Author's Note: Thank you all-your reviews have fueled me to keep on going and write longer chapters. Again, thank you! Oh, and one other thing-I realized that the road in front of the Kamiya dojo is CONCRETE, not dirt... sorry! Don't worry about it, though. It doesn't make a huge difference. And, uh, one question. Soujirou DOES dress Western-like, right? I have a picture in my mind of him wearing breeches. Is that right? I have short term memory... --;
Review Responses:
Shihali: Thank you so much for your help! Your timeline of the Kyoto Arc is so useful-when I was planning the story, I kept referring to it. Thanks also for the heads-up about the error. And thanks for the advice! At least your complaints will help me out. And about the Rengoku-I fixed it because I thought it blew up a long time before they went to Kyoto-stupid ol' me.
Brittanie Love: Thanks! I hope this is soon enough for you...
GoldAngel2: Kenshin's fury is especially important in the upgrading of the plot-I'm glad you noticed that. I try to make them in character, but Soujirou I'm having difficulty on with my upgrading of the plot. I have the whole series too-though I hate doing the research -;
Star0704: I know-I can't wait to write out Kenshin's expression-but too bad I have to build up to it first.
Mara Roberts: I'm sorry that Soujirou is OOC. Don't worry-he'll be back to normal in the end.
skilledpplnumba2: Putt-putt, I think Ann would get suspicious if she saw... and I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN YU-GI-OH!! But I reviewed her fic anyway...
Whisper of Darkness: Yeah, everyone's commenting on Soujirou's weird behavior. But thanks for your compliments!
Arteme: Yeah, the plot is on its way-can you believe this is still the beginning of the story?? Yeah, I know-there'll be lots of chapters to look forward to. And for the cauterizing of the wound-I don't know. Let's just say that it was bleeding before, and the steam from the heat of the blood connected with the chilly air in the room, so that it formed some liquid? (Not very realistic but I forgot about the cauterizing).
rurouni madness: Actually, it'll be a long time before the rescue-as I've said before -. Wait for about seven years until the whole story's out! (Don't worry, it won't be that long a wait -). Lots of Soujirou fans, ne?
Xxoro-chanxX: Thank you! But Shihali has helped me a lot, so I'm not sure I completely agree with you. The real story is important to the Kyoto Arc, and I'm kind of rewriting the Kyoto Arc in a new view. Shihali is helping me make the fanfic more real, and I thank Shihali profusely. But yes, Shihali likes to stick to the real plot, and I'm not sure if I want to include all of the events of the Kyoto Arc in this fic. So thanks for your concerns, and thanks goes to Shihali as well. You guys certainly have opposing views! Thank you, though, for your compliments!
Iris: Thanks! Is this update soon enough for you? -
Disclaimer: See previous chapters' disclaimers--I'm too lazy to write one up again. ;;;
Side Note:
geta: A type of fashionable Japanese clogs, usually worn by women. The geta boosts up the wearer because of two rectangular blocks parallel to each other on the bottom of the shoe. (bad description) The rectangles are horizontally placed.
A Cloak of Protection
Chapter 5: Faltering EmotionsDAY ONE (still) --5:15 pm
As he and Sano started off slowly on the crumbly dirt path in the shady woods, Kenshin kept his busy red head down, scanning the earth for any signs of Kaoru and shuffling his sandaled feet on the ground. What he was going to find, he wasn't sure. A hairpin-a scrap of blue cloth-a box of birthday chocolates-or drops of blood-
Kenshin willed himself to think of something else, twining his fingers together. I mean, he told himself, how exactly do I know that she's been hurt. I just have my suspicions... and that Kaoru-dono wouldn't intentionally skip Tae's get-together...
His thoughts seemed to have a mind of his own. They focused on her silky, long raven hair, shimmering with blue highlights. They focused on her lithe, slender but tough figure. They focused on her clear, fighting personality-how she'd defend anyone who was wronged. They focused on her blushing lips, soft and warm...
A heavy red blush spread over Kenshin's face, and he grimaced slightly. He felt his ears heating up, and he determinedly turned his head to the side, willing Sano not to glance at his crimson face.
Sano seemed to have a sixth sense. Kenshin felt a jolting nudge in his ribs and he swiveled around, face now tomato red. Sano smiled reassuringly at him, warm brown eyes comforting. "Don't worry, Kenshin," Sano boomed out, clapping Kenshin on the shoulder and sending him reeling. "We'll find out where Jo-chan went. After all, how do you know Jo-chan got hurt? We don't have any proof of that."
Kenshin listened to Sano's words, which mirrored his own reassuring thoughts to himself. After a brief pause, he lifted his head again and smiled at Sano. "Yes, you're right, that you are," Kenshin replied firmly. After all, what else could they think?
Sano grinned and stuffed his long-fingered hands into his white pockets, striding forward again. Kenshin hurried to catch up, loose folds of his magenta gi flapping behind him.
They slowed to a steady walk again, listening to the invisible birds sing their shrill songs. Peaceful woods life rang out all around them. The leafy trees sighed in the slight breeze, and the whole scene showed that no foul play had happened. Through the tall leaves of the trees, the orange sun tinged with red told the world that sunset was fast approaching.
Then Sano halted abruptly. Kenshin, who was shuffling along behind him, nearly crashed into his billowing white shirt with the boldly imprinted 'Aku' symbol on his back.
"K-Kenshin-" Sano burst out, throwing out a muscular arm and catching Kenshin hard in the chest. His red ribbon flapped behind his head, slightly covered by spiky brown hair.
Kenshin stepped out around Sano's arm and directed his gaze to where Sano was staring. A cobalt-blue hair ribbon lay in the dirt, casually tossed to one side as if it had fallen from somebody's hair. Several sprinklings of dirt partially obscured the ribbon, and Kenshin wouldn't have noticed it at all if it hadn't been for the beautiful deep blue color of the ribbon, a few shades deeper than Kaoru-dono's own eyes.
Kenshin's clear violet eyes widened. Was this a sign of foul play? Or had Kaoru-dono simply dropped it here? He recognized the ribbon as the one that Kaoru-dono always wore. After that Jin-e incident, when Kenshin had accidentally stained Kaoru-dono's favorite blue ribbon with his own blood, he had gone out to the market and bought a new one for Kaoru-dono. It had been the least he could do. And Kaoru-dono had loved it.
So Kaoru-dono wouldn't have just carelessly flung it out here.
Kenshin took a few steps forward and knelt down, right knee resting on the dirt strewn casually with little pebbles. His left hand on the left knee of his white hakama, he reached out with his slender right hand for the blue ribbon.
The cobalt blue hair ribbon flapped in his fingers, the silky material undulating in the breeze. Kenshin stood up and stared at the ribbon for a long time.
Then he felt a heavy hand coming down onto his shoulder. "Come on, Kenshin," Sano murmured. "We still don't really know that Jo-chan's hurt."
Kenshin reluctantly tucked the ribbon into his magenta gi and continued walking, violet eyes solemn. This time, he took the front, while Sano's crunching footsteps rang out behind him.
They continued walking for about two more minutes, occasionally pausing to check a suspicious-looking object on the ground. They were more cautious to check everywhere, as they had already found Kaoru's blue hair ribbon. As they did this, the air was thick with worry, and the peaceful forest sounds went by unheard.
This time, Kenshin was the one to stop, causing Sano to nearly shove Kenshin to the ground, what with his towering height.
"Kenshin, what is it?" Sano asked, breaking the heavy silence between them. His spiky chocolate hair bobbed as he peered over Kenshin's bushy red hair.
Kenshin's eyes were thrown into shadow by his long red bangs. The slight breeze riffled the loose flaps of his white hakama, and his hands were clenched into tight fists.
Sano glanced down worriedly at his friend and stepped forward to check out what lay a few feet ahead of them on the path.
A wooden geta rested on its side, tossed carelessly upon the dirt path. Sano recognized it as one of Jo-chan's, glimpsed whenever they went out to eat at the Akabeko or anywhere else. The only time Jo-chan wasn't wearing one of those awful things was when she was teaching budo or fighting.
Sano couldn't imagine himself wearing one of those. He'd stick with his plain black shoes, thanks. (A/N: His shoes are weird... --;)
Kenshin stepped forward and scooped up the geta, amethyst eyes troubled as he glanced up at Sano.
Kenshin stood up slowly, cradling the geta in his pale, long-fingered hand. "Sanosuke... it does not make any sense that Kaoru-dono would take off her geta at any time, that it doesn't." Kenshin turned the geta around and around in his hands, as if it could tell him where Kaoru had gone.
Sanosuke took a tiny step forward, then stopped, comprehension dawning on his face. "Then-then-"
Sano couldn't believe it. No, there had to be a reason Jo-chan had taken off her geta. Even the most absurd reason...
Kenshin carefully set the geta right side up onto the dirt, then picked it up and moved it forward, setting it down again. Sano watched as Kenshin picked it up yet another time, and moved it forward to another spot.
"K-Kenshin?" Sano said haltingly, worried for his red-haired samurai friend. What in the world was Kenshin doing?
Kenshin swiveled his head to look at Sano, red hair falling into his eyes. He was crouched on the ground, about to pick up the geta again.
Sano moved forward until he was across from Kenshin, next to the geta. "Kenshin... "
The red haired samurai lifted up the geta two feet above the dirt, and Sano saw what Kenshin had been doing. Kenshin had been carefully dropping the geta down onto the dirt, to match two rectangular imprints in the dirt, parallel to each other. However, the front rectangle imprint was deeply embedded in the ground, while the back rectangular imprint was lightly made.
What does it mean? Sano wondered.
As always, Kenshin supplied an explanation.
"Kaoru-dono was running with her pair of geta on," Kenshin answered, indicating the print marks and how perfectly they fit the rectangular blocks on the wooden clog. "However," he continued, "there are no more of the rectangle prints on the dirt trail, so Kaoru-dono must have kicked off the pair of geta and continued running on foot."
Sanosuke nodded, understanding at last and was contented to know that Kenshin had not been going crazy-as if he could.
Sano glanced back behind them, where they had just gone on. There were more pairs of rectangular prints, but these were smudged and crumbled in many places, so they came up as vague on the many disfigurements of the dirt trail.
Kenshin followed Sano's gaze soberly. "And those other geta prints," Kenshin said, "are hard to tell because a lot of people have trod on them, probably." Kenshin followed the prints with his expert eyes, trained from the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu-necessary to read an opponent's movements.
Sano chose not to comment on who the 'lot of people' were. Instead, he said to Kenshin, "If Jo-chan's one geta is here...then surely she must have abandoned the other. One foot without it and the other with it is not a good position to run in, if she kicked off the clogs to run."
Kenshin nodded, lips drawn into a tight and worried line. "I agree-that is good thinking, that it was, Sanosuke."
With his good eyes, Kenshin glanced around the area once and quickly detected the other shoe kicked off the trail, tossed underneath a tall, leafy tree. Kenshin quickly strode over to it and knelt to pick it up.
As he did, the red-haired samurai noticed that there were many long and dark shadows covering the dirt ground. Blinking, Kenshin looked up to see the fiery streaks of the setting sun painting the lilac and pink-tinged sky.
Kenshin stood up again and turned to face Sano. "Now we know Kaoru-dono has gone through something horrible," Kenshin said quietly. "There is no other evidence we need."
From the inside of his gi, Kenshin pulled out the silky blue hair ribbon and set it gently on the ground. He carefully positioned the pair of geta shoes next to the hair ribbon, and rose, staring down at the assortment of Kaoru's possessions.
Sano cramed his hands into his wide white pockets and wandered over to stand next to Kenshin, murmuring, "Shit..." under his breath.
Kenshin heaved a deep sigh and knelt down to pick up the items again. "It is getting dark, Sanosuke," he said hoarsely. Sano knew he was fighting back the anger that rose dangerously from him.
Kenshin continued slowly, "We'll get back to the dojo and rest up. Tomorrow, we'll set out to look for Kaoru-dono again. It's been a long day."
Sano went over his day: gambling at the local place and getting tons of money. It wasn't much to go on, if he agreed to Kenshin's last statement. Kenshin had probably been searching for the Missie all day.
I'll stay with Kenshin tonight at the dojo, Sano thought.
Kenshin felt waves of anger and impatience at not being able to search for Kaoru-dono immediately. Who knew what was happening to her right this second? He wanted to search for her now!
However, he couldn't consider his own feelings. Sanosuke probably had to be tired.
Together and silently, they headed back down the trail to the Kamiya dojo. Tomorrow was going to be a fresh day-for both of them.
But what of Kaoru?
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6:30 pm
She felt like she was falling out of the sky, plummeting toward the earth at an impossible speed. Oddly, her long black hair wasn't being blown back. All was normal, as if she were sleeping-except for the terrifying feeling of falling. That rush of adrenaline in her whole body; the feeling of her heart jumping up to her throat.
Kaoru slowly opened her eyes, and the dizzying feeling of plummeting to the ground vanished. Slowly, she came back to the world, and discovered that she was sprawled limply on the yellow couch in Shishio's room.
Stirring, she dropped a pale arm over her eyes and squinted against the seemingly bright light coming from the lone candle on the end table.
Gradually, the swirling black dots in front of her eyes faded, and she could see the room in its entirety again. Pushing herself up on the couch, she felt wetness and glanced down to see bloodstains all over the cover of the couch.
Shuddering, she took a quick look at her right side wound and found that it wasn't bleeding any longer, thank goodness. However, the lips of her wound were burned horrifically. Thanks to Shishio, Kaoru thought ironically.
She heard a slight sound, like wood against wood, in the general direction of the far-facing wall that was opposite of the double wooden doors.
Since Kaoru couldn't see the wall from her lying-down position on the couch, she craned her long neck over the back of the couch to see where the sound had come from. Not to her surprise, she saw the Western-style dressed boy--Seta Soujirou-- standing there, hurriedly fumbling about with the red drapes covering the wall.
Soujirou swiveled around to glance at Kaoru, and she saw that he had his huge smile on. "So you're awake again!" Soujirou declared cheerfully, and dropped the drapes to stride around to the front side of the couch.
Kaoru followed him with her eyes warily, her long raven-black hair tumbling down around her pale face and down her blue-kimono covered back.
Soujirou set his right hand on the far arm of the couch from her, and bent over, making move-over gestures. Kaoru hastily pulled her legs over and onto the green-carpeted ground, so that she was forced into a sitting position.
Soujirou swung himself over the arm of the couch and dropped himself onto the couch next to Kaoru. Turning her head to look at him, Kaoru had to admit that the boy was around her age-maybe even a little older. But the way he kept constantly smiling changed his demeanor to a younger age.
Soujirou spoke. "I hope you make yourself comfortable here--'cause you'll be here for an awfully long time--probably a few weeks or so."
Kaoru stared.
The whole thing still seemed like a dream she was going to wake up from. Like she was going to forget all of this in a few minutes. But this was the real thing.
Soujirou said, "Don't worry--you'll get to use the bathroom and you'll get delicious food and refreshing water during your comfortable wait here for Himura-san." He beamed sweetly at her.
Kaoru felt a surge of tears coming from her heart. She turned away from Soujirou, his very mention of Kenshin reminding her of Shishio's deadly plan in store for him-and her. How she was going to destroy Kenshin by herself, practically. And she couldn't do anything about it.
She broke down into tears, the silver liquid cascading down her cheeks. Horrified, she covered her face with her trembling hands, ashamed that she was crying in front of this boy. What he must think of her...what with her 'image' as a damsel in distress. How horrible. The tears dripped down her cheeks and down her chin, dropping wet splatters onto the couch.
There was only silence from Soujirou's end of the couch.
Kaoru sniffled and tried to stop the tears, but they kept on flowing steadily. Kenshin... Kenshin...
If she was going to destroy Kenshin... if Kenshin was to be destroyed by her... She wouldn't be able to live with herself then after.
Even if Shishio was going to kill Kenshin himself, she might as well have been his destroyer...
Kaoru sobbed into her hands, and gradually felt her nose stuff up. Oh great, she thought, wiping vaguely at her streaming eyes. Gasping sobs rose from her chest and shook her whole body.
Then she heard a strange noise coming from Soujirou's end of the couch.
Glancing up, she drew in a gasping sob as she saw Soujirou gazing at her sadly, almost pitifully. But from what she had seen of him, he had been smiling all the time...why the sudden change?
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6:40 pm
When Soujirou saw the girl breaking down into tears, his emotionless, stiff heart had suddenly cracked with pity and sadness for her. Shishio was going to do something horrible to her--put all the blame of Himura-san's murder on her... though she wasn't really going to do anything. Shishio had made it seem like the girl--Kaoru--had killed Himura-san herself, though she would just only weaken the Battousai--Himura-san.
Damn! He was getting all mixed up with his names. Emotions wreaked so much havoc on you.
Soujirou struggled to push away the emotions that had suddenly come flooding into his heart. These emotions--so long ago felt--he hadn't experienced them in such a long time. Now he strived to shove them away, get back to his happy demeanor. He couldn't afford to feel these feelings of sadness, guilt, anger, frustration...
"If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die." Soujirou furiously repeated this into his head. If he had no emotions, then he was strong. If he had emotions, then he was weak.
He could prove this easily by the people who were murdered. Often, one would be stupid enough to try to protect the other. They usually got killed like this.
By repeating the phrase in his head multiple times, Soujirou's eyes turned emotionless again and the smile popped back on his face.
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6:45 pm
Kaoru sniffled and turned away, suddenly embarrassed. "You must think I'm pretty pitiful now," she said, a strange smile on her face. "A captured girl starts breaking down into tears; how cliché-like." She tried unsuccessfully to dry the shining tears on her flushed cheeks.
She heard rustling beside her, and turned her head to look at Soujirou. He was digging through his pockets for something, finally standing up so he could be allowed to delve deeper into his pockets. Finally he gave a small cry --"A-ha!" and withdrew a slightly crumpled white handkerchief from his left pocket. With a flourish, he offered it to her, a huge grin on his face.
Kaoru reached out and took the handkerchief, wiping away her tears. As she covered her eyes with the handkerchief, she couldn't help but wonder if Soujirou was smiling in a fake way or not.
She carefully folded up the tear-stained handkerchief and glanced up at Soujirou. "Th-thank you," she murmured, hoping her voice wasn't still trembling.
When she looked back up at Soujirou, the earsplitting grin didn't seem faked anymore-it looked like his usual huge smiles. His eyes shone with amusement and happiness.
There was no more sadness or guilt in his face.
Kaoru sighed and leaned back on the couch, draping her arm over her face. For some reason, she was exhausted--probably because of how the day had gone.
"I'm so tired," she murmured to Soujirou. "Do you know what time it is?" For some reason, she felt she could trust the boy--even if he did smile excessively.
Soujirou took out a gold pocket watch from his right pocket and consulted it. "It's almost 6:55 pm right now," he answered. Without the slightest change in expression, he bent down and placed the pocket watch onto the end table beside the couch. He straightened up and explained, "You must feel pretty disoriented, not knowing what the time is. Here's a little something for you. Consider it a welcome gift-welcome to the Six-Gated Temple."
Kaoru murmured, beneath her right arm, "Six-Gated Temple?"
"This room is one of many in the Six-Gated Temple," Soujirou replied, his eyes crinkling up with his smile. "The Six-Gated Temple is also where Shishio-sama and Himura-san will be battling."
Kaoru's eyes flew open and she jerked back up into a sitting position, not sleepy anymore. "B-battling?"
Soujirou smiled. "Himura-san will be fighting to get you back safely... and Shishio-sama will be fighting to obtain the title of the most powerful man in Japan-or even the whole world." As he said the first part of the statement (about the saving), a shining glitter came into his eyes. The second real sign of emotion stunned Kaoru, but she blinked, and it wasn't there anymore.
It must be my imagination, she told herself, leaning back against the couch.
Soujirou grinned. "You can go to the bathroom in that chamber pot over there," he said, pointing into the corner of the room.
Kaoru felt herself getting red as she looked over there. In the corner sat a gleaming chamber pot (A/N: I hope they had chamber pots or whatever back then, in Japan...).
"And..." Soujirou started to say, but suddenly there came a weird clacking sound somewhere near the side of the room.
Kaoru and Soujirou looked over there simultaneously, and Soujirou hurried to where the sound was coming from. Kaoru saw a little machine sat on a desk on the far side of the wall. The machine was making the clacking noises she and Soujirou had heard before, and was emitting a long, thin slip of paper with --Kaoru squinted her sapphire eyes--black dots and dashes on it.
Kaoru stared, fascinated, as Soujirou stood at the machine's side, waiting for the dots and dashes to stop appearing. She felt so curious as to what the machine's purpose was for.
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6:55 pm
Finally, the clacking halted, and Soujirou pulled out the slip of paper, scanning it quickly with his eyes. He was trained to read the Morse code, and read that Shishio and Yumi had arrived at Shingetsu by quick transportation. Shishio commands Soujirou: Find a way to get Battousai to know what happened to his girl, and to round up the Juppongatana.
Soujirou's smile never wavered. He sensed that Kaoru was about to get up from the couch and come over to him, and he waved his hand dismally behind him in a get-back-down motion. There came a vehement sigh and a plop back onto the couch.
Soujirou crumpled up the note in his right hand and crammed it into his pocket. Turning back to the machine, he started typing out a message written in Morse code to one of Shishio's black-clothed lackeys stationed in Tokyo. Soujirou didn't feel like he was up to the strenuous task of running all the way to Tokyo from here, Kyoto. He had already run out all of his...emotions... when carrying Kaoru here to the Six-Gated Temple.
Soujirou typed out the message efficiently and ceaselessly, feeling Kaoru staring at the back of his neck. To the lackey, he typed:
"Give the note to Himura-san in the 'best way' possible. Himura-san will be staying in the Kamiya dojo-surely you know where that is. In the note, tell Himura-san that Shishio-sama has captured his girl and that Shishio-sama'll be waiting in the Six-Gated Temple for him. Also, tell Himura-san to send a note to Shishio-sama when he's ready to fight, and the date of battle. I'll be out rounding up the Juppongatana."
Soujirou finished the message and turned around to face Kaoru. She was sitting upright on the couch, curious eyes on his face.
Soujirou grinned at her. "Go and sleep now-you must be exhausted." He kept on smiling at her until she reluctantly obliged, and lay down on the couch.
Soujirou turned back to the machine, ready to type in a new message to Houji. He was going to tell Houji that since he, Soujirou, was going to round up the Juppongatana, Houji had to come watch over Kaoru. After all, Soujirou well couldn't be in two places at once.
As Soujirou finished up the message, he glanced back over to the couch and noticed that Kaoru was sound asleep. I knew she was exhausted, Soujirou thought. I mean, who wouldn't be after this exhausting day for her?
Soujirou felt another wave of emotion blast him in the chest. It burned him to the core, ripping out his emotionless heart.
Soujirou clapped his hands to his head and clenched his eyes shut, trying to rid the emotions that were sure to destroy him. If you're strong, you live, if you're weak, you die. If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die. If-you're-strong-you-live-if-you're-weak-you-die-If-you're-strong- you-live-if-you're-weak-you-die-
At last Soujirou straightened up, emotions gone. He wasn't sure what was going on with him-this internal struggle wrenching apart his heart in opposite directions.
Soujirou walked to the double wooden doors and unlocked them. Flinging them open, he strode out and locked them again. Then he set off, out of the Six- Gated Temple to gather together the Juppongatana.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note: Oh my goodness... this is the longest chapter I will probably ever write. It totally exceeds my standards so that I wonder if I should divide this into two chapters.
Anyway, I hope you guys liked it as much as I liked typing it! (I couldn't command my fingers to stop -;). Expect the next chapter in a few days (or more, considering the rest I need to take from typing up this LO-O-ONG chapter! -)
-Twilight Sky