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 22: Presentiments
Kenji felt like he was taking an excruciatingly prolonged descent into a bottomless
pit of torture.
Nobody, not even Soujirou, had uttered a single word since the entry of the inner shrine proper. All Kenji could hear were the light sounds their socks made as they scrapped across the wooden planks constituting the main part of the shrine corridor. Occasionally a darkly clad servant shuffled by and bowed to acknowledge the group, but was soon on his or her way. Coupled with the fact that temples in generally were known to be quiet, the boy carefully bit the underside of his lips, trying to calm himself down.
The silence was, frankly speaking, killing him.
There was also the added fact that Kenji was walking alongside Misao, trying to guess and second guess what was in her mind. Not daring to bring his eyes up to meet with hers, the boy took to attempting to find an interesting spot on his worn socks which he could stare at for the rest of the painful journey to wherever it was Okina was going to bring them to. No matter what, however, he knew he was not going to be able to escape from Misao's interrogation. He could, of course, delay it, but that might just drag his torment out even further. He had always been terrified of his aunt, and he made no qualms about showing it to anyone who cared to watch.
The little redhead only realized that he was very nearly bathing in his own cold sweat when Okina signalled for their little entourage to stop. He slid the shouji of a vaguely empty room aside and gestured inwards. There were no questions. Everybody obeyed to the letter. It appeared to Kenji that they had been through this countless times.
Only when the shouji was firmly slid shut, and when Okina brought himself into a kneeling position carefully across the three newcomers, did the words start to form.
"You better have a good excuse ready, ribbon-goatee," Enishi's voice, although quiet, was lined with a vehemence even Soujirou cringed visibly at. "For running us on a fool's errand for a few good months."
Okina, his eyes being shut all the time Enishi had been talking, opened a single right eye and directed his even glance at the unhappy younger person. "You look like you need some tea, young man." Opening both his eyes, the old ninja turned to address his protege, "Misao, get them all some tea. We have some good leaves in the main kitchen."
While Enishi's eyes narrowed at Okina's blatant disinterest in the topic at hand, Misao gave the group a cursory glance, stopping to glare slightly at Kenji - who shuddered in fear - before getting up without a word and exiting to room to run the errand.
The door slid shut for a second time.
Relaxing into his seated position on the floor, Enishi chose to scrutinize the meditating old man, instead of shooting his mouth off again. Or at least, until he could find a good question to trick the sly old fox into divulging the necessary information. As his thoughts returned to what Misao had said earlier, however, he didn't quite know if Okina was the right person to ask about this, even. For one, he seemed doubly more determined than Misao to keep information from them. Once again, Enishi felt like he was pursuing a lost cause, and he had no patience for that. Before he could open his mouth to query for a second time, however, Okina spoke up first.
"The night blossoms at this time of the year is extraordinary," the words did not quite match the mood, but Okina said it nevertheless, "have you seen it?" He opened his eyes to watch the reactions of his guests.
Soujirou and Enishi exchanged an 'oh-no' glance between themselves, seemingly sure where this would lead to. It was after an awkward pause that Soujirou replied, "Not... really, Kashiwazaki-san. But-"
"Then do try it tonight," Okina promptly cut the boyish wanderer short, wagging a finger to create mock anticipation. "It is a sight you should never miss when you come to Kyoto."
Kenji watched with amusement, as in the next second, both Soujirou and Enishi brought their hands up to cover their ears, discreetly inching backwards. Another second passed, and Kenji regretted that he did not mimic the action.
"AND I KNOW THE BEST SPOT FOR NIGHT BLOSSOMS IN KYOTO!!" Okina burst into action, transforming from a sombre, kneeling figure into a raving tour-guide wannabe. Behind him, the obligatory Map of Kyoto rolled downwards from one of the ceiling beams. The old man conjured a pointer out from nowhere and smacked it against said map. "HERE! THERE! AND THERE TOO!" His voice had not gone down a notch in volume. Kenji took the pause to shake himself out of shock and to join his comrades in huddling in a corner at the furthest edge of the barren room, hands over his ears. Okina, on the other hand, continued without let-up, "AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW! WE'LL EVEN GO ON A STAR-GAZING JOURNEY DOWN TO THE RIVER! IT'LL BE FABULOUS! YOU'LL NEVER SEE KYOTO IN THE SAME LIGHT AFTER- EEEKS!"
It was a tiny, delicate teacup which knocked the old man out from his ridiculously loud speech. The same time Okina crashed unceremoniously onto the ground, Misao slammed the tray she carried down, very hard, disturbing the already very disturbed teacups, and the single teapot which was, with the slamming action, conveniently emptied of nearly half its contents. Not to be deterred, the girl picked the cup she had thrown at Okina up, and set it out along with the rest of the cutlery. It was at this point of time that the trio began to crawl back to take their proper seats, heaving collective sighs of relief.
"Really, Jiiya," Misao shook her head, still frowning, "taking dangerous people like them around on a night tour? I think you must be really senile."
The old man simply 'hohoho'ed and stroked his goatee, tugging at the ribbon he tied there in the meantime. Kenji stared at the tea Misao had just served him with, wondering if this was a form of punishment he had yet to have knowledge of. Soujirou accepted the cup like the gracious person he was, but set it in front of him and simply smiled at it. Enishi was openly eyeing Misao suspiciously, taking great pains to sniff at the tea to ensure that it wasn't poisoned. Misao was just about to whip out a few more kunais when Okina took a sip, then gulped his tea down. Watching him closely for any side-effects, and then noticing none, the trio opposite him quiet started sipping their tea as well.
"Aaaah, good as usual, Misao," Okina was saying, "your tea-brewing keeps getting better by the day."
"What with the way your silent leader drinks tea, I would be surprised if she hasn't," Enishi snorted. He ignored Misao's low growl of displeasure, although he kept himself conveniently hidden behind Soujirou from where he sat, in case another kunai attack happened.
"Calm down, both of you," Soujirou knew from experience that if he didn't defuse the tension between these two awfully stubborn people soon, he would most likely be the one taking all the damage later. And as for Kenji, he withdrew further into himself. "And," Soujirou continued, turning to look at Misao, "I think your old grandfather does have a point..." he sipped his tea tentatively, before flashing his trademarked smile at the girl, "... the tea you make is really getting better!"
"Oh really," Misao, nevertheless, remained unimpressed, "then would someone like to tell me why Kenji," she slapped a hand down beside the pale-faced boy, who jumped and tried to curl up, "isn't taking a single sip of it?"
Kenji, once again, resisted the urge to wail like a newborn baby.
"All right, that's enough," Okina finally spoke up, his fingers still lightly stroking his goatee. "Enough fun for today. We have serious matters at hand."
This provoked the pivotal alleviation that appeared to be sorely needed for the situation at hand. All eyes and attention turned to the oldest person in the group for further instruction and clarification. The silence enshrouding the room was almost suffocating with anticipation. Okina eventually turned to address Misao again.
"Misao," there was a graveness in his tone that demanded not to be ignored. The younger ninja tilted her head slightly at this and stared questioningly at her elder.
"Jiiya?" Misao was speaking with suspended disbelief. After all the months of silence - of which she did not know what for, but believed in him nevertheless - was Okina really ready to reveal what the Oniwabanshuu had kept hidden from official sources?
"Misao..." The old man nodded seriously. "This is an important matter..."
He allowed the silence to drag on for a few more seconds.
And then he struck a pose.
"Dinner, Misao! We need to prepare dinner immediately!" He either did not notice everybody else around him double over in shock, or did not care to show that he did. "We've got extra guests today, we need more food than usual! Get to the kitchen immediately and tell Okon and Omasu! Don't forget to help them out too! And-"
The loud ranting was cut short by Enishi's fluid rise from the floor. "I have much better things to do than to stay around and listen to an old madman rave," was all he said, calmly, as he slid the shouji door aside and stepped out, not bothering to close it after him.
"Yukishiro-san!" Soujirou would have gone after him had he not felt it was a seeming lost cause for the moment. He sighed, shaking his head slightly, by which time Misao had already gotten to her feet and was half dragging a terrified Kenji out by the scruff of his gi.
"All right Kenji, we have A LOT of things to catch up on, don't you think so?" Although Misao was smiling very sweetly, Soujirou pitied the utterly frightened boy in her tow. "That's why," the ninja continued, "you're helping out with dinner tonight." Any further conversation between the duo muffled into the background, as did their footsteps, when Misao clamped the shouji shut. Soujirou politely refrained from chortling.
A sipping sound made Soujirou return to staring at Okina. "Looks like you're still the most peaceful lad of the lot," the old sir stated airily.
"Well, it is my honour to be remarked as such," Soujirou's smile grew an inch, "given that you know much more about my past than the average person on the street."
The old man settled his even gaze on the composed youth seated opposite him. He set the cup aside and smiled, slightly. "I, unlike a certain overly practical coot sitting somewhere in this temple, meditating away, at least believe that people, even those with shady pasts, can change - sometimes for the better."
Having an idea of which 'practical coot' in particular Okina could be referring to, Soujirou nonetheless kept his thoughts to himself. "Kashiwazaki-san," he spoke up, still smiling happily, like he was discussing the good weather, "I wonder if you have ever noticed anything amiss with the people in this temple, during your duration here?"
Okina stopped in his action of gathering the teacups onto the tray and eyed the younger man. "What do you mean?" He cautiously phrased his words.
"Hmm..." Soujirou thought for a while, "... like for example, do you take note of the servants who leave the temple grounds, and for what purpose do they do it? Or whether there could be some suspicious... newcomers to the shrine who could have... another motive besides penitence?"
The experienced ninja only looked one more time at Soujirou's smiling face, before bursting into hearty laughter. Recovering quickly, however, he cleared his throat and chuckled, "When they say 'Still waters run deep,' I shall have a new person to think about besides Aoshi, won't I?" Delving into a more serious visage, the man continued, "It is as you have observed, boy." He finished putting the cups in the tray and rose to full height.
"We are not the only ones watching the enemies from within."
Soujirou blinked at the man, who was making his way out of the room with the tray of drinks in his hands before Soujirou could even stand to follow. "Excuse me..." The wanderer got up on one knee before Okina turned around and nodded at him.
"I see you need a new change of clothes," Okina was nodding at Soujirou's unhappy looking blue gi, which was torn in more places than one and revealed the bandages he wore underneath. The smiley face laughed, embarrassed. "Well we have some spare clothing lying around you could use," Okina continued, walking out of the room, "follow me," he commanded.
Soujirou could feel the eyes of an enemy spying him out when he exited the room and slid the shouji shut, and it further confirmed his earlier suspicions. Okina sauntered along the corridor as if on parade for all to see, however, and Soujirou simply continued to follow, with his practiced smile in place.
So Okina already knew there were Yuugure spies in the temple? Soujirou started to grin, unknowing even to himself.
This could get interesting.
... to be continued
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2/11/03
xd@tougenkyou.net
A/N
So yeah... another slow moving chapter. Uhm... what should I say to keep your
attention? *_*x We'll see Aoshi... soon, and Kenji is about to hit a revelation!
Stay with us!! XD XD XD Thanks to Joerg-san for naming this chapter!
All right, cookies for everyone! *passes cookie basket to Espi
and Zeromaru* You guys can be in charge of the distribution!
XD *whispers* Give extras to sasori and April-san,
since they write fics I'm just dying to read more of. ^_~x More for jbramx2
too, for her wonderful art! :D And Tanuki-dono and Firuze
for their wonderful help. :3 *ahem* Brittany, I think Obasan
means aunt and Ojisan means uncle! :D Shimizu and Espi...
well, Kenji's been calling Misao 'aunty' for years now, so she's more or less
used to it. :3 She will not, however, let Soujirou or Enishi off if they ever
call her that. XD Stay away from pissy Misao, just as EEevee
warned you! *_*x Stay away also from spies in temple blue, Shahrezad1
will tell you that! :D phenix, and everyone else, seem to be
just waiting for Aoshi to show up. XD Yes, he will! :D Soon. XD And liemtenshi
has it straight about Kenji's fear of Misao. XD Thank for reading, dawn
and chibi-chan! :D Stick with us! XD
*breath* I thank you all for your kind encouragement! :D