Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Certain Clarity ❯ Chapter 28

Title: A Certain Clarity (28/30)

Author: Franzi Dickson

E-mail: fdickson@ix.netcom.com

Archive: The SxSAS Archive, fanfiction.net and others (eventually). If you want it on your site, just ask.

Rating: NC-17 for wet dreams, sex, drugs, violence and other badness.

Warnings: m/m sex, lemon, assorted bad things in this part and future ones

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I'm just doing bad things with them. Don't sue me.

"Sanosuke?!" Hoito's eyes widened. "Wha...? Run! You've got to get away from this monster!"

"You little bastard!" Hiromi's brother emerged from the tunnel. He lifted his hand.

"No! I won't let you hurt him!" He moved to jump in front of Sano.

Sano started. What? Then he saw the gun. The hand didn't waver.

"Step away from the boy, Hoito."

"You beast!"

"Don't get cute; I know what you're up to. I've finally figured it out; all of it!" He laughed bitterly as he advanced into the room.. "I always wondered why none of them caused us any trouble. Surely your cast off lovers should have put up more of a struggle than that."

"I don't know what you mean. Sano..."

The man shot him a piteous look. What the hell was going on?

"You had them killed, didn't you? You fucking murdered every last one of them! Damn you!"

What?

"What's he; your latest little prize? How long, Hoito? How long before you get tired of him too and he ends up on some Tokyo street corner with his throat slit?"

Sano backed away. This couldn't be right. The man was crazy! Hoito was a liar, but...

"Taka... I am so sorry. You know it could never work between us. I don't know why you are accusing me like this but..."

"Where the hell is my sister?!"

"What?" The cult leader looked genuinely surprised.

"She's been gone since this morning. What the hell did you do with her?"

"I haven't done anything with... Hiromi was it?"

"Then where the hell is she?"

"Perhaps you frightened her away."

"Bastard! You did something to her didn't you? Something to keep her form getting between you and lover-boy here."

What the hell? "There wasn't anything going on between Hiromi and me." Both men ignored him.

"She knew you were evil. She kept asking me to leave. I should have known! She tried to stop you, didn't she?"

Shit. He didn't know what was going on, but it was time to get out of here. Sano edged towards the door.

"And just where the hell do you think you're going?!"

"Hey man, calm down." He spread his hands reassuringly.

"Don't move!"

"Hey, hey." He swallowed as the gun barrel swung towards him. The man took a step towards him. He caught a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. His mouth opened; pure reflex. "Look Ou..!"

Hoito struck him from behind with a bronze statue base. Sano watched in horror as he crumpled. Shit, the gun! He dove for it.

"Too slow."

"Hoito... Hey man, what are you doing?"

"No more of your filthy lies!"

"What?"

"You were sent here to spy on me, weren't you? Weren't you?!"

Oh hell. Hoito's eyes were glazed and he shook; everything but the hand holding the gun. Looks like Taka was right. "I'm not a spy."

"Oh yes, a filthy creeping spy, an evil weed that must be uprooted!"

"Hoito, please calm down."

The man just laughed and motioned with the gun. "Get going, and bring your candle."

"Where?"

"Press on the wall."

Huh? It swung away below his touch. "A second passage?"

"My enemies are many. Surely you didn't think I would leave myself only one avenue of escape?"

Actually, he hadn't thought about it at all. If he'd known about this earlier... Damn. The passage came out in the meeting cave behind the altar.

"What are we doing here?" Was this how Hoito had entered the cave before? Sano had thought he was just hiding in the shadows, but a secret door made sense...

"Here you will join with God."

That didn't sound good. "What are you going to do, shoot me? Real righteous!"

"You'll die by the same poison as your police man - doesn't it make you happy?"

"What?!"

"The foul old harridan thought she could keep her secrets from me, but I have all her knowledge and more!"

"Why the hell did she kill him?"

"Who can fathom the motives of the old witch? It matters not: soon you will leave such cares behind."

"You're insane! You think people won't notice if you kill me?" Maybe he could dodge the gun...

"Notice? Have they noticed that that fool girl is gone? All I'd have to do is tell them you ran off like her, but it really doesn't matter what they think anymore."

"Oh?" The hand didn't waver. No, it wasn't worth it; if he got shot now he'd lose all hope of escaping.

"No, they too will join you in your fate."

"What?!"

"Yes, it is time for the circle to be complete. They are filthy things of this earth, but I will clean them and make them whole!"

"What are you talking about?"

"They will give their lives to God."

"You're going to kill them?!"

"I will cleanse them!"

"What the hell?! They fuckin' worship you and you'd betray them without a second thought?"

"Betray them? They are the ones who betrayed me, just like you did! They pretend to follow me, but they still feel evil things in their hearts. They are dirty!"

"That doesn't give you the right..."

"*I* am the righteous hand of God! I have every right!"

"You're insane!"

"I would have made you happy!"

"You couldn't have made me anything, you psychopath!"

"Will you really be better off without him? I could have given him back to you and all you would have had to have done in return..."

"Do you think I want to fuck some lie?! Hell, he was more genuine in my wet dreams than in you!"

Hoito snarled at him. "Heretic! I give you two hours to repent before your death. Tonight I will show my people my true power. They will have their chance to truly follow me!" The metal door shut with a bang and Sano was left alone.

He paced the cave. Damn it; he really had done a good job this time, hadn't he? I've solved your case for you, super-cop. (A little late maybe, but I've definitely found the culprit.) Now what the hell am I supposed to do?! What would Saitou do?

Probably something clever and daring that you'd never in a million years be able to pull off.

Probably, but (he squashed the doubting voice) he couldn't just wait around for that bastard Hoito, to finish him off. There wasn't anything he could do either though. There was simply nowhere left to run. Maybe he should have tried to jump Hoito when he had the chance, but he wouldn't really have had a prayer of beating him... Somehow he just couldn't give the man that satisfaction. Maybe when they came back he could run... But the stupid sheep were all so loyal and there were kind of a lot of them... Maybe if something distracted them...

He won't come bursting through the door this time. Even if the police do come...

"I don't need him to!" He'd think. He'd outsmart them yet. There was just no way he'd let himself be killed by some druggie cult leader psychopath. That bastard, manipulating them all, gloating over them. Poor Taka! Poor Hiromi! He shuddered.

You're out of luck...

"I won't let them beat me!" I won't let *him* beat me. He prowled around the cave, looking for some possible exit, but the metal door was still tightly shut. He could try destroying it, but that would really attract too much attention, and he'd just get tossed back in here again. Even if he was willing to attack the poor, stupid cult members... No, he couldn't run, but he also wouldn't give Hoito the pleasure of a public execution or public cleansing or whatever. He had better things to do than wait around that damn altar... His pacing had brought him around to it again. He lifted the lone candle. Some sort of beam crossed overhead. Maybe... No, the ceiling stretched far above that. No escape that way. What was it there for? He could see where shallow grooves had been dug into it. Maybe something had hung there? Maybe lanterns or something. That would make more sense than the current mess of candles stuck directly onto the floor. Suddenly, he started to laugh. Maybe he wasn't as clever as Saitou, but he knew what he was going to do. He kicked off his shoes and began unwrapping the bandages.