WARNING: Spoilers! If you don't know who Kenji is, please read at your own risk!
WITH DUE CREDIT: This fic was loosely spun off from two fics - "Over the Sting" by sasori and "Chronicles of a Rurouni", one of my earlier fics.
a/n: /me huggles tanuki-dono. yes. how absolutely correct! YOU ARE ALL THAT MATTERS!! BUAHAHAHAHAH!! XD just kidding :3 but you /have/ been a great source of encouragement - as have all the readers. *huggles* :D This is a short chapter, but please enjoy it all the same!
------------------------------------------
Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
------------------------------------------
Chapter 4: Small Talk
"You mean it was planned all along," Kenji strolled alongside the
afternoon road running parallel to a river. Soujirou walked next to him with
his bright smile, while Enishi trailed very very far behind, looking entirely
detached from the duo.
"Yes," Soujirou nodded cheerily, "just as you have said, it was not reasonable for the Yuugure to have sent someone so brash at such a crucial time, and we felt sure that there was definitely a spy following him to see if the police should slip and show their cards. Both sides were playing for big stakes."
The red-headed youth eyed Soujirou with a knowing look. "You know who that man is."
"Me?" The wanderer in blue pointed at himself with a look of genuine surprise on his face.
"Or should I say," Kenji broke eye contact from the older man and looked straight ahead coolly, "that it was Enishi who knew who that man was."
"Yukishiro-san?" Soujirou glanced backwards at the morose man. "You mean he knew those people from the Yuugure?"
"Not both of them, just the one who had that stupid looking fan," Kenji clarified. Stealing a glance backwards to make sure that Enishi was nowhere within hearing range, he lowered his voice in a conspirational tone, "You didn't see that glint of recognition in his eye after that Saitou guy mentioned the Rengoku, did you?"
Soujirou nearly jumped at the word 'Rengoku', and his little action did not escape Kenji's notice. Nevertheless, his smile was in place and he shook his head. "I'm afraid I was a little too out of myself at that time to notice anything around me."
"Really," Kenji was not particularly concerned, "what a pity. This Rengoku event seems singularly interesting as well. I wonder if anybody would have information about it."
"Why look there, Himura-san!" It was Soujirou, and his voice was a pitch higher due to a slight nerve strain. "It's that adorable little silver fox again!"
The redhead stopped instantly, and found that a bundle of silver fur also came to a halt beside him. He stared at the silver fox, who stared up at him. "Now look here," the boy crouched, not caring that he was in the middle of a public road, and not stopping to consider how silly a picture he was going to present himself as by talking to an animal, "you've been following us around for a while now. I have no food, absolutely NO food for you, so go away and stop bothering me, okay?"
The fox's reply was to use its hind leg to scratch the back of its ear.
Unsure as to whether he would stay close to Kenji out of loyalty or bolt from him due to embarassment, Soujirou allowed himself to smile and look silly. Behind the duo, Enishi was already skulking in the shadows, nowhere to be seen.
"Go! Shoo!" Kenji waved a hand at the indifferent fox, who stopped scratching its right ear and turned to the left one. As the creature leaned its head from side to side, Soujirou noticed the piece of white paper carefully camouflagued in its mouth.
"Himura-san," the wanderer pointed, "what is that?"
"Huh?" Kenji first glanced upwards at Soujirou, then down at the preening fox again. This time the fox stared at Kenji and made no extra movement. Clutched gently within its jaws was a crumpled piece of parchment, looking very much worn and used. The red-haired boy managed to pry the paper loose from the fox without much difficulties, and as soon as the creature let go, a shadow of mischief passed over its eyes and it scampered quickly over a nearby hedge, where it could be seen no longer.
Soujirou walked closer to the astonished boy, who was in the event of rising to full height. "That is certainly an extraordinary creature," the older person remarked. "What is in that sheet?" He asked, curiousity piqued.
Glancing at the parchment in his hands, Kenji carefully unfolded it. What greeted him was a drawing, a layout of some sort, with little markings decorating the edges. As both Kenji and Soujirou's eyes drifted downwards, the clear writing at the bottom gave them both a shock.
"Yuugure Headquarters," Soujirou's eyes widened as he whispered under his breath, "... Tokyo... it's from that man just now?"
The younger person brooded. "It doesn't look official." He offered.
"That doesn't come as a surprise," Enishi's almost disembodied voice cut into the conversation. A quick scrutiny of the surroundings saw that he had seated himself on one of the wooden chairs provided by a streetside hawker - who was currently closed for business. Enishi's expression betrayed nothing. He set lazy eyes upon the crowd busy in their own daily affairs - as if he was but a mere bum loafing on his job, resting for a while on public property.
Wordlessly, Soujirou took the seat next to him. There was, after all, only two sets of tables and chairs available, and he had a naggy feeling that Kenji wouldn't want to sit anywhere near Enishi. True to his gut feeling, Kenji drifted naturally onto the furthest set of chair one table away from the duo. He then pretended to be doodling on the parchment he had just received.
"What did you mean, it wasn't a surprise, Yukishiro-san?" Soujirou withdrew a skin decanter from within his sleeves and took a drink, his eyes never leaving the ongoing crowd.
Enishi kept his eyes veiled with a faraway look as well, as he replied, "I know that man. He's known to be slimy even among the secret societies. He acted as our translator for the Rengoku trade - but he didn't know that I could understand every single word they spoke. It probably explains why he was rather surprised to see me just now. The Shanghai mafia had most definitely written me off as dead in their records."
"How does translation qualify anybody as slime?" Kenji spoke softly, but clearly enough for the two others to be able to hear him. He was still intently examining the map, and his lips had hardly moved at all while he spoke.
"We found out," Enishi continued his narrative, leaning backwards to prop his elbows against the table, "that the very same man had been selling the mafia's secrets to the Tokyo police. He had taken very cunning efforts to conceal his tracks and by the time we caught up with him, he had seemingly vanished into thin air. No real harm was done, so we decided to write him off until a further time." He paused. "That was all I knew."
"If the Yuugure knew that this man was known as a double-crosser," Soujirou frowned slightly, "why did they still allow him to go on a head-on spar with us?"
Enishi shrugged. "Politics doesn't run in my blood."
"I can think of a few possibilities," Kenji quipped, still staring at the map, "assuming that this map was drawn by the man in question, then this Yuugure organization probably sent him to deal with you guys... well, to deal with /us/, because they foresaw no actual combat - since he DID bring a very, VERY big gun along. Assuming that the organization drew this map and planted it in him, then it would say a lot about them, since they knew that he had no chance against us, or that he would double-cross them. In any case, they foresaw that the map would fall into the hands of the enemy, who, if stupid enough, would try to locate the location of this 'headquarters' and foolishly go in, thus walking into an elaborate trap." He breathed.
For a while, there was nothing but the random noise of passers-by walking or chatting among themselves.
"That's... possible," Enishi attempted a proper reply.
"And yet again, this is only probable if and only if this map was from the fallen man's belongings," Kenji snorted, "you can't really trust a fox in this regard, you know."
"Is there a mark there signing off the map-maker as 'Daidouji'?"
Kenji stared. "Yes." He mumbled. "How did you-"
"Like I said, I know that man." Enishi put a hand on the table and stood. "Well, let's hope it's not too late to catch the crab-head in his hole."
"I have a better idea," the young redhead also stood, and this time he took no pains to try to hide the fact that he was talking with the white-haired man. "Let's go there ourselves and get our feet wet instead of involving the police this time."
Both Soujirou and Enishi gave him a look of incredulity.
"Whatever for?" Soujirou managed to eventually sputter.
Kenji shrugged to indicate that he did not really know either. "It just feels like the right thing to do. Look - if you tell that Saitou guy now he'll probably want to go as well, just to check the situation out, even if it seems like a trap. Knowing someone like him, though, he'll be likely to send a lackey out to test waters. And if things go wrong, that guy is going to lose his life. You wouldn't like that, would you?"
Stunned at Kenji's sharpness, Soujirou could only blink in response.
"Come on," Kenji then turned around and started walking down the road again, not giving either of the older men a chance for rebuttal, "I've been studying the map. I think I know where it is."
For a while, both Soujirou and Enishi watched the retreating figure of Kenji with blank expressions on their faces.
"I'm pretty glad the Battousai didn't have half his son's wits." Enishi mumbled, although the corner of his lips were in danger of being tugged into a smile. He fell into a slow walk, making sure he kept a distance between himeslf and the young redhead.
"Or lack of fellow feeling," was Soujirou's enigmatic reply. He stood rooted to the spot for a while more, before also hurrying towards his companions. Once he was beside the redhead, he spared the boy one last thoughtful glance, before fixing his smile in place and continuing towards where the boy would lead them.
... to be continued
--------------
9/7/03
xd@tougenkyou.net