Disclaimer: I don't own RK or any of its characters
Has anyone realized that this story has been going on since last year!
Sanosuke Sagara could feel his eyelids becoming heavy as he continued to stay guard, watching for any movements in Reiji's direction. Aoshi had seated himself on one stone. He grinned, they have left Misao and Yahiko at the dojo and who knows, maybe the Ice Man is starting to worry about the weasel.
Soujiro was just seated keenly not far away from Sano. He wondered how the boy could stay so awake at so late, or should he say, so early.
It was way past midnight and nothing seems to be happening. The skies are starting to take on a lighter blue color; the sky was changing but nothing else budged.
With nothing else to think about (!), his thoughts wandered to the Tenken and his unexpected participation on the rescue.
The young prodigy must've been touched by Kaoru's story. After all, for a short time, it was only him that Kaoru wanted to stay above anyone else, even above Kenshin. Her trusting nature must have gotten into him.
Soujiro's sword rested at his side while his eyes cast down on the ground but his senses still keen for any signs of change. He had left the house where he had been staying at while helping out the farmers. Simple life had done him good. Kaoru's reaction to his departure touched him to the core, so much more than he thought he would be.
In a way, Kaoru helped him. The easy way she trusted him. True, it had been because she had this twisted idea that he was some kind of a hero, but, no one has really cared for him that way.
Now, it's his turn to help her. She's just a few paces away.
He wondered why they weren't attacking and just getting it over with but Saito-san had told them to wait. Himura-san seem to have agreed, so they just went along.
It was too dangerous. The man who had captured Kaoru was practically holding a knife against her neck and one wrong move and it's over. He doesn't want that.
He learned that life has value. And there's so much more to life than mere strength.
He saw that in Kenshin. How he was so patient in dealing with Kaoru even though the whole situation was so confusing and so aggravating. He saw the man take in the pain and went on. It made him wonder of he could do the same thing someday.
Sanosuke was looking at him a while ago, probably wondering why he's sticking around helping them.
"Kamiya-san is such a nice person, ne?" he just said and that seemed enough for the former fighter-for-hire.
He has heard of the man from Anji, the monk. It seemed that this man was able to penetrate to Anji that made the monk change all of a sudden.
He then wondered what would've happened if Himura-san, Sagara-san and Saito-san hadn't come to Shishio's lair in Mt. Hiei to fight them. (A/N: Am I right? Please correct me if I'm wrong!)
'I would still be lost...' he suddenly thought.
Aoshi was seating not too far away and was just thinking. Misao had changed a lot since he left her in the company of the Kamiya household. She seemed to be approaching things at a more mature level.
He could see her improvement in being modest when showing affection. He was almost afraid that she's starting to become a bit shy. That would be too bizarre to think about.
He could see her growing more and more into a lady day by day. She didn't know that he had left tonight and would probably be searching all of Tokyo if they don't come back early tomorrow.
It was dawn already and he could sense some movements from the cabin where Reiji hid Kaoru. Finally he went out and still dragging Kaoru along who moaned from some unknown pain, made his way towards the port where he would make his way to his island.
From his side, Aoshi took a pigeon trained by the Oniwabanshu to send letters and wrote a note saying that Reiji had left at dawn and after sending away the bird, nodded towards his two companions who was ready and awaiting and then they followed.
They had to be very discrete in their actions and followed Reiji. He and Soujiro had no problem at all since both of them have experiences in spying like that. (A/N: Soujiro spied on Aoshi and Megumi talking in Kyoto Arc from a tree, I think...)
Finally, Reiji arrived at the island and Aoshi, Sano and Soujiro followed with as much stealth as they could master. They have to remember that this man had observed their techniques well at the time Reiji himself had spied on them.
Following him go through an entrance he had not come upon on his and Misao's exploration before, they were suddenly enveloped in darkness.
They could hear growling and scurrying of feet. As if on cue, they were suddenly attacked by animals that he could only guess to be wolves. He had his kodachi out in a snap and so was Soujiro with his katana. Sanosuke who carried no weapons stood poised ready to attack.
It seems Reiji finally realized he was being followed.
Sanosuke shouted a battle cry that resounded all over the place.
It was an easy job for the Tenken, combining his speed with unspeakable skills. His Shikuchi had maimed large numbers in a matter of seconds. Aoshi with his kodachi attacked from here and there to avoid hungry mouths ready to eat him.
Seems like the animals haven't fed for a very long time. Were they Reiji's?
Sanosuke slammed his fist and bashed heads here and there. But he wasn't quick enough and blood trickled from wounds here and there where he was bitten.
"Damn! If only I had my Zanbattou!" he said while shaking off one who was biting his arm.
The two came to his rescue and warded off some of the animals. Pretty soon, their numbers were reduced ad soon they were no wolves in sight. Whether some ran off, it didn't really matter.
Soujiro smiled at them, still regal-looking with no wounds. Not even a drop of sweat trickled down his forehead. Aoshi was breathing a bit more heavily but still unharmed. Sanosuke seemed to be the only one who sustained wounds.
The ground begun to shake a bit and soon a pile of stone slabs were falling on them.
"Kuso!" Sano shouted as he felt the heaviness of the stones. His knees almost giving way as he tried to lift the thing off. Aoshi was also in the same position and to his surprise, so was Soujiro.
"Hey, Tenken! I thought you were super fast, you could've gotten away!"
The boy only smiled as he fell down on one knee, both hands above his head trying to lift the heavy object, his sword lay forgotten on the ground.
"Yes, I can, Sagara-san. But if I tried to ...slash at the stone slab, I... would not be able to slice up big enough for all of us to be saved ... and ...if I ran, that would leave only the two ...of you to sup-...port this..." he panted.
"So, you're really a good guy, huh! Hey! Ice Man, maybe you can slash through..."
"I can't I'm already supporting this all I can. I can't even move my hand without this slab squandering us..."
"Kuso!"
The three of them just continued trying to support the huge slab when they heard the scurrying of feet hurrying towards them.
'Dammit! All we need are more enemies and we're dead meat!'
To his delight, it was only Kenshin followed by Saito who looked irritated by the whole situation.
"Sano?"
"Hey, Kenshin!" Sano replied almost happily despite his situation. "I think Reiji went that way!" he said using his head to point towards the direction he was indicating.
"But-!" Kenshin stepped towards them.
"Go on! You might lose them! Forget about us, you know we can handle this! Just one Futae no Kiwami!"
Kenshin still seemed in confusion. But, Saito already pushed him towards the direction Reiji went to.
"I'll take care of this..."
Kenshin finally went towards the direction they were all pointing at.
v "Alright! You guys have been stealing the show from me for a while now! It's my turn to shine... Don't even think of slicing through, wolf..."
"Fine. I wasn't intending to help a moron live anyway..."
"Guys, just one last one. Just wait a sec..." He only had one hand supporting the stone now as the other poised to execute his technique.
"FUTAE NO KIWAMI!" WHAM! the huge slab was broken into pieces, freeing the three of them.
"Gatotsu!" Saito came hurling towards Sanosuke. Small pieces of rock fell to his head as Saito crushed a huge chunk which was about to fall on him.
"Hey thanks, that could've killed me...I knew you had it in you!"
"Now, it's all up to Kenshin..." Aoshi said.
"Hai..." Soujiro agreed while dusting himself off and coughing.
What I think happened:
I'm guessing that I was just snoozing for a bit, you know, to get back my momentum or something and then for some reason I was transported to a time warp or something only that in that time warp, two minutes could equal two months on Earth's time... Yeah that's probably it... Do I sound paranoid? Maybe it's the coffee, or maybe my pills, or maybe that damnable recorder that keeps messing up or maybe it's the fairies!
author is seated in a corner, rocking back and forth mumbling to herself
"Must update stories...must update stories...must update stories..."
And that is what happened. Don't believe me!