WARNING: Spoilers! If you don't know who Kenji is, please read at your own risk! POSSIBLE CHARACTER DEATH AT END OF STORY.
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 45: The Beginning of the End
Soujirou was surprised, when he returned from washing up at the river the next morning, to find that there was a lot of neighing and stomping sounds coming from the general area of the workshop.
He ventured bravely towards the workshop in a fit of curiosity, and was not overly surprised to see several horses there, grazing. The by-now familiar figure of Guang stood stiffly under a tree, apparently overseeing whatever work was going on here. Soujirou noticed that part of the forest that surrounded the workshop was now gone, having been razed to the ground by something forceful and sharp. He felt a twinge of annoyance at this, even as he slowly put the pieces together. The Chinese had come for their goods, obviously, but to transport the vases swiftly, they probably had to use massive horse carriages. And to allow the carriages admittance into a forest as thick as this, meant that a path had to be cleared for them. Not that it was any business of Soujirou if they wanted to deforest the entire Kyoto outskirts, but this was certainly an uncomfortable method to him, no matter how he tried to justify it.
"Good morning, Guang-san!" The wanderer nevertheless greeted cheerfully. The tall man's shoulders jerked in surprise, and he shot Soujirou a glare. Evidently, he had not sensed Soujirou's presence prior to his greeting. Unfazed, Soujirou stepped into the clearing, where more than half the vases were already gone. Enishi was understandably nowhere in sight. "What's going on here?" Soujirou asked, turning to smile at Guang.
Guang mumbled something under his breath for a while. When he saw that Soujirou continued to shoot him an expectant glance, he straightened slightly. "We moving vases ourselves," he grunted. And that was all he was willing to reveal.
Soujirou continued smiling, although he was doing mental cartwheels of confusion internally. This certainly meant that much of what they had planned for today was not going to be smooth sailing. If they were unable to follow them right to their hideout, the police would not be able to offer much support anymore. Did Enishi already anticipate this? Was there a back-up plan they would be following?
"Well, it must be very tough work doing all of that by yourself!" Soujirou suddenly felt like leaving immediately to search out for his ever elusive partner. But he had the feeling that he could learn more if he stayed on just a while longer. "Do you need any help?"
Guang shot him a sidelong glance. He did not reply.
"Guang-xiansheng" A loud and cheerful voice suddenly drifted forth from somewhere down the path. Soujirou perked up slightly. He had heard this voice before. "I've cut out a wide path out for you and your horses!"
The tall Chinese man snorted something in acknowledgement. Soujirou stared at the freshly cut path, noticing that the owner of the voice was slowly but surely coming into view. As he stared at the face of his long-time friend Kamatari, he would have gasped and ran up to him to share some greetings, had he not been aware that the enemy was also with them. He kept his smile plastered on. "Good morning!" He greeted generically.
"Good morning to you too!" Kamatari greeted back smoothly, as if this was the first time they were meeting one another. He scrutinised Soujirou carefully, before turning to Guang. "Did you employ someone else without telling me? Are you going to split my wages?" He questioned relentlessly. His eyes were flashing.
"Calm! Calm!" It was amusing to see Guang being flustered for once. "No sir, he is not anything. He only just staying here. No split! No split!"
Kamatari relaxed slightly. "Good," he wiped some imaginary sweat off his brow. In the next moment, he bounded up to Soujirou and smiled very widely at him. "Hello there, how do you do? My name is Kamatari and I specialise in destruction. If you need to destroy anything or anyone, please feel free to contact me!" He smiled radiantly, before pressing a piece of paper into Soujirou's hands. "My services are /very/ affordable," he winked.
"Of course, of course," Soujirou smiled back, gripping the piece of paper firmly in his hands. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? Destruction seems like an awfully tiring task!"
"No thanks!" Kamatari skipped backwards and waved his hand good naturedly. Got a few more trees to hack down further down! Remember to give me a call if you need to destroy stuff!" With another skip, he was on his way back down the path.
Soujirou stared, until Kamatari's long shadow disappeared over the nearby horizon. He turned to Guang. "Cheerful fellow you've got there, haven't you?" He did not wait for Guang to reply with grunts and snorting this time, choosing to walk away instead. "Well since you apparently don't require my assistance here, I'll be at the main house, making some tea in case any of you change your minds about the treat!" He raised a hand in farewell and began walking away.
He was aware that Guang's glare bore at him from behind every single moment, until he walked out of sight. But he did not let it bother him. For now.
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"Hiko-san!" Soujirou chirped, when he entered the main house to find Hiko sprawling across a long crate, sipping his sake. Somewhere from a corner of the room, Kenji was snoring, loudly and noisily. Soujirou found himself staring at the sleeping boy without really wanting to. "Drilled him thoroughly, didn't you?"
Hiko opened one eye. "If he can't even survive a training of this level, he's not going to survive going anywhere near the members of that criminal organisation."
"That seems true," Soujirou smiled, making himself comfortable by sitting on the floor, cross-legged. He unfolded the piece of paper Kamatari had give him just now. "Have you seen Yukishiro-san anywhere around?"
"I haven't seen him for a long time, if you must know," Hiko sipped from his cup. He pushed himself off the crate so that he was now seated instead of lying on it. "He'll show up when he feels like it. I wouldn't think a hole through my head over it if I were you."
"Frankly, neither would I," Soujirou agreed, eyes darting from side to side while he read what was imprinted on the paper. When he reached the last letter, he sighed softly. "Well, it looks like Saitou-san and the Oniwabanshuu have gotten a step ahead of the Yuugure, who thinks they have gotten a step ahead of us." He glanced up, to find Hiko staring at him, evidently for an explanation. "The people of the Yuugure apparently have a bit of history with Yukishiro-san," Soujirou began, rolling up the piece of paper and setting it aside. "Not a good history either. Anyway, things happened and they found out that he's involved in this entire thing and are apparently now suspicious of us, so they have decided to move the goods themselves to probably avoid giving away their location. However-"
"However the Oniwabanshuu probably have already anticipate this move of theirs, and have collaborated with the police to ensure that whatever it is, one of the people working on this project will definitely know the location of the Yuugure's hideout, right?" Hiko completed Soujirou's thoughts for him, taking a huge gulp of wine from his bottle after he finished his words. Soujirou smiled.
"That's about it in a nutshell, Hiko-san," the young looking wanderer held a finger out. "Kamatari-san has even included the location map for us. He says that once we reach the marked spot, a contact will bring us to the actual location." He sighed in relief. "I'm glad all the work we've been doing these past few months have finally paid off!"
"Hmm..." A new voice - one that had not been heard since morning, entered the scene. Enishi emerged from the shadows of the back door and showed himself in a thoughtful pose. "So /that/ was what that guy was thinking of doing back then..."
Presently, all conscious beings in the room turned to look at him questioningly. Soujirou shook his head good-naturedly and stood. "Whatever it is that they have planned," he said, lifting his sword and securing it by his side with his waistband, "it doesn't matter. We'll proceed as what /we/ have planned, and I am inclined to believe that everything will work its own way out from there."
Enishi actually whistled. "Since when did you become so much more reckless and less naggy about details?"
Soujirou made a face. "I've been hanging out around you way too often, that's why."
"That's ridiculous," Enishi snorted. "I always plan carefully before doing anything."
"Not when it concerns a consequence of massive mayhem!" Soujirou pointed out, grinning while he did. Enishi was about to retort, but Hiko silenced them both with a loud cough.
"Sorry to intrude upon this absolutely charming conversation," he shook his head, "but there's something I must know." He glanced fleetingly at the duo, back and forth, but finally stopping at Enishi. "Will you be bringing the boy along?" He tilted his head towards the sleeping Kenji.
Enishi actually took a few seconds to ponder a reply. "I'm sure you already know the answer to that, Genius." He turned towards the door, ready to exit the room. "Come on, Tenken, we're gonna be late."
Hiko continued sipping his sake calmly. Enishi was already halfway towards the door. Soujirou stared at Enishi, mouth open, meaning to say something but not really saying anything. He then glanced sadly at Kenji, before bowing at Hiko. With a quick turn, he followed along his partner's footsteps, ready to get out into the open, and possibly to go kick some Yuugure butt.
"I may have had the same answer as you had to the question I just posed one week ago," Hiko suddenly spoke out, effectively stopping both Soujirou and Enishi before they could clear the door entirely. "...but this one week of training has shaken my belief in that answer quite a bit."
Soujirou's smile was momentarily cancelled. "Hiko-san... you mean to say..." he let his question trail, very very quietly.
"I mean to say," Hiko's voice boomed around the hut authoratively, "that yes. Bringing Kenji along will not be as useless as you may have initially thought. He may not be as fantastic as the both of you, but his natural flair and enormous potential will be your wildcard to certain victory," he paused, "or-"
"Or certain doom." Enishi spoke, his back still facing Hiko. A short while later, he tilted his head slightly, so that he could look at the old master from the corner of his eyes. "Hah," he snorted. "A wildcard's better than the worst card in the lot, naturally, but why should I believe you?" He sneered challengingly. "One week of training can't possibly make any big difference."
"Ah, but you forget," Hiko struck a pose. "I am a genius." He smiled, and his teeth shone with stunning brightness. Soujirou even had to hide his eyes. "Geniuses can do many things in one week. Including converting runaway teenagers into a mighty warrior."
The words were spoken with such sterling conviction that Enishi found it hard not to twitch. "Very well," he eventually managed to say. "We'll leave the map here, since we don't need it anymore anyway," he nodded to Soujirou, who produced the piece of paper and put it atop a table, weighing it down with a candlestand. "Let's see if your little prodigy even wakes up in time in the first place then, genius!" The white-haired man smirked. "Let's go!" He barked at Soujirou, who simply smiled and followed Enishi out of the door.
Before the wanderer stepped completely out, he gave Hiko one last smile. "I'll be waiting for Himura-san!" He assured. "Please try to get him to wake up soon!"
The piece of cloth flopped and covered the doorway completely. When the wind blew, and the cloth was pushed aside, the figures of Soujirou and Enishi were no longer there.
Hiko took another swig from his wine bottle. "Don't worry," he spoke to no one in particular. "I'll make sure of that."
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Two flashes darted in and out of the thick foliage surrounding Kyoto, both clear on their destination. There was silence, except the occasional rustling of leaves and cloth when they moved quickly and quietly across the rough terrain. In just a short while, the trees began to disperse, leading them into the backyard of a small-scale temple. It was only when the duo touched down on the weathered tiles of the yard did their identities become evident to any who were looking.
"This is the place," Soujirou looked around carefully, before nodding at Enishi. Enishi nodded back, also observing the surroundings. There was not a soul in sight or sound, not even the chirping birds or the singing insects. The wanderers eventually glanced knowingly at each other. This unnatural scene surely meant something.
It was then that footsteps could be heard coming in their general direction. The footsteps were slow and deliberate, echoing across the hollow place into their ears. Both warriors crouched and had a hand on their weapons, both ready for the worst.
It proved to be unnecessary. For it was Aoshi who stepped out of the darkened temple into the sunlight to greet them.
"You're both a little late," he began, with no introduction or briefing. He glanced around Soujirou and Enishi for something, or someone, who was not there. The sight of the Oniwabanshuu ninja made the tensed wanderers relax slightly. Aoshi was dressed in battle gear and had two kodachis sheathed on either side of his waist. Obviously, this was serious business. He eventually gestured. "Follow me."
Aoshi led the way into the deeper parts of the temple, slowly and calmly. As they walked through the intricate corridors of the abnormally quiet temple, Soujirou could not help but bring the silence up. "Shinomori-san," he asked, "why is the temple so quiet?"
The ninja stopped walking, but he did not turn around to look at the duo behind him. "It's because the Yuugure have found out about our original plans to sneak in unnoticed," he explained, surprising Soujirou and Enishi into wide eyes. "...and they are preparing to counter us with everything they've got."
As if on cue, something big and fearsome erupted from the paper wall beside the trio, crushing it into debris and shreds. This forced all three swordsman to jump clear from the corridor, and into the garden courtyard that was beside the house. A huge, shadowy figure stepped out from behind the broken wall, folding his arms into his sleeves.
It was Guang. With metal armour plates securely covering all parts of his body.
"This is as far as you will go," he grunted from behind his mask. He withdrew a wooden pole as tall as himself, pointing it at them.
After a short while, it was Enishi who pulled his sword out from its sheath. There was a huge, loony grin on his face.
"We'll see about that now... won't we?"
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... to be continued
14/2/05
tougenkyou . net / xd
oops! looks like the crack won't be that high after all. :O please note that there will be CHARACTER DEATH by the end of this story! sorry for the sudden announcement, but it may be required for character development. :( if you decide to stop reading because of it, thanks for sticking so far with me! if you decide to carry on, thanks so much for giving me a chance! onwards we move!