I surprise myself at times. Here's another chapter, earlier than expected.
Chapter 9
Meanwhile, back in Tokyo . . . it was eleven o'clock at night, and Sano was waiting impatiently, leaning against one of the walls of the police headquarters. He and two of his friends, Sarutaro and Chou, had been waiting there since ten. Police-chief Kawaji and five units of the police squad were there as well. Everyone was milling around anxiously.
"Oi, Sano, I thought you said this was gonna be quick?" Sarutaro, a rag-clad, beefy young man about Sano's age, was absently kicking pebbles into the wall.
"I thought it would be over by now." Sano muttered. "Wonder if that Katsura guy gave us the wrong information. I don't like him. Kenshin's too trusting, I don't care if they did fight in the Bakumatsu together." There were surprised murmurs at Sano's words.
"Katsura Kogoro? He was the head of the Ishin Shishi!" Sarutaro exclaimed.
"I wouldn't trust him either," Chou agreed. He held a long staff in his left hand. "If no one shows up by twelve, I'm leaving."
"Yeah, go ahead," Sano said, not without annoyance. He'd promised Kenshin he would be there, so he was planning on staying the whole night. It would piss him off though if nothing happened. He hadn't had a good fight in a while. Sano flexed his right hand, still wrapped in bandages. Shouldn't be a need to use the futae no kiwami–
"From the left! Take your positions!" The sudden shout of alarm worked like magic. All anxiousness disappeared as the men organized themselves with machine-like precision, raising their guns. Kenshin wouldn't have liked the guns, Sano reflected, but he sure as hell didn't have a problem with it. This was serious business and no matter the cost, it should be stopped.
"Ooho, here they come," Chou said with a wicked smile. "Get ready Sano."
"Don't need to tell me, I've been ready." There were at least fifty men that had come to attack the building. All were dressed in dark clothes and carried swords. Sano frowned as they stopped, far enough away so that they were out of the guns' firing range. "Does something not feel right to you?" He asked aside to his comrades.
"Yeah, what're they stopping for? They don't seem surprised to see us," Sarutaro said, confused.
Sano's eyes opened wide. He sprinted towards the police chief, yelling. "Kawaji! Move your men! It's an ambush, they knew we were coming! Turn your men around!" Sano had hardly finished his warning when there was a rustling from the trees behind them and several groups of ninjas, looking like giant insects, jumped from the trees and onto the backs of the unaware soldiers. Several guns were fired involuntarily. "Kuso," Sano said under his breath. Somebody had tipped these guys off. He could worry about that later though; right now he had to fight.
"Koraaa! Make way!" Sano yelled as he charged through the ranks of ninja, fists flying. He took out several of them before they finally realized what was happening. "Hehe, much better," Sano said as several of the ninja broke off from the soldiers and turned to face him, brandishing a variety of weapons. "I like to fight fair. Who's first?"
Two of the black-clad shadow assassins moved in, one spinning a small sword with an intricate twist of his wrist, the other holding shuriken between the fingers of both hands.
"Hah!" Sano aimed for the man with the shuriken, which could prove more deadly in the long run. The ninja swiftly ducked the kick to his head, tossing one of his stars into Sano's leg with a shout.
"Don't think that's all it's gonna take!" Sano said, ripping the throwing star from his leg. Luckily, it hadn't lodged too deeply. The ninja had obviously been trained well but they couldn't match up to Sagara Sanosuke.
Sano leaned back abruptly as the other ninja took advantage of his partner's hit, swinging his sword at Sano's midsection and accompanying it with a heartfelt cry of, "Tenchuu!" The sword sliced off a part of Sano's jacket but did no further damage.
"You've done it now buddy, this is my favorite shirt," Sano growled.
"Kon'yarou, standing up for the Meiji!" The tenchuu-zealous ninja spat. "It's more corrupt than the sengoku jidai! Why don't you take the judgment you deserve like a man!" He sprang forward, sword raised.
"Cheh, stop talking high and mighty when you can't follow through," Sano said, kicking the hilt of the blade as the ninja struck. "Have some judgment of your own!" Sano spun around and the kick he delivered sent the sword-less ninja into several of his shadowy compatriots.
Shots being fired somewhat regularly were signs that the Meiji soldiers had regained their bearings and were successfully overpowering the ninja, if only through the advantage of their weapons. This, added to the cry of, "He's too strong! Move on!" caused the remaining ninja to melt like shadows into the woods from which they had arrived.
"Forward, quickly you fools! They've broken into the building! Use your guns, they're not made just to look at!" Sano could hear the bad-tempered chief of police bellowing orders to his men.
"Sano!" Chou appeared in front of Sano, breathing heavily but seemingly unhurt. His staff was flecked with blood though. "No problems?"
"Nah, I scared 'em off," Sano said breezily. "Come on, looks like we're needed on the front line." Sano and Chou raced towards the mob that had gathered at the front of the building. The Heaven's Judges had smashed almost all the windows, and were now proceeding to throw grappling ropes through the black voids. Several men waited at the bottom of the ropes while others shinnied up and slipped nimbly past the shards of glass and into the building. The police had just thrown the front door open and were surging inside.
"Come on, I got a quick way to do this," Sano grabbed Chou's arm, redirecting him, and they ran to the side of the building. "Lemme use your staff." Sano demanded, holding his hand out. Kenshin may be able to do seemingly-impossible leaps with no extraneous aid but Sano needed something besides the ground to give him leverage.
"Going to jump it?" Chou nodded. "Good idea, try that place, looks like there's a crack for a foothold."
"Yeah." Sano got a running start, and using Chou's staff as a vault, flung himself into the air. He landed just where he wanted, on a crack that a bullet had made, and used it to jump further up into the closest broken window. Hanging onto the ledge, Sano looked down to give Chou a thumbs up before slipping inside the darkened building.
It seemed strange to hear so many noises coming from the pitch black interior. Sounds of drawers being opened, the striking of metal on flint. Sano recklessly made his way to the closest sounds. The ghostly moonlight coming through the windows was enough for him to perceive a faint outline of his surroundings. The men who had overrun the agriculture building weren't ninja though. All carried swords at their side, and Sano was willing to bet that if they weren't all former hitokiri, they were in training to be.
One of the men turned as Sano came into the room, drawing his sword with such speed that Sano hardly saw him move. "Kisama, don't try and stop us. You're not a match for the best of the Heaven's Judges."
"We won't know until I've tried," Sano retorted.
The man snorted and turned back to rummaging through drawers and pulling out papers, handing some to his accomplices, throwing the rest on the floor.
Sano's anger shot through the roof. "Think you can turn your back on me! Ok then, I guess you don't need me to give you a courtesy warning before I attack!"
Sano could have smacked himself on the head. He knew what Saitou's response would have been to that. Stupid, who needs a courtesy warning when you just told them what you were going to do. He could hear the sarcastic laughter from the cynical swordsmen.
"Alright, so maybe I'm not a great speaker but I don't need talk to beat you! Orrraaaa!" Sano charged headlong, dodging the first sword strike and kicking the man who had delivered it into the wall.
There was a rush of air behind him, and Sano turned just as another sword swung down at his head. He didn't manage to miss the attack completely, and the katana sliced along the side of his face before it slammed into the ground with such force that it was stuck up to its hilt. "Hup!" Sano jumped onto the katana and sent a spinning kick into the owner's side. He put a hand to his face. The cut was deep but nothing Megumi couldn't fix. "Who's next?" Sano shouted.
He didn't even notice the movement to his side but something stabbed into his already wounded leg. Sano gasped as his leg gave out, swinging out with his fists reflexively. The man who had attacked went screaming out the window, his tanto still stuck in Sano's leg.
"Fuck!" Sano hissed. He grabbed the small dagger and pulled it from his leg, shoving himself back to his feet with a grimace. He was pissed now. As the next swordsmen took a step towards him, Sano tossed the tanto towards the man's stomach with as much power as he had. The swordsman didn't have time to react and his eyes stared blindly as he fell forwards, the tanto embedded deeply in his gut.
High on adrenaline, Sano took out the rest of the men in less than five minutes–all except one. As Sano stood panting over his last victim, blood gushing form his face and leg, the swordsmen who had drawn when Sano first entered spoke again.
"I admit, you have skill," The man said, his katana now back in its saiya. "But you're outnumbered. And even if you weren't," The katana was unsheathed now, "you couldn't defeat me in your condition. I'm one of the best swordsmen that the Heaven's Judges has."
"But not the best?" Sano goaded. "You don't deserve to fight me."
The swordsman's face darkened. ". . ."
No words ever came from his mouth though because at that moment there was a loud crack, and he fell forward, eyes wide. As he hit the floor, Sano saw one of the police standing behind the fallen man, rifle smoking. "Sano-san, orders to retreat. They've been defeated," The police said.
Sano wiped his face, for once almost glad he hadn't had to fight. "Did we get it in time? Are the records still here?"
"There were some papers burned but not enough to be damaging." The man squinted then. "Your face sir, you should go get medical attention." Sano waved his concern off.
"I'll get to it. Where's Kawaji?"
"Kawaji-shouchou is waiting outside for the men to reassemble."
Sano nodded. "By the way, thanks for shooting him," He gave the man a grin and hobbled outside, using the stairs this time.
Kawaji was standing just outside the door, keeping close count of every man that exited the building. He brightened when he saw Sano. "Sano! Good, I hadn't seen you for a while. Hey, you should go see one of our doctors."
"I'm going to in a minute. Have you seen-"
"Sano! Sano! Hey!" Chou and Sarutaro were trotting across the grounds towards him. Chou had a black eye but was none the worse for the wear. Sarutaro didn't even look like he'd been in a fight.
Sano waved. "Oi! So it was a success then?"
"We would have been ruined if we hadn't stopped them," Kawaji said with a shake of his head. "We have Himura-san to thank. Already he's been indispensable to this matter."
"I'll let him know," Sano said dryly. "Look, if you've got everything under control, I'm gonna split."
"By all means. Go take care of yourself." Kawaji waved him off. Chou and Sarutaro, feeling uncommonly nice because of their relatively easy victory, agreed to stay and help with the wounded. Sano gave them a farewell and, hands stuck in his pockets, limped down the road, leaving drops of blood at regular intervals. He needed to visit a certain fox.
OOO
Megumi didn't know why she had woken up. When she opened her eyes though, sleep still clouding her mind, she knew there was no way it could be morning yet. She was still dead tired and unless it was getting ready to pour down raining, the room was way too dark for it to be morning.
Then she heard the insistent pounding at her door, heard the rough voice, giving no heed to the rest of the sleeping neighborhood, say loudly, "Oi, Kitsune!"
Megumi, now fully awake, stared up at the ceiling. What the hell was Sano doing at her house at this hour? She almost considered going back to sleep, she could feel the cool air on her face and her futon was comfortably warm but she knew that even Sano wouldn't wake her up at such an odd hour without a good reason.
She slipped from under the covers and grabbing her yukata from the top, quickly pulled it on. Sano was pounding on the door with a steady rhythm now and Megumi scowled. The neighbors would be complaining to her the next morning. She put on her tabi and shuffled to the door, covering a yawn with her hand. Hopefully this would be a quick visit.
"Sanosuke!" She threw the door open with a reprimanding tone in her voice. "There's no need to break my door!"
Sano stood outside, hand raised. "Took you long enough," He grumbled.
Megumi took in his disheveled appearance. "What happened to you?" Her eyes zeroed in on his right hand. The bandages were still white for the most part. "Well, at least you didn't use your futae no kiwami," She said with a, it-could-be-worse, sigh. "Get inside and sit down, I need to go get my medicine box."
Sano stepped through the doorway and followed her into the kitchen. "It's really nothing much, just a few scratches. We took care of them though," He grinned at the memory.
Megumi looked over her shoulder as she retrieved her box. "Took care of who? I need to boil some water, wait a minute." She walked to the stove as Sano flopped onto the low hospital bench Megumi had acquired that butted up against the wall.
"The Heaven's Judges. They planned a raid on the agricultural building tonight. Someone found out that we knew about it though, they had a surprise attack ready."
"Was Ken-san there?" Megumi dug several rolls of bandages from her box and frowned. She was running low. Sano had propped his feet up on the table.
"No, he went to Kyoto."
Megumi's eyes conveyed her shock. "Ken-san left?" She gasped.
Sano looked at her with exasperation. "Jeez, no he didn't leave for good! He deserves a little more trust than that from you. He went to ask his shishou and the Oniwabanshuu if they could help in the fight next week. He's supposed to be coming back tomorrow."
Megumi looked relieved. "Thank goodness. You're right, he wouldn't leave Kaoru-chan like that again, would he?"
"Megumi–" Sano rarely heard Megumi talk like that about Kenshin and Kaoru. After the fight with Shishio though, it seemed she had gotten more accepting of the fact that the two were getting closer and closer.
Megumi flipped her hair and went to get the boiling water. "I'm not stupid Sano. It's just easier to play along sometimes." Sano nodded.
"Well, shall we start?" Megumi's voice was brisk. "Here, put this on your cheek." She handed him a towel soaked in iodine. "A sword cut?" Megumi leaned in to inspect the wound. "It's deep but at least it's not infected yet, that's good. I'll stitch it up." She turned her attention to his leg. "Hm, this looks bad. Dirt has accumulated, you should have wrapped it as soon as possible."
"I'm sorry, didn't quite get the chance," Sano said sarcastically.
"It's okay, I'll just clean it out." Megumi put a hand over her mouth and giggled as fox ears popped up on her head.
Sano made a face. "I knew I should have waited 'til the doctor's opened tomorrow."
"Keep talking like that and you may get the chance to," Megumi said, tying a tourniquet around Sano's leg.
"By the way," Sano tried not to wince as the tourniquet was cinched tight. "You mind if I stay here tonight? It's pretty late ya know, and I don't wanna wake Jou-chan and the kids." He gave an expectant smile as Megumi looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"You wake me up in the middle of the night for free treatment and now you want free board as well?"
"And you cook pretty good too," Sano kept his smile plastered on until Megumi gave in with a sigh.
"Alright, you can stay." She held out a finger as Sano clapped his hands together in front of his face and bowed his head in thanks. "Provided that you help me with my patients tomorrow. I'm going to be busy. The flu is going around and I need to prepare medicine."
Sano's eyes lowered, a displeased expression crossing his face. "So it's not free?"
"Call it symbiosis," Megumi said, threading a needle. "I need to make a living too."
"Cheh." Sano held his leg out for her. "No morphine?" It had taken him a while just to learn the names of the common herbs that Megumi used but he employed them whenever possible, just to show that he wasn't stupid. He was proud of being able to use this new word, morphine.
"That's something I need to get tomorrow," Megumi said as she began stitching the leg. "You know what, you can pick some plants for me."
"Better make sure you tell me which ones you want," Sano warned. "I may end up getting something poisonous. Not too good with identifying plants."
"I have a detailed list written up, unless you're an idiot you'll understand." Megumi assured him.
"Is that some kinda insult?" Sano asked, frowning.
"Only if you're an idiot," Megumi replied impassively.
"Well, guess that doesn't apply to me then." And Sano relaxed against the wall to let Megumi finish her work.
OOO
The golden early-morning light filtered through the Kyoto train station, casting a regal glow on the iron-work of the roof and the benches underneath. The train itself looked like something from a folk tale, the sunrays bouncing around and off of it, throwing rainbows of color all along its metal spine.
Aside from the ticket-master, nodding sleepily in his booth over a cup of green tea, few people were there at six o'clock in the morning. An old woman was sitting on one of the benches, knitting something while her grandchild used his finger to draw in the fine layer of dust on the platform. A middle-aged man stood near the ticket-booth, reading with an amazing show of interest a bulletin describing the qualities of Kyoto's train station.
Somehow, the lazy atmosphere seemed to change when a tall, well-built man, long black hair flowing over the white cape he flaunted unashamedly, strode onto the platform and made purposefully for the ticket-booth while the grandmother and little boy watched him with reserved curiosity.
The ticket-master noticed the sword at his side, thought better of reminding the man that swords had been outlawed since the beginning of the Meiji, and merely said in as courteous a tone as possible, "Can I help you sir?" The caped man was glaring at the benches almost void of passengers and the little boy shrunk from his gaze, going back to scribbling in the dust. The ticket-master would have been shaking in his boots had he met this man on a field of battle. Such violent eyes. He's a true swordsman.
"Yes, has anyone else been here this morning?" Hiko took in the man's vacant stare. "On second thought, don't answer that. Give me a ticket to Tokyo."
"Right away." The ticket-master was happy to oblige. "10 ryo. The train leaves at 6:30, boarding starts in five minutes. Have a good trip."
Hiko took the slip of paper the man proffered and went to sit on the bench farthest from the few people there. Several more soon-to-be-passengers had arrived by now and Hiko scrutinized each one, scowling each time it wasn't who he was looking for. Where was his baka deshi?
And then, eight minutes before the train was supposed to leave and after everyone else had boarded, Kenshin ran up, sandals pounding and sending clouds of dust into the faces of the two people behind him. "Shishou!" He screeched to a halt in front of his darkly scowling master.
"You're late," Hiko stated, voice thick with disapprovement.
"Sumanai, we got stuck in the streets. Okina-dono insisted we take a carriage but it wrecked, so we had to run the rest of the way." Kenshin rubbed at some thinly bleeding scratches on his face as Misao and Aoshi caught up to him. "We made it on time at least." He looked up as the last whistle blew.
"Come on, come on, or we're gonna miss it!" Misao called, jumping onto the steps that came from the train. "Hurry up Himura!" Kenshin stepped onto the train, followed by Aoshi and Hiko. Misao had already run to one of the windows, looking out happily with her chin in her hands. "Tokyo, here we come!"
One last quick note on the Japanese language. Japanese curse words and "name-calling" aren't as strong as American curse words. Hence, when I have something like"bastard,"this is just the best English equivalent. It doesn't really translate quite so strongly.
futae no kiwami - Sano's special attack: translates as "double limit"
kisama - very rude way to address a person
kora - a cruder form of "hey"
kon'yarou - something akin to "you bastard"
ora - just a battle cry
sengoku jidai - Japan's warring era
shishou - master
shouchou - chief
shuriken - throwing stars
sumanai - sorry
tanto - short sword used for seppuku or close combat
tenchuu - divine retribution
Yes, I know no one realizes Saito is still alive, however I didn't feel like making this a side plot of my story, so I conveniently brushed over this fact. Heh.
Thanks to my faithful reviewers! lolo popoki, xZig-zagx, skenshingumi. Skenshingumi, thanks for the positive words!
