Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Snow ❯ Best Friends In Final Moments ( Chapter 26 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Serenitychan13 
Hideki's character is finally revealed as the boy lays dying and best friends spend their final moments in tears.
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.27.2004 | Updated On: 10.15.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 222 | Status: Completed
Hideki's character is finally revealed as the boy lays dying and best friends spend their final moments in tears.
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.27.2004 | Updated On: 10.15.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 222 | Status: Completed
Back at the Sekihoutai camp, Touya was working frantically to save Hideki's life. But it was to no avail. Hideki was still fighting, but he knew in the bottom of his heart that he was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. With one arm still firmly clamped around his chest, he reached out to touch Touya's arm.
"Don't bother," the boy whispered bitterly. "I'm as good as dead anyway."
Touya was surprised to hear such a harsh tone from a boy he had always heard to be soft-spoken and peaceful. He knelt beside the younger soldier's futon and looked down into Hideki's young face. Hideki looked up at Touya, at the only other member of the Sekihoutai he had looked up to as much as he had looked up to Takashi and Souzou.
"I'm just sorry I was caught off-guard..." he said quietly, his voice hard. "And I'm sorry for being so weak..."
"You're not weak," Touya admonished him. "You're incredibly strong. But I do know this:"
"What?" snapped Hideki, trying not to cry.
"Your strength wasn't meant for the battlefield," Touya said softly, his words enigmatic though his voice was comforting. "You were meant to heal, not to kill. I might not seem like the most serious person a lot of the time, but I know what I'm talking about. This isn't right. You shouldn't have to die here."
"Well there's nothing anybody can do about it now," stated Hideki, trying to keep his voice steady as his lower lip trembled. "Nothing..."
He looked up at Touya's face and broke down crying.
"My mother... My sisters..." he sobbed, his chest bleeding more heavily due to the violent spasms of his muscles caused by his crying. "I failed them... And now I can't even say goodbye!"
Touya didn't know what to say. He just couldn't bring himself to say what everyone in the Sekihoutai knew in their hearts to be true. Hideki was too young to have been on the battlefield in the first place. He was certainly no longer a child, but he was not yet a man either. He still needed his family to care for and protect him, not the other way around.
"I wish my mother was here," whispered Hideki, thinking Touya couldn't hear him. "But at the same time, I'm glad she's not... She doesn't need to worry about me..."
Touya tried to press a cotton pad to the open wound in Hideki's chest, but the younger boy swatted his hands away.
"She needs to take care of my sisters..." whimpered Hideki, trying to think only of his sisters though it was obvious he wished his mother could hold him as he lay dying. "She's all they have now..."
Hideki's voice cut off suddenly and his small body began to shake, not violently, but enough to render him silent. Touya knew immediately - had known all along - that the younger boy was in his final moments and his heart clenched. He wanted to do something, anything, to comfort him at the end of his life. In his usual unrestrained way, he cradled the young man in his arms, knowing his touch was not comforting as a mother's would be, but trying to help anyway. Hideki's life had been taken from him far too soon.
Touya looked down and bit his lip when he saw that the boy's wide grey eyes were beginning to droop. Hideki was no longer coherent, not really in the real world anymore, but he wasn't dead yet. His hands clutched convulsively at Touya's shirt, his grip like iron thread as a burst of fragile strength ripped through him, and his lips trembled as he struggled to speak.
"Mama..." he whispered weakly, his whole body shuddering.
The boy was delusional. He was seeing his mother in Touya's place, imagining that it was her comforting him as he passed on. She was telling him it was all right, that she didn't blame him in the slightest. He could hear his sisters' voices telling him they would miss their big brother and more tears flowed from his closed eyes.
"Goodbye Kiriko... Asako..." he whimpered, reaching up weakly to try and touch his sisters' faces one last time before he let his hand fall. "Goodbye... Mama..."
With that, Hideki drew his last breath and passed away peacefully in Touya's arms.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Sekihoutai regained a tiny bit of their hope, if only briefly, when Touya rushed in and joined the fray. Of course, it also hurt them a little more. Now they knew that Hideki was no longer with them and they all in a way blamed themselves for his death. The four remaining members of the Sekihoutai resolved to fight all that much harder in honor of their comrades. That is, until Kyo had a katana thrust into his rib cage.
"Kyo!" yelled Touya, rushing to his friend's side. "Kyo, hang on!"
In a split second, three more Imperialists lay dead on the ground and Touya knelt beside the fallen Kyo. He had seen too much death already and the last thing he needed right now was to watch his best friend slip away in front of him. He took the fatally-wounded man in his arms, trying not to jar the gaping holes in his chest and back.
"Kyo, come on!" he begged frantically, trying to keep from shaking his friend. "Stay with me! We're almost out of this so you've got to hold on!"
Kyo tried to speak, but instead coughed harshly, spattering Touya's shirt and jacket with his blood. The bastard who had mortally wounded him had intentionally run his wicked blade through Kyo's right lung. He had missed his heart on purpose. Now Kyo was adding his blood to the stains in the snow as he lay dying in agony. His breathing was forcing blood from his chest up into his throat and mouth.
"Touya... Don't..." he said in a rasping voice, blood streaming from his lips.
"Are you crazy!?" yelled Touya half-hysterically, tears coursing from his deep blue eyes and falling down his cheeks in salty rivulets. "I'm not just going to leave you here to die alone! There's no way I would!"
Kyo tried to lift his hand to the wound in his chest - he had been completely pierced through by the katana. Though he still clung to life, he found that he couldn't move his hand more than a few inches. When Touya saw what his dying friend was doing, he gently took hold of his hand and laid it over the open wound. Somehow, in a final burst of strength, Kyo took Touya's hand in a desperate grip and pulled himself to a sitting position.
"Touya, no matter what happens, you've got to live!" he rasped softly. "You've got to take care of Tae and Sae for me. Tell them I'm sorry for not showing them that I cared... Since I never had a family of my own, they was like a couple of little sisters to me too..."
"I'll tell them for you," whispered Touya, his tears falling on Kyo's wound as he leaned over the dying man. "I promise..."
Kyo smiled through his agony, though there were tears in his deep grey eyes as well.
"I never had a better friend in my life..." he said softly. "... than you..."
"Kyo! Don't do this!" yelled Touya, now totally in hysterics, gripping his best friend's hand as if he could keep him on Earth a bit longer. "No! Please, don't leave me! You're my best friend! KYO!"
"Goodbye Touya..." whispered Kyo, closing his eyes and sighing for the last time.
Souzou saw those last painful moments between two best friends and his heart clenched involuntarily. Had Reichi died alone and in agony? Was he finished off quickly or did he suffer for a long time? Souzou shook his head to clear away those thoughts and quickly offered a hand to help Touya up off the ground. Touya allowed Souzou to help him to his feet, though he was shaky for the first few seconds. He looked down at his best friend's body one last time before charging back into battle. Tears still shone in his blue eyes.
Seconds later, Touya turned around to see an Imperialist approaching Kyo's body with a drawn sword. Rage coursed through his being and the poor bastard was dead before he even knew Touya was there. Touya stood and protected his best friend from desecration until he too was mortally wounded.
Touya knew he was dying, but he stayed up with his sword in hand, daring anyone to get close to him.
"Don't bother finishing me off you dirty hypocritical pig," he growled at his attacker.
He looked the man straight in the eyes and ran the blade through his chest, killing him instantly - showing his own killer the mercy Kyo had not been allowed. Then his strength failed him and he fell to his knees, his hand over the open slash on his own chest. Though it had narrowly missed his heart, the wound would ultimately be fatal due to heavy blood loss. The first wound the Imperialist had inflicted, a wide gash on his upper abdomen, must have damaged his diaphragm. A shudder ran through his body and he doubled over, trembling and gasping for breath.
'Sorry Kyo,' he thought, his vision clouding over as the agony began to overwhelm him. 'Sorry I can't keep my promise... I'm so sorry...'
With that, a merciful bullet penetrated his temple, instantly putting him out of his misery.
"Don't bother," the boy whispered bitterly. "I'm as good as dead anyway."
Touya was surprised to hear such a harsh tone from a boy he had always heard to be soft-spoken and peaceful. He knelt beside the younger soldier's futon and looked down into Hideki's young face. Hideki looked up at Touya, at the only other member of the Sekihoutai he had looked up to as much as he had looked up to Takashi and Souzou.
"I'm just sorry I was caught off-guard..." he said quietly, his voice hard. "And I'm sorry for being so weak..."
"You're not weak," Touya admonished him. "You're incredibly strong. But I do know this:"
"What?" snapped Hideki, trying not to cry.
"Your strength wasn't meant for the battlefield," Touya said softly, his words enigmatic though his voice was comforting. "You were meant to heal, not to kill. I might not seem like the most serious person a lot of the time, but I know what I'm talking about. This isn't right. You shouldn't have to die here."
"Well there's nothing anybody can do about it now," stated Hideki, trying to keep his voice steady as his lower lip trembled. "Nothing..."
He looked up at Touya's face and broke down crying.
"My mother... My sisters..." he sobbed, his chest bleeding more heavily due to the violent spasms of his muscles caused by his crying. "I failed them... And now I can't even say goodbye!"
Touya didn't know what to say. He just couldn't bring himself to say what everyone in the Sekihoutai knew in their hearts to be true. Hideki was too young to have been on the battlefield in the first place. He was certainly no longer a child, but he was not yet a man either. He still needed his family to care for and protect him, not the other way around.
"I wish my mother was here," whispered Hideki, thinking Touya couldn't hear him. "But at the same time, I'm glad she's not... She doesn't need to worry about me..."
Touya tried to press a cotton pad to the open wound in Hideki's chest, but the younger boy swatted his hands away.
"She needs to take care of my sisters..." whimpered Hideki, trying to think only of his sisters though it was obvious he wished his mother could hold him as he lay dying. "She's all they have now..."
Hideki's voice cut off suddenly and his small body began to shake, not violently, but enough to render him silent. Touya knew immediately - had known all along - that the younger boy was in his final moments and his heart clenched. He wanted to do something, anything, to comfort him at the end of his life. In his usual unrestrained way, he cradled the young man in his arms, knowing his touch was not comforting as a mother's would be, but trying to help anyway. Hideki's life had been taken from him far too soon.
Touya looked down and bit his lip when he saw that the boy's wide grey eyes were beginning to droop. Hideki was no longer coherent, not really in the real world anymore, but he wasn't dead yet. His hands clutched convulsively at Touya's shirt, his grip like iron thread as a burst of fragile strength ripped through him, and his lips trembled as he struggled to speak.
"Mama..." he whispered weakly, his whole body shuddering.
The boy was delusional. He was seeing his mother in Touya's place, imagining that it was her comforting him as he passed on. She was telling him it was all right, that she didn't blame him in the slightest. He could hear his sisters' voices telling him they would miss their big brother and more tears flowed from his closed eyes.
"Goodbye Kiriko... Asako..." he whimpered, reaching up weakly to try and touch his sisters' faces one last time before he let his hand fall. "Goodbye... Mama..."
With that, Hideki drew his last breath and passed away peacefully in Touya's arms.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Sekihoutai regained a tiny bit of their hope, if only briefly, when Touya rushed in and joined the fray. Of course, it also hurt them a little more. Now they knew that Hideki was no longer with them and they all in a way blamed themselves for his death. The four remaining members of the Sekihoutai resolved to fight all that much harder in honor of their comrades. That is, until Kyo had a katana thrust into his rib cage.
"Kyo!" yelled Touya, rushing to his friend's side. "Kyo, hang on!"
In a split second, three more Imperialists lay dead on the ground and Touya knelt beside the fallen Kyo. He had seen too much death already and the last thing he needed right now was to watch his best friend slip away in front of him. He took the fatally-wounded man in his arms, trying not to jar the gaping holes in his chest and back.
"Kyo, come on!" he begged frantically, trying to keep from shaking his friend. "Stay with me! We're almost out of this so you've got to hold on!"
Kyo tried to speak, but instead coughed harshly, spattering Touya's shirt and jacket with his blood. The bastard who had mortally wounded him had intentionally run his wicked blade through Kyo's right lung. He had missed his heart on purpose. Now Kyo was adding his blood to the stains in the snow as he lay dying in agony. His breathing was forcing blood from his chest up into his throat and mouth.
"Touya... Don't..." he said in a rasping voice, blood streaming from his lips.
"Are you crazy!?" yelled Touya half-hysterically, tears coursing from his deep blue eyes and falling down his cheeks in salty rivulets. "I'm not just going to leave you here to die alone! There's no way I would!"
Kyo tried to lift his hand to the wound in his chest - he had been completely pierced through by the katana. Though he still clung to life, he found that he couldn't move his hand more than a few inches. When Touya saw what his dying friend was doing, he gently took hold of his hand and laid it over the open wound. Somehow, in a final burst of strength, Kyo took Touya's hand in a desperate grip and pulled himself to a sitting position.
"Touya, no matter what happens, you've got to live!" he rasped softly. "You've got to take care of Tae and Sae for me. Tell them I'm sorry for not showing them that I cared... Since I never had a family of my own, they was like a couple of little sisters to me too..."
"I'll tell them for you," whispered Touya, his tears falling on Kyo's wound as he leaned over the dying man. "I promise..."
Kyo smiled through his agony, though there were tears in his deep grey eyes as well.
"I never had a better friend in my life..." he said softly. "... than you..."
"Kyo! Don't do this!" yelled Touya, now totally in hysterics, gripping his best friend's hand as if he could keep him on Earth a bit longer. "No! Please, don't leave me! You're my best friend! KYO!"
"Goodbye Touya..." whispered Kyo, closing his eyes and sighing for the last time.
Souzou saw those last painful moments between two best friends and his heart clenched involuntarily. Had Reichi died alone and in agony? Was he finished off quickly or did he suffer for a long time? Souzou shook his head to clear away those thoughts and quickly offered a hand to help Touya up off the ground. Touya allowed Souzou to help him to his feet, though he was shaky for the first few seconds. He looked down at his best friend's body one last time before charging back into battle. Tears still shone in his blue eyes.
Seconds later, Touya turned around to see an Imperialist approaching Kyo's body with a drawn sword. Rage coursed through his being and the poor bastard was dead before he even knew Touya was there. Touya stood and protected his best friend from desecration until he too was mortally wounded.
Touya knew he was dying, but he stayed up with his sword in hand, daring anyone to get close to him.
"Don't bother finishing me off you dirty hypocritical pig," he growled at his attacker.
He looked the man straight in the eyes and ran the blade through his chest, killing him instantly - showing his own killer the mercy Kyo had not been allowed. Then his strength failed him and he fell to his knees, his hand over the open slash on his own chest. Though it had narrowly missed his heart, the wound would ultimately be fatal due to heavy blood loss. The first wound the Imperialist had inflicted, a wide gash on his upper abdomen, must have damaged his diaphragm. A shudder ran through his body and he doubled over, trembling and gasping for breath.
'Sorry Kyo,' he thought, his vision clouding over as the agony began to overwhelm him. 'Sorry I can't keep my promise... I'm so sorry...'
With that, a merciful bullet penetrated his temple, instantly putting him out of his misery.