Chapter 11
"Damn it..."
"Damn it..."
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Soujirou cursed in the dark alley, hoping that some higher being might hear his plea. "This wasn't supposed to happen this quickly!" Soujirou muttered, punching the brick wall adjacent to him. "This wasn't supposed to happen..." he whispered, as blood began flow from his torn knuckle.
His smile was barely registering at all anymore, and his eyes were worn and ireful. "But then again, I wasn't supposed to be close to Misao-donno in the first place..." Soujirou sighed, knowing what he had to do. And the burden he must add to his own.
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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE RAN OUT!" Misao screamed, her expression pained as she looked on to the Okashira. Aoshi only brushed off her outburst.
"I trusted you with a responsibility, Misao, and you've failed me. Not only me, but the Aoiya and the Oniwabanshu as well. Letting that murderer in, what were you thinking?" Aoshi replied, in between his tea. Misao fought the urge to scream even more, and she slowed her breathing.
"Sou-kun, I mean, Seta-san, may have been a killer, Aoshi-sama, but he's changed! I trust him and I-!" Misao began, but was interrupted by Aoshi's hand.
"Safe, Misao? I believe that you have severely misjudged the Tenken. If you had any thought of the Aoiya's safety, you would have had the sense to check on his background." Aoshi said, handing her a newspaper.
"What..." Misao said slightly, not expecting the gesture. Her eyes quickly scanned the paper, her grip on the newspaper getting tighter and tighter until the scrap of paper finally gave out and tore in half.
"That...that isn't true..." she whispered, her hands trembling.
"Misao..." Aoshi began.
"No... Sou-kun is different... he'd never... never..." Misao began as her eyes began to shimmer, not listening.
"The truth is hard to stomach." Aoshi said as he stood from, his seat. "You are now relieved from your duties as Okashira. Goodnight, Misao." Aoshi said, not facing the girl as he closed the door shut behind him.
"That was rather... much, wasn't it, Shinomori-san?" a calm voice said as the Okashira met the cold night air.
"I did what had to be done, Himura-san." Aoshi said, passing the former hitokiri as he climbed the stairway.
"I can only pray." Kenshin sighed, as he turned walked off to find Kaoru.
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Off in another part of town, a young man wandered about aimlessly. The streets were clear and only the soft rhythm of his sandals echoed in the late night. Soujirou had business in Kyoto, and he knew that if he didn't take care of it soon, he would lose more than just his freedom. The Tenken shook his head and tried not to think about it. It was bad enough that he had delayed for so long, but now...
Soujirou stopped as he reached a dead end. As he was walking, the buildings around him seemed to come closer together, getting darker and more menacing. Soujirou had been along this path, though. The maze of alleys, broken fences, and crumbling walls could confuse even the most familiar residents of this portion of the city, but Soujirou navigated it with ease. Pushing aside a loose board on an old wooden fence, Soujirou finally reached his destination.
The rotting house before him was just as he had left it, except now the wood had become darker, the smell more damp and choking. In a way, it reflected what Soujirou thought about himself. A pitiful shell. It would have been nice to say that there was some inner beauty to the house, that it's outer appearance hid a charming and inviting interior, but that wasn't the case. Five, six years ago, Soujirou was exactly like this house. Dark, empty, and decrepit, his anger, hate, and sorrow bottled up inside, eating away at the walls of his soul, a deadly mold cannibalizing his heart. "Tsk, so many other safe houses, and they choose this as their headquarters? Pathetic." Soujirou sighed. He resisted the urge to gag as he walked across the uncut courtyard, stepping on an ominous pile of brown material.
"..." Soujirou thought. Scrubbing the muck on the grass, he was relieved to find out that it was only a clod of dirt. Anything else might have just pissed him off to cut out the whole middle part of his well thought out plan, but that would have just been a waste of effort. Plus it would have been extremely... messy.
The pile of earth did, however, sufficiently irritate the Tenken that he found his stride quickened. The faster he dealt with this, the faster he could get out of this depressing place.
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"Misao..." Kaoru said softly, talking to her friend through the thin shoji door. "... I know you're upset, but Aoshi is just doing what he thinks is best." Kaoru said, trying to comfort the distraught kunoichi.
"Just... just go away!" Misao said in a strangled voice. Kaoru nodded in understanding. Right now, all se could do was give her friend space.
Misao lay on her futon, silently crying. Misao knew that Kaoru was just trying to help her, but all she really wanted to be was left alone right now. She sighed loudly.
It had taken her months to shed even single tear when Aoshi had left, and that was only after hearing from Okina that he had to be put to death. And here she was, barely half an hour later after hearing the news that Sou-kun had left, crying her eyes out!
"Damn it..." she whispered, burying her eyes under her blanket.
TBC
Author's Note:
I'm on an update binge. Well at least it's a hell of a light lighter than my NGE stories. Sorry for the long wait. I really can't give you guys a decent excuse, but I hope you can forgive me. It seems as if people don't like the wimpy Soujirou very much. Why not? I mean, come on, when you think about it, Kenshin's done way wimpier things in the manga and anime, and he still kicks ass, and you know Soujirou does too! So what if they think that Soujirou's a little off, we know that he could take them all down easy. Okay, now that I've finished with that, I have a more serious matter to attend to. Soujirou's going to fight an original character/villain that used to be subordinate of Shishio's in the next chapter. I don't know how to make villians out very good, and I want to give this one a nice gimmick. Another Buntaro would just be boring and it would be cool to see Soujirou go all out on a worthy opponent for once. So come on, let me hear your ideas for a good villain! You don't have to though, as long as you review at all. As always, review people.
FPOTM
