Tales of the Mitsurugi Dragon: Shadow of Shadows
By: Hitokiri Gentatsu
A/N: Gomen Nasai for the long delay but I was helping my roommate move and I had moved things around, temporarily losing the disk it was on. Please forgive me for this and enjoy the next chapter. ^_^x
Chapter Five: Traitor's Heart
"That is what has been given me. Besides, I will not live for long"
Hitokiri Battousai
Katsura had the look of a man that had been awake all night. His normally sharp, black eyes looked dull and there were circles under them. His face was set in a frown and his hand slashed through the air as he gesticulated with it. Kenshin could see that he was talking to three other men and they were discussing the merits of a plan but he paid little attention to it. He felt the flaring of multiple ki. One of the men was angry, almost angry enough to draw his sword.
Kenshin's eyes narrowed for a moment and he slipped into the room to stand at Katsura's right hand. He gave the man in question a pointed look that clearly warned him off, before sitting at Katsura's right, his katana resting on his shoulder. He bowed his head, his eyes hidden by a fall of red, feigning indifference and waiting for the meeting to end, trusting that his presence would forestall any more 'arguments'.
Katsura's eyes brightened considerable at Kenshin's entrance. He had been worried about the young man all night. He had heard that Kenshin had not yet returned to the inn and when a hitokiri did not return it normally meant that someone had taken him down.
::Trust Himura to be stronger than that.::
As Katsura continued the interrupted discussion with renewed vigor, he looked at Himura closely. Though there were no visible signs of any wounds, he could tell that Himura had been hurt by the hard line of his mouth and the faint trace of pain around his eyes. Someone had managed to get through his defenses, a rarity. Katsura frowned.
The debate continued for some minutes, during which Kenshin remained motionless, too worn out from the previous night's battles to find the energy to move. When it ended, Kenshin sighed in relief that no sword had been drawn and thanked the gods that his skills were not required for if they had been the men would have found his earlier warning to be a bluff.
"I am relieved to see you, Himura." Katsura said from beside him. "Everyone thought you were dead when you didn't return."
"I heard," he said quietly as Katsura moved to sit in front of him. Kenshin locked eyes with his lord for a moment before dropping his gaze again.
"You were wounded in the fight." Katsura's words were a statement rather then a question.
"I will require time to heal."
Katsura merely nodded. "I will send someone else in your place."
Kenshin bowed and then took the black envelope from his sleeve, attempting to give it back to Katsura. He shook his head and locked eyes with Himura.
"Those men are still your targets. They will merely be getting a reprieve from death." Kenshin closed his eyes and bowed, though Katsura thought he saw sorrow in the young man's eyes. "For the moment just rest."
"I will," Kenshin bowed again and then rose.
"Himura," Katsura called to him and he turned to look back at him. "There may be traitors about. Watch yourself."
Kenshin's eyes narrowed and for a moment Katsura thought he saw them flash amber. Kenshin gave one curt nod and left the room. Iizuka came around the corner and fell into step next to him as the hitokiri left the building.
"What do you say we go get some sake?" Iizuka said once they got outside the building clearly in good mood for some reason that Kenshin couldn't fathom.
"No, I think I'll go back to the inn and rest," he said not looking at Iizuka.
"Suit yourself. Maybe another time." Iizuka sauntered off in the direction of the market, while Kenshin kept walking back to the inn.
Briefly Kenshin wondered about Iizuka. He always seemed to be wherever Kenshin was and he always seemed to be so cheerful even though Kenshin saw very little to be cheerful about. Maybe that was just the way Iizuka was. Kenshin shook off the nagging feeling that something was not quite right about him and returned to the inn, keeping a careful if not obvious eye on the people around him.
*
The inn lay in silence, most of the men having gone out about their own business for the day. Kenshin was glad of this because it afforded him time alone. It was rare that he wanted to be alone but he needed some time by himself to sort some things out in his mind. He got some food from the kitchen and went to his rooms to eat it, having no stomach for the concern showed to him by the kitchen maids. After finishing his meal, he opened all the windows and some of the doors to let the breeze move through his somewhat stuffy rooms. He sat in one of the windows with his back against a stack of books and his sword against his shoulder, watching the people below him, briefly wondering about their lives.
He didn't want to admit it, but the words of the man he had fought the previous night bothered him. They touched something deep inside his soul, something that lay hidden under his hitokiri mask. He had killed that man's father without a thought for the consequences of that action, without a care for lives left behind and in defending himself last night he had now also killed that man's son. With both of them dead, how would the rest of their family survive? What would they do without a father or son to provide for them? Kenshin shook his head, feeling regret and guilt in his heart.
"How many have I killed? How many widows and orphans have I created all for the sake of an ideal?" He looked blankly at his hands, seeing them stained with the blood of those he had slain. "How many more lives must I take? When will this all end?"
He stared back out the window at the people on the streets below him and knew he was far below even the lowest of them in station; the lives he had taken and the blood that permeated his very being made it so. He would never know a normal life now that he had chosen the path of the hitokiri over any other. Happiness was, for him, as unattainable as the stars and his heart would know no peace now or ever. He tried to push these thoughts from his mind but they persisted.
"Why am I letting these thoughts bother me so? I will not live beyond my usefulness as a hitokiri. Someday I will be slain, by friend or foe…it doesn't matter because my life does not matter. I'm just a hitokiri, only that. I cannot have regrets…cannot afford that luxury or weakness. I have no feeling beyond the loyalty I own my lord and the duty he has given me. That is all I have now."
Kenshin fell into a fitful slumber, still regretting the choice he made in haste.
*
Three weeks passed before Battousai was 'seen' on the streets of Kyoto again. The Shinsengumi, believing the rumor that the Hitokiri Battousai had been killed, had stopped patrolling the streets, concentrating instead on finding the safe houses of the rebels and questioning those they managed to capture. Battousai smiled, his cold eyes sweeping the alley for any sign of his foes. He ran silently, his god-like speed making him appear as a nothing more then a blur to anyone who happened to see him. But thankfully the alley remained empty and the people behind the walls of the houses that made up the alley slept, unaware that silent death stalked the city once more.
After several moments of silent running, Battousai came to a stop at the back gate of one of the smaller estates of lower ranking Shogunate official. The target he was seeking was supposedly in a meeting with that official at this moment, passing Ishinishi secrets he had learned to the Shogunate by pretending to be the Ishin's strongest supporter. He was the traitor in their ranks and Katsura had ordered Kenshin to slay him before he could cause any more people to lose their lives and before he could pass on any more Ishin secrets to the enemy.
Battousai slipped into the compound by simply jumping over the fence into the back garden. He landed on the balls of his feet, making no sound that would alert others to his presence. There appeared to be no guards around the perimeter of the house and no samurai within the building itself that he could sense. His smile widened.
"Their guard is down. All the better. No wasted lives here. No need to kill more men to reach the target…"
He moved silently within the shadows, making his way carefully to the house and searching for his prey. Moments passed without incident and, without a sound, Battousai slide a door open and entered the dark and eerily silent house, alarms going off inside his head. Wasn't it a little too dark and silent? He continued to walk carefully down the hall, making no sound, he senses alert for danger.
The house around him remained wrapped in silent darkness. There appeared to be no one around and no meeting going on. Had their information be incorrect? Was the meeting being held elsewhere? Briefly he wondered about the source of this information.
"Shimmate, where could they all be?" Battousai began to run down the hall, hoping that he was wrong and that his target was still somewhere around. It was then that he heard a sound, the small click of a gun being primed in a room off to his left and the faint rustling of clothing to his right.
"Ambush…" he thought just a second before the report of a gun echoed in the enclosed space. Battousai managed to duck before the bullet found its target, though he did feel the hair on his head move as it passed overhead.
The doors on both sides of him opened and samurai poured out of the rooms, surrounding him. His narrow amber eyes took them in with no emotion, his mouth set in a snarl and a hand strayed to the hilt of his katana. A man stepped forward and stood in front of him.
"Tanaka…" Battousai hissed. "Traitor…why?"
"Because the Ishinshi cannot prevail. The battle is hopeless…surely even you can see this, Battousai."
Battousai shook his head, his eyes never leaving those of his opponent: "I do not believe that…"
Tanaka drew his katana and signaled to the men, who charged Battousai with their katana drawn. In a few minutes the hall was littered with the bodies of the dead or dying and the floor was slick with their blood. Battousai flicked the blood from his sword and walked toward his target, fire burning in his eyes.
"Traitor. Because of you, many have died needlessly. I have come to bring you Tenchuu," he hissed, his voice cold and flat.
"There are more so-called traitors within the Ishin, more than you will ever discover. We will bring the Ishinshi to their knees. But in order to do that we have to remove the Shogunate's worst threat…you!" As he shouted the final word, Battousai heard the click of multiple guns and watched as several men stepped from the shadows behind Tanaka.
Battousai grimaced and began to move forward just as shots rent the air. He felt one bullet graze his leg and another his cheek. A third bullet flew harmlessly over his head to lodge itself in a wooden support beam. He continued forward and soon reached the gunmen, who stood trembling with fear. He cleanly severed their head from their bodies and, as their bodies fell, he leapt over them to stand before Tanaka.
"Enough of your games! Fight and die!" Battousai advanced farther while Tanaka retreated slightly. "You are responsible for the death or capture of many of our men. You will pay for that."
Tanaka laughed and drew his own weapon, charging at Battousai with an overhead attack that was quickly blocked. Tanaka's foot snaked out and Battousai tripped, falling in a heap to the floor, having not anticipated that attack.
"You will die here, Battousai. I will send you to hell myself. With you out of the way there will be nothing to stop the Shogun's forces from claiming victory."
He advanced again, his sword swinging down in an arc meant to sever Battousai's head. Battousai rolled out of the way and stood, finding himself trapped in a corner of the hall with Tanaka once more advancing swiftly toward him. Battousai crouched in battou-jutsu stance and waited for his opponent to come within range. When Tanaka was in position, he drew his katana in a blur of motion but instead of feeling it cut through flesh, Battousai felt it hit a wooden support. He felt a stinging sensation and was surprised to see a wound opening on his sword hand. He gripped his katana harder and gave it a pull, trying to dislodge it from the beam. It wouldn't budge and Battousai heard the sound of a sword whistling over his head. He ducked under the blow, feeling the air over his head move as he tugged harder on the hilt but the katana's blade remained embedded in the wood.
He cursed silently and pulled at the hilt again just as he heard the report of a gun. He felt a white hot pain in his right shoulder and his hand jerked away from his sword. He felt himself slipping to the floor and he felt something hard strike him from behind.
"Now I will send you to hell as punishment for your many crimes, Hitokiri Battousai." These were the last words he heard before the darkness on the edge of his vision closed in around him.
*
"Shinta…Shinta…you must wake now. Please…"
A soft feminine voice called to him through the darkness. His shoulder was burning with pain and his head seemed to be throbbing in time with his heart.
"Shinta please wake…" the voice urged and Kenshin slowly opened blurry eyes and lay there blinking at the strange orange ceiling, a puzzled frown on his face.
"Shinta…there's fire…get up… get out…" the voice said urgently and it was then that he noticed the flames dancing above him.
He sat up quickly, too quickly and the room began to spin.
"Concentrate Himura," he thought to himself as he forced the room to stop its spinning. What he saw when it finally did caused his eyes to widen in surprise.
The room around him was a raging inferno.
He scrambled backward, away from the flames and heard the creaking of timbers above him. He looked up and saw a huge support beam over his head, wreathed in flames. The beam creaked again, making a popping sound as a shower of sparks rained down on him. Kenshin threw an arm over his head to protect it from the sparks, panic moving through him.
"Have to get out…" he coughed as the smoke entered his lungs.
He looked around but the flames were closing in on him from all directions, their crackling taking on the sound of cruel laughter.
"I don't want to die here…not like this…" he closed his eyes against the flames and folded his arms over his face, crashing through the rice paper and wood wall behind him, which was the only wall not in flames.
He found himself in another long dark hallway, flames burning around him. He coughed as more smoke entered his lungs and he could feel the heat of the flames, both in the room he had just escaped from and in the room across from him.
"Trapped…" His thoughts became a chaotic jumble and panic took control of his body, leaving him unable to do anything but stare at the flames inching closer to him.
Then Battousai asserted himself and stilled the panicked fear in Kenshin's soul. His narrow amber eyes took in the situation and calmly assessed it with a speed that rivaled the Hiten Mitsurugi's god-like speed. There were only two options: up and down. Battousai pulled the wakazashi from his belt and studied both the ceiling above and the floor beneath his feet as the flames licked closer to his position.
"Hurry…" the panicked voice in his head urged.
Battousai silenced Kenshin's voice and decided that the wiser course was below his feet. He knelt down on the floor and with god-like speed, cut the boards around him before re-sheathing the weapon. The boards gave way beneath him and he landed under the house, crouching there for a moment as the fall jarred his wounded shoulder, which was now throbbing in reaction to his use of it.
He hissed in pain and put a hand over the burning wound as he searched for any sign of people. Seeing no one around, Battousai slipped from under the burning house and sprinted to the nearest available cover, a small stand of bamboo and weeping willows. Once there, he fell to his knees unable to move, having used all of his remaining strength just to reach this dubious bit of cover.
"Must move…must leave…cannot be found here…" But the blackness refused to clear from his vision and he felt himself fall forward as it rose to claim him a second time.