Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Sharpest Lives ❯ Chapter 3

The Sharpest Lives 3 / ??
Written by Jezz-Ra
Warnings - Not all warnings apply to all chapters. Yaoi, Lemon, Violence, Language, Angst
Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, don't make money off it. Wish I did.

Archived at - anime.adultfanfiction.net, fanfiction.net, and mediaminer.org ::: Anywhere else, ask!
Questions or Comments? - Email me at megami_no_remon@hotmail.com

// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - That's better. The Jess likes feedback. It makes her happy. I really will try to avoid begging for it all the time, but I dearly appreciate it. =D

Welcome to my take on RK, all those who are following me from my Inuyasha fic crowd. ( And a special welcome to Sutlesarcasm because you made me smile. Mighty and Incomparable Pharaoh Jezz-Ra, indeed! =D ) Let's see if this bad boy can't be made a little shorter than 'Pride' turned out to be, eh? XD ((And for those of you that aren't followers of my story Pride, it's at like 550 pages and 122 chapters. This fic can be PLENTY long without being that huge... ))

Kenshin is so perfect for my tastes, really...I don't need to torture him or anything to cause angst - he has enough canon angst and inner turmoil to sate my desires....and he's petite and pretty and amusing...perfect. =D
-------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------

Sanosuke grinned hugely as he finally set food on solid ground. He inhaled deeply, taking in the welcome scents of the bustling city gratefully after long months with nothing but the salty air on the open sea to fill his lungs. Sailing was a fine enough life, but it was always nice to get back to shore.

Four years had seen a large change in the fighter. His body had filled out some, grown a bit thicker. His hair had gotten longer as well and fell in an unruly, spiky mane to his shoulders. Despite his broader frame and semi-wild appearance, however, he moved with a lightness that was surprising in a man his size, his every movement under perfect control. It was clear that this man was no target...always a predator and never the prey.

Despite how intimidating he could look, however, Sano's personality hadn't changed all that much. He still laughed easily, grinned like a lunatic and acted just as he always had. He reveled in life, sake, gambling, and the company of friends.

Life had changed for him since he left the dojo, for the better in many ways. After wandering aimlessly for a while, Sano had fallen in with a merchant company. They had hired him to work on their ship, impressed with his strength and his skills. Sano enjoyed the work, and they paid him well. Not only did he get to travel back and forth from the continent to the mainland and all along the coasts, he was doing honest work and had made enough in the past couple years to erase almost every debt he owed.

// Another good trip or two and I should have enough to pay back everyone in Tokyo...then I'm free and clear. I won't owe anyone a thing. Hah, maybe I'll even treat everyone to lunch at the Akabeko and pay for the tab...give Tae a nice tip, too, for all she's put up with over the years. //

The fighter whistled cheerfully as he made his way down the street, enjoying the feel of the heavy sack of coin bouncing against his thigh under his cloak. The satchel slung over his shoulder was filled with things he had gained on his latest voyage through purchases, gambling, or sheer luck. Sano had found that a nice profit could be made in selling things from one port to the next - it was simply a matter of finding things that were common in one place and selling them in another where they were less accessible.

// Man...I do miss everyone. I wonder how they are?... Shit, Yahiko's got to be grown by now. That'll be weird. Kenshin and Kaoru...bet they have fourteen kids by now. I'm sure she wouldn't have let him get out of marrying her for much longer. Probably makes him take care of all the kids as well as do all the chores and cook and all that. I always thought Kenshin would make someone a good wife someday. //

The thought brought a smile to his face. Of all the people he missed, he missed Kenshin the most. The samurai had been something of an idol to him. In combat, Kenshin was grace and speed, poetry in motion. He was indomitable, invincible...a thing of true awe. Sanosuke had made something of a career out of getting in fights even before his stint as Zanza and well after, and he had never seen someone of Kenshin's caliber. What Kenshin lacked in raw power he made up for in sheer speed and skill.

Oh, it was true enough that he had seen Kenshin get involved in battles that had sorely wounded him...but he had always gotten back on his feet. Sano would never be able to fathom where that stubborn tenacity came from, how Kenshin could come back from the brink of death and still manage to stand and fight. The battle with Shishio was a prime example.

However, while Sano worshiped Kenshin's fighting prowess, it was not the only thing he respected. Kenshin was always calm, even in the most desperate of situations. He did not allow his emotions to run rampant, would not let himself be baited. Rare, indeed, was the opponent that managed to get under the samurai's skin.

Kenshin may not have been well educated - a fact that he had never denied - but he had street smarts in spades, and the sort of wisdom only someone that had seen far, far too much could lay claim to.

Kenshin was, in short, the most amazing person Sanosuke had ever met. He was a true friend, always willing to lend an ear and would give his advice if it was asked for. He never judged Sano for any of his bad habits, and had always been there whenever Sano had needed him for anything. Sanosuke would have trusted him with his life and more without a second thought or moment's hesitation - something he could say about virtually no one else.

Oh, to be sure, Sano cared deeply for Yahiko and Kaoru and Megumi, the doctor and the girls...everyone else... but the bond with them hadn't run quite as deeply. They were shining stars in the tapestry of Sano's life...and Kenshin was a blazing comet.

Sano grinned. // Only another few months and I'll see Kenshin and the gang again. Maybe I'll stick around for a while, too...head back out when the company swings back through. Hell, another few years and maybe I'll buy myself a nice house on a hill somewhere and marry a nice girl. // The more he thought about that, though, he wasn't sure if it was something he really wanted. It was nice to have a place to call home...but something in the fighter whispered that he already had a home in the open road and was wedded to the endless sky.

The fighter was shaken from his thoughts as he meandered through the marketplace. He spent a couple hours trading and selling goods, as well as buying a few things. He wandered towards the local pawn shop, taking a deep swallow from the jug of sake he'd picked up. // Damn, this tastes delicious after the ship's swill... //

Sano stepped to the side quickly as a trio of men made their way out of the shop, grins on their faces. The fighter scowled and considered telling them to watch where they were going, but something made him hold his tongue and listen.

"Hah, not a bad haul. I was kinda surprised. Who woulda thought that stupid box would have been worth so much?"

// Hn...probably bandits gloating over their spoils. // Sano shrugged to himself, prepared to ignore them.

"Eh, no accounting for taste. Though I have to say I was disappointed that the sword was worthless."

"Well, you should have looked at it first, moron, and you would have realized it wasn't anything but scrap."

"Fuck you. What sort of ass-backwards samurai carries a sword with the edge on the wrong side? It's like some sort of damn joke."

Sano's attention was now caught in full, a thousand thoughts whirling through his head, all of them spiraling from a central thought of a certain redhead. // Just calm down. I could be misinterpreting this...after all, why in the hell would Kenshin be anywhere NEAR here? And no bandit could take his sword from him... I'm jumping to conclusions. //

"Hell, you don't see many real samurai in this day and age, especially not one carrying steel...even if it IS junk. Pretty well-forged for junk, though. What a waste."

Sano had never been patient, and what little patience he DID possess had evaporated in the face of his curiosity and growing dread. He pasted on a cheery grin and approached the trio of bandits. "'Scuse me! What's this I hear you saying about a backwards sword?"

The three bandits clammed up and gave Sano dark looks. The fighter only widened his grin. "Hey, relax. I just happened to overhear you mention it and it caught my interest. Y'see, I knew a samurai that carried a backwards sword like that. Can I see it?"

One of the bandits shrugged and tossed Sano a wrapped bundle. The fighter didn't even need to draw the blade after he pulled the wrapping away, struggling to keep the tremor from his fingers as he stared at the familiar, well-worn hilt of the sakabatou. "How...did you get this?"

The trio smirked. "Eh, nice chap, that samurai...he was more than happy to hand it over."

Sano's grin was forced and showed enough teeth that it was practically a snarl. "Really... what did this samurai look like?" Something wasn't adding up here. Kenshin would NEVER be taken by bandits like these, Sanosuke knew that for a fact. None of them moved with the grace, the economy of movement of a true warrior. He imagined they had some skill, but unless there was someone truly incredible in their little group...

The bandits laughed outright. They figured Sano wasn't much of a threat - the fighter looked rather wild himself, and hadn't bothered to clean up yet after a long voyage. He looked like a ruffian himself, perhaps a kindred spirit. "Hah...I've never seen anythin' like him. Short, pretty little thing...looked almost like a damn woman. Real long hair, too. Red."

One of his partners agreed with a snicker. "Mm...yeah, it had to be some sorta joke. Surprised he could even lift that backwards sword...he woulda been more at home in a whorehouse than pretending to be a swordsman! I would have liked to have got my hands on him, I'm not gonna lie..."

Sano was seeing red, his grip on the sakabatou tightening. He barely heard the third, barely restrained from wrapping his hands around the second bandit's throat and throttling the life from him.

"Eh, he knew how to swing that thing, girly or not. He wasn't jokin' around."

"Doesn't matter how good he was when the damn cart fell on him." The trio's laughter was cut short as Sano snapped. Before the bandits could even think to react, two of them had been laid out with bone-shattering punches by the fighter's fists. A snarl was on his lips and a feral threat of death flickering in his eyes. He grabbed the third by the shirt and yanked him close.

"What...did you do to him?"

The bandit spluttered, overwhelmed by the sight of his downed friends. "W-we didn't do anything!" His voice turned into a yelp as he saw Sano's fist cock back.

"Wrong answer."

"W-wait! Alright! Damn! We looted him and left him!"

"Did you kill him?" Sano's voice was flat, the words strangely devoid of emotion. If this bandit dared to admit it, he would lose his life, and his companions would soon follow.

"No, we didn't..."

Sano narrowed his eyes.

"We didn't! We were....we were going to have some fun with him but he was a fuckin' demon with that sword. Even as screwed up as he was we couldn't touch him. He fell into the cart we had with us and the wheel broke and the thing fell on him. We looted him and left him for dead...there's no way he woulda lived long."

Sano growled softly. "Where...did this happen?"

"A-about a day's walk north of here, not far off the road near where the forest starts."

The bandit didn't even have time to squeak as Sano's fist rearranged his face with a crunch. The fighter didn't even look as the bandit hit the dirt.

Soon Sano was galloping out of town at top speed on the back of his newly-purchased horse, silently praying to Buddha and any other powers that might be listening that the bandit's words weren't true and dreading what he might find.