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 52: Fateful Reunion
Kenji was standing on top of that particular cannon when it went off. The rocking of the huge weapon immediately pushed him off his feet, leaving him sitting on his butt on the barrel of the cannon, eyes wide with shock.
Somewhere else in the cannon room, Aoshi and Misao stopped tinkering with the wires that were attached to the modern looking shanks. They looked up at the boy, who looked back at them.
"What were you guys doing?" Kenji gulped while asking, offended yet afraid. "I was /almost/ about to go peek at the mouth of the cannon!"
Misao was the first to raise to her feet. Without a word, she hopped onto the same cannon Kenji was on - the one that had gone off, and raced towards its mouth, which was still smouldering. She took a deep breath, then bravely leapt into the smoke, latching onto the interior of the cannon without explanation.
Kenji took the pause to stand up and dust himself off. He turned to look questioningly at Aoshi, who had also stood up and was glancing around the room. Seeing that he would not be getting answers from the taller man, Kenji returned to staring at the distant end of the cannon, where Misao had last disappeared to. He found himself silently applauding her bravery. Not /every/ girl out there dared to leap head-first into a cannon barrel that had just gone off, after all.
"Aoshi-sama," Misao's voice could be heard before she could be seen, bursting out of the thick, billowing smoke. "The cannon wasn't mounted. There was nothing shot out of it except a lot of gunpowder and soot."
Aoshi simply nodded in acknowledgement. He carefully stepped over an unconscious body - they had had to knock several members of the underground organisation out before they had total access to the room - and walked closer to the cannon that had been triggered. He examined the apparatus that was attached to it, eventually breaking it apart to locate a single metal wire that was melded together with the internal mechanism core.
Holding the string in his hand, his eyes traced its path, eventually finding them vanishing into the roof of the room they were currently in. He pondered over the possibilities for a second.
In his moment of revelation, he removed a kodachi from his his long sheath and buried it deeply into the trigger device, right at its mechanical core.
The machine sputtered and sparkled, crackling in protest at the manhandling. Finally, it stopped flickering with light and energy, coming to a dead stop even before Aoshi twisted the blade and roughly pulled the sword back out. The man tossed his other kodachi to Kenji, who was hovering nearby.
"Disable all the machines in like manner," he commanded the boy, who nodded and quickly went to carry the instructions out. "Misao," Aoshi continued, "Make sure that all cannons are unloaded. And if they are, unload or otherwise disable them."
The female ninja nodded in acknowledgement. She turned back and leapt across barrels to study the cannons one by one, leaving Aoshi alone to ponder over their next step. He had the map of the room firmly imprinted in his mind, and as he stared at the floor, he considered the map very carefully from memory.
"Oji-san, I'm done!" Kenji suddenly sprung up from beside the concentrating Aoshi. Aoshi ignored the boy in favour of his thoughts. Having known the older man for all his life, however, Kenji knew better than to feel offended. "There's another cannon tower that is like this room somewhere in the other side of the maze," Kenji nevertheless decided to throw out suggestions from what he remembered of the map without needing to refer to it. "We should go disable it as well, right?"
"No," Aoshi's negative answer came almost immediately after Kenji asked, surprising the boy. It was around this time that Misao reappeared in the room again, her clothing and skin speckled all over with soot, but otherwise she was triumphant over the interior of the cannons. "No," Aoshi repeated, "Saitou should have taken care of that one already. We are going to break through the labyrinth and support Soujirou and Yukishiro." He stood, eyes already on the exit. "Before that, we need to bind up the few members of the Yuugure who are here," he gestured around the floor. "The police will handle them, once they arrive."
"Leave it to me, Aoshi-sama!" Misao chirped, and was quickly on her way to locate some strong ropes. Kenji and Aoshi watched her in flurried action for a while, then turned away, each to their own business.
"Oji-san," Kenji held the kodachi out, "your sword."
Aoshi merely gave the short sword a cursory glance. "Keep it," he eventually said. "You shouldn't walk around enemy territory without a proper weapon."
The young redhead could feel his temper flare up at the insinuation behind the words. He was about to protest loudly and insist that fingernails and teeth were rather potent weapons too if used properly, but Aoshi had already turned away towards the door. Stifling his complains, Kenji simply kept the sword, deciding that having something sharp was probably better than having nothing at all. As Misao finished tying up the last victim, Kenji followed Aoshi out of the door, stealing a glance back at the room they had just walked out from.
He wondered, not for the first time since getting involved in the entire affair, what the drove the Yuugure to pitting themselves vehemently against a nation. He knew there was more to the ploy of underground world domination than meets the eye. Now, they just had to figure out what that 'something more' was.
That 'something more' would be the key to certain victory, or certain doom.
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Enishi was the first to arrive at the grand entrance of the actual Yuugure hideout.
It was not that the bridge he had crossed put him in a strategically favourable position, he knew. If anything, he had probably walked for a longer distance than the most of them. After all, he took great pains to ensure that he visited nearly every weaponry storehold he could find in the labyrinth. Firstly to scare the people there. Secondly, to raid the store to see what was going on, and finally, to grab a few handy weapons, which were now hidden snugly beneath the several folds of his clothes and shoulder shawl.
So no, it was not that he had gotten a better position. It was simply just because that he saw through most of the optical illusions the Chinese had used to forge this labyrinth with, and could figure out those he did not know by using certain methods of deduction. He had not worked in the land for nothing for so many years before, after all!
Therefore he was not surprised to see that the hideout hall was empty of friends and foes alike, except for a single figure standing beside the only wall window in the room, staring out. Enishi recognised the figure, but did not make a reaction. He merely stepped into the big hall, and made his presence known.
"Lovely day isn't it," the figure - Ming, decided to start off the conversation, after the silence stretched and it became apparent that Enishi was not going to say anything anytime soon. "Just like it was when I first met you at Hiko-san's hut, wasn't it?"
Enishi stared pensively at Ming's back. "No," he finally said, ignoring the instant jerk of recognition in Ming's shoulders. "I think it was raining cats and dogs when I first met you and the others, Ming."
"You're..." Ming's voice was a raspy whisper. "Lao da! Leader!" He exclaimed, spinning around from the window and taking two unsure steps forward. "Lao da!" He repeated, when Enishi gave no reaction. "You're alive! You didn't die!"
While he had been wondering how to formulate a proper reply until just now, Enishi's head now throbbed with offense. "I thought I've always taught you not to say anything if you've got nothing better to say?" His voice was quiet but threatening, with threats of a violent death looming behind it. Ming immediately shut his mouth, many other rash words obviously wishing to make their way out.
"It's good to have you back with us, sir!" The leader of the Yuugure bowed deeply to Enishi, after having sorted out what he wanted to say to his ex-leader. Enishi observed this action of his with a frown.
"She didn't tell you," Enishi eventually said. Ming rose from his bow and one of his brows furrowed.
"'She'...?"
"That spitfire girlfriend of yours," Enishi snorted. "She already knew who I was when she saw me at the hut," he clarified. "I'd have expected her to tell you, but obviously she didn't." A shrug. "No big deal. What the hell happened to you anyway?" He pointed, although he knew Ming could not see. "You weren't like this the last time I saw you."
Ming simply bowed to acknowledge the question. Then he answered, "After your departure, Wu Heixin was appointed to look after the xiongdi - our fraternity. But Wu Heixin left without a word with his bodyguards, and news of his arrest soon reached our ears. At that moment, chaos immediately erupted. The seat of the leader was suddenly available for any who was strong enough to defeat all who wanted the throne." He paused. "I refused to let show you disrespect so soon after your supposed death - and without your sanction too. So I fought them all." At this, his lips curled up into a satisfied smile. "And I won."
"And he had to pay a heavy price for that victory," the shrill, unhappy voice of Zheng joined in the conversation. Part of the wall that was behind Ming opened sideways to reveal the girl, who stepped into the hall and closed the secret passage discreetly behind her. "He had to pay for the victory with his sight."
"It was worth it," Ming dismissed his disability with a taut wave of his hand, "as long as I can keep our boss' memories alive in everybody! But there is no need for that now!" Ming returned to facing Enishi with a bright, earnest smile on his face. "Lao da is back! We will prosper again! Please join us, lao da! We will take vengeance on all those people who have soiled your glorious name!"
"Ming, you are a fool!" Zheng screeched. "He has found another company! He no longer has need for us! That was why he left us all of a sudden back then, with no instructions, nothing at all! We were just his pawns! We were nothing else! Can't you see?"
"Silence!" Ming admonished with a loud roar. "How dare you speak such words after what you've done? Did it never occur to you that I should have been the first one you must report to when you saw the leader again and knew that he was alive? Do you know that you could be punished with death for that? Perhaps /you/ are the one who has found new company!"
"Ming..." Zheng's eyes were wide with disbelief and confusion. It was as if she she could not understand why the man did not agree with the wisdom behind her actions. Hardening her countenance, she whirled around and pointed sternly at Enishi. "You! You had better make things clear once and for all time!" She brought an agitated fist up to her chest. "Are you with us or are you against us? Speak up now!"
Immediately after her outburst, the sounds of the forest overwhelmed the room once more. It was an indication that no one spoke, nor wanted to speak - yet.
Enishi raised an eyebrow eventually.
"If I were really still your leader, have you any idea how dead you will be now, just for taking that tone on me?" He sneered smugly, when he saw the girl jump slightly at his almost-insinuation that it was possible he was considering retaking his position. "But," he was quick to add, "I'm not." He stated. "I'm not your leader," he repeated, "but that still doesn't mean you're going to get away for taking that tone with me." He took his sword by its hilt and pulled it out slowly, making sure the blade brushed noisily against the sheath. He tossed the sheath aside, the container clattering across the white, pattern-less flooring, coming to a stop only when it hit a similarly white wall.
"Lao da!" Ming immediately exclaimed, when he heard the drawing of the sword. "You can't be serious!"
"Ah, hell, I sure as anything am serious," Enishi had lost all his previous streaks of placating and mildness afforded to former comrades; choosing to don a stern expression. "We were once colleagues but you are now obstacles. You're all troublesome - obstructing me and disrupting my life. So you're all gonna have to go." To drive his point home, Enishi swung his sword downwards in one swift, sharp arc, exploding the flooring just beneath the blade's point of contact into thousands upon thousands of little pieces. "So," he glanced at the duo before him, "who wants to go first?"
Zheng was really about to lash out in verbal insults, if she had not realised that anything rash she did not would probably indicate that she wanted to fight her ex-boss, which she did not want to/yet/. "Do...don't you want to at least ask us why we're doing this?" She kicked herself mentally for stuttering, but knew it could not be helped. Being tongue-tied before one Yukishiro Enishi was something everybody in the gang could not stop.
No matter how comparatively mellow he may seem to be now.
For his part, Enishi seemed to consider the option of finding out more. Then he shrugged, figuring that relaying the message to Saitou was too much of a hassle. "You can tell the police chief yourself when he comes later." He raised his sword again. "My job is to eliminate this organisation called the Yuugure. Anything besides that," he bent his knees slightly, "I'm not interested."
With a sudden burst of speed, he reached his two stunned opponents and attacked, slightly miffed when both Ming and Zheng leapt cleanly out of his sword point. He paused and glanced at his two opponents, who appeared to have recovered from whatever stupor they had been in, and now faced him in a defensive stance.
Before he could turn them and attack again, however, Zheng burst out laughing.
It was not a laugh of mirth, that was for sure. There was certainly nothing funny, Enishi mused to himself, about this situation they had gotten themselves into. Her laughter started sharp and high, then slowly simmered down to sniggering and giggling. Even Ming looked perplexed at her unexpected action.
"You see, Ming?" She addressed her current boss with a superior tone. "He treats us like dust! He has /always/ treated us like dust! We weren't even his comrades! We were like playthings! Now that he's found new ones, he doesn't need us anymore! We're now /obstacles!" Her hysteria dissolved into yet another bout of sinister snickering. She did not immediately continue in her mad murmurings.
Ming stood silent for a while. He eventually straightened into a neutral pose. "Is that true, lao da?" He asked Enishi quietly.
Of course, Enishi would have replied, had he known what in the world his two crazy former subordinates were talking about. To him, it was all very logical. He left the gang, came to Japan and tried to exact Jinchuu on Himura Kenshin. Tried. Failed. The action of going away alone was enough to merit him traitorous, if not outright treacherous - for which serious mafia leader left without a word to pursue personal interests when the gang was at the peak of its power? This mafia leader was asking for his throne to be usurped, obviously, and Enishi knew he fit the bill to a T. So naturally, his subordinates would fight for his position. It was all to be expected. Enishi counted himself dead to his men the moment he left the grounds of mainland China.
Who could possibly be silly enough to fight to keep his throne for a dead man, anyway?
"You will never see Seta Soujirou again."
The next words from Zheng was like a sobering pail of water over Enishi's head. He glanced sharply at the slightly screw-loose girl, keeping his expressions poker.
"Seta Soujirou?" Ming's curiosity was piqued.
"Yes, Ming," Zheng's voice was full of venom and foreboding. "He is part of Yukishiro Enishi's new company. The company which he has gone to after abandoning us..." she trailed off, smirking triumphantly at Enishi. "...the company that is now seeking to destroy us."
It took a while before Ming finally said something that was somewhat above a whisper.
"She speaks the truth, doesn't she, lao da?"
Enishi considered his options. "Does it matter if she is?" He finally said, in the most sombre tone he had taken the entire time he had faced them. "Xue Dai Yuan died 15 years ago in his foray into Japan. You filled his position in with your own strength - good for you. You can keep it, because I sure as anything don't want it back." He shrugged.
"It's not about the gang!" Ming spoke, much louder than he usually did. "It's about us! We're loyal only to /you, lao da! We don't want to work under anybody but you! That's why I was angry!" He made a large, sweeping movement with his hands. "I was angry that Japan took you away from us! I wanted revenge! I wanted to bring the whole nation to its knees for what it has done! It wasn't possible when we first started, but now the dream is becoming reality!" He gestured at the unmoving Enishi. "Come back and join us, lao da! We'll destroy this place and build our own nation from its debris!"
For a long while, it was just Enishi at Ming, expressions impeccably unreadable. When he next spoke, his voice carried a slight tone of incredulity.
"Is your head so full of yourself that you can't think of anything else already?" The older man asked. "I'm standing in front of you, am I not?" He questioned, but continued without allowing anyone to answer. "Then why are you talking about revenge as if I'm buried somewhere on the mainland, six feet underground?" He snorted, shifting his weight around angrily. "Don't kill me off! I'm alive and well! So there's nothing for you to take revenge against. Unless, of course," he sneered, "your agenda has never been about revenge in the first place. You were out to assert your power using my name right from the start, weren't you?"
"What nonsense!" Zheng spat immediately.
"But it's true," Enishi shrugged. "It doesn't matter if I'm still your boss or not. It /shouldn't/ matter. I'm still breathing. Japan has done nothing to me. And even after knowing all this, you ask me to join you in your silly quest for revenge and world domination." He shook his head. "If you're not power-hungry, tell me what you are? Seeking revenge for me is out of the question since I'm /alive/. Don't tell me you're trying to make the world a better place? With arms and weaponry?" A low snigger. "You have to try harder than that, boy. How about free food instead?"
The earnesty in which Enishi had asked the last question almost bowled Ming completely over. "You've changed," the young mafia leader remarked wryly. "You're no longer focused on your revenge that you once said was your life."
Enishi eyed him squarely. "And so? So you're gonna help me carry out what I left behind?" He laughed. "Do me a favour... do yourself a favour, and just forget it." The glint in his eye turned wistful. "Been there, done that." He spoke calmly, quietly. "You get nothing in the end. Nothing at all." Raising his eyes to look at the duo before him again, he stressed that, "I know how revenge works better than any of you do."
Although the man smiled, it was not a happy smile. And he said nothing else in conclusion.
"Will you join us for our sake then?" Ming was persistent. "Lead us in any way you want. The organisation is at your call!"
"I think you misunderstand," Enishi readied his sword again. "I am still very focused. I am very focused on leading my own way of life. And because all of you are standing in my way, you all have to go. I'm not going to change just because you asked me to. Don't make me repeat myself!"
"But how would you know if you wouldn't like it better if you come to our side?" Ming pressed on.
"Because unlike you," Enishi replied, "I live for myself. I know what I want." He finished off with a loud, noisy sigh. "I hope we're quite done with the small talk. If you still don't see my point, then there's just only one last thing left to do." He pointed the tip of his sword directly at Ming.
"We settle this the good old-fashioned way."
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... to be continued
9/3/05
tougenkyou . net / xd
move, plot, move! no wait, stop! STOP! why are you always veering off into some other path that you shouldn't be veering off in! WAAH! T.Tx