Finally, the next chapter! Sorry for the long wait. I think the next chapter will be out much sooner, seeing as school is finished as of May 8th for me. Enjoy!
Chapter 14
It was night. It was always night when he was out. He'd gotten another black-sealed envelope earlier that day. There were three names this time; he didn't recognize them, but he usually never did. He didn't keep up with stuff like that.
A man walked past the wall he was behind. Strange, that someone else was out so late. Must be one of the city's peacekeepers. Battousai smirked grimly to himself. They should have sent more than one. He would avoid them if at all possible. He still had several more streets to go before he found the people he was looking for.
He waited several minutes after the man had passed–no harm in being cautious–before slipping out from behind the shadows once more. He made it to his destination without further run-ins. There were no lights, as it should be. They shouldn't be expecting him. Maybe they thought the wall surrounding the house would keep him out. They should have researched their enemy better. He jumped over the wall easily, landing lightly near a koi pond. No sound from the house.
He started suddenly. He could have sworn the pond had just changed colors or–something. He stared at the pond suspiciously and jumped again as a koi stirred just under the surface, sending out ripples of reflected moonlight. Just a fish, that's all he had seen. Katsura would say he was too on edge. He'd commented about that when Battousai had returned from Otsu.
Concentrate, he told himself sternly. Business first. He just wanted to get it over with. He stopped again though as he passed by a prayer stone resting in front of the porch. Was that–blood coming out from under it? Battousai blinked rapidly and took several steps backwards. He really must be losing it. Maybe being a hitokiri was finally getting to him.
But no, he breathed a sigh of relief as he looked closer at the stone, heart pounding. There was only a red ribbon waving slightly in the breeze. Stop imagining things, he growled at himself as he pushed the shoji aside and stepped into the silent house. Finding the right rooms, that would be the hard part. He'd just start with the first one–
A lamp blazed into existence six feet in front of him, and he reached for his katana automatically. Was it a trap? It couldn't be, he realized as he looked, it was just a girl. Funny, she didn't look familiar but he could have sworn he knew her–
"Hitokiri Battousai," She said calmly. "My father knew you would be coming." Kaoru. He wondered why the name had popped into his head. "He said he wouldn't be able to defeat you but he would die trying, to protect his family. I'm not going to let him."
He made sure she saw his hand on his katana. "Stand back, I'm not here to kill you," He said gruffly.
"You may as well. Our father is all me and my younger brother have. If you kill him, you kill us as well." He shoved past her.
"Where is he?" He slid open the next shoji. "Oi–!" He choked on his words. He knew the girl standing in the middle of the room very well. She was mouthing the word anata. "T-T-Tomoe," Now he knew he was going crazy. "I thought–that you–" He whirled as the shoji behind him opened. Eiji stepped out, glaring at him.
"That's not my sister Battousai. You killed her you murdering bastard! You killed her and you're the one who made her unhappy in the first place!"
"I didn't mean it!" He protested, darting a look back at Tomoe. He stared in shock. Tomoe had gone and in her place was Kiyosato, a sword in his hand.
"You did mean it. You meant it every single time you drew your sword! All I wanted was to live! Battousai, you should have never been born!" And he attacked, sword raised.
Battousai's face settled into a mask of coldness. "By bringing your sword into Kyoto you invited death! Allow me to respond to your invitation again!" He saw Kiyosato's face twisted in surprise, seeing the blade coming towards his throat.
"Iiya!" The shout came just before his katana slid through the person in front of him. Except that person wasn't Kiyosato. "Kenshin . . . you're not . . . Battousai anymore." The words didn't reach him though, all he saw was who he'd just impaled. Blood was spilling onto the light-colored kimono. And suddenly he remembered exactly who she was, everything she'd done for him and Yahiko and Sano.
"K-Kaoru-dono! Why are you here?" The katana dropped from his hands and he fell to his knees, touching her gingerly to see if it was real. Everything around him vanished. He was kneeling in the snow, turning red with Kaoru's blood.
"To stop you." Kaoru reached into her obi and lifted a tanto towards his face. He sat there in shock.
"Say that . . . you're not . . . Battousai . . . anymore," Kaoru said haltingly, eyes dropping shut. He grabbed the hand holding the tanto.
"Kaoru-dono! Kaoru-dono!"
"Say it," She repeated. He pounded the snow angrily.
"I'm not! I'M NOT! I'M JUST HIMURA KENSHIN! HIMURA KENSHIN!"
Hiko had been sleeping quite soundly. In fact, he had even managed to stay in a drug-like slumber for the most part when his baka deshi began moaning unintelligibly in his sleep. Five minutes later though Hiko was wide awake, unable to block out Kenshin's shouts try as he might. Hiko glared at the ceiling as his deshi thrashed like a drowning fish, throwing his cover off of him. This was the reason the idiot had gotten so many colds when he was a kid.
Hiko listened with an annoyed expression for a minute, waiting to see if Kenshin would (a) shut the hell up or (b) shout himself hoarse. When neither happened, Hiko began running through his options to reclaim the former silence of the night. The shoji flew open though right as he considered pounding his deshi into the floor.
"Kenshin!"
Hiko relaxed. It was the Kamiya girl that his deshi was so fond of. He smirked to himself. This could give him more material to mercilessly tease Kenshin with later on. He'd just let her take care of things. Hiko listened as she moved quietly across the floor, kneeling down at Kenshin's futon. He was still screaming, first Kaoru's name, then his own. What could he possibly be dreaming about?
"Kenshin! Wake up!" Kaoru shook his arm entreatingly and Hiko was surprised by (but still thankful for) his deshi's immediate reaction. Kenshin jerked upright mid-shout, arm thrown outwards.
"Kenshin!"
He turned, blinking the cold sweat out of his eyes, and tried to slow his breathing. "Kaoru-dono," He still sounded out of breath. "What're you–did I wake you?" Hiko winced inwardly at the stupid question.
"You were having a nightmare or something," Kaoru said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. What were you dreaming about?"
"Suman for waking you," Kenshin apologized before expertly avoiding her question. "It was nothing. Just a dream." Stupid, he thought even as he said it. He knew Kaoru could see he was still shaking.
"Was it about the–the Bakumatsu?" Kaoru wasn't sure if she should ask.
"Aah. Kind of," Kenshin said, glad that he wasn't gasping for breath anymore. He couldn't stop shaking though. The ending of his dream kept replaying itself in his head, like the nightmare it was. He shuddered.
"Kenshin, please tell me," Kaoru touched his shoulder. Just a dream, Kenshin repeated the mantra to himself several times, feeling somewhat better at Kaoru's touch. Kaoru was right next to him, still very much alive. He wanted to grab her, just to be sure, but he restrained himself somehow.
"I really don't want to. It's not something you should hear," Kenshin said, hoping he wouldn't hurt her feelings too badly. Kaoru could only think of two things she shouldn't hear: one, about Kenshin's bloody past or two, some girl he had met during his days as a hitokiri. Since he'd talked about his past before, granted it wasn't a common occurrence, she decided it must be the last.
"Was it about a girl you knew?" Kaoru asked. She knew she'd struck home when Kenshin's face paled.
"W-well, now that you mention it . . ." He didn't go any further.
"I'm not going to get jealous Kenshin," Kaoru scoffed. "Just tell me." A thought occurred to her. She had heard Kenshin say her name after all. "Was it about me?" She didn't think Kenshin's face could get any whiter. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. "For kami's sake Kenshin, if you're going to say something, say it!" Kaoru cried, becoming exasperated. She was kind of glad though that she had been in Kenshin's dream.
"Kaoru-dono . . ." Kenshin sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you. Just . . . don't get the wrong idea." So he told her, about the assignment he was on, the house he'd gone to, the girl that had reminded him of her. He stumbled through the encounter with Tomoe, and stopped after he told her what Kiyosato had said before coming at him with his katana. Kaoru waited.
"That wasn't it was it?" She asked. "You said I was in it and you haven't mentioned me once yet."
"I'm getting to it," Kenshin said. "I lifted my katana to stab Kiyosato and sessha–sessha didn't even see you. It was exactly what Tomoe did when–when sessha–went to–I didn't know what I was going to do." Kenshin wasn't looking at her anymore. "I killed you Kaoru-dono," He whispered. Kaoru thought she'd heard him wrong.
"What?"
"Sessha killed you," Kenshin repeated, even softer. Kaoru couldn't think of anything to say for a moment.
"You would never do that though Kenshin," Kaoru said with false cheer. "I know it! It was just a dream. Besides, even in the dream you weren't trying to kill me were you?" I hope not, She though fervently.
"It doesn't matter," Kenshin said. "Just because one doesn't mean to do something doesn't mean they can be excused from taking responsibility for it." He didn't feel any better after telling Kaoru his dream, only worse if that was possible.
Kenshin . . . Kaoru saw the depressed look in his eyes. What was she supposed to say to that?
"You can kick me out now," Kenshin said, still staring dully at the floor.
"Stop torturing yourself over a dream!" Kaoru exploded. "Maybe you can hate yourself for something like that but I can't! Stop thinking about your past so much! No wonder you had a dream like that, all you've done for the past week is think about the Bakumatsu!" She pounded a fist into an open hand. "We need to take your mind off all this Kenshin, starting tomorrow." Kenshin stared at her, forgetting his dream for a moment.
"Oro?" Kaoru gave him a fierce smile.
"Just you wait, I've got ideas already."
"But Kaoru-dono–you're not going to–?"
"Kick you out for that dishonorable dream?" Kenshin almost smiled at the mischievous look in Kaoru's eye. "Maybe later but for tonight I'll let you go back to sleep. Sweet dreams, Kenshin." And she waltzed out the door.
Kenshin laid back on his pillow, smiling to himself. Maybe it was better that he had told Kaoru his dream. Somehow, she'd been able to make a joke out of it. "Kaoru-dono," He said to himself, closing his eyes as he began drifting off to sleep. At least, he thought he'd said it to himself.
"Going to have a couple of nicer dreams now?" Kenshin jerked back to awareness at the rough voice.
"Sh-shishou!" He spluttered, looking over. His shishou was on his back, head turned towards him. "You–you heard?" He croaked.
"It was difficult not to hear," Hiko replied dryly. "I think your screams woke up half of Tokyo." Kenshin's face flamed.
"Was I that loud?"
"Well, I give that Kamiya girl credit for shutting you up as quick as possible," Hiko said. "She has quite a nice touch, don't you think baka deshi?"
"I–I wouldn't know," Kenshin stammered, hating his shishou at the moment. "Anyway . . . good night." He turned away from his master, pulling the cover over his head to ward off further attempts at conversation. He heard his shishou chuckle.
"Good night . . . baka deshi."
Kenshin was relieved when nobody said anything about the commotion the night before. Of course, he didn't know that the only ones who had woken up where his shishou and Kaoru. Misao had stayed on the roof all night but had ended up dozing off somewhere around three. Aoshi had brought her inside when he finally returned two hours later, just as dawn was adding its muted color to the black night sky. Now, with the new sun bright in the sky, everyone was crowded around Kaoru's table, trying to fit an elbow in to grab breakfast.
"Ne, Aoshi-sama, tell everyone what you heard last night," Misao encouraged as she reached for the onigiri Megumi had made that morning, aided by Yumiko, who couldn't be told her help wasn't wanted. There was an assortment of food on the low-lying table in the dining room. Megumi had outdone herself. Hiko had complemented her ebini twice, making Kenshin wonder why it was all Hiko could do to grudgingly give him even one "good" during training.
Aoshi was calmly eating tofu dengaku and paused at Misao's excited comment.
"Yeah, where'd you run off to?" Yahiko demanded, looking like a chipmunk with cheeks full of onigiri.
"Save some for me," Sano mumbled, trying not to spray soba noodles across the table. Yahiko made a face at him and ate faster.
"Aoshi-samaaaaaaa!" Misao whined. "Come on, it's important, Himura should-"
"Who wants to do something fun today?" Kaoru interrupted.
"Aoshi?" Kenshin said, ignoring Kaoru's attempt to change the subject. She glared at him. There went her plan of taking Kenshin's mind off everything. Clearly, he didn't want to forget about things even for a few days.
"There were some Heaven's Judges in the street yesterday, talking about you going to Yama-chou. I went to investigate. Considering the events of yesterday though, I would guess that you already know what I'm going to tell you."
"About the allegiances of former hitokiri?" Kenshin asked and Misao gaped at him.
"Yes." Aoshi responded.
"Himura! Damnit, I thought it would be a surprise!" Misao said angrily. "How the hell did you find that out?"
"Such language," Megumi said admonishingly while Kaoru nodded agreement.
Misao threw a glare in their general direction. "Well it doesn't matter," She said, tossing her long braid. I'm still gonna kick some Heaven's Judges' ass in a couple of days!" She gave a wide grin and made a v with her fingers.
"Yeah! Same here!" Yahiko resounded with a somewhat muffled tone. The group at the table all stopped their respective movements as a sharp knock came from the front door. Kenshin and Katsura exchanged a glance.
"I'll go," Kenshin offered, rising. Sano shoved him back down.
"Correct me if I heard wrong, but you're the one they're gonna be comin' to kill. I'll check it out." He strode to the door before Kenshin could refuse. Kenshin was frowning slightly, lost in thought.
"Don't tell me you haven't determined yet if it's friend or foe?" Hiko asked mockingly.
"They're not here to kill," Kenshin said, not letting on that he had only just reached that conclusion.
"Ahou," The sharp voice left no doubt as to who was at the door.
"Saitou," Kenshin said, getting up to greet the former Shinsengumi who was berating Sano for thinking he could have been an enemy.
"No one's going to attack your friends' dojo again, they've already communicated their wishes to Battousai. Anything more would be suicide." Sano scowled in response and mumbled something unintelligible as Saitou strode past him. "Go play with that little boy the Kamiya girl is training, Battousai and I need to talk."
Sano fumed. "Look, you're not the only one cleaning up after the Meiji on this, so stop talking to me like I'm a kid!"
"You're right, that complements you too much. How about a dog?" Saitou taunted.
"Kenshin! You better do something before I kill this guy!" Sano said warningly.
"Save your threats for someone you can actually beat," Saitou said as he walked to the dining room, leaving Sano to steam at the door. Battousai, I've got some news for you." He didn't enter the room.
"What's that?" Kenshin asked, taking Saitou's hint and getting up to follow him. "Should Katsura-san come too?" Saitou, with a disfavorable look and muttered oath about the Ishin Shishi, nodded at Katsura to come as well. "You may as well come too," Saitou said, addressing Hiko. Hiko eyed him.
"Nice of you to include me in the plans I'm already part of," He said sarcastically as he stood, thanking Megumi again for the meal. She gave a suitably embarrassed laugh.
"I heard you were out of the Heaven's Judges," Saitou said to Katsura as Kenshin led them outside to the dojo yard.
"That's true," Katsura acknowledged. "It was becoming too risky to stay in and keep contact with Himura."
"So it is good that I came," Saitou said to himself.
"Have they decided on the stations to attack then?" Katsura asked. "They hadn't when I left. I wanted to stay long enough to find out but they were already pretty sure that I was compromising their missions and didn't talk about it in front of me." Saitou nodded.
"I met up with Shinomori last night. He had just been listening to a group of the Heaven's Judges discussing their plans." Saitou smirked as he recalled his and Aoshi's conversation. "Shinomori said their guards left much to be desired. Anyway, he got the names and times that the stations are to be attacked." Saitou pulled several sheets of paper from his pocket.
"Hey now, don't start without me!" The three turned. Sano was stomping over from the gate.
"Through pouting?" Saitou asked.
"I was just giving you some more time to get used to having me around again," Sano retorted. "I figure you can handle it now. What've you got?"
"Cheh," Saitou gave him all the notice he might have to an annoying child and turned back to Katsura and Kenshin. "I had thought you would be coming over to the station today Battousai," He said reprovingly, then gave Kenshin a condescending look. "But I guess you were already worn out from yesterday." Kenshin pretended not to hear the disdainful tone.
"A little, yes." He could sense his shishou's disapproving stare.
"It's good that I decided to stop by then," Saitou said. He laid the papers on the porch with a slap. "I discussed these with Shinomori last night. For being an Oniwabanshuu, he has good military strategies. Similar to the Shinsengumi." It may have sounded insulting but Kenshin knew it was the only way Saitou complimented.
The papers Saitou had laid out were detailed maps of two nearby wards in Tokyo, Shio-ku and Futsuu-ku, as well as the ward they were in, Chuushin-ku. Boxed names of people with arrows coming from them and pointing to streets, names with stars next to them also with arrows drawn to buildings and streets made it look like a complicated puzzle. Kenshin pointed to a place on the second map.
"You have defenses at the river?" Saitou nodded.
"Shinomori guesses that they're going to stage a distraction then attack the stations."
"At the river?" Sano scoffed. "What're they gonna do, bring in some lifeboats?" He laughed.
"Ahou," Saitou said bitingly. "It's to keep everyone on the wrong side. If you'd bothered to look at the maps," He stabbed a finger down at them, "you'd notice that all the stations to be attacked are on the West side of the river, whereas the defenses at the river are set up on the East side."
"Right, I was just testing you," Sano said quickly, hating himself for letting Saitou put him down so easily. "Hey, I see ya got my name there," He looked proudly at the kanji printed next to the river. "What's my job?"
"Keeping the Heaven's Judges from coming across. Of course they'll already have soldiers on the West side but the more we keep out, the better."
Sano nodded. "Good plan."
"Nothing less from a member of the Shinsengumi," Katsura murmured as he looked over the three maps. "They're aiming for the most strategic parts of the city," He noted. "The soldiers' barracks here, will you have them waiting at the back to attack?"
Saitou nodded. "We're letting them take care of their own lodgings. The governor's building though," He pointed to a red dot surrounded by several smaller green dots. "It's reasonable to assume this is where they're going to concentrate they're attack. If they succeed, it will effectively shut off communication from all the smaller government buildings, most importantly the financial and ambassadors' buildings." He pointed out two of the green dots.
"I'll go there," Kenshin said.
"That's what we planned," Saitou replied, indicating Kenshin's name with the arrow pointing to the governor's building. We weren't expecting you to be allied with us Katsura," Saitou said, looking him over, "but since you are, you can join us at the ambassador's building. That seems fitting enough. Hiko, I've stationed you at the financial building. I'm sure you're able to handle it by yourself." Hiko gave a nod that said he couldn't see why anyone would think otherwise. Kenshin for one hadn't seen much that his master couldn't handle.
"Where are you gonna be?" Sano asked.
"Look at the map, idiot" Saitou said, adding, "At the governor's with Battousai. The best are needed in the most important places."
"Thanks." Sano muttered. This wasn't one of the times to argue though. Just as much help was needed at the river and much as he hated to admit it, Kenshin and Saitou would be much more helpful than he would faced with numbers of skilled samurai. Probably Katsura too, although Sano hadn't seen him fight. Of course he'd heard rumors of the Choushuu leader and if they had any truth to them, Katsura was good enough.
"There will be a battalion stationed at the Heaven's Judges main headquarters," Saitou pointed at the only yellow dot on the map. "If they try to reconvene there in a last ditch effort, they'll be captured."
"How do you know that's their headquarters?" Sano asked, noticing it wasn't located too far away from his favorite gambling joint.
"More late night wandering," Saitou replied. "I've found it comes in handy."
"Aoshi and the Oniwabanshuu?" Kenshin asked, eyes scanning the three pages. "Ah, here." He found their names and Sano followed his gaze.
"The shipping yards?" Sano looked puzzled. "What's going on there?" Saitou's face took on a proud look.
"I was doing some reconnaissance down at the bay a couple of days ago on a lead from that blathering chief Kawaji. Apparently one of the ships is owned by Yamamoto Genji, one of the highest ranked members of the Heaven's Judges. He plans to sail out to the Ryukyu islands and gather his sympathizers for a surprise attack on Tokyo. We're not going to let that happen though. The Oniwabanshuu should be quite capable of taking care of them. There are several Armstrong cannons aboard, though if Shinomori did his job last night, they were taken out of commission." Sano nodded appreciatively.
"Sounds like you've got everything under control Saitou," He said.
"I don't need your approval Sagara," Saitou said. "Everything is set though, all you three have to do is show up in two days."
"Kaoru-dono and Yahiko–" Kenshin began.
"I knew you would say that," Saitou said with distaste. "There's nothing to worry about there. Even if the Heaven's Judges were out for personal revenge, it's not going to happen while they're trying to accomplish their ultimate goal." Saitou gave a lop-sided smirk. "Anyway, I know that Kamiya girl is formidable enough with a shinai." He folded his papers back up and stuffed them in his pocket. "I need to go approve this with Kawaji now. Keep alive for two more days Battousai,"
"He still hasn't run this by Kawaji?" Sano asked as Saitou strolled through the gate, knowing the short temper that the chief of police possessed.
"If he's smart, this Kawaji will listen to him," Hiko said. "If we follow his and Shinomori's plan, the Heaven's Judges will either be disbanded or arrested in three days time." Sano gave Hiko an edgewise glance.
"So it's that good huh?" He asked dubiously. He knew Aoshi was supposed to be a military genius and all that but if what Saitou said was going on at the docks was a sign of what was to be expected . . . they'd have to be good and prepared.
"Well, shall we finish breakfast?" Hiko asked.
ahou – moron, idiot
anata – dear, beloved
ebini – shrimp with sake
dengaku – tofu with miso
iiya – very informal way to say no
kami – god/s
onigiri – seaweed-wrapped rice balls stuffed with fish
Otsu –the village where Battousai and Tomoe hid
sessha – this unworthy one
suman – sorry
tanto – short dagger
Well, I'm worried about how the next chapter's going to progress. But I think this went ok, so let me know.
