Tales of the Mitsurugi Dragon: Shadow of Shadows
BY Hitokiri Gentatsu
A/N: Well, here I am again with another update for this story. I would like to thank all of you who have been reviewing this one. It really makes me happy. Hope you will enjoy this chapter. ^_^x Remember to read and review.
Chapter Six: Captive
"You must live a full life for the sake of those who died here tonight. Shinta, please live…live of me."
Sakura
Tsuioku Hen
Kenshin woke with a start and blinked at the ceiling that presented itself to him. His violet gaze held confusion as he tried to piece together what had happened.
"You will be all right. Just relax," a quiet voice over his head told him.
He nodded and was just about to slip back into slumber when he realized that the voice above him was unfamiliar. His eyes snapped open again and he searched the room for the speaker. A sharp-featured man sat next to him, drinking tea. His clothing was plain, with no visible crests and the wakazashi at his side was likewise plain. There was nothing that would indicate this man's rank or even his clan affiliation.
The man smiled, but it looked as if his face was unaccustomed to doing so.
"So you're awake. Good. Now you can tell me what you were doing at the Yoshiro residence three night passed."
The man's question was more of a statement and Kenshin looked at him in utter confusion as he tried to remember what happened. Everything was a blur in his mind. The only thing he remembered was the need to escape the fire that was raging within the building.
"I don't remember…" he whispered, trying to buy himself some time to think.
The sharp-featured man tried another tack. "Who are you?"
Suddenly Kenshin remembered everything about the night in question. His eyes flashed amber for a moment but he hid it quickly by bowing his head to the man as one would bow to one of higher station then your own.
"I am merely a servant, sir. My name is Shinta."
"Only a servant? Then explain why you carried a wakazashi." He laid the blade in question in front of Kenshin, who recognized it as his own. "And why this blade is a perfect match for a katana found at the scene. Perhaps you are a thief or maybe something more?"
The man's question hung in the air like a poison. Kenshin knew he was in danger of being discovered. He could feel the man's ki beat against his own and he struggled to keep Battousai in check. If he was going to get out of this alive he needed to remain calm.
"I am neither. Those swords belong to my master. He bade me fetch them for him when he heard the noise of battle in the hall. Then he gave me the wakazashi and told me to find a patrol and bring them." He hung his head and acted pathetic. " I never even made it out of the compound. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and fell."
The man grunted and then grabbed a handful of Kenshin's hair, pulling his head up so that he could look into Kenshin's eyes. He looked deeply into them, as if he could see into Kenshin's very soul. Kenshin looked at the man fearfully as a servant would when coming into eye contact with a superior. He winced as the man pulled his hair again.
"There is more to you then there appears on the surface. You will remain our prisoner until I am satisfied as to your true identity." The man pushed him away and Kenshin had no choice but to let himself land face first on the futon or risk giving himself away.
Kenshin heard the man walk across the room and slide the door open. He glanced through his fiery bangs, to mark the door's location and his heart froze in his chest. Another man was passing the door as it opened and Kenshin recognized the profile. He barely heard the other man call for the doctor to return. He knew where he had to be and he didn't need to see a uniform or the crest of a clan to prove it to himself.
He was now the prisoner of the Mibu clan.
*
A few moments later the doctor appeared and gave Kenshin some medicinal tea to drink to ease the coughing caused by the smoke he had inhaled. Kenshin took the tea and drank, his mind working furiously on the problem of how to escape from the headquarters of his foes without endangering anyone's life.
The doctor watched the young man closely, wondering exactly who he was and why the Shinsengumi and the clan had bothered to bring him here. Ordinarily, this would have been a routine police matter that the locals could deal with.
"Not that anything is routine these days. But still…"
The young man took another drink of tea and then laid back down on the futon without a word, seemingly deep in thought. His eyes shifted to the doctor from time to time.
"Arigatou," the man's soft voice broke the silence of the room and the doctor started in surprise.
"You're quite welcome. Just lie down and rest. I'll be back later to check on you." The young man smiled and nodded and the doctor left the room.
Kenshin closed his eyes and tried to do as the doctor requested. It would do him no good to try and escape until he was somewhat stronger.
*
A week passed and the rasping sound in Kenshin's chest receded. He stopped coughing and his vision was now clearer. He could feel his strength returning to him but he never allowed anyone to see how rapidly he was recovering. Several members of the Mibu clan as well as some of the Shinsengumi and the doctor had questioned him about his doings on the night of the fire and Kenshin was very careful to stick to the same story he had used the first night.
"How much longer can I keep this up though?" he thought as he slowly ate the food in front of him.
-"We need to escape soon. We cannot be seen…we must kill them all and return to Katsura-san. He looks for us."- Battousai growled, the close proximity of so many foes keeping him on constant edge.
Kenshin could feel Battousai's rage building inside him but even Battousai agreed that a fight against an unknown number of opponents was unwise.
"We will make a move when the time is right and not before," he thought and he heard Battousai mutter and then subside.
The door of the room slide open and Okita Soushi entered the room, regarding Kenshin with a bemused expression on his cheerful face. Kenshin bowed to him and fixed him with a brief, somewhat surprised stare, hoping there was enough surprise in his eyes.
"What is it, master?" he said quietly, his eyes dropping from Okita's face.
"There is someone here to see you, Shinta," he said and Kenshin looked up again.
A man entered the room, the wicker hat he wore hiding his features. He looked up and Kenshin recognized Katsura's second in command, Katagai. Relief flooded through him, even as fear for the other man's safety warred with it.
"It is you…we had given up hope of finding you alive…but here you are…Otosan has been worried sick about you."
"Is it really you?" Kenshin's eyes widened in reaction, acting surprised to see the other man.
Katagai turned to Okita, a look of relief on his face. "What can we do to repay your kindness?"
Okita was about to answer when a voice cut in.
"You and your 'brother' do not share a family resemblance," the sharp voice said and Katagai turned to face the speaker who stood blocking the doorway.
Kenshin bowed his head and watched the man through narrowed eyes hidden beneath his bangs.
"He is not my brother, sir. He is a family servant whose parents died when he was very young. His mother begged us to look after her son. Otosan took a special liking to him."
"How did you find out he was here and what was he doing at the site of murder and arson?" the man continued, his narrow amber eyes glinting.
"We had sent Shinta to work at the house a month ago. When we heard about the fire, we thought we had lost him but then there was a rumor on the streets of a boy that had been saved from the fire…" Katagai's voice trembled, and Kenshin did his best to appear to be an innocent boy. "We had given up hope of finding him alive. Otosan is very ill and this has made him worse."
Kenshin's eyes widened at the mention of this. "I have to go to him…he needs to know that I am well. Please may I go?"
Okita grinned at him and turned to the other man, whose face was still hidden in the shadows.
"Saito-san?" he questioned, clearly wanting nothing more then to reunite this family.
Saito, however, was loath to let the two of them go. Something felt wrong about this but he was unable to determine what caused his unease. He looked at the red-haired boy in front of him. The child exuded innocence and the bluish eyes that looked up at him were full of confusion and pleading.
"But still there is something…" he thought to himself, watching as the boy dropped his gaze. "Something is strange about him."
Saito stretched out his ki and touched the boy's own, feeling nothing but the same innocence he had felt before. Still there was something vaguely unsettling about the boy, a feeling of menace that was at odds with the boy's show of innocent youth.
"Sir…Sir…Can I go now? Shinta looked up at him again and Saito realize that he had been silent for several moments longer then was necessary.
"Yes you may," he said and the boy face broke into a smile.
"Let us go now, Shinta. Father is waiting." Katagai said before turning to the two men. "Arigatou for saving him. If I can ever be of assistance, let me know."
He bowed at the two men and led Shinta from the room. As soon as they left the building, Saito turned to Okita and whispered. "Have them followed. There is something strange about our former guest. I want to find out where he goes."
Okita looked confused but he nodded and went on search of some men to send after them. Saito left the room and headed for another intent on getting information about the boy and the daisho that had been left at the scene.
"I will have the answers that I seek."
*
Kenshin and Katagai walked down the busy Kyoto street, saying nothing. Both men tensed when they felt the presence of several samurai some paces behind them.
"They are closing, two from the east and three west with two more above." Kenshin said quietly as Katagai nodded.
"Katsura is at the Iris safe house," he replied, looking up at the sky.
"We should separate soon. We can't endanger him or the cause. I can deal with them." Battousai's cold voice chilled Katagai.
"You have no weapon, Himura."
Battousai gave him a sidelong glance before his eyes dropped to the two swords Katagai wore.
"I only need one weapon," he whispered, his amber eyes never leaving the road in front of him, although he felt the men around them moving closer.
Katagai looked over at the young assassin, who now seemed to have become another person altogether. The coldness of Battousai's voice sent chills down his spine and he wanted nothing more than to get away from the young man.
"If we separate, they will know something's amiss," he said as he watched the Battousai tense.
"The fact that they are having us followed means that they already know something's amiss. Someone must have seen though my act." Battousai's voice was flat and his face expressionless. "We need to silence those men. There is no other choice, you know that as well as I."
Katagai nodded, hearing his heart beating wildly in his ears. Katsura's hitokiri scared him and being this close to his rage was nearly overwhelming but his face remained calm. He slid his wakazashi from his belt and handed it to Battousai without looking at him.
"Be careful," he whispered and when he looked up, Battousai was gone.
Katagai sighed and continued down the street as if nothing had happened. He felt the men behind him stop following. He paused at a noodle stand and took a quick look behind him before moving on toward one of the inns, knowing that Himura would reach there as soon as he had silenced the men.
*
Battousai took the wakazashi and melted, without a sound, into the shadow of the alley they were passing. He crouched there, tense and the rage of the hitokiri filling him. He narrowed his eyes into slits and felt the seven men moving cautiously toward him. Somewhere ahead of his current position he felt three more enemies moving toward him.
"Ten…" he thought, trying to calculate how best to deal with them all. He watched the people passing the mouth of the alley, his eyes shifting from amber, to bluish purple and to amber again in the space of a heartbeat.
His eyes moved toward the sky and he grimaced. It was still at least an hour before sunset. He narrowed his eyes again, feeling the enemy inch ever closer to his position.
"I can't kill them here. Too many witnesses nearby…I don't want to kill innocents. I have to lead them away from here."
He slipped down the alley and stood in a shaft of early evening sunlight, waiting for them to come. When the men paused near the alley, he bent down and picked up a loose bit of rock, flinging it in the direction of the alley's mouth.
The sound created by it produced immediate results. Three men appeared at the mouth of the alley, while four more appeared on the roofs above him. Battousai stood there, his arms folded and his narrow amber eyes glinting the fading light.
"So you thought I wouldn't notice you following." The men flinched at the sound of his voice. "You should no better than to try to follow the Hitokiri Battousai."
The words had the desired effect. The men sprang after him and he ran down the alley, leading them away from the innocents on the main street. He could hear the running footsteps of the now ten men behind him and he smiled a cold smile as he felt the need to kill sing in his veins.
Battousai ran down the alley and then made a sharp turn to the left, darting down another alley. He heard one man slip behind him and his grin widened. He continued to run, listening to the sounds behind him. After two more turns in the twisting alley Battousai heard one of the men pull ahead of the others.
"Just a few moments more…"
Battousai continued to run, listening to the sound behind him and counting off seconds in his head. When he was satisfied that his other pursuers were far enough behind, he turned and drew the blade of the wakazashi, sweeping it in an arc and ducking under the longer reach of the other man's katana.
The man's warm blood stained Battousai's hands crimson and he fell to the ground, his sword flying from his grasp to land at Battousai's right hand. He flicked the blood away from the wakazashi with a sharp movement and resheathed the weapon.
Battousai turned to look at the other men that ran toward him, like a pack of demented creatures, furious with the death of one of their own at the hand of a mere boy. Battousai smirked at them, his amber glowing eerily in the rapidly forming darkness, before he took off down the alley again, now armed with the dead man's katana.
The Shinsengumi spies followed him, forgetting everything about stealth and teamwork in their rage to kill the Ishin hitokiri. Battousai smiled and led his prey for hours in a race all over the alleys of Kyoto that he knew so well. Finally he stood facing his last winded opponent. The two combatants glared at each other with cold hatred, their harsh breathing sounding deafening in the otherwise silent alleyway. Battousai rushed the man, aiming a slice at his throat and was surprised by the sword that blocked his strike. He glared back at the man and made a second charge, twisting his body so that he danced out of his opponent's reach just after striking.
Though his aim was true, the blow was again blocked. He stepped back and looked at his opponent again. The Shinsengumi was smirking at him and a small laugh escaped him but he said nothing. Battousai resheathed his katana and waited, but the man refused to attack. Battousai's patience snapped and rage filled him.
"I will kill you now," he growled, his eye burning an intense and angry amber.
The man stood there and pointed his katana at the Battousai but said nothing. Battousai snarled and charged, caring little for anything except to conclude the battle and return home to rest. His opponent refused to allow this though and an hour later found Battousai trapped between the wall of a building behind him and his opponent, who had refused to yield even an inch.
Kenshin looked at the sky overhead, trying to judge the hour and he was surprised to find it nearing sunrise.
"Shimmatte!" he thought angrily, knowing that Katsura and Katagai would wonder what had become of him.
Battousai looked around, looking for anything that might help him defeat his stronger opponent. The man was surely a master of his sword school and for a moment Battousai felt a shadow of doubt creep into his soul. He was not a master of Hiten Mitsurugi, only nearly so. Facing this man showed him that he was at a distinct disadvantage when facing someone who was an experienced swordsmaster.
"There must be a way to defeat him. I can't let him live."
The Shinsengumi remained motionless before him, smirking at Battousai as if he knew the secret he had carefully hidden even from Katsura. Battousai narrowed his eyes and watched the man closely. The man's grip on his katana appeared to be loose but he knew that apparent laziness of grip was a ruse. The man moved restlessly, his weight going from one foot to the other and his eyes shifting restlessly from side to side.
"He's going to attack now, trying to finish me off." Battousai wasn't sure how he knew this but in an instant he 'saw' the move before it came and his mind found a way to counter it.
The Shinsengumi made the move that Battousai had somehow predicted and found that, as the Battousai's own blocked his sword, that the hitokiri had used his left hand to draw the wakazashi from his belt and had sliced him across his exposed throat. The man dropped his sword and grabbed at his throat but it was already too late. His eyes dimmed as he slide to the ground, wearing a look of shocked disbelief.
Battousai stared at the man a few moments before turning away from the surprised look on the man's face. He walked down the alley, never once looking back, his mind occupied with his newly discovered ability. Maybe it would help him survive a little longer.