Disclaimer: I'll just put it plain and simple here. I do NOT own Rurouni Kenshin, nor the money to pay for the lawsuit anyone might wish to bring up against me. Hence why I'm doing the cheap and easy Disclaimer instead. Thank-you.
Chapter Four
It was just after sunset when they arrived at the teahouse. Despite memories brought up by the darkness of nightfall, Himura had always felt slightly at ease in the shadows. There in their concealing folds he could remain faceless and unknown; just a stranger with no name or past… Or mistakes. While he sometimes longed to leave the cold he found there and enjoy the warmth of the sun and light, other times he felt safer in their blackened depths.
…Especially when he was wearing an outfit that screamed, "Beat me, I'm a geek!"
Before walking up to the door, Nuhiro stopped to cast an assessment over the ex-hitokiri's appearance. At last he advised, "Smile, Himura-dono."
"Eh?" The taller of the two frowned disapprovingly down at him. "Er, I mean… oro."
"You need to smile de gozaru! Like this!" Nuhiro gave him a winning hapless grin that gave him an oblivious look to the world. "Try it!"
Himura did. Nuhiro rubbed his jaw in an thoughtful mannerism and at last nodded.
"Well, keep practicing," he encouraged. The redhead glared at him. "Ah-ah, none of that, Himura-dono! We'll be in the company of ladies de gozaru! …Many beautiful, young, flirtatious ladies…" Obaga drooled for a moment before carrying on. "Er, ahem. Don't go scaring them off now with your 'Hello, I'm Mr. Poker-Faced-Killer,' look that you tend to… that you have. I'm not saying you have to smile either. …In fact, just try to keep a straight face until we perfect that one. Understand?"
The comment probably should have irked or angered the Battousai, but instead, it humbled him after he realized there wasn't much argument to strike. Claiming up, he nodded silently.
"Yosh! Let's go then!"
The two men began walking up through the gate to the entrance, the front yard of the teahouse landscaped into a quaint and lovely garden. Its presence almost gave the structure a normal "homey" feeling to it that was quite tranquil and relaxing. Really, if Himura hadn't known any better, he'd never have guessed this was a business place for getting some.
Half way down the stretch of the stone-step pathway, Nuhiro stopped him.
"Please wait right here, Himura-dono," he said as a woman appeared at the entryway to greet them. "I'm going to arrange our stay."
"'Arrange?' I thought you said this was your 'training ground.'"
"Hey, I'm a rurouni de gozaru. I wander too much to have an actual training ground."
"What the he-"
"Maa maa! Remember what I told you to use in substitute for swearing when you could de gozaru ka?"
Himura fumed silently. "What the 'oro' do you mean you don't have an actually training ground?!"
"Don't worry!" Nuhiro assured quietly. "I have a plan de gozaru yo. Trust me!"
"..."
"…Okay, so maybe that's not the best convincing statement to use on you right now. Yeesh, you're so uptight, Himura-dono. Maybe you can learn a lesson or two from the girls here."
"Obaga!" he hissed.
"Maa maa!" Nuhiro winked at his student. "Just let me do the talking and don't approach until I tell you too, okay?"
Still seething slightly, Himura didn't find much other choice than to agree and stood by as Nuhiro made his way up the steps.
"And remember how I've told you to act!" the elder whispered loudly before approaching the geisha at the door.
As he watched the conversation, Himura suddenly wished he had learned how to read lips better during the war. However, because he'd only been an assassin and not much of a spy, such a talent wasn't called for. The young woman at the door went inside after a few words had been exchanged while Obaga waited patiently outside. Looking back to see the rurouni-trainee still waiting patiently (and a bit suspiciously), Nuhiro gave an encouraging double thumbs-up sign. It had the opposite effect however, and Himura was growing more worried by the minute.
The next minute later, another woman appeared at the door, eloquently dressed in a silk so fine and elegant that for a brief moment of curiosity, Himura wondered how they would ever afford this place. He quickly rid himself of that thought and replaced it with the hope that Obaga's "plan" was based heavily upon the word "free." Himura was not swimming in cash, especially after Nuhiro's "skipping the bill" technique.
After a few gestures were made his way, the younger man began to become very curious indeed.
From what he could tell, the woman was looking at him as though she were trying to get a better look at him while Nuhiro seemed to be imploring her gently.
Great, Himura thought dryly, yet careful not to let his lack of amusement show on his face. He's probably feeding her a story about how I'm some unfortunate, backwash-brained relative of his, and how he's trying to find a place to stay for the night and acting like the perfect gentleman to do it.
After a moment, he declined that muse. While Obaga Nuhiro was a freeloader and an idiot, he wasn't such a lowly scum that he'd take advantage of other people's compassion by lying.
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"So he's your abandoned and mentally unstable nephew?" Yuiishi Nanari, the brothel's head mistress, asked Nuhiro in the conversation that Himura did not hear.
"Aa, sad but true de gozaru," the samurai nodded sorrowfully. "So please Yuiishi-dono, won't you please give these two penniless wanderers a place to stay for a few nights? While he is practically brainless, he can still do helpful things around the board."
"Hmm…" Nanari peered closely at Himura. "His face doesn't really looked like that of a moron…"
"He dresses himself, Yuiishi-dono. Now tell me, what sane man would dress like that?"
"…Point. Alright. But you'll earn your keep while you're here, understand?"
"Hai! Wakatta de gozaru!"
"Go around back. I'll be there in a few minutes to show you where you can stay."
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Yuiishi-dono!"
"Of course, Obaga-san. My, you're certainly the epitome of a perfect gentleman, aren't you?"
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Yup, Obaga Nuhiro was a decent fellow.
…
The 'oro' he was!
Crap, Himura thought. What've I gotten myself into now…… de gozaru ka.
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"You'll be staying in the laundry room," Yuiishi-dono said as she led the two men towards the building after having led them through the side gate. "There's enough clothing lying around to make yourself some kind of bedding if you like. I'd offer you futons but I'm afraid they're all being… occupied at the moment."
Himura couldn't help but to blush ever so slightly at the implication. He'd never been "smooth" around that particular subject, although in the past he'd always just been able to threaten or intimidate away whomever it was embarrassing him. While he reasonably wouldn't do that to a woman let alone his hostess, he couldn't help but to feel a year of keeping his oath had made him a little soft.
"We'll manage just fine, Yuiishi-dono," Nuhiro answered since Himura had been given strict orders by him not to speak a word. Not knowing why but unable to do anything more than trust him, the ex-hitokiri had complied. "We appreciate you even bothering to give us a roof over our heads."
"Think nothing of it, Obaga-san. I couldn't very well leave you and your nephew out in the cold, could I? And under such unfortunate circumstances."
Nuhiro sweated as he felt Himura's gaze turn into an icy stare. Nudging the younger roughly, he gave him a look that said, "No scary face, remember?" Relenting, the Battousai made sure the samurai got the message that there would be explanations later. It wasn't long before they arrived at a small room built into the back of the teahouse. Opening the door, the woman motioned them inside.
It was a little hard to find the floor. …It was a little hard to tell if it even existed.
Dirty clothing was heaped in piles upon piles in every corner as more of it hung from hangers and lines. Thankfully nothing stank, but the sheer mass of laundry in the room was intimidating. Himura's mind boggled at how anyone could own this much clothing. …Then again, this was a house full of young females. Perhaps that wasn't such a mystery after all.
"Breakfast will be served to you in the morning, but you'll have to go to the back of the kitchen to wait for it," Yuiishi informed. Turning to Nuhiro she added, "And I will be taking up your services first thing afterwards."
"Of course, Yuiishi-dono," the samurai answered, bowing politely as she left them for the night.
"'Services?'" Himura asked.
"Just part of the training de gozaru!" the other smiled.
"Why do I have the feeling that I'm not going to like this," he muttered under his breath.
"Aw Himura-dono, you'll love it!" Obaga assured, wading his way through the sea of silks and cotton. "…Or at least you'll learn to."
"How can there be so much dirty laundry?" Himura wondered aloud, the room side-tracking him from the main subject. "Don't women live here?" He began kicking aside some of the fabric to clear himself out a spot on the floor. "Kami, is everything they own down here? What in the world are they wearing now?!"
Nuhiro giggled with a carnal smile.
"Do not answer that," Himura scowled.
"Maa maa. Let's just get some sleep, Himura-dono. I'll explain more tomorrow de gozaru."
"One explanation had better be what you told Yuiishi-dono, Uncle dear."
A bead of sweat rolled down Nuhiro's cheek. "Aa, fair enough. But in the morning."
Settling themselves in, Nuhiro had taken the head mistress' advice and made himself a bed of the cleaner articles while Himura sat himself up against a wall, propping his sakabatou up against his shoulder as he bowed his head for rest. There was silence for a while as the two could only hear the sounds of crickets in the yard, a hollow wind, and each other's breathing. Thankfully the walls were thick and distant enough from the main building that they weren't disturbed by any noises made by the teahouse's… business.
At last Nuhiro broke the silence. "How old are you, Himura-dono?"
The other briefly wondered where that question had come from before finding no harm in answering. "I'm 19 now. My birthday was a week ago."
"Sou de gozaru ka." Another pause. "…Puberty just kinda flew right past you then, ne."
The young man gritted his teeth. "Do you wish for me to beat you within an inch of your life?"
"Maa maa!" the other chuckled. Less than a minute later he turned serious again. "You're still very young then, ne?"
"…I don't feel it."
"Aa."
"…What about you, Obaga-san? How old are you?"
"Too old, yet a long way to go."
"That doesn't answer my question."
A low chuckle. "I'm 46 de gozaru. And you're forgetting your politeness again."
"Sumanu. …Did you fight in the war de gozaru ka?"
"…"
"…Obaga-dono?"
"…What if I did, Himura-dono? What would you ask me then?"
"…Probably what side you fought on."
"Would it matter which way I answered?"
A longer pause.
"Iie."
Nuhiro nodded in the dark. "Then I would prefer not to tell you about my past just yet, Himura-dono. Perhaps… another time, but not tonight."
"Aa."
They lapped into a brief moment of silence that was once again eventually disrupted by the old samurai. "Can I ask you one more question, Himura-dono?"
"Hai."
He shifted himself to look over at the young swordsman. "Do you realize that sleeping like that is very bad for your back de gozaru ka?"
It's too much trouble to fall on your face while sitting like Himura was, so he didn't. "I sleep like this because it is an old habit of mine from the wars de gozaru. Can I ask you a question, Obaga-dono?"
"Fire away."
A level gaze of dark violet glared at the elder through the darkness. "Why is your 'bed' made up mostly of women's undergarments?"
"Oro?" Then Nuhiro giggled with a carnal smile.
"On second thought," Himura muttered, "do not answer that."
End of chapter four.
Author's Notes:
Sorry that this chapter didn't get to all the "training" some of you were hoping for, but perhaps a few of you can guess what it might be anyway. ^_^ And I actually have something that resembles a decent plot outlined! Gasp!
Also, I hope most of you can overlook that terrible 'oro' substitution for cursing gag. I only really did that because I don't like to swear myself, and I even have trouble letting myself write it. *sigh* Sorry if that's a little pathetic. I tried to make it sound a little funny anyway. ...I might skip it in later chapters or stories though. We'll see.
Anyway, I wanted to develop a little more about Obaga, Nuhiro in that last segment, but now is not the time to give away spoilers. So his background will have to come later in another chapter. I hope no one minds too much. ^^;
As always, thanks for the awesome support! This fic WILL be finished yet! I am determined! ...It just won't be ending anytime too soon, which I hope no one minds too much either. ^_^