Stories of the Meiji
Chapter: 4
Integration
Another chapter up.
She sat as she waited for the blonde swordsman to awaken from the beating she had given him. 'I need to know who is after me. There shouldn't be anyone that should be aware of my presence but someone does,' Lina thought as she waited.
She looked over the man she had beaten and could not help but continue to dismiss him as someone's trash man. She knew he had been sent by a third party to take care of her the only question was who. 'That and was he truly sent to kill me or just so this enemy can scout me,' she continued to think as she waited for him to move.
After a few more minutes he began to stir and opened his eyes. As soon as the man seemed to grasp what was going on Lina asked, "Who are you?"
He looked at her with his blue eyes before replying, "Gourry Gaberiv...fighter for hire."
"So who hired you," Lina pushed as she wanted to know who exactly was after her.
"I can't remember...he was a police officer but I can't remember his name," Gourry replied as he knew if he did not answer the woman then he might be beaten.
Lina's eyes widen at the idea that a police officer coming after her but then an idea hit her. 'It is possible that I could be dealing with a former member of one of the policing groups that were under the shogunate,' she thought before looking at Gourry and asking, "Can you remember anything about him?"
"Not much just for some reason the word blue keeps coming up," Gourry replied before passing back out.
Lina marched down the streets of Kyoto wearing a jingasa to cover her identity so that she could try and hunt down here true attacker without being identified at the same time. She slowly made her way down each street making sure to check out each police officer as she passed. Nothing so far jumped out as suspicious. Most of the police were dressed in a plain gray uniform with red trim. A few of the higher ranks wore purple but she did not see any police dressed in blue. She continued on her way as she continued to find the person that was after her.
From an alleyway Zelgadis smiled as he watched Lina walk down street. He watched as she checked out each of his fellow officers as she was trying to figure out something. 'No doubt that fool has given up that his employer was a police officer,' he thought to himself.
He smirked as he shouldered his pack and made his way through to the other side of the alley to avoid being spotted. He knew that Lina would pay less attention to him because he was not dressed as a police officer but at the same time he doubted that she would have forgotten his face. He walked out on the street at the opposite side and turned towards the Sailoon dojo. To everyone else he looked to be just an average door to door medicine merchant. He had kept one of the outfits that the Shinsengumi had used for spying during the war. Now he walked down the streets smiling as he totted the medicine chest on his back. After a while he came to the Sailoon dojo and it looked deserted. He walked up to the front and knocked. A few moments later the door was answered by the man he was looking for. "Excuse me but are you the man of the house?"
Gourry looked at the medicine peddler before shaking his head and saying, "No, everyone is out at the moment."
"Oh that's too bad I have wanted to offer a free sample," Zelgadis replied as he moved a bag towards Gourry.
Gourry caught Zelgadis' hand and looked at it before saying, "You know for a medicine peddler you have worn hands. These look more like the hands of a swordsman."
"You don't say," Zelgadis replied as he kicked Gourry in the chest.
Gourry stumbled back as the kick hit in a sore spot in his chest. As his head came back up he saw his attacker charge forward and a glint of metal from the new day sun. Before he could say anything he felt the stabbing pain of the sword going into him. He was pushed back by the force of this charge and through a paper door. Gourry landed on the ground hard as Zelgadis slid across the floor with the continuing momentum of his attack. He looked down to see that the bokken disguised sword he had used had shattered leaving a piece in the blonde swordsman. He looked down before commenting on, "Damn cheaply made swords."
Zelgadis threw the rest of the sword away into the garden before kneeling down to Gourry. The blonde swordsman was out from the power of Zelgadis' signature attack. "Now you see there are only two kinds of people in this world. Those that serve a purpose and those that are already dead and don't know it."
Zelgadis set the medicine chest down before placing a note on top of it. 'Battosai will get the meaning of this chest and the note will lead her right to were we will have our own dance,' Zelgadis thought as he turned towards the door.
He lowered his hat to obscure his face while saying, "I'll leave you there as a present for when they get home."
Zelgadis walked down the street and disappeared into the crowds.
Lina arrived back to the dojo and was automatically on her guard. The door was wide open and no one seemed to be home. She moved up to the door with her hand on her sword hilt. As she reached the door she saw a trail of blood that lead towards the common room were she had left Gourry. Lina rushed into the room to find Gourry in a pool of his own blood with a large part of a sword sticking out of him. Lina quickly rushed over to him and checked to see if he was still alive. He was but barely. "What happened," came Amelia's voice from behind.
"Someone has tried to kill Gourry! Quickly go get the doctor again," Lina yelled out commands as she looked around for clues.
Her eyes landed on the chest and automatically she knew, 'Shinsengumi,' she thought before going up to the chest.
Lina picked up the note and read, 'Battosai. Meet me in the field on the far eastern edge of town in two days at night.'
Lina crushed the note before thinking, 'If this is the way you want to play then I will make sure I deal back every bit of pain you have dealt.'
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
Feedback is requested, please send all comments to size=1 width=100% noshade>