Way of the Sword

CHAPTER 14

The lit lanterns on the wooden table threw their lights across a panel of worried and tired faces. While Megumi was tending to Sano’s side injury, Kaoru had recounted the events that happened only a couple of hours ago. Although now, to Kaoru, it seemed as if everything had happened a long time ago. Telling the event was like reliving through the whole event and Kaoru felt as if she had just got done fighting twenty Yahikos. More than anything, she wanted to take a bath but was worried that she would drown because she was too tired to sit up straight. Looking at Kenshin, she could see that he was in deep thought. Turning her attention to Yuki, she did not know what he was thinking. As usual, the blond had a stoic look painted on his face. But for some reason, Kaoru could swear that he looked angry. Sighing quietly, the raven haired master of the dojo looked outside to see the inky blackness of the night.

Yahiko, sitting next to Kaoru, squirmed. After all this time, Yahiko, though he would never admit it, came to see Sano as an older brother. Even through all that had happened, Yahiko rarely saw Sano faint from a fight and deeply worried about the older man’s current state.

Meanwhile, Yuki was trying very hard to control his urge to just run out and search for Shuichi. In the short time he had known Shuichi, the boy had somehow managed to settle into a space in Yuki’s heart. Never had Yuki allowed anyone to become so close to him; after all, for an assassin, close relationships were liabilities, just screaming an invitation to one’s enemies. The emotions swirling inside Yuki threatened to burst or destroy him, whichever came first. It took all of his training to just sit there with everyone else, trying to look as if what happened was not threatening to destroy his will and self control. The fingers of his right hand brushed over the handle of his katana over and over again, as if the fingers were unable to stop.

Kenshin shared similar feelings as Yuki. The trained killer instinct inside of him screamed to go hunt down his enemies, that he must get rid of anyone not on his side. The ex-battousai had to keep telling himself that the war was over, that he must keep himself under control. Kaoru’s presence did wonders to keep that notion in mind and to help regain his self control. He turned to look at her, noticing how tired she looked. Mentally hitting himself for being so rude, Kenshin stood up, the action causing everyone else to look up at him.

Clearing his throat, Kenshin stated, “Right now, we can’t do anything. The best thing to do is to wait for Hiro to come back. It would be unwise to just go out right now, that it would. We wouldn’t even know where to start looking. I believe that going to bed is the best thing to do, that I do.”

Kenshin turned towards Kaoru, offering his hand. “Kaoru-dono, I’ll help you to your room.”

Gratefully accepting the slim hand, Kaoru stood up with a tired smile on her face. “Thanks Kenshin. Night, everyone.”

After watching the two walk away, Yuki turned to Yahiko who still remained. “Hey, kid, you better go to sleep.”

Yahiko shook his head fiercely, the action causing his messy hair to fly in all direction. “I’m going to wait up for Hiro.”

Fingers finally stopped moving on their path on the handle of the sword and instead reached inside the gi to pull out a pipe. Yuki lit the pipe and drew in a deep breath. “You don’t have to kid. I will wait up for him. Go to sleep already.”

Again, Yahiko shook his head. “Nope. Gonna wait.”

“Look, we won’t leave you out of the action so just go sleep.”

“That’s not it,” mumbled Yahiko.

“Then what is it?” A puff of smoke followed the question, the gray cloud hovering in the air before diffusing.

“I’m waiting up for Hiro cuz that is want Sano would have wanted,” the reply was mumbled.

“Hnn.” Two more balls of smoke flew into the air. “Have it your way.”

How long the two of them sat there, Yuki did not know. While he continued to smoke, Yahiko just sat at the table with an arm propped on the table so that he could rest his chin in hand. He only moved to glance towards the porch through the opened sliding door. The two sat in complete silence, just sitting as time slowly passed. The silence was broken only when Yahiko fell asleep, his quiet snoring picked up by Yuki’s keen ears.

With a sigh, Yuki put away his pipe, tucking it into his gi. After standing up, he walked over the sleeping boy, who was drawing in deep breaths. Careful not to wake the boy, Yuki gathered the smaller form in his arms and made his way to Yahiko’s room.

***

The towel was dipped in the basin of water and wrung out. Once again cold, the towel was folded neatly into fours and the rectangle was placed on Sano’s forehead. Megumi wiped her own forehead on her sleeve, glad that no one was around to see the unfeminine display. She kept her ears open to Sano’s breathing, which finally returned back to normal only minutes ago. While the wound itself was not hard to treat, Sano had lost a great deal of blood. Fortunately, while the damage was not grave enough to be life threatening, the man was left definitely weak and had not woken up yet. If Megumi had a say, he should be in bed for the next two days. However, even without knowing the details of what had happened, just knowing that Hiro and Shuichi had not returned, had Megumi guessing that Sano would be up and about as soon as he woke up, causing more havoc, no doubt.

“Baka. Seems like I’m always stitching you or someone else up in this crazy place,” mumbled Megumi. After a few more moments, she flipped the towel over, noticing that the side that was just on his forehead was warmer that she would have liked.

“Hiro,” mumbled Sano.

With a small shake of her head, a tiny grin fluttered across Megumi’s face. She was truly happy that Sano had finally found someone, much to her surprise that there would even be anyone who would be attracted to this crazy, lazy, arrogant, short-tempered man.

“I hope Hiro teaches to keep your temper in check. Then maybe I won’t have to be here all the time to fix your scrapes,” Megumi told the sleeping Sano. All she received was a soft snore, which she accepted gladly.

***

When Shuichi opened his eyes, he could not see anything and a wave of pain hit him like a tsunami. The result was almost enough for the young man to fall back asleep, but the cold floor that rested beneath his chest grabbed just enough of his attention to keep him awake. Blinking in an effort to gain some sight, Shuichi was rewarded with an ugly view. In front of him, he could only make out a small door, with only one panel. He figured there must be a window, for an eerie cast of light was present in the room. For right now, as curious as he was to take a look at the rest of the room, he did not have the neither the energy nor the willpower to do so. As his sight began to get blurry once more, Shuichi raised his right hand to rub his eyes, as his left arm currently served as his pillow. After rubbing his eyes, the hand continued to journey upwards, to side of his forehead, where he felt something sticky. Following the sticky path, the hand touched a bump which sent jolts of pain coursing through his head. Bringing the hand down, Shuichi looked at it, just barely making out the darker tones on his fingers, which he assumed was his blood. As is if he used all his energy, Shuichi abruptly dropped his hand. Closing his eyes, a small sob escaped from the tiny form lying in the dark..

He shivered on the cold floor, as two tears made a single pale trail down his dirt smudged face. Despite the full waged headache that he was currently experiencing, Shuichi tried to make sense of what happened. He remembered that he and his friends were attacked. He must have passed out because he did not know the result of the attack. Frowning, violet eyes clouded over, remembering something else. He remembered waking up and saw his uncle in the doorway of the same room he was currently. He did not understand, could not even begin to phantom as to what was going. It hurt too much just to breath, let along try to think as to what was going on. Instead, all he was capable of doing it seemed, was to continue wring tears from his eyes, as the wet droplets steadily made their way down Shuichi’s face and onto to floor. Shuichi gave up trying to wonder as to why his uncle had laughed at him as he stood in the doorway.

***

Breathing heavily and the sweat soaking his gi top, Hiro finally reached the Kammiya dojo. Noticing the gate closed, Hiro deftly went over the wall, only to find himself facing a very pointy blade of a sword. He blinked slowly, forgetting to breathe.

“Hiro?” asked the owner of the sword.

Hiro quelled his gut reaction of attacking the sword holder as the familiar voice greeted his ear. “Yuki?”

The blond lowered his blade, looking around carefully.

Catching the blond’s sweeping eyes, Hiro stated, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t followed. I made sure of that.”

Nodding, Yuki headed back towards the house. Hiro quickly followed and was walking next to the man.

“Ne, Yuki, how’s Sano doing?” Hiro asked, as two men quickly reached the porch.

“He’s fine. Megumi is with him right now,” Yuki answered matter of factly.

“I see.”

Yuki turned around to look at Hiro. While the younger man appeared to be calm, Yuki noticed the worry that filled the man’s gray eyes.

“He’s fine,” repeated Yuki, feeling the awkward need to comfort the young man. He quickly changed the subject, needing to ask the question that have been burning in his mind. “Where’s Shuichi?”

“Where’s Kenshin? I rather tell everyone all at once.” Hiro did not mention the fact that he also would rather check upon Sano first.

Yuki nodded. “I’ll go get Kenshin. You go see Sano and meet us back in my room.” With that said, Yuki walked rapidly towards Kenshin’s room, trying not to act rude by running.

Hiro, unlike Yuki, did not hide his anxiety as he made a mad dash towards Sano’s room, surprisingly finding energy after everything that had happened. In dark hallway, he was able to make out Sano’s room, as the door glowed faintly from a light within. Without bothering to knock, Hiro slid the door open.

Megumi, startled, looked up towards the source of the noise, only to find Hiro standing at the doorway, breathing heavily. She scooted from where she was sitting next to Sano, as Hiro rushed into the room and sat down.

Hiro gasped as he took in Sano’s pale complexion. He seriously did not think that Sano had received a critical wound, especially since Sano was still standing when Hiro left. Clearly, Hiro’s judgement was wrong, as evident from Sano’s complexion and his steady, but shallow breathing. With trembling hands, Hiro reached underneath the blanket and took hold of his lover’s hand. The calloused hand barely felt warm, making Hiro’s own hand feel like two hot coals in comparison.

“Hiro?” asked Megumi, softly.

In response, Hiro turned his head around to look at Megumi, sitting a couple feet away from him. “Please excuse me, Megumi-san,” apologized Hiro, bowing slightly. “I seem to have left my manners somewhere else.”

“Don’t worry about it,” reassured Megumi.

“How’s Sano doing?”

“He’s doing well. His wound will heal nicely, just a little scarring. But he lost a lot of blood and he hasn’t woken up yet. But don’t you worry, he’ll be fine.”

Hiro sighed and smiled weakly. “I’m glad.” He traced one of his fingertips down Sano’s jaw line, looking fondly at the sleeping man.

“I better get going. Yuki and Kenshin are waiting for me.” He regrettably stood up, his motions slow, the movement taking more time than necessary. With a pace of a turtle, Hiro walked towards the door and walked through the opened door. Before closing, he turned towards Megumi. “Please watch over him and let me know if anything changes.”

“Don’t worry. I will,” Megumi assured, smiling.

“Oneigaishimasu.” Hiro slid the door closed and walked rapidly towards Yuki’s room. Now that he knew Sano was alright, he focused his mind on rescuing Shuichi.

When he reached Yuki’s room, Hiro found Yuki and Kenshin already there, both sitting crossed legged with a lantern lit between them. Both of their katanas were out, resting in front of them. Quickly closing door behind him, Hiro joined the two men on the floor.

Cutting quickly to the point, Yuki asked, “What did you find out?”

Understanding Yuki’s urgency, Hiro proceeded to tell his findings. “I followed the two men who attacked us. They went back into town. They reached a house and hopped over the wall, carrying Shuichi.” Hiro paused, not sure of how to share the last bit of his knowledge.

Sensing Hiro’s hesitation, Kenshin asked, “What is it, Hiro?”

“Uhm... They went into Shuichi’s uncle’s house.”

Violet eyes flew open and hazel eyes crinkled to the question that no one asked. Why was Shuichi taken back to his uncle’s home?

***

The door to the tiny room where Shuichi was being held opened, allowing a tiny silvery light to invade, making it’s way across the dark floor. From his position on the ground, Shuichi looked up to see his uncle once more in the doorway.

“Uncle?” whispered Shuichi hoarsely. He sat up quickly, the action resulting in seeing his world tilt slightly. A slight throb still reminded Shuichi of his injury but he chose to ignore the pain, his attention directed towards the man that stood in the doorway once more.

“Hello Shuichi!” greeted Haruki enthusiastically. “You are one hard person to capture, let me tell you.” He stepped into the room, his gray kimono blending into the darkness of the room. The darkness only illuminated his face, almost as if it was bodiless head. A pair of shuffling feet followed the long strides of Haruki, as he was closely followed by another man, who was holding a whip and a coil of rope.

“What’s going on? What are you talking about? What am I doing here? What is this place?” Always known to be talkative, his rapid tongue moved independently from his sluggish brain. He was not sure if it was the injury on his head, but nothing about what was happening was making sense to him.

Haruki crouched down in front of where Shuichi was sitting until the two were face to face. The older man carefully gathered his silken gray kimono so as not to dirty the precious garment. While one hand held the gathered silk, the right hand grasped Shuichi’s chin, forcing hazy violet eyes to look at startlingly clear onyx ones.

“My boy,” whispered Haruki. “I see you are still all not here. Do you need more time to recuperate? Shall I leave you alone?”

“No!” Shuichi answered more forcefully than he intended. He cleared his throat.

“Eh, I mean no,” he repeated more quietly, shaking his head as if for emphasis.

“Alright then.” The pale hand did not leave its place from Shuichi’s chin. “Now where should I begin? So much has happened that I don’t even know where to start!” Haruki giggled quietly, as if he told a joke that only he would understand.

“How about, what am I doing here?” Shuichi said crossly, not finding the situation to be one to be giggling about. If anything, the noise only intensified his headache more.

“Well, I see that we are not in a good mood today,” answered Haruki, all trace of humor gone. His grasp on the chin hardened, causing Shuichi to gasp at the sudden pressure. “A little bit of advice: if I were you, I would be on my best behavior.”

Standing up, Haruki let go of his nephew. “Now, answer me Shuichi, do you remember what we were talking about when you visited me yesterday?”

Yesterday...Shuichi quickly calculated and was surprised to find out that he have been in the room the whole night. Not answering the question, Shuichi instead responded with one of his own questions, “It’s already morning?”

“No, no,” chuckled Haruki. “You really must be out of it. It is around 3 am in the morning. Now, back to my question, do you remember?”

Shuichi did not answer right away, trying to think what was so important about their past conversation. “You wanted me to come home as soon as possible...are you mad that I am still staying with my new friends?” If he was getting punished for something as trivial as that, Shuichi decided that his uncle was clearly not in his right mind.

“Oh, not the correct answer, Shuichi. Give me some credit, I am not that anal a person, you know.”

“Than why are you doing this to me?” asked Shuichi in a confused tone. All his life, he tried to behave, even as a kid, not to disappoint his uncle who has become a second father to him. In his mind, Shuichi could not comprehend what had drove his uncle to behave in this abnormal way.

“You still haven’t figured it out Shuichi? What a shame that my nephew has a dim lantern in his skull. I guess I better spell it out for you, slow nephew of mine. I’m going to stop you for inheriting the family business.”

Shuichi let out the breath he had been holding expectantly and burst into laughter. Soon, he could barely sit up straight and sat there, on the cold floor, holding his stomach. His laughter slightly echoed in the unfurnished room, giving his laughter a touch of hysterical flavor.

“I fail to see the amusement in my statement,” said Haruki mildly.

Finally, Shuichi’s laughter died down enough for him to reply. “This is all so ridiculous. I don’t want family business right now. It’s too much of a burden to me. All you had to do was ask and I would have let you keep it longer.” Shaking his head, Shuichi used his hand to brush the tears that had gathered in the corner of his eyes, smiling.

“I don’t want to have it for a little while longer. I want to have it indefinitely.”

The smile that was on Shuichi’s face faded slightly. “Indefinitely?”

“Yes.” Haruki once again dropped down in order be face to face with Shuichi. “You see, I was going to have you killed so that I could inherit the business.”

“Ki... kill me?” stammered Shuichi, face paling beyond recognition.

“Yes. But, it seems that almost everyone knew you would inherit the business on your birthday, like the meddlesome Kimura. I can’t draw attention to myself, after all, everyone would suspect me of killing you.”

“Yeah, that’s not good,” added Shuichi, meekly. His eyes searched around the room rapidly, frantically. He had to get out of that room and fast. But a part of him wanted to stay, to hear what his uncle had to say. Noticing the man with the whip and the rope, Shuichi decided he had no chance of escaping for now.

“Instead, I want you to sign this.” From within his kimono, Haruki produced a rolled up parchment. “This scroll is a statement that reads that you will forfeit the business to me. You will sign it, so that I will have legal proof that I own the business. This document needs both your stamp and signature (1). It already has your stamp. I found it conveniently stowed away in a box in your room. All it needs is your signature.”

“If I sign it, you will let me go?”

“Sure,” purred Haruki.

“Before I sign, I need to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“Did you send those two men to attack me while I was staying at Kammiya dojo?”

“Oh dear boy, I did more than that. I sent someone to kill Eguchi too.”

“Why? You didn’t want me find out that Mizuki killed my parents? The police caught him anyways and I found out at the end.”

“No. Let me tell you a little secret, dear boy.” Haruki leaned in until he was nose to nose with Shuichi. “I killed your parents Shuichi.”

All Shuichi could do was just stare. Did he hear it right? “I don’t understand -”

Haruki cut his nephew off. “I killed your parents.”

Staring into the coal black eyes, Shuichi stammered, “Mizuki killed them. The police found him after he committed suicide. They found evidence that he killed them.”

Blinking slowly, Haruki stared into Shuichi’s face. “No. I killed your parents. I had Eguchi killed because he suspected me. I then had Mizuki killed and had evidence planted on him. Now, I am going to have you sign this paper so I can finally take over the business.”

“Why? How could you kill all those people? And your own brother.” Shuichi hung his head, unable to look at his uncle’s face anymore. He sat numbed, shoulders slumped over. “How could you kill your own brother? How could you kill my father and mother?”

Haruki leaned over so that he was whispering into Shuichi’s ear. “Do you know what it was like to live in Junichiro’s shadow? He was always better than me, he took away the girl I loved, and he took over the family business all because he was older than me. He should not have underestimated me because I was younger.” Haruki pulled back so that he was once more, face to face with Shuichi’s lowered head. Snarling, Haruki added, “I showed him at the end.”

Shuichi looked up, his hands tightening up into fists. Tears once more pooled at the corner of his eyes, but no longer from laughter. Violet eyes clouded with anger and hurt looked up to view the man he thought he knew. “You killed my dad because you were jealous?”

“Not entirely. I wanted the business, I am more suited for the job than he ever was. I thought that with him gone, I could take over, but turns out he added into his will that you would take over. Now, after you sign this paper, everything will be alright.”

Before Shuichi could think, his right fist flew into his uncle’s cheek with strength that he would never guessed he had. Feeling energy in his tired body, Shuichi yelled loudly, “I trusted you! My father loved you! I will never sign the stupid paper! You can go straight to hell!” In response, Shuichi felt a fist driving into his stomach. He folded over, moaning. His hand hit the ground, saving him from having his face meet the ground. His other arm clutched around his midsection where he was just punched and he gasped, trying to suck back in all the air that he had lost.

“We’ll see how long you can keep up your fighting spirit. One way or another, I will finally get total control of the business.” Giving one final look of distaste to the huddled form on the ground, Haruki stood up to his full height and turned around. He walked towards the door, stopping when he got to the other man in the room, who had been standing there quietly the whole time.

“Go ahead with the plan we talked about. I’ll be back in another couple of hours,” said Haruki, before heading for the door once more.

“You might as well give up, uncle, because I’ll never sign the paper,” said Shuichi, as loudly as he could between heaving gasps of breath. He looked up and saw the man with the ropes coming towards him.

“Human will is so fragile,” replied Haruki as he closed the door behind him.

“Bastard!” yelled Shuichi, not sure if he intended the last statement for his uncle or his new guard, who was currently tying his hands together over his head. “Hey, what are you doing? Get off of me!” Shuichi squirmed, trying to free his hands and to distance himself from the guard.

“Shut up,” said the guard. The guard securely tied Shuichi’s hand together and lifted the arms so that they over Shuichi’s head. The guard easily tossed the rope over the beam above their heads.

Shuichi continued to squirm, trying to get away while the guard was tossing the rope. A kick landed on his upper thigh, numbing his leg. A backhanded fist crashed into the side of his ribs, not breaking the bones but enough for Shuichi to fold over once more. The urge to resist left Shuichi for the moment as new sensations of pain mingled with his old ones.

Taking the end of the rope, the guard tied it securely to one of the beams. The rope was tied tight enough so that Shuichi could not lower his arms and he definitely did not have enough slack to run anywhere, even if his legs were free.

“Now,” said the guard, coming close to Shuichi. “Let’s see if I can get you to sign that paper.”

Shuichi eyes widened in fear as the burly man came closer. He could only guess as to what was going to happen. As a punch landed in his stomach, the image of Yuki’s face popped up in Shuichi’s head. He prayed silently that Yuki loved him enough to come look for him.

***

“Does everyone understand the plan?” asked Yuki as he stood up.

Both Kenshin and Hiro nodded as they stood up. All three men had grim looks on their faces.

“I’ll meet you guys back here in half an hour,” said Hiro, as he left the room. Seeing the nods from his friends, he left.

“You need rest, Yuki, that you do,” said Kenshin softly.

“Yeah and so do you,” replied Yuki, as he reached inside his gi to pull out his pipe. He felt a hand over his and he looked up slightly to stare down into Kenshin’s face.

“He’ll be fine. We’ll find him, that we will.” Kenshin gave a slight squeeze before letting go of Yuki’s hand.

“Now rest,” Kenshin said, as he stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Yuki merely grunted and settled on the ground, crossing his legs. In an hour and a half, the sun would start to rise and they could go look for Shuichi. Slowly puffing on his pipe, Yuki waited for Hiro to return.


NOTES:
1. So I know in some Asian cultures, they have a little stamp that use as a signature, almost like a seal. I asked some of my Japanese friends if Japan did the same thing but I’ve received so many different answers that I decided to just live it with it if I am historically incorrect. And I figured it wouldn’t hurt if Shuichi had to sign his name too, because it is believed that the stroke of the brush is different for each person, like handwriting.