Rurouni Kenshin and Buffy are not mine. Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon would
probably have a cow or four if they knew what I was doing with their respective
intellectual properties.
Edodale
(it's a lame title, but I still can't think of anything better)
By wombat
Chapter 4
"So what's the story on him anyway?" Kaoru peered through the frosted window between
the workshop and the library. A bright pink blur was sitting at Hiko's desk again, on duty
for after-school study hall.
Hiko was crouched at his potter's wheel behind her, shaping the long neck of a vase. "On
Kenshin?" he asked, not lifting his eyes from his work. "Transfer student. His records
haven't arrived yet, but he seems a good enough lad. Very quiet, with beautiful manners,
and he's been an excellent library aide. I believe he has another job in the evenings, so he
does his homework while he's here during the day."
"Are all of his shirts like that?"
"As it seems to be his only shirt, I believe that would be a true statement. I've never seen
him wear anything else. But while it's a bit the worse for wear, his clothing is always
perfectly clean and neat." Hiko shrugged, slicing the vase away from the wheel and
lifting it to a drying rack.
Megumi slipped in from the hallway. "Kaoru, I stopped by the gym first to see if you
were at cheerleading practice, but you weren't there. Obviously. Being here and all."
"They said that since I didn't come to the second and third rounds of tryouts, I wasn't
eligible to be on the team. But I should really be concentrating on more important things
anyway. Do you need special supplies to make ofuda?"
"I wrote out all of these during math class. Do we need more?" She brought out a small
sheaf of them from her bookbag.
Hiko's stern expression was marred by the smudge of clay on his nose. "While defeating
Battousai is certainly important, I must insist that none of you neglect your educations."
Megumi looked hurt. "I did all the problem sets for this month already anyway. But are
these enough, do you think? Where should we put them?"
"You'll need one for every outside door of your house, and perhaps the windows as well.
We ought to tuck some around the school entrances as well. Will Mr. Harris be joining
us?"
"Sano said he wanted to get some supplies first. The SCA chapter at UC Edodale had a
garage sale over the summer, and he bought some of their old stuff to play with. I don't
think he's hurt himself with it yet."
A tumbling clank thumped down outside. "Ow!" Sano said, and opened the hall door by
pushing the box of supplies off his foot. "I haven't figured all this stuff out yet, especially
this cranky gear set, but something in here must be useful."
Under the cover of Sano's voice, the light knocks on the other side of the room were
barely audible, but all of them noticed when Kenshin opened the library door. "I beg your
pardon, but I thought I heard a noise-- oro!" he exclaimed. They all followed his startled
gaze to the interlocked chunk of metal Sano was still holding up.
"Um..." Sano said.
As if in a trance, Kenshin reached out. Sano shrugged and handed the thing to him. He
rapidly reoriented it, pushing a gear or two back into place and checking for grit between
their teeth. "Crossbow mechanism," he explained. "The bow lathe goes through this slot
in front. The bowstring should thread behind the catch here and cock back with the crank,
though a pull lever is usually faster. The bolts are loaded along the stock, with a target-
sight down at the end, and the release trigger would be over here. Are the other parts in
the box?"
"Um..."
Megumi quickly said, "Oh, this is all just scrap metal he's planning to melt down for an
art project."
Kenshin looked a little crestfallen and handed it back. His voice, too, fell back into polite
circumlocution. "Oro. If you don't mind my saying so, it seems a shame to destroy things
which a craftsman took so much care to create. But if there's no further use for them, it's
probably just as well. I apologize for intruding." He disappeared back into the library
again.
"Well, that explains it," Sano said, settling back onto his haunches. "He's an SCA type.
No wonder he talks funny."
Hiko leaned forward and took the crossbow mechanism from him again. "Be that as it
may, this sounds like one of our better options. Should we ask him to help reassemble it,
do you think?"
"No!" Sano immediately said, and Megumi bit her lip but didn't say anything.
Kaoru slowly shook her head. "I don't think so. This is bad enough as it is. We shouldn't
get people involved in this who don't have to be. I don't even feel right about getting you
two mixed up in this," she added to her friends.
"We want to help. We can't leave you alone with this, can we?"
Thoughtfully, Hiko examined the mechanism. "Do you wish me to speak to your mother
and brother on your behalf, then?"
Kaoru blinked. "Why are you asking me?"
"Because in a certain light, as your father's heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school, you
are now the head of your family. We already know Battousai isn't interested in killing
your mother, or he would have done so already. He may no longer have any interest in
any of you now that he has the sakabatou, but if he does, he'll come for you first."
"I don't want to scare Mom or Yahiko if I don't have to. I guess he might still take them
hostage...."
"But he doesn't have a reason anymore," Megumi said. "At least, not that we know of. It's
not like Kaoru is the only person who can use the sakabatou against him if we get it back,
right?"
"Technically, no. But she has the best right to use it, on several counts. Meanwhile, it
looks as if the other crossbow parts are in here after all, if these bits of wood at the
bottom are as I hope. I doubt we'll be able to build properly aerodynamic bolts by tonight,
but let's begin with these chopsticks and a pencil-sharpener."
---
Kaoru pushed the rice around in her bowl, trying not to look at the empty place at their
dinner table. "Mom?"
"Yes, sweetie?" Joyce's wounds had healed without outward scars, but she still looked
tired and careworn. Kaoru and Yahiko were far too young to take their father's place at
the dojo, so it remained shuttered and empty. Joyce had started work at the Akabeko
instead, leaving her exhausted by the end of the day. Nevertheless, she summoned a smile
for her daughter. "What is it?"
"I'm going out to a movie tonight with Sano and Megumi. Is that okay?"
"It's not anything weird or violent, I hope."
"No, of course not. You know me, nothing but wholesome family entertainment."
Joyce looked slightly skeptical, but didn't protest. "Just be careful. Do you need a ride to
the theatre?"
"They'll come pick me up in about an hour. We'll just walk." With an effort, Kaoru
finished off the last of her rice. She hadn't been hungry at all in the first place, and now it
felt like her stomach was nervously bunching up into one big onigiri. "Yahiko, do you
want my fish? I can't eat any more."
Yahiko silently took and ate it. He'd been very quiet recently, except for the daily noise
of his shinai denting the tree out back. But when asked, he never wanted to talk about
anything, so all Kaoru and her mother could do was wait him out.
"Are we all done now? Help me clear the table, kids. Whose turn is it to wash up?"
---
Sano and Megumi came by just before sunset. As soon as they were clear of the house,
Kaoru asked, "Where's Mr. Hiko?"
"He said he'll meet us by the cemetery," Sano said. "He dropped us off around the corner
from here. Megumi was all squeezed into the back with what looked like the Marquis de
Sade's gardening tools."
"I wonder if shielding the weapon blades with aluminum foil would work," Megumi
mused. "I mean, is it just that they're immune to iron, or that silver is the only thing that
will hurt them? Who knew fighting the undead could get this expensive? Though it's not
like we can get a set of monogrammed sterling shuriken from Tiffany's anyway."
"Don't tell me we sharpened all those wooden chopsticks for nothing," Sano said. "I
brought my best pointy fishbones, too."
"There he is," Kaoru said, quickening her pace. Hiko's car was pulled up just inside the
cemetery gates, and he had already unloaded Megumi's seatmates onto the top of the
wall. "What are all of these, anyway?"
Hiko surveyed them slowly, and then his armory. "Unfortunately for us, the black blades
used by our chief opponents are live steel, and will cut through most of the wood or silver
weapons we can use against them. I do not advise a direct confrontation with them at this
time." He held each of their gazes in turn until they nodded, one by one.
"But in case you should meet with them, you can catch the blade and hold it off with a
hachiwara or a sai." He moved from the two- and three-pronged daggers to the crossbar-
bladed spears."If we'd had the crossbow ready in time, these kamayari would have been
good for holding them off at a distance while firing, but that would require a two-person
team.
"I think we'll more likely meet with their flesh puppets first. They'll have much worse
skills and weapons, if any at all. The students' bokken and shinai at the dojo didn't
damage them much, but I don't know whether steel will cut them as well as silver." He
pulled out one last item from his car trunk before shutting it, and hung the katana at his
waist beneath his billowing trenchcoat. His expression was a strange blend of grimness
and glee that would have made any proper librarian drop dead on the spot.
"I was able to obtain some spools of silver wire from a jeweller's supply shop-- at a
ruinous cost relative to a librarian's salary, I might add-- and used them to completely
wrap my blade. It won't fit into the saya this way, of course, but the cutting edge is
protected by the wire."
Kaoru took a long look at the sword, completely encased in tight gleaming coils. "It looks
like a Slinky ate it."
"But at the moment," Hiko continued, "I think our best tactic may be metaphysical
instead. Stab Megumi's ofuda into the flesh puppets with the chopsticks. If that isn't
enough to exorcise them, we'll go to Plan B." From his glove compartment, he pulled out
a bottle of sake and a box of bite-sized onigiri.
Sano blinked at him in the twilight. "And Plan B is we have a picnic? Why do they have
pine needles sticking out of them?"
"Ooh," Megumi said. "Do you think it'll work? I mean, I feel pretty good about Inari, but
I don't know how much Inari likes me back, and this is awfully informal."
"Well, if your patron won't accept the offering and protect us, we'll have to fall back on
Plan C."
---
The full moon was beginning to rise through the trees as they walked around the
cemetery grounds. Tightly gripping the hilt of the hachiwara stuck through his belt, Sano
groused, "I cannot believe that Plan C is Flaming Rice Balls of Death."
"Plan B could still work. At the shrine, the stuff we usually offer Inari is rice, salt, water,
fir twigs, and sake. This would have all of them in one tidy package, kind of like the fast-
food Happy Meal for kami."
"And maybe Inari will like them better if they're all toasty. Anyway, I guess the zombie
guys should burn if they're not too soggy," Kaoru said. "Or does anyone know if
embalming fluid is flammable?"
"I think that falls under the category of things I never wanted to know in the first place
and will forget as soon as possible if I learn them by accident, but thank you for asking."
At the head of the line, Hiko stopped, causing everyone else to nearly miss running into
each other. He hushed them, pointing beyond a small cluster of trees ahead. In the
moonlit glade, one of the graves was heaving up from within itself, a tattered hand
reaching up through the sod.
"I will never watch Caddyshack the same way again," Sano declared. "Should we start
going through the alphabet? Who's our volunteer to try Plan A first?"
The creature had its head and both arms out now, but was still struggling to free its torso.
Kaoru ran forward and stabbed a chopstick into it, pinning an ofuda against one jellied
eyeball. It stopped moving, but remained frozen in place.
The others caught up with her almost immediately. "Did it work? I've never field-tested
them before, you know. Next time I'd better use waterproof ink. It's smearing all ickily."
The creature twitched in emphasis. "Um, I don't think it's really truly dead yet," Megumi
said more nervously. "Hand me a rice ball?"
Hiko had already poured sake into the onigiri box, soaking the contents. He plucked one
out and handed it to her; she made a brief chant over it and slapped it against the
creature's forehead. The corpse immediately sagged backwards, collapsing like a dropped
puppet. Megumi looked happy. "Inari must like me back after all."
Sano leaned to Kaoru's ear. "Fill me in on this Inari business, will you?"
"You're kidding, right? You know, the fox kami who she does the miko gig for?"
Standing between them and Megumi, Hiko muttered back at Kaoru, "For whom."
She ignored that. "Patron of rice harvests, swordsmiths, all kinds of good stuff. Don't you
pay any attention when you go to the shrines?"
"Never been to one." Sano flipped a fishbone in the air. "You know why I make these
things? I call them my Nietzsche Fish."
"You can call them your sweet babboo if you want to, as long as they work as well as her
way."
Megumi was examining the body more closely. "Oh, Kaoru. It has an X cut into its face. I
hope it wasn't one of your father's students."
"We went to their funerals. Most of them were cremated. And you know, this would
probably be so much easier if more people would seriously consider that option when
making their funeral plans, but no--"
Hiko swept them back to silence with a gesture. In a low voice, he said, "There may be
more of them up ahead. I can hear something walking through the shrubbery."
"Where?" Kaoru followed his pointing finger. "Oh," she said, and was sorry she'd asked.
In fact, there were several somethings, perhaps five or six of them. Everyone exploded
into motion: a blur of crackling paper as Kaoru stabbed into the squishy resistance of
rotting flesh; Megumi screaming her invocation to Inari; Sano striking a match to light
the protruding bundle of pine needles like a fuse and hurling the sake-soaked rice into a
zombie's face as a mask of flame. And a short distance from them, Hiko drawing his
sword and casually whipping it through another creature's body, exploding it like a water
balloon.
Another minute or two of this and suddenly, it was all over. Hiko rejoined them, blotting
the blood from the wire-wrapped crevices around his blade with a fine linen
handkerchief. When he was finished, the bloody handkerchief went into a plastic bag to
keep his pocket tidy. Megumi was in awe. "Wow. You didn't get any of their guts on you
at all. How do you keep your coat that clean?"
He still had that unlibrarian look on his face, only more so. "Years of practice," he said.
"I'm going to take a good look at what's left of these fellows. Wait here." He walked
around the clearing, bending to examine each pile of remains, but remained well in sight.
Relaxing a little, Kaoru turned to Sano. "So, how are your fishies?"
"Guess they'll have to come out and play next time. I could make them out of silver if I
had the materials."
"We could try electroplating them," Megumi suggested. "That would be lots cheaper.
How are we on the rest of our ammo?"
"Let's see, we still have plenty of ofuda, but only a few rice balls left. Sano, you didn't
just eat one, did you?"
He spat out a pine needle. "I skipped dinner, okay? But they're getting a little soggy in
there."
Kaoru poked a finger into the box. "Yeah, they're starting to come apart. That's not good.
Megumi, do you think Inari would mind getting his rice as mochi? It would hold together
better next time."
"Is there going to be a next time? Well, we still have to see what happens this time."
Megumi contemplated the soggy rice. "Mochi has about the same basic daily nutrition as
real entire rice, but I don't really know if Inari would be okay with it. If I'd known Mr.
Hiko wanted to try something like this, I would've made kitsune-zushi instead."
They looked around them again. Like the rice, the grass around them had turned soggy,
but not from sake. "This is a real mess," Sano said. "I guess there really are advantages to
the Flaming Rice Balls of Death-- no cleanup afterward, just a lingering cafeteria smell."
"Ew."
Hiko was at the very edge of the clearing now, half-obscured by the shadow of the trees.
"It looks pretty spooky over there. Think he'll be okay?"
"Megumi, you realize you're asking this about a man we've just seen Cuisinarting
opponents so thoroughly that there are no remaining chunks of ass large enough to kick."
"Well, okay, what I was really wondering was are we okay out here, what with running
low on kami chow. That mostly leaves us with ofuda, and weapons that are mostly meant
for blocking other weapons instead of stopping someone who's trying to bludgeon you
with what's left of their arms."
"Good point." Sano pulled the hachiwara from his belt anyway. Kaoru tested the balance
of her sai, holding it up by the end of the long main blade, then returned it to her side and
shook more chopsticks out of her sleeve in case she needed to throw them, with or
without ofuda.
Suddenly, two more creatures burst from the shrubbery, moving fast. But even as Hiko
raced back to their side, the three friends watched in amazement as they hurtled right past
them and back among the trees. "Whoo," Sano said. "We must have scared them good."
But Megumi shook her head. "The ones we just fought didn't get scared at all. They just
kept fighting like machines, and how would they have talked to these guys? They're sure
going somewhere in a hurry, though."
"And I think we'd best follow." Without waiting for agreement, Hiko raced in pursuit,
trenchcoat billowing out behind him. Megumi made a little squeak as Kaoru yanked her
arm, all of them running into the night.
---
When they caught up with Hiko, he had stopped at the edge of another clearing and was
casually leaning against a tree. He extended one arm to block them from tumbling into
the moonlight and betraying themselves. "This is where they were coming, I think. Those
few we encountered must have run into us by accident."
They were at the top of a ridge, with a good view of the tumult below. The clearing was
really a wide, dry gully, narrowing toward the opposite side, where the creatures'
attention was focused. At least ten of them were clambering and snarling in a tight bunch,
but it was obvious there had been more of them before. Their quarry was all but
obscured, its desperate defense visible only by inference from the attackers' movements.
A zombie arm arced out, severed at the elbow, but crawled back toward the fray.
"Shouldn't we help?" Kaoru whispered urgently, leaning forward.
Sano pulled her back into the shadows. "I don't think 'we' can really do anything unless
Hiko wants to take on all of them by himself."
"Oh, not by myself precisely." He drew the half-empty bottle of sake from another pocket
of his trenchcoat, poured in the remaining sludge of loose rice and pine needles, and
stuffed his bloody handkerchief into its neck before holding it out to Megumi. "Inari no
miko, if you would be so kind...?"
A little doubtfully, she placed her hands on the bottle and closed her eyes, lips moving
silently, then stepped back again. Hiko lit a match, touched it to the handkerchief, and
hurled the bottle into the gully. It shattered like a fiery, glittering dandelion puff. The
glass and flames flew thickly into the attackers alone, their limbs flailing about in a last
attempt to reach their prey. Poised in a small bubble of protection in their midst, a lone
figure stood peering up at their ridge, the long slender shape of a katana trailing from one
hand. As they descended into the gully, the defender came to meet them, carefully
walking around the burning carcasses still flopping about in their own embers. A wind
had picked up in the sky, and clouds were dimming the moon.
"Damn, you're lucky we were here," Sano called out at a distance.
There was a slight pause, a few paces walked closer together until the low reply could be
heard clearly. "I am very much obliged to you for your assistance, Mr. Harris, and indeed
to all of you. Truly, I don't deserve to--" The figure swayed, and leaned heavily on the
sword.
"Hey," Megumi said, reaching out. "You're hurt, aren't you? Should we take you to a
hospital? Can you get home by yourself?"
"And how do you know my name, anyway?" Sano asked.
As all of them converged, the moon streamed free of the clouds. Kenshin smiled at them
gently, his face still partly shadowed by a lacy veil of his own blood. "I regret that I am
not as memorable to you as Miss Kamiya-Summers," he said, and collapsed at their feet.
Megumi knelt to roll him face-up, off his sword. He lay unmoving in her lap, his shirt
dappling from pink to red. "Oh no, he's passed out. He's still breathing okay, but I don't
know how much blood he's already lost. We have to help him." She looked up into the
sudden silence. "Don't we?"
So she saw what the other three were already fixed on. Kaoru had lifted Kenshin's sword
and shown it to Hiko, who had drawn out a fresh handkerchief to clean it. Even polished
free of blood and ash, the surface shining smooth in the bright moonlight, the metal was
jet-black.
Hiko traced a finger along the braided hilt, up to the single jewel that made up the
kashira, the cap at its end. "This is one of the demon blades, the soul-destroyers," he said.
"And if my eyes do not deceive me in this light, this ruby marks it as the sword of
Battousai."
"I knew it! Never liked him in the first place."
"Sano, he can't be Battousai," Megumi protested. "I mean, come on, just look at him! Mr.
Hiko said those people could only be hurt by the sakabatou, didn't you? And why would
those creatures be attacking him if you said one of his followers made them?"
"The sakabatou was designed to banish them back to hell, but perhaps we have our
answer as to whether they can be hurt by anything else. Those creatures are not made of
steel, after all, just flesh and blood. As for the rest, I imagine we'd best ask him." Having
plunged Battousai's sword into the ground to stand upright, Hiko was already unwinding
a length of silver wire from his own. "Wrap this around his wrists," he told Megumi, and
then, "No, wait a moment." Thoughtfully, he poked Kenshin's limp arm with the exposed
steel tip of his blade. It cut him easily, adding another trickle of blood.
"I told you," Megumi said. "Here, take your stupid wire back. See, he's human. A real,
live, very hurt human. So what do we do with him? Do we just clean him up and take him
home? Maybe Battousai sent the Evil Dead after him to get his sword back. We can't just
leave him here."
"Oh yes we can. I'm in favor of leaving him here. Anyone else on the leaving-here
bandwagon?"
Kaoru had not spoken in all this time. Hiko put a hand on her shoulder. "I think it should
be your decision."
"I think-- " she said, and stopped.
"Yes?"
"I think it's getting really late. We should go home before our parents get worried."
"But we can't just leave him here like this! Look," Megumi said, planting a crumpled
ofuda on him, "he's not evil, he's not undead! He can't possibly be Battousai!" Kenshin
stirred a little at the name, his chest heaving in a weak cough beneath the slip of paper.
Hiko shook his head and removed his trenchcoat, loosely folding it over one arm and
handing it to Kaoru before bending to sling Kenshin over one shoulder. "Megumi, bring
his sword. When we reach my car, give me all your remaining ofuda. As his wounds
don't appear life-threatening, I'll take him back to school and lock him into my workshop.
Meet me there in the morning."
-----
Ooogety. Finally worked out most of the logistics of what's going on with Kenshin and
his friends from the past. Unfortunately, none of it is going to make it into this chapter,
which is already too dang huge.
Big fat disclaimer: practically everything I know about Shinto has been acquired through
recent online research. I've been trying to walk the line between keeping details accurate
enough to not be glaringly wrong, versus being just accurate enough that the divergences
are deeply impious. I have no idea whether I've fallen off or which side, and offer
apologies to anyone whom I may have inadvertently offended by misappropriating their
religion.
SCA: the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group. See sca.org for
more information.
Inari: Kaoru explained the basics, though technically it's not true that Inari IS a fox any
more than the Holy Spirit IS a dove; they're just almost always linked. More info can be
found online, frex http://community-2.webtv.net/TerMcC/Inari/ , which has lots of
excellent-looking further links.
kitsune-zushi: deep-fried tofu stuffed with sweet rice. The color and shape are
reminiscent of fox ears. Supposedly, Inari really digs kitsune-zushi. The more common
name for them actually is inari-zushi.
Do not attempt Flaming Rice Balls of Death at home. They have not been tested on
animals, minerals, or vegetables and are purely hypothetical as of this juncture.
probably have a cow or four if they knew what I was doing with their respective
intellectual properties.
Edodale
(it's a lame title, but I still can't think of anything better)
By wombat
Chapter 4
"So what's the story on him anyway?" Kaoru peered through the frosted window between
the workshop and the library. A bright pink blur was sitting at Hiko's desk again, on duty
for after-school study hall.
Hiko was crouched at his potter's wheel behind her, shaping the long neck of a vase. "On
Kenshin?" he asked, not lifting his eyes from his work. "Transfer student. His records
haven't arrived yet, but he seems a good enough lad. Very quiet, with beautiful manners,
and he's been an excellent library aide. I believe he has another job in the evenings, so he
does his homework while he's here during the day."
"Are all of his shirts like that?"
"As it seems to be his only shirt, I believe that would be a true statement. I've never seen
him wear anything else. But while it's a bit the worse for wear, his clothing is always
perfectly clean and neat." Hiko shrugged, slicing the vase away from the wheel and
lifting it to a drying rack.
Megumi slipped in from the hallway. "Kaoru, I stopped by the gym first to see if you
were at cheerleading practice, but you weren't there. Obviously. Being here and all."
"They said that since I didn't come to the second and third rounds of tryouts, I wasn't
eligible to be on the team. But I should really be concentrating on more important things
anyway. Do you need special supplies to make ofuda?"
"I wrote out all of these during math class. Do we need more?" She brought out a small
sheaf of them from her bookbag.
Hiko's stern expression was marred by the smudge of clay on his nose. "While defeating
Battousai is certainly important, I must insist that none of you neglect your educations."
Megumi looked hurt. "I did all the problem sets for this month already anyway. But are
these enough, do you think? Where should we put them?"
"You'll need one for every outside door of your house, and perhaps the windows as well.
We ought to tuck some around the school entrances as well. Will Mr. Harris be joining
us?"
"Sano said he wanted to get some supplies first. The SCA chapter at UC Edodale had a
garage sale over the summer, and he bought some of their old stuff to play with. I don't
think he's hurt himself with it yet."
A tumbling clank thumped down outside. "Ow!" Sano said, and opened the hall door by
pushing the box of supplies off his foot. "I haven't figured all this stuff out yet, especially
this cranky gear set, but something in here must be useful."
Under the cover of Sano's voice, the light knocks on the other side of the room were
barely audible, but all of them noticed when Kenshin opened the library door. "I beg your
pardon, but I thought I heard a noise-- oro!" he exclaimed. They all followed his startled
gaze to the interlocked chunk of metal Sano was still holding up.
"Um..." Sano said.
As if in a trance, Kenshin reached out. Sano shrugged and handed the thing to him. He
rapidly reoriented it, pushing a gear or two back into place and checking for grit between
their teeth. "Crossbow mechanism," he explained. "The bow lathe goes through this slot
in front. The bowstring should thread behind the catch here and cock back with the crank,
though a pull lever is usually faster. The bolts are loaded along the stock, with a target-
sight down at the end, and the release trigger would be over here. Are the other parts in
the box?"
"Um..."
Megumi quickly said, "Oh, this is all just scrap metal he's planning to melt down for an
art project."
Kenshin looked a little crestfallen and handed it back. His voice, too, fell back into polite
circumlocution. "Oro. If you don't mind my saying so, it seems a shame to destroy things
which a craftsman took so much care to create. But if there's no further use for them, it's
probably just as well. I apologize for intruding." He disappeared back into the library
again.
"Well, that explains it," Sano said, settling back onto his haunches. "He's an SCA type.
No wonder he talks funny."
Hiko leaned forward and took the crossbow mechanism from him again. "Be that as it
may, this sounds like one of our better options. Should we ask him to help reassemble it,
do you think?"
"No!" Sano immediately said, and Megumi bit her lip but didn't say anything.
Kaoru slowly shook her head. "I don't think so. This is bad enough as it is. We shouldn't
get people involved in this who don't have to be. I don't even feel right about getting you
two mixed up in this," she added to her friends.
"We want to help. We can't leave you alone with this, can we?"
Thoughtfully, Hiko examined the mechanism. "Do you wish me to speak to your mother
and brother on your behalf, then?"
Kaoru blinked. "Why are you asking me?"
"Because in a certain light, as your father's heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school, you
are now the head of your family. We already know Battousai isn't interested in killing
your mother, or he would have done so already. He may no longer have any interest in
any of you now that he has the sakabatou, but if he does, he'll come for you first."
"I don't want to scare Mom or Yahiko if I don't have to. I guess he might still take them
hostage...."
"But he doesn't have a reason anymore," Megumi said. "At least, not that we know of. It's
not like Kaoru is the only person who can use the sakabatou against him if we get it back,
right?"
"Technically, no. But she has the best right to use it, on several counts. Meanwhile, it
looks as if the other crossbow parts are in here after all, if these bits of wood at the
bottom are as I hope. I doubt we'll be able to build properly aerodynamic bolts by tonight,
but let's begin with these chopsticks and a pencil-sharpener."
---
Kaoru pushed the rice around in her bowl, trying not to look at the empty place at their
dinner table. "Mom?"
"Yes, sweetie?" Joyce's wounds had healed without outward scars, but she still looked
tired and careworn. Kaoru and Yahiko were far too young to take their father's place at
the dojo, so it remained shuttered and empty. Joyce had started work at the Akabeko
instead, leaving her exhausted by the end of the day. Nevertheless, she summoned a smile
for her daughter. "What is it?"
"I'm going out to a movie tonight with Sano and Megumi. Is that okay?"
"It's not anything weird or violent, I hope."
"No, of course not. You know me, nothing but wholesome family entertainment."
Joyce looked slightly skeptical, but didn't protest. "Just be careful. Do you need a ride to
the theatre?"
"They'll come pick me up in about an hour. We'll just walk." With an effort, Kaoru
finished off the last of her rice. She hadn't been hungry at all in the first place, and now it
felt like her stomach was nervously bunching up into one big onigiri. "Yahiko, do you
want my fish? I can't eat any more."
Yahiko silently took and ate it. He'd been very quiet recently, except for the daily noise
of his shinai denting the tree out back. But when asked, he never wanted to talk about
anything, so all Kaoru and her mother could do was wait him out.
"Are we all done now? Help me clear the table, kids. Whose turn is it to wash up?"
---
Sano and Megumi came by just before sunset. As soon as they were clear of the house,
Kaoru asked, "Where's Mr. Hiko?"
"He said he'll meet us by the cemetery," Sano said. "He dropped us off around the corner
from here. Megumi was all squeezed into the back with what looked like the Marquis de
Sade's gardening tools."
"I wonder if shielding the weapon blades with aluminum foil would work," Megumi
mused. "I mean, is it just that they're immune to iron, or that silver is the only thing that
will hurt them? Who knew fighting the undead could get this expensive? Though it's not
like we can get a set of monogrammed sterling shuriken from Tiffany's anyway."
"Don't tell me we sharpened all those wooden chopsticks for nothing," Sano said. "I
brought my best pointy fishbones, too."
"There he is," Kaoru said, quickening her pace. Hiko's car was pulled up just inside the
cemetery gates, and he had already unloaded Megumi's seatmates onto the top of the
wall. "What are all of these, anyway?"
Hiko surveyed them slowly, and then his armory. "Unfortunately for us, the black blades
used by our chief opponents are live steel, and will cut through most of the wood or silver
weapons we can use against them. I do not advise a direct confrontation with them at this
time." He held each of their gazes in turn until they nodded, one by one.
"But in case you should meet with them, you can catch the blade and hold it off with a
hachiwara or a sai." He moved from the two- and three-pronged daggers to the crossbar-
bladed spears."If we'd had the crossbow ready in time, these kamayari would have been
good for holding them off at a distance while firing, but that would require a two-person
team.
"I think we'll more likely meet with their flesh puppets first. They'll have much worse
skills and weapons, if any at all. The students' bokken and shinai at the dojo didn't
damage them much, but I don't know whether steel will cut them as well as silver." He
pulled out one last item from his car trunk before shutting it, and hung the katana at his
waist beneath his billowing trenchcoat. His expression was a strange blend of grimness
and glee that would have made any proper librarian drop dead on the spot.
"I was able to obtain some spools of silver wire from a jeweller's supply shop-- at a
ruinous cost relative to a librarian's salary, I might add-- and used them to completely
wrap my blade. It won't fit into the saya this way, of course, but the cutting edge is
protected by the wire."
Kaoru took a long look at the sword, completely encased in tight gleaming coils. "It looks
like a Slinky ate it."
"But at the moment," Hiko continued, "I think our best tactic may be metaphysical
instead. Stab Megumi's ofuda into the flesh puppets with the chopsticks. If that isn't
enough to exorcise them, we'll go to Plan B." From his glove compartment, he pulled out
a bottle of sake and a box of bite-sized onigiri.
Sano blinked at him in the twilight. "And Plan B is we have a picnic? Why do they have
pine needles sticking out of them?"
"Ooh," Megumi said. "Do you think it'll work? I mean, I feel pretty good about Inari, but
I don't know how much Inari likes me back, and this is awfully informal."
"Well, if your patron won't accept the offering and protect us, we'll have to fall back on
Plan C."
---
The full moon was beginning to rise through the trees as they walked around the
cemetery grounds. Tightly gripping the hilt of the hachiwara stuck through his belt, Sano
groused, "I cannot believe that Plan C is Flaming Rice Balls of Death."
"Plan B could still work. At the shrine, the stuff we usually offer Inari is rice, salt, water,
fir twigs, and sake. This would have all of them in one tidy package, kind of like the fast-
food Happy Meal for kami."
"And maybe Inari will like them better if they're all toasty. Anyway, I guess the zombie
guys should burn if they're not too soggy," Kaoru said. "Or does anyone know if
embalming fluid is flammable?"
"I think that falls under the category of things I never wanted to know in the first place
and will forget as soon as possible if I learn them by accident, but thank you for asking."
At the head of the line, Hiko stopped, causing everyone else to nearly miss running into
each other. He hushed them, pointing beyond a small cluster of trees ahead. In the
moonlit glade, one of the graves was heaving up from within itself, a tattered hand
reaching up through the sod.
"I will never watch Caddyshack the same way again," Sano declared. "Should we start
going through the alphabet? Who's our volunteer to try Plan A first?"
The creature had its head and both arms out now, but was still struggling to free its torso.
Kaoru ran forward and stabbed a chopstick into it, pinning an ofuda against one jellied
eyeball. It stopped moving, but remained frozen in place.
The others caught up with her almost immediately. "Did it work? I've never field-tested
them before, you know. Next time I'd better use waterproof ink. It's smearing all ickily."
The creature twitched in emphasis. "Um, I don't think it's really truly dead yet," Megumi
said more nervously. "Hand me a rice ball?"
Hiko had already poured sake into the onigiri box, soaking the contents. He plucked one
out and handed it to her; she made a brief chant over it and slapped it against the
creature's forehead. The corpse immediately sagged backwards, collapsing like a dropped
puppet. Megumi looked happy. "Inari must like me back after all."
Sano leaned to Kaoru's ear. "Fill me in on this Inari business, will you?"
"You're kidding, right? You know, the fox kami who she does the miko gig for?"
Standing between them and Megumi, Hiko muttered back at Kaoru, "For whom."
She ignored that. "Patron of rice harvests, swordsmiths, all kinds of good stuff. Don't you
pay any attention when you go to the shrines?"
"Never been to one." Sano flipped a fishbone in the air. "You know why I make these
things? I call them my Nietzsche Fish."
"You can call them your sweet babboo if you want to, as long as they work as well as her
way."
Megumi was examining the body more closely. "Oh, Kaoru. It has an X cut into its face. I
hope it wasn't one of your father's students."
"We went to their funerals. Most of them were cremated. And you know, this would
probably be so much easier if more people would seriously consider that option when
making their funeral plans, but no--"
Hiko swept them back to silence with a gesture. In a low voice, he said, "There may be
more of them up ahead. I can hear something walking through the shrubbery."
"Where?" Kaoru followed his pointing finger. "Oh," she said, and was sorry she'd asked.
In fact, there were several somethings, perhaps five or six of them. Everyone exploded
into motion: a blur of crackling paper as Kaoru stabbed into the squishy resistance of
rotting flesh; Megumi screaming her invocation to Inari; Sano striking a match to light
the protruding bundle of pine needles like a fuse and hurling the sake-soaked rice into a
zombie's face as a mask of flame. And a short distance from them, Hiko drawing his
sword and casually whipping it through another creature's body, exploding it like a water
balloon.
Another minute or two of this and suddenly, it was all over. Hiko rejoined them, blotting
the blood from the wire-wrapped crevices around his blade with a fine linen
handkerchief. When he was finished, the bloody handkerchief went into a plastic bag to
keep his pocket tidy. Megumi was in awe. "Wow. You didn't get any of their guts on you
at all. How do you keep your coat that clean?"
He still had that unlibrarian look on his face, only more so. "Years of practice," he said.
"I'm going to take a good look at what's left of these fellows. Wait here." He walked
around the clearing, bending to examine each pile of remains, but remained well in sight.
Relaxing a little, Kaoru turned to Sano. "So, how are your fishies?"
"Guess they'll have to come out and play next time. I could make them out of silver if I
had the materials."
"We could try electroplating them," Megumi suggested. "That would be lots cheaper.
How are we on the rest of our ammo?"
"Let's see, we still have plenty of ofuda, but only a few rice balls left. Sano, you didn't
just eat one, did you?"
He spat out a pine needle. "I skipped dinner, okay? But they're getting a little soggy in
there."
Kaoru poked a finger into the box. "Yeah, they're starting to come apart. That's not good.
Megumi, do you think Inari would mind getting his rice as mochi? It would hold together
better next time."
"Is there going to be a next time? Well, we still have to see what happens this time."
Megumi contemplated the soggy rice. "Mochi has about the same basic daily nutrition as
real entire rice, but I don't really know if Inari would be okay with it. If I'd known Mr.
Hiko wanted to try something like this, I would've made kitsune-zushi instead."
They looked around them again. Like the rice, the grass around them had turned soggy,
but not from sake. "This is a real mess," Sano said. "I guess there really are advantages to
the Flaming Rice Balls of Death-- no cleanup afterward, just a lingering cafeteria smell."
"Ew."
Hiko was at the very edge of the clearing now, half-obscured by the shadow of the trees.
"It looks pretty spooky over there. Think he'll be okay?"
"Megumi, you realize you're asking this about a man we've just seen Cuisinarting
opponents so thoroughly that there are no remaining chunks of ass large enough to kick."
"Well, okay, what I was really wondering was are we okay out here, what with running
low on kami chow. That mostly leaves us with ofuda, and weapons that are mostly meant
for blocking other weapons instead of stopping someone who's trying to bludgeon you
with what's left of their arms."
"Good point." Sano pulled the hachiwara from his belt anyway. Kaoru tested the balance
of her sai, holding it up by the end of the long main blade, then returned it to her side and
shook more chopsticks out of her sleeve in case she needed to throw them, with or
without ofuda.
Suddenly, two more creatures burst from the shrubbery, moving fast. But even as Hiko
raced back to their side, the three friends watched in amazement as they hurtled right past
them and back among the trees. "Whoo," Sano said. "We must have scared them good."
But Megumi shook her head. "The ones we just fought didn't get scared at all. They just
kept fighting like machines, and how would they have talked to these guys? They're sure
going somewhere in a hurry, though."
"And I think we'd best follow." Without waiting for agreement, Hiko raced in pursuit,
trenchcoat billowing out behind him. Megumi made a little squeak as Kaoru yanked her
arm, all of them running into the night.
---
When they caught up with Hiko, he had stopped at the edge of another clearing and was
casually leaning against a tree. He extended one arm to block them from tumbling into
the moonlight and betraying themselves. "This is where they were coming, I think. Those
few we encountered must have run into us by accident."
They were at the top of a ridge, with a good view of the tumult below. The clearing was
really a wide, dry gully, narrowing toward the opposite side, where the creatures'
attention was focused. At least ten of them were clambering and snarling in a tight bunch,
but it was obvious there had been more of them before. Their quarry was all but
obscured, its desperate defense visible only by inference from the attackers' movements.
A zombie arm arced out, severed at the elbow, but crawled back toward the fray.
"Shouldn't we help?" Kaoru whispered urgently, leaning forward.
Sano pulled her back into the shadows. "I don't think 'we' can really do anything unless
Hiko wants to take on all of them by himself."
"Oh, not by myself precisely." He drew the half-empty bottle of sake from another pocket
of his trenchcoat, poured in the remaining sludge of loose rice and pine needles, and
stuffed his bloody handkerchief into its neck before holding it out to Megumi. "Inari no
miko, if you would be so kind...?"
A little doubtfully, she placed her hands on the bottle and closed her eyes, lips moving
silently, then stepped back again. Hiko lit a match, touched it to the handkerchief, and
hurled the bottle into the gully. It shattered like a fiery, glittering dandelion puff. The
glass and flames flew thickly into the attackers alone, their limbs flailing about in a last
attempt to reach their prey. Poised in a small bubble of protection in their midst, a lone
figure stood peering up at their ridge, the long slender shape of a katana trailing from one
hand. As they descended into the gully, the defender came to meet them, carefully
walking around the burning carcasses still flopping about in their own embers. A wind
had picked up in the sky, and clouds were dimming the moon.
"Damn, you're lucky we were here," Sano called out at a distance.
There was a slight pause, a few paces walked closer together until the low reply could be
heard clearly. "I am very much obliged to you for your assistance, Mr. Harris, and indeed
to all of you. Truly, I don't deserve to--" The figure swayed, and leaned heavily on the
sword.
"Hey," Megumi said, reaching out. "You're hurt, aren't you? Should we take you to a
hospital? Can you get home by yourself?"
"And how do you know my name, anyway?" Sano asked.
As all of them converged, the moon streamed free of the clouds. Kenshin smiled at them
gently, his face still partly shadowed by a lacy veil of his own blood. "I regret that I am
not as memorable to you as Miss Kamiya-Summers," he said, and collapsed at their feet.
Megumi knelt to roll him face-up, off his sword. He lay unmoving in her lap, his shirt
dappling from pink to red. "Oh no, he's passed out. He's still breathing okay, but I don't
know how much blood he's already lost. We have to help him." She looked up into the
sudden silence. "Don't we?"
So she saw what the other three were already fixed on. Kaoru had lifted Kenshin's sword
and shown it to Hiko, who had drawn out a fresh handkerchief to clean it. Even polished
free of blood and ash, the surface shining smooth in the bright moonlight, the metal was
jet-black.
Hiko traced a finger along the braided hilt, up to the single jewel that made up the
kashira, the cap at its end. "This is one of the demon blades, the soul-destroyers," he said.
"And if my eyes do not deceive me in this light, this ruby marks it as the sword of
Battousai."
"I knew it! Never liked him in the first place."
"Sano, he can't be Battousai," Megumi protested. "I mean, come on, just look at him! Mr.
Hiko said those people could only be hurt by the sakabatou, didn't you? And why would
those creatures be attacking him if you said one of his followers made them?"
"The sakabatou was designed to banish them back to hell, but perhaps we have our
answer as to whether they can be hurt by anything else. Those creatures are not made of
steel, after all, just flesh and blood. As for the rest, I imagine we'd best ask him." Having
plunged Battousai's sword into the ground to stand upright, Hiko was already unwinding
a length of silver wire from his own. "Wrap this around his wrists," he told Megumi, and
then, "No, wait a moment." Thoughtfully, he poked Kenshin's limp arm with the exposed
steel tip of his blade. It cut him easily, adding another trickle of blood.
"I told you," Megumi said. "Here, take your stupid wire back. See, he's human. A real,
live, very hurt human. So what do we do with him? Do we just clean him up and take him
home? Maybe Battousai sent the Evil Dead after him to get his sword back. We can't just
leave him here."
"Oh yes we can. I'm in favor of leaving him here. Anyone else on the leaving-here
bandwagon?"
Kaoru had not spoken in all this time. Hiko put a hand on her shoulder. "I think it should
be your decision."
"I think-- " she said, and stopped.
"Yes?"
"I think it's getting really late. We should go home before our parents get worried."
"But we can't just leave him here like this! Look," Megumi said, planting a crumpled
ofuda on him, "he's not evil, he's not undead! He can't possibly be Battousai!" Kenshin
stirred a little at the name, his chest heaving in a weak cough beneath the slip of paper.
Hiko shook his head and removed his trenchcoat, loosely folding it over one arm and
handing it to Kaoru before bending to sling Kenshin over one shoulder. "Megumi, bring
his sword. When we reach my car, give me all your remaining ofuda. As his wounds
don't appear life-threatening, I'll take him back to school and lock him into my workshop.
Meet me there in the morning."
-----
Ooogety. Finally worked out most of the logistics of what's going on with Kenshin and
his friends from the past. Unfortunately, none of it is going to make it into this chapter,
which is already too dang huge.
Big fat disclaimer: practically everything I know about Shinto has been acquired through
recent online research. I've been trying to walk the line between keeping details accurate
enough to not be glaringly wrong, versus being just accurate enough that the divergences
are deeply impious. I have no idea whether I've fallen off or which side, and offer
apologies to anyone whom I may have inadvertently offended by misappropriating their
religion.
SCA: the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group. See sca.org for
more information.
Inari: Kaoru explained the basics, though technically it's not true that Inari IS a fox any
more than the Holy Spirit IS a dove; they're just almost always linked. More info can be
found online, frex http://community-2.webtv.net/TerMcC/Inari/ , which has lots of
excellent-looking further links.
kitsune-zushi: deep-fried tofu stuffed with sweet rice. The color and shape are
reminiscent of fox ears. Supposedly, Inari really digs kitsune-zushi. The more common
name for them actually is inari-zushi.
Do not attempt Flaming Rice Balls of Death at home. They have not been tested on
animals, minerals, or vegetables and are purely hypothetical as of this juncture.