Kendo Club
Ch 11
Wow... we've come so far. GO US! Its all about teamwork guys!
Okay, sry bout that. ;p Im kinda wacky today. Anyway, this is a major plot twist chapter!
From now on NOTHING will be the same! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Please read ... and review!
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The next day they went to school as usual and everything seemed completely normal except that Kenshin was quieter and more spaced-out then usual. The school day flew by, filled with boring classes and a disgusting cafeteria lunch. Hiko made an appearance for a few minutes during the lunch period until he claimed that he had to go and attend to more important matters.
Soon the school day was over and the group headed towards the gym for kendo practice. It went by normally, except that by the end Kenshin still hadn't shown up as he promised, or rather as he had been ordered to by Hiko earlier at lunch.
Hiko drove Kaoru and Yahiko back to the house, the spiky-haired boy being cranky again at her tardiness when they finally picked him up. When Kaoru questioned the adult where her redhead friend might was, Hiko snapped at her that Kenshin had no doubtedly forgotten kendo and was probably back at the house cooking dinner at the moment.
But when they got home Kenshin was nowhere to be found, and he hadn't even left a note or message to where he was.
Kaoru began to freak out when she realized that Kenshin was missing, and she noticed in her silent panic that even Hiko looked worried. Yahiko, however, was sitting on the couch absently watching TV. She was surprised at how calm he was, but then again her brother had only known Kenshin for a day or so.
The teen walked over to the adult who had heavily sat down on a dining chair a few minutes before. "Hiko, are you alright?" She asked worriedly, stopping in front of him. He looked up at her, breaking off from his mumbling and spoke clearly. "Something's wrong, he would have called. That baka knows he has to call me if his plans change."
"Maybe he just forgot his phone somewhere." Kaoru tried to reassure him, but after she thought about it, the teen realized that she had seen Kenshin's cell earlier that day.
As if he was reading her mind, Hiko shook his head. "No, even though he's a baka, Kenshin wouldn't forget his phone. He knows to have it with him and to call me." Kaoru opened her mouth to comment, but Yahiko beat her. "I don't get why you two are so worried. He's old enough to take care of himself," the boy scowled, not taking his eyes off the TV.
Hiko smirked, "He's not as responsible as you would think. Kenshin can be quite careless at times." Kaoru looked disbelievingly at him, but he chose to ignore it. "Well there's nothing we can do until he comes back, so we might as well relax and do something else."
Two hours went by and the red-head still hadn't appeared. It took another hour for Hiko to finally give in to his guest's demands and tell Kaoru to go cook dinner. They ate what was salvageable from the remains of what was supposed to be the cheese on toast Kaoru had made.
One hour later found the siblings lounging on the couch watching a movie while Hiko sat at the table staring at the phone. The mentioned movie ended an hour and a half later, leaving Yahiko yawning and sleepy. Kaoru became worried again when the clock ticked over to ten-forty-five.
They all sat quietly staring at nothing until the door quietly opened and a small black hooded figure stepped in then closed the door again. Mutely the person stood in front of the door, not talking or moving further in. Hiko and Kaoru just stared while Yahiko lay dozing on the sofa next to his sister.
Finally the silence was broken when Kaoru leaped off the couch and ran towards the stranger, happily shouting, "Kenshin!" and grinning. But before she could tackle and hug him Hiko yelled, "Stop!" and so she did, staring at him as she stood in place.
Hiko, who had been observing the boy's ki ever since he had arrived, stayed in his chair but calmly instructed the girl, "Kaoru take your brother into the guest bedroom and stay there until I call for you."
The girl pouted, annoyed at him, but obediently walked over to the couch, picked up her brother and, with a last worried look at Kenshin, carried Yahiko into the back room.
Hiko waited until he heard the door click shut then ordered coldly, "Come here boy." Kenshin silently obeyed him, trudging his way across the carpet wearily before stopping in front of his uncle, the red-head's eyes and face still hidden by the hood pulled over his head.
"What happened baka deshi? Why are you home so late and why didn't you call?"
When Kenshin didn't respond after what seemed to be an innumerable amount of minutes Hiko grabbed the boy and began roughly shaking him saying, "Answer me Kenshin. Kenshin!" While he was shaking his nephew the hood fell back and Hiko let go of the boy and sat back with a soft gasp.
The boy's entire appearance had changed. His normally flame-red hair was so caked with dirt and dust that it looked more coffee brown then red. Kenshin's usual alert lavender eyes were dull and vacant, his head tilted as if he were gazing at the floor underneath Hiko's chair. Then, to top it all off, there was a deep, red cross-shaped scar cutting diagonally across his left cheek.
Hiko looked sadly at his nephew. "They've finally caught up with you, after all this time." After a pause of silence the man stood up and put a hand around the boys shoulders. "Well, let's get you cleaned up at least." He led Kenshin down the hall and into the bathroom.
When Kenshin still didn't respond to any of insults or his tries at verbal jousting Hiko picked up and threw a sponge at his nephew, who dodged and finally looked up at him. Hiko noted hopefully that the boy seemed slightly more alert then before. "Oro?" He commented, eyes wide with confusion.
Hiko scowled at him. "At least I got a response out of you. Now will you tell me the cause of you not coming home until this quarter to eleven?"
Kenshin flinched slightly as his uncle began undressing him then moved away to fill the bathtub. "I, I don't know what to say." He responded quietly, not making eye contact with the adult. Hiko growled silently and helped the boy into the warm water then started to wash him, much to the red-head's dislike.
"Uncle, I can wash myself you know." He retorted quietly, without much of his usual annoyance. Hiko lightly cuffed him on the back of his head, but instead of protesting Kenshin winced and put a hand to the place Hiko had hit him. "What's wrong now?" Hiko asked, masking his worry. But Kenshin shook his head, "It's nothing Hiko, not important."
Hiko scowled with dislike and started washing the boy's hair. "You need to cut your hair boy," he muttered annoyed, "I don't know how you can stand having it so long. No wonder you get mistaken for a woman." Kenshin didn't respond, instead he sat in the bathtub letting his uncle scrub his hair.
"Tell me what happened baka, stop avoiding the subject." Hiko ordered roughly, as he drenched the redhead with water. Kenshin sighed and absently rubbed his arms.
"After school I was on my way to kendo practice when Saito stopped me in the hall and demanded a fight. I don't know why he picked the of all times, and I tried to talk him out of it but you know how stubborn he can be. Our fight ended in a draw although both of us were exhausted and had a few cuts and bruises. Afterwards I picked up my backpack and started to walk home, mostly by taking the side streets."
Kenshin shivered as his uncle drenched him with water once again, then pulled the plug from the bottom of the tub and helped the redhead to stand and step out onto the floor.
"I must have been more tired then I thought because I didn't sense a car pulling up beside me until I saw it out of the corner of my eye. By that time it was too late to run, more then half a dozen men had jumped out of the car and surrounded me. I tried to fight them off but one got behind me to hold a rag drenched with chloroform over my mouth and nose, it was just a few seconds before I passed out."
There was a brief pause in Kenshin narrative as Hiko helped him pull his pajamas on and retied his hair in a low ponytail.
"Well?" Hiko asked probingly as he hung up the towel. Kenshin nodded. "I woke up in a small, dark room with no way to get out. My hands were tied behind me and my ankles were loosely tied as well. There wasn't any way to tell how much time had passed and I was alone for a while until the door opened and someone came in."
The redhead closed his eyes, trying to block out the sudden wave of emotions that were threatening to overtake him. Hiko stood patiently beside him, observing the boy and trying to block out the pained and lost feeling of his ki.
Kenshin sighed and continued talking, with his eyes still closed. "It was, it was Katsura-san. He came in and shut the door behind him. There was someone outside, probably a guard." He opened his eyes but wouldn't look at Hiko, instead staring at the wall just beyond his shoulder, and spoke as if in a trance.
"Katsura-san smiled, walked up and stood in front of me…"
Kenshin looked straight ahead as his former employer knelt down in front of him, smiling.
"Welcome back Himura, it's so wonderful to see you again." Katsura greeted, observing the slight changes in his top hitokiri. The redheads eyes flickered over him then away again.
"I haven't come back Katsura-san, you had me kidnapped and brought here." Kenshin corrected, trying to surreptiously loosen the bindings on his wrists.
Katsura smiled again, annoying the redhead. "Let's not call it 'kidnapping' Himura," he put his hand on top of Kenshin's head, "I merely wanted to see you again."
Kenshin made an uncomittive noise and looked away, displacing the other man's hand. Katsura let his hand drop to his side and frowned at him, "Don't be difficult Himura, that just makes this harder." The redhead snickered and glanced up at his former commander.
"What do you want from me Katsura-san? Why did you bring me here? I doubt it was just to talk." Kenshin demanded, glaring slightly up at the man. Katsura frowned then laughed grimly, "I never could hide much from you Himura."
Kenshin studied the man, trying to ignore the sickening feeling growing in his stomach, 'please don't say it, please don't say it,' he pleaded silently.
"Alright, to tell the truth, I need you back." Katsura explained then looked hopefully at the redhead who had become very pale. "You were always the best person I had. After you deserted Makoto took your place but he wasn't the same." The man sighed loudly. "And now that Shishio, Soujiro and Hajime have also deserted, I have no one left." He smiled at the red-head who was staring at the ground. "That's where you come in, I-"
"I'm not killing again Katsura-san." Kenshin interrupted, looking determinedly up at him. "I've had enough of that."
Katsura sighed softly. "Why?"
Kenshin looked away again, "I have a safe home and a family and group of friends who care for me," he laughed softly. "What more could I want."
"I'm sorry then, Himura," Katsura said apologetically and made a hand motion behind his back at the guard. The man nodded and walked into the room then stopped to kneel behind Kenshin.
The redhead looked up surprised then began fidgeting and trying to loosen the ropes when he saw a needle in the guards hand filled with clear liquid. But it was no use, the knots were too tight and he couldn't move at all.
Katsura watched sadly as the guard quickly cleaned a spot on Himura's upper left arm and then the redhead stopped (fidgeting) as the liquid flowed into his body. Then, just as Himura sat limply in place, blinking rapidly to try and fight off the impending darkness, Katsura leaned forward, took a dagger from underneath his jacket and carefully drew the famous cross-scar on the boys cheek.
Kenshin slowly raised his head to look at his former commander with dull eyes, then only had time to hear the man say, "I'm sorry Himura," before he blacked out.
"…When I woke up I was laying on the sidewalk, wrapped in that cloak. After I realized where I was, I stood up shakily and slowly made my way here."
Hiko stared at his nephew as the boy climbed onto his bed and crawled under the covers. He had had no idea that one person could suffer so much in a few short hours. Especially Kenshin. The boy was normally better at defending himself. "Do you know what that liquid was they gave you?"
Kenshin shook his head sleepily, "No, I –yawn- don't." He murmured, then laid his head back onto the pillow and closed his eyes.
The adult sighed, there obviously wouldn't be any more from his nephew tonight. He walked to the door and flipped the lights out. "Goodnight, Kenshin." The redhead muttered some response and Hiko walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
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Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Pobre Ken-chan!
Okay... like I said, major plot twist... but that'll continue in the next few chapters. And if you didn't understand, the italics were a flashback of what happened.
FYI, the 0000's are line breakers... for some reason the ones aren't working.
If anyone's confused feel free to send me a message and Ill try to explain it to you!
Thanks to my reviewers:
MikaylaMae, Kristy-chan, zenfry, Yanikei, book-manga-freak, ELLIE 31773, Neverforget99 and Draconic Ban-Sidhe
Please keep reviewing... you'll make me happy, my beta'er happy and my story happy! ;)
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sya,
miji-chan