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.
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Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
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Chapter 11: Nameless Heroes
If Soujirou hadn't been so intent on grabbing at every single wildflower they
saw on their way, they could have arrived at their destination a lot earlier
than evening time. The random walking had greatly alleviated the tension in
Kenji's head, however, and he was glad somewhat that Soujirou had suggested
the stroll. Still, he quite very quickly remembered their original purpose when
they leisurely broke through the thick trunks of trees and came to a secluded
clearing.
At the edge of the clearing, laid four nameless gravestones.
Kenji watched with amusement as Soujirou insisted rather persistently that Enishi put some flowers before the graves. The sullen man had refused, as expected, at first, but gradually began to cave in under the consistent efforts of his sunny partner. He mechanically put the flowers where Soujirou asked him to, and although Kenji could see the dissatisfaction in Soujirou's eyes, he knew the man knew better than anybody that this was the furthest he could go in getting Enishi to do something he did not want to.
Enishi then quickly left the scene and retreated behind a tree trunk somewhere near the clearing. As he did, Soujirou gestured for Kenji to step closer.
"You know these people?" Kenji asked, when he came to a stop before the gravestones. He was passed some flowers as well, and though he did not hesitate to take them, he wondered for a while what he should do with them.
"I've never met them before," Soujirou admitted, putting his own portion of the flowers before one of the gravestones. Kenji took the cue and placed the flowers in his hands before the only gravestone currently barren of offerings.
Perplexed at his companion's answer, however, the boy asked, "Then why... ?"
A long, almost lonely silence embraced the duo.
"There was a young man," Soujirou eventually spoke, "drowning in his own insanity. He was reaching for something he could never get. He let nothing stand in his way in his search for his goal. He caused thereafter, directly and indirectly, the downfall of many a good man," the wanderer paused to smile at Kenji, although there was no mirth in it, "and four good men lie here, because of what he used to do."
Kenji's hair rustled in the soft breeze. "You mean..." he hesitated," ... Enishi?"
"..." Soujirou's smile widened. "Yes and no, Himura-san."
Could this be, Kenji wondered, what Saitou had meant by calling Soujirou and Enishi outlaws? That the two people he travelled with had been guilty of countless bloodshed in the past? The thought did not disturb him as much as he knew he should - he had seen for himself how dependable they were despite their shadowy pasts. How they were even willing to risk their necks to rescue someone from danger. Even killers could have a change of heart, perhaps? His father would not have been so popular otherwise, he was sure.
Shifting slightly, the young boy listened on.
"Yukishiro-san may not show it," Soujirou was saying, bowing deeply towards the graves at the same time, prompting Kenji to mimick the action clumsily, "but I can tell it always bothered him that he hadn't been doing the right things. At least, the right things in the eyes of his deceased sister." The wanderer rose to full height again and held his hands behind his back, expression unreadable. "Kind of like me," he added as an afterthought, chuckling slightly.
"Is that why you insisted that he paid his respects?" Kenji questioned the darker-haired person. "To remind him that he needs to stay connected with his past?"
Soujirou's smile widened. "No, Himura-san," his head bobbed slightly as a gust of wind picked up.
"I want to remind him that he can walk out of yesterday's shadow into tomorrow's twilight - if he just tries."
A dramatic rustle of leaves became audible after Soujirou's concluding sentence. Overhead, bright rays of sunshine began to sink below the horizon, painting the picture of a mesmerizing sunset.
"Of course," Soujirou quickly looked away, and began walking towards where Enishi had last been seen trotting to, "the very same words could apply to me. And to some extent," he looked back over his shoulders, smiling reassuredly at the younger boy, "you as well, Himura-san. Well, come on. It looks like we'll be camping out in the open tonight!"
Kenji found himself complying without question, and moving without really thinking.
Was it just him, or did everybody seem to know more about him than he did?
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They dwelt under the shade of a large tree near the clearing that night, and
woke up the next morning ready for another bout of journeying. Public transport
was ruled out for obvious reasons. As they headed down the beaten dirt path,
which widened out to a hilly area of rice fields, Soujirou began asking for
directions.
"Excuse me, sir!" He called out to a nearby farmer, busy in the fields. "Could you tell us where this path leads to?"
The farmer looked up briefly from under his straw hat. "The one you're walking on?" He gruffly responded. "It goes to the Kanagawa prefecture." With that said and done, he returned to toiling.
"Thank you!" Soujirou's smile stretched considerably. Turning to his companions, he clapped his hands together. "How convenient!" The wanderer was saying to an entirely unconvinced Enishi and a slightly confused Kenji. "Kanagawa, that's where I was born and raised until eight!" His tone betrayed no other feeling.
"Hmmm, your hometown," Kenji gave his own little smile and nodded, "sounds like a good place to go to."
"It sure is, since it will bring us through the path we have to walk on to Kyoto," Soujirou agreed. Turning to Enishi, he continued, "Yukishiro-san?"
Enishi remained unconvinced. "Kanagawa," he repeated with a narrowing of his eyes, "that's the only place we haven't gone to, all these years." There was a questioning look glazed over his features, directed primarily at Soujirou.
The smile never faltered on Soujirou's face. "Come on, Yukishiro-san," he playfully punched his partner on his shoulder, "it's not like I'm going to get lost there. I /did/ grow up there, after all!"
Kenji did not need to turn around to know that Enishi was frowning. "We'll go through the Kanagawa route," he chose his words slowly and meticulously, "but we're not stopping anywhere along the way unless it becomes necessary to spend the night." Enishi was looking straight into Soujirou's eyes, trying to ascertain the younger person's thoughts.
"Don't you want to see the sights?" Soujirou held a finger up and grinned.
"No," Enishi glared him down. "Not when you're leading."
It was kind of fun to see Soujirou pout, then turn around and continue walking down the path which would lead them to Kanagawa, ponytail swishing. Enishi moved as well, keeping a reasonable distance between himself and his smiling partner, whereas Kenji stood rooted to the ground for a bit, watching the receding figures of his companions slowly trekking down the beaten path.
Funny how people looked so different from the front and back, Kenji dully thought to himself, breaking into a jog to catch up with Soujirou - whom he admitted was the more conversational of the lot. Looking up at the smiling face he had grown accustomed to after managing to reach Soujirou's side, however, Kenji was not sure if that was true anymore. Soujirou had his eyes trained on the road before him all right. Yet in those same eyes, Kenji saw an entirely different place and time. This was backed by the fact that the blue-clad wanderer no longer attempted to make small talk. His smile, too, had turned wistful and distant.
It was thus that they arrived that afternoon at the prefecture of Kanagawa.
"Hometown, sweet hometown!" Soujirou made a dramatic gesture after they had walked a short distance and were travelling down a large back alley of proportionately large houses, quiet and abandoned. Enishi had, by this time, decided to join his companions at a reasonable distance instead of trailing far behind, and was currently staring suspiciously at Soujirou from the corner of his eyes. Instead of asking what must have just crossed his mind, however, he merely adjusted his shawl slightly and continued walking, while Kenji alternated his glances between Soujirou and Enishi. There was something going on here that he did not know about.
The boy gently tugged at the edge of Enishi's sleeve, pulling him slightly behind. "Enishi," he muttered in a low whisper, "what's going on?"
Taking a moment to consider his words, the man eventually slowed almost to a stop. He looked at Kenji solemnly. "Today will be a weird day." He mouthed tersely. Without any explanation whatsoever, however, he returned his attention to Soujirou, who had stopped in his tracks under a short tree growing from a crack in the wall. He was looking towards the wall on the other side with wide, flabbergasted eyes.
Kenji and Enishi immediately looked where Soujirou was looking, and found a wooden notice board of sorts lying against the broken wall.
And they were not very surprised to see the same poster Oibore had given them on the board - freshly pasted.
"Oh, no," Enishi's countenance darkened.
A police whistle tooted from behind them.
"You guys!" The man in blue waved a baton at the exasperated trio. "How dare you show your criminal faces in the peaceful prefecture of Kanagawa! Get ready for the gallows!!" He charged dramatically.
And came to a stop in a whirlwind of sand and dust.
"Huh?" The officer spun around again and again on the spot he thought he last saw the 'dangerous outlaws'. "Eh?" He looked towards the path which would lead back outside the prefecture, seeing nobody. "What the-" The same scene of awkward hostility greeted him as he stared further down the path which would lead deeper into Kanagawa.
The trio had disappeared.
"..." He held a hand to his forehead, "... I was seeing things?" He attempted to come to terms with the sudden change in situation. It wasn't everyday a large reward vanished from under your nose, after all. Dejectedly, he continued down the path to the square, where he could quell his unease by asking around for more information from the Kanagawa people.
He did not notice that the poster on the board was gone.
A small rock rolled off the part of the wall which had been broken and hit the ground unceremoniously, bursting into dust and debris. Hidden behind, in the shade of the wall, were the three unwilling travellers, having managed to squeeze through the wall into the abandoned building's courtyard before the officer had a chance to get his grubby hands on them.
"That jerk," Enishi held up the poster he had snatched off the board while in the passage of hiding. "Information wasn't supposed to spread so fast!"
"Saitou-san probably wants us to get to Kyoto as soon as possible!" Soujirou suggested.
Enishi's reply was to tear the poster up into iddy biddy shreds.
"I don't think we can take the open paths now," Kenji stood from his crouched position and ventured further into the courtyard, examining the deserted building with great interest, "I wonder if these houses are connected?"
The white-haired man stood as well, walking towards where the young Himura was bending down to look at the rotted corridors of the house. Only Soujirou remained where he was, huddled against the crumbling wall with a smile painted on his face. "These houses-"
"What are you younglings doing in there?"
Shocked at the new voice, all three spun around to see a wrinkled old lady peering through the ruined wall.
Stiffly, Kenji stood upright. It was getting so that you couldn't trust anybody nowadays - not especially after just being almost caught by a policeman!
"I don't know what you're doing in there for," the lady croaked on, her hand grasping the basket in her hands until the knuckles grew white, "but I would advise you to get out as soon as you can."
"Why?" Naturally inquisitive, Kenji asked. "Something valuable here we shouldn't be messing around with?"
Originally just small and beady, the old lady's visible eye suddenly widened until they were framed with an eerie, bloodshot red.
"Because this family has been cursed with their own blood, since that night almost twenty-five years ago."
A low rumble from heavenward bode for ill weather further that evening, even as dark clouds clamoured overhead, dimming the skies.
Was the sudden gale of cold winds the reason why Soujirou hid his face in his knees and trembled like a leaf... ?
... to be continued
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22/8/03
xd@tougenkyou.net
Shahrezad1
Ah yes. Oibore and his family are weird people. XD But they are very good-looking
weird people. :3 AH! MACBETH!! O.Ox I liked that play... maybe there should
be a MacShishio fic. XD
Silver Nightingale
Glad you like the speed update! *.*x Had to sacrifice a bit of coherence though.
Don't worry, Soujirou will get his dose of pain-err, drama soon! XD
April-san
I'm so happy you found memorable phrases from among the chapters! XD I can tell
you now for sure that Kenji /will/ find out who they are. And as for his reaction...
*blinks* well, I don't really know at the moment. XD Maybe he'll scream. XD
XD XD
jbramx2
Enishi/Misao?! o_Ox Honest to goodness this is the first time I have EVER heard
of that pairing. I mean, really?! HOW??! O_Ox;; Okay, nevermind about that.
I'll work on keeping Saitou in character! As for whether Kenji knows Misao and
Aoshi... errr... let's see... if you wait for another 3 or 4 chapters, you'll
find out... I think? Thanks for reading! You really like Enishi don't you? ^____^x
Shihali
Hmm... you're right, Soujirou would have more graves to visit nearer Kyoto than
Tokyo. But since these four graves in Tokyo are linked to both Soujirou and
Enishi, I thought it would be appropriate to have them go there for a while.
^_^x Thank for pointing that out!
Firuze Khanume
Graves are not of those four men he threw in Aoshi's path, but of the... hmm...
let's keep that a secret for now - we'll find out who they are when Soujirou
talks with Aoshi later. No wait, or did I just give it away? XD Oh, and... THANK
YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION!! I was just about to do a search to see
if the Inari shrine in Kyoto is the biggest in Japan, and there you go, giving
me the information, right at the doorstep! XD I'll definitely credit you in
that chapter!! *slobbers Firuze Khanume with a slobbery kiss*