Subject: [kffdisc] Grief, and Hope 4 (Very Rough Draft) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 20:12:22 -0800 (PST) From: Serizawa Kamo Reply-To: kffdisc@onelist.com To: kffdisc@onelist.com From: Serizawa Kamo -- Aitou, soshite Kibou -- ~ Grief, and Hope ~ by Serizawa Kamo This fanfic is based on the story and characters created by Watsuki Nobuhiro. Hail him! ^_^ Standard disclaimers apply. As always, C&C's highly appreciated! Please! ^_^ In the bottom, there's a list of the Japanese words I've used, if any. There are Revenge Arc spoilers in this story. There are spoilers for the Rurouni Kenshin OVA. There are quite a violent scene in this chapter. If you do not feel at ease with violence, please delete this part. Thanks a lot to Naga-san for prereading this chapter! Your suggestions were incredibly good! ^_~ Previous chapters can be found at: - T.e.a.h.o.u.s.e. (thank you, Lady Amalthea-san! ^_^) http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/6196/kamoaitou0.html - Miburo (thank you, Tokio-san! ^_^) http://www.miburo.com/fanstuff/fiction.html ----------------------------------------------------------- Part 4 - Kaisou - Ikedaya no Hen, Dai Ni no Shou -- Goumon to Komoriuta (Reminiscences - The Ikeda Inn Affair , Second Chapter - Torture and Lullaby Song) (VERY ROUGH DRAFT) ----------------------------------------------------------- "Off through the new day's mist I run Out from the new day's mist I have come We shift Pulsing with the earth Company we keep Roaming the land while you sleep" (Metallica, "Of Wolf and Man") The summer of 1864, First Year of the Genji Era, was already giving its first hints of the unbearable heat that would be felt around in July, soaking the clothes of people with abundant sweat and creating a stifling vapour in the vicious air that insisted on lingering in the lungs even at night. Even after the nightfall, heat did not seem to give the slightest respite, making fans prized goods among women and men with as little clothing as possible were not an unusual sight. However, if one was to look carefully among the chaotic fuss of the Gion festival, one would find a young man, dressed in dark clothes with his red hair tied up in a high ponytail, walking alone at night unscathed from the torrid heat that tormented everyone. For if this young man had a deadly iciness held inside his scabbard, he also had it unleashed around him. Unleashed as swirl of frostiness that dazzlingly spun around him in an alluring manner, silently watching every step of the young man. Watching with pitch-black eyes that had an inscrutable glint that irradiated nothing but bitter umbrage and loathing. Inscrutable glint of an unearthly eddy of chilling snow that endlessly probed for an opening to permeate the whole of his body and soul with inclement vengeance. Vengeance, a painful poison that let him find his peace only in the bosom of the grim reaper. A swirl... "tomoe".... cold as snow... "yukishiro". Yukishiro... Tomoe. He had hinted to her to leave this city, where blood was boiling with the heat of the Ishin Shishi, and tried to drive her away to a safe place. Even if this was a turbulent era, he believed there were no excuses for letting a woman go unaware of the perils that lurked here in Kyoto, let alone involve her in the nefarious affairs he had been related to, and he had thought her leaving would be for her own good. And his. But... -- You do make it fall, don't you...? A rain... of blood... -- Maybe... just maybe... If he had any thoughts in turmoil, he hid it well behind his emotionless face. Because it was time for the bitter odor of blood to triumph over the sweet fragrance of white plum blossoms. ------------------------------------------------------------- "It looks like there are no more people left here.", said the Captain of the 1st Unit of the Shinsengumi Okita Souji, as he peered into another chamber of the Masuya store. Crossing his arms, Nagakura Shinpachi, the Captain of the 2nd Unit of the Shinsengumi let out a long breath as he sat on a stool. Scratching his head, he asked in an annoyed mood, "So, tell me one thing: twenty men, including the Captains of the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 10th Units, surround this furudougu-ya and all we get is just the owner of this secondhand store. How is that possible?" Sheathing back his sword, Inoue Genzaburou extended his hand to fetch a finely wrought inrou from a dusty shelf. With his habitual placid voice, the man in his fourties answered without taking his eyes off the good, "I have discovered a hole in one of the oshiire. They must have used it to escape. By the way, I have found ten armors and three fireweapons in one of the chambers." "But almost no files left", grunted Harada Sanosuke, as he looked at the ash scattered around the room. "They managed to burn most of them. Damn it, neither Kondou-sensei nor Hijikata-san will be pleased." Pointing his thumb towards Okita, who was examining the burned files, Harada said in a half-serious, half-mocking tone, "This is all his fault. He wasn't quick enough to follow me in this raid." Turning his head to the Captain of the 10th Unit, Okita sweatdropped as he smiled, "Iyadanaa, Harada-san. Who was the person who, completely out of the blue, started running furiously to lead a 'one-man surprise attack on the Masuya', as he himself did yell it?" Inoue Genzaburou could not repress a smile, while Nagakura laughed openly. "Point to Okita-kun, Harada-kun.", grinned Nagakura in amusement. "Hey, I was fed up with that endless surveillance, okay?", blurted out Harada. "A man should always be straight to the point, you hear?". He opened his Shinsengumi jacket and bared his abdomen, where a long horizontal scar could be seen clearly. Slapping the scar, the wild and handsome young man declared in a pompous voice, "Straight like this, you hear? Straight like this wound!" Nagakura Shinpachi rolled his eyes, sighing, "And there he goes again..." Okita smiled again as Inoue just shook his head resignedly. Without paying attention to the three, Harada raised his voice in a lecturing tone, "My bowels know the taste of steel! For I, Harada Sanosuke, have proven to the world my value as a man when I committed seppuku!" "Oh, but isn't this interesting?", said Okita, carefully blowing a thin layer of ash. "Of course it is!", snapped Harada in a less than pleased voice. Okita was sincere when he apologised, "I am sorry, Harada-san, I was not referring to your wonderful deeds, but rather to something curious I found here." He turned to face the middle-aged man who was bound tightly with strong strands of rope. "Eeto... Masuya Kiemon-san deshita ne? Masuya Kiemon-san, owner of this secondhand store Masuya, I presume?" Cocking his head slightly, Okita smiled in a most amiable way to Kiemon as the young Shinsengumi Captain showed him a yellow fragment, "I wonder if you could help us understand the meaning of this sentence in this paper I found in your house?" Masuya Kiemon's eyes narrowed slightly as he read clearly in one bit of the parchment partially consumed by fire. "... do not let the chance go by..." It was the beginning of the end . ------------------------------------------------------------- "Pa-pa... uta! Uta!" "A song, my child?", laughed Yurimoto Shigeaki, playfully holding Kaoru's small hands. "Your father is tired, can't you spare him this time?" He leaned forward and smiled to Kaoru, who was lying comfortably in a straw cradle. "Uta...", she pouted. "It looks like you will have to sing to her, dear.", said Yurimoto Mayumi in a delighted way, as she sat beside her husband and fondled Kaoru's hair. "No matter if we are exhausted after a week of tiresome traveling from Edo to Kyoto, it seems our child still has enough energy to hear your voice before she sleeps." Yurimoto Shigeaki laughed again. Lightly placing his hand on Kaoru's forehead, he closed his eyes as he sang with an appeasing voice, "Piping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee, On a cloud I saw a child, And she laughing said to me: 'Pipe a song about a lamb!' So I piped with merry chear. 'Piper, pipe that song again;' So I piped: she wept to hear. 'Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe, Sing thy songs of happy chear.' So I sung the same again, While she wept with joy to hear." Yurimoto Shigeaki produced a hitoyogiri - a bamboo flute about a foot long, with five holes instead of eight - and started playing a slow, monotonous and almost hypnotic tone, yet still infinitely pleasant to hear. In the hot and quiet night, the ancient musical instrument was crooning a melody whose sweet notes were carrying tales of old. Tales about a man and his happy family. Tales that would be mercilessly torn apart by hate, fear and death. ------------------------------------------------------------- There they were. One, two, three, four men. He knew that one of them was the one who should die tonight. But, surprisingly enough, he did not care much about finding out which one. All of them should meet their fate, or else the survivors would carry news about him to the Bakufu, who would take immediate measures to uncover the assassin. The slayer of man whose name was known to just a few. The slayer of man - Hitokiri - called Battousai. Whenever he got those black envelopes which contained the relevant information about the person he had to murder, he tried not to delve too much into the data. He knew perfectly well that personal feelings towards the victim were an undesirable fat that dulled the deadly edge of his sword, making his job all the more difficult. Perhaps he was afraid. Afraid of ending up as a ruthless murderer who left behind him nothing but meaningless deaths. Afraid of shattering his own dreams of a new era. He sighed, as he hid behind a wooden wall, watching carefully and awaiting for the best moment to strike. Shaking his head, he decided to do his job as quickly as possible, in order to return to the Kohagi inn earlier. Any other thoughts could wait for now. As the four men reached a narrow crossroad, Battousai stepped out from the shadows behind them. Placing his left thumb on the guard of his sword, he pushed it slightly, as he dashed noiselessly towards them. They thought it was a wind. And indeed it was. Obviously not a gust of an assuaging breeze but an ominous zephyr, a harbinger of death. The four barely had time to utter a curse as the red-haired assassin was already among them, his right hand gripping firmly the handle of his katana. Two of the surprised men jumped in front of a wealthy looking man, in a desperate attempt of protecting him. Battousai's eyes narrowed. It was exactly what he had wanted. A silver arc shone under the bright moon as Himura jumped sideways to his right, turning his body as he drew his sword in an astonishing speed. The steel connected with the flesh of one of the bodyguards, who cried with pain. In the next instant, Battousai whirled on his ankles and slammed himself on the mortally wounded man, making him collide with his rich boss at the same time as Himura extended his right arm and plunged his katana into the stomach of another man, who coughed blood and fell to the ground as the hitokiri pulled the blade from him. And already he was swinging his sword to slay the last bodyguard... -- I feel that I might dream of a rain of blood... so.. -- ... but never reached him. The man opened his eyes wide in surprise as the bloodstained steel froze just before his throat. His hand went instantly to the hilt of his sword, but a glare from the red-haired assassin was enough to dissuade him. The bodyguard had to admit that the young murderer left him no openings whatsoever. Himura turned and glanced at the man who was slowly standing up, covered in blood of one of his dead subordinates. Closing his eyes, he felt behind him the last bodyguard, who had at last drawn his sword, waiting for a chance to strike. Battousai sheathed his sword and, in an imperturbable voice, he said to the wealthy man, "I bear no personal grudges against you, but you must die for the new era to dawn. I am here to deliver you the punishment in the name of the heavens." "Tenchuu", replied the man in a voice full of disdain. "Stupid dreams coming from brains of insane men. I find it amazing that such idiocy has found such an echo among several sensible men. But I don't think I can count you among the sensible, for it seems you have enough stupidity running in your veins to try to murder me." With a smirk, he added, "As you can imagine, I have powerful allies, my friend. Dare to attack me, and I will ensure your death. One of my bodyguards is standing just behind you, more than willing to kill at the slightest of your movements." "Unfortunately, he won't be able to do so, nor your allies will be able to help you now.", returned Battousai, slowly opening his eyes. Before the man could blink, Battousai lunged forward. In an inhuman speed, he grabbed the scabbard with his left hand and rested his right hand on the handle of the katana, swiftly pushing the scabbard from his hip and driving a strong thrust to the rich man's face with the hilt. Scarcely had the blow connected and Battousai pulled down the sheath, his right hand gripping firmly the now drawn sword. With a deft twist of his torso, he pierced the surprised bodyguard and, turning his body again, his sword drew a flash downwards, splitting the body of the wealthy man in two. His job was done. "And she said that she might dream of a rain of blood....", he sighed, as he cleaned his sword and quietly disappeared into the darkness. ------------------------------------------------------------- Blood splashed onto the wooden walls. Hijikata Toshizou breathed heavily in the dark basement of the Maekawa Shouji's house, one of the headquarters of the Shinsengumi in Mibu. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he glared angrily at the deformed lump of flesh and gore that once was a human being, hanging down from strong ropes tied at its wrists. A small candle provided a dim light, making the long shadows blend with the spilled blood in a hideous and chaotic pattern woven by devilish forces. It danced in a seducing manner with the flicker of the flame, giving a terrifyingly beautiful touch to the loathsome panorama. The whip had played capriciously on the prisoner's bare back, drawing an intrincate reticulum of volcanoes of blood, crevices that resembled long eyes ceaselessly weeping tears of vermillion, drips of red fluid that mingled with each other and silently fell on the floor, forming tiny crimson crowns of cruelty in the pool of liquid ruby that bore witness to the relentless deeds of the Wolf. Here and there there were dapples of pale skin - and sometimes glimpses of white fat - in the fustigated body bathed in its own blood. His eyes were vacant with suffering, and his breathing, ragged with pain and faint with agony, changed now and then to a feeble coughing that made diaphanous clouds of scarlet come out from the parched mouth. The small fire that lit the atrocious scene quivered again. The tiny flame floated in the eyes of the Wolf, but the fire of the candle was nothing but a pallid reflection of the inferno that blazed inside Hijikata Toshizou, the Executive Officer of the Shinsengumi. The fire of Fidelity - the grim determination that pushed the Demon of Mibu forward. He was perfectly aware of the importance of the captive and was determined to torture him to get every drop of data possible, no matter how many hours of torture he would have to spend in order to make the prisoner talk. However, he couldn't have guessed that the prisoner's mouth would be so clamped shut. "I", said Hijikata, as he flogged again, "will give you one more chance." A slash hit an already open wound and blood gushed out, making the man shriek with pain. "You aren't Masuya Kiemon, are you? Your real name is Furutaka Shuntarou Masayasu, isn't it?!" Hijikata thrashed him, and Furutaka gritted his teeth in agony. "And what are you, goddamn Ishin Shishis," he demanded in an exasperated voice as he unleashed a furious beating, "planning here in Kyoto?!" Raising his head, the prisoner said in a weak, almost inaudible voice, "Indeed... Furutaka... Shuntarou... Masayasu... my name... is. And... so... what?" And he passed out. ----------------------- (end of part 4) Translations: Yukishiro = "like snow", in a rough translation Tomoe = "swirl", as the fic shows. Inrou = a small seal case Oshiire = closet "Eeto... Masuya Kiemon deshita ne?" = "Um... your name was Masuya Kiemon, wasn't it?" "Pa-pa... uta! Uta!" = "Dad... a song! A song!" Comments: 1) Thanks to Tsunami Fansubs for providing an English script for the OVA2! ^_^ (although I've modified a lot of it...) The URL is http://home.earthlink.net/~csusatia/ And I modified some parts to keep with the coherence of this fic, because it seems that, in the OVA2, the torture of Furutaka didn't result in much information about the plans of the Ishin Shishi. Historically speaking, he coughed up everything - or most of it. ^_^ And I added some more talk, as you will see ^_^ 2) As you have realized, the first part of this chapter came from the meaning of the name Yukishiro Tomoe. To tell the truth, the original beginning was very different from this version, but the idea of a swirl of coldness was too good to be put aside ^_^;;; 3) The data about the Masuya raid are reasonably accurate. The men who participated in the raid were them indeed (Okita, Nagakura, Inoue, Harada + 20 men), and they found a hole in the closet, 10 armors and 3 fireweapons, and most of the files burning. The only one arrested was Masuya Kiemon, a.k.a. Furutaka Shuntarou. And then comes the Ikeda Inn Affair ^_^ 4) Harada Sanosuke was nuts even in the real life ^_^ He indeed had that wound from an unsuccessful (?!) attempt of seppuku. He did that because somebody accused him of not being capable to act like a true man, ignoring even how to do seppuku. Harada got angry and showed he knew how to be a man (or at least how to split his bowels ^_^) . Harada laughed a lot when the guy fled in terror (no wonder...). Since then, he was very proud to show his wound as the fic shows. He even changed his family crest because of the seppuku, changing it to a circle with a horizontal line... ^_^ 5) The poem featured in the fic and sung by Yurimoto Shigeaki to Kaoru is William Blake's "Song of Innocence". 6) The sequence of attacks used by Kenshin/Battousai is an adapted version of some movements (katas) from Iaido (that's how battoujutsu is known nowadays ^_^). I have never practised Iaido, but I've seen some demonstrations of it, so... ^_^ If there are any Iaido masters who read this and got offended, I'm sorry. 7) And in a completely unrelated note, I liked the alliteration of "crimson crowns of cruelty". ^_^ It wasn't intentional, but turned out quite fine ^_^ 8) I know that this was a really short chapter, but... yeah, I should really improve my writing skills... *sigh* Serizawa Kamo Serizawa Kamo's Rurouni Kenshin Translation Index: http://direct.at/ruroken_honyaku