Rating: R VL (for violence, language, sexuality, and a bit of
yaoi)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people mentioned in this story except for myself.
A Strange Person
Enter Tokyo, Japan
Chapter 6: Resolve
We continued to spiral downward, knowing not what awaited us. It was too dark to tell where we were heading except into trouble, that was for sure. We landed on the hard, cold floor piled atop each other. We rose from our heap and proceeded to find a passage. It was not an easy task in the pitch- black veil around us. Eventually, Sano called, "Hey, I found a passage!" We followed his voice in the darkness, hoping it would lead us in the right direction. I hated it down there. Down in the darkness where I knew not where we were headed. I can't stand not knowing where I'm going. I grunted in frustration. We walked down the passage, hugging the wall and keeping checks to make sure everyone was still together. It seemed like we were never going to find the way out until, "I see light!" Yahiko called in triumph. We left the wall and ran toward the light. The light lead us into a room where shelves of books lined the walls and filled the room. I never saw so many books ever. We walked among the many shelves looking for an exit. We wandered.And wandered.And wandered.and after that we wandered some more. "Damn, it's like a maze of books," Sanosuke said in frustration, "There's just no end!" "C'mon now. Don't give up hope! We'll find our way and then we'll find Kenshin!" Kaoru said to boost our hopes.
The maze didn't seem to end. Until we finally came to a square break in the shelves, almost like a room made right in the middle of the books. "Let's rest here for a while and then we'll continue," Megumi said as she plopped herself down against one of the shelves. "We don't have time for a break!" Kaoru scolded, "We have to find Ke-" She was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious cackle. The five of us scanned the area, looking for the source of the annoying laugh. "There!" I pointed to the top of one of the shelves where a woman stood clad in black with a hood and mask. The woman leapt for the towering shelf and landed in the center of the clearing. "Ha! I am Suzuka of the Juconsori. And you have met your match. You will not proceed any further. Now, which one of you weaklings will fight me?" she said, sounding assured of her victory. She looked like a ninja. How she dressed and how she stood. She always stood ready for combat, one leg behind the other, knees slightly bent, and her hands: one up defending her face, the other drawn back, poised to strike if the need arouse.
"You look like ya need a lesson about being arrogant. And I'll be happy to teach you," Sano said as he got into his fighting stance. "Having saw the previous fight I'll need to be sure that no one interferes," Suzuka said and she stood straight up and snapped her fingers.
A panel in the high ceiling opened and an unconscious Kenshin was lowered down to about thirty feet above the floor upside-down. "Anyone interferes or you lose and we drop that pretty little head of his to certain death," she said taking pleasure in tormenting us.
Sano charged fiercely forward and threw a punch aimed at Suzuka's stomach. However, Suzuka did the same and their fists collided. Sanosuke's fist felt as if he had tried to punch through iron. "Argh!" he yelled in pain. Suzuka seemed unaffected. Sano remained where he was for a moment trying to think of a way to beat her. Not being able to think of one he charged again but Suzuka charged as well. Sano thought little of it and aimed a punch at her head. Again Suzuka mirrored his moves and their fists met in the midst of the punches. A searing pain shot up Sanosuke's arm. "I know how to win already. You can't beat my fighting tactics. You're a waste of time. Pathetic fool," Suzuka taunted. Sano just grumbled. He set his stare on him opponent and studied her. Sanosuke thought to try something. He charged again. But she only mimicked him again and their fists clashed again. And again Sanosuke was the only one of the two to feel any pain. 'Damnit. Why isn't she feeling any of this.' He thought to himself. He stood in his place contemplating the situation when, surprisingly, his feminine opponent came towards him. Sano was caught off guard and Suzuka's punch landed right in Sanosuke's stomach. He keeled over in pain. He felt as if he had been hit with a hammer..a hammer. Now he knew why her hands weren't hurt by his punches. She must be wearing metal knuckles. Just then Suzuka brought both of her hands down full force right in the middle of Sano's back. Sanosuke collapsed to the ground. The female leapt atop one of the shelves. "Guess I had a right to be arrogant. I am more than a match for you. And now to finish you," she said as she jumped off the shelf headfirst and crossed her arms in front of her face so she would land with her elbows right in Sanosuke's sternum. However, Sano had regained his bearings and rolled. Noticing this, Suzuka extended her arms, landed on them, and bounced back into a standing position. By now, Sano had gotten up and launched an attack of his own. He landed his punch right under the female's chin and she went flying. However, she flipped and landed on the bookcase and thrust herself off it straight toward Sano who was again caught off guard. Suzuka's elbows caught Sanosuke square in his sternum. He fell and she flipped over and landed on her feet. Injured and barely able to stand, Sano rose. The last hit took a lot out of him. "You truly are pathetic. I was hoping for a challenge," the cocky woman said to Sanosuke in a very not-serious tone. "I.I won't. I won't lose to you!" Sano said sharply, fire burning in his eyes. He was serious about winning. He didn't want to be the one to lose first or the one to let Kenshin down. "You want a challenge? Then. HERE IT COMES!!!" Sanosuke said fiercely. He moved to his opponent, who was obviously startled by his sudden passion in the battle. He aimed punches at his opponent's head, stomach and sternum but to no avail. Suzuka just took too much out of him. "Though admirable your resolve may be, you cannot and will not win," the woman said as she threw a punch at her male opponent's face, but she missed. 'How did I miss?! There's no way he could've seen that coming!' she said to herself. Seeing this opportunity, Sanosuke hit the woman in the face. They separated from each other. The woman had a hand to her eye where Sano had hit her. Sano saw now the crimson trail of liquid down her face. "You." she stammered in surprise and anger, "You bastard. I'll.I'll kill you for messing up my face," she threatened as she pulled some throwing knives out of her sleeve. "Try this!" she said. One of the knives flew towards Sanosuke and he moved to the side, narrowly dodging the knife. In fact, it was so close that the knife had left a cut in the sleeve of Sano's gi. Three more knives came towards him. Sanosuke spun to one side to avoid them and narrowly dodged again leaving three large cuts in the back of Sano's gi. "Okay then. Try this!" Suzuka said. She threw one knife, moved to Sano's left side and threw a knife, moved behind Sano and threw a knife, and moved to Sano's right and threw another knife. She did this in rapid succession until she stood before Sanosuke again. She anticipated that Sansuke would have been killed by her rapid throwing of multiple knives would have killed her bothersome opponent, but to her surprise only one made contact with Sano in his thigh. This angered her very much. Noticing more holes in his gi, Sano removed the fabric that is now rattled with holes. "DIE!!!" Suzuka screamed as she sped toward Sano. She aimed a punch at Sano's head but it was blocked. She then aimed one at his stomach and it was blocked as well. Now severely angered, Suzuka drew back for a strike aimed at Sanosuke's heart and punched. Sano dodged.
Suzuka fell past Sano in the force of her own punch. This left an opening that Sanosuke took advantage of. He got behind Suzuka and landed a punch directly in the nape of her neck. Suzuka fell over.defeated.
Sanosuke stood over his unconscious opponent breathing heavily. He could barely stand because of his lack of energy and the knife that struck his leg. Kaoru looked frantically up to where Kenshin had been but he remained there no longer. She sighed a heavy sigh of disappointment. "Let us go," I said and Sanosuke collapsed. We went to him to make sure he was all right. Finding that he was fine I asked," Megumi, will you stay here and take care of Sano? He's in no condition to be going anywhere." "Yes. You three go rescue Kenshin. We'll meet up with later," she said. I nodded and we left our two companions behind. There was just a straight hall of shelves ahead that lead to a large stairwell. We went up the winding stairs. They must've gone up about seven floors. After we finally got to the top of the stairs, we proceeded through the passage ahead. "Hey, you! Stop now!" some guards called to us. We stopped. There must've been about twenty of them. I began to draw my sword when Kaoru placed a hand on mine. "No. We'll take care of them. You are the only one left that hasn't fought and the only one with enough energy left to fight. So you wait," she said to me. I nodded and backed away. "Yahiko, you get the ten on the left. I got the right," Kaoru told Yahiko. They went in swing their swords without error. The inexperienced guards were no matches for them. I started to think about the past few fights. Looking for a motive or pattern in the opponents' fighting style. Kyotico was dwelling on the strength of his swing. Kersu tried to outmaneuver Kaoru. Suzuka.Suzuka.She was difficult. The only reason Sanosuke won was because of will.but what will. I couldn't place where his resolve came from. Ah, Suzuka relied on breaking Sano's spirit. Suzuka attacked his spirit. Sano doesn't stand long if his spirit is attacked. So how did he stand? I decided not to dwell on it, as it would cause problems for me later if I kept thinking about it. There was no pattern in their styles and there appeared to be no motive, at least not one good enough to go through all of this. "HEY!!! Let's go!" Yahiko broke my thoughts. "Oh, sorry. I'm coming," I replied.
We continued own the winding passage and the last battle popped into my mind again. How did Sano survive the spiritual attack? The question passed through my head many more times. We kept walking and I kept pondering the question. No fighter could have survived the spiritual attack without great resolve. Then something else came into my mind.Home.How I longed to return home. How I longed to see my family again. How I longed to see my girl again. My dog. My friends. Hell I would even be happy to see my science teacher. I now realized how I missed home. 'Ah-hah!' I thought. I wonder if Sanosuke.Kenshin. Does he.? 'Huh' I shrugged it off and noticed I was behind so I moved to catch up. We walked in silence. All of us were thinking about something. I could tell what Kaoru was thinking of just by the look in her eyes. I couldn't tell what Yahiko was thinking. He wore such a serious, solemn almost grim look. His eyes showed no emotion. We saw a door before us. "The next room." said drearily. We opened the doors to see what challenge awaited us next.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people mentioned in this story except for myself.
A Strange Person
Enter Tokyo, Japan
Chapter 6: Resolve
We continued to spiral downward, knowing not what awaited us. It was too dark to tell where we were heading except into trouble, that was for sure. We landed on the hard, cold floor piled atop each other. We rose from our heap and proceeded to find a passage. It was not an easy task in the pitch- black veil around us. Eventually, Sano called, "Hey, I found a passage!" We followed his voice in the darkness, hoping it would lead us in the right direction. I hated it down there. Down in the darkness where I knew not where we were headed. I can't stand not knowing where I'm going. I grunted in frustration. We walked down the passage, hugging the wall and keeping checks to make sure everyone was still together. It seemed like we were never going to find the way out until, "I see light!" Yahiko called in triumph. We left the wall and ran toward the light. The light lead us into a room where shelves of books lined the walls and filled the room. I never saw so many books ever. We walked among the many shelves looking for an exit. We wandered.And wandered.And wandered.and after that we wandered some more. "Damn, it's like a maze of books," Sanosuke said in frustration, "There's just no end!" "C'mon now. Don't give up hope! We'll find our way and then we'll find Kenshin!" Kaoru said to boost our hopes.
The maze didn't seem to end. Until we finally came to a square break in the shelves, almost like a room made right in the middle of the books. "Let's rest here for a while and then we'll continue," Megumi said as she plopped herself down against one of the shelves. "We don't have time for a break!" Kaoru scolded, "We have to find Ke-" She was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious cackle. The five of us scanned the area, looking for the source of the annoying laugh. "There!" I pointed to the top of one of the shelves where a woman stood clad in black with a hood and mask. The woman leapt for the towering shelf and landed in the center of the clearing. "Ha! I am Suzuka of the Juconsori. And you have met your match. You will not proceed any further. Now, which one of you weaklings will fight me?" she said, sounding assured of her victory. She looked like a ninja. How she dressed and how she stood. She always stood ready for combat, one leg behind the other, knees slightly bent, and her hands: one up defending her face, the other drawn back, poised to strike if the need arouse.
"You look like ya need a lesson about being arrogant. And I'll be happy to teach you," Sano said as he got into his fighting stance. "Having saw the previous fight I'll need to be sure that no one interferes," Suzuka said and she stood straight up and snapped her fingers.
A panel in the high ceiling opened and an unconscious Kenshin was lowered down to about thirty feet above the floor upside-down. "Anyone interferes or you lose and we drop that pretty little head of his to certain death," she said taking pleasure in tormenting us.
Sano charged fiercely forward and threw a punch aimed at Suzuka's stomach. However, Suzuka did the same and their fists collided. Sanosuke's fist felt as if he had tried to punch through iron. "Argh!" he yelled in pain. Suzuka seemed unaffected. Sano remained where he was for a moment trying to think of a way to beat her. Not being able to think of one he charged again but Suzuka charged as well. Sano thought little of it and aimed a punch at her head. Again Suzuka mirrored his moves and their fists met in the midst of the punches. A searing pain shot up Sanosuke's arm. "I know how to win already. You can't beat my fighting tactics. You're a waste of time. Pathetic fool," Suzuka taunted. Sano just grumbled. He set his stare on him opponent and studied her. Sanosuke thought to try something. He charged again. But she only mimicked him again and their fists clashed again. And again Sanosuke was the only one of the two to feel any pain. 'Damnit. Why isn't she feeling any of this.' He thought to himself. He stood in his place contemplating the situation when, surprisingly, his feminine opponent came towards him. Sano was caught off guard and Suzuka's punch landed right in Sanosuke's stomach. He keeled over in pain. He felt as if he had been hit with a hammer..a hammer. Now he knew why her hands weren't hurt by his punches. She must be wearing metal knuckles. Just then Suzuka brought both of her hands down full force right in the middle of Sano's back. Sanosuke collapsed to the ground. The female leapt atop one of the shelves. "Guess I had a right to be arrogant. I am more than a match for you. And now to finish you," she said as she jumped off the shelf headfirst and crossed her arms in front of her face so she would land with her elbows right in Sanosuke's sternum. However, Sano had regained his bearings and rolled. Noticing this, Suzuka extended her arms, landed on them, and bounced back into a standing position. By now, Sano had gotten up and launched an attack of his own. He landed his punch right under the female's chin and she went flying. However, she flipped and landed on the bookcase and thrust herself off it straight toward Sano who was again caught off guard. Suzuka's elbows caught Sanosuke square in his sternum. He fell and she flipped over and landed on her feet. Injured and barely able to stand, Sano rose. The last hit took a lot out of him. "You truly are pathetic. I was hoping for a challenge," the cocky woman said to Sanosuke in a very not-serious tone. "I.I won't. I won't lose to you!" Sano said sharply, fire burning in his eyes. He was serious about winning. He didn't want to be the one to lose first or the one to let Kenshin down. "You want a challenge? Then. HERE IT COMES!!!" Sanosuke said fiercely. He moved to his opponent, who was obviously startled by his sudden passion in the battle. He aimed punches at his opponent's head, stomach and sternum but to no avail. Suzuka just took too much out of him. "Though admirable your resolve may be, you cannot and will not win," the woman said as she threw a punch at her male opponent's face, but she missed. 'How did I miss?! There's no way he could've seen that coming!' she said to herself. Seeing this opportunity, Sanosuke hit the woman in the face. They separated from each other. The woman had a hand to her eye where Sano had hit her. Sano saw now the crimson trail of liquid down her face. "You." she stammered in surprise and anger, "You bastard. I'll.I'll kill you for messing up my face," she threatened as she pulled some throwing knives out of her sleeve. "Try this!" she said. One of the knives flew towards Sanosuke and he moved to the side, narrowly dodging the knife. In fact, it was so close that the knife had left a cut in the sleeve of Sano's gi. Three more knives came towards him. Sanosuke spun to one side to avoid them and narrowly dodged again leaving three large cuts in the back of Sano's gi. "Okay then. Try this!" Suzuka said. She threw one knife, moved to Sano's left side and threw a knife, moved behind Sano and threw a knife, and moved to Sano's right and threw another knife. She did this in rapid succession until she stood before Sanosuke again. She anticipated that Sansuke would have been killed by her rapid throwing of multiple knives would have killed her bothersome opponent, but to her surprise only one made contact with Sano in his thigh. This angered her very much. Noticing more holes in his gi, Sano removed the fabric that is now rattled with holes. "DIE!!!" Suzuka screamed as she sped toward Sano. She aimed a punch at Sano's head but it was blocked. She then aimed one at his stomach and it was blocked as well. Now severely angered, Suzuka drew back for a strike aimed at Sanosuke's heart and punched. Sano dodged.
Suzuka fell past Sano in the force of her own punch. This left an opening that Sanosuke took advantage of. He got behind Suzuka and landed a punch directly in the nape of her neck. Suzuka fell over.defeated.
Sanosuke stood over his unconscious opponent breathing heavily. He could barely stand because of his lack of energy and the knife that struck his leg. Kaoru looked frantically up to where Kenshin had been but he remained there no longer. She sighed a heavy sigh of disappointment. "Let us go," I said and Sanosuke collapsed. We went to him to make sure he was all right. Finding that he was fine I asked," Megumi, will you stay here and take care of Sano? He's in no condition to be going anywhere." "Yes. You three go rescue Kenshin. We'll meet up with later," she said. I nodded and we left our two companions behind. There was just a straight hall of shelves ahead that lead to a large stairwell. We went up the winding stairs. They must've gone up about seven floors. After we finally got to the top of the stairs, we proceeded through the passage ahead. "Hey, you! Stop now!" some guards called to us. We stopped. There must've been about twenty of them. I began to draw my sword when Kaoru placed a hand on mine. "No. We'll take care of them. You are the only one left that hasn't fought and the only one with enough energy left to fight. So you wait," she said to me. I nodded and backed away. "Yahiko, you get the ten on the left. I got the right," Kaoru told Yahiko. They went in swing their swords without error. The inexperienced guards were no matches for them. I started to think about the past few fights. Looking for a motive or pattern in the opponents' fighting style. Kyotico was dwelling on the strength of his swing. Kersu tried to outmaneuver Kaoru. Suzuka.Suzuka.She was difficult. The only reason Sanosuke won was because of will.but what will. I couldn't place where his resolve came from. Ah, Suzuka relied on breaking Sano's spirit. Suzuka attacked his spirit. Sano doesn't stand long if his spirit is attacked. So how did he stand? I decided not to dwell on it, as it would cause problems for me later if I kept thinking about it. There was no pattern in their styles and there appeared to be no motive, at least not one good enough to go through all of this. "HEY!!! Let's go!" Yahiko broke my thoughts. "Oh, sorry. I'm coming," I replied.
We continued own the winding passage and the last battle popped into my mind again. How did Sano survive the spiritual attack? The question passed through my head many more times. We kept walking and I kept pondering the question. No fighter could have survived the spiritual attack without great resolve. Then something else came into my mind.Home.How I longed to return home. How I longed to see my family again. How I longed to see my girl again. My dog. My friends. Hell I would even be happy to see my science teacher. I now realized how I missed home. 'Ah-hah!' I thought. I wonder if Sanosuke.Kenshin. Does he.? 'Huh' I shrugged it off and noticed I was behind so I moved to catch up. We walked in silence. All of us were thinking about something. I could tell what Kaoru was thinking of just by the look in her eyes. I couldn't tell what Yahiko was thinking. He wore such a serious, solemn almost grim look. His eyes showed no emotion. We saw a door before us. "The next room." said drearily. We opened the doors to see what challenge awaited us next.
