Soujiro

Soujiro sat back in his seat after dinner and felt satisfied. Kamatari poked him in the side. "So what now?" he asked. "Heishin's dead – we don't have to deal with that. But it's going to be rather hard to find our buddy Yukishiro without him."

Smiling absentmindedly, Soujiro stared up at the swinging chandelier. "I wonder… Did Shinomori plan this?"

Kamatari arched a perfectly-shaped eyebrow and shook his head with a laugh. "Why? What benefit would setting loose a fucking crazy-" he cut himself off with a prim smile and continued in an undertone. "What would Shinomori get out of causing havoc on this train? Does he intend to attack Shishio-sama? Shinomori has the whole of Chicago to himself!"

"That's what I'm wondering about too." Soujiro said. "What benefit would it bring. Unless… Maybe he wants to work with Shishio-san. By eliminating both Heishin and Yukishiro – he would be effectively placing Shishio-san in his debt. From what I've heard – Shinomori Aoshi is a very honorable guy. Ruthless, yes, but honorable. And he's the only one in the game right now that didn't set Shishio-san on fire ten years ago." He said.

"But the Oniwabanshu were definitely involved in that incident!" exclaimed Kamatari. Even though he had never met Shishio before the 'incident' – Kamatari was very sensitive about it and did not refer to it as casually, opting to call it the 'incident' rather than describing the events.

"That was the previous leader, Okina. A lot has changed in the way the Oniwabanshu is run since his time. Shinomori Aoshi-san's such an innovator – yet so hopelessly traditional. Very interesting, he is."

"Do you really think Shinomori would be that naïve though? Everyone and their mother knows that Shishio-sama doesn't bother with useless things like honor – when it doesn't suit him, that is."

"He's an enigma isn't he…" Soujiro smiled. "You can never tell what he's thinking with that grumpy poker-face of his. You say 'oh, hello there, Shinomori-san' and he'd just nod at you. Although it might be that he just doesn't like me… Anyway, he's anything but naïve, though – I can tell that much."

Smiling back, Kamatari adjusted Soujiro's crooked tie. "Then he's rather like you, isn't he? Instead of having a grumpy poker-face, you have a very happy one."

"Oh, Kamatari-chan that's a little-"

"Yo!" Chou said, interrupting them. "I'm ordering another two helpings of this here, anyone got a problem?"

Anji fixed him with a heavy look. "…Even if we did, you'd still order it – why are you asking?"

Soujiro laughed, Kamatari giggled and Chou shrugged defensively, cracking a grin behind his glass of milk. Fleetingly, Soujiro thought, This fun moment is going to be the only one in a long time. But I'm going to keep laughing anyway.

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"We should tell the guy to come out so we can talk to him. 'S what we always do. Call 'im out – then shoot 'im the fuck up." Chou said, fishing another piece of bread (that he had taken from the restaurant) from his coat pocket.

"We cannot communicate with him." Anji said. "Otherwise, yes, we could do that."

Kamatari crossed his stockinged legs and lit a cigarette, leaning back tiredly. "Look, I don't get what's so hard. Just do this – bang down everyone's door and when we find him, we shoot him and his buddies. Simple as that!"

Wagging a finger, Soujiro shook his head. "No, no and no. We were told not to draw attention to ourselves as far as we could. And if we went with your suggestion – we would alert them to our presence very, very early." Soujiro smiled. "Honestly, you're underestimating them. Do you even know why our paranoid friend Heishin thought of them so highly?"

Chou snorted. "Sure, they might be good." He jabbed a thumb at his chest. "But we're hella better. I mean, look at me, yo." He grinned. "Ain't nobody in this country has anywhere near as many guns as me – and knows how to use 'em all real good – like me." He gestured at Kamatari. "This guy's a machine gun nut…" nodded at Anji. "He can use a gun but his fists can like, rip through sheet metal and break rocks." He looked at Soujiro. "And you're fast, yo. You got knife skills, gun skills – hell, I'd say you got fighting skills but you're skinny as hell. But hey, what do I know."

Soujiro nodded. "…And yet – they're still really good. If we could take them by surprise, it'd be much easier to dispose of them. But now that our link to them – Heishin – is gone, we don't even know where they are." He sighed, still smiling. "And Yukishiro-san has plans of his own."

"What plans?" Anji asked, opening his eyes and looking up.

"Interesting plans." Soujiro said. "Do you guys know about the Battousai? He was an old colleague of Shishio-san, back when he was just starting out – not having made his way to the top yet. He was a hitman – the best hitman. But he disappeared after the gang war – presumed dead. A few years back, Udou Jinei died – you all know about that. Apparently, he was defeated by the Battousai – but here's the thing. Battousai-san didn't kill him."

"Huh?" Chou laughed. "Battousai's a dead guy, ain't he? No wonder he didn't kill Udou – how could he have if he was six feet under?"

Kamatari rolled his eyes and blew out a string of smoke from between his red-painted lips. "How about you listen, yes, Chou-kun?" he turned to Soujiro. "So? What about him, Soujiro-kun?"

"Jinei killed himself after being defeated. Defeated with rubber bullets, no less. Maybe it was out of embarrassment." Soujiro laughed slightly.

Snorting again, Chou fell back onto the seat in a slouch. "Aw, come on, man. Udou was good. Rubber bullets?" he laughed again, shaking his head. "You bullshitting?"

Soujiro's smile widened. "You'd think that, wouldn't you. But no. It was Battousai. Only Battousai-san could've done something like that. He's been underground, hiding his scar and refusing to kill. He got married to a journalist, had one kid, adopted another – maybe not in that order. He's managed to stay hidden, living a normal life." Soujiro nodded. "Until now, because he's on this train, and he's been noticed by a number of people. That grumpy ex-Shinsengumi cop, Saitou-san, Oniwabanshu Okashira, Shinomori-san and I."

Chou shot up into a sitting position. "You're shitting me!"

Kamatari's head snapped towards Soujiro. "You aren't taking us for a ride, are you, Soujiro-kun? Pulling our legs and all that? Because no offence, darling, it sounds like a glamorous load of crap."

Anji simply bestowed Soujiro with a heavy look.

Nodding, Soujiro smiled. "Nope! I'm telling the truth. But that's not it. The thing is, Yukishiro-san has a grudge against Battousai-san. Even Shishio-san's hazy on the details, but rumors say that Battousai killed someone he wasn't supposed to, ten years ago."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up." Chou held up a hand and began to count on his fingers. "Isn't Yukishiro like, young, though? If what's-his-face did the thing ten years ago, he'd've been a kid, like fourteen or some shit – and if he did it before that, hed've been an even younger kid."

"Yes. I tend to think that it was someone close to Yukishiro-san – his parents perhaps, or something like that. Someone whose passing Yukishiro-san would be deeply affected by, as a child." Soujiro waved his hand. "That isn't the point, though. Yukishiro-san's unhinged. Crazy – some call him. His revenge's driven him mad for years and if he finds out that his old enemy is on this train, he will go to any lengths to ensure he dies – and those closest to him."

"Shit." Said Chou. "That's intense."

"So what does this have to do with us?" wondered Kamatari aloud. "It's interesting knowing that Battousai's alive – a good piece of information, that – but what are we supposed to do? Stake out every car in hopes that Yukishiro Enishi and his buddies are going to be in one of them?"

"Battousai-san may know." Soujiro said. "And so may Saitou-san, now that I've tipped him off." He sighed, continuing more quietly, as if to himself. "The only one who's a mystery here's Shinomori Aoshi-san. He has must be gaining something out of all this. I just don't see what it is, right now."

Chou leapt up, throwing his long coat off to expose the various guns strapped to his body. "So let's stake this motherfucker out, then shoot him up!" he yelled, then sighed. "…I want some steak, yo."

It was Anji's turn to roll his eyes

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Soujiro walked slowly up the swaying corridor of the train car, heading towards the front, where the driver would be. He lit a cigarette and began to contemplate a plan of action, twirling his glinting switchblade between his fingers – the action helping him think more quickly.

He heard a door opening far down and looked back over his shoulder, stepping back into someone else's shadowy doorway to see who it was. Oh, that's Battousai-san with an empty bottle… And that's Misao-chan. He mentally took a photo of that moment so he could ruminate on it later. He could not hear what they were saying and that annoyed him, yet he felt that it wouldn't matter much. Still, he was curious. I wonder what that was all about, hm? Is Battousai-san getting back into the game now, making deals with the Oniwabanshu? Or was it simply a drink between old friends.

Shrugging, he continued on. The next carriage was dark, and Soujiro's guard was up, as he saw that the light nearest to him was smashed, glittering shards of glass, stained with something dark and viscous littering the floor. As his eyes grew more accustomed to the dark the hallway came into sharper focus. The red fuzzy carpet was matted in some places and there was a wide, deep track, as if something wet, that was now drying had been dragged down it. His figurative hackles stood up.

I smell blood. Soujiro's eyes narrowed and he slowly put his knife back in his pocket, taking out his revolver and holding it at the ready. He began to advance slowly down the hallway, looking warily about himself, senses on major alert, ears attuned to the tiniest sounds, eyes scanning his surroundings. Yet he heard nothing but the sound of his own footsteps muffled by the carpet and saw very little, as even he could not see well in pitch darkness.

He was reaching the end of the hallway and he noticed something dark in the corner, next to the door leading onto the engine room. Some hunched, dark mass.

He pulled back the safety on his gun with a click and advanced more quickly, trying to discern what on earth it could be through the darkness. Was that a movement, or was he just imagining things? His finger rested comfortably on the trigger. He wasn't scared. Oh no. He was excited. Who knew what kind of fun he could have?

Then the moon came out from behind the clouds and Soujiro began to laugh at what he saw, shaking his head. "Oh, honestly…!"

The hallway was painted with blood and the dark mass in the corner was a body of a man. He had been ripped to shreds in the front, his shirt hanging off him by threads, as was his skin. He was only recently dead, as the blood was still fresh, metallic-smelling and not yet rotten - dripping. His unseeing eyes gaped wide in horror and a steady dribbling of blood from his mouth made inaudible sounds as the droplets soaked into his pants.

By what was left of his clothes, Soujiro judged that he was not a passenger – instead a waiter – or something like that. His neck lolled at an unnatural angle and one of his arms looked to be on the wrong way, both his legs seeming to have extra joints. Somebody had been enjoying themselves, Soujiro thought wryly, mildly disgusted.

He poked at him with the toe of his shoe and the man fell to the side with a wet thump. Face down, with his back up, Soujiro's eyes widened as he saw that words were etched into his back. 'A warning before true judgement.' He said. 'Don't run, Battousai.' He was not surprised to see the name, 'Yukishiro' cut into the man's lower back, still oozing fresh blood – a gruesome signature.

"He's begun to move already." Muttered Soujiro with a sigh, turning and beginning to walk away, more purpose in his step and his gun loosely by his side. "How rather inconsiderate of him. He won't stay in one place and graciously let us kill him – I should've known." Soujiro smiled a chilling smile, his eyes more cold and empty than before, reflecting the bloodied hallway. "This is really going to be loads more fun than I thought."