Act Five: Back Into the Snake Pit

I stood in front of the doctor's house in town, raising my fist to rap sharply on the door. I continued to pound until I heard a voice speaking to the door as it came closer.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming. You woke me up. What do you want? It better be good." The door opened suddenly, and I almost fell into Megumi as the vixen-girl looked down at me. "Huh?"

"Megumi, may I stay at the hospital tonight?" I asked tentatively. "I know you were planning on staying here tonight, and I think you have the better idea."

"What's wrong?" she asked, quickly becoming more aware of her surroundings as she woke up.

"Kenshin and Sano are away and Kaoru's moping."

"Ah. When the Ken-san's away, the kendô princess will get surly and sulky. I know," she said, winking at me and giggling. "It's like she finds a reason to get into a bad mood. Come in," she added, holding the door open and gesturing.

I smiled at her and walked up the two steps, but at the doorway looked back and frowned. Staring out into the night, I turned back and shook my head at Megumi. Something was wrong.

"No. I better not."

Megumi looked confusedly at me. "Why?"

"I don't want to bring you any trouble. I have a feeling trouble will be following me tonight."

Frowning, the taller girl reached behind into the hall and took a hospital haori off its hook. "If that's the case, then I'm coming back to the dojo with you tonight. I don't care."

"What about your doctor?"

"Gensai won't mind. I'll be back in the morning. And I can help keep you company. We can laugh at Kaoru together."

"That's not completely what I had in mind…"

I ran out of the room the instant I heard the first scream. It was coming from down the hall in the entranceway, and the continuous high scream of fear was soon replaced by a gurgling noise. I had heard that frantic sound before. It was the sound of someone being choked.

Skidding to a stop, I backed up from the sight before me subconsciously, eyes widening in horror. A man stood holding Megumi in the air by the throat, and he turned. A small shriek escaped my mouth, and he grinned, his transfigured face like that of a nightmare demon's.

He was gigantic, tall and thick with muscle. His skin was black, and he wore a black haori and hakama. But contrasting with his skin were his eyes, yellow, and slotted, like a cat's. Protruding from his mouth were two fangs, and when he opened his mouth to grin, they pointed down and a slit tongue like a snake's slithered between his teeth. Something about the proportions of his face was off, and I realized that his lower jaw had been cracked back to make room for his large fangs.

I retched in the back of my throat, bile rising. The monster in front of me shook Megumi sharply, and then dropped the girl to the floor. She hit the ground, and didn't move. "Megumi!" I heard a voice yell. My own.

The man walked toward me steadily, and I realized he smelled like a bog, wet and decomposing. It didn't help my gagging any, and it only increased it. I bent over double, choking in the back of my throat.

Through my tearing and blurry eyes, I didn't see he had disappeared until he was beside me. A hand fell on the back of my throat and I was lifted up much like he had held Megumi.

Frightened out of my queasiness, I tried turning my head, rolling an eye down to look at him as he regarded me through the yellow eyes. "They call me the Viper. And I am here to take you to my master."

"Like hell you are," I rasped through my quickly deflating windpipe, and swung my legs up to brace my feet against his throat, pushing hard. The Viper stumbled backward, and dropped me, clutching his own windpipe. I hit the ground and tucked, using my momentum and rolling away. Flipping backwards from my back to my knees, I crouched, massaging the front of my throat.

Scuttling over to Megumi, I lifted up her wrist and felt for a pulse. There was one beating beneath her skin, and I let go of her and stood up again, turning slowly toward the awaiting Viper. "I have a message you can deliver your master," I said slowly, moving very cautiously towards him. "Tell him that Shinrin Sachi and her blossom died long ago, and that if I ever see or hear of any slave traders or his minions, I will kill both of them. I've let go of my past, and it's time they let go of it too. What was will never be again."

"I shall deliver that message to him."

"See that you do."

"For now, though, I am more inclined to deliver you to him."

"Then you'll have to come and get me," I said, standing straighter and a feeling like steel was growing in my bones. I settled into the balls of my feet, placing my left leg behind my right and putting my weight on it. I raised my hands to chin level and gestured with two fingers. Come here.

He moved like his namesake, too fast for me to follow. All I saw was a black blur and felt air as it rushed toward me. A rod of black descended, and I raised a forearm to block it. Like lightening strikes, blows rained down on me, and I couldn't blink as I moved my arms to block them. Up, down, side to side, and then suddenly, they stopped.

Panting, I looked up at the tall man who was rubbing his hands together. "You're quick," he said, admiration in his voice. "Where did you learn to act before you analyze?"

"It's a woman thing." I dropped to the ground as he leapt forward, and bombed over my right shoulder into the floor. Sliding along the polished floor, he pushed up and looked back at me.

"And I think that training with Battôsai might have had something to do with it."

The yellow eyes opened wide. "Battôsai? You train with Battôsai?"

I nodded, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. "He lives here."

"I would very much like to fight with this Battôsai. I have heard a great many things about him."

"Then leave me alone and come back some other time when he'll be here."

"I might have to do that. A fight with Battôsai is far superior over a fight with a whore, no matter how quick she might be on defense. I prefer to let the other strike first."

"What did you just call me?"

"A whore."

"I thought so." My eyes flashed and I jumped forward, as if I were going to kick him in the center of the chest. Dropping to the ground at the last moment before I hit him, I slid underneath him and grabbed onto his ankles, making him fall face-first onto the floor.

Standing behind him as he jumped back up into a crouch and whirled around rapidly, I shot my hand out, palm flat with fingers curled down to their bases. The heel of my palm collided with his nose, and I felt bone crunch under it as his head tilted back and my palm skidded up the front of his face to crunch into his forehead.

"Compliments of Battôsai. Please don't feel the need to return again. Or a broken nose and cracked skull will be the least of your worries. Send my regards to your master."

He reeled backward and slammed back to the floor. A yell from the door caught my attention, and Sano and Yahiko ran to me. "What's this?!" Sano demanded, and Yahiko yelled again.

"Hey!"

We both looked over, and saw the Viper jumping over the back gate. "Who was that?" Sano asked, and I rubbed the heel of my hand with my fingers.

"Someone who dropped in to say 'hello, and would you mind if I took you to my master as a slave again?' "

"I take it you minded."

"Obviously."

"What made you take him on on your own? Movements like that mean he obviously has martial arts training. Like a ninja."

"Back-bone of steel," I said, tipping Sano a wink. "But really, I think that sooner or later we all have a breaking point. Seeing a friend hurt was mine. Nightmares aren't that scary, once you touch them to find out they're real. You can hurt something real. You know because it can hurt you. Once pain touches you, one will always be willing to fight for their life."

"Where did you learn that?" Sano asked, clearly fascinated by the reasoning behind it. I pulled a half-smile over my shoulder as I looked back at him.

"Kenshin. And from life. You can scream in a dream and wake up, but screaming doesn't solve anything in real life. Only action does when faced with the choice of life and death." I walked over to Megumi and knelt at her side, cradling her head in my hand and gently smacking her cheeks to try to wake her up.

"You'll need to hit harder then that," Sano said, tilting his chin down at Megumi. "She's out."

"Then give me a hand and let's bring her back to her room. She should be fine. Only scared and knocked out. She'll wake up with a headache and bruises, but that's about it. The doctor's daughter will know how to take care of herself."

"And you?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. Kenshin will flip out when he hears about this incident."

"Where is Kenshin?" I asked suddenly, peering around the tall freeloader. "If you're back why isn't he…?"

Sano's face shut down. "He had some more business to take care of. He'll be back tomorrow."

"Oh." Things didn't go as well as had been hoped. That's the only reason I could think of for Kenshin not to come back with the rooster-head. I frowned. Something was going on. I didn't like being left out of it either, after the excitement tonight.

Kenshin and I stood in the middle of the road, looking at the crowd of rapidly growing people in front of us by the riverside. Exchanging looks, we both trotted over to the group, winding between gathered people to get to the front.

By the riverbank, a man had washed up, lacerations all over his muscular black body. Someone stood by him, and lifted up a limp wrist, feeling for anything beneath his skin. "He's dead! Stone dead!" he called out, but I had already known that. A few strong men rolled the waterlogged body over, and my eyes widened as I took in a sharp breath. Kenshin turned to me, and I nodded, pointing to the yellow eyes open wide in death, and the fanged mouth that was twisted open in a silent scream.

"That's the Viper," I said, and then choked back rising bile at the memories. Even after being tortured and thrown into a river, his scent of bog still clung to his smooth black skin.

We both stared at the body, as if expecting him to spring up at any moment and grab for me, ever the monster of my terror. "Well, someone got to him before we could," Kenshin stated, looking down at the man with mixed emotions of frustration and relief. "It's a shame. I would have liked to face this 'Viper' and see what he was really like," he said. "He wanted to face me. I was waiting for him."

This confession startled me, and I watched Himura's face as the Battôsai battled the gentle Rurouni for dominance. I hadn't seen him this ready to fight someone in a long time. It was as if he felt someone had stolen something from him, killing the ninja before he had a chance. In his mind, what could have been the perfect enemy had been killed before he got a fair try at him.

I was sure wherever Viper was in hell, he was surely as disappointed. Kenshin turned away, excusing his way through the crowd. I followed, but looked back at the body. 'Go ahead, play dead. You couldn't face Kenshin, and now I can't get my revenge. You disappoint me.'