Weeeeeeeeell… This chapter will be, ah, short but hopefully not rushed. I just realized tonight (Sunday) that this Friday I have my astronomy final, Roman civilization final, and final Japanese oral exam… I'm sure that I made this connection a long time ago but I think my brain panicked in the face of such an atrocity and blanked it from my mind as a self defense mechanism. -_- So… short and sweet, yes? The next chapter won't be out till sometime after Friday seeing as I'll be buried to my neck in relativity equations, two thousand year old letters between generals, and "everyday activity" verb conjugations… Sigh. Don't go to college, just don't. I have only two finals during the week and a half long finals period… and of those is on the LAST DAY… grrrr, and what else would it be but my final written Japanese exam? Can one love and hate a language at the same time? Yes… yes one can. Anyway, enough of my tears and drama… let's take a look at Rin's, shall we?
A Need for Hope
"Now be a good girl and go wait on the porch," she scolded herself with a wry twist of her lips. In so many ways she was still just a child.
"Why don't you wait with me, instead?" a harsh voice breathed into her ear as the sudden pressure of fingers wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air…
Rin's mouth gaped open in a strangled cry as her hands desperately scrabbled at her throat. She tried to twist out of the grip, thrust her elbows into a gut, kick a shin, something, but felt the strength slowly leaving her body as it screamed for air.
"Manji," she croaked, the edges of her vision blurring, color dulling to grays. In a remote, detached corner of her brain she noted the familiarity of the situation. The first time she'd been strangled, she'd managed to survive. Somehow, she didn't think she'd be that lucky twice. With apathetic curiosity she watched the young girl struggle against her hooded assailant. The girl tried to jam her fists into his groin but quickly had her arms pinned to her sides by the arm that wasn't slowly squeezing the life out of her. Rin idly wondered whom the girl's death would touch. There was no living family and few family friends. The Itto Ryu would hardly notice the absence of a mosquito like her, they had more important enemies. Manji, though... Rin frowned sorrowfully; Manji would most likely miss the little girl, though she doubted it would ride too heavily on his heart. There would be guilt, yes, but how many times could a man mourn for the same lost sister?
The ground took her by complete surprise. She blinked exactly twice before the shock of once again being aware of her own body wore off and she was gasping in air like water. Her limbs felt dead and tingly at the same time, and she watched her fingers spasm where they lay beside her face in the leaf litter. A voice was speaking to her from somewhere, but she couldn't quite make out the words. It sounded like he was speaking through glass.
"M-manji," she managed, her brain still too numbed to process anything more than the name. Suddenly, in her greedy bid for air, a piece of grit lodged itself in the back of her throat. The world snapped painfully back into focus as Rin began to cough violently, trying to breathe and keep the dirt from getting into her lungs at the same time. Her eyes were streaming with tears, she realized, and her face was burning up in the effort to live. She blinked away the tears as she forced her throat to relax and take in air in steady draughts.
"-wouldn't kill you outright," the voice was saying pleasantly. Rin rolled her eyes up to try and find the source. He hadn't killed her. The enemy was still here. Where…?
"That would be pretty cheap, even for me. I figure I'll give him a sporting chance to save you," he went on as Rin felt her arms jerked behind her and bound together with a coarse rope. She cried out as her muscles protested the rough action. The man cuffed her across the cheek, slamming the side of her face back into the ground. Rin whimpered in pain as spots danced in front of her eyes.
"Shut up, stupid bitch," the man snarled, "I don't want him here yet."
Rin's stomach lurched and the world spun dizzingly as she was hauled to her feet. Her legs immediately buckled under her and the man cursed as he was forced to catch her. He held her steady for a few moments and Rin used the time to right her senses, pinning her gaze on a tree until the rest of the forest solidified around it. Then she was being dragged towards the cabin. She stumbled and weaved for the first few feet before she caught the rhythm of the pace. Her legs still wobbled beneath her, though. She was sure every bone and muscle in her body had been liquefied. She felt like she would seep into the ground at any moment.
As they reached the shack, the man shoved her onto the porch, securing her to one of the awning beams with another piece of rope. Rin looked at him clearly for the first time.
"Who are you?" her voice was strained and quavering. The man glanced up at her in surprise and smirked.
"You were nearly killed and already you're spitting and hissing?" he chuckled and stood, stretching his arms behind him leisurely.
Rin thought about pointing out that she'd been "nearly killed" more times than she'd like to count in the past couple of weeks alone but decided it wasn't worth the breath. Right now she was more content to enjoy the feeling of being able to breathe rather than trying to impress a would-be assassin. No; a member of the of the Itto Ryu, she decided. She'd certainly tangled with enough of them to know the warning signs.
First, between what he'd been saying and the fact that she wasn't dead, she could surmise that she was bait. No surprises there. Second, the bastard was stretching and flipping a pair of steel somethings through simple patterns. He was nondescript in appearance, the only off thing about his presence being the keenly observant shift of his eyes and the sinew in his arms that was obviously not from heavy labor. He was an ex-samurai, assassin, cut-throat thug, or whatever. They came from all different backgrounds; his was probably no more surprising than the last one's. Besides, background didn't have much bearing in the Itto Ryu, only the ability to cut down the enemies of the growing school. In her eyes there might as well have been a red warning flag attached to his head.
"Shit, how long does it take him to take a bath?" the man thumped down onto the porch next to her, apparently bored with his warm up. Rin stared at him warily, wondering just how she would play into this game. An observer only? Or would he rough her up a little more to get Manji's blood boiling? He noticed her stare and grinned at her crookedly.
"Don't worry, missy," he gave her a broad wink that made Rin's skin crawl, "If your hire man is as good as everyone says he is, you don't need to worry about a thing," he shrugged, "I won't lie to you, though. Wouldn't want to get your hopes up."
Rin shrank back unconsciously as his gaze fixed on her face, "The boy you bumped into last night was at least three skill levels my junior." Again he shrugged, the unsettling laughter spilling from his mouth. He didn't need to say anymore to frighten her and he knew it. Manji had barely managed to pull last night's battle off. Even then, it had only been her haphazard attack and the more than lucky hit in the man's eye that had given them the upper hand. No chance of that happening twice. It was probably why he'd taken the time to tie her up. She wasn't much of a threat, as she knew word must have spread through their ranks, but there was always that slim chance. Smart of him to eliminate it. He was also probably familiar with Manji's style and weaknesses. The bastard was right; she had no reason to get her hopes up.
Still, Manji always managed to walk away from his battles, no matter how desperate or limb deprived he was. And if he lost there was absolutely no way she could survive. She was alive by grace already.
She had to hope.
"Nothing personal, mind you," the man went on, suddenly standing and twitching the blades in his hands in nervous anticipation. Manji must be coming back, she guessed.
"I don't really give a shit about doing Anotsu favors like other people. I just thought how intimidating it would be if I could say I'd killed an immortal." He looked back at her, his smile chilling her to the bone. There was no hesitation in his expression, only absolute confidence in his success.
"You can't," she protested, tears springing to her eyes with the sudden wave of terror that swept through her.
The man nodded his concession, "Well, maybe not. No one's done it, after all," he rolled his shoulders and turned his back fully toward her then. In the distance she could see Manji lazily strolling through the trees towards them, basket in one hand and sword in the other.
"I heard if you cut their heads off," he trailed off before picking back up again with a laugh, "but if that doesn't work I can just slice him completely apart and scatter the pieces. Hard to regenerate when you're torso is in a different town than your arms, right?"
Rin stared at his back in horror, the image of her being forced to carry bits of Manji across the countryside flashing through her mind. That was if she hadn't been hacked into little bits by then herself.
Oh yes, she definitely had to hope.
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Wow, that was actually longer than I'd intended. More the good for you, I guess… or not, since most of it isn't plot-moving. So we have a nameless, psychotic Itto Ryu punk, a depressed and potentially brain damaged Rin, and a freshly washed and pressed Manji. Damn, smelling so good just to get all bloody again. Eh, such is the life of Manji. So who do you think will win? Eh?! Eh?! Hehehe, well I guess it could go either way, really. This dude seems pretty determined and is obviously skilled. Oh the suspense! Oh the drama! And where the hell did the fluff go?! This is supposed to be a romance genre thing, right? I'm sure you can deal with it, you're big kids. Alrighty, it's time for me to crash. Five games of DDR earlier tonight and it's now 1am with a full day of school and studying ahead… why do I abuse myself so? Wakarimasen. Ahhhh, a whole lot of that tomorrow… ::shoots a glare at her Japanese book:: Bah.