Samurai X Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Game Of Hearts ❯ Chapter 2: Protocol ( Chapter 2 )

Author's notes:

 

Eh heh heh, I admit I've no set plot, so if you've any suggestions, it'd be more than welcome! Sorry for the short chapters as well... Just I couldn't be bothered to wait too long before uploading stuff that I'm done with. I'm sure you won't mind either ne? Cos that means faster updates... Besides, I admit that I have no subtlety whatsoever in deciding when a chapter ends and begins... it just depends on what I can upload stuff >.<

 

Notes about elements of Japanese culture mentioned:

 

On bamboo across the windows: There's a kind of window called the renji mado which is a window with tow papered sliding screens and a bamboo latticework frame outside it. I'm not sure if it can be used in a kitchen, however, as I've read from other sources that kitchens are quite simple. So let's just assume that there's nothing wrong with what I'm writing for artistic license's sake. XD If anyone wants to enlighten me on this, I would appreciate it very much!

 

Anata: It can mean “you” in Japanese, but it also means “dear” or “lover”, something which a wife would call her husband. The kanji for anata when it means “you” is different from the kanji when it means “beloved”.

 

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Chapter 2: Protocol

 

His body clock awoke him in the flint-cold darkness of pre-dawn Kyouto. It would have to be today, when Hiko Seijuurou was scheduled to pick up his next instalment of sake jugs. It overlapped with Aoshi's routine time slot for training, exactly when he'd be in that area around Kyouto. Should an enemy try to spot him, he would not be able to track Aoshi undetected once Aoshi was away from crowds, in the woods. Instead, the problem would be that any spy could detect a delay in Hiko's trip back to his shack, considering how much of a recluse he was. That could, however, be easily circumvented if he stopped Hiko early enough on the trip and got him to run back to the shack so that he'd get there in about the time he would normally take. Besides, like Aoshi had decided, the risk of not telling was about as great as that of telling, so his mind was made up.

 

Anyway, Aoshi had a backup plan, should he be found out... He would kidnap Misao, preventing the rest of the Oniwabanshuu from coming into contact with her, and restrain her, not unlike how a straightjacket would, to prevent her hurting herself, in case she was the one being used. He could then openly get Hiko to settle affairs at the Aoiya for him while he hunted the Kougikinsei down and interrogated them for all the answers he needed. Obviously, the amount of discomfort it would cause to all involved meant that this was plan B, and by no means A.

 

Aoshi had much to thank the tea ceremony with Misao for. It was only after realising the effect that his current choice of actions was having on Misao that he had forced himself to come up with something better. With his current plans, even if he had to resort to plan B, it would at least give him more of a choice regarding when he wanted to act, so that the emotionally ripping process of waiting need not be completed and they weren't at the total mercy of the Kougikinsei.

 

All these thoughts flitting through his mind in a nanosecond, Aoshi arose from his futon. He moved in a deliberately usual way, allowing an obvious, usual amount of cloth rustling to occur. He was also now thankful that his regular routine was to train in the tighter ninja attire, as opposed to his trench coat. That would assist him after he made the transition from allowing himself to be watched as he made it to the woods to stealthily moving about in the forest as he pretended to train but in reality tracked Hiko down. He slid open the shouji of his room, then closed it behind him and did the same to that of the Aoiya, all in a normally noisy fashion. No one would suspect a thing. After all, he did this almost everyday when he wasn't on duty or away. Still, standing at the entrance of the Aoiya, he cast his senses far and wide, and was relieved to find only the ki of sleeping members of the Oniwabanshuu within range of tracking him.

 

To an observer, it would only seem that a tall ninja had exited his home base and was but jogging away towards his training grounds, his steps confident, his shoulders at ease and his expression the portrait of calm.

 

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The Day Before...

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Hiko Seijuurou would not be caught unawares. He had known that he had been intermittently observed since a few months back. He had felt about three different people by analysing the feeling that he got from their ki, and it was always these few who would take a few moments once every couple of days to take stock of him... or something related to him. They never observed him together, always working alone, but it was always these few who kept coming back. There was nothing else to conclude except for the fact that they appeared to be on a roster of sorts to keep an eye on him, and considering the similarly high levels of stealth each employed, he did not doubt that they had received training in a similar art.

 

Hiko was not concerned. However, despite this, he was very much the unassuming party. He had simply sensed within their ki that he was not their main concern, that they would happily - eagerly, in fact - leave him alone should things stay status quo, so that they posed no security threat to him as yet. Then, he became preoccupied with what `status quo' meant to the trio. The trio would only be concerned when something happened which had not already happened. After observing that they would only spy on him on days when he was known to regularly leave his mountain, even if he chose not to in the end, he deduced that the event with which they would be concerned had something to do with meeting a particular person. This person, then, probably also knew of Hiko's regular habits, and so would prod these watchers into worrying only about days on which Hiko's schedule entailed leaving his mountain, whether or not he actually conformed to it. It made sense, because if Hiko had chosen to leave his mountain at any other point of time, while the spies would not be able to predict it and be there to watch, then neither would that person. It all fit.

 

Two possible kinds of people could know of his personal habits - people who knew him personally and for long enough (not a very common occurrence) and people who were experts in information gathering. Considering that he was a recluse, it was unlikely that he would become entangled on account of personal acquaintances with the affairs of a group of spies or some intelligence agency with the lifestyle which he had kept up for so long... at least not unless he already knew them personally anyway. Hence, the former group was more likely... very likely, in fact, should one take a few simple moments to consider the background which the baka deshi had. Indeed, he had a good mind to suspect the Oniwabanshuu too, in view of their profession and his kind assistance regarding the whole Shishio affair. All of Hiko's other acquaintances took a back seat when it came to these two candidates.

 

He had spent a day considering both his idiot apprentice and then the Oniwabanshuu, giving the furnace in his kiln a lower priority on his attention. Heaving a bear of a sigh, he picked himself and his Shirasaya Nihontou up, leaving the flames to slowly die over the afternoon and evening, his job done so early in the day, no doubt due to his acumen in the art. Practising even simple aspects of kenjutsu, including repetitions of the downward stroke, helped him sort his thoughts out. Doing so regularly kept his spirit focused, his reflexes swift and steady, and his intellect razor sharp. Hence, because of his little self-declared project of thought for the day, he proceeded to complete a thousand downward strokes, choosing to devote half of his attention to the strokes and the other to sorting the issue out.

 

He surprised himself, however, with his wit and intelligence after he came across a flawless - or at least, the least risky - path of logic after only a hundred strokes. He realised that if the person in question was his baka deshi, then the spies could have better spent their time watching for Kenshin's exit from Toukyou, rather than waiting here so near his mountain. Even if Kenshin was already in Kyouto, his coming to the mountain would lack an overarching excuse from the start and the spies could spot him easily the moment he stepped out of the city. If, however, someone from the Oniwabanshuu were sent by Kenshin, or if the person in question was himself a member of the Oniwabanshuu, it might be possible that the spies would be forced to resort to such measures because it would be more normal for someone living in Kyouto to enter the vicinity of the mountain out of routine. This explained the part of the sticky situation in which the spies watched Hiko instead of their true subject.

 

It was on this line of logic that Hiko expected the arrival of Aoshi, the only truly capable member of the Oniwabanshuu and the only one who warranted so much of the spies' concern and skill.

 

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The Present

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The trees of the woods in the outskirts of Kyouto rustled, but only fainty. Aoshi had just landed on a branch after a 20-minute-long stint of darting from branch to branch non-stop at near superhuman speeds. A scout had started to watch Aoshi the moment he had left Kyouto. Aoshi had expected the scout to let his guard down so that Aoshi could lose him without causing alarm while training. However, the scout was persistent, and it even got to a point when the scout allowed Aoshi to detect him when it couldn't be helped. After all, the scout had nothing to fear from Aoshi knowing of his presence. It should have been obvious by now that the Kougikinsei tracked every movement of his. Breaking out of indecision, Aoshi shook him off by branch-hopping in the woods. He'd done that quite regularly for practices anyway. Furthermore, he had not met Hiko yet. He could only pray that the scouts would not count it against him too much... or at least not too soon. Looks like I now have to resort to plan B. So much for all the thought. Aoshi sighed. Still, at least, this would buy him time to rope Hiko in, then to work with him.

 

Now, he was a mere 1km from Hiko's shack, on the opposite side of the mountain from Kyouto. Lowering himself to ground level, he settled into a steady rhythm of jogging through the woods. The other scouts who were assigned to watching Hiko would probably have been alerted of the Kyouto scout's failure to account for Aoshi. He knew that, by default, they would most probably now be watching Hiko within a 100m radius of wherever Hiko was, which was, hopefully, the hut.

 

“In a hurry, Shinomori?”

 

Aoshi whirled around, breaking his speed by catching his twin kodachi, still in their sheaths, across two trunks. At first, relief swept over him inwardly, then he began to get puzzled.

 

“Now, why would an iceman be jogging on my mountain so early in the morning? Seeking out a new venue for meditation, perhaps?” Hiko smirked at Aoshi, his arms folded, leaning sideways on a tree trunk along the path that Aoshi had just jogged, sake jug in hand.

 

Aoshi glared at Hiko, hoping that it would hide his puzzlement and, not to mention, surprise. Hiko took the cue to continue, “You don't have to injure yourself wondering how I knew to meet you... No, I'm not involved in all this. Being the genius I am, I don't have to be involved to know.”

 

Aoshi had to be sure. “So prove to me how you knew, or I will make no assumptions.”

 

Hiko raised an eyebrow, then resumed the smirk, “Although I doubt you'd be too eager to have me as your enemy, I will, nonetheless, spare you the agony of cerebration. I sensed the ki of a consistent few sent to watch me. They usually only start spying when I reach the town where I get my supplies. Today, they seemed more unsettled and started watching me from the trees around the clearing where I live.”

 

Aoshi noted wryly that Hiko had deliberately left the word “sake” out. “How did you know where I would be?”

 

“A grand entrance of madly waving branches all neatly lined-up is not hard to miss.”

 

Now, it was Aoshi who raised his eyebrows. He was sure he had been subtle, taking pains not to stir up much in his wake. No doubt, the self-assured hulk was trying to imply that even that was not subtle enough for him. Mentally shrugging the offensive nuance aside, he probed further, “How did you know that it would be me?”

 

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Hiko was getting impatient with the bloke's insistent probing. Granted, it probably bothered him to no end because he could not yet guess just how Hiko had figured it out. Still, it was not very wise to converse out in the open for so long. So perhaps they were in the woods, but still a half-mile separation between the skilled ninja (and Hiko now had no doubt that they were precisely that) and them was not safe enough.

 

“Seeing that I would take too long explaining it to one such as yourself, I would strongly advise you to put a check on your curiosity for the moment while we find a safe place to converse,” Hiko easily dismissed Aoshi's question. Even if they had found a safe place, there was no time to lose. Hiko had to get himself back on the radar of the spies as soon as possible to avoid any suspicions.

 

“Aa. It doesn't matter, I will explain here and you may shortly return to your... home,” Aoshi deliberately paused before the last word. He was, admittedly, now at Hiko's mercy and hoped not to antagonise him.

 

I may, eh? Hiko scoffed inwardly and shifted his weight to stand upright.

 

“Thank you for taking the trouble to meet me in such a manner. The Oniwabanshuu have been at loggerheads with another ninja group, the Kougikinsei, for quite some time now. Recently, they have, presumably, managed to kidnap one of our members and used, I speculate, a niche technique of hypnosis. The hypnosis allows them to programme into that member's subconscious the instructions to carry out any threats on us without the member being aware of it. In other words, we are left wide open,” Aoshi explained.

 

“What do they want in exchange?”

 

“For now, help in gathering information which can only be obtained via the most risky of means. You don't need to know the details, however, as, obviously, it won't end there. If I do not solve it soon enough, it will go on indefinitely, even after the case has been solved.”

 

Hiko was alarmed after he had heard of the proficiency of the group. It meant that they could now no longer assume that the scouts' simultaneous failure to track both Aoshi and himself would be easily overlooked by whoever it was in charge. It had to be solved now. At least, action had to be taken. “I assume the most sinister threat to you would be the vulnerability of your weasel girl?”

 

Aoshi scowled, confirming Hiko's suspicions.

 

“Tell me one thing, and I assume you would recognise the ki of each of the members of the Oniwabanshuu. I understand that not all have a memory that can match mine, but other than Misao herself, who has been most consistently present at all exchanges between her and yourself?”

 

Aoshi closed his eyes lightly, recalling all his moments with Misao from the weeks before all the trouble began to the present. It was surprisingly easy to take stock of all the incidents, as they were painfully few in number. Furthermore, in his state of emotional tension and heightened awareness when he interacted with her, knowing of the threat, he could pretty much recall all the minutiae of their exchanges. Slowly eliminating people from his list, a look of surprise unwittingly descended upon him. “Omasu.”

 

Hiko raised an eyebrow, then grinned.

 

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Chikana hummed in the early morning coolness as she filled the tray with breakfast. The first rays of dawn streamed through the bamboo lattice which lay across the pantry window. It was precisely these facets of life that she most enjoyed, and for which she had declined the other aides' offers to prepare Shouin's meals. Instead, she had simply requested a separate pantry cum kitchen for her to work in, away from the usual bustle of the place, as the Kougikinsei headquarters doubled-up as a restaurant cojoined to a shop selling pieces of art and lacquerware.

 

Placing the bowl of rice, the last element of the breakfast, onto the tray, Chikana picked it up and proceeded out of the pantry and up the stairs.

 

“Shouin?” Chikana called into Shouin's room and took a peek in from behind the ajar door. Shouin sat behind his work desk, dark brown bangs slightly ruffled. He would have been described as slight in stature, if not for his chiselled muscles, developed after years, even decades, of strict, disciplined training.

 

“Chikana. Yes, feel free to come in,” he looked up from his work, then stood up to stretch and proceed to the Western-styled teak coffee table where Chikana laid his breakfast tray.

 

“On to your work so early today?” Chikana refrained from frowning.

 

“Yes,” Shouin sighed. “I've a nagging suspicion that the police have planted a mole in the operation. There are little pockets of the operation, as well as of the police network that is on to this, that I am completely in the dark about. Shinomori is not incompetent... He's obviously deliberately leaving something out, and without which I simply cannot proceed.”

 

Chikana raised her eyebrows. They had previously discussed the issue - specifically, Chikana's objections to the entire operation. She wanted to know that he had not forgotten her concern.

 

“Alright, so I can't really blame him for trying to sabotage this,” Shouin conceded.

 

Chikana let their conversation lapse into silence for a while. Then, feeling unsettled over what she had communicated to him, she interjected, “Anata, I'm not saying that I wish for you to fail... nor do I think evil of you. I... Well, I'm just concerned for your conscience, I guess,” Chikana didn't know whether she had fulfilled her intention of soothing him or if she had only served to rubbed salt in.

 

“And why should I have a problem with my conscience? It is perfectly clear. I see a need and I meet it, because I think that it is right,” Shouin retorted, albeit a bit too bitterly, Chikana noted.

 

Still, she pressed on, “And it is right even if that involves tearing apart two lovers? Shouin, what if they had done it to us instead?”

 

“The end to which I strive would justify me. Besides, and how many times have I told you, the government itself imports arms underhandedly and sells them to the more powerful yakuza groups to pacify them! Think of how many more families would be torn apart with those wild firebrands running around and carrying such deadly weapons. I don't think that I need to tell you how much of an outrage that is. Nippon would really be better off ruled by those who would give their lives for what they think is right, not a bunch of conniving charlatans who put the lives of everyone but theirs at stake, and over petty and unfounded fears at that. I would rather trust the revolutionists with those arms. Besides, I know that they're not going to do anything with them... it's only to make sure that the government officials know their place,” Shouin turned away from Chikana and glared at some point outside the window.

 

Listening to Shouin's tone, Chikana began to regret bringing her objections up. Here, they would never see eye to eye. Chikana had thought that she was only doing the right thing, however, by alerting him to a possibility that he was wrong in his cold and hard ways. They were the ones tearing up the very lives they wished happiness for, and to Chikana, that equated to undermining precisely the noble end they so strove for. In any case, after seeing the glimmer of bitterness in Shouin, Chikana decided that she had done more than simply warn Shouin, which was about all that she could have done without tainting her conscience. She took their marriage very seriously, and she realised that insisting on complete agreement would only serve to break it. Her role, however, was to simply love him for the good man that he was, even if his methods were flawed.

 

“I... I'm sorry, anata, it was not my place to insist that you agree with me. Forgive me,” Chikana lowered her head.

 

Shouin sighed, “I forgive you, since I will also be needing forgiveness for my misplaced anger.”

 

Chikana smiled a slight smile and nodded graciously as they lapsed into silence once more and Shouin started on his meal in proper.

 

Suddenly, Shouin caught sight of the clock and cursed.

 

Seeing Chikana's quizzical look, Shouin explained briefly, “The pigeon from the scouts was supposed to have arrived five minutes ago...” At Chikana's continued puzzlement, he added, “They update me regularly when all is well.”

 

Chikana nodded and exited the room, leaving him the privacy to settle this problem.

 

It was not a good sign that neither of the scouts had sent him a pigeon. There was only one safe conclusion he could make - that Hiko Seijuurou and Shinomori Aoshi had established contact. Shouin was not one to underestimate people, especially not Hiko Seijuurou. He had simply known that Hiko Seijuurou would not initiate any meeting with Shinomori even if the detection of the scouts' presence allowed him to come to any conclusions. He was, however, well aware of the possibility that Shinomori would seek assistance from Hiko and initiate a meeting, which Hiko's awareness of the situation would allow for.

 

Well, he had had no choice. Anyway, he had something else on which he could fall back. Briskly striding out of the door and over to the room next to him, he tapped on the closed door, allowed a brief pause for courtesy's sake and opened it.

 

“Akio, initiate the Toukyou and Leak Protocols.”