~Chapter 4: Midday Storm~
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Kaoru and Yahiko arrived at the dojo. There, they found Sanosuke and Megumi waiting for them. Sano was the first to speak up.
"What's the matter, Missy? What's got you in such a hurry." He observed her flushed out of breath look and looked around, noting that Kenshin was nowhere to be found. Putting two and two together he questioned her.
"Hey, where's Kenshin?"
"I don't know. He left telling me that he needed to buy tofu and then disappeared." She moved past the two and headed for the red-haired man's room, sliding the shoji open and peering in. It lay in perfect order, on top of his bedding however lay a folded up piece of paper.
With shaky hands, she picked up the letter and opened it. The purple bloom from earlier once again fell out. She bent down to pick it up. Right as her hand was about to touch it, Megumi smacked her arm away.
"What did you do that for?!" Kaoru seethed at Megumi and she righted herself. If Kenshin left a flower, she wanted it.
"You stupid girl. That's Torikabuto. It's Aconite. Even touching it can poison someone." Megumi explained having seen it before in her studies.
"What if he touched it?" Questioned Yahiko as he looked down at the beautiful flower.
"If Sir Ken touched this, he was probably poisoned. This is just a bud, a section from the whole plant. The flowers aren't as toxic as the roots but it's still deadly. How long has he been gone?" the doctor explained as she bent down with a cloth and picked it up to dispose of it.
"I don't know, less than an hour. Maybe half an hour." Remembering the letter that had been forgotten, she read its contents, color draining from her face. Sano read over her shoulder while Yahiko looked over to it.
"So he went to fight someone and left me behind." The fighter was upset by this. He was Kenshin's right hand man when it came to fighting.
"Miss Megumi, how long does it take for the poison to set in? He was pale when he left. What are the symptoms?" The assistant master grew even more concerned thinking about Kenshin fighting this guy after being poisoned. He had battled before after being hit by a poisoned bullet, could he do it again?
Megumi thought back to her knowledge of the plant.
"Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. There's a variety of symptoms: Nausea, weakness, paralysis, convulsions just to name a few. There's no antidote for aconite poisoning so you can only treat the symptoms and hope for the best…" She was concerned for the safety of her friend. Kenshin had saved her life and she owed him everything.
"Let's go then." With that the group left hurriedly for the forest shrine to search for Kenshin.
Satoshi was fast but not faster than the swordsman. Kenshin dodged the charge and turned around to face his opponent. Without skipping a beat, the man charged again, swinging his sword. Kenshin drew his sword and parried, jumping away landing a little uneasy a few feet back.
Once more, Kenshin was charged, but this time, Satoshi stopped dead in his tracks about 4 feet away, letting go of his sword, the momentum carrying it forward towards the swordsman. Unexpecting it, the rurouni barely dodged. He stood straight as he swiped it away with his own sword.
"Enough, turn yourself in." Kenshin was met with dark laughter. He glared at the man in front of him. Satoshi yanked his arm back. Kenshin felt the familiar feeling of blade cutting through his kimono and making contact with his skin. The wakizashi landed back in its master's hand.
Kenshin looked down at his arm seeing blood seeping through the wound onto his kimono. He looked back up at the evil in front of him. Taking a closer look, he could see a thin wire attached to the blade.
"What's the matter Battosai? Didn't expect that? I'm going to slowly hack away at you until there's nothing left!" Satoshi sneered as he reached into his pouch at his side, pulling out a handful of the purple flowers from this morning. Kenshin stared at them, holding his arm.
"Beautiful aren't they?" He ran his blade through them as he crushed them between his fingers. Satoshi held the handful out and let them drop at his feet. Kenshin watched as he did this, not taking his eyes off his attacker.
"But don't ever touch them bare handed or you'll find yourself in a world of pain. You see, these pretties are the Queen of Poisons, better known as Aconite. Does your arm burn yet? If not, it will soon. You see Battosai, my blade is laced with it." Kenshin glanced at his wound again. He was struck by poison?
Satoshi attacked again, Kenshin was ready for him this time as he knocked the sword away from him, dodging it as it came flying past him. He could feel the poison working its way into his bloodstream, his nausea was getting worse and his vision was blurring.
As he moved to dodge another attack, Kenshin ran into a tree hitting it hard. Before he could even think of the next attack, Satoshi had moved up on him and pierced his torso with the blade before retracting it, causing Kenshin to gasp in pain and clutch the wound.
"What's the matter, Battosai?" Satoshi once again grinned his dark grin.
"That's your game. You render your opponent into a weakened state before attacking them. You're nothing but a coward." Kenshin had started breathing harder than normal as his chest began to tighten, his vision blurring more causing him to struggle to focus in front of him. Kenshin moved into battle stance, preparing himself for another attack.
The other man frowned at the comment.
"Tsk Tsk, the poison doesn't seem to be working as fast as I wanted it to. You're still talking. Don't worry, I'll make sure your death is slow and painful. Then I'll kill your friends in the same manner. Maybe I'll toss a few flowers into their water source. They'll never guess what happened to make them so sick. Then slowly, they'll die in agony." Satoshi's tone of voice became one of mock concern.
Kenshin gritted his teeth, glaring daggers at Satoshi. It was Kenshin's turn to charge.
The fight raged on, as the minutes passed Kenshin's ability to dodge dwindled, causing Satoshi's blade to strike him more and more. The man launched his sword again, watching with glee as it struck dead on Kenshin's chest right below his shoulder. He yanked it out, catching it in his hand.
"You had enough yet?" Kenshin leaned against a tree breathing hard. Struggling to see as he stood up straight.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then. I just can't wait to play with your companions."
Kenshin found inner strength and forced himself to focus on the person in front of him. He had one more chance. He couldn't fail.
The swordsman leapt up into the air, coming down and unleashing his Ryūtsuisen. Satoshi didn't expect Kenshin to be able to attack let alone move as he was struck by the full force of the attack, quickly rendering him unconscious.
Kenshin landed ungracefully, knees buckling, sending the rurouni to the ground. The world spun, his vision blackening. His breaths came out fast and labored. He felt the full effects of the poison hitting him, running through his body. Kenshin tried to move, unable to summon the strength, giving up to rest for a bit as he stared at nothing, feeling small droplets of water hit his skin.