Tales of the Mitsurgi Dragon: Shadow of Shadows
By: Hitokiri Gentatsu
A/N: Gomen for being so late with this part but 'Real Life' took control of most of my writing/typing time. *Grrrr* Anyway here is Chapter Eight of this story. Please feel free to review after your done. Arigatou. :P
Chapter Eight: Interlude
"My sword is guided by the teachings of Hiten Mitsurugi. Yet, many times, I cannot use it to save even one person's life; not one living soul."
Hiko Seijuro
Tsuioku Hen
Iizuka followed Himura down the crowded Kyoto street. It was market day and, despite the war, or maybe because of it, the shopkeepers and artisans hawked their wares with enthusiasm. Iizuka ignored there calls, though his stomach growled with hunger, concentrating instead on following the young swordsman. He was only barely able to keep up with Himura at all and twice now he already lost him query, as the shorter and more agile man slipped through the crowd.
Himura disappeared again and Iizuka's eyes narrowed, frustration clearly written on his features. Katsura had sent him to find the young hitokiri and, what's more, Iizuka's other associate were waiting for his report. He knew he must hurry if he wanted to reach their meeting in time. His 'associates' were not ones to be kept waiting and he didn't wish to find himself on the wrong end of their katana. Shaking his head he scanned the crowd for Himura but could not find him. Then in the distance there was a flash of red and Iizuka smiled and cunning smile as he tried once more to catch up with the hitokiri.
As he watched the red-haired swordsman move effortlessly through a group of children, he wondered about the dangerous situation he now found himself in now that he was trying to play both sides of the fence. He knew that if the Shogun's associates ever found out how little he was telling them, they would not hesitate to kill him. He also knew that Katsura who turn Himura on him if he ever got wind of how much Ishin business he had already told to the Shogunate officials. It was not the best position to be in but Iizuka was willing to risk it. He couldn't see how the Ishinshishi could possibly hold out against the full might of the Shogun's army should it ever be employed. One man, no matter how skilled with a sword, could make a difference against the power of the Shogun's army.
His involvement with the Shogunate had started out as a game, a way for the Ishin forces to know what the Shogunate's moves were going to be. Katsura had asked Iizuka to infiltrate the Shogunate forces and learn all he could and he had provided bribe money. But his rank was not sufficient to place him in the circles the needed information would come from. For that, he had accepted the Shogunate's offer to spy for them. His job for the last several months had been to report on the movements of various Ishishishi groups in Kyoto but that had all changed.
Now his sole job was to report on the movements of one man; Hitokiri Battousai. They wanted him neutralized as soon as possible and by any means necessary. He was too dangerous a man to allow to remain alive. Iizuka agreed with them and had seen Himura grow ever more dangerous as the months passed. The fact that Himura was a danger even to the Ishin side was the only reason he'd agreed to undertake the assignment, although a large sum of money that he would acquire at the successful completion of his mission had helped. For the moment he was only to report the Battousai's movements to them and nothing more.
Iizuka watched Himura enter a restaurant and followed him. Passing under the overhanging curtains, he entered the darker room, temporarily blinded by the dimness. When his eyes cleared, he found Himura seated at a corner table with a small jar of sake in front of him and a faraway look in his eyes.
"Himura-san…" Iizuka said as he carefully approached the man.
Himura's faraway look disappeared and a mask of cool indifference slipped over his features as his hand went reflectively for his sword.
"Iizuka-san?" Himura's voice was cold and hard, his eyes searching for a black envelope.
"Katsura-san is looking for you." he said quietly as soon as he had gotten to the table. "Come we must go quickly."
The young hitokiri nodded and rose, throwing some coins on the table and leaving the room without a sound.
*
Battousai's amber eyed gaze narrowed dangerously at the man before him.
"I will not!" he growled.
Katsura's eyes held Himura's, betraying nothing of the fear that was in his heart. Katsura picked up his cup of tea and took a sip, hoping to calm himself farther before continuing.
"I only ask that you take a rest, that is all." he said into the cold stillness of the room, eyeing the samurai who sat across from him.
Battousai glowered at Katsura but when he spoke his tone was one of quiet, albeit cold, respect. "Why?"
"You've been far too visible of late and the agents of the Shogunate are rumored to be searching the city for you." That was stretching to truth a bit but the sanity of the young man before him was more important than the truth at the moment.
Battousai grimaced and his eyes darted around the room as if seeking spies. Then he lowered his gaze for moment before looking up again, his eyes shift for a moment to violet.
"I will do as you say, Katsura-san." he said quietly, inclining his head before rising silently to his feet.
"Please relax, Himura." Katsura said and the hitokiri nodded before passing ghostlike through the door.
An hour later, Kenshin was still walking the streets, wondering what he should do now that he'd been ordered to rest for a time. His senses took in everything around him but his mind was working on the problem of what he might have done to offend his lord.
"Who could have seen me?" he thought as several children rushed passed him, their high voices carrying through the early spring air.
**No one has seen us.** Battousai muttered darkly. **We are always careful and none live to tell of us.**
Kenshin nodded in agreement. The first rule of a hitokiri was never be seen in the act of killing. Why had Katsura said was 'too visible' then? He pondered the question for several minutes, still walking through the midday crowds. Suddenly he stopped midst ride and his eyes widened as an image flashed across his mind.
"Maybe someone's failed in their job of cleaning-up after me." he thought, seeing again the blood splattered walls from his last assignment.
Battousai's rage uncurled inside him and he felt his face harden, but he clamped down on it. This was not the time or place for Battousai to appear. Only his need to keep his identity a secret held Battousai in check.
**When I find out who it is, they will die.** Battousai's voice was like a cold wind across his soul and Kenshin
shivered.
He found himself crossing the same bridge he had a few nights previous and , as he had that night, he walked across the grassy space in the other side to the water's edge. He sat down and folded his arms across his drawn up knees, watching the water sparkle silvery in the sun's light. Battousai's bloody thoughts stilled and his sibilant voice because merely a silent hum in back of his. He let the sound of the water lapping peacefully against the shore relax him. He watched the water rippling for several moment and then closed his eyes, trying to think of nothing but the water.
A tug on his sleeve snapped him to alertness and he turned to find a girl of perhaps three standing there, her thumb in her mouth. She was staring at him with innocent curiosity and, when he blinked at her, she began to giggle. He smiled faintly and looked around, seeing no one on the river bank but himself and the girl.
"Fire-hair nap.." she lisped and then made a sign with her hands, pantomiming sleep.
"Hai, a nap." he replied. "Where do you live?"
The girl pointed at one of the houses that occupied the land on this side of the river. Kenshin studied the house and was relieved to find it was not one the was familiar to him.
"Perhaps I should take you home, " he said, rising from his place on the ground. "I am sure that someone is worried about you."
"Onichan comes now." She pointed down the bank and Kenshin saw a boy of about eight walking toward them, a fishing pole over his shoulder and a bucket in his hands. When he saw his sister he began to walk faster.
"Sakura! What were you doing outside?" he looked up at Kenshin and, seeing the swords at his waist, he bowed quickly. "Gomen nasai, sir. I hope she was not bothering you."
Kenshin waved his hand. "No need to worry. She was no trouble."
The boy looked relieved and Kenshin smiled at him. The boy took his sister's hand and the girl giggled again.
"We must be going, sir. " The two children bowed at him again and he bowed back.
Kenshin watched the two enter the house Sakura had pointed out to him earlier. Feeling more relaxed then he remembered ever feeling, he made his way back to the inn.
*
"Let's get some sake, Himura." Iizuka said as he entered Kenshin's rooms without knocking later that night.
Kenshin jumped to his feet and had his katana drawn, pointing it at Iizuka's heart. Iizuka backed away a step, fear clearly written on his features. Kenshin's eyes widened and he shook his head, quietly resheathing the sword.
"Gomen," he said quietly and Iizuka smiled.
"So how about it, Himura?" Iizuka's dark eyes held his briefly.
"No!" he answered sharply.
"Come on. Katsura told you to relax, ne? What could be more relaxing then a night of drinking."
Kenshin frowned at the mention of Katsura and his current 'orders' but he said nothing. Iizuka stood unmoving in the doorway for a few seconds more and then began to leave.
"Fine, I'll go alone then. Ja ne."
"Wait," Kenshin's voice stopped Iizuka in his tracks. "I will come."
Iizuka smiled and he winked at the hitokiri. "That's more like it."
Kenshin frowned again but slide his katana and wakazashi into his belt and followed Iizuka out into the dark coolness of the night.
*
The moon shone brightly, bathing the street outside in silver and the restaurant where Kenshin sat was nearly empty of people. He picked at the remains of the dinner in front of him, having no stomach for the food and even less for the remaining sake in his cup. Iizuka had left a half an hour ago, in good spirits from the amount of sake he had imbibed. He was off to visit the pleasure quarter and had invited Kenshin along but Kenshin was not in the mood for such sport; truth be told, he was never in that kind of mood.
He pushed the food around on his plate for a few moment more before pushing the plate away. He dropped a few coins on the table and the walked into the silvery night. He wandered the shadowy streets of Kyoto aimlessly; having nothing to do and no place to go but the inn. Battousai's voice echoed in his mind, full of bloodlust and sending shivers down his spine. Battousai's desire to see blood again was strong and his sibilant whispers were urging Kenshin to find someone to kill, anyone.
Kenshin's hands balled into fists as waves of bloodlust washed over him, but he continued to walk away from the main part of the city. He walked on a path that led to the mountains surrounding Kyoto and he sat down, hidden from the path by a thick stand of bamboo. He put his head in shaking hands trying to still the urge to kill that was within him. Everything was falling apart inside him and he could no longer tell who he was. Suddenly he realized he was a danger.
A twig snapped nearby and, in an instant, Battousai's sword flashed out, slicing through the bamboo, which went crashing around him. His eyes widened and shifted from amber to violet as he stared at the cold steel in his hand. His breathing was rapid and he could feel his heart racing in his chest. He stood there, frozen in place, staring at the glowing silvery blade, his eyes unfocused. Then his sword fell clattering to the ground followed by the young hitokiri, who made no sound.
He lay there, too scared to move and shivered violently, unable to stop himself.
"What have I done?" he whispered as fear of himself snaked through his mind.
He was hair-trigger and what was worse was the fact that he seemed to be losing himself in the hitokiris madness. The rages of the hitokiri within him had steadily increased and his bloodlust was becoming harder to control.
"Assassin's never know a long life," he muttered and now he was just beginning to realize why. At the rate he was going he would shortly lose his mind completely.
Maybe that was why Katsura had been so insistent that he take a break from his 'work'. The strain of his constant inner struggle must be showing. He had to regain control of himself somehow. He gritted his teeth and rolled over to look at the sky, which was beginning to grow lighter. He blinked once, twice and then fell asleep.
*
Silence was what jerked him out of a deep and dreamless sleep. He lay where he had fallen and blinked up at the now blue sky above him. He sat up carefully and rubbed the stiffness from his neck, trying to ease the pain in his head from sleeping on the ground unprepared. Kenshin looked around, searching for the source of the silence that has descended around him. There appeared to be nothing, at least nothing he could sense.
Suddenly there a faint sound sandaled feet and the rasp of a sword leaving it's sheath. Kenshin rose silently to his feet, alert to the danger, and was just about to draw his own katana, when he heard a scream that was abruptly cut off, followed by the sound of running feet headed in his direction.
For a panicked instant, Kenshin considered fleeing, knowing that the unseen hitokiri would not hesitate to kill him to but before he could make a move, the man burst through the bamboo in front of him, a look of maddened rage in his eyes. The other man stopped and turned his eyes from his flight to Kenshin, a predatory look in is narrowed eyes.
Kenshin remained frozen in fear as his future seemed to stare back at him from rage filled eyes. The man's clothing was in tatters on his thin body and his burning eyes glared at Kenshin from under tangled hair that was streaked with mud. His face was covered in dust and blood. The katana the man held was covered in the fresh blood of his last victim and crusted with the dried blood of countless others.
The man let out a grunt and lunged at Kenshin, bloodlust dancing in his eyes. Kenshin moved, barely avoiding the man's swing in his shock. The hitokiri swung at Kenshin again and he dodged again. The man's rage grew as he continued to be unable to hit Kenshin despite the fact that Kenshin had yet to draw his own blade.
Kenshin body was reacting unconsciously to the man's attempts to attack but his mind seemed to be jammed. He couldn't seem to to do anything except dance away from the other man's sword as fear mounted within him.
"He could be me in a few months…" that thought remained lodged in his mind as he continued to dance away from the attacks.
**Be careful!** Battousai's cold voice burst though his mental block. **That man is a danger, not only to us but to others as well. I will…**
Battousai's thought was cut off by a sudden flare of pain as a sword sliced through his back and shoulder. The world around Kenshin became dim and hazy as Battousai took control.
Battousai glared at the man before him, hoping he would back off for a moment but instead the man charged him, having somehow sensed the change in his ki. The man charged with his sword held high, exposing his chest. He had no change against Battousai , whose sword flashed out and sliced across the man's chest. A crimson arc flew from his sword and the man slumped to the ground, whispering 'arigatou' as he did so.
For a moment Battousai stood there, staring at the man, as Kenshin's fear sent a shiver down his spine.
**This could be us in a few months** he thought, as he flung the man's blood from his katana and sheathed it with a trembling hand.
He studied the man at his feet for a moment and gasped in shock. The man's tattered clothing was in every way identical to his own. Battousai stood paralyzed with fear for a moment as all color drained from his face. Then he turned and fled farther into the grove, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the dead man, all the while wondering if that man's fate might someday be his own.