The Devil's Workshop
MysticShadowWanderer
*****
Chapter Fourteen: Prelude to Insanity
"Something is not right here," Battousai mumbled to himself, though the observation was hardly needed, only serving to further prove his firm grasp of the obvious.
It was a small, nameless town, one that Battousai had never been to. Looking around, he saw no inn, but the remains of four ramshackle houses that had been burned to the ground. The others that were clustered here and there seemed to be in decent shape, a few loose boards perhaps, but nothing overly serious. But the four that had been razed had quite clearly been done so for some purpose. This was no sloppy work, Battousai noted, there were no traces of who had done it, or why it had been done. Whoever had a hand in the task was no amateur.
"The assassins, surely," Aoshi said quietly. "Precision in execution and retreat, all the signs direct us to only a single conclusion."
"That should be considered a good thing, then," Battousai muttered. "We were trying to find them anyhow."
Aoshi nodded shortly, and the few others of the group looked slightly afraid. Battousai paid them no mind, assuming that they were disturbed by the two leaders' disinterest in the loss of life that must have preceded their arrival. Neither one was terribly concerned with the welfare of the people of the village, they were nothing but unimportant pawns in a game that the two men played, possibly more so to Battousai than Aoshi. Humans were meaningless to him, all save one. He shook himself mentally, now was most certainly not the time to be thinking of her. He would be seeing her soon, he told himself, and turned his mind to more strategical thoughts.
"Be on your guard then," Battousai said, standing from where he was inspecting the charred remains more closely. "This was done recently, and they're most likely still around."
Unbeknownst to most of those hunting them, the assassins who were after Battousai's lifeblood were creeping up on them from behind, and were now listening to the conversation. Battousai, as expected, quickly picked up on their presence. But they weren't so stupid as not to take that into account. Eager eyes took in his movements as he froze and his hand flew to the hilt of his katana. Keen ears overheard his harsh, semi-whispered instructions as he hissed at the other men. One man, obviously the most important of the group, grinned. This could all be played into their hands. They needn't face Battousai sword-to-sword, though certainly he would allow some of his men to, after all, the ensuing fight would promise to be most entertaining. His fingers played lightly over the barrel of his matchlock gun. Technologically speaking, he could have been given something better; the thought brought a frown to his face. But one shot was all he would need. Even the infamous Battousai could not dodge a bullet. At least, not when been shot at from behind and with no warning.
***
Kaoru paced the long wall of her room nervously. She wasn't sure why she was so on edge this day, but for some reason she couldn't seem to sit still. Futilely, she wondered if she should stop all this nonsense, but it wasn't as if she had something better she could do with her time. Despite all her protests, the occupants of the Aoiya flatly refused to let her lift a hand in help with any work, and even more firmly denied her access to anything that even resembled a bokken in the slightest. It quickly became apparent to her that Battousai had left them with strict instructions on what she could and could not do. The very thought infuriated her, who was he to tell her what she was allowed to do? Battousai would inescapably be receiving more than a few terse words about this when he returned.
"I hope it's soon," she whispered aloud. "Even as exasperating as he is, I can't help but miss him."
She began to, once again, explore the depths of her feelings for him. 'Love' didn't seem quite right, somehow. It was just a word, and words can't begin to describe all the mixed emotions that she was drowning in. The term 'love' was unsuitable, because it seemed so strange to her that she could love and hate him at the same time. It had to be something different. She didn't need to know what the word was, if one even existed, all she needed was the knowledge of the pain and the fear, of the affection and the passion, all contiguous with blended borders that mixed the feelings into one indefinable sensation. These thoughts were quickly giving Kaoru a headache, it was hard to comprehend what could not be described. Yet she was at a loss for what to do save miss Battousai and curse him simultaneously.
***
Blood was falling like rain, splashing against the ground in gleaming drops that reflected the cold, disinterested observation of the moon and the burning heat of the fire that had been set to another house. Battousai was torn between standing back in the shadows and letting the flames lick at his hair and clothing while he raptly watched the carnage, or engaging in the battle himself, to taste the heady rush of killing yet be unable to admire the way the blood pooled from the corpse of his victim. Necessity and unspoken oath drove him into battle, he could not betray Aoshi now, not after so many years of, if not friendship, tolerance.
Battousai leapt forth, ignoring the bodies that littered the ground. With a derisive snort he spun to face the man that had been attempting to rush him from behind, quickly moving his now unsheathed katana upward to parry a blow before springing into the air. He expected to slice the man open with a Ryu Tsui Sen performed at godlike speed, but was shocked to find his attack blocked, if a bit clumsily. In battle, whatever worked to save your own life was better than nothing. Battousai was surprised that this man had been able to respond promptly enough and with just the proper amount of force. Too much and his blade, the only thing between Battousai's wrath and his fragile body, would have broken. Too little and his death would be painful.
Backing off just enough to be able to launch a new attack, Battousai studied the man for a moment. His expression showed fierce determination, but not anger. This was no artless swordsman, he obviously knew what he was about. Anger was dangerous, for decisions had to be made in an objective and levelheaded manner while in battle, not out of blind fury. Lowering himself, light on his feet, Battousai sheathed his katana, settling easily into the much too familiar battoujutsu stance. His adversary took a stance that he didn't recognize off the top of his head, but that didn't worry him. Mortal enemies were always easy to read. He watched the deep brown eyes that were watching his amber ones. For a moment that stood still in time, they stared at each other, neither moving but to breathe. It was as if all motion around them had stopped as Battousai gave a cry and lunged forward, delivering a swift Ryu Shou Sen only to find it skillfully blocked. He slid a few feet when the man sent him backward with a forceful thrust.
'It appears that this will not be so simple as I had hoped,' Battousai thought, narrowing his eyes in a way that was both menacing and threatening. 'Normally I'd welcome the challenge, however, I don't have time for this at the moment.'
"It is a shame that your skill will be wasted in the afterlife," he spoke aloud. The man looked confused, and Battousai instantly realized what was wrong. He repeated himself in somewhat broken Chinese.
A smirk graced the countenance of the other man, but Battousai could sense fear in him, just the slightest bit. That would be enough. Not waiting for the man to further prepare himself, he launched himself skyward, higher this time than last. He was nearly certain he heard the man say something along the lines of "No good, I've seen this before," and could only smirk as he was pulled back down to the earth by the inexorable force of gravity. True, this was Ryu Tsui Sen. But just when his blade was touched by his opponent's he reached for his wakizashi, still faithfully sheathed at his side, with his free hand and drew it directly into the man's side. This was an unusual thing for Battousai to do, it completely ignored form and practicality, but sometimes he was left with no option but to be creative.
From off in the shadows, Aoshi eyed Battousai critically. Those little tricks weren't typically his style, but he couldn't deny the effectiveness. Turning his attention, he counted the bodies of his comrades in a detached manner. Now was the time to assess, not let emotion take control. Nearly half were dead, he noted, that was almost fifteen. A high price to pay to eliminate not more than twenty five. Especially with him and Battousai both fighting for them. They had gone up against skilled assassins this time, and the five or six that were left were defending themselves quite well. Calmly taking his kodachi in hand, Aoshi walked out to join them.
Battousai spat as he yanked his katana out of a man's heart and turned to find his next victim. As he moved toward a fighter that was giving one of 'his' men some trouble, he heard a familiar click and stopped. He'd barely wrenched his body around to face the gunman head on when he heard the blast; he dodged to the side, but by some trick of the heat haze of the fire and already over exerted muscles, he didn't move quite quickly enough. He jerked backward as the power of the bullet slammed into him. Glancing down, he could see the blood seeping through his gi at the shoulder.
"Shit," he swore as he rapidly calculated the rough angle of impact and took off into the trees.
The gunman was reloading when Battousai came crashing through the foliage above him, neatly slicing him in half. Dropping to one knee, Battousai gripped his shoulder and cursed violently. They were cowards, he decided quickly before standing. With a snap, he flung the blood from his katana and sheathed it. From the sounds behind him, there were none of the Chinese assassins left standing.
'Dammit, the bastards. There was no point to that.' He was fuming mentally. 'I left Kaoru to travel to this godsforsaken town just to be shot. If her life hadn't potentially been in danger, I would have ignored them and let them burn Kyoto to the ground. Shit.'
Aoshi's gazed darted to Battousai as he walked out of the cove of trees he'd been in, saw him holding his shoulder to stop the blood, noted the expression on his face, and wisely looked the other way. There were plenty of injuries to tend, his own included, but Battousai paid no heed to that, and simply walked off. He wasn't planning on hanging around waiting for his 'comrades' or trying to help the pathetic and now homeless inhabitants of the village. He was going back to her, and Aoshi wasn't about to say anything otherwise.
***
About ten minutes into his journey, Battousai was forced to stop by the pain of his shoulder. It was true that being semi-mortal gave him a higher pain tolerance than humans, but being shot was no small matter. Sitting at the roadside, he pushed his gi down his arm to inspect the torn flesh. A bit of prodding told him that the bullet had passed through neatly, which was fortunate though not unexpected. His kind were prone to having an odd type of luck concerning these things.
"Damned luck. If I were actually lucky I wouldn't have been hit by the fucking bullet," he muttered as he tore a wide strip from the bottom of his hakama.
The bleeding still hadn't stopped, but he paid it little mind as he wrapped the wound tightly. It would last until he could have it stitched up, it wasn't likely that it would cause any major problems anyhow. Light rain began to hit him as he stretched his aching muscles and stood. Usually he enjoyed the feel of the coldness of rain driving into his skin, but now it was just another nuisance to add to the others that were beginning to build almost to an overwhelming level. Deciding it was best to try to ignore the precipitation, he moved on, albeit at a slower pace than was typical of him.
***
Closing his eyes, he tried to remember how long it'd taken to get to the town originally, so that he could approximate how long it would take him to get back to Kaoru. He thought it would be about a day, maybe two, from the his current location, but he frowned as he tried to recollect how long he'd already been traveling.
'This is not good,' he thought as he delicately rubbed his pounding temples. It had been raining off and on the entire time, and that added to what he could sense as an infection setting in was causing him some confusion. 'I think I may have a fever,' he decided futilely. It wouldn't turn into anything too serious, his immune system was too strong for that, but it was certainly a bother and with his mind not as sharp as it should be, the entire situation was a bit disturbing.
'Maybe I should have waited for Aoshi,' he thought as he dragged himself onward. 'Where exactly am I?' He didn't like the turn things were taking, it was dangerous for him to be this perplexed over something as simple as a location. Out of the instinct to protect himself, his pace quickened, regardless of the objections his body was screaming at him.
'I have to get back to her, I have to get somewhere safer, this is bad.'
***
Rain beat at the roof of the Aoiya as Kaoru laid out her futon. It was dark, with her only light coming from a single candle in the corner, but the occasional wickedly twisted flash of lightning provided some illumination. She sighed as she blew out the candle, then laid down and stared at the ceiling. The storm seemed to be trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand it. Dismissing it as silly fantasy, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. It was late now, but she had sat in the courtyard under the now familiar tree watching the lightning until it was close enough to be dangerous.
Somehow she couldn't shake off the feeling that the storm was bringing with it some sort of change. Pressing her fingertips to her forehead, she assured herself that she was being ridiculous and that she needed to get at least a bit of rest. Still, she was restless. Shifting to her knees she breathed deeply and tried meditating to calm her nerves. She was rudely pulled from her rumination when her shoji slid open with a bang.
'Who on earth... this time of night?' she thought as she slowly opened her heavy eyelids. A gasp flew from her throat as Battousai stood outlined by the soft light of a candle in the hall. He was thoroughly soaked, dripping on the floor, and shaking, his eyes burning into hers. Somehow he had a far-off look to him, his gaze seemed feverishly senseless. She bolted forward just in time to catch him as he dropped, barely preventing his head from striking the floor.
*****
MysticShadowWanderer
*****
Chapter Fourteen: Prelude to Insanity
"Something is not right here," Battousai mumbled to himself, though the observation was hardly needed, only serving to further prove his firm grasp of the obvious.
It was a small, nameless town, one that Battousai had never been to. Looking around, he saw no inn, but the remains of four ramshackle houses that had been burned to the ground. The others that were clustered here and there seemed to be in decent shape, a few loose boards perhaps, but nothing overly serious. But the four that had been razed had quite clearly been done so for some purpose. This was no sloppy work, Battousai noted, there were no traces of who had done it, or why it had been done. Whoever had a hand in the task was no amateur.
"The assassins, surely," Aoshi said quietly. "Precision in execution and retreat, all the signs direct us to only a single conclusion."
"That should be considered a good thing, then," Battousai muttered. "We were trying to find them anyhow."
Aoshi nodded shortly, and the few others of the group looked slightly afraid. Battousai paid them no mind, assuming that they were disturbed by the two leaders' disinterest in the loss of life that must have preceded their arrival. Neither one was terribly concerned with the welfare of the people of the village, they were nothing but unimportant pawns in a game that the two men played, possibly more so to Battousai than Aoshi. Humans were meaningless to him, all save one. He shook himself mentally, now was most certainly not the time to be thinking of her. He would be seeing her soon, he told himself, and turned his mind to more strategical thoughts.
"Be on your guard then," Battousai said, standing from where he was inspecting the charred remains more closely. "This was done recently, and they're most likely still around."
Unbeknownst to most of those hunting them, the assassins who were after Battousai's lifeblood were creeping up on them from behind, and were now listening to the conversation. Battousai, as expected, quickly picked up on their presence. But they weren't so stupid as not to take that into account. Eager eyes took in his movements as he froze and his hand flew to the hilt of his katana. Keen ears overheard his harsh, semi-whispered instructions as he hissed at the other men. One man, obviously the most important of the group, grinned. This could all be played into their hands. They needn't face Battousai sword-to-sword, though certainly he would allow some of his men to, after all, the ensuing fight would promise to be most entertaining. His fingers played lightly over the barrel of his matchlock gun. Technologically speaking, he could have been given something better; the thought brought a frown to his face. But one shot was all he would need. Even the infamous Battousai could not dodge a bullet. At least, not when been shot at from behind and with no warning.
***
Kaoru paced the long wall of her room nervously. She wasn't sure why she was so on edge this day, but for some reason she couldn't seem to sit still. Futilely, she wondered if she should stop all this nonsense, but it wasn't as if she had something better she could do with her time. Despite all her protests, the occupants of the Aoiya flatly refused to let her lift a hand in help with any work, and even more firmly denied her access to anything that even resembled a bokken in the slightest. It quickly became apparent to her that Battousai had left them with strict instructions on what she could and could not do. The very thought infuriated her, who was he to tell her what she was allowed to do? Battousai would inescapably be receiving more than a few terse words about this when he returned.
"I hope it's soon," she whispered aloud. "Even as exasperating as he is, I can't help but miss him."
She began to, once again, explore the depths of her feelings for him. 'Love' didn't seem quite right, somehow. It was just a word, and words can't begin to describe all the mixed emotions that she was drowning in. The term 'love' was unsuitable, because it seemed so strange to her that she could love and hate him at the same time. It had to be something different. She didn't need to know what the word was, if one even existed, all she needed was the knowledge of the pain and the fear, of the affection and the passion, all contiguous with blended borders that mixed the feelings into one indefinable sensation. These thoughts were quickly giving Kaoru a headache, it was hard to comprehend what could not be described. Yet she was at a loss for what to do save miss Battousai and curse him simultaneously.
***
Blood was falling like rain, splashing against the ground in gleaming drops that reflected the cold, disinterested observation of the moon and the burning heat of the fire that had been set to another house. Battousai was torn between standing back in the shadows and letting the flames lick at his hair and clothing while he raptly watched the carnage, or engaging in the battle himself, to taste the heady rush of killing yet be unable to admire the way the blood pooled from the corpse of his victim. Necessity and unspoken oath drove him into battle, he could not betray Aoshi now, not after so many years of, if not friendship, tolerance.
Battousai leapt forth, ignoring the bodies that littered the ground. With a derisive snort he spun to face the man that had been attempting to rush him from behind, quickly moving his now unsheathed katana upward to parry a blow before springing into the air. He expected to slice the man open with a Ryu Tsui Sen performed at godlike speed, but was shocked to find his attack blocked, if a bit clumsily. In battle, whatever worked to save your own life was better than nothing. Battousai was surprised that this man had been able to respond promptly enough and with just the proper amount of force. Too much and his blade, the only thing between Battousai's wrath and his fragile body, would have broken. Too little and his death would be painful.
Backing off just enough to be able to launch a new attack, Battousai studied the man for a moment. His expression showed fierce determination, but not anger. This was no artless swordsman, he obviously knew what he was about. Anger was dangerous, for decisions had to be made in an objective and levelheaded manner while in battle, not out of blind fury. Lowering himself, light on his feet, Battousai sheathed his katana, settling easily into the much too familiar battoujutsu stance. His adversary took a stance that he didn't recognize off the top of his head, but that didn't worry him. Mortal enemies were always easy to read. He watched the deep brown eyes that were watching his amber ones. For a moment that stood still in time, they stared at each other, neither moving but to breathe. It was as if all motion around them had stopped as Battousai gave a cry and lunged forward, delivering a swift Ryu Shou Sen only to find it skillfully blocked. He slid a few feet when the man sent him backward with a forceful thrust.
'It appears that this will not be so simple as I had hoped,' Battousai thought, narrowing his eyes in a way that was both menacing and threatening. 'Normally I'd welcome the challenge, however, I don't have time for this at the moment.'
"It is a shame that your skill will be wasted in the afterlife," he spoke aloud. The man looked confused, and Battousai instantly realized what was wrong. He repeated himself in somewhat broken Chinese.
A smirk graced the countenance of the other man, but Battousai could sense fear in him, just the slightest bit. That would be enough. Not waiting for the man to further prepare himself, he launched himself skyward, higher this time than last. He was nearly certain he heard the man say something along the lines of "No good, I've seen this before," and could only smirk as he was pulled back down to the earth by the inexorable force of gravity. True, this was Ryu Tsui Sen. But just when his blade was touched by his opponent's he reached for his wakizashi, still faithfully sheathed at his side, with his free hand and drew it directly into the man's side. This was an unusual thing for Battousai to do, it completely ignored form and practicality, but sometimes he was left with no option but to be creative.
From off in the shadows, Aoshi eyed Battousai critically. Those little tricks weren't typically his style, but he couldn't deny the effectiveness. Turning his attention, he counted the bodies of his comrades in a detached manner. Now was the time to assess, not let emotion take control. Nearly half were dead, he noted, that was almost fifteen. A high price to pay to eliminate not more than twenty five. Especially with him and Battousai both fighting for them. They had gone up against skilled assassins this time, and the five or six that were left were defending themselves quite well. Calmly taking his kodachi in hand, Aoshi walked out to join them.
Battousai spat as he yanked his katana out of a man's heart and turned to find his next victim. As he moved toward a fighter that was giving one of 'his' men some trouble, he heard a familiar click and stopped. He'd barely wrenched his body around to face the gunman head on when he heard the blast; he dodged to the side, but by some trick of the heat haze of the fire and already over exerted muscles, he didn't move quite quickly enough. He jerked backward as the power of the bullet slammed into him. Glancing down, he could see the blood seeping through his gi at the shoulder.
"Shit," he swore as he rapidly calculated the rough angle of impact and took off into the trees.
The gunman was reloading when Battousai came crashing through the foliage above him, neatly slicing him in half. Dropping to one knee, Battousai gripped his shoulder and cursed violently. They were cowards, he decided quickly before standing. With a snap, he flung the blood from his katana and sheathed it. From the sounds behind him, there were none of the Chinese assassins left standing.
'Dammit, the bastards. There was no point to that.' He was fuming mentally. 'I left Kaoru to travel to this godsforsaken town just to be shot. If her life hadn't potentially been in danger, I would have ignored them and let them burn Kyoto to the ground. Shit.'
Aoshi's gazed darted to Battousai as he walked out of the cove of trees he'd been in, saw him holding his shoulder to stop the blood, noted the expression on his face, and wisely looked the other way. There were plenty of injuries to tend, his own included, but Battousai paid no heed to that, and simply walked off. He wasn't planning on hanging around waiting for his 'comrades' or trying to help the pathetic and now homeless inhabitants of the village. He was going back to her, and Aoshi wasn't about to say anything otherwise.
***
About ten minutes into his journey, Battousai was forced to stop by the pain of his shoulder. It was true that being semi-mortal gave him a higher pain tolerance than humans, but being shot was no small matter. Sitting at the roadside, he pushed his gi down his arm to inspect the torn flesh. A bit of prodding told him that the bullet had passed through neatly, which was fortunate though not unexpected. His kind were prone to having an odd type of luck concerning these things.
"Damned luck. If I were actually lucky I wouldn't have been hit by the fucking bullet," he muttered as he tore a wide strip from the bottom of his hakama.
The bleeding still hadn't stopped, but he paid it little mind as he wrapped the wound tightly. It would last until he could have it stitched up, it wasn't likely that it would cause any major problems anyhow. Light rain began to hit him as he stretched his aching muscles and stood. Usually he enjoyed the feel of the coldness of rain driving into his skin, but now it was just another nuisance to add to the others that were beginning to build almost to an overwhelming level. Deciding it was best to try to ignore the precipitation, he moved on, albeit at a slower pace than was typical of him.
***
Closing his eyes, he tried to remember how long it'd taken to get to the town originally, so that he could approximate how long it would take him to get back to Kaoru. He thought it would be about a day, maybe two, from the his current location, but he frowned as he tried to recollect how long he'd already been traveling.
'This is not good,' he thought as he delicately rubbed his pounding temples. It had been raining off and on the entire time, and that added to what he could sense as an infection setting in was causing him some confusion. 'I think I may have a fever,' he decided futilely. It wouldn't turn into anything too serious, his immune system was too strong for that, but it was certainly a bother and with his mind not as sharp as it should be, the entire situation was a bit disturbing.
'Maybe I should have waited for Aoshi,' he thought as he dragged himself onward. 'Where exactly am I?' He didn't like the turn things were taking, it was dangerous for him to be this perplexed over something as simple as a location. Out of the instinct to protect himself, his pace quickened, regardless of the objections his body was screaming at him.
'I have to get back to her, I have to get somewhere safer, this is bad.'
***
Rain beat at the roof of the Aoiya as Kaoru laid out her futon. It was dark, with her only light coming from a single candle in the corner, but the occasional wickedly twisted flash of lightning provided some illumination. She sighed as she blew out the candle, then laid down and stared at the ceiling. The storm seemed to be trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand it. Dismissing it as silly fantasy, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. It was late now, but she had sat in the courtyard under the now familiar tree watching the lightning until it was close enough to be dangerous.
Somehow she couldn't shake off the feeling that the storm was bringing with it some sort of change. Pressing her fingertips to her forehead, she assured herself that she was being ridiculous and that she needed to get at least a bit of rest. Still, she was restless. Shifting to her knees she breathed deeply and tried meditating to calm her nerves. She was rudely pulled from her rumination when her shoji slid open with a bang.
'Who on earth... this time of night?' she thought as she slowly opened her heavy eyelids. A gasp flew from her throat as Battousai stood outlined by the soft light of a candle in the hall. He was thoroughly soaked, dripping on the floor, and shaking, his eyes burning into hers. Somehow he had a far-off look to him, his gaze seemed feverishly senseless. She bolted forward just in time to catch him as he dropped, barely preventing his head from striking the floor.
*****