Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Water on a Glass House ❯ Part Three ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Water on a Glass House

Written by: ChiisaiLammy (chiisailammyhotmail.com)

April, 2004

Disclaimer: RurouniKenshin belongs to the suits at Sony and company, also with the guy who drew the funny big-eyed pictures: Watsuki-san.

A/N: So I'm back. gasp such a quick update! With GASP a plot?! You thought you were only in for fluffy or angst-ridden romance didn't you? Well, I did promise sex, drugs and violence on the last chapter. And what ChiisaiLammy promises, ChiisaiLammy delivers. Without further ado, I present to you: violence.

Support quick updates from overworked writers, donate a review, please!

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Part Three:

As she led them down the corridors towards her quarters, he studied all the tiny details about her. Idly, he watched her hair as it swung like a pendulum above the softly inticing sway of her slender hips.

Immediately, Aoshi looked away and chastised himself for the momentary lapse of control.

As they reached her quarters, Aoshi nodded to a wary looking guard and took a set of heavy looking keys from his extended hands.

He turned to the guard and addressed abruptly, "Find Beshimi and Hannya. Tell them to report to me here."

The soldier bowed and scurried off as Aoshi unlocked her door.

"I haven't killed anyone, just so you know." She said suddenly. She was looking at him warily, as if she was trying to discern what he would do to her. "Those guards will be fine in a few days. The drugs that I mixed into their meals weren't lethal."

He looked at her for a moment, the keys hung casually in his hand. "I don't care about their welfare." He replied finally.

She looked down at her feet. Her fingers lingered almost self-consciously on the swelling of her left cheek, "You're new, aren't you?"

When Aoshi didn't reply she continued in a bitter voice, "Kanryuu is a cruel and dangerous man. He has the sensibility and reason of a dog. You cannot trust him."

"That is not my concern either."

She ventured closer, and her voice rose slightly, "But it should be! Don't you care at all that you're working for someone who is only concerned with profit? Don't you care whether people live or die?!"

His voice, if possible, sounded calmer against her rising hysterics. "I am a warrior. My only concern is the battlefield."

As he finished his sentence, Hannya's form seemed to materialize from thin air at the door. With a bow, he greeted Aoshi. "Okashira."

Aoshi registered the shocked gasp from the woman at Hannya's sudden appearance.

"Hannya, gather all of the other men. Send a message to the army. We are heading out. The cargo must move tonight."

"He will need protection?" The masked man asked.

"Aa." Aoshi affirmed as he started out the door. Without looking, he addressed the small man who lingered in the shadows. "Beshimi. Watch this woman. Do not speak to her. Do not accept anything she gives you."

He turned and gave her a pointed look, "And make sure she doesn't do something stupid."

Beshimi did not look particularly happy about the task of guarding a woman. But he bowed in reverence to his Okashira nonetheless.

"As you wish, Okashira."

Aoshi and Hannya bowed to their colleague before the slamming the door to Megumi's chambers.

And like that, he exorcised her from his mind, reducing her smooth, pale skin and cool, defiant eyes to nothing more than a passing memory.

With his mind trained singularly on the mission tonight, he and Hannya stalked down the corridors towards the barracks.

---

The night air brought a welcomed cool against his skin. He inhaled deeply, and doubted that he would ever get sick of the salty sea breeze.

The darkness descended like a sleeping sickness, turning Tokyo into an eerie ghost of its bustling daytime metropolitan self.

Illuminated by the soft glow of the lamplight, Aoshi watched his surroundings and made a mental note of all the landmarks around him.

Kanryuu stood besides him, casually lighting a cigarette as their men waited in the dark alleyway of the storehouses under the bridge.

Aoshi remembered the bridge as a crossroads, an architectural marker between the ukiyo-e pleasure quarters and the respectable households. He remembered placing his men strategically at this outpost, the gateway to the inner city so that they could take out potential enemies that threatened the safety of Edo's residents.

It was hard to believe that he stood before the same crossroads when so much have changed.

Ten years ago, he would have killed a man like Kanryuu without a second's thought. The warrior's way of life was to uphold the virtue and integrity of the Tokugawa social order. He would have been bound by his virtue to end this social plague in standing before him.

Aoshi was a warrior first and foremost but as the world changed; his ideals were forced to change as well. As Okashira, his first concern is to preserve this way of life for his men.

His mind drifted to the little girl he had left in Kyoto. He had made the right decision to leave her there. She would never know his shame. She would never have to know that the revered captain of the Oniwabanshuu was helping a morally derelict drug lord beat a descendant of one of the most respected Samurai families into submission.

Her accent. Her manners. Her air of refinement. He should have known earlier. She was from Aizu and she was part of the Takani clan. His captive was no ordinary woman.

In the distance a group marched to meet them.

Hiroshi Kanaye was a portly older man with pockmarks all along his forehead and cheeks. He had fat fingers that glittered garishly from too many rings. The western suit that he wore bulged around his midsection as his stomach threatened to escape from its confines.

He was also one of the most dangerous arms dealers in Tokyo.

His eyes fell on Aoshi and Kanryuu's small army.

As the Kanryuu embraced the other man, Hiroshi eyed Aoshi warily.

"What is the meaning of this, Kanryuu? Do you not trust me?"

Kanryuu laughed merrily as if he was attending a wedding celebration, not a clandestine meeting amongst the torch lights. "You have brought your men as well. I suppose the merrymaking can begin."

Hiroshi forced a laugh as he indicated to one of his men to pull a crate out of the carriage. Within seconds, the top of a wooden crate was lifted to reveal the obsidian-black gunmetal of a Dutch rifle.

"Our price as discussed…" Hiroshi said matter of factly.

"I have half of the money. As for the rest, I will pay for with opium." Kanryuu replied.

Hiroshi's eyebrows knitted in subdued fury. "What is the meaning of this? I asked for money."

"You can easily sell---"

"These were not the terms of our agreement."

"Yes but this is worth its weight in gold-"

"Are you trying to cheat me?"

Aoshi's muscles tensed as the men behind Hiroshi began to advance, drawing their guns. He raised his hand to still his own men. This cannot be good.

Hiroshi's cheeks reddened in fury and Kanryuu laughed like an idiot.

"Never. I would never dream-"

And in an instant, a shot went off from nowhere and both sides began shooting at each other in panic.

"Stop!" Aoshi screamed. He waved his men to control the situation.

Kanryuu, in the confusion, dashed towards his bag of money and drugs as Hiroshi and his men trained their guns at Kanryuu's head.

Idiot. That stupid, stupid fool. Aoshi thought as he pushed Kanryuu out of the line of fire. As he was about to leap out of the way, one of Hiroshi's men slammed the butt of his bayoneted rifle down on Aoshi's shoulder, causing him to stumble forward.

Shocked, the blow had taken his breath, but not his senses. Within seconds, he reeled around and slammed his sheathed sword into the man's ribs. He heard the bones of the man's ribcage crack beneath the blow immediately before the man's body flew backwards.

Suddenly, Hiroshi fired his gun. Aoshi felt a two sharp stings in his shoulder and his leg. Then a sudden explosion akin to fire that swept through his body. Within minutes, he felt his feet crumble beneath him.

"Okashira!" He heard Hannya scream.

His steel-like cobalt blue eyes met Kanryuu's hysterical, frightened eyes for a moment. The other man babbled incoherently like a frightened, witless child and clutched his bag of drugs and money as if it could save his life.

Aoshi smirked at the irony as he fell to the ground, crumbling like matchsticks. As his legs give out, Aoshi suddenly felt like laughing at the absurdity of it all. This, he thought idly, was not glory.

He could hear Hannya's voice behind him.

"OKASHIRA!"

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Japanese term Ukiyo-e- "The Floating World" AKA the pleasure quarters of old Edo/Tokyo. A center of entertainment for all classes: full of kabuki theater, carnival attractions and prostitution. It was made famous by Edo-era woodblock prints such as the infamous ones by Hiroshige and Hokusai. This was also a center for many artistic and literary endeavors in Pre-modern Edo. More information can be found at: "http : www.bahnhof.se /secutor / ukiyo-e/" Email me if you have any more questions or would like recommendations to books about this subject.

A/N Next chapter, drugs! Whee. I'm all HBO-like, eh? Also, billion and one of my sincerest thank yous to Eriesalia. Thank you for the discussions, thank you for your patience, than you for your investment in this silly little story. :) And thank you for grounding me and reminding me that jumping off the deep end in psychology doesn't make good storytelling.

Thanks for reading everyone!