A Lifetime Forgiven
Chapter Sixteen: Alive and Swinging
"What kind of ancient magic?" Asks Ri, the fear he's trying to hide in his tone rising.
"He's trying to mask his scent. Too bad this is my forest." Says Arami and she too stands, prepared to run off in that direction when Ri suddenly stops her.
"How do you know it's not just some guy wandering around the forest? Hunting?" Arami gave a doubtful smirk.
"It's better you stay here anyway, you're not supposed to be alive, remember?" Ri seemed to suddenly relax. "However, tell me this. Are you afraid of the magic or the man?" When Ri didn't answer Arami's smile returned, then with a sharp nod to her ally, she took off running along the branches of numerous trees noiselessly while Kenshin took the ground and matched her speed.
Just as fast as they'd started however, Kenshin skidded to a halt, though Arami continued a few more paces before she too stopped, then looked down into the thicket of branches to see the two men, one hidden in shadows.
The one man clearly in view seemed not to have taking notice of their sudden and noiseless arrival. A flicker of doubt shone through Arami's gaze as she watched out the corner of her eye the man hidden in shadows move stealthily from cover to cover. There was an ominous silence she also couldn't help but take notice of. It was what had drawn her to this man in the first place. And then Arami was overcome by a sense of impending doom.
"No, Battousai, it's a trap!" She yelled as loud as her lungs allowed, but was greeted by silence. Her voice and volume hadn't been carried a millimeter.
In an instant she'd leapt down from her watchful cover and glared directly at the man.
How could he have done it? She knew this spell; she knew it was to steal sound. But how had this man fooled her? This was and always had been her forest. He was old, that was one thing… but she could swear still that the magic she'd sensed was the kind to mask scents, not steal sounds.
His appearance, he looked old for one thing, but his head was bowed so Arami couldn't see his face. His hair looked to be graying, streaks of silver and gray ran through it… and then something clicked and she felt like a complete idiot.
"Shishio." She murmured, though no sound came from her moving lips.
The illusion dissolved quickly and a bandaged man wearing something remote to a Greek toga stood there, his red eyes having found Arami's sapphire-silver gaze. Yet the sapphire was quickly disappearing from her eyes and being replaced by pure silver.
"How'd you know?" Asked Shishio in a booming amused voice, as if all the sound he'd stolen was now held in his voice creating the volume.
Author's note: SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT! I was just going to add it to Ch. 15, but I'm too lazy right now, it's 3:46am. Besides, this is okay, right? Right? Any-who…
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin™ isn't mine. Arami's mine so is Ri, some of this plot is mine… but Rurouni Kenshin™ isn't.