Author's Note: YAY!! Not only are finals over but it is also the start of the new year!!! ^_^ I'm psyched!! I think this story is actually doing pretty well – I'm developing a plot!!! It's just . . .a little long. But I hope to finish this story within January!! ^_^ Enjoy!!

Disclaimers: It is 2004 now and . . .I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin . . . *sigh*

Chapter 9: Beneath The Surface

"Sano – get down!" Katsu yelled at Sano just as he dashed toward his friend and knocked him to the ground. The raucous was unbearable, sounds of explosions probably reached more than a mile a way – one could have thought this had been a war. But no – all this was just to murder two boys, one being the primal target while the other needed to be killed just so he could not talk. This is what it looked like on the surface – but was there more? Could there be an even bigger target than two young boys?

"Come on, Sano! We need to run before they catch up with us!" Katsu yelled over the explosions as he grabbed Sano's arm and jerked him upward. Both of them started running into the dark forest. They ran through endless puddles of mud and ignored the fact that dangerous animals lurked by. Even with the hazards around them, the two boys continued to fight for survival.

"Here! Through the river!" Sano yelled as he spotted a muddied river. Both of the boys dashed into the river and started to run through it. Once they heard that a horseman was near them, both boys crouched into the river – getting themselves covered with mud in the process. They then crouched and crawled over and hid in some bushes. Their camouflage may not have been perfect but the horseman ran right past them.

"Is it safe?" Sano whispered.

"I think so. I don't think he saw us," Katsu whispered back.

"Now where do we go?"

"I . . .don't know," Katsu said as he looked around, hoping to find somewhere they could hide. But even his eyes weren't excellent in this dark forest. "Come on, let's go." Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm once again and hauled him to his feet.

"Go where?" Sano asked.

"Somewhere – anywhere! He'll come back! We better relocate!" Katsu said as Sano nodded and both of them ran in the opposite direction of the horseman. They continued to run through mud, smog, and slush of all kind. They ignored the numerous branches that pricked and tore at them. They finally ran into a clear river – or so it looked. Katsu and Sano jumped into the river, trying to masquerade themselves at the same time and wash themselves of all the dirt and hardened mud they had gotten from the other mucky river.

Katsu and Sano then got up from the river and looked around. Both boys heaved a sigh of relief. The explosions sounded further away.

"We're safe," Katsu announced as he looked at a smiling Sano.

"Not quite," a voice behind them said. To make things worse, it started raining again – signaling a storm at sea.

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"Hold the sails!! The rigging is loose – that's what keeps the sails from moving too much!! Someone – anyone, climb that mast and tie that riggings tighter!! We're going to loose the mast if we don't!!" yelled Captain Rukuyuu.

            Takei tried to hold onto the ship, but it kept lurching. He thought he was going to be sick – not because of the lurch- but because of what a sea-storm means to him deep inside.

"Here! Tell me what exactly to do, Captain Rukuyuu, and I'll climb onto the mast!" Shouted Captain Sagara, since otherwise he could not be heard over the consistent rumbling of the sky and the pouring of the endless rain.

"WHAT?! Are you insane?! You're the Captain of the Sekihoutai – I can't let you do that!! What if something happens to yer? Who's gonna lead the Sekihoutai!" The Captain shouted back.

"If I don't do something I'm going to loose the Sekihoutai and then I'll have no one TO lead!" Captain Sagara shouted back. There was a brief pause as the Captain rethought everything. The Captain sighed as he gave in.

"Alright, then. This is what you have ta do . . ."

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The next thing Sano and Katsu knew was that they were hit upside the heads with something very heavy. The horseman then took the two boys and put one in front of his saddle and gave the other to his comrade.

"Here, take the little brat. We need to head back to the castle – the master is waiting for us." The other horseman merely nodded before taking off. As the two horsemen continued to gallop back to their castle, Sano opened his eyes only to see the house of the old man, Genki, the one who helped them, to blow up. Sano then went back to drifting into unconsciousness while he was being taken to his new prison.

Of course, it was only later . . .MUCH later did I finally find out that the warriors that were chasing us on horseback were indeed members of the Imperial Government's formal army. . .

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            Captain Rukuyuu watched in shock as Sagara quickly and nimbly climbed the mast as if he had been doing so all his life. The mast was quite tall –around 30 meters if not more since it was a very large ship. Once reaching the top, Captain Sagara started to inch his way along the narrow log that extended sideways from the mast, toward the real problem. As Rukuyuu watched in horror as Captain Sagara almost lost his footing and fell. He felt helpless standing on the deck as the other Captain risked his life for the sake of everyone else. Eventually, Sagara reached the rope and managed to secure it, making the sails hold their correct positions and eliminate danger to the mast. After doing so, Sagara slowly but surely climbed down the mast and onto the deck where Rukuyuu was waiting for him.

"Well, I have to say, you proved me wrong – some land Captains CAN really do it all!!" Captain Rukuyuu shouted to Captain Sagara as both of the grabbed onto the closest thing on the ship that would keep them from sliding down the deck and then falling into the ocean.

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"Oww," Sano groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. He then looked around. The stone walls around him were very bleak-looking, made of some black stone. They went around in a circle – so perhaps he was in one of the towers of some random castle. When Sano looked up he saw a tiny window at the upper part of the tower-thing.

"Awww no . . .not again . . ." Sano groaned.

"Not again what?" Katsu asked as he finally became conscious and he, too, started to rub the back of his head.

"We were caught by the bad guys, just like we were caught by the pirates. THEN we were placed in some inescapable place. . . I hate this . . ." Sano said as he groaned again at his misfortune. Katsu suddenly smirked.

"Hey, Sano. Maybe you can be a klutz again and fall into a hole which we can use to escape again." Katsu said as he almost burst out laughing. Sano smacked Katsu upside the head.

"That's not funny Katsu!! Stop laughing!!" Sano yelled at his so-called "friend" as Katsu finally burst out laughing . . . again.

"Ok – GENIUS – then how do you think we should get out of here?" Katsu said between laughs.

"I . . .don't know – shouldn't YOU know!" Sano said as he crossed his arms and put his legs in indian-style. Katsu started to look around. Then he looked up.

"Well . . .we COULD climb up you know."

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"Takei!!" Captain Sagara yelled as he was searching for him. He finally found Takei trying to hold on for dear life.

"Takei! Can you hear me?" Captain Sagara yelled over. Takei, on the other hand was busy trying to keep himself from sliding into the water. Takei had got himself in one hell of a tangle – thanks to the many loose ends of rope that had been moved around everywhere because of the storm.

"Yes, I can hear you just fine!! I'm just a little preoccupied at the minute!" Takei shouted as he "attempted" to untie himself – only to further the tangles. Captain Sagara couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. This earned him a glare from Takei.

"Here! Let me help you, Takei!" Captain Sagara said as he tried to make his way toward Takei, only to have the ship tilt. Unfortunately, this caused Captain Sagara to body slam into Takei with an indestructible speed.

"Yes, that did a lot of help. Not only am I in a tangled web of ropes, but now I have at least four or five broken ribs." Takei said sarcastically as Captain Sagara got off him.

"Sorry about that, Takei. But I can't really control what the storm does." Captain Sagara said as he tried to stand up, but then ended up crouching instead. "But I can help you get rid of those ropes." Captain Sagara then took his dagger from his belt and started to cut though all the ropes that were holding Takei in a tangle.

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"No, Sano!! Look, for the last time – put your feet on that end of the tower and I put my feet on the opposite side. THEN we hold our hands palm to palm and THEN we try to climb up the tower going one foot up at a time!! And when I say RIGHT foot lift your RIGHT foot up – not your LEFT!!" Katsu yelled at a stupefied Sano – who was . . .just not getting it.

"Ok, my right, right?" Sano said as he and Katsu attempted to do the same maneuver again. The tower was just small enough for the two of them to perfect this – it was not very wide.

"Ready NOW, Sano?!"

"Ready!"

"Right-foot! Left Foot! Right-foot! Left Foot! Right-foot! Left Foot! " Eventually Sano and Katsu somehow managed to reach the top of the tower.

"Ok, Sano, since you're taller, try to look through the window that's closer to you." Katsu said.

"What window?"

"The one behind you, IDIOT!!"

"OOOH that window!" Sano said as he finally realized what Katsu was talking about. Katsu gave a sigh. Sano couldn't be THAT stupid . . . or could he . . .?

"Umm Katsu? It' kind hard to crane my neck like that." Sano whined as he tried to look back at the window – all he got in response was Katsu's growl.

"SANO!!" Katsu yelled. "Ok LOOK! I'm gonna turn around to my left –"

"Is that my left, too?" Sano asked.

"Yes! And then we'll end up being back to back, ok?"

"Ok . . ."

"And then I'm going to push toward you and kinda lift you toward the window so that you can see outside ok??"

"Gotcha!" Sano said triumphantly. (A/N: Has anyone seen "The Emperor's New Groove"? This is kinda what the llama and Pacha did. ^_^)

"Ok, let's go." Katsu said as both of them slowly turned around. Once they were back to back, Katsu started pushing Sano closer to the window. Katsu and Sano were linking arms while they were back to back. Katsu was fully stretched out while Sano was more crouching from the side of the tower. This way, Sano was able to get a better look out of the window.

"Ok, Katsu! Just a little more and I can see!!" Sano shouted over as Katsu pushed Sano a little closer to the window.

"Ok!! I can see now!" Sano yelled.

"Great – now tell me WHAT you see!"

"Ok! Ummm we're REALLY high up, so basically if we go out the window we're most likely gonna fall to our grizzly deaths and we're probably gonna end up breaking every bone in our bodies!" Sano told Katsu.

"Sano?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have to say it with such enthusiasm?"

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            Captain Sagara finally managed to cut all of Takei's ropes from around him. As soon as he did so, Takei stood up and was . . .quite surprised that he still could move his legs. It felt like the ropes had cut off all of his blood circulation off.

"Ok, I've rounded most of the Sekihoutai below deck. Takei, could you please try to look around and see if you can spot any more and bring them below deck?" Captain Sagara yelled over to Takei.

"Sure, no problem. I'll be down there in a minute with any other members I can find!' Takei shouted back.

"Thank you – and be careful!" Captain Sagara said to Takei as he briefly put his hand on Takei's shoulder before heading to the opposite side of the ship to look for other members. Takei grabbed onto the side of the ship before he could be pushed over the side and fall into the ocean. Just as Takei was looking down into the sea, he saw a certain purple lump floating.

"SHIRO!!" Takei shouted down as he spotted one of the youngest Sekihoutai members. Shiro was like a little brother to Takei and his loyalty to Takei was priceless. Without having any second thoughts, Takei climbed onto the side of the ship and dove into the water after his ally.

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"Wow, I can't believe we climbed all the way up there!" Sano said as he looked toward the top of the tower. Sano and Katsu had both used the same right foot/ left foot technique to get down as well.

"Yeah, it is hard to believe . . .me working together with an idiot." Katsu answered.

"Yeah . . .wait! Katsu!!" Sano said as he gave Katsu another "death-glare," which only made Katsu start to laugh again. Another explosion sounded off somewhere in the castle which caused Sano and Katsu to jump. Then a rumbling noise started to sound somewhere in the hallway – and it was getting closer.

"MOVE, you idiot!" Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm and moved him away from the door. Just in time, too, since the door toppled over. Katsu and Sano looked at each other.

"Let's go!" they both yelled in unison as they dashed out of their prison hole. It was amazing how filled with smoke the corridors were. It was times like these that Katsu and Sano were thankful that they weren't tall because if they were then they wouldn't be able to breathe.

"Which corridor do we take?" Sano shouted over to Katsu in the fog. Katsu, who had grabbed onto Sano's shirt so that the both of them wouldn't be separated, coughed before trying to talk.

"Let's try the right one!" Katsu shouted as Sano went toward the right corridor as Katsu followed behind, still holding onto Sano's shirt. There was no telling how many corridors the castle contained or how many times they had almost ran into a guard. Both of the boys finally ran into something . . .or rather, somebody. Katsu and Sano both looked up. The "somebody" was full-grown teenage boy. He was rather tall as well as lean. He was dressed in very fine samurai clothes – signaling his high birth. He also had dark jade eyes and long beautiful brown hair – a regular "pretty-boy." His facial features kind of looked familiar to both Katsu and Sano.

"Who . . .are you?" Katsu asked. Sano couldn't help it but . . .he thought he somehow knew those emerald eyes. It was as if he had seen them somewhere . . .in a dream maybe?

"My name is Seth. I'm the son of Sakura and Taihito."

HEHE!!! YAY!! I'm finished!! A very long chapter indeed!! A full EIGHT pages!! ^_~ Don't worry about the pretty cliffhanger I left there . . .I'll update soon!! And YES Seth is Sano's elder brother!! *scary music* Dun dun DUN!!!

Thank you to the following reviewers!! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!