Author's Notes (3-5-05): This chapter is necessary but not particularly full of action or humor. Sorry! I try and cater to my readers as much as I can so parts of this chapter are written for a certain Enishi lover. 8D There might be a little bit of jealousy in here as well.
Disclaimer: The only money I'm making from this story is the money I'm getting paid to sit here at my desk and pretend to be working. 8D
Juunishi Part 15
"Ow." Sano regained consciousness slowly. At first, all he was aware of was the feeling of movement, a slow, steady, rhythmic pattern of up and down, up and down, with just a little bit of side to side thrown in. It was making him kind of nauseous.
He could hear the sound of bare feet padding along a wooden surface. It was all very strange. He would have thought that he was sleepwalking if he didn't feel like he was being held, upside down. That was making him even more nauseous.
He decided to try and move.
"OW OW OW OwWw!" He howled as his body screamed in protest.
Somebody tossed him to the ground and it was only after a few moments of sheer agony that he was able to open his eyes.
"Anji?" Sano blinked in disbelief and tried to clear his vision. There were two of the giant men standing before him, circling each other slowly.
Anji crossed his arms and stared down at him.
"What happened?" Sano said, wincing as he tried to sit up. "It feels like I got hit by a train."
"That's a fairly accurate assessment." Anji commented.
"Did we get ambushed by competent ninjas?" Sano asked, still unable to sit without leaning up against the corridor wall. It felt like he'd broken bones he didn't even know he had.
"No." Anji replied. "You got ambushed by your former companions."
It was all coming back to him. Sano wished it wasn't. He looked down at his chest and limbs, admiring their handiwork. They'd really worked him over and he wasn't quite sure that he'd deserved it.
"Kenshin and Saitoh really hit me?"
"Everybody hit you." Anji replied.
"I don't remember that..." Sano said as he gingerly probed his ribs.
"You were blissfully unaware after the first few attacks." Anji seemed unconcerned.
Sano decided to inventory his new spiffy injuries. It helped to focus on something other than the pain. The first thing he looked for was signs of Kenshin's sakabatou. It left very particular wounds. Sano knew them well, and was kind of surprised when he couldn't find a single one.
"So, are you sure Kenshin hit me?" Perhaps his friend had been so mad that he had flipped his blade? It was an unhappy thought.
"Yes." Anji said. "I believe it was the Kuzu Ryu Sen. You're fortunate that Master Hiko decided to use the same move. The two of them seemed to cancel each other out."
Sano didn't feel very fortunate as he appraised his other injuries. He was torn, bleeding, and broken. He had a new hole in his shoulder and he had a pretty good idea who'd given it to him.
"Saitoh gattotsu-ed me?"
"You had it coming." Anji replied stoically.
"What'd Yahiko hit me with?"
"Imitation Do Ryu Sen. It was a bit crowded around you to get a clear shot otherwise."
Sano checked his other bleeding wounds. "Who's this one from?" He pointed to slash wound on his upper leg. He was going to need lots of bleach to get the stains out of his white clothes. He spared a moment to wish he had Kenshin's bar of soap. Suddenly emergency laundry chores didn't seem so impractical.
"Chou. He used his impressive, super-thin whip-sword thing."
"What about this one?" Sano pointed to his bleeding forearm.
"You got that one from the ninjas earlier." Anji reminded him.
"Oh yeah..." Sano picked a new wound. "How about this one?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure. But it was probably Soujirou. He moves too fast for me to keep track of."
"What'd Enishi hit me with?"
"Oh, he just kicked you in the head after you were unconscious."
"And sweet little Yutarou?"
"He kicked you in the ribs."
"And... wait a minute... YOU hit me too, Anji?" Sano could feel the aftereffects of the Futae no Kiwami. It felt bad. Really, really bad. But the betrayal hurt even worse.
Anji sort of shrugged. "Everyone was doing it. I just wanted to feel like a part of the team."
Sano would have laughed, but he was afraid that he'd die.
"At any rate, now that we're away from everyone else, I guess I can patch you up without getting into trouble."
"Gee, thanks." Sano managed a little bit of sarcasm over the pain. "Where'd everyone go anyway?"
"We split up to search for an exit." Anji pulled out some bandages and medicine. He did the best he could to staunch the flow of blood. "You need a doctor." He commented nonchalantly as he worked.
"That's why I'm here." Sano said, a humorless expression on his face.
Anji wasn't sure what he was talking about. "I don't think we're going to find any doctors in this labyrinth." It was quite possible that Sano was delirious.
"That's why we need to escape this place as soon as possible." Sano retorted.
"So you can find your doctor?" Anji was still confused.
"Anji...?"
"Yes?"
"Were you always this thick, or does it have something to do with your Ox curse?"
Kenshin watched Enishi out of the corner of his eye as they walked along the twisting corridor. Enishi, for his part, appeared not to notice. In fact, he appeared altogether oblivious to Kenshin's presence.
Kenshin didn't like being ignored. Especially since he was pretty sure that Enishi was doing it just to irritate him. Perhaps the white-haired man was trying to make him feel inferior? Like he wasn't even worth wasting words on?
After some of the things that Kaoru had told him, Kenshin could understand why he might feel that way. Kenshin wasn't exactly sure why Kaoru had opened up and told Enishi so many of their private stories. She never told Yahiko or Sano that kind of stuff. It was a bit suspicious.
He glanced at Enishi. Enishi continued to ignore him.
Kenshin cleared his throat, hoping that they might strike up some kind of neutral conversation. Enishi wasn't exactly someone that he could share a "comfortable silence" with. Just as long as the conversation didn't revolve around Kaoru…
"Um."
Enishi didn't bother to look at him as he replied. "What?"
"Do you think we're going the right way?"
Enishi remained quiet for a long moment. "Probably not."
"Oh..." Kenshin trailed off. It looked like things were going to be very difficult. He decided to take a risk and ask a question that was on his mind. "So, why'd you decide to come along with me?"
"That's kind of obvious." Enishi stated. "Even someone like you should be able to figure it out."
Kenshin bristled. "I know you think that you and Kaoru have spent some kind of quality time together, but I just want to make one thing clear: No matter what Kaoru has said about me in anger, she and I love each other more than you can possibly understand."
Enishi pulled to a halt.
Kenshin was worried that he was about to be attacked by his brother-in-law, but Enishi didn't make a hostile move. He remained passively unreadable.
Enishi took off his glasses and busied himself cleaning them with the edge of his shirt. He avoided looking at Kenshin the entire time. "You're presuming quite a lot." He held his glasses up and misted them with his breath before he continued. "You think I can't comprehend love? You think that someone like me is too callous and detached to feel that kind of emotion?"
Kenshin replied with silence.
"Then you're a fool. And a forgetful one at that." Enishi resumed his measured pace down the corridor. "It was love for my sister that sent me chasing after her murderer. I gave up everything for her."
"I know." Kenshin said quietly. "But I think you might be a little bit confused about Kaoru."
Enishi scoffed.
Kenshin continued. "No matter what she's said to you, the two of you are never going to be together. She's not the kind of person to walk away from someone that she's spent so many years loving. She's much better than that."
Enishi smiled self-disparagingly. "You think I don't know that? Even after everything she's said about you, I can tell how much she loves you. I don't understand it, exactly. But I'm aware of it."
Kenshin was a little stumped. "Then, you haven't been led on by her?"
Enishi almost laughed. "Of course not."
"So you're not here to try and save Kaoru and make her fall in love with you?"
"Please. What kind of self-respecting former criminal mastermind would have such pathetic goals?"
"Then why'd you tell me all the bad stuff that Kaoru said about me? I thought you were trying to convince me that Kaoru was over me so that you could make the move!"
"I just wanted to watch you squirm." Enishi grinned.
"And why did you decide to come with me to rescue her?"
"Well," Enishi began. "For one thing, all those other losers irritate the hell out of me. But you, on the other hand, are quite amusing. I've never met anyone so pathetic."
Kenshin ignored the insult. "So it's completely coincidental that you're probably going to be helping to rescue Kaoru? This has nothing to do with your feelings?"
Enishi shrugged. "I can't leave her fate in your incapable hands. Now can I?"
"But... But..." Kenshin stammered. "Why do you care what happens to Kaoru? You just said that you're not in love with her!"
"I never said that."
Kenshin "oro-ed" and realized that Enishi was right. Not once had he come out and denied loving Kaoru. Kenshin's shoulders slumped and he cast a suspicious glare at Enishi.
"You're in love with my wife..."
Enishi seemed unconcerned. "So?"
"Don't you think I might object to that?"
"I don't care if you do."
"You can't just go around falling in love with other people's women." Kenshin stated emphatically. "It's just not right."
"This doesn't really have anything to do with you. Maybe you should mind your own business."
Kenshin stopped. "Are you insane?"
Enishi gave a little shrug and Kenshin realized he was asking the wrong question.
"Kaoru's my wife! Of course this concerns me! I don't want to spend the rest of my life watching my back and worrying that you're going to pop out of the shadows and drag my wife off to another romantic abandoned tropical island."
Enishi raised an eyebrow and leaned in close to Kenshin with a strange little smile. "Are you jealous?"
"No!" Kenshin sputtered. "I just don't want you kidnapping my wife so you can spend more time with her!"
"I don't have any more tropical islands." Enishi informed him. "And you can relax. I'm not going to try to steal your woman."
Kenshin wasn't satisfied. "Then what's in it for you, Enishi? I don't see you as the kind of guy to spend his life loving a woman from afar."
"That's exactly the kind of man I am." Enishi stated. "I know she's never going to love me, but that doesn't change how I feel."
Kenshin held a hand up to his forehead and shook his head slowly. "I don't understand how Kaoru could have had this kind of effect on you."
"It's that kind of attitude that makes me seriously consider stealing her away from you." Enishi looked irritated. "I'm not sure if you truly appreciate what you've got. Kaoru's the sweetest, most sincere, most charming, most fiery, most loyal, most..." Enishi was becoming increasingly embarrassed as he listed off Kaoru's good points. "Most loving, most beautiful, most passionate woman ever!"
He completely missed the poof of colored smoke.
"Oro?" Kenshin blinked and stared down at the white tiger in alarm.
Enishi held up one tiger paw and seemed to blush under all his fur. "Um, could you take my glasses off before they get all stretched out?"
"S... sure." Kenshin quickly removed them before Enishi could have a chance to bite his hands off.
"Thanks." He padded down the corridor. "We should really go find your wife."
Kenshin stared in quiet shock as Enishi calmly resumed their search.
"I think she's close. I can smell her." The tiger informed him. "Be a pal and grab my clothes, would you? We don't want to give Kaoru any more reasons to dump you and run away with me."
Without waiting for a reply, Enishi bounded off down the hallway, leaving Kenshin to gather his clothes and weapon and hurry after him.
Aoshi stalked along the hallways, quiet as a ninja. He had to find a way out of the labyrinth as soon as possible. Misao needed him. There was no telling what they were going to do to her. Or maybe... they were already DOING something to her!
He became quite furious. The Souma clan was lucky that he was over his homicidal chaotic phase.
The only happy thought sustaining him was that he'd managed to ditch the overly cheerful former-assassin. The look on Soujirou's face had been priceless.
Aoshi smiled. No one was around to see it. He smiled even more at the thought. He spent a moment contemplating something interesting. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a noise? It didn't really have anything to do with his current smiling or non-smiling countenance, but he still found himself amused. Everyone thought that he never smiled. He liked to keep things that way.
His smile belonged to one person, and one person alone.
Misao would be so happy to see him when he burst into the room to save her. He had to think of something really suave to say. Something like, "Sorry to keep you waiting." Or maybe, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important. I know you've been all tied up lately."
Aoshi was startled out of his own private musings as he ran straight into Soujirou. The two of them crumpled to the ground in a tangle of weapons and one billowy trench coat.
"What are you doing in my passageway?" Aoshi demanded.
Soujirou disentangled himself and stood up, smiling apologetically. "I thought I heard voices, so I came to investigate."
"I wasn't talking to myself!" Aoshi stated, just a little too quickly.
Soujirou blinked. "I didn't say you were."
"Oh. Well, go away."
"I searched everywhere else I can find..." Soujirou whined. "Can't I come with you?" He begged.
"No. Go follow Saitoh around or something."
Soujirou winced. "He scares me."
"Then go off by yourself somewhere. I'm busy and I don't need your company."
"But," Soujirou hazarded a glance around the dimly lit corridor. "I don't like being alone in here. It's creepy."
Aoshi grimaced. "Look, I don't really care whether you like it or not. We need to separate if we're going to find an exit."
Soujirou smiled. "Oh, I've found plenty of those."
Aoshi paused, gritting his teeth. He had to be careful or he was going to damage his molars. "You've found exits? Why didn't you leave already?"
"I don't want to find exits. I want to find the girls!" Soujirou declared.
"The GIRLS? Or ONE girl?" Aoshi countered.
Soujirou blinked innocently. It was hard to tell if it was faked or not. "What are you talking about?"
"I know why you're following me around." Aoshi accused. "You're hoping I'll lead you straight to Misao!"
"That sure would be nice." Soujirou replied happily. "Do you think you can find her? And all the other girls, of course."
Aoshi was almost too angry for words. "Go away!" He got up and took off down the hallway as fast as he could.
Soujirou paced him easily. "Are the girls this way?" He asked, too stupid to realize that Aoshi was trying to ditch him.
"No!"
"Then why are you going this way? Don't you think it would be a good idea to find them really quickly?"
Aoshi skidded to a stop and Soujirou shot on past him. Aoshi took advantage of this and took off down a side passage. He took a quick left and then a quick right and raced down a long corridor.
After a few more confusing twists and turns he was sure that he'd lost his unwanted companion. He paused, leaning against a wall as he caught his breath.
"Is Misao close?" Soujirou asked, startling the professional ninja.
"GAh!" Aoshi jumped.
"Should I take that as a no?"
Aoshi was about to say something really mean to Soujirou when a shrill battle cry echoed through the corridor. Soujirou perked up and seemed to hone in on the sound.
The two of them looked at each other and uttered one name. "Misao."
"Sounds like she's in trouble." Aoshi stated. His grip on his weapons tightened as he prepared to dash to her rescue. The only problem was that he wasn't exactly sure which way to go.
"Sounds like she's close." Soujirou added. "My bunny hearing is reeeally coming in handy."
Aoshi hated to admit it, but his chances of finding his okashira were better if he teamed up with the annoying man.
"Truce?" He turned to Soujirou and proffered his hand.
Soujirou looked down at the peace offering with a puzzled look on his smiling face. "What do we need a truce for? We're not enemies, silly."
Aoshi's eyebrow twitched. He put his hand away. "Right. I forgot."
"C'mon partner." Soujirou grabbed his wrist and took off down the hallway with all his beyond god-like speed. "We've got a woman to rescue!"
"I don't think your brilliant plan is going to work."
Hanzo dragged Kaoru into a large empty room. He released his vice-like grip on her wrist and flicked a level that she hadn't noticed. The door shut behind them. He turned to her, folding his arms in irritation. "What makes you say that? You don't even know what my brilliant plan is."
"Well, so far all you've done is drag me into a big dumb room and seal off ONE of the exits. I could make a run for that other door over there." She pointed to the far side of the room. A doorway led into a dimly lit corridor.
"You don't want to go in there." Hanzo replied. "Trust me."
"But I don't trust you." Kaoru huffed. She was just about to go rushing off for the door when a man seemed to appear out of nowhere and came running up to them from that mysterious dimly lit corridor.
He was tall and wiry and he ran with the grace of some kind of big jungle cat. His hair was as wildly spiky as Yahiko or Sanosuke's, but the color made him seem somehow exotic. It was blonde with streaks of black.
He was shirtless and wore a loose-fitting pair of Chinese style drawstring pants with a silk sash. As he drew closer, Kaoru noticed that his back and arms were covered with black stripe tattoos, giving him a decidedly tiger-ish appearance.
He came to a stop in front of Hanzo and saluted with one tattooed arm crossed over his bare, muscular chest. His appearance contrasted quite pleasantly with Hanzo's, and Kaoru had to spend a minute reminding herself that she didn't care how attractive her enemies were. Hanzo brushed his straight dark hair out of his face and returned the salute.
"What's the word, Ryoshi?"
The other man took a moment to catch his breath. "Well... Battousai and Yukishiro are together and they'll be here soon, thanks to this." He pulled an indigo ribbon out of his pocket.
"That's mine!" Kaoru declared. It was really irritating that her captors were taking her personal things and using them for evil purposes. She wasn't exactly sure how they had used it to lure Kenshin into their trap, but she wasn't going to let them use it any more. She snatched it away from Mr. Tiger. He didn't seem to care.
"So I guess we'll be fighting together." Hanzo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Suits me just fine." Ryoshi stated. "I just want to teach that white-haired psycho that I'm not to be taken lightly. I let him off easy last time."
"There's no room for mistakes." Hanzo stated, and then continued somewhat playfully. "So maybe you should try fighting with a real weapon?"
Ryoshi glared and pulled his weapon from the sash at his waist.
Kaoru recognized it immediately. "A jitte?" She asked. "I don't think you're going to be able to beat Enishi with a sword-breaker."
Ryoshi shrugged and cast an appraising glance at the young kendo instructor. "Once he's disarmed, it's game time." He tucked the single pronged weapon away and slid into a foreign fighting stance. "I didn't train in China all those years for nothing."
"Ryoshi is a master of The Way of the Tiger." Hanzo informed her.
"I don't care if he's a real tiger, he's still not going to be able to defeat Enishi. I've seen that man fight. He can shatter trees with that Chinese sword of his. Your little sword-breaker isn't going to stop him."
Hanzo raised an eyebrow. "You speak quite highly of him. I had it under good authority that Yukishiro was an enemy to you and Battousai. Yet the two of them are coming together to rescue you."
"My relationship with Enishi is complicated." Kaoru informed them. "But don't get me wrong. I'm not going on about how strong my husband is because it pretty much goes without saying. Kenshin never loses."
"Things change." Hanzo commented with an ironic sort of smile that Kaoru didn't understand. He probably had something up his sleeve, but she didn't know what.
Hanzo walked over to a section of the wall and pushed a hidden button. A secret door opened, revealing a room full of weapons and a suit of armor. Ryoshi led her over to the room and then set about helping Hanzo into the most impressive suit of yoroi that Kaoru had ever seen.
The armor was deep blue and green and covered with scales and spines. When Hanzo pulled on the kabuto and mask, he seemed to have taken on the appearance of a fierce looking dragon.
He pulled two swords off the wall and twirled them around his body, testing his freedom of movement in the armor. He seemed satisfied and Kaoru started to worry. The major disadvantage of wearing armor in a fight was that you'd be slowed down, but Hanzo was still fast. Really fast.
Kenshin fought with a sword that wasn't designed to pierce through armor. Each of his blows would be softened or deflected by the suit, and Kaoru realized that the segmented yoroi was designed to resist being shattered by powerful blunt attacks. Hanzo had done his research.
And it didn't help that they'd already fought once before. The Souma clan had probably taken careful note of the fighting styles, strengths, and weakness of the Kenshin-gumi.
Plus, Kaoru realized that she would be used as leverage in the fight. It was the only reason that they'd dragged her along to watch the show. They could have left her tied up in the bedroom.
The Souma clan guys truly held all the cards. Kaoru couldn't help but be concerned.
Hanzo noticed the look on her face and smiled under his mask. "I'm glad you're ready to take us seriously, because playtime is definitely over."
Author's Notes 2: So, my sister is an artist and I convinced her to do a little picture of Kenshin and Enishi for me. Go check it out and let me (and her) know what you think! You can also go check out her main site at www bluessence dot com.
Kenshin/Enishi: www bluessence dot com / tigerkenshin (underscore) whiteBE dot jpg
Review Comments
Kaoru4: Uh oh, I think Kaoru and Kenshin might be in trouble. :P Glad you liked me pairing up Enishi and Kenshin for her rescue. It should be quite interesting. Hehehehe.
Night-Owl123: Heh, I'm writing as fast as I can! I know how the story ends, but I don't have any of this stuff written out yet. I don't want to make any mistakes as I go along. Anyway, Patience is a virtue. :P
GreenEyedFloozy: It is pretty damn funny, isn't it? Not so much humor in this chapter or the next... but I'll try to make up for it.
Firuze Khanume: Married to a tiger, eh? I'm jealous. I'm a big tiger fan too. 8D Anyway, thank you so much for your excellent review. It really inspired me. I usually go into a new chapter without actually knowing what will happen. I could have easily left out all the stuff with Kenshin and Enishi, but I put it in there just for you! (and all the other Enishi lovers out there). I hope you enjoyed my interpretation. The triangle between Enishi, Kenshin, and Kaoru will come to a head in the coming chapters. It's going to be great (hopefully) so I hope it satisfies you. 8D
lolo popoki: I was in the middle of editing the last chapter when you posted yours. Pretty awesome timing. 8D I'm glad you seem to be enjoying Juunishi as much as I'm enjoying Only the Beginning. Saitoh's encouragement made me giggle when I wrote it. I think I can actually hear him saying those lines in my head, looking all irritated. Ha.
MZ.AMbEREYES: BACON. Heh, so yeah. Do you know how hard it is to write jealousy and keep everyone in character? I didn't think it would be that hard, but it is. :P I'll do my best though! It's not like these guys have a lot to be jealous over. Enishi doesn't stand a chance with Kaoru and Misao only loves Aoshi. Heh. It's tough.
No one: We'll be seeing some of the other women in the next chapter (and after). I'm not sure if Soujirou is going to get to keep his bunny curse, hehehehe. 8D Probably not though. Otherwise we'd never get to see Momiji, or something horrible like that!
Adelaide MacGregor: Yay! Thanks for the review. I hope that the ending is as awesome written as it is in my head. 8D
JML: Heh, nothing wrong with focusing on FF7. Hey, I was going to ask you, do you know when Advent Children is being released in Japan? 8D Thanks again!
Vesca: Hehehe... battle lines... yes indeedy. Mysterious passageways and hideous rooms full of paper cuts and lemon juice... Heh. Your review made me giggle for some reason. Maybe I should let you finish up the fic? 8D
Mimi-san: Yeah, I really enjoyed writing the encouragement speech. Saitoh's such a punk. Hehehehe. Glad I was able to keep him in character. 8D And I'm even more glad that you're enjoying this fic!
Sky Fairy 77: Awww...:( Don't be insulted. I'm just naturally skeptical. It would be awesome if each chapter is better than the last. It's not easy though. Like this chapter, there's no real humor to speak of, and random conversations aren't all that entertaining. :P But I need to make sure things are set up for the final showdowns. I'm glad that reading this story makes you feel better. That's what it's here for. 8D
Winterwing3000: Hehe, Sano's 'compasses' are just magnets. He's been rubbing them together in his pockets for years, so they're quite powerfully attracted to each other. As for Yahiko and comics, there was one episode of the anime where he's reading some and trying to imitate the characters in the story. I don't know if historically there were comics like that back then, but they did it in the anime, so it's good enough for me. 8D It's hard to say how much Soujirou is actually "into" Misao. The problem is that Aoshi THINKS it's true. Haha. Poor dumb fool. 8D
Queeney: Gee, I dunno what the Souma's are up to. Maybe you can guess? I'll give you a prize. 8D
M.Kasshoku: Hehe, I think you know me well enough to know that I can't help but take a few shots at Sano. It was your review that reminded me that I didn't specify that everyone actually hit him. I know I only mention Saitoh and Kenshin sheathing their blades... but I made it ambiguous for the humor. Of course, I just kicked his ass good and proper to add to the suspense. You know how much I like to challenge him. 8D It'll bring out Megumi's protective instincts. Heh.
ChunkyMonkey241: Hehe, Sano IS the cutest moron ever. 8D And your roommates may think you're crazy for laughing out loud, but I'm starting to wonder about my own sanity. I couldn't help but laugh when I WROTE it... I wanted the compass to be broken and I thought it would be really funny if it was always pointing at Sano. But it took me a minute to figure out how I could make that happen. Then I laughed. 8D
princess-oro: I guess you'll be finding out soon if Hanzo is strong. What do you think:P As for his appearance, he's basically a mix between Hatori (FB) and Aoshi, but just a tad more cheerful. Anyway, hope you enjoyed Kenshin and Enishi in the corridors. 8D
Calger: Actually, it's still my first year as a JET. I just re-contracted back in Feb for my second year. I did a study abroad to Shiga-ken back in Summer 03, though. Between the coming and going, it feels like I've been here forever. And I definitely have a lot of free time. Especially since it's March and all. So this is me, not working, writing fanfics to waste my time. It did take a while to get back into the swing of things (as you noticed). I actually went and rented some RK and FB to get the proper flavor of the story back. Some of it still feels a little awkward to me, but I hope everyone can enjoy it anyway. Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to more of your Sano, Kenji, and Yahiko interaction!
