Chapter 4
By Crystal
*Screw the disclaimers ^^;; Mina and Ryosuke belong to XenoMark*
Kenshin sat down on his desk loudly, causing the whole class to look at him. He smiled sheepishly and let his face fall on the desk. Saitoh, Okita, Tokio-san, Mina and him sat down in the office and talked about assassinating people. He had no idea why it took so long, but he was dead tired. It was already two fifty when he returned and there was only twenty minutes left till the class ended. He had no idea why Saitoh insisted he go back to class. Probably just to annoy the hell out of him. Yeah, that must be it. Stupid asshole... He closed his eyes silently, hoping he would be allowed to take a nap for twenty minutes. He had an assassination tonight at midnight and he had a project due history project due in two weeks. Life sucked. He laid his head comfortably on his arms and drifted off to sleep...
Gomen...na...sai... A...na...ta...
A sword is a weapon. Kenjitsuu is the art of killing. Whatever pretty words you use to speak of it, this is its true nature. But... I like Kaoru-dono's idealism better than its true nature.
I am NOT some little lad! I myself, a prim and proper Tokyo samurai warrior Myoujin Yahiko!
Not yet! I'm not finished yet! I'm not down yet! I will not lose! In the name of Sagara and the Sekihoutai, I won't lose to an Ishin Shishi even if it means my death!
Once I've said I'll kill you, your death is assured.
And so ends your life. Die. To protect Kaoru-dono, I will become the hitokiri once again.
KENSHIN! Don't go back to being the hitokiri...
Deliver the final blow. Or I'll pursue you until I have satisfaction.
Ken-san . . . you're hurt.
Have you forgotten? Aku. Soku. Zan. That was the one truth the Shinsengumi shared with Battousai.
After being shown the Gatotsu four times in succession, even a fool would think of one or two counterattacks. Get up, Saitoh. It would be disappointing to end out battle like this after ten years.
Thank you for everything you've done... Sessha wa rurouni. I will wander once again.
Take this, Kansatsu Tobikunai!!
That's pretty low, attacking a mere potter out of nowhere.
Why didn't you protect me then? If what you say is right, why didn't anyone protect me?!
You not only murdered Tomoe, my sister, you murdered your own baby. Bastard. YOU KILLED THEM GOD DAMN IT! You bastard... You killed them...
He was suddenly woke up and looked into Kaoru's dark blue eyes. "Kaoru...dono?" He whispered the honorific quietly.
"Kenshin. You've been sleeping the whole class since you came back from the principal. School's over! Come on!" She dragged him out the classroom with the others following, then turned around as if she suddenly remembered something, "What did you call me, Kenshin?"
"Er... Kaoru?" He said, giving an innocent smile, but inside, he was frowning. His own voice, the voice of Tomoe, the voice of Kaoru, Yahiko, Sanosuke, Aoshi, Megumi, Saitoh, Misao, his shisho Hiko Seijuro, Soujiro, Toshiko... All in his dreams, and saying something he never heard. To him.
Anata for Tomoe? They were never married... Kaoru-dono? He do NOT call her that. Tokyo samurai warrior Myojin Yahiko? Okaaay... Sekihoutai losing to an Ishin shishi? Him? Sano a Sekihoutai? Deliver the final blow? Aoshi saying that... Like he was giving up on his life... Ken-san? He didn't think Megumi ever called him THAT. Aku. Soku. Zan. Saitoh's favourite sentence. But the one truth that the Shinsengumi and Battousai share... ten years... After ten years... Sessha wa rurouni? Rurouni my ass. Kansatsu Tobikunai? He never knew Misao knew how to use kunais. Hiko wasn't a mere potter... Soujiro sounded as if he had gone crazy... Soujiro didn't need anyone protecting him. He fought with him this morning, and he was real good... Better than the whole Japan population, except probably Mina, Saitoh, Tokio-san, Okita. Maybe even Aoshi. Tomoe had a child? With him? That was just screwed. He never DID anything with her... And Toshiko swearing? That was highly unlikely. Even now, when Toshiko had witness the scene while he killed Tomoe, she wasn't that mad. Just sad... But in his dream, she was enraged. Presently, if Toshiko got really mad, she still would not swear...
Somehow, his brain told him it was all a weird dream and everything would be fine. But the gut feeling told him otherwise. He trusted his gut feeling a lot. Whenever something was wrong, he would have this feeling... Surely, this was not all a memory? He was sure he has never seen anyone from this school before... Except Toshiko. Could it be... A past life memory? He shook his head stupidly. Of course not! There IS no such thing as reincarnation... Then why did he always tell himself that it wouldn't be surprising if he found out that he himself was the infamous Battousai from the Bakumatsu? He hated talking to himself inside his head, made his think of himself as an idiot. Which he probably was.
Kenshin grumbled under his breath as Kaoru shook him out of his thoughts again. It seemed like she was always shaking him to get him out of his thoughts. Just then, he caught sight of another red head running towards him. Mina... Mina flung her hands around Kenshin's neck and hugged him. "Dear brother, how was school?" She smiled.
"Good, you?" She nodded. "Let's go home." He then turned towards the group of people. "We'll be going home now, if Toshiko comes, tell her to phone me before midnight." He produced a white paper out of his pocket and scribbled his phone number on it and handed it to Misao. "Here you go. And I'll be working on the project."
"Himura-san, do you know who you're going to work on?" Soujiro asked.
Kenshin nodded his head and said the name of the person he was interested at, "Hitokiri Battousai."
"We have to somehow get all four of our person to get together in the past history..." he replied.
"I'll tell you tomorrow at school." Kenshin replied back, and started walking away from the bunch of students.
Soujiro smiled, then frowned and started to say something when Misao beat him to it, "Himura! Today's Friday! No school tomorrow!" Kenshin slapped his hand on his forehead. "How about Soujiro and the others come to your house tomorrow?" Kenshin nodded and jogged back to the group. Scribbling an address on the paper he had given them a while ago, he left again with Mina behind him.
Around two minutes later, Toshiko arrived and went to hug Soujiro. Then she turned around and scanned the group. "Where's Kenshin?"
"He left around a few minutes ago." Misao handed her the piece of paper. "He told you not to phone him after midnight."
She stared at the paper. Midnight... And frowned. Kenshin never slept before midnight. Not to phone him after midnight means he had something to do. And he didn't have any friends in Tokyo so that meant... An assassination. "Did Mina say anything?" They shook their heads. She frowned again. Of course, who would, in October suddenly come to a Tokyo school all the way from Kyoto? Kenshin hadn't gone to school for the past half an year, she knew that. Which meant, there was a point in coming to this high school. And Tokio-sensei, Saitoh-sensei and Okita-sensei... They all had something to do with this. They were having a serious duel today and blood would have spilled if not for Okita-sensei... Her head shot up suddenly, "Where could you buy a newspaper right now?"
Soujiro looked at her funny, "Probably the cafeteria. Nobody buys newpapers from there except the teachers."
"I need to buy one right now..." Soujiro looked as her as if asking why. "It's... very important."
Soujiro nodded and turned around the meet the other people. "We'll meet you guys at home. Toshiko wants to buy a newspaper at the caf."
"Ah ha! Soujiro... You want some time alone with your girlfriend, eh?" Sanosuke winked at him, making Toshiko and Soujiro blush red. Megumi just laughed his fox laugh.
"We'll meet you home. Kay?" Toshiko asked.
"Yes, of course." Megumi gave a wink to Toshiko and everyone started cracking up... Except of course, Soujiro, Toshiko and the icicle. "We'll meet you home. Take your time coming back... We'll start doing the project." Toshiko stuck her tongue out and pulled Soujiro by the hand to the cafeteria.
They reached the cafeteria soon and bought one. Toshiko scanned the page quickly while Soujiro looked at her, a tiny bit confused. Takagami Kiya, leader of the Toskata gang assassinated yesterday night... Along with four of his bodyguards. Not one person that passed through the streets heard them scream. It is believed that they are attacked by a group since the gang did not have a chance to even scream. Great swordsmen slew them, that was for sure. "No..." Toshiko whispered quietly, then dropped the newspaper. Kenshin was killing again... She gritted her teeth. Three years ago after her sister died, she failed to stop him. Now, three years after Tomoe's death, she was going to stop her from that. At all cost.
"Soujiro... Let's go home."
"What about the newspaper?"
Toshiko smiled sadly, "I've read what I wanted to read, it's all right." Soujiro had no idea what had made her so sad, but he did he only thing that came into mind. He embraced her tightly, hoping to protect her from everything...
* * * * *
It was ten already and she was still sitting beside Soujiro, watching him do the project and talk to him a sometimes. She sighed, Kaoru was doing her project in her own room, same with Misao. She, Tsubame and Megumi shared rooms while Kaoru and Misao shared rooms. Sano was probably lying on top of Toshiko's bed, talking to Megumi while she was doing her project. Aoshi had a room to himself and Sano had a room with Soujiro. Of course, Aoshi had the smallest room since he was living with one person in his room and Toshiko, Tsubame and Megumi had the master bedroom. There was four rooms at the top floor, three washrooms. Thank god. Down in the basement was where they celebrated holidays. There was a guestroom in the first floor where Ryosuke and Yahiko slept.
It was a huge house, really. Ten people in a house. Five rooms. Around six washrooms. One of the biggest house in town. Of course, it cost a lot, but it was from Kaoru's parents and Kaoru's been living in it alone until she met her friends. Now, everyone had a part-time job (except Sano) and paid for the monthly fees (except Sano) including electricity, two phone lines, two internet connection. There was five computers in the house, one in each room. It was hard to live with ten people in the same house, having to use the same stuff for projects, but they didn't mind too much. They had a nice place to live in, they had friends. That's what really mattered to them.
Suddenly, Toshiko picked up the phone and dialed the number written on the paper. Someone picked it up, it was a girl. "Mina?" Toshiko asked. "Is Kenshin home?"
"Who are you?"
"Toshiko..."
"Wait." Toshiko winced a bit at her cold voice, Mina didn't really seem happy to be hearing from her... She seemed cold, even in classes. Toshiko hoped she would be her friend soon, not that it would be too hard, since she found out she had every class with her.
"Hey Toshiko."
"Kenshin... Are you 'going out' tonight?"
A pause. "Yes..."
"When are you going to stop?" Toshiko asked. Now, Soujiro was looking at her, not knowing why she sounded so sad.
"I'm... sorry. I can't th-"
"If you're sorry about it, stop doing it!"
"But I can't, Toshiko. You know I can't. I don't know how else to earn money for Mina and me. I don't have a family. The only family I had was Mina, Shisho, you and Tomoe. Tomoe died, you have Soujiro, I left Shisho. Mina's the only one I have... Toshiko, just leave me."
A deep breath coming from Toshiko, "Tomoe would not have wanted to see you like this. Neechan would not have wanted to see you like this. Hiko-sama wouldn't either."
A sigh, "I know..."
"Be careful... Don't get hurt. We'll come over tomorrow."
"Okay... See you later, Toshiko. Love ya."
"Love you too... Later Kenshin." She hanged up. It was going to be harder than she expected... To stop him from killing.