Disclaimer: No, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
Sorry about the slight delay…I would have had this out a couple days ago, but I was a little sick over the weekend. Kinda hard to concentrate on writing when you feel like you might throw up. By the way, I'm not eating at Burger King anymore…
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Only the Beginning
Written by lolo popoki
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Chapter 4: Onward
"Very well, I will continue. But not quite yet," Katsura stated. "We're almost to the edge of the woods where I left my guards. Himura-san had mentioned often that you valued your privacy, so I left them at the base of the mountain so they would not disturb you."
Hiko raised his eyebrow. "How thoughtful of you."
"I would prefer to keep our conversation private, so if you do not object, I will send them on ahead of us to await our arrival in Kyoto."
The swords-master merely shrugged indifferently. "As you like."
A few minutes later, they came up on the squad of waiting soldiers. Hiko took the opportunity to study the small group with a critical eye. There were five of them: all clearly skilled swordsmen…well disciplined and confident in their abilities. Not one of them could ever hope to be a decent match for the Hiten Mitsurugi master. They were extremely fortunate that he was not an enemy.
"Katsura-san!" one of the younger guards called out, as he caught sight of the two men approaching their position. He hesitated for a second after observing the huge, intimidating swordsman that accompanied his boss, then bowed deeply. "You must be Hiko-san. It is an honor to meet you sir!"
"Yes it is, isn't it," Hiko responded smugly, standing tall with his arms crossed in front of his chest in a dramatic pose. "It is definitely a privilege for a person like you, meeting someone as impressive as I am." He smirked, delighted by the irritated expression that flickered over the guard's face. It had been entirely too long since he had someone to annoy.
"You conceited…!"
"Tsuji-san," Katsura interrupted quickly. He shot Hiko an exasperated look, although he was secretly amused by the larger swordsman's arrogant manner. Hiko simply grinned insolently back at him.
"Forgive me, Katsura-san," Tsuji answered, bowing his head in shame. "Please excuse my rudeness; it will not happen again."
"I'm sure it won't," his boss said reassuringly. "However, I need to ask you to do something for me."
The other man straightened immediately. "Of course, sir!"
"Hiko-san and I have a great deal we need to discuss privately along the way, so I need you all to go on ahead of us to Kyoto. I will see you back at the inn."
This statement produced a flurry of disapproval from the bodyguards.
"But, Katsura-san!" one of them protested. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"You might be attacked!" Tsuji cried. "We need to stay with you!"
Katsura sighed. He seemed to be doing that an awful lot lately. "Hiko-san will still be here with me," he responded calmly. "I'll be fine. Please go on ahead."
The five men glanced uncertainly at each other, before finally admitting defeat. "Hai, Katsura-san. Whatever you wish." They began to proceed down the road.
Tsuji paused for a minute and glared threateningly at Hiko. "If anything happens to him…" he left the thought unfinished.
Hiko snorted rudely. "As if anyone could ever get by me. You forget who you're speaking to, boy."
"Boy?" Tsuji began in outrage, then suddenly paled as he remembered who exactly Hiko Seijuro was. "H…hai," he gulped. "I'm sure Katsura-san is in excellent hands!" The guard hastily bowed and turned to rejoin his comrades.
"Ahou…" the swords-master chuckled softly to himself. Oh yes…it had been entirely too long. He truly missed having someone he could tease.
The companions decided to stay at their location, until the guards were far enough away. They shared a quick, simple meal of onigiri that Katsura had brought with him from Kyoto, and then continued on their way to the city.
The two men walked in silence for a few minutes, before Hiko decided to ask a question that had been bothering him since he first laid eyes on the Choshu leader.
"Why don't you carry your own sword?" he asked sternly. "It seems obvious that you're a fairly decent swordsman yourself. Body guards are all well and good, but it just seems rather foolish not to have your own sword with you in case an attacker gets by them."
"I made a promise five years ago," Katsura replied simply. "I am a politician now, not a swordsman. I will not carry my own blade."
Hiko shook his head in disgust. "That's just stupid," he said bluntly. "Politician or not, if you're going to lead others, you should lead by example. You need to let your soldiers see that you're willing to fight beside them…to put your life on the line just the same as they do. Don't rely on them to do all your work for you."
Katsura chuckled. "They won't let me," he said wryly. "Believe me, I have offered before, but my guards were absolutely horrified at the thought." His slight smile faded somewhat. "Especially Himura," he said wistfully. "He was always so protective of me. He refused to let me put myself in danger for any reason, because he said that if I died, than the possibility of a new era dies with me."
"Ah, I see."
"Anyway…where was I, before we got sidetracked?"
Hiko thought for a moment. "Kenshin and Tomoe…tragic marriage."
"Right." After reorganizing his thoughts, Katsura resumed his narration. "I was not able to witness any of the events that occurred, but I did receive reports now and then on their situation, and Himura-san later explained the rest to me.
"They were living in a small cottage outside of Otsu. Himura was pretending to be an apothecary, selling medicines that he made to the villagers. Apparently, married life agreed with him; his emotional wounds started to heal, and he began to relax and truly enjoy the life he was now leading. The two of them started a small garden where they grew vegetables and medicinal herbs, something Himura seemed to really take pleasure in. I imagine it must have been a wonderful change to actually create something rather than to merely destroy.
"The villagers were fond of him. They found him to be a kind, gentle young man, and they appreciated his skill with herbs. The children loved playing games with him and would spend much of their days at the cottage."
Katsura paused briefly and glared down at the ground. "However, our little spy had leaked their location to the enemy," hegrowled angrily. After a moment to compose himself, he continued a little more calmly.
"One day Tomoe disappeared from their home, and a note was left behind, explaining where they had taken her." Himura left to bring her back, but unfortunately fell into a nasty trap. The forest they had led him to, had a rather unusual feature. It is surrounded by a magnetic field strong enough to interfere with ki-sensing, so when the ninjas attacked, Himura was taken by surprise.
"He managed to defeat them all, but during their battles, he was seriously wounded. Also, the ninjas had left explosives behind as barriers to destroy his other senses. He eventually made it to where they were keeping Tomoe, but both his sight, and his hearing had been damaged by the explosions. There was one final man between him and Tomoe, and they fought viciously. Himura, however, was losing the battle, and out of desperation, put everything he had into one final attack, even if it meant he would be killed along with it."
He shook his head dejectedly. "Tomoe saw what was happening and rushed out to attack the other man with her dagger, trying to protect her husband. Himura never saw her coming. So when he struck, his blade cut them both down." Katsura stopped speaking, clearly upset.
Both men remained silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Hiko was deeply saddened by the Choshu leader's account. It was truly a tragic story, and he grieved for his student's terrible loss.
Kami-sama…how horrible
"That's not even all of it," Katsura spoke finally, and turned to face Hiko. "We didn't learn until later, that Tomoe had originally come to Kyoto with the sole purpose of killing Hitokiri Battousai."
Hiko's eyes widened slightly, shocked. "She had wanted to kill Kenshin?"
Katsura nodded. "It turned out that Himura had killed her fiancée, a man named Kyosato Akira, during one of his assignments, and she wanted revenge for his death. Tomoe had originally been part of the plot to destroy Battousai, and was sent to find out his weaknesses." He smiled ironically. "They weren't expecting her to actually fall in love with him.
"She saw beneath the surface, and realized that he was not the cold-blooded, heartless murderer she thought he was. She gave up her quest for vengeance and decided to forgive him."
Hiko was speechless. It was hard to believe that his little baka deshi had been caught up in such a cruel conspiracy. The whole story seemed like something straight out of a Kabuki drama.
"You mentioned that you had heard rumors of Battousai," Katsura gave him a questioning look. "Have you heard anything about the scar?"
Hiko shook his head slightly. "I only heard that Hitokiri Battousai had a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, but not how he had gotten it."
"The first cut had been from his battle with Kyosato. The second was from Tomoe; her dagger sliced his face as she fell."
The swords-master stared at Katsura in disbelief. "How did…how could…" he paused to collect his thoughts. "That's just uncanny," Hiko said finally, shaking his head. "Her dagger could have hit Kenshin anywhere, but to have it slash precisely across the cut her fiancée left behind…"
"I know," Katsura murmured. "It is pretty remarkable when you think about it." He shivered suddenly as an icy gust of wind blew past. Looking around at their surroundings, he noticed with some surprise that it was starting to get dark already.
"We'd better hurry," he said quietly. "I would like to get back to the inn before it gets too late."
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This part is definitely getting to be a little longer than I expected. But fret not…they will finally reach Kyoto in the next chapter!
And now for my wonderful reviewers! I'm so thrilled!
Dorkfish: Thank you for reviewing, and for passing on Terry's message. I really appreciate it! I hope you won't get too discouraged by Kenshin's death. I promise the mood will improve later.
Sailor-Earth13: I am really glad you're enjoying this story and I hope you'll approve of this chapter too.
Terry-McElrath: Thank you again for youramazing review! I really enjoyed talking to you the other night. And thanks again for all your help!
Rabid Turtle: I am so glad you like my story! I did try to put a lot of thought into how Hiko might handle this kind of situation. Hopefully, I won't make him too OOC. You really should keep up with the poetry; you have a definite talent for it. Yeah, my grandfather was a real character…I wish I had gotten to know him a little better before he died.
JaneDrew: I made you cry? I'm so touched by your reaction! I never thought my writing would ever be able to drive someone to tears (unless the writing was just really that bad ;) I hope you like this chapter too!
Ayumi Ikari: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like my story. I'm really looking forward to your next chapter of "Pure Heart" too. I think your English is just fine…so don't worry about it. I was stationed in Baumholder Germany for a couple of years and I really loved the country. I actually cried when I had to leave to go back to the States…
Unseen Watcher: Thank you for reviewing! I remember reading some of your stories. I especially loved the one where Hiko got hurt by those foreign hunters and Kenshin came to help him out! Excellent story! It's kind of funny that you did review, because I was just thinking a couple days ago that your name would make a good title for one of my upcoming chapters. Would it be okay if I used it, or is that kind of like plagiarism? Oh and thanks for reminding me about Katsura's situation, I wasn't really going to include much about possible attackers, but you've given me a nice idea for the next chapter.
Dark-sephiroth2: Thank you for your comment about 'iya' vs. 'iie'. I think I'll just avoid using it altogether and stick with the English 'no'
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Glossary of terms:
Ahou – moron
Onigiri – rice balls
Kabuki - a traditional form of Japanese theater.