Chapter 5

Amaiya waited until she thought everyone was asleep that night before she left her room. She picked up her sword from on top of her bag – a real sword, not some dinky wooden one – and snuck out almost silently. She hurried, running through the dust-covered roads, knowing she couldn't be late.

"Hiroshi!" She hollered. "Where are you?" From behind the shrine the rat man crawled out of the shadows.

"Amaiya."

"Hiroshi. You know it's not too late." She pleaded with him. She knew he could see sense, see reason, when he wanted.

"Nonsense, sister. You're the only one that thinks there is still some hope." The moon reflected brightly off his skin, making him look almost translucent.

"But there is. There has to be a way to fight this." The last time she had seen him, she had begged. Was it too much to keep that up?

"There isn't. You just have to submit. Now, give me your sword." He held out his hand and waited for her to untie it from her hip and place it in his outstretched palm. While it was usual to have it taken from her, still she felt unprotected. "This way." He led her past the shrine and into a thicket of trees not far off.

In that thicket were many men, if they could be called that. Most seemed like teenagers and more than half of them were younger than Amaiya. Many of them had a curtain of black hair and they surrounded a large man. He was strong, powerful and serious. His arms and legs were buried under ropes of muscle.

"Gokemaru," Amaiya said, standing in the center of this ring of men.

The muscles on him always confused the enemy because his limbs were very large, but he was fast. On his hip were three swords, two were the gems of his collection, the other, his "dirty sword." He had a broad chest, firm and heavy. Even his neck was thick and led up to his square head, again with big features. He had very wide, expressive eyes, and a long mouth with thick lips that hid the sparkles of his unseemly white teeth. Many people would find him attractive, until they knew what a snake he was.

"Wonderful that you seem to have joined us so willingly this time," he said upon Amaiya's approach. "You've no doubt learned your lesson, so I didn't expect you'd be stupid enough to stay away."

He walked up to the rat-man and Amaiya, softly skimming a hand through her hair. It was a trick she knew and the reason she kept her hair short. She'd have to cut it again. She looked into his eyes, knowing that averting them would make him angry.

"Now, dear, what have you found for me?" he spoke softly, rubbing a finger against the back of her neck.

"I'm tired of doing this. I haven't found anything." She closed her eyes, but didn't look away, as experience had told her not to.

"You're lying to me. Who is the man-slayer?" His hand clinched only a fraction tighter, but enough to remind her that he was in control.

"I don't know." She did, of course. She knew the moment she had set eyes on him. Kenshin was the Battosai. "Gokemaru, I'm sick of this. I won't be your tool to kill anymore."

His hand closed properly on a chunk on her hair, twisting it slightly, but enough to pull greatly. Amaiya made a small grunt of pain. "You will do as I say. Do you remember what happens if you don't obey? What I could do?"

"Leave her out of this. My sister is not a part of this." Amaiya yelled. She was so sick of having threats looming over her. More than this man's ability to bring harm, what made her mad was that she hadn't been able to stop him from doing so.

"You're making her a part of this. And besides, you, all your siblings, cousins, they're all are my tools. You know this." Amaiya looked around as far as she could at all the people. Cowards, all of them. How each and every one could have fallen to him is shameful. It was fear, it was loss. Few of them could remember what it was like to have parents looking over them, teaching them something about right an wrong. She shouldn't blame them for what was only natural, but Amaiya couldn't forgive them for allowing such a monstrosity as Gokemaru to keep doing what he was.

"Please, release me. I can't keep doing this," Amaiya whispered. Gokemaru twisted his arm again, but this time took hold of the girl's neck and shoved her around, pushing her, and holding her, against a tree. Her feet squirmed, desperate to find ground, but it was a few inches below her.

"I'm sick of your disobedience. You will obey me. I want the man-slayer here in three days. That should give you enough time to think of a way to get him."

Amaiya began to cry. For all the strength she tried to have, it made no difference. It never had. He gave her another push against the tree, then let go, letting her slide down to her knees with her back against all of them.

"Disobedience will be the ruin of you all. No one is to sympathize. What happens to her is what she deserves." He took a few steps away before he looked over his shoulder at her. "Attack."

In the next few seconds, Amaiya was pulled so she was lying on her back, kicked in the arms, ribs, and legs, hit all over her chest and stomach, spat on, cursed at, and ripped back up onto her feet by someone pulling on her hair. Once she had her footing, most backed off to follow Gokemaru. One, the rat man, stayed in front of her.

"Amaiya, please, do what you're told. It'll be better that way." He crouched so as to be on eye-level with the weakened girl.

"It's wrong." It hurt to lift herself up, but she tried so as to not seem like she was failing in front of Hiroshi.

"It's better. Bring the man slayer. Gokemaru is right – you have him. Save yourself." He dropped her sword at her feet, then turned and walked off, too. Amaiya crouched to her knees again, holding firm to her arms and letting her hair drape over her face as she cried more. The pain in her limbs and torso was hardly bearable, but she knew she deserved it; she knew that for all the wrong she'd ever done in the name of this man, she deserved to be beaten.

When she had finished crying and the bruises were starting to form, she stood up, grabbed her sword and made her way back to the dojo.