Chapter 8 Kenshin wakes
Kenshin woke up the morning after my disagreement with Megumi. His friends flooded him with exhuberant visits and so I bidded my time and waited until the afternoon to see him alone.
I entered his room and I see him lying on his bed with his eyes closed.
"So, you're still the same lazy apprentice," I loudly grumbled. "Don't tell me that you're going back to sleep again."
A tiny smile breaks on Kenshin's face, and he say in his idiot lilt-like tone, "Master, things must have looked dire indeed if you're happy to see me wake, that it must."
"Hmpt, you're even more idiotic than before," was my response to that sentiment and his ridiculously false tone. "I just want you up so you can clean your blood off of my mantle. I've heard you've become an expert of sorts at doing laundry," I said.
The comment causes a slight flush to come to his face and Kenshin's eyes finally open. He turns his head in my direction with a slight grimace on his face. It's the first time that we examined each other eye-to-eye since Kenshin had left the morning after learning the Amakakaru no Hiremaki.
The Hiten Mitsurugi's strength lies in reading an opponent's emotions and evaluating the state of an opponent's mind by his eyes. When two Hiten Mitsurugi swordsmen look eye-to-eye, there is no need for extraneous words between the two.
I read in Kenshin's violet eyes his relief that his friends were all right, his gratefulness towards me for my intervention, and his apologies for worrying me. Oh, I also see traces of his bodily pain and tiredness in the slight tightness around his eyes, but that pales with the steady aura that radiates in him. I am reassured of that he would recover from his physical wounds, but I wonder about his mental wounds, in particular the reminder that Yumi's death must have inflicted.
He must have seen my question, because he breaks eye contact and looks vacantly to the floor. He opens his mouth as to say something but then a faint whistling sound, coming from afar and rapidly approaching, breaks the silence.
Both of us are instantly jarred into alertness, and when a dart shoots straight through the window and lodges deep into the wall, I jump up grasping the hilt of my sword.
I am halfway towards the window to find whomever might have shot the dart, when several labored gasps come from behind me. Glancing back, I see Kenshin sitting up and trying to come to his feet, pressing a hand to his side as well as trying to breath normally. His attempts to gather himself looks pathetic.
He brushes off the skeptical look that I give him and instead diverts my attention to the dart in the wall.
"Master, there's a note attached to the dart."
I pass up the opportunity to say something sarcastic - he makes it so easy - and I walk over to the dart and remove the attached note.
It has the smell of something charred. The note has horrible handwriting. If I hadn't seen worse with Kenshin's writing, I probably couldn't have deciphered it.
I toss the note to Kenshin who has resigned himself to a sitting position instead of a standing position. After squinting at the writing, he reads out loud,
"We settle things in one week at Otsu. Shishio."
Kenshin looks up impassively to meet my gaze. "Master, it looks like my dealings with Shishio has not ended. Will you take care of my friends while I am gone at Otsu?"
I am wary of the calm tone that he uses. How he closes up on himself. How easily he has jumped to his conclusion. There is more going on here than a simple challenge. However, I put that aside to think about later. The issue of the note needs to be addressed.
"A little presumptious, aren't you Kenshin? What makes you think that this note is meant for you?" I asked.
The blank look he gives reminds me again why I call him my idiot apprentice. I take pity on him though, just because the days of sleeping had probably slowed his brains.
"Shishio didn't named who he is challenging and it could very well be addressed to me rather than you. Since I'd never given him my name, it would give more reason to believe that I am the one he's interested in. Besides," I add pointedly, "you were obviously losing the fight with Shishio and there's no reason for him to want to challenge an inferior when he could be fighting someone talented like me."
Like I intended, the last comment stirs up sputtering indignation and denial - which is much better than the emotionless shell he was withdrawing into. Though my knowledge of Kenshin during the revolution and his wandering years is limited to old war rumors, the few details he shared at the shack, and the recent events that his friends saw, I still know my apprentice best.
It is with fire in his eyes that I left Kenshin under the guise of seeking out more sake. In reality, I left in order to do some research. Research about how Otsu, Kenshin, and Shishio are linked. Since none of Kenshin's fellow revolutionaries from 10 years ago were readily available, I sought the next best thing.
Kenshin woke up the morning after my disagreement with Megumi. His friends flooded him with exhuberant visits and so I bidded my time and waited until the afternoon to see him alone.
I entered his room and I see him lying on his bed with his eyes closed.
"So, you're still the same lazy apprentice," I loudly grumbled. "Don't tell me that you're going back to sleep again."
A tiny smile breaks on Kenshin's face, and he say in his idiot lilt-like tone, "Master, things must have looked dire indeed if you're happy to see me wake, that it must."
"Hmpt, you're even more idiotic than before," was my response to that sentiment and his ridiculously false tone. "I just want you up so you can clean your blood off of my mantle. I've heard you've become an expert of sorts at doing laundry," I said.
The comment causes a slight flush to come to his face and Kenshin's eyes finally open. He turns his head in my direction with a slight grimace on his face. It's the first time that we examined each other eye-to-eye since Kenshin had left the morning after learning the Amakakaru no Hiremaki.
The Hiten Mitsurugi's strength lies in reading an opponent's emotions and evaluating the state of an opponent's mind by his eyes. When two Hiten Mitsurugi swordsmen look eye-to-eye, there is no need for extraneous words between the two.
I read in Kenshin's violet eyes his relief that his friends were all right, his gratefulness towards me for my intervention, and his apologies for worrying me. Oh, I also see traces of his bodily pain and tiredness in the slight tightness around his eyes, but that pales with the steady aura that radiates in him. I am reassured of that he would recover from his physical wounds, but I wonder about his mental wounds, in particular the reminder that Yumi's death must have inflicted.
He must have seen my question, because he breaks eye contact and looks vacantly to the floor. He opens his mouth as to say something but then a faint whistling sound, coming from afar and rapidly approaching, breaks the silence.
Both of us are instantly jarred into alertness, and when a dart shoots straight through the window and lodges deep into the wall, I jump up grasping the hilt of my sword.
I am halfway towards the window to find whomever might have shot the dart, when several labored gasps come from behind me. Glancing back, I see Kenshin sitting up and trying to come to his feet, pressing a hand to his side as well as trying to breath normally. His attempts to gather himself looks pathetic.
He brushes off the skeptical look that I give him and instead diverts my attention to the dart in the wall.
"Master, there's a note attached to the dart."
I pass up the opportunity to say something sarcastic - he makes it so easy - and I walk over to the dart and remove the attached note.
It has the smell of something charred. The note has horrible handwriting. If I hadn't seen worse with Kenshin's writing, I probably couldn't have deciphered it.
I toss the note to Kenshin who has resigned himself to a sitting position instead of a standing position. After squinting at the writing, he reads out loud,
"We settle things in one week at Otsu. Shishio."
Kenshin looks up impassively to meet my gaze. "Master, it looks like my dealings with Shishio has not ended. Will you take care of my friends while I am gone at Otsu?"
I am wary of the calm tone that he uses. How he closes up on himself. How easily he has jumped to his conclusion. There is more going on here than a simple challenge. However, I put that aside to think about later. The issue of the note needs to be addressed.
"A little presumptious, aren't you Kenshin? What makes you think that this note is meant for you?" I asked.
The blank look he gives reminds me again why I call him my idiot apprentice. I take pity on him though, just because the days of sleeping had probably slowed his brains.
"Shishio didn't named who he is challenging and it could very well be addressed to me rather than you. Since I'd never given him my name, it would give more reason to believe that I am the one he's interested in. Besides," I add pointedly, "you were obviously losing the fight with Shishio and there's no reason for him to want to challenge an inferior when he could be fighting someone talented like me."
Like I intended, the last comment stirs up sputtering indignation and denial - which is much better than the emotionless shell he was withdrawing into. Though my knowledge of Kenshin during the revolution and his wandering years is limited to old war rumors, the few details he shared at the shack, and the recent events that his friends saw, I still know my apprentice best.
It is with fire in his eyes that I left Kenshin under the guise of seeking out more sake. In reality, I left in order to do some research. Research about how Otsu, Kenshin, and Shishio are linked. Since none of Kenshin's fellow revolutionaries from 10 years ago were readily available, I sought the next best thing.