A.N. Welcome back, Minna-san, to my second chapter in the world of 'Fading Futures'. I want to thank everyone who read my first chapter and is now giving this one a go, so arigato gozaimasu! Hope you like my next chapter!
Last time on Fading Futures:
School boy Shinya Himura has been given an assignment to study the Battosai, but doesn't realise how connected he is to the legendary Hitokiri.
Disclaimer: Sessha unfortunately doesn't own Rurouni Kenshin (Waaaaaaaaaa), but she does own this story! .-
Tanoshimimas! (Enjoy!)
Chapter Two Tales of the BattosaiThe house where the Himura family lived was built in the traditional Japanese style over 140 years ago, before the start of the Bakumatsu, when Tokyo was still named Edo, though now it was fitted with a modern plumbing and electrical systems. Next to the old house was another, slightly larger building – the Kendo dojo that belonged to Shinya's grandfather, Kiyoshi Himura. This dojo had once belonged to Koshijiro Kamiya, the founder of a Kenjutsu style known as the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, based on the ethics of 'Katsujin-ken' – the sword that protects – a style that was one of the basis for the kendo style which was now taught by Kiyoshi Himura.
Shinya walked past the large hill, where a large sakura tree stood, swaying tranquilly in the warm spring breeze, and opened the gates of the dojo. He crossed the garden, where the spring flowers were blooming and a small water feature trickled and murmured in the background. Lying on the porch was an old greyhound that raised its head and wagged its tail as Shinya approached. Shinya grinned and bent down to scratch it's furry head before slipping off his shoes and stepping onto the porch, sliding open the door.
"Mom! Grandpa! I'm home!" Shinya called.
Silence.
Shinya frowned slightly. Strange, he thought usually there was someone in at this time. And the gate wasn't locked, so that must mean that they are in somewh-
Shinya froze as he felt a flash of Ki and turned just in time to see a Shinai hurtling towards him.
"ORO!"
With a loud cry, Shinya dived to the floor, just as the Shinai buried itself in the doorframe; exactly where Shinya's head had been only seconds earlier.
"Well Shin-kun, I have to admit, you are getting much better at reading Ki than I expected you to." Said a strong gruff voice. Rubbing his head, Shinya sat up to find his grandfather standing in the doorway to the kitchen where he had just thrown the Shinai now impaling the wall. "You are also getting faster. Perhaps that marshal arts training you do is actually paying off"
"Father in law!" cried a female voice in horror and exasperation. Another figure appeared in the kitchen doorway. She had longish jet-black hair, like Shinya's, that was tied up into a neat bun. She wore a dark blue kimono and a baby blue apron, her hands on her hips, her dark eyes blazing. Shinya sweat dropped –Noriko Himura could have given Battosai a run for his money just then. "You could have had his eye out with that stupid stunt! I don't care if you're my Husband's father! I won't have you throwing missiles in the house!"
Kiyoshi, though taller than Noriko by a head, cowered in the face of her righteous anger on her son's behalf. Even Shinya, who knew it wasn't directed at him, winced slightly, though that could have been because his head was starting to hurt where he had struck it in his haste to avoid the flying Shinai.
"I don't know why you're complaining, Noriko. When I was a boy, and my father was training me, he did the same to me, as I did with Nobuyuki when he was a boy, and what he would have done to Shin-kun – if he hadn't gone gallivanting off to become an archaeologist."
"Yeah? Well, at least Nobu-chan had more sense than his old man then!"
Finally Noriko calmed down long enough to see that Shinya wasn't hurt too badly and was now back on his feet, wrestling the Shinai out from the door frame. "Welcome home, Shin-chan. So, how was your last day of school?" she asked with a smile, as if the incident had never happened.
Shinya flashed her a small smile and, finally freeing the Shinai from where it was imbedded and throwing it to his grandfather, said "It wasn't too bad. We played football in PE and did some interesting pictures in art. We finished the Tokugawa government in history, and Miyoshi-sensei told us we start on the Meiji restoration and the Bakumatsu next term. He gave us some homework to do though. We've gotta research a famous person from the Bakumatsu – we were given a name to look up. I was going to start it now, you know, to get it out of the way." He turned to Kiyoshi nervously "is it…okay if I don't have practice tonight – I'll make it up to you double, tomorrow, sensei." He added, seeing Kiyoshi's glare. Oh Kami, I'm in for it now…
"You know that you have to practice Kendo every day!" cried Kiyoshi, as if it was a crime to ask for a night off. "Besides, you've got the whole of the holidays to do that!"
"Father in law…" Noriko growled dangerously, "It's a wonder that Nobu-chan got to where he is today if that's how you view education!"
Shinya rolled his eyes at the arguing pair and, taking his Grandfather's answer as a definite 'No', made his way towards his bedroom, but paused when he heard Kiyoshi call his name. He glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, Grandpa?" he was surprised to see the old man look slightly worried.
"Who is this person from the Bakumatsu that you have to study?"
Shinya was even more confused by this. "Hitokiri Battosai", he answered.
Clack! Kiyoshi dropped the Shinai, which rolled across the floor, his violet eyes were as wide as plates. Noriko looked stunned and Shinya gaped at their reaction. No one said anything, all shocked into silence. The silence continued…
At length, Kiyoshi began to mutter under his breath. "Guess it's about time he found out the truth. Knew he'd have to find out one day…"
Concerned, Shinya stepped forward. "G-grandpa? You okay?"
"Yes, Yes, I'm alright." He answered breathlessly "well, I guess you can have tonight off to do your…research. But you have to do double the training tomorrow!"
"Really? Thanks!" Kami, that's strange he thought, giving the retreating figure of his grandfather a slightly worried glance. I wonder what's got into him… Slowly he shook himself out of his paralysis and continued down the hall to his room, telling himself he must have imagined it. Carefully, he slid aside the door and stepped into his room.
Shinya's room was quite a small bedroom, but it was quite cosy all the same. In one corner his futon was folded up neatly, his quilt and pillow neatly stacked on top. A desk stood next to the window with a laptop resting on it next to a stack of books and Manga comics. A wardrobe and set of draws stood at the other side of his room with a lamp standing next to a slightly messed up pile of DVDs, and a katana and wakazashi were resting in a stand. On the wall by which Shinya slept were a few small posters and a Shinai was propped up in the corner. It would have been a spotless room if it weren't for the clothes that lay scattered across the floor from his rush to find his uniform that morning.
Dumping his school bag by his futon, Shinya gathered up his clothes and neatly folded them back into his draws. That done, he sat on the swivel chair by his laptop and switched on the power. Once it had loaded, Shinya logged onto the Internet and typed Hitokiri Battosai into the search engine. After a few seconds it brought up a small list of sites where the name had appeared. He clicked onto the first of the list and read what came up.
Shinya grumbled slightly as he read the usual legend of Battosai. No good. He tried the second web site to see if that came up with anything better. If anything it was worse than the first site he went to. He continued down the list of sites, trying each one out, but getting nowhere fast. After an hour of trying, Shinya sat back in his chair and glared at the computer screen, avoiding the temptation to toss the stupid thing out the window.
Noriko knocked on the door and slid it open. She was holding a trey on which sat some onigiri and a glass of orange juice. She froze for a second at Shinya's amber eyes glaring at the computer, but told herself she was being silly. "Here you go, Shin-chan." Shinya's eyes faded to their warm amethyst and he smiled softly as her as he look the trey from her hands.
"Thanks, Mom." He said calmly.
Noriko sat down on the floor and looked up at her son as he happily began to eat with his usual, slightly vacant, smile on his face. After he chewed a mouthful or so, he swallowed and glanced down at her.
"It's great!"
Noriko laughed and glanced at the computer screen. She could see why he had been frustrated. There was nothing on there, she knew, that Shinya didn't already know. "Work going badly?"
Shinya's eyes flashed, but his expression didn't change. Just like him to do something like that, so he wouldn't annoy or upset anyone. "Sort of." He admitted, "the stuff on the Internet is what everyone knows from the legends anyway. Nothing new."
"Hn, well, your Grandfather told me you might have some trouble finding something on him. He gave me something you might find interesting" she pulled a large, old looking book from her apron pocket and handed it to Shinya. He took it from her, testing its weight and glanced at the title. History of the Himura family.
"Oro? But, I'm looking for Battosai. Why –"
It belonged to your Father." Noriko told him. Seeing his confused expression, Noriko continued "in the book is everyone from the Himura family from all the way back to the Bakumatsu era." Carefully, so as not to tear the flimsy paper, she began to flick through the pages. "Your Grandfather thinks that it might help you because…"
Shinya gasped "You mean that I'm related to Battosai!"
Noriko stopped flicking through the pages and passed the book back to Shinya. He took it with slightly shaking hands and looked at the open page. The pages were yellowed with age and almost see through. On the left hand side of the page was a small, rectangular, black-and-white photograph of a man with a fine-featured face, his expression serene, framed with long light coloured hair, tide back into a low ponytail. He wore what looked like the traditional styled gi and hakama of a samurai, and at his side was what looked like a sheathed katana. Though the photo was black-and-white, it was obvious that this man's hair was lighter than most Japanese. Shinya guessed his hair was red, as many in his family had been. Something on his right cheek caught his eye – a strange looking scar, shaped just like a cross…
"This…is Battosai?" Shinya whispered.
Noriko nodded gravely "Yes. Kiyoshi knew you would have to find out at some point…" slowly she stood up and left the room. Shinya's eyes wandered back to the picture again. So, this was the man legend has it slayed thousands of men to bring about the Meiji era, the man who people praised as the strongest warrior in history. But looking into his face, he saw not the eyes of a killer, but they eyes of a man who carried an age of sadness, of suffering in those eyes. He realised with a jolt that there was so much more to this man than people thought. His eyes wandered to the words next to him. The writing was starting to fade, but Shinya's keen eyes could still make out what was written there:
Kenshin Himura
1851 -?
Better known as the Hitokiri Battosai during the Bakumatsu period, Kenshin Himura was thought to be a master of an ancient Sengoku kenjutsu style known as the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu. He gained the nickname 'Battosai' for his killing technique of Battojitsu (also known as the 'Iaido' or 'Nuki' technique) – a name which translates to 'One who has learned everything of Battojitsu'. During this period,Kenshin served the Ishin Shishi for five years to create a better world where the weak were not exploited. For the first half of his carrier, Kenshin acted as the Choshu clan's hitokiri under the command of Katsura Kogoro. But after a tragic incident, Kenshin became a free swordsman in the latter half of his carrier, protecting his comrades from the government's killers, the Shinsengumi. Because of Kenshin's amazing abilities he was feared and thought of as a god.
Though descriptions of him varied from legend to legend as it became more and more exaggerated, each one agreed that he had red hair and a scar, shaped like a cross on his right cheek. Though the exact origin of the scar is now unknown, it was thought to have occurred during two incidents. In the deciding battle of the Boshin war, after victory in the first battle at Toba Fushimi, he disappeared from all government records for a period of ten years. During this period it was said that Kenshin became a Rurouni and wandered over Japan with a special sword designed so it could not kill anyone to protect innocent people and help to redeem lives to atone for the lives he had taken during the Bakumatsu. However, he later appeared in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji, where he aided the Kamiya dojo against the scandal of a fake Battosai. There he was invited to live at the dojo with the assistant manager, Kamiya Kaoru. He later married her and they had a son, Himura Kenji. It was unknown however when he died, though it was thought to have been caused from an illness that later took the life of his Wife also, though this is unconfirmed.
Shinya glanced back at the picture once more. So it was true, there was so much more to this warrior than everyone believed. However, far from answering his questions about the life of the man in the photo, he had so many more. What did he do during the time that he went missing from all records? When did he die? Was it truly of an illness that killed both him and his wife? What was the 'tragic incident' that had been mentioned. Was it that which gave him the deep sadness in his eyes? Shinya smiled slightly. So, he was right. This man had not been the cold-blooded killer that legends made him out to be.
Kiyoshi stepped into the room to see Shinya sitting calmly on the chair looking at the page, a small smile of almost… understanding on his fine-featured face. Shinya glanced up at his Grandfather.
"You're right", he said softly, "it was interesting, to read a little more about him" Kiyoshi looked for signs of trouble on his grandson's face, but found none. He smiled slightly. Shinya was a very different person to all the others of his age. Perhaps he understood where others had failed to understand about Kenshin Himura.
"You took the news better than your father." He said warmly "Nobuyuki was much more difficult"
Shinya glanced at the page again "with something like this, you can't take just legends into account. Sometimes there is much more to a person than what we are told in hearsay. Besides, someone like him, with that much sadness and regret… it doesn't match with the man in the stories. But then, real life differs from legend."
The depth of wisdom he heard just then coming from this young boy's mouth surprised Kiyoshi.
"Besides" Shinya continued, a small smile on his face "what happened then, all those years ago, it may have been why I was born, but that is all. What happened then doesn't make who I am now. Only I can make who I will become"
Kiyoshi smiled "you just got right what takes some people, even myself years to discover. I'm proud of you"
Shinya took out a pad from his bag and began to write ideas for his project down, his face flushed from the praise. He paused and looked back at his grandfather's retreating back. "Thank you, Grandpa, for showing me"
Kiyoshi looked back and smiled softly "You're welcome"
Still, Shinya thought as he turned back to his work, it was pretty cool to know he was descended from such a famous fighter, even one as mysterious as Kenshin Himura, the 'Battosai'.
To be continued…
Chosha's notes: So, Shinya discovers his ancestry – told you I was going somewhere with the whole assignment thing. Okay how was my second chapter of this fic? Good, bad? Review and give me you opinions.
Next time on 'Fading Futures'
Strange things are beginning to happen in the Himura household and Shinya gets a visit from the last person you would expect. Who is it? Find out on the next chapter of Fading Futures: 'Fading Out'
Mata Aimasho, Minna-san! See you next time…
Chosha Kurenai xXx