Way of the Sword

CHAPTER 4

The first hint of morning streamed through the sliding doors. The rays hit the face of a sleeping brown head, causing him to stir awake. A hand brushed away the long, deep brown bangs that covered the face. The eyes opened, revealing a set of sleepy, gray eyes, blinking at the intruding sunlight. Hiro sat up and winced at the pain from his leg that the movement caused.

The events of the previous day still lingered on his mind as well on his body. He fingered his bandaged leg lightly, smiling sheepishly at how stupid he was to get injured. And I call myself a student of Shito Ryu (1), he thought. A sigh escaped him, as an image of his sensei (2) came to his mind. If his sensei knew how Hiro\'s karate training failed to protect himself, a long punishment would be sentenced. Hiro would take a sword cut to his leg any day over his sensei\'s punishment. Hiro shuddered just at the hint of what form the punishment would take place.

A frown quickly set on his face as the seriousness of yesterday\'s event settled in. He was lucky he did not die and it was a miracle that Shindou Shuichi was still alive. Hiro still did not quite know why he followed that blond. He realized that he did not even know the blond\'s name. How stupid am I, thought Hiro, not even asking for his name. No wonder Hiro\'s karate skills failed him, he was so unperceptive. Stupid, he told himself, always know who you are dealing with.

From his current situation, Hiro had no idea what to do next. He knew he should not be imposing on his hosts any longer than it was necessary. However, with his injury, traveling any time soon seemed to be out of the question. He knew he would go back to his sensei\'s house if he left, but when he would be able to make the travel was questionable. A part of him wanted to stay and find out what was going on, why he and Eguchi was attacked by those two men. Hiro tried not to think too much about Eguchi, trying to block out the anger and sadness that the name was now associated with. Hiro had not known Eguchi really well, but what impression the older man had left on Hiro had resulted in the younger man’s fondness for the elder.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting Hiro from his train of thoughts. \"Come in,\" he said, looking up.

\"How are you feeling this morning?\" A brown haired man stood at the now open doorway, holding a green gi top.

\"Fine - ano, who are you?\" Hiro asked. He remembered the man\'s face from last night, but the man had not said or done much then. Come to think of it, Hiro could not remember anyone\'s name from last night. There went his lack of perception again.

\"Oh sorry! I haven\'t properly introduced myself, have I?\" The tall man walked into the room and sat next to Hiro. \"I\'m Sagara Sanosuke. You can call me Sano like everyone else does.\"

Hiro shook the offered hand and smiled. \"Nice to meet you. My name is Nakano Hiroshi. You can call me Hiro\"
\"Hiro! Nice to meet ya. I hope you are feeling better. I came to tell you that breakfast is ready and if you can get up, to join us.\"

\"Thank you. That sounds wonderful.\" Hiro pushed back his covers, then stopped, aware that he was only wearing his pants. \"Uhm, do you know what happened to my clothes?\"

\"Oh! Yesterday, after you fell asleep, fox lady -,\" Sano paused noticing the confused look on Hiro\'s face, \"fox lady is what I call the doctor - thought it was best that you and the other injured kid sleep in separate rooms, especially since the other kid will need constant care for the next couple of days. So I moved you into this room and Kaoru insisted that your kimono be washed and patched, hence your missing clothes. Here, you can wear this meanwhile.\" Sano tossed the gi top he was carrying onto Hiro\'s lap. \"I figured you would like the color green because that was color of your kimono.\"

\"Thank you.\" Hiro accepted the clothes gracefully. He looked up and his eyes met Sano\'s brown ones. Hiro felt his cheeks get slightly warm. The sunlight is really strong this morning, Hiro thought. He took the gi top and tried to put it on. Unfortunately, his muscle was slightly stiff and sore from the punishment it took yesterday. Hiro clenched his jaw and a grimace passed his face, as he struggled to put his right arm through the sleeve.

\"Oy! Let me help.\" Sano shifted closer to Hiro and helped the arm through the sleeve. The rest of the gi top was put on with minimal pain with Sano\'s help. Hiro could feel his face become even warmer.

\"There! All finished,\" said Sano. \"You\'re definitely going to be sore for the next couple of days. The fox lady said you\'ve gotten lots of bruises too.\"

\"Aww. I figured I would be sore, just not this much.\" Hiro tried to talk normally, trying to ignore the heat he now felt on his face. He hoped that he was not coming down with a fever due to his leg injury.

\"Come, I\'ll help you get up.\" Sano took Hiro\'s left hand and pulled as the injured man got up.

A slight groan escaped from Hiro lips as his muscles screamed at the unwanted movements. As soon as he stood up, Hiro felt his injured leg shake and felt both of his legs collapsing underneath him. Sano quickly grasped Hiro\'s waist and swung Hiro\'s left arm around his own shoulders.

\"Looks like you are gonna need some help,\" Sano said. He peered closely at Hiro\'s face. \"Are you feeling alright? Your face looks a little pink.\"

***

The little dagger dangerously flashed as it twirled around the man\'s hand. The hand abruptly stopped the twirling and grasped the handle. With the flick of the wrist, the dagger flew and sunk into the floor, two inches away from Mizuki\'s knee. Mizuki found it hard to breath and his body tensed up. His head hung low, eyes refusing to look up at the man in front of him.

The owner the dagger reached for his sake. He slowly swished the sake in his cup and took his time drinking. His belief was that there was never a wrong time of the day for sake. He slowly set the empty cup down and turned his head towards the quivering man sitting in front of him.

\"Ne, Mizuki. Let me see if this is how it went. I tell you, specifically, to kill Eguchi and Shindou Shuichi. You get two of your brainless goons to do it. They meet up with a slight problem because a third man they did not expect was there. They kill old Eguchi but do not kill the unexpected man, because he was not specifically ordered to be killed. Never mind the fact he now has seen the whole murder. Then they kill Shuichi. They leave and report to you, thinking that they are done. You and those two idiots go back to the house to make sure that no clues were left. Now here comes the best part. When you three arrive, the mystery man and Shuichi\'s body are gone. Did I leave anything out?\" The man bore his dark eyes into Mizuki\'s bowed head. \"Answer me, dammit!\"

\"N..no boss,\" whispered Mizuki. He dared not to make any other sound.

\"Now help me understand this. If Shuichi is dead, how come his body wasn\'t where your two goons left it? I mean it is possible to assume that the mystery man could have buried Shuichi\'s body, but why didn\'t he bury Eguchi? How can a dead body just move unless.. wait, I got it! What if Shuichi wasn\'t dead? Can it be that he is still alive?\" The sarcastic tone increased the fear that Mizuki was feeling.

\"I\'m really disappointed,\" continued the dark eyed man. \"Really disappointed. Now the situation unnecessarily has become messy. I\'m going to take care of those two goons of yours. I want them here right after I dismiss you.\"

Mizuki grimaced, knowing full well what would happen to those two. However, Mizuki felt no pity, for he knew his punishment would be just as bad, if not worse.

The dark eyes flashed with a newfound enjoyment. \"And as for you, Mizuki, I have a special punishment for you.\" He reached behind him and grabbed a wooden box as long as his forearm. The box was placed on the table next to the sake. \"I want you to take this box and put it in that trap wall space I told you to build in your room. Your punishment is to guard this box until you die. If this box every gets out, if you ever look at its contents, you will be very sorry indeed. Now take the box and go.\"

Mizuki\'s eyes opened in surprise. He was expecting a much harsher punishment, something along the lines of torture or death. Silently, he reached for the box and made way towards the door as fast as he could.

\"Mizuki.\"

The name\'s owner stopped one inch from the door, dropping the shaking hand that was about to slide the door open.

\"Don\'t ever mess up again,\" whispered the boss.

Mizuki nodded, not trusting his voice. He quickly opened the door and ran as fast as he could away from the room.

The boss grinned wickedly. He had caught the small of sigh of relief coming Mizuki regarding the punishment. Too bad that Mizuki did not know that his punishment would not end there. The grin widened on the boss\' face, as he thought about what was going to happen tonight.

***

\"Thank you very much for the breakfast,\" said Hiro, putting his chopsticks down. \"Kenshin, you are a wonderful cook.\"

\"Thank you very much,\" said Kenshin, smiling.

Breakfast had been pleasant. Formal introductions were made before the meal and Hiro now knew everyone\'s names and faces. Megumi was the beautiful doctor, Kaoru was the owner of the dojo and the house, Kenshin was a rurouni, Yahiko was Kaoru\'s student, the blond was Yuki, and there was Sano. All formalities was dropped as if the events of yesterday made everyone become close friends.

The table was quickly cleared away by Yahiko and Kaoru. Hiro tried to help but Sano had stopped him, pointing out that Hiro could not even get up without help. As soon as the table cleared, tea was brought out. Silence settled in, as everyone enjoyed the fragrant drink.

Yuki put down his cup of tea and stared at Hiro. \"I think I have waited patiently enough. Do you think you can tell us what happened yesterday?\"

\"Yuki-san! Don’t rush-\" Kaoru began, only to be cut off by Hiro.

\"It\'s ok.\" Hiro smiled at Kaoru and directed his attention Yuki. \"It is only fair to let everyone know what happened yesterday.\" His hand set the cup he was holding and he looked around at the people surrounding the table. \"I am a student of Shito Ryu-\"

\"What\'s Shito Ryu?\" interrupted Yahiko. He was replied with a bonk on his head by Kaoru\'s fist.

\"Don\'t interrupt him! Where are your manners?\" scolded Kaoru.

Yahiko\'s nose flared. \"I don\'t need lessons about manners from you, ugly!\" he retorted.

\"What?! Do you need me to teach you a lesson?\" Kaoru started hitching up the sleeves of her peach colored kimono with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
\"Maa maa....\" said Kenshin, waving his hands at two enraged people. \"We best let Hiro continue with his story, we should.\"


Kaoru and Yahiko each gave each other one last hard stare and turned to Hiro and apologized.

Hiro smiled. \"It’s alright. As for Yahiko’s question, Shito Ryu is a karate style. I live and train with my sensei. Yesterday morning, I left home to run an errand for my sensei. On the way back, I decided to stop and visit Eguchi. He is an old acquaintance of my sensei. I didn\'t know the man too well, but as he was a friend of sensei\'s, it was only polite to stop by. When I stopped by, Eguchi told me that he had a meeting with a Shindou Shuichi. It was ok, because I only meant to drop in and say hello. I was about to take my leave when two men, dressed in black, appeared out of nowhere into the yard. One of them had a katana, the other had no visible weapon of any kind. The katana holding man ran straight for Eguchi but changed his directions toward me at the last minute. I ran, knowing that I couldn\'t defend myself properly. I was at the back of the house when the man caught up to me and he attacked. He then ran back towards the front. I tried going back towards the front but my leg was too injured. By the time I finally reached the front, Shindou Shuichi was about to leave. I saw the second intruder behind Shindou-san so I yelled out a warning, but he was attacked anyways. I think I got hit on the head after that. When I woke up, Yuki was there.\"

A deep breath was taken in by Hiro. He had not realized he had talk so much until after he was done. Everyone around him was silent, with a either a look of concentration or puzzlement on their faces, except Yuki, who’s face remained a blank slate.

\"Do you know why Eguchi-san was meeting with Shindou Shuichi?\" asked Yuki.

Hiro shook his head. \"No, I do not.\"

\"What are you thinking Yuki?\" asked Kenshin. He had come up with a conclusion in his mind and wanted to know if his friend thought the same way.

\"I think Eguchi-san and Shindou Shuichi was attacked because of their planned meeting,\" replied Yuki. \"The attackers were not random thieves because nothing was stolen. Their whole purpose was only the death of those two, which explains why Hiro escaped with the least amount of damages. But we still do not know who they were or for what is the reason behind the attack.\"

\"I agree,\" said Kenshin, nodding.

\"Well,\" said Kaoru, \"then we just have to find out what happened.\"

\"Oh no,\" said Hiro. \"I couldn\'t possibly but that burden on you. I’ll just report to police.\"

\"No,\" said Kenshin. \"If those two men were hired to kill and realize that you and Shindou Shuichi are alive, they will attack again, that they will. It is best to let us help you.\"

\"Yes,\" nodded Kaoru. \"We can\'t just kick you out knowing that they will come after you and Shindou Shuichi again.\"

Hiro did not know what to say. He did not want to endanger these people, but their point was well made. Also, given his current condition, he did not have much choice.

Kaoru took Hiro\'s silence as an affirmative. \"Good. With us, you can get to bottom of this. Why don\'t you write a note for your sensei? We can have Sano deliver it. Your sensei must be worried about you.\"

\"Hai.\" With everything that has happened, that thought had not even crossed Hiro\'s mind.

\"On my way over delivering the message, I think I\'ll stop by Eguchi’s house to see if there are any clues,\" said Sano. He stood up and stretched.

\"I\'ll go with you,\" said Yuki. \"With your brains, you\'ll probably miss half of the clues there.\"

Sano shook a fist towards the blond\'s direction. \"What did you say?\"

Yuki arched an eyebrow and answered, \"I just call them as I see them Sagara.\"

Kenshin laughed nervously. His two friends never did get along and he often found himself to be playing mediator whenever the three of them were together. \"Why don\'t you two get ready for your travel?\" A breath of relief was let out by Kenshin as the other two nodded in agreement. Kenshin just hoped that the two were not going to kill each other along their errand.

A few minutes later, Sano and Yuki made their way towards the front gate. Sano turned around and waved to everyone. \"We\'ll be back soon. Take care of yourself Hiro!\"

Hiro blushed at the fighter\'s last statement. His eyes lingered longer than he intended on the departing image of Sano.

NOTES:
1. Shito Ryu - A karate style.
2. Sensei - Teacher.