Chapter 4 Unbroken Spirit
"Kaoru Kamiya, is it?" Master Tenyasu said when he looked at the large round pin the crazed stallion was held and saw everything that had just occurred, "She has very large potential for a trainer."
"Master, the stallion was calmed by these strangers…. How is that?" Tsukoto asked in awe, "None of our professionals could get the horse to stand still!"
Tenyasu watched on for a moment then looked down to his pupil, "Tsukoto, not only human beings have feelings. Animals and nature also feel the pain of loss. Do you not long for a kindred sprit when such a thing occurs to you?"
"Kindred spirit, sir?" Tsukoto repeated, not quite understanding what his master meant.
Tenyasu looked one more time back to the pin before turning slowly back to his house to work, "Come, Tsukoto, we must go over the blue prints on this new machine you have thought up once again. I wish to see how it truly works and you're pitiful at explaining things such as that."
Tsukoto sweat dropped at the degrading comment, "Ye-yes sir" he sighed, following faithfully behind his master.
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"Are you ready for this?" Kaoru asked the black horse that stood perpendicular to her. Silver eyes looking back at her confidently was her answer. Smiling, Kaoru grabbed a fistful of black mane and started to hoist herself up to the tall back of the stallion.
"Are you sure you should be trying this so early? What if he still is antsy about riding? He's not broken in!" Sano protested.
All 3 men watched in awe as the woman of the group, which was usually pretty klutzy, swung her legs up and over the strong back of the stallion that stood patiently still for her as if it were a normal occurrence.
"He is too broken in." Kaoru argued, "He's just high-spirited" she leaned forward on the bare back of the stallion to pat his shoulder appraisingly. Ishino tossed his head lightly as if to show off he did something worth awarding and boasting about. Kaoru had successfully managed to mount the stallion that no man could mount before his previous master with only a rope halter hanging about the animals head.
"Kaoru, how do you do that?" Yahiko gapped.
"Respect" Kaoru said smartly, "Any horse will let you on them like this if they have your respect."
"Respect?" Sano balked, "I though we earned that yesterday?"
"Not quite…. He trusts you to get near him and not hurt him, but he might not see you as worthy enough to sit astride him as his partner. He is a prideful war-stallion after all." Kaoru reminded.
"Well….. Kenshin goes first this time." Sano pointed to the quite red head.
"Do you mind going first, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked.
"No, that would be fine by this one." Kenshin nodded.
"Alright Sano, there you have it. He doesn't care. Happy?" Kaoru looked back down to Sano, nudging Ishino with her legs to a walk around the pin.
"Yeah, he gets thrown off first!" Sano grinned brightly.
"That's always a plus! Then he'll be too tired to buck us off that badly!" Yahiko agreed mirroring Sanosuke's shit-eating grin.
"Cowards" Kaoru mumbled.
Ishino tossed his head in a delighted whinny as he felt her nudge him into a trot. He lifted his knees with high importance as he trotted around with head and tail held high. His bright silver eyes shining as he followed the woman astride him when she gave him signals to a 'T'. It had been so long since he had a rider he actually wanted to work with instead of buck off.
"See how I lead him by the pressure of my legs, Kenshin?" she called to the red headed ex-samurai.
Kenshin barely nodded. He was entranced by they way she expertly showed off her riding skills, yet in all the time he'd known her, never had she ever showed a hint at being this well versed in horsemanship. Well, that, and he was entranced by the fact that she chose to where her training gi and hikamma which bunched up to her thighs astride the large back of the horse, showing off creamy skin that would seem indecent under normal circumstances.
Ishino tossed his head as Kaoru reined him into a stop then slid off his back. Kenshin was waiting on the ground to help her down. She thanked him quickly before taking up the reins close to Ishino's bridal to steady the stallion.
"Okay, Kenshin." She smiled, "Go for it"
Kenshin looked up the horses back, suddenly feeling very small…..
"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked after awhile when Kenshin didn't move.
The red head snapped out of it, "Hm?"
"The horse?" she tried to remind him.
"Oh yes!" he grasped a good portion of the mane near Ishino's withers and tried to find leverage along the horses' rump. He almost looked clumsy as he struggled to pull himself over the bear back of the much taller horse.
"Having trouble, Kenshin?" Sano smirked at Kenshin's obvious struggle. It seemed the samurai wasn't always as graceful as they had all thought!
Kenshin let out a relieved sigh when he finally sat astride the large horse, "No, Sano, no troubles at all."
"Alright, I'm letting go, Kenshin" Kaoru warned as she backed away slowly.
Ishino stood where he was, watching Kaoru leave his side with perked ears and a tilted head as if to say, 'What, are you just going to up and leave me here?!'. It seemed that the ex-warhorse had no concern for the man on his back, even as Kenshin lightly attempted to turn the horses' head with the reins to get him to move. Ishino just shook his mane and let out a lazy snort.
"Ms. Kaoru?" Kenshin finally looked to her for help.
"Give him a bit of a nudge with your legs, Kenshin. Pressure with your calves makes him move forward. Weren't you watching me earlier when I steered him?"
Kenshin chose not to answer verbally to that. Instead, he tried to gently apply pressure to Ishino's sides. The black horses' ears darted back toward him as his attention was suddenly turned to the man on his back. He moved forward obediently. Kenshin couldn't help but feel a small sense of accomplishment.
"Well at least he's moving." Yahiko watched on as the horse did indeed move forward until his nose touched the fence, then rested his great head against a fence post, ignoring Kenshin trying to turn him.
"Use a bit more force, Kenshin. If you act meekly toward him, he'll take advantage of you." Kaoru coached.
Kenshin turned Ishino's head and nudged the great beasts' sides with his heels, catching Ishino's attention. Ishino's ears folded back in minor annoyance, but proceeded as the samurai asked and turned, walking in a circle…. A very tight circle. He was basically sidestepping tightly.
"Okay, enough with the force on the reins…" Kaoru groaned. She was happy that Ishino allowed the red headed samurai to mount, but this is almost as bad as if the horse had insisted on going in a bucking frenzy, "Didn't you see how I guided him with my calf muscles? Try that."
"Oh, I bet he saw alright." Sano smirked.
"Sano" Kenshin gritted his teeth tightly, "Do you wanna ride next?" he glared.
"No, no," Sano patted Yahiko's head, "It's Yahiko's turn next!"
"Oi!"
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Yahiko looked down at the ground from where he sat upon Ishino's back. He had only gotten up here because Kenshin and Sano helped him climb up while Kaoru held the reins and Ishino steady. Apparently, the stallion didn't like being man handled. Yahiko slowly sat a bit taller and looked forward as he leaned away from looking down. He gulped intimidated, just now seeing for himself how tall Ishino was and how high off the ground one was when one was astride such a horse. His only saving grace was that Kaoru had yet to let go of the reins.
"Alright, Yahiko, are you ready?" Kaoru asked looking up.
"Don't you dare let go!" Yahiko yelped.
"You have to try on your own sometime" Kaoru replied.
"Yeah, well," Yahiko searched for a good excuse to stall her with, "Well- You're just always calling me a kid and all and aren't kids supposed to be lead around their first time on a horse or anything else they try at first?" he sounded all too hopeful.
Kaoru gave him a dry look from where she stood on the ground barely holding on Ishino's reins while the horse tossed his mane in boredom to watch his long forelock fly in and out of his line of vision.
"Yahiko, seriously. You weren't this wimpy the first time you tried swords" she taunted.
Yahiko blushed indignantly, "A sword doesn't have a separate brain or powerful hooves to stomp me to death should I fall off its back!"
"No, it just has a sharp edge you could cut yourself with at any given mistake you make." Kaoru imputed smartly.
"Look, I didn't even start off with a real sword anyways, Ugly!" Yahiko balked.
That got Kaoru riled, and in turn, Ishino's ears pinned back. He was feeling a bit too cramped with both of them bickering at such close range with his sensitive ears.
Ishino started to shift under Yahiko, alarming the young swordsmen. The tall dark horse carefully shied away from Kaoru and crow hopped into the air (When a horse ducks its head between its front knees and bounces with all feet off the ground at the same time, arching its back to through you off with out having to move from it's spot.)
Yahiko went flying yelling like a banshee, falling right on top an ecstatic Sanosuke who hadn't stopped laughing even when he was tackled suddenly by the falling form of Yahiko to the ground. Kenshin grimaced from beside where Sano had stood, thankful that wasn't him. He quickly turned back to the horse and woman still inside the pin, happy to see that Ishino didn't seem startled, merely annoyed by Yahiko and Kaoru's squabbling. Apparently this horse didn't like trouble unless he was the cause of it. Kenshin rolled his eyes. This horse was turning out to be more spoiled than anything. Even better- Mule-ish tempered.
Ishino snorted smartly in the direction he had thrown Yahiko in and pawed at the ground as if to saw, 'Is that your best shot, come at me again why don't ya?'. The stallion made no move to frighten or alarm the girl he had chosen to trust while she approached him cautiously, but he couldn't help lifting up a startled head when he heard a Calvary bugle trumpet sound close by and the squeal of many whinnies.
The horses in the barn answered the near by calls of approaching horses, but Ishino stood tall so he could see what was coming. His silver eyes set to the horizon of the town where Kaoru and the others, too, watched curiously to see who it was.
Master Tenyasu came out of his house, tailed by his assistant- Tsukoto. Tenyasu glared when he saw uniformed men from a government foreign to Japan riding astride about 12 or 14 different colored horses. All of which seemed well bred, trained and picked for the way they moved and how well they stood out from the rest of their fellow equines.
"Not them again…." He sighed.
"Master?" Tsukoto said uncertainly.
"Close off the barn door. If they ask, we don't have horses anymore." Tenyasu said softly to his assistant.
The mounted men rode up 2 by 2 in a well rehearsed fashion as they entered the courtyard just beyond Ishino's round pin. Once in the more open area, they fanned out from left to right in a columned tunnel and stood with salutes to their commander astride a tall, muscular built Dutch-blood horse that was a pale white color with a pink muzzle, faint blue eyes and flaxen colored cropped mane and tail. The man had a western style beard and wore a red uniform with a black helmet. He reined his horse to stop right in front of Tenyasu who barely reached the white horse's chest in height. It made Ishino look like a twig-like pony.
"You there, sir" His Japanese was heavily accented with a British accent, "You are the owner of this establishment, no?"
"I am" Tenyasu nodded, "I am Master Tenyasu. The Mechanical inventor of these parts. What can I do for you fine horsemen?"
"We were told from your officials you're a well renounced horse breeder." The British general said matter-of-factly.
"You must be mistaken," Tenyasu chuckled, "I have no horses any longer. What would a mechanic like me need with such creatures?"
"So then the stallion in the round pin doesn't belong to you sir?" the British man narrowed his dark eyes.
"That one would be mine, sir. I can't lie however; he's no horse I'd loan to anyone. A bit of a whack job." Tenyasu discouraged.
"Is he now?" The general didn't seem convinced; he turned his head to address one of his men in English. Kenshin and the others didn't understand the foreign tongue they spoke, but Tenyasu seemed to get it. His eyes widened.
"Sergeant Henry"
"Sir?"
"Examine the stallion. If he is with in good tastes, tether him to our load." The general said.
"I wouldn't advise that, good sir; it would not be wise to tamper with him of all horses!" Tenyasu's words fell on deaf ears as Sergeant Henry and another private soldier dismounted their horses and handed off the reins to near by soldiers still mounted.
Sergeant Henry followed astride his tall horse toward the pin where Ishino started to understand what was going on. The stallion pinned back his ears and lashed his tail as he grunted threateningly.
Tenyasu had a bad feeling about this. He hurriedly rushed over to the fence of the pin and called out to Kaoru, "Lady Kaoru, please get out of there!"
Kaoru didn't feel right leaving Ishino alone to fend off these strange men. The stallion had retreated to her side when he realized the men were coming into the pin, "I can't just leave him alone, what are they going to do?"
"They're just looking him over, Miss Kaoru" Tsukoto said quietly, "But the stallion could get out of control again, please for your own safety, leave him be until they're done."
"Easy there boy," one of the soldiers said calmly as he reached out to take the reins from Kaoru's frozen hands.
Ishino bore his teeth in a sneer when the man got too close to Kaoru, he lunged at them, intending to do them harm. Kaoru gasped when the horse stomped in front of her, but seemed on caution not to harm her. He whirled his hind legs in the air, twisting his body to face her and lashing out back at the men to get them to back off. When he landed, he swished his tail agitatedly, daring the men to try that again.
"Seems spirited." The general chuckled.
"Yes, very spirited, sir. A bit much so" Tenyasu hopped that would discourage the foreigner.
The general smirked, "The British army has dealt with this before. After all with how the Yanks are being in the Americas as of late, we'll take any horse with a crazed mind we can find. Makes them all the better to rush into the scene of battle."
"Battle?" Kenshin gawked. He thought the revolution was over with in Japan.
"After the American Revolution, our King has been hiring mercenaries like us to weaken the U.S army on their own land so that our fellow Brits can go in for the final Kill. We're still a bit sore with the loss we had to those sewage rats." The general seemed a bit peeved.
"But didn't they come to an agreement to stop the fighting?" Sano asked.
"Forced to, but yes. Now that a bit of time has passed, we're yearning for revenge. To bloody hell with that treaty! We'll claim it back right under their stupid hill Billy noses" a few of the soldiers laughed at the name since there was no translation word in Japanese for it. So both sides of the language barrier got what it meant.
"America is prosperous no, just as Japan has finally come to be, you should leave it well alone, that you should." Kenshin said bravely, "Besides, what do you need crazed horses for?"
"Suicide raids" another Japanese speaking soldier said, "Crazed horses will be strapped with a new weapon that sets off an explosion after a given time with an out a fire-lit fuse. We'll herd the horse toward the site and let it carry its own fate to those sorry bastards. They won't know what hit'em. They'll be too shocked to noticed the rest of us attacked until their dead laying in their own blood"
"You can't take him" Kaoru snapped.
The sergeant looked confused back to his commander when Kaoru spoke in Japanese to him, "She said we can't have him" the commanding officer translated then looked to Kaoru, "Step back girl, horses have nothing to do with pretty little maidens like you."
"I won't let you take him!" Kaoru stood in front of the offended stallion protectively with her hands spread out to shield him as best she could.
"She's just trying to get in the way, men. Take him" the general reined his horses' head away to align the rest of the soldiers and prepare a harness for Ishino to be tied to.
"No! YOU CAN'T!" Kaoru was shoved aside, not harmed, but just enough to through her to the dirt.
"Miss Kaoru!" Kenshin quickly ducked under the fence to help her up.
Yahiko and Sano quickly followed. Yahiko watched the men try and corner Ishino, but the horse kept pacing around Kaoru and the others in the middle, he wouldn't leave them for a corner.
"For heavens sakes Henry! Cant you catch a horse?" the commander groaned.
"Sir, he's a bit difficult."
"Then get more men. Tranquilize him if you have to" the commander rolled his eyes.
Kaoru looked up to Ishino who kept looking from them to the soldiers; she could tell he was nervous. At all costs she didn't want him to end up with these men.
"Go, Ishino." She whispered. She knew he heard her by the way his ears cocked back to her and he tilted his head at a small angle, "Run"
Ishino snorted and shook his head in protest. He reared in anger when more men came in with lassos now.
"GO!" she shouted at him, startling Kenshin, Sano and Yahiko who were close to her.
Ishino bolted for the fence, nearly trampling one of the men in his way. He sailed over it in a powerful leap into the air and disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"What are you waiting for? GO AFTER IT!" the commander shouted. Half his platoon bolted off in a blurry cloud of dust and hooves after the stallion.
"Sir," one of the dismounted soldiers called from where he stood next to the barn, "The old man lied to you. He's got a whole barn of exotic bred horses"
"He did, did he?" the commander stroke his go-T beard and turned to look at Master Tenyasu, "Restrain him and the boy. Tie them up and anyone else in the house hold. From this point until we receive further message from the higher-ups, I claim this land our Japanese base."
"Yes sir!" the soldier nodded and sent out orders to the rest, then turned to the woman and 3 men in the pen, "What of these people sir?"
"They're just civilians" Tenyasu spoke up as two soldiers grabbed each arm, "They have no connection to me. They found the stallion a while back and brought him here, that's all"
The general shrugged, "Toss'em to the streets. We don't involve civilians if we can avoid it. That's what was ordered of us."
"They seem unwilling to cooperate…" the soldier noticed as Sano threatened any who came too close to them with his fists.
"Knock'em out, then throw them out. Simple, easy, no do it" the commander ordered in English to the soldier, "Where's my lasso? I want a piece of the action when we actually catch this wannabe mustang delinquent of a horse…"
Kenshin and the others didn't have a prayer when they were over come by so many at one time and blacked out from odd-smelling rags shoved over their mouths and noses.
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