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: Another slow-moving chapter! Thanks to all who took time to read the chapters - and especially all of you who took two more minutes to leave a critique in the box! m(_ _)m Thank you! Please also check out the appended author's notes!
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Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
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Chapter 5: The Ancient Shrine
On the outskirts of Tokyo, just prior to leaving the suburban, cemented houses
completely into a world where the houses had thatched roofs and large rice fields,
lay a grand shrine forgotten by time. Physically undisturbed by the turmoil
of the era, the building loomed an impressive two storeys, its walls beaten
and washed by the natural elements. Strong creepers surrounded the shrine from
ground up, their fiery leaves giving an impression from afar that the shrine
was slowly being consumed by thin tendrils of flames. A single, grassy path
led to the large entrance. Arching over the path were pillars gilded with an
ancient red, their tips pricked upwards towards the heavens as if in homage.
There was hardly a sound within a large distance around the temple that wasn't vaguely natural. There were the birds with their chirps, and the crickets with their croons. The buzzing of insect wings and the occasional call from a mammal living among the large trees which surrounded the shrine were the only other discernable sounds which hovered around the place in seeming protection.
It was to this scene that Kenji led his two reluctant friends.
"You know... I'm still not so sure about this..." Soujirou was twiddling his thumbs and looking from side to side. "... I'm sure no harm will be done if we informed Saitou-san first and /then/ come explore the place..."
Kenji gave the man a Stare, then blinked and started walking towards the shrine anyway. He succeeded in making Soujirou's countenance fall, as did his entire frame. Even Enishi didn't appear to notice him, the white-haired man passing by his companion with not a care in the world. They were like boy-scouts looking for a hard-earned adventure - nothing short of knocking them both out would throw them off their course. Resigning himself, Soujirou slowly trailed behind his friends, hoping that there were no big explosions this time for Saitou to slaughter their allowance once again.
The blue-clad wanderer was still musing about how he had come to a stage where he would be so concerned over money, that he didn't notice the duo in front of him stop short abruptly. Narrowing avoiding bumping into them, he paused in his step and peered at where they were looking.
Kenji was in a half kneel, examining the undisturbed grass in the immediate vicinity of the shrine. He separated a particular turf of long grass to reveal a stubbed cigarette butt. Picking it up, he took a whiff at the burnt edge and, semi-recoiling in disgust, tossed the infernal thing across his shoulder. "How people can enjoy breathing this thing in confounds me," he craned his neck to look around the area. Spotting nothing else that was of importance, the boy returned his attention to his companions.
"What did you find?" Soujirou asked plainly, his eyes betraying his keen interest.
"The stubbed cigarette butt, smelling like it was new," Kenji pointed at where the butt had landed.
"So?" The blue-clad wanderer was perplexed.
"So?" Kenji repeated, blinking. "So we're on the right track, of course! No cigarette butt thrown a few days ago would still smell so fresh - especially after the downpour yesterday night." Those words had yet to leave his mouth when he returned to trekking towards the ancient temple.
And then it was Soujirou's turn to blink.
"Spirited, aren't we," Enishi's monotonous voice said from behind him after a short silence.
Soujirou found enough time to afford Enishi a curt glance, as if challenging Enishi to answer the unspoken question; 'and-who-do-you-think-was-the-one-who-egged-the-boy-on,-hm?'. He sighed and said, "I think we would do better to follow him than stand here and gape like goldfish."
"Indeed," the white-haired man nodded his approval, but would not budge from his position behind Soujirou. Only after the Tenken began his slow walk towards Kenji did Enishi begin to move as well. They did not have a long distance to cover, for the redhead was seemingly enthralled by something which stood just at the entrance of the shrine, hidden from view by thick shrubbery.
They wandered up to the boy, and when they saw what it was that Kenji was staring at, they could not help but hold their breath as well.
On both sides of the temple doors, mounted upon large, weathered stones of marble and mixed clay, stood two regal and finely sculpted statues of sentinel foxes - destined to exist together with the shrine from its start to finish. Marks of age, however, were upon them, and their sharp, calculating eyes affixed firmly upon the singular path leading from the main route within had done nothing to help lessen the amount of man-made scars inflicted upon them. They still stood, however, watching over the shrine entrance - just as their sculptor must have had intended for them to.
Kenji lifted a hand to brush the back of the fox statue he was staring at gently, pushing some fallen leaves away to reveal a few holes still lodged with bullet shells. "Looks like they've been using the statues for target practice," he commented, "too bad these foxes' legs couldn't take them anywhere to save themselves."
"Or maybe," Soujirou, always optimistic, quipped, "we could view them as brave and loyal watch-foxes who will not abandon their duty even in the face of suffering?"
"Pah," was Kenji's non-commital reply. He departed from the stone statues and approached the pitch-black entrance of the shrine. Hopping onto one of the wooden planks in the makeshift stairway which led to the interior, he was slightly surprised to find that it didn't creak. All the better it didn't, for then the young boy scrambled quickly and gracefully up the stairs and ducked swiftly behind the door-frame of the temple.
He was almost immediately followed by his two companions, who sneaked up in the same manner he did - only with more ease and practice. Reasoning it to be because of their long association with the crab-headed policeman they called Saitou, Kenji ignored his awe at their skills and took a quick glance around.
The interior of the shrine matched its exterior well. It had been forsaken for some reason, and the previous decorations of the room were now strewn carelessly over the broken floor. Light, sliding paper doors mounted upon wood were slanted in descent, being unable to hold up as a door anymore. A large wallscroll of a mesmerizing sunset decorated the eastern wall from ceiling to floor, and a lonesome stairwell near the same corner led to an upper compartment. But otherwise, the large and spacious room was exceedingly barren of artifacts.
"That's strange," Soujirou straightened himself from his slight crouch, "this doesn't seem like a place that would be involved in weapons manufacturing."
Kenji peered around some more, his glance eventually settling on the large wallscroll. He approached the painting and considered it thoughtfully. "How much do you think this is worth?" He asked after a long silence, surprising Soujirou.
"How much?" Soujirou repeated the question densely. "... enough to feed us for a few months?"
"A few years," the boy corrected, pointing at the red insignia imprinted near the bottom right corner of the painting, "this painting used to don the walls of the Azuchi Castle Oda Nobunaga built nearly three hundred years ago. It's surprising to see such an old and valuable painting still so well maintained in a dilapidated hut like this." There was, however, no surprise in his tone. The young boy's lips curled up into a mischievious, fox-like grin. He carefully retrieved the metal rod that had been hanging on his belt all this time and held it outstretched, and from what Soujirou could see, the boy's intention to lift the parchment up from its lean against the wall was obvious.
Before the rod even touched paper, however, footsteps from the direction of the stairwell caused both Kenji and Soujirou's heads to spin in alarm. Their hearts only settled for a more bearable beat after they saw who it was who was walking down from it.
"Yukishiro-san..." his exasperated partner held a hand over his heart, "... what was that all about?"
"Just checking out the upper storey," he stated plainly. He paused in mid-step when his eyes fell on the duo in front of the painting. A minor frown graced his features, and wordlessly he retraced his steps backwards, poking his head into the second storey for a while, and then taking a step down to stare at the painting - or rather, at the wall - of the first storey. Twice he repeated his actions, until he was satisfied with his conclusion, whatever it proved to be.
The man strode downstairs to the questioning glances of his two companions. "This wall," he began, patting the wall which the painting hung, "is about three feet thicker than the wall upstairs - strange isn't it?"
"Three feet..." Soujirou gasped, the full import of the sentence driving into him furiously, "... that means that-!!"
"That's right," Kenji nodded, his hand still outstretched. "The space behind this 'thick' wall must lead to a secret chamber," he caught a side of the painting and lifted it up like a curtain, revealing a door almost seamlessly melded into the walls behind, "now look what we've got here!"
There was a hush.
"Wonderful," Enishi blandly complimented, "now mind telling us how to get that thing moving, detective?"
Now even Kenji seemed in want of ideas. Soujirou offered to hold the painting while the boy examined the wall closer. Except for the outline which indicated that a door to secret rooms was there, nothing else on the wall appeared to hold the key to opening it.
"How about giving it a push?" Soujirou finally spoke up, after Kenji had apparently finished inspecting the wall.
"A push?" Kenji raised an eyebrow at the notion.
"Yes," the blue-clad wanderer nodded with his happy smile, "like how we push those western doors when entering the room?"
Kenji's eyes began to cloud with suspicion, as if he didn't even think for a moment that a simple method like that could be the answer to the question he had been puzzling over for a while. "It can't be that simple," he pointed out.
"Then how about a kick?" The happy-go-lucky vagabond proposed again. "Kicks are more powerful, aren't they?"
"You know..." Kenji put a finger to his forehead in a long-suffering pose. "... I think what I meant was that you don't usually open doors to ultra secret chambers with something as simple as a mere push or kick-"
The boy was stopped short when Enishi strolled leisurely up to the door in the wall - and gave it a resounding kick.
And the door flipped open like Enishi had been turning a page.
The white-haired man smirked at the redhead. "Looks like you can." He mouthed.
Kenji could only gape in response.
... to be continued
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16/7/03
xd@tougenkyou.net
A/N - Pt 2!
Something about the 'Rengoku':
The 'Rengoku' mentioned in this fic actually refers to the battleship Shishio
purchased from Enishi's organization. :D
Re: Foxes, legends (Tanuki-dono)
I did use some information from this page to derive inspiration for the fic.
Hope it interests you as well! :D
www . onmarkproductions . com / html / oinari . shtml
(since ff:net doesn't allow URLs in fics, remember to remove spaces!) :D :D
:D
Re: Silly Enishi (Shahrezad1, Ro-Chan)
Enishi is biased against anything to do with Kenshin! That's why he didn't think
Kenshin was smart. Buahahahah. XD But yes, he's silly. XD
Re: Will Kenji keep the fox?! (the inugirl)
Well, if the fox wants to, I suppose... ??! XD
Re: Kenji's age (April-san *GIGANTIC HUGGLE!!* XD)
He's fourteen. Which puts both Soujirou and Enishi in their THIRTIES!!! But
owing to my lack of imagination, they both still looks like what they looked
like the manga. Muahahahah.
Re: Soujirou's babysitting stint (April-san)
Just some random weirdness on my part. :\ I'm sure Soujirou's done a lot of
part-time jobs to support his bummin-I mean, wandering. What say you?! Tenken
VS Obnoxious Brats?! The winner is obvious. ^_^x