Onyx Eyes

Shio stood outside an old dilapidated building in the middle of the city. Compared to the rest of the houses and buildings that he'd seen so far, this place looked like it should have been torn down a long time ago. He hoped that the person he was looking for was still located here. Shio walked up to the front door and knocked. No sound came from the other side. He tried again. Nothing.

Shio stepped back away from the building. To see if there were any lights on in the inside but the windows were too dirty to tell. He squeezed through a small alleyway that led to the back of the building. Once he got back there, he saw another smaller building that was adjacent to the larger one. He tried this door. At first he heard nothing then very faintly he heard footsteps shuffling towards the door.

"WHO THE HELL IS IT!" Came a loud hoarse voice from the other side.

Shio jumped a little at the sudden out burst.

"IS SOMEONE THERE! SPEAK UP OR LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

At first he just stood there looking at the door, he didn't know what to say. Finally, he cleared his throat and tried to gather his thoughts.

"Um…yes. I'm looking for a Ms Iyla Tsumide?"

Silence answered him. "Hello?" He called out.

"Who are you and what in the hell do you want with her!" This time Shio could tell that the person's voice was indeed female.

"My name is Shio Makoto. I was told that she might have some information on the whereabouts of Battousai the man-slayer. Is she here?"

Silence again. Suddenly the door slid open to a small crack. An black eye glared at Shio through the crack. It looked at him up and down.

"You're Yumi Komagata's son?" The onyx eye asked.

"Yes, I am. Are you Ms Tsumide?"

She opened the door all the way. Shio was surprised to see that she wasn't the ugly old hag that she sounded to be. She was a petite middle aged woman, standing only a couple of inches above his waist. She had long salt and pepper hair flowing down her back in a neat low ponytail. Her face was slightly wrinkled but her eyes were radiating with what Shio thought was excitement, joy, recognition, and suspicion.

"Are you Ms Tsumide?" He asked again.

She cleared her throat. "Yes." Her voice was a little sweeter then before but her eyes were still incredibly intimidating. I know my eyes can look like that sometimes but this is like staring into black fire, he thought.

Finally he cleared his throat again, trying desperately not to sweat under the little woman's glare. "I do apologize for coming to you like this but I am looking for some-"

"I know what you're looking for. Come in." She stepped aside and watched Shio enter into her house timidly. When she slammed the door shut, Shio jumped a little. Even though there was still daylight outside, the small house was extremely dark. There were candles all over the place. There was an extremely large Budda statue surrounded by flowers in the middle of the sitting area. The place looked like a very small shrine of some sort but it felt like a place for demons.

"Have a seat. I'll be right back." She left and went into a room located behind the statue.

Shio saw that there was two pillows set out to sit on, as if she were expecting somebody that day. Shio took his sword off of his back then sat on the floor and waited for her patiently. After a few minutes, she came back into the room and sat across from him.

"So…….your Yumi's son…hmph, you're better looking then I thought you would be."

Shio didn't know what to say about that comment but he was curious about something else. "How do you know my mother?"

"Your mother and I were really good friends a long time ago……… before she met……him." She said the last part very disgustedly, as if the thought of saying Shishio's name was despicable within its self.

Shio figured she was referring to his father. He didn't like that way she said that so he decided to get right to the point and get out of this lady's house. "Since you already know why I'm here, would you please tell me where the Battousai is located? I would really appreciate it."

Ms Tsumide looked at the item she retrieved from her room then she looked him straight in his eyes. "First of all, he doesn't go by the name of Battousai the man-slayer. His name is Kenshin Himura." She went back to looking at the item in her hands.

Shio waited patiently for her to say more but she remained quiet. "Do you know where he is located?"