Chosha's notes:
Way! I've finally done Chapter Twelve of Fading Futures! Konnichiwa Minna and a happy new year! We're actually getting into the main part of the story now! And I've got big plans for Shinya, Kaoru, Kenshin and the gang. I can't wait! But, as the saying goes – easily said than done. Obviously, as all Fanfic authors and authoress's know, it is much harder to get those ideas down in the best way. Anyway, enough of my rambles. I want to thank Lily of the Shadows and Inuwolf04 for your reviews. I also want to say Konnichiwa to all my new readers out there! I hope you who aren't reviewing, but are still reading, are enjoying this. But please, to raise my self-esteem, please REVIEW! Constructive criticisms are also welcome.
Hope you enjoy this one!
IMPORTANT: Major spoilers for the Kyoto arc ahead!
Disclaimer: As everyone who has read any of this story so far should know by now, I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin – nor did I get it at Christmas (Pouts). I guess that I'll just have to be happy with owning any and all characters that do not appear in the anime or manga, then!
Last time on Fading Futures:
Shinya got a new plan underway, Kenshin and Kaoru almost kissed and Sanosuke got concussion after ruining it all!
Tanoshimimas! (Enjoy!)
Chapter twelve
Forget Me Not
Shinya sat staring up at the full moon as he breathed in the cool night air, trying to calm the smouldering annoyance still present inside him. The moon's light caressed him with silvery beams, trying to soothe him.
The rest of the day had not gone so well. Even though he had managed to take out much of his fury on the source of the problem – namely on a certain rooster head that had to stay the night due to severe concussion – he had been pretty short tempered and snappy for the rest of the day. Plus Kenshin and Kaoru had literally avoided looking at each other even while they were talking, it was pushing him to his limits. And now he was suffering from a terrible migraine making him feel absolutely awful to say the least.
Damn that rooster!
Shinya rubbed his temples and sighed. Logically, he knew it was stupid to be taking things so personally. Even the resident hotheaded shihondai hadn't gone into her usual, bokken-smashing fury about it all, so really, he shouldn't be so angry with him. Besides, it wasn't like it was totally Sanosuke's fault. If Shinya had resolved to tell him about his plan in the first place, Sanosuke wouldn't have come stumbling in at that inappropriate moment. So it was probably just as much his fault as the ex-gangster's. He really shouldn't have hit the guy so hard, he should hit himself too.
Perhaps that was why he felt as if his head was going to split open – it was probably Tomoe or Kami telling him how much of a baka he was!
Damn him anyways…
Shinya watched as a firefly flitted amongst the flowers in the garden. He wished his life was carefree again, when he could play matchmaker for fun, not with the lives of everyone he knew ridding on it. Even in Kendo – even if he fought for his life, like with those bandits – Shinya would get a break from it all, be able to put aside the bokken and relax. But with this… the danger was always there – the fate of his family… The tension of it all was driving him insane too. With each passing day, he knew he was running low on sand in his hourglass. He wondered just how much he had left.
He rubbed his hands over his eyes and glanced down at the talisman, sitting on the folds of his yukata, still glowing softly. Shinya knew the glow was fading – slowly fading as his time slipped away. Shinya stared at his hand as it flickered slightly and squeezed on the talisman, fighting back the tears as his heart thudded in his throat.
Again. Twice now. The fading was coming again, already happened twice that night. He shivered and closed his eyes. He was scared. Dammit, this wasn't something a fourteen-year-old was meant to handle! No one should have so many lives ridding on his actions. One wrong move, and its all gone…
Shaking, he watched as the talisman flickered dimmer and his hand grew solid again. He squeezed them to his chest. Waveringly, eyes screwed shut against hysterical tears, Shinya whispered, "I'm running out of time… Kami-sama…"
o0o
"Shinya? Daijobu ka?"
Shinya gave a start as he looked up to find a rather worried-looking Kenshin looking back at him. He swallowed as he glanced around the room, seeing both Yahiko and Kaoru looking at him with the same expression written clearly on their faces. Slowly, he passed a hand over his eyes.
It was midday. The Kenshin Gumi, minus Sanosuke, was sitting in the living room to avoid the hazy drizzle outside. Kaoru had been reading one of her novels, while Kenshin had silently been sipping on a cup of green tea. Both Shinya and Yahiko were checking over their Shinai, making sure there was no wood sticking out anywhere -–at least, they were. For the past ten minutes, Shinya had been staring at the Shinai as if he wasn't even seeing it, his eyes shadowed. He had been distant all day and it was starting to worry the others. They had never seen the usually spunky and mischievous boy look so sullen. Shinya almost hit his head on the table for being so stupid, but he was sure that would improve things!
Shinya grinned at them. "Daijobu. I was just thinking."
Yahiko leaned in. "You sure? You've been kinda spacey all day…"
Shinya made sure he was smiling wider. "There's nothing to worry about! I just had a bad dream last night and didn't get much sleep. It's nothing, really."
Kenshin gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't buying Shinya's excuse. Must have been some bad dream to get him acting so strange, Kenshin thought as he watched Shinya Laugh and continue on his work again. If it really WAS a dream…
"Oi!"
Everyone glanced up to find Sanosuke slip off his shoes and come into the house. He was looking just a little damp – even his rooster-like hair was drooped a little from the extra weight. "You're soaked," Kaoru said, a little disapprovingly. Sanosuke ignored her as he sat down, pulling out a letter from his white jacket. Instantly, everyone was attentive.
"Postman just came." Sanosuke said as way of explanation, "I told him I was coming here, so he gave it to me to give to ya, Jou-chan." He grinned. "And get this – it's from Kyoto."
"Kyoto?" Kaoru asked, confused. Sanosuke passed her the, admittedly damp, letter and turned it over to see who it was from. Her eyes widened and she screamed in delight. Kenshin, Shinya and Yahiko just looked at each other, confusion written clearly all over them. Finally, Yahiko turned to Shinya.
"What is it with girls and screaming?"
Shinya gave a sheepish grin and merely shrugged. He wasn't even going to try to answer that one. He could remember only too well when Tomoji had asked that particular question and then tried to come up with a 'reasonable' explanation. But seeing as Tomoji's 'reasonable' was not very high on the reasonable scale (or tasteful scale for that mater). And he had attempted this in the presence of Yukie and some of her female friends – probably half the female population of the class at school– Tomoji had promptly been battered and bruised by said females and left in a heap of bloody lumps and swirly-eyes. It was not something Shinya was ever even contemplating on trying – especially in front of a certain hotheaded Kamiya.
As predicted, said Kamiya had Yahiko squirming on the floor, swirly-eyed, with a new lump and she glowered at him, bokken in hand. It was at times like these when Shinya had to wonder how Kaoru managed it. Even if she didn't have said weapon in the vicinity, She always managed to bonk anyone who annoys her with a bokken that miraculously appeared out of thin air. She had to be the eighth wonder of the world or something.
"So, who's it from," asked Shinya, curiosity overcoming his previously depressed state.
"It's from Misao!" Kaoru said delightedly. "We haven't heard from her in ages!"
"From Misao-dono?" asked Kenshin pleasantly.
"Ugh, not that weasel girl," Yahiko moaned. (Several miles away – "Achoo!")
Shinya looked from one Kenshin-Gumi member to the next, trying to work out who this person was, but no one was paying any attention to him. Kaoru was now yelling at Yahiko that Misao is not a weasel girl, while Kenshin and Sanosuke looked just about ready to hold back Kaoru if she went to jump him. Finally, the arguing began to get on his nerves. Loudly, he said, "So who's this Misao person?"
The arguing stopped as they all turned to stare at Shinya as if he was crazy. Shinya was starting to worry that this Misao was some well-known celebrity in this era, until Kaoru said, "Oh yeah, you haven't met Misao, have you. I keep forgetting you weren't with us when we went to Kyoto."
"What's so important about Kyoto? I mean, I know it's one of the bigger cities, but…"
"You mean you don't know about Shishio?" Yahiko said, dumfounded.
Sanosuke snorted. "Well, Whaddya expect? Only us who went to stop Shishio'd know about it. That broom-head Chou said those Meiji pigs covered the whole thing up. I bet halfa Kyoto doesn't even know about 'im."
Shinya mentally sighed, glad to have some excuse for his ignorance. "So, what was all this 'Shishio' stuff about then?"
Everyone glanced at each other uncomfortably and Kenshin avoided looking at him. Shinya felt like hitting his head on the table again. Shinya no Baka Ahou! Quickly, Shinya opened his mouth to apologise when Kaoru started talking.
"Well, you might as well know, I guess," she started. She glanced at Kenshin, who nodded in agreement with a sad smile. Kenshin turned to Shinya, who shivered a little with a sense of foreboding. Whatever happened was not going to be a walk in the park that was for sure!
Kenshin cleared his throat a little and began.
"When Sessha emerged from the shadows to fight as a 'free-striking swordsman' against the Shinsengumi and its allies, Makoto Shishio was another revolutionary from the Choshu clan who took up the role as 'hitokiri of the shadows' in my stead. Even Sessha had no direct contact with him in that time. But the Ishin Shishi thought he knew too much by the end of the Bakumatsu, and he also had a lot of ambition as well. If they let him live, he would have tried to take control using all the knowledge he had, including assassinations he carried out which would have turned the new government on its head if it was leaked out. So, during the chaos of the Boshin war, his comrades erased him – or, at least, they thought they had. They even poured oil all over him and burned his body – but Shishio survived."
"And I'm guessing he wasn't too thrilled, either," Shinya added, feeling a little ill. Man, if someone tried to burn him alive, he wouldn't have been feeling too peachy with the government either. Heh, all the things you don't hear about in history class…
"Exactly. Shishio gathered followers to try and take over Japan in the ten years afterwards. He also gathered some of the best swordsman to form a group called the 'Juppon Katana', who were extremely loyal followers. The government, obviously, got wind of this and sent many troops against Shishio, but they we're all wiped out. The government sent Hajime Saito to test Sessha, to see if I was still as good as when I was Battosai. Unfortunately, Sessha passed-"
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Back up a minute. Hajime Saito? As in, officer of the 3rd Shinsengumi unit, Hajime Saito?" Kenshin nodded, looking a little confused. Shinya frowned. "But he was a Wolf of Mibu. Why's he working for the Meiji government? I mean, aren't they, you know, the enemy or something?"
"He was just crazy." Yahiko grumbled.
"From what Sessha could gather, Saito was working as a lieutenant in the police under the name of Goro Fujita to make sure that none of the officials would be corrupted. If they were, he'd probably slay them. He stuck rigidly to this code of Aku-Soku-Zan, held by all the Shinsengumi."
"So, what happened after you, um, passed his test?" Somehow, Shinya thought that 'test' had much more to it than these guys were letting on. However, he wasn't here to gather information on whatever happened between Kenshin and Hajime Saito.
"Lord Okubo arrived and informed us about Shishio in Kyoto and asked Sessha to go to Kyoto to stop him. He gave me a week to think things through. But Okubo was assassinated by one of Shishio's Juppon Katana – Soujiro Seta – on the day Sessha was to give the answer." Shinya had to stop himself from staring. Even the people in his time didn't know who really assassinated the chief of internal affairs. "Sessha went to Kyoto and met Misao-dono on the way. But in one fight against Soujiro, my original Sakabato was broken and Sessha had to get a new one. Misao-dono helped, but I had to leave to finish training with my shishou so Sessha would be able to defeat Shishio. Kaoru-dono and Yahiko met her later, when they followed Sessha to Kyoto-"
"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have just gone off and left us without telling us, should you?" Yahiko growled. Kenshin winced at the tone.
"Well, in sessha's defence, I did have good reasons…" he paused as everyone but Shinya shot him dark glares. "Maa! Sessha promised he wouldn't leave again, that he did!"
"Yeah, you better keep it too!" growled Sanosuke.
Shinya was worried he'd found himself on the Meiji era's version of the Jerry Springer show or something. Nervously he cleared his throat to get their attention. "So, I take it you all ended up in Kyoto-"
"Damn straight," Sanosuke said stubbornly.
"So, what happened then?" this was more interesting than hearing this stuff out of a text book in history class, that was for sure!
"Well, Kaoru-dono and Yahiko got Misao to help find Sessha and they met me at Shishou's home. Misao-dono let them stay at the Aoiya while I was training. They had some problems with Aoshi Shinomori too while Sessha was away."
That rang a bell. "Aoshi…?"
"He's the Okashira of the Oniwabanshu," Yahiko told him. Shinya tried not to gape. To think, he knew some people who actually could say they have spies as friends.
"You mean Misao's an Onmitsu? Shinya exclaimed. "That is so cool!"
"Um… anyway, to cut a long story short Misao-dono, Kaoru-dono, Yahiko and the other Oniwabanshu helped defend Kyoto and the Aoiya, while Sanosuke, Saito and Sessha went to face Shishio. We had to fight a member of the Juppon Katana one by one to get to Shishio-"
"Yeah, and you had to fight Aoshi to help get him back to weasel girl too," Sanosuke added.
"Finally, after defeating a member of the Juppon Katana each, Sessha and Shishio had to fight. It was a long fight, but…" Kenshin paused, a pain flashing in his eyes for a moment. Even Sanosuke looked uncomfortable. Shinya froze as he realised something really bad must have happened to have even Sanosuke look so restless and to give Kenshin such a pained look. But before he could say anything, the moment passed and Kenshin said, "In the end, Shishio had fought for too long. Because of all those burns over his body, he'd lost the ability to sweat to regulate his body temperature, and could only do anything strenuous for fifteen minutes before his body temperature became too high. So, because we had fought for so long, his temperature just kept rising until he burst into flames"
Spontaneous combustion! Everything Shinya thought he knew was getting turned on its head! He never thought time travel was possible, yet here he was listening to his ancestors talk about a battle, while sitting in the Meiji era, and now this! Kami, when he got home, Shinya was really going to have to change his opinions on things.
If he got home…
Shinya growled and shook off the oncoming melancholy before it took a grip on him. Around him, Yahiko and Sanosuke were starting to get impatient.
"Well? What's Misao gotta say?"
"Oh, yeah!" Kaoru unfolded the letter and began to read it out loud:
Dear Kaoru, Himura, Yahiko, Sanosuke and Megumi (if you're there),
Hey guys! Long time no see! I hope things are going well in Tokyo since we last met, and that the dojo is starting to get right again – it was a little low on students the last time I heard from you. Things are going quite well here. The new Aoiya is doing really well and Kyoto's getting back on its feet again. Aoshi-sama is still a little distant at times, but I know I'm going to get that smile out of him yet!
By the way, the star festival is coming up really soon and its being held in Kyoto! Gramps thought you guys would want to come. The star festival is really cool, you just have to come. Gramps says you can stay at the Aoiya during the festival for free and we'll give you the tour we promised you when we last met. I do hope you can come! Besides, We think it'll do you guys some good to get a few good memories about Kyoto, especially you, Himura.
We really hope to hear from you guys soon and I really, really hope you'll at least think about coming to the star festival. It's wonderful to see Kyoto all done up for the festivities.
Yours Sincerely,
Misao Makimachi
"Wow! The star festival! I've only ever been to one of those!" Kaoru said excitedly. "There's the lights and fireworks and attractions! And they say that if you make a wish on a star during the festival, I'll come true!" she turned round to Kenshin, who was re-reading the letter. "What do you think, Kenshin? I think we should go. The festival is so beautiful and it's really fun too with all the things that happen! And I think it would be good to see Misao and Okina and the others again."
Kenshin blinked at Kaoru, seeing the excitement shine in her eyes. She looked like a child on Christmas morning. Somehow, he found he could not refuse her. Besides, Kenshin had decided he wasn't going to fight it anymore – the festival would be perfect…
"Hai, Kaoru-dono. Sessha thinks it would be fun, that he does."
"Yay!" Kaoru said happily. "Shinya! You should come too! And we can introduce you to Misao and Aoshi and Okina and the other Oniwabanshu! Oo - and we can invite Megumi-san and maybe Dr Gensai and Ayame and Suzume…"
Shinya leaned back as he watched Sanosuke start arguing that if 'Kitsune-onna' was going then he wouldn't be, while Kaoru told him he was and that was the end of it, even if she had to drag him along, and he glanced at Kenshin out of the corner of his eyes. Kenshin was watching Kaoru with a small smile on his face and Shinya looked away, almost embarrassed by the look in those violet eyes. It seems Kenshin had finally caught the hint after all. Maybe Shinya wouldn't have to worry then – It seems Kenshin was about to take the relationship between himself and the Kenjutsu Shihondai up to the next level during this little excursion.
Shinya hid a smirk, his eyes sparkling in mischievous amusement. This might be fun after all…
To be continued…
Chosha's notes:
Yep, I wasn't going to leave out everyone's favourite Ninja-girl and Okashira. It would be close to a sin! Plus I needed to get Megumi into the picture. I wasn't sure how to get Shinya to meet them, but when I came up with the ideas for this chapter, it hit me like one of Kaoru's bokkens!
A few things to clear up, just in case anyone is confused at all.
Firstly, before anyone asks, I realise Shinya isn't acting like a fourteen year old, but if you look to Shinya's story he tells the Gumi of why he wanted to learn swordsmanship, and Shinya's situation in general, he has every right to be scared and depressed. Plus there are some people who just seem to come out with really wise things naturally. I know someone like that. It can be really strange sometimes, but I think its cool, so Shinya is one of those people who have that natural talent.
Also, Shinya has also had a situation before with ghost-Tomoe about asking stuff we all know from the manga and Anime. Basically, though Shinya has read many different manga – as seen in chapter two – the story of Battosai and Kenshin's life afterwards is history here and then life of Battosai a highly guarded thing that would have become a legend blown out of proportion. With this part about Shishio, however, Chou tells the Kenshin-Gumi when he visits them at the Shirobeko that the government wanted to cover it all up. So only the people involved would know any better. Sanosuke assumes Shinya just never heard about it because of that, rather than it being kept out of the history books.
Finally, the Jerry Springer reference… just don't ask… –. –' Anyway, so I don't get yelled at, I don't own that either.
Anything else you wanna know? Just review the question to me and I'll tell you the answer – as long as it doesn't spoil the plot!
Next time on Fading Futures:
The festival is fast approaching and the arrangements are made. Kenshin sets his own plans in motion too. But how it Shinya going to react to our favourite Kitsune-onna? Find out on Chapter Thirteen: Arrangements
Mata Aimasho, Minna-san! See you next time…
Chosha Kurenai xXx
