And now the real action begins. Thank you so very much for putting up with my pointless dribble so far. Let the violence commence!!
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Sano stared up at the formidable stone walls that encircled the prison compound. In order to protect the general public and deter breakouts, the complex was built in a relatively remote forest some distance away from Tokyo, which actually aided Sano in his scheme. For you see, forests meant trees, and trees could be used for both climbing to get over the wall and for concealment. His biggest worry had been sentries posted in the watchtowers placed at regular intervals along the perimeter, but once he arrived that didn't prove to be a problem - the guards were busy looking in, towards the compound, instead of out at the forest.
Looking away from the imposing structure, Sano began a trek along the outside of the wall until he found what he was looking for. A massive tree loomed above him, its massive branches reaching out for yards - right up to the outer wall. Setting the cloth bag carefully on the ground, Sanosuke reached up and hoisted himself into the lowermost branches. He stood, poised among the thick beams of twisted wood, keeping a cautious eye on the guards in their watchtowers. Mentally, he picked out a route through the leafy branches. It would be a stretch, but it looked like he'd just make it over.
Sano lowered himself to the ground as silently as possible. Scooping up the bag and its volatile contents, he quickly oriented himself and set off, following the wall from a safe distance. When he judged that he was roughly on the opposite side of the compound from the tree, he stopped again. Now things were going to get a bit more dangerous.
The bombs clanked dully against each other as Sano opened the canvas bag. Amazing, he thought, that something that looks so boring could be so dangerous. He pulled out three of the dull gray cylinders, fingering their grooved surfaces nervously as he peered back up at the spike-topped walls. Half of him still couldn't believe he was doing this - actually planning to break into a prison. It wasn't too late, a scared little voice said in his head - he could still back out... turn around... walk back to the dojo... forget this crazy idea... forget Kenshin...
Sanosuke crept up to the wall and set the bombs against the lichen-covered stone, walking backwards as he unwound the fuses. Twenty-five feet above him, two blue-uniformed guards armed with rifles peered in a the dusty, expansive grounds surrounding the drab gray building, unaware that two dozen feet below was enough destructive power to snuff out the lives of twenty-fold their number in less than an instant.
Pulling a small box of matches out of his pocket, Sano removed one and struck it, the tangy odor of a lit match reaching his nose as the end of the little wooden stick caught fire. He stared at the little teardrop-shaped flame as if entranced. Once he brought that little bit of heat down and touched it to the fuses, he would be committed - utterly, totally. There would be no backing out, even if it meant his end.
The thought didn't comfort him.
Slowly, shielding the lit end with one hand, Sanosuke lowered the match. He hesitated briefly, as if making sure that he wasn't going to regret this afterwards, then quickly lit the fuses - one, two, three. Not even bothering to check if all the fuses had lit properly, Sano tossed the match aside, grabbed the back of remaining bombs, and bolted through the underbrush. He had no idea how much time he had before the bombs exploded, and he wanted to put as much room between them and him as possible. So he ran, skirting trees, half expecting the explosives to detonate before he'd made it a safe distance away. Fortunately, the fuses were long and relatively slow burning, and he was just a few feet away from his climbing tree when all hell broke loose.
There were two explosions in rapid succession, the second one larger as first one bomb exploded, then the other two detonated simultaneously. Looking up reflexively at the deafening sound, Sano could see bits of dirt, stone, and people fly into the air, followed by a billowing column of smoke. Something flammable - probably a stable, judging by the terrified screams of horses - had been in the blast radius, adding even more to the confusion.
Sano quickly swung up into the branches of the tree with one hand, the other clamped on tightly to the cloth sack. The guards in the towers (wisely) hadn't left their posts despite the calamity unfolding before them; hopefully they would be too distracted to notice Sano as he clambered out along one exceptionally thick branch towards the top of the wall. He inched along carefully, fully aware of the distance between him and the ground. When he stopped right above the spike-tipped walls, the branches had grown almost too thin to hold his weight and swayed and creaked precariously. He looked down. Damn, it had seemed a much shorter distance when he had been looking up.
Gathering his feet beneath him, Sano gave a final check to make sure the guards hadn't noticed him yet. He knew that his element of surprise would disappear as soon as he entered the compound, but it didn't hurt to remain unnoticed as long as possible. As the branch rocked and dipped down once more, Sano steeled his nerves, took a breath, and jumped.
It wasn't much of a jump, really - more of a drop, with just enough of a push-away to keep Sano from impaling himself on the spikes clawing upwards from the tops of the walls. After a few seconds of absolute terror Sano hit the ground, landing on all fours like a large cat. Not even allowing himself to catch his breath, he practically threw himself against the inner wall in an effort to get out of the guards' line of sight. Had they seen him? Sano craned his neck to peer up at the watchtowers. The guards gave no sign of noticing him; instead they stared intently at the pandemonium caused by his little distraction.
Sano suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath and let it out with a soft whoosh. Things were actually going much better than he'd anticipated; he hadn't been shot at yet. That's not going to last long. He scanned the inner courtyard. It was a little over a hundred feet to the main building - not a great distance normally, but when you're surrounded by angry people with guns and there's no cover anywhere, a hundred feet can seem like a hundred miles. There was a door in almost a straight line from where Sano was standing, and it didn't look locked; if it were, it would be a simple matter to remedy the problem.
If he had been a religious man, Sano would have probably been praying feverishly right then. But he wasn't religious, so he just gathered up every ounce of courage he had and bolted. Almost immediately he heard a surprised voice say, "Oi! Stop!" He kept running. Soon afterwards came the retort of rifles, followed by the whizzing of bullets past Sano's ear. Still he ran.
It had begun.
O_O O_O O_O
When the first bombs went off, Kenshin hadn't fully registered them as anything potentially important. The unit stationed at the prison held a drill once before, with cannons going off and everything, and he had assumed that this new activity was more of the same. It took a few seconds for him to realize that the explosions didn't sound a thing like cannon fire, and the resulting shouts and general chaos confirmed that whatever was happening outside, those in charge hadn't planned it.
His curiosity piqued, Kenshin walked up to the door of his cell and peered out, straining to see in the semi-gloom. Because the window was small and bars further hindered his line of sight, Kenshin could only barely make out the table that the warden always sat at. The guard wasn't there, but Kenshin could hear him yelling at somebody in the hallway. After a few seconds of shouted exchange, the warden stepped out and slammed the door behind him, leaving the cell bloc empty save for Kenshin and the one other prisoner.
"Oi," called out a rough voice further down the bloc once the warden was gone, "What the hell's going on out there?"
Kenshin didn't know whether the voice was addressing him, but he answered anyway. "I don't know, that I do not. There were explosions, that there were."
"Well yeah, I knew that, faggot," snapped the voice. Apparently it was the prisoner that Sano had exchanged insults with some days before. "But could you please tell me why things are randomly blowing up out there?"
"An attack?" a new voice much closer to Kenshin piped up. The presence of a third person took Kenshin aback; before now the third prisoner hadn't spoken once. "Maybe there's a war? Last I heard there were still samurai uprisings."
"No," Kenshin said, amazed by the speaker's ignorance. How long had he been in here? "There hasn't been an attack on the government by the samurai for some time, that there has not."
"Well... Maybe it's an escape attempt. Maybe somebody's trying to bust a prisoner out."
The three fell silent at that thought. It was almost impossible to believe - somebody might actually free them. They all knew it was dangerous to get their hopes up. "Well then," the first voice said with false brightness, "I hope it's me their coming to get. Seriously - the service here is terrible. It's like a bloody prison!"
No one laughed.
Kenshin peered out between the iron bars for a few more minutes, trying in vain to garner any shred of information about what the hell was going on. The shouting continued for some time, and occasionally Kenshin could hear people thundering up and down the corridors, but nobody entered his bloc and eventually he returned to his little bench and sat down; what else could he do?
After some time, Kenshin heard the door to his bloc screech on its hinges as someone flung it open, followed by a second squeal as it was closed once more. A few seconds passed before whoever had entered hurried down the hall, his shoes tapping on the stone floor. Curious, Kenshin stood and was about to walk over to the door of his cell once more when a shadow fell over the little window. In the next instant the door quite literally exploded, causing Kenshin to throw up his arms over his face protectively as bits of iron flew past him. When the rain of metal subsided, Kenshin lowered his arms, opened his arms, and gaped at the tall figure silhouetted in the doorway.
Sano rubbed his fist, which was a bit sore after performing the fukai no kiwami for the umpteenth time that day. He grinned his trademark cocky, lopsided grin upon seeing his friend's shocked expression. "Hi Kenshin. What's up?"
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And so Sanosuke comes in to save the day! *fanfare*
Or does he?! Keep reading and find out!
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Sano stared up at the formidable stone walls that encircled the prison compound. In order to protect the general public and deter breakouts, the complex was built in a relatively remote forest some distance away from Tokyo, which actually aided Sano in his scheme. For you see, forests meant trees, and trees could be used for both climbing to get over the wall and for concealment. His biggest worry had been sentries posted in the watchtowers placed at regular intervals along the perimeter, but once he arrived that didn't prove to be a problem - the guards were busy looking in, towards the compound, instead of out at the forest.
Looking away from the imposing structure, Sano began a trek along the outside of the wall until he found what he was looking for. A massive tree loomed above him, its massive branches reaching out for yards - right up to the outer wall. Setting the cloth bag carefully on the ground, Sanosuke reached up and hoisted himself into the lowermost branches. He stood, poised among the thick beams of twisted wood, keeping a cautious eye on the guards in their watchtowers. Mentally, he picked out a route through the leafy branches. It would be a stretch, but it looked like he'd just make it over.
Sano lowered himself to the ground as silently as possible. Scooping up the bag and its volatile contents, he quickly oriented himself and set off, following the wall from a safe distance. When he judged that he was roughly on the opposite side of the compound from the tree, he stopped again. Now things were going to get a bit more dangerous.
The bombs clanked dully against each other as Sano opened the canvas bag. Amazing, he thought, that something that looks so boring could be so dangerous. He pulled out three of the dull gray cylinders, fingering their grooved surfaces nervously as he peered back up at the spike-topped walls. Half of him still couldn't believe he was doing this - actually planning to break into a prison. It wasn't too late, a scared little voice said in his head - he could still back out... turn around... walk back to the dojo... forget this crazy idea... forget Kenshin...
Sanosuke crept up to the wall and set the bombs against the lichen-covered stone, walking backwards as he unwound the fuses. Twenty-five feet above him, two blue-uniformed guards armed with rifles peered in a the dusty, expansive grounds surrounding the drab gray building, unaware that two dozen feet below was enough destructive power to snuff out the lives of twenty-fold their number in less than an instant.
Pulling a small box of matches out of his pocket, Sano removed one and struck it, the tangy odor of a lit match reaching his nose as the end of the little wooden stick caught fire. He stared at the little teardrop-shaped flame as if entranced. Once he brought that little bit of heat down and touched it to the fuses, he would be committed - utterly, totally. There would be no backing out, even if it meant his end.
The thought didn't comfort him.
Slowly, shielding the lit end with one hand, Sanosuke lowered the match. He hesitated briefly, as if making sure that he wasn't going to regret this afterwards, then quickly lit the fuses - one, two, three. Not even bothering to check if all the fuses had lit properly, Sano tossed the match aside, grabbed the back of remaining bombs, and bolted through the underbrush. He had no idea how much time he had before the bombs exploded, and he wanted to put as much room between them and him as possible. So he ran, skirting trees, half expecting the explosives to detonate before he'd made it a safe distance away. Fortunately, the fuses were long and relatively slow burning, and he was just a few feet away from his climbing tree when all hell broke loose.
There were two explosions in rapid succession, the second one larger as first one bomb exploded, then the other two detonated simultaneously. Looking up reflexively at the deafening sound, Sano could see bits of dirt, stone, and people fly into the air, followed by a billowing column of smoke. Something flammable - probably a stable, judging by the terrified screams of horses - had been in the blast radius, adding even more to the confusion.
Sano quickly swung up into the branches of the tree with one hand, the other clamped on tightly to the cloth sack. The guards in the towers (wisely) hadn't left their posts despite the calamity unfolding before them; hopefully they would be too distracted to notice Sano as he clambered out along one exceptionally thick branch towards the top of the wall. He inched along carefully, fully aware of the distance between him and the ground. When he stopped right above the spike-tipped walls, the branches had grown almost too thin to hold his weight and swayed and creaked precariously. He looked down. Damn, it had seemed a much shorter distance when he had been looking up.
Gathering his feet beneath him, Sano gave a final check to make sure the guards hadn't noticed him yet. He knew that his element of surprise would disappear as soon as he entered the compound, but it didn't hurt to remain unnoticed as long as possible. As the branch rocked and dipped down once more, Sano steeled his nerves, took a breath, and jumped.
It wasn't much of a jump, really - more of a drop, with just enough of a push-away to keep Sano from impaling himself on the spikes clawing upwards from the tops of the walls. After a few seconds of absolute terror Sano hit the ground, landing on all fours like a large cat. Not even allowing himself to catch his breath, he practically threw himself against the inner wall in an effort to get out of the guards' line of sight. Had they seen him? Sano craned his neck to peer up at the watchtowers. The guards gave no sign of noticing him; instead they stared intently at the pandemonium caused by his little distraction.
Sano suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath and let it out with a soft whoosh. Things were actually going much better than he'd anticipated; he hadn't been shot at yet. That's not going to last long. He scanned the inner courtyard. It was a little over a hundred feet to the main building - not a great distance normally, but when you're surrounded by angry people with guns and there's no cover anywhere, a hundred feet can seem like a hundred miles. There was a door in almost a straight line from where Sano was standing, and it didn't look locked; if it were, it would be a simple matter to remedy the problem.
If he had been a religious man, Sano would have probably been praying feverishly right then. But he wasn't religious, so he just gathered up every ounce of courage he had and bolted. Almost immediately he heard a surprised voice say, "Oi! Stop!" He kept running. Soon afterwards came the retort of rifles, followed by the whizzing of bullets past Sano's ear. Still he ran.
It had begun.
O_O O_O O_O
When the first bombs went off, Kenshin hadn't fully registered them as anything potentially important. The unit stationed at the prison held a drill once before, with cannons going off and everything, and he had assumed that this new activity was more of the same. It took a few seconds for him to realize that the explosions didn't sound a thing like cannon fire, and the resulting shouts and general chaos confirmed that whatever was happening outside, those in charge hadn't planned it.
His curiosity piqued, Kenshin walked up to the door of his cell and peered out, straining to see in the semi-gloom. Because the window was small and bars further hindered his line of sight, Kenshin could only barely make out the table that the warden always sat at. The guard wasn't there, but Kenshin could hear him yelling at somebody in the hallway. After a few seconds of shouted exchange, the warden stepped out and slammed the door behind him, leaving the cell bloc empty save for Kenshin and the one other prisoner.
"Oi," called out a rough voice further down the bloc once the warden was gone, "What the hell's going on out there?"
Kenshin didn't know whether the voice was addressing him, but he answered anyway. "I don't know, that I do not. There were explosions, that there were."
"Well yeah, I knew that, faggot," snapped the voice. Apparently it was the prisoner that Sano had exchanged insults with some days before. "But could you please tell me why things are randomly blowing up out there?"
"An attack?" a new voice much closer to Kenshin piped up. The presence of a third person took Kenshin aback; before now the third prisoner hadn't spoken once. "Maybe there's a war? Last I heard there were still samurai uprisings."
"No," Kenshin said, amazed by the speaker's ignorance. How long had he been in here? "There hasn't been an attack on the government by the samurai for some time, that there has not."
"Well... Maybe it's an escape attempt. Maybe somebody's trying to bust a prisoner out."
The three fell silent at that thought. It was almost impossible to believe - somebody might actually free them. They all knew it was dangerous to get their hopes up. "Well then," the first voice said with false brightness, "I hope it's me their coming to get. Seriously - the service here is terrible. It's like a bloody prison!"
No one laughed.
Kenshin peered out between the iron bars for a few more minutes, trying in vain to garner any shred of information about what the hell was going on. The shouting continued for some time, and occasionally Kenshin could hear people thundering up and down the corridors, but nobody entered his bloc and eventually he returned to his little bench and sat down; what else could he do?
After some time, Kenshin heard the door to his bloc screech on its hinges as someone flung it open, followed by a second squeal as it was closed once more. A few seconds passed before whoever had entered hurried down the hall, his shoes tapping on the stone floor. Curious, Kenshin stood and was about to walk over to the door of his cell once more when a shadow fell over the little window. In the next instant the door quite literally exploded, causing Kenshin to throw up his arms over his face protectively as bits of iron flew past him. When the rain of metal subsided, Kenshin lowered his arms, opened his arms, and gaped at the tall figure silhouetted in the doorway.
Sano rubbed his fist, which was a bit sore after performing the fukai no kiwami for the umpteenth time that day. He grinned his trademark cocky, lopsided grin upon seeing his friend's shocked expression. "Hi Kenshin. What's up?"
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And so Sanosuke comes in to save the day! *fanfare*
Or does he?! Keep reading and find out!