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.
*scribbled cheerfully on a long length of stone wall with chalk and blood*
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Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
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Chapter 19: Aftermath
Kenji had not been paying much attention to what Soujirou and Enishi were talking
about with the farmer-guised man they called Kamatari. He was soaking up the
surroundings, trying to un-awe himself from the aftermath of Soujirou's fight
with the other person whose identity still escaped him for the moment. Only
after the conversation turned deathly silent did he return his attention to
the adults. He stared questioningly at the sombre expressions on his friends'
faces.
"I thought," Soujirou had began, his smile waning considerably as he clutched onto his wounded side, "the Oniwabanshuu and the police had worked hand in hand for this mission from the start?"
"You thought right," was Kamatari's reply, "only, that applied to the past where information was scarce and hardly bore any importance. We've been working to pave a way towards the more substantial information, and I must say we were doing quite well until they pulled a quick one on us." At this point of time, Kamatari's eyes briefly flickered towards Enishi, who was too deep in thought to really notice. The police spy quickly continued, "There is something, or someone, holding them back. We need to find it out as soon as possible, or face dire consequences."
"Dire consequences?" Enishi quirked an eyebrow at the phrase. Kamatari merely winked.
"Classified stuff," he giggled, "I do not want Saitou after my head for saying things I shouldn't."
"Pah," the white-haired man then turned to look away with disdain written on his face, "this is exactly what I meant about the trust factor."
If he had understood what was going on between his two older friends, Soujirou concealed it very well with his almost inane looking smile while still holding onto his injured side. Blood had began dribbling through the bandages and between his fingers, but it did not stop him from next asking, "Is there anything at all you can tell us to get a headstart, Kamatari-san?"
"I don't know, Sou-chan," Kamatari shrugged in a posture of defeat, "do what you want, just get the information out from them." He sighed. "We're running out of time."
His last sentence was spoken with such graveness, nobody deigned to say anything more. After a bout of shifty silence, Kamatari began to be more aware of the surroundings. He groaned softly and put a hand to his forehead. "Well, we're done for tonight here, I suppose." Offering Soujirou a semi-accusing smile, he turned to where his subordinates were busy clearing up the mess. "Hey you guys! Don't stack them up like crates! They're gonna stink up the place! Move them somewhere else! And you over there!" Gradually, his voice and form receded into the orange glow provided by the fire lamps in the plaza. The remaining trio watched the man until they could no longer see him.
They then took to looking at each other.
"Well," Soujirou grinned, "the last we came, some months back, they said their restaurant was under major repairs and wouldn't be ready until at least half a year later!"
"That means they must be hanging out at the temple," Enishi gruffly intoned, all the time staring at Soujirou's progressively messy wound. "However," he continued, still staring, "seeing that you are obviously in no condition to travel, we will blackmail that police spy friend of yours for a nice inn to stay in tonight."
"Yukishiro-san!" Soujirou's tone was ostensibly happy, "I never knew you cared!"
"Go tack yourself against a sword again, see if I care," the man glowered in response. He then skulked off in search of his subject for blackmail. Both Soujirou and Kenji's heads turned in unison to watch the man fade into the background.
"He doesn't like us very much, does he?" Kenji mumbled, eyes fixed on the spot he last saw the white-haired man in.
The blue-clad wanderer smiled. "You just don't know him well enough, Himura-san."
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All the years, it turned out, that Enishi spent dealing with the mafia and overlords
did not come to want, seeing how he successfully wrung Kamatari for an inn room
of a rather substantial size, even for three people. There was a nice table
in the corner, with a beautiful screen beside it, a couple of paper lanterns,
and a shoji wall cupboard stacked full with futons and blankets. And plenty
of room to move around.
Kenji was laying the futons out in no time, whilst Soujirou sat in a corner and happily poked at his wound. Well, 'happily' only because he smiled when he was doing it and did not show any outward indication of pain. Kenji was sure that was not truly the case, but thought the better of asking. After finishing with the futons, he looked up to see that Soujirou was now helping himself to some bandages. Enishi sat in another corner and was brooding thoughtfully to himself.
Deciding who he wanted to talk to was easy.
"You all right?" The boy took to a kneel beside Soujirou uneasily, waiting for his response to continue. The wanderer nodded at Kenji and his smile grew wider.
"The wound was closing up nicely, but the flesh was still tender when Kamatari-san kind of throttled me with his hug," he gestured slightly to the bloodied bandages he had taken off himself, "and then other things happened. Anyway, it's nothing I would worry about, personally, as long as I don't get involved in any massive action the rest of this week!"
There was something about how Soujirou so calmly and cheerfully said what he just said, which made Kenji believe and yet /not/ believe him at the same time. Nevertheless, he watched quietly as the wanderer proceeded to dress his injury. He let his eyes wander, and they landed on the damaged shinai lying beside Soujirou.
Now that he had a good view of the weapon up close, he noticed that the shinai was more than just a seasoned bamboo sword. It had cuts and nicks in every imaginable corner. More than one spot had a major patch over it, which made Kenji boggle at how the thing had been able to hold itself together up till now. He had meant to question Soujirou, but the Tenken was done bandaging himself by the time Kenji's train of thought reached the terminal station, and the wanderer grabbed the shinai to hold it up against the light.
"Yukishiro-san," his voice was quiet, and, if Kenji perceived correctly, laden with a slight tinge of hesitation, "I don't suppose I could try to find someone to patch this up... again?" He ended his sentence with an unsure tone.
Enishi broke away easily from his heavy thinking to offer Soujirou a menacing glare. He looked like he was about to say something nasty and negative in response, but after what must have been a rather fierce internal struggle, he settled for sighing instead. "Yes," his voice was bored and void of emotions, "go ahead. It's not like anything I say /matters/ does it? Especially when it's something to do with that bamboo sword."
"Now, now, Yukishiro-san," Soujirou perked up considerably, and was swinging the sword around cheerfully, "I did listen to you about the enhancement bit!"
"You should count your blessings that you got those enhancements," Enishi's voice was in a slight snarl, "I don't think you would have lasted the first bout of attack against that kodachi if you hadn't."
"Enhancements?" Kenji finally found his voice.
The silence dragged.
"You see," concluding that Enishi wasn't going to explain, Soujirou decided to take over that role, "after one particularly nasty encounter with a pack of fiesty snow wolves, my weapon was not exactly in the best of conditions. In fact, it needed a massive overhaul. To tell you the truth, only the hilt remains from the original weapon." He tapped at the hilt to drive his point home.
"That thing must have one heck of a sentimental value," Kenji mused.
His conversation partner's eyes twinkled, almost playfully. "If only you knew, Himura-san," he commented, vaguely. "You've never handled this shinai before, have you?"
Kenji shook his head. "Should I have?"
"Well," Soujirou's shoulders jerked slightly as he chuckled, "you could, just for knowledge sake." He held the shinai out for the boy, who wondered what kind of knowledge he could possibly gain from handling a bamboo sword. "Go on," the wanderer beckoned. "Oh, but stand up first," his tone became slightly commanding. Seeing no harm in the instruction, Kenji did as told.
He saw the wisdom in the command after he took the half-battered shinai from Soujirou's hands.
The thing must have been at least ten times heavier than what he predicted a shinai of its size weighed. The boy lunged forward immediately and barely managed to stop the sword from crashing a hole in the floor. Soujirou began laughing at the sight, like he had been expecting it all the time, and Kenji swore he saw Enishi turn his head away into the shadows with shaking shoulders. "What the hell?!" The boy managed, with much effort, to hold the shinai in a semblence of a practice stance. "Do you load this thing with gold or something?!"
Finding a bit of his breath through his incessant laughing, Soujirou wiped a tear from his eye and replied, "Not really, Himura-san, but yes, we put some really heavy metal inside, then covered it with the bamboo. Adds to the impact, see?"
"And you've been swinging this thing around like it's a damned feather all this time?" Kenji's mouth had gone into an 'O' shape by now. "And you can run at that inhuman speed with this thing, too??"
"It's not that heavy, Himura-san," Soujirou's practiced smile crept over his face again and he nodded slightly. There was no pretense or arrogance in his tone, however, and Kenji was convinced that those words were his true sentiments. Yet, it did nothing to dispel the young boy's amazement at his friend's strength. "And really, I /do/ need the extra weight to beat more people senseless into orbit," he winked.
"Doesn't matter now, the thing's broken," Enishi's semi-reproving voice sounded out, "like I've told you so many times before, get a real sword for goodness sake. There's only so much you can do with bamboo. Even /if/ it hits ten times harder than normal bamboo. Don't tell me you haven't figured that out by now."
Soujirou glanced briefly at the dark corner Enishi had taken to obscuring himself in. He then looked at the shinai Kenji held in his hands, the young boy staring back at him in the meantime. "I'll see," the wanderer eventually mumbled, stretching his hand out to reclaim his weapon. Once he held it, he fingered it with uncertainty, smile effaced.
"You damn well better," Enishi grumbled his response. "And it's getting late. Tomorrow, we talk more." Already having grabbed a rolled out futon, the man collapsed unceremoniously onto it. "Good night." He closed his eyes, fell silent, remained motionless, and left no room for debate about turning in for the night.
Kenji and Soujirou stared at each other. "What /is/ his problem?!" Kenji whispered fiercely towards the older person.
The accommodating wanderer shrugged helplessly with a long-suffering smile. "Don't worry, Himura-san, he'll be back to normal when he wakes up. Now, shall we follow suit and leave our thoughts for tonight?"
Not waiting for a reply, Soujirou clambered over to a futon and blew out the lantern nearest to it. He missed the questioning glance Kenji threw in his direction, and was about to flop onto the comfortable sheets when the boy's voice stopped him.
"Shukuchi," the voice had said, with a grave intonation, "I always thought it was just common folklore." Kenji turned his head so he could look at the astonished Soujirou in his eyes. "Looks like I was wrong."
"Himura-san..." Soujirou could only blink at the young boy.
"Tell me more about it sometimes," Kenji grinned and jerked a thumb at himself in a pose befitting a teenager of his age, "but until then, I'm turning in before Enishi finds a reason to kill me tomorrow. Good night!"
The final lantern was snuffed out, and a cool, comfortable shadow overtook the large but cosy room.
Soujirou leaned slightly backwards, and his hand met with the bamboo sword he had placed beside him prior. He stole a quick look at the weapon, pursing his lips into a thin line as he pondered the day's events. The moon slowly began to make its presence known in the quaint room, spilling tiny beams through the barred windows to cast an eerie glow on the wooden flooring. One such beam fell upon the hilt of the shinai, which Soujirou was still staring at, and the boyish wanderer had to stifle a gasp of rediscovery.
There were four kanji-letters engraved deeply by the side of the hilt which was caught in the moon's glow. Four letters which had been almost forgotten with the passage of time and utilisation. Warmth crept back into Soujirou's face and he smiled happily. Quickly remembering what Enishi had said about turning in for the night, however, he pat his pillow and laid down on it, smile intact.
While he did not have many fantastic things to say about his past, there certainly had been highlights. And Soujirou had to agree that the bamboo sword was a result of what must have been one of the more enjoyable periods of his life.
He shifted, and moonlight once again fell on the hilt - where the four kanji-letters were.
Kamiya Dojo.
It read.
... to be continued
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10/9/03
xd@tougenkyou.net
Braindead. O.Ox So. Braindead. And blatant fic plugging, buahahahaha! I did
mention this fic was loosely spun off of one of my older fics, 'Chronicles of
a Rurouni', didn't I? So anyway, at the end of that fic, Kaoru gave Soujirou
a shinai from her dojo, which he has carried all the way into this fic! Tee
hee hee. Ah, we'll use the shinai and the engraved letters to scare Kenji later,
so stay tuned!
Silver Nightingale
O.Ox Thanks so much for giving the action-chapters such high-class treatment!
Yes, I purposely made the duel unfair, because if it had been fair, Aoshi would
never have been able to even unsheath his kodachi. XD That wouldn't be fun,
would it? XD A real sword? O.Ox Hmm... I'll see if it fits in. :D
April-san
Ah, Maiki has something to say to you:
Maiki *flashes a thumbs up in April-san's direction* XD
I think you both should just team up. XD Chalk isn't easy to write in, though.
O.Ox I had to replace some of it with my blood. Hope it's not too messy. XD
I've been pondering Aoshi's participation for a while, and I'm still not sure
if he'll become a regular. It really depends on him. X3
Zeromaru: Chaos Mode
Gosh, I hope you didn't get too canned from the party. XD Great to see that
Aoshi's being recognized! XD
jbramx2
No no no! *_*x Please don't misunderstand! What I meant was that Enishi as a
character is difficult to draw because his hair sticks out at the wrong places,
and not that your art got him wrong! No way! In fact, your art got him down
just like the original! *_*x I personally can never draw Enishi. XD Of course
Iceberg is cute. :3 The Chinese have an idiom: A man's not a man until he's
40!!! XD XD XD
EEevee
Yes! Romance is nice and everything, but we love RK because it's action-packed
too, isn't it?? XD You must introduce me to your bounceboard sometimes. XD
Shahrezad1
Ah yes, I had Kenshin in mind when I wrote Soujirou's hairband falling. It's
just a small cut on Soujirou's face, don't worry, it'll heal. XD Yes, new weapons
are in line!
EK
Welcome back! *huggle* I'm honoured you still think the fic is of substantial
quality!
Espi
So do I qualify for the Shukuchi Fic Writer Award? XD
sasori
KYAAA!! XD I got your email, will reply soonz. :D~~ We must set up the Wanderers'
Fan Club!! And make Soujirou and Enishi skinny dive in the Nigeria Falls! Oh
dear. Did I say that out loud /again/? X3