Disclaimer: I am too tired, too overworked and too underpaid to ever hope of even claiming to own Rurouni Kenshin.
Author's note: Hello! I thought this wouldn't be up til tomorrow at least, but here I am. And please don't kill me when you reach the end of the chapter- if you look out for it (it's difficult to miss), many of you still in the dark will be happy about a certain something.
And I must apologise in advance: my exams are almost upon me, the stress of that and various other things has already had me off college and life is just not good at the moment. The results of which include the possibility that I may be late in the next few updates. I'm really sorry if it happens, but of course I'll try to prevent it. Okay? *determined smile*
Anyway, enjoy what is probably the most anticipated chapter to date of this fic! ^_^
The Princess Bride: Kenshin StyleFifteen
"Want a word of advice, boy?
"The strong live: the weak die.
"Truest words I ever heard.
"You should remember them."
"Soujiro-chan? Soujiro-chan?"
Mother was calling. It was time to go inside.
"You have worked well today, Soujiro-kun. I am proud of you." The deep, strong voice of his father, speaking across time, speaking from years past.
Soujiro smiled up at the tall, solid figure beside him. His father had dark hair that hung over his eyes when he smiled down at his son, and his hakama were dark blue. The material had always felt rough and thick to Soujiro's young, tugging hands. He clung to the cloth, and his father looked down.
"Your mother is calling. Let's go."
Soujiro tugged again, and his father reached out to take the child's tiny hand gently, reassuringly, in his own strong fingers. They walked side by side, Soujiro taking a few running steps every now and then to keep up with his father's stride.
Soujiro smiled in the darkening evening, his face young and bright with happiness.
Soujiro spent his youngest years with his parents in a small village of little consequence. His mother was a small, quiet woman, much like his father. She liked to arrange flowers for their little home while her husband worked in the forge behind the house.
Soujiro's father made swords. He was the most skilful, masterful sword maker that had ever lived. Hardly anyone had ever heard of him.
He preferred to live quietly, away from the noise and bustle of civilisation. His love was to make swords, to configure the perfect weight, balance, strength, rigidity, to create a blade that could slice air itself, sharp beyond the comprehension of the human eye.
In his younger days, he was content to learn with experience, taking any work he could get. He soon made enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
But money was not his desire. He grew tired of the presumptuous attitudes of the dukes and nobles who requested blade after blade from his hands. Most of all, he grew wearied of the knowledge that those nobles and dukes, those arrogant, puffed-up youths, would never use his swords. He grew sad and resentful at the idea that weapons, intended for use, would see nothing but a sheath for the rest of their days.
For this reason, Soujiro's father stopped accepting commissions from the dandies and nobles who demanded his service. Soon, he stopped accepting commissions altogether.
However, one day, a man appeared at Soujiro's little home.
The man looked tall and imposing to the young boy, and his gaze seemed icy in its coldness. Soujiro had hidden behind the house, peering round to watch the man speak to his father.
He requested a sword.
Soujiro's father refused.
"I am no sword maker, sir. I am a farmer. You must have the wrong house."
The stranger had smirked.
"You are the greatest sword maker that has ever lived. I repeat, I must have a blade from your own hands: no other will do."
Soujiro's father had paused, looking at the stranger intently.
"Why?"
"Because I am the finest swordsman that has ever lived. I need a sword that will taste blood and remain pure, that will cleave soul from flesh and remain untainted. I wish for a blade that will serve me for the rest of my life, with an edge that will not fade easily with time and use."
Soujiro's father had been growing increasingly interested as he listened to the stranger's words. At the word 'use', he shifted his weight restlessly.
The stranger noticed this, and smiled to himself in satisfaction.
"Can you make me such a sword? Can you make me a sword that can be as a part of my body, reflect myself in its make and style?"
Soujiro's father was already taking in the stranger's measure with darting, calculating glances.
"Long fingers… that will affect the balance… The blade must be the sharpest I have ever made to suit those eyes… Yes, yes, this is possible…" He was growing more excited by the moment. Not in years had he made a sword, not in years had he had a request for a blade that would see use as the weapon it was.
The stranger pulled a bag of money from his pocket. "This is the deposit, of fifty in gold. I will pay you the other one hundred and fifty when I return, in one year's time. Does that suit you?"
Soujiro's father glanced up at the man before him. "I don't want fifty as a deposit. I will take only one coin. The rest, you can give me when I give you the sword."
The stranger smirked, and handed over the single coin.
"Very well: if that is what you wish. I shall return for what is mine in one year."
With that, the stranger left.
Soujiro could not remember much about that following year. All he remembered was that his mother's eyes looked sad, and that he rarely saw his father. He remembered wishing his father would walk with him, and talk to him kindly as he had before.
Soujiro did not hear his father's voice speaking to him in kind tones again.
"Have you finished it?"
"Yes. This is the Tsuki Katana." Soujiro's father handed the sword to the stranger, who lifted it in a hand well accustomed to the handling of a weapon. He pulled the blade from the sheath, and the metal emerged with a fluidity akin to water, glimmering in the evening light like solid diamond.
Soujiro had seen the blade many times before, during its making and after the completion of the handle and sheath. He still gasped to see it in motion, shimmering with a light and life all its own, cold and deadly and almost holy in its purity.
"I am unsatisfied."
Soujiro gasped again at the stranger's words.
Soujiro's father stared in disbelief, then in anger.
"It is impossible to be unsatisfied with perfection, sir," he said coldly.
Soujiro had shrunk further into the shadows by the house. He did not like his father's anger- it was a foreign, unfamiliar thing.
"This is not perfection, sword maker. I will take it nevertheless, but I will give you no more that ten gold for it."
Soujiro watched his father's face pale. "How dare you! This is everything and more than what you have asked for: as a man, you are obligated to give me what you promised."
Soujiro took a step forward, towards his father. He wanted to touch his hand, and make his smile come out, and chase away the angry look on his strong, reliable face.
"I will give you what you deserve, sword maker. I will let you be the first to taste the blade of the weapon you have made."
Soujiro's eyes widened, and the deepening night slowed and froze as he watched the glittering sweep of his father's blade, flowing through the night like the light of a silver wave.
His eyes followed the sickening crimson that sprang like a hunted creature and fell like rain in the darkness. His ears were filled with the sharp cracks of bones being sundered, and in the silence that followed, the lone sound of his father's body hitting the ground lasted an eternity.
"FATHER!"
His scream brought his mother running from the house.
Her blood blended with her husband's before she had time to shed a single tear, to say a single word.
Soujiro screamed again, in fear, grief and rage combined, and ran to his parents' side, staring up in horror and disbelief at the stranger. He would protect father! He would protect him; he would keep the stranger away!
His father would be so grateful and proud when the stranger was gone: he would smile at Soujiro and tell him he was so proud of him, he would say his son had been so brave, brave and strong like his daddy.
The boy's face was so young. His hands were so clean.
Soujiro heard the clatter of the Tsuki Katana hitting the ground. But that was not what he remembered the most clearly.
The stranger stared down at him, in faint amusement. His hair glimmered palely in the silver light of the rising moon.
"What, brat? Will you cry for help? Will you beg for mercy?"
Soujiro just stared at him, his eyes unnaturally wide in his young face.
The stranger laughed.
"Want a word of advice, boy?
"The strong live: the weak die.
"Truest words I ever heard.
"You should remember them."
Soujiro just kept staring at him, staring at the hair that shone like the silver moon, like the light on the Tsuki Katana's blade, staring at the eyes that were as sharp as the edge on his father's sword.
The stranger was walking away.
"They were weak: they deserved to die. Don't feel sad about it. Just make sure you are strong.
"After all, like someone once told me: the strong live.
"The weak die."
The stranger vanished into the darkness.
Soujiro stared at the black night that gaped around him, and the blackness of the hole that opened up and consumed his life.
Tears glittered in the moon's light, and fell silently to the cold, waiting touch of the blade of the Tsuki Katana.
Now, stood by the edge of the Cliff, Soujiro waited with his father's sword, waiting for the man in black to reach the top so that he could kill him.
He pushed away the old memories, and walked to the Cliff's edge again.
"Hello," he said cheerily.
The man in black paused, looking up at Soujiro.
"Hi," he said.
He punched in his fist, and dragged himself up again, painfully slowly.
Soujiro paced the Cliff's edge again.
"Looks like hard work," he observed.
The man in black's voice was muffled against his shoulder as he pulled himself up, but Soujiro heard his sigh.
"I don't mean to be rude, but could you please not distract me? Only this isn't quite as easy as it looks," he said.
Soujiro could understand that. "Sorry," he called with a smile.
Another few moments drifted slowly by.
"Any chance you could go any faster?" he asked suddenly.
"None whatsoever," came the reply.
Soujiro blinked a few times, and sheathed his sword with careful grace.
He watched the man in black creep further up the Cliff. He was about 25 feet or so away at that point.
He was about to speak again when the man in black called out, "If you're so determined to speed this up, you could throw me a rope or something, you know."
"I was about to offer, but I didn't expect you would really want me to, since I'm only waiting up here so that I can kill you." Soujiro's voice remained cheerful as he spoke.
"That does put a damper on our relationship," replied the man in black. "You'll just have to wait, then."
"What if I gave you my word as an assassin?" asked Soujiro earnestly.
The man in black glanced up at Soujiro with a strange look. "That doesn't make very much sense to me, and I don't like assassins. So I'm sorry, no good."
Soujiro watched as the man in black paused, resting, his fists firmly in place and his feet resting lightly against the rock face.
"Is there no way you could trust me?" he asked.
"Nothing springs to mind."
Soujiro drew his sword and held it high, one fluid, shimmering movement in the darkness.
"I swear on my father's sword, you will reach the top alive." He sheathed the sword again, and looked down at the man in black. "How about that?" he asked.
"Throw me the rope."
Soujiro pulled on the rope, and in a flash, the man in black was stood beside him. He kept a wary distance, while breathing a little heavily from the arduous climb.
"Thank you," he said politely.
"I'll wait until you're ready," offered Soujiro with a smile.
"Thank you again," replied the man in black, sitting down on a nearby rock. He remained there, his breathing gradually going back to normal, one hand resting in readiness on the grip of his sword.
Soujiro watched him.
His black clothing was a little dusty in a few places, as a result of the climb, but otherwise, it seemed to be fine, serviceable cloth. A man well accustomed to action, then. His head was down, so Soujiro couldn't see his face properly, but he wondered at the black cloth that covered the man's head, like a pirate's bandanna. His hair seemed to be bundled into a liberal knot of cloth at the back of his neck, and a black mask covered half his face. However, it did not cover the large scar that marked his left cheek.
Soujiro was sure he had heard something about that kind of marking before… A cross-shaped scar… He stood pondering it, but couldn't recall anything more.
His thoughts turned to the impending fight.
So, this man was a proven adventurer, with some sailing skills, as well as strength and endurance. And he had a sword at his side. But could he sword fight? Really swordfight?
The area was perfect for it: a large, open space in the centre, as well as some trees behind, a large rocky section of terrain to the right, and the Cliff's edge as an additional hazard. However, promising as this all was, it still relied on the man in black's ability.
It had been so long since Soujiro had fought against anyone with any real skill. He had tried fighting groups, he had sought out renowned swordsmen, and he had tried fighting without using any of his better skills. Yet he still found nothing to really challenge him. It was, quite frankly, boring.
If only the man in black would be truly skilful- if only he would be amazing, so good that Soujiro would have to really try, really use everything he knew. If only this man would be… a master.
Soujiro sighed. It wasn't likely.
"Thank you for letting me rest. I'm fine now," said the man in black, bringing Soujiro out of his thoughts.
Soujiro bowed. "You seem a decent enough person. I hate to kill you," he said, with a polite smile.
The man in black bowed back. "You seem a decent enough person. I hate to die." He had no smile: only a look of curiously dark determination in his flashing eyes. Soujiro looked closer for a moment at those eyes, and noticed that they were an amber colour: very unusual. He left that observation aside, and walked a few steps away from the man in black, putting an agreeable distance between them. He settled into a readied stance, his hand a bare inch from the grip of his katana. He waited.
The man in black breathed in deeply, his eyes closed, and let his body fall into a stance like Soujiro's. His muscles lent such smooth and easy control to his motion, it was as if his body moved without reference to his mind.
As his hand lowered instinctively to settle above his sword, like Soujiro's, his head came a little lower and his face tilted ever so slightly down. At this moment, as they both stood ready, nothing but the faintest of breezes creating any movement, the man in black's eyes opened, and his intense golden gaze rose to pierce Soujiro's soul.
But it could not.
Soujiro's smile stayed in place, though tinged with a satisfied determination by now. His placid grey-blue eyes sparkled in the faint darkness.
Their eye contact could have singed the air between them, as the man in black's hostility and icy resolution rose, radiating from him in his ki, and was placated and rebuffed by the utter stillness and self-containment of the young man he faced.
The plateau held.
It could not have been more still had time itself frozen.
They both awaited a signal. They both watched each other intently. They both let their bodies stand ready, prepared for the moment that would take them to life or death by the blades their hands hovered ready to grasp.
The clouds slipped away from the moon like silk through water. Moonlight fell suddenly, gracefully, onto the deadly pair.
It was signal enough.
The cold metal of two swords flashed in the soft light, swooping in two simultaneous arcs of death. A pure, crisp ching rang out in the cool night air.
A hush.
Drops of warm crimson blood fell soundlessly to the earth in the deathly silence.
Author's note: I stayed up late (it's already nearly midnight) thinking I'd try and get nearer to finishing this chapter, and thinking it was already getting quite long, when I reached the image you just read. That was the moment I realised that my chapter had come to its conclusion.
I know, you all hate me for leaving you with the biggest cliff-hanger yet of this story, *evil grin* but at least you get your chapter on time. Well, nearly. It won't be up until two I expect. But it's here!
I can hardly believe it myself. I was certain I couldn't possibly finish this until tomorrow at the earliest. That was before I settled on dividing this part into two chapters.
Go ahead, tell me off for being so cruel- I deserve it, I know. *repentant* But I worked so hard on this chapter!! It's something that cheers me up, working on this story. Fanfiction can save us! *grin*
No time for much in the way of proper 'thank you's today I'm afraid- sorry. I'll try to do it next time and make up for it.
Thanks to reviewers:
Many thanks and glomps, not to mention several kisses blown, to Zeh Wulf, insert catchy name here, bittersweetKandy (Don't worry! It's K/K!), incoherence (tank yee, m'dear. *spank* ha! ^_^ No reason. Just getting even. Er, I mean, waking you up after passing out seeing Sano in his 'natural form'… ^_^), Redhead Samurai, Demon Neko-Chan, MegumiFuu, Vash-chan AKA Makoto Almasy (Nope, that was Megumi's scary laugh alright.. *backs away. Slowly.* *wink*), genocide ex-sync*in, Ninetales122, Akai Kitsune (BRING IT ON! *wields pillow with a scary look on her face* I can too be intimidating! *Sano and the man in black both shake their heads* What? You mean I can't? *hangs head in shame*), Mewberries (*big smile*), Misao-chan, Corran Nackatori (Congrats! *hands over Diploma of Excellence in the Study and Practice of the Happy Dance* ^_^), blue jeans, TenkunoMeiou, Awc (*laughs at wishes for Hoji* … *nope, can't think of a comment, just laughs again* ^_^), Jellybob 15 (*pats poor reader on the back helpfully* ^_^), Celeste Rose (*munch munch munch* To drown one's sorrows in food is to be content!), KittyKatt (*offers bandage* *grin*), EvilPrincessMelphis (*big grin at the usual and always-appreciated shenanigans of Melly and Misty* ^_^), Queen of Shadows (*sweatdrops and smiles at the enthusiasm*), lidmoon02, Mary (Yes you CAN! If you check, in chapter six, I think it was, I write that Kaoru can't look at Kenshin because he was 'too beautiful'. ^_^ *drools*), Selene (Thankee! ^_^), monkeysme (*laughs with monkeysme, laughs at Ryan* ^_^), TwinBakaNekos, Tevrah, Ela (Your enthusiasm just never fails to make me grin my face off, you know. *grins face off* Oh, there it goes again… ^_^), pretty Luthien, Shadowfax, koishii, Midnight Star (*has been happy to oblige* ^_^), Silver Eyes Bright, Momentum (Muse? *raises a suggestive eyebrow at the man in black* hm.. *man in black edges away* Oh, no you don't! *runs after him*), Lil summoner yuna (*can't sleep for the sugar-high* *blink blink* ^_^), NightRain (Yay! I was really pleased with the relationship- non-lovey relationship- I tried to build between Kaoru and Sano! ^_^ I'm glad you liked it, very very glad. And I agree about Buttercup- "Ooh, Westley, I'll just stand and watch while an ROUS eats you alive". Buh. But she did have her moments I guess.), Lin-chan (*wink*), imaninz (What is a story without trouble and cliffies? ^_^), Little Yahiko (Continue! You know you want to! *dangles a yummy apple pie as a source of motivation* ^_^), Papaya! (SOUJIRO IS COOL! ^_^ I agree with you so much! *sigh* Why doesn't everyone think he is cool? He's amazing. He's my fave character in the series. *laughs at 'Sano loving' spiel* I'll do my best to get along to the bits you want for then, but it's all exams and hell at the moment. I'll try though, since you are a doting reviewer. ^_^ *glomp* And you're welcome for the much-loved line- I couldn't have left it out! ^_^), Staci/Nadia, dunkmoonX, DarkElf (That was some shrewd foresight with the rope.. *grins*), Lady E (so strong, and so sexy as well! *laughs* Yay for Sano!), Sailor Cosmos, Elf Fanatic Lark, Sakuya Tsuki (Thanks- I'll check them out when I get a chance! ^_^), kuikkick (Thank you very much! Yes, I recall you're review you left earlier on of chapter eight. ^_^ Thanks for taking the time to review it… It makes me pretty damn happy! ^_^ And you should be happy too… I assume you caught the 'cross scar' reference? *grin*) and WIERDkittyw/wingz (it's funny, I lose interest for a couple of days and then it comes back again. Having the other two fics on the go helps- it means that whatever I'm in the mood to write, it usually suits one of the fics, so I can work on something. ^_^ You'll have to wait and see about Inigo's line… *grin*).
Thank you to all of you. -You all make me really happy with your support- it keeps me smiling when I'm feeling stressed or low. Fanfiction forever, I say! *grabs a pen and gets ready to work a little more, before realising it's past midnight and she has to be awake for college in about five hours* Dammit. Seeya all!