Son of a Man-Slayer
The next morning, Kiriko slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at the biggest, blackest, hairiest rat she had ever seen in her life.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" She screamed.
Shio was coming back from a pond with some fish when he heard Kiriko's glass breaking scream. He sprinted to the cave.
"Kiriko, what wrong!"
Kiriko flew out of the cave. She jumped on his back, making him drop the fish.
"KILL IT! KILL IT!"
"What's wrong! What's going on!" Shio yelled as Kiriko put a choke-hold around his neck.
"KILL IT!" She shrieked in his ear.
"Kiriko….loosen…. your….. grip….. I….. can't……breath…"
Kiriko totally ignored Shio's plead for air. She kept her grip firm and continued to scream, "KILL IT!"
Shio focused his now tear filled eyes on the cave to see what she was screaming about. He smiled slightly when he saw a small black mouse come scurrying out of the cave.
"Kiriko…..calm down. It's gone."
Kiriko stopped cringing on his back and looked over his shoulder. She saw the mouse disappear into the bushes. Next she realized that her arms and legs wrapped around him. She jumped off and blushed madly. However, Shio didn't notice her blushing he was to busy laughing.
Kiriko's blush changed from embarrassment to anger. "HEY! It's not that funny!"
Shio hollered with laughter. "Yes it was! You did all that screaming over that little mouse! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"It wasn't a MOUSE it was a fat hairy RAT and he tried to bite my face off!" Kiriko spat in his face.
Shio laughed harder. "You should have seen the look on your face!"
Kiriko pushed him on the shoulder as she stomped past. "SHUT UP and leave me alone!"
Shio stopped laughing immediately. "Kiriko…what's that on your back!"
Kiriko started screaming and jumping around. "WHAT IS IT! WHAT IS IT!" She pulled and tugged at the back of her gi. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"
She stopped jumping when she saw Shio holding his stomach and laughing his head off. He had tricked her. Tears were streaming down his face he was laughing so hard.
Kiriko ran and grabbed Laplatina. She swung for his head but he ducked. Unfortunately she swung so hard that she spun out of control and lost her footing.
"AW!" Kiriko yelped as she started to slip down the side of the hill.
"Kiriko!" Shio grabbed her arm but she pulled him down with her. He pulled her into his arms and they both went rolling down the slope.
Shio landed on his back into a patch of grass. "Ooomph!" He puffed as Kiriko landed on top of him. Her now loose hair covered over them like a thick quilt.
Shio groaned and rubbed the back of his head. Her head was still lying on his shoulder. She hadn't moved. Shio looked at her then shook her gently.
"Kiriko?……..Kiriko, wake up." He spoke softly.
She didn't move.
Shio became nervous. He shook her again. "Kiriko, please wake up."
Kiriko slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her head up and groaned when the earth seemed to still be spinning around her.
"Are you all right?" He whispered to her.
"Huh?" Kiriko raised her face just above his.
"I said…." He brushed her bangs away from her eyes and held her cheek in the palm of her hand. "….are you all right?" He asked with concern written all over his face.
Kiriko didn't know what to say. She just stared into those breathtaking crimson eyes. She could see every incredible detail of his beautiful face from his thick eyelashes to his light moustache. Every thing was magnified at such a close range. CLOSE RANGE!, her thoughts screamed. She sat up fully.
"I-I'm all r-right." She stuttered. Her face was bright red.
Shio propped himself up on his elbows. "Well if you're all right, would you mine getting off me. You're heavier then you look." He teased with a small playful grin on his lips and a touch of color in his cheeks.
Kiriko flew off him when she realized that she was straddling his waist. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She had to turn her head because her face was beyond a mere blush.
Shio got up and dusted the grass and dirt off his clothes. "Sorry for what?….Almost knocking my head off?…or…Pulling me down the hill with your clumsy butt?"
Kiriko's flush went away when he made that comment. She turned her glare on him but it soon vanished when she saw the trace of a smile on his lips.
"Come on…" He walked up to her and pulled a leaf out her hair. "I caught some fish. Hopefully your…..ahem……rat…..didn't take them away." She smiled a little.
They walked back up the hill together.
"Leader?."
Aoshi opened his eyes then got up and walked over to the shrine door. Taniro, his second in command, was at the door.
"Good Morning, Taniro."
He bowed, "Good Morning, Leader. I have the information you requested last night."
"Already?…..Good."
Taniro handed Aoshi a sealed envelope that said 'Confidential' on the front. Aoshi looked at it and noticed it was kind of thick.
"Thank you."
Aoshi walked back to the house. Kenshin was outside sitting on the porch. He was watching the twins practice their martial arts. Misao came outside when she saw Aoshi approaching the house.
"Did Taniro give you anything?" She asked.
"Yes……here Battousai. This is for you."
Aoshi and Misao sat on the porch step beside Kenshin. He opened the envelope. There were a couple of pages inside. Kenshin read silently. When he started reading the second page, Kenshin face became deathly pale and the silver streak in his hair began to widen slightly. The look on Kenshin face was scaring Misao greatly.
"Himura?….What is it? What does it say?"
Kenshin didn't answer. He kept reading all the pages. When he finished, he dropped them on the ground. His eyes were faded and looked dead as he stared into the distance.
Misao shook Kenshin. "Himura!….What is it! Please tell us. You're scaring me!"
Aoshi picked up the pages and read them out loud. "We contacted our scouts through out Japan and came up with twenty guys by the name of Shio. However, from the information you provided us, none of the men fit the description. Next we contacted our scouts in China and Korea, we came up with more names and several guys had the same body type and hair as you described, but only one had brownish-red eyes. We looked into him. His full name is Shio Makoto ……"
Misao gasped. She now knew why Kenshin went pale.
Aoshi continued. "……. When we found out that his name was really Shio Makoto, we had to be sure he wasn't the Shishio Makoto's son. Unfortunately is he. Shio Makoto was born in Kyoto twenty-three years ago by Yumi Komagata. Two years before Shishio's plans to take over Japan. Our scouts told us that he never new Shishio personally. Shishio knew that he had a son apparently he didn't want anything to do with him. So Yumi gave Shio to her mother and decided to stay beside Shishio. Shio was then taken to China. Our sources also told us, that he left his grandmother at the age of twelve in search for more information about his parents. We found out that he learned Shishio's technique and came to Kyoto in search for the legendary Battousai the man-slayer. He must have found out that the Battousai was no longer in Kyoto. We also found out that he contacted someone here that knew the whereabouts of the Battousai. He left Kyoto yesterday. All in all, he is seeking revenge on the Battousai for the deaths of his parents."
Kenshin swallowed hard. He was trying to lubricate his now desert dry throat. Misao eyes were filled with tears but none of them fell. She kept her eyes on Kenshin all while Aoshi was reading. His eyes never changed. All of a sudden, Kenshin snapped out of his daze, got up and walked back into the house. Misao and Aoshi followed.
"What are you going to do, Battousai?" Aoshi wasn't one to worry about things but this information bothered him a lot.
"There's nothing I can do but hope that Kiriko gets to Tokyo safely and hope that she doesn't meet up with Shio on the way. In the mean time, I need to try to get back to Tokyo before she does that way I can tell Sano and Yahiko about the situation and they can keep a look out for Kiriko and Shio …..This is all I can think of right now."
"Well it's something……Misao and I will come with you. We'll take a boat back to Tokyo. That way we should be there by tomorrow. I can have my scouts in Tokyo help out."
Kenshin frowned. "Well what about Meshi and Asao-"
(CRASH) The twins came barging into the house. "We're coming-" "with you!" All this time, the adults totally forgot about the two girls. The twins had been listening to the whole conversation.
"NO! You two can't come. This is adult business." Misao scolded.
Aoshi walked over to them. "Your mother is right girls-"
"Daddy please-" "we can help!" "We're part of the-" "Oniwaban group too! And besides-" "Kiriko is our friend!" "You have to let us-" "help!"
The adults were speechless. Misao was also moved by the girls' willingness to help. They sounded just like her at that age.
The looks on the twin's faces were so heartfelt Aoshi didn't have the strength to say no. "Okay……..you can come along."
The girls squealed and gave their father kisses on his cheeks.
"But your only job is to scout. If things get dangerous you are to come back to the Battousai's house and let us handle everything from there. Do we have a deal?"
"YES!" They yelled.
"All right everyone get packed. The afternoon is getting late and I don't want us to miss the last boat to Tokyo. So let's get going." Aoshi ordered. Everyone dispersed and left Kenshin standing in the family room. Kenshin went back outside and waited on the porch for everyone. I have wonderful friends that I do, Kenshin looked up into the sky, Kiriko, I'm going to stop under estimating you and hope that you can take care of yourself until you get to Tokyo…….Master you better be right about her……Kiriko please be all right………..please……