Author's Note: Doo doo doo. Another nice little chapter I have posted up.
And in this chapter is when you'll be able to find out if Soujiro kills
Misao! Now time to read the chapter.
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It was the day after yesterday, and Soujiro had recovered from the sickness he had had. The said Tenken had retreated into his room. Usually, he would be sitting around and smiling, wondering what to do to pass his time and waiting to see if Shishio would need him for any errands. Of course the errands usually meant people to kill. Having gathered the Juppon Gattana, there were really no assignments for Soujiro to do.
Except one.
This time, Soujiro actually wasn't smiling. Instead, the killer just sat, his back against the wall of his room as he thought, his sheathed sword on top of his crossed legs. After a while of thinking, he would glance at his sword, thoughts running through his mind.
He had killed so many people with that sword. And he felt no regret for what he did. Every time he would kill someone, he would just think of the person as food. He was strong, and the ones he killed were weak.
But, as he slowly slid the blade out and stared at it, he wondered if he could add someone else's blood to it. Misao's blood.
A few days ago, Soujiro had no thoughts about the ninja girl, and would've killed her right when Shishio would tell him to. Yesterday, he had some conflicting thoughts about killing her, but was still going to. It was the sickness that stopped him.
Now, Soujiro was actually thinking about not killing Misao.
Soujiro slid his sword back in its sheath, and placed it so that it was resting against his shoulder. He stared down at the floor, his thoughts continuing to run amuck in his mind.
Misao was weak. He was strong. So didn't that mean he should kill her? It made sense to him. But every time he thought of it, something didn't feel right about it.
"The weak die," Soujiro suddenly muttered. He seemed to pause before speaking again. "But.....is it really wrong to be weak?"
It was a good question actually. Though people were weak, was it really their fault? Was their dream of living their life peacefully really that wrong?
Soujiro had once wanted to get by in the world. That was a long time ago, when he had the scars to prove how cruel the world was to him. Every day he would do what he was told, hoping to live a day where those two brothers wouldn't mess anything up on purpose and blame it on him, just to watch him be beaten.
The Tenken raised a hand and trailed a finger on the fabric of his gi over his left shoulder. Despite what the gi tried to hide from sight, Soujiro was able to feel one of the many scars on his body. Though small, maybe three inches at most, it wasn't that bad compared to the others.
But to Misao, it was an injury to worry about.
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Soujiro raised into a sitting position on the futon, wiping some sweat from his face. He didn't like this sickness that plagued him. It gave him the impression that he was weak. He did not like being weak.
"You shouldn't be up yet," Misao said, kneeling down beside him.
"I'm alright," Soujiro assured. Though sick, he was able to keep his emotionless smile on his face.
"Yeah, you're too strong for a sickness," Misao mocked, grinning at him.
A wave of pain suddenly shot through Soujiro and he closed his eyes before grimacing and dropping down to the futon. How he hated this. It was like being a weak child all over again.
He waited for the pain to subside again. This sickness was like an enemy. Every time he would try to fight it, it would only attack him and bring him down to his knees. Soujiro had fought multiple opponents, but this simple sickness was doing what no other warrior could do.
Soujiro opened his eyes and was surprised to find Misao looking down at him with sudden sympathy. "What is it?"
All he got was one of the ninja girl's pale fingers trailing down the bare flesh of his left shoulder. Soujiro blinked and looked at what caught Misao's attention.
A scar, no more then three inches, ran across his shoulder. His gi had slipped down his shoulder when he had been brought down to the futon, and revealed the injury. As Misao trailed her finger against the scar, she looked down at Soujiro.
"Did they do this to you?" she asked.
Soujiro didn't need to figure out who Misao meant. "Yeah." He grabbed the fabric of the gi and pushed it up over his scar.
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Sympathy. Concern. Non-killing. Love.
Soujiro never experienced these things before. Sometimes he would wonder if they even existed. There was sure none of that in Kyoto.
He wasn't given any sympathy or concern. Death was all around him. And love.....there was no one that could possibly give him that.
The Tenken stood up, strapping his sword to his waist. Whether he liked it or didn't like what he had become, it didn't matter. The next step to his path in life has already been shown to him. And he was going to take that step.
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Soujiro having left this morning to do stuff, as he said, Misao was alone again.
Misao didn't really care. Soujiro would appear and disappear, doing stuff, and Misao would just try to find other ways to pass time. Mostly training of course. She couldn't allow herself to get rusty after all.
Having taken a piece of cloth, Misao had tied it over her eyes. Her stubbornness wouldn't allow her to give up with this little training until she was successful at it. The need to be stronger so she kick that smiling Tenken's ass only helped with her determination.
Misao got into a stance, taking some deep breaths to help her focus. Springing into motion, she sent a fist forward before doing a roundhouse kick. Though hitting nothing but air, the ninja girl pretended that she was hitting a certain smiling baka. She still hasn't forgiven him for looking at her when she was taking a bath after all.
"Ow!" Misao suddenly cried out, knocking into a low table. Clutching her now throbbing shin, she hopped on one foot. That soon ended up being a mistake when she suddenly tripped over the futon and fell flat on her back.
She growled lowly to herself, not liking how her very short training session went.
"How is Misao doing today?" asked a voice.
Misao already knew who it was. But she still pulled the blindfold from over her eyes and turned to glare at the smiling Soujiro. She didn't speak to him, instead she only stood up and dusted herself off, her back turned to him.
If Misao had turned around, she would've seen Soujiro moving towards her. His hand hovered to the hilt of his sword as he moved closer to her back.
"I'll be able to do it one day," Misao spoke, unaware of the approaching Tenken. "A bit more training and that day will come."
"Unfortunately Misao," Soujiro spoke, "you will not be alive when that day comes."
The ninja girl turned around at that. Pure instinct suddenly took over and she dived to the side, Soujiro's sword striking nothing but where Misao had just been.
Misao rolled on the floor before standing up quickly. She stared at Soujiro in shock. "What the hell are you doing!?"
"Shishio says that you are no longer useful Misao," replied Soujiro, turning to her with his Tenken smile on his face. He let the blade of his sword rest against his shoulder as he stared emotionlessly at her. "And when something is useless, you get rid of it."
Misao had known that this day would come. Despite having grown a liking to Shishio's right hand man, Misao knew deep in her heart that one day that she would no longer be needed anymore. Probably why she spent most of her time training when she was alone. To prepare for this day.
"I wasn't even trying with that first attack," Soujiro explained. "I wasn't surprised that you avoided it. But this time, I will kill you."
"Just because some bacon man told you to," growled Misao. She wasn't going to give up without a fight that was for sure. Soujiro may be a much stronger fighter then she was, but she wasn't going to let herself be killed just like that.
"Don't take this personally Misao. But Shishio did say to get rid of you. It was nice knowing you. You have been very amusing during your stay here. Now goodbye."
Misao almost didn't see the next attack coming. Soujiro had suddenly charged at her that she almost didn't have time to dodge. However, she was able to leap to the side just as Soujiro reached her and swung his sword. Strings of black hair fell to the floor as the Tenken's blade sliced through Misao's hair. She was lucky that was all she lost.
"Seems I underestimated you Misao," said Soujiro, turning to her again, the smile still present on his face. "You're still full of surprises I see."
Misao only glared at him. Charging at him with no weapon was a stupid idea. Her best bet was to let Soujiro attack her until she found an opening to attack him. If she was lucky, very lucky, she might be able to find a way to turn the tables on Soujiro.
Misao suddenly cried out in pain as she felt Soujiro's sword suddenly pierce her flesh.
Or not.
Misao gripped her now bleeding shoulder, gritting her teeth as she kept her gaze on the Tenken. Soujiro turned to her and blinked, as if surprised that she was still living.
"Strange," he said, placing his sword against his shoulder again. He held a hand to his chin as he stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. "I really did try to hit you that time. But for some reason I missed."
'He calls that a miss!?' thought Misao angrily, clutching her shoulder.
"Oh well. I'll just try again. Third time's the charm."
'Oh no he won't.'
Hoping to somehow catch Soujiro off guard, Misao leapt forward. She shot her fist forward and grinned as her knuckles hit him directly in the face.
Then he suddenly disappeared.
'An afterimage!' Misao thought with alarm, realizing that what she thought was Soujiro, wasn't really him. 'But how can he move that fast!?'
No sooner had she thought that, did she suddenly scream in pain. Soujiro's blade sliced into her back as he suddenly appeared behind her. The ninja girl collapsed to her knees, blood flowing from her shoulder and back.
"I missed again," Soujiro said again, surprised that Misao wasn't dead yet. "Oh well."
The wound in Misao's back wasn't deep. However, it still hurt like hell. Using her unwounded arm, Misao slowly tried to stand up. A sudden light kick to her side though, caused the ninja girl to roll onto her back.
Green eyes stared into blue as ninja and Tenken stared at one another. Soujiro held his blood stained sword over Misao's throat.
"This time I won't miss," he informed her.
Misao didn't speak, and for a while Soujiro thought that she had accepted her fate.
Which why he was surprised when Misao suddenly narrowed her eyes at him. Soujiro did not see any fear in those eyes. Only a strong flame seemed to burn inside them.
"Do you really want to kill me?" Misao suddenly asked.
Soujiro blinked. "What?"
"Are you deaf?" asked Misao, annoyed at how idiotic the Tenken was. "I asked if you really want to kill me?"
It seemed that Misao was an expert at these confusing questions. Because soon, Soujiro was suddenly silent, thinking over the question.
Did he really want to kill her? A part of him, the part that made him who he was, immediately screamed out yes. But another part of him, the small voice inside of his head, said no.
It was confusing. It was like a war suddenly broke out in his mind. On one side, there was Shishio's teachings and who Soujiro was now. On the other side, was that small voice.
The image of that rainy night suddenly appeared in Soujiro's mind. His eight year old self stood in the center of the corpses, the wakizashi in his small hand.
He had killed those people, yes. But.....he really didn't want to kill them. He had killed every one that he was assigned to kill. But, as he thought hard on it, he really never wanted to kill them either.
"No," Soujiro finally answered, lowering his sword.
Misao couldn't help but let out a sigh a relief.
And then she was clubbed on the head and everything went black.
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"So I see," Shishio spoke, once again having his lit pipe in his mouth. "You killed her?"
"Just as you said," replied Soujiro, smiling. Holding up his now sheathed sword, he slid the blade out before Shishio so the mummy man can see the blood stained on it.
Misao's blood.
"Yes, I've heard from the guards that you have killed her. And now that she's out of the way, we can worry about more pressing matters. The Purgatory is almost ready to make its journey to Tokyo. And the flames of Kyoto will soon be lit to represent the starting of a new era of Japan. Soon, everything will be complete."
"Of course Shishio."
Soujiro bowed his head at Shishio before turning to leave. It was true, everything was almost complete.
But Soujiro needed to do one more thing.
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The first thing that Misao awoke to when she opened her eyes, was the throbbing of her head. She held up a hand to her head, and soon found at that her hands were bound together. She blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. Sunlight stun at her eyes and she rubbed them with her bound hands. Looking down, she soon found that her feet had also been bound.
Now how did she get in this predicament?
Her head continued to pound as she tried to remember. But soon enough, the memories of what happened slowly came to her.
'Soujiro!'
Eyes now wide, Misao looked around. She wasn't in her usual prison as she had immediately thought she was in. Instead, she had been propped against a tree on top of a hill. Having been in her darkened prison, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust being in sunlight again.
She looked at her shoulder, and found that a bandage had been wrapped around it. She guessed that the wound in her back had been treated as well. Taking another look around, Misao tried to see if the Tenken was somewhere around. He wasn't.
That was until Soujiro suddenly seemed to appear out of thin air in front of her.
Misao cried out in surprise and tried to move away from the one that had just tried to kill her. But with her hands and feet tied up, it wasn't very easy to do.
"Oh you're awake," said Soujiro, smiling down at her. "Good."
"Come to finish the job?" asked Misao angrily.
Soujiro chuckled. As he slid his sword out of the sheath, the ninja girl thought he really was about to kill her. Soujiro swung his sword at her.
But instead of a death blow, the ropes tied around Misao's wrists and ankles were suddenly sliced in half. She looked down at her now free limbs and then stared dumbfounded at Soujiro, who sheathed his sword before holding out a hand to her.
Not really sure what to do, Misao took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.
"Well all you have to do is go that way," said Soujiro, pointing to his left. "You should be okay by yourself."
He turned to leave until Misao suddenly spoke. "Wait!"
Soujiro stopped and turned to her, his head tilted as he continued to smile. "Yes?"
"What the hell are you doing!? What do you mean all I have to do is go that way!?"
Soujiro only chuckled again. "All you have to do is go that way to go home Misao. That is where Kyoto is I believe."
Misao stood dumbfounded, not sure how to take all this. In the end, she was only able to ask, "You're letting me go?"
"Of course. Why else would I be doing this?"
"You're letting me go?"
"I just said yes."
"But Shishio-."
"Only thinks that you're dead," interrupted Soujiro.
"But what if-?"
"He finds out? I'm hurt. Have you forgotten who I am?"
Misao was only able to sputter, not sure what to think or say. Finally she was only able to ask, for the third time, "You're letting me go?"
"Do I really have to answer that again?"
Misao only stared at him. She turned her head to where Kyoto was said to be, and then turned to him again.
"Just right down there," Soujiro said, pointing to his left again. "Now I have to return. I can't let Shishio get suspicious of my absence now can I?"
Soujiro turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Soujiro again stopped and did an about face. "Yes Misao?"
Misao stood in front of the Tenken. She hesitated, a small blush forming.
"I was saving this for Aoshi.....but....."
Misao suddenly stood on her toes. Soujiro blinked in surprise when he felt her lips suddenly touch his cheek. It was a quick kiss, and Misao was soon staring at the ground, her face burning.
Soujiro stared at her with surprise, a hand on the cheek that had just been kissed.
Misao waited for him to say anything. When he didn't she turned to leave.
"Wait."
Now it was Misao's turn to stop and turn to Soujiro.
"Yes?"
Soujiro seemed to pause, wondering if he should say what he was about to say. He took a breath. "Tomorrow, Shishio intends to have his men set fire to Kyoto. Be ready."
Misao's eyes widened with surprise at what might happened to her home, and that Soujiro was actually telling her Shishio's plans.
"That's not all," continued Soujiro. "Burning Kyoto will only be a diversion. While the government is occupied with trying to stop the fires in Kyoto, Shishio will be attacking Tokyo."
"How will he be able to do that?" asked Misao.
"He has a battleship called the Purgatory. It'll be disguised as a normal boat and hidden in a dock where Shishio will board it and then sail to Tokyo to destroy it with the Purgatory's weapons. Please do tell Himura. We still have unfinished business after all."
Misao could only stare at Soujiro again. All she was able to do now was smile at him. "I will."
Turning around, Misao walked off to where Soujiro told her Kyoto was. The Tenken watched her go, smiling at her. Turning around, he walked off, humming a familiar tune.
Killing and swordsmanship was what Soujiro understood. But girls, they were a mystery to him.
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Author's Note: Finally! The chapter is done! Truthfully I wasn't proud of some parts of this chapter. I think I kind of rushed those parts. Now before you go all blah blah blahing about Kenshin, Saitoh, and Sano figuring out about Shishio attacking Tokyo, who really cares? Let's just say Soujiro gave them a helping hand, it helps with the Soujiro/Misao. But anyway, hope you like it. Only one more chapter to go and this fic is done! Now it's 2:12 in the morning, and I'm going to bed. So peace! falls on my bed and sleeps zzzzzzzzz.
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It was the day after yesterday, and Soujiro had recovered from the sickness he had had. The said Tenken had retreated into his room. Usually, he would be sitting around and smiling, wondering what to do to pass his time and waiting to see if Shishio would need him for any errands. Of course the errands usually meant people to kill. Having gathered the Juppon Gattana, there were really no assignments for Soujiro to do.
Except one.
This time, Soujiro actually wasn't smiling. Instead, the killer just sat, his back against the wall of his room as he thought, his sheathed sword on top of his crossed legs. After a while of thinking, he would glance at his sword, thoughts running through his mind.
He had killed so many people with that sword. And he felt no regret for what he did. Every time he would kill someone, he would just think of the person as food. He was strong, and the ones he killed were weak.
But, as he slowly slid the blade out and stared at it, he wondered if he could add someone else's blood to it. Misao's blood.
A few days ago, Soujiro had no thoughts about the ninja girl, and would've killed her right when Shishio would tell him to. Yesterday, he had some conflicting thoughts about killing her, but was still going to. It was the sickness that stopped him.
Now, Soujiro was actually thinking about not killing Misao.
Soujiro slid his sword back in its sheath, and placed it so that it was resting against his shoulder. He stared down at the floor, his thoughts continuing to run amuck in his mind.
Misao was weak. He was strong. So didn't that mean he should kill her? It made sense to him. But every time he thought of it, something didn't feel right about it.
"The weak die," Soujiro suddenly muttered. He seemed to pause before speaking again. "But.....is it really wrong to be weak?"
It was a good question actually. Though people were weak, was it really their fault? Was their dream of living their life peacefully really that wrong?
Soujiro had once wanted to get by in the world. That was a long time ago, when he had the scars to prove how cruel the world was to him. Every day he would do what he was told, hoping to live a day where those two brothers wouldn't mess anything up on purpose and blame it on him, just to watch him be beaten.
The Tenken raised a hand and trailed a finger on the fabric of his gi over his left shoulder. Despite what the gi tried to hide from sight, Soujiro was able to feel one of the many scars on his body. Though small, maybe three inches at most, it wasn't that bad compared to the others.
But to Misao, it was an injury to worry about.
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Soujiro raised into a sitting position on the futon, wiping some sweat from his face. He didn't like this sickness that plagued him. It gave him the impression that he was weak. He did not like being weak.
"You shouldn't be up yet," Misao said, kneeling down beside him.
"I'm alright," Soujiro assured. Though sick, he was able to keep his emotionless smile on his face.
"Yeah, you're too strong for a sickness," Misao mocked, grinning at him.
A wave of pain suddenly shot through Soujiro and he closed his eyes before grimacing and dropping down to the futon. How he hated this. It was like being a weak child all over again.
He waited for the pain to subside again. This sickness was like an enemy. Every time he would try to fight it, it would only attack him and bring him down to his knees. Soujiro had fought multiple opponents, but this simple sickness was doing what no other warrior could do.
Soujiro opened his eyes and was surprised to find Misao looking down at him with sudden sympathy. "What is it?"
All he got was one of the ninja girl's pale fingers trailing down the bare flesh of his left shoulder. Soujiro blinked and looked at what caught Misao's attention.
A scar, no more then three inches, ran across his shoulder. His gi had slipped down his shoulder when he had been brought down to the futon, and revealed the injury. As Misao trailed her finger against the scar, she looked down at Soujiro.
"Did they do this to you?" she asked.
Soujiro didn't need to figure out who Misao meant. "Yeah." He grabbed the fabric of the gi and pushed it up over his scar.
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Sympathy. Concern. Non-killing. Love.
Soujiro never experienced these things before. Sometimes he would wonder if they even existed. There was sure none of that in Kyoto.
He wasn't given any sympathy or concern. Death was all around him. And love.....there was no one that could possibly give him that.
The Tenken stood up, strapping his sword to his waist. Whether he liked it or didn't like what he had become, it didn't matter. The next step to his path in life has already been shown to him. And he was going to take that step.
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Soujiro having left this morning to do stuff, as he said, Misao was alone again.
Misao didn't really care. Soujiro would appear and disappear, doing stuff, and Misao would just try to find other ways to pass time. Mostly training of course. She couldn't allow herself to get rusty after all.
Having taken a piece of cloth, Misao had tied it over her eyes. Her stubbornness wouldn't allow her to give up with this little training until she was successful at it. The need to be stronger so she kick that smiling Tenken's ass only helped with her determination.
Misao got into a stance, taking some deep breaths to help her focus. Springing into motion, she sent a fist forward before doing a roundhouse kick. Though hitting nothing but air, the ninja girl pretended that she was hitting a certain smiling baka. She still hasn't forgiven him for looking at her when she was taking a bath after all.
"Ow!" Misao suddenly cried out, knocking into a low table. Clutching her now throbbing shin, she hopped on one foot. That soon ended up being a mistake when she suddenly tripped over the futon and fell flat on her back.
She growled lowly to herself, not liking how her very short training session went.
"How is Misao doing today?" asked a voice.
Misao already knew who it was. But she still pulled the blindfold from over her eyes and turned to glare at the smiling Soujiro. She didn't speak to him, instead she only stood up and dusted herself off, her back turned to him.
If Misao had turned around, she would've seen Soujiro moving towards her. His hand hovered to the hilt of his sword as he moved closer to her back.
"I'll be able to do it one day," Misao spoke, unaware of the approaching Tenken. "A bit more training and that day will come."
"Unfortunately Misao," Soujiro spoke, "you will not be alive when that day comes."
The ninja girl turned around at that. Pure instinct suddenly took over and she dived to the side, Soujiro's sword striking nothing but where Misao had just been.
Misao rolled on the floor before standing up quickly. She stared at Soujiro in shock. "What the hell are you doing!?"
"Shishio says that you are no longer useful Misao," replied Soujiro, turning to her with his Tenken smile on his face. He let the blade of his sword rest against his shoulder as he stared emotionlessly at her. "And when something is useless, you get rid of it."
Misao had known that this day would come. Despite having grown a liking to Shishio's right hand man, Misao knew deep in her heart that one day that she would no longer be needed anymore. Probably why she spent most of her time training when she was alone. To prepare for this day.
"I wasn't even trying with that first attack," Soujiro explained. "I wasn't surprised that you avoided it. But this time, I will kill you."
"Just because some bacon man told you to," growled Misao. She wasn't going to give up without a fight that was for sure. Soujiro may be a much stronger fighter then she was, but she wasn't going to let herself be killed just like that.
"Don't take this personally Misao. But Shishio did say to get rid of you. It was nice knowing you. You have been very amusing during your stay here. Now goodbye."
Misao almost didn't see the next attack coming. Soujiro had suddenly charged at her that she almost didn't have time to dodge. However, she was able to leap to the side just as Soujiro reached her and swung his sword. Strings of black hair fell to the floor as the Tenken's blade sliced through Misao's hair. She was lucky that was all she lost.
"Seems I underestimated you Misao," said Soujiro, turning to her again, the smile still present on his face. "You're still full of surprises I see."
Misao only glared at him. Charging at him with no weapon was a stupid idea. Her best bet was to let Soujiro attack her until she found an opening to attack him. If she was lucky, very lucky, she might be able to find a way to turn the tables on Soujiro.
Misao suddenly cried out in pain as she felt Soujiro's sword suddenly pierce her flesh.
Or not.
Misao gripped her now bleeding shoulder, gritting her teeth as she kept her gaze on the Tenken. Soujiro turned to her and blinked, as if surprised that she was still living.
"Strange," he said, placing his sword against his shoulder again. He held a hand to his chin as he stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. "I really did try to hit you that time. But for some reason I missed."
'He calls that a miss!?' thought Misao angrily, clutching her shoulder.
"Oh well. I'll just try again. Third time's the charm."
'Oh no he won't.'
Hoping to somehow catch Soujiro off guard, Misao leapt forward. She shot her fist forward and grinned as her knuckles hit him directly in the face.
Then he suddenly disappeared.
'An afterimage!' Misao thought with alarm, realizing that what she thought was Soujiro, wasn't really him. 'But how can he move that fast!?'
No sooner had she thought that, did she suddenly scream in pain. Soujiro's blade sliced into her back as he suddenly appeared behind her. The ninja girl collapsed to her knees, blood flowing from her shoulder and back.
"I missed again," Soujiro said again, surprised that Misao wasn't dead yet. "Oh well."
The wound in Misao's back wasn't deep. However, it still hurt like hell. Using her unwounded arm, Misao slowly tried to stand up. A sudden light kick to her side though, caused the ninja girl to roll onto her back.
Green eyes stared into blue as ninja and Tenken stared at one another. Soujiro held his blood stained sword over Misao's throat.
"This time I won't miss," he informed her.
Misao didn't speak, and for a while Soujiro thought that she had accepted her fate.
Which why he was surprised when Misao suddenly narrowed her eyes at him. Soujiro did not see any fear in those eyes. Only a strong flame seemed to burn inside them.
"Do you really want to kill me?" Misao suddenly asked.
Soujiro blinked. "What?"
"Are you deaf?" asked Misao, annoyed at how idiotic the Tenken was. "I asked if you really want to kill me?"
It seemed that Misao was an expert at these confusing questions. Because soon, Soujiro was suddenly silent, thinking over the question.
Did he really want to kill her? A part of him, the part that made him who he was, immediately screamed out yes. But another part of him, the small voice inside of his head, said no.
It was confusing. It was like a war suddenly broke out in his mind. On one side, there was Shishio's teachings and who Soujiro was now. On the other side, was that small voice.
The image of that rainy night suddenly appeared in Soujiro's mind. His eight year old self stood in the center of the corpses, the wakizashi in his small hand.
He had killed those people, yes. But.....he really didn't want to kill them. He had killed every one that he was assigned to kill. But, as he thought hard on it, he really never wanted to kill them either.
"No," Soujiro finally answered, lowering his sword.
Misao couldn't help but let out a sigh a relief.
And then she was clubbed on the head and everything went black.
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"So I see," Shishio spoke, once again having his lit pipe in his mouth. "You killed her?"
"Just as you said," replied Soujiro, smiling. Holding up his now sheathed sword, he slid the blade out before Shishio so the mummy man can see the blood stained on it.
Misao's blood.
"Yes, I've heard from the guards that you have killed her. And now that she's out of the way, we can worry about more pressing matters. The Purgatory is almost ready to make its journey to Tokyo. And the flames of Kyoto will soon be lit to represent the starting of a new era of Japan. Soon, everything will be complete."
"Of course Shishio."
Soujiro bowed his head at Shishio before turning to leave. It was true, everything was almost complete.
But Soujiro needed to do one more thing.
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The first thing that Misao awoke to when she opened her eyes, was the throbbing of her head. She held up a hand to her head, and soon found at that her hands were bound together. She blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. Sunlight stun at her eyes and she rubbed them with her bound hands. Looking down, she soon found that her feet had also been bound.
Now how did she get in this predicament?
Her head continued to pound as she tried to remember. But soon enough, the memories of what happened slowly came to her.
'Soujiro!'
Eyes now wide, Misao looked around. She wasn't in her usual prison as she had immediately thought she was in. Instead, she had been propped against a tree on top of a hill. Having been in her darkened prison, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust being in sunlight again.
She looked at her shoulder, and found that a bandage had been wrapped around it. She guessed that the wound in her back had been treated as well. Taking another look around, Misao tried to see if the Tenken was somewhere around. He wasn't.
That was until Soujiro suddenly seemed to appear out of thin air in front of her.
Misao cried out in surprise and tried to move away from the one that had just tried to kill her. But with her hands and feet tied up, it wasn't very easy to do.
"Oh you're awake," said Soujiro, smiling down at her. "Good."
"Come to finish the job?" asked Misao angrily.
Soujiro chuckled. As he slid his sword out of the sheath, the ninja girl thought he really was about to kill her. Soujiro swung his sword at her.
But instead of a death blow, the ropes tied around Misao's wrists and ankles were suddenly sliced in half. She looked down at her now free limbs and then stared dumbfounded at Soujiro, who sheathed his sword before holding out a hand to her.
Not really sure what to do, Misao took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.
"Well all you have to do is go that way," said Soujiro, pointing to his left. "You should be okay by yourself."
He turned to leave until Misao suddenly spoke. "Wait!"
Soujiro stopped and turned to her, his head tilted as he continued to smile. "Yes?"
"What the hell are you doing!? What do you mean all I have to do is go that way!?"
Soujiro only chuckled again. "All you have to do is go that way to go home Misao. That is where Kyoto is I believe."
Misao stood dumbfounded, not sure how to take all this. In the end, she was only able to ask, "You're letting me go?"
"Of course. Why else would I be doing this?"
"You're letting me go?"
"I just said yes."
"But Shishio-."
"Only thinks that you're dead," interrupted Soujiro.
"But what if-?"
"He finds out? I'm hurt. Have you forgotten who I am?"
Misao was only able to sputter, not sure what to think or say. Finally she was only able to ask, for the third time, "You're letting me go?"
"Do I really have to answer that again?"
Misao only stared at him. She turned her head to where Kyoto was said to be, and then turned to him again.
"Just right down there," Soujiro said, pointing to his left again. "Now I have to return. I can't let Shishio get suspicious of my absence now can I?"
Soujiro turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Soujiro again stopped and did an about face. "Yes Misao?"
Misao stood in front of the Tenken. She hesitated, a small blush forming.
"I was saving this for Aoshi.....but....."
Misao suddenly stood on her toes. Soujiro blinked in surprise when he felt her lips suddenly touch his cheek. It was a quick kiss, and Misao was soon staring at the ground, her face burning.
Soujiro stared at her with surprise, a hand on the cheek that had just been kissed.
Misao waited for him to say anything. When he didn't she turned to leave.
"Wait."
Now it was Misao's turn to stop and turn to Soujiro.
"Yes?"
Soujiro seemed to pause, wondering if he should say what he was about to say. He took a breath. "Tomorrow, Shishio intends to have his men set fire to Kyoto. Be ready."
Misao's eyes widened with surprise at what might happened to her home, and that Soujiro was actually telling her Shishio's plans.
"That's not all," continued Soujiro. "Burning Kyoto will only be a diversion. While the government is occupied with trying to stop the fires in Kyoto, Shishio will be attacking Tokyo."
"How will he be able to do that?" asked Misao.
"He has a battleship called the Purgatory. It'll be disguised as a normal boat and hidden in a dock where Shishio will board it and then sail to Tokyo to destroy it with the Purgatory's weapons. Please do tell Himura. We still have unfinished business after all."
Misao could only stare at Soujiro again. All she was able to do now was smile at him. "I will."
Turning around, Misao walked off to where Soujiro told her Kyoto was. The Tenken watched her go, smiling at her. Turning around, he walked off, humming a familiar tune.
Killing and swordsmanship was what Soujiro understood. But girls, they were a mystery to him.
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Author's Note: Finally! The chapter is done! Truthfully I wasn't proud of some parts of this chapter. I think I kind of rushed those parts. Now before you go all blah blah blahing about Kenshin, Saitoh, and Sano figuring out about Shishio attacking Tokyo, who really cares? Let's just say Soujiro gave them a helping hand, it helps with the Soujiro/Misao. But anyway, hope you like it. Only one more chapter to go and this fic is done! Now it's 2:12 in the morning, and I'm going to bed. So peace! falls on my bed and sleeps zzzzzzzzz.