Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Echoes of One's Past ❯ The Villain Appears ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Notes: I am full of doubts over this chapter since it's my first fic and I'm throwing in everyone already. Please R&R to tell me what you guys think? Good or bad, it doesn't matter as long as it gives me some insight as to how to improve the characterization in the upcomming chapters!

Chapter 2

"Even when it will encounter a fiery death, the moth perseveres to reach the center of the blazing flames. What is it pertaining to danger that allures so many?"

Kneeled politely on the dark cloth mats that covered his humble serving room floor, Takashima followed the foreigner's gaze to the white paper lamp settled on the ground between them. The daytime sun through the shuttered windows provided more than enough light for their quiet conversation, but under the insistence of his guest, a small lamp was brought out to further supply illumination to the room. Its thin paper covering provided a muted glow in the dim chamber, casting pleasurable patterns of flickering shadows across the walls. Then to Takashima's surprise, his guest then brought out a small bamboo container, a cylinder with one end sharpened that most used for collecting water, and out flew a tiny gray moth, instantly attracted to the sole warmth in the cool room.

The inspiration of the gai-jin's words fluttered against the insulating paper of the lamp, hopelessly battering its soft scaled wings in an attempt to reach the soft glimmer flame held within the thin cage. Every time the gray creature went against the white, a smudge of silver shimmer was left behind where the its flapping wings touched.

Takashima bowed himself in half, his forehead nearly touching the soft mats in front of him in utmost respect. A pain awakening deep in his back traveled down his spine, hurting him as if he had already spent a lifetime living on Earth's Hell. Even with his raven hair still shining with its three decade brilliance, Takashima felt as old as his grandfather on the day of his death, with a hair full of silver as radiant as the full moon's sheen. He must overcome this weakness, he mentally told himself as he straightened to stare at the gai-jin before him. His own eyes of tanned darkness found no touch of weakness in the other man's gaze. He knew as a fact that the other man was a decade his senior, but the creases that lined both of their faces were the same. Crows' feet started appearing in the corner of his eyes, crinkling in their wrinkles to give him an image of mock oldness. He bowed again out of respect.

"I do not know, Licho-sama." Licho was the name the foreigner gave him to address because the man's real name, a name as exotic in origins as the man himself, was unpronounceable in the Japanese tongue. They held no syllables suitable for the tricky curling of tongue these foreigners required for their alien names.

"What does it matter," the foreign man continued in perfectly unaccented Japanese. He followed his words with a look upon Takashima coupled with a disarming smile on his lips. A viper's smile before the strike that kills, the Japanese man recognized before returning it a humble curve of his own. Takashima wasn't scared though. Instead, he picked up the vial of sake warming by the lamp and offered to pour the gai-jin more, but the older man held out a hand to cover his cup. "No, no more, thank you." Bowing his head, Takashima left the sake alone and waited for the man to continue.

Soon enough, the foreign man continued, this time getting to the heart of his purpose of visit. "Who lead the investigation?"

Since that night, Takashima had expected this question forthcoming, so he had gathered all information before hand. He had to spend a small fortune on the bribes to get the information on such short notice, but it had paid off handsomely. He obtained the information he needed, and did so with money rather than blood. Displeasing the gai-jin would be equal to displeasing a tiger, but work with him, and the results will be desirable. Smiling inwardly now at his ability to have predicted the meeting correctly, he bowed his head once more and wiped the smile he strongly wanted to reveal. "The man responsible is named Fujita Gorou, Licho-sama. He is a lieutenant newly transferred to the Tokyo police division from the Kyoto division."

The foreigner nodded and held his cup out, which Takashima dutifully refilled it with more sake. While he did that, Licho reached out and removed the paper lantern that protected the moth for so long. Instantly, unleashed upon the object of its desire, the moth leapt itself into the warmth of the flames, realizing too late the danger it did to itself. Its wings caught afire and it fell, flailing its burning wings uselessly until it tumbled to the mats as nothing more but a speck of ash. Takashima watched the foreigner's adept gaze on the suffering creature. This man was a dangerous one; for one with no fighting blood in him, he lusts for blood just as much as the samurais did at the end of the Edo era.

"Let there be no barriers for those who wish to embrace danger on their own free will."

Bowed in half once more, Takashima replied softly, "Yes, Licho-sama." He waited until the other man got up and padded out of the room in his socked feet before he straightened again. And there, across from him where the gai-jin had kneeled moments before, a small white bag with strings locking it shut was left behind for him, his payment in a fine white powder.

* * *

Just several steps out of the station, Sano had already regained his footing and no longer required Kenshin's patient assistance. Kenshin had been supportive in more ways than one. Not only had he kept silent while Sano ranted over the slant eyed bastard and the opium ship, more on the former than the latter, he also didn't reprimand Sano for what the fighter knew was a brash thing he did. So when street fighter recuperated enough, they could have parted ways, but Sano hadn't had any real food for thirty or so hours while he was in that stinking prison, so he decided to follow Kenshin to the Kamiya dojo anyway. Beggars shouldn't be choosers, but it was still hopeful that it could be Kenshin who'll cook dinner or Megumi bringing over a platter of nigiris instead of having to suffer the raccoon girl's horrible massacre of food.

"Kenshin!" Even from halfway down the dusty road, Kenshin and Sanosuke could hear the sharp high tone of the cheerful patron of the Kamiya Kasshin school. Kamiya Kaoru waved vibrantly from where he stood just outside the doorway of her dojo. Today, like every other day working day, she was dressed roughly in her white training gi with her long deep purple hair tied back with her long hair tied back in a long ponytail. In the morning, she had clothed herself in her deep blue satin kimono with the contrasting sakura flowers design, but after Kenshin's abrupt leave, she changed out of those gorgeous garments in favor for the rough cloth made gis. She would rather have greeted the rurouni in her kimono, but she was training with her pupil. Sweat still gleamed across the front of her forehead as proof for her training, so the cloth outfit was an understandable dress for the dojo assistant master. She was even still holding onto the shinai in her right hand.

It also didn't fall beneath her attention that Kenshin had hastened out immediately upon receiving a message brought by a policeman, and later returned not alone, but with the easily provoked fighter. Sano was a great companion, but at times Kaoru would wish that the impoverished bum would contribute half the amount he took from them. Still, Sano was their friend and he helped Kenshin out in more than one fight where Kaoru could only watch. For that, she suppose she'll have to bear with his bumming ways. "Where have you been?" Settling her steady gaze on both men, the question she asked was directed as much at Sano as it was at Kenshin.

With all truthfulness in his intent, Kenshin opened his mouth with a reply forming on the tip of his tongue, but the honest rurouni never got the chance to give it voice. Before he could squeeze the words past his lips, Sano's hands had suddenly shot forward from behind him to clamp mercilessly over the redhead's face. This barrier muffled anything he originally wanted to say, including the `Oro's' spoken from reflex.

"Nowhere," the ex-gangster jumped in with a wide grin that displayed both rows of perfect white teeth. Silence aside from the sound of the soft summer breeze reigned for the following few seconds while Kaoru narrowed her eyes slowly at the questionable pair. Sano's expression was hardly of innocent quality. In fact, from what the kenjutsu girl could see, it was unequivocally suspicious. The unbelieving woman leaned over and peered at the two males. By then, Kenshin had struggled out of Sano's covering hold and was smiling sheepishly, further adding to the her doubt.

"Right..." Straightening up again, the girl decided to let it go. She suppose if it had nothing to do with Kenshin, then it had nothing to do with her. Sano's always getting into trouble, and it was a miracle that he never got himself thrown into jail. She stepped aside for the two to enter. "Well, let's get inside then."

The interior of the dojo was functioning as always. Myoujin Yahiko worked himself vigorously with his shinai, and steps his feet made thumped loudly on the practice mats. His outfit was similar to Kaoru's, the typical white gi for kenjutsu training. These clothes weren't as comfortable as his well worn set, but they were endurable and good for movement too. In his spar earlier, he had once again lost to Kaoru. Even knowing she was his sensei didn't make his defeat easier to accept, so instead of resting, he chose to continue his training strokes alone.

The dojo's other two frequent occupants, Ayame-chan and Susume-chan, were seated silently by the dojo's doorway, watching the young fighter attentively from the outside of the training hall. Nigiris made by the two girls were sitting on a wooden tray beside them, prepared in their spare time while Kaoru and Yahiko were too busy to pay them any attention. They would much rather be playing with Kenshin, but they couldn't when the redhead resident of the Kamiya dojo was out.

So the ones who were even more delighted than Kaoru with Kenshin's return was them. "Ken nii-chan!" Like a small tide, the two rushed out to greet the well loved rurouni and envelope them in their waves. Ayame reached up to take Kenshin's hand in her small ones while Susume hopped up and down in the way only girls in their innocent youth could. Together with one voice, the two eagerly chimed, "Ken nii-chan, play with us! Play with us!"

Yahiko paused in mid step. The sound of voices were drifting in from just outside the front porch, the two girls' the loudest of them all. Apparently Kenshin had finally returned from his morning trip. Setting down the wooden training sword in his right hand, the young man used the thick material of his left sleeve to wipe the sweat off his brow. With his continual training, he will one day be as strong as Kenshin! The volume from outside rose a notch higher and Yahiko could even make out Sano's loud laugh amongst them. He was back as well, was he? Deciding he didn't want to be left out after all, he called it a day for his training.

Picking up his weapon and casually jamming it under the white sash tying his clothes together, Yahiko left the main area of the dojo to join his friends out under the open air. From the placement of the shadows, he could tell it was nearing noon. Kaoru or Kenshin would start the midday meal soon, hopefully and probably Kenshin. Working hard on his katas and bokken strokes, the young fighter had unknowingly toiled the morning away. Now leaning by the doorway, Yahiko grinned from the porch at the gathered group below. "Hey, Sano," he started.

The ex-gangster glanced over to the boy and he instantly knew there was something in that wide, disarming grin he didn't like. He should have seen it coming with that beam, "how did you like the jailhouse?"

Silence reigned for the next few minutes as separate individuals absorbed the young fighter's words. All of them were startled, conceivably all excluding Kenshin. From the contemplative expression on his face, one could surmise that he knew beforehand that Yahiko had overheard the conversation held between the police messenger and himself earlier that morning. As for the rest, both Kaoru and Sanosuke were wearing an expression of shock. The only sound that ruffled the stillness between everyone was the rustle of tree leaves in the gentle wind.

The quiet was sundered by Kaoru abruptly jolted herself out of her surprise. "You were in jail?!" When Sanosuke hadn't appeared at the dojo for two days, she had automatically assumed he was hanging with his friends in those gambling houses he visits, or that other friend who survived through the Sekihoutai. The jail was the last place she thought he would be. Even when drunk, Sanosuke rarely caused enough trouble to send him to jail. No wonder the ex-gangster didn't want Kenshin to reveal where he went! But in the face of that news, curiosity overtook her sense of concern. "What did you do?"

That shook Sanosuke from his own surprise as well. After shooting Yahiko a glare which the young boy grinned back at, Sanosuke rubbed ran a hand through the back locks of his brown hair and sheepishly explained.