CHANCES ARE . . .

(X MARKS THE SPOT)

By: TREASURE

CHAPTER 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. But I do own this story.

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'Konbanwa, Megumi –chan!'

'Nee-san! Good to see you! You surprised me! You looked so pretty!'

"Thank you Megumi-chan, you look lovely as well!' Tomoe also complimented her.

'What brings my dear sister to my humble home?' Megumi asked Tomoe.

'Remember the pouch I gave you for safekeeping last week?'

'Hai!'

'Could you get for me! You'll be in for a surprise!'

'What surprise? Maybe that pouch contains your love letters. Why didn't I take a peek at them before you came back!'

'No Megumi-chan, its better than you think. Just hurry-up and get it quick!'

Megumi ran along her room and get the pouch, which Tomoe left at her care a week earlier.

'Here!' Megumi handed the pouch to her elder sister.

With nimble hands, Tomoe opened the pouch and rolled out the torn parchment.

Megumi sat behind her sister while she put up the parchment against the sunlight.

'Nee-san, I can't see anything on it!'

'Shhh! Why don't you bring me a cup of water please!'

Megumi again complied with her sister's wishes. And she was surprised when her sister doused the parchment with water, not the whole paper though, only in one corner, then she lifted the paper against the sunlight.

'See! Megumi-chan, can you see the lines and certain marks on the paper?'

'Yes! Those were not there earlier! I think I better get some more water!'

'Mi-chan, can you get a pen and some paper too?'

Megumi nods and hurriedly went to the kitchen.

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'Nee-san, do you think we can find treasure when we follow all the clues in that map?'

'We've better! You know that we need large sum of money, we barely manage to make the ends meet. Waiting at tables doesn't pay much!'

'Nee-san, I wish I could give more but being a helper at a small drugstore doesn't pay much either!' Megumi too was exasperated. 'Maybe we could just marry some nice gentlemen to take us out of this misery, we are of age aren't we?'

'No, Megumi-chan, marriage is not our ticket to this misery. Did you forget that we now have in our hands the map to a possible great wealth!'

'But Nee-san, how could we ever find the "treasure" when the part of the map where the exact place was written has been torn from it?' Megumi was looking intently at her sister. 'And where did you find this parchment in the first place?'

'Maybe that rooster-head has the missing part of the map!'

'What? What rooster-head?'

'He, the rooster-head and a young boy with a slightly shorter hair have dined at the Tori Kara-age about ten days ago, and one of them must have dropped the parchment. They were the last occupants of that cubicle where I found the parchment. For two days I kept it at the restaurant, waiting for them to return or for somebody to claim it. But nobody came. I tried to throw it away but something nudge me to keep it so I let you keep them for me.'

'But who gave you the idea that this is a 'treasure map'?

'This morning a group of travelling Kabuki performers ate at the restaurant. They were discussing the story of their play and there was a part of the map and treasure!'

'A hi hi hi! Megumi was laughing like a fox, which irritated her older sister!

'Nee-san, I know we are poor, but you, you actually fall for that story? A hi hi hi!'

'But can't you see, the parchment we have might be a real map to a treasure! See how the details were hidden from plain view?' Tomoe is very insistent.

'Can't we just marry a rich gentleman than tire ourselves looking for that "treasure"?' Megumi repeated her earlier reasoning.

'If you want to, then go ahead! As for me, I wanted to be rich, filthy rich! If that "treasure" is a hoax, only then I'll marry a shogun or a samurai or businessman, but I won't marry for love!' A bitter smile was plastered on Tomoe's face.

'You could help me encrypt the riddle before you marry your "gentleman"!' Tomoe smirked at Megumi.

'Yes nee-san!' Megumi took her notes and read the passages again:

On the journey to Sapporo

I stopped by in Edo

There is a house that faces the rising (ripped)

It holds a great (ripped)

The spring that quenches (ripped)

Faces the west

The fireflies glow at (ripped)

Treasures of gold and (ripped)

Could not be compared

It fills not your pocket but a chest

(Ripped)

That could last a lifetime

'See, see that! If we can get that treasure, we will be rich for the rest of our lives!'

'Nee-san, could we ever afford to have our house repaired?'

'No Megumi, we will buy a new one! Something that would be closer to the palace perhaps! We could even afford to hire maids!'

'That would be delightful!'

'Err, Nee-san, when shall we start for Edo?

Tomoe paused and thought of something. 'As soon as we can! I'll try to work double shift. We will need some extra money for the journey.'

'What would we tell our neighbors when the time comes for us to leave?'

'That would be easy, we can tell them we are being summoned by our relative in Edo!'

'But we don't have any relative in Edo, much less anywhere else!'

'Oh, Megumi! It won't matter what we tell them. We are not coming back because we are going to be rich!'

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04052005

Larrie-chan – Thanks for the compliment! Hope you will like the rest of the story.

PunkeyMonkey – Here's an update!

WhiteRabbit5 – Sorry if I'm losing my grip on the tenses. I tend to put myself in the same era, so instead of talking in the past participle it becomes the present. Thank you too for your advice about reading more books. At the moment I don't have much time in my hands. I have a couple of books by Michel Crichton (Jurassic Park), D. H. Lawrence, Sydney Sheldon, Anne Frank and some but not all of Dick Francis novels, but I think I need to re-read them. I'm looking forward to some more of your comments. I wish to enhance not only my writing ability (if there is one) but also my style of story telling. Ja ne!