When Sakura Blossoms Fall
Chapter 15: Resolutions
"He's right through here, ma'am."
"Thank you." The ornately dressed woman bowed her head slightly, lifting the edge of her kimono to follow the soldier through the dismal doorway.
She wrinkled her small nose in disgust at the stench that filled her delicate nostrils. She smirked smugly as one of the chained men leered lustily after her, winking quietly at him with one of her alluring gray eyes. Then the cool orbs scanned the rest of the cells curiously, freezing suddenly on one prisoner that stuck out with unbelievable familiarity.
"Ai-san?"
Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard her escort murmur her name in question, but her eyes remained unmoving, focused on the slouching man just a few feet from her.
"Just a moment," she replied half-consciously, "I believe I once knew one of your prisoners. I'll join you in a minute."
"Are you sure? This disgusting place is hardly appropriate for one such as yourself."
"I said I'll be just a moment," she reiterated.
"Then I'll stay with you."
"No!" She turned stubborn gray eyes on him.
The soldier raised an eyebrow, watching her for a few more moments, then just shrugged to himself and bowed, turning and leaving her alone.
"Kenji?"
She crouched down next to his cell when he didn't respond. "Kenji?" she repeated.
Two icy blue eyes shifted to meet hers, glowing abnormally in the darkness. But as soon as Kenji took in the sight before him, his eyes widened in surprise, losing their previous intimidating feature.
"Ai?"
Ai grinned. "So you do remember me."
Kenji frowned and turned his back to her, chains clanking against each other as he did so. "Go away, Ai."
Two dark slender eyebrows jumped upward. "But Kenji—"
"Go."
"Oh, are you upset, Kenji-kun? But you're so brave and strong, I'm sure you can get out of here—"
"Flirting won't work, Ai. I'm not as shallow as the men you usually spend time around."
Ai immediately straightened proudly. "Well excuse me, but Itagaki-san is a very respectable man!"
"You hate him, Ai," he reminded her quietly.
Ai glared at him for a few seconds before realizing that even if he could see her, it wouldn't affect him. She sighed and stood back up, absentmindedly fingering the iron bars separating the two of them.
"What happened?"
"Why do you care? It's not like you would do anything to help me."
She glanced down, taken aback by his coldness. "Kenji, I—"
"Go—away," he emphasized. "Go running back to Itagaki. I have nothing to offer you. As soon as the next ship gets here, I'll be shipped back to Japan for my execution."
"Execution?" she whispered.
He glanced at her over his shoulder as if she was daft. "Yes, Ai. Execution. I'm a traitor, remember?"
"But—"
"Just go!"
The geisha of Kenji's former commander stiffened and turned quickly on her heel, muttering to herself.
"Fine."
"How much longer?" Kenji later asked the soldier that had just delivered his meager meal. The man shrugged.
"Three days at the most."
"Three days . . ." Kenji repeated quietly, picking heartlessly at the food in front of him.
The soldier disappeared, and Kenji finished his meal in silent solitude. He looked up as the door to the prison opened again, not surprised when another soldier entered.
"Kenji?"
He looked up in surprise, his eyes narrowing as he tried to recognize the shadow across the room. The man took a few steps forward, and Kenji realized that he was smiling nervously.
"Noda?" he whispered.
"Hello, old friend," Noda replied. Kenji scowled and turned away.
"You too? You actually have the audacity to address me in that way?"
Noda sighed. "Kenji, I'm sorry. But you have to understand, there were so many expectations placed upon me, so much pressure, I couldn't just betray the government without a second thought like you could. There was a lot for me to lose."
"Why are you here?"
"To apologize, Kenji. Both Ai and I are sorry for not helping you when we could. We found out after you left what Itagaki had planned on doing. We felt terrible."
Kenji's mind jumped back to the circumstances of his initial condemnation as a traitor. In everything that had occurred since then, he had almost forgotten.
"Did you think I would betray Itagaki without a legitimate reason?"
"We didn't know, Kenji. But now we do, and we're here to make it right. Ai is the one that told me you were here. And I'm here to set you free."
Kenji bit off his retort and turned to face the young soldier.
"Set me free?"
Noda smiled. "I'm not about to see one of my best friends unjustly executed."
For the first time in weeks, Kenji genuinely smiled. Noda pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket and began to sort through them in search of the right one. He quickly found it, slipped it into the key hole, and the iron bars of Kenji's cell slowly swung open.
Kenji jumped to his feet, greeting his old friend warmly with a handshake and quick hug.
"Tell me, is Chizuru all right?"
Noda smiled. "Yes. As soon as you disappeared she arranged to return home to Japan."
Kenji released a relieved sigh. "She doesn't understand the circumstances of her brother's death yet, does she?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"No."
"How did you and Ai find out?"
Noda smiled crookedly. "We . . . overheard a conversation."
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Both looked down the row of cells, where another soldier, previously cleaning, had appeared. Kenji groaned.
"Not again."
Both bolted for the door, closely followed by the man. Kenji pulled them both behind a stall on the street.
"Noda, run."
"What?"
"Run! He didn't see your face, you'll be fine. I'll get out of here on my own."
"But Kenji—"
"Go! Thank you, and tell Ai that I'm sorry I treated her the way I did. Now run before they find you with me!"
Noda reached into his uniform and pulled out a small pouch, tossing it to Kenji, who caught it with ease. It jingled slightly in his surprised hands.
"Take this. You'll need it."
"Noda, I . . . thank you. But now you have to run."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"GO!" With that Kenji grabbed Noda by the shoulder and shoved him onto the street, then disappeared down an ally and away from his pursuer. Noda watched him go with a wry smile, sighing. They would likely never see each other again. But at least they had been able to make things right this last time.
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The first thing Kenji did with the money Noda gave him was find a place to hide. He got himself new Chinese-style clothing, grateful to once again be rid of his uniform. Then he cut his hair, which over his time as a prisoner had grown to reach his shoulders. With the last bit of the money, he bought enough food and water to get him back to the village, and then was on his way.
He slept little over the next few days in which he prepared, and set out at a steady pace into the Chinese wilderness at dawn one morning, keeping his eyes peeled for a forest. He was half asleep when his dreary eyes caught the sight of something new.
The bright blue eyes drifted open slowly, taking a few seconds to focus. There it was! It had taken nearly the entire day, but his home of the past several months was in sight. He laughed harder than he had in months as he darted across the last stretch. He could already almost picture the reunion about to meet him.
The wooden gate creaked open slowly under his hand, and he came face to face with one of the older villagers, a man whose house he had once helped to build. The man gasped and fell back a step, his eyes huge with disbelief at what he saw.
"H-Himura?"
Kenji smiled and nodded, watching in amusement as the man scrambled off. He took a few steps forward, but stopped short as he realized that the village activity had practically come to a standstill. Conversations had stopped in mid-sentence, workers had paused midway through a swing of a hammer. All eyes were trained on him.
They just stood like that for several moments, the villagers staring openly at him and Kenji staring back. Then a noise resounded from behind the gaping men and women, and the Higashidani family burst through to the front.
"KENJI!"
Uki was the first to move. She sprinted across the opening between villagers and Kenji, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. When she pulled back Kenji saw that happy tears were streaming down her rosy cheeks. She grinned up at him, then buried her head in his tunic as a wave of sobs came on.
The rest of the crowd needed no further motivation. Soon Kenji was swarmed, hardly able to breathe under the onslaught of tears and hugs.
"Kenji, Kenji, Kenji, Kenji," Uki repeated through her tears, "I can't believe you're really back!"
"How did you escape?" Outa questioned, smiling up at his older brother. "Sanosuke here was ready to take on the whole Japanese Army to save you."
Kenji chuckled. "An old friend helped me out, actually. Otherwise I would have been sent back to Japan for execution."
Uki shuddered. "I'm so glad it's over. And now the villagers can finally have normal lives again."
Kenji smiled at that, glancing at Sanosuke. "Yeah. Congratulations on all your work. You guys probably saved their lives."
"We couldn't have done it without you," Sano replied. "They're going to miss you, you know."
Kenji looked up at Sanosuke blankly, eyebrows raised. "Miss me? What are you talking about? I was going to stay here and continue to help."
Sanosuke smiled and shook his head. "There are plenty to take care of that, Kenji. It won't take much even from Outa, Uki, and I. We'll stay, because we have nowhere else to go. But you, you have a home elsewhere. You have another life you left for this one."
"But Sanosuke, I have no family in Japan—"
"Are you trying to tell me that there's absolutely nothing you left behind? Kenji, your parents might be gone, but there are many other people in Japan that I'm sure miss you and would like to know of your whereabouts. Besides, this is no place for one as young as you, with your potential. You have your whole life ahead of you. You shouldn't waste it in a place like this. Go home, Kenji. Live."
Kenji stared blankly at the floor, unable to believe what he was hearing. But he knew Sanosuke was right. He hadn't seen the Oniwabanshu in years, or Hiko, or Yahiko and his family. Was Hiko even still around? How big was Shinya now? Did Yahiko and Tsubame have any more kids? Did they even still live in Tokyo? And what about Megumi, and Ayame, and Suzume? What about Misao and Aoshi? He hadn't had any contact with any of them. It was about time that he went home.
"Sanosuke's right, Kenji," Uki whispered. "There's a better life waiting for you back there."
"But I'm a wanted man."
"Not many people even know about that. Besides, you'll be in just as much danger here, now that Japan will permanently be around," Outa argued.
Kenji sighed. "I guess you're right. I just hadn't planned on leaving."
Uki smiled and kneeled down next to him, giving him another hug. "We'll always be here if you need us. We'll miss you."
Sanosuke chuckled and punched Kenji lightly on the shoulder. "You sure are going to be breaking a lot of Chinese girls' hearts, though," he added, snickering.
Kenji just rolled his eyes.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Well, I'm on my way."
Sanosuke glanced at Kenji, who had just joined him at the front gate, where he was quietly observing the scarred Chinese countryside.
"Good luck," he murmured, handing him a folded slip of parchment. Kenji took it with a questioning look on his face, but a soft smile touched his lips as the opened and read it.
"Send any letters there, and the recipient will make sure they get to me."
Kenji nodded and looked up at the ex-fighter who, by odd chance, had become one of his best friends.
"Thank you."
Sano smiled and placed a hand on Kenji's shoulder. "Yeah, whatever. Now get out of here."
Kenji grinned and nodded, then mounted the horse the villagers had provided him with and snapped the reins. He turned as he galloped off, waving at Sano and Outa, who had just appeared at his brother's side.
"Sanosuke?"
"Yes, Outa?"
"Just who is Kenji, anyway?"
Sano chuckled. "That boy, Outa, was the result of the most famous legend ever to exist among the Japanese."
"Sano?"
"He's the son of Hitokiri Battousai." Then, under his breath, "my best friend."
Ok, Kenji's finally going back to Japan, and you know what that means. So review, or you'll never read about Kenji and Chizuru again! ;)