Healer
By Meii-chan
Chapter 6-Fight and Flight
Kuto turned around and clubbed the bandit over the head with a gigantic spatula. "You idiot!" he hissed, "We're supposed to be sneaking in!"
"So you are the ones who have been causing Kirashi-dono all these problems." Kenshin said in a darkly Battousai-ish voice after quietly creeping up behind the group.
Kuto spun around, and at the sight of Kenshin, breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just some random guy and a kid, nothing to worry about." He muttered under his breath. "Look, forget that you ever saw this incident and we'll leave you alone."
"This unworthy one cannot allow you to hurt those people who are trying to live peacefully in the Meiji era. If you intend on harming them, this unworthy one will not stand by idly and watch!"
"Such arrogance from a person who calls himself unworthy…" Kuto unceremoniously flung his spatula behind him and drew the sword Chou lent him. "Get him! Anyone in our way dies!"
The well water was crisp and fresh this night, Yumi noted, ladling it out with a bamboo ladle into a small teapot. She had become a nocturnal creature; maybe that's why she was always so irritable during the day. Or maybe it was because it was more peaceful in the evening.
As she dropped the dry tea leaves into the clear water, Yumi heard some faint metallic clanging in the air. She assumed that it was nothing out of the ordinary, perhaps some distant wind chime clanking away with the soft breeze. Not caring, she set the teapot on a portable coal stove and made a small fire. There was another clang, louder this time, as the tea leaves lost their buoyancy and drifted to the bottom of the teapot. Yumi once again convinced herself that she was just drowsy and was hearing things. When Megumi suddenly came out of the door behind her, Yumi almost fell over forwards toward the steaming teapot.
"Megumi-chan! It's ten at night; you shouldn't be up! Go back to bed!" Yumi ordered.
"Yumi-nee-chan, did you hear some strange sound just now?" Megumi noticed the peculiar look on Yumi face and added: "No, I'm not making it up! And Sou-chan isn't here either!"
To Megumi's surprise, Yumi didn't chastise her. "Funny, I heard something to, but I thought it was a wind chime! Are you sure Bouya (1) isn't in the house?"
"Bouya? Why are you calling Sou-chan with one of those odd western words?"
"Because Kirashi-san dressed him in that funny western shirt earlier today. And besides do you really—" Megumi couldn't hear anything past that because a tremendous battle roar echoed throughout the courtyard.
"That doesn't sound like a wind chime to me!"
Kenshin had an easy time rendering the bandits unconscious. However, the leader, Kuto, was at least semi-skilled, and managed to stay on his feet. The other half dozen bandits lay sprawled out in various places in the dirt.
Kuto, noticing his obvious failure in attacking Kenshin let loose a diatribe of bathroom invectives. This guy's incredibly strong… Then he noticed the fallen bandits behind Kenshin stirring. All I need is a diversion, and then he's finished. But how…?
"Do you surrender?" Kenshin asked solemnly, violet eyes, almost amber, bored into Kuto's mind.
As Kuto adverted Kenshin's gaze, his beady little eyes, fell upon the sight of Soujiro, unarmed and standing to the side of the battleground where he could be easily reached. His fallen comrades were already silently getting up behind Kenshin. "Not yet!"
And to Kenshin's surprise, Kuto dashed not towards him, but to the side. "A side attack? That won't work." Kenshin coolly turned his head. Instantly, he caught sight of Kuto heading for someone else.
"SOUJIRO!!!"
Kenshin's shout snapped Soujiro out of his stunned state. He had been in this shocked condition ever since Kenshin KO'd the bandits within a couple of minutes. But now, he suddenly realized that the bandit leader was rushing towards him was bloodlust gleaming in his beady little eyes. So, he did what natural instinct told him to do: run for his life. Soujiro almost sighed at the irony of the situation if he wasn't going to be hacked in two at that moment. Everything is different from yesterday, but I still have people who want me dead…he thought as he easily escaped the descending blade of Kuto.
To Kuto, Soujiro seemed to have vanished into thin air. There was absolutely no trace of him where his sword had sliced into the ground, although there was a small dent in the ground where the boy used to be. The man was thoroughly perplexed.
Kenshin did see a blue blur that was Soujiro running away from Kuto before it disappeared. Shukuchi…the speed that surpasses the god-speed of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu…a slow one, but nonetheless…
"Himura-san!"
Kenshin heard Soujiro's voice from somewhere behind him. "Oro?" He quickly turned around, knocking down a bandit in the process with a whack from his russet colored ponytail. "ORO?!" The five other bandits that he KO'd just a few minutes ago had gained consciousness and were now charging towards him at an abnormally dramatic pace—
And Kenshin, in yet another display of incredibly rapid swordplay, dispatched of the five remaining bandits and Kuto, who was still staring at the patch of ground where Soujiro used to be.
Seeing as all the bandits were either unconscious or too injured to move, he sheathed his sword. "What should this unworthy one do with all of these people…?"
"Hey Himura!" Yumi shouted at Kenshin, "What are you doing out here making a racket! You might bring the police around here!" Then she noticed an unconscious bandit lying by her foot with his eyes blankly rolling around in his eye sockets. She shrieked, and jumped behind Kenshin. "That's disgusting! Why didn't you tell me he was right next to me!?"
"Sou-chan…" Megumi said between gulps of air, "…here you are…" Megumi collapsed to the ground beside him. She made a mental memo to herself that running in a kimono was in the "do not do unless in an emergency" list.
"Megumi-san, are you okay?"
"Fine…And I can see you are too. Why'd I have to worry about your well being so much? It's detrimental to my own health…"
"Anyone know what we do with them?" Kenshin asked once more, indicating the seven bandits on the ground.
"We tie them up!" Kirashi popped up out of nowhere, holding a length of thick twine in her hands.
The seven bandits were thus tied up in the middle of the sidewalk with a triumphant-looking Kirashi and an exasperated Kenshin looking on. Yumi had taken Soujiro and Megumi into the house and had not come back since.
"So what are you going to do, Kirashi-dono?"
Kirashi's triumphant look fell off her face. "I was considering to report it as a petty robbery, but there's too many of them for that reason to be plausible. I mean, would it take a raiding party to steal lady's jewelry? Even is it did make sense, I can't call the police."
"Why not?"
"But possessing swords, I'm making a transgression of the law anyways. So they can't know about it."
"Hehehe…that's right…" Kuto, despite what battered state he was in, was still able to speak coherently.
"Okay, so why do you need Kirashi-dono's heirlooms? You know that if you are a bad swordsman with an expensive sword, you're still a bad swordsman." Kenshin calmly spoke as Kuto seethed in fury. "It's possible that you would sell it on the black market, but the samurai who purchase it are already poorer than the merchant class; you won't get much for it."
"Humph. You think you know everything. Don't get so arrogant, flaunting a toy sword like yours. There are more of us!"
"So now you're all working under a more powerful villain."
"That's not what I meant!" Kuto panicked. People shouldn't know that Chou-sama was actually a mafia leader.
"In any case, this unworthy one will release you to tell your leader that if he wants any part of Kirashi-dono's property, he should come get it himself. Unless you wish to remain tied up in Kirashi-dono's storage shed."
Kenshin's pacific request was not like anything Kuto had predicted. Kuto had no desire to go back to Chou empty-handed; Chou always held swords on a pedestal higher than human life. On the other hand, staying in a storage shed wasn't much safer; Chou would know sooner or later that he had failed in his mission. Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to Kuto. He would just tell Kenshin that he was going to Chou, and then he'll run off to the country somewhere. "Fine. I'll tell him. Now release me!"
And Kenshin did. Kuto ran off, dragging the bodies of the six other bandits with him.
"You're that gullible…" Kirashi muttered, massaging her temples. "Don't you know that you have absolutely no way of controlling their actions?"
"Yes. This unworthy one knows. But it'll be a while before he comes back. So savor the peace while it lasts, Kirashi-dono."
A week later, there were no more surprise attacks upon the Kariwa household. This lack of events assuaged Kirashi greatly, as she seemed more lively nearing the end of the week. She spent more time outdoors occasionally working with the other hired field hands with the rice, leaving Yumi and Megumi to only cook and dust the furniture.
"Hey! How long are you going to keep practicing?" Megumi asked Soujiro and Kenshin while walking past them with a basket of wild onions.
"This unworthy one doesn't know. Why? It can't be past ten."
After the initial attempted bandit raid, Kenshin had started to train Soujiro. When Soujiro questioned upon this sudden difference in his opinion, Kenshin simply told him "Because you need to be able to defend yourself." And so he did. For the entire week, Kenshin had only taught Soujiro how to block and disarm his opponent.
"Because we're going to have lunch early and then go with Kirashi-san to the market." She told them.
"Oh, right. Kirashi-san did mention something about that yesterday, didn't she?"
"Yeah, she did. Yumi-nee-chan's probably going to be done cooking in a few minutes. I need to tell Kirashi-san. Do you know where she went? I couldn't find her inside the house."
"This unworthy one thinks she went fishing." Kenshin replied. "Kirashi-dono specifically told this unworthy one not to go fishing."
Despite the wink on his face, Chou was aggravated by Kuto's disappearance. He managed to get hold of one of the bandits from Kuto's raiding party while having lunch at some port restaurant. The bandit had informed him that a short swordsman with red hair and cross scar on his cheek had intercepted their robbery.
Oiling the blade of his sword, Chou slowly opened the other eye. "Any blade the legendary Hitokiri Battousai uses must be priceless. Forget the Nagasone Koketsu. I want the sword of the greatest shadow assassin of the Isshin Shishi!"
"Anata…(2)" Kirashi said softly as if such a simple sound could break the harmonic spell created by the gentle flowing water of the stream and the flittering songs of the birds perched overhead in the forest canopy.
"Hmm?" Kariwa Henya sat with his back leaning on a sinewy willow tree by the streambed. His raven colored hair hung limply from his head, blowing in whichever direction the breeze chose. Not that he cared; Henya barely acknowledged the fact as he napped lazily near the water.
"I was going to ask you earlier, but I forgot." She apologized quickly for no apparent reason.
"That's fine. You know I don't really care about correct etiquette and that kind of stuff. What did you want to ask me?"
"Oh. I was just wondering what you thought of Himura-san and the other children."
It was a good bit of wondering upon Kirashi's part; Henya had greeted Yumi's stay with something that resembled mild discontent. Not that Henya didn't like her. He met Yumi with an odd impassiveness that he used to greet everyone else. It was just that he was thinking of what his long deceased grandfather would say if he sheltered kind of person in the house.
"I don't mind them. As long as Himura-san is doing what he's supposed to." He replied with indifference.
Kirashi sighed in relief. "If it's just that, then Himura-san's doing quite well. No one has bothered us in a week."
"Are you all worrying about that again?" Megumi's voice caused them to look up. "What's so important about it if you aren't planning to sell it?" And to Kirashi, she said: "Yumi needs the fish now."
"Ah. I'll give it to her then." Kirashi yanked up her fishing pole in the most unceremonious manner and collected her basket of tiny squiring fish. "Why don't you explain it to her, Anata? I've said enough for today."
"Well?"
Henya closed his eyes, trying to think of the best way to explain it to a twelve-year-old child.
"Well?"
"Well?"
"Will you stop saying 'well'?" he retorted. "Look. Is your family well known for doing something great?"
"My family practices medicine."
"What if you couldn't be a doctor? What then?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a lady doctor."
Henya smacked his forehead with his hand. "You misunderstood me. What if you ended up hurting someone instead of helping them?"
"My mom and dad will get mad at me. And then I'll be depressed and eventually kill myself."
"You're too far off into the suicidal end. But anyway, my family is like that. Every single one of them is some great warrior; a sword master or an important general in the army. Me, I have no talent with any kind of blade. I would probably drop it unless it's stuck to my hand. With sword skills like that, my ancestors would probably throw me out of the house if I didn't do something worthwhile."
"So keeping a couple of rusty swords is worthwhile? If you can't do anything with them, why keep them?"
"I'll keep them as long as it takes for me to create something that enables me to fly."
"Fly?" Megumi tilted her head to one side and looked quizzically at Henya. "Fly?" she repeated.
"Yes. Have you seen the birds fly in the air? What happens down here doesn't matter to them; they're truly free."
"And you want to be like that?"
"Of course. Don't you want to be like that too? To forget all your worries and leave your past mistakes behind? But I still need to figure out a way to keep me in the air for a long time. I first tried jumping off the side of a cliff—ended up stuck in a tree in the bottom of the ravine…" he said as he scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, I think that if I could do that, it'll make up for all those failed kendo lessons, right?"
"I guess…" Megumi thought it was a silly goal, but if it gave him a purpose in life, what could she say about it?
"Mou! (3)" Yumi stomped, as much as she could in a kimono, through the woods. "How come when I'm slaving away at the kitchen you all are bantering with each other? You can at least thank me by coming to lunch on time!" With that said, she huffed and stomped away.
"Yumi-nee-san wait for me!"
Glossary
1. Bouya—What Yumi calls Soujiro; Boy (from English)
2. Anata—literally "you"; what wives typically call their husbands (dear, honey, something along those lines)
3. Mou—an expression of exasperation.
Author's Notes: Yay! Soujiro can sort of do Shukuchi! (I want to be able to do that too, so then I actually don't have to half-kill myself in gym class. But then, Soujiro can probably do that because he's been carrying bales of rice since he was a little kid…) Now, did Soujiro do Shukuchi when he was running away from rice merchant and co.? I certainly hope not, because he crashed into Megumi, and crashing at near Shukuchi speeds isn't something safe to do. (I daresay it would be like crashing a car at 200 mph.) I couldn't do an extensive scene on the fight, I'm sorry. I don't know a thing about swordfights…
And I've acquired the knowledge that Yumi is supposed to be just two years older than Megumi. (Yumi-24, Megumi-22)Yumi's been treating Megumi like a child, but I guess she's just like that. Or maybe Megumi was relatively vertically challenged as a child.
Yay! Henya has a personality and a past! I couldn't leave him as some guy who resembles a bat for too long. The notion that he flies "just because" isn't too realistic. Besides, I imagine he has to stink at the sword if he used all those cheap tricks against Yahiko (not to mention he was beaten by him.) For some odd reason he reminds me of Aoshi when Misao's talking to him…
Thank you so much for the reviews!
Twilight Sky: Thank you! Yup, the character are kind of OC, but that's because it takes place ten years earlier and ten years is a long time. Ten years ago I thought there were actually people in the TV and that's how it worked! Yeah, I plan on including all the Jupongatana…I just have to figure out how to fit in Iwanbou since Gein is in the Jinchuu arc.
Fallen: Now that I'm finally done with final exams, I can write more. Er…I hope. Anyhow, Soujiro's my favorite character, so I could write anything from Sou/Mis (if a bit overdone) to Sou/Tomoe. (I don't know exactly how to accomplish the latter one, as she's already dead and Rurouni Kenshin isn't exactly a ghost story.)
Lord Cirenmas: Thank you for reviewing! I should really try to make this fanfic into a doujinshi, except I'm too lazy and I have no clue how.