Chapter 2: The Match
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Author: Jun-I
Pairing: Kanbei x female Kyuuzou Rating: T for now (might have to M it in later chapters)
Notes:
-Kyuuzou is a woman disguised as a man.
-Since Kanbei at this point isn't sure if Kyuuzou is male or female, I'm using s/he and his/her to refer to Kyuuzou when taking Kanbei's point of view. From Kyuuzou's point of view, of course, she knows she is female.
-Kyuuzou is 30, but passes for a younger man.
Warnings: See Chapter 1
Disclaimers: See Chapter 1
Recently, there was some trouble in Ayamaro's household. Kyuuzou's cousin Ukyo had been trying to pursue a peasant girl named Kirara against his father's will. But that was not the only thing. That same peasant girl had come to Kougakyo to recruit samurai to defend her village from the Nobuseri. By the time Kyuuzou heard of her, Kirara had already gotten a few ronin under her management. It seemed that Uncle Ayamaro saw her activities as subversive. Tessai sent his men after the girl and her ronin band, but they were soundly defeated. Ukyo then started pestering his cousin to finish what Tessai's fighters could not.
Kyuuzou was reluctant. After all, she worked for Uncle Ayamaro and not his son. But she had never been good at resisting the requests of whining babies, so she allowed her young cousin to talk her into taking a walk with Tessai and Hyogo to the ronin's hideout.
As the three walked through the streets of Kougakyo, Tessai briefed Kyuuzou and Hyogo on what he knew of the ronin gang. So far, there were four samurai – a dark middle-aged man with long hair, a tall silver-haired man with formidable reflexes, a mechanized samurai of a non-standard model, and a young boy who barely knew how to survive in combat. They were accompanied by three peasants – a young man, a child, and the teenage girl who orchestrated the recruitment of the ronin.
Kyuuzou was of the opinion that all they needed to do was to eliminate the leader of the band, and then the rest of the band would scatter. It made the most sense to kill Kirara then, she had suggested. But Tessai said Ukyo would not want that because he wanted Kirara for his harem.
Kyuuzou rolled her eyes. She was never one to devote her energies to executing worthless plans. This unnecessary limitation defeated the whole purpose of the operation. The crimson samurai was about to turn back when Tessai stopped her. The real direction of the group, he said, now lay with the tall dark samurai dressed in white. He was a formidable warrior. None of Ayamaro's other fighters were a match of him. That was why Ukyo had been so insistent that Kyuuzou should come along.
At this, the exasperated samurai relented. She had not had a challenging fight in a very long time. In fact, not in the five years since the war ended. Well, things better be as exciting as Tessai promised.
The three finally arrived at the labyrinthine compound in which the ronin were last seen. Hyogo said it would take only Kyuuzou to finish them all off. He insisted Tessai and himself should wait while Kyuuzou went alone into the ronin's den. Kyuuzou accepted Hyogo's plan even though she suspected he was only borrowing someone else's sword to kill her. The blond warrior knew Hyogo secretly desired to be rid of her. Hyogo regarded the other bodyguard as a rival and had long resented what he thought was Ayamaro's favoritism towards his niece.
Tessai asked Kyuuzou to leave Kirara alive, but she made no promises. The quiet woman had never considered it her place to interfere in her cousin's affairs, whether or not she approved of Ukyo's lifestyle. But using her to capture a girl for his harem was another matter. It was probably better for the girl to die under her sword than to be forced into Ukyo's harem. Perhaps killing Kirara would be the best thing Kyuuzou could do for her.
Kanbei had a sense of foreboding when he saw Kirara and Katsushiro run down the stairs to meet him. He knew they had been followed. The seasoned soldier could sense a powerful ki in the vicinity. The ki of a mighty warrior.
Then s/he came into sight. A slender red figure with the demeanor of a queen. S/he was tall for a woman, of average height for a man. The blond androgyne looked down at Shimada, severe and proud. Kanbei knew immediately that this was no common opponent. The strange samurai made a death-defying leap down the long flight of stairs, landing lightly and effortlessly before Kanbei. The older warrior studied him/her, visibly impressed.
Kyuuzou observed the man. It was him, no doubt. The dark samurai dressed in white. The tall man was older than her by at least a good ten years, but still very handsome. He had strong, striking features, and his loose wavy hair cascaded over his shoulders. The scarlet samurai herself, however, had never been considered fair of face. She was tolerable to look at, perhaps, but certainly not beautiful. She knew that men preferred women who looked like Kirara. That was just as well, because Kyuuzou did not want men to desire her. But if only being ugly was a guarantee against coming to harm. Then life would be too easy.
For most of her adult life, Kyuuzou had gotten much pleasure out of killing men in battle. She was undefeated, and proud of it. This man's corpse would be another one to add to her long list. "Draw," she commanded. He hesitated, but when he saw that the haughty stranger was not one to be argued with, he moved his hand to his sword.
They exchanged a few blows and parries. Neither had the upper hand. Then she saw an opening and went in for the kill. Her sword went straight to his throat but she had to stop when quite suddenly, she realized to her chagrin that he had trapped her by holding his scabbard against the back of her head while pressing his blade lightly to her neck. She knew she was bleeding, but so was he. They were stuck in a stalemate. Kyuuzou was furious. Who was this man who had the skill to stop her?
"I'm in love!" The dark samurai suddenly declared as he leaned towards her, gazing into her eyes. Kyuuzou blinked in surprise. Had he guessed that she was a woman?
Kanbei took advantage of his opponent's momentary shock to break contact with his/her sword and force his/her blade away from his face. As his sword grated against Kyuuzou's, sparks flew between the two fighters.
Kyuuzou's eyes widened in surprise at the ease with which the man had evaded her. But she recovered immediately. As the older fighter moved to close the distance between them, the red warrior counterattacked fiercely. Kyuuzou would have killed the man just for saying those shameless words, but Kanbei had retreated to a safe distance. It was then he clarified that it was her martial arts skills, and not her, that he was in love with.
Still, the way he looked at her while they crossed swords earlier made her wonder if he had seen through her disguise. It was almost as if there was something insulting in his gaze – something bordering on lust. She decided that he would die for this insolence.
Kanbei took advantage of the distance between them to speak. He asked the red warrior to join him on his quest to defeat the Nobuseri. He was half-expecting him/her to turn him down, but he did not quite expect him/her to react so angrily. S/he practically screamed his/her refusal and then charged at him with a mad fury.
In the exchange of slashes which followed, Kyuuzou had the upper hand. The man was on the defensive, while Kyuuzou was dictating the pace of the fight. She almost nailed him a few times, but the older fighter always managed to elude her. He escaped her assault by launching himself onto the beam of a nearby shed, but she brought him down to earth again by leveling the building with a few clean strokes of her twin swords.
Kyuuzou sought her rival amidst the flying dust of the collapsing building. Then all of a sudden, he was right beside her. The haughty blond samurai gave a start when the dark man seized her hand, stilling her sword. His grip was strong. She felt her breath catch in her throat.
"I cannot defeat you," the older samurai said, breathing heavily. "But before you kill me, there is something I have to finish under all circumstances. Please wait for me until then. Forgive me."
He passed his hand over her wrist in near-caress as he let go of her and stepped away. Kyuuzou was stunned by the unexpectedly sensual touch. Then she began to shake with fury. How dare he? That man should die for insulting her honor. Yet Kyuuzou did not know why she let him step away. Mercy was not in her nature, especially mercy towards a species not known to show mercy.
The darkly handsome samurai stopped in his tracks, as if reading her thoughts, "Or would you kill me right now?" he asked without even turning to look at her.
Kanbei could feel Kyuuzou's malicious glare on his back. He could sense the other warrior raising his/her sword. This was a gamble, he knew. But one that he was willing to make. He wanted to win the trust of this rare fighter. And to gain trust, he first had to give it. Then the tension of the moment was interrupted by a shout from above, "Kanbei! Look out!"
It was Kikuchiyo. The robot, having just arrived on the scene and seeing Kyuuzou raise her sword against Kanbei, had jumped down to strike at the slender warrior. But Kyuuzou was quicker. She spun round and disarmed Kiku with one blow, then she raised her other blade to cleave the robot in half. That was when Kanbei came upon her from behind and struck her sword out of her right hand. Kyuuzou's sword went clattering to the ground as the robot went flying into a pile of metal poles.
The ruby-eyed warrior was angry. Angry that she allowed the man to disarm her. She deftly lifted her fallen sword with her boot and seized the hilt lightly. "I have no interest in playing your game," she said coolly as she sheathed her twin blades. Then she turned and walked back up the stairs. All this while, she could feel his burning gaze on her back.
The dark man gazed after Kyuuzou's departing figure as he caressed the wound on his neck where his/her sword had touched him. "I want him/her," Kanbei said to himself, his voice laced with desire.
For days after, Kanbei's thoughts wandered to the mysterious samurai. The name the stranger gave was a man's name. His voice was a man's voice. His figure was that of a youth's but Kyuuzou's face was too old to match his figure if he was really a man. And Kanbei had been close to 'him'. Close enough to breathe in the other warrior's scent and take a close look at Kyuuzou's smooth, pale face. Shimada was quite certain that face had never been touched by a razor.
The dark warrior wondered what lay beneath that red robe – the strong, supple figure of a woman, or the slender form of a young man. Either way, he still wanted to possess the crimson samurai.