Chapter Two
Sanosuke knew something was very wrong when he saw Tsubame rush from the dojo; her expression on the verge of panic.
"What's going on here? Has Enishi attacked already?" Sanosuke wondered, as he picked up his own pace and dashed through the open gate, and then the door of the dojo itself. He wasn't prepared for what he saw next. There, leaning against one wall, was Hiko Seijuro. The older man was soaked in blood and sweat, and his eyes were not their normal dark color.
"Oh damn...this looks bad." Sanosuke thought, as he approached the swordmaster and placed a hand on his shoulder. Hiko responded to the unspoken concern by looking up; the action in itself getting a shudder from Sanosuke.
"In case you're wondering, yes, I got caught up in this Jinchuu mess as well." Hiko muttered, trying to put forth his usual arrogant persona, yet having the effect ruined by his furious amber eyes.
"No shit..." Sanosuke confirmed, taking in all the damage to the swordmaster's body, and noticing the wound on his face while doing so.
"Sick bastard. He even reproduced Kenshin's scar on Hiko. Don't know how he's gonna react to this... He'd vowed never to kill again, yet even Kenshin will want to butcher that one for attacking his master." Sanosuke mused, as rage settled itself deeply in his mind and heart.
"Think you can stand?" Sanosuke asked, trying desperately to rein in the rage that threatened to overwhelm him. Without saying a word, Hiko slowly got to his feet; growling softly under his breath when his injuries protested strongly against it. He seemed only minutely surprised when Sanosuke shouldered his weight and helped him walk to one of the bedrooms that was adjacent to the training hall, and when he saw Yahiko (who'd gone in search of some medicine and bandages, and was carrying a bucket of hot water besides) arrive in the room shortly after.
"For what it's worth, thanks." Hiko muttered, when he was able to sit down again.
"No prob. By the way, how're those wounds in your legs holding up?" Sanosuke again asked, remembering the gunshot wounds and was just a bit concerned about them.
"They've healed to the point where I don't have to worry about them breaking open again, but it's my ribs, collarbone, and some of the injuries inflicted by the Izuna that are of some concern to me. As it is, I don't think I will be of much help when the time comes to fight." Hiko admitted, as he poured the hot water into a basin that Yahiko had found a little while earlier, wincing slightly when the action pulled on one of the aforementioned wounds.
"I know what you mean...In any case, what should I tell Jou-chan and Kenshin?" Sanosuke asked, knowing that the older man wanted at least a little time to himself before Megumi and the rest arrived on the scene.
"Tell them what you will, I don't care." Hiko replied, quietly, then added, "Just be sure to tell Kenshin that I need to speak with him later."
"Right. C'mon, Yahiko." Sanosuke said, as he and the only student of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu left the room to give the elder swordsman some space.
"Looks like Kenshin and Kaoru are gonna be in for a surprise when they get back." Yahiko murmured.
"Oh yeah..." Sanosuke agreed, wholeheartedly. He knew better than anyone just how difficult it was going to be to stop the swordmaster from killing Enishi on sight the next time he saw him...And that he would be wholly justified in doing so.
"Kenshin's gonna have a hard time convincin' him not to kill the bastard...If anything, he lives according to Aku Soku Zan even closer than Saito did." Sanosuke mused, noticing when the sounds of Kenshin and Kaoru's voices signaled their return, and the sudden pause when Kenshin saw the subtle clues about Hiko's arrival.
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Kaoru knew that something was wrong when Kenshin stopped in his tracks and glanced warily around the training hall.
"Kenshin? What is it?" Kaoru asked, feeling some unease when Kenshin's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Sessha smells blood, Kaoru-dono...and senses a ken-ki that is rather unsettling." Kenshin replied, edgily, as he led the way further inside.
"Whose is it?" Kaoru again asked.
"It feels almost like Shishou's...But it's enraged...boiling up from a fiery core...Sessha doesn't know what to make of it." Kenshin said, as they made their way to the hallway that connected the training hall to the rest of the complex; almost alarmed when the presence became even stronger.
"I wouldn't go any farther, if I were you, Jou-chan, Kenshin." Sanosuke warned, as he came towards them; his expression abnormally grave.
"Sano, what has happened? Did Enishi attack while Sessha and Kaoru-dono were out?" Kenshin asked.
"Iie. Kenshin, Kaoru, Seijuro-sensei is here..." Yahiko said, before Sanosuke could say anything. Kenshin froze to the spot in disbelief; his master was within the dojo after all!
"And he's pissed. Enishi got to him, too." Sanosuke added, as he looked back down the hall at the room where Hiko now sat.
"Is he hurt?" Kenshin asked.
"Yeah. Tsubame's gone to get Megumi, so we'll soon know how badly...Though he'd told Yahiko and me that his leg wounds were far enough along in healing that they didn't break open again...But it's his chest and shoulder that're worrying him now." Sanosuke muttered, looking back at Kenshin and giving him a look that was filled with foreboding.
"You're not telling us something, you two." Kaoru stated, noticing the uneasy look Sano had given Kenshin, and that it was also on Yahiko's normally brave features as well.
"He's fit to kill. If it weren't for the fact that he's too badly hurt to move, he'd be out hunting for Enishi's head by now." Sanosuke muttered, as he nervously glanced over his shoulder at the room; almost feeling an unspeakable dread when he thought of the Thirteenth master's enraged demeanor. And yet, despite the obvious warning in Sanosuke's voice, Kenshin began walking towards the room where his master now sat. Without even being told to do so, Kaoru stayed where she was; watching as the red-haired rurouni cautiously entered the room at the end of the hallway.
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Hiko didn't even look up when he heard someone enter the room, so focused was he in tending to his own wounds. He could tell, without even checking, that it was Kenshin that stood across from him. The younger swordsman seemed tense...almost wary, as he remained where he was and watched him with concerned purple eyes. Eyes that widened when he finally looked over at him.
"Those eyes!" Kenshin's mind yelped, unconsciously repeating the exact same thought Hiko had thought towards him a little over two months before.
"I'm sure Sagara told you what had brought me here?" Hiko asked, rhetorically. Kenshin nodded, pale with shock and horror at the condition his master was now in.
"Aa...but sessha didn't think that Enishi would target you as well, Shishou." Kenshin murmured, unnerved by the sight of Hiko's amber gaze.
"He did, as you can already see...And I must warn you, his sword-style is one that had been developed to counter Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu." Hiko stated, his eyes narrowing as he thought of his own defeat at the hands of the vengeance-driven maniac.
"You've seen it?" Kenshin asked, suppressing a shudder as his master's eyes continued to unnerve him. Hiko nodded.
"I've seen it twice in my lifetime...and both times it had been wielded by a lunatic." Hiko said, growling softly under his breath when he found that he didn't have enough strength to properly bind his wounded midsection in the bandages, and had to rely on Kenshin to finish the task. It was then that Kenshin noticed the injury to his master's face. They were shallow cuts that would eventually heal and leave no trace, but the fact that they were there unnerved and angered Kenshin at the same time.
"Had I still been a hitokiri, I probably would have killed Enishi for this." Kenshin thought, as he quelled the rising fury within him and focused on the task at hand. Even as he centered his attention on the bandaging job before him, Kenshin could feel the intense heat of a fever rising from his master's body; marveling that the older man wasn't showing any signs that it was affecting him.
"Aside from his eyes, that is. I have never seen him become angry enough to allow his eyes to change color...It seems I wasn't the only one who has had that sort of thing happen to him." Kenshin mused, as he tightened the last strip of linen around the older man's chest, and backed away.
"When will he come here?" Hiko asked, knowing Kenshin knew who he was talking about.
"Six days from now, Shishou." Kenshin replied, sensing that he would not stand a chance standing against the furious swordmaster, even though he was injured and ill.
"Then plans and countermeasures will have to be made. Until then, we can only hope that he will keep to his 'schedule' and not come any earlier." Hiko stated, his tone even more serious than Kenshin could ever remember it being.
"Aa." Kenshin agreed, somberly, looking aside when Megumi entered the room with a tearful and thoroughly winded Tsubame behind her.
"I can only hope that as well, Shishou...And also that I will have the strength to protect both you and Kaoru-dono." Kenshin mused, as he silently left the room; his mind and heart burdened by the battle that was to come.
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Meanwhile, in his mansion, Enishi smiled as some of his spies returned; eager to know of what they had heard while in the city.
"Reports have said that a man in a white mantle arrived at Kamiya Dojo today. He had a cross-shaped cut on his left cheek." one spy murmured, backing away a little when the white-haired man smiled in fiendish delight.
"Excellent! All of the pieces are in place, and my Jinchuu can truly begin!" Enishi said, pleased with the report.
"So? Can we attack now?" Inui asked, eager to shed some blood.
"No, not as yet, Inui-san. Wait till the promised time has passed, and then we'll strike. I want the Battousai to fear the worst...and waiting is just the right way to do it." Enishi replied, as he sat back in his chair and gazed out the window; his thoughts, as always, on his vengeance, and his deceased elder sister.
"Soon, Nee-san. Soon we'll have our revenge on the man who had taken your life...and the man who'd taught him how to. That is a promise." Enishi silently swore, his mind bringing up the image of his beautiful sister, and her smile.