out of the characters you'll meet in this story, only Goro is created by me. The rest is ©Hiroaki Samura, and I am not using them for profit in any way whatsoever.
Second: If you're afraid of spoilers regarding events in the manga series, I'd advise you to proceed with caution. It's not brimming with them, but there MAY be some, and I don't want to ruin things for anyone. When I say "spoilers", I actually mean from the English tpb "Dark Shadows" and forward.
The time and place for this fic...is pretty irrelevant, really. I don't think I should explain too much. Just go ahead and read and feel free to post whatever thoughts you have about it. I don't bite.
On the roadGoro shifted a bit behind his tree, trying to give his aching limbs some comfort. But the fact was, he'd been sitting there for five hours straight now and his body wasn't about to let him forget it.
He let out a sigh of frustration. He HAD to get something. Someone HAD to walk by soon, even at this hour. Maybe, he thought, someone who wanted to avoid the traffic of day? Someone with a thick purse, his mind added hopefully.
No money=no food. As if on cue, his stomach started rumbling. He wished he wasn't alone at that very moment. He wished he hadn't left the gang. They had scored three times in the few weeks he'd hung out with them. But in the end, splitting the reward always left him with a lot less than the effort was worth. Better off alone. That's what his mind told him anyway. His stomach was of a different opinion.
The night air was cold. The only sounds were the steady, chirping symphony of the crickets, an occasional owl, leaves rustling behind him in the woods. Birds, he hoped. There weren't any bears around these parts were there? His empty stomach grew cold at the thought.
Then he heard a sound that made him forget all about bears. Laughter.
Instantly, he froze, hope swelling up inside him. His heart started beating rapidly while his hearing focused on the sounds coming from further down the road, in the dark.
Footsteps. Two men. Apparently immersed in a very amusing conversation, seemingly uncaring about whether anyone heard them or not. Idiots, Goro thought. A smile spread on his lips.
It was dark, and he was used to the motions. If he handled this right, those guys would be one purse short before they knew what hit them. Just gotta follow them for a while, study them...
The moon lit the path in a pale light. The two men were walking slowly, but surely. No rush, apparently. Goro slowly made his way from tree to tree, staying in the shadows, never taking his eyes off the road and it's occupants.
....What the heck was wrong with that guy's hair?
"...you're seriously saying that he stalked you through the woods...while TALKING to himself??"
"Dead serious. And that other guy...shit, what was his name?..."
"Hanada"
"Yeah. Hanada. Anyway, after I'd jumped in the river, that sonnuvabitch followed me in – and started splashing around!"
"Aah, this hurts to hear!"
"I mean it! He went splashing and shouting like some damn kid playing..."
"I worked with that guy??"
The guy with the freaky hair appeared to be the younger of the two, at least judging from his voice. He'd go for that one. A quick jump, a knife at his throat, and either he or the other guy was likely to give up whatever money they had. Seemed pretty lean too.
...Christ, how did he get his hair like that? Was he hit by lightning or something? Looked like a freaking porcupine. Goro almost chuckled at the thought.
The porcupine guy was talking now.
"...the problem with you, is that you always gotta exaggerate."
"Exaggerate?" The older guy snorted." No such thing! -"
"I mean, you dance around like you're putting on some sort of show, waving those things around like you're cutting vegetables for dinner! Will you just for once get over your ass and make it nice and clean??"
"HAH! And this comes from Mr. 'Aim-for-the-legs'??"
"Well I don't dance around like a fuckin' ballerina."
"That's because you ain't got no class! This is an art!"
"Like hell it is."
"It's a goddamn art I tell you!!"
"Dancing is an art! Mask making is an art! What we do has only one function. Either you succeed or you don't."
"Damn, kid, you're talking like you never left the rice fields! Anyone can do it! When you've reached our...MY level, it's all about HOW you do it!"
"See, that's your problem – you're so damn full of yourself."
Contemptious snort from the older guy. The younger went on.
" Suddenly it's as though all those times, when I've had to go look for your limbs..."
"Hey hey hey, I'm sort of a special case here, dammit!"
"...like those times never happened!"
"Alright alright! We'll just agree to disagree then. I still say it's an art. You can call it whatever you damn well like."
"Fine."
"Fine." The older guy grunted.
Goro waited until they had passed before starting to move for the next tree...only to be ruthlessly stopped. His foot had stuck in a hole in the ground.
Biting his tongue to keep from cursing, he tried frantically to wiggle it out from there, while the two guys' voices faded slowly into the distance. Damn!
...
There! He was free. Scrambling ahead, for a moment he forgot to be careful.Then, praying to all the gods he could think of, he settled into a steady pace, gliding from tree trunk to tree trunk. He hoped he sounded like a forest animal of some sort.
Seemed like they hadn't noticed him. As they entered a part of the road lit by moonlight, he noticed the older guy's kimono – black and white, with a manji sign on the back. Where had he seen that before? Now that he thought about it, the younger guy seemed sort of familiar too.
Goro shook those thoughts off. He kept moving forward, graceful as a cat.
Itto-ryu. The thought struck him like a hammer. What if those guys were Itto-ryu? If so, he was in for a challenge. A shiver ran through him. Was it this cold before?
You've actually handled kenshi before, you know, Goro reminded himself. He had. And knew for a fact that few people had the guts to try something with a knife against their throat. Swordsman or not.
....and he NEEDED to pull this off, he reminded himself, his stomach agreeing sourly. If that market in that nearby town hadn't been going on this time of year, he might have tried this in daylight. More people to choose from. But also more people to see him. And the market always drew a crowd...
He realized his mind was trailing off and blamed it on hunger. Idiot.
His heart beat like a drum when he reached for the knife. Further down the road the trees blocked off the moonlight. That was the spot.
"...so tell me, kid....what's the most interesting fight YOU've ever been in?"
"Would you PLEASE stop calling me that?"
"Just answer the question." Goro was ahead of them now and thought he could see a grin on the older guy's face. Or maybe it was just a shadow.
"You know, my mother told me not to spend time with people like you." The hair guy said, mock indignation, his voice imitating a kid's.
The other guy's laughter roared through the landscape.
"...a bad influence, that's what you are."
Another cacaphony of laughter from the older.
Goro stifled another sigh of frustration. Why did they have to walk so slowly?? It was damn unfair, them having fun and him sitting here. If he'd ever had any qualms about taking their money, their carefree banter was now wiping them out. Firmly, he thought sourly.
And now they stopped!! Goro felt prepared to cut them into lunch meat. The hair guy looked like he was trying to remember something.
"...hard to say. But the most interesting ambush I've ever encountered involved a palanquin."
"A palanquin??"
"Yeah, like, these two guys, carrying it, they had swords hidden in the carrying poles...and they ran them straight through the box!"
"Now that's damn interesting."
"Yeah, I thought so too."
"So how did you get out of that one?"
"They missed."
"They MISSED??" That roaring laughter again. Resting his chin in his palm, Goro wiggled his knife with frustration. He wanted to chew his tongue to keep from screaming.
Ah, they were moving again. His whole body quivering with anticipation, he assumed his position. The conversation went on down there.
"...didn't survive this far by being slow, you know."
"Feh. From what I remember, kid, you've gotten your ass kicked a bunch-"
"OK, OK, whatever! So...this guy comes to pull out the sword, thinking I'm dead and all..."
"And you sliced him?"
"I STABBED him."
"I prefer slicing."
"Well, that's because your sword's wimpy. There's nothing quite like running a sword the size of the Turk through a guy's intestines." The younger guy's voice took on a dreamy tone.
Goro shifted uneasily.
"Ha! Then you've never tried slicing them into pieces! My record's 65 in 3 seconds."
"Vegetables, man. Like cutting vegetables."
"Ahh, shut up. So what about the other guy?"
"Well he attacked me from behind, so I did this little trick I learned, and two seconds later he was thrown back ten feet with a sword firmly planted in his gut."
"What – you didn't kill him?"
"No, I had to find out who sent him of course. I mean, the palanquin was just too cool for a regular dojo guy looking for revenge."
"So you tortured him?"
"A sword in the gut hurts."
"Tell me about it."
"Right."
"So..? Did he talk?"
"Yeah. Or well...sort of."
"'Sort of'...?? This I gotta hear." The older guy grinned. This close, Goro could see he had a scar running over where his right eye had been, and another crossing it, running over his nose.
Now he was SURE he'd seen him before, but where...?
The younger guy seemed sort of uncomfortable.
"Well, he didn't quite get to finish the sentence before he puked out his guts and died."
The scar guy roared with laughter again, but Goro wasn't quite as annoyed this time. He licked his dry lips, sweat running down his face despite the cold. Maybe he could do this some other time? Maybe some inn somewhere had some rice left.
He barely had time to register what happened before the ground hit him – hard. Tiny white dots of light exploded before his eyes and for a moment, the world disappeared.
When he opened his eyes, two other pairs gazed down upon him. Two blades were resting against his throat...and one was huge.
The older guy with the scar was grinning. The other one had a mask over his face, his eyes studying Goro like he would a piece of crap with an attitude.
"Why look, Manji, this has gotta be the biggest turd I've ever seen lying on a road."
"Heh heh...took quite a tumble there, eh, buddy?"
Goro couldn't get the words out.
"Now...".the guy named Manji continued "unless sneaking around the woods at night with a knife is some sort of freaking... hobby of yours or something..."
"...we assume you've tried to attack us." The mask/hair/young guy finished.
"Now see, Magatsu here, and I, we're just wanderers, you know. We just want some peace and quiet."
"Yeah", Magatsu agreed."The last thing we want is a conflict."
"Right. So you trying to attack us is...that's kinda... rude. You with me, pal?"
Dazed, Goro slowly nodded. Rude...
A tree root. He must have slipped on a tree root.
"And not only that!" Magatsu added," but you're just one! And all you've got is a dagger! I don't know about Manji here, but that seems like an insult to me."
"Damn straight."
"Right. So what do we do about it?"
Goro's tumbled mind slowly started to realize he was in some kind of trouble here. Could he talk his way out? He opened his aching mouth...
"Uhh..." and that was it. He couldn't think of what to say.
The guy with the mask and freaky hair...Magatsu...where had he heard that name..? ..he had Goro's knife in his right hand, and was wiggling it while looking thoughtful. The Manji guy was pursing his lips.Then they exchanged a glance, and suddenly they were both grinning.
Goro didn't like this.
Ten minutes later, he was stumbling down the road, the night air chewing it's way into his bare skin. Shivering, he covered his holy parts as well as he could.
He saw a sign ahead and, tired, drained and shivering, staggered ahead to lean against it for a while, catching his breath.
On it was a picture of two familiar men. Through the daze, he read:
"Manji and Magatsu Taito. Wanted for the murders of 320 men. "
There was a reward, but Goro didn't bother to read what it was. He wobbled on down the road, and in the distance he thought he could hear someone talking about vegetables.
Maybe an inn had some rice left.
The end.