Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confrontations ( Chapter 27 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confrontations

 

Like most every other chore at the Kamiya Dojo, wood gathering was Kenshin's job on most days. Since he anticipated this, he normally kept the dojo adequately stocked with neat piles of chopped wooden logs, but since the dojo was playing host to two more people on this particular night, more wood would be required for the baths and the kitchen. They would only be staying for a day or two, so not much wood would be required, however. Besides, Kenshin didn't mind taking a walk through the woods on a night like this one. The sky was clear and starry, the air was crisp and cool, and the fireflies were glowing throughout the woods like a multitude of floating lanterns.

 

As Kenshin took in the nature around him, however, he noticed something else. He was being watched. He kept calm, however, and decided to walk further into the woods, acting as though he was taking a simple stroll. Though he was perfectly confident he could defeat whoever was watching him, he also did not want the sounds of the battle to reach the Kamiya Dojo. There was no need to get Kaoru and the others worried for nothing. Finally, he reached a clearing and stopped his walking.

 

“You should come out now, that you should,” he announced. “If you have business with me, then I would kindly ask for you to state it.”

 

An arrogant sounding chuckle was the response from the trees to Kenshin's right, and he turned to see the spy drop down to the ground. Surprisingly, it was apparently a policeman, albeit a short one. He wore the pristine blue uniform of a policeman, at any rate, and had a white bandana underneath spiky black hair that made Sano's look tame. His most notable feature, however, was his eyes. They were a deep crimson, and they had a steely glint to them as they settled on the red haired samurai.

“Hn, I would have expected no less from the infamous Kenshin Himura,” stated the short man. “In fact, I expect a great deal more.”

 

The man then proceeded to draw his sword, which Kenshin noted was a katana rather than the standard western saber. Policemen had to get special permission to carry a katana, which meant that this one must have been very good. Either that, or he was not a policeman at all.

 

“Why do you draw your sword against me?” asked Kenshin. “The Meiji government and I are on the same side, that we are, so you couldn't have been ordered to. Who are you, and what is it that you want?”

 

“Hn, my name is trivial information, but if knowing it will end this pointless talk, it is Hiei. As for what I want…I heard that you are strong. I would like proof,” was the reply, and half a moment later the speaker was flying at Kenshin with his sword ready.

 

Hiei was fast, but not fast enough to catch Kenshin unprepared. Leaping quickly to the side to avoid the horizontal slash made by his opponent, Kenshin drew his sword and waited for his opponent to make a move. Sure enough, Hiei wasted no time in leaping at Kenshin, his sword raised high above his head as he fell towards his target. Holding his ground, Kenshin parried the attack to the side and let lose with an attack of his own at his seemingly helpless adversary. To Kenshin's great surprise, that was quickly parried as well, and his opponent launched a barrage of lightning quick sword strikes at him.

 

Kenshin managed to parry and dodge all of the attacks, but it was not without some slight difficulty. Hiei was one of the fastest swordsmen he'd ever encountered, and he hadn't been expecting that. As if reading his thoughts, the short man began to bob and weave around Kenshin, trying to disorient him with his speed as he continued to strike. Kenshin, while still parrying the attacks, was visibly showing struggle to do so, and this prompted Hiei to back off, suddenly leaping through the trees all around Kenshin.

 

“You're fast, that you are,” admitted Kenshin as his opponent continued to dance around him. “But you are not that fast.”

 

Sheathing his sword, Kenshin shifted into his battoujutsu stance and waited. Judging from Kenshin's lack of action, Hiei likely thought that Kenshin might be having trouble detecting where he was, but he was oh so wrong. Kenshin was aware if his every movement, and when he finally leapt out of the trees from behind and to the left of Kenshin, he did not find an open target as he had hoped. In one fluid motion, Kenshin drew his sword with godlike speed, spinning in Hiei's direction as he did so. Only instinct saved Hiei from being hit directly, as he barely managed to get his sword in front of him to try and block the powerful attack.

 

However, Hiei had no ground to brace himself against, and as a result, the sheer force of the attack was enough to send him flying backwards through the air until his back slammed hard against the thick trunk of a tree. He managed to avoid falling down face first into the ground after bouncing of the trunk by putting his knees and arms down to brace himself, but he was still in agony from the attack. With a small chuckle, he rose to his feet and sheathed his sword.

 

“That is enough,” he stated, failing to hide his exhausted breathing. “I see…so you were merely feigning struggle, weren't you? You had me in hand the whole time.”

 

“Not completely, no. I admit that your speed threw me off a fair amount,” Kenshin replied, putting away his own weapon. “However, I would still ask for your true reason for being here, that I would.”

 

“I am looking for Soujirou Seta,” came the response. “I was told that you were the one who defeated him.”

 

Kenshin was slightly taken aback by the abruptness of the question. He had thought that there would be no hunt for the boy after he had given the Meiji government his full account of the battle with Shishio, especially since he held suspicions that Hajime Saitou's death had been faked. Now, however, he was not so sure.

 

“That's correct,” confirmed Kenshin slowly.

 

“Then you will tell me his weakness,” demanded Hiei. “And if you know, tell me where he is cowering.”

 

“I don't know where he is, that I don't,” said Kenshin with a new sternness to his voice. “However, I must ask that you leave him to his peace. He is no longer a threat, that he-”

 

“Hey! Kenshin! Who ya' talking to?” cut in a Kuwabara's voice from the undergrowth.

 

Both Kenshin and Hiei looked immediately in that direction, but Hiei was easily the more affected by it. His eyes were wide with shock as Kuwabara and Kurama both stepped into view.

 

“You were taking a while so we thought that you might…need…” began Kuwabara, slowing down as he noticed who Kenshin had been talking to. “Shorty? Is that really you?”

 

“Hn, of course it's me you imbecile,” snapped Hiei as he regained his composure. “So, the two of you of you are here after all.”

 

“Yes, it seems that we were lucky in that respect,” replied Kurama, who then turned to Kenshin with an apologetic look. “I hope our friend didn't cause you too much trouble. He can be quite hostile.”

 

“It was no problem, that it wasn't,” answered Kenshin with his usual politeness. “If this is one of your missing friends, perhaps he would like to stay and catch up on things.”

 

Hiei snorted loudly at the prospect, causing Kenshin and Kuwabara to throw him a rather startled gaze. Kurama was not so much surprised as he was concerned, and his brow was furrowed as he studied his comrade. He recognized the policeman's uniform, and he had definitely heard signs of battle as he and Kuwabara had approached the scene. There was a definite possibility that Hiei had settled down in this era in a more permanent fashion.

 

“Hn, if Himura refuses to tell me anything more about this Seta worm, than I am done here. I have no interest in idle chit-chat,” scoffed Hiei, and he turned to leave.

 

“Wait! What about getting back home?” yelled Kuwabara after him. “Don't you want to go home?”

 

“Home? What a foolish notion,” Hiei spat back. “To claim a place as one's home requires attachments, and I have none.”

 

With that, Hiei leapt into the trees, and while Kuwabara was too shocked to follow, Kurama was quick to give chase. Kenshin decided to follow as well, though he maintained a polite distance. If they were really comrades, then the odds of Hiei attacking Kurama were slim. However, the red haired wanderer had doubts about the small policeman's ability to control his more violent urges. After a few short moments Hiei stopped on a large bough and turned to face Kurama, who landed on a branch a few meters away. The thought occurred to Kenshin that Hiei had just wanted to rid himself of Kuwabara.

 

“Hiei, I know that you want to return just as badly as we do. We might need your help to do so, and we certainly need to know your location to take you with us once we find a way,” stated Kurama, his voice carrying a hint of concern.

 

“Please, as if I'd want to go back to being ordered around again. Here, I am free, and I am alone,” retorted Hiei. “Once I have regained my full power, this place will have everything that I could ever want. What could I possibly want to return for?”

 

“There is Yukina,” replied Kurama quickly, and Kenshin noticed Hiei's face twitch at this. “And there is also he-”

 

“There is no one else!” snapped Hiei angrily, cutting Kurama off with a tone that one could quite easily liken to denial. “Yukina…is safe now. She is the only thing of importance there. If she is safe, then I don't care if I ever return.”

 

“Liar,” said Kurama stonily, to which there came no reply.

 

After a final contemptuous glare, Hiei leapt through the trees in retreat, leaving Kurama and Kenshin behind. As Kurama hopped down from the tree next to Kenshin, he let out a small sigh. Hiei was something of an artist when it came to stubbornly denying things, and it frustrated Kurama greatly on occasion.

 

“Really, sometimes I wonder about him,” spoke Kurama, shaking his head. “He isn't stupid, but he refuses to accept the truth sometimes. It's like…”

 

“Like he is desperately trying to be attached to nothing and no one,” finished Kenshin, much to Kurama's surprise. “There were a lot of warriors who tried to think along those lines during the Revolution, that there were. I met one of those warriors recently, one that was on the other side, a captain of the famous Shinsen Gumi, that he was. It turns out that he had gotten married. From what I could gather, it seemed like he had been, well…”

 

“Whipped?” said Kurama with a smile, taking his turn to finish the other's thoughts. “Do they generally turn out like that?”

 

“Most of the time. That emotion is one that is very hard to deny, that it is,” answered Kenshin with a smile. “At any rate, don't worry about your friend. I have some connections with the government that I could use to keep track of him.”

 

“Thank you, that would be a great help,” Kurama acknowledged with a respectful nod. “Do not burden yourself too much for our sakes, however.”

 

Kenshin smiled at the young man's politeness and returned the nod. The pair had just begun to head back towards the direction they came from when Kuwabara came bursting through the wilderness, demanding to know where “that little jackass” had gone. Kenshin managed to calm the boy down and head back to the dojo with both boys, all the while going over the events that had just played out in his head. They had talked about returning “home”, which was quite strange. They certainly looked Japanese, so they couldn't be talking about a foreign country, yet were they simply talking about a certain place in Japan, they seemed perfectly capable of making any sort of journey of that nature. Unfortunately his musings were interrupted, for he was immediately chewed out by Kaoru for forgetting the wood, and he slunk back to the woods in shame to finish his task, losing his train of thought. It appeared that he and that certain Shinsen Gumi captain shared the same fate, in this regard.

 

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While the Meiji Era of Japan still allowed for duels, and still allowed many other actions that would be considered unsightly by those living in modern times, laws still prevented the land from falling into lawlessness. In the Feudal Era, the concept of “law” was meaningless. In the feudal era, there would never have been a vast manhunt for someone like Soujirou Seta, just as there was no such thing for Naraku. At this point, the hunt for Naraku was being conducted by one man, Miroku. Since separating with Inuyasha and his other allies some time ago, he had tirelessly begun to hunt for the menace on his own. At first, he had struggled, for there was little information for him to go on. Gradually, though, he picked up clues, small ones at first, but those small ones led him to bigger clues, and those to even bigger ones.

 

Eventually, they had led him here, walking through the woods towards that demonic aura which he had permanently ingrained within his mind. On the other side of these woods stood Naraku, waiting like the spider that was marked on his back. It was the middle of the night, and the moon shone down from on high, seeping through the breaks in the trees as the monk walked purposefully through the wilderness. He clutched his staff tighter with each step he took. The moonlight grew brighter as he neared the end of the woods, and he closed his eyes momentarily to focus himself for what lay ahead.

 

`This is it,' he thought, and had he spoken these words, they would be spoken with the resoluteness of steel. `Remember: no regrets.'

 

At last he emerged from the woods, and there standing at the edge of the cliff stood Naraku, the hood of his baboon cloak down as he gazed out over the raging river that lay below the cliff. Slowly, he turned to face the monk, wearing sinister smirk as he regarded his foe. For several moments, there were no words, only the sound of the river flowing mightily below.

 

“So, you have come alone, after all,” said Naraku at last, his voice cold and arrogant. “Fool monk, what could you hope to accomplish alone.”

 

“I am never alone, Naraku,” replied Miroku sternly. “Or have you forgotten all about this burden weighing down my right hand?”

 

“Of course not, I gave it to you, after all,” Naraku responded with a sneer. “But surely, you have not forgotten these, have you?”

 

A loud buzzing filled the air, and up from behind Naraku rose a veritable platoon of the wasp-like demon insects that had prevented Miroku from defeating Naraku so many times before. Miroku, however, showed no change in his stony expression.

 

“I regret to inform you, Naraku, but those are not what has been saving you from the Wind Tunnel,” began Miroku, causing a barely detectable flinch from Naraku. “No, what has been saving you has been my own desire to live. Up until now, I had a reason to live beyond your defeat. I had, if you will, something to look forward to.”

 

Miroku closed his eyes briefly before continuing. He could not help but think about her now, as he was referring to her indirectly. However, he quickly removed her image from his thoughts. If his resolve was to remain firm, then he could not let his thoughts dwell there.

 

“Now, however, I no longer have that thing to look forward to. It has slipped beyond my grasp. Therefore, my desire to live beyond your death is gone, and those insects can no longer protect you,” he continued, slowly beginning to unwind the prayer beads wrapped around his right hand. “This is the end, Naraku, the end of everything.”

 

With one final motion, he finished undoing the prayer beads around his right hand, and the gaping maw of the Wind Tunnel appeared on his outstretched palm. Pure shock was all that Naraku could manage as he tried to dig into the ground at his feet. Around him, his insects were being sucked into the Wind Tunnel in droves, and Miroku winced as the pain from their poison began to course through his body. Yet, the Wind Tunnel did not close, and Naraku was pulled closer, and closer towards destruction. At last, his grip could no longer hold on any longer, and he went careening towards Miroku's palm. His body crumpled as it was sucked inwards through the hole, and he only managed to emit a final, piercing cry of agony before he disappeared into the void beyond.

 

Panting heavily, Miroku sealed the Wind Tunnel and fell to one knee. That it was not gone yet did not concern him. Curses like his generally took a short while to fade in his experience, though he doubted now that he would live even the few minutes it would take to see it. Sweat drenched his clothes and fell from his forehead as the poison began to flow through him. He grimaced from the pain, but he knew that death would not be immediate. No, it would be slow and painful, as Naraku would have liked it. This did not matter to the monk, however.

 

“At last…at last it is over,” he panted, managing to eek out a smile through all the pain. “At last I've finally killed that monster…”

 

“Not quite, monk.”

 

Turning abruptly in alarm, he saw Kagura, one of Naraku's most deadly servants, standing at the edge of the woods with a small smirk on her face as she regarded the monk. He trembled as he processed what he had just heard. He could not contain the horror that he felt from those words, the horror that he was about to die for nothing. Fear overtook him, and he instinctively stood up and began to slowly back away from the messenger of his failure.

 

“Had that been the real Naraku, then yes, you would have defeated him,” stated Kagura as she walked towards the slowly retreating monk, taking out her fan. “However, Naraku is no fool. He knew what you were planning and sent a demon puppet, knowing that you would not be able to tell the difference. After all, since the Sacred Jewel had been shattered once more, you may have thought it possible that Naraku had no shards in his possession.”

 

Miroku gritted his teeth and abruptly stopped backing up. He had felt no ground beneath his heel after his last step backwards. He knew that he was at the edge of the cliff. He briefly considered attacking Kagura, to at least die with some semblance of honor, but at that moment, intense pain from the poison coursed through his body. The pain was too intense, and was forced down to one knee, groaning in agony.

 

“You were right when you said it was over, however,” Kagura continued, raising her fan above her head. “For you, anyway.”

 

Swiftly lowering her fan, the wind sorceress sent three purple blades of energy careening towards Miroku's vital regions. In desperation, he tried to put up a barrier of energy, but it was only strong enough to deflect the blades way from his vitals, cutting into both of his shoulders and his left side, instead. The force from the blades, however, was enough to send him tumbling down from the edge of the cliff and towards the river below.

 

As he fell through the air, a sudden urge to live was reborn within him, and in a last ditch effort, he focused his energy and put himself into a healing trance. While he knew that it would not actually rid himself of the poison, he knew that it would sustain his life a little longer. It was unlikely that in that time he would find a way to heal himself, but he knew that he had to try.

 

`I cannot give in to death just yet!' he thought, just before hitting the water. `I cannot die, not until I have destroyed you, Naraku!'

 

With his blood staining the water red, Miroku finally lost consciousness, his fate now in the hands of the river.