Chapter 9 - Wanderer Found, Adventurers Lost
Kenji was beginning to see why Sano swore so much. He wedged himself tighter into a hollow he'd found, barely breathing for fear he would be heard, and letting the tree's leaves filter the light away. Many voices, all of them unfamiliar, called to one another below as they searched for him. So far, however, they hadn't thought to look up.
The minute he began to relax, he felt an arm grabbing his leg. Kenji shrieked and started thrashing.
A pair of astonished brown eyes surveyed him for a moment before the lady, whoever she was, shouted, "It's the midget-kid!" Kenji took that as an opportunity to escape before the woman grabbed his other leg. "And he's a fast little shit."
Kenji growled, and scurried down the tree he'd been hiding in. He dodged past the woman that had grabbed him, and skidded away from her, slipping slightly on the mist-soaked grass before he recovered his footing.
Recalling very specific instructions by his mother… if he was ever alone in a bad situation, he was to head in the direction he'd seen her last, he turned and started a sprint towards the hotel. He was stopped immediately by the crazy lady holding a sword. Amazed, he stopped. How'd she gotten around him?
"All right, kid. You'd better just give yourself up," she said menacingly, swinging the sword from side to side. "I ain't exactly got any moral qualms about killing babies." Kenji bared his teeth in an insulted snarl and the woman snorted at him. "C'mon, brat. She wants you before morning."
Kenji spotted a fallen branch, more of a large stick but the right size for him, lying half in a pool of shadow a few feet away, and he tensed. A stick wouldn't do a lot against the sword she was casually waving around, but the flicker of something familiar beckoned not too far away, and all he needed to do was distract her long enough to reach it. Launching himself with every ounce of speed he's learned dodging baths and bedtime, Kenji lunged for the branch.
"That's not nice!" Screwing his face in concentration, he focused all his ki through the stick and swung it toward the ground, which separated with a very satisfying crack.
The woman paused a moment, then a smile spread across her face and an evil light lit her eyes. "All right, kid. You wanna play hardball, let's go."
The flat of her sword came arcing towards Kenji, and he jumped away to avoid it. There was a sinking realization that he wouldn't be able to avoid his opponents for much longer. Exhaustion dragged at him, and his breath was coming in pants.
"Keiko-kun."
His attacker stilled at the call, and looked up to something behind the boy. A rustle of silk, jarringly different compared to the whistling of moving blades and shouting voices, ghosted over the stones and grass of the garden. Kenji chanced looking over his shoulder to see who had saved him. The okami of the inn stood serenely before them, her dark functional kimono now exchanged for a formal one of emerald silk, and her dark hair pulled up elaborately with jade combs tipped in gold ornaments that chimed, bell-like, as she moved.
"Ayama-san." The one called Keiko acknowledged Amaya with a bow of respect.
"I seem to have caught you at a bad time," Amaya said mildly, "but I believe I expressed to you a sense of urgency when I sent you on this portion of the mission, and I need your expertise in the holding room."
"Yare, yare. I'm moving," Keiko said with an impatient sigh. "What the hell do you want me to do with the brat?"
A wintery, amused, smile touched her painted lips and she turned to return the way she had come. "Bring 'the brat'. And in one piece, if you would."
"All right. Whatever you say. I still think it would have been more fun to chop him into little pieces. The dogs like to eat children better that way."
Keiko didn't even have to touch him. The combination of exhaustion and the image caused Kenji to faint dead away.
Keiko sighed. "Pansy-ass little shit."
"Kenshin ..." Kaoru breathed, staring at him as though half-convinced he would evaporate if she looked away despite the restrained strength she felt pressing against Hiko's katana in her hands. The sheathe of the katana slipped free completely and clattered to the ground between them, breaking the silence. Kaoru watched the reflected light from the sakabatou shift across Kenshin's face as he shifted aside fluidly and broke their swords' lock.
Kenshin reached out tentatively to her face, a warm mixture of sadness and relief lighting his eyes, before he pulled her into his arms a bit desperately and breathed in her scent. For a moment, Kaoru allowed herself to relax in the arms of her husband. "I've been looking for you," she murmured into his shoulder. "I'd swear we've been across half of Japan looking for you."
Kenshin's murmurs were incomprehensible but soothing, his breath stirring her hair.
Kaoru stilled his face with her hands and kissed him. When his eyes were fully locked on hers, she let out a shaky breath. "You are in so much trouble."
"O ... oro?" Kenshin managed, and Kaoru swatted his shoulder.
"Kenshin, why didn't you tell us when you decided to evaporate for weeks on end? Misao has had the Oniwabanshu tearing the country apart looking for you, and Kenji kept asking when you were coming home!"
"I ... Koishii, I sent a letter when I realized I would be delayed."
"Delayed?" Kaoru asked, dangerously sweet.
Kenshin pulled the katana from her fingers, sheathed it, and slid both the katana and the sakabatou into the ties of his hakama. "I sent it with a merchant bound for Tokyo," he elaborated.
There was a pause in the conversation as they both stood awkwardly, wanting desperately to do something but not knowing exactly to say or... "Kenji!" Kaoru cried, snapping back to reality. "We were separated and five of those women went after him!"
Kenshin's eyes widened and he grabbed her hand, pulling Kaoru along as he took off in the direction of the tall trees ringing the inn's gardens. Kenshin sharpened his senses and hunted, trying and find some indication of his son. He allowed the predatory part of his nature that lurked to join and strengthen the panic of a father faced with losing his child, and defend against the lead-laced sense of dread curling around his heart.
"We'll find him before they do," he told Kaoru firmly, suppressing the bloody memories that were bubbling to the surface by force of will and long practice. His left hand loosened from clutching at the hilt of the sakabatou, and his fingers brushed against the wrapped cords and rough sharkskin of the katana resting below.
"Kaoru," Kenshin said over his shoulder as they ran through the forest while he scanned the area around it. "How did you come by Shishou's sword?"
"Um…" Kaoru searched for a way to sum up the weird series of coincidences that had led them to the situation they were in. "It's a bit of a long story."
Kenshin slowed abruptly, and dragged her into a stand of bamboo. His arm wrapped around her shoulder, pressing her into his body as he pressed her down beside him, keeping them hidden. Several heartbeats later, Kaoru picked up the rapid click of footfalls and hushed voices heading their way.
"Did they get the kid they were looking for?" One rough female voice asked.
"Yeah. Amaya-san sent Keiko-san to pick him up, and they've bundled him off to the mountain by now. The kid's toast, even if his daddy is the Demon of Kyoto."
"I'll bet there's already bidders." The woman's voice resonated with dark glee.
The other woman shrugged artlessly. "Even if he doesn't net us a high price, the rest of tonight's catch will be worth the trouble." She tapped one nail against her lips speculatively and smiled. "Unless our leader decides to keep them, of course. Let's finish securing the place so we can catch up to the others."
Kenshin tightened the arm resting across Kaoru's shoulders, and laid a hand over her mouth, restraining her from lunging out at the women and demanding to know the exact whereabouts of her son. He was snarling silently enough for both of them. She glared up at him, pulling away and finding it as futile as if he'd wrapped her in steel. Kenshin failed to even twitch and chance giving away their location. His eyes, however, shaded to a dangerous blue.
As the women passed out of earshot, Kenshin finally loosed his grip on Kaoru's mouth and she jumped away from him. "Kenshin! What were you thinking? We could have found out where Kenji is from those women!"
"There is no point," Kenshin said, his voice sinking to the lower register she had come to associate over the years with the Battousai side of her husband. "I know where they are going. There are few places in the mountains that could conceal a group this large."
"Well then, let's go! Kenji's only six, Kenshin. He doesn't know how to handle psychotic slave-trading women."
"Shishou has dealt with slave traders before, Koishii. And Yahiko is trustworthy under pressure," Kenshin told her. "Go after them we will, but I would not give her any reason to harm Kenji or use him as leverage."
Kaoru bit her lip in worry, then wrinkled her nose as a thought occurred to her. "How did you know I brought Yahiko?" Kaoru asked, puzzled. Kenshin smoothed her hair out of her eyes and pulled her up as he stood.
"Because Yahiko would never have allowed you to come alone."
Kaoru hummed annoyed agreement for a moment and said, "I suppose Soujiro and Sano can help, as well."
Kenshin stopped in his tracks and looked at her, disbelief coloring his blue eyes. "Sano returned from China? And Soujiro…"
"Found us and kept us from getting further lost after Sano decided he knew the way to Kyoto."
Kenshin rubbed at the bridge of his nose and led the way back out into the open. "Is there anyone, or anything, else I should know about, Koishii?"
Kaoru hesitated, ducking a low branch that they passed under as they avoided the main pathway, and a flash of Kenji proudly wielding his shinai and practicing inexpertly, but with impressive accuracy for his age. "No, Kenshin. No one else is with us."
Kenshin found himself chuckling despite the situation. "That's quite a traveling group, that it is."
"Kenji had the time of his life," Kaoru admitted. "And it was fun to see all the guys figure out how to deal with each other. I know Sano and Yahiko and Kenji are really looking forward to seeing you again, Kenshin."
"Soujiro and Hiko…" Kenshin's voice trailed off momentarily. "Soujiro would not be happy to see me again, I do not think. And Shishou… he is an enigma."
Kaoru nodded, and their whispered conversation subsided. Kenshin had not unwound from his tense state of alertness, but they had not heard or seen any indication of those they hunted. The entire inn looked, and felt, abandoned. As the pair finally arrived back at the dining rooms that overlooked the garden, they saw the shouji flung back and the rooms cluttered with discarded items.
Kaoru drew in a ragged breath and Kenshin took her arm gently. "Come, Koishii. We have a long walk to make this night if we're to find and rescue the others. Let's gather what we need so we can leave quickly."
"Shouldn't we just leave now?" Kaoru demanded, allowing Kenshin to help her up onto the porch. Despite her question, she moved to gather the familiar things littering the tatami. Yahiko's bokken lay beneath the table, crossed by Soujiro's sakabatou. Sano's jacket had been trampled and abandoned under several cushions. Kenshin had left her to gravitate to the stained mantle that looked like it had been thrown into the room as an afterthought and left to lie like a fallen bird.
Kenshin knelt, and straightened the folds as he responded. "The mantle should not be left behind; Shishou would very likely kill me. And Sano would not forgive us for losing his jacket."
"Kenshin, if we don't find my baby before they sell him off I'm never going to forgive you. And I am much scarier than Hiko-san, believe me."
"Maa maa, Koishii. You do not have to remind of that, that you did not."
Kat's Notes: Chi said I had to go first this time ... well, we finally finished this one off. It nearly killed us and got rewritten a time or two. Thank you to everyone for enjoying the plot twist last chapter. We had so much fun seeing the reactions! So, hopefully this has lived up to expectations, we have Kenshin back, and now ... we can get down to the business of finding everyone else. 'Til next time!
Chi's Notes: Kat's very good at writing Author's Notes, isn't she? In fact, she's brilliant at just about everything she does... including keeping me sane during rewrites. Just so you know, the title for this chapter was almost "In Which The Authors Committed Suicide During One of Several Attempts to Write the Blasted Thing"... it was shot down for length reasons. Anyway, we would have gotten this to you sooner, but my health has been a chronic issue of late. Thankfully, they've figured out what's causing the severeness and frequency of my sinus infections and I should be a normal, functioning human being soon. Several people deserve our thanks... Shinou, Emy... God, for the wealth of patience He gave us both with these stupid characters... And the several reviewers who asked questions...read our answers and then asked more questions. You're our favorites, because there's nothing we love more than chatting. Anyway, the next one is coming soon (Promise) and we'll be seeing you all and chatting in your reviews and e-mails. Until then, take care, have a safe holiday season and God Bless.