Way of the Sword

CHAPTER 12

The full moon shed its light downward, providing a dim glare to faintly outline the dark images hiding in the evening’s darkness. However, the silvery beams of light failed to illuminate the two moving shapes lurking in the yard of the Kammiya dojo. With practice that came from years of experience, K and Ryuichi noiselessly moved along the yard, heading towards the bedroom in which they believed to be belonged Shuichi.

With light and fast footsteps that avoided stepping on any twigs or leaves scattered on the ground, K made his way towards the left part of the main building. From what he had observed earlier, all the regular bedrooms were towards the right while the guest bedrooms was towards the left. And it seemed as though only Shuichi and the blond head had gone off towards this direction. The chances of them finding Shuichi’s room on the first try was fifty percent and even if they did manage to open the blonde’s room by mistake, it would cause little trouble.

The two men quickly reached the first set of doors. Making sure to not be in front of the doors in case they cast their shadows into the room, K and Ryuichi flattened themselves against either sides of the screen door. Both listened quietly for any noise coming from the room. All that could be heard was snoring. K glanced at Ryuichi, whose sharp eyes gleamed wickedly in the night. The shorter man had his hand on the handle of his katana, ever so eager to draw the weapon. K gave a slight shake of his head and then put one finger towards his lips and then pointed two fingers towards the door.

Ryuichi nodded in response to the gesture and he slowly made a tiny puncture in the screen door without making a noise. He carefully glanced through the peephole, his eyes able to make out a figure on the ground. Even in the dark, he could make out the shocking pink hair. Then, Ryuichi quickly did a double take, as noticed a head of blond next to the pink strands. Ryuichi pulled away from the peep hole and looked over towards K. Nodding towards the door, Ryuichi nodded and then put up two fingers in the air and pointed towards the room.

In response, K frowned. So we have the right room but there’s another person in there, thought K. No doubt, it was that blond. Still, tonight was probably good as any other night to complete their job. K looked back at Ryuichi and nodded, pointing first to Ryuichi and then himself.

A wide smile broke across Ryuichi’s face as he pulled out his beloved Kumagorou. He always liked to be the first person going in and Kumagorou liked being first too. In fact, he knew that Kumagorou had more fun if he was the first to strike. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see K pulling out his own sword. Ryuichi gave a quick nod and both men made a quick cut on the door and entered the room in a blink of an eye.

As soon as he entered the room, Ryuichi made an attack towards where the futon laid. However, his sword hit nothing but blankets and he blinked in confusion. A clinking noise could be heard from his left and he glanced over to see K’s sword strike another blade. Ryuichi glanced towards the right and still the sight of Shuichi could not be found. He looked around the room and only saw the now messy futon, the blond fighting K, the closet, and the other set of sliding doors opened. Leaving K to deal with the troublesome blond, Ryuichi ran out of the opened doors in search of Shuichi.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuki saw the other intruder leave. Yuki wanted to chase after him but at the moment, he had his hands full. Yuki struck hard with his katana and pushed in so that he found himself face to face with his opponent. “Who are you?” demanded Yuik, in a tone as cold as the metal of his katana.

K shifted towards the side to put some distance between himself and the blond that was attacking him. “Not important. Just tell me where Shuichi is and I’ll let you live.”

A cold grin spread on Yuki’s face in response to the faintly accented retort. “I think it’s better if you worry about your own safety, White Devil.”

“Heh.” K smirked while Yuki avoided another attack. “How nice it is to find out that I’m still remembered. I must admit that I’m surprised that someone of your caliber is here. In fact, I’ve only come across three people who use the same fighting style as you.” K lunged in for another attack, just barely missing his opponent’s shoulder.

“Oh?” Yuki nimbly avoided the jumbled mess of blankets and futon on the floor, never taking his eyes off the opponent in front of him.

“Yeah and I‘ve killed two of them.” K repositioned himself and stood in a semi-crouched position, his weight resting on his back leg, giving him the perfect momentum to spring out, reaching Yuki in a blurred motion.

Yuki’s eyes widened, as he saw White Devil go into his infamous finishing move. With perfect timing, the blond managed to avoid the attack by going towards the left.

K smiled as Yuki managed to dodge his finish move. “Just like last time, eh Yuki?” Eyes glittered brightly in the dark room, reflecting the full moon’s light. Their gaze settled on Yuki, as an emotion mixed of excitement and bitterness shown through the orbs.

The same time he heard K, Yuki saw White Devil\'s sword switch grip in mid-air and saw the deadly blade coming for him. Shit, thought Yuki. He barely managed to deflect the unexpected move. The two men now stood face to face with distance between them.

K smiled as Yuki’s shoulder took on a bright red stain. “How many years has it been since we last saw each other? I must say, you defeating me at the last and only battle we had was quite a shock to me. Because of you, I had to add another move to my finishing move. Do you know how hard it is to do that? You should be flattered that I took you so seriously Yuki.”

His sword out in front of him, Yuki tried to control his rapid breathing. It has been awhile since he had faced a swordsmen of this caliber in a serious battle. The pain on his left shoulder burned brightly with every passing second. Yuki found it hard to ignore the pain; he had forgotten what it had felt like to get injured while fighting. Not many people managed to even get close enough to hurt him, and even when they did, the injuries had been always superficial, such as scratches and really shallow cuts. Trying to forget his throbbing shoulder and to suppress the flood of memories of the war that threaten to flow, Yuki took on a defensive stance. Drops of blood splattered on the floor, threatening to leave a stain on the polished wooden floor. As the image of Shuichi flashed across his mind, Yuki braced himself and waited for K to make the next move.

***

Shuichi hid quietly in the closet. His ears soaked in the noises coming from outside: metal clashing against each other, the crude accented voice of the intruder. He tried to stop his body from shaking, to stop his teetch from chattering. The last thing he wanted to do was to draw attention to his hiding place. He needed to hide well. Just like his uncle told him to. Hide until the outside became quiet again. Feeling small and quiet, Shuichi shut his eyes, as he relived his past 16 years ago.

***

Ryuichi dashed in the dark, his keen eyes preventing him from running into the objects hidden in the shadow of the moon. Grinning widely, he ran, ever so eager to catch Shuichi. After all, Kumagorou wanted new playmates and wanted to make new friends. He, Kumagorou, and Shuichi could all play together. Suddenly, Ryuichi stopped running and moved backwards, just in the nick of time to avoid getting hit by a katana that suddenly appeared.

Frowning, Ryuichi held Kumagorou out. Yes, Kumagorou wanted friends but this man standing in front of him did not look friendly at all. Kumagorou did not want to be friends with this man.

“Who are you and what are you doing in this house?” asked Kenshin softly. He took in the sight of the small brown head standing before him, also holding a katana. Kenshin did not even blink an eye as the figure before him took on a fighting stance.

Shifiting his feet to balance his weight forward, Ryuichi looked at his unexpected opponent. The figure before him had bright red hair and held a katana in front him. Ryuichi brought his own weapon forward, his heart beating fast, his body already induced with adrenaline. Smiling wickedly, Ryuichi replied, “As much as I want to fight you, I rather be eating mochi. So if you don’t know mind, why don’t you just tell me where Shindou Shuichi is and we’ll call it a night?”

“You do not belong here, that you don’t.” Kenshin’s voice was humorless and his eyes gleamed dangerously. “Leave now before you get hurt.”

Hearing the sudden change in the tone of voice, Ryuichi’s eyes narrowed. They widened instantly as he saw his nameless opponent flying towards him. Barely escaping the attack, Ryuichi breathed heavily. He could feel the cool night air on his right arm, where his sleeve was sporting a new tear, yet his skin did not break. His opponent was now standing with his back turned towards him.

“What do you want with Shindou Shuichi?” asked Kenshin softly. However, when he looked over his left shoulder, his eyes held none of the softness that his voice had, his scar glowing silver in the moonlight.

Eyes widening in sudden recognition, Ryuichi gave out a startling laugh. “Maa, maa. I never expected to run into the infamous Hitokiri Battousai here. I’m just a little out of my league, I’m afraid. I better take my leave now. Excuse me.” With a slight bow, Ryuichi ran towards the direction he had came from.

Noting that the assailant was running towards Yuki and Shuichi’s room, Kenshin followed. The head start the other man had made it difficult for Kenshin to catch up.

Hearing the feather light footsteps behind, Ryuichi grinned and ran even faster. He was not called the Speed Demon for nothing. Still, he had to give the Battousai credit for even being able to follow him this closely. Ryuichi reached the room where he came from, to see K and another blond locked in an intense battle, both warriors eyeing each other before making a move. Without hesitation, Ryuichi ran right through the middle of the two.

“Not a good night, K!” Ryuichi yelled out cheerfully over his shoulders.

Swifly, K turned around and ran out of the room right behind Ryuichi. He paused just long enough to shout out to Yuki. “I’ll be back, you can count on that. And next time, you won’t be left standing.”

Yuki ran towards the sliding door, or what was left standing of the door after the two men had broken in. Try as he might, he could not see a trace of the assailants. Hearing soft footsteps behind him, Yuki replied to the silent question. “No trace of them.”

“I figured so,” said Kenshin. His eyes surveyed the room, not surprised to see the jumbled up futon, the heaped up blankets, and the ruined door.

Feeling assured that the two strangers will not be coming back anytime soon, Yuki went to the closet and opened the door. A huddled pink haired figure, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms circled tightly around the legs, was revealed. Yuki dropped his sword, which landed noiselessly on the blankets. He scooped the trembling body in his arms, hugging the shaking body close to his chest. “It’s okay Shuichi,” Yuki murmmured as he held the boy. His hand, previously occupied with his katana, now was running through soft, pink strands. “They are gone now. You are safe.”

Tear filled eyes looked up, the sight melting even the ex-assassin’s heart. Face crumpling once more, Shuichi threw his arms around Yuki, the force throwing them both on the ground, with Yuki landing on the floor in a sitting position, with Shuichi on top of him. Burrowing his face against the crook of Yuki’s neck, Shuichi sobbed. “It was just like last time. I thought you were going to die.” Not able to say anymore, all Shuichi could do was cry, his tears falling like waterfalls, against Yuki’s neck.

“Shh. Shhh.” Yuki rocked Shuichi’s body, trying to soothe the boy. Never the one to soothe people, but the one to bring death, Yuki was at a complete loss as to how to help Shuichi. All he could do was hold the boy while feeling an overwhelming want to do anything to help relieve Shuichi of his pain. “I’m right here. I’m right here. I never went away. I never died.”

Kenshin slowly slid out of the room and closed the only good doors of the room. Before the doors closed, Yuki looked up with a look of gratidude towards his old friend. His face quickly turned back into pain as Shuichi continued to sob, the noise disturbing the otherwise quiet night. The assassin stroked the boy’s back, murmmuring little words of comfort. Sobbing minutes turned to sniffling and soon the boy was quiet.

Taking Shuichi’s chin in his hand, Yuki tilted the boy’s face up. A ghost of a kiss was planted on the forehead. Staring into the still moist violet eyes, Yuki said, “I’m going to protect you Shuichi, so stop crying.”

Tears threatened to spill again as Shuichi shook his head. “No. It was like when my parents died.” His voice grew to whisper. “They hid me and they died. They could have been safe but they were protecting me.”

Finally understanding the for Shuichi’s tears, Yuki hugged the boy tighter. “It won’t happen to me.”

Shuichi reached up and brought down Yuki’s face, planting a fierce kiss on the soft lips. “Promise me that you’ll protect yourself. That you won’t leave me too.”

Similing softly, Yuki kissed the boy back, softer, slower. After pulling away, Yuki replied, “I promise.”

Feeling more stable, Shuichi looked at Yuki with a tiny smile. The expression was soon whiped off as he noticed Yuki’s injury. “You’re bleeding!”

“Shhh.” Yuki did not want Shuichi to cry again. “It’s just a scratch. I just need to patch up. Why don’t you help me?”

Shuichi nodded despite feeling the urge to cry once more. He carefully followed Yuki’s instruction of finding clean cloth for bandaging. With trembling hands, he cleaned the wound, which still had blood trickling out. Carefully and slowly, Shuichi bandaged the shoulder, the cloth a stark white against Yuki’s light golden skin. Shuichi planted a kiss on the bandaged wound and snuggled into Yuki’s lap.

“How about we get some sleep for tonight?” Yuki whispered quietly. Feeling the nod against his chest, Yuki tightened his arms Shuichi and laid down on the ground, pulling Shuichi down with him. He carefully arranged his hold so that Shuichi lay next to him. Neither bothered to straightened out the messy bedding, seeking warmth and comfort only in each other’s arms.

***

After leaving the dojo behind them in some distance, K and Ryuichi stopped to rest in the cover of the tree leaves. Both assassins were seated on the thick tree branches, catching their breaths from their fast escape. One of K\'s hands fisted, as he bitterly swallowed the fact that he just missed his chance to get even with Yuki. Forcing himself to calm down, he looked over at Ryuichi, who had begun to tug at his shirt. Looking over, he saw that his friend had lost his sharp look from before and is was instead replaced with bright, round eyes.

\"What?\" asked K, slightly annoyed.

\"Can we go get mochi now? Cuz Kumagorou is definately not coming out to play anymore.\"

With a sigh, K stood up. \"Yeah, we can go get some now.\"

\"Whee!!! I\'m very happy, na no da!\"

K\'s mood was instantly lifted, hearing the cheerful voice of his friend. Despite his annoying moments, Ryuichi was one of the best assassins out there and the man have proved to be faithful. K allowed himself to forget Yuki, knowing that another meeting in the future was inevitable. He would just continue with his revenge then.

***

Breakfast next morning was subdued as Kenshin and Yuki explained the previous night’s happenings. Rice was chewed silently and only the occasional gulping of food could be heard besides the voice of Kenshin and Yuki. Even the usual bickering and teasing between Kaoru and Yahiko were absent as the seriousness of the matter weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.

The attackers are out of my league if I didn’t even notice them, thought Kaoru as she swallowed another bite, not noticing the taste. She truly felt scared for the first time in her life after the whole Kyoto incident. Just when she thought Kenshin was safe, more trouble come rolling in. However, as she took in the sight of Shuichi, she prayed that Kenshin would protect the boy. The usually perky boy was deathly quiet, his skin a sickly pale contrast to his bright hair. Dark bags lingered beneath his dull violet eyes, giving the boy a very sickly complexion. To say that the boy had been shocked to know that he was the target of the attack would be an understatement. Already, he had expressed his guilt for bringing them danger and despite everyone’s reassurence that he was not at fault, Shuichi’s eyes still gave away the guilt he was feeling. The sight of the boy going through such emotional turmoil caused anger in Kaoru. Any sad thoughts that she might have had flew clearly out of Kaoru’s head as full blown anger pushed its way in. She abruptly put down her chopsticks and banged a fist on the table, shocking everyone. Everyone continued to be shocked as she stood up as if she has been sitting on a porcupine, upsetting more than one cup of water on the table.

“Dammit! Those idiots will pay!” She gave Kenshin a deadly stare. “You go find those bastards and make sure you hurt them bad!”

“Oro?” asked Kenshin, looking bewildered at the sudden energy that Kaoru seemed to have gained. He did not have time to answer back as Kaoru’s attention quickly shifted to Sano.

“And you!” shouted Kaoru, pointing an accusing finger at the poor ex-gangster, whose chopsticks never made their way towards his mouth. “Not even waking up when we were attacked! What’s wrong with you?! Do something stupid like that again and no food for you!”

“Jo-chan...” Sano tried to protest. He could feel himself blushing and he knew that he could not deny what she had said.

“What?!” glared Kaoru. “You don’t have any excuse not to fight intruders breaking in here. You know better! It’s not like if you learned just to fight!”

Hiro tried to suppress the laughter that threatened to spill from him. It was too much for the boy to see his proud lover with his head down, chewing on the end of chopstick, while Kaoru all of a sudden seemed to adopt a scary mode. If only she knew why Sano was too tired to be awaken... And he could not help it as a snort of laughter escaped.

Sano distinctly heard a snort from his right and he glared at Hiro, who tired to hid himself behind one arm. Catching Sano’s eye, Hiro lost all self control and started to laugh uncontrollably, soon joined in by Yahiko. Both soon had tears streaking down their faces as the rest of the gang only looked on in bewilderment.

“What’s so funny?” growled Sano. He had expected Hiro to be supportive, not laughing his pants off.

“Nothing...” gasped Hiro.
“Obviously, it isn’t nothing if you are laughing so hard that you can’t breathe,” replied Sano, his growl getting ever lower and menacing.

“And what are you laughing at, you little punk?” yelled Sano at Yahiko.

“Don’t yell at me, Sano!” wheezed Yahiko. “You couldn’t get your lazy butt out to protect us! I can just see you, lying in your futon, probably drooling. And here you are, now getting yelled at by Ugly here! Ha! Getting yelled at by Ugly is even worse than not waking up when you get attacked-”

A smack from Kaoru’s chopsticks on Yahiko’s mouth stopped the boy from talking further. “Who are you calling ugly, Yahiko?” demanded Kaoru. “You better not mean me!”

“Who else here is ugly?” shot back Yahiko.

“That’s it, you’re doing each basic strike one hundred times! Maybe if your arms fall off, you’ll appreciate not to call me such untrue names!”

“It’s okay,” bragged Yahiko. “I can handle that kind of training. I obviously have to because we can’t depend on Sano anymore.”

The tense and uncomfortable breakfast now turned into a noisy affair, as Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sano showed off their lung power. While they could not forget what had happened the night before, it was not going to let them down. As always, they were going to overcome the problem with the way they knew best, by fighting back.

***

The beautiful ceramic jugs and vases designing the room shone from the brilliant morning sunlight. However, the beauty of art pieces went unnoticed by K and his employer. In fact, the employer’s eyes seemed to stop the beaming light from coming anywhere near him. The anger of the man was clearly evident by the speed in which the dagger spun around his hand.

“So Shuichi still lives,” stated the man quiety.

K remained silent, knowing that his sharp tongue would not appreciated at this time.

“I want him dead and soon. I don’t think I have to tell you that we are running out of time. The boy will turn twenty in less than a month. I didn’t hire you to adorn that sword for decoration. I do hope that your name was just a lie.” The silver daggered twrilled dangerously fast, threatening to spin out of control and stirke anything near its vicinity.

“Hai. I will get the job done.” With that note, K stood up, his red gi pants softly rustling from his movements.

“I hope so. Don’t disappoint me.”

***

Clearing away the morning dishes, Kaoru turned to Kenshin, who was helping her with the chore. “Ne, Kenshin? I’m going into town today. I need to run a couple of errands and there’s a couple of items that I need to pick up for Megumi-san. Do you think you can do the dishes and makes sure Yahiko does his training?”

“Hai,” replied Kenshin with a bright smile. “You can trust me, that you can.”

Shuichi’s ears perked up upon hearing Kaoru. “Hey Kaoru-san?”

“Hai, Shuichi-san?” replied Kaoru, trying to balance the many bowls in her right hand.

“Do you think I can go with you? I want to stop by and see my Uncle. I’m sure he’s worried about me and I haven’t sent word to him in a long time.” Shuichi grabbed the teetering tower of bowls from Kaoru’s hold and carried it himself.

“Ah, thank you,” Kaoru sighed in relief. At the rate she was feeding Sano’s lazy mouth, she could not replace those bowls if she broke them. “Of course you can come with me. I think it’s a good idea to see your uncle.”

Hearing this, Yuki stood up. “I’m going to.”

“No,” replied Shuichi firmly, shaking his head. “You’re injured. You rest.”

“I’m not about to let you get attacked by walking alone into town,” explained Yuki. “If you leave now, you won’t be back until early evening when the roads will be dark.”

“You promised,” said Shuichi, not yielding from his stand.

Yuki sighed. A part of him acknowledged that Shuichi would feel better if he stayed home. However, he also knew that by staying home, he would worry the whole time.

Noticing Yuki’s silent internal battle, Hiro spoke up. “Why don’t Sano and I accompany Kaoru and Shuichi into town? I think it is a nice day to go outside and it has been awhile since I have been there.”

Pausing to think over the situation, Yuki knew that this was the best compromise. Turning towards Hiro, he supplied a rare, “Thank you.”

He then turned towards Shuichi and kissed him lightly on the forehead. “Be careful,” he whispered into Shuichi’s ear, before leaving the room, not noticing Kenshin’s smile, Kaoru’s bewilderment, Hiro’s knowing glance, and Sano’s jaw dropping on the floor. The only thing that occupied his mind was that something was going to go terribly wrong.