Chapter Five
Hiko sighed as he looked out at the woodlands surrounding the ornate buildings that he had called home for almost fifty years. Inside the room behind him, his wife, Natsu, lingered between life and death. Granted, she had lived a good long life, but it felt so sudden to him. Even though she looked her age, Hiko didn't look his. He still looked as he had when he'd taken up the mantle and sword of Hiten Mitserugi Ryu.
"Hiko-sama." A male voice said, as the owner approached him.
"I know. I felt her leave, just now." Hiko murmured, sadly.
"I'm sorry, Hiko-sama. It was just her time." The other man said, trying to comfort the grieving man in front of him. Hiko only nodded, then quietly stood.
"I'm leaving as well. The only things I will take with me are Winter Moon and my mantle. I will not be coming back, so don't look for me come evening." Hiko said.
"Understood. We will miss you…….as will your sons and their families." The man whispered, as grief sprang anew in Hiko's dark eyes.
"And I will miss them…..But this is the only way I know to keep them and my grandchildren out of danger……For a short while, at least. Take care of them for me, Isshinta. I'm counting on you." Hiko said, as he placed a hand on the man's shoulder. For a moment, the man's eyes widened, then a small, sad smile took up residence on his aged face.
"I haven't been called Isshinta in years, Hiko-sama. It certainly brings back memories." Isshinta murmured.
"It does indeed…….Take care of yourself, and farewell." Hiko said, before he disappeared into the building to get the only possessions he wanted to take with him, then vanished out of Isshinta's life, and the life of his family, forever.
"Farewell, Hiko-sama." Isshinta said, to no one in particular, as tears slid unbidden down his cheeks.
……………………..
Rain was again pattering on the roof of the Shirobeko when Hiko awoke on the tenth day after the battles. He could hear the inhabitants of the restaurant moving around, but felt that something wasn't quite right. A gut instinct told him that something was wrong; seriously wrong. And he knew better than to ignore feelings like this.
"What is going on?" Hiko wondered, as he tried to pinpoint what it was that was causing him to feel uneasy. With a pained hiss, he sat up and reached for his sword, then pushed aside the blankets that had been draped on his legs and slowly stood. It took a few moments for him to brace himself against the feeling of intense pain and the nausea brought on by it; years of experience lending their aid to him now. When he was able to move, he took slow, careful steps; moving silently through the upper half of the restaurant and ignoring the lancing pain each step brought. Uneasily, he moved from room to room, checking on all who were there (and this included even Aoshi and Sanosuke). The last person he checked on was Kenshin. He was relieved to see that all seemed to be well with his apprentice, and everyone else within the restaurant's upper level, for that matter. With a sigh, he sank into a seated position against one of the walls in Kenshin's room, taking extra care to breathe slowly, so his injured ribs wouldn't protest too much.
"Shishou, daijobu ka?" Kenshin's voice asked, suddenly, startling Hiko somewhat. He calmed down quickly enough, however, before he looked at Kenshin. The red-haired rurouni was looking at him with tired, yet completely clear, amethyst eyes. And concern was the chiefest of expressions in those eyes at that moment.
"As well as I can be, considering most of my ribs are broken." Hiko muttered, irritably, secretly glad that his Baka Deshi had awakened. This was all the proof he needed to see that the fever had broken.
"Gomen, Shishou." Kenshin murmured, shamefacedly.
"It wasn't your fault, though you are partially to blame." Hiko stated, with some of his usual arrogance.
"Oro? What happened?" Kenshin asked, as he sat up; whimpering somewhat when his own wounds protested against it.
"I'll tell you at a later date……over some good jugs of sake." Hiko mumbled, uttering a sound of pain in his throat when he went to stand up again. It was then that Kenshin spotted the bandages on his master's legs.
"Shishou……..so you were….." Kenshin muttered, in disbelief.
"What? Shot? Aa. And I seem to recall that you were the one that ordered me to get up and find Takani." Hiko said, trying to gauge Kenshin's reaction to that statement. He watched as Kenshin's eyebrows knitted, and a thoughtful look crossed his features.
"Don't think too hard, Baka Deshi. You might injure yourself even further." Hiko dryly quipped, getting a somewhat exasperated look from the redhead in response.
"Shishou…." Kenshin mumbled, giving the older man a deadpan look while he was at it. Hiko merely brushed the look off, as he had on many other occasions, then gave Kenshin a look of curiosity.
"Well? How do you explain what you did earlier? Actually hearing you gripe and complain in real life is one thing…….but to hear you in my mind is somewhat frightening." Hiko said, with sarcasm blatant in his voice.
"I have no idea what I did, to be honest, Shishou. I just knew you were in danger, and helped you in the only way I knew how, at that point. Somehow……I don't know how……I felt your consciousness waver." Kenshin replied, explaining as best as he knew how exactly what had happened. Hiko's eyes narrowed; he had heard of something like this happening before, but the memory was so distant and faded, he couldn't recall where he'd heard it.
"In any event, it doesn't matter now. The only implication of this, is that I will probably be able to sense when that Baka Deshi gets himself waist-deep in trouble…. Lovely." Hiko thought, not even bothering to hide a disgusted scowl at the idea. Kenshin could guess what his master was thinking, and chuckled softly at his expense. The moment was broken when Kaoru came up the stairs and looked into the room. At first, she seemed startled that Hiko was once again in Kenshin's room, but then looked over at the rurouni and an expression of joy and relief appeared on her face.
"Kenshin! You're awake!" Kaoru shouted, alerting those downstairs (and waking everyone upstairs) with that. Kenshin in turn gave her a truly happy smile.
"Aa. And sessha is glad to see you again, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said, as Sanosuke and Megumi entered the room, jostling past Misao, Okon, and Omasu, in their haste.
"Well, it seems that Himura is past the point of worry, ne, Seijuro?" Aoshi asked, coolly. Hiko shrugged.
"That depends on who you're talking to. I, on the other hand, will always worry about the baka." Hiko muttered, with a deadpan expression of his own on his face. The former okashira nodded in understanding.
"I suppose the same could be said about Misao…..although I don't think I would go so far as to call her a baka. Hyperactive and hot-blooded would be more like it." Aoshi murmured.
"I would say that she is all three, but I have no desire to get kicked by a rabid Itachi at the moment." Hiko grumbled, getting something that sounded like a chuckle from the onmitsu. Then, before anything more could be said, the ominous feeling from before returned with a vengeance, drawing Hiko away from the gathering and to one of the windows in the small room. What he saw when he opened the window froze the blood in his veins; a huge, ogre of a man stood in plain view on the street below. Empty, glowing eyes glared up at him, and an icy chill of recognition raced down Hiko's spine.
"Oh no…." Hiko thought, knowing instantly that something wasn't right with the man below.
"Seijuro-sensei? What's wrong?" Yahiko asked, noticing before everyone else that the master swordsman's stance had tensed. When Hiko didn't answer, Kenshin spoke up.
"Shishou, what is it?" Kenshin asked, his voice getting the swordmaster's attention after a few moments.
"There's a swordsman down there. Seems he's searching for a fight." Hiko murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly as he said that. As quietly as they could, Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Aoshi walked over to the window and looked out. This got a number of different responses from the trio; Kaoru gasped in shock and fear, and her eyes widened; Sanosuke growled and tensed as well; and Aoshi took in and analyzed the 'ogre-man's' ki.
"Isurugi Raijuta……..what the hell is he doing here?" Sanosuke snarled, hackles raised as memories returned to him of this particular man.
"Do you think he's looking for Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, fearfully, as the redhead gave the four of them a disturbed glance.
"I don't think so………Whomever this 'Raijuta' was when you met him, this isn't the same man. His ki doesn't feel normal……in fact, it feels almost as though he's nothing more than a walking corpse." Aoshi stated, quietly, his ice-blue eyes taking on a disturbed look as he said that.
"But there's no such thing! How could that guy be walking around if he's dead! It just doesn't make sense!" Misao interjected, voicing her disbelief.
"You'd be surprised, Itachi. In any case, we're dealing with a possessed man here…..And the only one who can truly deal with this situation is an onmyoji." Hiko muttered, his eyes getting a haunted look in them, before he turned and walked out of the room, heading for 'his' room to retrieve his sword.
"Hiko-san! You're in no shape to fight!" Megumi shouted, suddenly realizing what he was going to do and breaking her silence. Hiko paused, turned, and gave her a grave look.
"Neither is Kenshin." Hiko stated, biting back a gasp when he bent to pick up the sword, but left the mantle on the floor.
"You're crazy! You'll get killed!" Misao shouted, trying to prevent him from going downstairs by blocking the way with her much smaller frame.
"Maybe….but then again, maybe not. My master used to tell me, long ago, that where there is life, there will always be hope. It doesn't always have to be kill or be killed." Hiko said, softly, as he started to descend into the lower part of the restaurant.
"Seijuro." Aoshi called, getting the older man to pause and look back at him.
"I will go and get an onmyoji. There happens to be one close by. I'll go personally and get him." Aoshi volunteered.
"You sure you're in any shape to be doing so, Shinomori?" Hiko asked, as he gave the younger man a critical look. He had seen what kind of condition the three had been in when they'd returned from Mt. Hiei, and knew that Aoshi had also suffered serious injuries. Aoshi's eyes narrowed.
"The same could be asked of you, Seijuro. Yet, all the same, I will go and get the help we need in this matter……..It is about all I can do, to repay you for saving the new Oniwabanshu from Shishio." Aoshi said, the latter part of his response so soft, that only Hiko could hear it. With a reluctant nod, Hiko resolutely continued on his way down with Aoshi following close behind.
"Shishou." Kenshin said. Hiko uttered a sound of irritation in his throat, then responded.
"What, Baka Deshi?" Hiko asked, impatiently.
"Be careful." Kenshin murmured.
"Aa." Hiko muttered, pretending not to be touched by the worried tone he'd heard in his apprentice's voice.
"Please be careful, Aoshi-sama." Misao begged, getting a nod from the former okashira as an answer. Within moments, the two men were out of earshot, and entering the street below. Where 'Raijuta' waited.
"And you're just letting 'im go, just like that?" Sanosuke asked, as he gave Kenshin a disbelieving look. Kenshin only sighed.
"What else could I do, Sano? I am only his apprentice, so I have no authority to tell him to remain……..Besides, he has a more stubborn nature than even Saito had. And once Seijuro Hiko the Thirteenth makes up his mind, there's no changing it. I should know; I put up with more than ten years of it." Kenshin muttered, in dismay.
"Let's just hope that that same stubborn and arrogant nature doesn't get him killed this time around." Megumi said, worried for her patient, and the man Kenshin had looked up to as a father figure in the past, and still did now.
"I think we all can agree with ya on that, Megumi." Sanosuke murmured, as grim looks settled onto all of their faces.
"Please come through this safely, Hiko-san. Please." Kaoru thought, as she returned to Kenshin's side held his hand tightly in her own.
……………………………..
Author's Note!
I know this is a pretty bizarre chapter, but I couldn't get this picture out of my mind (i.e. Hiko facing off against Raijuta). But everybody will have to wait to find out in the next chapter why Hiko thinks it would take more than his sword to put this ghost to rest. Also, there was a slight homage to Unseen Watcher's oneshot fic, 'Dragons'. I hope this chapter was all right, otherwise!