Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Sharpest Lives ❯ Chapter 13

The Sharpest Lives 13 / ??
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 - Me muse is still being difficult, but at least it's letting me work a little bit. Updates are not quite as fast as days gone by, but at least they're happening. I'm alternating this with my other major work - my Inuyasha fic 'Pride'. I do not intend this one to be quite the beast that one is (damn thing is at 600 pages now...), but we'll see how things go, eh? I think I'm losing my ability to write small fics. One-shots just don't do it for me anymore... All the one-shots I've written of late are simply like extra chapters to my much bigger story lines. XD

--------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------

China. The continent.

Kenshin had wandered throughout most of Japan in his ten years and had saw more than many people ever would...but he'd never actually set foot on any soil that wasn't Japanese. Kenshin's nerves were singing and it was only with great willpower that he was able to resist twitching at the slightest shadow. Most of the people in the port city spoke Chinese - no real surprise, but it kept him from being able to pick up on anything from listening to the crowds. Sanosuke surprised him by knowing a bit of the language himself - at least enough to ask basic questions and understand the answers. The bright morning sunlight hurt his still-sensitive eyes, but Sano had promptly purchased him a wide-brimmed hat. Kenshin was grateful for it - he was shielded from the stinging sunlight without having to walk around blindfolded. That REALLY would have sent him over the edge. The unfamiliarity alone was bad enough.

After buying a pair of horses and some supplies, Sano went and asked a few locals for some directions to the village where they would be delivering the medicine. He nodded a few times and took brief notes before coming back to Kenshin and cheerily announcing he knew where to go. Knowing Sanosuke's sense of direction, this was so out of character that it took Kenshin a great deal of willpower to keep his reaction to a smile and a nod rather than howling laughter. Sano also took him to a local restaurant and bought him lunch. Kenshin was unable to contain it any more and burst into a fit of laughter. "Who ever thought I'd see the day when you paid for your tab, Sano? And mine too? The world must surely be ending, that it is!"

"Oh, har har. I've spent a great deal of money on you so far on this little venture, I'll have you know. Lunch is nothin' compared to horses and getting that medicine chest back and everything. I think I went through six months' pay."Kenshin's mirth subsided and he gave the fighter a warm smile. "I know, Sano...and I appreciate it a great deal. More than I could say. Even if I had been able to get out of my earlier situation alive, I never would have made it anywhere near this far without you. I will find a way to repay y--"

"No, you won't."
"Oro..."

Sano grinned as he put a tip on the table for their waitress and led Kenshin out of the restaurant towards their horses. "It's only money, Kenshin. Easy come and easier go, especially in my case. But don't worry about it. It's nothing between friends and nothing compared to the lives that medicine is going to save. Besides, much as you tease me about having no money, I've never seen you with more than a few dusty coins to rub together."

"Well..." Kenshin grinned somewhat sheepishly. "I really only have one major skill and that is not something I can market. I will not sell my sword to anyone for any reason, and I feel bad charging people if I'm in a defensive position such as a bodyguard."

Sano smirked. "Oh, you do too have other skills. You're a great housewife. Your cooking is excellent, you're a pro with the laundry, kids love you, you clean..." The fighter stopped ticking things off his list as he noted the increasingly sour look Kenshin was giving him. He couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, and I've never seen someone beat a tatami mat the way you do...Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Tatami Mat Smash!""I gave you the first one about my homely skills...I deserved a shot back after making fun of your typical inability or lack of inclination to pay for food. But that last was overstepping yourself."

"Oh, come on. I've seen it. The way you took that stick to that mat made me glad I wasn't on your bad side."

Kenshin gave him a mock scowl and plucked up a long, thin stick, waving it in Sano's direction. "Would you like to see my Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Sanosuke Beating?"

Sano grinned, knowing full well the threat was entirely idle. "Much as I'd love to be soundly thrashed for my indiscretion, its probably time we got a move on."

Kenshin smiled, tossed the stick off the side of the path and nodded, checking his packs and then mounting his horse as Sano did the same. "How far did the gentleman earlier say the village was from here?"

"He said it was about a week's walk on foot...with horses we can probably make it in half that."

Soon the two of them were riding out of town. It didn't take long for them to strike up a conversation.

"So, Sano...I haven't asked yet. What have you been doing since you left Tokyo?"

Sano flashed Kenshin a grin. "Well...initially, I just figured I'd take a page from your book and just wander at random. See more of the world, do a little soul searching. I made it to the coast and when I hit the first big port city, I found some big-shot merchant company looking to hire people for their trips back and forth between Japan and the continent and all the other ports of Japan in between. Seemed like good people, the pay was decent...and I got to travel in the meantime. I've been all over this part of the world in the past few years...Korea, Mongolia, practically every city on the coast of Japan..."

Kenshin smiled and listened as Sano recounted some of his adventures - and misadventures - of the past four years. Truly, it sounded like his friend had led a fairly interesting life and had a good time. "It seems it was a good move for you, that it does."

"Yeah...I can't say I regret it, but I was starting to feel pretty...homesick. Not so much for the city or even Japan itself - although you can't get proper cooking anywhere else - but...for you and the rest of the gang. Especially you." Sano trailed off for a while, then picked the conversation back up before Kenshin could get too blushy and serious. "So, what have YOU done since I left?"

Kenshin was quiet for a moment. "After you left, no one did much of anything for a while. We all missed you...I know at least for me things seemed rather quiet and...and there was a hollow space where you used to be, a void where normally you would have made some taunt at Yahiko or a poke at Kaoru's cooking..." Kenshin chuckled a bit. "But it wasn't just me. They missed you too. I understood and they did too, after a time, but that didn't make us miss you any less."

The redhead was quiet for a time before continuing. "Things became...complicated...for me. I think Kaoru-dono realized how easy it was for people to come and go in one's life and she began making her feelings more and more obvious...not that I wasn't aware in the first place. I have many faults, but being oblivious to others is not among them no matter how I may act."

Sano chuckled. "That's for damn sure. You may be antisocial, but you always know whats going on, when and where. Even if you don't participate that doesn't mean you don't observe."

Kenshin nodded. "And Kaoru-dono was never all that subtle to begin with. Really, she was about as subtle as a sack of bricks to the face. I know I should have...done something to dissuade her earlier. Really, it was rather cruel of me to let her continue on. I just...I didn't know how to tell her and make her understand that I loved her dearly, but in the way I might love a younger sister. She is very special to me, Sano...but I am not and was never in love with her. There was no way for me to think of to get this across to her without breaking her heart and I hate to see her cry." Kenshin heaved a sigh, closing his eyes. "A full two years after you had left she finally snapped and stopped her game of dropping hints and cornered me. She told me everything about how she felt and demanded to know how I felt in turn."Sano winced. "That had to have been pretty rough."

"She was convinced she was to be my wife...that no one else would ever touch her heart as I had unintentionally done."

// Minus the wife part...I can see her point. Gods only know he ninja'd my heart and I didn't even realize it... // Sano mused, although he kept quiet.

"I... did not deserve it. Nor could I be for her what she wanted me to be. It hurt her to hear, and I knew she would not find a way to move past it with the constant reminder of me there. Two days later, I left. It was....harder than I ever thought it could be, to walk away from the place I had come to call home. After that...there isn't much to tell. I wandered wherever my feet would take me and helped those in need that I came across. And...well. Here I am, I suppose."

"And then this fate thing of yours brought us back together again."

Kenshin nodded. "Yes."

The two of them rode in relative silence for a while. Towards evening, something moves Sanosuke to begin singing a few traveling songs. Kenshin couldn't comprehend how someone could sing so wonderfully and horribly at the same time. Sano had a rich, deep singing voice and would be beautifully adept for a while and then inexplicably would slink terribly off-key. However, he seemed to be having fun, so Kenshin didn't bother to say anything.

They made camp near a small stream that night. They ate dinner and talked for a while before settling in to get some sleep. No matter how hard Sanosuke tried, he couldn't convince Kenshin to let him take first watch. The redhead just gave him an indulgent smile before settling down propped up against a tree near the fire, sakabatou resting against his chest and in hand. "You're gonna ruin your back sleeping like that. It's not good for you." Sano finally grumbled and flopped down.

"Good night, Sano," Kenshin replied lightly.

Nothing did disturb them that night, and the next two days proved uneventful as well. Towards evening of the third night, however, Kenshin was strangely on edge. He tried to place what had started ruffling the feathers of his ingrained hitokiri instincts. It was the sort of strange foreboding that whispered for him to escape in sibilant tones in his ear - go to ground, hold off or you'll be caught. Something was wrong. Something was out of place. Listening to that voice, no matter how irrational it seemed at the time, had always saved him in the past.

"What's got you so quiet all of a sudden? You've hardly said a word for the past half hour," Sano finally said. Kenshin jumped, his spine stiff. The fighter frowned a bit as he noticed the way Kenshin's narrowed eyes were flicking about the terrain, the slight cock of his head... he realized with a startled inward curse that Kenshin was on full alert. He'd caught something, sensed some danger as a wild animal would but couldn't yet place it. Sanosuke couldn't sense anything at all amiss. "What is it, Kenshin?""I don't know, Sano...but be on your guard. Something is wrong." Kenshin's nerves had gone from tingling to screaming. His mind reeled, his eyes darting around, every muscle in his body taut as a bowstring. He quietly popped his sakabatou from the hilt. He did not draw it, but that meant nothing to someone who had become infamous for the speed at which he could pull the blade.

// THERE! // Kenshin's mind finally caught the ki of a yet-distant but battle-ready human in front of them and concealed in a tree. THIS was what had been stalking them, just at the edge of his senses! The man's aura seethed with ill intent. Kenshin knew this aura - he'd felt it before countless times. The intent...no, the DESIRE...to kill. His voice was soft when he spoke, but Sano heard every word clearly. "Ahead of us and to the left. In a tree."

Almost as soon as the words left Kenshin's lips, a sharp crack and a flash rang out from ahead of them. Kenshin leapt off his horse, surprised that he hadn't felt the bite of a bullet. // He missed? Wh-- //

The samurai's gaze flicked over to Sanosuke, who sat completely still on his horse. Violet eyes widened in horror as he saw the seemingly innocent little hole in the fighter's jacket and the rapidly spreading blossom of crimson. Even as he watched, another shot rang out. The horses were spooked and had had enough. Kenshin's horse bolted and Sano's moved to join it. The motion dislodged the fighter and Sano fell with a thump.

"SANOSUKE!" A million horrified thoughts ran through the stream of Kenshin's mind, colliding and stabbing like shards of ice caught in the madly swirling current. He didn't dare move towards his friend, however, aware that any such motion could elevate this from bad to worse. In all his days, he couldn't recall a more painful clench in his heart, a more sickening lump of dread in his throat.

The bandits emerged from cover far up the road. Most of them were armed with swords. Kenshin noted there were two guns amongst them, but only one was aimed at him. The other was strapped to the back of another man. There were seven men in total. One of them called out something to Kenshin, but Kenshin didn't understand a word the man said. It sounded like a threat or an order, maybe a taunt.

The redhead nodded mentally as he assessed the situation, understanding their tactic. The rifles were old, only held one shot, and took a short while to reload. That meant the man that fired the first shot...the shot that had taken down Sano...was the one that had a gun aimed at him now. The other hadn't taken the time to reload, trusting in their numbers to deal with the two travelers. Their tactic made sense - take out the biggest threat from a distance and deal with the rest in close, seven on one. Looking at things, they had decided the bigger fighter was the greater danger, more of a threat than the too-pretty little thing next to him.

"You chose wrong," Kenshin finally growled, eyes flashing golden and blazing with the promise of retribution.