Okay~! This is my apology for the long waits for recent chapters. I hope you enjoy - oh, and the swearwords later on are in Swedish, cos that's the only language I know how to swear in other than English or Japanese, which most people reading this would probably also know. If any of my readers do speak fluent Swedish, I know the grammar and spelling are probably wrong, and I apologise... /end note.
Chapter fifteen.
"Toranaga!" Shinko pushed the door open, holding her new 'ornamental' sword ready in a defensive, Kamiya Kasshin stance.
"No need to shout," the barkeep said reproachfully, cleaning a glass. "He's upstairs."
"Hey, it's washboard chest," muttered one of the sailors. Shinko wasn't sure which one it was, and if she hadn't been too preoccupied, she might have guessed it was Kimichi, who still had a bruise on his side from their encounter a week ago, and was sitting in a corner with his back against a wall.
"Shut up." Hissed another as Shinko marched up the stairs. The bar quickly fell quiet again, the sailors talking unusually quietly as they nursed their sake, and a shadow fell across the floor, through the uneven slats over one of the small windows, as Kenji took up his position outside.
Less than a minute later, he heard a scream coming from one of the rooms on the second storey. Without a second thought, he dashed in, drawing his bokken as he barrelled past the patrons of the bar and up the stairs, only to find his path blocked by a distraught Natsuko.
"H-he got Shinko-san!" She sobbed, grabbing Kenji's shirt in distress. Her hair was tangled, out of its neat bun, and there was a red welt on her cheek.
"Where?" The red-haired warrior demanded, grabbing Natsuko's arm and pulling her upstairs. She pointed to one of the rooms at the end of the short corridor, and Kenji slammed it open. The room was a mess, a cracked chair rested by the wall as if someone had fallen on it, and the window was open, letting a warm breeze into the room. Running to the window, Kenji saw a burly man with a slight figure with spiky black hair and a hakama draped over his shoulder like a sack vanishing around a street corner.
Swearing, Kenji jumped out of the window, landing on a pile of hay that had no logical reason to be there other than as a landing. He rolled to his feet, and set off in hot pursuit.
Shinya stared at the folded piece of paper, his face blank with shock.
"What does it say?" Yahiko asked, leaning over his son's shoulder. When Hachi, Misao and Aoshi's fastest Tokyo homing pigeon had arrive with a note signed for Shinya in Yuki's childish hiragana, even the interest of Kaoru's students had been piqued, and now they were all crowded around Shinya in the Dojo's training hall. The pigeon had arrived a few hours after its recipient, just before the last class of the day went home.
"...Someone has kidnapped Natsuko-san..."
"What?" Yahiko pulled the scrap of paper from Shinya's loose grip, staring at the four words written in Misao's hasty scrawl.
"Who's Natsuko?" Kaoru asked, leaning over her former students shoulder. "She sounds pretty."
"How can you tell that, busu?" Yahiko asked, looking up at the older woman.
"The look on Shinya-kun's face." Kaoru replied, knocking Yahiko on the back of the head in a habitual gesture. "And don't call me that – you must be a real oni for Shinko to have to run all the way to Kyoto to get away from your loud mouth.
"Hey!" Yahiko elbowed Kaoru in the stomach, but not with any real force behind it, before looking up for his son. "...Where did he go?"
"Shinya-kun already left." Ota said, nodding towards the door.
"He's as bad as his sister." Yahiko muttered, running out of the Dojo after his son. He found Shinya in his room, riffling through the cupboard where his futon was still neatly stored from before their trip – the only neat part of the room, as the fifteen-year-old flung clothes from the cupboard as he rooted around among his belongings, eventually emerging with a small, jingling pouch.
"Well, at least you're remembering to bring money, rather than selling your clothes..." Yahiko said conversationally as Shinya stood up, tying the pouch to his belt. "Do you also remember that there won't be another train to Kyoto till tomorrow?" He asked, resting a comforting hand on Shinya's shoulder and sitting him down on the tatami mats.
"But – I need to help Natsuko-san and Shinko." Shinya said, his hands twisting in his lap.
"Yes, but I'm sure they'll be fine until tomorrow. And take your shoes off before you damage the tatami." Yahiko gave Shinya's sandals a pointed look, sniffing in a manner that sounded almost exactly like Tsubame when she was annoyed, and one of her three 'mess-makers' had come home particularly dirty.
Shinya let out a wan chuckle, before drawing in a deep calming breath, his hands stilling in his lap. He was still tense, but the frantic edge had left his movements as he pulled his sandals off. Yahiko relaxed slightly as well, he wasn't sure that his only daughter would be fine until Shinya got there, but either way, he didn't want his son panicking and doing something stupid in the meanwhile.
"Pack some clothes, I'll call you for dinner, and get Tsubame to make you an obento." Yahiko said, standing up and patting his son on the head. "And get an early night," with that, the short dark-haired warrior, known as 'the one who caught a thousand blades', left his son's room, before going straight to the small pigeon coop behind the Kamiya Kasshin dojo.
Kenji's sandals pounded on the cobbled streets of Kyoto as he pursued the bulky man, with his limp bundle. He was faster, but his quarry had the advantage of knowing the streets, and a sizeable head start.
As the young warrior rounded the corner, he heard a creaking, and instinctively leapt back, reversing his direction with a skid that sent a small cloud of dust into the air. This was followed by a much larger one, and a crash as a litter – the kind a noble lady might be carried around in – was pushed off the roof of a nearby building. Blinking the dust out of his eyes, Kenji heard a faint sizzling noise coming from within the litter, as an acrid scent assaulted his nostrils. Horror knotted his stomach as he ducked into the nearest alley, moments before the large, carved wooden bomb exploded, spraying debris across the street, shredding the few paper screen doors and shattering woodwork.
Coughing, Kenji emerged from behind the house to inspect the wreckage, the thick, greasy smoke writhing around him staining his cheeks and clothes, and dulling his hair. There was no sign of anyone else on the street; whoever had abducted Shinko was long gone, in any of several directions. The redhead ground his teeth, resisting the urge to lash out at the already battered, and rickety buildings around him as he began to move back towards the Umenonemu-ya. He quickened his pace as he remembered leaving the distraught Natsuko there.
The young woman was waiting anxiously for him beside the haystack. She'd managed to re-pin her hair into a less disarrayed state, but she was still pale and sallow with tension and residual fear.
"Did you find – are you okay, Kenji-san?" She broke her original question off when she realised Kenji's soot-stained state.
"Fine." He muttered, walking down the street. "We should get you back to the Aoi-ya. You'll be safe there.
"What about Shinko-san?" Natsuko asked, following in the irritating mince of a woman in a kimono, her high wooden sandals clattering on the pavestones.
"...I lost her." Kenji said after a long pause.
"Oh no! What are we going to do – Toranaga-san is tough, I tried some of the tricks Misao showed me, but they didn't work..."
"What a surprise." Kenji muttered, already counting down the steps he estimated it would take to get back to the inn.
Shinya was waiting at the train station as the gleaming machine pulled in, fidgeting and shifting his weight form one foot to another. Yahiko and Tsubame were there to see him off, Tsubame slightly tearful at the thought of losing her son as well, as she fussed over him.
"Haha, the train's here – I have to go..." Shinya complained, pulling out of her grip feeling like a five-year-old.
"Be careful in Kyoto... And keep an eye on Shinko." Tsubame said, smiling damply and sniffing.
"I'm sure she can more than handle herself. She's the second generation busu, with new and improved kenjutsu." Shinya said laughing gruffly as he climbed onto the train, handing his ticket to the conductor at the door.
As soon as Shinya was out of sight of his parents, his nervous energy and false cheerfulness left him. He hadn't been able to sleep all night, tossing and turning on his futon until, as the faintest tinge of grey lightened the sky, he had gotten up, and spent the hours before dawn training behind the Akabeko.
As the train whistled out of the station a few minutes later, Shinya slumped further into his seat, staring out the window as he ran his hand across the smooth handle of his bokken, hoping that Natsuko, and Shinko were alright.
Shinko opened her eyes with a groan, her head felt foggy, and her mouth was dry and sandy as she sat up, shifting slightly as she felt something hard dig into her thigh.
"Where...?" She looked around, her eyes widening and her hand springing to her waist as she realised she was in an unfamiliar room and the memories of how she might have gotten here leapt back into her mind. There was only an empty lacquer sheath at her hip.
Toranaga had been in the first room at the top of the stairs, waiting for her at a small table when she'd opened the door. Natsuko hadn't been in there though, and then someone standing beside the door had grabbed her, and pressed some stinky piece of cloth against her face. She'd struggled, and remembered her hand connecting with flesh, but everything had started to blur... After that, all she could remember was darkness and a scream...
She sat bolt upright as the last memories slotted back into place. The action caused the room to blur and tilt dangerously around her. Clutching her head, Shinko took in a deep breath before letting out a torrent of swearwords in a constant, almost meditative, rant as she tried to think. Generally, she didn't indulge herself in the habits she picked up from uncle Sano, which also included drinking and gambling and street fighting and... well she'd never really found his lurid tales about brothels from around the world interesting, but, either way, being able to swear fluently in seven languages was a useful calming exercise.
"...Shittigt fan och helvete..." She finished, as the room's spinning abated as well. Slowly lifting her head from her hands, she managed to piece together what her room actually looked like – it was a small plain area with a sloping roof and bare wooden floors, only a tiny window with wooden shutters letting in light and a cold draught. Other than the futon she was sitting on, and a small, knee-high table with a small pitcher, there was a small cupboard, the door was slid partially open, to reveal an empty recess, with her bag sitting forlornly in a corner. At least they hadn't robbed her, she thought, gingerly standing up and tottering over to the door, which only served to confirm her suspicions – or near certainty – that she had fallen into Toranaga's trap. Unlike the rice paper screens that she was used to, This door was one of those odd westerns ones, which opened by turning a hook and pushing. Tsubame had always commented that these seemed rather silly, since it meant one couldn't put ornaments or tables against the wall there, or they'd be damaged.
"Sumimasen? Is there anyone out there?" She called through the wood, trying to twist the handle, which was either jammed or locked, not really expecting an answer, since she couldn't hear breathing around the door. Sighing, Shinko fetched her bag and the pitcher off the table, sniffing it to make sure that the clear liquid in it was really water, before sitting down by the door to wait.
And also, I finally figured out how to make Word tell me how many words are in a sentence, so they shouldn't be TOO bad anymore....^_^
On another note, FF deleted all my breaks, somewhere between uploading and posting, so I've reposted the chapter with them in - if it deletes them AGAIN please tell me and I'll have to come up with something else....