Part 2 of the oneshot. Thanks for still reading.
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Shichiroji did search high and low for the yellow-haired samurai, did ask all the villagers about him, but without success. "Confound it, where IS he?" How was he supposed to pin down someone he could not find in the first place? He returned to Gisaku's hut, and slumped down onto the wall. "Confound that redhead…" He panted and caught his breath.
"What happened?" Gorobei asked him.
"I'm not sure anything has happened already, but for some reason Heihachi had me going up and down the village looking for…."
The man he was looking for had just appeared at the door of the hut, swaying slightly back and forth, with eyes staring at something. Just behind him was their youngest samurai.
"Well, fancy that…" Shichiroji sighed and slapped his forehead.
"Good afternoon," Katsushiro bowed before them. "Kyuzo-dono asked me the way down the cliff, and because I did not know…."
The rest of what the young man said was ignored. They were all looking at Kyuzo. Kyuzo walked straight past all the people into the hut and to a wall. He sat on the floor, and leaned his full weight on the wall.
As soon as he did so, he fell sideways to the floor with a thud.
Gorobei was nearest and got to him first. He found Kyuzo's eyes still wide open but unseeing. He shook him but got no response. "Why," the entertainer exclaimed with bulging eyes, "He's completely stoned!"
Shichiroji suddenly remembered what he had been told. "Get his coat off, Goro-san!"
Gorobei did not have to be told twice, and Kyuzo was eased out of the long coat. In doing so Gorobei and Kanbei found that he a small gash on the leg as well, still slightly open and with dried blood. The fact that Kyuzo had not asked for bandages from any of them only confirmed Gorobei's statement. They kindly shut his eyes and began dressing the wound.
Shichiroji quickly grabbed the coat, shook it, felt the inside and outside. Soon a small clink was heard. He reached out for the lamp and scanned the floor.
He found where the clink came from: a small dart with the needle still intact. He carefully took up the dart and showed it to Kanbei. Shichiroji stared at the small object, dumbfounded at how accurate the drawing was. "What is this, Kanbei-sama?"
"It's a special kind of dart, my friend," Kanbei replied. "It has a time-release mechanism. Regular but stronger doses of the toxin inside it are given out until it is empty." He glanced at its victim, already whiter than he normally was, breaking out in cold sweat. "We have to make the antidote for this quickly…."
He had not finished speaking when Kikuchiyo's booming voice sounded from just outside the hut. "OI! We have the plants, Momotaro!"
"Great timing! Get in here with that!" Shichiroji called out.
Kirara had also arrived at the scene. She immediately entered the hut, carrying a jug of water, a pot, and a ladle. She caught her breath, bowed to Kanbei, and gasped. "Kyuzo-sama!"
"Yes, dearie, Hei-san was right on the money," Shichiroji said. "Hurry and do what you have to do. Tell us how we can help you." He faced Kanbei. "Can we make it?"
The leader looked at the man on the bed carefully. "Yes, but only if we hurry. Find me that dart we got from the Shikimoribito."
"Ryoukai," and Shichiroji started looking through his partner's things. "Yare-yare, people have been ordering me around too much this afternoon!"
Katsushiro was ordered to go fetch the elder priestess. Kikuchiyo watched events from outside the hut. No more words were exchanged, besides quick orders between the Mikumari, Komachi, and Kanbei. Komachi tore up leaves as fast as she could with clenched teeth. Kirara ground up the leaves and squeezed out its juices, mixing these into a pot of water. Shichiroji found the medicine dart and handed it to Kanbei. Kirara ladled as much as she could of the medicine into the dart. Kanbei stuck the dart into their patient's forearm.
It was obvious after five minutes that the yellow-haired samurai was out of danger. Within ten minutes, the cold sweats stopped, the breathing normalized. He fell to deep, exhausted sleep.
Katsushiro soon returned with the elder priestess. They quickly explained the situation, and showed her the poison dart. She shook her head and tsked. "I thought they had stopped using this a long time ago. This is one of the most cruel ways to die a slow death. It is fortunate that it has a ready antidote, if given in time."
The elder observed the items and the process, and then complimented the girls on their work. To Kanbei she said, "The medicine made it just in time for him. He will live, and will be fine after a few days of rest. Continue giving the medicine every hour."
"Let me do it, Kanbei-sama," Kirara said with a bow. "I still owe him."
Kanbei agreed, and exited the hut with Gorobei and Shichiroji. All three gave a united sigh of relief.
They were met by the booming mechanical voice. "That's it? You're leaving?"
"Well, what else is left to do?" Gorobei answered him. "A crowd in a sick room won't help matters. Let's go have some dinner, aye?"
Kikuchiyo blew out a stream of steam. "I'll wait for the little kid. Oi, Momotaro, I didn't know the gearhead could tell the future, too."
Shichiroji kept silent.
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The group was more subdued during dinner, but the conversation still flowed. They teased each other how they all had not noticed anything seriously wrong, but all had noticed how different their icy samurai was that day. The samurai laughed as Komachi told them how Kikuchiyo was more steam train than mecha samurai, running into the woods for the plants.
Only Shichiroji remained silent, painfully aware of two rice bowls that had not been claimed yet.
Kikuchiyo laughed heartily. "Well, today was very weird, wasn't it? Kyutaro delirious, our gearhead high-strung…."
"Speaking of the gearhead," Gorobei interrupted, "Where IS our woodchuck, anyhow?"
The assembled group suddenly grew quiet and looked around. Indeed, they had not heard any funny stories in a chirpy voice yet.
Shichiroji stood. "I'll look for him."
Kirara took up a handful of rice and quickly made a rice ball. She wrapped it in a leaf, then silently gave this to him with a bow, which Shichiroji returned. He took up his staff, and left the hut.
He had a good idea where the younger samurai could be found, and started walking there. He was glad that none of the others offered to come with him. He wanted to talk with Heihachi alone, to find out what made him react so much, what made him not insist, but force the people to do as he wanted.
As expected, Shichiroji found Heihachi lying on the hill, looking up at the stars.
"Hey."
"Shichi-san." He sat up and sighed. "Sorry about this afternoon."
"No big deal." Shichiroji sat beside him, and gave him the rice ball.
"Kyuzo-dono?"
"We made it. He'll be alright."
Heihachi sighed again. "Thank goodness."
A few moments of silence. A few birds and crickets chirped.
The blonde samurai tried to ask the question gently, nonchalantly. "Say, Hei-san, how did you know?"
Heihachi stood up and looked up at the night sky. He brought down his goggles over his eyes. "Something similar happened to a friend of mine, back in the war." Shichiroji noticed the glass of the goggles fog up. "I was too late."
Shichiroji looked up at the sky as well. "Well, you weren't too late today."
"Yeah, I guess."
The blonde man stood, and patted the smaller one on the shoulder. "Come on, Hei-san. We have a long day tomorrow."
Heihachi placed the goggles back over his pilot cap. "Yeah."
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The dare theme is: Kyuzo is pleasant for a day and the cast is freaked.
I figured there is only one plausible way for that to happen: the guy wasn't himself that day. The only way to get all seven people in one place is the portion before the first major Kanna attack. Thus it turned out like this. I am sorry it did not turn out as a crack fic. I liked the challenge of having all 7 guys in one story. It made me keep whacking my head as I was cramming for Orthopedics finals (because I was planning out the story instead of cramming! Study, damn you, STUDY!). I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading.