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a Rurouni Kenshin fanfictionwritten by: Hiko Seijuro
All characters created by Watsuki-sensei save a few of my own devising.
WARNING: This story has spoilers! Flee in stark raving terror if you don't like spoilers!
IV - Tsuioku (Memory)
Sanosuke turned his eyes away.
The now lifeless body of Kamiya Kaoru was covered with a blanket, and yet, Sanosuke still couldn't look there. It was almost as if it had been cursed with holding the physical form of a young woman whom he admired very strongly and cared for. Megumi tried to comfort Yahiko, who was still sobbing quietly near the thin white sheet that housed his former teacher. He had almost been hysterical before, punching the floor, even kicking nearby furnishings of the dojo about.
Sanosuke knew the feeling all too well. His thoughts drifted to his boss, as he saw the man's face look upon his one last time before his horrible execution. Right there, when the guns unloaded, Sanosuke's young wail had pierced the skies in frustration, anger, and his love for the man. The man that he looked up to and loved, a man he would have gladly died for.
Kaoru, despite having been pronounced dead by Megumi for about 4 hours, still seemed to glow with her innate trust, happiness, and innocence. Megumi covered her face, and tried again to console Yahiko, but with little success. Yahiko was mumbling curses to himself, no doubt wishing he could have done something to aid the woman who had saved him so many years ago.
In the distance, through the torrent of rain pounding the roads and grounds of the Kamiya Dojo, he heard the splish-splash sound of small feet.
<Who the hell would be out running in weather like this?!> he thought.
His question was answered soon after, in the form of Tsubame.
"Sanosuke-san! Yahiko-kun!" she yelped, running to the dojo, soaked to the bone. As she ran up the stairs and was running inside, she slipped on her own small dress. Sanosuke quickly caught her, and carried her inside. He noticed she was terrified, and looked at her carefully. No signs of injuries, but...
"Tsubame-chan!!" Megumi said, incredulously. "What are you doing running around in that weather at this time of night?!"
"Megumi Hakase, Fujita-san is..." Tsubame managed to say, as she hiccuped.
<Fujita...? No way...!> Sanosuke thought.
"Himura-san injured him very badly...he's dying!" Tsubame said, her tears rolling from her cheeks in fear, and in remembrance.
<Oh god! Then that means that Kenshin is...!> Sanosuke thought, and his eyes widened in terror.
"Tsubame! Where is he?!" Sanosuke asked her, his mind frantic.
"At my house...they were fighting outside and Himura-san was thrown inside... luckily my parents were visiting relatives..." she said softly in reply.
"Megumi, Tsubame! Let's go! We gotta get him help and fast! If what's happened that I think happened..." he said, his expression becoming grim.
"Ken-san has become..." Megumi said, gasping.
"Yeah. No time. Yahiko, stay here, got it?" he said, turning to the boy.
He got no response, other than the sound of his heavy breathing.
"Hey, fox-girl! Move it! C'mon, Tsubame, I'll carry ya!" Sanosuke said, and she hopped onto his back.
"Idiot! I'm not going out in that weather!" Megumi said.
Sanosuke turned around and looked at her directly.
"You want someone to die, because you didn't want to GET WET?!!"
Megumi returned his gaze evenly, but grabbed her coat.
***
"Two tickets to Kyoto, please."
"There you go, sir. Enjoy!" the lady smiled back as she handed him his tickets.
"Domo."
Ibuki and Santo boarded their train a few hours later, and were soon on their way to Kyoto. Ibuki had a neutral look most of the way down, and Santo was brimming with questions for him.
"Well? Something you want to know, Santo?" Ibuki said suddenly, a bit of melancholy in his voice.
"Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance? You know your brother didn't die from this 'ambition' you spoke of. Himura had something that he didn't. Something greater than your brother's power. Ibuki, it's impossible for you to win this battle. You aren't nearly as good as he was..." Santo said, but was cut off by Ibuki's chilling gaze.
"What are you trying to say, Santo...?" Ibuki asked, again neutral, almost an uncaring voice.
"I feel you have brought your own doom upon you. And there won't be anything anyone can do to save you should Himura confront you." Santo said plainly.
"I AM STRONGER THAN MY BROTHER EVER WAS!!" Ibuki screamed.
Santo was taken slightly aback at the outburst, but at the same time, it didn't surprise him. Santo knew very well that Ibuki's training was very incomplete, to the point where he had little chance of succeeding against a warrior like Himura. Santo had watched Ibuki's training sessions become monumental anger releases, and thus, lowered his fighting potential below what it could be. A man ruled by emotions cannot win in a true life-and-death fight.
"And what you did to the girl was less than honorable." he replied, changing the subject, realizing he would get little else out of him if he continued there.
Ibuki smiled.
"Don't worry about that. I could care less on what you think about that. Besides, I'm not out just to get blood on my hands from innocents that I have nothing to do with. It was simply a diversion to get his full attention, and it worked." Ibuki said, folding his arms over his chest.
"You mean it was...?" Santo asked, his eyes widening.
"I can make poison, remember? Well, why do you think I had Kento Akuma, master poison maker, at my home for weeks testing concoctions? Obviously, I had to make a formula, or rather, he did, that would fool everyone to thinking that she had died for at least 8 hours, which I think gave me plenty of time. I don't know if the girl is alive though, as it seemed to work too well. However, the ingredients he used were those that can be purged from the body without any side effects."
"But how do you know that she's...?" Santo asked.
"Well, I suppose you could say we had a few...tests..." Ibuki grinned.
"Fine. But what about his baby? Did you take that into consideration?" Santo
pointed out."No, we didn't, actually. That's the wild card in this whole thing. If the baby dies, well...that's a factor I couldn't test anyway. But, I'm confident, that if the girl survives, the baby will as well."
"That's pretty damn rotten, Ibuki."
"Kento said the same thing."
Santo was silent then, almost all of his questions answered. Then he asked it.
"Okay. Now that that part of the whole thing is done, why are we heading to Kyoto? You said it was his 'favorite city'...?"
"That city spawned him, and he brought great bloodshed there. It was a rather sarcastic remark, you might say. But there are others there that can accelerate my plans for him too. They will only contribute to the suffering he will feel. And they are the next stage of the plans."
***
Saitoh's mind wandered as the soft beat of the rain poured around him. He had slumped to the ground, his body numb from wounds and near total exhaustion from the battle that had taken place only a few minutes before. He had heard the small steps in the dirt before he saw the person confronting him.
"Hajime? Are you OK?" the woman kneeled beside him, inspecting him carefully.
He snorted softly, and winced in a small pain. The woman beside him was dressed in a beauteous turquois blue kimono, a large white sash around her. She had a piercing gaze with her deep blue eyes and wore her hair up in the formal fashion.
"Been worse. I need to get to Takani's clinic..." he said softly, his voice straining to get the words out.
"I saw Akabeko's girl head towards Kamiya dojo. No doubt she'll bring help here soon. Probably that Sagara boy..."
"Hmph. He won't be helpful to me, Tokio. I'd rather you take me."
"I know that, Hajime. But Sagara could probably get you there faster than I could. I would take you, but in this case..."
"I know, I know. At least that moron can run fast."
Both were silent for a few moments.
"Who did this?" Tokio asked.
He was silent for a few moments, then closed his eyes, remembering their past battles together, the tension, the ferocity, and now, the final attack only minutes ago.
"Battousai. He's back, this time."
"Can you stop him?" she asked, running her soft hands over his cheeks.
"I'd be a fool to challenge him again in this state. He's on his way to Kyoto as we speak."
"Could Shinomori stop him, perhaps?"
"Possibly. But Shinomori has lost twice to him, and now that Battousai is an uninhibited killer again..."
"Shall I warn them anyway?"
"May as well."
Tokio nodded slightly, and looked over her shoulder, only to see Sanosuke, carrying Tsubame and Megumi Takani following close behind. She smiled and turned back to Saitoh.
"You see? Sagara-kun won't let you die." she said, running her fingers through his frazzled hair. Saitoh just closed his eyes and smiled.
"You won't either." he said softly, as he lost consciousness.
She smiled.
"You'd be a fool to think otherwise."
"Over there!" Tsubame said, pointing in the direction of her home, now a complete mess thanks to two men. Sanosuke saw Saitoh's body slumped against one of the walls, and then noted another figure that was beside him, seemingly caressing him slightly.
<Is that...?> he thought.
As he reached Saitoh, his eyes widened in shock. His uniform was stained nearly from head to waist in blood, and his left sleeve was ripped off. He lay there in deep slumber. The woman beside him stood up as he arrived.
"Sagara Sanosuke, correct?" she said plainly.
"Yeah, and who are YOU?" he replied.
"My name is Saitoh Tokio. I'm his wife. But enough formality, we need to get him to Takani's clinic immediately, or he may not survive." Tokio said, her voice unwavering and cool. As she moved to help him, she noticed Sanosuke hadn't moved.
"Do you plan to sit there, or shall I carry him to the clinic? I will do that, if it is necessary. Well?" she said, her voice becoming very irritated. Sano quickly snapped out of his reverie.
<His wife...wow...> Sano thought, scratching his head.
"All right, all right! Yeesh, women can be so impatient..." he murmured.
"Not only are you slow-witted, but you're slow-moving, eh Sanosuke?" Megumi said with sarcasm, breaking Sano's thought. Sano snorted, and helped Tokio hoist up Saitoh, taking care in trying not to stretch or open his wounds, the most prominent one being below his ribcage in the stomach area. He couldn't believe that Saitoh had
survived a wound of that caliber. Kenshin hadn't held back in that battle at all.<But why didn't Kenshin kill him, if he had reverted to Battousai again?> he thought, as they all ran towards the clinic, only fast enough so that Saitoh wouldn't reopen his wounds.
<Goddamn that Goro bastard. If I get my hands on him, he'll regret ever even having an image of Jo-chan in his brain...>
Thunder exploded in the sky above the lone man walking the dark, mud swollen path, a trail that he had traveled once before, now almost unrecognizable from the monsoon pouring above his head. Each step sank in a pseudo clay, mixed with small stones and grass roots. The man seemed to pay no mind to the elements that were
pounding on his body, which was too numb to realize what pain really was.He had surpassed pain.
Surpassed sadness, emptyness.
The cross-scar on his left cheek was but a symbol, a representation of the pain and horror that had come to his eyes in his 31 years of life. He had witnessed the deaths of two women dear to him. Two wives. One carrying a child not even named. One he killed with his own weapon. Both died in his arms. As much as he wanted to say he felt little anymore, it was quite the opposite situation. Only upon a close look could one see through his mask of darkness, to see a man crying, his tears mixing with the raindroplets bouncing off his skin and soaking into his
blood-tattered kimono and hakama. On his left hip he wore a katana, stained recently with blood of an old enemy, who about now, the man thought, would be dead. But that was in the past. The only thing that mattered was now to him.And he remembered how it all began...
***
"I'm going to clean the room, so could you leave for a while?" Tomoe said.The young boy's eyes narrowed in irritation.
"Nobody asked you to, you know." he replied.
"Okami-san did, however." Tomoe replied neutrally.
Himura Battousai left the room annoyed at how this...woman, could just barge into their hideout and live there. He couldn't believe Master Katsura was just allowing this to happen.
But then...
"Yo, Himura!"
Himura turned to see a fellow friend in his Choshu clan, Iidzuka. The man was known as a bit of a joker, and he most enjoyed teasing Himura, especially about the new girl, Tomoe, of late.
"Hey what's wrong? Get in an argument with Tomoe-chan?" he snickered.
Battousai tapped his sword out of his scabbard and glared at him.
"Okay okay! Sheesh. Just calm down, will ya?!"
"What do you need?" Himura asked plainly.
Iidzuka's expression turned a bit serious, as he reached into his kimono to reveal a token item of the Choshu Hitokiri.
A black envelope. An assassination.
"Take care of this tonight." Iidzuka said, and handed him the envelope.
Himura opened the envelope and read the note from Katsura.
Himura,We have discovered a bit of a problem. You have heard of the Goro clan in West Kyoto, no doubt, the ones who helped to train one of our new recruits, Shishio Makoto. A spy in the area reported them dealing with some of our sensitive information to the Shinsen Gumi. I have spoken to Shishio about this, and he understands what must be done. Despite the family adopting him and treating him as a son, a traitor is a traitor. Himura, take care of them tonight. Our position is constantly in compromise and I fear that they may have already taken valuable information from Shishio and given it to the Shinsen Gumi. We cannot afford more losses.
-Katsura
Himura crumpled the note in his hands, and shoved it into his kimono, to use for future reference. He took a final look to see if Tomoe was finished cleaning the room, which she wasn't. He sighed, and decided to go ahead and head towards his targets. He was a good waiter.
The darkness was staggering, as the moon was covered by the clouds. But such conditions were perfect weather for the Hitokiri assassins. Himura slowly moved towards the building where the Goro's dwelled, a relatively middle class establishment, and the Goros had a great deal of land for sharecroppers. A very
good setup, indeed.Noting that no guards were present at all, which baffled him, he knocked on the door. He heard laughter inside, as though the family was together having a chat. Making his job all the more easier. A rather large man, obviously the head of the household, answered the door. Kibegami Goro, a large man, mostly from his abnormal height than anything else, and had very little hair remaining. He reeked of sake, and seemed to stumble near the doorway.
"Ah hello there, son. Saaaay. Don't I know you...?" he slurred.
"Yes, I'm from the Choshu clan. Himura is my name." Battousai said pleasantly, a grim smile across his face.
"Ah yes! Shi-kun told me about you. One of the great patriots!"
"It is unfortunate that you are not as patriotic. It's nothing personal, really, but I'm afraid all of you must die here." Himura said coldly, withdrawing his katana. The head Goro was shocked as his pupils shrunk to the size of a pinhead, and made a last ditch attempt to defend himself from the onslaught about to come. However, the Battousai's sword was too quick.
"HITEN MITSURUGI RYUU - RYU SOU SEN GARAMI!!"
Battousai's sword decapitated and mangled the man's head effortlessly. Before his body had even crumpled to the ground, the two other men nearby were already dead from similar wounds. Within moments, the entire room was awash in fresh red blood. Battousai looked around, counting 7 bodies. His note from Katsura had mentioned later that there should have been 8. He shrugged, and made his departure as silently as he had come.
Yet another night of Tenchuu had passed.
***And now, the one he had missed had grown up, learned to fight, and wanted him to suffer. That idea didn't bother him at all. But that he had killed his wife only to get to him was the problem. Such tactics disgusted him.
Kyoto was a few more days' trek from where he was.
Ibuki Goro was a few more days' from his sword.
***
Yahiko stared at the dojo floor, his expression blank. He was still in shock from the events of about 7 hours ago. Megumi, Sano, and Tsubame had left hours ago to see what had happened to Saitoh...
<Kenshin...> he thought.
He clenched his fists, so tight they began to fade a bit.
<Kaoru...>
He released his fist, the circulation returning to normal.
<No doubt Saitoh is dead, if Kenshin was Battousai again. And now, the two of the most important people in my life are gone.> he thought.
"WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!!" he bellowed aloud, his voice almost echoing off of the dojo walls.
With that, he was silent for a while, letting the consistent pounding of rain on the roof soothe him. For a time, all was quiet.
Then he heard it.
A moan, and a footstep.
Yahiko was on full alert, as he planted his back to the wall, and listened. It was coming from the main room, and heading his way. He tightened his grip on his shinai, and braced as the the footsteps slowly approached. He raised his shinai to strike the form of...
The young woman who had saved his life years ago.
Who had gambled her freedom to save him.
The one who had taught him his fighting style.
His jaw dropped in surprise as he saw Kamiya Kaoru rubbing her eyes, which were bloodshot, and her skin still very pale. She looked slowly over to him.
"Ya..hi..ko?" Kamiya Kaoru said, slowly, her voice weak.
END PART IV.Wow. This chapter took a while. Oh well.
If you missed the previous parts, go here:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/2727/fanstuff.htmlC&C are welcome, as usual...
to cronusz@bellsouth.net