Chapter 27: Shinomori

There was a large room lit with chandeliers.

Aoshi entered it quietly and seriously as he always did. This would be the place, he knew, for this was the place he had last seen the man who had killed his friends… all those years ago… when he was Okashira of the Oniwaban-shu.

For the first time in a long time, he let out a small smile though it was more of a smirking half-smile. Himura, Sagara, Kamiya, Myojin, and Takani were all so blind. He'd known the moment he had begun having visions of his past life that that was indeed what it was, and he was determined to fulfill his own wishes. The only one he had discussed this with was Hajime Saitou whom he was currently not speaking to. It seemed under some trade for information or something that Saitou had made ties with Shishio Makoto and his men. He'd often seen them talking, Saitou and Soujirou or Kamatari, but that was only after everyone had left. Aoshi had the tendency to spend long hours at school just roaming the halls. No one dared told him not to.

Yes, Saitou knew his secrets, though now that he thought about it, he wasn't the only one. Misao knew as well, though he did not have to confer with her about it. She simply remembered as well and was quite chatty about it. Since he was her object of adoration and affection, he was of course the first to know. They simply made their own ties at the point and decided to figure out more. They had both known the same people and worked in the same army (if it could be called that), and Misao had decided it was a cry of destiny pulling them together.

Nonsense, Aoshi thought. He didn't believe in destiny. Destiny was just a lame word to explain things happening. It wasn't destiny. It was what one brought on him or herself. That was why he was here, not just to avenge his friends, but to find out what he had done to make it happen.

Fortunately, he'd managed to quietly leave without Misao tagging along this time. She was always so intent on following him everywhere that he never got any peace. It was quite aggravating at times, but he knew she meant well and never spoke cruelly to her. In his past life, he had remembered doing enough of that. If he wanted her gone, he would just send her off on some mindless task for him, and most of the time she would skip off, thrilled to be doing something for him.

What he didn't understand was why she cared so much. Everyone else found him cold, heartless (possibly without a soul as well), cruel, scary, and angry. He found that those descriptions were quite accurate, but apparently Misao didn't see or hear clearly.

Had he been the humored type, which he definitely wasn't, he would have probably gotten a kick out of watching Misao and himself. He was a tall, dark, steely-eyed, silent Goth obsessed with war and the past. She was a happy, peppy, if somewhat clumsy, little cheerleader who loved to talk loudly and skip and sing but was also obsessed with war and the past, though not as much. They were like some sort of demented odd couple.

At the moment, he had sent her off so she wouldn't bother him except that this time, the task wasn't quite so meaningless as getting him a soda from across town or baking him a chocolate cake with three and a half layers (he would admit that he'd gotten creative over the years). At the moment, she was currently doing what Oniwaban-shu members did best: spying. In fact, she was spying on the Wolf of Mibu at this very moment, trying to discover his and/or Shishio's plans for world domination or whatever he was after this time around, though he already suspected it was revenge on Himura.

Why he wanted revenge, he wasn't sure. Had he not spontaneously combusted, he most likely would've won the fight against the Battousai. It wasn't Himura's fault that it happened technically. I mean, if traced back, it was Shishio who started the fight. Perhaps he was not out for revenge after all…

Maybe, he just wanted to finish what he started… and that was bad news for the idiot rurouni who still seemed a bit sightless to his past though it had been laid out in front of him several, several times. It was what Aoshi had tried to prevent in the beginning, since that was just what Shishio wanted, but when he discovered that the boy was fighting with Saitou, he silently began to realize that if he was going to live, he had to remember. If anyone was going to stop Shishio, it would be that stupid, bumbling, red-headed wanderer.

Yes, the world seemed doomed indeed.

Either way, he decided that now was not the time to test the ex-hitokiri with his skills, for this battle against Takeda Kanryuu was his to own. The boy would just be a nuisance in the end. Himura tended to fight other people's battles for them. He wasn't about to let him fight this one again.

No, he didn't need his assistance this time. There was another battle approaching (He had discovered this through tapping the phones where the Juppon Katana were currently residing at.) him that he could practice on that would probably restore every ounce of his missing memories however good or bad. It didn't really matter to Aoshi if he was traumatized forever except for the fact that Tokyo, Kyoto, Japan, and basically everyone was going to need him ready for battle. He'd have to get over it. After all, whatever spiritual being there was up there had sent him back down for a reason, correct?

Maybe there was such a thing as destiny after all…

The doors swung open.

"What took you so long, Kanryuu? Did you finally get the guts to come out and speak with me?" Aoshi asked, glancing towards the door, then gasped, wide-eyed.

"Actually," Soujirou said, beaming. "He's dead."

-

"We can't waste time!" Sano yelled, hurrying up the last flight of stairs. "We'll take any booby-trap he's set up head AHH!" His foot crashed through the stairs, and he held on to the one above it to keep from falling to his doom.

"That's one heck of a trap," Yahiko said, innocently watching Sano with obviously no intent on helping him.

"Actually, I think it was just a flimsy stair…" Kaoru replied.

"Oro…" Kenshin said.

"STOP TALKING AND HELP ME!" Sano yelled, fuming angrily.

"I don't know…" Yahiko said. "You always were mean to me shoving me into trash cans and stuff…"

Kenshin jumped over the step that was not there and yanked Sanosuke up.

"I should kill you," Sano threatened to Yahiko. "-but there are more important things to take care of right now."

Yahiko made a clumsy jump to the other side and Kenshin helped him up. Kaoru gracefully hopped to the other side.

"Let's go…" Sano said, stomping up the rest of the steps.

"Don't break another step," Yahiko said.

"MUST DIE!" Sano yelled, Kenshin barely able to hold him back.

"Give it a rest," Kaoru said, heading up ahead of them. "Let's GO."

Sano pouted. "Yeah. Don't fall behind, Yahiko-chan!"

"Just keeping my distance so the stairs don't break under my feet!" Yahiko counted, growling over the 'chan' comment.

"Stop," Kenshin said as he reached the top of the stairs.

"Wh-what is it?" Kaoru asked.

"We've got company," Kenshin replied.

A group of men, most likely some of Kanryuu's weak underlings, stood, blocking the way.

"This shouldn't slow us down long," Sano said, punching his right fist into his left hand. "Even Yahiko could take these guys down."

"HEY!" Yahiko yelled.

"Kaoru-dono, you and Yahiko stay here and take care of these men. Sanosuke and I will go forward and destroy any traps that might cause us danger in the long run and then hurry ahead to save Megumi. Is that all right?" Kenshin asked.

"Yeah!" Kaoru said. "Come on, Yahiko!"

The two ran at the men with their weapons ready, and Sano and Kenshin zoomed past.

-

"Dead…?" Aoshi whispered.

"Yeah. It seems he got a little too much information on Shishio-sama, and so I was sent to take care of it," Soujirou giggled.

"He was mine to kill…" Aoshi muttered menacingly, his steely-eyes narrowing. "You had no right to…"

"Don't go preaching to me about what's right," Soujirou replied, "because I don't know anything about it… and neither do you…" He walked into the room slowly, taking in Aoshi with his soulless, blue eyes. "If you have not yet settled your bloodlust, I will fight you."

"I did not come here to fight. I came to kill," Aoshi replied, his voice dangerously low.

"Well, I was here for the same reason. I guess I got to him first. It's just too bad, huh. You could have gotten Shishio-sama's information off of him… The stuff you can't find from watching in windows like your little girlfriend."

Aoshi's eyes widened. He drew his kodachi and then the other one and got into stance.

"We didn't do anything. We just humored her by talking too low for her to hear and staying away from the windows, but I'm glad you're in the fighting spirit because taking care of you will get me ahead of schedule," Soujirou said, drawing his own wakizashi.

"It's amazing…"Aoshi said, staring down the blade.

"What is?" Soujirou asked innocently, looking interested.

"It's amazing that you remember so little yet you think you know everything," Aoshi responded. "Don't you remember who won the fights? Do you remember how little you meant to this 'Shishio-sama' or yours? Can you even think about what you did after your battle with Himura?"

Soujirou's smile faded for the first time. His eyes widened, and it seemed as if he was being redeemed of something he had not seen. "No… stop putting things in my head… Shishio-sama told me…"

"You know he likes to lie, right? Anything to get what he wants. The strong live and the weak die, right? He has to be at the top, right?" Aoshi approached the boy who no longer seemed ready for battle.

"Shut up!" Soujirou cried, backing away. "You're just trying to freak me out!"

Aoshi said nothing but continued to approach. After a moment or two, Soujirou was against the wall, looking pale and frightened, and Aoshi was standing before him, tall and powerful.

"As a man who remembers it all… You will know… and be redeemed… You sick, horrible freak."

Soujirou's memories were flooding back into his head.

His scream rang out through the building.

-

"What was that?" Sano asked, horrified, stopping and turning around.

Kenshin stared down the stairs, silently, seriously…

"Do you think it was Yahiko or Kaoru?"

"No," Kenshin replied. "Let's keep going…"

That was a cry of a boy who saw a horrible life… a life forgotten… a life remembered… Even if I was there I could not save him from the pain he was going through…

(A/N: GASP! An Actual UPDATE! HURRAH! I know it's been what… almost five months? Jeez, I'm sorry… I refuse to abandon my most popular story! I hope you liked the chapter!)