Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Enigmatic Travels ❯ Asuka ( Chapter 6 )

"Areh?" Soujiro said with bewilderment.

"I said I'm coming with you," the woman said, "do you have a problem with that?"

"Well, uh, what do you think, Keiko-chan?" Soujiro asked.

"I-I don't know."

"Oh, anou, why do you want to come with us, ma'am?"

"Well it's really simple. I'm coming with you two to escort her to Tokyo, and to keep you in line," the woman said to him with a threatening tone.

Soujiro was now quite confused at the situation, and about the woman. 'Keep me in line?,' he thought, 'What does she mean by that? Is she trying to say that she's coming because she thinks I'm going to screw up or something?'

"Oi, girly man!" the woman shouted from a distance; and, he noticed, Keiko was timidly with the woman. "Are you going to come with us?"

"H-hai," he said blankly, and he jogged up to them.

The trio began to walk to who knows where, and Soujiro asked the woman, "Uh, Miss? Where are we going?"

The woman glanced at him, "Shut up, and just follow me."

Soujiro mentally sighed, 'What's wrong with her? And what's wrong with me? Why can't I just say no? I don't know why, but I can't say no to her, even though she's treating me almost like my step-family did. Damn it, why did I have to think of them, why can't these memories go away?'

Soujiro had just received another memory at the time, and he still cringed at that particularly harsh form of torture. He still couldn't quite face the fact that his entire family planned it for him, despite the fact that he actually gained some form of an identity to them, it was pure hell.

The entire family was mad at him, and this time didn't seem any different from the other times, and blamed for something he didn't have any part in taking.

This particular crime was that 7 year-old Soujiro didn't warm the bath long enough for his so-called 'mother and grandmother.' He knew they never told him to warm up the bath, but it would be a moot point, had he mentioned it to them. He knew if he back-talked then the punishments were always ten times worse, and ten times more cruel.

He had heard them converse that evening, and even though he didn't catch much of the plan at all, it didn't sound too pretty. The next morning, they told him he had to stay in the bath-house for a while. It didn't sound too bad compared to some of the other things they did to him, yet he never could completely rid himself of suspicion.

His better judgment figuratively kicked his hope in the head, saying "I told you so," when his parents told him to wait, in the water, for five hours and then he was free to go.

The second he touched the water he physically recoiled because the water was as cold as ice. His step-father forcefully grabbed the Soujiro by the back of his neck; and he slammed Soujiro, face first, into the ice water.

"For your insolence, boy, you'll be staying in the bath-house all night. You're only allowed to get out of the water in six hours, understand?" the step-father responded in a cold and menacing voice.

Soujiro nodded quickly, quite frightened. He was being ordered by his step-father, when he wasn't drunk. He reasoned that: when the man was sober, he was much more fearsome, since he could think straight.

Soujiro also knew that his step-father was always a little more malicious, than in his drunken state. Sure, the man was cruel, but he planned more severe punishments ahead when he hadn't had his daily dose of sake.

Soujiro had only been in the bath-house for about an hour, and he was already starting to crack. He actually couldn't tell if he'd been in there an hour or not, and he didn't have any idea what was going on outside.

The small windows that usually vented the, usually warm, bath-house were now boarded shut; courtesy of Soujiro's step-brothers. The only time he could ever get any bearings of the time was when one member, or another, of the family would check on him for a few minutes.

He felt odd each time one of them came. He always felt that one of them, especially the women for some reason, would either allow him to get out of the water or somehow save him. He also wanted to hate them because each time one of them came he was either physically hurt, courtesy of the men, or emotionally hurt, courtesy of the women.

He couldn't hate them though. Even though they treated him as if he didn't exist, he somehow still had the feelings that he had a place in the family. He still felt that they might recognize him someday, and he honestly feared leaving them.

They were the only family he had, and even though they constantly abused him, they were his only connection to the world. Had he escaped, and he knew he could, he wouldn't have anywhere to go or anyone to see. He'd be a lost soul, and that actually scared him more than his family ever could.

This bath-house incident was a perfect example. He knew he could make a break for it the next time one of the women came to check on him. He still feared the unkown, and he even went the distance to justify reasons to not escape. One of them, which was obvious, was that he was naked and it was beginning to snow outside. He knew that it was suicide if he tried to escape.

Unfortunately for him, his hope that his family would recognize him, had faded a few hours ago. Now, he felt, he wanted to prove to them that he could survive their torture. Especially now, since they allowed him to get out of the water.

His resolve had shaken more and more, as the hours went by, as he froze more and more. The water that was on his body essentially numbed him of warmth. When the family didn't check on him, which meant a beating that came with it, he tried to gather as much warmth as possible. He sat in a fetal position for hours on end, and he was barely on the verge of being frostbitten.

His step-father checked on him, beat him, and told Soujiro that this was the last check-up of the night. His step-father also coldly mentioned, after he beat the crap out of Soujiro, "Don't think of trying to escape, boy. We're watching you, the second you get out of this bath-house: I, and the rest of the family will be waiting to murder you, am I understood?"

Soujiro nodded, but he thought after his step-father left, 'Of course, I'm not going to escape. He knows that I'll freeze to death if I try it, I guess he's just trying to scare me.'

It was much too cold for him to sleep, so, Soujiro kept his mind busy as long as possible by thinking about what his step-father said over and over again. His mind and his muscles were slowly deteorating over time, and he knew it by instincts alone.

As an answer to those problems, he got up and ran in one place as much as his numb legs would allow. Then on his down time, when his muscles were tired, he thought about finally escaping from his family's cruel grasp, and of him being happy with a loving family. Occasionally his realistic sense came to him, and he knew that something like that would never happen. He also knew that the second he got away from his family, he'd be at an even lower point of existence in the rest of the world.

Oddly enough, he didn't go insane that night, and he was perfectly calm when his family picked him up the next morning. He thought that his family tried to break him but, he guessed, whatever plan they had had back-fired on them. He knew he wasn't broken, but his mind was in a jumble of confusion though; and it would took him several days to become familiar with the daily routines of his tortured life.

Now that he thought about that incident, he was glad that his family only had the chance to create a similar scenario like that, during winter at least, five more times. They never bothered to do it during the Spring, or Summer, and they never got the chance to try it during Fall or that next Winter.

"Hey, hurry up!" the woman shouted to him.

He snapped out of his thoughts, and he realized that the woman, and Keiko were about 50 feet ahead of him. 'How'd they get that far ahead?' he wondered, as he caught up with them.

As the trio headed towards the outskirts of the city, Soujiro asked the woman, "Uh Miss? Since you're coming with us, may I ask you of your name?"

"Only if you introduce yourself first."

Soujiro blinked in puzzlement, and then said, "boku wa Seta Soujiro desu. Doozo Yorshiku." He bowed, and he guessed she knew Keiko's name already, seeing as how Keiko's name wasn't involved so far.

"Watashi wa Imahori Asuka desu."

'No bow, no Doozo Yoroshiku. She's quite a fiery one,' Soujiro thought absently. He did keep that thought to himself though, mainly so she would get off his case already. 'Of course, I doubt she's going to let me off the hook now, or maybe even ever,' he thought bitterly, 'Why do I have to go through with meeting people like her or my step-family? Am I destined to constantly meet negative people, and assholes?

Wait what am I saying? Keiko-chan and Tetsuya have been nice to me. Are they actually nice people who want to be friends with an unworthy being like me? Or, are they just like asshole I've met? Are they really assholes under disguise? They could very well be, but I really hope not for some reason. Why not? If they're like that then why am I hoping they aren't?

I'm confusing myself again, I should just drop this subject for now. I need to pay attention to Asuka, or she might try to kill me.'

"Seta-san?"

"Hai, Keiko-chan?"

"May we rest for the night?"

"Of course we can."

"No, we're not. It's not dark yet, we can still travel. We'll rest when it's nighttime," Asuka ordered.

Soujiro sighed, "give her a break Asuka. She wants to rest, and she's younger than us so she doesn't have as much..."

"Will you shut up?" Asuka asked, raising her voice; and then she replied a little coldly, "I don't particularly care what she wants. If she's going to be escorted, then she's going to be escorted sufficiently. That means the only breaks are going to be for breakast, lunch, dinner, and going to sleep. There's no sense in wasting any more time. Let's go."

Asuka walked off, and Soujiro sighed, "I'm sorry Keiko-chan. Let's go."

She nodded in understanding, and she walked with him. She watched Soujiro intently, trying to get an idea of what he's been thinking about.

Soujiro, on the other hand, impassively stared at Asuka. While he seemed calm on the outside, his mind was filled with anger on the inside. 'That was rude of her. Why is she so self-centered? I'm not sure how she did it, but she really pissed me off when she disregarded Keiko-chan. What am I to Keiko-chan, an oniisan, or do I love her? I'm not sure, I don't think I'd make a good big-brother; and she seems too young to be a lover to me at least, I mean I'm around five years older than her. It just doesn't make sense.

Why does Asuka have to do stuff like that? She can do it to me all she likes, I'm used to that sort of punishment. But why Keiko-chan? She doesn't seem used to it and what did she do to deserve that torment? What did I do to deserve my family's torment, and what did I do to deserve Asuka's torment?'

Nightfall came an hour later, and Keiko was fast asleep after dinner was served. Soujiro kept an eye on Keiko's sleeping form, but he was also very lost in thought.He mainly thought about Asuka's attitude problem, but he also tried to figure out a solution to the problem known as Imahori Asuka.

Without much luck, he decided to sleep on the matter. He didn't look at Asuka, fearing that he'd strangle her if she looked at him the wrong way, and he prepared himself a place to sleep. He couldn't help but allow a shallow smile, that made his reputation as Tenken no Soujiro, as his mind wandered to Asuka.

Asuka, meanwhile, had caught on to his odd smile, and wondered he was doing, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Going to sleep," he replied in a calm yet emotionless tone of voice.

Asuka recognized his smile and glared at the back of his head. 'So it was him,' she thought with growing hatred.