"Bum! Midget! Imperialist!"
"Calm down, Sano," Kaoru said placatingly. Sano ignored her. Megumi was too busy laughing to say anything. "At least he's not calling you a violent dominatrix."
"You are," Yahiko muttered.
"What was that?!?" Kaoru snapped. A moment later, Yahiko was lying prone with a large lump on his head. Sano only glanced at him momentarily before he rounded on Kaoru again, still convinced that Kenshin was thinking worse things about him than he was about her.
"He keeps comparing me to a crossdresser! Do I look like a girl to you?" he bellowed.
"No, Sano," Kaoru sighed.
"Maybe a rooster, though," Megumi offered. She smiled at his sputtering and went back to translating for the two younger people who were still conscious. Actually, she read the text and summarized the better points. A direct translation would take too long. "Let me see. Kenshin just beat the emperor in a swordfight. He and the crossdresser are now going into town." She flipped the page and frowned slightly. "It jumped forward a bit. A few days have passed and Tamahome's not back yet. They're going to go look for him."
"Why isn't he back?" Kaoru asked, clearly irritated. "Doesn't he know that the longer he stalls them, the longer it will take Kenshin to get back?"
Megumi shrugged slightly. "We'll find out," she said calmly, going back to reading the unfolding text.
* * *
"I can't believe that he just ran off when he knew we needed him," Nuriko groused for the hundredth time. "You should never have let him go!"
"I'm sure he's not back for a good reason, de gozaru," Kenshin insisted once again. And, as always to his reassurance, Nuriko scowled. Hotohori simply ignored both of them.
"Are you sure he went this way?" Hotohori asked. Kenshin sighed. He had been asked that almost as many times as Nuriko had accused him of being a dunderhead.
"Hai," he said patiently. "I know how to track someone, de gozaru."
Nuriko glared at him, frankly disbelieving. Hotohori nodded, as though he had already seen the answer coming. Which he should have, Kenshin reflected, since he had asked the same question every few minutes.
Kenshin suddenly stiffened, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. The sharp, sickly sweet smell of blood hung heavily in the air. He barely held out one arm to warn the other two to stay back before he kicked his horse into a gallop into the trees. Something metallic flashed in the grass and he pulled hard on the reins, drawing his mount to an immediate halt. Leaping off, he snatched the offending glittering item from the grass and frowned pensively. By this time, Hotohori and Nuriko had caught up, having ignored his signal to stay behind.
"What is it?" Nuriko snapped. "Trying to waste more of our time?"
"There's been a battle here recently," Kenshin responded stiffly, holding up a sword with a broken blade. He threw the sword into the grass, scrubbing his hand on his shirt as to cleanse it from the filth he had just held.
"That thing could have been here for ages," Nuriko protested. Kenshin glared at him.
"I smell blood," he said in a dead tone. Nuriko paused, looking uncertain. He heard the distinct lack of 'de gozaru' on the end of the redhead's every sentence and the difference in his tone of voice was almost frightening.
"Are you sure about this?" Hotohori asked. "I would have heard about a battle being waged on my lands."
"I've seen battlefields before," Kenshin growled. He pulled his sword from his sheath, looking furious. Hotohori pulled his horse back several paces. Nuriko just stared at him in shock, unnerved by the sudden change in personalities.
"You can put your sword away," Nuriko said unsteadily. "We believe you."
"There's someone here."
Without waiting for his companions to acknowledge the statement, Kenshin disappeared into the trees. Almost immediately, a noise that could only be described as a 'thwap' resounded through the thick growth. Rustling brush was heard as something landed heavily in the grass. Nuriko and Hotohori stared, speechless, in the direction they had heard the skirmish come from, neither eager to check it out. A moment later, a single word floated through the foliage that put them at ease.
"Oro?"
The eerie spell was broken with that simple word, causing both bishonen to kick their horses into a full run towards the source of the voice. Nuriko grabbed the reins to Kenshin's horse in passing, pulling the unwilling steed alongside his own. They burst into a small clearing of felled trees, their eyes sliding off of Kenshin to rest on the figure crumpled at the swordsman's feet.
"You killed him," Nuriko remarked numbly.
"He's just unconscious, de gozaru," Kenshin said sheepishly, scrubbing one hand through his hair nervously. Hearing the quirk in his speech return, Nuriko and Hotohori relaxed visibly.
"Why did you attack him?" Hotohori asked.
"He attacked me, de gozaru," Kenshin said defensively. "I just responded out of reflex."
Hotohori just shook his head and glanced at the crumpled figure again. With his face buried firmly into the ground from some attack the emperor couldn't even conceive of existing, was Tamahome, only recognizable by his unruly blue hair. Nuriko finally relaxed entirely and giggled softly, hopping down and seizing the unconscious teen by his shirt and slinging him over Kenshin's horse.
"Wait," Kenshin protested immediately.
"Hey, you knocked him out, so you have to be the one to walk," Nuriko laughed.
"That's not what I meant, de gozaru," Kenshin retorted.
"Then what is it?" Hotohori asked quickly before Nuriko could rile the small man again.
"I think we should wait here for him to regain consciousness, de gozaru," Kenshin explained. "If he didn't come back, he must have had a reason."
"We are already several days behind because of his absence," Hotohori said reasonably. "We should begin our journey immediately."
Kenshin frowned slightly. "Very well, de gozaru. You may take him."
"All right. Now that it's settled, let's start moving then, before it gets dark," Hotohori beamed, turning his horse. Trained by experts, the horse carrying Tamahome turned to follow him without prompting. Nuriko started to follow before he noticed something.
"Come on," he called back to Kenshin. Hearing him, Hotohori stopped.
"I said you could take him, de gozaru," Kenshin explained when faced with two questioning stares. "I never said I was coming, de gozaru."
"But you have to come," Hotohori protested. "You're Suzaku's priest!"
Kenshin shook his head. "I wanted to hear why he didn't return, de gozaru. If you insist on taking him with you, I must stay behind to find out by myself. It could be some time before he wakes up on his own and I do not wish to be far away if his reason was an important one, de gozaru."
Hotohori frowned slightly, getting ready to protest. Firm amethyst eyes met his gaze steadily and he caved.
"Very well. We'll stay here until he wakes up and explains," he conceded.
Nuriko looked between the two of them and decided that it was in his best interest not to interfere with their contest of wills. Between the insistence of an emperor who was not accustomed to being refused anything, no matter how minor, and someone who Nuriko now suspected was more than just a wandering samurai, there was no way to predict who would crack first. This could get very ugly.
To Be Continued…
Sorry, I know it's short, but it's all I have at the moment for this particular story. I kind of have a bit of writer's block. I know what I want to do with the story, I just don't know how to get there. *sweatdrops* Please R&R!