Chapter 3: Reluctant Samurai
Kyoto. Miyagi mansion. Seta Soujirou was on guard duty. After months of bumbling about, he has finally found employment. Was this his path? Or was it just a rest stop? He had wanted to give up the sword. Easier said than done. That was Tenken no Soujirou's only skill. His attempt at being a ronin was a disaster. He kept running to bandits who thought a boy traveling alone was a good target. Also, he did not enjoy being caught in rainstorms.
Trying to find employment as a page or servant didn't work. He had a way of getting on people's nerves. Then he got employed by the Miyagi as a bodyguard... Okay, that's way far from a peaceful existence. The old man had lots of enemies. Goodness knows what the man did... It wasn't his place to question. Surely the now crippled man deserved some peace in his final days. He went over to the other guards. He was the youngest of them.
Was that a sound? Soujirou peered into the night. A light, was his master expecting a late visitor? The boy reached for his sword... The light went out.
So fast... he hadn't even had a chance to defend himself. It was not a human but a demon who wielded the sword. His sword broke. It was like when he fought Himura... he blacked out as pain tore through his body.
When Soujirou awoke, he had found the other guards dead. Gotta get help... The boy forced himself to crawl on despite his injuries. Spent, he finally collapsed. Seta Soujirou is going to end his life on the streets... I don't want to die like this!
Aoiya. Morning. Time to open for the day. Shinomori Aoshi was awake. He had returned to Aoiya last night for a visit and intends to return to the temple now. Misao squirmed as he passed her in the hall. One day, she'll marry him and then they'll run Aoiya together... Aoshi was looking at her! She blushed.
"Shouldn't we be opening for the day?" Aoshi asked. He was feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way she was looking at him.
"Hai, Aoshi-sama!" The ninja girl darted out and found a boy lying on their doorstep. She shook him. "Hey! You can't sleep here!" She felt the stickiness on the boy's clothes. He was bleeding badly from more than a dozen sword wounds.
"Aoshi-sama!" Aoshi came running at the sound of Misao's scream. He recognized Soujirou. What happened to him? Without speaking, he carried the boy and headed for the nearest clinic. Misao thought the boy looked familiar. She ran after Aoshi. Wasn't that boy Shishio's lackey?
Megumi was opening her clinic. As a child, she had lived with her grandfather in Kyoto. Now she intends to restore her family's reputation as renowned doctors in this city. Problem was people still had prejudices against female doctors. Business was poor but she believed her skill will win them over eventually.
She was very surprised to see Aoshi and Misao heading her way. Seeing the badly wounded boy Aoshi carried, she ushered them into her surgery. Her patient was badly wounded, but he was young and had a tremendous will to live. She'll do all she can as a doctor to save him.
Hidden in the crowd of curious onlookers gawking away outside the Miyagi's gate, Saitou Hajime watched as his former colleagues searched the crime scene for clues. He watched as the bodies were carried out. There was no mistake in his mind. Aku Soku Zan... The words were scrawled in blood on the gate, mocking him. He lit his last cigarette.
Himura Kenshin was very surprised when the chief of police approached him for help as he was buying flowers for Tomoe's grave. What is it now? I really don't want to be dragged into another battle at this time... Still, he followed them back to the station.
"Miyagi Takeshi and his entire household were murdered last night by unknown persons. Miyagi Takeshi's younger brother, Torajiro was known as..."
"The Butcher," Kenshin completed the police chief's sentence. "And you suspect it's got something to do with his past." The man nodded. Miyagi Torajiro was one of the most ruthless scumbags to crawl out from under a rock. A lesser member of the Ishii leadership, he was disliked even by his colleagues.
He executed several pro-Shogunate leaders after they had accepted the offer of amnesty from the new Meiji government. He was known for cruelty to any prisoner in his custody. He earned his nickname after he cut open the infant son of a Shogunate sympathizer in front of his father during an interrogation.
He's a total cockroach... Everyone wanted to squish him, even the kindly Katsura-san. Katsura had considered having him discreetly removed and discussed it with his young hitokiri Battousai on several occasions. A fire beat them to it. The Butcher was badly burnt and destined to live the remainder of his life a crippled dependent on his family.
"Chief, let Fujita handle it..." I really, really don't want to get involved with this...
"Fujita Goro has disappeared," the chief explained. Kenshin started. "His family was murdered a fortnight ago. He left before the funeral."
Saitou missing? Now Kenshin was certain he doesn't want to be involved. Still, the entire Miyagi household did not deserve to be killed because of some old grudge. He agreed to help them with great reluctance.
When some highly skilled psycho killer's on the loose, they always turned to him.
Notes:
Both Saitou & Himura are in Kyoto. Pulled in the Aoiya gang as well. And Seta Soujirou. To avoid confusion with Seta, Okita's given name is Soshi in this fic, not Souji as in my PMK fics.