Lchan: Okay, okay, I know—I took WAY too long to update. Sorry!!! Loads of thanks to all who reviewed the last chap, especially to aphrodite24goddess (she's the reason I even updated)! This update's for you, and, hopefully, it's worth your wait.
Well, here's the eleventh chapter, and...er…I don't think it's the best, but, hopefully it satisfies. A few, minor conflicts again...Megumi, Sano and Yahiko are back in the spotlight! The chapter title may sound a little weird, but each word actually notes particular, DIFFERENT characters. I can't ruin anything else much for you so...there you go. I really am sorry for neglecting this fic for so long, but don't worry, I WON'T discontinue this!!! Please read and review anyway guys, even after all the wait I put you through... I luv ya, peeps!
Counter Strike
- Forward, Back, and Away
The intense skies over Japan slowly became framed with grayish, cotton-like balloons as the afternoon wore on. The heat was no longer as intense, but nonetheless, it seemed that the sun wasn't keen on backing off just yet. Only the merciful approach of evening kept the streets of Japan from roasting.
A tired woman, a grumpy man, and a sun-baked kid were resting in the shade of a clinic's roof—an airy little place owned and operated by a good-tempered nurse named Midori Yumi. They had declined on the invitation to step inside, so as not to compromise the comfort of worthier patients. They had already asked for directions from her, had already drank a few glasses of water, and now, only a simple valediction lay between their rest and the continuation of their journey.
"It's gonna rain," Sano said decisively through a fresh piece of fish bone. "It's gonna rain hard."
"Please," Yahiko grumbled distrustfully, touching a hand on the back of his sun-baked neck. "After all that sun??"
"Especially after all that sun," Megumi replied, though she didn't bother to expound anymore. She was far too exhausted. She sighed. "We have to find an inexpensive inn to spend the night in," she murmured, a trifle worriedly.
"Nah," Sano said. "I could sleep under a tree. And if Yahiko's not too chicken about bugs and mosquito bites, so can he."
Megumi tried to smirk in response. "I didn't know you could be so adaptable, rooster-head," she drawled, only a little bit mockingly. "But you know bugs and mosquitoes will be the least of our concerns if we stay out tonight. Like you said—AND forgot due to ridiculous lack of common sense—it will rain hard within the day. Yes, we could stay outside, but I won't be coerced into nursing to two silly, fever-stricken boys after that. All right?"
"Man, Megumi, you're so FORWARD-THINKING," Yahiko muttered. The comment was dismissed.
"That's due to the lack of FOOD, fox," Sano growled. "You made me eat one fish the size of a minnow and a minute serving of rice for lunch, remember?? Why don't you tell me how a guy could think straight with just those shreds of crap in my stomach, huh, Doctor?"
"It was all we could afford, Sano! Don't give me those complaints after you just EXPLOITED my earnings from the clinic because YOU didn't have enough mind not to give away all of your savings to gamblers before we left Tokyo!" Megumi took a moment to breathe.
"Besides," she said, a bit more quietly. "You're not the only one who's tired, you know. And unlike me, you aren't fated to brainstorm over stretching your own diminishing salary to cover for three persons' expenses."
Yahiko sighed. "You guys gotta quit doing that," he muttered. "Hey, Sano, it's your turn with the luggage."
"I REFUSE, brat. I spent the whole morning and half the afternoon with that crap on my back…and whole day yesterday. I'll have some GOOD CHOW before I carry that again." He looked at Megumi.
"Oh, sure, THAT helps us a lot," she said, eyes flashing madly.
"More than our meals did anyway."
"How can you be so UNGRATEFUL, you – baka – tori – atama (stupid rooster-head)??"
At that, Sano spat out the fishbone with a last angry crunch. "A guy likes to breathe, fox, y'know!"
"Well, so does a woman!"
"And so does a kid, so cut all of us some slack and quit it already," Yahiko interrupted. He draped his arms sullenly over the backrest of the bench that Yumi had earlier offered for their comfort. His eyes were dark with exhaustion. "This isn't working," he grumbled.
Megumi and Sano both stared at him, unbelievingly, eyebrows arched high on their foreheads. Identical twinkles of tenacity flashed visibly in their eyes at the proposition of admitted defeat.
"What're you saying, brat!?" Sano demanded, roughly. "That we back down now and quit on Kenshin and Jou-chan??"
"We're not even sure if we're still on the right track!" the kid replied, harshly, glaring back at Sano from beneath his eyebrows. "At this rate, by the time we find either of them, we won't even be able to TALK. Our throats will have burned down to ashes."
"We had an OBJECTIVE, Yahiko," Megumi reminded him. "And that's something we HAVE to accomplish."
"Uh-huh, sure."
"Look, brat, we're trapped out here, all right!?" Sano yanked Yahiko by the collar and shook him roughly. "It's too late to turn back and apart from that, we're not DONE yet!!"
"Yeah, and we're WAY far from being so!! This is hopeless, face it! Kaoru probably won't even care anymore!!"
"It's worth a shot and we owe her that much!! You should know, brat!!!"
"Sano, let him go!" Megumi pushed herself between the two and flashed a glare from one to the other. "This has gone far enough. We are acting completely inhuman!"
Yahiko tore his wild eyes from Sano's and yanked his baggage viciously off the ground. Swaying slightly under the weight and biting down hard on his chapped lower lip to avoid a hiss of complaint, he hoisted it back onto his shoulders. "Fine!" he said, angrily.
"Fine WHAT??"
"Lower that voice, Sano!" Megumi said. "We have done enough damage to each other; don't blame the rest of this neighborhood!"
"Che," he replied, and, jamming his hands into his pockets, he went off ahead of them, steaming, plunging one foot after another in the still-dusty road.
Megumi shook her head.
It was so unclear to her how everything had gone so wrong. A few days ago they had been almost friends. Though she and Sano never admitted it, the kid WAS right—they WERE getting along well. Superbly well.
She should have known it wouldn't have lasted. Nothing so blissfully heartwarming could—at least, not around their particular crowd…
She figured it would have to be that way without the rest of the Kenshin-gumi to balance everything. When they were in the Kamiya dojo, Kenshin's peacemaking abilities, Sano's guileless observations, Kaoru's savage discipline, Yahiko's rebelliousness, Megumi's catty side-comments, and Ayame and Suzume's persistent childishness all just seemed to blend together in almost harmony…
A pleasant sort of noise—neither music nor pollution…
But now that they were scattered all over Japan in a guilt-ridden goose chase…yes…Megumi thought it would have to be practically unbearable for a while…
Sano's mortally offensive complaints burned dully inside her mind, shocking her in such a way that she never expected from herself. She was normally so in-control, so steadfast and ready to take on any insult, any verbal or even physical assault. But Sano's words were so unexpectedly savage.
She knew he was tired. They were all tired.
But this time, the fatigue wasn't breeding amiability, or at least silence between the three of them—not like it had when they first started out. The fatigue provided for her an immeasurable headache, piling day after blistering day as it took its toll slowly on the three of them.
Yes, they were tired. Immensely tired. Too tired even to keep quiet and leave each other in peace. They were all bursting with objections, with complaints, with protests, and at the same time pushed forward roughly and harshly by the least possible energizing motivation—an eternally nagging conscience.
Feet tired…bodies heavy…heads aching from the dominant blaze of the weather…
It was enough to spur delirium.
This trip…this journey…this endless, abominable trek they were forced to face side by side despite worlds of differences that cascaded their relationships…
It was changing them. All of them.
And nobody knew when it would all end…where…and most of all, how…
......
"Good afternoon, lady and gentlemen, how may I help you travelers?"
Sano smirked under the meager shadow of the strands of hair cascading over his band and down his face. Lady and gentlemen? What a joke.
He could tell despite the forced cheer and good-nature in the innkeeper's voice that he wasn't all that thrilled to have an ill-tempered, wild-haired, street punk with a kanji of "bad" splashed over his clothes spraying dust all over his floor. He could feel the eyes behind the round glasses drink him in—having been satisfied with beautiful Megumi and innocent-looking Yahiko—and he knew that the man was clearly unimpressed with him.
He resisted the urge to slam a hand down on the desk and show him who he was underestimating. Instead, he resorted to checking out the barren, un-artfully decorated scenery, and began to happily tick of complaints in his head.
Megumi stepped up to the innkeeper. "Yes, hello," she said, as cordially as she could muster. "How much would we have to give you for the cheapest available room?"
"A hundred yen for one night."
"Is that with food services already?"
"I'm sorry, no. But we do have a dining area."
For the third time that day, Megumi, Sano, and Yahiko sagged. They could take the room and miss breakfast and lunch the next day, or find some other inn and wear their exhausted selves out walking in the waning afternoon.
"This is the last inn in this town," Megumi said to them, quietly, after a wait-a-second smile at the jolly-seeming innkeeper. "What do you want to do?"
"Eat," Sano replied, promptly.
Yahiko knew what that meant. It meant he preferred meals over shelter, and, given their limited expenses, their choices, and the inn's sky-high rent, that meant dragging their feet back onto the road—to the next town, which may be reached by way of a dark, tree-walled tunnel, as Midori Yumi had told them.
"Thank you, sir, just inquiring," Yahiko said, doggedly, to the knowing innkeeper.
"Not taking the room?" he asked.
"No, thanks, we prefer hotels," Sano replied, acidly, taking the phony question of concern as an outright insult. Megumi didn't even stop or even berate him. She agreed fully, and the satisfaction was beyond holding back.
—Kaoru's—POV—
I walked slowly toward the cart, heart in my throat, following the ever nagging voice in my head that something sweet lurked behind the curtain of white canvas.
And yet, my mind screamed at my stupidity. How could I even hope for something so surreal?? I didn't know, but for some reason, something just drew me in…but how…how could a covered cart do such a thing?
Kenshin's smiling, violet eyes bloomed in my mind, reliving inside me a dull yearning—
"You're still here, Miss Kamiya?"
I turn quickly around, and my outstretched fingers, which I only now realized were slowly reaching for the canvas, stopped in midair. I jerked back, suddenly embarrassed. It was Kisa's uncle, looking at me (probably thinking I was some crazy nut, holding my arm out like that toward his cart) from the again-open gate.
I pushed a lock of black hair behind my ear. "I, uh…" I stammered. "Yeah…I was just…you know…"
You know!? Duh, Kaoru, of course he didn't know! But the guy seemed kind enough to let it slip. Still, it nagged at me, heightening my embarrassment: what did he think I wanted to do? Perhaps he thought I wanted to steal his cart…
"Are you having trouble with your luggage?"
"No, sir, thank you…"
He smiled at me and then reached inside the covered cart. His head darted to one side, and then to another, giving me an impression that he was searching for something.
Thank goodness for the man's hesitation, it gave me more than a moment's look as well in the cart's shadowy interior. It was enough to muffle the strange nagging in my mind that I saw half the almost-empty cart from the light that slivered onto the barren floor and my Kenshin wasn't inside.
And besides…how could he be?? I felt like a fool for even hoping…
The canvas closed over the gap again as Uncle Gohei drew his head back out, holding another box of fruit preserves. I tried to smile at him.
Stupid Kaoru, drawn to a cart by fruit preserves…!
"Sayonara," I said again. He nodded in acknowledgement, and I bowed one last time, took up my luggage, and walked off as casually as I could. Given the still-untamed pounding of my heart, that which still hadn't recovered from the thrill of my absurd curiosity, that wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do.
In fact, I found myself walking rather slowly—and it didn't seem to be because of my luggage or my frantic heartbeat. I paused, thought for a moment…and I found it. The nagging had begun again, eight steps forward and away.
I heard the gate close softly behind Uncle Gohei…
I took a few more steps into the ever waning sunshine…across the street…more walking away from the cart than walking toward my destination…
I hesitated. Kenshin's not there. He wasn't. I saw it with my own eyes, how could I still FEEL like he was!?!?
Well, actually, I hadn't seen the whole interior of the cart. Kenshin, or a least SOMEONE, could still be hiding in that shadowed corner off to the sides.
Blast me for being a fool, this nagging was taking my time. Would it even be worthwhile to calm it before I go on? There was no hope for me. Kenshin wasn't there…but if I stopped wasting my time looking at a surely empty covered cart and went on back to the village to put myself back on track, I might have a chance of seeing him again…
Yes…that's what I should do. I should stop this. It was absurd. Ridiculous! I have to get going!!
And so, as resolutely as I could muster, knowing fully well the strength of my hesitation, I took all of my self-control and dragged myself forward, away from the cart…
Away from my deadened hope…
—Normal—POV—
Kenshin lithely jumped off the covered cart with a soft, now-characteristic scowl on his face.
He looked around, acknowledging the change in his surroundings since he last trekked amidst its dust and heat. But now those were gone. The skies were painted with shades of grey and foams of heavy clouds that spelled R-A-I-N.
He didn't dislike rain, really.
It refreshed many images in his mind wherein he possessed and enjoyed comfort and warmth: snuggling with Tomoe around a fire on rainy nights...helping Kaoru gather newly-washed laundry from the clothesline on unexpected afternoons...watching his and Tomeo's little farming patch of vegetables through a foggy window...sharing an umbrella with Kaoru as they walk home together from the Akabeko...
Well, those days were over.
Kenshin didn't have a home anymore. He didn't have anybody whom he loved, anybody who loved him, or even anybody who cared that he existed—except maybe those who feared him and noted his existence just to want him not to exist anymore.
Now he had the whole world to get lost in, glares to endure, and angry rumors to curse and be annoyed at.
How exciting.
Kenshin began to walk towards the next village, one hand resting alertly and mistrustfully on the handle of the sakabatou that swung by his hip, his face still dark from brooding.
He started the trek for his planned shelter for the night—the inn in the next village. The keeper knew him, and he had his heart and muscles intact enough to let a wanderer—even one who represented nearly all Japanese men's most hated memory—stick around until the rain passed.
Despite knowing someone there who would accept him though, Kenshin would never call the place a home—not even a second or third or fourth home. It was merely a shelter.
Kenshin was through with homes.
Homes were fictional illusions, a fanciful nuisance, nothing at all but a pointless nonexistence...
tbc
Lchan: Okay! So the chapter title actually notes Sano, Megumi and Yahiko in "forward"; Kaoru in "back" (to the tunnel); and Kenshin in "away", if you haven't grasped that yet. Sorry I had to burst your bubble, guys, but I couldn't let Kenshin and Kaoru meet up till now. There's something harsher coming up and it would just ruin the plot if I let them meet in this chapter.
...But, you know, there WILL be a reunion in the next chapter. And despite the huge opportunity that Kenshin and Kaoru bypassed in this one, don't worry! I promise you guys a...well, let's say...an okay ending. A'ight? Please review! Don't let the feedback stop coming! This story's going somewhere, I assure you. Luv ya peeps! Gomen again for the long wait!
