Puppeteers
Nore: Blargh... Rhi-chan isn't typing this chapter... I am... Bando-chan... I would have started sooner, but all this crap has been happening; including trying to hunt down my prom date, who STILL hasn't e-mailed me back... screw the fact he's a foot taller than me... I'm gonna smack the boy when I see him again. I swear it... Sheesh... if I didn't... oh... :clamps hands over mouth: never mind! -_-;; why don't I just get on to the disclaimer?
Disclaimer: DON'T SUE ME!!! I stake no claim on Rurouni Kenshin... Just Kenshin... and Sou-chan...
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Chapter Four- All the reasons why
Sano's eyes watched me as I swung my sword up and thrust out. "Shinsengumi, huh?" He raised his eyebrows. "You have such pleasant friends."
I scowled. "This is serious... I'm not sure what he's capable of doing to me."
The truth was that I was afraid that Saitou might realize that I had very close relations in Tokyo... Would he use that against me?
"You're obviously concerned."
My eyes darted over to look at him as I took the next few graceful steps in my dance, sword catching brief rays from the dying sun. "Saitou will have kept his skills very sharp, whereas mine have been eroding."
"Whatever you say. You're supposed to be the best swordsman in Japan."
I shrugged numbly, feeling that something was terribly wrong. Why had Saitou come for me now, of all times? Did he already know about Kaoru and Yahiko?
Sano dusted himself off and approached me, seizing my arm and forcing it down. "No more practicing. You've been at this for two days. The challenge is set for tomorrow... where?"
I submitted and sheathed my sakabatou. "He just said I would know..."
He released me and shoved his hands in his pockets. "That could be anywhere."
I nodded slowly. "But I might have an idea."
His eyebrow flew up. "Really? Where?"
I sighed and pushed my sword into the ties of my hakama. "He might have it in the grove of white plum trees... They're blooming, and he always did have a twisted fascination with Tomoe."
He nodded slowly. "What about some of the other hints? They don't fit to your ex-wife."
I sighed as we turned to leave the small meadow that had been my training ground. "The other... he knows about Kaoru and Yahiko."
"Then it'll be the dojo."
I closed my eyes. I was hardly sure of my own choices... How could I be sure of where Saitou would strike at all? How could I even be sure that what I felt for Kaoru was nothing more than the perverse lust that came with being a man. I didn't want to face her again... not with Hiro... and not when I was facing off against Saitou again.
Not when I had to fight a shadow from my already dark past.
We were quickly back in the city, when someone collided with me.
"Oro!" I cried, catching the boy to keep him from falling.
"Kenshin!" He cried, steadying himself.
My eyes widened with recognition. "Yahiko! What's wrong?"
He caught his breath. "There's a policeman looking for you at the dojo."
My breath froze in my throat and my heart stopped.
"Wasn't it tomorrow... Kenshin?"
My thoughts rushed like a raging river through my head. He couldn't have... wouldn't have... it was tomorrow...
Under the red moon...
I cursed, leaving both Sanosuke and Yahiko shocked as my eyes hunted the darkening twilight.
I had assumed the red moon was the setting sun. There! My heart died as I saw the crimson reflection of the dying sun on the pale, impressionable moon.
"There's no time!" I cried, touching my swrod hilt and turning to begin to run to the dojo. "It's tonight! It's now!"
I tore at myself internally, screaming about my stupidity. How could I have been so stupid?
As I stepped into the open gate, I heard the argumentative voice that belonged to Hiro.
Fool... I thought. He could snuff out that destructive flame of yours with an instant and his sword.
"I've told you! He doesn't live here!"
So I'd become the topic of conversation... I almost laughed at the cruel irony of it all.
I heard Kaoru plead with them to stop arguing and calmly try to explain to Saitou that I was gone.
I slid off my shoes and stepped into the dojo, causing everything to stop.
A cruel smile crossed Saitou's face. "So you've come."
I began to let my restraints on Battousai loosen as my eyes flickered once the warning amber I knew none but Saitou had seen. "You knew I would." I kept my face stony, only allowing my disapproval to show in my eyes. "You, however, have lost a great deal of honor if you involve these people."
It was hurting me, to write Kaoru and Yahiko off as just regular people, but what could I do? I had to convince everyone that they meant as much to me as all the other people whose lives I'd changed by raising my sword and fighting for their safety, only to leave them behind with just a legend... Just like I was about to do to them.
Kaoru was watching me with increasing fear. I felt her stare, realizing that she had caught my change before even I had. Could I blame her for being afraid...? Both sides of me remembered the last time she had seen me go over the edge... I could have laughed again. Naive, beautiful, little Kaoru had no honest idea how Battousai really was.
Don't look at her... I ordered myself.
She dashed forward as I began to approach Saitou solemnly and seized the back of my gi. "Don't!" She cried, panic evident in her voice. "Don't... please... don't go back... don't go back to who... to who you were..."
I struggled with myself as I felt her hands tighten their grip and her attempts to hold me back with all her strength. Her forehead fell against my back and a choked sob escaped her throat.
"Kaoru... let him go." Hiro spoke, reaching for her.
Saitou's eyebrows come up. "Silence yourself, boy. From what I can see, this concerns you not."
Hiro turned on him. "She's my fiancée! It certainly does concern-"
He never finished, for the hilt of Saitou's sword connected with his stomach, knocking him out.
"If you really are his woman, girl, then take care of him and leave Battousai to me."
Kaoru was so stunned at the blunt order that she released me and complied immediately.
"Come now, Battousai."
So be it... I thought, drawing my sword, feeling the last of the feeling in my heart flicker out. If it had been ten years before, I would have wanted to curl up and cry for the absolute death of my soul.
There was a silent standstill before we moved. There was nothing but the flash of our swords as they clashed.
Sanosuke and Yahiko watched in horrified silence as Kaoru's withheld sobs broke out into tears that flooded her innocent eyes.
I later regretted those tears, for they were because of me. I was such a fucking idiot... I was such a terrible person that I could make the most innocent woman I knew cry. I had made the woman I loved most of all cry...
Saitou's sword changed direction as I leaped in the air to deflect one swing and deliver one of my own, and pierced my abdomen.
I fell like a stone, mind screaming in pain as Kaoru took that internal pain and became my voice as though she herself was feeling the blinding, searing, burning pain of a sword piercing your own flesh.
I forced myself to stand, blood staining my clothes as I raised my sword.
"You aren't there yet! Where is the man I fought all those years ago?"
"I don't have time for petty taunts." I growled, eyes settling on gold.
He laughed and I disappeared, reappearing with my sword moving toward him as he deflected it at the last second. I felt the strip of cloth that bound my hair back fall away and around my shoulders.
He laughed, noting that I was losing control and my attacks were escalating in power.
My sword caught on the tip of his and fell onto his shoulder, leaving what I knew would be a painful bruise.
Our swords met over and over as I felt myself feel the old adrenaline rush through my veins. The obsessed feeling of living for each clash of the sword; to live to see another second.
I was deaf to the words and screams that Sano told me about later.
Everything felt like that night when I came back to Kyoto, the smoke of my only true home rising in the distance.
Tomoe's funeral pyre... Her kimono jacked over my own clothes as our swords clashed for the first time.
The old pain came roaring to the surface as we fought the battle we ought to have finished years before.
My sword came down with a force I could never have mustered as a teenager.
Saitou's sword broke...
"Stop!" We both froze, a second away from our finishing attack, at the voice of a man we both recognized.
Another man glared venomously at Saitou. "You were only supposed to see how strong he was. Not try to kill him."
Saitou's faced twitched in irritation as my eyes narrowed, eyebrow cocked. "Gauge my ability?" I asked as Megumi came tearing into the dojo, stopping dead at the sight of three unfamiliar men and me, the one who was supposed to never return there, standing in Kaoru's dojo.
"Oh..." She whispered, taking in my eyes as hers fell on them.
Of course... She had never seen me as I was then... She had never seen Battousai emerged.
I watched as Okubo stepped forward. "I apologize, Himura-san. I had hoped that this would end another way. We... must request your services."
My heart rate was slowing. "What would you need me for?" I asked smoothly.
He glanced nervously around the room. "I would prefer to speak of this in private."
I shook my head, forcing Battousai back. I raised my already clenched fist and pounded it into my forehead, feeling the demon that was Battousai slip back into his coils and chains.
"Whatever you have to say to this one, say it here. This one has no reason to keep them from the truth..." I paused. "They have a right to know my fate, should this become it."
Kaoru's strangled cry caught my attention and I glanced back at her, taking care to let her see that my eyes were back to normal.
She turned her attentions to her waking fiancé. "Hiro-kun..." She murmured softly.
Okubo noted my discomfort as I looked away quickly as Megumi stepped forward. "Ken-san... come on, I'll get you bandaged."
I submitted and let her sit me in a corner of the dojo as she sent Yahiko for bandages.
She stripped my gi off and stared at the bleeding wound sadly. "I'm sorry..." She whispered so that only I could here.
"Can you fix it?" I asked, only slightly urgently. All my other senses were dulled to where I didn't really care if death was my fate.
"I can... but I meant about that girl."
I stared at her. "What are you talking about, Megumi-dono?"
She glanced at me miserably. "You can't hide from it... No matter how hard you try, Ken-san... But she's only hurting you more the longer you hold on."
I stared into her concerned eyes. "This one is perfectly fine, Megumi-dono. Just a little scratched up on the outside."
Was I so obvious that Megumi could see my desperate screaming for someone to see my own emotions? I had tried to hard to hide the screaming in my heard that I knew I was betrayed through my turbulent eyes.
She took the bandages from Yahiko and began to wrap them tightly, keeping her voice low as she looked at me. "Be careful, Ken-san. She will not entrust you with her heart. Bestowing your upon her would only end in your own pain."
In retrospect, hers was probably the only sound advice anyone gave me back them, and I think Megumi's insights were a driving force that helped me keep my head on straight from getting too deep into the mess I was already caught up in.
Then again, it also was a major influence in what I was about to do next.
It was probably Fate's decision that I would get that particular advice directly before Okubo's request.
It's little coincidences like that which make me feel even more like a puppet all strung up and attached to Life's hands as she plays with us like a little girl plays with her doll. It was just that Life was a cynical little girl that played with our lives and then cuts the strings, leaving us in a broken heap on the stage until someone picks up the strings again and we become controlled and played with again.
As we settled in the dim light of lanterns inside the dojo, Okubo's tale unfolded.
"Himura-san... you know of Shishio Makoto, correct?"
How could I have ever forgotten? Katsura had needed an assassin, and he knew I could no longer do it after Tomoe's death. Who could ever forget the eerie man who seemed to take great enjoyment in the assignments I had so loathed?
Once again, it was probably my youth that had kept me from enjoying it.
But... I thought, He died... they killed him...
"This one had heard that he was dead. He was unknown, as this one had been before Katsura-san agreed to allow him to discontinue the duties as hitokiri... when Katsura allowed him to fight for the cause itself. Shishio Makoto... was the inheritor of my duties." I had mentioned the last part for the benefit of everyone who did not know in the room.
Hiro looked furiously at me, the deepest loathing in his eyes. Battousai would have glared at him in return, for he simply could not understand what life had been like. Kaoru was obviously torn between agreeing with her fiancé's anger, or the desperation that clouded her eyes of my leaving for such a dangerous task.
But I understood what Okubo was asking me to do.
"Shishio Makoto lives... and would it not be perfectly fitting for the assassin who took over for the Hitokiri Battousai to be assassinated himself by his predecessor? To let him finish the job the government could not?"
It was sarcastic, and I knew it. But they were asking me to break my vow and kill. If I were going to, I was going to make it worth it.
Okubo nodded, staring at the ground. Megumi's voice ran through my head, She will not entrust you with her heart...
Kaoru and Megumi were on their feet, yelling different things that were to the same effect.
I couldn't go. I didn't kill. I wouldn't do it. They would not be the things used against me to blackmail into doing it. I simply wouldn't go, because they wouldn't allow it.
I held up my hand to silence them, which worked immediately. "Okubo-san... This one does not with to kill. No doubt Yamagata-san told you so, but I cannot allow a killer to walk free if he is causing mayhem and death. That too would violate my oath to protect."
Kaoru was yelling something, pushing Hiro away as he tried to silence and calm her, but I only watched the scene with deafened ears, eyes observing as though they belonged to someone else in a surrealistic dream. It felt as though I could have reached out to touch something, and the whole illusion would fall apart and I would wake up.
Only Sano's voice broke through my twisted reverie to me. "Kenshin... don't hurt her..."
My eyes slid shut as I stood up. "Good night Okubo-san... minna-san..." I clutched my sword as I stood at the shoji, looking out at the wind-torn night sky that was filled with twinkling stars, that seemed so solemn and sad that particular night.
I looked away from the stars, down at the wooden floors I had polished myself so many times. "This one will depart for Kyoto in one week."
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Note: WAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?! Okay... unless I've ranted about the next chapter, no, you guys wouldn't know... Okay, now that the plot's starting to take it place in the series... I'm SURE you all can figure out what the next chapter is gonna be... You guess it right, and you get a SPECIAL review prize!!! This time, I'm giving all reviewers a crowbar and a free swing at Hiro. ^_^ Since everyone wants him to die, and I'm faaaaaar from done with him, and I don't think Saitou knocking him out was that great of a retribution for it... that's what you guys get!!! ^________^x If you don't guess... then you get a prize for reviewing anyway! A CHIBI SAITOU DOLL!!! **huggles the Saitou dolls** they're soooooooooooooooo cute!!! All reviewers get one... and guessers get a swing at Hiro... Review replies!!!
I can NOT express my gratitude from you guys! THREE chapters, and it's already catching up to The Wings of a Falcon, which has six! ^_^ I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness!!! **Points to a stack of papers with lip imprints on them** This update's gifts! Kenshin used a lot of my sister's lip-gloss for those... ^_^
Koishii Sweet: First on the scene for all of my story updates!!! Thank you so much for sticking with my stories and me, and pushing me to get the updates out, and work on all the stuff I've got. **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Quirk: Hai! **salutes** I'm sorry about the lateness of this chapter! You wouldn't BELEIVE how complicated things have been! And this chapter died on my typist's comp TWICE... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Shiomei: ^_^ Thank you!!! I will keep going! It's inspiration from people that really keep me from losing my muses... **watches as the wander around the room** Yep... that's my muses... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Hotohori: @_@ Bleh... I had to read your review out loud to quite grasp it... no offense meant, and I appreciate the review! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to end up doing to Hiro... I keep telling Koishii-chan to imagine he died a terrible death at the end of the story, because I can't bring myself to kill him or something... As for Kenshin drinking... that was something that came straight from Trust and Betrayal, where the first 'date' Kenshin went on with Tomoe was to go drinking... O_o **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Dark-Angel Ahria: WOW!!! You reviewed all three chapters!!!!!!!!!! **gives a super-tremendous-happy-hug** I kinda like the running theme on killing Hiro... like I keep saying, everyone wants him dead!!! Don't EVER worry about randomness with me... -_-; I am one of the most random people in the world... honest... I'm glad the Sano courting Megumi thing went over well!! Or not down so well... ^_^ **tacky drumming in background** Anyway, I was trying to think of something to put there and I was like, 'Hey! Self, we can put that there, and it would be really funny!' **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Sora Himura: I MUST ask you... would you happen to be a KH fan as well...? Hn... if not, and you're like 'What the heck is this psycho talking about?', just ignore that... ^_^;; Thank you! I keep getting afraid that I'm gonna turn out like Tolkien one day and describe something TOO much... that seems to be the common pet peeve among my friends... I personally think he's brilliant... but... yeah... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Mandapanda: I'm sensing your name is... AMANDA!! LIKE ME!!! If not... smack me... In any case, thank you for the review!! I will CERTAINLY be finishing this story! I actually thought through to the last couple chapters before these parts... This might turn out to be a huge affair... I'm talking... 15 chapters... may even hit 20... though, I don't think I'll let it get THAT out of hand... the whole Shishio mess has to be fixed before the last part happens like I thought it would... I even have the quote that spurred this story... ^_^ **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Augi: **sobbing as she hugs Augi* THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard it before that my fiction's the best someone's read in a particular section, or the best in a long time. But it never stops giving me this happy feeling that makes me feel that I'll one day actually be able to go through with my plans for professional writing... even if I DO have a long way to go... I promise that this story will be finished! It's become the inspiration to get me through this hell they call Junior year... Thank you so much!!!! I appreciate the descriptions as to WHY it's good, and I hope that this chapter, and all future chapters do not disappoint. **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints and hugs again**
MysticShadowWanderer: Nice to know you're finally back!!!!! I'm honored that you actually take the time to read my growing writing... T_T Yes... Rammstein! Asians! **sweatdrops** Anyone ever told us that we're WAY too random? Eh... I just need pocky right now... this was SUCH a long chapter!! **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
TO ALL READERS AND REVIEWERS: You guys keep asking about Kaoru!! You keep asking why she's 'silly' and 'weird' and... ^_^ Just wait! You WILL get a peek into her perspective in chapter 6... I already have it written on paper... It'll be out soon... but the next chapter should make EVERYONE happy! I'm overwhelmingly proud of it beyond words... It's my baby... ^_^ Please keep reviewing!!
Nore: Blargh... Rhi-chan isn't typing this chapter... I am... Bando-chan... I would have started sooner, but all this crap has been happening; including trying to hunt down my prom date, who STILL hasn't e-mailed me back... screw the fact he's a foot taller than me... I'm gonna smack the boy when I see him again. I swear it... Sheesh... if I didn't... oh... :clamps hands over mouth: never mind! -_-;; why don't I just get on to the disclaimer?
Disclaimer: DON'T SUE ME!!! I stake no claim on Rurouni Kenshin... Just Kenshin... and Sou-chan...
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Chapter Four- All the reasons why
Sano's eyes watched me as I swung my sword up and thrust out. "Shinsengumi, huh?" He raised his eyebrows. "You have such pleasant friends."
I scowled. "This is serious... I'm not sure what he's capable of doing to me."
The truth was that I was afraid that Saitou might realize that I had very close relations in Tokyo... Would he use that against me?
"You're obviously concerned."
My eyes darted over to look at him as I took the next few graceful steps in my dance, sword catching brief rays from the dying sun. "Saitou will have kept his skills very sharp, whereas mine have been eroding."
"Whatever you say. You're supposed to be the best swordsman in Japan."
I shrugged numbly, feeling that something was terribly wrong. Why had Saitou come for me now, of all times? Did he already know about Kaoru and Yahiko?
Sano dusted himself off and approached me, seizing my arm and forcing it down. "No more practicing. You've been at this for two days. The challenge is set for tomorrow... where?"
I submitted and sheathed my sakabatou. "He just said I would know..."
He released me and shoved his hands in his pockets. "That could be anywhere."
I nodded slowly. "But I might have an idea."
His eyebrow flew up. "Really? Where?"
I sighed and pushed my sword into the ties of my hakama. "He might have it in the grove of white plum trees... They're blooming, and he always did have a twisted fascination with Tomoe."
He nodded slowly. "What about some of the other hints? They don't fit to your ex-wife."
I sighed as we turned to leave the small meadow that had been my training ground. "The other... he knows about Kaoru and Yahiko."
"Then it'll be the dojo."
I closed my eyes. I was hardly sure of my own choices... How could I be sure of where Saitou would strike at all? How could I even be sure that what I felt for Kaoru was nothing more than the perverse lust that came with being a man. I didn't want to face her again... not with Hiro... and not when I was facing off against Saitou again.
Not when I had to fight a shadow from my already dark past.
We were quickly back in the city, when someone collided with me.
"Oro!" I cried, catching the boy to keep him from falling.
"Kenshin!" He cried, steadying himself.
My eyes widened with recognition. "Yahiko! What's wrong?"
He caught his breath. "There's a policeman looking for you at the dojo."
My breath froze in my throat and my heart stopped.
"Wasn't it tomorrow... Kenshin?"
My thoughts rushed like a raging river through my head. He couldn't have... wouldn't have... it was tomorrow...
Under the red moon...
I cursed, leaving both Sanosuke and Yahiko shocked as my eyes hunted the darkening twilight.
I had assumed the red moon was the setting sun. There! My heart died as I saw the crimson reflection of the dying sun on the pale, impressionable moon.
"There's no time!" I cried, touching my swrod hilt and turning to begin to run to the dojo. "It's tonight! It's now!"
I tore at myself internally, screaming about my stupidity. How could I have been so stupid?
As I stepped into the open gate, I heard the argumentative voice that belonged to Hiro.
Fool... I thought. He could snuff out that destructive flame of yours with an instant and his sword.
"I've told you! He doesn't live here!"
So I'd become the topic of conversation... I almost laughed at the cruel irony of it all.
I heard Kaoru plead with them to stop arguing and calmly try to explain to Saitou that I was gone.
I slid off my shoes and stepped into the dojo, causing everything to stop.
A cruel smile crossed Saitou's face. "So you've come."
I began to let my restraints on Battousai loosen as my eyes flickered once the warning amber I knew none but Saitou had seen. "You knew I would." I kept my face stony, only allowing my disapproval to show in my eyes. "You, however, have lost a great deal of honor if you involve these people."
It was hurting me, to write Kaoru and Yahiko off as just regular people, but what could I do? I had to convince everyone that they meant as much to me as all the other people whose lives I'd changed by raising my sword and fighting for their safety, only to leave them behind with just a legend... Just like I was about to do to them.
Kaoru was watching me with increasing fear. I felt her stare, realizing that she had caught my change before even I had. Could I blame her for being afraid...? Both sides of me remembered the last time she had seen me go over the edge... I could have laughed again. Naive, beautiful, little Kaoru had no honest idea how Battousai really was.
Don't look at her... I ordered myself.
She dashed forward as I began to approach Saitou solemnly and seized the back of my gi. "Don't!" She cried, panic evident in her voice. "Don't... please... don't go back... don't go back to who... to who you were..."
I struggled with myself as I felt her hands tighten their grip and her attempts to hold me back with all her strength. Her forehead fell against my back and a choked sob escaped her throat.
"Kaoru... let him go." Hiro spoke, reaching for her.
Saitou's eyebrows come up. "Silence yourself, boy. From what I can see, this concerns you not."
Hiro turned on him. "She's my fiancée! It certainly does concern-"
He never finished, for the hilt of Saitou's sword connected with his stomach, knocking him out.
"If you really are his woman, girl, then take care of him and leave Battousai to me."
Kaoru was so stunned at the blunt order that she released me and complied immediately.
"Come now, Battousai."
So be it... I thought, drawing my sword, feeling the last of the feeling in my heart flicker out. If it had been ten years before, I would have wanted to curl up and cry for the absolute death of my soul.
There was a silent standstill before we moved. There was nothing but the flash of our swords as they clashed.
Sanosuke and Yahiko watched in horrified silence as Kaoru's withheld sobs broke out into tears that flooded her innocent eyes.
I later regretted those tears, for they were because of me. I was such a fucking idiot... I was such a terrible person that I could make the most innocent woman I knew cry. I had made the woman I loved most of all cry...
Saitou's sword changed direction as I leaped in the air to deflect one swing and deliver one of my own, and pierced my abdomen.
I fell like a stone, mind screaming in pain as Kaoru took that internal pain and became my voice as though she herself was feeling the blinding, searing, burning pain of a sword piercing your own flesh.
I forced myself to stand, blood staining my clothes as I raised my sword.
"You aren't there yet! Where is the man I fought all those years ago?"
"I don't have time for petty taunts." I growled, eyes settling on gold.
He laughed and I disappeared, reappearing with my sword moving toward him as he deflected it at the last second. I felt the strip of cloth that bound my hair back fall away and around my shoulders.
He laughed, noting that I was losing control and my attacks were escalating in power.
My sword caught on the tip of his and fell onto his shoulder, leaving what I knew would be a painful bruise.
Our swords met over and over as I felt myself feel the old adrenaline rush through my veins. The obsessed feeling of living for each clash of the sword; to live to see another second.
I was deaf to the words and screams that Sano told me about later.
Everything felt like that night when I came back to Kyoto, the smoke of my only true home rising in the distance.
Tomoe's funeral pyre... Her kimono jacked over my own clothes as our swords clashed for the first time.
The old pain came roaring to the surface as we fought the battle we ought to have finished years before.
My sword came down with a force I could never have mustered as a teenager.
Saitou's sword broke...
"Stop!" We both froze, a second away from our finishing attack, at the voice of a man we both recognized.
Another man glared venomously at Saitou. "You were only supposed to see how strong he was. Not try to kill him."
Saitou's faced twitched in irritation as my eyes narrowed, eyebrow cocked. "Gauge my ability?" I asked as Megumi came tearing into the dojo, stopping dead at the sight of three unfamiliar men and me, the one who was supposed to never return there, standing in Kaoru's dojo.
"Oh..." She whispered, taking in my eyes as hers fell on them.
Of course... She had never seen me as I was then... She had never seen Battousai emerged.
I watched as Okubo stepped forward. "I apologize, Himura-san. I had hoped that this would end another way. We... must request your services."
My heart rate was slowing. "What would you need me for?" I asked smoothly.
He glanced nervously around the room. "I would prefer to speak of this in private."
I shook my head, forcing Battousai back. I raised my already clenched fist and pounded it into my forehead, feeling the demon that was Battousai slip back into his coils and chains.
"Whatever you have to say to this one, say it here. This one has no reason to keep them from the truth..." I paused. "They have a right to know my fate, should this become it."
Kaoru's strangled cry caught my attention and I glanced back at her, taking care to let her see that my eyes were back to normal.
She turned her attentions to her waking fiancé. "Hiro-kun..." She murmured softly.
Okubo noted my discomfort as I looked away quickly as Megumi stepped forward. "Ken-san... come on, I'll get you bandaged."
I submitted and let her sit me in a corner of the dojo as she sent Yahiko for bandages.
She stripped my gi off and stared at the bleeding wound sadly. "I'm sorry..." She whispered so that only I could here.
"Can you fix it?" I asked, only slightly urgently. All my other senses were dulled to where I didn't really care if death was my fate.
"I can... but I meant about that girl."
I stared at her. "What are you talking about, Megumi-dono?"
She glanced at me miserably. "You can't hide from it... No matter how hard you try, Ken-san... But she's only hurting you more the longer you hold on."
I stared into her concerned eyes. "This one is perfectly fine, Megumi-dono. Just a little scratched up on the outside."
Was I so obvious that Megumi could see my desperate screaming for someone to see my own emotions? I had tried to hard to hide the screaming in my heard that I knew I was betrayed through my turbulent eyes.
She took the bandages from Yahiko and began to wrap them tightly, keeping her voice low as she looked at me. "Be careful, Ken-san. She will not entrust you with her heart. Bestowing your upon her would only end in your own pain."
In retrospect, hers was probably the only sound advice anyone gave me back them, and I think Megumi's insights were a driving force that helped me keep my head on straight from getting too deep into the mess I was already caught up in.
Then again, it also was a major influence in what I was about to do next.
It was probably Fate's decision that I would get that particular advice directly before Okubo's request.
It's little coincidences like that which make me feel even more like a puppet all strung up and attached to Life's hands as she plays with us like a little girl plays with her doll. It was just that Life was a cynical little girl that played with our lives and then cuts the strings, leaving us in a broken heap on the stage until someone picks up the strings again and we become controlled and played with again.
As we settled in the dim light of lanterns inside the dojo, Okubo's tale unfolded.
"Himura-san... you know of Shishio Makoto, correct?"
How could I have ever forgotten? Katsura had needed an assassin, and he knew I could no longer do it after Tomoe's death. Who could ever forget the eerie man who seemed to take great enjoyment in the assignments I had so loathed?
Once again, it was probably my youth that had kept me from enjoying it.
But... I thought, He died... they killed him...
"This one had heard that he was dead. He was unknown, as this one had been before Katsura-san agreed to allow him to discontinue the duties as hitokiri... when Katsura allowed him to fight for the cause itself. Shishio Makoto... was the inheritor of my duties." I had mentioned the last part for the benefit of everyone who did not know in the room.
Hiro looked furiously at me, the deepest loathing in his eyes. Battousai would have glared at him in return, for he simply could not understand what life had been like. Kaoru was obviously torn between agreeing with her fiancé's anger, or the desperation that clouded her eyes of my leaving for such a dangerous task.
But I understood what Okubo was asking me to do.
"Shishio Makoto lives... and would it not be perfectly fitting for the assassin who took over for the Hitokiri Battousai to be assassinated himself by his predecessor? To let him finish the job the government could not?"
It was sarcastic, and I knew it. But they were asking me to break my vow and kill. If I were going to, I was going to make it worth it.
Okubo nodded, staring at the ground. Megumi's voice ran through my head, She will not entrust you with her heart...
Kaoru and Megumi were on their feet, yelling different things that were to the same effect.
I couldn't go. I didn't kill. I wouldn't do it. They would not be the things used against me to blackmail into doing it. I simply wouldn't go, because they wouldn't allow it.
I held up my hand to silence them, which worked immediately. "Okubo-san... This one does not with to kill. No doubt Yamagata-san told you so, but I cannot allow a killer to walk free if he is causing mayhem and death. That too would violate my oath to protect."
Kaoru was yelling something, pushing Hiro away as he tried to silence and calm her, but I only watched the scene with deafened ears, eyes observing as though they belonged to someone else in a surrealistic dream. It felt as though I could have reached out to touch something, and the whole illusion would fall apart and I would wake up.
Only Sano's voice broke through my twisted reverie to me. "Kenshin... don't hurt her..."
My eyes slid shut as I stood up. "Good night Okubo-san... minna-san..." I clutched my sword as I stood at the shoji, looking out at the wind-torn night sky that was filled with twinkling stars, that seemed so solemn and sad that particular night.
I looked away from the stars, down at the wooden floors I had polished myself so many times. "This one will depart for Kyoto in one week."
*~*
Note: WAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?! Okay... unless I've ranted about the next chapter, no, you guys wouldn't know... Okay, now that the plot's starting to take it place in the series... I'm SURE you all can figure out what the next chapter is gonna be... You guess it right, and you get a SPECIAL review prize!!! This time, I'm giving all reviewers a crowbar and a free swing at Hiro. ^_^ Since everyone wants him to die, and I'm faaaaaar from done with him, and I don't think Saitou knocking him out was that great of a retribution for it... that's what you guys get!!! ^________^x If you don't guess... then you get a prize for reviewing anyway! A CHIBI SAITOU DOLL!!! **huggles the Saitou dolls** they're soooooooooooooooo cute!!! All reviewers get one... and guessers get a swing at Hiro... Review replies!!!
I can NOT express my gratitude from you guys! THREE chapters, and it's already catching up to The Wings of a Falcon, which has six! ^_^ I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness!!! **Points to a stack of papers with lip imprints on them** This update's gifts! Kenshin used a lot of my sister's lip-gloss for those... ^_^
Koishii Sweet: First on the scene for all of my story updates!!! Thank you so much for sticking with my stories and me, and pushing me to get the updates out, and work on all the stuff I've got. **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Quirk: Hai! **salutes** I'm sorry about the lateness of this chapter! You wouldn't BELEIVE how complicated things have been! And this chapter died on my typist's comp TWICE... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Shiomei: ^_^ Thank you!!! I will keep going! It's inspiration from people that really keep me from losing my muses... **watches as the wander around the room** Yep... that's my muses... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Hotohori: @_@ Bleh... I had to read your review out loud to quite grasp it... no offense meant, and I appreciate the review! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to end up doing to Hiro... I keep telling Koishii-chan to imagine he died a terrible death at the end of the story, because I can't bring myself to kill him or something... As for Kenshin drinking... that was something that came straight from Trust and Betrayal, where the first 'date' Kenshin went on with Tomoe was to go drinking... O_o **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Dark-Angel Ahria: WOW!!! You reviewed all three chapters!!!!!!!!!! **gives a super-tremendous-happy-hug** I kinda like the running theme on killing Hiro... like I keep saying, everyone wants him dead!!! Don't EVER worry about randomness with me... -_-; I am one of the most random people in the world... honest... I'm glad the Sano courting Megumi thing went over well!! Or not down so well... ^_^ **tacky drumming in background** Anyway, I was trying to think of something to put there and I was like, 'Hey! Self, we can put that there, and it would be really funny!' **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Sora Himura: I MUST ask you... would you happen to be a KH fan as well...? Hn... if not, and you're like 'What the heck is this psycho talking about?', just ignore that... ^_^;; Thank you! I keep getting afraid that I'm gonna turn out like Tolkien one day and describe something TOO much... that seems to be the common pet peeve among my friends... I personally think he's brilliant... but... yeah... **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Mandapanda: I'm sensing your name is... AMANDA!! LIKE ME!!! If not... smack me... In any case, thank you for the review!! I will CERTAINLY be finishing this story! I actually thought through to the last couple chapters before these parts... This might turn out to be a huge affair... I'm talking... 15 chapters... may even hit 20... though, I don't think I'll let it get THAT out of hand... the whole Shishio mess has to be fixed before the last part happens like I thought it would... I even have the quote that spurred this story... ^_^ **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
Augi: **sobbing as she hugs Augi* THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard it before that my fiction's the best someone's read in a particular section, or the best in a long time. But it never stops giving me this happy feeling that makes me feel that I'll one day actually be able to go through with my plans for professional writing... even if I DO have a long way to go... I promise that this story will be finished! It's become the inspiration to get me through this hell they call Junior year... Thank you so much!!!! I appreciate the descriptions as to WHY it's good, and I hope that this chapter, and all future chapters do not disappoint. **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints and hugs again**
MysticShadowWanderer: Nice to know you're finally back!!!!! I'm honored that you actually take the time to read my growing writing... T_T Yes... Rammstein! Asians! **sweatdrops** Anyone ever told us that we're WAY too random? Eh... I just need pocky right now... this was SUCH a long chapter!! **hands a piece of paper with lip imprints**
TO ALL READERS AND REVIEWERS: You guys keep asking about Kaoru!! You keep asking why she's 'silly' and 'weird' and... ^_^ Just wait! You WILL get a peek into her perspective in chapter 6... I already have it written on paper... It'll be out soon... but the next chapter should make EVERYONE happy! I'm overwhelmingly proud of it beyond words... It's my baby... ^_^ Please keep reviewing!!