Puppeteers
Note: You guys do not even **know** how lucky you are to have this update. I thought the whole state's school computer system was down... but we all got lucky, and the old computers in the lab I work in weren't affected by the evil virus... So I was able to edit this, and now post it... Mind, I apologize for the long, long wait... part of it was me, preparing for the SAT, which I just took, rejoicing in the joy of getting my ACT scores and getting a 28, Derby, Easter... Kami knows, everything... Then Rhi-chan got the chapter and couldn't get it typed until Sunday night because she's in lots of pain with her new braces. Feel for her. ^_^ Give Rhi-chan lots of hugs, because she needs them, and she's my unsung savior...
Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned Rurouni Kenshin, I wouldn't even **bother** with college entrance exams.
Chapter 7- Memory
"Don't you have any friends?!"
I rubbed my face in annoyance at my companion. "Of course I do, Misao- dono."
The young ninja launched herself at my shoulders, latching on and causing me to fall into the sand. I let myself lie there as she called back to me.
"Don't you think they're worried about you?"
"No!" I called back, closing my eyes.
A week, and I had spent every waking moment, and even much of my un- waking moments, tearing myself down.
Fireflies danced across my vision when I closed my eyes, memories playing across my eyes.
I held a hand up to the sky and opened my eyes as I clutched at the air. "Kaoru..." I whispered, a secret, magic word I uttered only to the wind. "No, Misao-dono... I don't think they are..." I said calmly to her face, which suddenly bobbed several feet from mine.
She scoffed. "Some friends they are... I mean real friends Himura." She placed her hands on her hips and stared down at me fiercely. "C'mon now! Lazy bum..."
I don't know where it came from, but I laughed at her then. I closed my eyes and laughed at everything that had happened that week. She sounded like Kaoru then, and I was laughing when I should have been crying.
Misao looked offended as she scowled down at me as I finally wiped tears of laughter from my eyes and slowly stood up, dusting myself off. "What was that about?" She demanded.
I smiled and dusted out my hair. "Don't worry about it, Misao-dono... Just the reminiscing of an old man."
Misao laughed that time. "Old! Hardly!"
I smiled. "Twelve years older then you are, Misao-dono, makes me an old man."
She gaped and I laughed, beginning to walk again. "You're twenty- eight?!" She cried. "No way!"
I smiled back at her and continued walking. "Let's keep going."
She ran to catch up with me. "Don't you have a wife? Kids?"
I bit my lip. "I was married once... My wife died when I was your age."
Misao looked genuinely empathetic. "I'm sorry, Himura... I didn't mean to..."
I shrugged. "It was twelve years ago."
"That's a long time... have you... you know... moved on?"
I stared at my feet. "I..." I sighed. "I have, in a way." The still strong memory of that forbidden, stolen moment I'd taken. I sighed; looking back was painful when I should have been thinking ahead to my impending fate.
I had a great deal of doubt that I would survive my fight with Shishio. If I did... The chances were still against me.
So why was I spending all my time thinking of a woman I'd left behind, never to set eyes on again?
Misao fell into my face, losing the skip in her step. "Himura...? When... you said we had to let go of the past... It was for the better..." She seemed to be putting the words together, but I know what she was asking.
"Yes..." I murmured bitterly. "I left someone behind in Tokyo."
Her innocent eyes were filled with sadness. "Won't she miss you?"
I laughed. "She getting married... She won't have time to worry about a rurouni."
Misao sighed. "You love her..."
"She knows it." I replied, matter-of-factly.
Misao stopped dead. "And... She's not..." She was completely lost for words.
"She doesn't love me." I said calmly. It wasn't that I didn't care about Kaoru anymore, my heart still cried out for her as it was dragged farther and farther away, it was that I couldn't, wouldn't, interfere with what she wanted.
Love was the absolute sacrifice. My master had taught me that when I lived with him, and I had disregarded it as the drunken words of an intoxicated man. Of course, now I was almost no better then him.
I rubbed my face; it was suddenly no wonder why Hiko Seijuro the thirteenth had never married.
Misao had been silent during my thoughts, and when my eyes lost some of their glaze reduced by my pensive stare, she looked at me calmly.
"Is she beautiful?"
The statement shocked me, and I stared at her, mouth slightly parted. I smiled slowly. "You know... I left a week ago... and a week before that an old friend of mine asked the same thing."
Misao blinked innocently, eyes widened. "Really?"
"I told her that she was beautiful... but I don't love her for her beauty, you know. But a geisha may not quite understand that. You, however, are a young romantic girl, Misao-dono." I looked back up at the sky. "You are in love as well."
"Most people say I'm too young to know real love." She paused staring at her feet. "Even Jiya does..."
I smiled. "I see that you are young, yes, but I also see that you are also willing to sacrifice for love. You wouldn't spend your years searching for Shinomori Aoshi if you didn't love some part of him." I paused as her eyes looked back up into mine. "Those who say you are too young do not see the true essence of love... or how mature you have become."
Misao smiled. "Thank you, Himura..." She regained her bouncing step and smiled brilliantly at me. "We're almost to Kyoto." She cried, and I stopped her at a sound muffled by the trees.
"Shh..." I whispered urgently to her.
This time, the noise was unmistakably a terrified scream.
Misao bit her lip and looked at me. "Himura..."
"Come on..." I whispered, turning toward the source at the screams.
We stumbled into a clearing to find a giant of a man and several others encircling a young man and a boy.
The man held out his already shattering katana and instinct took over me. He was dying; the blood that trickled down from wounds above vital areas told me so.
I drew my sword, and Misao's kunai were already between her fingers.
I smirked, loosening the part of me that lived for battle. "Over here." I called, catching the attention of the men. "This is hardly fair..."
The giant stared at me. "You..."
The smirk grew as I crouched into position. "Oh... then you know me?"
The man collapsed against the tree, katana chipping further. The boy was calling his name, crying into his gi.
The tall man smirked at me before turning to his men. "Kill him!"
Misao turned wide-eyed to me. "They know you?!"
I didn't respond, choosing instead to disappear with a displacement of air, the men falling around me until none but the giant stood.
"I don't know who you are... but you certainly in the wrong...."
He laughed. "This man is a traitor. His village is in my control, and he is a traitor. He will go to hell, as his parents did, and his brother will." He smirked at me. "And then I shall kill you... Shishio-sama would be most pleased... My hundredth kill... you!"
Battousai stirred within me, flaring to life. "A hundred kills? What gives you the right to play God?" I called back, raising my sword again.
Misao looked genuinely confused as she watched me with wide eyes. "Himura... what's going on...?"
"Misao-dono... Stand back." I turned my attention back to the giant man. "Go to Shishio and tell him I am here. Tell him Heaven has come to claim his soul and take it to hell!" I laughed later at this, for it was an old habit to call out to my enemies that this was Tenchuu, especially to one who had also been in the Ishin Shishi.
He glared at me, raising his hands, which were bearing weapons. "I will fight, kill you."
I raised my sword. "Go, or prepare to fight your last battle."
He began to take a position to fight me, when a cool, even voice broke through to him.
"Quite a disappointing display... you should know better then to pick fights without Shishio-sama's consent." A smiling teen, possibly only slightly older then Misao, stepped from the shadows. He turned his twisted smile on me. "I, however, have permission."
The dying man uttered a small sound as his final breath left his lings and the familiar feeling of the door of Death creaking open left me icy on the inside.
The familiar sound of the river in Death calling its sweet song to me; urging me to plunge my sword into my abdomen and throw myself in the river.
The boy fell into my own battou-jutsu stance, and I barely noticed, my mind set on keeping my heart, or whatever was left of it, within myself. I took the same stance myself.
Come... let the crimson garnet flow into the sweet lakes of the dwindling, then dying life... release yourself from this mortal word... you sins be washed away in a baptism of you own blood... Come... lay down this world. Shuck it off like a too small skin! Come away with us! Join the people of you past, so very far gone... ones you loved and care so very deeply about... nothing left for you here... only heartache and misery... Come!
The song made my head pound to the primitive beat that hammered itself into my brain. It was only then that I realized that the boy had been talking to me the entire time.
And I had been answering.
We fell into he same, very basic move of the battou-jutsu, and our swords met.
It was over in the half instant that my sword cracked and broke. Over in the second I let my mind wander toward the song, to Kaoru, to Death and all I deserved it for.
I stood in shock, staring at the shards of my sword on the damp earth. It had begun to rain, and I began to pick them up.
I did not hear Saitou's cruel drawl until I saw him. As though he were the reason for my hearing's return.
He lit a cigarette in the cruel, driving rain. "It's been hell waiting for you.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Note: Okay... so I'm giving up on review replies for now... **hands everyone lots of brownies** I've also decided that since you all are so very loyal... **pulls out a large box** Sticking with me when things are tough on me... **begins pulling out strange objects** I've decided that you all get the ultimate poking device... Hiro's looking a little worse for wear since the aluminum bats... and poking is so much fun... **begins handing electrified cattle prods to each and every reviewer** This is the newest torture device... **pushes a bandaged Hiro forward and waves him away** Go have fun with all your friends now, Hiro-kun! **grins happily** Have fu-un!
Next time! Kaoru's in Kyoto with terrible news for Kenshin when they finally come together again... More torturous methods for Hiro, and chibi Sou- chan dolls!!!
Note: You guys do not even **know** how lucky you are to have this update. I thought the whole state's school computer system was down... but we all got lucky, and the old computers in the lab I work in weren't affected by the evil virus... So I was able to edit this, and now post it... Mind, I apologize for the long, long wait... part of it was me, preparing for the SAT, which I just took, rejoicing in the joy of getting my ACT scores and getting a 28, Derby, Easter... Kami knows, everything... Then Rhi-chan got the chapter and couldn't get it typed until Sunday night because she's in lots of pain with her new braces. Feel for her. ^_^ Give Rhi-chan lots of hugs, because she needs them, and she's my unsung savior...
Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned Rurouni Kenshin, I wouldn't even **bother** with college entrance exams.
Chapter 7- Memory
"Don't you have any friends?!"
I rubbed my face in annoyance at my companion. "Of course I do, Misao- dono."
The young ninja launched herself at my shoulders, latching on and causing me to fall into the sand. I let myself lie there as she called back to me.
"Don't you think they're worried about you?"
"No!" I called back, closing my eyes.
A week, and I had spent every waking moment, and even much of my un- waking moments, tearing myself down.
Fireflies danced across my vision when I closed my eyes, memories playing across my eyes.
I held a hand up to the sky and opened my eyes as I clutched at the air. "Kaoru..." I whispered, a secret, magic word I uttered only to the wind. "No, Misao-dono... I don't think they are..." I said calmly to her face, which suddenly bobbed several feet from mine.
She scoffed. "Some friends they are... I mean real friends Himura." She placed her hands on her hips and stared down at me fiercely. "C'mon now! Lazy bum..."
I don't know where it came from, but I laughed at her then. I closed my eyes and laughed at everything that had happened that week. She sounded like Kaoru then, and I was laughing when I should have been crying.
Misao looked offended as she scowled down at me as I finally wiped tears of laughter from my eyes and slowly stood up, dusting myself off. "What was that about?" She demanded.
I smiled and dusted out my hair. "Don't worry about it, Misao-dono... Just the reminiscing of an old man."
Misao laughed that time. "Old! Hardly!"
I smiled. "Twelve years older then you are, Misao-dono, makes me an old man."
She gaped and I laughed, beginning to walk again. "You're twenty- eight?!" She cried. "No way!"
I smiled back at her and continued walking. "Let's keep going."
She ran to catch up with me. "Don't you have a wife? Kids?"
I bit my lip. "I was married once... My wife died when I was your age."
Misao looked genuinely empathetic. "I'm sorry, Himura... I didn't mean to..."
I shrugged. "It was twelve years ago."
"That's a long time... have you... you know... moved on?"
I stared at my feet. "I..." I sighed. "I have, in a way." The still strong memory of that forbidden, stolen moment I'd taken. I sighed; looking back was painful when I should have been thinking ahead to my impending fate.
I had a great deal of doubt that I would survive my fight with Shishio. If I did... The chances were still against me.
So why was I spending all my time thinking of a woman I'd left behind, never to set eyes on again?
Misao fell into my face, losing the skip in her step. "Himura...? When... you said we had to let go of the past... It was for the better..." She seemed to be putting the words together, but I know what she was asking.
"Yes..." I murmured bitterly. "I left someone behind in Tokyo."
Her innocent eyes were filled with sadness. "Won't she miss you?"
I laughed. "She getting married... She won't have time to worry about a rurouni."
Misao sighed. "You love her..."
"She knows it." I replied, matter-of-factly.
Misao stopped dead. "And... She's not..." She was completely lost for words.
"She doesn't love me." I said calmly. It wasn't that I didn't care about Kaoru anymore, my heart still cried out for her as it was dragged farther and farther away, it was that I couldn't, wouldn't, interfere with what she wanted.
Love was the absolute sacrifice. My master had taught me that when I lived with him, and I had disregarded it as the drunken words of an intoxicated man. Of course, now I was almost no better then him.
I rubbed my face; it was suddenly no wonder why Hiko Seijuro the thirteenth had never married.
Misao had been silent during my thoughts, and when my eyes lost some of their glaze reduced by my pensive stare, she looked at me calmly.
"Is she beautiful?"
The statement shocked me, and I stared at her, mouth slightly parted. I smiled slowly. "You know... I left a week ago... and a week before that an old friend of mine asked the same thing."
Misao blinked innocently, eyes widened. "Really?"
"I told her that she was beautiful... but I don't love her for her beauty, you know. But a geisha may not quite understand that. You, however, are a young romantic girl, Misao-dono." I looked back up at the sky. "You are in love as well."
"Most people say I'm too young to know real love." She paused staring at her feet. "Even Jiya does..."
I smiled. "I see that you are young, yes, but I also see that you are also willing to sacrifice for love. You wouldn't spend your years searching for Shinomori Aoshi if you didn't love some part of him." I paused as her eyes looked back up into mine. "Those who say you are too young do not see the true essence of love... or how mature you have become."
Misao smiled. "Thank you, Himura..." She regained her bouncing step and smiled brilliantly at me. "We're almost to Kyoto." She cried, and I stopped her at a sound muffled by the trees.
"Shh..." I whispered urgently to her.
This time, the noise was unmistakably a terrified scream.
Misao bit her lip and looked at me. "Himura..."
"Come on..." I whispered, turning toward the source at the screams.
We stumbled into a clearing to find a giant of a man and several others encircling a young man and a boy.
The man held out his already shattering katana and instinct took over me. He was dying; the blood that trickled down from wounds above vital areas told me so.
I drew my sword, and Misao's kunai were already between her fingers.
I smirked, loosening the part of me that lived for battle. "Over here." I called, catching the attention of the men. "This is hardly fair..."
The giant stared at me. "You..."
The smirk grew as I crouched into position. "Oh... then you know me?"
The man collapsed against the tree, katana chipping further. The boy was calling his name, crying into his gi.
The tall man smirked at me before turning to his men. "Kill him!"
Misao turned wide-eyed to me. "They know you?!"
I didn't respond, choosing instead to disappear with a displacement of air, the men falling around me until none but the giant stood.
"I don't know who you are... but you certainly in the wrong...."
He laughed. "This man is a traitor. His village is in my control, and he is a traitor. He will go to hell, as his parents did, and his brother will." He smirked at me. "And then I shall kill you... Shishio-sama would be most pleased... My hundredth kill... you!"
Battousai stirred within me, flaring to life. "A hundred kills? What gives you the right to play God?" I called back, raising my sword again.
Misao looked genuinely confused as she watched me with wide eyes. "Himura... what's going on...?"
"Misao-dono... Stand back." I turned my attention back to the giant man. "Go to Shishio and tell him I am here. Tell him Heaven has come to claim his soul and take it to hell!" I laughed later at this, for it was an old habit to call out to my enemies that this was Tenchuu, especially to one who had also been in the Ishin Shishi.
He glared at me, raising his hands, which were bearing weapons. "I will fight, kill you."
I raised my sword. "Go, or prepare to fight your last battle."
He began to take a position to fight me, when a cool, even voice broke through to him.
"Quite a disappointing display... you should know better then to pick fights without Shishio-sama's consent." A smiling teen, possibly only slightly older then Misao, stepped from the shadows. He turned his twisted smile on me. "I, however, have permission."
The dying man uttered a small sound as his final breath left his lings and the familiar feeling of the door of Death creaking open left me icy on the inside.
The familiar sound of the river in Death calling its sweet song to me; urging me to plunge my sword into my abdomen and throw myself in the river.
The boy fell into my own battou-jutsu stance, and I barely noticed, my mind set on keeping my heart, or whatever was left of it, within myself. I took the same stance myself.
Come... let the crimson garnet flow into the sweet lakes of the dwindling, then dying life... release yourself from this mortal word... you sins be washed away in a baptism of you own blood... Come... lay down this world. Shuck it off like a too small skin! Come away with us! Join the people of you past, so very far gone... ones you loved and care so very deeply about... nothing left for you here... only heartache and misery... Come!
The song made my head pound to the primitive beat that hammered itself into my brain. It was only then that I realized that the boy had been talking to me the entire time.
And I had been answering.
We fell into he same, very basic move of the battou-jutsu, and our swords met.
It was over in the half instant that my sword cracked and broke. Over in the second I let my mind wander toward the song, to Kaoru, to Death and all I deserved it for.
I stood in shock, staring at the shards of my sword on the damp earth. It had begun to rain, and I began to pick them up.
I did not hear Saitou's cruel drawl until I saw him. As though he were the reason for my hearing's return.
He lit a cigarette in the cruel, driving rain. "It's been hell waiting for you.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Note: Okay... so I'm giving up on review replies for now... **hands everyone lots of brownies** I've also decided that since you all are so very loyal... **pulls out a large box** Sticking with me when things are tough on me... **begins pulling out strange objects** I've decided that you all get the ultimate poking device... Hiro's looking a little worse for wear since the aluminum bats... and poking is so much fun... **begins handing electrified cattle prods to each and every reviewer** This is the newest torture device... **pushes a bandaged Hiro forward and waves him away** Go have fun with all your friends now, Hiro-kun! **grins happily** Have fu-un!
Next time! Kaoru's in Kyoto with terrible news for Kenshin when they finally come together again... More torturous methods for Hiro, and chibi Sou- chan dolls!!!