Author's Notes: ahaha, i juss read over the last chapter and i realized that that WAS a really bad cliffie for u guys...hahaha...gomen, gomen!! errr, but i'm back, and to those who are keeping up, thanx so much! well, i hope u guys like this chapter, and feedback is greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: dun own...dun own...ZZZzzz...

------------

chap. 12 - osaka to kyoto

Words did not escape Kenshin's lips as Megumi solemnly handed him a small, tightly rolled scroll. And as he unfurled it to read its contents, dead silence hung in the air. When he read the words printed on its surface, there was hardly as much as a breath that filled the spacious air.

Silver rain dribbles from the wisp clouds that forever fill the red sky,

Clear, crisp drops that tingles and pinches the skin,

just as a sword.

Pure, opalescent drops that trickle down

the leathery texture of an emerald leaf,

through every vein and tear, gently caressing its surface.

The moist aroma of irises perfuming the air with its fragrance,

while the smoke of Western engineering pollutes it.

Through blood-soaked air, life continued to live,

and die.

Disatisfaction bubbled forth revolution,

while all the while, the crane cackles in the distance.

Peace.

As fragile as the most insignificent twig,

easily crushed by rue hopes and actions.

Old traditions forgotten,

just as the radiant iris.

The thrashing stream of modernity washes

away the glossy pebbles of a thousand years.

Humans; tigers that are turned against eachother,

never on the same side.

But now, in this fresh, vast jungle,

known as the bitter war,

the hunters are often the hunted.

Thunder cracks through the silence,

as the sword spills crimson-sweet blood.

The boat rocked with the rough waves that had begun to escalate in the wide open sea. Kenshin did not read the words twice, not wanting to understand the deeper meaning the writer had woven into the profound tapestry of tradition and current events. And as he finished the last lines of the poem, as if on cue, thunder roared as the boat took a violent dip into the large waves. A thunderstorm. As if they did not have enough troubles already. A thunderstorm may slow them down a few hours, if not days.
Aoshi wondered what was going through Himura's head, and if it was as really as unbearable as his expression read. Aoshi snorted impatiently and with a quick stride, he was out the door of the cabin. A small voice buried within Aoshi's head told him that he should be helping Himura, in some way, shape, or form, but Aoshi couldn't help but feel digust at the way Himura was handling the recent events. He was being sensitive to the issue, and sitting around moping and doing nothing would accomplish little.
'Ah, but yet you have sat around moping and doing nothing...' a voice in Aoshi's head contradicted, 'All this while you've been hiding behind that solid mask of self-loathing, feeling sorry for yourself. Sorry that you could never prove what you wanted to prove to the Oniwa Banshu. Meditating and covering what you truly feel. That especially isn't fair to Misao...'
'Shut up...shupt up...' Aoshi told himself, but he knew, that this voice, this inner-conscience, was completely right, that he had been hiding for so long that it had naturally become apart of him. And perhaps it would have to slowly shred away. Shred away into a million pieces so that the true Aoshi Shinomori would be revealed...and known.

------------

It was all too easy... Too easy, in fact, that it made Hiroji's mind tremble in doubt. Perhaps he had completely outdone himself on the riddle, and revealed too much. Perhaps the Battousai did not deserve all the suffering they were bringing him. Perhaps...it was just going too far. Immediately, Hiroji shook his head fiercely to rid himself of the thought. Was that pity he just felt for the Battousai? How could he pity a ruthless killer that had slain many during the revolution? Show no emotion, feel no emotion, and that is the fighter that triumphs. His mind vibrated on the philosophy he had been taught as a warrior.
The boat rocked underneath his feet as Hiroji went to check on his prisoner. They hadn't even noticed the small steamship Hiroji had hijacked, to follow them into sea and wait for the right moment to strike. Slowly opening the door, Hiroji couldn't help but feel awed at the aura of the woman sleeping in the barracks. When she was asleep, she had no look of stress in her eyes and seemed at peace. Her body rose and fell with each breath, a hand was instinctively placed on her swollen belly. Her long onyx hair fell in glistening sheets, and Hiroji snapped himself to reality as he left the room, clumsily closing the door behind him.
Know not your enemy, for the deep-rooted knowledge of character ties you to guilt.
 Hiroji cursed under his breath. If these emotions kept flooding him in perpetual waves, it would get in his way, and toy with his ability to properly reason.
Feel nothing.

------------

Silence haunted the steamship that held Kenshin's company. It was empty nothingness that hung in the air and made it thick with anxiousness. None of them dared to utter a word, for fear that it would break the eery atmosphere that shrouded them. It was a respectful fear.
But, even if uneasiness clung, there was pain mixed in with every bit of it. Suffering tormented each passenger, each in its own despicable, torturing way. Some of them were eagerly waiting for the boat trip to end, to pull up into the Osaka Harbor and stop the nagging feeling of anguish in the air. But it was a bitter sweet eagerness.
Others just didn't know whether they wanted the trip to end...or for it to keep going, so as they could rot away in this place...this bottemless pit that seemed so much like Hell.
But perhaps, deep within the chambers of their minds, a small whisper of a voice told them that everything had to come to an end. And so, on the black morning when the steamship pulled into the Osaka Harbor, each passenger shuffled onto the upper deck, mind overflowing with his or her own thoughts.

------------

Everything was gone... Everything had been ripped away from him, torn out from his heart... No, even worse, his heart had been ripped out and eaten while it was still beating. Kenshin felt like an empty shell, his soul long gone; gone way back when this whole mess had started. There was nothing left...not even a shred of what he thought he was.
Because everyone had been reticent during the trip, Kenshin had an infinite amount of time to think. Time to think about himself, and what he had left. And Kenshin could barely conjure up just one reason why he should go on living. But then the thought struck him, struck him like the thunder that forked through the pitch black sky. He, in fact, had two reasons to go on living: Wolf and Kaoru. Kaoru... He had lost Tomoe, and he refused to lose Kaoru as well.
The air was thick with humid air, and everybody trailed down the platform onto the Osaka Harbor docks. One could barely see his feet walk in front of him, and it took them awhile to gather their things together and find the trail that would lead them to Kyoto.
"Oi! You're Aoshi Shinomori, ne?! Chotto matte!" a man yelled from behind them, shattering their fragile thoughts.
Aoshi turned, his defenses alert as his eyes narrowed into sheer expression of a samurai whose patience is not easily tested. And at the same time, Kenshin had whirled around, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his Sakabato; his eyes glimmering gold amber in a death glare.
The man, startled deathly pale over this reaction to such a mild gesture, automatically stepped backwards two steps, the look on his face inferring that he was about to faint clean on the spot.
"Hey, Kenshin! What are you doing?!" Yahiko yelled, bewildered at Aoshi and Kenshin's appalling behaivor.
Kenshin's eyes widened slightly as he realized that this man was no enemy. Aoshi's gaze also relaxed as Yahiko's voice penetrated his confused throughts, nodding at the man to go on with what he was about to say earlier.
"Ehh...h-here," the man stuttered fearfully, handing Aoshi a scroll, then bowing sloppily before spiraling around and running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Aoshi unfurled the scroll and read aloud, "Got to make this quick, the train leaves in a couple of minutes. We're going on a short trip to Beijing, should help us relax a bit. The Aoiya welcomes you if you should need it. Okina."
"Beijing of all places...I told him we were coming to Kyoto..." Aoshi muttered under his breath. Misao gave Aoshi a nervous side-glance before saying cheerily, "Tehe, we should get a move on! I'm sure we're all tired from the trip, and we could use a good rest!"
"You mean you need the rest, Weasel Girl, we don't," Sano said curtly before claiming two carriages for their company.
Misao scowled as she followed the group towards the awaiting carriages.
Within the first carriage, there was thoughtful silence that filled the air, as its inhabitants were Kenshin, Aoshi, and Sano. Each one of them pondering numerous thoughts. Where would they find Wolf and Kaoru in a big city such as Kyoto? Where were they? How were they being treated? With each passing minute, Kenshin grew anxious with worry, these thoughts plaguing his mind.
Sano, however, was thinking of the time they had traveled down this very road, fighting their own little war against Shishio, not so long ago. But now, the stakes were raised, and there was as much to lose as there was to gain.
The second carriage was a bit more lively, as Misao continued to tease Megumi about what she had seen on the boat, causing Megumi to blush crimson. Anything to talk about that would lighten the mood. There was so much angst on the boat ride to Osaka, that Misao could barely take it anymore, and had to find anyway to joke around again.
"You're teasing me about Sano, eh? Well," Megumi said thoughtfully, "how about you and Aoshi...?"
Misao went suddenly silent as Megumi put her hand over her mouth to surpress a laugh.
"I knew I should've been in the other carriage, this is all girl talk," Yahiko muttered wildly under his breath.
Misao smacked him on the back of the head as she said, "...Yeah? What about Aoshi-sama?"
"When are you going to confess?" Megumi asked, playing her words carefully.
"...W-what do you mean?" Misao said, deciding to play dumb.
"Don't play dumb," Yahiko retorted, "Even I know what's going on between you and Aoshi, so make a move already."
Misao didn't say a word as she stared out the window of the carriage, watching the buildings and stores go by, "...I would...except..."
Megumi and Yahiko leaned in closer to hear Misao's barely audible words,
"..There's so much going on with him, and...I don't know...I really want him to open up, and show the world what he's really like, because, I know that Aoshi-sama isn't always that cold, even if he acts like that most of the time..."
Yahiko snorted, and Megumi banged her fist on his head as she responded, "But think about it... That 'coldness' that Aoshi always has...it's like a mask. Because he had to take over the Oniwa Banshu at the age of fifteen, he had to build that mask in order for him to be respected... Kind of like the Rurouni mask Kenshin has... He's always had that mask on...don't you think it's now become a part of him? And you're asking him to change and open up...it's like asking for him to tear away years' worth of shielding his emotions. Maybe you've got to try to accept him as he is..."
Misao stared blankly at Megumi, trying to absorb the profoundness that she had just spoken.
"That's so corny, I could puke," Yahiko remarked, before getting a slap from both women straight across each cheek, resulting in two red hand- prints.
Yahiko's cheeks continued to sting as he stepped out of the halting carriage in front of the Aoiya. He gazed up at the newly reconstructed restaurant, and had to admire how much better it looked, considering the last time he saw it was when it was literally torn down from when they faced and fought against the Juppongatana.
Deciding that they were all equally exhausted, both mentally and physically, from the trip to Kyoto, everybody hesitantly decided to take the remainder of the day off. Settled in one of the rooms overlooking the restaurant's courtyard, Kenshin vaguely wondered how he would find Wolf and Kaoru before falling into a fitful sleep.

------------

Cold drops of rain splattered her cheek as she moaned, her eyes blinking rapidly in an attempt to awaken from the black slumber she had been tossed into. Finding herself slung over the shoulders of someone, she struggled to scream, and found that she couldn't. No matter how much she willed her mouth to open, her voice to sound, she couldn't. She was paralyzed in her own body.
"Ah, I see that you're awake...good. I appreciate the timing, Gensou wishes to see you now," the man said diligently, his voice carrying to her ears. And with that, she found herself being lowered to the wooden floorboards in front of another man whose back was turned.
She flinched as she reached for the barely visible dart wound on her neck. She could still feel the paralyzing affect even with the absense of the dart.
"Aaahh, the Battousai's woman," the man's voice declared as he turned around.
Kaoru gasped as she saw for the first time, the man who had pushed them into this wormhole of chaos. His black hair was short and unruly, cleary disregarded and unkept. Years of pain were clearly chisled into his face, inferring that his past made up who he was, just as everybody's past makes up their present. His wide, pitch-black eyes had pools of anxiousness and sadness in them, swimming around in endless clusters of confusion, making his mood unpredictable and unreadable.
The masked man who had carried her was no where to be seen, and as Kaoru was about to faint in weariness, Gensou spoke,
"I'm sure you're worrying about many things. Why we are doing this, and what is about to happen. There are many things I could tell you, but I can garuntee you, that you do not want to hear any of it. I am also sure you're wondering if the poison Hiroji struck you with will have any effect on your unborn child -" Gensou gestured to Kaoru's stomach and her eyes widened in fear and dispair.
"- However, maybe above all, you worry of Wolf and his condition. Because I am feeling very considerate, I will allow you to see him, and in fact, I will allow you to room with him...maybe this will prove to our advantage." And with that, Gensou snapped his fingers, bringing Hiroji to the room to carry Kaoru to Wolf.
Kaoru struggled to breathe as Hiroji opened the fusuma of another room, lowering her to the ground for a second time that day and saying almost sympathetically, "The poison will wear off in a couple of hours..." Then turning his back and sharply pulling the door to a slamming shut.
The last thing Kaoru saw was a minute blonde head hovering over her body before giving into the dark unconsciousness.

------------

The soft dirt beneath his feet was soft because of the endless amount of rain that still continued to pour onto Japan. It was still early in the morning, and the sun had not yet broken over the horizon. Perhaps he would never see the sun, because of the black clouds that engulfed him.
Walking slowly down the streets of Kyoto, Kenshin decided that he would push aside all thoughts, other than the one goal he had to accomplish: rescue Kaoru and Wolf. Afterwards, he concluded, he would worry about his own welfare. Up until now, he had always been pondering his own situation and attempting to sort it out. And all it had done was delay their efforts to find Kaoru and Wolf.
Yet...it was dificult, because...there were times when Kenshin felt that he just couldn't remember who he was...and all he could remember was the time during the Bakumatsu. The time...when he was a skilled assassin, whose only purpose was to kill in order to help bring in a new government for Japan. But he had to try...for Kaoru.
Kenshin glanced at the ribbon that remained tied around his wrist. He needed it as a portal to his recent memory, a portal to the present day Meiji.
Kenshin felt frustration tug at him as he wondered where in all of Kyoto Kaoru and Wolf could be. Finding that his legs had carried him to the Kyoto police station, Kenshin felt a familiar aura, and was immediately drawn to the station.
Just as he was about to reach the entrance, Kenshin saw a spark of a match that lit the cigarrette in front of a man's face... And all of a sudden, something immediately clicked in his mind, his voice instinctively whispering,
"Saitoh..."

------------