Author-chan's notes: Hiya everyone! New chapter up. The end of the Kyoto Arc is in sight, and we'll soon be looking forward to a new Arc! Isn't that great? It looks like I have an average of an Arc a year; so roughly, in a year from now this fic should be finished…Provided that real life doesn't wrap its coils around me and suck out my soul…
Like Father Like Son
(Chapter Twenty-nine: The Restaurant Yuki)
Genji's yakuza HQ
Enishi narrowed his eyes in concentration. He could see the exit that the stranger from before had pointed out to him and Akimoto, and it was not far off. He couldn't sense any guards either. So far, so good.
"Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto murmured at his shoulder. Enishi simply grunted in response.
"Perhaps I should take Himura-san from you," the white-haired girl murmured softly, "You have been carrying him for awhile."
"I'm fine," Enishi said stiffly.
"Even though I am a woman, I am not weak, Yukishiro-sama," Akimoto replied just as stiffly. Enishi sighed, knowing better than to argue with Akimoto. He swiftly slipped Kenshin off his back and settled the redhead onto Akimoto's shoulders.
"…He is very light," Akimoto commented.
Enishi simply shrugged in response.
"It is so strange," Akimoto murmured as they walked, "I thought Battousai would be much more ferocious than this."
"And I thought you would be more masculine than this," Enishi countered, "Don't believe everything you hear. Or see for that matter."
There was a pause.
"You are too quiet, Yukishiro-sama. You are thinking about that man from earlier," Akimoto guessed, "The one who helped us."
"You know me too well," Enishi murmured, "He's not natural."
"Himura-san is just as unnatural," Akimoto said flatly. Enishi growled under his breath.
"Still, Akimoto," Enishi continued, "I have no idea what this stranger's motives are. What is he? He can't be human to disappear like that. And he can't be a ghost; he was unaffected by the wards unlike Himura. And he said he'll see me soon. What does that mean?"
"We should not worry about things like that now," Akimoto replied, "Look. The entrance is coming up."
"I'll go first," Enishi muttered, walking in front of her and Kenshin. Akimoto frowned at him, thinking he was hesitant over her abilities now that he knew she was female. She knew Enishi always had a soft spot for females and was probably regretting putting her in danger through the work he asked her to do in the past.
Her thought were cut short as Enishi walked through the doorway. Just as Enishi stepped out into the darkened alley that the exit led to, something attacked him. Akimoto screamed as she saw red.
"YUKISHIRO-SAMA!"
Akimoto's scream rang through Enishi's head as he stumbled back, clutching his hand to his chest, trying to stop the sudden blood flow. His wound wasn't bad, and rather shallow, but the blood had startled the white-haired woman.
Enishi glared up at his attacker. A figure dressed in a yukata and a scarf with a wide brimmed hat to obscure its features stared back at him. In his opponent's hand was a short sword, a wakazashi, slightly stained with his blood.
"Che," Enishi hissed, mentally cursing himself for not being more aware as he drew his own sword, "Akimoto, keep back and protect Himura."
"Hai, Yukishiro-sama," the girl nodded, drawing back into the alley with a sleeping Kenshin in tow.
"Who are you?" Enishi hissed at his attacker, "Are you one of Genji's lackeys?"
To his surprise, the man laughed. Enishi felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at the sound. It was so…cold.
"Me? One of that brat's lackeys?" the shadowed figure sneered, "Hardly. I serve a much more worthy master."
"Then why do you block our path?" Enishi demanded, "What do you want?"
"That's simple enough," his attacker smirked as he raised the bloodied blade to his mouth to lick off the crimson liquid, "I am here for Battousai."
qpqpqpqp
Kenshin slept.
He knew there was something wrong in the world outside. He could feel it in his bones. But no matter how hard he struggled and fought, he was denied the world of the waking.
And then there were the nightmares.
Nightmares from long ago filled his mind. Kyoto from the past became Kyoto of the present.
His days as Battousai.
'Tenchuu.'
His first kill.
'Wipe the red off silver steel.'
Encounters with the Shinsengumi.
'Mikoto. Truth. That was on their flags. What was truth?'
Toba Fushimi.
'Was this truth?'
Ikedaya.
'Was that?'
Otsu on that one snowy day.
'Please, don't let this be real!'
Assassination after assassination.
'It's not…it is…it was not…it was…'
A wolf's howl. The flash of blades. Street after street dyed red. Fragments.
The bloody rain fell in his nightmares staining white plum blossoms.
'Someone! Anyone!'
"Still haunted, eh, Battousai?" a chill voice cut through his dreams.
And everything was silent.
Kenshin gasped, still trapped in his mind, but the nightmares were halted at the moment. The faded colors of his dreams melted away until he was left alone in dark emptiness. He kneeled down on the nonexistent floor, sixteen again and dressed in crimson-stained blue and gray, a wakazashi at his hip and a katana in his hand still wet with blood. The scar on his cheek, the one he no longer had, burned.
"Who, who is there?" Kenshin rasped out in the world of darkness that existed only in his mind.
"You know me."
"Yes," Kenshin nodded, realizing he did, yet he also did not, "You are not supposed to be here. I did not know you then…now."
"In the Bakumatsu," the voice clarified. Kenshin nodded.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I can be."
"No," Kenshin denied, shaking his head slightly, "You are not me. You are not any part of me. You can't be here."
"True," the voice laughed, a cold laugh, just as Kenshin remembered and not remembered it being, "But I like to break the rules."
"What do you want?" Kenshin asked abruptly.
"Is that a way to treat me after all this time?" the voice mocked, "You wound me Battousai."
"Answer the question."
"You have something I want," the voice Kenshin remembered yet did not remember replied, "Something that will help me."
"And what is that?"
"You. Your skill. I need you to accomplish my goals."
"No," Kenshin shook his head, "I already have something I must do."
"You son," the voice sneered, "As sentimental as always, Battousai. Though perhaps not as much. You haven't lost your touch. You killed again…"
Amber eyes flared.
"SHUT UP!"
That half-remembered voice laughed, "Still in denial. You are hitokiri. You are made to kill. Yet you continue to play this game, pretending to be harmless. You should know better."
"Leave."
"My offer still stands, Battousai. You might find it tempting later to join me."
Kenshin didn't answer.
"Very well then…I will leave you, for now."
The voice disappeared.
And Kenshin was tossed back into his nightmares.
qpqpqpqp
Elsewhere in Kyoto
Kenji had found it. He found the place. He remembered the path, and there it was.
The restaurant Yuki.
Some part of his mind wondered if those strange people would still be there, the ones who had confused him with his father.
The rest of him, the majority, didn't give a damn.
Genji was in there, and he had Kenichi.
Growling slightly, he gripped the katana in his hand, sheathed it and entered the building.
qpqpqpqp
Inside the restaurant Yuki
Shinya realized something very profound. He was an idiot…A big idiot. Shinya had realized that nearly everyone sitting in the restaurant were yakuza. Those who were not quickly left the premises, some inner instincts telling them to flee, save for the young waitress and her elderly father, both of whom clung to the back, out of the way. He was in a restaurant, surrounded by yakuza thugs whose leader apparently had some sort of grudge against his sensei.
Not the best of situations, obviously.
Shinya gripped the sakabatou tighter, trying to calm his shaking hands. He couldn't leave, he couldn't fight, he couldn't even move, not unless he wanted to get torn to bits by yakuza.
Shinya glanced carefully at Genji, trying to figure out what had happened in the past to cause such a grudge between him and Shinya's red-haired sensei. The limp was a big clue. There were plenty of Kamiya Kasshin attacks that aimed at the joints.
'Himura-sensei may be an oro-ing freak,' Shinya thought wildly, 'but at least he knows a thing or two about smashing joints.'
Shinya also worried about that other hostage Genji had mentioned. What, or who, did Genji have that Himura-sensei would want? Shinya was almost terrified to find out.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Shinya's neck stood straight up.
Something was wrong…
"Hamano Genji," a soft whispery voice, like the sound of blade being unsheathed, hissed throughout the restaurant. Even though the sound was quiet, everyone in the restaurant heard it.
Shinya slowly turned around, looking for the source of that icy voice…
…And gulped as he stared into unfamiliar eyes on a familiar face.
'Himura-sensei!' Shinya thought as his voice was caught in his throat, his body paralyzed by fear, 'Oh kami-sama, his eyes! They're amber! Wh-what…I would do anything for an oro-ing freak now!'
"Greetings, Himura Kenji," Genji grinned, standing up slowly, "It's been awhile."
"And yet, not long enough," Kenji growled as he placed a hand on the sword strapped to his waist.
Shinya frowned. There was something about that sword…
Then the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.
"W-wait," Shinya whispered, as he stared at the sword his sensei sported, "But I have the sakabatou!"
And then, without warning, Kenji attacked.
Shinya gasped. His sensei was nothing but a blur, if even that. The killing intent was so strong that the atmosphere seemed thicker because of it. To Shinya, it was more like he was breathing tar than air. This attack wasn't anything like the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. This was…
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu," Kenji snarled, "Battoujutsu!"
BAM!
The sudden loud sound made Shinya flinch. He had heard the sound before, but couldn't place it.
And then there was the laughter.
Cold, cruel, and mocking. Shinya wanted to shut his ears to the horrific sound.
Finally the laughter died down as the one making the noise decided to speak coherently.
"You were so very close, but you never had a chance…Himura-san," Genji grinned, still feeling elated over his previous laughter. Kenji simply glared in silence.
Shinya stared at the scene before him. Kenji and Genji stood only a few feet from each other. Genji had a gun in his hand, still smoking. With a start, Shinya realized that the sound from earlier was a gunshot. Genji had shot the redhead before the swordsman could land the strike.
Wide-eyed and terrified, Shinya glanced over to his sensei worried he would topple at any moment, spouting blood and gore. Then, it happened.
Crack! To everyone's surprise, the tsuba of Kenji's katana shattered to pieces. He had blocked the bullet with his sword.
"F-fast!" Shinya gasped. When had his sensei been so fast? What he had just done, that was impossible! To have blocked that bullet he would have had to change the angle of his attack in mid-swing. The control and speed was just astonishing.
"Che," Kenji snorted, eyeing the yakuza leader with icy golden eyes, "Coward."
"So harsh," Genji shrugged as he steadied his gun and taking a few steps forward, "Stalemate, Himura. We're too close now for you to block my shot again, even if you have your father's infamous god-like speed. Your sword is too long to maneuver at his distance! Which one of us can kill the other first?"
"I don't give a damn," Kenji snarled, "Just tell me where Kenichi is."
"Kenichi?" Shinya blinked, feeling like an intruder as he interrupted. Neither Genji nor Kenji paid him any mind.
"I don't give a damn," Genji laughed, throwing back Kenji's words to his face, "And it's true. I don't really give a damn about where your little brat is."
"Damn you!" Kenji snarled as he moved to step forward and rip out Genji's throat. Genji simply smirked and gestured with the gun.
"No, no, no," Genji scolded, "You move any closer, I shoot. And then who would rescue little Kenichi-chan then, ne?"
"Teme," his golden-eyed enemy hissed, stopping in his tracks, "You said you had Kenichi!"
"Had, Himura, had," Genji pointed out, "At the moment, he's probably on his way with his new owner."
"Nani?"
"I'm a business man," Genji shrugged, "I buy, I sell, I negotiate. While it is quite fun getting my revenge on you, it is far more satisfying counting the money I'll get after selling your brat on the black market."
"You wouldn't dare," Kenji whispered, his eyes narrowing further.
"Oh, I dare," Genji chuckled, suddenly drawing another gun from his coat with his empty hand, and pointed the new weapon straight at Shinya standing on his left.
"What the hell!" Shinya yelped, staring wide-eyed at the barrel pointed at him.
"Good things come in threes," Genji smirked, "Three hostages, Himura. Your son, your student, and you. The probability of you being able to save even one of these hostages is rather slim, ne? At this distance, I doubt even you can dodge a bullet, even if you're the son of the infamous Battousai. You're finished!"
"I wouldn't say that," a new voice called out cheerfully.
"What the…" Genji hissed as he felt the barrel of a gun pressed firmly to the back of his head.
"It's been awhile, Genji," the newcomer greeted the yakuza boss, "How are you?"
"Sai," Genji grunted, recognizing the voice after a few moments.
"In the flesh," Sai joked mockingly at Genji, "Genji, drop the guns or I'll blow your bloody brains out."
"Teme," Genji hissed, letting his weapons clatter to the floor. Sai grinned over to Kenji. Sai grabbed his handcuffs and one of Genji's wrists, already putting away his gun.
"Sorry about butting in, Red," the police officer shrugged, "But I can't let you kill him. He's under arrest."
"Li-like hell I am," Genji hissed, looking around at his thugs, "Boys, you know what to do!"
"Shimatta!" Shinya cursed, suddenly remembering that nearly everyone in the restaurant worked for Genji.
"Stay put," Kenji's icy voice ordered the thugs.
Genji and his men found themselves frozen at Kenji's words. And Genji found his neck being slightly scratched by a very lethal katana being held by a very lethal golden-eyed swordsman. No one had even seen the redhead move.
"Leave, all of you," Kenji hissed at Genji's lackeys, his golden eyes flashing, "Or I will not only kill your boss, but each and every single one of you."
The thugs, startled and frightened by the redhead's speed and ferocity, left leaving only Genji, Sai, Shinya, and Kenji.
"Hamano," Kenji began in that chilled voice that accompanied those amber eyes as his borrowed katana pressed more firmly, "tell me where Kenichi is before your head leaves your body."
qpqpqpqp
Yakuza HQ
"I am here for Battousai."
Enishi felt a chill run down his spine as he listened to the words the strange man in the hat uttered. Growling protectively, the white-haired old man placed himself between Akimoto and the stranger before him.
"Akimoto! Take Himura and run!" Enishi ordered, "Protect him!"
"H-Hai!" Akimoto nodded, adjusting Kenshin's limp form on her shoulders before running down the alley, away from the fight.
"Do you really think your futile attempt will save them?" the hat wearing swordsman laughed cruelly at Enishi.
"Yes," Enishi growled, readying his sword. His opponent laughed.
"Such a child," came the sneer, "Events have been set in motion; you can't save them in the long run, Yukishiro. Give up."
"NO!" Enishi yelled in defiance, charging forward with his sword. His opponent simply grinned, his eyes flashing in an odd way.
'Submit, child,' a voice snarled in Enishi's mind.
"GAH!" Enishi gasped, suddenly frozen in place. It felt as if steel bands had constricted around his chest, restricting his breathing. His limbs were lead, too heavy for his suddenly weak muscles to move. Everything felt so heavy, so frozen.
"Humph," his hat wearing enemy sighed, "Too easy. You're already frozen, little bug. Not enough strength to even fight a little…Pity."
Enishi could only gasp like a floundering fish.
"Perhaps I should just let you go," the man murmured to himself, "It might be more fun that way if you fight a little bit, eh, little insect?"
"Now, now, don't be so silly," a laughing voice chastised. Enishi's eyes widened slightly as suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a young man with brown hair and aquamarine eyes appeared in the alley next to him.
It was the same strange young man who Enishi had met earlier in Genji's hideout, the same young man who had pointed out the exit.
"Seishiro," the swordsman in the hat greeted the young man.
"Kasa-san!" the young man greeted happily, "Did Battousai-san get away?"
"Hn," the man in the hat grunted. The young man looked disappointed for a moment before smiling.
"That's alright," Seishiro chirped, "Enma-sama was able to deliver the message to him, anyway. Yare, yare, it'll all work out in the end. Perhaps this is even better. I suppose this means we just have to wait some more."
"Aa," Kasa agreed.
"Good things happen to those who wait," Seishiro nodded, smiling straight at Enishi, "Isn't that right, Yukishiro-san?"
Enishi simply glared daggers at the youth.
"What should we do with him?" Kasa asked, jerking his head towards Enishi.
Seishiro blinked at the frozen Enishi, tilting his head slightly. Finally, he made up his mind.
"Kill him," Seishiro said simply, "He's useless alive."
Enishi gave out a gagging sound.
"Gomen, Yukishiro-san," Seishiro bowed his head as he stepped aside to make room for Kasa, "I hated lying to you, you know. I really wasn't a friend of a friend. But I did make good on my word of seeing you again!"
Kasa's eyes flashed again, smiling manically as he sheathed his wakazashi and drew his katana. Seishiro gave a little wave to the white-haired man.
"Sayonara, Yukishiro-san."
Author-chan's notes: Sorry this chapter took such a long time to put up! Nothing was cooperating with me! It was so hard! Whimpers
If anyone was paying attention, yes, I completely flinched Kenji blocking Genji's bullet with the tsuba from Kenshin and Sano's fight when the Hiruma brothers (Gohei and Kihei) tried to intervene. Shrugs It was either that or have one of Genji's henchmen fling himself in front of Kenji's attack and get sliced and diced Hiten Mitsurugi style. I'm still not quite sure if I like the showdown at the restaurant. Yare, yare…I needed to post this chapter sooner or later…
Anyway, two more players enter the scene (or reenters as the case is for Seishiro). I know a lot of people were guessing that Seishiro was Shinigami, Okita, or Soujiro. I did mention he was an OC…Sorry if I disappointed or confused anyone. But I will say this: Seishiro has something to do with at least one of the three above. That means a lot of people actually got it right. Congrats to everyone! (Note to self: Try being less obvious…) Watch out for Seishiro in the future, he'll be playing a bigger role, along with his teammate Kasa. Try not to hate them too much. I personally like them…
Also, many apologies to everyone who is waiting for Kenji to figure everything out. He'll find out…just not yet. I have way too much stuff planned out. I promise, it'll be worth the wait!