Hi guys! I know, I haven't updated in ages but I have a good reason for that. See, I've been on my yearly winter trip with my family, and things had gotten a bit busy over the holidays. I had thought that I would be able to update before I left, but unfortunately I couldn't…the chapter wasn't done yet and I couldn't find anything coherent to write, and another darn idea for a fic was intruding!
But now I'm back, and I have written down the first chapter for a fic about that idea that kept interrupting my thoughts on this story, and I have finally managed to finish this chapter for this fic…So go ahead and enjoy…I just hope the next chapter will be done more quickly…and one more thing, I think I have been misspelling Aoyia in the last four or five chapters, I think it's written Aoiya, so I'm sorry but I'm not Japanese and I'm bad at spelling anyway…
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. In a perfect world I would, but I live in the real world…and sadly I ain't got no money…so, it's utterly useless to sue me…but for good measure: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but Nobuhiro Watsuki and a bunch of other people do…
Let the strangeness continue…
Promises from the PastHiko accepted the letter, looking at it for a few minutes.
He looked at Sayuri, who was looking at him with a blank face.
Then he unrolled the paper and read the first line.
"To My Baka Deishi…" Lessons and Dogs
Hiko's eyes widened briefly, but his face became a study of blankness as he continued reading the letter to himself.
Nothing on his face betrayed his reaction or feelings towards the message of the letter.
Kenshin looked at his master anxiously, sensing that Hiko had drawn completely into himself…to a place where Kenshin couldn't read him.
What's in that damn letter? Kenshin thought.
He looked at Sayuri for a clue, but the woman was staring at Hiko with a strange, intense look on her face. As if she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
Odd Kenshin thought. Then again, the whole episode bordered on the strange. If someone could only just shed some light on the situation and tell him what was in that letter!
Kenshin suddenly turned, as somebody nudged him in the back.
"I have the feeling that something really weird is going to happen," Sano whispered.
Kenshin had to agree. Something really strange was going to happen. But what?
Then Hiko looked up from the letter he had finished reading and looked at Sayuri.
"He's got to be joking, right?" he said to her, disbelief in his voice.
At that, Sayuri smiled slightly and said, "Actually, he's never been more serious in his whole life."
Hiko shook his head, "Has he gone crazy?"
Sayuri frowned slightly, and inclining her head a bit to the side' she said, "You know, I thought so too at first…but having thought about it, it's exactly like him to do something this crazy…"
To Sano and especially Kenshin's surprise, Hiko smiled a bit at that and said, "You're right…I should have expected that of shishou…"
Shishou? Kenshin looked at his master.
Had Hiko Seijurou just called Matsuo Takashi his shishou? Kuroi Takashi was his master? That couldn't be!
Kenshin looked at Hiko for answers but Hiko was looking at Sayuri and solemnly said, "I'm sorry…but I cannot do what he asks of me…"
***
Aoshi quickly stepped into an ally, so he would not be seen by the woman he was following.
This morning after Kenshin and Sayuri had left, Aoshi had gone back to the training hall to do some meditating in peace before he would have that talk with Misao.
Last night he had made up his mind that he would ask Misao directly why she had been acting strange lately. Earlier this morning, he had been on his way to the training hall to meditate and well, talk some courage into him.
The truth was, although he wasn't afraid to take on the strongest and best sword fighters of Japan, the thought of confronting Misao gave him the heebie-jeebies.
But the surprise encounter with Sayuri had thrown him off a bit and he hadn't been able to meditate properly. In fact, that strange session had also given him the heebie-jeebies, although for an entirely different reason.
There had been an aura of intense focused energy around Sayuri. But when he tried to read her ki, there wasn't anything there to read.
So after they had left, he had gone back to the training hall to meditate, and after half an hour of chanting "You can do it, nothing to it, you can do it, nothing to it," he had been ready to face Misao.
Only to find her sneak out of the Aoiya!
A bit peeved that his planned conversation with her had to face postponement and a whole lot of curious, Aoshi decided to follow her and to once and for all find out where she had been spending her mornings at.
And thus, after following her through the busy streets of Kyoto and into this quiet neighborhood, he quite frankly had not thought to be the destination of Misao, he found himself ducking in an ally, since Misao had stopped in front of a big wooden gate.
Cautiously stealing a peek from around the corner, he saw Misao disappear inside the wooden gate.
He waited a few seconds, then stepped out of the ally and walked up to the wooden gate where Misao had stopped.
It was a non-descript gate, much like any other gate in the neighborhood. But as Aoshi read the sign hanging beside it, his eyes widened in surprise.
Misao had been spending her time here? That couldn't be!
What would she be doing at a school that taught Geishas the finer arts?
So dumbfounded was he, that Aoshi didn't realize that he'd been gaping at the sign for about five minutes.
When he did get his wits about, he contemplated crashing down the gate and rush inside to confront Misao.
Only, there were two flaws in his plan. One was that he didn't know how he would confront Misao about this.
The second was, well, the gate was too big to crash down.
Aoshi took a deep breath and ordered his brain to assimilate and order all his scrambled thoughts. If he focused hard enough on this, perhaps it would make sense to him.
But after a while it still didn't make sense to him and the question 'Why is she here?' blotted out every other thought.
Then suddenly, the wooden gate opened. Startled, Aoshi looked at the person who had opened the gate. Then he looked to his side, only now realizing that someone was standing beside him. It was a woman dressed in a simple kimono. It had been probably her who had knocked on the gate, he realized.
How long had he been standing out here, lost in his thoughts, Aoshi wondered.
The woman dressed in a kimono hurriedly stepped inside, after casting him a brief look.
Aoshi followed her with his eyes, until he looked at the person who had opened the gate.
It also was a woman, but of the older variety. She had a scowl on her face and Aoshi had the feeling that this wasn't a woman to tangle with.
"What do you want here?" the woman asked in a low, gruff voice.
"Uhm, ah… I, uh…" Aoshi stammered.
"I don't know where you learned your Japanese but I don't understand you. Now hurry up and tell me what you want here," the woman said, impatiently.
"I'm here to see a friend of mine," Aoshi hastily said.
Then woman's eyebrows shot up and she looked at him speculatively, "This isn't a boardinghouse, young man. This is a school for the finer arts."
"I can see that, good woman, but I believe a friend of mine is here…" Aoshi said.
The woman narrowed her eyes at him, and Aoshi hastily added, "Her name is Makimachi Misao…"
"I don't know no Makimachi Misao, mister," and with that she slammed the gate in his face.
Dumbfounded, Aoshi stared at the closed gate for a second. Then he contemplated knocking, but quickly killed the idea. He wasn't up for another round with the dragon of the gates.
So what should he do now? Perhaps, he could wait for Misao to come out.
He looked up and down the streets, and as he saw no one, he calmly sat down under the signboard and started to meditate.
***
If Sayuri was disappointed by Hiko's statement, nothing in her face nor her words betrayed anything, "I see…"
"I don't think you do," Hiko countered.
Sayuri merely raised an eyebrow.
What didn't she see, Kenshin wondered. What was in that damn letter? He felt like yelling at someone to tell him what this was all about!
"You must understand, what your grandfather is asking of me is sheer madness…" Hiko continued.
This time, Sayuri smiled briefly, "I already told that to Grandfather, but he insisted. You know how he gets…"
Hiko sighed, remembering the ornery old man, "Yes I do. He can be really pig-headed about some things."
I wonder why that sounds like someone I know Kenshin mused as he looked at his master.
"But still," Hiko continued, "what he asks of me is completely crazy! The war is over…Japan is drifting into a time of peace…something like that is no longer necessary…"
Sayuri nodded solemnly, "I agree with you completely."
"I'm glad that you've inherited some sense," Hiko commented, "you probably got that from your grandmother."
As Sayuri raised a questioning eyebrow, Hiko added, "Well, your grandfather always was a stubborn goat…"
"I thought he was pig-headed," Sano stage-whispered.
A quelling look from Hiko silenced him, and the man continued, " And your mother! That damned female could drive a man crazy!"
Kenshin frowned at his master for talking so disrespectfully of the dead, especially of a woman he had adored.
But Sayuri surprisingly chuckled, "Well, my grandfather certainly agrees with you on that."
"At least there's something we agree on," Hiko muttered.
Only Kenshin, who was standing nearest to Hiko had heard him. So his master had had a master who had gotten on his nerves. Interesting…if only he knew what Matsuo Takashi had been a master at…
"I'm sorry about your mother," Hiko suddenly said.
When Sayuri frowned at him in confusion, he indicated the letter.
Understanding, she nodded in acceptance of Hiko's condolences.
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Then Sayuri sighed and said to Hiko, "So you're absolutely sure that you won't do what Grandfather asked you to do?"
"Yes," Hiko said with conviction. He was damned if he'd agree to the demands of his former shishou! That old man had some nerve to order him about in a letter!
"And your reasons are…" she wanted to know.
Hiko straightened "Well, my reasons are that the whole thing borders on lunacy!"
"That's all?" Sayuri asked.
Hiko shrugged his shoulders superiorly, "Well, it should be!"
Again, Sayuri's eyebrows shot up.
Hiko saw that, and remembered another woman who looked exactly like Sayuri when she did that.
He huffed in irritation, "Besides, it has been a long time since…" Hiko gesticulated with his hands.
"Since what?" Sano wanted to know.
Hiko glowered at him again. Sano put his hands up, indicating surrender.
Hiko sighed, "Kenshin's determined not to pass on Hiten Mitsurugi…and as I said, there really is no point to this…the way of the sword is fast becoming an obsolete discipline…"
Sayuri narrowed her eyes at him and asked very evenly, "Are you sure those are all of your reasons?"
"Yes," Hiko once again said with conviction. That damn slip of a girl was more like her mother than he thought!
"Hmmm," Sayuri said thoughtfully.
"Hmmm what?" Hiko wanted to know.
"Hmmm," Sayuri said again. She looked at Hiko speculatively.
Hiko looked at her questioningly, "What?"
Sayuri inclined her head and asked, "Is it because I'm female?"
"Huh?" Hiko asked confused.
"Are you refusing grandfather's 'request' because I'm female?" she elaborated.
Hiko looked at her for a second before saying, "No."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes," Hiko answered.
"Really sure?" she wanted to know.
"Yes," Hiko answered again.
"Really, really sure?" she persisted.
"Yes," Hiko answered, this time with a hint of exasperation.
Again Sayuri went, "Hmmm."
Then she looked at Hiko long and hard.
***
He was in that state were everything suddenly became clear to him. A place where he could hear the universe talking to him.
Suddenly, the universe felt very wet against his face. Slobbery wet. What could that be?
He opened his eyes, and he came face to face with a big, brown dog.
The dog stepped back, then sat down, facing him, his tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. It inclined his head and looked like it was studying him.
Aoshi inclined his head and studied the dog.
After a few seconds, he asked, "Hey boy, what's your name?"
The dog answered, "Arff!"
"Oh," Aoshi said, "And what are you doing here?"
The dog enthusiastically answered, "Wuff, arwff, huff."
"You don't say," Aoshi answered.
"Wuff!" the dog went.
"Yeah, well, I know," Aoshi commiserated.
"Hn, wuff," the dog went.
Aoshi sighed, "Well, I'm here waiting for this girl, you see…"
The dog inclined his head again and looked like he was really listening to Aoshi.
"This girl, she's been acting really strange lately and I wanted to talk to her about that but before I could do that she slipped out of the Aoiya. So I decided to follow her, and that's how I ended up here," Aoshi told the dog.
"Hnnn," the dog whined.
Aoshi nodded, "Yeah, I know…and I'm still not sure what I'm going to say to her."
At that moment a man walked by and looked at Aoshi as if he had lost his mind.
Aoshi glared at him and the man hurried his steps to get away from Aoshi.
Aoshi looked back at the dog, and the animal inclined its head at him. Man and beast just looked at each other for a few seconds.
Suddenly Aoshi chuckled and scratched behind the dog's ear. The dog leaned into his hand and enthusiastically wiggled its body and wagged its tail.
"Maybe you're really losing it Shinomori. Here you are talking to a dog," Aoshi said to, well, himself.
He thoughtfully looked at the animal, "Maybe I should lay off that tea Hiroko-chan gave me…"
***
"Okay, maybe it has something to do with you being female," Hiko finally said when he no longer could stand Sayuri's hard stare.
Sayuri narrowed her eyes and went, "Hmmm," again.
Hiko sighed in exasperation, "Oh come on now girl, it is a pretty good reason for refusing!"
"You have read the letter carefully, haven't you?" Sayuri asked.
"Yes!" Hiko half yelled.
"Then you should know that refusing because I am a female is not a good reason…in fact, it's the lousiest excuse of all!" she said to him.
Hiko put his hands on his hips, "I refused when it was with your mother!"
"Yes, I am aware of that! But that's the reason I am here now…if you just would have agreed then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now!" Sayuri yelled at him.
"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" somebody else yelled.
Both Sayuri and Hiko turned towards the person who had yelled.
Kenshin glowered at them, his eyes having gone amber.
Sayuri and Hiko looked at each other. This was bad. Battousai was here.
"Oh boy, this is getting interesting," Sano irreverently commented from behind Kenshin.
This was the second time Sayuri was face to face with the legendary manslayer. It still awed her that somebody like the mild mannered rurouni Kenshin could turn into this, a cold, brutal, ruthless swordsman. Not a man to play swords with.
"Snap out of it, baka deishi!" Hiko said as he whacked Kenshin on the head.
Kenshin closed his eyes, as he went "Oro" and started to rub his head.
"What did you do that for?" he asked Hiko in an accusing manner.
Hiko straightened, put his hands back on his hips, glowered at Kenshin, "Do not presume, my baka deishi that you can intimidate me with that Battousai act of yours! You forget, I taught him everything he knows!"
Kenshin looked back at Hiko with a hurtful expression, "But I only wanted to know what is going on…"
"Silence!" Hiko thundered, "I'll have no more interference from baka deishis and rooster-heads!"
Hiko turned to Sano, but the man lifted his hands to form a v-shape with his index and middle finger.
Satisfied, Hiko turned back to Sayuri and said, "Your mother and your grandfather knew why I refused."
"You refused because my mother was female!" Sayuri countered.
"Damn straight she was! And she had no business holding a sword!" he countered back.
What's this business with a sword, Kenshin wondered. He dared not voice his question. He figured if he remained patient enough, one of those two would tell him what was going on here.
Sayuri shook her head, "You know, my grandfather was right."
Hiko looked at her, "About what?"
"About you refusing," she answered.
"He told you I would refuse?" Hiko asked her, a bit startled.
"Yeah…As he handed me the letter and gave me instructions, he told me that you'd most probably refuse," Sayuri confirmed.
"Shishou told you I would refuse?" Hiko asked again.
Sayuri grinned, "As I already said: yeah. In fact, he wanted to make a wager on that…I'm just glad I refused to take him on…I could have lost quite a bit of money. I never make wagers with my grandfather. That old man never bets unless he's really sure he'll win."
Hiko looked at her a bit nonplussed. So the old man had been so sure that he'd refuse?
Then something occurred to Hiko, "But if he was so sure I'd refuse, why'd he send you anyway?"
Sayuri frowned a little at that, "Well…he likes to be proven right…"
"Oh," was all Hiko could say in reply.
Well, it was in the style of that old man to do something crazy like that for such a crazy reason.
"Well, I guess he was proven right, now wasn't he?" Sayuri cheerfully said, "Grandfather'll be happy to know that."
It actually annoyed Hiko that his shishou would be proven right, once again. He could almost see that old geezer now. Smiling that smug, satisfied, superior little smile of his…probably rubbing his hands in glee once he finds out…
"Well, then, it's been nice seeing you, but since you refused, I'm just going to be on my way back to…" Sayuri was saying.
But Hiko interrupted her, "Wait!"
Sayuri looked at him, a glimmer of something in her eyes.
Hiko closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, opened them and looked at Sayuri…seriously…solemnly.
"You have to understand that I am refusing your Grandfather because it is the best thing to do," he said to her.
Sayuri just looked at him, that glimmer in her eyes.
Hiko sighed again before continuing, "Japan is moving into a time of peace…and this time of peace has no place for sword skills such as ours…besides, Kenshin already has learned everything about the Hiten Mitsurugi that there is to know…and he has vowed not to pass the technique on…so you see, there is no point to this…"
"But aren't you curious to find out?" Sayuri asked him.
Hiko looked at her, wanting her to understand, "I am…a part of me is curious to find out…but the better part of me knows that this is insanity…swords are dangerous weapons…somebody could get hurt…"
"Is that why you refused back then, with my mother?" Sayuri wanted to know.
"Partly, yes…" Hiko said.
She looked at him hard, "You thought my mother couldn't have done it?"
"She was a female!" Hiko defended himself.
Her looked never wavered, "You think I cannot do it."
Hiko looked at the woman who so much resembled her mother in appearance as well as spirit. And just as he had admired Ran, he now admired this woman. He had to hand it to Sayuri, she did have a lot of spunk.
"You know, you were wrong about my mother. And you are wrong about me," Sayuri said to him.
Hiko looked at her and he could see the steely determination in her. This girl wasn't backing down! In a away it reminded him of Kenshin when he had come back to see him, to ask that he, his master he had ran away from, would teach him the succession technique.
But that had been a life and death situation. This…this didn't have anything to do with mummified madmen wanting to take over Japan.
"Why is this so important to you?" he asked her.
"I am my mother's daughter…" she answered, as she looked at him solemnly.
And in that moment, something happened. Hiko couldn't explain what it was only that it was something in the air, something that radiated from Sayuri's ki.
And he found himself say, "Okay."
Sayuri's expression didn't alter as she asked, "You agree?"
And Hiko said, "Yes, I do."
Sayuri inclined her head briefly, nothing in her expression betraying anything about her feelings on Hiko's agreement.
"I think we should do this outside, don't you?" she asked Hiko.
She didn't wait for Hiko to give an answer. She took the few steps towards the door.
When she reached it, she stopped and looked over her shoulders.
Looking straight at Hiko, she said, "Hiko Seijurou… I have found a pupil. Consider yourself fortunate."
To be continued…
____
That's the end of this chapter…I apologize for the whole dog thing, I know I'm really messing with Aoshi in this story but I just wanted to write it that way, as the British would say "That Aoshi is acting like a loon!"…plus the dog thing kinda happened to me once…
That last part, I actually got that from the first OAV…I just love the way Hiko says it…
I also must thank the few people who have reviewed my last chapter: Fireruby (Thanks for saying that the story isn't crap! You so made my day! And thanks for that really, really encouraging and wonderful review!), Houndingwolf (I'm just glad you read the chapter! Thanks!) and Kaoru-chan21 (You rock girl! But then again, you must already know that…)
May you all get a country to reign! (Somebody informed me that Santa's not real, and that's why you don't have that spiffy, little convertible I've talked about…but a country isn't that bad a substitute, right?
So, until the next update.
(It won't be that soon though)