DISCLAIMER: All copyrighted characters belong to their respective
owners. No money is being made out of this fanwork. Please do not
distribute without permission.
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 33: Further Down
"Whatever," Kamatari fumed, "possessed the both of you to strut around the streets of Kyoto... down the lane of /Kiyamachi/, no less," he wagged a finger at the duo standing beside the table, "in the haori of the /Shinsengumi/?!"
Soujirou jumped back slightly at the accusation. Both Aoshi and himself had approached the table just two seconds ago, when they felt that Saitou's condition had likely stabilised, but he had not expected Kamatari to be providing the next shock. "Shinsengumi?" The boyish wanderer wondered aloud. He lifted a hand up to examine the sleeve he was garbed in. "I've always read that light yellow was the trademark of the Shinsengumi..."
"It's the /pattern/, boy," Chou snapped unhappily, wiping at his face with a piece of cloth Kamatari had fished out from nowhere. He had been surprisingly suppressed about the whole event, considering he got the brunt of the attack. "Nobody wears a haori with triangle imprints like /that/ anymore, not especially in Kyoto, unless they feel like their lives lack a certain spice called persecution!"
"Really?" Soujirou continued in his wondering voice, not quite grasping the significance. He glanced briefly at Aoshi, "I guess that explains why some of the older folks turned white in the face when they saw us." He surveyed the article of clothing he was in again, slightly pouting, "But just so you know, we didn't do it on purpose. And it's not as if we /look/ like any of the Shinsengumi members, do we?" He finished with a dazzling smile. "Hardly any cause for worry!"
Saitou gagged and looked away.
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Soujirou continued, when it seemed like no one else was going to speak up. "Festival shopping?"
"Oh, my dearest," Kamatari sighed dramatically, "I only wish. We were waiting for Mr. Personality beside you, actually," the spy pointed daintily at the tall shinobi, who did not respond or react. "Waiting for him for further discussions regarding our favourite Kabuki troupe and everything else under the sun. Boring things like that."
The wanderer could not help but chuckle at his former partner-in-crime's choice of words. "I see!" He eventually said, and, turning to address his current companion, asked, "Then, should I leave you alone for a while? I can come back later-"
"There is no need," Aoshi abruptly cut the younger person off, and although he had probably not meant to be rude, Soujirou could not help but blink in surprise at the tension in his tone. "We have to be somewhere in a while," Aoshi continued, turning to face Saitou. "Just make it short."
"Ho ho," Saitou immediately responded, cynical nature back in full force, previous slip-up all but forgotten. "Straight and to the point as usual. Well," he tapped a finger on the table, "I don't like to beat around the bush myself, so I'll tell you this outright. I want that information by the end of today," he said, with a huge, lewd smile on his face, "otherwise, I'll be following my own leads and doing my own investigations. The higher ups are tired of being held up by a small hiccup like this, and I must say I'm getting impatient too." The eyes of the wolf shone with a warning glint. He shot Aoshi a knowing stare, "I've kept my part of the deal. Now it's your turn for yours."
Although he stiffened, the Oniwabanshuu shinobi did not try to refute the sentence. "I'll hand your men the information by sundown," he stated monotonously. "Until then, don't try anything funny. You have my word."
As though unconvinced, Saitou took a long, scrutinising look at the ninja. Eventually he tilted his head slightly in disinterest and shrugged. "Only until this evening, Shinomori."
"Thank you," Aoshi muttered, and without saying another word began his trek down the streets towards his unrevealed destination. Soujirou let him walk ahead, head still in a whirl at the cryptic conversation just occurred. There were a lot of things both the police and the Oniwabanshuu were keeping from Enishi and himself, and from each other. Although it did not bother him as much as it did his older counterpart, he did find it rather irksome to be caught in the middle of a discussion he had no prior knowledge about. Pasting his smile firmly in place, he bowed gently to the trio at the table and took the first step after his current mission leader.
"Bai bai, Soujirou" Kamatari waved and bade him farewell in a sweet, pseudo-foreigner voice. "Have a /naisu deeto/ with the darling iceberg!"
Soujirou turned around to wave in acknowledgement at the bubbly lady-in-training, all the while wondering what /naisu deeto/ meant. He made a note to ask Kamatari about it when he had the time. Quickly, he took off after Aoshi, who was already being assimilated into the Kyoto festival crowd in his delay.
The three workers of the law saw them off in silence.
When Chou decided that Aoshi and Soujirou were far enough and out of earshot, he turned to Kamatari and shook his head.
"You did /not/ just ask Tenken no Soujirou to have a 'nice date' with Shinomori Aoshi."
Kamatari grinned.
"I did!"
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Further up the path, Aoshi and Soujirou entered another busy lane, looking like any other festival observer. Following Aoshi's lead, the duo eventually found themselves winding up outside a drinking establishment that was at a relatively safe distance from the main bulk of the festival crowd. Aoshi then leaned casually against the pasty white wall of the building, a pose of relaxation. Soujirou, after examining the scene around several times in confusion, turned towards the relaxing man and asked, "Are we going to get a drink inside, Shinomori-san?"
Aoshi considered it for a while. "If need be, yes," he quipped. "If you remember what the old man sent us out for, maybe you might like to look around for it as well," he continued smoothly, loudly, and as calmly as a normal festival attendee would have sounded. "I'll be waiting here."
Noting the sublimal tone of caution and warning Aoshi had employed, and not missing the secret import, Soujirou's smile stretched and he nodded. "Of course!" He took this perfectly legal opportunity to take a long, sweeping glance at the booths lining the streets left and right. "I think I see it, Shinomori-san," he held a hand over his forehead and glanced down into a long distance away-,
-just as a frantic looking man dressed in temple servant blue ducked into the drinking establishment, through the door beside the smiling wanderer.
"... but before that," Soujirou turned around and smiled pleadingly at his companion. "I'm really thirsty, Shinomori-san. Can we just drop in for a small cup? Pretty please? We've been walking from since daybreak! You may not be thirsty, but I am!" He held both hands up imploringly.
Several concerned passers-by began murmuring among themselves at the scene, and Aoshi twitched ever so slightly. He slowly turned and melted into the store interior - in the eyes of the onlookers, so that he could avoid the accusatory stares they were giving him.
"Thank you!" Soujirou chirped happily in the direction Aoshi had sauntered off in. He then quickly followed the man's footsteps and entered the store, and the minor crowd outside dispersed into their own ways after what they presumed was an episode happily concluded.
If only they knew.
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The drinking establishment was bustling with activity, even though it was only around noon. Joyful voices arose into the air, mingling with the strong smell of intoxicating liquor. It wasn't a pleasant sight to be sure, but it contributed to stirring up a rough but warm and friendly atmosphere.
Aoshi took the first available table he saw - one that was directly adjacent to the one the frantic temple spy was sitting at, waiting for something. Soujirou glanced very briefly at the spy from the corner of his eyes and then turned his smiling face to Aoshi, asking, "What will you have?"
"Tea," Aoshi shrugged. When he saw Soujirou's blink of disbelief, he amended, "... if they have it here. Otherwise, whatever."
The wondering wanderer recovered just as the busy waiter approached the table to ask them gruffly what they wanted. "One serving of tea and one of cold sake please," Soujirou pleasantly turned towards the waiter, and took the chance also to sneak another legal glance on the spy.
The man was a ghastly shade of white, for some reason. His eyes darted around on the ground, here and there, like he was anticipating something to jump out of the shadows at him. Never once did he lift his flighty eyes to observe the people around him, however, and Soujirou thought that was strange. Shouldn't he be more wary of the people instead of the floor?
The waiter had given a grunt of acknowledgement after accepting their order and was now sauntering back to the counter. Soujirou gave Aoshi a look, subtly questioning what should be done next. Just as he did that, the temple spy bolted upright, a strange expression on his face. He stood quickly and almost knocked the bench he was seated on over in the event. He then quickly stumbled down the establishment corridor, in between tables, evidently towards the counter as well.
"... On second thoughts," Aoshi suddenly said, and Soujirou simply smiled while waiting for the words he already knew would come. "... I think I'll have some sake too."
"Now that's more like it," Soujirou grinned, slowly standing up as well. "I'll go change the order, Shinomori-san." Without waiting for an answer, the wanderer whisked away, down the same path the waiter had taken just now.
He slowed down when the counter was in sight, and could see the temple spy saying something to the stiff-looking man behind it. Casually going as close as he could behind the spy without looking too suspicious, he could hear some broken words here and there about 'the best sake you have' and 'deliver', other words getting lost in the hum of the background noise. He frowned when he made a vague connection with someone he knew.
Eventually the spy handed the counter staff a slip of paper, and then turned tail and hastily made his way out of the place. Soujirou quickly told the person what he wanted, then rushed back as inconspicuously as he could to report to Aoshi.
As it was, the tall ninja had already seen the spy pass by and head out. He nodded at Soujirou before the younger person could even speak and instructed, "Follow him."
Without questioning anything, Soujirou nodded. "He passed something to the counter. I think it was an address."
Again, Aoshi nodded. "I'll handle that."
"Okay!" The wanderer chirped while waving happily, not wanting to delay too much in case he should lose track of the spy altogether. "See you later, then! And please save some sake for me!"
Aoshi merely quirked an eyebrow in reply.
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Exiting the establishment, Soujirou frowned slightly. He faced the sea of people and was disorientated for a split second. He had not earlier taken note of which way the spy had turned and now cursed his foolishness. Biting his lips, he was about to go a random direction when a nudge on his foot caused him to shoot a brief glance downwards at the thing that was disrupting his concentration.
The thing was silver, grinning, panting and nudging Soujirou's foot for attention.
The fox.
"Why hello there," Soujirou waved slightly at it, not knowing why he did but doing it anyway. "I'm so sorry but I have no food for you today. And I'm in a bit of a rush. Why are you here anyway? Did you get lost?"
At that, the fox stopped nudging his foot like a little kitten, jumping slightly away to shoot Soujirou an offended glare, as if protesting the very idea that it would get lost. Did foxes even know how to get offended? Soujirou wondered to himself.
Nevertheless, the fox was soon on its way, trotting a few steps forward and then looking back to see if Soujirou was following. When the wanderer did nothing but stare in confusion at the animal for a few seconds, the fox ran back and made a random fox noise while looking at Soujirou in the eye. Then it started trotting towards the same direction it was seemingly trying to ask Soujirou to follow it in again.
The wanderer took a few experimental steps towards the animal, wondering if he was doing the right thing, considering he was in the middle of an important mission. Then he shrugged, a small resigned smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. With great haste, he started to chase after the silver fox, who was now agilely leaping in and out of side alleys and over walls and onto roofs.
He had nothing to lose anyway, right?
Eventually, Soujirou saw where the fox was leading him to. Towards a lonely maze of back alleys, where the temple spy he had been asked to give chase to was walking about, lost and dejected. The silver fox scurried towards the back of the man, purposely making great noises and a cloud of flying gravel.
Startled, the spy literally jumped in shock and spun around at break-neck speed. He was breathing hard, and he had a pistol cocked and aimed in his shakey hands.
By that time, Soujirou had emerged into sight after tracking the fox down. Therefore he now found himself face to face against the enemy. He was slightly alarmed to see that he was staring into the barrel of a cocked gun, but quickly squashing his instincts before he could Shukuchi away, he held both hands up in a pose of surrender and exclaimed, "Woah! Stop! Stop! I was just passing by! And I'm not from the Shinsengumi, no matter how the clothes suggest otherwise. I'm really sorry, if I frightened you. I mean no harm, really...-"
"Zoukai!!" The man shrieked in a tongue that was foreign but yet not so foreign at the same time; for someone who had hung out with one certain ex-Shanghai mafia boss for years. "Kuai zoukai!" The distraught man yelled again, when Soujirou showed no signs of budging.
"As much as I would love to do what you're trying to ask me to do," Soujirou gently replied, "I really don't understand what you're saying. Do you... speak the local language?" Soujirou scratched his head, trying to remember the bits and pieces of impromptu foreign language classes Enishi had sometimes deigned to give to him. "Err... jiang... ri... vu? Iesu? Nou? Dontsu nou?"
Upon hearing Soujirou try to communicate nicely, the man stopped shivering as violently as before and lowered the pistol. He stared wide-eyed at Soujirou for a while more, before bowing slightly and saying, this time in a language Soujirou easily understood, "I am sorry. Please excuse m-"
In the midst of rising his head up from the bow, he caught sight of the silver fox, who had been sitting on the floor in front of Soujirou quietly and patiently all this while. Immediately, the man gave a pained cry, like someone had just shot him in the gut and he tumbled backwards clumsily. Soujirou gaped with morbid fascination, wondering what could possibly be the problem with this man.
He didn't have to wait for long to find out, for the man suddenly crouched into a grovel and blurted, "Duibuqi! Duibuqi! Bushi wo de cuo! Buguan wo de shi!" He was visibly quaking with fear and trepidation when he mouthed the muffled words to the ground.
Although Soujirou could only understand a couple of words out of the few the man was saying, he knew that this spy was frantic and at a loss about something, such that he would be reduced to what Soujirou was /sure/ counted as 'begging for his life'. The wanderer took an experimental step forward, crouched down as well and waved slightly at the man, "Um... excuse me? Please don't be so flustered. What happened?"
At that, the man quickly looked up, a response seemingly ready on his lips. His eyes widened, however, when he looked past Soujirou's shoulder, and he quickly scrambled away to what he likely thought was a safe distance. From there he threw Soujirou an frightened look. "Please! I'm sorry!" He spoke up, using language that was easily understood again. "I didn't mean to do it! You must help me tell the god of the temple! It was not my idea to use Sacred Fushimi! Please, you must- AA!!" The sentence ended in a shriek, and the man struggling to his feet. Very shakily, but very hastily, he took off in the opposite direction, a stream of horrified shrieks following his departure.
Soujirou found himself staring at the spot the man had run off in, even after a substantial period of time had lapsed after the last traces of said man could be seen.
The fox approached the wanderer carefully from behind, sniffing at his toes.
"That was..." Soujirou mumbled as he rose to full height, "... strange."
Beside him, the fox yipped in agreement.
"He seems afraid of you for some reason," Soujirou made a face at the fox, who wagged its tail and yipped again. "Aah I guess he didn't notice who I really am. Hopefully this doesn't get reported to anybody higher up in the organisation. We could be in for a lot of trouble that way."
Again, the fox yipped.
Smiling, Soujirou risked a pat on the fox's head. "You're pretty friendly for a fox. Well, thank you for helping out. I don't think I need to follow him all the way back to his headquarters, now that he's more or less given the information away..." He trailed off, noticing the shadows beneath his feet. The sun was hanging directly overhead and the shadows it cast were short and stubborn things. His mind drifted back to the earlier meeting with Saitou, the deadline of 'information on sundown' sticking at the back of his mind for some strange reason.
Finally, he stood, looked down the direction where the spy had last gone in, and smiled, "The day is still young and the information is still incomplete! This calls for a thorough criminal track trace, anyway I see it!"
The fox immediately stood up and yipped excitedly, causing Soujirou to give it a sidelong glance.
"All right, let's get the facts right first before we return! Yukishiro-san'll probably ram me against a tree or something if I lose to Shinomori-san!"
"Yip yip!"
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In another part of Kyoto, a certain white-haired man took one step further into the rustic, abandoned mountain path and rammed directly into a tree.
... to be continued
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13/7/04
tougenkyou . net / xd
a/n
kiyamachi doori was a street frequently patrolled by the shinsengumi. at first i thought of using kawaramachi sanjou (where the ikedaya resides), but even /i/ thought that was a bit of overkill. XD XD XD anyway, hope you all enjoyed the shinsengumi reference. i've been dying to write it since chpt 12. and it's all your fault, silver nightingale. :P
firuze - ah yes, we all need to throw saitou off balance once in a while. :3 i hope you get well soon! misaoshiru - i hope you enjoyed this one too! :D EK - don't worry about it. :3 just knowing that you're still reading is good enough for me. zeromaru - but he does have friends! XD he just have a strange concept of them... bling bling! X3 EEevee - mwahahahah! XD i'd bet you got your two guesses right. :D hope real life gets better! [is instantly squashed and mauled into bloody pulp by Fyyrrose] AWWKJCUK i didn't mean it i didn't mean it i didn't mean it-[DIES]... will check out E's fics soon! :D silver nightingale - mwahahah! motor fingers back in action! Sailor-Earth13 - [giggle] i'm soo glad you liked the little mystery. your review inspired this chapter. really. [wink] sasori - ooohohoho!! yesh! hijikata and okita! yaaay!! XD April-san!!! [glomp tackle hug] i missed you i'm glad you liked them comic relief chapters. :3 i wrote a lot of the ao/sou stuff with you in mind. XD enjoy
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 33: Further Down
"Whatever," Kamatari fumed, "possessed the both of you to strut around the streets of Kyoto... down the lane of /Kiyamachi/, no less," he wagged a finger at the duo standing beside the table, "in the haori of the /Shinsengumi/?!"
Soujirou jumped back slightly at the accusation. Both Aoshi and himself had approached the table just two seconds ago, when they felt that Saitou's condition had likely stabilised, but he had not expected Kamatari to be providing the next shock. "Shinsengumi?" The boyish wanderer wondered aloud. He lifted a hand up to examine the sleeve he was garbed in. "I've always read that light yellow was the trademark of the Shinsengumi..."
"It's the /pattern/, boy," Chou snapped unhappily, wiping at his face with a piece of cloth Kamatari had fished out from nowhere. He had been surprisingly suppressed about the whole event, considering he got the brunt of the attack. "Nobody wears a haori with triangle imprints like /that/ anymore, not especially in Kyoto, unless they feel like their lives lack a certain spice called persecution!"
"Really?" Soujirou continued in his wondering voice, not quite grasping the significance. He glanced briefly at Aoshi, "I guess that explains why some of the older folks turned white in the face when they saw us." He surveyed the article of clothing he was in again, slightly pouting, "But just so you know, we didn't do it on purpose. And it's not as if we /look/ like any of the Shinsengumi members, do we?" He finished with a dazzling smile. "Hardly any cause for worry!"
Saitou gagged and looked away.
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Soujirou continued, when it seemed like no one else was going to speak up. "Festival shopping?"
"Oh, my dearest," Kamatari sighed dramatically, "I only wish. We were waiting for Mr. Personality beside you, actually," the spy pointed daintily at the tall shinobi, who did not respond or react. "Waiting for him for further discussions regarding our favourite Kabuki troupe and everything else under the sun. Boring things like that."
The wanderer could not help but chuckle at his former partner-in-crime's choice of words. "I see!" He eventually said, and, turning to address his current companion, asked, "Then, should I leave you alone for a while? I can come back later-"
"There is no need," Aoshi abruptly cut the younger person off, and although he had probably not meant to be rude, Soujirou could not help but blink in surprise at the tension in his tone. "We have to be somewhere in a while," Aoshi continued, turning to face Saitou. "Just make it short."
"Ho ho," Saitou immediately responded, cynical nature back in full force, previous slip-up all but forgotten. "Straight and to the point as usual. Well," he tapped a finger on the table, "I don't like to beat around the bush myself, so I'll tell you this outright. I want that information by the end of today," he said, with a huge, lewd smile on his face, "otherwise, I'll be following my own leads and doing my own investigations. The higher ups are tired of being held up by a small hiccup like this, and I must say I'm getting impatient too." The eyes of the wolf shone with a warning glint. He shot Aoshi a knowing stare, "I've kept my part of the deal. Now it's your turn for yours."
Although he stiffened, the Oniwabanshuu shinobi did not try to refute the sentence. "I'll hand your men the information by sundown," he stated monotonously. "Until then, don't try anything funny. You have my word."
As though unconvinced, Saitou took a long, scrutinising look at the ninja. Eventually he tilted his head slightly in disinterest and shrugged. "Only until this evening, Shinomori."
"Thank you," Aoshi muttered, and without saying another word began his trek down the streets towards his unrevealed destination. Soujirou let him walk ahead, head still in a whirl at the cryptic conversation just occurred. There were a lot of things both the police and the Oniwabanshuu were keeping from Enishi and himself, and from each other. Although it did not bother him as much as it did his older counterpart, he did find it rather irksome to be caught in the middle of a discussion he had no prior knowledge about. Pasting his smile firmly in place, he bowed gently to the trio at the table and took the first step after his current mission leader.
"Bai bai, Soujirou" Kamatari waved and bade him farewell in a sweet, pseudo-foreigner voice. "Have a /naisu deeto/ with the darling iceberg!"
Soujirou turned around to wave in acknowledgement at the bubbly lady-in-training, all the while wondering what /naisu deeto/ meant. He made a note to ask Kamatari about it when he had the time. Quickly, he took off after Aoshi, who was already being assimilated into the Kyoto festival crowd in his delay.
The three workers of the law saw them off in silence.
When Chou decided that Aoshi and Soujirou were far enough and out of earshot, he turned to Kamatari and shook his head.
"You did /not/ just ask Tenken no Soujirou to have a 'nice date' with Shinomori Aoshi."
Kamatari grinned.
"I did!"
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Further up the path, Aoshi and Soujirou entered another busy lane, looking like any other festival observer. Following Aoshi's lead, the duo eventually found themselves winding up outside a drinking establishment that was at a relatively safe distance from the main bulk of the festival crowd. Aoshi then leaned casually against the pasty white wall of the building, a pose of relaxation. Soujirou, after examining the scene around several times in confusion, turned towards the relaxing man and asked, "Are we going to get a drink inside, Shinomori-san?"
Aoshi considered it for a while. "If need be, yes," he quipped. "If you remember what the old man sent us out for, maybe you might like to look around for it as well," he continued smoothly, loudly, and as calmly as a normal festival attendee would have sounded. "I'll be waiting here."
Noting the sublimal tone of caution and warning Aoshi had employed, and not missing the secret import, Soujirou's smile stretched and he nodded. "Of course!" He took this perfectly legal opportunity to take a long, sweeping glance at the booths lining the streets left and right. "I think I see it, Shinomori-san," he held a hand over his forehead and glanced down into a long distance away-,
-just as a frantic looking man dressed in temple servant blue ducked into the drinking establishment, through the door beside the smiling wanderer.
"... but before that," Soujirou turned around and smiled pleadingly at his companion. "I'm really thirsty, Shinomori-san. Can we just drop in for a small cup? Pretty please? We've been walking from since daybreak! You may not be thirsty, but I am!" He held both hands up imploringly.
Several concerned passers-by began murmuring among themselves at the scene, and Aoshi twitched ever so slightly. He slowly turned and melted into the store interior - in the eyes of the onlookers, so that he could avoid the accusatory stares they were giving him.
"Thank you!" Soujirou chirped happily in the direction Aoshi had sauntered off in. He then quickly followed the man's footsteps and entered the store, and the minor crowd outside dispersed into their own ways after what they presumed was an episode happily concluded.
If only they knew.
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The drinking establishment was bustling with activity, even though it was only around noon. Joyful voices arose into the air, mingling with the strong smell of intoxicating liquor. It wasn't a pleasant sight to be sure, but it contributed to stirring up a rough but warm and friendly atmosphere.
Aoshi took the first available table he saw - one that was directly adjacent to the one the frantic temple spy was sitting at, waiting for something. Soujirou glanced very briefly at the spy from the corner of his eyes and then turned his smiling face to Aoshi, asking, "What will you have?"
"Tea," Aoshi shrugged. When he saw Soujirou's blink of disbelief, he amended, "... if they have it here. Otherwise, whatever."
The wondering wanderer recovered just as the busy waiter approached the table to ask them gruffly what they wanted. "One serving of tea and one of cold sake please," Soujirou pleasantly turned towards the waiter, and took the chance also to sneak another legal glance on the spy.
The man was a ghastly shade of white, for some reason. His eyes darted around on the ground, here and there, like he was anticipating something to jump out of the shadows at him. Never once did he lift his flighty eyes to observe the people around him, however, and Soujirou thought that was strange. Shouldn't he be more wary of the people instead of the floor?
The waiter had given a grunt of acknowledgement after accepting their order and was now sauntering back to the counter. Soujirou gave Aoshi a look, subtly questioning what should be done next. Just as he did that, the temple spy bolted upright, a strange expression on his face. He stood quickly and almost knocked the bench he was seated on over in the event. He then quickly stumbled down the establishment corridor, in between tables, evidently towards the counter as well.
"... On second thoughts," Aoshi suddenly said, and Soujirou simply smiled while waiting for the words he already knew would come. "... I think I'll have some sake too."
"Now that's more like it," Soujirou grinned, slowly standing up as well. "I'll go change the order, Shinomori-san." Without waiting for an answer, the wanderer whisked away, down the same path the waiter had taken just now.
He slowed down when the counter was in sight, and could see the temple spy saying something to the stiff-looking man behind it. Casually going as close as he could behind the spy without looking too suspicious, he could hear some broken words here and there about 'the best sake you have' and 'deliver', other words getting lost in the hum of the background noise. He frowned when he made a vague connection with someone he knew.
Eventually the spy handed the counter staff a slip of paper, and then turned tail and hastily made his way out of the place. Soujirou quickly told the person what he wanted, then rushed back as inconspicuously as he could to report to Aoshi.
As it was, the tall ninja had already seen the spy pass by and head out. He nodded at Soujirou before the younger person could even speak and instructed, "Follow him."
Without questioning anything, Soujirou nodded. "He passed something to the counter. I think it was an address."
Again, Aoshi nodded. "I'll handle that."
"Okay!" The wanderer chirped while waving happily, not wanting to delay too much in case he should lose track of the spy altogether. "See you later, then! And please save some sake for me!"
Aoshi merely quirked an eyebrow in reply.
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Exiting the establishment, Soujirou frowned slightly. He faced the sea of people and was disorientated for a split second. He had not earlier taken note of which way the spy had turned and now cursed his foolishness. Biting his lips, he was about to go a random direction when a nudge on his foot caused him to shoot a brief glance downwards at the thing that was disrupting his concentration.
The thing was silver, grinning, panting and nudging Soujirou's foot for attention.
The fox.
"Why hello there," Soujirou waved slightly at it, not knowing why he did but doing it anyway. "I'm so sorry but I have no food for you today. And I'm in a bit of a rush. Why are you here anyway? Did you get lost?"
At that, the fox stopped nudging his foot like a little kitten, jumping slightly away to shoot Soujirou an offended glare, as if protesting the very idea that it would get lost. Did foxes even know how to get offended? Soujirou wondered to himself.
Nevertheless, the fox was soon on its way, trotting a few steps forward and then looking back to see if Soujirou was following. When the wanderer did nothing but stare in confusion at the animal for a few seconds, the fox ran back and made a random fox noise while looking at Soujirou in the eye. Then it started trotting towards the same direction it was seemingly trying to ask Soujirou to follow it in again.
The wanderer took a few experimental steps towards the animal, wondering if he was doing the right thing, considering he was in the middle of an important mission. Then he shrugged, a small resigned smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. With great haste, he started to chase after the silver fox, who was now agilely leaping in and out of side alleys and over walls and onto roofs.
He had nothing to lose anyway, right?
Eventually, Soujirou saw where the fox was leading him to. Towards a lonely maze of back alleys, where the temple spy he had been asked to give chase to was walking about, lost and dejected. The silver fox scurried towards the back of the man, purposely making great noises and a cloud of flying gravel.
Startled, the spy literally jumped in shock and spun around at break-neck speed. He was breathing hard, and he had a pistol cocked and aimed in his shakey hands.
By that time, Soujirou had emerged into sight after tracking the fox down. Therefore he now found himself face to face against the enemy. He was slightly alarmed to see that he was staring into the barrel of a cocked gun, but quickly squashing his instincts before he could Shukuchi away, he held both hands up in a pose of surrender and exclaimed, "Woah! Stop! Stop! I was just passing by! And I'm not from the Shinsengumi, no matter how the clothes suggest otherwise. I'm really sorry, if I frightened you. I mean no harm, really...-"
"Zoukai!!" The man shrieked in a tongue that was foreign but yet not so foreign at the same time; for someone who had hung out with one certain ex-Shanghai mafia boss for years. "Kuai zoukai!" The distraught man yelled again, when Soujirou showed no signs of budging.
"As much as I would love to do what you're trying to ask me to do," Soujirou gently replied, "I really don't understand what you're saying. Do you... speak the local language?" Soujirou scratched his head, trying to remember the bits and pieces of impromptu foreign language classes Enishi had sometimes deigned to give to him. "Err... jiang... ri... vu? Iesu? Nou? Dontsu nou?"
Upon hearing Soujirou try to communicate nicely, the man stopped shivering as violently as before and lowered the pistol. He stared wide-eyed at Soujirou for a while more, before bowing slightly and saying, this time in a language Soujirou easily understood, "I am sorry. Please excuse m-"
In the midst of rising his head up from the bow, he caught sight of the silver fox, who had been sitting on the floor in front of Soujirou quietly and patiently all this while. Immediately, the man gave a pained cry, like someone had just shot him in the gut and he tumbled backwards clumsily. Soujirou gaped with morbid fascination, wondering what could possibly be the problem with this man.
He didn't have to wait for long to find out, for the man suddenly crouched into a grovel and blurted, "Duibuqi! Duibuqi! Bushi wo de cuo! Buguan wo de shi!" He was visibly quaking with fear and trepidation when he mouthed the muffled words to the ground.
Although Soujirou could only understand a couple of words out of the few the man was saying, he knew that this spy was frantic and at a loss about something, such that he would be reduced to what Soujirou was /sure/ counted as 'begging for his life'. The wanderer took an experimental step forward, crouched down as well and waved slightly at the man, "Um... excuse me? Please don't be so flustered. What happened?"
At that, the man quickly looked up, a response seemingly ready on his lips. His eyes widened, however, when he looked past Soujirou's shoulder, and he quickly scrambled away to what he likely thought was a safe distance. From there he threw Soujirou an frightened look. "Please! I'm sorry!" He spoke up, using language that was easily understood again. "I didn't mean to do it! You must help me tell the god of the temple! It was not my idea to use Sacred Fushimi! Please, you must- AA!!" The sentence ended in a shriek, and the man struggling to his feet. Very shakily, but very hastily, he took off in the opposite direction, a stream of horrified shrieks following his departure.
Soujirou found himself staring at the spot the man had run off in, even after a substantial period of time had lapsed after the last traces of said man could be seen.
The fox approached the wanderer carefully from behind, sniffing at his toes.
"That was..." Soujirou mumbled as he rose to full height, "... strange."
Beside him, the fox yipped in agreement.
"He seems afraid of you for some reason," Soujirou made a face at the fox, who wagged its tail and yipped again. "Aah I guess he didn't notice who I really am. Hopefully this doesn't get reported to anybody higher up in the organisation. We could be in for a lot of trouble that way."
Again, the fox yipped.
Smiling, Soujirou risked a pat on the fox's head. "You're pretty friendly for a fox. Well, thank you for helping out. I don't think I need to follow him all the way back to his headquarters, now that he's more or less given the information away..." He trailed off, noticing the shadows beneath his feet. The sun was hanging directly overhead and the shadows it cast were short and stubborn things. His mind drifted back to the earlier meeting with Saitou, the deadline of 'information on sundown' sticking at the back of his mind for some strange reason.
Finally, he stood, looked down the direction where the spy had last gone in, and smiled, "The day is still young and the information is still incomplete! This calls for a thorough criminal track trace, anyway I see it!"
The fox immediately stood up and yipped excitedly, causing Soujirou to give it a sidelong glance.
"All right, let's get the facts right first before we return! Yukishiro-san'll probably ram me against a tree or something if I lose to Shinomori-san!"
"Yip yip!"
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In another part of Kyoto, a certain white-haired man took one step further into the rustic, abandoned mountain path and rammed directly into a tree.
... to be continued
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13/7/04
tougenkyou . net / xd
a/n
kiyamachi doori was a street frequently patrolled by the shinsengumi. at first i thought of using kawaramachi sanjou (where the ikedaya resides), but even /i/ thought that was a bit of overkill. XD XD XD anyway, hope you all enjoyed the shinsengumi reference. i've been dying to write it since chpt 12. and it's all your fault, silver nightingale. :P
firuze - ah yes, we all need to throw saitou off balance once in a while. :3 i hope you get well soon! misaoshiru - i hope you enjoyed this one too! :D EK - don't worry about it. :3 just knowing that you're still reading is good enough for me. zeromaru - but he does have friends! XD he just have a strange concept of them... bling bling! X3 EEevee - mwahahahah! XD i'd bet you got your two guesses right. :D hope real life gets better! [is instantly squashed and mauled into bloody pulp by Fyyrrose] AWWKJCUK i didn't mean it i didn't mean it i didn't mean it-[DIES]... will check out E's fics soon! :D silver nightingale - mwahahah! motor fingers back in action! Sailor-Earth13 - [giggle] i'm soo glad you liked the little mystery. your review inspired this chapter. really. [wink] sasori - ooohohoho!! yesh! hijikata and okita! yaaay!! XD April-san!!! [glomp tackle hug] i missed you i'm glad you liked them comic relief chapters. :3 i wrote a lot of the ao/sou stuff with you in mind. XD enjoy