Subject: [KFFDISC] Along the Stream (part 2)
    Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 01:12:47 EDT
    From: Ranma1517730129@aol.com
Reply-To: kffdisc@nabiki.com
      To: kffdisc@nabiki.com


Here's part 2:

______________________

Tokyo: Two weeks before the Kamiya Dojo:

    "Yahiko-chan?" She tapped her foot intensely at him and tried not to hit
him.

"I didn't do it I swear!" Yahiko put on his most innocent face but it
wouldn't work...She had taught him everything about looking innocent in the
first place. It was easy to pick out guilty innocence when you knew what you
were looking for.

"Yahiko I need my formal kimono and obi...NOW!" She was glaring at him and she
would have seethed if it weren't for the fact that Yahiko had let one crystal
tear roll down his cheek. "For Kami-sama's sake...What now?"

"I just don't have a good feeling about tonight." Yahiko looked up at his
surrogate mother with concerned eyes that simply plead with her not to go.

"You say that almost every night Yahiko-chan." She threw her arms around him
and smiled. "I promise...This is the last time, I will have saved enough to
buy both of our freedoms by tonight. The Boss will have to let us go. We will
be together forever...Just one more night and we can leave here." He hugged
her tightly enough to make her grunt a little and she patted him on the head.

"Fine...They are in my closet under my books..."He looked up at her sheepishly
as she turned three shades of red.

"YOU WRINKLED MY FORMAL KIMONO!!!" Yuka was fuming and Yahiko recovered the
wrinkled silk fabric from their shared closet.

"Oh Kami...The Boss is just gonna' kill me." Regardless she hung her kimono
up and began applying white powder to her face.

Yahiko watched as she sat in front of the mirror. There were make-ups, and
perfumes spread all over the table. Her hands deftly applied each layer of
what Yahiko had called her mask. The white cream was next. Sometimes Yahiko
wondered why all of this was necessary. It seemed to him that girls were a
lot prettier without it. She was white as a sheet before Yahiko realized that
his mind had wandered. "Hey I think you missed a spot..." He pointed to her
neck where there was a "W" of skin left untouched.

"Nope...It's always like that...Don't you pay any attention?" She was shaking
her head at him and Yahiko shrugged his shoulders. "It's a reminder to the
gentleman we visit with..."

"I don't think they need to be reminded that you're a girl. They sure as
heck didn't need my Mom to tell them..." He hung his head and traced circles
on the floor with his finger. "At least I don't think they really care...They
are willing to do whatever with whoever from what I remember." He frowned
intensely at the woman before him. He could hardly recognize her as it was.
She hadn't even applied the lip paint yet, and already he could hardly make
out the woman he knew from the woman before him.

"Don't worry Yahiko I promise that I won't let anyone take advantage of
me...Ok?" Yahiko nodded his ascent as she turned back about.

    A pot filled with red paint was opened next and with each tiny stroke a
small articulate mouth was painted on. The two tiny lines made her face look
even stranger. She blotted the paint onto a towel and touched up the area of
both white and red paint. Yahiko wanted to stop her again. Each new thing she
did brought them further apart. She was no longer the surrogate mother, but a
stranger in his room. It wasn't long before she had finished doing her makeup
and then a man was called in to help her dress. To Yahiko's relief he held
out a new Kimono to Yuka.

"You will wear this tonight in honor of our guest." He was helping her to
dress and Yahiko always wanted to slap his hands away. Often he would touch
Yuka in compromising places and laugh obviously forced apologies. Her obi was
large and reminded Yahiko of some kind of origami monster.

"Who is our guest tonight?" Yuka asked the disgusting little man. Yahiko
could have sworn that even her voice was different, but that was impossible.
She was looking at him through eyes of purple, white, emerald, and kohl.
Green was an odd color for eyes in a Japanese girl, at least in Yahiko's
mind, but it just made Yuka even more special. Being different couldn't be at
all bad if it meant you were like Yuka.

The little man was adjusting Yuka's sleeves and pulled her slim arms up in
front of her to inspect if the length was perfect. He made a little grunt to
signify his happiness and then went about answering her question. "He is one
of the boss's oldest friends in Tokyo, if you make him happy...I just know
that the boss will be one-hundred percent pleased."

"YAHIKO!" Gasuke was looking for him again...He would have to talk to Yuka
later, for now he would have to go about his work for the day. Usually he
felt terrible about picking the pockets of innocent shoppers in the market,
but today nothing could make him feel guilt. He would leave this life forever
tonight. Never again to prey on the unsuspecting public and he couldn't have
been more proud. His Yuka, the woman that had worked all of her life in the
Yakuza, would be free and so would he. They would begin a normal life with no
strings. Maybe raise a garden, she had always loved flowers. He guessed that
if it was true what they said about reincarnation, Yuka had been a flower
once. Maybe a Morning Flower. Yahiko couldn't imagine a day when Yuka didn't
make the sun rise with her smile. She had a smile like his mother's. It
dawned on Yahiko three weeks after he had joined the Yakuza that Yuka had a
smile like his mother's. She would wake with the sun in the morning and
smile, and he had always woken up before she did just to see it ever since.
There was just something so special and perfect about her.

"Yahiko you'd better get out of here before Gasuke finds you." She was
smiling again and she pulled him into a gentle hug before turning him round
in a quick circle and shoving him out the door. "Be careful, don't get
caught. But always remember to be a gentleman." She said this to him every
day. It was a routine by now but he smiled sheepishly and nodded a quick firm
assent to the girl who looked very little like his mother figure and more
like a creepy doll. He passed through the door to the halls and then to the
street. He felt his feet take him away from the house and with each step a
sick feeling crept further and further into his heart.

"Why does it have to be like this? How can anyone say this in a new and
better age if people as vibrant and wonderful as Yuka are slaves?" He hadn't
even realized he said it out loud. For the first time since his mother died
he felt anger creep into his very being. It had been almost two years since
he was drug into this horrible life, and still he felt the sting to his
family name. To save his honor he felt that he was besmirching it at the same
time and there had to be some sort of explanation to it all. Perhaps when he
was older and he was looking back on his life he would have an answer at
last. Living a normal life again appealed to Yahiko more and more everyday.

The Present: Yahiko and Sanosuke

    "Were you good at it?" Sanosuke asked breaking Yahiko's mood completely.

    "What?" Yahiko felt his jaw drop. "Whad-da-ya' mean?"

    "What do you mean. ‘What do I mean?" Sanosuke gave him an evil grin.
"Where you good at what you did? I mean I didn't know you back then, I was
just wondering if you were any good at picking pockets...I mean they didn't
seem like they put up a huge fight to keep ya'...I was just wondering if
perhaps they let you go ‘cause you sucked..."

    Yahiko leaned forward and looked into Sano's eyes. Sanosuke's brow knit
together as Yahiko suddenly flicked him in the head.

    "Hey! What the hell did you do that for?!?" He was about to flick him
right back when Yahiko threw his pouch wallet back at him. He watched as Sano
worked his jaw for a second.

    "You shouldn't keep that there...It's the first place I would look, you
know, if I were any good." Sanosuke was frowning and putting his wallet away,
but by the time it was completely hidden away again a smile invaded his eyes
and moved slowly to his mouth.

    "Damn kid what do you wanna' be a swordsman for? It could be great! We
could hit the road...Ya' know, make some money see the world. Besides that...You
could be the lovely assistant since you look so good in pink." Yahiko lunged
for Sano's neck but the man had his hand firmly planted on the top of his
head and he only succeeded at windmilling his arms about furiously. Slowly
the arms in question slowed to a slow flail and Yahiko fell to his butt next
to Sanosuke again.

    "Are you done?" Sanosuke was smiling devilishly. "Cause I do have this
really angry fox waiting for me..."

    "Just shut up and listen then...You interrupted me! Chicken-head!"


Back to the Past: Two weeks before the Kamiya Dojo:


Yahiko wove in and out of the crowds. People were so unobservant when they
shopped. Maybe it was because they didn't want to part with the contents of
their wallets. It was Yahiko's guess was that they just didn't know that
they were being watched, especially by people like him. He had already
grabbed two light purses off of two different unsuspecting out-of-towners.
Yuka had taught him early in the game that you didn't go for people you saw
all the time. It was a good way to get yourself caught. Plus Yahiko found
that they were less likely to remember what you looked like. He had often
assisted the recently relieved in "Relocating" of their wallet. It was
almost funny the way they described him. Once a gaijin had said that an old
man wearing green picked his pocket. They searched for the evil little old
man for two hours...But he had disappeared. This was all very funny, because
Yahiko was of course not old, nor was he wearing green. He had been wearing a
dark blue that day. He made Yuka laugh with the story of what the man had
dubbed a "Leprechaun...A wee person...A bairn of the woods" He stumbled over
the foreign words, but they still rang in his head to this day.

Each day he went out he made a point to stop by the sweets stand, an older
woman that had known his mother worked there from time to time. He would
sometimes get a sweet or two from her during his daily routine, if she took
notice of his other activities throughout the day she made no mention. There
were so many vendors out on the street today. He walked in and out of the
stalls taking note of trinkets here and there. He spied a Bushido novel he
hadn't read and smiled genuinely. He would add it to his collection. Maybe he
could sell back two or three old ones to get it. His mother had taught him to
read. He had never really enjoyed it until Yuka had showed him more
adventurous tomes than the newspaper and old legends his mother kept around.
It was the greatest of escapes. As he read each new story he was transported
away from the Yakuza and even himself. He was suddenly the character in his
novel, and each new story made him into someone different. Yuka had been
teaching him the fine art of brush lettering since they met.

"A good education can never take the place of street smarts or money. However
money tends to always follow in the wake of a good education."

She had said this on a particularly rainy day six months previous. Yahiko had
been lapsing in his studies and Yuka was always quick to end behavior like
that. She was like a mother to Yahiko, but she was also still young, and she
had very little patience for childish behavior. "I don't need to study this
anymore. I think I have it all. Besides what good can this possibly do me?"
Well she had given him not only a verbal answer, but she went on to trick him
with word games and mind puzzles for the next three days. It had been enough
to stop his rants and make him continue his "path to learning" as Yuka put
it.

Yahiko continued on his trek through the shops. The next stall over was
filled with jewelry and trinkets. The shop owner was staring at him wearily
through a half-lidded glare that almost screamed "I know what you are and no
you can't steal from me." Yahiko pulled on the bottom of his eye and stuck
out his tongue whilst blowing a raspberry. The man wasn't happy and he shook
his fist at Yahiko and yelled obscenities until Yahiko noticed the attention
the little man was drawing. If people started to pay attention to him...They
might pick up on his profession. He backed away from the stall with his hands
in the air. He should have taken something from the crotchety old man just on
pretense, but he didn't. Nope. Today would be perfect. It had to be. Today
they would be free. He was near the fish stand when he saw Suki and Yuki. He
didn't know their real names, but he had decided to call them that after long
deliberation. One day the rhyming monikers had just popped into his head and
from that day on...Poof!...They had names. They were the town's rumor mill. Each
day he heard a new rumor. It was, he had to admit a little fun. On a few
occasions he had started a rumor or two just to see if it would reach Suki
and Yuki. They hadn't yet...But it didn't mean it never would. He promised
himself that he would keep trying.