chapter | part thirteen: betrayal revisited?!? the one revealed
[Hotaru started to awake, and as she did so the light from the sun hit her eyes making everything blurry as they were not adjusted yet. Her head was pounding with a sharp pain, and she saw a man with glasses hovering right over her. From the outline of the sun she was able to tell that his hair was white. Relief came to her as she saw through her eyes that it was her father.]
Hotaru: [mumbling from the dreariness of her slumber] Mmm... [she clutches her head] .....dad, I just had the worst nightmare. I was in the past with my friends, when all of a sudden there was an evil. A great evil..... it was so real, I believed it was actually happening. I have this huge headache too.
Dad: Everything will be alright. You're safe now, Tomoe, and you're safe at home and alive.
[Hotaru realizes then that the voice was not of her dad's! It was the trick of the sun in her eyes. As they finally readjusted to it, she saw that she was on the floor of a small hutch in the middle of what seemed to be an abandoned alleyway. The man that was hovering over her, she saw more clearly now, was not her dad.]
[Meanwhile, Soujiro was wandering through the streets. A bit aimless at some points but had an obvious direction. He looked at all the people around him in the city, living out their lives peacefully, even some couples that were gazing into their loved one's eyes. He took a turn into a more abandoned area of the city. He stopped, took out his sword, and took a lasting look at the blade that he damaged in an earlier battle.]
Soujiro: This blade is useless now. It cannot kill anymore. [he looks further ahead towards his destination] But I must try.
[He drags the tip of his sword carelessly across the ground as he thought about what he was doing, why he was doing this, and the thought of how the tip of his sword will go through that guy's neck with ease or the edge will still slice through with enough force.]
Soujiro: ........It's not a real sakabatou after all......... Just a sword that was ruined in that way.
[He finally reaches his destination and looks up at its entrance. An old abandoned alleyway where the ones who want to be forgotten go to. Rakunin-mura. He's heard of the place and as stories get passed down from person to person, he's known very well who he will find within.]
[Back within the walls of the hutch remained Hotaru sitting on the ground looking at this man.]
Hotaru: So..... you're the one. The one we've been looking for.
Voice: Yes. If I had known what a strong man he was I would have come back to him earlier.
Hotaru: So, he let the evil back within his heart. But it's grown now, you can't let it take over you. I know you're still within yourself........ So tell me, what's your name?
Voice: If you mean his, he is known as Yukishiro Enishi.
Hotaru: .......So why am I still alive?
Enishi: Can't say I'm to proud of that myself, but this guy has a weak spot for young women.......... He won't let me...... A part of him believes that you are his late sister reincarnated.
[He looks through his glasses directly at Hotaru. His eyes were filled with rage and also a mixture of sadness and nothingness. He takes up his sword that never left his side since he fell in his state of depression, raises it to Hotaru, and swings it with full force right at her. The sword stopped just no more than one inch of her neck as if it seemed to hit some unknown barrier that was surrounding her. He puts the sword down to his side and looks again at her.]
Enishi: Heh...... See what I mean?
[At that moment a voice was heard screaming outside. Soujiro stood firm on his ground in the middle of this abandoned street.]
Soujiro: TOMOE-SAN!!!
[Hotaru's eyes widened and upon Enishi's face fell a smirk across his face.]
Enishi: But he won't mind about this guy. Maybe I will be able to feast upon his rage.
[He takes his steps to the outside of the hutch, and Hotaru just remained upon the ground in a state of shock from the sword coming right at her with intent to kill her, and she could not do a thing to prevent it if it had cut her right there.]
[Soujiro looks at Enishi as he comes out of the make shift hutch.]
Soujiro: Where is she?
Enishi: The girl? [the smirk on his face grew] She's dead.
[Although a slight tearing came to Soujiro's face, it was that mixture of anger and confusion that was dominant upon his face. This is exactly what Chaos had wanted. Soujiro grabs his sword to his side and touches his feet to the ground a few times.]
Soujiro: I can't say you'll live to regret that, because you won't be alive for much longer.
[Soujiro charged full speed at Enishi from all sides. The clash of swords was heard from within the hutch as the two were at it. Quite shaken, Hotaru still managed to get to her feet. The headache only made it worse as she got up and almost fell back down when the room started spinning. She grabbed her footing and looked towards the door of the hutch.]
Hotaru: Don't kill him Soujiro, he can still be saved.
[But her voice was gone unheard. Hotaru knew she had to stop this fight somehow, but had not the slightest idea as she finally reached the door to the hutch and watched as the two men fought. She couldn't really see much of Soujiro because his speed was so fast, but when he made his attack she could see the clash of the swords against each other. She finally had an idea of how to get him to realize that she was alive and not to hurt her. She'll put herself where she can be seen, even if it meant being right in front of Enishi as they fought. She makes her way out to where Enishi was fighting waving her hands as she did so to try and catch Soujiro's attention, but without knowing exactly where he was it was all in vain. Soujiro stops his attack, Hotaru was directly on the opposite side of Enishi where she couldn't been seen from.]
Soujiro: I'm done toying with you Enishi. This is where it will end. Die.
[Hotaru knew that this will be her last chance to save either one of them from the other. Soujiro was making his final move. As he did so, she raced out to where Enishi was making his stance to block Soujiro's move and prepare for a counter. Then she placed herself right directly in front of Enishi, hoping that Soujiro will take a look at them before striking. Enishi looked down upon Hotaru and just stared right at her. Then he took a glance up and saw him coming right at him. Soujiro came right at Enishi full strength. That was when cries of the arriving members of the Kenshin gumi and members of the sailor scouts was heard.]
Usagi: NOOooo..! Hotaru-Chan!!!
[Usagi shields her eyes from the sight of Hotaru being cut down, the other girls were not transformed yet either and couldn't do a thing to help for by the time they did transform it would have been all over.]
Kenshin: No. I won't let it end like this! Not again!
[With that Kenshin took off so fast it seemed to have surpassed his own Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style. His own tragedy flashed before his eyes in a split second, and Soujiro's sword came down right on Hotaru and Enishi. He unsheathed his sakabatou and moved with all his heart to prevent this tragedy from happening all over again.]
Usagi: HOTARU-CHAN!!!
[Hotaru's eyes widened as she glances over her shoulder and sees Soujiro's blade coming down right on her as she grabs hold of Enishi's hand over the sheath of his sword to prevent him from attacking Soujiro.]
[Usagi falls to her knees tightly clutching her transformation compact to her heart. Tears begin to stream down her face with the realization that by the time she did transform into Sailor Moon, Hotaru would be dead.]
[As those instances of where a person, especially one who is important to her, is in dire circumstances, Usagi's locket begins to glow. Without a sequence of any kind she is transformed as easily as the wind blew over her. The inner senshi and Mamoru, upon seeing this and also teary eyed, begin their own transformation sequences.]
[Soujiro lets out a scream as he brings the blade down with all his might and eyes shut. Images of his meeting with Hotaru, having someone to actually talk to, a true friend flashed before his eyes. Yet, he did not know that she was right there in front of him!]
[His blade hits something hard, and would not go into what he believes to be Enishi any further.]
Soujiro: Have I damaged the blade that much that it will not cut through bone?
[He puts the rest of his strength that he has left into trying to break through. Then he finally hears Kenshin's voice.]
Kenshin: Don't be foolish and open your eyes!
[Soujiro slowly opens his eyes and saw that it was not Enishi's bone that he was trying to cut through. The thing that he was having such a hard time trying to break through was Kenshin's sakabatou. Kenshin actually managed to reach Soujiro just in the nick of time to block Soujiro's attack. He looked at Kenshin with rage in his eyes.]
Soujiro: I know you've sworn to never kill again Himura-san, but how could you protect him?
Kenshin: I also had another to protect, de gozaru.
[Soujiro finally looks beyond his blade to see that Hotaru was in between Enishi and himself. He finally releases his blade, and it clangs as it hits the ground. Tears came to his face.]
Soujiro: I have no right to protect you, Tomoe-san.
[With that he drops to his knees in front of her. She turns around and looks at Kenshin, whose eyes gleamed just a little when Soujiro called her name, and then down at Soujiro. She still kept one hand holding Enishi's. Then Soujiro leans forward and places his head on Hotaru's lap, holding him upright. Hotaru seemed quite a bit shocked at first when he did this, but then just accepted it. She falls to her knees in exhaustion and gave him a half hug.]
[Off a bit to where the others stood, Sailor Moon was also back on her feet, came expressions of relief.]
Sailor Moon: [wiping her eyes] Hotaru-chan is okay? Thank goodness! I'm so glad.
Sailor Venus: [seeing Hotaru hugging Soujiro and pointing at them] Ehh?!?!..... Ummm.... Haruka..... you were saying earlier about Hotaru?
[Haruka was speechless at this sight. Then she just smiles and scratches her head. With all the relief of Hotaru's safety being secured, Enishi, or rather Chaos, was almost forgotten......]
Footnotes:
Normally I have each chapter done within a week.
This one was late because I had a different version done.
I wasn't proud of it so I didn't release it.
Oh, and of course I leave it on cliffhangers!!
If I didn't and finished it clean, would majority of readers come back for more?
But I do finish each chapter to where it's filled its purpose.
This story has at least another 2 (cliffhanger) I mean good chapters left in it, so stay tuned!