Chapter Two: Mistaken Identities?
When the flower shop reopened the next day, Omi and Ken went about their business in a daze. The events of the previous night still haunted them. Even Youji, who usually ogled every single girl that entered the store, was strangely subdued.
"Boys? Are you okay?" Manx asked, when she'd entered the shop and noticed the changes in their behavior.
"Huh...Oh. Hey Manx." Omi muttered, listlessly, as he gave her a weak smile.
"Hey. What's the matter, you three? You look like you've all seen a ghost." Manx said, as she concernedly felt each of their foreheads in turn for a fever.
"We saw one last night." Ken said, his voice soft; almost lost amidst the comings and goings of the shop's customers.
"A ghost? Are you serious?" Manx questioned; incredulous, to say the least. Youji nodded.
"Yeah...And he struck with Ran's sword." Youji murmured, not even looking up when another customer entered the shop and began to look at the packets of seeds on the rack nearby.
"Explain please. It isn't like you to be this cryptic, Youji." Manx stated, with some impatience, "Where the hell is Ran?"
"You wouldn't believe us, even if we told you." Youji replied, tiredly.
"Try me. What was it that you saw last night that has you three acting so strange today?" Manx again asked.
"Hitokiri Battousai...He showed up through Ran last night and almost killed Youji." Omi said, flinching when someone in the aisle behind him fell off of a stepladder with a yelp. As Ken rushed to see if he could help the customer, the conversation continued.
"You've got to be joking." Manx muttered, her expression deadpanning as she said that.
"We aren't. In fact, not only did we see what could have been a reborn Battousai, but we also saw his master as well." Omi added, remembering the tall, powerful warrior that had helped them the previous night.
"Battousai's master? You mean the fabled Hiko Seijuro? How do you know if he was even the real one?" Manx asked, not wanting to believe their story, yet finding it even more difficult to disprove.
"He told us who he was, Manx...and he even told us that he'd known about Battousai's re-emergence." Youji said, with grim certainty in his voice and eyes that Manx couldn't deny.
"And he has Ran now? Is that it?" Manx asked. She only got nods from the two assassins for an answer.
"Damn..." Manx thought, as it finally sank in that Ran was indeed missing, and in the hands of an unknown, and previously deceased, third party.
"Persia is not going to like this..."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv(divider)
Ken got to the downed man just as the fellow propped himself on his elbows and muttered a disoriented 'Oro' in response to a flower pot that now rested on top of his head.
"Hey! You all right?" Ken asked, as he raced around the end of the aisle to see if he could help the customer that had fallen.
"Hai, de gozaru. Thanks for being so concerned! Just got a bit clumsy, that's all!" a cheery, if somewhat dazed, voice said in response.
"Whew. Good to hear. I'd hate to think that somebody'd get hurt while in here!" Ken said, as he offered the man a hand up, and as the man gratefully accepted it.
"Indeed. It's good that you think so highly of your customers, that you wish them only safety while they are in here." the man stated, as he carefully removed the flower pot from his head and handed it to Ken.
"If you say so, but...!" Ken started to say, then froze when he saw the man's face. A youthful, almost childish visage that had amethyst eyes gazed back at him with a sad, yet warm smile. Bright red hair, a bit longer than shoulder length, hung in a loose tail between his shoulders and a faded scar graced his left cheek. It was the scar that definitely got Ken's attention; even though it was very faint, the distinct shape of a cross was to be seen there.
"T-there's...no way....It can't possibly be..." Ken thought, before his knees buckled, and everything around him faded into darkness.
Author's Note!
Yeah, I know that this was a VERY short chapter, but there is a reason for it. I am finally going to start updating it again! I am so sorry about the long wait between chapters, minna, and the next one will not take this long to appear. That much I can promise! Hope this was okay!
Gemini14
