Chapter Four
It was late in the night of the eighth day after the battle with Shishio when Kenshin's delirium reached its peak. His fever, that of which Megumi had been trying desperately to break, made it that much worse.
"SHISHOU!!!!" Kenshin suddenly screamed, scaring several years out of the lives of the people within the Shirobeko. Out of sound sleep, Hiko bolted upright, eyes wide with concern. Without even thinking he got up and dashed over to Kenshin's room, not noticing when he tore the wounds in his legs open again.
"Hiko-san!!" Kaoru had cried, when she saw him rush past. He didn't pay her any heed; for, within moments, he was at the rurouni's side.
"Hiko-san! What are you doing……?!" Megumi yelped, trailing off when she saw the swordmaster kneel down beside the smaller man's futon and put a hand to his brow. Almost instantly, Kenshin settled down; somehow sensing Hiko's presence despite his delirium. After a few tense moments, Hiko allowed himself to relax. With a wince he realized too late that he shouldn't have moved so quickly; crimson patches were staining through the bandages on his legs, giving him the none-too-subtle hint that he'd torn his own injuries open in his haste to get to his apprentice's side.
"What's goin' on?! What's all the yellin' about?!?" Sanosuke asked, as he, Misao, Kaoru and Okina rushed in, all of them pausing when they saw Hiko kneeling there, with fresh blood already soaking the bandages on his thighs.
"This crisis is over. The Baka Deshi should be all right for the moment." Hiko assured, as he stubbornly got to his feet; his face paling dramatically when he did so.
"Hold it right there. You shouldn't even be standing, much less running! What were you thinking?!" Megumi asked, somewhat in disbelief at the man's actions.
"I wasn't, Takani. That's just it……something like that is almost instinct…….You'll know what I mean, when you become a parent." Hiko whispered, so only Megumi could hear, before he resolutely limped to a corner of the room and leaned against the wall, drained after moving even the short distance between rooms. He looked up wearily when Sanosuke approached him and placed his good hand on his shoulder.
"Need help getting back to your room?" Sanosuke asked. Hiko shook his head.
"I'll go back when I feel like it." Hiko muttered, meaning to sound belligerent, but coming off sounding exhausted instead, much to his frustration. Sanosuke shrugged, then backed up and walked out of the room.
"You should go back and rest, Hiko-san. As it is, you shouldn't be up yet either." Kaoru said, gently, trying a slightly different approach than what Sanosuke had tried. Hiko gave her an ironic look. He could almost hear the underlying thought for Kaoru's words; what she was really trying to get across. Just rest. You don't want Kenshin to worry, do you?
"Feh…….Baka Deshi gets what he wants without even having to be conscious." Hiko thought, as he gave the sleeping rurouni a wry glance, before slowly walking away from the wall on his own.
The smell was what hit him first. Gunpowder. Then burning flesh and fresh blood. He let out a gasp when he felt the first round hit him.
"Mine against yours! Even Hiten Mitserugi can't beat a gun!" a man in feudal warlord regalia crowed, as blood flowed freely down Hiko's armor from his left shoulder.
"Iwano, you coward!" Hiko roared, furiously, short sword bared as he charged at his hated enemy. A second gunshot stopped him in his tracks, the blast hitting him in the right shoulder this time and getting a fine spray of blood as a result.
"You are Kitakata's last hope. After I finish you, Kitakata is as good as mine! And Natsu!" 'Iwano' sneered, as his underlings handed him a fresh gun. Hiko was barely listening; his mind consumed with hatred and the agonizing pain.
"I saved that woman from death by making her my wife, but all she does is cry. She cries for you!" Iwano continued. This got Hiko's attention; Natsu cried for him?! Before he could think of anything else, a third blast struck him right in the center of the chest, breaking ribs and forcing him to cough up blood. He fell to his knees, dropping his short sword into a puddle of his own blood, his strength ebbing quickly.
"Then this is it…….with my own mortal enemy before me……" Hiko thought, not even listening when Iwano's insane laughter echoed down the ravine to his ears. He looked up when a telltale gleam caught his eye.
"The moon……..The clouds have cleared and the moon is shining. This will make escape easier for Isshinta……" Hiko mused, then remembered with a jolt; it was the night of the new moon!
"Then that crescent moon……is it?! Yes! It…….?!?" Hiko thought, his mind taking in first the sight of his sword, then the person who now wielded it.
"Isshinta!!" Hiko yelped, then added, "You idiot! Why did you come back?! You must want to die!!"
"I don't want to die! I want to see Natsu alive!" Isshinta replied, referring to the girl he loved with that statement.
"Then turn around and run!" Hiko commanded, even though it hurt to raise his voice in such a manner. He was stunned by Isshinta's response.
"But you too! You have to live to see your Natsu!" Isshinta cried.
"You fool! You came back to tell me that?! I'm the man who abandoned Natsu-hime! I have no place to run! I have no right to return to her!" Hiko shouted, then added, "Forget about me and run, Isshinta! I don't want to make your Natsu cry!"
"Hiko-sama, it's you who's the fool! Don't you know why Natsu-hime cries?! I don't want my Natsu to cry, but I can't let Natsu-hime cry, either! Don't run away through death, Hiko-sama! If you do, then Natsu-hime's tears will never stop!" Isshinta said, as his voice started fading away.
"Isshinta!" Hiko called, as the memory faded from around him.
"Live on, Hiko-sama. Don't make Natsu-hime cry." Isshinta's voice whispered, before another voice called for him.
"Shishou………..
…….…………..……………….………..Hiko gasped and bolted upright, hissing in pain when his ribs reminded him that it wasn't wise to make any sudden movements. For a brief moment, he was disoriented; then he remembered, he'd returned to his room and collapsed on the futon. He could tell that he'd been drugged again (since his senses were sluggish to tell him much of anything), and that his leg wounds had been re-stitched and bound in fresh bandages.
"I'd give anything for a full jug of sake right about now." Hiko mused, then looked at his legs and took that back.
"Almost anything." Hiko silently amended. He most certainly did not want to be an invalid! He'd commit sepukku before it came to that!
"Boy, you sure look grim right now. Have a bad dream?" Misao's voice asked, startling Hiko somewhat in the fact that she'd been sitting right next to him and he hadn't even sensed her!
"You could say that. How long have I been out?" Hiko questioned, seemingly eager to change the subject.
"Almost a whole day. You had us worried sick last night, though. Your fever returned with a vengeance." Misao said, deciding to be frank and honest with him about that. Hiko sighed; he was nowhere near ready to leave, judging by that bit of news.
"I guess I owe you and yours some thanks, Itachi." Hiko reluctantly admitted, ignoring the female ninja's rather angry glare when he'd called her by that hated nickname. Then her anger cooled, and curiosity took over.
"Hiko-san, when Megumi changed the bandages on your chest last night, she found something weird. She said it looked like you'd been shot before, in both shoulders…..and that the scars looked old. When did it happen?" Misao asked. She got nothing but silence from the swordmaster as a response.
"Misao, stop pestering him." Yahiko's voice said, from the other end of the hall. Misao bristled.
"Mind your own business, brat!" Misao snapped, getting a flinch from Hiko when she raised her voice.
"Make me!" Yahiko retorted. Hiko rolled his eyes; he knew that that had been the wrong thing to say to the hyperactive ninja.
"Fine then! Here I come!" Misao shouted, as she charged out of the room to go and throttle Yahiko.
"Makes me glad I only had one deshi to deal with…….." Hiko mused, with a deadpan expression on his face as sounds of battle came to his ears from the room down the hall.
Some time later, when silence once again reigned within the Shirobeko, Kaoru entered Hiko's room with a game board and some books. The wounded swordmaster arched an eyebrow when he saw her.
"Aren't you the thoughtful one?" Hiko asked, getting a slight smile from Kaoru as a response.
"There isn't much to do now, since all the bandages have been changed and everyone is resting. I figured a game of Go would take our minds off of our troubles for a bit." Kaoru said, her blue-grey eyes hinting at the worry that she had for Kenshin. Hiko sighed.
"You should know that I show no mercy, not even for women." Hiko warned, as Kaoru placed the game board on the floor between them.
"I know. I was hoping for more of a challenge from you, since Kenshin always seems to let me win." Kaoru responded, chuckling when Hiko rolled his eyes and muttered an exasperated sounding 'Baka Deshi' under his breath before shaking his head for added emphasis.
"Fine then. What color do you choose?" Hiko asked, finally.
"White." Kaoru replied.
"So I get to be the 'bad guy' this time, eh? Fair enough." Hiko murmured, as he placed all of the black pieces on the board. Within moments a vicious battle had begun on the board. Hiko found, to his surprise, that Kaoru was more than just a halfway decent player; she was a worthy opponent!
"Maybe I was the baka for taking her on! She's better at this than she looks!" Hiko thought, as he focused on the game, cursing softly when she took another of his pieces. While the game was going on, Kaoru took this opportunity to get a good look at Hiko. She was starting to see where some of Kenshin's mannerisms had come from; the thoughtful scowl on Hiko's face was very similar to the one Kenshin sometimes wore, and the deadpan expression that sometimes graced his features was another. Another thing he did that was telling was that, whenever he was trying to plan his moved well in advance, he crossed his arms lightly and glared at the board; eyes taking everything in.
"I win." Kaoru said, at last, smiling as she took the last of his pieces.
"This isn't over, Kamiya. I challenge you to another match." Hiko stated, in a no-nonsense tone.
"All right. Which color?" Kaoru asked, even though she had a feeling which one he would choose.
"White, this time." Hiko said, as he took the pieces he hadn't already captured and placed them on his side of the board. This time, however, the game went in Hiko's favor. Kaoru smiled when she saw that the older man was enjoying himself, despite his serious exterior.
"All he needed was a distraction, something to occupy his mind. He's just as worried as the rest of us are………probably even moreso." Kaoru mused, looking up when Hiko asked her a question.
"Who taught you how to play this game, anyway?" Hiko asked, sounding honestly curious.
"My father taught me. Before he was drafted for the Seinan War, we spent many hours playing. Almost as many hours as we did kenjutsu practice." Kaoru replied, smiling fondly at the memories as they came to mind. Hiko nodded slightly. He could almost imagine the scene of the father trying to teach his stubborn and excitable daughter to play the intricate game; and remembered what it had been like when he'd taught Kenshin.
"They really aren't that different from one another, as far as that is concerned. But she has no blood on her hands, no burden on guilt on her soul. While Kenshin has both of those problems to deal with……..and I have them as well." Hiko thought, remembering only too well his own bloody past, and his efforts to try and put it behind him. As the game continued on, the young kenjutsu teacher and the thirteenth Hiten Mitserugi master sank into companionable silence; no further words were needed.