Disclaimer: I do NOT own PMK or its characters.
Slight clarification on the OCs: Osu and Kitsu are retired kunoichis. Emiko never was one. She's the resident witch/ psychic/ medium of Kyoto. They share a special kind of bond. One that includes having some major beef with samurai. Kitsu lost her only son to Hijikata's blade back in Tama. Emiko's widowed when her Choushu husband found himself at the wrong side of Okita's katana. Osu just hates most samurai in general.
Emiko and Okitsu are also members of Katsura Umeko's Women's Association of Japan from the New Kyoto Post.
The uploader is working. Finally.
An Assassin's Tale
Chapter 11
It was nice, in a twisted way, having his master tending to his wound. Kichisaburo of Yogotoya reclined with his garment top off his shoulder. The wound would probably leave a mark. "Tch, I've been scarred…" he reached to touch his wound, and brushed against the freak's hand. What the hell? The freak's trying to get fresh with him again? Kichi stifled the urge to push him away. "Hey, the sun hasn't set yet…"
No use. The freak's crooning some moronic dribble and trying to pull him in for an embrace. That did it. He pushed him aside…
"This is something you have to face…" Saitou asked as they stepped out of the compound. "Hai," Souji replied dully. He didn't want to bring his swords, but Toshi made him. He has worn his uniform haori. He never felt that his swords went with his normal yukata. In single file, they stepped out of the gate.
"About time…" Unseen by the trio, a hunchbacked Emiko swept the street a few yards from the gate. She straightened up a little to stretch her limbs. At least Hajime-kun's grown up into a reasonably good psychic. Good enough to figure out Furube's lair, but still not good enough to detect his own grandaunt living a street from the Yagi compound. Or maybe he couldn't be bothered to call on her… not that she was very particular about him calling.
She strolled off to the street corner where Okitsu had trapped Hotaru with a white lie about a fortune-teller specialized in love charms and the like…
"I-I… want to k-know if… the man I love… l-loves me…" Hotaru blushed furiously under Emiko's piercing gaze. Emiko made a show of reading Hotaru's palm and consulting her divining coins. "I see you going on a journey…"
"With Okita-sama?"
"No. But you will speak with him… I see you going to the old mansion outside theTiger Gate, over the stream… I see him there…"
"Arigato!" Hotaru bolted off without waiting for Emiko to continue. "Tch! Young people these days… No patience. Hey, you haven't paid me yet! Ah, well…" The old medium gave a slight smile. She should just make it…
"We have some guests…" Furube crackled unpleasantly. Whatever welcome he has planned for Souji can't be very pleasant, Kichi thought. Will they be attacked by curses, spells or demons? Maybe it would be some secret booby traps… All he could do was wait, and try to ignore his Craziness' hand squeezing his knee.
"Watch, Kichi… This will be very amusing…" The air before them shivered. A faint image of Okita and his companions appeared. A spell? Furube was chanting as he sat in the centre of his strange floor drawing. Strange lights shot out from the floor. Kichi hated to admit it. With the sorcerer's aid, his master might overthrow the regime… plunging the city into flames… Kichi doesn't care about that. Let them burn. Osu and his former colleagues from Yogotoya came to his mind. No! That part of his life is over! There was no turning back for Kichi or Akira…
He heard snatches of conversation from the intruders.
"Saitou-san, Hijikata-san… please if we see Akira…"
"I thought we've been over this. You can't protect him…" Hijikata snapped in annoyance. Protect? Why would Soujirou want to protect him? Soujimust surely hate him after all that… Kichi gently pushed his master's hand aside. The trio were at the gate of the mansion. Furube's chanting took a more sinister turn. A shudder ran through Kichi. Turn back! He silently willed.
Too late. Saitou's warning came a fraction of a second late as Okita slashed the black cat and released the spell conjured by the sorcerer. Furube's chanting halted. Kichi watched mesmerized as the Miburou found themselves smack in the middle of Furube's trap. Helpless, the trio could only proceed deeper into the spell…
"The gate of death awaits you…" the sorcerer crackled. His Lordship joined in the sinister laughter. Kichi felt an urge to make them stop.
Soujirou would get killed… wasn't that what he wanted? Why should he care? His mind was getting confused from the growing smell of incense. He hated Souji. Souji probably hated him as much as he did after that incident yesterday and earlier… What was he thinking? That Souji would forgive him and have a tearful brotherly reunion? A Shinsengumi captain wouldn't want anything to do with a whore and hired assassin in cahoots with a lunatic bent on destroying the country…
Kill or be killed. If he can't kill Soujirou, Soujirou will kill him… His vision blurred. He tightened his grip on his katana.
"Okita-sama!" Hotaru whined plaintively as she pounded on the sealed gate of the mansion. In the bushes someway off, two kunoichi have come out of retirement and are despairing over their junior's lack of, well, grey matter between the ears. Okitsu swore under her breath. "I swear that girl has cotton wool between her ears… They allow ninjas like her out these days? In my time, she'll be dead by her first week."
Osu shrugged. "Well, I wish she'll hurry up and do something to let us in…"
"Well, what will you do once we snatch your little Kichi-boy?"
"For starters, I'm going to spank him so hard for not listening, at least till he can't sit on his ass for a week… wait! Is Miss Woolly-brain doing what I think she's doing?" Osu watched in amazement as Hotaru ripped off the ofuda on the gate with a girlish giggle and did not burst into flames or anything. The girl stepped into the compound.
"Well, she did get in…" Okitsu beckoned Osu as they followed Hotaru in at a safe distance. "I know my way about these parts, at least where all the non-spell floor traps are."
"Floor traps? What about the girl?"
"Nah, it'll take a full grown ox to trigger those now. Rust and all. His Lordship has really let the place fall down around his ears." Okitsu looked with disdain at the rotting timbers and cobwebs. "You know, I almost regret not sending him off to join his precious little boy."
"There, there, we all make mistakes... now let's get back to correcting my mistake."
Author's Notes:
Thank you for the reviews. I think most of the happenings in this part have been covered in the anime. I just fill in some of the gaps, like how Hotaru went to the mansion.