Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin and probably never will.
Author: Weasels
Chapter Three"We strike tonight. The new commander was just announced; there will surely be some disagreement among the groups. This will promise our success,"
"Well then Hitachi, I'll take your word for it," suddenly a giant smile broke out on his face "And when this succeeds, I'll make sure to give you your proper reward,"
The man, Hitachi, just grunted, disappearing quickly into the shadows, not aware that they had not been the only one to hear the conversation.
Two days after the first training session and once again the soldiers found themselves lying on the ground, rolling around in pain. The only one who had made any progress at all was Himura himself who seemed to have gotten even better at causing pain.
"You disgust me! How you managed to survive this far with such pitiful skills is beyond me," the red headed commander hissed, angry at their lack of improvement.
The men groaned, knowing that he was going to command them to get up for another round, but much to their surprise he didn't.
"You are dismissed. I suggest you go get ready. Tonight's going to be eventful." The red head glided out of the room, ignoring the confused looks of his soldiers.
None of them had grasped the meaning of his words expect that they were supposed to get ready. And getting ready was exactly what they planned to do, after all who wanted to end up in the same circumstances as the first fool who disobeyed the orders of his new commander?
"Where do you think you are going?" the voice cut through the air, as a figure appeared out of the shadows.
"Nowhere commander, just for a walk," the dark haired man lied fluently, hoping that he would be believed.
"Really? Then I guess I'll just have to let you go," the deceptively innocent voice seemed to hang in the air.
Hitachi sighed in relief but his joy was short-lived as he felt the cold feeling of metal against his mask.
"But you aren't so I guess that the rules don't apply, now does it?" the familiar sadistic voice whispered into his ear.
"I…I don don't know what you're saying," Hitachi managed to stutter out.
"Oh really?" once again came the annoyingly sweet answer. How the commander keep his voice so innocent was beyond him.
"I know very well that you are the spy that supports the assassination that is supposed to take place at two tonight. I also know that many in your organization does not agree with the action and that if the bosses were to find out the consequences would not be good for you,"
"How?" Hitachi's knees were ready to give out if it were not for Himura.This was said all very quickly, as if he would have been killed if he had taken a moment longer. Not that he was wrong but to normal ears his blurred in addition to the stuttering was almost too hard to make out but then again the only listening was anything but normal.
"I have my ways; they don't call me an assassin for nothing," the red head replied bitterly,
"But I want you to tell me why you are plotting Katsura's murder." He voice went cold all the innocence gone, disappeared in an instant as he pressed the sword harder against the neck of his subordinate.
"I… I won't tell you," Hitachi replied his voice getting stronger.
"Oh is that so?" A line of blood appeared on his neck, "then I guess I'll have to kill you then,"
"No wa-…wait!" the soldier stammered "I'll tell! Just don't kill me." He pleaded
"We are a group of former s…soldiers that were b…betrayed by the government or just hate it. Many are from the fake r…revolutionary army that was hanged for I…lying about the reducing of taxes. But what t…these rebels don't know it that at the head of the o…organization is a government official who wants power plain and simple."
This was said all very quickly, as if he would have been killed if he had taken a moment longer. Not that he was wrong but to normal ears his blurred in addition to the stuttering was almost too hard to make out but then again the only listening was anything but normal.
"Good boy!" Himura praised, successfully calming down his former subordinate "But I'm afraid it's not good enough" Himura finished with a wicked smile as he pressed his sword harder against the soft flesh.
"That's all I know!" he managed to gasp a look of pure horror impaled on his face "Why?"
"Well, we can't have you go off and blab this to your organization now can we?" the red head smiled licking the fresh blood off his blade; "Besides traitors deserve to die…" the last part was whispered inaudible event to himself.
The whispers filled that filled the air were immediately silenced as the newly appointed commander walked in.
Everyone looked uneasily at one another waiting for their command.
Not that you would blame them. There had been a rumor that the commander had killed another soldier. Apparently a soldier had just finished his dinner when he spotted the lithe form of their commander slitting the throat of another. Upon closer inspection they found the victim to be Hitachi.
Within a week their commander had slain two men and by the looks of it Katsura wasn't going to do much about it.
"The attack will be tonight. Guard Katsura-san well but do not kill! Capture as many as possible but I want to keep the damage down to a minimum." He went on to explain the positions of each troop.
"Now any questions?"
"How can you be sure?" some one in the back asked, "How do you know they're striking tonight?" apparently he wasn't too bright, either that or he thought standing amidst a crowd would keep him out of Harm's way.
"Let's just say I have my ways. It's amazing what people will tell you when you threaten them the right way." A sick smile appeared on his face "who knew traitors could be so helpful?'
Everyone in the room visibly shivered as Himura left. They were quickly placed into position by the tense sergeants as the chatter once again started but almost everyone had quieted a bit.
"Are you really sure it's tonight?" Katsura asked nervously, "Why tonight?"
Himura just gave him the look that clearly stated 'Have I ever been wrong" after a few moments he finally spoke up "As for the second question I do believe that they picked tonight because of me. Apparently they believe the soldiers aren't under my control yet."
"Himura I don understand why you want the soldiers to fear you but killing two of them in a week that's-"
But his sentence was cut off by the shrill sound of the emergency whistle "Apparently our guests have arrived," Himura smirked, bloodlust shinning in his eyes "Guess we'll just have to welcome them."
END CHAPTER THREE
Sorry about the late update but I've been really busy with midterms and other stuff. But I will try to speed them up. Sorry please bear with me. ;