Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Of Legendary Creatures and Mystical Beasts ❯ Departure ( Chapter 3 )

The story begins few month before the events of Kyoto Arc, so it will include spoilers and some elements from it as well as from the Revenge Arc too, although my fic will not follow neither the encourages nor the sleeve, and I will break some rules.

Thank you very much for your encouragement.

This time I used a translation software, but I don't think it worked better than my own weak knowledge… Let's stop with my complaining an to the fic…

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The sand rose in high clouds against the horizon line, moving towards them slowly. It was the unmistakable seal of a caravan, since marauders stalked their prizes in quick and relatively small groups .

In spite of their weakness, Enishi was able to help the woman to dismantle the tent and to load it in the loin of the camel.

Then, they mounted and rode toward the advancing column.

Enishi got ahead Asiyah and just before she could utter a word, he got the caravan's chieftain and made the arrangements to join the group. After the initial shock and anger for what she took for an abrupt sample of authoritarian interference in her decisions, Asiya admitted that the step given by Enishi had been definitively the wisest. In those regions the opinion or a woman's words were worth as much as any handful of the sand that surrounded them heady to the wind. Simply, the boss of the caravan would have not even stopped to speak with her or taken her seriously.

Or perhaps worse. Maybe, they would have tried to enslaved or rape her. And then she wouldn't have another resource than to fight...

It was not that she could not really handle them by herself. She might be exiled forever from the Kingdom of the Yinn, but she maintained intact all and each one of their powers. In fact, they would increase by the passing of time as much as if she had remained among her kind. However, if she had to live among humans, she should stay within their social rules, uses and laws, as irritating as they would be to her. And the sudden change from a hierarchical and matriarchal society, to an equally hierarchical but absolutely macho and patriarchal one was truly disturbing and annoying as hell.

After the Elders' sentence and her expulsion, her initial plan had been to move directly to some of the big cities in the interior of China and to leave the human there. However, she thought that perhaps if he awakened being still in the desert he would be less suspicious and questioning than if he found himself amid Beijing or some of the big imperial cities out of a sudden. So she chose a place she knew it would be crossed by a caravan in a few hours, giving the human enough time to wake up and to receive some simple and more or less convincing explanations.

She looked at him with the small of her eye. In spite of the evident discomfort when riding, perhaps due to the days of immobility and the residual pain of his wounds, he seemed to be recovered enough to let him be on his own as soon as they got any halting place.

It was resolved.

In the very moment they arrives to Dunhuang, she would leave him and she would vanish herself…literally speaking. She didn't want any reminder of her misery around her.

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As they advanced on the road, Yukishiro Enishi grew more and more deeply absorbed into the careful review of the circumstances that had taken him to his present situation

He had at last achieved a very beneficial alliance with the bosses that dominated the West of China area (and consequently the very lucrative Route of Silk... and opium) after years of unproductive negotiation to try to establish bonds with them.

Xian Zedong, the head of the opium trade toward America, had proven crucial for his success, because it was him who had put it in touch with his own "connections" in the barren West of China. He was very respected among the elder bosses, but he admired Enishi for his boldness and he sponsored him in a certain way, although Enishi was a foreigner, a Japanese, to be precise, and Chinese never were too fond of them.

As Enishi was not interested in the opium trade, he neither constitute a competition nor a threat for Xian. His sole interest rested in the commercialization of weapons. And Central Asia was a very promising place for such activities..

With the wars among the Englishmen and Afghan, the perennial uncertainty in Persia, and the Russian expansionism in the area, besides the frequent risings against the British colonial power in the India, the area assured interesting and continuous dividends for those bold enough to invest in there.

But there were also very high risks at stake. The region was under the control of western dealers and the own gaijin governments tried to destabilize internally the colonies of rival powers in the area, supporting and feeding the internal strife of the region. He was certain that the intervention of "free investors" as him would not be welcome

The Russians provided weapons to the Indians and Afghan tribes, so that they attacked the Englishmen. The Englishmen, sold weapons to the Persian ones, so that they could attack the Russians. The Germans provisioned the Turks and sent them "military advisors", also against Russian and Englishmen... And they made it impudently although sometimes they even use respectable commercial facades as the Company of the East India... or even not so respectable smugglers. However, the cost of such interferences from the Westerners was too high, and not in gold or material values in fact. To deal with them was as tricky as to sell one's soul to the Devil. They didn't make this as a business among equals, their actual goal always was to occupy and colonize all Far East, imposing colonial slavery, their culture and way of life and absolute domain on those that were non white ones.

And he truly hated Westerners.

He had very personal reasons to do it.

The Incident of the Black Ships and Perry, the American who forced Japan to open its boundaries to the trade and corrupt influence of Western powers, were the sparks that ignited the bloody years of the Bakumatsu, which concluded with the fall of Tokugawa Shogunate régime and the establishment of the Meiji Restoration.

That meant the end of his childhood world and his whole family.

If the Westerners have not been so greedy, they would have left Japan alone .

And the war would have not exploded.

Kyosato Akira, his sister's fiancée, would never had gone to the combat, and therefore he would not had died at Hitokiri Battousai's hands . Tomoe would had been married to her fiancée and she would never have left Edo.

And most importantly, she would had still been alive.

The forest near Otsu, the damned murderer's shining blade piercing through flesh and white silk, and his sister's blood spilled on the snow, all that things would be nothing but a horrible nightmare created by some demon of the night haunting him on his sleep and not the oppressive reality that plagued every minute of his days.

Oh, yes…He had very good reasons to hate the Westerners. Almost as much as it hated Hitokiri Battousai. His own brother by marriage. His sister's murderer .

And nothing would prevent him to exact his revenge from each one of them.

To sell weapons to the rebels, marauders and smugglers of the area of Central Asia, made for him not only a good, profitable source of income, but a subtle reprisal form. At least he contributed to plague the easy life of the Westerners in the region . He produced the most sophisticated weapons in Shangai, taking advantage of the western domain on the city. It allowed him to get extra facilities to bribe the corrupt officials, who came to the city to get rich, while he smuggled via America the most habitual weapons, as rifles and guns

As for the Meiji government of Japan and Battousai himself, he had in mind something very special for both ...A cruel grin formed on his lips

He put aside his thoughts of vengeance to ponder on the last events again.

The meeting had been a complete success.

However, amid their return, their group was unexpectedly ambushed. The guides had been the first targets of the attack, the intention clear from the beginning that if anyone survived it, they could not escape from the merciless claws of the desert. Quite an excellent plan that he himself could have devised: to wait for the negotiations to be concluded, ambush the group and then harvest the fruits of the encounter. That took him to the conclusion that either another of the bosses of Shangai had wanted to take his organization which was highly improbable to that point or somebody from his close associates had tried to betray him. The most logical option was second one, of course .

Almost all of his men had been killed at the first moments. But the attackers didn't constitute any challenge for him, and those that had survived the counterattack of his few surviving men, were not so lucky against his gun and sword .

Once finished with the attackers, he and two of his companions, all three wounded, tried to come back on their tracks, looking some safe place, but the sand dunes were very tricky and without any expert guide it was hopeless to get the right path. The sand dunes changed place continually, erasing the prints that they had left. In a few hours, they understood that they were awfully lost.

His two companions lasted only one day, because of their wounds.

He took their remaining provisions and their water and it continued ahead, hoping to cross with some caravan that goes over there by a miracle of any sort. He wandered for what he thought it was near ten days, the first four ones riding of its faithful Mongolian horse, until it could not take the effort anymore and it died from sheer exhaustion. Then, he continued stubbornly ahead, walking and refusing to fall. He had a promise to fulfill to his sister and that was enough for him not to become an easy prey to Death.

Fortune seemed to smile him once again, as when it had been rescued from certain death so many years ago on the dirty alleys of Shangai. The woman close to him and her unseen brother liberated him once again of fate's clutches.

As they rode, he looked at the strange woman by his side. She didn't seem too concerned for their brother's fortune, although she had striven to make him feel comfortable since he had wakened up. Something extremely curious for a normal sister... or at least what he considered normal which it seems it didn't always coincide with what the other ones said in this respect.

If he wasn't so certain that no woman could manage to survive by her own in such wild and barren place, he would not have any doubt about the nonexistence of the supposed brother

When he helped her to dismantle the tent, he found a gun and bullets among the utensils. For caution, he loaded it and hid it among his own clothes. If by any chance, she dared to try to betray him, then he might not kill her, but without a doubt he would make her pay. After all, there were things far worse than death. Especially for women .

He looked at her again, now taking his time to study her in full detail. She wore a long saffron cotton tunic and she had her head partially covered with a sort of loose veil, but her hair was exposed enough to get the most casual observer's eyes settled right there. It was of the most incredible shadow of crimson, a not very common color for this part of the world, and her locks flashed as if sparks sprouted with each one of her movements. He had a sudden dejà vú. The same color of Battousai's.

As if she could felt the rage building inside himself , she gave him an questioning glare. The snow white skin, the wide emerald green almond-shaped eyes, and the golden dancing sparks on them spoke to him that the similarities didn't finish in the color of the hair Battousai and she shared .

The skin of Battousai was white, and he made the assumption that his mother was gaijin. The same clues could be reached by his lavender eyes, quite uncommon even for a gaijin, and the fire of his hair. The skin of Asiya was even whiter, almost a translucent porcelain, and the color of their eyes and hair also revealed at least a mixed origin. In the other hand both their features, Battousai as much as those of Asiya indicated highly oriental characteristics, although in her case it was not Chinese neither Japanese inheritance. Most probably she was the result of the union of some British soldier with some Hindu woman.

What turned her quite exotic and attractive.

This made him wonder again about her being all alone. Any bandit or unscrupulous caravan boss could make a little fortune selling her to some pleasure house or as concubine, a quite common event when there was the opportunity to seize any attractive woman alone .

He was still caught in that train of thoughts, hoping not to have any nuisance because of her, when he noticed that she was being too much polite for their own good with one of the chieftain's retainers. He was about to fall of the horse because of the surprise.

Definitively that woman was crazy.

He approached both her and the man, and shoot at him a clear death stare, moving his clothes just enough to let him see the gun, making the other man to understand he was looking for trouble if he remained there.

The man figured out his message, and leave them alone.

- What the hell do you believe you are doing? - he hissed her through clenched teeth looking their surroundings carefully

- W-what?

With an abrupt gesture, it removed their hand of the reins and it took them .

- What do you think they will make us if you keep so obvious? Hide your hair and your face as much as you can, and keep your eyes down. And try a lower profile, for Kami's sake! Don't speak neither look anybody. You could give anyone some ideas about making money quick and easily . If something happens and it is because any stupid thing that you have caused yourself, I won't move a finger to defend you.

- How nice of you... You are sooo kind.

- Definitely. - he puffed

He would stay close to that silly girl for the remnant of the trip, to avoid any troubles she could get them into.

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After the incident she looked to the arrogant human male in rage.

Although he was right, she still waited some kindness and courtesy to her since she was the one who had saved his life. Besides she also could give a good lesson to any idiot with the crazed the idea of molesting her. And she would never need any male's help to beat the crap out of those, less from a simple and weak human male ...

Looking at it closely, she couldn't help to smile at the very the idea of that man "protecting her", although his way of doing it so rough and impolite.

And definitively, he was taking the paper, riding so close to her that she can feel their knees touching. So close indeed as to make clear to the others that she was not alone at all.

She shook slightly her head, repressing a laughter that struggled to leave her throat.

At least, she laughed.

The last hours had been so unreal...

The world crumbled on her head at the very moment that the three Elders had stepped into her place.

They had never made it in fifty years, and for that she has no doubt at all in her mind that somebody had seen her and denounced her actions, in spite of all her precautions.

As she had been warned, the sentence was final. She would pass the rest of her material existence in the world of the humans, without any chance of returning to the Kingdom of the Yinn.

However, she didn't leave without giving a good fight. She rose her voice high and clear and told them all those things she kept on her heart from almost her whole life..

But, although she left the kingdom keeping her dignity, the pain didn't stop and it was hardly bearable. She would never enjoy again the company of those of her kind. No human, no matter how much he try, could ever understand the anguishes, happiness or experiences of a yinn. They very natures were so different that it makes it impossible.

She sighed and looked again to her side.

She smiled again, but this time there was sadness in the expression. She was thinking about God playing a practical joke on her .

She had made a bet and lost everything she loved, and she had made it for a harsh, rude and arrogant human...

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Finally, after five days of exhausting march and a couple of halts in two unfortunate oasis, they arrived to Dunhuang, without any further incidents except a couple of small fights which Enishi managed to finish just seconds after they had begun. After those, nobody dared to approach them.

Definitely, he made an excellent bodyguard...

Apart from this, the things had not changed too much during the rest of the voyage.

Enishi was not very talkative. He didn't engage in banal chats neither he entered in other people's lives. On the other hand, neither he allowed them to enter with his. When he spoke it was measured, precise and sharp, as the edge of a good sword and he was, as she had discover quite fast, rather authoritarian.

In spite of this, the fact of leaving from him was not completely satisfying.

She simply wanted to hit her head against the next wall for such thoughts.

In fact, she didn't still know why she was attracted to the human in first place.

She tried to soothe herself with the thought of him being her only acquaintance in that new world, although she knew she was lying to herself, since it was not her first time among humans.

But the decision was already made.

Once inside the city walls, they parted way with the rest of the caravan. Clearly, he seemed to know where to go, because after a short while, they were to the doors of a small store.

- Come with me. Here is my people. They will help you to find your brother and your family inside the city. Meanwhile, you will be able to rest, to give yourself a warm bath and to eat decent food.

- I...

- If I had wished to do any harm to you I had a lot of opportunities out in the desert, you know. Don't be afraid Now, let's go - he said impatiently, offering her his hand to help her to dismount.

Evidently, he misinterpreted her apparent doubt . She simply wanted to leave him in a safe place and to vanish herself as quickly as possible.

Things got complicated...

Once inside the store, the old man who was behind the desk almost suffers a heart attack at the seeing of Enishi standing right in front of him. It seemed as if he had seen a ghost ...His terrorized screams attracted a group of bulky and armed men that seemed as amazed at the sight of Enishi as the old man was.

- Will you stay there the whole day looking at me, idiots?

- B-b-boss... - the one who seem in charge said with a semi catatonic expression - You are live...

- Could it be otherwise? I still have things to finish, I cannot possibly die yet. - he grunted while it forced his way toward the building, pushing aside the men that were in his path - Send a message to Wu, warning him that the reports about my death have been largely exaggerated. I want a detailed report of ALL the events during my absence. And assist the lady that came with me. Give her all she ask for. She is under my personal protection so whoever bothers her will have to face me ... Ah, she lost her brother in the desert, find him. And look for her relatives in the city and warn them that she's safe . And protected. Bring them to me. I need to talk to them.

- These things are not necessary... - Asiyah felt trapped

- I insist. - Enishi said in a tone that didn't admit further discussions, looking at her with a commanding stare-Give the names and whereabouts of your kin to my men and they will bring here your family. Now, I'll leave you. I will take a bath and then I'll try to catch some sleep. I strongly advice you to do the same. I will see you at the dinner.

<Damnit! Damnit!... What will I say to them? ...Think quickly!...>

Enishi's men definitely feared him very much, she could tell .

They looked at Asiyah as studying her but without any direct glare. They surely feared their boss's anger, if they made something that offended her ...That fact pricked on her some amount of curiosity about what kind of fellow was Enishi, to cause so ferocious looking men to panic at his presence. But, that was not her immediate concern. She had never been before in Dunhuang, nor she had any kind of relationships, not to mention relatives in the city. Putting her mind to work at full speed, she made up some data and names and then she was brought to a wide room, with scarce furniture, but very comfortable.

She had little time to disappear, before they discovered that the information she had given to them was a fake...

She came closer to a desk that was in the room, she searched for some paper and ink and she wrote a note. A small pouch appeared from nowhere on her hand. She whispered some words opening a magic portal and she left the room, without looking back.

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- I want to know everything about her and her family. I want them to have the appropriate provision from now on and if some of them has problems or needs work, you will solve it immediately, if you are interested enough in pleasing me. You will keep me posted about them and their welfare . Go to Luang's and buy him a dozen of his very best dresses in stock, she is petite, look for something proper. Tell him to write down them in my bill. Make sure that the girl is comfortable on her quarters. -Enishi closed the eyes leaning back in the tub - Ah ...after you find her family ...convince them… quietly and out of her ears ... that she will be safer if she comes with me to Shangai.

- I placed two guards outside her room as you ordered. And Li and Xuen were in her relatives' search. I also sent a group in her brother's search. And I already sent the news about your immediate come back to Shangai.

- Well then all matters are already taken care of, at least at the moment. Leave me alone. Come to wake me up me as soon as you have news concerning the girl and her people. And make them to prepare a decent dinner for both of us. Now, get out !.

After the bathroom, he got dressed and he threw himself into bed. He needed to rest. The road to Shangai was a very long one...

The knockings at his door woke him up. It was dark. He got up and opened the door to just to see a very afraid man in front of him.

For his aspect, he knew that he didn't bring good news. The man sweated and it trembled from head to toe. Two men, looking even more miserable were standing behind his back.

- What-happened? - he asked making a pause amid the words, with his arms crossed over his chest

- It's is the girl...

- What about her?

- The information she provided us with ...nobody knows her nor his relatives in the area she told us to look for... - the man hurried to add swiftly - but then we could have misunderstood her and his family may be in another part of the city...

- I'll ask her myself. Surely, you've omitted something with your usual incompetence.

Enishi knocked at the door of her room, obtaining no answers. Finally, after insisting in several opportunities, he opened it up a little, just in case she was in some…situation.

He didn't need to inspect the room to know that she was no longer there. And in fact, she was not even in the building.

He lifted the guards by their necks and threw them against the walls, in an attack of blind rage. He could simply not believe that a little woman had been able to fled in their very noses.

Giving long strides he went to his room, to get dressed. If he wanted a thing to be done properly, he had to take care of it by himself. She would get the girl, and then she should answer his questions for a long, long while.

When he entered the room he saw something on his bed. There were a note and small pouch in there.

.

"I regret I won't be able to stay. I owe you a dinner. Another day perhaps? ...No... .I don't believe we ever meet each other again...

Do not worry about my "family" or my "brother." They never exists. It was not my intention to lie to you, but I have no choice due to circumstances. Believe me, they are quite ….hard to explain ...I really doubt a lot that you are in capacity of understanding them.

Excuse me for the nuisances that I might have caused you during the trip, with those two guys.

Keep the horse for yourself. It will serve you as a replacement for the one you lost in the desert. I assume that you are in full condition to reach your destination, but just in case accept the pouch, for the expenses of the trip. If you don't use it for that ...well, you can keep it as a gift.

Don't look for me, because you won't find me.

I hope you have a pleasant life and obtain the yearning of your heart.

Asiyah"

He opened the little velvet pouch. Pearls run down his fingers. The finest he ever saw. He shook the head overwhelmed by incredulity. He had planned to reward, not to be rewarded with a fortune in pearls in his hand...

He looked at his subordinates standing outside his door and he made a decision : people so incompetent that could not prevented a young teenaged girl to escape from her room and move around freely through the building to his quarters, and then to take her horse and camel without at least being noticed, such men didn't have utility inside its organization, neither they deserve to live.

As soon as he arrived to Shangai, he would send appropriate substitutes .

And he would find Asiya, although he should had to turn up China like a glove .

He observed the sky through the window of his room, thinking of her.

<Who are you, Asiyah? Who are you ? >

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Two days later, in Shangai...

- No ...no It is not possible ...alive ...No he can't come out of "the one that one doesn't return" *

Suddenly, he remembered the desk of his newly resuscitated boss's office...

- Hurry up! ! Don't stay there looking at me! ...Bring a restorer... Oh, Gods! If he found out he will have me for his breakfast...

And a chill run down his spine at the thought of what could happen to him if Yukishiro Enishi found out about his "other" slip.

N of the A

* Wu Heishin makes reference to the name of the deserted Taklimakan (to see notices previous chapter)

I want to make a brief introduction as for the nature of Enishi and of Asiya. They are different to each other, and they will be explained later on. As for that of Enishi, he has to do with the tendency of the traditional cultures about people acquiring the characteristics of their "guiding animal spirits" under certain circumstances, as if that spirit was part of the person's soul, although I admit that I have taken some ...licenses ..the interpretation and use of the concept. To some cultures that animal spirit mixed with the soul, but in others only serves as a guide.

Regarding Asiya, she is a Yinn (genius), a character of a "species" that is a very tangible reality for the inhabitants of the regions of Persia and the Middle East (mainly in the wide deserts of the region), and the Muslims in general. In this case, I have been more literal with the nature of the Yinn and their powers, according to what the Islamic religious and fictional literature of the towns of East have bequeathed us, although their "social organization" came from my own mind....

Creatures of similar characteristic they are present in the traditional histories of all the towns of the world