When Sakura Blossoms Fall
Chapter 14: Rescue
Kenji held his breath as the Japanese camp came into sight. They had held off their journey for the night, and canvas tents and blazing fires dotted a vast expanse of the horizon. But they were headed back to Beijing, and it wouldn't take them the entirety of a day to reach the capital city. Kenji had to get Sanosuke out tonight; if he didn't, his cause would be hopeless. Security in the prisons in Beijing would be too great for even Kenji to infiltrate.
Night had fallen, and getting into the camp would be easy enough. It was fitting in and finding Sano that would prove to be a struggle. He absolutely couldn't be discovered. It wasn't that he couldn't handle himself, but if he caused a scene rescuing Sanosuke would become virtually inconceivable.
He unconsciously ducked his head to hide his face as he entered, checking one more time with his hand to assure himself that all of his distinctive hair was tucked safely up into his cap, invisible to the soldiers. He soon realized, however, that he needn't be so cautious. Just the uniform gave him access to nearly any part of the camp.
Line after line of identical tents met his stressed gaze. He couldn't directly ask where Sano was being held; he had to remain inconspicuous. So instead he found himself wandering hopelessly down the rows, searching for a dark tent being guarded and sighing and wiping the sweat from his forehead with each soldier he successfully fooled.
"What are you up to?" Kenji stopped dead, clenching his fists at his side. He turned around slowly, gulping.
The soldier that had questioned him was older, the hair at his temples a hoary color and his wrinkle-surrounded eyes much wiser than those of his comrades. Kenji knew from glancing at his decorated uniform that this man was of a much higher rank than he had ever personally been while part of the army. Kenji loosened his collar, ready to sprint at a second's notice.
"Well?" the man asked again, in an almost fatherly tone, "where are you headed?"
Kenji swallowed hard and opened his mouth with a lie, but his tongue paused as his eyes caught a ring of keys hanging from the other soldier's side.
"Where is the prisoner we apprehended today being held?" he asked bluntly.
Two gray eyebrows raised high on the officer's forehead. "Just down this row, why?"
Kenji smiled and apologized, and in one swift move the man was unconscious on the ground. Kenji pulled his body into a nearby empty tent, then set off in the direction mentioned, a ring of keys resting comfortably in his pocket.
Kenji slit open the back side of tent after tent on the specified row in his search. Fortunately, most of these tents were used for nothing but supplies, and the only soldiers he had to concern himself were taking breaks that were most likely unauthorized, gathered at a tent a safe distance away but still within sight of the front entrance of all the others.
Listening in on these guards' conversation had made him realize just how pressed for time he truly was. Sanosuke was the talk of the camp, and it had recently been ordered that he be delivered to the general's tent immediately. Kenji knew he had to hurry before the soldier sent to do the job showed up. Sano's punishment would be gruesome, if anything the soldiers said was true.
He heard a groan from nearby and skipped to slitting that tent's wall. The unusually tall man inside began to mutter in angry Japanese as the light fell on his eyes, and Kenji smiled, suddenly wondering how his mother had reacted when the rooster-head had used language like that around her.
"Had a bad day, Sanosuke?"
Sano's frustrated cursing suddenly broke off, and he lifted his head to look at the man towering over him with a smug grin.
"Kenji?" Kenji chuckled, crouching down and fumbling through the keys on the ring in search of one that would free Sanosuke from his shackles.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kenji glanced doubtfully at his friend. "What do you think? I'm breaking you out. You should be used to it by now, if what Uki and Outa say is true."
"Kenji, you're wanted by the army. What if they catch you?"
Kenji chuckled. "No one recognized me. My regiment isn't here."
The prisoner shook his head but smiled, unable to believe his younger friend's rashness.
"You're going to get us both killed."
"Shut up, Sano." Sanosuke almost started laughing, but abstained when he saw Kenji's expression. His jocular attitude had been replaced by a stern and austere face, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pulled into a thin line.
"Kenji, what is it?" Sanosuke whispered in uneasy curiosity. But he didn't require an answer. Almost as soon as the words had passed from his lips another voice erupted from outside, this one yelling in aggravation. The steady beating of running feet caught Sano's ears, a noise he had missed before. Kenji was working faster than ever, his fingers shaking as he tried key after key to no avail.
"What's going on?"
"They know I'm here."
"How?
Kenji groaned as another key proved useless. "I don't know. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out. They probably found the officer I got these keys from."
"You said not to worry," Sano scolded sternly.
Kenji ignored him, shoving in another key as a small group of soldiers he couldn't see but heard headed toward them.
"Kenji, you've got to get out of here!"
"No," Kenji replied as calmly as the situation would allow, discounting the uniformed men sprinting toward them, "I'm getting you out first."
"RUN, YOU IDIOT!"
Kenji licked his lips, then smiled in satisfaction as the shackles finally fell from Sanosuke's hands. The two stood, Sanosuke involuntarily rubbing his sore wrists as they turned to escape through the slit Kenji had made.
But both stopped dead. A group of soldiers was only feet from them now, and both turned toward the tent's front flap. Sanosuke burst through it at uncanny speed and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, laughing to himself at their narrow escape.
"Next time I tell you to run, do it, all right?" he muttered in half-seriousness. He turned his head over his shoulder to observe the expression of Kenji, and his rapid footsteps stopped short.
Kenji was several yards behind him, still in the remains of Sano's canvas prison. Several of the soldiers were to him now, quickly restraining the struggling imposter. His cap had somehow been knocked from his head, and his flaming red hair stuck out distinctly among the growing mass of black and blue.
"RUN!"
Kenji's one word brought Sanosuke back to reality, and he saw that several men were still pursuing him. Quickly he turned, sprinting past surprised Japanese soldiers and dodging gunfire until he had reached the edge of the camp and dissipated into the darkness.
Kenji watched him go with a wry smile, and easily succumbed to the men attempting to chain him.
"So long, Sano," he murmured.
Sanosuke swore under his breath, punching a tree he passed hard enough to leave a mark. He ran his hand through his disheveled hair and groaned, the picture of Kenji being overtaken by the soldiers never fading from his thoughts.
He was such an idiot. What had possessed him to risk so much for Sano's sake? He was still young, he still had a life to live, and now he had been condemned to live it as a prisoner. Or perhaps his life wouldn't even last that much longer. He was a traitor.
Sano looked down at his calloused and dirt-stained hand. He wasn't who he used to be. His fists didn't pack as much punch, his muscles had thinned and his joints were getting harder to move. He couldn't handle all of those soldiers, and there was no one else to help him rescue Kenji. Besides, he hadn't exactly been handled with care by the Japanese soldiers, and he wasn't in the best shape. He sighed heavily. It was times like these that he really missed Kenshin.
His footsteps slowed as the high village gate came into view. He stared at it forlornly for a few moments, playing out the coming scene in his head. It wasn't going to be a pleasant sight.
Stalling no longer, he took the last few steps to the gate and knocked as strongly as he could manage in his current state of mind. Someone from the other side heard him, and soon the massive gate had been cracked open.
"Sanosuke!"
Before he could react he had been swarmed by the villagers. They were chattering like excited children. But the Chinese words floated right past him as he spotted his younger sister pushing through the throng, Outa right on her tail.
He saw that tears were streaming from her dark eyes as she reached him. He gasped as she hugged him tightly around the waist, responding with a melancholy smile and fatherly pat on the back.
"Sano, I'm so glad you're all right!" she exclaimed, squeezing tighter. Then she pulled back, looking up into his face and smirking. "You're a mess."
"Yeah . . ." he responded half-heartedly. Outa frowned at the distant and only half-cognizant look in his brother's eyes. He drew him aside, then spoke in a low and serious voice, Uki observing his concern with exasperation.
"Sanosuke, where's Kenji?"
Sanosuke just kept staring at the ground, a tear glistening in his eye.
"Outa, I think we need to go home."
Uki covered her face with both hands, tears steadily leaking from both eyes and dripping to the rough wood floor she was kneeling on. She shook her head in stubborn disbelief, burying her head in Outa's shoulder as he extended an arm to comfort her.
Outa glanced from her back to his elder brother, sighing heavily. Sanosuke hardly looked alive anymore. As he had explained the situation to his two siblings, he had actually choked up, for the first time in Outa or Uki's memory. His face was pale and lifeless, with dark lines under his eyes. The brown orbs themselves were bleary and bloodshot, staring, once again, at the floor. He looked worse than he ever had before, and Outa knew it wasn't a result of any kind of trauma he himself had experienced. It was completely resultant of the undying guilt he felt about allowing Kenji to be captured.
"Sanosuke."
The anxious man looked up at Outa, who was for once wearing a dark and disapproving frown, an expression rarely seen to pass across his face.
"Sanosuke, this isn't your fault. You can't beat yourself up about this. There was nothing you could do for Kenji."
"But I just ran—"
"You acted out of instinct, Sanosuke.You can't be blamed for that."
"But—"
"Stop it Sanosuke. Blaming yourself won't help Kenji."
Sanosuke growled with animal-like ferocity and punched the nearest wall, shaking the entire house. "What was that idiot thinking? What's the point of rescuing me if he was just going to let himself get caught?" He swore violently, causing Uki to shudder. "Sometimes that boy is too much like his father. Self-sacrificing maniacs."
Uki looked up from Outa's soldier, wiping stubbornly at her eyes with her sleeve. She stood and walked quickly across the room to Sanosuke, hugging him tightly around the neck.
"It's all right, Sanosuke. Kenji will make it."
Sanosuke smiled at her in feigned agreement, then glanced over her shoulder at Outa, who was staring at him with traces of tears in his eyes.
Oh Uki, what have I done? I'm the oldest, I was supposed to protect all of you, even Kenji. I was supposed to be there for you. And now . . .
Kenji raised a scornful eyebrow at the bowl of "soup" that had just been handed to him—
which more closely resembled his dirty laundry. He glanced at the soldier holding it.
"Are you serious?"
"Just be glad you're getting anything," the man muttered, shoving the meager meal into Kenji's hands and storming off. Kenji sniffed the elixir apprehensively, then shrugged and decided to push comfort aside, hastily draining the contents of the bowl and barely abstaining from gagging.
When he had finished choking down the putrid excuse for nourishment, he tossed the bowl to his side, where it rolled to a stop just before reaching the iron bars that withheld him. He glanced at the black poles and sighed. They had smothered his last hope of escape.
The army that had captured him had reached Beijing the day after his arrest, as he had predicted. Now he was in a secure prison, still surrounded by guards, although their necessity was questionable. From the various bits of conversations he had picked up from listening to them while pretending to be asleep, he had ascertained that he would be held here until the next ship from Japan arrived. Then he would be transported to Tianjin, the nearest port, from which he would be shipped back to Japan to face even more imprisonment and a likely execution. Kenji sighed. Until his current situation, he hadn't thought he would ever be anxious to stay in China.
The cell was dark and damp, and at times Kenji suspected that the soldiers had purposefully chosen the worst one specifically for him. The whole set of circumstances had just brewed more ill feelings toward the government in him. While part of him dreaded that ship to Tokyo, the other half almost wanted it to end, to just escape reality, no matter what followed. Considering his usual stubbornness, Kenji had resigned quite easily to the death that awaited him, with little complaint.
Author's note: Ok, I promise Chizuru is coming back soon, but this little adventure of Kenji's needs to be finished up first. Just wait a little longer.