Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Enigmatic Travels ❯ Asuka and Soujiro ( Chapter 7 )

Asuka continued to watch Soujiro's sleeping form with intense hatred, and she fell asleep about half an hour later. Just seeing Soujiro reminded her of several painful memories that she wished she'd forget.

Keiko was the first person to wake up out of the trio the next morning, and she thought she saw movement in the corner of her eye.

She looked to her right and she noticed that Asuka was tossing and turning in her sleep. She didn't quite understand what the movements meant, but she did receive a feeling of sympathy towards the 17 year-old girl a few feet away.

Keiko got up, and she went towards the nearest river, to try to catch breakfast. She knew Soujiro would wake up soon, and he actually got quite good at catching the fish, but she oddly felt that she should make the food on her own.

'Maybe I don't have to listen to Okaasan and Otousan now, since they're not here?' she thought on her way, and then she quickly berated herself, 'What are you thinking? I need to be ladylike for Okaasan and Otousan, and the husband they arrange for me. Catching fish isn't ladylike, so why am I going there?'

She stopped and sighed, 'Why doesn't catching fish feel right? What's the difference between a man and a woman? Is there a difference besides different body shapes? Why isn't everyone equal, I mean we're all people aren't we? Mou, I don't know, I'm so confused. I wish I knew why.'

Keiko sighed again as she mentally gave up, 'Oh well, I'd just better go back. I can't have Seta-san or Asuka-chan worry about me,' and she walked back to the clearing, where they all slept.

When Keiko came back, she immediately noticed that Asuka was wide-awake and glaring at Soujiro's sleeping form. Keiko made a small sound accidentally, and Asuka's glare, which seemed to be composed of extreme anger and hatred, quickly shifted to Keiko eyes.

Keiko was very daunted by Asuka's gaze, and she could help but look away from Asuka. She tried to keep her immense fear bottled up inside of her, and she decided that she needed to get away from Asuka as quickly as possible.

Keiko quickly mumbled that she was going to find breakfast, and she ran off a second later. She mind was clouded by fear as she ran towards the riverbank, and it wasn't until she sat at the bank before she could think rationally. 'What was wrong with Asuka-chan? She looked like she was about to kill me, wait- more like she's about to kill Seta-san! No, I don't want him to die, I-I like him! I like him as an escort, and he-he's a nice person to be around too. Why can't she see that? All she does is be mean to him, why can't she ever let go?'

Keiko continued to mull over those thoughts in a circle, and she was brought out of them when she heard a noise coming from the forest. She looked towards where she thought the noise was coming from, and she actually feared that it might be Asuka coming towards her. She really didn't want to deal with Asuka, mainly because she was shaken up still, at the moment.

To her great relief, the person who came out of the forest was Soujiro, and only Soujiro. Their gazes met, and he silently sat next to her. He had a very solemn face, and he seemed to be in deep thought. She decided to break the ice, after a few moments of silence, and she quietly asked, "do you know what's wrong with Asuka-chan?"

"Iie, I don't have a clue."

"She's scary-looking."

"Gomen nasai, Keiko-chan."

She looked at him in confusion, "What are you sorry for?"

He met her gaze, and solemnly replied, "Whatever made Asuka this way, I have a suspicion that I had something to do with it, although I don't remember ever meeting Asuka."

"I see," Keiko said, and she continued in her head, 'What did you do before you wandered? Why don't you remember? And why would Asuka hate you so much?'

"I don't understand, why is it that Asuka hates me so much? Even before this morning? She seemed to despise me ever since we met. What do you think Keiko-chan?" Soujiro pondered out loud.

"I-I don't know, Seta-san, but I wish I did know. It hurts me when she says mean things to you," she replied, and quickly blushed. 'Did I just say that to him?' she thought.

"Areh?" Soujiro said in confusion, and then he quickly composed himself, "er-doomo arigatou gozaimasu, Keiko-chan."

She blushed a little harder and said, "your welcome, Seta-san," as she stared at the river in embarrassment.

Soujiro was equally embarrassed, but he hid the feeling quite well. Not that anyone, because there wasn't anyone around them, was going to notice; and Keiko was too preoccupied to notice anything.

"Does she treat you well?" Soujiro asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"Yes, she treats me okay, but I still don't like the way she treats other people. My parents would say that Asuka-chan is a very unlady-like girl. They never did like girls like that."

"Ah, so your parents are very traditional?"

"Yes, and, I-I can't stand it. I love my parents, but I just can't stand them at all sometimes," she responded. 'Why am I telling him this? I've never told anyone else before, so why am I telling Seta-san? Is it because I trust him? But I barely know him, so why can I trust him even if I barely know him?'

"I understand how you feel. It's nice to hear that you don't hate them," Soujiro responded thoughtfully.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Keiko said as she looked at Soujiro.

Soujiro looked at her, and he had a wide smile on his face, "loving your parents shows that you have a good heart, and that's always nice to have. You may not like how they treat you, but the fact that you still care about them shows that you're a strong and wonderful person, ne?"

Keiko blushed in embarrassment, but Soujiro's comment brightened her up immensely nonetheless. She made a smile just as large as Soujiro's and she hugged him, "Doomo Arigatou, Seta-san. Thank you so much, you don't know how much that means to me. No one's ever said that to me before."

Soujiro blushed and was put into a physical stupor by the hug, but he composed himself and returned the hug. She blushed, and he did also, but she also smiled after they let go of each other. She continued to blush a little while she was smiling, but only because she hadn't expected to hug him like that. She enjoyed the feeling immensely either way, and it gave her a feeling of warmth; that she only realized that she had missed, since the last time she had hugged her parents about four or five years ago.

Soujiro smiled, and felt a very happy sort of feeling in him for once. He'd never felt anything like it, and he was slightly unfamiliar with the feeling. He liked it though and he guessed he like to see Keiko truly happy, even though Soujiro didn't know what exactly he was feeling.

After a few more minutes of silence, Soujiro asked as he got up, "I'm going to catch breakfast okay? If you don't feel like going back to the clearing then would you mind waiting here Keiko-chan?"

She nodded with a smile, and she seemed apparent, to Soujiro, that she was still quite happy. She hadn't seemed to have calmed down yet, as everyone does when they feel a shot happiness.

Soujiro smiled a little, and he left to gather some sticks, long enough to easily become a makeshift fishing pole.

Keiko watched him leave, and she was still boiling over in utter joy, but she realized that she was slowly crawling back to a state of normalcy. She decided that she might as well revel in her happiness, since she knew that her euphoric state would become a normal state soon.

'I'm someone!' she thought happily, 'Someone has finally seen me as a person, not a tool for work or something like that, and I love it. As long as I can hear something like that, or be shown something like that, more often then I'll be perfectly happy. I won't need care about my arranged marriage. I'd rather just be around Seta-san as long as I'm happy.'

She sighed after a few more minutes and her expression became a little more solemn, "in all honesty, now that I've met Seta-san, I don't really want to leave him. I like him, as a person, too much. He's shown me so much that no one else has. He doesn't order me around like everyone else, except for Mae-san of course. Everyone else, except for those two, have always treated me like I was some sort tool and they always seemed that they never cared about how I felt. I used to agree with them: I used to think that I was a tool, and that they shouldn't have to care how I felt.'

Her attitude, and her expression, quickly changed to a much more positive expression though, 'Thank you, Souji-I mean Seta-san. Thank you so much; you may not realize how much those words meant to me, but I really appreciate it. I've never been so happy, and I've never felt so complete, in my life. I'll never forget those words, and I'll never forget you. You've made me feel so much better about myself. Doomo Arigatou!'

Keiko continued to wallow in her happiness for several more minutes; and, to pass her time a little, she admired the beautiful scenery around the river and where she was resting.

She knew that they were all near Tokyo, and that they'd probably reach Tokyo around the middle of the day. The only concern, besides Asuka, was whether she wanted to stay with Tae-san, or whether she wanted to travel with Soujiro.

She didn't know what Soujiro would say, and she was a little afraid that he'd force her to stay in Tokyo. On the other hand, she didn't know much about Tokyo, and she had heard that Tae-san had a wonderful group of friends. All Keiko knew about the friends was that they live in a local dojo, near the Akabeko.

Keiko felt at a loss, not knowing what to do, about her situation. She decided that she'd worry about it when they came to Tokyo. Right now, she knew that she couldn't decide and she knew that Soujiro, as well as Asuka, would take her to Tokyo anyway. Of course Soujiro would be much more civil about that issue, but he would take her there nonetheless.

She admired the scenery longer, and she noticed that everything looked so much brighter and peaceful for some reason. She didn't really care for the reason, rather she just enjoyed the blissful feelings inside of her.

She felt that it was time to head back to the clearing before Soujiro was worried about her. She stood up, and she noticed sort of a clear hill off to her left. She thought she would probably be able to see Tokyo from that hill, and despite the feelings that were connected to the city, she had a desire to see the city.

As a child she was always told about how wonderful Tokyo is from her parents. Now, after hearing praise of Tokyo from her parents for about nine years, she finally has the chance to see the city with her own eyes. She completely understood that she could have easily just walked into the city and admire it from there, but it just seemed to be that much more special to see just the size of Tokyo alone.

She decided that she should tell Soujiro, and possibly Asuka if Keiko had enough courage, where she was going.

'Hmm...' she pondered as she walked back to the clearing, 'maybe I should ask him to come with me?' She blushed at the thought, 'what am I thinking? Do I like him that much? Maybe I do, I just don't know if I should ask him, what if he doesn't feel the same way? After all, he is about five years older than I am...'

She lost her chain of thought as she saw the clearing, Soujiro, and Asuka's glare. Although she didn't show any emotion, Keiko was miffed, 'What is with that girl? Why is she so angry? I wish I knew why, maybe I could help her problem.'

Soujiro happened to have a hunch that Keiko wasn't too happy with Asuka, so he asked, "Asuka?"

Asuka wordlessly shifted her glare from Keiko to Soujiro, and she awaited his question.

When her full attention was on him, he asked evenly, "would you mind not glaring at Keiko-chan? I have a feeling that you're angry with me, please leave her out of this."

"Fine, murderer," Asuka snarled quietly at Soujiro.

Soujiro turned to Asuka in shock, and Keiko's eyes became wide. After the initial shock Keiko became infuriated on the inside, naturally. Although Keiko did notice that Soujiro reacted oddly to Asuka's comment.

Soujiro essentially was at the breaking point of anger one second, then he shut his eyes, sighed, and smiled as he opened his eyes. He was perfectly calm, and he was oddly happy. This drastic change scared Keiko half-to-death, since it definitely was not normal. This was not the Soujiro she knew.

Soujiro continued to smile hollowly as he said, "thank you," to Asuka in a very pleased voice. He seemed to have lost all of his building anger, and he replaced that anger with happiness.

Asuka seemed to be in utter shock and almost in fear, from what Keiko could tell from the girl. She knew Asuka had not expected that change, neither did she, but there was something about that change that completely unnerved Asuka. Soujiro's condition irked her also, but Keiko was not as hit as hard as Asuka was by Soujiro's personality change.

Soujiro said after a few moments of silence, "It's starting to get late, why not head to Tokyo? We wouldn't want to arrive at night, now would we? It's just not the same as daytime, ne?" With that said, Soujiro started to walk off.

Keiko and Asuka followed like a pair of ignorant simpletons. Keiko made sure to check on Asuka's condition and she noticed that Asuka was gradually breaking down emotionally. Even though Keiko wasn't on the best terms with Asuka; she wanted to help Asuka, before Asuka breaks.

Keiko timidly looked at the unnerving figure of Soujiro ahead, and she asked, "Ano...Seta-san? May we rest?"

Soujiro looked back to Keiko with that same emotionless smile and he said, "of course we can rest."

Keiko then turned to Asuka and whispered, low enough so that Soujiro wouldn't hear them, "I want to talk to you, okay?"

Asuka nodded hollowly, and Keiko knew at that point that Asuka was starting to lose her mind. Keiko guessed that there was something about Soujiro's change that brought some sort of nightmarish memory back to Asuka.

Keiko told Soujiro that Asuka and her were going to be back shortly, and she lead Asuka to a nearby clearing. Keiko trusted that Soujiro wasn't close enough to hear their conversation, and she asked, "Asuka-chan, what's wrong?"

"He killed them," Asuka mumbled. Now Asuka appeared to be extremely frightened, "he killed them all."

"Who killed who?" Keiko quietly prodded.

"Him," Asuka shakily pointed in the direction where they left Soujiro, "he killed them all."

"Soujiro killed someone?" Keiko asked with growing fear.

"He killed them, he killed my family," Asuka weakly replied as she burst into tears.

Keiko now became quite frightened over her male escort, as she tried to comfort Asuka. Keiko tried to ask why, but she was too scared to speak. She hugged Asuka, until the sobbing girl calmed down. Granted, it took a while for Asuka to calm down but it eventually happened.

Asuka smiled at Keiko, "thank you, Keiko-chan. I-you're a sweet girl, and I-I'm sorry for glaring at you. I didn't want to hurt your...feelings. I'm really sorry."

Keiko nodded, glad that Asuka didn't mean to be angry at her. Although, the nagging thought of Soujiro's...condition plagued Keiko's mind. before Keiko could stop herself she asked, "what's wrong with Seta-san?"

Asuka sighed, "he-he's a killer Keiko-chan. He worked for Shishio Makoto. He was an assassin, and he killed my family. I-I have a long scar, where he...slashed me. H-he thought I was dead, so he left."

Kieko was sorry for prompting Asuka like that, but her curiosity got the better of her, "Ano...m-may I see the scar?"

Asuka nodded, and started to undress herself in her half-glazed state. As Keiko watched, she got the impression that Asuka wasn't completely paying attention. Otherwise Asuka would doubtfully have done this in front of anyone, had she not been in her current mindset.

Besides the slight tinge of jealousy Keiko felt-since a very attractive and beautiful women, with a shapely body and large breasts, was standing in front of her- she was completely appalled by the continuously long and jagged scar, that went from Asuka'a left thigh to her right shoulder-blade. The scar was in the overall shape of an arc that only a sword swing could have made, which added some truth to Asuka's words.

Keiko shuddered at Soujiro's cruelty towards Asuka, and she felt extremely sorry for Asuka's loss. She mentioned to Asuka, that she should put her clothes back on. Asuka obediently did as Keiko commanded. Keiko now became extremely frightened of Soujiro, but for some odd reason, she wanted to hear Soujiro's side of the story as well.