It's been a while since I came back, but I came down with a huge writer's
block. I'm finding it harder to believe that in the one night I started
putting up this story I end up with notable status here. It has also been a
LONG time since I updated. I set up everything back up after a few days and
now I can continue to write again
Disclaimer: The only character I own here is Juno. I do not own Ruroni Kenshin or its characters, blah, blah and so on.
Anyhow, I'll start addressing reviews soon but there are two questions to answer SH: Hmm, I did not know that Kenshin has hereditary cancer. Besides, I thought the bad luck fortune was more than enough. There are worse things than death.
Ethelflaed: LOL Misao in the fic? That is very foreseeable, but Soujiro, I don't know. I never said that he would never be in the fic. I'm just not too fond of emotionless killers, and smiley boy is the epitome of the aforementioned. But you did give me an idea of how to juggle them in. Maybe the animators ignore those details or something, because even though Misao is supposed to have black hair, it's blue. I just heard that Hiko's hair was kind of dark-greenish.
Chapter 6: If you tell Sano a Fortune..
Kenshin was not having a good night. After having his fortune read, he seemed to have a stroke of bad luck. But that did not stop everyone from having a good time, laughing and drinking Juno's sake.
Yahiko was going to reach for a cup when Kaoru took notice. "Just what do you think you're doing, Yahiko?" The assistant master asked.
"What does it look like? I'm getting a drink." Yahiko answered. "There's no alcohol in it, anyway." Although Kaoru accepted that fact, her eyes caught sight of something thin and black hanging on Yahiko's belt:
"What in the world are you doing with that sword?!?!" Kaoru thundered.
Yahiko felt smug as he quaffed some of the sake. "Not that it's any of your business, Busu, it was a gift."
Everyone else took notice almost immediately. Megumi dropped her cup, and Kenshin did a double take.
Kaoru began to feel her blood rage. "You're still a beginner, Yahiko. Don't you remember the last time you tried to use a real sword? You almost got Kenshin killed."
"Yeah, but I'm doing a lot better since then!" Yahiko yelled. "And don't you dare call me Busu again!" Kaoru thundered back with a fierce gaze that could scare a full-grown mountain lion, if there were any in Japan.
"I'll call you whatever I want, okay Busu?" Yahiko replied with an equally fierce gaze.
The two growled at each other for a moment and then in complete synchronization, they grabbed each other's cheeks and began to pinch and wrestle fiercely with each other's face.
Everyone in the room sweat dropped at this unusual spectacle.
"Now, now, Miss Kaoru." Kenshin intervened. "Yahiko has come a long way since that incident. I believe he'll be fine with a sword-" Kenshin got no farther than that: Kaoru took out her bokuto and hammered him right between the eyes.
" Ororo. I'll take a beef pot to gooo..." Kenshin groaned as he fell dazed to the floor.
Juno observed the madness and shook his head disapprovingly at a fat- cheeked Kaoru. "It looks like the cards were right about your personality, Kaoru. There was no need to hit Kenshin."
"And why's that?" Kaoru asked. "How could you be sure Yahiko didn't steal that sword?"
"Because I gave it to him." Juno replied bluntly.
Kaoru's rage flushed from her immediately. Now her face turned red from embarrassment. Sano on the other hand was laughing over the confusion. "You see what I mean, little missy? Your temper can really hurt someone." He looked down at Kenshin's swirly-eyed face. "I guess Kenshin's fortune was bad luck."
Juno walked up to the felled wanderer and put some sage leaf in front of his nose. Kenshin's nose began to wrinkle as the latter jumped up from the floor. "Ugh! What kind of sage leaf can have such a potent smell??" Kenshin asked unceremoniously.
"A sage leaf marinated in 3 kinds of vinegar." Juno answered. Almost immediately, everyone else disapproved with a loud groan. The fortuneteller pocketed the leaf and turned his attention to Sano. "I'm amazed it took you that long to figure out Kenshin's fortune. Perhaps I should read yours next."
Sano merely laughed at the suggestion. "You couldn't tell your way out of those robes." The rooster jested. "But I'll go along with it. Sounds like fun."
Juno then led Sano into the private chamber. But before he closed the door, he turned around to rest of the assembly: "This could take a while, and I don't want you to try and kill anyone, Saitou."
"If I could, I would have done it long ago" Saitou thought to himself. He picked up an anti-ulcer potion and left without a word to anyone. Kaoru was the first to break the ice after the fearsome officer left. "Talk about your sour grapes. At least he won't try to kill Kenshin again."
Yahiko went to join Hiko. The sword master merely looked towards the private chamber. "Something tells me that rooster friend of yours is going to bite off more than he can chew."
"He might." Yahiko replied. "But he's not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.. maybe."
Megumi felt a little worried though. What if Sano should upset Juno again? He'd end up in a fate much worse than being frozen.
Sano watched lazily as Juno shuffled his tarot deck. He really didn't care about there being no crystal ball as he thought, but he figured there was a trick to it all.
"So Sanouske, what would you want to know this night?" Juno asked the ex- fighter-for-hire.
"Nothing special." Sano answered. "Just one to see if you can actually see the future."
Juno's eyes flashed for a second, then he laid three cards face down on the table. He flipped over the first one almost instantly. "The Soldier. An awful lot has happened during your life, hasn't it, Sano?"
"Why are you asking me for?" Sano asked. "You're supposed to know everything."
"That depends." Juno said. "What exactly are you asking to know?" Sano couldn't find a snappy comeback so he just folded his arms in defeat.
"When you were young, you were part of the Sekihotai (I REALLY don't think that's spelled right). You had a grudge against the Imperialists because they betrayed you and your people, didn't they?"
Sano was mystified. It was as if Juno had read his mind all at once. He nodded dumbly.
"That grudge was laid to rest after Kenshin beat the crap out of you." Juno continued. "Twice, if I'm right. Since then, you've become a freeloader at the Kamiya Dojo."
Sano began to feel his temperature rising, no one (except Saitou, of course) had dared push him this far in all his life. But to just sit there and listen to this little sorcerer talk smack about him, it was almost too much to bear. He cleared his throat and waited for what was next.
Juno pocketed the rest of his deck before choosing to continue. "Ever since the Revolution, you bore the symbol of "bad" on the back of your shirt. You enjoy sake, and a good brawl once in a while. Is that right?"
"At least you got that part right." Sano nodded. "Let's see if you know anything about what happened recently."
Juno flipped over the second card. "Broken Mirror. You had a very bad day, today. I'd be mad as a hornet, too if I had my nose broken because of carelessness."
Sano felt a vein on his forehead throbbing. Nonetheless, he tried hard to remain calm. "Did you see what happened after my nose got fixed?" Sano asked with a faint smirk.
"I wouldn't want to be you right now." Juno answered. "That black mushroom you forced down Saitou's throat was used by ancient healers as a purgative. Not that it would have done the job anyway, he'll find a way to get even with you."
Unfortunately for the fortuneteller, Sano was trying hard to contain his laughter. No one had humiliated Hajime Saitou, the Wolf of Mibu like that and lived to tell the tale and the ex-fighter-for-hire was gonna savor that memory for all its worth.
"Well, I'd better get to your future then." Juno said passively. He flipped over the third card. "Uh-oh, the Prophet."
Sano stopped his laughing long enough to understand the Uh-oh part. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He asked the fortuneteller.
"It might be a bad thing." Juno started. "The prophet in this position usually means comeuppance. But oddly enough, it's not gonna be Saitou-"
Sano smirked once again. "If it's not tall-dark-and-gruesome, it can't be all that bad." He leaned against the wall casually.
Feeling slight disdain for Sano's over confidence, he continued on with the fortune. "It won't be Saitou, but someone he refers to as "Weasel Girl.""
Sano did something that Kaoru would consider quite rare; he began to think seriously. " I knew I heard that somewhere. "Weasel Girl". I can't place my finger on it. Ah, screw it. It can't that bad if it isn't the narrow-eyed freak."
Juno stretched out his fingers for a bit before pocketing his tarot deck again. "I'm afraid that's it for your reading. But I really wish you weren't so cocky, Sano."
"Seeing the future may be your business," Sano began. "But meddling in other people's affairs is very different. You should just stick to potions and drinks." Sano left the chamber, leaving Juno itching to cast another spell on the rooster-headed vagabond.
Megumi and Kaoru took up the abandoned mahjong game and now it was turning into war.
"Hey! You moved that tile while I wasn't looking!" Kaoru thundered at Megumi.
"It's not my fault you're losing, little tanuki." Megumi answered all innocent like "I'm just a better player and woman than you. Ho ho ho ho!"
Kaoru began to boil again. "What would you know, quitter? I'm pretty sure you gave up on my Kenshin after Kyoto."
On the sidelines, Kenshin heard enough to know it was time to exit stage left. He was a few steps from Juno's pantry when he felt a hand slip behind his neck.
"Aw, did the nasty Tanuki Girl scare you off, Sir Ken?" Megumi crooned. "She's so nasty and violent, you'd rather be with me, wouldn't you?"
"Uumm.." Kenshin tried to find words but none came. Just as immediately, he felt another hand grab his arm in a vice-like grip. It was Kaoru.
"Kenshin, why don't we go over instead?"
"Do I have a choice?" Kenshin asked meekly. Just then, Megumi clamped her hands on Kenshin's other arm. "You don't want to go with that nasty tanuki, do you Sir Ken?" Megumi jerked Kenshin towards her. Poor Kenshin began to know what a rope feels like in a tug-of-war. Between having his arms being stretched and pain racing through his bones, Kaoru and Megumi began verbal assaults on each other..
"Kenshin is MY man!"
"You should go back to playing with little dolls!"
"Keep your hands off him, you damn dirty kitsune!"
"Damn dirty tanuki yourself! You don't deserve someone like Kenshin!"
"Now ladies, while I do appreciate your feelings," Kenshin interrupted in vain. "I would like very much to-OUCH!! Keep my arms on my body, that I woul-OWW!!"
Poor Kenshin. Can anyone save him from having his arms ripped off? And what does Misao have to do with Sanouske's comeuppance? Find out in the next chapter. Until then, I would greatly appreciate a review or two along with the pleasure of your reading this chapter. I'll cook up chapter 7 soon, but when it will finish, God knows when.
Later!
Disclaimer: The only character I own here is Juno. I do not own Ruroni Kenshin or its characters, blah, blah and so on.
Anyhow, I'll start addressing reviews soon but there are two questions to answer SH: Hmm, I did not know that Kenshin has hereditary cancer. Besides, I thought the bad luck fortune was more than enough. There are worse things than death.
Ethelflaed: LOL Misao in the fic? That is very foreseeable, but Soujiro, I don't know. I never said that he would never be in the fic. I'm just not too fond of emotionless killers, and smiley boy is the epitome of the aforementioned. But you did give me an idea of how to juggle them in. Maybe the animators ignore those details or something, because even though Misao is supposed to have black hair, it's blue. I just heard that Hiko's hair was kind of dark-greenish.
Chapter 6: If you tell Sano a Fortune..
Kenshin was not having a good night. After having his fortune read, he seemed to have a stroke of bad luck. But that did not stop everyone from having a good time, laughing and drinking Juno's sake.
Yahiko was going to reach for a cup when Kaoru took notice. "Just what do you think you're doing, Yahiko?" The assistant master asked.
"What does it look like? I'm getting a drink." Yahiko answered. "There's no alcohol in it, anyway." Although Kaoru accepted that fact, her eyes caught sight of something thin and black hanging on Yahiko's belt:
"What in the world are you doing with that sword?!?!" Kaoru thundered.
Yahiko felt smug as he quaffed some of the sake. "Not that it's any of your business, Busu, it was a gift."
Everyone else took notice almost immediately. Megumi dropped her cup, and Kenshin did a double take.
Kaoru began to feel her blood rage. "You're still a beginner, Yahiko. Don't you remember the last time you tried to use a real sword? You almost got Kenshin killed."
"Yeah, but I'm doing a lot better since then!" Yahiko yelled. "And don't you dare call me Busu again!" Kaoru thundered back with a fierce gaze that could scare a full-grown mountain lion, if there were any in Japan.
"I'll call you whatever I want, okay Busu?" Yahiko replied with an equally fierce gaze.
The two growled at each other for a moment and then in complete synchronization, they grabbed each other's cheeks and began to pinch and wrestle fiercely with each other's face.
Everyone in the room sweat dropped at this unusual spectacle.
"Now, now, Miss Kaoru." Kenshin intervened. "Yahiko has come a long way since that incident. I believe he'll be fine with a sword-" Kenshin got no farther than that: Kaoru took out her bokuto and hammered him right between the eyes.
" Ororo. I'll take a beef pot to gooo..." Kenshin groaned as he fell dazed to the floor.
Juno observed the madness and shook his head disapprovingly at a fat- cheeked Kaoru. "It looks like the cards were right about your personality, Kaoru. There was no need to hit Kenshin."
"And why's that?" Kaoru asked. "How could you be sure Yahiko didn't steal that sword?"
"Because I gave it to him." Juno replied bluntly.
Kaoru's rage flushed from her immediately. Now her face turned red from embarrassment. Sano on the other hand was laughing over the confusion. "You see what I mean, little missy? Your temper can really hurt someone." He looked down at Kenshin's swirly-eyed face. "I guess Kenshin's fortune was bad luck."
Juno walked up to the felled wanderer and put some sage leaf in front of his nose. Kenshin's nose began to wrinkle as the latter jumped up from the floor. "Ugh! What kind of sage leaf can have such a potent smell??" Kenshin asked unceremoniously.
"A sage leaf marinated in 3 kinds of vinegar." Juno answered. Almost immediately, everyone else disapproved with a loud groan. The fortuneteller pocketed the leaf and turned his attention to Sano. "I'm amazed it took you that long to figure out Kenshin's fortune. Perhaps I should read yours next."
Sano merely laughed at the suggestion. "You couldn't tell your way out of those robes." The rooster jested. "But I'll go along with it. Sounds like fun."
Juno then led Sano into the private chamber. But before he closed the door, he turned around to rest of the assembly: "This could take a while, and I don't want you to try and kill anyone, Saitou."
"If I could, I would have done it long ago" Saitou thought to himself. He picked up an anti-ulcer potion and left without a word to anyone. Kaoru was the first to break the ice after the fearsome officer left. "Talk about your sour grapes. At least he won't try to kill Kenshin again."
Yahiko went to join Hiko. The sword master merely looked towards the private chamber. "Something tells me that rooster friend of yours is going to bite off more than he can chew."
"He might." Yahiko replied. "But he's not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.. maybe."
Megumi felt a little worried though. What if Sano should upset Juno again? He'd end up in a fate much worse than being frozen.
Sano watched lazily as Juno shuffled his tarot deck. He really didn't care about there being no crystal ball as he thought, but he figured there was a trick to it all.
"So Sanouske, what would you want to know this night?" Juno asked the ex- fighter-for-hire.
"Nothing special." Sano answered. "Just one to see if you can actually see the future."
Juno's eyes flashed for a second, then he laid three cards face down on the table. He flipped over the first one almost instantly. "The Soldier. An awful lot has happened during your life, hasn't it, Sano?"
"Why are you asking me for?" Sano asked. "You're supposed to know everything."
"That depends." Juno said. "What exactly are you asking to know?" Sano couldn't find a snappy comeback so he just folded his arms in defeat.
"When you were young, you were part of the Sekihotai (I REALLY don't think that's spelled right). You had a grudge against the Imperialists because they betrayed you and your people, didn't they?"
Sano was mystified. It was as if Juno had read his mind all at once. He nodded dumbly.
"That grudge was laid to rest after Kenshin beat the crap out of you." Juno continued. "Twice, if I'm right. Since then, you've become a freeloader at the Kamiya Dojo."
Sano began to feel his temperature rising, no one (except Saitou, of course) had dared push him this far in all his life. But to just sit there and listen to this little sorcerer talk smack about him, it was almost too much to bear. He cleared his throat and waited for what was next.
Juno pocketed the rest of his deck before choosing to continue. "Ever since the Revolution, you bore the symbol of "bad" on the back of your shirt. You enjoy sake, and a good brawl once in a while. Is that right?"
"At least you got that part right." Sano nodded. "Let's see if you know anything about what happened recently."
Juno flipped over the second card. "Broken Mirror. You had a very bad day, today. I'd be mad as a hornet, too if I had my nose broken because of carelessness."
Sano felt a vein on his forehead throbbing. Nonetheless, he tried hard to remain calm. "Did you see what happened after my nose got fixed?" Sano asked with a faint smirk.
"I wouldn't want to be you right now." Juno answered. "That black mushroom you forced down Saitou's throat was used by ancient healers as a purgative. Not that it would have done the job anyway, he'll find a way to get even with you."
Unfortunately for the fortuneteller, Sano was trying hard to contain his laughter. No one had humiliated Hajime Saitou, the Wolf of Mibu like that and lived to tell the tale and the ex-fighter-for-hire was gonna savor that memory for all its worth.
"Well, I'd better get to your future then." Juno said passively. He flipped over the third card. "Uh-oh, the Prophet."
Sano stopped his laughing long enough to understand the Uh-oh part. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He asked the fortuneteller.
"It might be a bad thing." Juno started. "The prophet in this position usually means comeuppance. But oddly enough, it's not gonna be Saitou-"
Sano smirked once again. "If it's not tall-dark-and-gruesome, it can't be all that bad." He leaned against the wall casually.
Feeling slight disdain for Sano's over confidence, he continued on with the fortune. "It won't be Saitou, but someone he refers to as "Weasel Girl.""
Sano did something that Kaoru would consider quite rare; he began to think seriously. " I knew I heard that somewhere. "Weasel Girl". I can't place my finger on it. Ah, screw it. It can't that bad if it isn't the narrow-eyed freak."
Juno stretched out his fingers for a bit before pocketing his tarot deck again. "I'm afraid that's it for your reading. But I really wish you weren't so cocky, Sano."
"Seeing the future may be your business," Sano began. "But meddling in other people's affairs is very different. You should just stick to potions and drinks." Sano left the chamber, leaving Juno itching to cast another spell on the rooster-headed vagabond.
Megumi and Kaoru took up the abandoned mahjong game and now it was turning into war.
"Hey! You moved that tile while I wasn't looking!" Kaoru thundered at Megumi.
"It's not my fault you're losing, little tanuki." Megumi answered all innocent like "I'm just a better player and woman than you. Ho ho ho ho!"
Kaoru began to boil again. "What would you know, quitter? I'm pretty sure you gave up on my Kenshin after Kyoto."
On the sidelines, Kenshin heard enough to know it was time to exit stage left. He was a few steps from Juno's pantry when he felt a hand slip behind his neck.
"Aw, did the nasty Tanuki Girl scare you off, Sir Ken?" Megumi crooned. "She's so nasty and violent, you'd rather be with me, wouldn't you?"
"Uumm.." Kenshin tried to find words but none came. Just as immediately, he felt another hand grab his arm in a vice-like grip. It was Kaoru.
"Kenshin, why don't we go over instead?"
"Do I have a choice?" Kenshin asked meekly. Just then, Megumi clamped her hands on Kenshin's other arm. "You don't want to go with that nasty tanuki, do you Sir Ken?" Megumi jerked Kenshin towards her. Poor Kenshin began to know what a rope feels like in a tug-of-war. Between having his arms being stretched and pain racing through his bones, Kaoru and Megumi began verbal assaults on each other..
"Kenshin is MY man!"
"You should go back to playing with little dolls!"
"Keep your hands off him, you damn dirty kitsune!"
"Damn dirty tanuki yourself! You don't deserve someone like Kenshin!"
"Now ladies, while I do appreciate your feelings," Kenshin interrupted in vain. "I would like very much to-OUCH!! Keep my arms on my body, that I woul-OWW!!"
Poor Kenshin. Can anyone save him from having his arms ripped off? And what does Misao have to do with Sanouske's comeuppance? Find out in the next chapter. Until then, I would greatly appreciate a review or two along with the pleasure of your reading this chapter. I'll cook up chapter 7 soon, but when it will finish, God knows when.
Later!