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.
------------------------------------------
Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
------------------------------------------
Chapter 36: The Deal
Enishi was the kind of person who enjoyed brooding.
"Yukishiro-san..."
Alone, that is.
"..."
After all, it was only when he brooded alone did he come up with the most fantastic ideas that led him to the most fantastic conclusions, right? He had to brood more than ten years for his Jinchuu on Kenshin, after all. Another ten more minutes of self brooding would do no one any harm.
"Hello, Yukishiro-san, are you listening to me?"
Of course, then again, there were some people in this world who were obvious masochists.
"..."
But Enishi would not give in to violence! He would not turn around, throttle Soujirou until he turned blue from lack of air, tie him to a tree and use him as watou target practice. No, he would not do that. Soujirou was not doing any drastic shouting or whining. He was just being the mild-tempered pain in the neck he always was.
"Yukishiro-san!!"
A twig snapped.
"What the hell do you want?! Just shut up and leave me alone!" Enishi stopped walking, turning around to snarl at the trailing Soujirou, his capacity for patience flooded out. The younger wanderer stopped as well.
"We both know what happened the last time I 'left you alone'," Soujirou chirped, beaming as brightly as the sun. Enishi's face twisted in annoyance and he turned away, although he remained immobile. Soujirou's tone turned soft, however, when he next muttered, "I want to do something for you, even if you don't want me to. Can I at least just walk alongside? I won't ask you unnecessary questions! I promise!" The boyish wanderer held both hands up as a symbolic gesture of yield and obedience. Enishi lowered his head and sighed noisily.
"Just stay out of my way."
"Thank you!" Soujirou's voice was restored to its happy lustre. Enishi had begun to slowly move off into wherever he was going again, so Soujirou simply tagged along beside the older man, watching him carefully from the corner of his eyes.
Whenever Enishi got into one of his 'moods', the last thing you wanted to do, Soujirou had learnt - the hard way, was to 'leave him alone'. No one knew what kind of random mayhem the ex-mafia boss would create when alone and unchecked. At least if there was someone beside him, he would think twice about lashing out at the nearest passerby who irked him. When all else failed, Soujirou knew at least he had a chance against the watou. He really did not want to owe Saitou more favours than they now already did. Public property, however easy to destroy, did /no/ credit to their already severely dishonoured reputations.
Breaking from his thoughts, the younger swordsman caught sight of the scene up front, where Enishi was apparently leading them. He gasped. "Isn't that--?"
"The big guy and the little one," Enishi interrupted, voice as cold as steel. "They went out just now. Thought they were taking a long time. So /that's/ what they're doing."
Soujirou was not fooled by Enishi's seemingly the-weather-is-fine tone of voice. He knew it was a ruse to get him off guard so Enishi could run off and brood dangerously somewhere unseen. The Tenken smiled and grabbed his companion's arm, pulling him in the direction of the clifftop. "Let's go check it out! We could learn something new!"
"I never said I was going to-" The white-haired man protested, but was already halfway being dragged there. He knew better than to try to wrench himself free from Soujirou's strong grip. He would get away, yes, but he would probably leave his arm behind in the event. A man could find nowhere to brood properly without being intruded upon every other second nowadays, he mumbled to himself.
As his thoughts drew to a close, so did the distance between them and their destination. He abruptly stopped walking, and was not a moment too soon in making that decision, for immediately thereafter a heap of red crashed headlog onto the path before his feet with a tremendous sound.
He stared. And he knew Soujirou was staring from behind him as well.
"Hiko-san!" Soujirou was the first to start, when he noticed the taller figure in the background. He glanced at the curled up, coughing figure of Kenji, then back at Hiko, "What's going on?"
The oldest person on scene perked up slightly at Soujirou's voice. His smirked simply stretched as he replied, "Nothing much, boy. Just having a friendly, harmless spar with the young one."
"A friendly, harmless spar..." Enishi repeated dumbly, still staring at Kenji, who had steadied himself on one knee and was slowly getting up. He coughed again and a few drops of blood spattered across the sandy terrain. "... right," the white-haired man finished with slight disgust. "Friendly. Very friendly. Extremely harmless, too."
"I... 'm not done yet!" Kenji spoke up next, much to everybody's surprise. He stood with much difficulty and stared hard into the distance, where Hiko was. There was a burning fire of determination in his eyes which neither Soujirou nor Enishi missed. They glanced at each other in amazement.
"Is that all you got, kid?" Hiko, however, took down the path of insult. "Was your mother only lying when she wrote you had your father's skill and strength?"
The flame in Kenji's eyes shifted dangerously. His entire posture changed. Soujirou slowly took a few steps backwards and Enishi slapped a hand to his forehead. A howling wind overtook the sounds of the thundering waterfall. Kenji, who had been breathing hard and agitated prior to Hiko's words, now exuded calm and still. He quietly readied his weapon, crouched, and with a curl of dust smoke, disappeared from his original spot--
-- reappearing behind Hiko, as silently as he was gone.
Although he had been fast, he was not nearly fast enough. The old master had already anticipated his appearance and was facing the boy in an instant. Unperturbed, Kenji vanished from sight in a blur again, and this time came attacking from the taller man's side. He was foiled with a startled gasp when Hiko simply tripped his unsteady feet.
Quickly, his hands found the floor before his face did. He twisted around together with the metal rod in a full swing. The weapon followed smoothly in his hands and was almost about to graze Hiko's knee when the tall man kicked outwards. The sheer force of the kick coupled with the potential inertia in the swing clashed together and sent the metal rod out of Kenji's hands and over the cliff, right down into the vast pool of swirling watery deep beneath.
Hiko watched, still smirking, the weapon finally disappear into the sea. He turned to face the boy, meaning to shoot off yet another sarcastic remark when a blur of red beneath his feet caught him by surprise. He felt a light force tug at the base of his hakama, and before he knew it, Kenji was a distance apart again, breathing hard, face lowered.
The redhead looked up, when he finally caught his breath, and grinned while removing the small piece of cloth in his mouth.
"I did it!!" He cheered, for some reason suddenly sounding very happy. "Yes!! I did it!!" He did not stop there, turning around, hopping, bouncing, and generally creating a scene. Stretching his hand out with the stripe of cloth, he narrowed his evidently tired eyes and grinned. "I did it, you old cheater! Now you better keep to your... part of the..."
The sentence was not finished. Kenji flopped face first, gently, flat onto the dirt that was before him.
Three pairs of eyes observed him as he did.
"What," Enishi found his voice first, "in the world did you tell the boy to make him fight like that?" He pointed nonchalantly at the fallen redhead, although his line of sight was focused mainly on Hiko.
"I didn't tell him anything much," the master of the Hiten calmly sheathed his sword. "I said that with his level of ability, it'd be a long day off before he can even be of any help in this project he has somehow gotten embroiled in."
A pause.
"It'd take a lot more than that to get the redhead so riled up," the ex-gangster snorted in disbelief.
"Well," the oldest person shrugged, "I did dare him to try to get a thread off my back if he could. If he couldn't all of you will get the hell out of my territory. If he could then I'd consider telling you about my clients." Removing the thumb from his chin in a departure of his usual thoughtful pose, he smirked majestically at the two stunned warriors. "I hadn't think he'd take it so seriously." Lowering his eyes to grimace at his torn hakama, he shook his head. "This was the same method my baka deshi used to get me to let him run off the mountain. He really takes after his father."
Enishi shifted slightly, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't think he would have liked to hear that."
"I don't blame him," Hiko stood from the rock and sauntered down the cliffside. "I'd be terribly horrified if someone equated me to a moron of that level too." The large man stopped at where Kenji had passed out cold and looked down at the boy, with what could pass off as a twinge of nostalgia. "What a pity." He mouthed softly, surprising the two wanderers. "What a pity he had to inherit that stubborn, rebellious streak as well."
"He has great talent," Soujirou offered, by way of relief. Seeing that nobody was going to, the wanderer then took it upon himself to turn Kenji the right way up and tend to the various cuts and bruises he had earned in the course of daring to go up against the master of the Hiten - who was evidently not even trying hard to fight. The wanderer smiled at nothing in particular. "I haven't actually seen Himura-san try so hard at something before. Gaining your approval must have meant a lot to him, Hiko-san."
"/My/ approval?" Hiko sounded incredulous. He eyed Soujirou, then Enishi, then shook his head and continued his way down the path. There was confusion between the pair of wanderers, until they heard Hiko's voice again. "Well? What are you goons waiting for?" The man had stopped at the foot of the cliffside and turned to scold the two younger swordsmen. "Take the kid and come with me before I change my mind."
Soujirou and Enishi immediately exchanged a glance of hidden delight and amazement, all previous tension lifted. They had evidently been prepared to fight down to the death if need be for the information they so desperately seeked. But it looks like Hiko was going to volunteer the data instead.
Not ones to relinquish big breaks when it came their way, Soujirou deftly bent down to pick the unconscious Kenji up, and Enishi took off after Hiko.
"Wait up, ya old bigot! You're not going anywhere without us, ya hear?"
... to be continued
--------------
5/8/04
tougenkyou . net / xd
a/n
i never knew hiko was so difficult to write. [winces in shame] anyway, if you haven't already, visit
(remove spaces) tfme . net / rkrc / index . php
right now to nominate your favourite rk fanfics for the awards!
Koukeisha
anyway, remember to email me when you get your story done! XD
Darkening Dreams
i'm very happy this fic is keeping you entertained and hope it will continue to do so for many chapters to come! :D
misaoshiru
indeed i shall persevere! and one day i promise i'll read your eni fic. i'll collect all my best brain cells specially for it! XD
zeromaru
okay okay, we have a bit of action here. XD more talking though up next :P
Sailor-Earth13
hiko is the master of the hiten psychology ryuu! XD
De Lazy Lime
nahahaha anyway thanks for sticking on to this uber long winded fic. XD
Silver Nightingale
i hadn't realised hiko was a twist?? XD as for what other plot twists... ehehe i have at least one more planned. stay tuned!
sasori
squee!!! [glomp] you stay fun and healthy too :D i'll feed you lotsa corn if you need it. and cheese. XD
EEevee
frank, direct pointers are good, anyway i see it. :D at least your friends are sure you never lie. XD yes! i'm definitely voting for you, and sasori, and firuze, and april-san, and shimizu, and angrybee! and... yeah. lots of you. XD may the awards be with you!
sekihoutai
the last chapter? [laughs] what if this fic was a hundred chapters long?! XD anyway thanks for breaking your silence. your encouragement is very appreciated. [glomp] yes. shinsengumi rox0rx!
A. Krisis
mwahahaha! yesh, intelligent you. :3 at least you didn't just say 'update!', right? XD
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.
------------------------------------------
Yesterday's Shadow is Tomorrow's Twilight
------------------------------------------
Chapter 36: The Deal
Enishi was the kind of person who enjoyed brooding.
"Yukishiro-san..."
Alone, that is.
"..."
After all, it was only when he brooded alone did he come up with the most fantastic ideas that led him to the most fantastic conclusions, right? He had to brood more than ten years for his Jinchuu on Kenshin, after all. Another ten more minutes of self brooding would do no one any harm.
"Hello, Yukishiro-san, are you listening to me?"
Of course, then again, there were some people in this world who were obvious masochists.
"..."
But Enishi would not give in to violence! He would not turn around, throttle Soujirou until he turned blue from lack of air, tie him to a tree and use him as watou target practice. No, he would not do that. Soujirou was not doing any drastic shouting or whining. He was just being the mild-tempered pain in the neck he always was.
"Yukishiro-san!!"
A twig snapped.
"What the hell do you want?! Just shut up and leave me alone!" Enishi stopped walking, turning around to snarl at the trailing Soujirou, his capacity for patience flooded out. The younger wanderer stopped as well.
"We both know what happened the last time I 'left you alone'," Soujirou chirped, beaming as brightly as the sun. Enishi's face twisted in annoyance and he turned away, although he remained immobile. Soujirou's tone turned soft, however, when he next muttered, "I want to do something for you, even if you don't want me to. Can I at least just walk alongside? I won't ask you unnecessary questions! I promise!" The boyish wanderer held both hands up as a symbolic gesture of yield and obedience. Enishi lowered his head and sighed noisily.
"Just stay out of my way."
"Thank you!" Soujirou's voice was restored to its happy lustre. Enishi had begun to slowly move off into wherever he was going again, so Soujirou simply tagged along beside the older man, watching him carefully from the corner of his eyes.
Whenever Enishi got into one of his 'moods', the last thing you wanted to do, Soujirou had learnt - the hard way, was to 'leave him alone'. No one knew what kind of random mayhem the ex-mafia boss would create when alone and unchecked. At least if there was someone beside him, he would think twice about lashing out at the nearest passerby who irked him. When all else failed, Soujirou knew at least he had a chance against the watou. He really did not want to owe Saitou more favours than they now already did. Public property, however easy to destroy, did /no/ credit to their already severely dishonoured reputations.
Breaking from his thoughts, the younger swordsman caught sight of the scene up front, where Enishi was apparently leading them. He gasped. "Isn't that--?"
"The big guy and the little one," Enishi interrupted, voice as cold as steel. "They went out just now. Thought they were taking a long time. So /that's/ what they're doing."
Soujirou was not fooled by Enishi's seemingly the-weather-is-fine tone of voice. He knew it was a ruse to get him off guard so Enishi could run off and brood dangerously somewhere unseen. The Tenken smiled and grabbed his companion's arm, pulling him in the direction of the clifftop. "Let's go check it out! We could learn something new!"
"I never said I was going to-" The white-haired man protested, but was already halfway being dragged there. He knew better than to try to wrench himself free from Soujirou's strong grip. He would get away, yes, but he would probably leave his arm behind in the event. A man could find nowhere to brood properly without being intruded upon every other second nowadays, he mumbled to himself.
As his thoughts drew to a close, so did the distance between them and their destination. He abruptly stopped walking, and was not a moment too soon in making that decision, for immediately thereafter a heap of red crashed headlog onto the path before his feet with a tremendous sound.
He stared. And he knew Soujirou was staring from behind him as well.
"Hiko-san!" Soujirou was the first to start, when he noticed the taller figure in the background. He glanced at the curled up, coughing figure of Kenji, then back at Hiko, "What's going on?"
The oldest person on scene perked up slightly at Soujirou's voice. His smirked simply stretched as he replied, "Nothing much, boy. Just having a friendly, harmless spar with the young one."
"A friendly, harmless spar..." Enishi repeated dumbly, still staring at Kenji, who had steadied himself on one knee and was slowly getting up. He coughed again and a few drops of blood spattered across the sandy terrain. "... right," the white-haired man finished with slight disgust. "Friendly. Very friendly. Extremely harmless, too."
"I... 'm not done yet!" Kenji spoke up next, much to everybody's surprise. He stood with much difficulty and stared hard into the distance, where Hiko was. There was a burning fire of determination in his eyes which neither Soujirou nor Enishi missed. They glanced at each other in amazement.
"Is that all you got, kid?" Hiko, however, took down the path of insult. "Was your mother only lying when she wrote you had your father's skill and strength?"
The flame in Kenji's eyes shifted dangerously. His entire posture changed. Soujirou slowly took a few steps backwards and Enishi slapped a hand to his forehead. A howling wind overtook the sounds of the thundering waterfall. Kenji, who had been breathing hard and agitated prior to Hiko's words, now exuded calm and still. He quietly readied his weapon, crouched, and with a curl of dust smoke, disappeared from his original spot--
-- reappearing behind Hiko, as silently as he was gone.
Although he had been fast, he was not nearly fast enough. The old master had already anticipated his appearance and was facing the boy in an instant. Unperturbed, Kenji vanished from sight in a blur again, and this time came attacking from the taller man's side. He was foiled with a startled gasp when Hiko simply tripped his unsteady feet.
Quickly, his hands found the floor before his face did. He twisted around together with the metal rod in a full swing. The weapon followed smoothly in his hands and was almost about to graze Hiko's knee when the tall man kicked outwards. The sheer force of the kick coupled with the potential inertia in the swing clashed together and sent the metal rod out of Kenji's hands and over the cliff, right down into the vast pool of swirling watery deep beneath.
Hiko watched, still smirking, the weapon finally disappear into the sea. He turned to face the boy, meaning to shoot off yet another sarcastic remark when a blur of red beneath his feet caught him by surprise. He felt a light force tug at the base of his hakama, and before he knew it, Kenji was a distance apart again, breathing hard, face lowered.
The redhead looked up, when he finally caught his breath, and grinned while removing the small piece of cloth in his mouth.
"I did it!!" He cheered, for some reason suddenly sounding very happy. "Yes!! I did it!!" He did not stop there, turning around, hopping, bouncing, and generally creating a scene. Stretching his hand out with the stripe of cloth, he narrowed his evidently tired eyes and grinned. "I did it, you old cheater! Now you better keep to your... part of the..."
The sentence was not finished. Kenji flopped face first, gently, flat onto the dirt that was before him.
Three pairs of eyes observed him as he did.
"What," Enishi found his voice first, "in the world did you tell the boy to make him fight like that?" He pointed nonchalantly at the fallen redhead, although his line of sight was focused mainly on Hiko.
"I didn't tell him anything much," the master of the Hiten calmly sheathed his sword. "I said that with his level of ability, it'd be a long day off before he can even be of any help in this project he has somehow gotten embroiled in."
A pause.
"It'd take a lot more than that to get the redhead so riled up," the ex-gangster snorted in disbelief.
"Well," the oldest person shrugged, "I did dare him to try to get a thread off my back if he could. If he couldn't all of you will get the hell out of my territory. If he could then I'd consider telling you about my clients." Removing the thumb from his chin in a departure of his usual thoughtful pose, he smirked majestically at the two stunned warriors. "I hadn't think he'd take it so seriously." Lowering his eyes to grimace at his torn hakama, he shook his head. "This was the same method my baka deshi used to get me to let him run off the mountain. He really takes after his father."
Enishi shifted slightly, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't think he would have liked to hear that."
"I don't blame him," Hiko stood from the rock and sauntered down the cliffside. "I'd be terribly horrified if someone equated me to a moron of that level too." The large man stopped at where Kenji had passed out cold and looked down at the boy, with what could pass off as a twinge of nostalgia. "What a pity." He mouthed softly, surprising the two wanderers. "What a pity he had to inherit that stubborn, rebellious streak as well."
"He has great talent," Soujirou offered, by way of relief. Seeing that nobody was going to, the wanderer then took it upon himself to turn Kenji the right way up and tend to the various cuts and bruises he had earned in the course of daring to go up against the master of the Hiten - who was evidently not even trying hard to fight. The wanderer smiled at nothing in particular. "I haven't actually seen Himura-san try so hard at something before. Gaining your approval must have meant a lot to him, Hiko-san."
"/My/ approval?" Hiko sounded incredulous. He eyed Soujirou, then Enishi, then shook his head and continued his way down the path. There was confusion between the pair of wanderers, until they heard Hiko's voice again. "Well? What are you goons waiting for?" The man had stopped at the foot of the cliffside and turned to scold the two younger swordsmen. "Take the kid and come with me before I change my mind."
Soujirou and Enishi immediately exchanged a glance of hidden delight and amazement, all previous tension lifted. They had evidently been prepared to fight down to the death if need be for the information they so desperately seeked. But it looks like Hiko was going to volunteer the data instead.
Not ones to relinquish big breaks when it came their way, Soujirou deftly bent down to pick the unconscious Kenji up, and Enishi took off after Hiko.
"Wait up, ya old bigot! You're not going anywhere without us, ya hear?"
... to be continued
--------------
5/8/04
tougenkyou . net / xd
a/n
i never knew hiko was so difficult to write. [winces in shame] anyway, if you haven't already, visit
(remove spaces) tfme . net / rkrc / index . php
right now to nominate your favourite rk fanfics for the awards!
Koukeisha
anyway, remember to email me when you get your story done! XD
Darkening Dreams
i'm very happy this fic is keeping you entertained and hope it will continue to do so for many chapters to come! :D
misaoshiru
indeed i shall persevere! and one day i promise i'll read your eni fic. i'll collect all my best brain cells specially for it! XD
zeromaru
okay okay, we have a bit of action here. XD more talking though up next :P
Sailor-Earth13
hiko is the master of the hiten psychology ryuu! XD
De Lazy Lime
nahahaha anyway thanks for sticking on to this uber long winded fic. XD
Silver Nightingale
i hadn't realised hiko was a twist?? XD as for what other plot twists... ehehe i have at least one more planned. stay tuned!
sasori
squee!!! [glomp] you stay fun and healthy too :D i'll feed you lotsa corn if you need it. and cheese. XD
EEevee
frank, direct pointers are good, anyway i see it. :D at least your friends are sure you never lie. XD yes! i'm definitely voting for you, and sasori, and firuze, and april-san, and shimizu, and angrybee! and... yeah. lots of you. XD may the awards be with you!
sekihoutai
the last chapter? [laughs] what if this fic was a hundred chapters long?! XD anyway thanks for breaking your silence. your encouragement is very appreciated. [glomp] yes. shinsengumi rox0rx!
A. Krisis
mwahahaha! yesh, intelligent you. :3 at least you didn't just say 'update!', right? XD