I am SO SORRY this chapter is so late. There will be another on the
promised Tuesday, so don't worry. quite frankly, what happened was i just
forgot to write the chapter, and then it was tuesday. anyhoo, i hope this
chapter is sufficiently long to kind of make up for its lateness.
*note: Oibore means 'old fool'
History Behind The History, Chapter 11
This computer was Akitaka's best friend lately. Currently, it was processing the word 'Rakuninmura' to give him any data it could. There wasn't long to wait, and soon three links appeared on the screen. If Rakuninmura was only mentioned three times on the entire internet, maybe it wasn't as important as he'd thought. He hoped this wasn't a dead end.
The first two links turned out to be, of course, dead ends, with just one mention of an obscure place called Rakuninmura that didn't merit much, but the third had a bit more. As he read on, he could see why it wasn't mentioned often. Not one single important thing or person had ever come from there. He had assumed Rakuninmura was a city, with people being born, dying, moving in, and moving out. The way this site told it, all they did was move in and die.
It had been a slummy place full of bitter castoffs from society, it seems. There were people who had lost loved ones, people who'd failed in their lives' goals, and every kind of miserable unfortunate one could imagine. They were nameless, faceless, dangerous people- mostly men- and were not viewed highly by residents of nearby Tokyo.
Only one person other than Yukishiro Enishi had ever been known to move out of Rakuninmura after being resident there. That was, ironically, the man Enishi had challenged and who'd rescued the woman he'd kidnapped. The man's name was Himura and he'd later married the girl he rescued. That must've been why Yukishiro had kidnapped her in the first place- he knew they liked each other.
Wait a second, what was that name? HIMURA??? What were the odds that two different Himuras had wronged Yukishiro? Akitaka already knew that Himura the Battousai had killed Yukishiro's sister, to whom he was 'ferociously attached.' That would make him a prime target for the personal grudge that so consumed Yukishiro. Apparently, Battousai had survived after the war. Wouldn't one expect Yukishiro to be dead, though, after clashing with him? Even if Yukishiro somehow defeated Battousai, at least SOMEbody would be dead afterward. That meant only one thing: whichever had won had shown mercy. Battousai never lost, and Yukishiro had a seemingly consuming, non mercy-inducing hatred for him. All logic pointed to the most illogical conclusion: Battousai had shown mercy.
* *
*
A nameless old man walked back into Rakuninmura at the end of the day. He never left for long, and when he did, it was usually to beg. Since none of the other residents of Rakuninmura were beggars, one might think this man was pitiful; however, this was only because none of the other residents could get anything if they begged, so he supported everyone with it. They ate when he came in with gifts from people in neighboring, legitimate towns, and not before.
He saw a familiar-looking young boy- the second this week. Just the other day another familiar-looking young boy had left after a long time of refusing to eat or do anything. This one looked in much the same condition.
"Hello, there, boy! Eat?" He asked. The boy didn't answer, just shook his head without looking up from staring at something he was holding in his lap. The old man sat down next to him, tired of familiar young boys who insisted on being antisocial.
"You remind me of someone, boy," the old man said, hoping to make him talk. No luck.
"I have a son who would be just about your age now," he continued.
"Oh, really," the boy uttered. It wasn't a question.
"Yes. I had a daughter, too, but she died. That's why I came here," he explained. The boy wasn't interested. "What brought you here?"
"My brother-in-law... it's a long story," the young man replied, tipping his head back against the wall of a shack he'd been leaning on since the old man first saw him. The old man could see that the thing the boy had been staring at was a book of some sort, but what kind he couldn't tell.
"My son had a brother-in-law, but he didn't like him much," the old man responded. They sat in semi-companionable silence until the old one asked the younger one for his name.
"Yukishiro," the boy answered. The old man had a feeling that name should mean something to him as well, but he couldn't tell what.
"They call me Oibore," he answered simply.
"If you answer to it, you deserve to be called that, Oibore," the boy stated disdainfully and looked away, resolutely avoiding conversation. The old man took the hint and left to eat, but came back later with a portion for the young man.
"Eat?" He asked again, and the boy shook his head again, still looking away. Oibore laid the bowl on the ground between them as much because he didn't feel like holding it as to invite the boy to take it. "You're too young to stay here," he observed.
"What do you know," again, it was not a question.
"There's no way you can be hopeless enough to stay here at your age," Oibore continued. "You've still got your life ahead of you. Whatever your brother-in-law did, I'm sure-"
"He didn't,"
"What?"
"My brother-in-law didn't do anything wrong, it was an accident, but I tried to take revenge..." the boy trailed off.
"There was another boy here awhile back, a little older than you, said his brother-in-law killed the woman he loved. Strange boy... had red hair, come to think of it. Weird kid. He finally left, though,"
"That was my brother-in-law," the boy replied.
"Eh?"
"The red-haired man was my brother-in-law... it had to have been... but you must believe I didn't kill that woman. I only made him think I did," the boy explained solemnly. Oibore could tell he meant business.
"I believe you. However you did it, that's your business, I guess. Was that your revenge?"
"Part of it... the main part. I also destroyed a good portion of the city, but that was mainly just to make him mad enough to fight me,"
"And he did?"
"Yes. The irony of it is he won. I went in to punish him and ended up at his mercy. Then he had to go and leave me alive,"
"Does that bother you?" Oibore asked, surprised.
"I can't complain," he replied. "It just proves that e was right all along, though- not that he won, but that he didn't kill me. He really does believe in this vow he has against killing. I thought it was just some sort of charade he made himself believe, but this peaceful wanderer really is his true self. He loved my sister," the boy hung his head guiltily.
"So you've forgiven him?"
"Sort of. There's not really anything to forgive- it was a complete accident," he replied.
"But there were others," Oibore pressed. The red-headed kid had acted like there was more- much more.
"No," the boy answered, confused. "My sister... that's all I wanted revenge over,"
"He acted like there was more,"
"Well, he did kill others, but they were of no consequence to me. It was war, that happens,"
"The other boy didn't feel that way. He was grieved for their deaths, said he deserved to be here but the girl was innocent. That was his only regret- the others you hurt, not himself," Oibore explained.
"He's a fool, but not one that deserves this. Maybe I'll tell him that someday,"
********************************************************
i think i'm going to be ending this story soon. there will probably be at least five more chapters, but i'm not looking for anything too long here.
Califpinay3001: glad it's getting good.
Ginger1280: glad you like it. this is the last chapter of enishi for now, for real this time. you like x-men? so do i and guess who else? Watsuki! i was so happy when i found this out. glad i'm keeping your sanity, so sorry the others don't update. what's wrong with them, anyway, lol. glad to hear i'm on someone's favorites list!
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: i did not make up rakuninmura. it is mentioned in rk, the revenge arc. ken goes there when he thinks kaoru's been killed, and enishi goes there after his fight with ken. other info is in the fic. flashback scenes might or might not be accurate, but anything akitaka finds out generally is. Amaya: glad you like it and it's keeping you in suspense. i was running out of good ideas, but i've got a really good one for the next chapter. wait and see!
*note: Oibore means 'old fool'
History Behind The History, Chapter 11
This computer was Akitaka's best friend lately. Currently, it was processing the word 'Rakuninmura' to give him any data it could. There wasn't long to wait, and soon three links appeared on the screen. If Rakuninmura was only mentioned three times on the entire internet, maybe it wasn't as important as he'd thought. He hoped this wasn't a dead end.
The first two links turned out to be, of course, dead ends, with just one mention of an obscure place called Rakuninmura that didn't merit much, but the third had a bit more. As he read on, he could see why it wasn't mentioned often. Not one single important thing or person had ever come from there. He had assumed Rakuninmura was a city, with people being born, dying, moving in, and moving out. The way this site told it, all they did was move in and die.
It had been a slummy place full of bitter castoffs from society, it seems. There were people who had lost loved ones, people who'd failed in their lives' goals, and every kind of miserable unfortunate one could imagine. They were nameless, faceless, dangerous people- mostly men- and were not viewed highly by residents of nearby Tokyo.
Only one person other than Yukishiro Enishi had ever been known to move out of Rakuninmura after being resident there. That was, ironically, the man Enishi had challenged and who'd rescued the woman he'd kidnapped. The man's name was Himura and he'd later married the girl he rescued. That must've been why Yukishiro had kidnapped her in the first place- he knew they liked each other.
Wait a second, what was that name? HIMURA??? What were the odds that two different Himuras had wronged Yukishiro? Akitaka already knew that Himura the Battousai had killed Yukishiro's sister, to whom he was 'ferociously attached.' That would make him a prime target for the personal grudge that so consumed Yukishiro. Apparently, Battousai had survived after the war. Wouldn't one expect Yukishiro to be dead, though, after clashing with him? Even if Yukishiro somehow defeated Battousai, at least SOMEbody would be dead afterward. That meant only one thing: whichever had won had shown mercy. Battousai never lost, and Yukishiro had a seemingly consuming, non mercy-inducing hatred for him. All logic pointed to the most illogical conclusion: Battousai had shown mercy.
* *
*
A nameless old man walked back into Rakuninmura at the end of the day. He never left for long, and when he did, it was usually to beg. Since none of the other residents of Rakuninmura were beggars, one might think this man was pitiful; however, this was only because none of the other residents could get anything if they begged, so he supported everyone with it. They ate when he came in with gifts from people in neighboring, legitimate towns, and not before.
He saw a familiar-looking young boy- the second this week. Just the other day another familiar-looking young boy had left after a long time of refusing to eat or do anything. This one looked in much the same condition.
"Hello, there, boy! Eat?" He asked. The boy didn't answer, just shook his head without looking up from staring at something he was holding in his lap. The old man sat down next to him, tired of familiar young boys who insisted on being antisocial.
"You remind me of someone, boy," the old man said, hoping to make him talk. No luck.
"I have a son who would be just about your age now," he continued.
"Oh, really," the boy uttered. It wasn't a question.
"Yes. I had a daughter, too, but she died. That's why I came here," he explained. The boy wasn't interested. "What brought you here?"
"My brother-in-law... it's a long story," the young man replied, tipping his head back against the wall of a shack he'd been leaning on since the old man first saw him. The old man could see that the thing the boy had been staring at was a book of some sort, but what kind he couldn't tell.
"My son had a brother-in-law, but he didn't like him much," the old man responded. They sat in semi-companionable silence until the old one asked the younger one for his name.
"Yukishiro," the boy answered. The old man had a feeling that name should mean something to him as well, but he couldn't tell what.
"They call me Oibore," he answered simply.
"If you answer to it, you deserve to be called that, Oibore," the boy stated disdainfully and looked away, resolutely avoiding conversation. The old man took the hint and left to eat, but came back later with a portion for the young man.
"Eat?" He asked again, and the boy shook his head again, still looking away. Oibore laid the bowl on the ground between them as much because he didn't feel like holding it as to invite the boy to take it. "You're too young to stay here," he observed.
"What do you know," again, it was not a question.
"There's no way you can be hopeless enough to stay here at your age," Oibore continued. "You've still got your life ahead of you. Whatever your brother-in-law did, I'm sure-"
"He didn't,"
"What?"
"My brother-in-law didn't do anything wrong, it was an accident, but I tried to take revenge..." the boy trailed off.
"There was another boy here awhile back, a little older than you, said his brother-in-law killed the woman he loved. Strange boy... had red hair, come to think of it. Weird kid. He finally left, though,"
"That was my brother-in-law," the boy replied.
"Eh?"
"The red-haired man was my brother-in-law... it had to have been... but you must believe I didn't kill that woman. I only made him think I did," the boy explained solemnly. Oibore could tell he meant business.
"I believe you. However you did it, that's your business, I guess. Was that your revenge?"
"Part of it... the main part. I also destroyed a good portion of the city, but that was mainly just to make him mad enough to fight me,"
"And he did?"
"Yes. The irony of it is he won. I went in to punish him and ended up at his mercy. Then he had to go and leave me alive,"
"Does that bother you?" Oibore asked, surprised.
"I can't complain," he replied. "It just proves that e was right all along, though- not that he won, but that he didn't kill me. He really does believe in this vow he has against killing. I thought it was just some sort of charade he made himself believe, but this peaceful wanderer really is his true self. He loved my sister," the boy hung his head guiltily.
"So you've forgiven him?"
"Sort of. There's not really anything to forgive- it was a complete accident," he replied.
"But there were others," Oibore pressed. The red-headed kid had acted like there was more- much more.
"No," the boy answered, confused. "My sister... that's all I wanted revenge over,"
"He acted like there was more,"
"Well, he did kill others, but they were of no consequence to me. It was war, that happens,"
"The other boy didn't feel that way. He was grieved for their deaths, said he deserved to be here but the girl was innocent. That was his only regret- the others you hurt, not himself," Oibore explained.
"He's a fool, but not one that deserves this. Maybe I'll tell him that someday,"
********************************************************
i think i'm going to be ending this story soon. there will probably be at least five more chapters, but i'm not looking for anything too long here.
Califpinay3001: glad it's getting good.
Ginger1280: glad you like it. this is the last chapter of enishi for now, for real this time. you like x-men? so do i and guess who else? Watsuki! i was so happy when i found this out. glad i'm keeping your sanity, so sorry the others don't update. what's wrong with them, anyway, lol. glad to hear i'm on someone's favorites list!
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: i did not make up rakuninmura. it is mentioned in rk, the revenge arc. ken goes there when he thinks kaoru's been killed, and enishi goes there after his fight with ken. other info is in the fic. flashback scenes might or might not be accurate, but anything akitaka finds out generally is. Amaya: glad you like it and it's keeping you in suspense. i was running out of good ideas, but i've got a really good one for the next chapter. wait and see!