Yahiko sat down heavily without taking his eye off the crack in the
door. The redhead was making the injured young man drink something vile,
if the sputters and curses were any indication.
"Gah! Kenshin, what the hell was in that shit?" The redhead gave him an amused look as he easily kept the brown haired man pinned to the bed with a hand to his chest.
"Calm down Sano, it was just something to make you sleep, that it was." Sano didn't look like he was calming down in the least bit to Yahiko. He winced as he batted at Kenshin's hand.
"I'm not a child, anymore; you don't need to coddle me. Just take the damned thing out, already!" Kenshin raised a thin red eyebrow at the outburst.
"I know you are not a child, Sanosuke. But it hurts me to see you in such pain, that it does. Just close your eyes, and relax, and soon you won't feel a thing. I promise." Sano heaved a big sigh and had the grace to look guilty.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kenshin," he said, yawning widely. "It just hurts." Yahiko watched as Sano's eyes slowly closed and his head drooped to the side as whatever drug Kenshin had given him began to work. Kenshin sighed as he tenderly stroked the wild brown hair from the young man's face.
The redhead began taking things out of his travel bag and lining them up on the bed. He cut cloth, mixed powders, and finally, after checking to see that his patient was truly asleep, he snapped the wickedly barbed arrowhead off and pulled the shaft from Sanosuke's body. He packed the resultant wounds with the powders and wrapped Sano's shoulder tightly with the makeshift bandages. Sitting back on his heels, Kenshin caressed the sleeping young man's cheek, and without raising his eyes, said: "It is not polite to eavesdrop, that it is not." Yahiko let out a screech as he scooted away from the door, which opened to reveal a very tired looking Kenshin. "What's your name?"
"Yahiko...Myojin Yahiko. What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Where's Saitou's eagle?" questions tumbled from Yahiko's mouth without thought. Kenshin raised his hand to stem the tide.
"My name is Himura Kenshin; and you, Myojin Yahiko, have now become a character in a tragic story," the redhead said as he slowly walked down the rickety steps. Yahiko followed him down to the room from which he had grabbed the travel bag and water. Kenshin motioned for him to sit at the table, and began cutting his meager meal in half.
"What do you mean?" Yahiko asked as he accepted the scrap of fish. The wolf howled again, much closer this time, and Yahiko's eyes widened in realization. "If Sanosuke is really the eagle, than that means the wolf is..." he trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud. Kenshin sat and poured sake into the only cup, which he pushed in front of Yahiko.
"Drink," he ordered the youngster, "maybe if you forget what you've seen, you'll be able to escape this doom." Yahiko looked deeply into the cup of sake before pushing it back to Kenshin.
"No. I want to know what's going on," Yahiko said quietly. Kenshin frowned.
"Very well then," Kenshin sighed. "Remember, you had your chance, that you did, and now whether you like it or not, you are as lost in this story as the rest of us.
"I remember, the first time I saw Sanosuke," Kenshin said with a wistful smile. "Lord Okubo was Daimyo of Aizu, and I was his major domo and personal body guard."
"You were a body guard?" Yahiko asked incredulously, eyeing the short, frail looking, and mild-mannered man. Kenshin snorted.
"Looks can be deceiving, Yahiko, that they can. Anyway, seven years ago, when he was twelve years old, Higashidani Sanosuke was brought to Aizu by his uncle, Sagara Souzou, an official sent by the Shogun to oversee Aizu's rice harvest. Sano's immediate family had died in the cholera epidemic of the year before, and Sagara was the only family he had left.
"Even at that age, everyone could tell that the boy would grow up to be striking; what no one counted on was that he would be charming as well. His was a truly open personality: he talked to peasants as easily as he talked to nobility, and he had friends everywhere. He was the type of person who could talk you into doing things you knew were wrong or stupid, and then would take the blame if you got caught. Speculation and bets soon flourished among the men of the palace as to whom the boy would choose to initiate him into bi-do, the Beautiful Way. I think that we all tried to attract his attention in subtle ways, but he remained almost willfully oblivious to any attempt to catch his notice. However, because he used to come to the palace a lot during his uncle's business, it was almost universally decided that I had the best chance of being his choice."
"Bi-do?" Yahiko asked.
"The 'Love of the Samurai'? It has many names, that it does; and it is the very best thing that we can aspire to, that it is," Kenshin said with a small smile for the boy. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. I think that the only person not charmed by the boy had to have been Saitou Hajime, the captain of Aizu's guard, and Lord Okubo's most trusted military advisor. Saitou was in charge of training all of the young people of Aizu in combat readiness, and while Sano was an excellent fighter, he was also an instinctual one. He didn't learn by repetition and years of practice like most people, but by intuition. Because of this, he was almost absolutely hopeless at defending himself. Whenever he came to the palace, I used to have to listen to Sano complain about how nothing he did ever pleased Saitou; it was a well known fact throughout the palace that Saitou and Sano did not get along. I used to tease them both about their relationship, because while it was true that they couldn't seem to get along, there was always a grudging respect between them.
"Although Lord Okubo was a good Daimyo who was beloved by his people, he was an old man who had outlived his heirs. He had no sons to inherit, so, when he died, five years after Sagara Souzou and Sanosuke arrived in Aizu, Shibumi, his nephew by marriage was appointed by the Shogun to be Aizu's Daimyo." Yahiko watched as a hardness covered the features of the redheaded wanderer; making the boy almost believe that Himura could have been dangerous enough to be a Daimyo's bodyguard.
"Some people should never be placed in power: Shibumi is such a one, that he is. He came to Aizu from the Emperor's court in Heian-kyo; a decadent aristocrat with no real experience in leading people or taking care of the land, and a completely skewed idea of what his rights and privileges were. Soon after his arrival in Aizu, Shibumi called Sagara Souzou into a meeting about how many koku of rice Aizu produced, and how many men it meant that he would have to present to the Shogun's army. It was at this time that he saw Sanosuke for the first time and conceived a grand passion for him.
"Shibumi began courting the boy openly, going against all the traditions of bi-do. He sent the boy unsubtle letters and poetry, which Sano rightly sent back without replying; there was something about Shibumi that even Sanosuke, who liked almost everyone, didn't like. Sano began actively staying away from the palace, in order to avoid the man. However, his refusals of Shibumi's advances only seemed to make the Daimyo more determined. Shibumi's passion became an obsession. He vowed that Sanosuke would become his lover by any means possible; and he kept that vow."
"First, Souzou died in an 'accident' while riding out to a farm; thus Higashidani Sanosuke became Sagara Sanosuke, and had to return to the palace in order to take up his uncle's duties. Then, his friends were harassed. Commoners and nobility alike were hurt or put into jail for no reason. Soon after that, one of the common boys that Sano gambled with was killed. In order to save his friends from any more grief, Sano gave in and became Shibumi's lover."
"What?!" Yahiko interrupted, indignant on Sanosuke's behalf. "Shibumi blackmailed him?" Kenshin nodded. "That's rape!"
"Yes, it was. Shibumi crowed his triumph to any who would listen, and at first, we were all happy that Sano had a lover of a status worthy of him. Sano didn't tell anyone what was being done to him out of fear for the lives of his friends, so those of us who loved him could do nothing to help him. However, we all noticed that something was wrong with him. It was like someone had put out the sun. Sano went from being an open, boisterous person to someone who was withdrawn and quiet."
"Where does Saitou come into this?" Yahiko asked impulsively. Kenshin raised a red eyebrow at him and Yahiko blushed.
"I was just getting to that part," Kenshin answered. "Slowly Shibumi had been replacing the administrators of Aizu with his cronies and sycophants. Unfortunately for him, Saitou's position of military advisor and Captain of the Guard made it almost impossible for Shibumi to get rid of him, and Shibumi hated him for this. Not only did Shibumi hate Saitou, but he was afraid of him as well, because Saitou, even though he is not noble born, is everything that Shibumi is not: uncompromisingly honorable, unhesitating, and superior in his actions.
"All of Sano's friends were worried about him, but it was Saitou Hajime who figured out what was going on with the boy. Sano, who was at best an indifferent martial student, actually began paying attention to Saitou when he tried to teach him defense. Sano also asked Saitou about his philosophy of Aku. Soku. Zan. When Saitou asked him why, Sano put him off. Curious, Saitou then began investigating the activities of Sano and his friends, and discovered the truth.
"Saitou confronted Sano with his discovery, and Sano, in order to protect his friends, forced him to promise not to tell anyone. Saitou was now faced with a dilemma. What Shibumi had done to Sanosuke was truly evil, and according to the code of Aku. Soku. Zan., he should be killed immediately; but Shibumi was also the truly appointed Daimyo of Aizu, to whom absolute loyalty was owed. Saitou secretly gathered evidence about the murder of Sagara Souzou, and planned to take his predicament to the Shogun himself. He told Sano what he planned to do, and Sano begged to come with him. It seems that Saitou was not immune to Sano's charm after all: he decided to take Sanosuke with him.
"Sano was happy to be leaving Aizu, but sad to be leaving his friends behind. The morning that they left, Sano told me that he was leaving, but not where he was going, and not why. I was still unaware of his...quandary; while I was sad that he was leaving, I wished him luck and happiness as we said goodbye, and I didn't think anymore of it until Shibumi came to me looking for him. When I told him that Sano had left with Saitou, Shibumi seemed to go insane! Maybe he thought that Sano was cheating on him; I'm not sure, but I know that he swore right then and there that Sano was his alone. He then did something so unthinkably reckless that even now, two years later, I can barely force myself to believe it." Kenshin paused in his story, a far away, frightened look in his eyes.
"What did he do?" Yahiko whispered.
"He summoned Aizu's Oni: the demon that watches over the city," Kenshin actually shuddered. "Shibumi must have figured out that Saitou had found out what he had done to Sanosuke, and he knew that Saitou would only move if he had evidence against him. So in his frustration and fury, he struck a bargain with the Oni, and the Oni spat out a terrible curse: for as long as the sun rises once a day and sets once a day, for as long as they both shall live: by day Sanosuke is the eagle, and by night Saitou is the wolf. Bound together eternally, apart for always.
"If Saitou and Sano had been beyond Aizu's borders, the curse wouldn't have been effective; however, they were not. And so, you have seen the Oni's curse at work." Kenshin picked up the cup of sake and drained it. Yahiko watched him with a horrified fascination. The wolf howled again, extremely close to the monastery now.
"Do they know?"
"Do they know what?"
"That you were the one who told Shibumi?" Kenshin turned his eyes down.
"Yes, they do," he said quietly. "After what I'd seen, I could no longer work for Shibumi. I escaped Aizu in secret, and soon found Saitou and told him everything that I'd seen, and he told me part of the tale that I've just told you. I began wandering the country, looking for ways to circumvent the curse, while Saitou took Sano into hiding. You see, one of the ways the curse can be broken is for one of them to die, and Shibumi has never stopped trying to kill Saitou."
"There's another way to break the curse?"
"Yes, I believe I've found a way, but it will be difficult..." Kenshin's words trailed off as the black wolf padded quietly past the door of the room, and began limping up the steps. Yahiko and Kenshin trailed the wolf up the stairs, and watched from the doorway as he hobbled onto the futon, sniffed Sanosuke's shoulder, and curled himself into the hollow of Sano's body. The young man sighed in his sleep and put his injured arm around the wolf.
***
The scar-faced hunter, Arundo Akamatsu sat in a country inn, drinking bitter sake, and cursing his fate. "Stupid Shibumi, and his stupid descriptions. A wolf is a wolf," he murmured drunkenly. "This stupid hunt had better be worth my time or I'll...." He stopped himself from saying anything against the Daimyo by downing the rest of the sake in one gulp; even this far from the city, one never knew when someone might be listening. He turned his bleary eyes around the inn one last time, and not seeing anyone with brown hair and eyes, he stood up and left without paying. Once outside, he looked over his wagon full of pelts, making sure none were missing, before climbing on. He gave his horse a stinging whip on the rump and they were quickly away into the dark, cold night.
"Gah! Kenshin, what the hell was in that shit?" The redhead gave him an amused look as he easily kept the brown haired man pinned to the bed with a hand to his chest.
"Calm down Sano, it was just something to make you sleep, that it was." Sano didn't look like he was calming down in the least bit to Yahiko. He winced as he batted at Kenshin's hand.
"I'm not a child, anymore; you don't need to coddle me. Just take the damned thing out, already!" Kenshin raised a thin red eyebrow at the outburst.
"I know you are not a child, Sanosuke. But it hurts me to see you in such pain, that it does. Just close your eyes, and relax, and soon you won't feel a thing. I promise." Sano heaved a big sigh and had the grace to look guilty.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kenshin," he said, yawning widely. "It just hurts." Yahiko watched as Sano's eyes slowly closed and his head drooped to the side as whatever drug Kenshin had given him began to work. Kenshin sighed as he tenderly stroked the wild brown hair from the young man's face.
The redhead began taking things out of his travel bag and lining them up on the bed. He cut cloth, mixed powders, and finally, after checking to see that his patient was truly asleep, he snapped the wickedly barbed arrowhead off and pulled the shaft from Sanosuke's body. He packed the resultant wounds with the powders and wrapped Sano's shoulder tightly with the makeshift bandages. Sitting back on his heels, Kenshin caressed the sleeping young man's cheek, and without raising his eyes, said: "It is not polite to eavesdrop, that it is not." Yahiko let out a screech as he scooted away from the door, which opened to reveal a very tired looking Kenshin. "What's your name?"
"Yahiko...Myojin Yahiko. What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Where's Saitou's eagle?" questions tumbled from Yahiko's mouth without thought. Kenshin raised his hand to stem the tide.
"My name is Himura Kenshin; and you, Myojin Yahiko, have now become a character in a tragic story," the redhead said as he slowly walked down the rickety steps. Yahiko followed him down to the room from which he had grabbed the travel bag and water. Kenshin motioned for him to sit at the table, and began cutting his meager meal in half.
"What do you mean?" Yahiko asked as he accepted the scrap of fish. The wolf howled again, much closer this time, and Yahiko's eyes widened in realization. "If Sanosuke is really the eagle, than that means the wolf is..." he trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud. Kenshin sat and poured sake into the only cup, which he pushed in front of Yahiko.
"Drink," he ordered the youngster, "maybe if you forget what you've seen, you'll be able to escape this doom." Yahiko looked deeply into the cup of sake before pushing it back to Kenshin.
"No. I want to know what's going on," Yahiko said quietly. Kenshin frowned.
"Very well then," Kenshin sighed. "Remember, you had your chance, that you did, and now whether you like it or not, you are as lost in this story as the rest of us.
"I remember, the first time I saw Sanosuke," Kenshin said with a wistful smile. "Lord Okubo was Daimyo of Aizu, and I was his major domo and personal body guard."
"You were a body guard?" Yahiko asked incredulously, eyeing the short, frail looking, and mild-mannered man. Kenshin snorted.
"Looks can be deceiving, Yahiko, that they can. Anyway, seven years ago, when he was twelve years old, Higashidani Sanosuke was brought to Aizu by his uncle, Sagara Souzou, an official sent by the Shogun to oversee Aizu's rice harvest. Sano's immediate family had died in the cholera epidemic of the year before, and Sagara was the only family he had left.
"Even at that age, everyone could tell that the boy would grow up to be striking; what no one counted on was that he would be charming as well. His was a truly open personality: he talked to peasants as easily as he talked to nobility, and he had friends everywhere. He was the type of person who could talk you into doing things you knew were wrong or stupid, and then would take the blame if you got caught. Speculation and bets soon flourished among the men of the palace as to whom the boy would choose to initiate him into bi-do, the Beautiful Way. I think that we all tried to attract his attention in subtle ways, but he remained almost willfully oblivious to any attempt to catch his notice. However, because he used to come to the palace a lot during his uncle's business, it was almost universally decided that I had the best chance of being his choice."
"Bi-do?" Yahiko asked.
"The 'Love of the Samurai'? It has many names, that it does; and it is the very best thing that we can aspire to, that it is," Kenshin said with a small smile for the boy. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. I think that the only person not charmed by the boy had to have been Saitou Hajime, the captain of Aizu's guard, and Lord Okubo's most trusted military advisor. Saitou was in charge of training all of the young people of Aizu in combat readiness, and while Sano was an excellent fighter, he was also an instinctual one. He didn't learn by repetition and years of practice like most people, but by intuition. Because of this, he was almost absolutely hopeless at defending himself. Whenever he came to the palace, I used to have to listen to Sano complain about how nothing he did ever pleased Saitou; it was a well known fact throughout the palace that Saitou and Sano did not get along. I used to tease them both about their relationship, because while it was true that they couldn't seem to get along, there was always a grudging respect between them.
"Although Lord Okubo was a good Daimyo who was beloved by his people, he was an old man who had outlived his heirs. He had no sons to inherit, so, when he died, five years after Sagara Souzou and Sanosuke arrived in Aizu, Shibumi, his nephew by marriage was appointed by the Shogun to be Aizu's Daimyo." Yahiko watched as a hardness covered the features of the redheaded wanderer; making the boy almost believe that Himura could have been dangerous enough to be a Daimyo's bodyguard.
"Some people should never be placed in power: Shibumi is such a one, that he is. He came to Aizu from the Emperor's court in Heian-kyo; a decadent aristocrat with no real experience in leading people or taking care of the land, and a completely skewed idea of what his rights and privileges were. Soon after his arrival in Aizu, Shibumi called Sagara Souzou into a meeting about how many koku of rice Aizu produced, and how many men it meant that he would have to present to the Shogun's army. It was at this time that he saw Sanosuke for the first time and conceived a grand passion for him.
"Shibumi began courting the boy openly, going against all the traditions of bi-do. He sent the boy unsubtle letters and poetry, which Sano rightly sent back without replying; there was something about Shibumi that even Sanosuke, who liked almost everyone, didn't like. Sano began actively staying away from the palace, in order to avoid the man. However, his refusals of Shibumi's advances only seemed to make the Daimyo more determined. Shibumi's passion became an obsession. He vowed that Sanosuke would become his lover by any means possible; and he kept that vow."
"First, Souzou died in an 'accident' while riding out to a farm; thus Higashidani Sanosuke became Sagara Sanosuke, and had to return to the palace in order to take up his uncle's duties. Then, his friends were harassed. Commoners and nobility alike were hurt or put into jail for no reason. Soon after that, one of the common boys that Sano gambled with was killed. In order to save his friends from any more grief, Sano gave in and became Shibumi's lover."
"What?!" Yahiko interrupted, indignant on Sanosuke's behalf. "Shibumi blackmailed him?" Kenshin nodded. "That's rape!"
"Yes, it was. Shibumi crowed his triumph to any who would listen, and at first, we were all happy that Sano had a lover of a status worthy of him. Sano didn't tell anyone what was being done to him out of fear for the lives of his friends, so those of us who loved him could do nothing to help him. However, we all noticed that something was wrong with him. It was like someone had put out the sun. Sano went from being an open, boisterous person to someone who was withdrawn and quiet."
"Where does Saitou come into this?" Yahiko asked impulsively. Kenshin raised a red eyebrow at him and Yahiko blushed.
"I was just getting to that part," Kenshin answered. "Slowly Shibumi had been replacing the administrators of Aizu with his cronies and sycophants. Unfortunately for him, Saitou's position of military advisor and Captain of the Guard made it almost impossible for Shibumi to get rid of him, and Shibumi hated him for this. Not only did Shibumi hate Saitou, but he was afraid of him as well, because Saitou, even though he is not noble born, is everything that Shibumi is not: uncompromisingly honorable, unhesitating, and superior in his actions.
"All of Sano's friends were worried about him, but it was Saitou Hajime who figured out what was going on with the boy. Sano, who was at best an indifferent martial student, actually began paying attention to Saitou when he tried to teach him defense. Sano also asked Saitou about his philosophy of Aku. Soku. Zan. When Saitou asked him why, Sano put him off. Curious, Saitou then began investigating the activities of Sano and his friends, and discovered the truth.
"Saitou confronted Sano with his discovery, and Sano, in order to protect his friends, forced him to promise not to tell anyone. Saitou was now faced with a dilemma. What Shibumi had done to Sanosuke was truly evil, and according to the code of Aku. Soku. Zan., he should be killed immediately; but Shibumi was also the truly appointed Daimyo of Aizu, to whom absolute loyalty was owed. Saitou secretly gathered evidence about the murder of Sagara Souzou, and planned to take his predicament to the Shogun himself. He told Sano what he planned to do, and Sano begged to come with him. It seems that Saitou was not immune to Sano's charm after all: he decided to take Sanosuke with him.
"Sano was happy to be leaving Aizu, but sad to be leaving his friends behind. The morning that they left, Sano told me that he was leaving, but not where he was going, and not why. I was still unaware of his...quandary; while I was sad that he was leaving, I wished him luck and happiness as we said goodbye, and I didn't think anymore of it until Shibumi came to me looking for him. When I told him that Sano had left with Saitou, Shibumi seemed to go insane! Maybe he thought that Sano was cheating on him; I'm not sure, but I know that he swore right then and there that Sano was his alone. He then did something so unthinkably reckless that even now, two years later, I can barely force myself to believe it." Kenshin paused in his story, a far away, frightened look in his eyes.
"What did he do?" Yahiko whispered.
"He summoned Aizu's Oni: the demon that watches over the city," Kenshin actually shuddered. "Shibumi must have figured out that Saitou had found out what he had done to Sanosuke, and he knew that Saitou would only move if he had evidence against him. So in his frustration and fury, he struck a bargain with the Oni, and the Oni spat out a terrible curse: for as long as the sun rises once a day and sets once a day, for as long as they both shall live: by day Sanosuke is the eagle, and by night Saitou is the wolf. Bound together eternally, apart for always.
"If Saitou and Sano had been beyond Aizu's borders, the curse wouldn't have been effective; however, they were not. And so, you have seen the Oni's curse at work." Kenshin picked up the cup of sake and drained it. Yahiko watched him with a horrified fascination. The wolf howled again, extremely close to the monastery now.
"Do they know?"
"Do they know what?"
"That you were the one who told Shibumi?" Kenshin turned his eyes down.
"Yes, they do," he said quietly. "After what I'd seen, I could no longer work for Shibumi. I escaped Aizu in secret, and soon found Saitou and told him everything that I'd seen, and he told me part of the tale that I've just told you. I began wandering the country, looking for ways to circumvent the curse, while Saitou took Sano into hiding. You see, one of the ways the curse can be broken is for one of them to die, and Shibumi has never stopped trying to kill Saitou."
"There's another way to break the curse?"
"Yes, I believe I've found a way, but it will be difficult..." Kenshin's words trailed off as the black wolf padded quietly past the door of the room, and began limping up the steps. Yahiko and Kenshin trailed the wolf up the stairs, and watched from the doorway as he hobbled onto the futon, sniffed Sanosuke's shoulder, and curled himself into the hollow of Sano's body. The young man sighed in his sleep and put his injured arm around the wolf.
***
The scar-faced hunter, Arundo Akamatsu sat in a country inn, drinking bitter sake, and cursing his fate. "Stupid Shibumi, and his stupid descriptions. A wolf is a wolf," he murmured drunkenly. "This stupid hunt had better be worth my time or I'll...." He stopped himself from saying anything against the Daimyo by downing the rest of the sake in one gulp; even this far from the city, one never knew when someone might be listening. He turned his bleary eyes around the inn one last time, and not seeing anyone with brown hair and eyes, he stood up and left without paying. Once outside, he looked over his wagon full of pelts, making sure none were missing, before climbing on. He gave his horse a stinging whip on the rump and they were quickly away into the dark, cold night.
