Retribution
Chapter 19: Boy Interrupted
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Author: Jun-I

Warnings and Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

Note:
- As to how Kyuuzou came to hate driving, see companion fic Happy Endings ;-)

Kyuuzou's POV:

The next morning, we left the peasants behind and headed off to the Capital on the flying sword. But not before Kanbei had to tell Kirara one more time to shut up and leave him alone. Anyway, I told myself this was the last we'll be seeing of her for a while, so there was no need to let her antics annoy me too much.

When we finally found the Capital, Kanbei ordered Shichi to charge right at it. The flying fortress focused its firepower on us. I thought that Shimada fellow was just kidding when he told Kirara he had no plan and that we were all going to die! Luckily for us, Shichiroji was an excellent driver and managed to avoid some of the laser beams that were shooting at us. Still, Kikuchiyo and I had to deflect more than a few of those deadly beams. What was our fearless leader doing anyway? Hiding behind Kiku and me while chitchatting with Shichiroji about 'the girl'? My blood pressure rose at the very thought.

I bailed out of the giant cutter first chance I got. Jumped onto a mecha as it loomed up in front of us. I found myself leaping from flying robot to flying robot, trying to slash my way of this craziness that Kanbei had gotten us into. Sure enough, a giant mecha fired its cannon at me. I jumped aside and the shell exploded some distance from me. Shrapnel got into my right arm but I supposed it could have been worse. I took advantage of the cover of smoke to get back to the cutter. Shichi was gone. So were the other two.

What? No chauffeur? I hated driving. Especially with one arm. Kougakyo had a great public transportation system so I rarely had to drive. I studied the vehicle's controls for a moment. My driver's license had already expired, but I had no choice.

I could sense Kanbei's location inside the giant ship. Despite my questionable driving skills and useless right arm, I managed to pilot the vehicle right into the inner court where our fearless leader, Shichi and Kiku were facing off with Tessai and his company of gun-bearing robots. Regrettably, I had to finish Tessai off. I would not need to do this if Tessai had quit Ukyo when he had the chance. My ex-colleague never liked what Ukyo did anyway, but his inflexible notions of samurai 'honor' and 'loyalty' prevented him from leaving that loser. Too late for him now.

"Your arm!" Kanbei ran up to me exclaiming. This guy was totally wasting his breath by telling me something I already knew. My sisters never ran around a battlefield exclaiming, "Your arm!" or whatever. Did you hear me saying "Your arm!" to Ayame when she was injured in combat? She would have shredded me (verbally, of course) for being a drama queen. But I had neither her temper nor her alpha personality. So I dismissed Kanbei simply by saying, "I can still use my left arm."

Then that Katsu kid ran into the room screaming his dramatic battle yell. He took out one robot before another one broke his sword and knocked him down. The mecha aimed its gun at him. Finally Kanbei found something useful to do. He ran over and struck down the Mimi that was about to kill Katsunoji. This, however, put our wise leader right in position between two mecha who were ready to fire at him. Shichi threw his spear through one of them and I ran over to cut down the other one. That Shimada fellow was not going to die! Not until I got some answers out of him.

Then before I knew it, the bullets hit me. I lost control of my limbs and fell as I saw the mecha fall. Katsushiro was right behind it holding a gun. So it was that kid coming to Kanbei's rescue by firing a gun at that very same mecha I was trying to kill! I don't blame Katsushiro for what happened. I blame Kanbei! Probably every bad thing that ever happened to me was ultimately Shimada Kanbei's fault.

As pain ripped through my body, I had the fleeting thought that I was dying. But no! This could not be true! I could not die! There were still questions I needed to have answered! There were still things I needed to do! I was not going to die!

Kanbei rushed over and caught me in his arms. That was so unnecessary. I was just wounded in action. Not like it hadn't happened before. Eventually, I would be carried off the battlefield and taken back to Kanna to recuperate.

The man did not put me down. He just held me.

"Finish the job!" I had to waste my energy telling our 'wise' leader to reprioritize his tasks even though it was sheer agony for me to speak. "Don't forget our duel. I'll wait for you in the village."

Then I felt my own ki growing dimmer even as he stared down at me with an expression that looked almost like grief. Maybe I should rethink my previous assessment of my condition after all. I struggled to remain in the world of the living. All the "could-haves" and "should-haves" spun through my mind as I met his eyes. But he should really leave now. The ceiling was crumbling around us.

"I will be there soon," he whispered, "Wait for me on the other side."

"No you don't understand!" I tried in vain to voice the words as blood filled my mouth and lungs. "I can't leave before you! There are two people waiting for me on the other side! I can't go to them empty-handed!" But no sound passed my lips. He looked at me uncomprehending. I lost sight of him as I passed into a blood-red world.

Author's Comments:

Dear readers, this is NOT the end. Obviously, if this story is to deserve its title of Retribution, there will be more to follow. I wrote the remainder of the fic (about 8-10 chapters) a long time ago. I am still considering changes to the chapters I've already written but not yet uploaded. Might even rework the plot for those chapters. They went through one drastic revision already; I'm happier with the new story trajectory, but still not super-thrilled.

So I'll open it to the floor – what ideas do you folks have? What do you think should happen next? What do you want to see happen? I can't reveal the rest of the story here cos' it will spoil things for readers.

But if you don't mind spoilers and you want to offer suggestions, ping me. I don't promise I'll use every (or even any) suggestion I get (I gotta see how a suggestion will fit into the existing plot I've already written for the remainder of the tale) but you'll have my thanks whether I use your idea or not. If anything, sifting through what does not work will give us a better idea of what might work. And if I do use your idea, I'll acknowledge your contribution in the fic header. (No payment of any sort is to be expected though ;-)