Way of the Sword

CHAPTER 7

The morning sunlight streamed through the slight open crack between the sliding doors and into the training hall, finding its mark on a bare patch of skin. The exposed skin grew warm, causing the owner to stir awake. Sleepy brown eyes opened, blinking at the light filling the large room. A gentle smile appeared on his face as Sano remembered the previous night\'s event. He turned his face towards the warm bundle huddled against his chest. Running his hand through the long, rich mane, Sano stole a quick kiss from the soft lips of his sleeping beauty. Soft eyelashes fluttered open, reacting to the intimate touch. The corners of the gray eyes crinkled as Hiro grinned at the man responsible for waking him up.

The grin suddenly changed to a horrified look as Hiro abruptly sat up. \"Ne, Sano, what time is it?\"

\"Hmm...I don\'t know,\" came a distracted reply. Sano feasted on the sight of the rippled muscles that danced across Hiro\'s bare back.

\"Uhm, doesn\'t Kaoru-san practice in here in the morning?\"

In response to the question, Sano also sat up and crawled around the wooden floor, looking for his discarded clothes. \"Shit! Yeah she does.\" He found the green gi top and tossed it at Hiro. The top landed neatly on top of the reddish brown head, the sleeve covering half of Hiro\'s face. \"I think we better get dressed, because it will be a little awkward to explain to Jo-chan why we are here naked.\"

Hiro quickly found his remaining clothes and put them on. Just as the two lovers were done dressing, they heard approaching footsteps and the not-so-quiet mutterings of \"Kenshin no baka.\"

\"Quick,\" said Hiro, with panic in his eyes. \"Pretend that we were fighting each other.\"

The two posed in their fighting stances just in time as Kaoru stepped into the training hall. Tilting her head to one side, Kaoru stared blankly at the two men.

\"Eh?\" Large eyes blinked at the sight in front of them. \"So here\'s where you two were! I was wondering why you two weren\'t at breakfast and Kenshin couldn\'t find you in your rooms. I was almost worried because Sano never misses a chance to get free food.\"

\"I did yesterday because you were cooking,\" retorted the brown head.

Kaoru walked directly towards Sano and gave him a hard pinch on his arm.

\"Ouch!\" yelled Sano. \"Jo-chan!\" He got a light smack on the forehead as a response. \"What?!”

Giving Sano a stern look, Kaoru crossed her arms. \"The pinch is for insulting my cooking. Beggars shouldn\'t be choosers! The smack is for sparring with Hiro-san. You know he\'s injured. He should be staying away from strenuous exercises! You should know better!\"

Hiro tried to hide the laughter that started to rise out of him. Because of last night, Hiro knew that he would be sore and would be unable to walk properly for the whole day. If only Kaoru knew how \"strenuous\" Sano made him work out....

Not noticing Hiro\'s shaking shoulders caused by silent laughter, Kaoru continued to give Sano a lecture. After feeling satisfied, she shooed the two men away. \"Get going you two. Hiro-san, you should go rest now. Sano, go help Kenshin with the chores.\"

Sano moaned at the command. \"You have Yahiko-chan. You don\'t need me, Jo-chan.\"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. \"If you were at breakfast, then you would have known that he accompanied Megumi to go to the next town over early this morning. She had to buy some medical supplies. And while she is there, she is going to get in touch with Shindou-san\'s uncle.\"

***

The market place was filled with hurrying people and crowds of shoppers. People dressed in brightly colored kimonos hurried through the many shops that lined the main street. Dainty ladies protected their milky skin with tiny paper umbrellas. In the air hung the bustling of the place: the squeaky turning of wheels on a cart, children laughing, and loud voices bargaining prices.

Megumi and Yahiko made their way through the crowd, looking for the medicine shop. The raven haired doctor walked tall and straight, her beauty attracting many glances from more than one man. Yahiko walked alongside of the tall woman, with his shinai strapped across his back. The boy made his way with his hands behind his head. Sighing, he wondered why he had volunteered to come with Megumi. He thought the town would be more exciting but it turned out to be just as boring as going on a tofu run for Kaoru.

Hearing the sigh, Megumi turned to look at her little escort. Getting the feeling that he was growing bored, she spoke. \"Yahiko-kun, I want to thank you for coming with me. Your help means a lot to me. Thank you..\"

Hearing such formal words coming from Megumi caused the boy to blush. \"Naw. It was nothing.\" The young fighter tried to nonchalant, turning his blushing face away from the doctor. \"Come on, we better hurry. Don\'t you have a lot of stuff to get?\" The boy walked a little ahead of Megumi, swinging his arms wildly, taking steps that were much too big for his short legs.

Megumi smiled at Yahiko\'s antics. She grabbed hold of Yahiko\'s collar at the neck and tugged, bringing the boy back to same pace as hers. \"No need to hurry. I only have to stop by one store and we are almost there.\"

The two wove their way in and out through the crowd of people, finally reaching their destination. The famous herbal shop had a throng of customers waiting in front of the stand. The doctor fell in place at the back of the already formed line with Yahiko by her side. While waiting in line, Megumi could not help but over hear the conversation taking place between two people in front of her.

\"Yeah, so Mizuki was the one who murdered Shindou Junichiro and his wife. And all this time, everyone thought it was Kimura,\" said a bald man.

His companion, the taller of the two nodded. \"Just shows that you can\'t judge a scroll by the brush strokes. Mizuki was one of Shindou-san’s employees, ne?\"

\"Hai. He was such a nice fellow too. Very polite to his elders,\" regarded the bald man.

\"Sou, sou (1). Well, at least Shindou-san\'s son, what his name again? Shuichi? He should be happy that his parents\' murderer is finally caught.\"

Megumi raised her eyebrows as she caught the name \"Mizuki\" in the conversation. That was the same that Sano and Yuki-san have seen carved on the tree back at Eguchi-san’s place. Her eyebrow furrowed slightly as she digested this bit of gossip. Could it be that Shindou Shuichi was attacked because of his parents? The furrow deepened as Megumi could not understand why anyone would attack Shindou Shuichi, especially if his parents were already murdered and he was too young to have known anything regarding the death of his parents.

\"Come on, the line is moving,\" said Yahiko, impatiently pulling the doctor along.

The doctor blinked as she was pulled out of her thinking. Megumi smiled at Yahiko and walked forwards, closing the gap between herself and the people in front of her. However, her smile quickly faded away, as she felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach caused by the image of Shindou Shuichi. She had an ominous feeling that Mizuki\'s death helped fuel the uneasiness growing inside of her.


***

The noon sun shined brightly down on the freshly laundered clothes, hung up to dry on the lines. Kenshin\'s pleading voice could be heard, trying to persuade Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan not to play near the drying clothes. The loud giggles erupting from the three reached Shuichi\'s ears through the sliding door, which was opened slightly ajar, letting in a warm breeze.

Big violet eyes blinked, confusion filling the big orbs as he wondered where he was and why he felt so sore. Comprehension soon replaced the former look as Shuichi remembered that he was attacked and rescued. However, there were large gaps in his memory and the harder he tried to remember, the more his head hurt. He gave up trying and leaned back against his pillow, closing his eyes.

The eyes quickly opened as Shuichi realized that he had not been lying down on the ground and that his pillow was moving up and down. Looking down, he saw an arm draped lightly against his own hip. Shuichi\'s eyes traveled from the long fingers, to the connecting palm and up the arm and onto the black sleeve that hid the rest of the limb. Events of the previous nights slowly filtered into the pink haired boy\'s brain and a deep red blush started to spread across his face. Ahh....I remember now, Shuichi recalled embarrassed. Shuichi remembered crying in front of a complete stranger and how the same stranger had comforted him.

Shuichi quickly looked up to steal a look from the stranger. The younger man could not help but gasp at the sight that met his eyes. Strands of blond hair moved slightly from the breath let out by the sleeping man. Even in sleep, the structured face, with its high cheek bones and shapely jaw line, could not be deprived of its beauty.

The blush on Shuichi\'s face deepened as he realized that he had drooled on his \"pillow.\" It was not really Shuichi\'s fault, he always had a habit of drooling whenever he slept on a side of his face. It was quite unfortunate that this time, the habit had left a small wet spot that was quite noticeable on the black fabric. As the boy contemplated how mortified he would feel if this stranger woke up right then, Yuki opened his eyes, much to Shuichi’s horrification.

Hazel eyes blinked lazily as Yuki did head circles to loosen the stiff muscles in his neck. Hearing a small gasp, he peered down to find a panicky set of violet eyes staring back at him. Yuki\'s eyes widened in response to Shuichi\'s panicky facial expression. Did the boy\'s condition worsen over night? Before Yuki had a chance to find out, the figure in his arms spoke out.

\"I am sorry! I didn’t mean to drool! It\'s just that I have a habit of drooling when I sleep...\"

The usual stoic face twisted into slight look confusion. For a moment, Yuki thought that Shuichi had somehow lost his mind over night. After all, why would anyone just randomly start talking about drool?

\"...like if I sleep on the right side of my face, I drool on the right side. But if I sleep on the left side of my face, I drool on the left...\"

Yuki dismissed the idea that Shuichi had lost his mind. After all, the boy received wounds to his body, not to the head. Shuichi had not even suffered a concussion. Maybe the boy had a fever and was delirious.

\"....so I woke up with the right of my face on your top, which means that I drooled. I\'m so sorry!\"

The last words leaving the boy\'s lips drew Yuki eyes toward his black top. Sure enough, there was the reason why Shuichi was so talkative that morning. Relief ran through Yuki as he realized that the unexpected babbling was not due to the injuries Shuichi had received a few days ago.

A perfect eyebrow arched, as Yuki asked, \"Do you always talk this much?\"
Shuichi ducked his head and a faint pink, matching his hair color, spread across his cheeks. \"I’m sorry! It\'s just that I wanted to explain that I didn\'t drool on your top on purpose, that it was an acc-\"

The last word failed to make it out of Shuichi’s mouth as Yuki placed his index figure against the boy\'s pouty lips. \"You shouldn\'t talk so much. You are still recovering from your injuries you know.\"

The contact of the rough skin on his lips triggered all coherent thoughts to run away from Shuichi’s mind. Feeling weak, all the Shuichi could do was stare the hazel eyes that refused to give away any emotions. Trying to think of something to say to the taller man, all Shuichi could do was to mutter \"Ahh... really?\"

His lip twitching ever so slightly, Yuki replied, \"Yes. I don\'t know exactly what happened to you, but I know you are not in a state to explain yourself. Until you are ready to do so, you should gather up your strength.\"

Feeling even weaker than before, Shuichi struggled to keep his eyes open. He wanted to continue to look at the person he drooled on. However, despite his willpower, a wave of tiredness swept over the small figure, his eyes closing little by little. \"But.....\"

Yuki watched as Shuichi closed his eyes, not finishing his sentence. The blond\'s gaze fell on the once again asleep face and then to the still wet mark on his top. Shaking his head, Yuki leaned against the wall once more and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

***

It was late afternoon as the large dining hall within the Shindou household was filled with important business men from the surrounding five towns. The intimidating figures occupied sitting mats around the many tables placed in the room. Servants scurried back and forth like busy ants, replacing empty dishes with plates piled with food, filling empty sake bottles. In the middle of the noisy affair was Shindou Haruki. The host had donned a bright silver kimono, looking quite conservative among all flashy colored silk surrounding him.

The host raised a full sake cup in the air. \"I would like to propose a toast.\"

\"Here, here!\" yelled out a quite drunken voice. All the men present raised each of the cups, following Haruki’s gesture. The loud conversations taking place halted, everyone\'s attention directed towards the now standing man.

Haruki cleared his voice. \"First, I would like to thank everyone for attending this afternoon. I feel that it is important for all businessmen to join together, to form a coalition that will benefit us all. In such a time as this, where it is hard to rebuild after a war, it is wise to ally with one another. I hope that the men present here today can do just that, help build strong connections with one another, to help support each other. Now, kampai! (2)\"
\"Kampai!\" All the men raised their sake cups to their lips, drinking the sweet liquid as a sign of agreement to Haruki’s speech. One man, closest to Haruki, put his drained cup down. The man, dressed in bright blue kimono with white designs, turned his round head towards Haruki. \"Ne, Haruki, I heard that you were worried about your nephew who haven’t been home for a couple of days.\" The rest of businessmen all paid attention to the spoken voice. Even in a party situation, Kimura\'s voice was laced with authority.

Smiling, Haruki shook his head. \"No, Kimura-san, not anymore. I heard from my nephew. He will be staying with his friends at the Kammiya dojo at the next town for a couple of days.\"

\"Ah!\" shouted Kei, another businessman. \"I know that dojo. Run by a female instructor by the name of Kaoru. Quite good from what I hear.\" The man spoke loudly for everyone in the room to hear.

\"Ne, does she have a pretty face?\"

Shaking his head, Kei replied, \"Never seen her myself. But from what I hear, her sword skills are better than her looks! Now, that\'s not much to look forward to, is it? Especially in bed!\" This remark drew loud laughter from the listeners.

The conversation steered towards more jokes on the expense of women. One man in the crowd narrowed his eyes. Kaoru huh, thought the man. His hand reached inside his kimono, where his dagger was hidden from the view of his company. It was fortunate that he found out the whereabouts Shindou Shuichi\'s. Kami-sama must be smiling upon me, thought the man, his face breaking in a grin. He resisted the urge to take out his dagger and start playing with it. After all, he did not want to raise suspicions. He could not fail to make anymore mistakes in killing Shindou Shuichi.


NOTES:
1. Sou, sou - That’s right.
2. Kampai - cheers