A/N: Alright. Hopefully chapters should be coming a bit faster now. Er. I hope. I think I've caught up where I left off with my un-beta chapters. I think these chapters were looked over by Nekotsuki once before. If there are mistakes in the chapters, er… then I was wrong. Sorry about it! Anyway! On with the story!
Reviewers!
moeru himura - The following few chapters will be going Neko, Kenshin, Neko, then Kenshin and so on and so on.
tsumesgirl05 - I'm glad you like the set up of the chapters
hana - I'm a great writer you say? -blush-
lolo popoki - It's nice to hear you're looking forward to a chapter you already read!
Wolf Daughter - Here's the next chapter. And I should be updating Under the Weather sooner than later.
FairyMage - You sure you want to kill me before I finish the story?
Hitokiri Musei - Hope this was quick enough!
Chapter 11 - Interrogation
It was dark and near impossible to see. Neko sat leaning up against a wall covered in blood. She was clutching a tiny body to her wrapped in a brown and tattered cloth. The only way anyone could have guessed it was a human she was holding was the tiny arm grabbing onto her. It too was covered in splotches of blood. Neko's eyes were unfocused and glossy but she rolled her head towards the person that approached her. "You." She said angrily and pointing at the figure that drew closer.
Kenshin stopped where he was. "Neko?" He called her name and she hissed.
"It's you're fault!" She yelled. "You stained me with blood. You stole my innocents away from me!" She hugged the bundle closer to her. "You're a killer, how dare you taint us."
"Neko, I'm…" He didn't know what to say. Wait, had she said us?
"You make the bloody rain fall."
Kenshin whirled around. "Tomoe!" He yelled as the image of his one and only stood before him. Her skin was pale, almost as white as the kimono she wore. It was stained red from her shoulder to halfway down her body.
Slowly Tomoe raised an accusing finger and pointed it at Kenshin. "You killed me. You killed Kiyosato." Kenshin could feel blood slowly dripping down his left check.
"Tomoe, I didn't mean… I'm…Tomoe." There was a tug on his pant leg. Kenshin turned and looked down at an angry eyed Neko. She now stood, the small child had it's arms around her waist hugging her. It's face was still hidden from Kenshin.
"How dare you?" Neko accused. "How dare you steal our innocents."
Kenshin couldn't help himself. His body moved without command and he pushed back the cloth that held the third person's identity from him. Who else had he hurt? Amber eyes stared deep into sunken lavender ones. "Shinta." Kenshin spoke his old name unbelieving.
"You were suppose to get stronger and help people." The younger version of himself scolded. "You were suppose to show Kasumi-dono, Akane-dono, and Sakura-dono that you could help people but what good have you done? You've killed Tomoe, you've stolen Neko's innocents, and you've lost yourself. You're a bad man Battòsai."
Kenshin opened his mouth to say something to his defense but there was nothing he could say. He hung his head ashamed of himself. Softly he thought he heard voices. The voices grew louder and louder. Kenshin snapped his head up, now there were thousands of Shinsengumi clad men surrounding him, all yelling accusations at him. "You killed us! How dare you steal our lives! Murder!" They reached out their hands latching onto him.
"Let go!" He cried, trying to break away from them. "Leave me alone!" He scanned the area for Shinta, Tomoe, and Neko. They stood on the edge of the sea of men watching with smiles. "Please help me!" Kenshin cried out to them. He was surprised when a strong arm grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him up. The mystery man held Kenshin up and turned him around. "Shishou!" Kenshin yelled out, a bit relieved to see the man. Kenshin's hope for help quickly fell as he got a good look at the grim set features of Hiko's face. 'Is he still mad at me for leaving?' Kenshin thought fearfully.
"See where you've gotten yourself baka deishi? You should have listened to me and remained on the mountain. See all the people you've hurt. This is not what the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu is for!" He took the sword Kenshin didn't even realize that he had, had at his side. "Now you must pay for what you have done."
"Wait Shishou! I'm sorry!" Kenshin cried out not wanting to be hated by everyone. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough baka deishi." With that Hiko let Kenshin fall back into the arms that were ready to tear him apart.
Kenshin's eyes snapped open. He was breathing heavily and his head pounded. Just a dream. As Kenshin got a hold of himself he looked around trying to figure out how he had gotten himself here. The very first thing he noticed was his hands were chained above his head. 'Oh, Kami. That's right.' He thought bitterly.
He was standing, his arms locked in shackles above his head in an empty cell. Kenshin pulled and wiggled the chains that bound his wrists together testing them for durability. He wasn't going to be yanking them out of the wall anytime soon. Kenshin sighed and leaned his pounding head against the cold wall. He closed his eyes and wondered how long it would take for someone to come. He guessed it wouldn't be too long, he could hear voices talking outside the only door leading out of the room. He kept his eyes closed for it helped ease his headache, he didn't even bother to open them when he heard the heavy door open and a few sets of footsteps enter the room. "Hello Battòsai." A voice greeted him.
'Hiroko.' Kenshin thought slightly annoyed.
"Still tired Battòsai?" Hiroko asked sounding somewhat sympathetic. "Well too bad get up. We need to talk." Kenshin didn't move. "Don't you want to talk?"
'What was his first guess?'
Hiroko didn't care for Kenshin's silence. "GET UP!" Hiroko shouted making Kenshin's eardrums ring. The high pitched ringing in Kenshin's head was too much, he opened his eyes hoping Hiroko wouldn't yell again. "Oh, I'm sorry. Does the Battòsai have a headache?" Hiroko pouted as if he was talking to a child, trying to insult Kenshin's pride.
Now that his eyes were opened Kenshin looked to see who had joined Hiroko. There were just two other soldiers, but they were standing on the other side of the room trying not to look at Kenshin. Kenshin happened to catch one of their eyes but they quickly broke contact.
"So Battòsai. I'll tell you the rules right now, to make it easier for us to understand each other. Now, I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer it. If you don't then I get to have a little fun. Understand?" Kenshin almost felt like laughing thinking about how much 'fun' Hiroko was going to have when a fist struck his abdomen. As Kenshin coughed Hiroko pressed close to his ear. "That was the first question. You missed it. Understand?" Kenshin nodded, but the movement sent his head spinning. "Good." Hiroko backed away. "We're going to become very good friends. I just know it Battòsai!" Hiroko made a quick movement with his head and the two that had, been standing in the back walked up. Hiroko cracked his knuckles before speaking. "Now for my next question, and my friends are going to join me on this one." He motioned to the two now standing on either side of him. "Where's Katsura?" Kenshin tensed his muscles as the 'fun' began.
Kenshin was glad when Hiroko finally left. He had at first wondered why they hadn't struck his face but Hiroko had explained that because this was his first time 'playing' they were going to take it easy for today. His abdomen pounded like crazy and his breaths came slightly ragged. It hurt to take a breath. Kenshin's arms had gone numb long ago and they hung uselessly above his head. Kenshin pulled against the chains in a desperate attempt to free himself, but they just clang and clattered together mocking him.
Kenshin clutched the chains angrily and was somewhat frightened by how hard it was to control his fingers to do the simple task. Kenshin hung his head and without much else to do he let his mind wander. His thoughts quickly fell on Neko.
Had they really given her back to that man? He believed they had called him Muroi. Kenshin remembered Neko telling him about Muroi's "gentle hands" and he became enraged. If he so much as touched Neko he would… he would what? He wasn't going very far anytime soon. Kenshin yelled out in frustration over his inability to do anything. His stomach ached as the yell echoed in the dark room. What had they done with her?
Kenshin let his eyes close. "I'm sorry Neko. I couldn't save you." Images flashed threw his mind, an overturned cart splattered with blood, bodies as they lay next to his feet oozing life, red snow, no not just images, memories. "Please! Spare this child!" "I'm here to deliver tenchuu." "TOMOE!" A women lifted off of him, a red flower, a white kimono stained red with the sent of White Plums. "Live Shita… for me…" "I don't want to die! Will I die?" "I'm sorry…" Lost sisters, a lost fiancé, a lost wife. A tear faced child asking for help. "Thank-you nice man." A little girl hugging a simple grass doll as if it was made from gold. "You're my angel."
"I can't save anyone." A quiet field in the setting sun filled with crudely made crosses from inexperienced hands.
Kenshin didn't know if a day had past, an hour, or even a week the next time Hiroko paid him a visit along with two other men. There were no windows so there was no way to tell of the setting of the sun. "Hello Battòsai, how are you?" Kenshin kept silent. Hiroko walked up and punched Kenshin in his stomach. "We're still playing, you didn't answer me question." Hiroko whispered into Kenshin's ear as he tried to catch his breath. Hiroko backed up and put his hands on his hips. With a smile on his face he asked again. "How are you Battòsai?"
Kenshin forced himself to smile. "I'm great." He answered happily, angering Hiroko.
"Don't mock me boy." Hiroko snarled.
Kenshin's smiled widened. "But I'm not. You asked me a question so I answered."
Hiroko smiled, but it was slightly distorted with his anger. "Alright then. Answer me this, where's Katsura?" Kenshin let his face go slack, but he glared at Hiroko with hate filled eyes. Hiroko balled his fist and swung, connecting with Kenshin's face. Kenshin brought his head back and glared once more at Hiroko. "You were so talkative before. Where's Katsura?" Kenshin still did not answer. Hiroko punched him on his other cheek. "Where's Katsura!" Kenshin closed his eyes as an answer. Hiroko backhanded the side of Kenshin's temple. Kenshin blinked a few times trying to clear the stars from his vision.
Hiroko reached up and grabbed Kenshin's chin and turned his head so they were looking eye to eye. "You'd better answer me this time." Hiroko let Kenshin's face go and reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small dagger. He removed it from it's sheath and tossed the sheath to one of the men standing behind him. "Now tell me, where's Katsura?"
Kenshin grabbed his chains and hung onto them as hard as he could. Hiroko stepped closer, dagger raised. Kenshin tensed his body waiting for Hiroko to get closer. "Tell me." Hiroko hissed as he stepped even closer. Now that he was in range Kenshin jumped into the air and clung to the chains to keep himself up. With both legs Kenshin kicked out and hit Hiroko square in his stomach.
Hiroko went flying backwards the dagger falling to the dirt floor with a thud. The two men ran to their captain as he coughed and sputtered on the ground. "Bi… bi… BIND HIS FEET!" Hiroko shouted angrily.
"Yes, sir." The two answered, but looked to Kenshin uncertainly.
"You fool." Hiroko spat as he picked himself up clutching his stomach. "Just tell us were Katsura is and save yourself from any unnecessary pain." Kenshin glared at Hiroko. "Fine! Keep your silence! I'll enjoy making you scream it!" Hiroko picked up his dagger and gave Kenshin a dirty look. "Have your fun with him!" He told the two before turning to the door and pounding on it. "Open up you idiots and let me out!" The door was pulled open and Hiroko stormed out of the room.
The two men looked at Kenshin a bit fearfully. "Touch me and I will kill you." Kenshin threatened playing off their fear.
One nudged the other forward. "Come on. What can he do? He can't move."
"But he's the Battòsai!" The other tried to hiss so Kenshin couldn't hear, but he did.
"I'll come for you while you sleep. They call me a demon after all, do you think these chains can hold me?" Kenshin moved his arms so that the chains clinked together. The one man's skin was white from pure terror while the other blinked, unsure of what to do. "If you tell me what happened to the girl maybe I won't come after you." Kenshin mentally kicked himself. This was never going to work.
"The girl that was with you? Hiroko gave her back to Muroi." The terrified man yelled out. He even gave Kenshin a general idea of where Muroi's house was. Now Kenshin could only blink, had that really worked?
"That's enough!" The other yelled hitting his companion. He walked up to Kenshin and cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to enjoy this." He ran his fist into Kenshin's stomach screaming. "This is for all my friends you've killed!"
Hiroko went to a desk in his room. He grabbed a drawer and ripped it open. Inside there were an assortment of bottles. He opened another drawer and inside that one was an assortment of needles. He took a few and began to fill them. He took careful measurements of each knowing what each and every potion did. He shivered with anticipation as he filled the next.
Kenshin's head spun. His body ached all over from the beating. A small trail of blood from his bottom lip and a few large bruises around his face and stomach was what he had received. That and a nice new set of cold chains. After the two hard either tired or grown bored of wailing on him they had gone off and found a ball and chain for Kenshin's feet. Kenshin knew it had to be heavy because there had been four of them carrying it and they had still struggled under it's weight. Kenshin wasn't going to be kicking anyone anytime soon.
Kenshin groaned and tried to lift his head up, but it sent his world spinning so he let it fall again. He closed his eyes and tried to rest. Even his eyes hurt as he stood there trying to rest. His fingers were cold from lack of proper circulation and it hurt to breath. He cursed Hiroko for being so cowardly as to use Neko as a shield.
The door was opened and the man that had hit Kenshin before walked in. The door was quickly shut behind him. He smiled wickedly at Kenshin before shoving a white cloth into his face. "Hiroko's got some fun things in store for you." He hissed and gave Kenshin a punch in the stomach. Kenshin's body instinctively gasped for breath although he tried not to. Kenshin was out in a matter of seconds.
When Kenshin came too the first thing he noticed was that he was sitting. His arms were still chained to the wall but they weren't locked together above his head this time. They were level with his head and Kenshin bent his elbows as much as he could grunting at their stiffness from being in the same position for so long.
Kenshin let his head fall against the cold stone wall as it pounded angrily at him. Kenshin wondered how long he would have to wait to find out why he had been moved, but he didn't think it would be too long. He could hear voices just beyond the heavy, locked door and his name had been mentioned. Were they always watching him? As Kenshin had predicted it didn't take long before the door was opened and Hiroko stepped in followed by two other men. One man held a tray, but Kenshin was unable to see what was on it. "Hello Battòsai." Hiroko greeted upon entering. "I seem to have a problem today." He said, pouting slightly and picked something off the tray. "You see, I have all these new concoctions and…" now Kenshin could see that he held a needle. "…I don't know what they do." He said, his voice lowering slightly.
Hiroko squatted down to where Kenshin sat. "Here's how this is going to work. I ask you a question only this time if you don't answer you'll be my test subject. Get it?" He held the needle in front of Kenshin's face. "I'm kinda hoping you don't talk. I want to see what will happen when I inject you with this. Will you're insides melt? Will it make you sick? Will it instantly kill you? Will it make you go insane? Or will you get lucky and will it help heal injuries?"
Kenshin could feel his insides turning and tightening as he thought about all the things that could happen. There was no telling what Hiroko was about to inject him with. Whatever fear Kenshin felt over the needle he kept out of his face. Hiroko was a little disappointed with Kenshin's seemingly uncaring attitude towards being a guinea pig.
Hiroko pulled up Kenshin's sleeve. "Where's Katsura?" Kenshin didn't even flinch, he didn't move. Hiroko place the tip of the needle on Kenshin's skin. "Where's Katsura?" He was giving him a second chance but Kenshin didn't take it. "Suite yourself." Hiroko pricked Kenshin's skin and gladly infected Kenshin with his concoction. "I'll be back in a little while." He said with a wave as he and the two men he had entered with left.
Kenshin waited tensely not sure what to do. What was it Hiroko had done to him! How long did he have to figure it out before it took affect? Was it just him or was the damp room suddenly getting really hot. Sweat ran down Kenshin's face, his mouth went dry, it felt as if his skin was boiling.
Hiroko returned soon knowing how long it should take for each of his 'medicines' to take affect. "So how are you feeling Battòsai?" He asked when he noted with pleasure the discomfort Kenshin was in.
His head felt as if it was going to explode. How long was this going to last? Kenshin clenched his teeth together to keep from crying out. His body, it was burning. He withered were he sat wanting desperately to cool his body down. Sweat covered him, drenching him. His hair was a darker shade of red from all the moisture. It was so hot.
"You know." Hiroko said after Kenshin had suffered a little longer. "I may have an antidote for that." Kenshin huffed, feeling as if he had just been running for hours. "All it would cost you would be the location to where Katsura is staying." Even in his discomfort Kenshin glared defiantly at Hiroko. Hiroko shrugged and watch Kenshin with a smile on his face until the drug had finally worn out. "That was fun. Shall we try this one now?" Hiroko said holding up another needle.
Kenshin's head fell back. Again? He was already exhausted from the last one and he hadn't even moved. Kenshin didn't even look at Hiroko as he once more pulled his sleeve up. Kenshin was still panting as Hiroko gently set the cold point of the needle on Kenshin's hot skin. "Where is Katsura?" Hiroko demanded. Kenshin refused to even look at the man. He simply winced as the needle was pressed into his skin.
This time Hiroko didn't leave. He sat himself down in a chair he had brought this time and watched Kenshin closely. Kenshin still did nothing to acknowledge the man's presents in the room. Instead he just stared straight ahead of him at the wall, waiting, and wondering what this potion would do. It came without warning, but when the pain came, wrenching his gut, Kenshin cried out in pain.
Hiroko had fallen half asleep waiting for the poison to start to work so when Kenshin yelled out and scrunched his knees to his chest he almost fell out of his chair. Hiroko smiled with satisfaction. "So it looks like it's going to start soon."
Kenshin didn't even hear his words. This hurt so much. He pulled his legs up close to his chest in an attempt to comfort his stomach which felt as if it had been punched. His insides felt as if they were doing flips. He clenched his teeth together so hard he gave himself a headache and clenching his teeth wasn't helping the groans of pain that he couldn't help but to utter.
A funny scratchy feeling began to form in the back of his throat. 'No.' He tried to tell himself. 'Don't do that. Not in front of Hiroko.' He sucked in his breath as another wave of pain rushed over him. The feeling in the back of this throat grew worse as well.
Hiroko watched as Kenshin struggled to overcome the pain that was running through his entire body. "Sure you don't want the antidote? Just tell me where Katsura is."
Kenshin wanted to glare at Hiroko, but his eyes were shut tightly against the pain. That feeling again, that scratchy, weird feeling. His stomach flipped again. 'Don't.' Kenshin mentally begged his own body but it was no help. His stomach turned again, he turned his head, gagged a few times, and threw up.
Hiroko smiled. "Not feeling too well Battòsai?" He mocked as Kenshin felt another round come up. What little was in his stomach was now gone.
Kenshin's body shook from the extremes it had just gone through. He chocked like he was about to be sick once more but there was nothing left so he simply gagged. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this weak. He gagged again. His vision was slowly fogging from fatigue. His chest heaved and he just couldn't stop shaking. A soft prick made him turn his head. Hiroko stood, yet another needle pressed against his skin. When had he risen from his chair?
Hiroko looked into Kenshin's tired eyes. "Again?" He asked pushing a little more on the needle. Kenshin closed his eyes and waited for whatever else Hiroko had planned for him.
After a few more 'experiments' Hiroko waved a hand in front of Kenshin's face. Kenshin just stared straight ahead his body now shaking very badly. Hiroko sighed, this kid was tough to crack. Never had someone gone through so many different potions, anymore and Hiroko was afraid of killing Kenshin and he still needed him. He picked up one last needle with a poison that would put the manslayer into a deep enough sleep so he wouldn't be any trouble moving back to his old cell.