WARNING: Spoilers! If you don't know who Kenji is, please read at your own risk! CHARACTER DEATH.
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 56: I'm Sorry
"The lao da we once knew," Ming walked limply over to a cloth covered crate, and in one swift movement disrobed it, "no longer exists." He withdrew a large, long, automatic machine gun from the piles of weaponry in the crate. "And it is all your fault! And Japan's!" Without waiting for a response, he pointed the gun at the duo and opened fire, his hearty laughter accompanying the loud shots of heavy artillery. "As long as both your company and Japan itself sinks to the bottom, then lao da's honourable name will be avenged! Lao da was a warrior, brave, fierce and ruthless! Now, you're nothing but whimpering softie who bears the same name as he does! Be gone!" Ming's gunshots pursued Enishi and Soujirou as they ducked and swerved around furniture and crates in the room. "Be gone!"
"Wow, if I didn't know any better, Yukishiro-san," Soujirou managed to slip in a jibe in their runaway, "I would've thought he sounded exactly like what you did some fifteen years ago!"
"Shut up, idiot," Enishi barked. He did not sound angry. He dove behind a crate, and Soujirou was right after him. "Put that energy into thinking about how to get out of this fix, why don't you?" A spray of bullets pounded into the crate, shaking it from base to base.
"Well, there's only one known way out of this place, and Ming-san is standing between us and there," Soujirou thought aloud. "And we haven't any time or chance to look for another exit. Anyway I see it, we have to try to," he ducked, when an amok splinter came flying in the direction of his eye, "...either knock Ming-san out or temporarily disable him. Or at least get him away from that dangerous toy of his." The rattling churned to a stop, so both Soujirou and Enishi took the chance to peek out into the open.
Ming flung his spent machine gun aside and took out two shotguns from the crate instead, each in one hand. Soujirou and Enishi quickly retreated back to the safety of the rapidly disintegrating crate. "I hate being a sitting duck," Enishi growled, withdrawing a gun and a shotgun from with his own inner pockets. "Listen," he lowered his voice to a bare whisper. "I'll distract him. In the meantime, I want you take this," he flung the bamboo cover book back at Soujirou, "to Saitou. If he has any problems with the door in the room, there should be some useful instructions hidden in the spine of the book. Make sure Saitou gets the thing!" He released the safety on both guns. "...or this past few months would've been for nothing!"
Soujirou nodded, and that was all the assurance Enishi needed. He fired an experimental shot out without looking at his target first, then dove out of his hiding spot and began to engage in a dangerous game of hit-and-run with their foe.
Amidst the flurry of action of bright lights and explosions in the room, Soujirou mapped out his escape route. Slowly, but surely, Enishi was beginning to distract Ming so much that he no longer stood directly in front of the only known exit of the room. Until finally, he stepped completely clear.
Though not in top form, Soujirou knew he could still clear the room before Ming realised anything was amiss. Putting the book somewhere he knew would be firm and safe, he steeled his mind for the pain his feet were going to give him, and made a dash for it.
In the subsequent rush of blurred backgrounds and pounding pain, he almost could not hear the panicked warning Enishi shouted in his direction.
But he did, and so he stopped. Just in time to narrowing avoid being run through the head from temple to temple by a well aimed shot. He could almost see the little piece of metal fly by him in slow motion. Although it did not hit him in a fatal spot, it still managed to draw blood by cutting a single, sharp line across his right cheek.
Soujirou's next movements were effectively sealed, as, for the second time in a day, he found himself staring into impending doom, down the barrel of a smouldering gun. This time, he was at a slight disadvantage, as his sudden halt had literally brought him to his knees on the ground. He was still about two meters away from where Ming actually was pointing the gun at him, but he would not take any chances, not especially since he was not in top form. He could see Enishi hovering in the background, with something akin to slight horror on his face. Ming alone was calm, as if he had expected to capture Soujirou at gunpoint from the very beginning. Zheng was amazingly still out cold on the ground, despite the noise and action.
"Fifteen years ago," Ming's voice was equally calm. "...you would never have covered for someone to help them escape."
Soujirou and Enishi both remained silent to that.
"In the gang, it was always leader-first," Ming continued, mouth poised in a soundless laugh. "The leaders were expected to be the pinnacle of such a principle. Everybody else was supposed to die for him, right down to the very last man if need be! Why have you changed!"
"Because I realised how stupid I was," Enishi's reply came as a surprise to both Soujirou and Ming alike. "I realised that I have other things... worth much more than my own life..." He glanced sternly at Ming. "You have them too." His glance flickered momentarily to the unconscious Zheng. "You just haven't realised it yet."
Ming grit his teeth, his brows furrowing as he furiously tried to comprehend Enishi's words. "I don't get it!" He finally screamed. "I don't know what you're trying to tell me! But this I do know," the slightly neurotic Ming released the safety of the gun he held poised at Soujirou, causing the wanderer's breath to be caught in his throat. "As long as I eliminate your fellowship one by one, then you'll have nowhere else to go to, but back to us! I don't need to know what you're trying to say!"
Like Ming, Soujirou had yet to be able to comprehend what Enishi was saying. A nagging feeling at the back of his head told him that he did understand, whilst the other, more logical side of him told him that it couldn't possibly be so. Whatever it was, he knew that he was staring at death in its face, when Ming pulled the trigger of the gun in his confusion.
Too late to react; too late to even cry foul, Soujirou bit on his lower lip and drew in a sharp intake of breath. The shot of Ming's gun rang loud and clear in his ears. At least, he thought wryly to himself, this wasn't such a bad way to die. For all the things he had done to many other people in his life, an instant, painless death was almost merciful. As if the world had been reduced to slow motion, he kept his eyes wide opened and waited. Waiting to see what his final moment would be like. Waiting, for the final pang of pain that would render this entire episode over.
Waiting, but never seeing it.
The shot was fired, and it certainly hit flesh.
Yet it was not Soujirou's flesh that was hit, but the figure's, the owner of whom had darted from the other end of the room to stand before him - to shield him from the shot, the instance it was fired.
Enishi.
Soujirou wondered, with an open mouth, if he was dreaming.
Until he heard his companion cough roughly. And saw him cough up blood.
Enishi clutched his chest, where the bullet had hit and stayed. he knew it was a lethal hit. Blood was not just coming out of his mouth from his coughing, but pouring out of his wound like an unhindered stream as well. Yet before he fell in pain, he took aim with the guns still in his hands, and fired two shots at the shocked Ming, who was frozen in shock, realising what he had done. The two shots flew directly at Ming's legs, eventually burying themselves deeply into his knees. Rendered immobile with a cry of anguish, Ming fell to the ground the same time Enishi did, dropping his weapon and curling up into a fetal position on the ground - no longer a threat. For now.
Not that Soujirou really cared if he was still a threat or not.
"Yukishiro-san!" Soujirou gasped, surging forward and shaking the coughing Enishi, who had fallen onto the ground at his feet. He was too confused to think of anything grander to say. "Are you all right? Yukishiro-san!"
"Shut up!" Enishi managed to scold, amidst his coughing. His breathing was raspy; his blood pouring out of the gaping wound on his chest, pooling into a big mess around him and Soujirou on the ground. "Why the hell are you still here? Get the hell out already" He coughed, and blood dribbled out of the corners of his lips. "...get out..." he continued, in a much weaker voice. "...get away from here..."
As if the situation had just dawned upon him, Soujirou released the breath he had been holding, and quickly rearranged Enishi so that he could sling one of the older man's arms over his shoulders. "We're going together," he firmly said, although his voice was shaking. With Enishi leaning almost entirely against his shoulder, coughing away, he moved as quickly as he could towards the exit.
And would have reached it successfully, if Ming had not suddenly appeared in front of him.
"You're not going anywhere!" The furious man roared, standing shakily on his two injured feet. "You"
Ming did not get to finish his words. With his free hand, Soujirou threw a punch at the man right across his face, the sheer force of his strength making Ming fly across the room, crashing right through a wall, until his body slumped limply from the hole that had just been created by the impact.
"If you make me any angrier, I'll tear you into pieces!" Soujirou hissed, his eyes wide with fury. Not waiting for Ming's reaction, he continued on with his journey towards the exit. This proved to be difficult, for Enishi, though conscious, was mumbling incoherently to himself, his entire body slack. Soujirou's injuries on his legs, though tended to, were not yet healed. It was painful enough trying to walk on his two feet. An additional weight leaning against him certainly did not make it any easier.
By the third time he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground, he was near giving up. His vision was blurry and he was slowly losing all sense from his two feet. He knew that in the next step, he was bound to fall over. So he paused. He considered his options. There were not many, but there was bound to be one that would work.
"Enough, Soujirou," Enishi suddenly spoke in clarity, but was so soft, the younger wanderer almost did not hear him. He was no longer coughing, but his breathing was stilted and raspy. Blood also continued to gush out of the gaping wound on his chest. "Take the book to Saitou now."
"But I /am/ taking it to him now!" Soujirou protested.
"Without me, stupid," Enishi said, out of breath. Soujirou distracted himself by being amazed at how Enishi was always able to find stupidity in the most dire of situations. He waited for Enishi to explain further, as he usually would. But all Enishi was doing now was to try to catch his breath, and growing paler and paler with each breath he took.
"Why?"
The question was out before Soujirou even realised his mouth was moving.
In the pause that next occurred, even Enishi's heavy breathing seemed like a whisper amidst their amplified thoughts.
Enishi laughed - as much as a strangled laugh was a laugh. "Heh," he sniggered. "Twenty-five years ago..." A cough. "...I asked myself... the exact same question." His weight against Soujirou began to increase, until the younger wanderer could no longer support him standing up. He slowly allowed Enishi to slump to the ground, while Soujirou himself followed, half kneeling beside his friend, supporting him as much as he could. "I thought..." Enishi continued, with a sigh, his body relaxing, "...they showed me the answer... fifteen years ago..." he smiled. It was not a leer of any sort. "I guess..." as he spoke, the light in his eyes slowly grew dimmer, "...some answers can never be found until you go through it yourself..."
"I don't understand!" Soujirou shook Enishi slightly. He knew that time was running out. Faster than he cared to count. "Why did you do it, Yukishiro-san! You always scold me! You always think I'm a nuisance! And then you go off and do things like this! I don't understand!" He ignored the sting in his eyes that was smudging his vision. Ignored the wetness trickling down his cheeks as Enishi's raspy breathing gradually evened into a noiseless whisper. "...don't go..." He mumbled into Enishi's bloodstained shawl. Fresh blood continued to pool around the men on the floor beneath them, staining them crimson. A sign of a life that was near the end of its flow. "...please don't go..."
If Enishi heard Soujirou's pleas and questions, he made no attempt to reply. Instead he lifted a surprisingly calm hand to rest it upon Soujirou's lowered head lightly - like a reassuring parent would his inconsolable child.
"Get the book to Saitou..." was his command. Thin. Quiet. "...help me finish what I started..." He struggled to catch enough air to speak his next word. "Soujirou..." He coughed. Smiled.
"I'm sorry."
His hand slipped.
His smile slipped.
Yukishiro Enishi would never speak another word again.
It took a while before Soujirou managed swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I know, Yukishiro-san," he leaned in and whispered into his comrade's ear, voice so lucid, he surprised even himself.
"I'm sorry too."
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... to be continued
24/3/05
tougenkyou . net / xd