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 41: Dangerous Banter
"There are hardly any birds out in the forest of Kyoto, are there?" Ming commented offhandedly.
"Oh, there usually are," Soujirou replied, smile fixed in place. In a soft whisper, he continued, "But they stay away when they sense danger!"
"What do you mean by that?" Zheng raised her voice, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the smiling Soujirou. "Are you suspecting us of something?"
"I meant what I meant!" Soujirou chirped. He was further up, so he threw a glance backwards. "Don't birds always view humans as dangerous?" There was mock surprise in his tone that was well executed, for it caught Zheng off-guard. She immediately looked away, with an oh-no look plastered all over her face. Soujirou stopped walking and turned to stare fully at Zheng. "Is there something you are hiding from Kakunoshin-san?" He asked, bluntly, knowing he had earned the right to.
Ming held a hand up to suppress whatever answer Zheng had in her mouth. "She speaks before she thinks," his voice was icy, "please do not take her words to heart."
Soujirou considered it. "At your request, of course," he then bowed and resumed smiling sunnily.
"Of course," Ming agreed. "Please, lead the way further. I am sure there must be many more sounds of nature that I have yet to be acquainted with."
Though Ming moved up, Zheng lingered behind. She gnashed her teeth in a firm line, lip quivering with unveiled anger. When she saw that Soujirou and Ming were about to move out of sight, she took a step up as well. But she soon stopped. Her two other companions ran up to her from behind, calling for her desperately.
"Zheng!" The bigger sized man said huffily, immediately when he felt Zheng was in hearing distance. His eyes were filled with fear. "It's him! It's Xue Dai!"
Zheng's eyes first widened, then narrowed. "What do you mean," she demanded in a soft, hissing voice. "Clarify yourself!"
The duo immediately stiffened in attention, their hands by their sides. Looking forward, the smaller man reported, "That other man in the hut just now, Zheng. It was Xue Dai! He said so himself! It's not just an uncanny resemblance! What should we do?!" The anxiety in his voice was evident. "What is he doing here? Is he going to kill us all for leaving the gang? He looked like he was, Zheng! He--"
"Be silent," Zheng cut the raving man off. Her face was calm and her voice was cold. "Xue Dai died when he abandoned us all those years ago," sudden anger flashed across her features. "Our biggest task now is to protect our new leader Ming from the machinations of the Japanese devils!" She spun around to face her subordinates fully. "There is no need to fear a dead man! Leave Yukishiro be! When the time comes..." a cruel, knowing grin marred her features, "...the path will be clear to us. We will know what to do with the traitor..."
Seemingly not new to this facade of their superior, Guang and Da snapped to attention again. "Understood!" They declared with loud, firm voices, making Zheng grin with much evil intent. She then turned towards the path again and began walking.
"Let's go," she gestured. "Ming is waiting for us." Glancing back slightly, she continued in a low, dangerous voice, "Make sure Ming hears nothing about Yukishiro!"
The two men gulped, nodded, and quickly fell into pace with Zheng's lead.
--
"Eeh..." Soujirou glanced around the mountain path he and Ming had just crossed. "...I can't seem to see any of your friends anywhere near..." He traced a finger over his chin, "...are you sure they're going to be all right? The mountain forest is rather complicated if you're not familiar with it..."
"They are all right," Ming spoke up from where he was resting, sitting on a huge root of a tree. "I can sense them nearby."
"..." Soujirou did not know whether to be impressed or afraid, for though he would not say he had the best instincts in the whole world, he was quite confident that he could at least feel the aura of three people who were somewhat nearby.
As if sensing Soujirou's hesitation, Ming smiled and continued, "My disability in the eyes has strengthened my other faculties very much."
Now that he thought about it, Soujirou was rather sure he had heard Usui say something like that before. "...you were not born blind, were you?" He asked, in a rare moment of Soujirou-straightforwardness.
There was an almost chilly silence after that.
"No," Ming eventually said, his smile warm enough to thaw the previously frozen atmosphere. "I lost it to a high fever when someone important left my life."
Soujirou's face was perfectly straight and unreadable. But the moment passed and Ming found himself the target of an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry," Soujirou apologised, "for not leaving your bad memories be."
Ming actually laughed. "Don't be," he said softly. "I never intended to forget those days."
Soujirou straightened himself, ready to ask the man if he would like to journey on, when the three others who were with Ming burst into the scene. "MING!" The girl immediately ran to where Ming was seated. "Are you all right?" She first bowed slightly at him, then kneeled down to take his hand, while asking. Glaring at Soujirou from the corner of her eyes, she asked loudly, "Did the dog there do anything to you?"
"Zheng, you will not call him a dog anymore," Ming warned with a frown on his face. Zheng was evidently unhappy about Ming's idea, so she made no noise to accept or reject the command.
"That's really all right, Ming-san," Soujirou laughed. "I've been called /much/ worst things by others before," he beamed. "Since all of us are here, shall we continue on our way?"
"Yes, please," Ming said, while standing up. He was flanked by the others quickly, not even flinching at the sudden invasion of personal space. "Please lead on," he invited Soujirou.
"Lead on to where?" A new voice called out from around the bend further up the path. The group immediately turned to face that direction, gasping collectively when Hiko slowly sauntered out from behind the foliage. He had a jug of sake in one hand and a cup in the other. After giving the crowd a sweeping glance, he sighed and poured some sake out from the jug to the cup. "I was wondering why there was so much noise pollution in the forest. So my wealthy client has decided to drop by for a visit!" He leaned against a tree trunk, gulping down the sake in his cup with one breath. "So, what may the matter be, Ming?"
"How dare you be so rude!" Zheng roared from Ming's side. Ming held a hand out to sate her ferocious temper.
"We are very happy to be able to finally see you, sir," Ming bowed slightly, "but we wish to speak to you urgently about something, and I had feared that you may not believe the matter if I had sent mere messengers, so I have come by myself."
"Thank you for your consideration," Hiko snorted, obviously not grateful at all, "So? What's that big and important thing you can't wait till delivery day to tell me about?"
"It's..." Ming paused, then tilted his head to where Soujirou was standing, quiet and unobtrusive. Hiko noticed this. He laughed out loud.
"What, are you worried about the little fellow?" He waved a hand mockingly. "There's no need. He doesn't even exist in society. What's more, he's gotten on the wrong side of the law too many times for even me to keep track of. Nothing he knows or says counts."
"Kakunoshin-san!" Soujirou pouted. "It was only a few hundred people," he scratched his cheek sheepishly, "...really nothing that fantastic."
The four strangers stared at Soujirou, wondering what the frail looking boy actually did to those few hundred people to warrant a such a serious deed of arrest.
"Anyway, whatever you want to say, you either say it now or go away," Hiko gestured dismissively. "I'm very busy at the moment." He turned, ready to disappear back into the forest where he had emerged from.
"Wait!" Ming called out to him. He spared Soujirou one last 'look', then turned to Hiko while saying, "Very well. There is just one request I wish to make from you, master Kakunoshin. I wish to bring forward the delivery of my wares by one week. All other terms and conditions remain the same."
Hiko was sipping his wine when Ming announced his changed condition, so he did not immediately respond. Once he finished his drink, he sighed from the alcohol slowly running down his throat. "...all right," he was saying, "I suppose I'm in no position to question you anyway."
Ming smiled rather diabolically. "Thank you."
"Hey, boy," Hiko shot a glance in Soujirou's direction. Soujirou nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Run back and tell the other one. Looks like he's gonna have to work harder now," the old master leered. "Is that all?" He then turned towards Ming, who nodded. "Okay. We'll deliver the stuff to you by next week then." Hiko gulped down one more mouthful of sake. "Now get the hell out of the forest. You're all disrupting the peace."
"Yes, sir!" Soujirou chirped in agreement immediately. The four guests were at an evident loss of words. But that was all there was to the meeting. For by the next blink of the eye, Hiko was gone from the scene entirely. "So, Ming-san, Zheng-san, Guang-san, Da-san," Soujirou took care to try (but fail) to pronounce their names. "Shall we return? It would be terrible if the sun sets before we see the house, because even I tend to get lost in the night forests around here!" He laughed at himself.
The four others were still staring at the area Hiko was last saw in, expressions varying between anger to confusion. Ming was the first to turn to regard Soujirou. "It is all right, Souji-san. We can find our way out by ourselves."
Soujirou was surprised. "Really?"
Ming merely nodded. "If you need to be somewhere, please go ahead first. I wish to speak with my men about something in private."
"Oh, of course!" Soujirou's tone contained embarrassment. He hopped on his feet and turned down the mountain path. "Thank you for dropping by, and please don't worry about the wares, because they'll be the best you've ever seen!" He smiled obligingly. "Until then, take care!"
Ming waved, but the other three kept their suspicions evident on their faces. Until Ming could no longer sense Soujirou, nobody made a move or said a word. Ming's face turned grave. "Guang, Da," he uttered softly, in his native tongue, "send out men to investigate that wanderer's background. Sweep through Azumamaro again to make sure there are no spies." He glanced in the direction which Soujirou last took. "Something about him makes me feel very uncomfortable."
Zheng glanced down the path as well, eyes narrowed. "Ming," she suddenly called out. The other three looked at her, even as her mouth curled up into a sadistic grin.
"Let me handle this."
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... to be continued
30/12/04
tougenkyou . net / xd