Suenagaku na Aki
Chapter 21
Yamagata was looking at the men assembled in front of him with some unease. He already knew about the past 'dispute' between Saitou and Himura, but he couldn't explain what was happening between Himura and the tall street fighter who followed him. Aren't they supposed to be friends? Why is there so much tension between the two of them, as if a fight could break out anytime?
And the Oniwabanshuu's leader's unreadable gaze on him caused him to sweat, despite him being an experienced war veteran. And that former Juppongatana, Chou. Yamagata still had misgivings about including him in the group, but he needed all the good fighters that he could find. He sighed and cleared his throat. "Gentlemen," he began. "We're gathered here to discuss a very important thing"
"You said gentlemen. Why must we have the uncouth kid here?" Saitou gestured at Sanosuke which caused him to glare at him instead of Kenshin. Chou snickered.
Before the situation got out of control, Yamagata cleared his throat once more.
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"Oi! Kenshin!" Sano called out at the small man who was walking away. "Oi! Wait for me!" He ran to catch up with him.
"What do you want?" Kenshin asked quietly.
"Why?" Sano asked gruffly.
"Be more specific"
Sanosuke was too angry to be intimidated by Kenshin's dangerous words. "Specific! I'll give you your damn specific! Why in the hell have you been avoiding me for the past few days?"
Kenshin didn't reply but continued walking.
"Oi! Don't you hear what I said?"
Kenshin ignored him.
"Damn you!" Sano fist was speeding toward the back his friend's head but Kenshin moved his head slightly to the left and evaded it.
"If you pull that one more time, Sano, I will treat you as my enemy" Kenshin turned toward the former gangster.
Sano gasped. Kenshin's eyes were amber. After a few seconds of silence, Kenshin turned and walked again. Determined to get his answer, Sano followed him until they exited the building. Kenshin keep walking while Sano tailed him until they finally arrived at a hill.
"Don't you have something better to do?" Kenshin asked coldly
"Che! I am going to follow you everywhere until we return to Kamiya dojo"
"I'm not returning there"
"Damn it! You will return there. Do you know what happened after you left? Jou-chan stood in the middle dojo like a zombie"
"I don't care"
"Like hell you don't"
"I already told her I'm not returning. It's her fault that she acted stupid"
"Damn you!" Sano lunged toward Kenshin but the former hitokiri disappeared from his view. He stopped. Then to his shock, he felt the other man's ki behind him. Kenshin was standing back to back to him. He expected to be attacked, but Kenshin merely took a step away.
"Listen, Sanosuke" His voice was soft. "Ten years ago, I made a promise to my wife that I would dedicate my life to helping others" Kenshin hung his head. "I promised that I would atone for all my sins. This is the path that I have taken, and this is the path I will follow after this"
Sano snorted. "Oh. So you're going to cast us aside?" he snapped his finger. "Just like that!"
"You, Kaoru, Yahiko and the others; all of you are just some people I met while following my path; just mere passersby"
"Bullshit. Just philosophical crap. Maybe to you I'm just one of the people you helped. Hey, I don't give a hoot if you don't think of me as friend. But, I saw how you reacted around Jou-chan. She is not just mere 'passerby' to you. We were together during the fight in the blasted temple and I am sure as hell that you really care for her"
"SHUT UP!" Kenshin shouted. He clenched his hands so tight that the knuckles were white. "Shut… up…" His body trembled.
"Kenshin…" Sano put his hand on his friend's shoulder but was roughly brushed aside. "What's wrong with this guy?"
"I want to dedicate my life to help others. Can't all of you respect that?"
"Kenshin…"
The ex-hitokiri shook his head, telling Sano that he has calmed down. "That fight… with Enishi…," Kenshin stuttered, "It was not her that I fought for. I fought… so that… I can live… and… continue protecting people. Kaoru-dono was simply a captive, the owner of the dojo, nothing more" Kenshin smiled bitterly "I have tried to convince myself to believe in the fantasy that all of us were fated to be together, but the reality is that my life's journey has to be continued alone, without anyone else. You can return to the dojo now; tell her that I wouldn't won'treturn"
"She did not send me"
Kenshin became more relaxed.
"She's suffering now, you know"
"I don't give a damn about what she does now. She can cry to an early grave if she wants"
"So you like her to suffer?"
"It's always her! Always her! Or someone else. Either it revolves around someone I have to save or someone who's out to get me. What about me?" A lone tear rolled down his cheek. "Doesn't anyone care about ME! Doesn't anyone care about how I feel having to fight endless enemies!" The stream of tears flowed freely from his eyes. "Don't you wonder how much it hurt me to slap Kaoru and tell her to forget me? Or how much I 'enjoy' knowing that she's suffering right now because of me?"
"Masaka…"
"No one really cared about my feelings. But that doesn't matter, does it? I have to fight again, this time against Orochi. So, I will fight and get rid of him, even if I have to kill him" Kenshin walked away.
Sano was speechless and could only watch as the redhead swordsman left. "You're wrong," he whispered. "Jou-chan cares about you. You said that it pains you having to fight and no one cares. Obviously you didn't see her shedding her tears at your pain. I did. I may be an idiot, but even I can see that Kaoru's world revolves around you. You should have let her inside your heart; her heart would have protected yours" Then he hung his head. "Jou-chan, gomen. I have failed you. The talk with Kenshin just now; it was like talking to multiple Kenshin personas. I don't know what happened to the two of you that night, but it affects him as well. Maybe… maybe the Rurouni we knew and loved is gone" He raised his head, while clenching his fists. "But I will stay with him to keep him from breaking his vow. That's the least I can do. And I know that you would want me to do it"
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"So, Battousai's back. Are you going to finish your duel with Battousai, boss?" Chou asked to his boss who was sitting on a chair with both feet on the table, polishing his katana with a piece of cloth.
"Maybe" Saitou brought his katana closer until he could see his reflection on it.
"What! You see how he acted during the briefing. It was like the time when he fought me. And, his eyes were amber"
Saitou sheathed his sword. "That may be true, but that's not the Battousai that I knew. He is different; even more violent than the time during Bakumatsu. Even if I fight him, it will be to uphold my Aku Zaku San principle, not to finish the duel. But for now, the two of us have more important task to perform, which is to defeat Orochi" He sneered at door , "Isn't that what you want to hear me say?"
Chou turned his attention to it while wandering who was outside the room.
Outside the room, Yamagata began to walk away, not wanting to enter anymore. He wasn't planning on eavesdropping on their conversation, but wanted to talk to Saitou regarding something. When he already has his hand on the door knob, he accidentally heard the exchange between the Chou and Saitou and stopped. Now, embarrassed by Saitou, he decided to talk to the ex-Shinsengumi later.
"Yamagata-san"
He turned around to see that he was not alone inside the corridor. "Oh, it's you, Shinomori-san. How can I help you?"
"I wish to talk to you in private for a moment", Aoshi told him.
Despite appreciating the Oniwabanshuu leader's participation in the group, Yamagata mentally sighed as what he will hear would probably take a few years off his life. Nevertheless, he agreed.
They walked to a vacant room at the end of the corridor and entered it.
"Now, what is it that you want to talk about?" Yamagata asked.
"When you briefed us of the current situation, you only talked about what Orochi is and how we must defeat him in order to preserve Japan's future"
"Yes. Did I miss anything?"
"I would like to know about how you organized the security forces to deal with his threat"
Yamagata hesitated and the look wasn't lost on Aoshi. Yamagata didn't trust him yet.
"Very well, since you're reluctant to tell me, I just need to confirm some information. First, the bulk of army and police forces are being concentrated on major cities to protect them" The other man's silence confirmed what he said, so Aoshi continued. "Few army divisions are sent to major conflict areas, such as a town captured by renegade samurais"
"That is true,"Yamagata let out a long breath. "Our movements were that easy to find out, were they? What else do you know?"
"I know that the police are helping Orochi spread his influence"
"That is preposterous! Are you insinuating that the police force is betraying us?"
"No. But what the police are doing right now is exactly what he predicted"
"Tell me more"
"Do you suddenly have lack of police officers?"
"Yes, but that is…"
"Because most of them were assigned to protect some politicians" Aoshi cut him off.
"Err… yes. But we're drafting new recruits"
"That is not enough. Due to the shortage of police officers, crime rate is increasing throughout Japan. This in turn, will cause the population to blame the government"
Yamagata was amazed by the other man's intelligence. "But the politicians we are protecting are important"
"Yet these politicians you are assigning your best men to protect are notoriously known for their corruption. The people wouldn't appreciate the protection"
The other man couldn't reply.
"My sources have told me that he has sent many agents to instigate the people. And you can see that one of the smaller towns has begun to form their own defense force because the police couldn't handle the security there. It will be very easy to cause the security force and the police to clash"
"You know about the towns?"
"Yes"
"Then tell me. What should I do? I can't just leave the politicians unprotected; the Orochi will also gain influence if we let him kill them"
"But in return, you will be protecting the people. If you're really afraid about the corrupted officials' lives, just tell them to issue statements that they will rather die rather than let people's safety be jeopardized. Orochi will less likely kill those who made the comments because killing them will make them martyrs"
"They wouldn't make such statements. They care more about their own lives than the people"
"Let them choose whether they want to do it or not. But regardless of their choice, you should not assign police to protect them anymore"
"I need to think about it"
"Up to you" Aoshi turned to leave the room when Yamagata stopped him.
"How did you find out what he was up to?"
"I didn't" Aoshi opened the door and gave a brief look at the man behind him. "It was one of the retaliatory plans the Tokugawa Shogun thought of when it became obvious that he would lose the Restoration War"
"But our spies didn't report anything on that"
"Of course. Only the Shogun and I knew about it" Aoshi closed the door behind him.
1
Author's note (19 August 2005)
1) Ah. Now we have a madman trying to take over Japan, a mad and angry Kenshin and a mad and psychotic Kaoru. I believe this is the first time (maybe, but hey, I'm just making an unproven comment) in RK fanfiction history we have three madmen, emm, madperson. Expect another one before I'm through.
2) Despite my limited time, I'm ensuring that I do my best in my story. That's why you have complicated story. Sometimes, I really wanted to ,"Oh well, let's throw in a villain and have Kenshin leaving Kaoru. Then Kaoru become crazy and then (spoiler...spoiler...spoiler...) without full explanation of why such things happen", but I wouldn't get my personal satisfaction from it. Admittedly, sometimes I wince when I click on the document submit button because I know it seems well, not that good. But the chapters were necessary. There are many times that I just wanted to stop the story and just write the final fight scene. But... oh well. I'll contend myself with knowing that success is the journey, not the destination.
3) My country will be having its National Day on 31st of August 2005. Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! In English, it means 'freedom'
Star0704 ---> Emm... That makes the two of us, earlier on. I don't know what it's going to be earlier on, but after two years of running the idea in my head, (or maybe 3) the end is finally visible.
Kuroi-san ---> :-D Notice the smile. It's a bit strained, right? I really want to finish this by the end of autumn (thus the title) but in any case, I'll promise that I'll finish it (by hook or crook)
Crewel ---> Gomen. More interactions are in the pipeline, but not that soon. Well, as you can see from above, they were apart from each other. Expect a few more chapters of absence. And you'll probably see 'subdued' interractions between Sanosuke and Megumi, because I'm trying to follow how Japanese interract a bit (they tend to beat around the bush a bit, so if you reread Megumi's comment, I assure you that its meaning is deeper than what was said).
TearsOfInfinity ---> I prefer to think about it more positively. My story is more exclusive, hence only select few are reading and leaving the comments. :-p. About me stopping, don't worry. I assure you that at the very least, chapter 26 will be posted before I quit, along with the cliffhanger, making you wonder about (spoiler...spoiler...spoiler...) and how(spoiler...spoiler...spoiler...)
Lolopopoki ---> You're welcome. And I hope this chapter explains about Kenshin's behavior.
Flaming-amber ---> Great minds think alike, no?
Hanabira ---> I'll update as soon as I'm able. As for Kenshin's head, I have to disappoint you as Orochi will probably get to him first. Then we have Saitou, or not. Then we have em, you. Somehow, when I reviewed this chapter, I'm being reminded of Kira Yamato of Gundam Seed. Strange.
This chapter was beta read by fujifunmum