Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait in updating folks, I was kind of in writer's block for a while. Anyway, with this chapter, we get another character introduced in the story. Like the last chapter, it's kind of slow, but things pick up later on in the chapter. I know stuff seems to be random so far in this fic, but the main plot will begin to appear in the next chapter. Well with that said, let's get on with the story.
Chapter 3: Yellow and Blue; The Eyes of a Cub
"I'm tired," I told the child harnessed to my back as we made our usual journey, "wanna take a break, Ryosuke?"
It had been two months since I had adopted Ryosuke, there was nothing but good times between the two of us. Luckily for me, he stopped crying as much as he did when he was younger, so I was finally able to get the sleep I desperately needed after about two weeks. He'd usually sleep with me, in fact, that's pretty much what he usually did. Ryosuke would only wake up if he was hungry or if he went to the bathroom.
"I'm pretty hungry too," I said as I took a seat against the nearest tree, "what about you?"
Silence, my little boy was sleeping. I admit that I enjoyed the silence, but it kind of made me lonely. A simple coo or gurgle would bring a smile to my face, even if he wasn't listening to me. Just hearing him make a sound made me feel like I was being listened to.
"Oh, I see," I smiled, "well I am, let's see what we have leftover...," I began to dig into my bag. "Let's see, we have some bread, dried fish, pork jerky, and my favorite, mochi"
It was obvious which article of food I chose. I quickly removed the pastry from my bag and brought it to my mouth. The strawberry filling inside the white paste exploded into my mouth, the sweet substance filling my being with bliss. I hadn't eaten mochi for a while, it was kind of a rare treat during our travels.
"Uh...," a soft gurgle echoed from the little life harnessed to my back.
"What, do you want some?" I asked. "Oh of course not," I chuckled, "you don't have any teeth yet. But you are hungry, aren't you?"
I had gotten accustomed to... well, you know, feeding him by now. His lips were always so soft and gentle when he plucked at my nipple, so warm too. Just sitting in a spot feeding him was heaven, it always made me relax. I'd often him when I was feeding myself, it was kind of hard if I had to eat something with chop sticks because I'd have to make sure my elbow didn't accidentally hit his head or anything.
"Hey, what have we got here?" I groaned at the sound of a passing individual.
I looked up to find several men with grins on their face and various forms of steel in their hands. Bandits, the typical scum I encountered, there were times I wish I could just kill them all without having to feel any guilt.
"Can I help you?" I tried to keep my cool.
"We were just wondering if we can have some of that," one of the men remarked.
"If you some mochi, I'm afraid you'll have to buy some with your own money," I told the man as I finished the pastry in my hand.
"What we want we can't get with money," one of the men began approaching me, "we can get it only through force"
'Here we go again,' I sighed as the man charged forward.
"It's a good thing you don't have teeth yet, right, Ryosuke?" I asked my baby who still rested against my bosom.
My fingers quickly wrapped around the hilt of my reverse-blade, my arm pulling it outward in the next second. Crunch, that was the sound that emitted from the man's ribs after the steel slab met with his body. The rest of the men began to take a step as I pulled the blade back to my side.
"Anyone else want some?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"Go get her" one of the men pushed his remaining comrade.
His feet began to trip over one another as he suddenly fell forward. Because he was forced upon his ally to do this, I simply sighed and stuck my foot out where his next step was about to meet. Our ankles met for a mere second and his nose quickly led the way to one of the tree's roots. He passed out upon impact, it saved me some time and effort luckily. I turned to the remaining bandit who was beginning to shake in his knees. He began take a step back as my feet began pressing forward. One step followed, and then a second, my steps were beginning to become more rapid, becoming faster than the bandit's. Suddenly, his feet began to pick up the pace and his back took the place of his front. It was no matter for me how fast he ran because I was able to jump right in front of him in a mere second.
"Going somewhere?" I asked with my right arm still supporting my child and my left holding my sakabatou.
"Oh come on, lady," the man tried to negotiate, "we were just pulling your leg."
"Pull this" I yelled as I pushed my weapon forward.
Thunk The man fell to the ground like the rest of his comrades did with his mouth open and his eyes wide. At that very instant, I felt something loosening from part of my chest.
"All finished?" I smiled as I wiped the remaining contents away from my baby's lips. "You sure drink a lot, you know that," I cooed as I brought the child's nose against mine. "Yes you do, yes you do."
At that very moment, a soft tap suddenly fell onto my arm. Another tap followed, this one hitting my head. A third tap followed, and a fourth soon after. My attention then turned to the area above me, the cerulean sky was now painted a dark gray. Plip, another drop met with my cheek.
'Crap,' I thought to myself as the clouds began to rumble.
"Come on, Ryosuke, we should head to the nearest village, that we should."
Without wasting another moment, I took my bag into my left hand and my baby in my right, nestling him in the space between my skin and kimono. My feet began to pick up the pace one more, my feet digging into the sinking ground with every step. Water began running down my entire being, dragging me further into the ground. The sky began roaring moments later, and the space holding my child was already soaked within a minute. I got my child out of the space and brought him into the open using a rag in my bag to cover his forehead.
"Achoo" I sneezed a moment after.
'Times like this make me wish I bought an umbrella,' I thought to myself.
Ryosuke and I continued running down the muddy path, tripping nearly every step of the way. The road was full of craters and lakes, the water had easily seeped through my tabi after being drenched in those lakes for a mere second. As I began running further, I couldn't help but notice that the lightning was growing louder and louder, as if it were trying to keep me away from something. The winds suddenly began blowing violently a second later, practically slicing my skin as it began pushing me backward.
"Man, what's with the weather?" I asked as I tightened my hold on my son and belongings. "It was perfect just a moment ago, that it was."
My legs continued pushing through the force of the storm, staggering every step or so after my foot met with the ground for a mere second. A flash of light suddenly enter my vision, setting a nearby tree in flames. I couldn't help but watch the blaze for a mere second, only to turn away from it after the next flash. My feet quickly pushed away from the ground at that instant and my body began gliding with the wind for a few seconds. Now I was certain Fate was trying to keep me away from something not too far ahead.
'Typical,' my teeth clenched, 'Fate's always been against me, there's no way I'm gonna let it win.'
Began pressing forward again, ignoring the crashes of lightning and the blistering winds. The sound of steel crashing suddenly followed after the next crash of lightning. A scream then followed after the scratch subsided.
"Trouble already?" I released the hold on my bag and turned it to the hilt of my sakabatou once more. "Isn't this our day, Ryosuke?"
I began pressing toward the winds once more toward the source of the scream. Another crash of metal echoed in my ears, this one louder than the last. A second scream followed after, this time I could find the sound of flesh being pierced being accompanied by the cry. My entire body had been soaked and fatigued, but I was finally able to find two figures in the distance. One was much larger than the other, the smaller one was holding a steel slab that was about the same height as themself.
"No...," I heard the larger figure's plead, "please spare me, we didn't mean..."
Another cry suddenly entered my ears as the larger figure ahead of me fell to the floor. I turned to the smaller figure and their arms was still at their side and their sword's tip digging into the ground's surface. Finally, I came into view with the entire scene, finding several men and a women lying face first in the mud. Cuts were embedded into each of the individuals, but only the woman was resting in a puddle of crimson. I couldn't help but cover my mouth after seeing the various devices strewn on the floor, each of them were tools Kensai enjoyed using to torture her victims are she removed them from their bodies. My eyes shifted to each one before I finally turned to the individual in the middle of the mess. It was a young girl standing there, with a katana in her hand. Her long oak brown hair dragged down to her back, her eyes covered with her bangs. Her left hand was clenched in a fist, her right holding her blade tightly. The rain was dragging her floral white kimono toward the floor. Her feet were as bare as her teeth, which were wide open as if they were ready to bite. The weapon in her hands, that was what caught my attention. Despite all these men and their organs on the floor, the blade itself was not tainted in ruby at all.
"Hm?" she suddenly growled and her eyes met with mine.
For the first time since the Revolution, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest and my lungs out of breath. I found my legs shaking and my feet beginning to step back. Those eyes, so narrow and yellow, they looked so familiar, they looked like hers.
"My God...," were the only words that could escape my lips.
The girl began to step forward, her sword dragging along the muddied ground. I began to take another step back once more, my hold tightening around my child. Her eyes began narrowing further, and suddenly they widened. I suddenly found myself pushed to the floor with my back meeting with the muddied ground and my arms tightly wrapped around Ryosuke.
"Please don't kill us," I found myself pleading, "please..."
Fear, it had been so long since I felt it. I felt so helpless staring into those bright yellow pupils, it was exactly how I felt during my first kill. She began to step forward once more and my eyes began to shut. I was too scared to do anything, too scared to fight back. The sound of steel rising began to fill my ears and my hold on my child tightened more.
'Mother, Father, I'll be joining you soon,' I thought to myself, 'I'm sorry for not being able to make you proud during my short life.'
Just then, another crash of lightning fell, this time I felt a splash of mud following. Something was wrong, I did not hear the falling of her blade after the crash. I began to pull the darkness away with one eye at a time. Nothing but gray clouds entered my vision, the little girl had disappeared.
'What was that?' I asked as I pulled myself back to my feet.
I turned back to the cluttered corpses and found another body among the masses. It was the little girl, her body huddled close to the woman's body and her sword on the opposite side of the site. My feet suddenly began pulling me toward her, my legs shaking with each step I took. Finally I found myself staring down at her, her eyes shut and her fingers barely closed on one another. Her face, it was no longer intimidating, instead, it was frowning, as if she were crying.
"Mama...," a little voice escaped her lips.
'Mama?' I turned to the woman next to her.
I began to envision the events of what happened in my head. These men probably attacked her and her mother, and the girl's mother was killed during the ordeal. Then, out of a fit of rage, the girl attacked and killed these men.
"The poor thing," I began to tread my fingers down several strands of her hair.
I felt sorry for her, so I placed Ryosuke in his back harness and took the little girl into my arm. I then turned to the other side of the site toward the sword the little girl just used. The blade was standing up perfectly, planted in the earth. I began to approach, but suddenly a flash of crimson entered my vision.
"Kondou, are you running away?" I suddenly remembered my encounter with the Alpha Dog of the Shinsengumi.
'This sword,' I took it into my left hand, 'this is...'
The Yurika Masamune, the legendary sword that Kondou Isami used and one of the few swords that the legendary swordsmith, Masamune, created during the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Shinta told me about those legendary blades often when we had nothing to talk about. It was said that this sword and its brothers were able to kill without shedding a drop of blood, but only those with a very strong ki could use it efficiently. But when she killed the last man, she didn't even raise her arm or anything, he just suddenly died. The whole thing just didn't make any sense to me at the time, so I simply shrugged it off and placed the sword into its sheath which rested nearby.
'What the?' sunlight suddenly began to enter my vision.
The sky began to clear up that moment, it just didn't make any sense. I turned back to the little girl resting in my arms and the legendary sword which rested along side my sakabatou.
'Could it be because of this girl?' I asked myself. 'Just who is she exactly?'
We arrived at the nearest village about ten minutes shortly after. It was a small country community, plenty of crops growing and a small bamboo thicket close by. The girl was passed out the entire time, and she remained so even after we checked at the inn. Luckily no one asked questions about me holding the unconscious girl, they must've thought I was her mother or something (I didn't even look old enough to be so at that time). I wanted to wash up and everything as soon as we got a room, but I thought it would be best to wait for the little girl to wake up first. I waited in one of the room's corner as I set her in one of the room's futons, watching her intently, waiting for those bright yellow pupils to open once more.
"Ugh...?" her body began moving after several minutes.
Her body began to rise and I pulled the Masamune closer to my side, there was no way I was going to let her touch it after what just happened. My left hand began to take hold of my sakabatou's hilt as her eyes began to open, only to have them release after I got a glimpse of her pupils.
'Blue?' I asked myself as I gazed into the shade of her eyes.
The yellow tint that painted her irises, it was completely gone, now replaced with a sky blue color. That sinister sneer on her face was gone as well, replaced with a look of puzzlement.
"Mama...?" she called as she shook her head.
"Are you all right?" I asked her.
"...who are you?" she asked after a moment of hesitation. "Where's Mama?"
'What the? Why is she asking me that?'
"I'm Mina," I answered, "you're mother..."
"Ugh" her palms began to bury her face once more. "No wait...," her head began to rise a moment later, "me and Mama were walking down the road and then..."
"I'm very sorry, that I am," I said as I hung my head in shame.
"Mama...," her head returned to her palms.
"We should leave her alone, Ryosuke," I said as I took my baby into my arms and left the room, along with the legendary sword.
The bath was rather warm and luckily no one else was attending as Ryosuke and I went in. I couldn't really enjoy myself unfortunately, my thoughts were instead transfixed on the events that just happened.
'It makes no sense,' I thought to myself as I sat there, holding Ryosuke so that only half of his body was submerged in the pool, 'they were yellow one moment and then blue the next. I know it wasn't my imagination, I know what I saw. Could it be because of this?' I took the Masamune into my right hand.
My thoughts began to linger back to that day in Kyoto, back to the day I encountered Kondou Isami, the Alpha Dog of the Mibu Wolves. I remembered the cold liquid dripping down my brow, the warm crimson fluid tainted on my sword and clothes, and the ruby red illumination of the moon that evening. Kyoto, there was not a day in that city in which it was painted with blood, and I was often the one who painted it's walls with the elixir of life, and that night was no different. I remember I started the confrontation, I began by charging at one of his men and bringing my blade into his skull. One of the Wolf's comrades then charged at me at the very moment I freed my blade. While his arms rose in the air, I simply pressed mine forward, plunging my katana through his torso and then pulling it upward until his skull sprayed a geyser of red. A third Wolf tried to attack after, but this time I managed to spin behind him and deliver a Ryu-Kan-Sen to his neck. Back then I didn't care how much blood I spilt, all that mattered was survival.
I remember turning back to my men, finding them falling before one Wolf in particular. His sky blue coat was drenched in ruby, and his sword was painted in the same color. When he swung his sword, it would not even touch his opponents, and for some reason, whoever he was targeting suddenly found themself in a puddle of blood in the next second.
"You there," he turned to me a second later, "are you in charge of these men?"
"I am," I answered as I took a step forward. "My name is Himura Mina, that it is, also known as Hitokiri Kensai."
"Hitokiri Kensai," he repeated, "the sister of the infamous Battousai? Then you must know who I am."
"Kondou Isami," I replied as I tightened the grip around my blade, "in the name of the Ishin Shishi I will..."
"Reinforcements" one of my surviving men had interrupted my speech.
"Shit" I bit my lip as I turned to the direction of the new pack.
"This battle will be postponed," Kondou said as he slid his legendary weapon back into its sheath.
We never did get that battle, not that I cared. He would later be captured by the Meiji Government and then be executed in November of the current year of my story.
'The girl can't be Kondou's daughter, can she?' my gaze returned to the Masamune. 'When Kondou used the Masamune, the sword spilt blood, but when the girl used it, there was none.'
"The Yurika Masamune is a bloodless weapon," I began recalling a conversation I had with Shinta back in the war.
"Then explain why there was blood when Kondou used it to slay my men last night, Kenshin," I asked him.
"If I can recall correctly, my master told me that only one with a very strong ki can use it properly," Shinta answered, "perhaps the Yurika Masamune didn't acknowledge Kondou's ki to be strong enough, that it didn't."
"That's weird," I responded, "Kondou seemed like a very skilled swordsman to me."
'There's no way a little girl like her can have that strong of a ki,' I thought to myself in the present, 'can there?'
Ryosuke and I returned to our room after, it was no longer muffled with cries. As soon as I slid the door open, my eyes linger to the northwest corner of the room where the little girl was now sitting with her head hanging low and her limbs sprawled.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked the little girl.
Her eyes were dry, and her body unmoving. I began approaching her, and she began to crawl even further into the corner.
"I'm not going to hurt you," I assured you. "It's because of this, isn't it?" I turned to the weapons on my belt. "There," I set the blades on the floor, "is this better?"
Again, she responded with silence, but this time she nodded her head instead of crawling further into the corner.
"Gomen," she apologized a second later.
"It's all right, that it is," I smiled as I took a seat next to her.
"...is that baby yours?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.
"Hai, he is," I answered, bringing him to my face's level. "I haven't introduced him yet, have I? This is Ryosuke, that he is, he's my little boy, only two months old. He's so cute, isn't he?" I asked as I rubbed his nose against mine.
"I guess," she answered with a smile stretching across her face. "Can I hold him?"
"Sure," I nodded, slowly placing the child in her arms, "be careful though."
"Wow, he's very light" her smile widened as she slowly began bouncing the baby in her arms, getting a small laugh from my baby in the process. "Hey little guy" she began petting his nose.
"May I ask your name, if it's not a problem that is," I asked as she continued to play with the younger child.
"Tamako," she answered. "Kondou Tamako."
'Kondou Tamako' my eyes widened by the sound of her name. 'So she is...'
"Is something wrong?" she asked a second later.
"No," I answered with the shake of my head, "it's nothing. So how old are you?" I decided to change the subject.
We spent the rest of the day talking, trying to get to know each other better. It was weird, for only a four year old, Tamako seemed to have the intelligence and manners of a fourteen year old. She knew all the kanji, katakana, and hiragana alphabets already at her young age. The child liked to talk, but there was thing I couldn't help notice as we spoke. Her eyes continued to linger to the Masamune which sat on the other side of the room with my sakabatou. I didn't think it was really important, I just thought she had wandering eyes like a normal four year old. There was another thing I noticed when we spoke, she didn't seem to stutter or breakdown like a normal person would if their parents were killed just a few hours ago. It was always like that during my experiences in the war, but why wasn't Tamako reacting in the same manner? I asked that to myself the entire time I spoke with her, but I had to brush it away a few hours later when the moon rose, all that mattered then was to get some sleep.
I had a dream that night, but it was more like a nightmare. I was walking down the city streets, my bag in hand and my sword on my belt, it seemed like a typical day. But then the sky began to darken, and the winds began to blow slowly. I turned to the sky for a moment, only to shrug off the image of the clouds and continued on my way as I normally would have.
"Is this what you do with all your problems nowadays," a voice I never wanted to hear again suddenly entered my ears, "you shrug them off?"
Slowly my head began to swerve in the direction of the voice. My hold on my bag began to linger suddenly as my eyes met with the person's feet. A drop of crimson began dripping from her gray and ragged hamaka, and another soon followed. My vision began rolling upward, following the crimson rivers flowing down her hamaka. I began to take a step back as a flash of steel soon caught my eye, held tightly in a fist not too far from the person's leg. It too was drenched in blood, as was the gi of her kimono. I could see her skin through a small gap in her gi, it looked as hard as a lizard's and covered in blood as well. My eyes continued upward, stopping before her yellow pupils and her crimson-red hair.
"K...Kensai?" her name barely escaped my lips.
"We meet again, Mina," she smirked.
"Wha...what do you want from me?" I stuttered.
"You've got quite a group now," she chuckled, "a little boy and a girl. What's wrong, can't wait to start your own family?"
"Those children need me now," I responded, "I can't be patient enough to wait for my own family. Besides, who knows what kind of creeps will go after my children if I were to leave them in another's hands."
"Your children?" Kensai's voice boomed. "Since when were they YOUR children? The boy's brother may be alive for all you know, and Kondou himself might escape from the Meiji Government's custody."
"But until that time arrives, these children are mine"
"Would they still be yours after they learned the truth of what you did to their parents?" her question shot to my heart.
"Che" I didn't know how to respond.
"Think of it, Ryosuke's mother could have survived if only you knew what you were doing," Kensai explained, "hell, I'm pretty sure you could've run into town and got a doctor to help."
"What happened couldn't be helped," I explained, "I..."
"Liar" Kensai yelled. 'You wanted that boy for yourself, didn't you?"
"It's true I wanted him, but not enough to..."
"And that girl, did you ever think of how she would react once she learned that you killed her brothers?"
"Her brothers?" I said puzzled. "Since when did I...?"
"Don't tell me that you thought Kondou was the only one in his family to be in the Shinsengumi."
"You mean..."
"Who do you think some of those 'steps' to find your brother were?" Kensai asked. "True they were all pieces of meat, but didn't it occur to you that they were someone's sons, their daughters, cousins, brothers, or sisters?"
"It's true I knew that, but I didn't think..."
"That's right, Mina, you didn't think."
"Why must you torment me even now?" I asked, turning my back to my doppleganger.
"I'm not tormenting you," a hand suddenly brushed against my chin, "I'm telling you the truth," she whispered as she turned my face to face hers.
"Just leave me alone," I quickly swerved my head away from hers. "The Revolution is over, I don't need you anymore."
"Mina, don't you remember what I told you," her face suddenly met with mine as soon as I turned, "you can never get rid of me. You...," her hand began running down my cheek, "need," her breath began dying as her lips began pushing toward mine, "me...," she whispered a centimeter before my lips.
"No, I don't" I yelled and suddenly I found myself staring at the ceiling of my room. "A dream?" I asked myself as I settled back into my futon.
Kensai, it had only been three months since I last saw her, and once again she had returned to torment me. This was obviously a big problem, if I were to remove my ribbon in the heat of battle just like in the Revolution, Kensai would most likely have turned the blade over on my sword and thus, break my oath never to kill again. Not only that, I was no longer by myself, I had children with me. Just what would they think if they were to see their "mother" commit such horrible acts? I couldn't even imagine what Kensai would do to them if that were to happen.
Taking in a deep sigh, the throbbing of my chest began to cool. The cool liquid running down my body had already begun to dry. My eyes began to linger around the area of the room, first turning to my side finding my baby sound asleep. My lips couldn't help but curl at the sight of his adorable face, but they straightened once more after my vision turned to the futon on the other side of the room.
"Tamako?" I hurried to the empty bed. "Tamako Shit, where...?"
Clang It was a sound I knew too well, the sound of a blade. I hurried over to the balcony of my room, leaning over the railing so that my eyes could get a small glimpse of a flash of steel. I could see nothing but green at first, the bamboo thicket before my eyes was fairly thick for its small size. After about five seconds of gazing, I suddenly found a small shimmer between the trees, as well as a tiny figure holding the curved slab.
"Tamako" I yelled, trying to get her attention.
The young girl didn't even bother to turn to me, instead, her figure slowly began fading within the thicket. She was obviously ignoring me, she was probably planning to go off on her own. Without a moment of hesitation, I quickly got my belongings and Ryosuke on my back, rushing into the thicket as fast as I could.
"Tamako" I called as soon as I entered the thicket. "Tamako"
Nothing but silence and the falling of leaves. I gritted my teeth in my failure to grab her attention, and began racing forward as fast as I can, continuing to call her name.
"Tamako Tamako"
It wasn't long until I stopped running. The little girl was only a few feet away with her back still turned and her sword dragging against the floor. A chill suddenly began to crawl up my spine at that moment, there was obviously something wrong with the little girl. The winds began blowing ever so gently a second later, but the silence was still there.
"Tamako...?" I called in almost a whisper.
At that moment, her steps suddenly came to a stop, but her back was still turned. She knew I was here now, she knew I was going to stop her from leaving this place alone. I knew at that moment things weren't going to go about peacefully, so I dropped by bag and wrapped Ryosuke in a blanket and set him a few inches away from my belongings.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice somewhat deep when she spoke.
It was the same tone she used when I first encountered her the other day. Her face slowly came into view as her body began turning in my direction. Her teeth were bared, her eyes narrowed, and her pupils no longer blue, but a bright golden color. The hold on her sword was tight, clenched in a fist. Her other hand was grasping the blade's sheath tightly as well, I could see her fingers almost trembling from the pressure. Despite the impression she was giving me, I decided to try and hold my ground this time.
"Tamako, where are you going?" I asked, trying my best to keep my calm.
"It doesn't concern you," she answered in a monotone voice, turning her back on me once more, "now leave."
"Tamako, of course this concerns me, I can't just let you..."
"I told you to leave," she interrupted.
"No," I answered, raising my voice, "I won't I won't let you leave here all by yourself"
"I can't allow you to leave either then," she responded.
"What do you mean?" I asked as my left hand took hold of my weapon's scabbard.
"I know all about you, Hitokiri Kensai."
"Nani?"
"I know about the legions of men you killed, the men and women you tortured, and the brothers you took away from me, I know all about that."
"How do...?"
"My father told me many things about you, Kensai," her head began swerving toward me once more. "And although he is not here right now, I'm sure I'll make him proud by taking your head"
"What the?" the girl's figure suddenly disappeared from my eyes. "Above?" I realized her location a moment later.
My fingers quickly wrapped around the hilt of my reverse-blade and quickly drew it upward in time to catch the little girl's attack. After the initial crash, her tiny form suddenly flipped forward, her feet landing a few inches away from my back. I could feel another gust blowing in my direction from behind, so I quickly turned my body in its direction and brought my sakabatou forward. Another clash of metal erupted for a second and both of our blades began to lock. The child obviously knew how to fight despite her young age, her level was already beyond that of an average Shinsengumi soldier.
"I've been trained in my father's style since I was two," Tamako began to explain, "after you killed my brothers, it was apparent that I would be the only heir of the Kondou lineage."
The lock on our blades suddenly broke and I found myself suddenly tripping over my own feet. I regained my balance fairly quickly, but only to lose it in the next instant when the Masamune clashed with my sword once more.
"Father expected a lot out of me when we were all still together," she continued, "he wanted me to surpass the level of my brothers now that they are dead. He wanted me to exact revenge on the Ishin Shishi, the new Meiji Emperor, and you for all you've done"
Her blade rose to the air for a mere second before plummeting down. The blade had only slit the earth as I barely rolled out of harm's way. I had only been going on the defense for the entire fight so far, so I decided that I had to take some initiative and go offensive, despite the fact of how old she was. I quickly returned to my feet as I pushed my arms against the ground and raising my entire body in the air for a mere second before launching it backward. My feet stumbled for a few steps, but a bamboo tree caught me before I fell back down luckily. It was just in time to because I found the tip of the Masamune charging at me once more. My feet began twisting my body to the side at the last second, the sword had only impaled the tree. I suddenly found myself behind the little girl and her back was wide open. Without a moment of hesitation, I began to swing.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu-Kan-Sen" I screamed as I swung.
Nothing but air, Tamako had anticipated my attack and rolled to the side. She was obviously an experienced fighter, she was definitely the hardest fighter I had come across ever since I had started my journey thus far.
"Father always told me how he would become a key official in the Shogunate after we won the war," she continued, "he told about the things he would buy me, the places we would go, and the power we would have. But no, that won't happen now, thanks to the damage you have done The only thing I can do now is achieve that power myself"
"Nani?" the winds from yesterday began blowing once more.
Trees suddenly began snapping from their roots and leaves began swirling in my direction. I shut my eyes for a mere moment, only to have them widen once I found the giant green reeds flying at me. I swung my blade at about half of them, only to jump to the side to avoid the rest. I turned my attention back to the young girl to find the winds swirling around her and even more trees flying at my direction. Again I dodged the incoming assault, but now even more objects were hurled at me from afar. I continued to swat the objects away but my attention stayed on the little girl.
'Such a tremendous ki' I thought to myself. 'I don't think I've encountered anyone whose ki was even half as strong as hers.'
"Die" she yelled and even more trees began flying at me at full force.
"Do-Ryu-Sen" I countered by striking the earth and sending the debris in the onslaught's direction. "Naze, Tamako?" I asked as I began reclaiming my lost breath. "Why do wish to exact vengeance so badly? Why do you want power?"
"Naze? Don't ask me that question, Mina" she barked. "You know damn well why You ruined my life, that's why You destroyed what I could have had I knew all along who you really were, I just had to buy some time yesterday so that I could escape this morning. Why didn't I kill you on the spot while you were sleeping, it's because I would rather have gone to Edo and rescued my father first Then we could have exacted vengeance together, then we could return this country's rule over to the Shogunate"
"That's only a delusion, Tamako" I responded. "Even if you were to free your father and return Japan to the Shogunate's rule, you'd end many lives in the process. You'll kill so many only to allow so few can live Your hands would be stained in so much blood, Tamako, so much that even all of the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes couldn't wash it away"
"Blood, that's very funny, Mina," the girl giggled. "The Masamune acknowledges my ki, blood will not come from my sword."
"That's not what I meant, Tamako" I yelled. "What I mean is that you'll kill too much that the guilt will begin to eat away at you from the inside. No matter what you do, and no matter how much you try to repent, you will always feel guilty. I know of this, because I..."
"Because you're nothing more than a blood-thirsty murderer" she interrupted. "You talk about guilt, you talk about redemption, but you know that no matter what you do, it will never make up for the lives you've taken"
"And the same will happen to you if you achieve your goal"
"People are only slabs of meat in the end, Mina," a grin crept across the girl's face once more, "guilt, redemption, none of that should matter. We all end up the same way in the end."
"Tamako, you are so disillusioned, that you are," I sighed. "As a representative of the people of Japan, I will make sure that you will not achieve your goal"
With that said, I began to spring forward once more. Another onslaught of trees began flying toward me once more. Again, I was able to swat each one of them away, but this time I had been caught off guard. A force suddenly exerted against my ribs, piercing my flesh and another suddenly took the sakabatou away from my hands. My body began to lean forward as my hand took hold of my ribs and my eyes turned to the young girl and my weapon that was now in her left hand.
"I will achieve my goal, Hitokiri Kensai," she smirked as her tiny figure grew closer, "I will rule Japan" the bladed-edge of my sword rose into the air.
The blade fell forward in nearly an instant and a river of crimson soon began traveling down its edge. Tamako's eyes suddenly widened at the sight of the red streak now crawling down the steel curve, her eyes transfixed on the blood dripping from my palm. I had caught the blade with my own hand at the last moment, gripping the blade tightly so that my own blood could run down its edge.
"Are your hands stained now, Tamako?" I yelled as the crimson rivers began seeping into her fingers. "Has this blood come from your sword?"
Her lips began to quiver as even more drops of crimson began staining her hand. My eyes continued to narrow as her eyes began to loosen, she was beginning to accept the truth for a moment, but then her eyes began to narrow once more.
"Baka," she responded, "this sword that you are holding is yours. The blood that drips on my palm can easily be washed by all of the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes. You speak of nothing but blasphemy."
"Maybe so...," I began to close my eyes.
I could hear the sound of another curve of metal rising in the air at that moment, she was going to finish me with the Masamune, and again, I didn't flinch. A loud cry suddenly burst into our ears at that moment, it was the wailing of a young child, my child. A click of metal echoed in my ears after, the sword had come to a halt a centimeter before my shoulder.
"...but are all men really slabs of meat, Tamako?" I continued as I remained in place. "What about Ryosuke over there, is he merely another slab of meat? He is my son, but to you, what is he, just another obstacle in your quest?"
Her blade began to lower at the moment and her head began to hand low. Her fingers on both weapons began to loosen until the metal curves clattered to the floor. Tamako knew she was defeated at the moment, I could see it her cerulean blue pupils.
"I...," a translucent stream began crawling down her cheek.
"Tamako," I slowly began to wrap my arms around her tiny body, "I know your father promised you many things when he was still around, that he did, and I know he only wanted the best for you. However, I don't think he, or your brothers for that matter, would like to see you suffer over the guilt you created if you were to achieve your goal. Time will pass, and eventually, these small hands will grow, that they will, and with those hands you will be able to build a future of your own without the spilling of blood. I know you will be able to do so, Tamako, I know that is what your father really wanted from you."
"Gomen nesai," her arms began to wrap around my body a second later, "I..."
"I know you will never be able to forgive for what I had done to your family," I told her, "but for now, let us try and get along, okay?"
"Hai," she nodded.
"Arigatou, Tamako," I thanked her.
"Yurika," she suddenly blurted.
"Nani?" I said puzzled.
"Call me 'Yurika,'" she repeated. "Ever since Daddy had been arrested, all the people ridiculed me and Mommy because they knew we were Kondous. Mommy was insistent on having us keep the Kondou name, but she paid for it with her life in the end. I want to honor my daddy's name, but I don't want to go through anymore pain like we did before. So when we are in public, or if anyone asks, can you call me by this name, Masa Yurika?"
"Masa Yurika," I practiced her alias for the first time. "Okay then, Yurika," I corrected myself as I began to release her from my hold. "Ryosuke, you must be hungry, aren't you?" I quickly took the other child into my arms along with his thermos.
"Mina, can I feed him?" Yurika asked.
"Sure," I smiled as I placed the baby in her arms. "Do you know how?"
"Uh uh," she shook her head.
"It's like this," I placed the thermos in her hand and put the thermos's nipple in Ryosuke's mouth, "just hold here like this and..."
At that moment, I knew my family had gained another member, Masa Yurika, AKA, Kondou Tamako. I would finally have someone who I could really talk to and get a response to what I had just said. I knew that deep inside that Yurika could never fully forgive me for killing her brothers, but I knew that if I could make her happy, then maybe, just maybe that hate would diminish and that her brothers and father would hate me less than they would.
"Wow, you're really good at that, Yurika, that you are," I complimented her as she continued feeding her new little brother.
"Arigatou, Mina," she smiled.
Yurika, you're all grown up now, just like your brother. I can't help but wonder now in the present if you have forgiven me just a little for what I did to your family. Do you still smile like how you did when you were little, or do you now...? No, I can't say it, it's too soon. Ryosuke, Yurika, time has gone by too quickly for the three of us, I'm sure you've both forgotten so many good times we had back then. It brings a tear to my eye when I remember things such as this. What am I saying, please, just...excuse me for a moment.
Chapter 3 Liner Notes
The origin of Kondou Tamako/Masa Yurika- Kondou Tamako was a real person in history, she was the last child of Kondou Isami. She was born around 1864, but after her father was captured by the Ishin Shishi in 1868, no one really knows what became of her. There are rumors that say she was forced to become a prostitute as she grew up, while others say that she planned a rebellion against the Meiji Government but the rebellion never went through. Another rumor was that she simply became a farmer's wife when she grew up, and then lived a normal life. In this fic, I'll be following one of these rumors' path, you readers will just have to find out and see which one. Tamako's alias, Masa Yurika, is actually a tribute of sorts to two Japanese weapons. Her "family" name is obviously homage to the Masamune, while "Yurika" is homage to a Japanese spear called a "yari." Oh, and for those wondering why her family name is "Kurotara" in the prologue and "Masa" in this chapter, there's a reason why her family name is different in the prologue, you'll just have to read on why that it is.
About the Masamune- The Masamune is a legendary sword written about in many samurai novels. All legends point to its origin to the first days of the Shogunate. There were once two great swordsmiths who were brothers that lived back then, Masamune and Murasame. The swords they made were the best in all of Japan at the time, but they often argued which one was the better swordsmith. Finally, a challenge was made to see who could create a better sword. The two brothers made their best swords eventually and decided to test them out in a bamboo thicket. Murasame went first, and when he swung his sword, many leaves and trees fell before his blade's swing. Masamune followed after, only with his swing, nothing fell, not even a leaf. Some believed that the embodiment of ki rested in Masamune's sword after what had happened, others believed that Masamune's was simply a dull blade. A winner could not be decided amongst the two brothers, and so, they created more swords in the same manner. Murasame's blades were always the sharpest, while Masamune's always possessed the same ki embodiment. There was one sword, however, that both brothers did work on together at the end of their lifetimes, and that sword was known as the Muramasa. The Muramasa was a sword that had the qualities of both Murasame's and Masamune's swords, however, only one was made. We will not see the Muramasa in this fic, unfortunately, but keep your eyes peeled for we will see it in another episode.
What does "Naze" and "Baka" mean?- "Naze" can be translated into English as "why," while "baka" is the Japanese words that pertains to "stupid," "idiot," or any other words in that category.
Why doesn't Mina call Kenshin by his real name during the flashback?- That scene took place months before Mina learned Kenshin's real name, so at that time, she doesn't know that his real name is Shinta.
Next time: "She has been appearing in my dreams again, it is only a matter or time before she manifests in my life once more. As long as I do not lose control, and as long as I do not remove the barrier, that can never be. But what if an outside source tries to pull into her this world, will I be strong enough to subdue the beast?" -Himura Mina
Author's Note: I'm not sure what to say guys, maybe just the usual read and review if you like, but no flames as usual. The real plot of the story will begin to take shape in the next chapter, and more of it will also be revealed in the next chapter of "When Angels Lost Their Wings." Speaking of which, you might want to read the latest chapter of that as well since both stories' plots will be brought together sooner than you think. It will start in chapter five when both stories' plots will cross paths, so you might want to read the first few chapters so you know all the characters to the entire story. Well, with that said, I guess I'll see you all later then and I'll try to bring the next chapter up soon.