Suenagaku na Aki

Chapter 4

Somewhere near Tokyo,

Chou covered his nose while trying to have a look at the decomposing body. Even though he was a seasoned ex-Juppongatana, he had problems looking at mutilated bodies, even the ones he had killed himself. Beingassigned to examine murder sites everyday since he arrived at Hokkaido with Saitou didn't do much to help his already dampened mood. "Why do I have this stinking job?"

"Stop whining like a baby"

Chou was surprised to find that Saitou was behind him.

"What are you waiting for? Turn the body over? so we can identify him"

Chou looked at Saitou with an expression that questioned his sanity.

"Ahou. It is evident now that your claim of having killed 200 men is a lie" Using his boot, Saitou pushed the body so that it turned to face upward. "Hmm…"

"Do you know him?"

"Tani from the Choushuu faction. Eats like a pig and smelled like a rat. No wonder his stench can be smelled from a distance"

"But who killed him and the others?" Chou asked loudly while gesturing to some covered bodies around the area. A few policemen who were busy doing their work stopped to listen.

Saitou didn't answer the question. Instead he gave Tani's body a closer look. He noticed that the body is was missing an arm from the elbow onwards. He bent over to look at the part where the arm should have been to find that there was something odd there. Saitou stood up and gestured toward a police officer. "You there"

"Yes sir?" the police officer acknowledged politely.

"What's your name?"

"Edogawa Hyoga, sir"

"I was told you are quite experienced with animals"

"It depends, sir"

"Come here and have a look at this injury"

The police officer came over and covered his nose while looking at the spot where Saitou pointed. "They are called maggots, sir. We can usually find them on rotten bodies. And they will grow up to become flies"

Saitou suppressed the sudden urge to grind the policeman's face to the body using his boot. "Look at the marks on the injury"

The policeman examined the injury closer. "There is some kind of bite marks"

Saitou satisfied himself by kicking the poor officer in his rear. "Tell me, what animal caused the bite mark?"

Hyoga's face would have stumbled upon the maggots had he not supported himself using his hands. Knowing that Saitou meant business, he examined the wound carefully, making sure that his judgement couldn't be brought into question. Finally, he stood up while rubbing his painful rear. "They were caused by canines, sir. They could be wolves, foxes or even dogs"

"Do you have any way of finding out whether he was killed by the animals or he lost his arm to a hungry wolf which happened to stray nearby?"

The officer rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"Well?"

The officer still kept on rubbing his chin. "We can open his clothes but…"

Saitou pushed his subordinate "Chou, you do it"

"ME?"

"I'll have you replaced by him if you won't do it"

Chou silently cursed Saitou and ripped Tani's clothes from his cold body. He then stepped aside so that Hyoga could examine the body. Saitou also approached it so that he could have a look at the body. A few minutes passed before Hyoga stood up. "I think he died from the wound made the animals"

"You mentioned 'animals'. What makes you so sure there are more than one?"

"There are different bite marks. I also concluded that different from that unlike the other victims, the killer may have intentionally let this man off, and then had him hunted by the animals"

Chou snorted. "How do you know about that? Did the fatso whispered to you about that himself? Is that why you were leaning so closely to him just now? "

"Ahou. Even that dimwitted rooster-head in Kamiya dojo would be tell you that Tani was running from them just by looking at the bite marks on his rear and back"

"Rooster is in Japan? I thought that he was running away"

Saitou ignored him, making him look like a fool in the process. "So whatever your name is, do you think the animals that caught him were well trained?"

"My name is Hyoga, sir"

"Whatever"

"They are probably trained to hunt prey. That is why we can see that Tani's body and the others were not eaten by them"

"You are overlooking the arm"

"I don't know why the arm was missing. Perhaps the hunting dogs' owner allowed the arm to be eaten as a reward for them"

Saitou thought for a while. Chou who was quite bored nearby put in a remark, "I couldn't see why Tani's and the others are still here"

Saitou turned to him "What's your point?"

"This place is well known for wild and vicious animals"

"And?"

"Since Hyoga here mentioned that the reason arm is missing because the owner let the dogs have them. So minus the arm, we have here something that is like a feast to the animals living here. Therefore, I wonder why they left these bodies alone"

Saitou's eyebrows knitted. "I see. The killers wanted us to find the bodies. But why?" He thought for a few seconds. Then he cracked a dangerous smile. Chou felt a sudden chill in his veins seeing Saitou's smile. Saitou turned toward the police officer and made a dismissive gesture. Hyoga politely took his leave.

"So now they already know that we have discovered the bodies," Saitou said when Hyoga was out of earshot.

"What?! Where are they?"

Saitou put his hand on Chou's head and forced him to look in a direction. At first, all Chou could see was a bush. But after a few seconds, he noticed that there was a pair of eyes peering from it.

"Next time, leaving their heads will be enough," Saitou said, clearly directed at the person hiding behind the bush. The bush moved a bit, as if the person behind inside it nodded its head in acknowledgement. Then the eyes began to disappear, meaning that their owner was leaving the place.

Chou wanted to start after the peeping tom, but Saitou hold his shirt. "Where are you going?"

Chou pointed toward the bush.

"By the time you got there, he would have disappeared into the forest"

"But… But… But…"

"We have to bring the bodies back to our base in Tokyo"

"And Battousai?"

"What about him?" Saitou asked back casually.

Chou smirked when he was sure Saitou couldn't see him. Despite Saitou saying that the Battousai was no more, Chou knew that his superior did hope that the hitokiri side of the man named Himura Kenshin would emerge once more so that the debt between them could be finally be settled.

"As you wish. We will bring the bodies back to Tokyo and keep Battousai out of this"

"Not 'we'. I'm going to Kyoto"

"Kyoto?"

"Kyoto"

Saitou brought a cigarette to his lip and set it alight. "Shinomori may have some information"

Ukyo, one of the Orochi's kensais let himself slump on the wall of his room. He was surprised at Saitou's discovery about the injury on the bodies. He let out a long sigh. Then he turned his head toward the ceiling.

"Okay, how long have I been unaware of your presence up there?" he asked wearily.

A female ninja dropped on a tatami mat near him. "Enough to kill you 30 times and prepare some tea and cakes"

Ukyo let out a small laugh. "Sometimes I wonder whether you're being sarcastic or just humorous"

"I was not joking about that"

Ukyo looked at her for a second and laughed again. "That's exactly what I meant"

"Uhuh…"

"Okay, okay. You are very good. Satisfied? But as good as you are, you have a major defect"

"…What is it?"

"You don't know how to use the front door"

"…"

"And that annoys me. Now, with you around, I have to keep myself properly clothed even when I'm asleep"

"If it helps, I would like you to know the fact that a female friend of Battousai managed to find me out. And she is only an unarmed doctor, untrained in any combat skill whatsoever"

"HUH! Dumb luck!"

The female ninja smiled "Why are you so grouchy today? Are you missing your puppies already?"

"No. Saitou"

"Hmm…"

"He found out about the bite marks"

"So he should"

"That's not it"

"What do you mean?"

"The killing, although my dogs were involved, I'm not the one who directed them"

"So?"

"So, the fool who commanded my dogs neglected to restrain them from eating one hand from of the killed officials. I was puzzled when a few of them got sick"

The female ninja stood. "Sorry, I have no time to hear your sob stories. You know very well that you can find out who did it just by asking around. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go"

"Go where? And you haven't told me the reason you're here yet"

"I'm going to visit some family members"

"YOU HAVE A FAMILY?" Ukyo was startled by her revelation as only Orochi knew about her background.

"I will tell about our assignment once I got get back" She began walking toward the door.

Ukyo would not let the opportunity of finding out about her family slip by. "Hey! Wait up!"

They traveled for two and a half days until they reached a forest. Ukyo walked in front of the female ninja just as she was about to enter the dark and creepy place. "Let me get this straight. Your family," Ukyo said while pointing toward the forest," lives in there? Inside this dark, gloomy and spooky place?"

Ukyo was shoved out of the way. The female ninja continued walking into the forest. Sighing, Ukyo followed her, this time without saying anything. They walked for about a half an hour until she stopped. Wanting to know why she stopped, Ukyo went for a better look. He saw some gravestones. Behind him, the female ninja recited her prayer silently.

After she had finished praying, she turned and walked out the way she came. As Ukyo got to her left side, she looked at him for a moment before looking ahead. "They died during their mission," she offered.

"And you were there?"

"No. I only found out about their deaths after a month"

"The killer?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Ninjas dying while carrying out their duty are normal. We were not taught to exact revenge for such a death"

"So why do you come here then?"

"To ask them for forgiveness"

"Forgiveness?"

"For what I'm going to do"

"Which one?"

She looked at Ukyo. "All of them"

"All of them?"

"That doesn't concern you. What you should know is tomorrow our leader will begin his attack"

Author's notes

1. Sorry for not updating this story for quite some time, but I'm quite occupied with something lately. And it seems that I will only have time after 5th of October. Anyway, seems to me that there are only a handful of people that reads this story judging by their reviews. :-p Anyway, Sorry

2. In case you are wondering about the part where the female ninja said something about Megumi spotting her, it's in chapter 3 where Kenshin and Megumi were in the kitchen after dinner.

3. I know this fact has no relevance to the story, but I have to say that I really like some of the characters I created. :-p

This chapter was checked by Fujifunmum.