Ciao!!!

Uh… sorry again about the delay, especially since it isn't caused by me being busy this time. It's just that, in spite of a promise I made, I couldn't bring myself to write. My beta reader, who also is my first cousin once removed, died on me. Literally. She's got told that she's got cancer, in her spine and brain, and a life expectancy of six months. I was in a bit of a shock for a few days- even my teachers commented on me behaving strangely, and that's something noteworthy because they usually are just resigned to having 'that weird kid' (it's what they call me at conferences. I overheard) in their class. She's my role model, has been living on the fast lane for the past eighteen years of her life- and she won't even live to see her nineteenth birthday. Hence the unedited state of the last chapter- N. says she can't concentrate enough to catch spelling and grammar mistakes (at least she still helped me with my style- her being a writer for a newspaper makes her style a much clearer, cleaner one than mine and I'm infinitely grateful for all her help)- she is in constant pain from her chemo and ray therapies and generally very weak. The center that regulates subconscious breathing in her brain is affected, so she is monitored 24/7. She made me promise I will finish my stories for her since she won't be able to finish hers (she writes in German). I will do this, in honor of my beloved cousin- it's all I can do for her now. She'll give me tips as long as she can, but I still need a new beta. Any volunteers??? Just e-mail me if you're interested… anyways, I just had a lot to work through and now present you with the next chapter of Romancing the King!

"…." Denotes talking

….. denotes thinking

*~* means a change of scenery (either temporal or local, I think which one of those will be clear) has taken place

Disclaimer: I do in no way own any rights, moral or others, to Rurouni Kenshin, its characters or plot. Characters other than the characters from Rurouni Kenshin bearing any resemblance to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. I do not intend to make any profits out of this story, it's written for entertainment purposes only and any attempt by persons natural or legal to make money from it in any way is not in accordance with this author's express wishes.

This chapter is dedicated to my twin brother Ryan, for the invention of the most horrible character of the Chain Master and his inestimable help with writing the darker moments of this story. He has made these last three chapters as intensely evil as they are- thanks for being a master at anatomy and describing a body's reactions, Ry! I guess all our accidents and all these hours of playing Diablo II do have their good after all…

Chapter 10

Goodbye but not farewell

"Explain!" The demand was unconditional. Battousai shivered in response, trying to tighten himself into something more protected, like a ball, feeling the warmth Megumi's ministrations had left behind evaporate as the dungeon's chill grabbed at him yet again.

"It's… not that much, really. Kamiya… is a girl. A woman. She… was just raised to believe that she's male." It was colder than ice- the stones burned into the bandages around his torso, and through what was left of his skin. It took all of his considerable willpower to keep his teeth from chattering as he forced the words through blue and unresponsive lips. A part of him, the rational part, the assassin part that wasn't instinct, calmly announced to him that he was going into shock- a little belated, but the reaction was there. Now that he couldn't flee into unconsciousness and the worst of his wounds had been tended to there was nothing preventing the brain from experiencing the aftermath of an adrenaline infusion of gigantic proportions- it was like an addict going through withdrawal, only from natural causes. It left him drifting and disoriented, dizzy and weak. His limbs lost the feeling in them, turning into useless lumps of tingling lead that hung from his small frame.

"A girl. Our King. And you expect me to believe that? I mean, if she's a she, then why's she killing, torturing, imprisoning, humiliating people left and right? Girls are compassionate, mate!" Sano blurted out.

"I had my suspicions- Kamiya's need for pain relieving and sleeping draughts always centered around one week per month. Extraordinary how she could have been raised to be so… male," the medicine woman mused, clearly mulling over the possibilities of studying an interesting specimen like the King. "I understand now why I was never allowed to touch her, why I was blindfolded and why she always described the symptoms of whatever was ailing her to me. Even through the bandages around her chest I would have clearly noticed her to be female. Interesting indeed… Koshijirou was a crafty man, if nothing else."

"He… was, right." Battousai fought for control over his trembling limbs. His muscles spasmed, stressed beyond the breaking point, and pain shot like white-hot flashes of lightning through his nerves with every single move. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, but there were a few things he still needed to communicate to the two surprise helpers that had found him. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead, he thought, trying to overcome his natural distrust of everyone but himself.

"I saw… Kamiya's birth. My grandmother… was a midwife, she helped the Queen, and then… it was not a son she bore, but a daughter. I… heard her being named by her mother, hidden… behind a screen. Then… the Queen died and Koshijirou… decided he had a son. Koshijirou… killed all who knew. My grandmother and I had to die. I was a small… boy then, and he… ordered his Captain of the Guard, Hiko Shimajirou, to kill me. The captain… let me escape. I am the only one who… knew, until I told you." He caught his breath again, ignored the fuzziness that distorted his sight.

"You watched the King's birth?" Sano looked at the shivering assassin who seemed even younger than ever as he lay helpless before him. It was impossible that he remembered the King's birth- he couldn't be that much older than Kamiya.

"So what's her name then?" the medicine woman asked, a sparkling flame of interest lighting her cinnamon colored eyes. Battousai coughed, trying to free himself from the grasp of the shock that shook his body.

"She… is called Kaoru. Sweet, scented grass…" he drifted off, amber eyes falling close as his resistance faded into nothing.

"He may not sleep yet," Megumi, the medicine woman, instructed the young soldier who looked horrified at the shallowly breathing Battousai.

"Oi, wake up!" Sano shook him. His eyes flew open, huge and glazed over by exhaustion. He had gone beyond pain as Sano's actions had startled him enough to make his fight-or-flight- instincts take over again.

"We are going to get you out of here," Sano promised, holding the flailing assassin down. Battousai drew a shaky breath and stilled.

"How?" he asked scratchily, clenching his hands into fists at his sides, "I am not sure how well I can walk."

"Oi! You told me you would run out of here just a few minutes ago," Sano protested, a serious look on his face to contradict his light-hearted tone. "Don't worry, we have a plan, right, Megumi?"

"You are going to get my clothes," the medicine woman offered, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she took in the rags that had once been a nice, clean outfit and now barely covered the most essential parts of Battousai's body.

"I cannot pretend to be you," Battousai deadpanned, blinking up at a torch flickering in its holder on the wall.

"I have a little… problem with my heart. If I seem weak, or even stumble around a little, the soldiers will help me to my hut. From there, you will have to run as I can't risk helping you any more- there are too many people walking in and out of my home to keep you there. You will have to take your chances with Dunkelwald, but as I'm sure they don't call you the 'Demon from the Woods' for nothing these are quite good, aren't they?"

"They are. But I'm still chained." His wrists, encased in iron rings, clanked together as if to enforce his point.

"No problem," Sano grinned, pulling an iron stake from beneath his cloak, "Megumi taught me about leverage."

Battousai groaned. "Do it quick," he asked, tightly closing his eyes and bracing himself as Sano inserted the slender lever between his thin right wrist and the iron shackle. Surprisingly enough, Sano only took a second to twist and pull before the constricting manacle fell away. Grinning into Battousai's surprised face Sano repeated the process with his left hand. Finally freed, Battousai brought his hands to the front and gently massaged the tender wrists to get the blood flowing again.

"Thank you." Sano grinned broadly.

"No problem, my friend." The medicine woman tuttered.

"You have to go now. Here, take this for a start," she handed him her long, black cloak. He refused to take it as something he had not considered beforehand occurred to him.
"What about you?" Battousai seemed determined to be stubborn. The medicine woman sighed.

"She is wearing a maid's outfit underneath her robes. She will pretend to be my… girlfriend." Sano actually blushed speaking these words.

"We have to act fast- you will be executed at noon tomorrow if I know anything about King Kamiya. She has a very vindictive streak…" the medicine woman trailed off, being as the side effects of Kamiya's vindictive streak were vividly displayed in front of her. Swallowing hard, she collected her thoughts and her wits. "If only I had known about all this earlier- I might have prevented some of… this happening," she wistfully sighed.

"The letters in if are the middle letters in life," Battousai said, a reminiscing and faraway look on his pale and drawn features. "Life is full of ifs. But once the moment has passed, it's no use to dwell on what might have been."

"Where have you picked that up?" Sano asked, slightly put off by the fact that even in his rather miserable state Battousai spouted words of wisdom and sharp intellect. The assassin smiled, grimacing slightly as Megumi touched his leg to add another layer of bandages.

"Someplace or the other." Sano didn't pry any further, from Battousai's tone of voice it was clear he wouldn't give a more definite answer.

"Are you ready to leave Dunkelland Castle?" the medicine woman asked, her tone of voice deliberately light even though she knew what she was asking of the badly injured man in front of her. Closing his eyes to keep control he nodded and sat up. A small cry was all that spoke of the extreme discomfort he was in as he painfully got to his feet.

"Are you sure you can walk, Akai?" Sano carefully held the panting assassin up by his shaking shoulders.

"I won't have a choice," Battousai said coldly. Sano looked hurt and put off at being so harshly pushed away.

"Wear this," the medicine woman had slipped out of her wide cloak and robes, handing them to Battousai together with her black veil, "and be fast about changing. That nice Master of the Chains, or whatever he calls himself, could be back any minute now."

In spite of having never been good at following orders Battousai got dressed in his disguise in under three minutes. "Show me the way out," he demanded from Sano, keeping his voice so low it was barely above a whisper to hide the fact it sounded different from Megumi's. He swayed and could hardly stand on legs that were consisting more of jelly than of actual muscle and bones, but he moved.

Sano and Megumi followed close behind the limping assassin- his right leg refused to carry as much weight as it should, no matter how hard he tried to force it to. Several suspicious glances sent a new wave of adrenaline coursing through his veins, making Battousai straighten up and only use one hand to steady himself against the walls. An endless trek through the dungeons finally took him and his two companions up into the sunlight, or what would have been the sunlight had not the night already fallen.

"Just go through this door here and you'll be outside the wall fifty feet from my home," the medicine woman told her patient. Amber eyes glittered with a hint of emotion- the first she had ever seen in them- as he nodded and left wordlessly, his limp more pronounced now that he had almost escaped Dunkelland Castle.

"What is going on here?" Unnoticed by all of them, a tall, imposing figure had come near. Sano recoiled in shock, his arm, which had been around Megumi's waist in a pretense of closeness pulling her with him back against the wall.

"We were just… seeing the medicine woman out. She has treated whomever she had to treat and was now to return to her home, Sir," Megumi answered quickly, her heart straining against her ribs in an effort to overcome her fright. Thankfully, the slight, stumbling figure of Battousai had already vanished into the darkness, and since nobody at the castle had ever seen her face she was just another of the mostly anonymous maids populating Dunkelland Castle.

"Is that true, soldier?" Saito's predatory gaze held the young, unwilling soldier captive in its intensity. Sano felt the heat rise up in his cheeks and only hoped that the chief of the King's intelligence forces would attribute that to his being caught in the company of a beautiful girl.

"It is, Saito, Sir." He could not meet his superior's inquiring stare any longer and instead studied the intricate folds his hold on Megumi's garments caused around her waist.

"Hn." Less than satisfied the wolfish officer stalked off, turning around once or twice to see whether he could catch the two younger people at some forbidden activity. The gnawing suspicion that something was amiss in the castle bit at Saito's insides with a vengeance. There was something going on… and that something involved Battousai as well as parties unknown. Saito didn't delude himself enough to think that the red-haired demon had actually made a mistake that allowed him to be caught- no, he had wanted the King alive, and that meant he hadn't been the one to set the trap. The reconnaissance officer snorted briefly. Battousai being sentimental, saving someone he fought against as far as everybody knew… there had to be something behind all this, and he thought he had an inkling of what that might be. Right now, however, he would only speak to Aoshi- perhaps the captain of the Palace Guard knew something he didn't. Still pondering Battousai's strange behavior and Kamiya's mysterious enemy he left the young soldier and his lover to their own devices. As raven-haired and red-lipped as that girl was the young man certainly had had a hard time restraining himself when his officer had surprised him…

Sano held his breath the entire time it took Saito to round the faraway end in the corridor before he exhaled with a mighty sigh and slumped against the wall.

"That was close," he breathed. Megumi leaned against the cool stones sweating small, glittering pearls of moisture beside him.

"It was a very risky operation," she admitted, aiming to calm her racing heart that threatened to explode out of her suddenly too constricted chest. "I have to rest," she gasped, feeling the first irregularities in its beating.

"I will walk you home, medicine woman," Sano said with a twinkle in his eyes, offering her his arm for support. She grasped it without a second thought.

*~*

The sharp night air tore at the exposed skin of his body, stinging sharper than poisoned needles in his wounds. He had disposed of the medicine woman's robes in her home- she had helped him escape and even though he was cool and calculating he wasn't cruel enough to get her into more trouble than absolutely necessary in repayment. He didn't know yet whether he would make it, the leaden feeling spreading through his limbs had almost arrived at his head, signaling his nearing collapse. He couldn't be caught wearing her clothes. Still, he missed the warming comfort of her cloak.

Running was worse than he had imagined. No measure of preparation could make his tired mind able to stand the numbing agony his body had become to be disrupted with sharp flares of white-hot pain with each step. Battousai groaned silently, muffling the sound behind the shredded fabric of what had remained of his donzel's uniform cloak. He felt as though he had just completed the marathon when he could still catch glimpses of the castle's imposing outer walls just behind the thin line of trees he had brought between him and his execution at the hands of King Kamiya.

She wouldn't dirty her hands with your blood, a part of him scoffed. He dismissed the thought for later, turning his attention to the outside world as he stumbled deeper into nighttime Dunkelwald. The forest was a cacophony of sound and smell, his sense of sight less impaired than the average human's by the loss of light but still reduced significantly so he couldn't rely on it. Battousai knew the woods, and the creatures dwelling in them. He was not in danger from them- the only hunters he had to fear were those walking on two legs.

I was the most dangerous hunter of all once, he reminded himself, gritting his teeth as the path grew less distinct and the wilderness started to claim him. The dry, musky smell of a fir grove attracted him, promising not only a good hiding place but also relatively soft ground he could rest upon. He was bone-weary, parched, and beyond feeling what his body signaled him. Battousai was about as dangerous as a fawn at the moment, and the closely- knit little cluster of slender trees would protect him. It would mask his scent with its own spicy one and would hide his coloring within the reddish-brown coating of needles on the ground. Decision made Battousai blindly followed his nose.

Images of the past danced in front of his burning eyes, the harsh panting of a small child intermingling with that of the adult. He had traveled this way before. And he had found shelter before. He could do it again. He just had to trust himself, and his instincts, and… the world had just acquired a distinct tilt he could not explain. Battousai spent the last few moments of lucidity wondering why the trees suddenly grew horizontally to the ground, then he stopped thinking and just fell. I have to hide myself, he thought, however, he was unable to carry out his thought.

*~*

King Kamiya furiously paced the entire length of his chamber for the twenty-sixth time since leaving the dungeons. He was in a state between sanity and lunacy, driven closer and closer to insanity by the proximity of answers and his apparent inability to gain access to them. Battousai's mind was a treasure vault- but as such its guards were strong, and the walls around it were not breaking down easily. From the looks of it physical torture did next to nothing to aid the young King in his quest to unravel the mystery of his father's death and his country's state of upheaval. Battousai was to strong a man to give in to pain- but perhaps some recesses of his mind weren't as well-guarded and susceptible to attacks? Maybe the King could worm his way into what he wanted to know by entering from the inside?

He has always watched me strangely, Kamiya thought, recalling all these intense stares 'Akai' had heaped upon him with his delft blue eyes. He might be… vulnerable if he… The King shook in anger at himself. If his father had as much as caught a whiff of his train of thought he would not have been able to move for a month. Being attracted to other males was absolutely unacceptable.

And I am not! he concluded forcefully, slamming his fist against the wall. A piece of brittle plaster flaked off, landing on the knuckles the King had torn in the process and rapidly staining red.

I still wonder… Battousai has looked at me that way, the way my father described a potential mate would look at me. Perhaps I can exploit that… it doesn't mean I am attracted to that murderer at all! A cruel smile curled the King's upper lip. Time for another visit to the dungeons- I think my medicine woman has finished her treatment of that demon scum.

The way down to the Master of the Chain's lair was much shorter than Kamiya remembered- or perhaps it was just that he had a driving force stronger than before behind his steps? Striding briskly into the circular playground his father's most hideous servant had created the King balled his hands into two tight fists. It would cost him some concerted effort to actually play at liking the monster- but perhaps he could turn that shred of pity he felt at thinking of the torn body of the assassin into something that resembled…

The chains were empty. The lay upon the ground, still glinting wetly in the fickle light of the single torch that hadn't yet burned down, an eerie reminder of the thing that was no longer there. King Kamiya felt his throat constrict. Not again… it was impossible. He could not have done it twice. Dunkelland Castle was not a convenience store one could walk in and out of without any effort at all. Battousai certainly could not be far. Perhaps the Chain Master had…?

"Where is he?" Kamiya screeched, his cry resounding off the walls like the wails of a ghost. Nobody answered, strangely enough. The instruments of the Master of the Chain's trade stood silent with their unsettling promise. The torch flickered, smoke rising from the tip of its yellow flame.

"Where. Is. He?" The King's voice rose to previously unthinkable levels. Nails bit into the fleshy parts of his palms, five red half-moons on each slowly dripping the viscous fluid down the slender digits that had caused them. The chains clanked once as a cold wind swept down from the ceiling and through the dungeon. Still, everything remained as calm and silent as before. The torch flickered again as the wind reached it, shadows of disfigured fantasy beasts dancing along the walls instead of the haunting machinery they represented, then it died out, dousing the King of Dunkelland in Darkness.

New shadows arrived, carrying the light of fresh torches with them. The Master of the Chains returned to his lair, summoned by his liege's cry. He could not trust his eyesight it seemed, for after setting his twin torches into the holders on the wall he went over to the chains that had bound Battousai, touching them, feeling the still-slick blood from the man's wrists on them. Despair showed in his lantern eyes, the snarl of a wild beast ripping through his teeth like the hissing of an attacking snake.

"He is gone. She made me lower him to the ground, and he broke his chains. He is a demon, a demon! I could not break him before, but I had such great plans for him! She made me promise not to come back, and now he is gone!" By now, the Master of the Chains looked ready to dissolve in tears over the loss of his favorite toy. He cradled the broken manacles to his chest, blinking wildly and snarling as though he had gone mad.

"Calm yourself. We will bring him back, and I promise you will have your fun with him," Kamiya was clearly disgusted at his servant's antics. What had ridden his father to create that lunatic from what, at some point in history, must have been a human being?

"Bring him back?" Somethind akin to lust shone in the unfathomable, repulsive yellow eyes.

"Yes." The King stormed from the dungeons, shouting for Saito to join him in the planning room and for Aoshi to summon every single available and able-bodied person in and around the castle. This time, the hunt for Battousai would be taken to a whole new scale.

*~*

Sanosuke followed the summons immediately, eager to avoid being put into the spotlight to give Battousai a better head start on his pursuers. Side by side with a grizzled old soldier, he listened to Kamiya rant about her archenemy escaping her grasp once again, heard her call for vendetta and rallying her forces which, admittedly, were not in such a great state. It was late at night, and the soldiers who had not been on duty were more than slightly drunk while those who had been on duty were rather tired, trying to hide their yawns behind the wide sleeves of their cloaks.

"Battousai gone again? I wonder…" he heard the imposing, gray-haired man next to him murmur while his stance shifted so that his large, though rather lean, hand came to rest upon the intricately designed hilt of a longer-than-average katana.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Sanosuke offered as quietly as possible. The large soldier's head swiveled until a penetrating gaze out of dark olive green, almost black eyes came to rest upon him.

"I won't sell that cheaply," he scoffed under his breath, "however, I am going to give you a piece of my mind for free: never trust appearances!"

"I don't," Sano bristled, rather annoyed at the man's superior attitude. "I'm not stupid!"

"I wouldn't have thought that stupid was your name, but thanks for confirming that for me," Sano's neighbor shot back, his eyes darkening with amusement. "However, I would like to ask for your name in return for the piece of my mind I gave to you." A slight incline of the head took the barb out of his words and Sano relaxed his tensed-up stance a little. Why not offer a truce?

"Sanosuke. Sagara Sanosuke, but everyone calls me Sano."

"Shimajirou. Hiko Shimajirou, former captain, now soldier," the older soldier said, not without a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Why were you demoted?" Sano was very interested in this seemingly bitter and hard man.

"Battousai killed the King's father," was the answer.

"Oh." Sano knew he would be treading on very thin ice if he further persecuted that topic, so he simply left the conversation hanging at that point and tried to find something of interest in the hot air Kamiya blew out of her- admittedly pretty- mouth. However, listening to the raging King who didn't really have anything to say was rather tiring, and Sano was very relieved when they were finally sent swarming into the grounds. He could have more fun deterring his fellow soldiers from finding Akai…

"I wonder if he's really as bad as they all say, in case you're still interested in what I was thinking about earlier," his neighbor suddenly said before turning on his heels and joining the search. Sano stood dumbfounded, watching the tall, proud man's ramrod-straight back retreat.

"That was surprise."

*~*

Hiko Shimajirou, who had once been the leader of King Koshijirou's guard, had been assigned the little-traveled direction of the looming, forbidding forest behind the medicine woman's hut. There was next to no indication that Battousai, injured as he was, would choose that most difficult of all paths to travel. Shimajirou, however, had nonetheless followed orders without complaint. He was very familiar with the small path leading into the forest, starting right at the castle walls. He had walked it more than once, every single time reminiscing about the memories it held for him- memories of fear, of courage and of his betrayal. Yes, he, the loyal servant of the royal line of Dunkelland had once stumbled in his duties and had neglected to carry out a straight order from his King.

Wide delft-blue eyes flashed before his inner eye as Shimajirou studied the thickets to the right and left of the path. The child had been too innocent and courageous to be killed, so he had sent him on his way to his brother instead, a brother he had not spoken to in twenty-five years.

I wonder if what I think has become of him is true- only to check up on that suspicion do I want to find Battousai, he thought, having long since made the connection between the rumors about a red-headed demon with a scar down his left cheek and a small, red-headed boy looking at him out of calm, dark eyes while a long slash on his left cheek oozed blood. Perhaps I am mistaken, but then, Battousai's speed and proficiency with his weapon certainly points towards my fool of a brother.

"What…?" Shimajirou stumbled, the ensnaring roots of a fir tree grabbing at his ankles and bringing him down hard. The forest earth certainly had a bittersweet flavor to it, like the scent of freshly growing pine twigs. He couldn't say that he particularly enjoyed it, though. He rather abhorred it, to be honest. Spitting and swearing, he climbed to his feet only to halt in mid-motion. There was something awry in the nighttime forest. And it wasn't the cry of the wounded deer or the howl of the pack of wolves that was most likely responsible for aforementioned cry. No, it was more subtle, an underlying flavor to the air. A flavor, a scent… yes, a scent. A scent that didn't belong. Straining to identify it, Shimajirou sniffed the air. Amid the rich, deep smell of the firs next to him was a small hint of… burning. Burning, yes, and something even more subtle, something that, hadn't it been accompanied by the burning scent, wouldn't even have been out of place.

Frowning, Shimajirou followed the scent of blood into the grove of firs, careful to light his way with the single torch he was carrying. He did not wish for a repeat performance of his fall.

As he reached the middle of the little spot of dense growth the slender trunks of the comparatively young trees stood farther apart from each other, forming a small, irregularly shaped clearing covered in the soft coating of the old needles the trees had discarded. Shimajirou's brow wrinkled in concentration, the scents he had been following had become more and more pronounced, however, he had yet to find whatever the cause for them existing was.

On first glance, he dismissed the lump at the edge of the mini-clearing as an irregular rising of the ground on the otherwise flat forest floor. Only a tattered piece of fabric glistening with an unknown fluid and lying close to the elevation made him take a closer look. What he saw made him shy back in revulsion. No way this thing could be a human being and still alive. The sickening feeling in his stomach grew as his natural compassion overcame his initial reaction and he crouched down next to the unfortunate being. For the first time the full light of his torch flickered across the lump on the ground, caught and reflected off matted red hair. Shimajirou's breath caught in his throat as he carefully brushed the tangled strands of red aside, only to have the torch reveal the distinctive scar running all across the pallid face. Battousai had not even managed to run a whole mile from the castle.

His hand reached out on its own accord, carefully touching the side of the young man's neck. A sigh of relief escaped Shimajirou's lips when he found a steady, albeit weak, pulse. So he was still alive… after all these years he had met him again. The boy who had lived- and still did. Anger flashed across Shimajirou's face as a closer scrutiny of the unconscious body in front of him revealed the true extent of his injuries. He had been treated, the bandages apparently fresh, but many of his wounds had reopened, or had perhaps never had the time to close, and the clammy, cold feeling of his skin under Shimajirou's fingers showed that he had lost enough blood to be on death's doorstep.

"How… how could anyone let this be done to another human?" the gray-haired soldier hissed at the silent forest. No answer came, except for the rasping of Battousai's feeble breath. Looking at the boy in font of him the image of his mangled body was replaced with that of the little boy he had been, defiant and scared at once, staring at the much larger soldier before closing his eyes in acceptance of his fate. 'Are you going to kill me?' The image asked, 'I understand. It's not your fault. Granny is dead, too, so I won't be alone.' Tears came to Shimajirou's eyes as he remembered his own question.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" Shimajirou whispered, kneeling beside Battousai and intently watching the boy from his memory. The image-boy shook his head, standing over the still body of his adult self.

'I know the name of the King's heir and I have to die.' He recalled the answer as clearly as if it had just been given to him, the outline of the translucent mirage from the past blurring as he wept over the fate of a little boy that had grown into the most feared man in a whole kingdom. The innocence he had possessed… that could not all be gone. Staring at the result of the child he had rescued falling into the hands of his King, Shimajirou felt for the first time that perhaps a secure position and stability was not everything. His decision made, he picked up the unresponsive body of the red-headed child- Man, he is a man now!- and headed into the forest. Battousai would not die- not as long as Hiko Shimajirou had any say in the matter.

The forest was huge, dark, and cold at night. Shimajirou stumbled more than once, his torch having gone out about halfway through, but he caught himself every time, remembering that he would only damage his load should he fall. Shinta- or Battousai, as he called himself nowadays, had not stirred once, seeming to have fallen into a coma which, given the state he was in, was no surprise. That he had managed to move at all was a small miracle, let alone that he had fled from the castle and run half a mile on the uneven and treacherous ground of Dunkelwald. Shimajirou cursed the night, cursed the forest and cursed himself for just giving up on his career and his place in life. He had never been great, had been content with a mediocre existence, had never strived to become more like his brother and the child in his arms had. How could he have had such a change of heart, losing himself to the moment and forgetting all he had lived for?

"It is you again," he spat at the frail body, "you and your memory and all that you stand for!" His anger was directed towards himself more than towards Battousai though- he could not believe he had been blind enough to follow a regime that allowed for people being treated the way the young shadow assassin had been treated. Using his fury as a driving force, Shimajirou lengthened his stride and quickened his pace. He would arrive at his destination soon… or perhaps now. Queasily he strode towards the black, square shape of the small wooden house. His stomach somersaulting with even more unease he tentatively lifted his hand. The door opened before he could knock, however, and with mild terror and great surprise Hiko Shimajirou found himself face to face with the tall, muscled figure of a man that resembled him more than he had remembered.

"What do you want?" A gruff voice asked, calm power radiating from each word.

"I think this belongs to you… brother," Shimajirou said carefully, holding out his arms and the load he was carrying.

… to be continued …

Again, I am horribly sorry this is a whole week late. I would have had it out by Wednesday the last, but I only scored a 12(out of 15) on my last Math pop quiz, making my Dad take my computer away. He is very… obsessive when it comes to my Math scores- after all, how am I going to be a successful biochemist when I am not that good at Math? I had to make a 15-point score on the last big test to make him give me my laptop back, so sorry if the quality of this chapter is a bit substandard- I had to study a lot. I can't imagine what my family will do once I announce that I want to be a lawyer and not a scientist- the only one who knows so far is my twin who tries to encourage me… still, my whole family are scientists with an extreme dislike of lawyers and governments, something about a rebel tradition- they are going to explode. Being a lawyer doesn't mean to be subordinate, why can't they see that? So far, everyone assumes I will study biochemistry- it's Ry who wants to do that, not me! N.'s illness has increased pressure in that regard- now my aunt looks at me as well saying Ry and I might just be the ones to find that elusive cure for cancer. I am so tired of everything! Nothing I do ever satisfies my parents. It's not enough that I'm four years ahead at school- I should be better at sports; it's not enough that I maintain the highest average at my school in twenty years- I should do better in Math; it's not enough that I went to the finals in the last piano competition- I only scored third, that's not worth mentioning. My schedule's pretty hard already (go to my bio and see under my status report to get the idea), but no, it's not enough, I had to enroll in the next Jugend Forscht contest ( a science contest for young people in which they are to experiment, document their experiments and results and present all that). Ry does that for fun, but then, he weaseled out of skipping another grade and doesn't have as much work. I know I should be grateful that studying and scientific thinking come naturally to me, but I can't help but resent it all. I'd like to get to know the normal life of a fifteen-year-old for a change, for I'm sure it doesn't involve secretly looking for universities/law schools that will accept a barely sixteen-year-old and applying for scholarships. But then, I probably wouldn't care to write at all if I were normal, so that's the bright side of things! I beg you to excuse this rant- my emotions ran haywire throughout the last days, and I am nearing my breaking point with the workload I have to manage.It just felt too good to simply write it all down and get it out that way. So sorry again for the delay and everything, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed the last chapter at least a fraction of how much you enjoyed the last- seriously, so many reviews! I am beside myself with delight about this (even though I am a bit more subdued due to what happened to my cousin- so no squeaking [to Ry's great disappointment] and no little dances this time…only great, big, face-splitting smiles)! This is why I make this promise: the day my review counter hits 100 I will post the next chapter. The latest it will be up on Dec 22nd. It's already ¾ written so I should be fine with that promise… *grins* Now, to my two little finishing sections!

I think this belongs to you is a direct quote from the Italian farmer who found Ry and me after we stumbled upon and down a Roman amphitheater. Ry escaped with a light concussion. I had ended up underneath him and had hit my head pretty hard as well as dislocated my shoulder. Repositioning hurts, believe me. Mom likes to quote this whenever either Ry or I have gotten into trouble, and I just thought it a fitting quote for a slightly bitter, unsettled old soldier when he handed something over to a brother he doesn't have the best relationship with.

Reviewer's corner

Zeh Wulf; *grins* I have great plans for 'Clueless Sano' ™... and you're onto something with your guesses. Argh! I knew I should not have posted after the loss of my beta, but I had not heard from her for three weeks and was growing desperate... hopefully this chapter is better, I tried my best on my own... *sniffs and cries over loss of N. and her biting cirtique*

CurlsofSerenity: We're paternal twins. Ry is my brother and loves to torture his little sister... Hope your eyes didn't burn out at thesight of my (rather nonexistent) jig-dancing abilities...

The Girl Who Cried Oro: WAI! You are great!!! Sorry, just had to get this out. Her 'feminine parts' are tightly bound, thus rather unnoticable. Ry's idea!!! *points at scowling twin*

Fallen Faerie: You really speak Latin? WOW! I only read it... I like Ovid's Metamorphoses (all about mythology!) and the Amores (decadence of the Roman Empire...). Have you read them? I especially like the rhythm dactyllic hexameters give to his storytelling.

EnjeruJoshin: *watches dance and wishes she wasn't so clumsy* Urgh, first sighting of romance is... two chapters away. How about dancing together while we wait for the two to pull their act together???

Nigihayami Haruko:I promise Shishio will get a slap in chapter 11- literally!!!

^_^: Thanks!!!

Natsuko: I'm not killing Megumi- never! She's just a bit weak, I needed her a little more feeble than the spunky foxy-woman. Am I getting into that habit of ending sentences with prepositions again? Means I have had too little exposure to English and too much to German since many German sentences end that way... have to read more. But my Dad insists I concentrate on Maths... ARGH! Ouchie, you seem to get into a lot of accidents as well... makes me feel better for being not the only stupid/clumsy/forgetful one... *grins* How was your logarithms test? I had to do Taylor's series (a power series that gives the expansion of a function f (x) in the neighborhood of a point a provided that in the neighborhood the function is continuous, all its derivatives exist, and the series converges to the function in which case it has the form f(x) = f(a) + f[1](a)/1! (x - a) + f[2](a)/2! (x - a)2 + ... + f[n](a)/n! (x - a)n + ... where f [n](a) is the derivative of nth order of f(x) evaluated at a) on my last exam- nastynastynasty!!! I got the required 15 points though... so I got my laptop back from my Dad who had confiscated it because I got a 12 on the pop quiz before that...

flyinangel777: I myself was rather green when my twin presented me with the scenes he had written... I hope it was not too much though, and that you continue reading *glares at twin who just scowls*

bonessasan: ARGH! I misspelled your name! Talk about stupid... Sorry!!! *grins* I read up a little on psychology to make poor Kaoru downright miserable... thanks for everything!!!

allin656: Thank you! I also hope I will get over that stupid block with SL soon... I have rewritten chapter 19 about six times now and no version was even remotely acceptable... it remains a jumbled mass of small scenes! RAH! I WILL make that chapter work! Hope you enjoy RtK meanwhile...

The-Lone-Lemon: *grins* I think she will be cruel for a while longer yet... but don't worry, she'll become nicer in the end (I think)

Felina: Whee, thank you! I never read anything of either rex Stout or Robert Goldsborough... I'll be sure to check them out now, though! Thank you ever so much! I hope Megumi's way of getting round the castle is not too quaint... I couldn't think of anything better *blushes*

Hiromi: Thanks for all your encouragment- I really miss my beta! You are right about one thing: Christmas time is the worst time of the year. I never thought anything could be that stressful, but never say never... and then my Dad started acting up, too... hopw you can forgive me for being late!

Missaw: Thanks! Sorry for not updating faster but my computer priviledges were removed *scowls at Dad-tyrant*...

me: Hope you found the following chapters more clarifying... in the end, every single mystery will be solved, but there's still a lot of way to go until then!

ixchen: Thanks a lot!!!

all readers: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!!!

Until next time! Cya!!!

Chibi-chan