Suegaku Na Aki

Chapter 18

Liuetenant Tawarada Sanji checked his men for any sign of fatigue and smiled. His men were a bit tired, but in high spirits despite marching through the forest almost nonstop for two days in pursuit of what could be Orochi's trail. The intelligence office has sent the company to investigate rumors of suspicious activities in the area.

"Genjyo"

Sanji's right hand man and expert tracker run toward him and saluted. He saluted back. "How's the trail?"

"The trail is still quite clear. I have to revise my estimate regarding how many men used the trail"

"Is it bad?"

"No... In fact, instead of thirty, we are looking at a group comprising of ten to fifteen people"

Sanji mentally thanked his great fortune. He wasn't sure the two hundred men he commanded would be sufficient if Genjyo's estimation put the possible number to more than fifty. The fact that Orochi's army was better equipped and trained was acknowledged even by his superiors. Of course, that kind of conversation was strictly off limits to the rest of the Japanese army, whose morale can easily be swayed by such revelations. But, as pointed out to him, sometimes sheer numbers will be enough to defeat a better equipped enemy. 'Quantity is quality of its own', one of the generals quipped. Nevertheless, for his mission, he was given a free reign on equipping his troops with whatever weapons the army had in its arsenal.

"Sir" Sanji was broken out of his reverie. He arched his eyebrows at Genjyo.

"As I was saying, there was another trail that converged with the main trail"

"Was the trail made by a coach?"

"No, just foot steps" Genjyo led him to the second trail and pointed to the ground. "But these footsteps are a bit sunken, as if the men using the second trail were carrying heavy equipment"

Sanji looked to at convergence point and the main trail. "They met and traveled together from here on. How many from the second trail"

"Ten, or thirteen at most"

"So we're back to thirty"

"What shall we do?"

"Proceed"

A day later...

Sanji and his men approached the clearing cautiously. He could see a group of men from afar. The mature lieutenant smiled. His decision to press on allowed them to catch up with the band of men they were seeking. He made a signal for binoculars to be handed to him. Taking them from one of his man, he looked at the campsite. Some of the men were wearing armor, the kind normally used by samurais, brandishing swords, while a few of them were holding rifles. It was obvious that they were not there for agricultural purposes.

Sanji was about to give a signal for his men to surround the area when he saw one of his enemies walking toward their position. Gritting his teeth, he hoped that none of his men was trigger happy as their presence was to be kept hidden until all of them could get into strategic position. The man kept walking toward them. Sanji unsheathed his kodachi, a remembrance of the day when he used to fight as a samurai himself. To his shock, the man stopped a few meters in front of him and smiled. It shocked him even more when he realized who the man was.

"Ohayou, Tawarada-kun. We haven't seen each other since the revolution

Sanji rose from his hiding place, knowing that it was useless to keep himself to stay hidden anymore. But he motioned for his men to remain in their positions

"Ohayou, Tatewaki-senpai" It was said with a hint of regret. He and Tatewaki had served in the name of the emperor during the Bakufu revolution, slaying Tokugawa's men in countless battles. But, they parted company afterwards. Tatewaki and many samurais were not content with having their special status stripped off as the Meiji government wanted to create a society where everyone was equal. To them, the government had betrayed all of their sacrifices.

Tatewaki looked around the place, as if trying to locate the other soldiers. "Looks like one hundred fifty against the twenty three of us. Seems a bit unfair... to you that is"

Sanji just smiled, not taking the bait.

"Why don't all of you just come out in the open and have a bit of rest before we fight?"

"Huh?" Sanji marveled at the ridiculous suggestion.

Tatewaki pointed to some trees around them. Sanji looked and saw some kind of contraction hanging on their branches. "As you can see, the entire area is bobby trapped with explosives. We could have flushed out all of you just now, but we want to invite you out nicely. Just for the delete the old time's sake?" Sanji thought about offer. After waiting a few seconds, Tatewaki snapped his finger and one of the trees exploded, toppling over the position of one of Sanji's men. The poor man only managed to let out a scream before the tree crushed him

"The containers are not decoys. So, either you stay here and we burn all of you along with the forest, or you can follow me"

Sanji motioned for his men to follow him. He walked behind Tatewaki until the man pointed to a spot nearly one kilometer away. "There, go and have your men rest there. We can fight after half an hour. We would have offered you something to eat and drink, but you'll probably decline them. And we don't have enough supply to supplies for all of you"

"That would be fine" Sanji replied while looking at his men behind his back. 'Either Tatewaki clung to honor too much to realize what he was doing, or he was being stupid. Imagine, giving the advantage to my troop. Perhaps he wanted me to be lenient to him afterwards?'

Tatewaki walked back to where his group has camped. He looked at the blonde man with disdain.

Neuwindst shrugged.

Tatewaki snorted before looking at Shingo. "My lord, I have carried out your order"

"Good. The rested army will be able to provide you with the fight you need"

"True. But why is this wretched gaijin still here?"

"This wretched gaijin is here to make sure that the armor he made for all of you are of good quality" Neuwindst answered. "Also, just because I decided not to speak Japanese for the past few days doesn't mean I don't know it"

"Hmmph" Tatewaki just nodded to Orochi and went to his place.

Neuwindst just shook his head and took a pull from his bottle of whiskey.

Fifteen minutes later the government soldiers and the exiled samurais began their fight. Neuwindst whistled happily as he watched the soldiers' bullets bouncing harmlessly off the armor that Tatewaki and his men has donned. As he and Shingo watched the samurais beginning their slaughter of the riflemen, he made a comment. "You know, I have read the Chinese book regarding the 36 stratagems. And one of the stratagems told of a story similar to what is happening now. A Chinese commander and his army fought a rival army and managed to drive them back. Then as they were returning home from the fight, their enemy turned back and chased after him. When the enemy managed to catch up, the commander let the opposing opposing force and his for a while"

"And what happened?" Shingo asked, interested.

"Same thing what will happen here. The enemy was soundly beaten. When an army like the one Tatewaki's fighting right now traveled for a long time, they will become tired. When given a chance to rest, their body will ache; their will to fight will dissipate. Your boss sure knows his stuff"

"I'm impressed. For an arms dealer, you're very well read.''

"Nothing impresses potential clients better than me knowing their country's past history"

"And local liquors?"

"That too. But let me ask a question. Didn't Orochi trust the armor that I provided that he asked you to use the tactic on the enemy?"

Shingo smiled. "No. In fact, Tatewaki and some of his men are part of Orochi's Kensai bodyguards"

"Then why?"

"You'll find out soon enough" The fight they were witnessing had ended, with only a few of the Meiji soldiers taken alive. Shingo motioned for Tatewaki to bring the soldiers to him. Roughly, Tatewaki and his men dragged the soldiers and threw them near Shingo's feet.

"Bow, you government dogs" Tatewaki commanded, kicking one of them in the stomach.

"Maa maa" Shingo placated. "That wouldn't be necessary. Thank you for your help, Tatewaki-kun"

Tatewaki took it as an order to leave and left.

Neuwindst put his hands in the pockets. "Orochi's first prisoners of war"

"Don't say something degrading them, Neuwindst"

The arms dealer lips twitched into a small smile. He was beginning to see Orochi's plan. The man would influence the government soldiers to join them, boosting Orochi's army's number. He turned toward Shingo "Oh. Sorry for being rude. Should we provide them with food?"

"Stop with this insult!" One of their prisoners croaked harshly. "We will not grovel at your feet for our lives to be spared. We know what kind of scum that Orochi is"

Shingo sighed and put one of his feet on the back of the man's head, forcing his face to the ground. "Actually, with insults or not, all of you are still my prisoners. So you should know where you stand. Since you have accused my lord wrongly, I demand for an apology from you for all the words against Orochi" Shingo eased the pressure on the man's head.

"NEVER!"

"Neuwindst, shoot one of the others"

Neuwindst took out his pistol and shot the man closest to him. "Oops, I missed" he exclaimed as the man groaned in pain while clutching his injured foot. He turned toward Shingo and asked, "Did you asked me to shoot to kill?" And the same time he shot at the man's left hand. "Oh, missed again" Neuwindst was beginning to feel that getting the prisoners to join their side was not Orochi's plan.

Meanwhile Shingo looked at the man beneath his foot. "Well?"

"No!" This time the word was said with less determination. A shot rang out and Neuwindst looked at the second man he had shot, this time in the shoulder. "Emm. Sorry Shingo-san. It looked as if this man was going to tell him not to apologize" The blonde smiled sheepishly at the injured man. "Ah, that can lead to serious infection. Wait, let me help you" He opened his bottle of whiskey and poured everything inside the bottle on the man's shoulder. A loud howl echoed through the area.

The man who defied Shingo's command was trembling. "You're a ..." Shingo pressed the man to the ground once more. "Please refrain from speaking such words anymore as you surely don't want to owe to my lord more apologies" He released his hold on the man. "Now, listen carefully. All I want from you is just a proper apology. A bow and a mumbled word of sorry would be enough"

"Maybe we can find out where his family lives. Then he would be more than happy to grovel and kiss our feet" Neuwindst suggested.

He earned a brief glare from Shingo and decided not to add his suggestions to the conversation anymore. He changed his attention to the rebellious prisoner as the downed man struggled to say something. Shingo eased the pressure on the man's head to let him speak.

"Please... Let me apologize for my cruel and rude words toward your exalted leader" Apparently the man had a family.

Neuwindst's lips curled upward in a discrete smile. Despite Shingo's not liking what he said, what he did managed to get the reaction Shingo wanted.

"All right" Shingo lifted his foot and the man bowed and stuttered an apology. He bowed again a few times.

Shingo motioned for one of his men to approach him. "See to it that these prisoners are fed and treated for injuries before letting them go" Orochi looked at the man still bowing to him. "See to it that you go back to your family safely" He made a dismissive gesture and walked away. Neuwindst followed. "Do not repeat similar actions or words whenever you're with my lord. He didn't expect you to subscribe to his ideals, but he expects you to respect him as much as he respects you. Understand?"

"Yeah. Never thought that he thought highly of me"

"Oh, he does. He ask me to commend you on the nice job you did with your armor"

"Of course" Neuwindst glanced toward Tatewaki. "Is it true that you're going to part with that band of samurais?"

"They will keep your armor, if that is what you're trying to ask. Not to worry, we know that you can always create armor better than that"

"Of course"

"Good. We want lighter armor for soldiers"

"Ah. I know you wanted that, so I already had them fabricated and they should be ready in a few days time.

"As sharp as always" Shingo complimented, his eyes following their former prisoners leaving the place. "With these demoralized veterans returning to their place and a group of renegade samurais running amok in small cities, it would not be long before the government's foundation shaken to its core"

"And the government will dispatch a lot of troops to deal with the Samurais. They will die, but not before accomplishing what your boss planned. Clever"

Neuwindst had heard about how Shishio plotted to take over the whole of Japan by trying to plunge the whole country into another 'restoration' war. Of course, being the person that installed the weaponry on the gunboat Enishi delivered to the power crazed assassin afforded him with that privilege. Compared to what Shishio plotted, Orochi's plan was more covert. He was trying to instigate the people to rise against the government, instead of forcing them to submit to him. That's why Shishio's plan failed, the blonde haired arms dealer thought. Subjugating people through fear wouldn't work for long, as they will rise, as proven time after time in countless civilization. But, manipulating them indirectly, 'seducing' them; is what will work. Being able to carry out such a devious plan was not easy, and it takes a genius to orchestrate such a plan.

Neuwindst was a gambler, and he knew when he saw a winner.

18 February 2005

Author's note

1. Oh, well. Here's chapter 18, and uploaded on 18th. Convinient, no?

2. I went through this chapter thrice after getting it from fujifunmum and changed some of it. It may be impossible, but it seems that my English has become worse.

lolo popoki -> Without going to details, I assure you that Kenshin WILL snap (yeah, even the summary suggested that, so I'm not spoiling anything). What happened then? Emm... I'm still not satisfied with my beta chapter 19, 20 and 21.