: Disclaimer :
Sessha does not own Rurouni Kenshin, that he most certainly does not. :)
Justice - That fortune cookie was SO off.
Hiko - You trust those things, baka?
Justice - No. But it's fun to mock the cookie.
Kenshin - O_Ox NOOO!!!
Justice + Hiko - O_O
Kenshin - NEVER. MOCK. THE COOKIE.
Justice - @_@
Hiko - Superstitious baka...
Kenshin - You don't understand! The cookie has POWERS... _ _
Justice - ~_~
AUTHOR'S NOTES - Last chapter was BAAAAAAD.
There is only so long one can write before running out of steam, and that was my limit.
I'm still suffering from a mild case of writer's block, i.e. WORK AND SCHOOL.
Darnit, it should be illegal for homework and real work to get in the way of my writing!
I need practice!
In this chappy, Hiko will be hunting down some baddies, and learning a few things about
his own mind and convictions. This might be a little disturbing, but I'm really trying to demonstrate
the evil nature of the men in this chapter, and make Hiko question his direction in life.
All the same, my head hurts just writing some of these lines...
Perhaps the rating should go up... Please tell me.
: REVIEW THANKS :
Ayashi1 - O_O I had wondered why anyone hadn't written something like this yet.
Guess I just should have waited a little longer, that I should have. Oh, well.
Please go and write it and let's see your vision of this particular scenario! ^_^
As to the OAV... Christmas shopping for parents and brother. Utterly broke, that I am.
^_^ Thanks for the review! And now...
The Sword of Seijuro Hiko
Chapter 04 - Questions
----- ----- -----
ORO
----- ----- -----
There were two kinds of men in this world, or so Seijuro Hiko saw it.
One was the kind of man that walked straight into any situation presented to him, confident and strong.
The other kind was he that tried to sneak around a situation.
Hiko was the first kind of man.
He had been running for about ten minutes now, and was now about a thousand feet from the village,
which afforded him a better view of the place, although Hiko had learned enough seeing it
from two thousand.
He was too late.
His pace unrelenting, Hiko dashed straight into the village and, drawing his sword, he began to search the village.
Six men lay dead, four evidently villagers, the other two were evidently bandits, judging by their crude
weapons and scruffy, slipshod grooming. Hiko grunted and moved on - he could do nothing for them, except
wish them happiness in the next life.
Walking amidst the burned houses and establishments, Hiko was thankful that there weren't many casualties.
The only dead were the six he had encountered earlier, and after three minutes of searching by sight, scent and ki,
Hiko could detect no wounded or escapees. He grunted again - most likely carted off by slavers.
That sounds familiar...
Hiko hated the very idea of slavery, as if one man had any right to own another. His deshi, having come
from a situation quite similar to that, had quite a clear view on that trade, as well as many others, i.e.
yakuzas, opium smugglers, etc. As pleased as he had been, however, with Kenshin's ethics,
it had gone a little far.
It had long been in Hiko's mind that it was the only way some people knew to survive.
He had told his deshi as much. Some lived simple, honest lives, eeking out an existence on their farms,
others sold their wares in the streets of the cities, others, not knowing how else to live,
murdered and stole and took advantage of others. The life of low-born bandits, of jobless peasants,
and dishonored ronin, the only life they could make for themselves. He had stressed this to his deshi
on several occasions, trying to break the boy of his black-and-white mind, but the kid had never listened.
They're only living as best they know how.
He had once believed that.
It got harder to believe it as days went by.
Grunting, he cast his eyes downwards, and began checking for recent tracks.
A tough job, he noted. Having just been the scene of a battle, there were footprints everywhere,
and even Hiko could not distinguish between defender and attacker. The central portion
of the village was a mess, and impossible to glean any meaningful information from. The outskirts, then.
Circling the perimeter of the village, he noted a cart trail leading off to the east,
about a four days old. Hiko dismissed it - the blood was dry, but not that old. Not to mention the fires...
Half a day at least, a day at most.
Continuing around the village, Hiko noticed another set of tracks, that of a large caravan
heading west. Hiko grunted - likely, there would have been a lot of people being dragged along
with the slavers, and most of them, if not all, on foot. Bending down for a closer look, he
cast a critical eye on the clearest footprints, and attempted, to the best of his considerable
ability, to distinguish between them.
There were eight women taken by the slavers. One of them was injured and staggered along the way.
Six or seven children, it's hard to tell, the tracks crisscross repeatedly. Four men went with them.
The bandits, no doubt.
Hiko stood up and began to follow the tracks, running in expectant silence.
Two hours after locating the tracks and beginning his pursuit, Hiko was beginning to wonder
how far such a caravan could travel in the space of a few hours. There were indeed cart ruts,
but not many horse tracks, and plenty of human footprints.
They're in a hurry to get somewhere. The tracks are spaced wide, verging on running.
Injured women and little kids cannot maintain such a hectic pace for long. What the...
Hiko halted his pace, straining his ears.
I heard something, but I feel almost nothing. A casualty?
It came again - a soft moan, almost beyond normal hearing, to his immediate right.
Walking off the road slowly, Hiko's composure began to collapse as he beheld a woman
in her late teens, bleeding from dozens of small cuts that ran along her slim figure, down her legs,
and even across her face. Whip marks.
Hiko held back an ominous growl as he bent down to check the woman for other wounds.
Running a practiced eye over her form, he noted that most of the blood was nearly dry. She had been here
for at least a few hours. Hiko didn't know whether this made him relieved or more furious.
In addition to the whip cuts that crisscrossed along her body, there was an extremely deep slash,
like that made by a katana, running down her right eye, down to the base of her neck, a vicious slash,
indicating she had been something of a problem... Perhaps an afterthought to her other injuries?
No, the wound was too old.
He thought back for a moment.
One of them was injured...
Hiko let himself growl and began to tear strips of cloth from his shirt, bandaging the most serious cuts,
and making a larger, tighter bandage across her scarred face. He moved as gently as he could,
taking care not to awaken the woman, who seemed to have either fallen asleep of unconscious,
but the woman awoke as he began to tie the bandage around her forehead.
Startled, she tried to get up, but Hiko pressed her back down, and she quickly collapsed in fright,
her good eye fixed on Hiko, full of terror, and she whimpered quietly.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he informed her quietly. "I'm pursuing the men that I assume did this to you."
The woman did not respond, she merely trembled. Her hand moved to her throat,
then over her kimono, gripping it tightly. She trembled all the more, and Hiko scowled. Not hard to guess
why she had made that particular motion.
"I said I wasn't going to hurt you. You can stop shaking like you're in a blizzard."
Uncertainly, she tried to look more fully into Hiko's eyes, but he pressed her down again.
"Listen, I have to pursue them, and I have to go quickly. I'll give you a choice -
You're not going to bleed to death, that is certain. I can leave you here, and send back help after I kill those
slavers and find a town, or I can take you with me while I hunt them down. I will travel fast and I will not
stop for anything, however, and that will be your problem if something comes up."
Silent for a moment, she asked, "Who are you?"
Hiko shook his head and scowled even more deeply, causing the woman to begin trembling again.
"I said stop that!" he hissed. "What's it going to be? I have to leave now. Stay or go, it's your choice."
She considered him, and finally said, "Go."
Hiko did not bother to acknowledge her response, but instead picked her up, gently,
and walked back to the road. The woman drew her arms up around herself, and Hiko
looked down at her.
"It will be rough, I have to go quickly."
She nodded, as did Hiko.
"Very well, then." And at that, he began running again.
It wasn't terribly difficult to run with the woman in his arms, his strength was already beyond reason,
and he still wore the cloak of the Hiten Mitsurugi. Further, it had only been an hour since he had begun running
with her anyways. However, contrary to what he had said he would do, (which was all bluff)
he found himself stopping a time or two, since the woman quickly began shivering
from the cold winds that the velocity that Hiko traveled at brought down. Sighing, he stopped and draped his cloak over her so as to keep her warm without crushing her under it's startling weight. It was, in fact, quite heavy and beyond the ability of normal men to lift or drag.
*A/N - I read in a manga translation that the cloak has ten eighty-pound weights at the shoulders.
O_O Is that even possible? For anyone besides, Hiko, I mean...
Impatient though he was, he sat quietly and let the woman recover her stamina, and he gave her what provisions
he had on him for food, which she quickly devoured, and the rest of his water.
With another sigh, Hiko watched her rest quietly underneath his cloak, obviously no longer afraid of Hiko,
and he resisted the urge to growl at himself as he considered the events that had led to his current predicament.
I must be getting old and soft... Wait. No, not possible.
This scene repeated, minus the food, twice, and after that, the woman seemed to have adjusted to the cold winds.
After another hour of running, night had fallen, but Hiko's superhuman vision allowed him
to maintain his pace, even at night. He did not stop until he cleared a hill and caught sight of a large campfire
amidst a collection of carts, bandits, and miserable captives.
Coming to a screeching halt, Hiko walked off the road, setting his load down next to a small tree,
amidst a particularly thick patch of grass. He began to stand up, but the woman grabbed his cloak
and tugged. Hiko glanced down and knelt again.
"I've caught up to them. I'm got to go now, I'll return in a moment."
She shook her head, and tried to say something.
Frowning, Hiko leaned closer and asked her to repeat herself.
Licking her lips, she whispered, "They're not just bandits, they're actually ronin. They'll kill you."
Hiko smiled, not in arrogance, nor in anticipation, but an amused smile, although the woman flinched at the sight.
"We'll see."
She stared at him, watching his smile melt away. "What troubles you?"
What is that supposed to mean?
Frowning, he said, "I'm going down there to slay four men. It's not a thought or a duty I enjoy."
"Your eyes say that much."
Now he was really puzzled. "What?"
She whispered, "I've never seen eyes that color... Strange, but beautiful, somehow..."
Hiko snorted. She was delusional from the blood loss. He stood and turned to go.
"I'll return in about five minutes. Try and think of a place to go while I'm gone. I have no intentions
of carting you all around with me across Japan."
And with that, he vanished into the night.
Seven women quivered silently in the cold dark of the night as their kidnappers eyed them from the fire,
looking them over with a lustful eye. It wasn't difficult to tell what was on their minds.
Grinning, one of them stood up and walked towards them, and called out, "It's warmer over here, ladies!
Wouldn't you like to join your generous hosts and share a little sake around the campfire?"
The comment elicited a round of sinister laughter from the other men around the fire, and they began yelling
obscene remarks to the women, who in turn looked away and continued quivering.
All that is, except one younger woman.
"Pigs," she spat.
The men's laughter died down quickly, while the other women moved to hush their bolder companion.
The one standing between them looked back at his comrades over his shoulder.
"I think this one wants to go behind the carts, boys!"
This incited another round of laughter, more base this time around. One of the men began sharpening
his knife, and another threw his companion closest to the women a whip.
Grabbing it, the bandit twirled it in the air, performing a few simple tricks, which his companions applauded
loudly. He turned back to the women and cracked the whip at them.
The leather cord caught the offending girl across the face, and she cried out as it drew a ring of blood across
her pretty face.
The men hooted in laughter, and the whip-man bowed to his accomplices.
"More! More!" they chanted.
Grinning from ear to ear, the whip-man said, "Shall we take her back, gents?"
The children, awakened by the noise, cried silently as they tried to tend the wounded girl's face.
"Nah, just do it here!" one man returned.
The oldest woman amongst them looked back at their captors, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Please, just leave us alone!" she whispered.
Without turning, Whip-man replied, "Order has to be maintained in a classy operation like ours,
hag. We can't have upstarts like her causing trouble like that."
"Yeah, she's got to be taught a lesson!" one man drawled.
"Examples must be made of rebels like her," another said dryly, his lust barely disguised.
"PUBLIC examples!" the third added.
The stricken girl, infuriated rather than terrified at her impending fate, stood up and told the men
exactly where they could go with their lessons.
Whip-man crossed his arms, still without turning, and drawled, "Maybe we should discipline the younger ones,
then, eh?" turning his head and eying one of the younger girls.
The bolder girl suddenly lost her nerve, and she began to tremble as she followed his line of sight to
the girl behind her.
Shaking in rage and terror, she turned back and said, "You wouldn't. Even you are not so base and vile..."
Cracking the whip, Whip-man turned his eyes to his mates.
"Maybe we should discipline the lot of them, eh?" he hissed.
"Yeah!" was the chorus that returned.
"No!" the young woman choked out. "Take me! Leave them alone!"
"Oh, it's too late for that, mis-" one began, then stopped. His pupils shrunk and he pointed behind his partner.
"D-d-demon!"
Whip-man whirled around and came face-to-face with...
The eyes of Seijuro Hiko.
Hiko's dark, honey-colored eyes grew darker and more violent as he glared at the men before him.
"W-who the hell are you?" Whip-man demanded.
"The only thing you deserve is a slow, painful death, and I am unwilling to give you even that," came the cold reply.
Unsheathing his nihontou, he flipped the blade again, for the sake of the children's eyes.
Faster than the eye could perceive, Hiko dashed behind the man and twirled around, his nihontou at neck level,
and executed a powerful Ryuu Kan Sen Tsumuji.
There was an audible snap, and Whip-man was no more.
Whirling around, Hiko's eyes were aglow with a light of their own, the glittering orbs promising death to those
who remained, and he sheathed his weapon and slid into a low Battou Jutsu stance.
The one who had first perceived Hiko's arrival attempted to stand, but his arm gave out in his fright,
and he fell onto his back, his eyes never leaving Hiko's own burning ones.
Hiko's eyes fell upon the unlucky slaver, and a lance of coldness shot through the bandit's heart.
So cold... So very cold... And yet they're burning.
Desperately, he began crawling backwards, trying to escape the furious swordsman before him, and then,
finding strength in his terror, he turned and, stumbling to his feet, began to run.
Hiko's eyes narrowed and grew more intense. No, there is no escape for you.
Pushing off his right leg, he covered twenty feet in a single bound.
A bone-crushing blow, and the bandit's eyes closed for the last time.
Averting his gaze from the dead man, Hiko leapt towards the remaining two bandits, who tried to
stand and draw their weapons, but Hiko never gave them the chance.
In a flash he was in the air, flipping upwards and landing on a tree branch. Crouching from his momentum,
he pushed off again and came down equally fast in a flawless Ryuu Tsui Sen, the branch snapping behind him and
following him to the ground.
The man fell without a sound, and Hiko's nihontou whipped around and slammed into the other one's stomach.
The final bandit's yelp of anger trailed off to a strangled grasp as his breath left him in a rush.
For a moment, Hiko halted his assault, as the man tumbled towards the ground.
Perhaps he was right...
Perhaps they truly are evil. Perhaps they ARE irredeemable.
Deshi... Were you the one who was truly correct?
I...I don't know anymore. Not after seeing this... so much of this. I'm... so tired.
Tired of this.
'They're only living as best they know how.'
Tired of them!
'I can't stand by and watch as innocent people suffer!'
I'll not tolerate it anymore!
Before the man had fallen even a foot, Hiko's sword struck below the base of his neck,
and the final slaver fell, dead, to the ground.
Hiko stood and stared into nothingness for what seemed like an eternity, wondering what was happening
to his mind.
I feel... so old. So tired. My dreams are nothing. My fantasies, my aspirations, my hopes, they amount to
nothing at all. The only thing that matters is the truth.
This will never end until all evil is destroyed. That's what he said.
Was he right...? Or was I?
Should I have gone with him? Together, we could have destroyed anything that arose to harm this nation.
I'm older, wiser; I could have prevented those who recruited him, could have pointed him another way.
He might not have become a hitokiri, and I could have been there to guide his sword and channel that
rage he feels. I have failed him. I have failed my shishou. I have failed this nation.
I let those backstabbing politicians usurp his idealism, corrupt his power, and destroy his innocence.
What have I done?
There was utter silence in the camp, save for an occasional hiss and crackle from the large campfire
in the center of the camp. Hushed awe reigned supreme amongst the former captives, who expected
the white-caped man to slay them at any moment, but even this thought could not rouse them from their shock.
No one thought to run, or rather, gave it a second thought - he was far too swift. They did not wish to draw
his attention, nor did they want to stay and find out if he was going to kill them too, but they could not
see anything that they could do about it.
For the longest time, no one moved.
The wounded woman, her injury long since forgotten, could only stare at the powerful man who had slain
four men in ten seconds. She felt a little scared, and at the same time, extremely curious as to who this man was.
So fast and strong and skilled... What kind of kenjutsu school did he attend, to become so powerful?
The silence continued, Hiko, lost in his own thoughts, the displaced villagers, lost in theirs.
Eight long minutes passed. The tension, which Hiko was oblivious to, grew thicker and more pervasive
with each passing minute. Finally, he awoke to the eerie silence.
He turned slowly, fixing his brilliant golden eyes on the huddled group of humanity, which seemed to cringe as
one under his terrifying, yet entrancing gaze.
Hiko was growing tired of people trembling when he looked at them. He resisted an urge to scowl, and tried
on a smile for size.
No easy feat for a man who knew only how to smirk, at least consciously. Still, though, he tried.
This only seemed to scare the group more. This antagonized Hiko in turn, but he was careful not to show it.
I think they've had enough trouble for one night.
END Chapter 3
...as I said, writer's block.
Ah, well. I wanted a lot more combat in this chapter, but I was still thinking about a reviewer's observation
about no one being a match for Hiko. I found a way around it, and it's not terribly original, but hey,
it works! ^_^ It'll be a chapter or two before I get there, though...
But, anyhow, I got a GREAT idea just as I finished fretting over and writing the first draft of this chappy,
(it was a thousand words longer), so I scrapped the draft and wrote this instead. I hope everyone likes it...
I feel strange writing so much inner conflict. I have to think it all out in my mind, the whole
'how would Hiko respond?' bit, and after a while it has an effect on you.
I feel angsty. ^_^
Next chapter will find Hiko arriving in a burnt Kyoto, where the Ishin Shishi have scattered,
the Battousai is long gone, and very litttle for Hiko to go on from there. I better head to the Battousai Shrine
and read up on events around this time...
Hopefully, next chappy will come within two weeks, unlike this one...
BTW, do you think I should scrap the mini-comics like the one in the disclaimer? It seems
to conflict with what I'm trying to write...
R+R!
And as always...
Thanks for reading! ^_^