Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ True Love ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 5 )

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hm....I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter. It's quite amazing how much you can plan out a chapter and then realize how hard it is to get it exactly the way you want it to turn out. Of course, I am exploring a little bit more on the actual storyline from the original, and it's a bit difficult to get everything I want into one chapter. So...what I left behind will be added to the next chapter, but not like you guys mind much...right? Hey, it's a shorter read!

Anyways, I also finally got the last set of volumes I was missing from my Ruroken manga -- the actual depiction of Jinchuu as told by the creator, Nobuhiro Watsuki. And you know, after reading it all, I realize that my depiction of Rakuninmura (known as "the lost village" in the US version) is very different as depicted in the manga. It just goes to show you how much you can imagine with just translations (which I was working with at the time I started on this story) rather than scanslations. Oops.

So...this is a bit AU in a way. At least in the depiction of Rakuninmura.

And my apologies for the delay. School has been fairly busy for me these days...

Another character appears in here as a warning. He won't play a big of a role in this story, but I will use him in a Saitou/Tokio story that I have had in mind for a while. Of course, that'll be much later after I've finished this story.

- Rurouni Kenshin: True Love -

Chapter Five: Confrontation

Both occupants in the room turned around to see her standing in the entryway to the kitchen on a pair of crutches, still leaning heavily against her left leg. Rin and Ran hid behind her. Ruri immediately forgot about Enishi and headed over to the injured woman, all the while scolding her. She merely laughed and gave some sort of reply when she looked up. Their eyes met. But the contact was broken when a voice called.

"Excuse me!"

The old man was kind enough to guide her through the maze that was known as Rakuninmura to this rundown clinic. When she first introduced herself as Yumiko's sister, the man was surprised then immediately fell to suspicion. He took a closer look at her to the point where she felt uncomfortable, but the old man - who introduced himself to her as Oibore - smiled and apologized for mistaking her as a man. Nagasaki Ayeka wasn't surprised; rather, it was what she had intended. However, despite the fact that she had short, cropped hair and a weathered face from the years of working outside, the similarities between her older sister and herself physically remained.

Stomping the thoughts down, Ayeka patiently waited for someone to come out. She knew that there was somebody home - she could smell the food cooking in the kitchen from here. A woman stepped out from the back and she was busy typing an apron around her kimono, apparently prepared to perform an operation of some sort.

"Irrashaimas-," the woman looked up when her eyes met Ayeka's, her voice died off. "-se."

Ayeka shifted nervously under the woman's stupefied gaze. Ever since she decided to come and find her sister, she was worried that this reaction might happen.

"…Ayeka?" Ayeka looked up in surprise, wondering how the woman knew her.The woman came closer to her and she tensed.

"Nagasaki Ayeka, right?" the woman asked again. She then pointed at herself. "Don't you remember me? Ruri. Takeda Ruri."

Ayeka scrutinized the person in front of her until she began to recognize certain features about the woman, especially her eyes. They were eyes that always held a certain defiance about her persona.

"…Ruri…oneesan?" she voiced the familiar name.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much you've grown!" Ruri commented, taking another look at the younger woman. "You look exactly like Yumi-chan but with short hair and a tan."

Ayeka bit her lower lip at the comment. "Ah sou?"

Before Ruri could ask anymore questions, another voice interrupted them.

"…Aye…ka?"

The addressee turned in the direction of the voice that called her, her eyes locking onto ones that matched the color of her own. Yumiko stared wide-eyed at her, and behind her sister were three faces that Nagasaki Ayeka didn't recognize.

She watched him set the tea cups down awkwardly as if he wasn't used to serving in a long time - if at all. Yumiko inwardly smiled at his attempt to hide his mistakes, although she wouldn't admit to herself that his sense of curiosity was very cute.

"Arigatou, Enishi," she said to him with a smile, purposefully ignoring the stare her sister was giving her.

"Mm…it's all right," he replied. He felt a need that the two needed to be alone to talk. "I'm going to find Gen and see what else needs to be done. Is it all right that I take Rin and Ran with me?"

Yumiko nodded, giving him another smile that told him she understood. "Gomen ne."

The look in his emerald eyes softened just enough for only her to take notice before he got up and left the room. A few minutes passed between her and the other occupant in the room before the latter spoke.

"Who's he?" Ayeka asked her.

"Someone who lives with me and the children," Yumiko replied, although she knew that wasn't the entire truth. "When did you get back?"

"Two days ago," Ayeka answered, frowning at her older sister's response. She decided to follow along with her off-topic play anyway. "Okaasan's thinking of opening up a silk store in Tokyo, but for now we're at the mansion. What happened to your leg?"

"Okaasan's going to open a store? I'm surprised that otousan is letting her."

"They're not together anymore." Ayeka paused for emphasis, not sure how to explain the situation since she wasn't very good with words. "She left otousan a year after you…left. What happened to your leg?"

"Oh…this?" Yumiko glanced down at her right leg which was still in its splint since the early morning. "I was just being careless and sprained it a little bit, that's all."

"Did that guy -"

"Enishi saved me from getting even injured further," Yumiko cut her off, knowing exactly well what her sister was about to ask. It sounded like a conversation they had a long time ago when they were in Shanghai. "He wasn't the one who hurt me, Ayeka."

Ayeka once again bit her lower lip, frowning, before she looked down at her drink. Although they were only three years apart, she still felt like a child being reprimanded by her mother. Four years apart didn't change that feeling.

"…I'm sorry."

Yumiko smiled at Ayeka and took a sip of her tea. "There's nothing to apologize for, Ayeka. I understand that you were getting the wrong impression, so I wanted to give myself a chance to explain a little bit. Enishi is nothing like Youji, so you don't have to worry."

Another moment of silence fell between them.

"…Are those two kids…yours?"

"Rin and Ran? Yes. They're one of the main reasons why you can see me now."

Ayeka glanced up from her cup to see her sister's smile and the distant, sad look in her eyes. "…They look a lot like you."

Yumiko chuckled. "Everyone says that. Ran looks more like him than me, though…" She quickly changed the subject. "How did you find me here? How is everyone?"

Ayeka bit her lower lip again, trying her best to keep her annoyance level down. It didn't seem to her that her sister had changed at all during the four years they had no contact.

"Like I said earlier, okaasan and otousan aren't together anymore. You can say that she's doing fine…she's a lot more chirpy than when she was with otousan. And Akito, well, you can say that he's a bit of a troublemaker nowadays. Always getting into someone's business without even asking them and then gets hurt in the process of helping them."

Yumiko smiled at the commentary. "Hmm…so he's like okaasan in that sense."

"He's more like a pain in the ass now, if you ask me. When you were still around -" Ayeka cut herself short at what she was about to say. After some thought, she decided that it was necessary to finish the thought although her voice was softer than when it came out before. "When you were still around, he wasn't like that."

She could feel Yumiko's curious eyes on her, but Ayeka forced herself to not let it bother her. She instead looked away from Yumiko and down at her hands which was wrapped around the porcelain cup of tea.

"He was the one who finally found out where you were through someone that he helped out back in Shanghai. Ever since we left otousan, okaasan had been trying her hardest to find you through the limited resources she had. When Aki told us a month ago where you were finally, she immediately organized a trip back to Japan. I volunteered myself to search around to find you and make sure that the man who told us where you were didn't lie."

Yumiko's smile faded from her lips although the expression in her eyes changed slightly. She could sense her younger sister's anxiety and curiosity, and the older woman couldn't blame her. She was partially at fault for making her younger sister turn this way.

"I see," Yumiko took another sip of her drink. "As you can see, with the exception of my leg right now, I'm doing just fine. It was a little bit hard to adjust to the life here at first, but…the people here are very nice. They don't pry into others' pasts like some people in the city do and they accept anyone who has lost their way, hence the name of the area."

"…And that guy?"

Yumiko smiled into her drink. It was a vague question that she herself asked herself countless of times. What was he to her?

"Enishi…Enishi is a little bit special."

[Tokyo Police Station, in the midst of an investigation…]

He stared down at the papers in his hand, detailing every bit of information possible of the scene. One victim involved, one dead, one possible witness if the man awoke from the hard hit to the head. The only problem was that the "victim" was gone, leaving the scene before any of the locals of the surrounding area could make it outside in time. It was a populated area but hard to maneuver around due to the walls that were a part of the maze of Tokyo's alleyways.

So even if the locals had heard a scream, they wouldn't have made it out in time to see what had happened until it was all over.

Saitou Hajime inhaled a whiff of his cigarette and tossed the papers back down on his desk. Usually he wouldn't be assigned to such a small investigation like finding out who killed who and it wasn't in his field of assignments to do so. However, there were a shortage of police officers since the Boshin War and the Shishio Makoto incident and this particular crime sparked interest among the idiot higher ups in the government who always looked for their own well being. Also included in their pathetic worries was currently one of the Meiji government's notorious fugitives as of late: Yukishiro Enishi.

The former third captain of the Shinsengumi hadn't given a thought about the man responsible for selling arms to Shishio Makoto since his escape from the boat to Tokyo months before. It wasn't necessary to pursue him since he had become an empty shell after his fight with Battousai, and Saitou himself was looking forward to getting onto a new assignment when the higher ups tossed this mess onto his desk. After looking at the details, it did perk some interest. Saitou recalled the powerful blows the white-haired youth dealt on Battousai and his former organization's number two and saw that the attack patterns and damage were similar.

An enormous amount of force was used in the attacks but not in the way how an idiotic rooster head he knew wielded it. It was precise, controlled, as if the assailant knew exactly where to hit, which place would be the quickest to take down.

Now Saitou Hajime had to wait for the other suspect to awaken to confirm his suspicions wrong.

A knock came at the door.

"Who is it?" he asked out of habit, although he already knew who it was behind the door.

"Fujita-san," the person said on the other side. "It's Kuroundo."

Saitou took the cigarette out of his mouth and carefully placed it on the side of his ashtray. Although this trivial incident did catch his attention, there was more to take care of in order to protect the citizens of Japan. "Come in."

A young man of twenty years entered, his medium-built and lithe frame sliding in between the space between the door and the doorway as if it were a dance before he closed it behind him. He did not wear the typical police uniform like many in the force did, opting to wear a simple hakama and haori combination like any traditional Japanese man. He had dark brown hair with bangs that covered his garnet colored eyes and a sword, a traditional katana, strapped on his side. When Saitou was first introduced to the boy by his wife ten years ago, he didn't like the idea that his foster daughter would eventually be wed to someone as reserved and simple as Higashi Kuroundo, but the boy was quick to gain his respect underneath his careful watch. His mannerisms were the exact opposite of the broom head that he worked with, and the former Shinsengumi captain found that oddly amusing.

"Have you been able to discover where they went yet?" he asked the young man who shook his head.

"They seem to have entered through forged IDs and passed through customs easily," Kuroundo gave him a file, "but after questioning the dealer we captured yesterday, he spilled out that Fukihara Youji was an acquaintance of sorts with Yukishiro Enishi and returned to Japan to continue the business that the latter got arrested by. The two were heads of rival syndicates but before then they came from the same one in Shanghai, sharing ideas about overthrowing the current government by selling the top items of weaponry through the black market. Fukihara Youji even managed to convince many officials with the opium trade long before the reappearance of Shishio Makoto."

Saitou smiled faintly at hearing the link between his current target and Yukishiro Enishi. It seems that things are going to be rather interesting.

"And the broom head?"

"Cho-san says that he will probably be able to obtain the information by our informant this evening. He told me to go ahead and report what I found first."

Saitou nodded and stood up, putting out his cigarette in the process. "Then let us make a visit to the hospital, Kuroundo-kun."

Kuroundo looked at his superior curiously. "What for, Fujita-san?"

Saitou patted the younger man on the shoulder as he walked passed him and opened the door.

"We are going to find Yukishiro Enishi's whereabouts."

[Somewhere in the Rakuninmura Prefecture]

Fate must have decided to play a part in this day for as soon as he was able and ready to do a routine that he was used to doing for the past few months, there was nothing he was needed for. Gen had decided to give Enishi a break, literally shooing him off the premises of the house he was working on.

"You need to take care of Yumiko. She can't walk around cleaning the house and taking care of the kids at the same time with that leg of hers. And you know as well as I do that she won't listen to my sister's instructions, and I'm sure that she'll need your help more than I do right now."

Enishi continued to contemplate on the older man's words when the light weight on his shoulders began to swing her legs.

"Ne, 'tousan," Rin asked him. "Who was that person that 'kaasan went to talk to?"

He looked up at the girl that stared down at him with her big sea green eyes and looked down at the boy holding his hand who was looking up at him, the same question lingering in his eyes.

"Hmm….I don't know," he replied as they continued to walk down the dirt path. "It's someone that your mother knows."

"Do you think that she's 'kaasan's sister?" Ran suggested. Enishi hid his surprise; he knew that the boy was more observant than his sister, but it never crossed his mind that Ran would figure it out so quickly.

"Hmm…maybe. Why do you think that, Ran?"

"Well…'cause she looks like 'kaasan."

Enishi smiled at his observation and decided to change the subject. It didn't surprise him that Yumiko might have siblings, yet he found it odd that in the six months that they knew each other, she never mentioned her family very often. Other than the fact that she was from a well-established family before thrown out of her home, Enishi didn't really know much of the family she had lived with before she was thrown out into the street. It made him wonder if she trusted him.

"What do you two want to eat?" he asked them. "We can get something for your mother, too, before we get back to the clinic."

"Yakidango!" Rin shouted.

"Soba," Ran calmly replied at the same time.

Enishi chuckled at the vast difference of taste between the twins. He was amazed that Yumiko always managed to somehow make them agree on something.

"All right, how about we go get some tofu and see if we can add that to the broth I made this morning," he reasoned and gave a glare at the man he had noticed following them since they left the home Gen was at, but it was quick enough for the children to not notice. "Does that sound okay?"

"Ha-i."

[closeby…]

The man quickly turned in the opposite direction as soon as he managed to get Yukishiro Enishi's attention. His eyes darted around nervously as the quick glare ingrained itself into his mind and his heart felt that it was about to explode. It was amazing that he had been able to trail the white-haired man this far and to the extent that the man thought unnoticed. Yet the cool glare of Yukishiro Enishi's gaze made his blood freeze. It still possessed the killer instinct that he remembered when he met the man with his boss a while ago.

He had to give a report to his superior despite the risks now. Knowing Yukishiro Enishi's whereabouts was essential for the plan to be kept in secrecy.

[Some hours later…]

Much to her friend's protests, Yumiko decided to go back home despite the fact that she had a bad leg and could barely do much. It didn't hurt as much now that she was standing for a long time and the blood circulation to her leg was returning, though. The crutches she was given kept her balance and her free leg was beginning to adjust to the new weight she put on it.

Yumiko paused in mid dry of the dishes, thinking back to her sister's words earlier that day before she left.

"You should come over and stay with us, oneesan. Okaasan WANTS you back. It's not as if SHE was the person who wanted you out in the first place. She'll be really happy to see her grandchildren."

"That may be true…" she murmured out loud and set the bowl she was drying on the counter.

Her mother was never one to be harsh on her children. Although she had reprimanded Yumiko for her rash actions, she never did once tell her to leave like her father did once he found out about her pregnancy. Yumiko knew that her mother was a very open-minded person and liked to stick to her ways no matter how much her father disagreed. Perhaps that was why her parents separated.

However, she didn't want to leave Enishi. He had done so much for her and she for him. She didn't want to force him to go to a place where he might be found, and she knew that he didn't want to burden her with his history as much as he thought he did already.

Rakuninmura was a place where she belonged to, a woman who had her family ties severed from her four years ago - pregnant out of wedlock and with no other place to go. But now her family wanted her back, not living in a place like this. But she remembered that Enishi had nobody to return to nor who wanted him back; she and her children were the only people he could turn to.

Yumiko understood what Enishi meant to her at that one thought. He was more than just a person whom she took in, more than someone who took care of her children without question, more than someone who she found herself drawn to. He was a part of her new family. He was her pillar of normalcy, her protector…and someone she loved just the way he was despite how much she still did not know.

Was she the same way to him?

"Excuse me, is anyone home?" an unfamiliar voice outside broke her train of thought, and Yumiko quickly steadied herself on her crutches and hobbled outside.

At the gate, she could see two men waiting there behind the dilapidated structure. As she got closer, she noticed that the shorter one was awfully young, dressed in typical hakama and haori. The other, much taller man, however, made her heart stop. He was wearing a police uniform.

"Can I help you?" she slowly asked the men, cautiously looking between them.

Both men had katana strapped around her waists, which she found odd because of the ban set in place but neither man seemed threatening to her. Something in the back of her head told her that these men were not ordinary policemen. The taller man in uniform lightly tipped his had down as a gesture of greetings, his smile never leaving his face. Yumiko couldn't help but notice that the man's eyes were fairly narrow.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, miss," the taller man greeted her amiably. "Do you live here?"

"Yes…is there something wrong?" The young man hadn't said anything yet and it was making her nervous.

"No, not at all, miss," the taller man continued. "My name is Lieutenant Fujita Goro from the Tokyo Police department, and this is my partner Higashi Kuroundo. Are you Nagasaki Yumiko-san?"

"Hai…"

"The owner of the Akabeko was concerned about your safety and asked the police to check on you," the young man Kuroundo explained.

A light wave of relief settled in her mind. It sounded like Tae to her to do something like that, and it wasn't the first time that she asked police to come over to check on her after coming home late from the Akabeko a few times before.

"Oh, I see…"

"Nagasaki-san," the man who introduced himself first addressed her. "Since you were in the vicinity, were you aware of a crime that occurred last night?"

He noticed her stiffen and took that as a sign that she knew something. "There were two men involved at the attempted assault and rape of a woman. Both men were on the wanted list for the police for some weeks now, but now one of them had been murdered and the other is recovering in the hospital and under tight watch by the police."

Did you…kill those men? Her earlier suspicions took over again. These men definitely weren't ordinary policemen.

"Sou…"

Aa…does that bother you?

"If you do know anything about the crime, Nagasaki-san, please tell us. The man in the hospital reported after regaining consciousness that his partner, his older brother, was about to his assault on an unknown woman that they targeted earlier when a man with white hair intervened."

Fujita's smile faded. "We have suspicions that he might be a fugitive who had been running a black market weapons organization in Shanghai and Tokyo before he disappeared from our custody six months before. Do you happen to know anything, Nagasaki-san?"

These men…are they looking for Enishi?

Any normal citizen would have said the truth if someone of that degree was still missing, but this was Rakuninmura. It was a place that accepted anyone who had lost their way and lost everything regardless if you were a fugitive or not.

And it was a place that protected its own. Not many police ventured into the area because of it.

"Ie…" she softly replied, her voice gaining strength as she continued on. "I came home without hearing anything, nor do I recall ever seeing a man as you describe living here."

"And your leg?" Fujita asked her.

Yumiko gave him a smile. "I twisted my knee earlier this morning while trying to get the dishes, Lieutenant Fujita-san. I just came back from the local clinic here."

[Nearby]

He was just coming around the corner when he noticed their presence, and Enishi quickly veered back around the corner.

"'Tousan, what's wrong?" Ran asked.

"Why're we hiding?" Rin added.

Enishi merely put a finger over his lips and glanced over the corner, watching the two men talking to Yumiko closely. He didn't recognize the small man, but the much taller man he knew very well.

Former third captain of the Shinsengumi and currently one of the Meiji government's top special operations officers, Saitou Hajime. Did this mean that they found him?

MORE AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oh, you can't get rid of me, can you? I just wanted to add that yes, I did state in an earlier chapter that Ruri and Yumiko hadn't known each other for very long and yet here how come all of a sudden Ayeka knows Ruri? It'll be explained in the next chapter. I would have explained it in this chapter, but that would make this chapter extremely long and in writing would be about 15 pages worth. You wouldn't want to read 15 pages worth of text on just one chapter, do you?

GLOSSARY OF UNKNOWN WORDS:

+ Irrashaimasse - the equivalent to "welcome!" in English; typically used if you enter a Japanese store or restaurant

+ Ah sou? - in this context it is similar to "oh, really?"; I may be wrong…but my Japanese teacher uses it often when we speak to her [laughs]

Gomen ne - again in this context, it is similar to "thank you" but in a humble, short, and informal way; in reality it's similar to saying "I'm sorry for burdening you with such a tedious task" - yay for Japanese humbleness

+ Yakidango - grilled mochi on a stick, covered in a sweet syrupy sauce; what is mochi? Well…mochi's mochi =)

+ Soba - Japanese buckwheat noodles, served cooked and in a variety of ways (plain with salt, as Saitou likes it; with soy sauce, etc.)

MORE AUTHOR'S NOTES