Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Fourteenth Master ❯ Outcast ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fourteenth Master
Ch. 4- Outcast
~Hitokiri Saizen Tamoru
[ronin setora]


_ _ _ _
"My hair... still smells like blood."
_ _ _ _

"I've been doing this for over a year now, I think it's naturally
understood I'm needed!"
A Japanese man, both fighter and general by his uniform, pulls up on
his topknot, fixing the band holding his hair.
"It doesn't matter. We can't risk this again right now."
"But Takamori-san!"
General Saigo Takamori, leader of the Ishinshishi soldiers and head of
the Meiji rebellion shuts his eyes, sighing.
"Hitokiri Saizen Tamoru. Turn in your sword."
Saizen slams down his hand on the table, rage, for the first time,
overtaking him opposed to being used in battle,
"You BASTARD! I went against my own father, killing his best men, for
your damned ideals! I was forced to slay, against my own word, my
friends, my siblings, so you can do this to me now?! I fought in this hell
of a war spilling blood in my home of Kyoto so you can betray me?!"
"You are now stripped of your hitokiri title and are hereby removed from
the protection of Ishinshishi forces during injury. You are now
dismissed."
Saizen's brilliant silver eyes pierce those of General Takamori's and
he says one last thing before leaving, suddenly calm again,
"Bastards like you lose their power. They always do."
As Saizen turns to the door, the General speaks again,
"Turn over your sword."
"You go straight to Hell. Forge your own damn sword."
Saizen walks out of the room and out of the building under General
Takamori's cold glare. Something stirs in a shadowy corner of the room,
just to the right of the shoji.
"Was it wise to eliminate one of the Ishinshishi's best Hitokiri?"
"What he did was out of selfishness and a waste of time for you."
"It was the action of a dignified boy."
"You wouldn't have done it."
"How would you know?"
The speaker of the shadows turns his back on the general, his eyes on
the minute designs on the door's padding.
"You do realize he could go back?"
General Saigo's tone is triumphant,
"I realize he CANNOT become a Bakufu gunjin."
"And this is because...?"
--|-------
Saizen wanders about Kyoto, blood running in the streets in his mind on
a bright day two years so long past...

Edo Castle, home of the Emperor, temporarily occupied by the coward of
the Fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The conference
room was filled to the brim with advisors, counselors, guards, and the
Shogun himself. In the center of the great hall, head bowed low, a katana
at the left side, a boy with milk-white/silvery hair awaits recognition by
the Shogun. The men in the hall whisper to one another of the boy showing
such distrust of the shogunate court. Finally, as Yoshinobu clears his
throat, the hall falls silent, every eye but that of the boy on the Shogun.
"What, child, is your reason for disturbing our meeting?"
The boy looks up and stares into the coals that were Yoshinobu's eyes.
"I come to dismiss myself from your army."
"You are...?"
"I WAS Shogunate Hitokiri Battousai, Saizen Tamoru."
The Shogun's chief advisor rises and addresses Saizen,
"Your words hold no weight here boy. Your name is of no relevance to thi-"
"Silence yourself. I did not permit you to speak."
The advisor is taken aback, the guards step once toward him, and the Shogun
focuses again on Saizen.
"Hmm... from my herald many a time have I heard of you. How old are you
and how long have you served our betrayed Nippon?"
"I am 14 now, in Rokugatsu to turn 15. I have served... Japan for over eight months,"
Saizen being careful in his words as to avoid "betrayed".
"And why, young Tamoru, do you wish to leave my army?"
Though Yoshinobu stays calm, the shot-down advisor rages, his anger
destroying all good judgement,
"HE'S A TRAITOR! I KNOW HE IS! WHY ELSE WOULD HE NOT WISH
TO DIE FOR US?!!"
The Shogun -harumphs- and nods to a guard to his left.
"By 'US' you meant 'me'. You seem to think you are Japan itself. You will be
accurately punished."
Yoshinobu turns then to Saizen, clearing his throat to signal his oncoming words,
"Young Tamoru," says the last Tokugawa to Saizen alone, "I know not the reasons
you have for leaving my army, but dare not question them as is only respectful
between men of class and honor. But, the most of the matter I shall say is that I
pray you do not turn against the lands you were born unto, and in this I wish
you goodwill for your vagabondage."
Saizen nods, then speaks,
"You truly are a gracious lord and I myself do hope I will not kill my friends."
Yoshinobu smiles at the young warrior,
"The only thing- and last thing it seems- I will ask of you is to punish this... this
vermin," staring now at the restrained advisor, "as you see fit."
Saizen rises to a kneel.
"My Lord Yoshinobu, if it is enough to treat him to a warrior's death, I would be fine
with the punishment."
The Shogun's smile broadens,
"Ah! A warrior's sympathy! You are a truly honorable Hitokiri! Guards, release the
rat!"
The guards loosen with haste their grips leaving them struggling man to fall to the
ground. Tokugawa Yoshinobu's smile fades, to be replaced by a stone hard expression.
"Donate your sword to this treasonous man, my faithful guard Kai."
A large, black-haired guard steps forward handing the hilt of his sheathed katana to
the former advisor. The latter draws the katana and spears of icy hate fly from his eyes
to those of an unafraid, motionless Saizen. The hitokiri takes a stance unfamiliar to the
court, not even pulling out his sword. Saizen's bright eyes shine in flame as he speaks,
"Sir Kai. Your sword shan't taste my blood this day."
The advisor rushes forward, eager to prove himself correct over this foolish boy
confronting him.
"YAAHHHH!!!"
As he runs, he raises his sword, clutched by both hands, above his head. When near
Saizen he begins dropping his arms quickly and powerfully. With the very speed of a
thought, Saizen draws his katana, cutting the stomach of his opponent, left to right side.
With that same quickness, he takes Kai's katana from the man and leaps left to avoid the
squirting blood.
When the attacker finally dies fully, the court stares in awe. What they are
dumbfounded by is not the young warriro nor his swift technique. What strikes them
though, is no blood rested on either his or Kai's swords. That his speed was seemingly
untouchable. The Shogun grows first euphoric, then drastically saddened.
"It's a shame you must leave us. Now that I have seen you perform, I am personally
obligated to ask why you wish to leave our side?"
Saizen shuts his silver eyes, allowing his morning-white bangs to fall over them.
"I must ask LORD Yoshinobu- how many fingers need have a man to write?"
"What kind of questi-"
Yoshinobu is cut off as Saizen rushes toward him, a wakisashi drawn, shining in the early
light. The Hitokiri stops just short of Yoshinobu and pulls a blind slash.
Or so it seems until Yoshinobu falls to the floor howling in pain, blood seeping through
the fingers holding the detached wrist. The severed left hand drops, tumbling on the floor
before coming to a bloody stop. Saizen walks away a bit, kneels, then tosses Kai his katana.
"Don't forget, Kai."
Hate brews behind shining black eyes.
"We already know you're a liar and a traitor."
Swords collide, katana upon wakisashi. Suddenly, steel shatters, leaving a deep gash
in the neck of the guard. Saizen knocks away the still-clean katana and takes Kai's head.
"Before you see God, relive this day. I've told no lies."
As Saizen marches toward the door, the guards clear his path in fear. Yoshinobu screams,
"WHY KAI?!"
"You can't die just yet. I'll disgrace you further yet... Father."
"SAIZEN!!!!!"
Hitokiri Saizen Tamoru exits Edo Castle and leaves behind the Emperor's Hatred, his own
father, the fifteenth and last Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu.
--|-------
"You're telling me he is alone now?"
General Takamori nods.
Kenshin's dry tone grows irritated,
"Mercenaries are worse than Hitokiri."
Saigo falls into his chair, startled by this new revelation as Hitokiri Battousai slips out of
the room, shutting the shoji in silence.
--|-------
Saizen walks down the main street of Kyoto toward the inn.
"It seems I've been outcasted by all. Maybe even by myself."
His silver hair blows in the wind as a cold dusk falls upon central Japan.

~To Be Continued~
a/n: Next Chapter: Who really deserves to be Battousai?
Ja!!