Author-chan's notes: Hey everyone! Chapter 19 here! Before I launch into the chapter, I want to thank JML for pointing out that it is "Hiko Seijuuro" not "Hiko Seijiro". I was wondering why it looked funny when I was writing it…
I'm glad to see that everyone is hyped up for Hiko's upcoming death…Hiko-sama is loving the attention. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Shinya is a brat beyond belief. Sighs Poor Yahiko. First I shoot Sano, then I freak out Kenji with ghosts and now I give Yahiko a bratty kid…I'm evil.
Now on to the fic!
Key:
"talking"
'thoughts that can only be heard by thinker, a.k.a. private thoughts'
/thoughts that can be heard by thinker and spirits, a.k.a. telepathy/
writing in a letter
qpqpqpqp indicates scene/time change
Like Father Like Son
(Chapter Nineteen: Arrival in Kyoto
Next day: Kyoto
The Himura and Myojin families, along with Misao, had finally reached Kyoto via train. Sasuke rubbed his eyes and yawned as his mother shook him awake; he had fallen asleep some time ago from the movement of the train. Sasuke wasn't the only one who was dead tired. Shinya and Yahiko had gained a glazed expression while staring out the window, Kenji and Kenshin were both lost in thought, and Chizuru and Tsubame had drifted in and out of sleep during the ride. In fact, the only one who seemed to really be awake was Misao.
Everyone's sleepiness probably had something to do with the fact that when Misao meant three 'o clock, she meant three A.M.
Secretly, Kenji admired how the kunoichi was able to find a train going to Kyoto during that time. He never thought it was possible.
"Come on, everyone, follow me!" Misao's cheerful voice called out over the din of the train station as their group got off the train. The Himura and Myojin families struggled to keep up with the energetic ninja as she weaved her way through the throng of people gathered at Kyoto's train station.
Luckily they were all able to get out of the station with little trouble. Misao grinned at all of them.
Sweeping her arm out all around her, she declared, "Welcome to Kyoto!"
qpqpqpqp
Kyoto Police Station
Sawagejou Chou and Fujiwara Sai stood outside the Kyoto police station, staring at the Western-styled building a bit dumbly.
"This is it?" Sai asked, raising his eyebrow a bit at the structure, "I thought it would be more, I don't know, impressive. This is Kyoto after all."
"What do ya expect, ahou?" Chou asked as the pair headed towards the door, "That the streets would be paved with gold or somethin'?"
"Shut up, broom man," Sai grumbled in French, knowing his boss wouldn't be able to understand.
"Oi!" Chou snapped, "No insulting me in Dutch!"
Sai grinned as they entered the police station.
And what they met there was havoc.
qpqpqpqp
At the Aoiya
Shinomori Aoshi, Okashira of the Kyoto Oniwabanshu along with his wife, Misao, was sitting in his room, meditating.
Or at least he was trying to.
A loud crash sounded throughout the Aoiya coming from the general direction of the kitchen followed by equally loud cursing.
"Michiyo," Aoshi murmured under his breath. What trouble did she get into this time?
Gliding quietly down to the kitchen, Aoshi stood in the doorway and observed the mess. Various ingredients and cooking implements were strewn across the floor, and in the midst of them was one Shinomori Michiyo.
Michiyo was the daughter and only child of Misao and Aoshi, and at the age of twenty-two was already an accomplished ninja just like her parents. She was of medium height and build with long black hair that she wore in a lose ponytail at her nape and calm green eyes. Although Michiyo was a master of the chain sword and a level headed individual in the mold of her father, she was hopeless in the kitchen.
"Michiyo," Aoshi murmured, raising his eyebrow at the mess.
"Chichi-ue," Michiyo replied, bowing low, "I am terribly sorry."
"Clean up," Aoshi said quietly, nodding at his daughter's apology, "It will be fine."
"Hai," the younger ninja nodded, and bent down to clean up the mess.
Aoshi shook his head at her. Michiyo really did try hard, but the kitchen was never to be her domain. But Aoshi did respect her perseverance and bent down to help clean up. Michiyo turned her head to hide a smile. Her father often came off as a cold person, but she and her mother knew better.
"We're expecting visitors," Aoshi said out of the blue.
"The Himura and Myojin families, correct?" Michiyo said in reply, "From Tokyo. Visiting one Hiko Seijuuro the Thirteenth, the last practitioner of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. I did some research them after I found out they were visiting. I am surprised you know such a group."
"Why do you say that?" Aoshi asked, standing up straight to look his daughter straight in the eyes.
"Chichi-ue," Michiyo sighed, "I know you have strange contacts, but the fact that you know the family and close friends of Hitokiri Battousai is a surprise. Even in this day and age, there are still those who speak of the infamous Kyoto assassin with fear."
"Yes, but the Oniwabanshu are not those people," Aoshi replied calmly, "Battousai is someone to respect, understand Michiyo? Respect his family."
"Hai, Chichi-ue," Michiyo murmured, bowing as if she was receiving an order. Aoshi shook his head as he began to exit the kitchen.
"You act like that will be a hard to do," Aoshi observed, "Your mother and I never told you, but did you know that Battousai considered the Oniwabanshu family as well?"
"Chichi-ue?" Michiyo blinked at her father's retreating form.
She received no answer.
qpqpqpqp
Elsewhere in KyotoDown a darkened ally of the old capital of Kyoto, there was an old abandoned building. Forty years ago, the old wooden ruin had once been a large warehouse, full of supplies and secrets. Few knew of it, and the purpose it had once served.
Forty years ago, it had been a strong house in the service of the Shogunate.
And now, in the darkened bowels of the abandoned building, something was brewing…Something horrifying.
The PBKB were setting up for their party.
The building was filled to the brim with specters, each of whom were rushing about to with preparations.
In the center of this entire bustle was Nakamura Kaito, the beheaded Shinsengumi member from the 10th patrol. Next to him was his keeper, Sakurazawa Takumi of the Mimiwarigumi. Various ghosts called to them asking about the set up.
"Are the tables all ready, Nakamura?" asked the dark tones of Kawazoe Masahiro. Masahiro, a former Shogunate bodyguard, was one of the oldest ghosts in the building. Not only had he died in his thirties after getting hit in the chest with well placed battoujutsu, he was also among the group of ghosts who had been killed by Battousai during his early years when he was a shadow assassin. Among the PBKB, Masahiro was known for two things: his age, and his melancholy attitude.
"Should be. Don't worry, Masahiro-kun! Everything will be fine!" Kaito assured the former guard.
"That's what you think," Masahiro intoned, sounding gloomier than the grave, "The course of nature is to cause everything to go wrong. Nothing good will come of this. We should forget about everything and crawl up in a dark corner and fade away peacefully."
"R-right…"
"Oh dear, have I forgotten something?" a new stressed voice asked, "I have, haven't I! I'm so sorry, Kaito-kun! PLEASE FORGIVE THIS WORTHLESS LUMP OF NOTHING THAT I AM!"
"Oh shut up, Yamada," Takumi muttered at the stressed voice, "We have enough problems without your whining."
"I'm so sorry!" the stressed tones of Yamada Minoru wailed. Yamada, in contrast to Masahiro, was one of the younger spirits in the PBKB having died in his twenties during Toba Fushimi. Kaito had put the nervous Yamada in charge of setting up the tables knowing that the perfectionist spirit would get everything perfect while nervously wondering if he did something wrong.
"Please be quiet," a soft voice murmured from behind Yamada, "You are giving me a headache, Yamada."
"H-Hideki-san!" Yamada cried out as he whirled to face the new spirit who had just materialized, "Don't pop out of walls like that!"
"He's a ninja assassin, Yamada-kun," Takumi sighed, "He's supposed to be like that."
Hideki (no family name) was different from most other members of the PBKB in the fact that he did not sport his death wounds. While the rest of the PBKB wore their wounds as sort of a badge of honor, Hideki did not. The other members had no idea why he chose not to display his wounds due to the fact that like Masahiro he had died early on, so there hadn't been as many members watching over Battousai and his fights as there were now. Also, Hideki's fight with Battousai hadn't been "scheduled" so the members of the PBKB that had been around then hadn't caught his fight with Battousai. The only way that anyone could tell he had been killed by Battousai was the fact that his spirit reeked of the power of Battousai's cursed blade, just like the other PBKB members.
"Hideki-kun, glad you were able to make it," a soft feminine voice hailed. The men turned and bowed to Tomoe as she floated over to them.
"Tomoe-san," Hideki nodded to the woman, "As always, the skies are weeping tears of crimson around you."
"No, not anymore," Tomoe replied, smiling softly, "The skies only shed happy tears now." The others looked on in confusion, but were used to it. Hideki and Tomoe traditionally greeted each other this way since the day they met each other, though the second part of Tomoe's greeting had been added later on. The reasons why they greeted each other in this manner were a mystery, but there was no doubt that among the PBKB those two were the strangest.
"Are you sure about that, Tomoe-san?" Hideki asked in his quiet voice. Tomoe stood stock still at his words. The others simply blinked. Hideki never added anything to his greeting…It was unnatural!
"W-what's going on, Hideki-kun?" Tomoe whispered, her eyes wide and face pale.
The dead ninja refused to answer.
qpqpqpqp
Back at the Kyoto police station
The scene that greeted Chou and Sai was chaos. There was no other way to describe it. The Kyoto police officers were running all over the place in panic, dropping things as they went. The head officers were barking orders randomly. In short, it was a mess.
"What the hell is going on?" Sai whispered to his boss.
"No idea," Chou answered as he grabbed some random officer by the shoulder.
"L-let go of me!" the officer sputtered.
"What's goin' on here?" growled Chou, not paying any attention to the other man's squirming.
"It's Hamano Genji," the officer replied, "That bastard yakuza has killed off so many of our men that we're short handed. The department over in Tokyo said that they were going to be sending some back up, but they haven't arrived yet."
"Oh yes they have," Sai butted in, "You're looking at them."
"Y-you? You're the back-up from Tokyo!" the officer choked, staring wide-eyed at Sai and Chou.
"We don't look that scruffy, do we boss?" Sai asked.
"Shut it, brat."
Certainly the pair made an interesting sight. Sai was dressed in a "watered down" version of the police uniform. While he did wear the dark blue coat and pants, they were both so wrinkled it looked like he had slept in them. The blue coat was completely unbuttoned exposing the white shirt Sai wore underneath it. His Western cut dark hair was tousled and his glasses only slightly hid his shifty hazel eyes. A few years ago, Chou had been able to get his old red coat back and had worn it ever since. The thing, now nearly thirty years old was extremely tattered and over patched. The former Juppongatana was bristling with swords, and his graying blonde hair was still in his infamous broom cut. Over all, Chou looked more like an aging insane mercenary while Sai looked like an overgrown pickpocket.
"Dear kami-sama," the Kyoto police officer muttered under his breath, "Is the Tokyo police force so desperate that they would hire wannabe criminals?"
"You bet," Sai replied grinning roguishly, "So, where are the files on Hamano?"
qpqpqpqp
Back at the Aoiya
"Tadima!" Misao crowed as she entered the restaurant, the Himura and Myojin families following her.
"Welcome back," Aoshi greeted her before nodding to their guests.
"Shinomori-san," Kenji smiled, bowing toward the Okashira, "It's been awhile."
"It has," Aoshi murmured, his eyes straying to rest on the children, "And may you introduce me to the new additions to your family?"
"Ah, yes!" Kenji nodded, blushing slightly, "This is my wife Chizuru, our sons Sasuke and Kenichi, and Yahiko's son Shinya."
"Shinomori Aoshi, my wife Misao," Aoshi murmured politely, looking at each new person, "Our daughter, Michiyo, is upstairs. She'll be down shortly."
"I'll get her!" Misao volunteered, skipping upstairs, "Michiyo-chan!"
As soon as Misao left, there was an uneasy silence as Aoshi observed each of his guests slowly, as if he was looking into their very souls. Finally, his gaze rested on Kenichi. As the Okashira stared at the nine-year-old, his normally stoic expression showed a hint of surprise.
Kenshin was internally squirming. He knew Aoshi could sense his lack of ki. Praying to every kami he knew (including Shinigami) Kenshin hoped that Aoshi would not draw attention to it right now.
"I'm back!" Misao cried out cheerfully before Aoshi could do anything. Behind her trailed Michiyo, dressed in a light cotton yukata.
"I am Shinomori Michiyo, pleased to meet you," the young woman murmured, bowing low.
"Michiyo," Misao began excitedly as she pointed to the various guests, "this is Himura Kenji, Chizuru, Sasuke, and Kenichi. And the Myojin family: Shinya, Tsubame, and the brat Yahiko."
"Don't call me a brat, weasel girl!" Yahiko growled, "Why can't anyone realize I'm an adult now?"
"Because it's fun tormenting you that's why, Yahiko-chan!" a voice from the side chuckled. Yahiko turned to the voice, his dark eyes growing wide.
"Sanosuke? What are you doing here?"
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Glossary
Kunoichi- a female ninja
Chichi-ue- a very polite term for "father" (if I have spelled this wrong, please tell me!)
Tadima- "I'm home"
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Author-chan's notes: Yeah, a lot of PBKB introduced in this chapter. You don't have to remember them all; I'll try to be good and remind you who each of them are when they pop up in the fic again.
This chapter is mostly set up, so I'm sorry there wasn't much action, but be patient! I have a lot of interesting things planned.
Oh, I've been thinking about writing a spin-off story to "Like Father Like Son" about the PBKB Club. If anyone is interested, I'll start posting.
Next Chapter: Suspicions
Please look forward to it!