Lchan: I am SOOOOOOO sorry for updating late! To tell you waiting people the truth, I've had this chapter made ages ago. I've just been very, very lazy and negligent that I didn't upload them for posting. Sorry, sorry, sorry…please don't flame me 'coz of the long wait! Onegai, forgive me—and come back to review! I AM sorry…
And as for chapter spoilers…let's see, there's Kaoru after Kenshin…and Megumi, Yahiko, and Sano after Kaoru (and Kenshin too at the same time)…and, in this chapter, a new name is to be added to the list. Well…a new PERSON. Please read. It kinda lags, but for a reason. I can't rush this. It'll come out…well…rushed! It's kinda risky. Boring chapter, this one, I'm very, very, very sad to say.
Well, actually that depends on you, but…uhm...ah, why don't you build up your own opinions and tell me through feedback, eh? Hm ^_^.
Oh, and MCHLL—I'm happy you reviewed. It doesn't matter if this story started a LONG time ago. It's nice to have you.
Counter Strike
Chapter 9—Numbered Days
"You know, for as far back as I can remember, all that gutless slaughterer has ever been able to do was ruin lives. As far back as I can recall all he has ever been able to accomplish was to make people weep and live in fear…spill blood and tears for no reasonable cause! That creature shall die. I'll see to that."
"Taro, you're being more serious than usual…no…make that more serious than ever. It's getting very scary."
"I have always been serious. Losing the last of your relatives isn't an easy thought to convert into a joke. But I'm sure YOU wouldn't know how THAT feels."
"I wouldn't, would I? I didn't lose the last of my relatives to a slayer. I merely lost my BEST FRIEND to one. That's not so big a deal now, is it? My widowed mom died of heart failure on my third birthday…I lost my foster father to the war…but no slayers for my deceased family members…so—no biggie."
"You sound funny sarcastic. But no worries, I can still see your point, and even though you only went through all those merely MINOR trials, I'm sure you already have an idea on how I feel. Don't you?"
"You sound brutal sarcastic, and if it doesn't surprise you—yes, I do know how you feel. But tell me: why do I somehow think you're still being ridiculous!? You don't even know if he's dead!"
"Yes, but can you prove to me that he's alive!?"
"No, and you're absolutely hopeless. I give up. Go ahead then—you're free to die young."
"Don't count on it, or you'll wind up eating your own wicked words—because I'll make him pay for what he did with his own wretched life."
"Oho, so I'M wicked…that's new. Well, suit yourself. I can only wish you a fat lot of luck, my neighbor—that which you'll undoubtedly need."
* * *
Another hot day just like the day before, with the sun scorching down on heads that searched for shade.
Kenshin's dull, indigo eyes shifted with rapid unease at the heads he knew were once again turning his way, always followed by the usual vague mutterings and gossip. He closed them and hid further underneath the blazing red of his muddled bangs.
Tschk…tschk…tschk…his footsteps made an incredibly monotonous beat against the ground. The swaying of his sakabatou by his hip had come almost to a point of being annoying, and the thumping of his tiny knapsack against his slightly slumped back was beginning to irritate him.
Not that he was being a pessimist.
He was just wearing himself out by wondering constantly what it was about himself and people that always made him end up on the road.
He really wasn't meant to know happiness after all that blood he had let leak, was he?
But hadn't he suffered as well and enough? He had been robbed of a childhood worthy of memories, blinded by men who'd taken advantage of his skills and naïveté, made to wander aimlessly and conduct a painful search for redemption…plagued by guilt and haunted by self-reproach…harshly isolated from all that he had so desperately tried to hold on to…
His eyes snapped open suddenly at the rush of symptoms of another person approaching him—vague but present footsteps, the familiar feeling that someone was watching…
Sure enough, a few moments after, a shrill voice called out. "Hello, sir! Would you like a place to stay for the night? Or perhaps some food? We have a wide selection of different cuisines that I'm sure a wanderer like you would love to taste—"
"I'm fine," Kenshin shortly replied, his voice midway between coldness and courtesy. It soothed him if just a tiny, molecular bit that someone had offered him his or her services, but he couldn't pinpoint that split-second rush of gratitude amid the traffic of his thoughts, and he refused to search for it.
The woman stepped back and nodded rather nervously. "I see…" she said, and she turned away to clamor at other passersby.
As soon as the menu-toting, apron-clad lady averted her gaze, Kenshin resumed his wandering and his thinking, unaware of his growing hunger and the gnawing agony of his straining leg muscles.
Why did he feel so bitter? Had he a right to be? Well, of course he had a right! But why? Why was he feeling so…lopsided? Hasn't he been a wanderer too before? Why was this return so different? He wasn't as tetchy way back when…
What's wrong with him?
Kenshin's eyes hardened as his mind flashed to another angle.
Well, why did HE always have to be the one to be asked that!? At least two people played parts in situations like this! What was wrong with THEM!?
He gritted his teeth, determined to keep the fire inside him from blazing even more.
It was a harsh bit of stereotyping to be hated for carrying a harmless sword—a sword they didn't even know if used for good or bad.
It was practically insulting.
"Why do I waste my swordsmanship with people who reject me?" he wondered, in a voice just loud enough to be heard only by him. Confusion filled him.
A lot of sword-toting men had asked him that, tempting him to leave his newfound home with Kaoru and the others. And he had been so sure of what to answer:
"No. Use your skills to help people. I have found a brighter path, and you have as much of a second chance as I have of walking down one too. Use your sword to protect the weak. No more bloodshed…"
Why? Why had he sounded so sure back then?
Because I had a family…I had a home…but now…
He raised his blank indigo eyes to the little town that surrounded him.
Now my family left me…I have no place to return to and no one is waiting for my arrival…Tomoe left me…Kaoru-dono cast me out…everybody but nobody whom I have tried to protect hate me…I've been cursed never to know happiness…
He sucked in his breath through gritted teeth and cast his eyes down. Then for the first time in a very long while—Kenshin hissed an inaudible profanity.
What a worthless life.
* * *
"Are you okay, Kaoru?" Chizuko Ryoru, Kisa's older brother, asked, flopping down next to her on the living room floor.
Kaoru snapped up from her daze. "Huh?" Her eyes met those of Ryoru's as she raised her head from her clasped hands. "Oh, it's you," she said, numbly.
"Yeah, it's me," he replied, teasing lightly. He studied her for a few moments, and upon realizing she was nowhere near from wherever her mind was taking her, he shifted and gave her a gentle nudge. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked again, when he managed to hold her attention once more.
"Me? Uh, yeah, sure, fine, peachy…" she mumbled, and then she drifted off again.
Ryoru sighed and gave up. This visitor if Kisa's sure was preoccupied. Oh well. "Call me if you need me," he said, standing up and taking the necessary steps to exit the room.
"Yeah, okay, fine, thanks…" Kaoru answered, blank eyes piercing nothing.
Ryoru shook his head, smiled a little, and left.
For such a demure-looking lady, she sure was a strong-spirited woman, wandering from Tokyo in search of Battousai the Slasher like that. Kisa had told him her story, and he guessed he rather understood. After all, Kisa seemed to know some kind of deeper meaning to their visitor's little journey that he couldn't really comprehend. There was that sympathetic tinge to his little sister's eyes that he had only seen once before—on the face of their neighbor whose cousin had lost her beloved.
Anyhow…he guessed it was a girl-thing, so he didn't bother to ask.
Ever since Kisa brought this Kamiya-girl home, the puffy-eyed visitor had acted completely distracted. He thought she'd drowned inside the bathroom when Kisa offered her some hot water to freshen herself up, and when Ryoru served her a little feast in the dining room, she'd barely touched anything. After that, she spent hours in the living room, hunting down and counting teeny molecules in the air. And this day looked like it was going for the same routine.
But that wasn't it. That shouldn't be it. There surely was a deeper truth.
And there was.
Kaoru's blank azure eyes were seeing faces that nobody else could. In her mind's eye, images of Kenshin lingered—the many faces that she had learned to read over time during his stay. Megumi's sad eyes, Yahiko's badly expressed penchants, and Sano's breezy affection kept on playing over and over in her head, filling her with ominous yearning.
Why? Why did she do what she did?
She had called her beloved…a murderer…right in front of his face…
She shook her head and clasped her hands tighter together on her lap. Her heart was thudding beat after craving beat, flashing back memory after pain-filled memory in her chaotic mind.
"There were no crossroads from the next village to here on that path you took. And Battousai Himura hadn't passed by anytime recently…"
Kisa's words echoed in her mind.
No crossroads…no Kenshin…
"What am I going to do…?" she groaned to herself.
There was no way out. Kisa had searched faces since dawn and not one of those was Kenshin's. Kaoru was absolutely certain she was on the right track just a few hours ago, but when she took the road the man had directed her to—she lost all traces of Kenshin. She figured she was running too blindly and missed a path somewhere in that tunnel but then Kisa said there was none. So Kenshin couldn't possibly have taken any other road except to follow the straight one leading to this village, but then Kisa hadn't seen him…
It was all too apparent.
She was undeniably, unquestionably, incontestably—lost. And alone too for that matter. Everything she had to lose—totally gone. For good.
Kaoru squeezed her lower lip tightly with her upper teeth and securely shut her eyes until the vague blots of white lost their luster and drowned in endless black, her mind filled with dissoluteness and the deepest sense of loss that tore at her whole being.
"Why? Why? Why? Why did I let him go?" she carped, getting upset and absolutely heavyhearted. It was annoying to feel so helpless and hollow, emptied out inside and feeling like tomorrow would never come—or if it did, it was downright unpromising.
I'm giving up…I am so giving up…this is totally hopeless…I've lost him…it's no use…it's all in vain…I am giving up…I can't do anything about it now—
"But I swore that I'll find him…I swore it," she hissed under her breath in reprimand. "And I…" Then her eyes snapped open, abruptly stopping the flow of tears that had begun to fall.
Battousai! I forgot about…. No. I have to stop him.
"I…swore it…"
"Kaoru-san?" Kisa's head poked through the door, timid as ever, sensing the tension from inside the room and seemingly being more cautious than usual. "A—are you…all right?"
Kaoru's hardened blue eyes were pooled with reckless determination. "I'm fine," she said—then she stood up from the floor and unfolded her tucked-in legs. She walked to Kisa, who was almost shaking in curious fear, and took the younger girl's clasped hands.
"What have you…decided?" Kisa asked.
"Chizuko-san…you've been more than kind, and I owe you a lot more than thanks…for being so hospitable and for letting me stay…" Kaoru's grip tightened slightly and Kisa searched her face for an elaboration. "But I can't stay for too long…" she continued. "I won't. I have to find him. I just have to."
"So what're you gonna do next?"
"I'm leaving. I'm going back through that tunnel. I'll go back to the village and ask another man, and then I'll follow the road that will lead me to him—to Kenshin. MY Kenshin."
Kisa stared, but at that moment, Kaoru really couldn't care less if Tomoe were right beside her.
* * *
"Hey, you lost?"
Kenshin raised his eyes to meet those of a man's on a horse-drawn covered cart. "No. I'm a wanderer," he replied, rather coldly.
"Oh, I see. Why're you wandering at THIS time? It's kinda hot, isn't it?"
Kenshin stared pointedly at the cart and the horse and the reins clutched in the man's hand. He met the genial brown eyes again with his own. "I'd like to ask you the same thing."
The man laughed, a touch of anxiety in his chuckle. "Yeah well…I'm delivering some stuff for my wife to her sister in the next village over there." He pointed a finger in the direction of the road to Kenshin's right.
Kenshin didn't reply.
"Uh…ahem…well, sorry for botherin' ya," the ruddy-faced caller said. And then Kenshin saw him squint and focus on his hip. "Hey, 'sat a sword you're carryin' around?" he asked, reeling back. "I mean…that's kinda against the law. Feel like givin' that up in some police station 'round here?"
"No," Kenshin replied. "It's mine."
"Oh, uh, yeah, o' course…I, uh…I can see that. Uhm…how about you? Where're you headed, my wandering friend?"
Kenshin nudged his head to his right.
"Same as me, eh? Well, I guess it should be mighty proper for me to offer you a ride. Feel like riding one free? It IS kinda hot…"
Kenshin thought that this man was doing this more out of fear of the sword and proper etiquette than genuine sympathy. Well, nevertheless, he could use a rest. He was feeling rather hungry, and his legs were quite numb. Perhaps a short nap would ease him a little from the torture.
"Sure."
He stepped up onto the covered back without waiting for another word from the man.
"Comfy back there?" he called, and Kenshin caught the vague note of apprehension.
Most of the men nowadays are too easily scared…. These people are merely using the traumas of the Tokugawa Era for an excuse…it's quite pathetic, but nevertheless…they are weaker than me…I suppose it's quite understandable…but pathetic all the same…whatever happened to bravery?
Anyways…it's healthy entertainment…
The man waited for a grunt of acknowledgement from his new cargo and when none came, he gave his horse a little nudge and a cluck, and it went off at an even and calming trot.
If he was lucky, this ex-samurai wouldn't leap out and cut his throat. This wanderer seemed far too unattached to feel pity. Well, at least, judging from the way he looked he was. The redhead seemed to be quite emotionally unstable at the moment, and looked dangerously hotheaded to top that off.
Well, he could pray. At least this swordsman's eyes weren't filled with bloodlust (yet), and although the unnerving vacuity and inscrutable sadness weren't helping his racing heartbeat at all, they were still, after all, better than the look of a murderer's passion for blood.
Dangerously close to wasn't exactly the same as actually being a slayer, was it? No, of course not…
But it was funny how that fact couldn't comfort him as well as it should…
* * *
"Have you seen a red-haired man pass by here anytime recently? He carried a sword. Surely you wouldn't miss him."
"As a matter of fact, yah, I did see a guy by that description pass by here a few hours ago. Around one o'clock, yes… He got onto a covered, horse-driven cart after talking to the driver over there at by the road that splits two ways."
"A horse-driven cart? Darn it. Which way did they go?
"I dunno. I didn't look long enough to find out. Ask that woman over there. She's the most observant we've got."
"Right. What time is it right now?"
"Ten past five."
"Thanks a lot."
Hmph. Well, it's smart of you to ride something that can go faster than me, Battousai…it prolongs your numbered days. Because the moment I find you—you are dead.
* * *
tbc
Lchan: DON'T KILL ME! I'm sorry. As you can see, I'm telling this story in a terribly slow pace. But if I fast-forward it a little, it'll seem too rushed. If it helps, you may notice that it's mentioned that the time setting for this chapter is a day after the past chapter's.
All the same, is it very disappointing? I suppose so. Please don't flame this chapter even though I'd understand if you would. If you can notice it, the chapters are quite different although seemingly monotonous. I'm doing something with their characters that…well…I wish you'd notice what. Hmm…but the Kaoru-part might be somewhat repetitive. Well, I just figured you'd want to know what's become of her after the last chap. *shrug*
Review anyways… I promise you some action in the coming chapters. Please don't leave. And gomen again for the late update.
