Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Thirty-Two: The Rescue ( Chapter 32 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Rescue

 

Were Kurama in Tokyo for any other reason, he would surely have spent hours exploring the city, learning as much as he possibly could about Meiji era culture. As it was, however, he was here with a most important purpose, and it would take far more than curiosity to divert him from his present course. Moving at a pace somewhere between a walk and a jog, he eventually managed to weave his way through the crowds until he was finally within sight of the Kamiya Dojo's gate. Now more at ease, he slowed down to a calm walk as he approached. Additionally, this also allowed him to notice a woman approaching from the opposite direction. Realizing that they were both heading for the same place, the situation suddenly became quite awkward.

 

“Can I help you with something?” asked the women icily, adding to the rather regal impression given off by her features.

 

“I'm a friend of Kazuma Kuwabara's, he's currently training at this dojo. Perhaps you have met him?” replied Kurama, never willing to let his etiquette falter.

 

“A friend of Kuwabara's...ah, you must be Shuichi, then,” said the woman, the ice leaving her voice. “I'm Megumi Takani; I'm a friend of Kenshin and the others, so they told me about you. I apologize for my rudeness.”

 

“No need, you were just being careful,” Kurama assured her.

 

The awkwardness now gone, Kurama opened the dojo's door and politely held it open as Megumi stepped through. No one could be seen, but Kurama noticed noises coming from the direction of the main building. Megumi seemed to notice as well, and both began to walk in the direction of the sounds. As they got closer, the sounds turned into voices.

 

“...this guy dangerous?”

 

“I don't think so, that I don't. At least, not anymore.”

 

“I dunno, if this pal of yours picks a fight with him, who knows what he'll do? This is dangerous…”

 

“What's dangerous?” demanded Megumi as she entered the dining room, turning all eyes towards her and Kurama. “I thought you were done with danger for a while, rooster head.”

 

It was exactly the same group that had been at the dojo before, plus Sango. Of course, her presence was the reason he was here in the first place, so he wasn't really surprised by this. What the man whom Kurama remembered as “Sanosuke” uttered next, however, was a different matter entirely.

 

“Well, well, if it isn't the fox.”

 

Kurama abruptly snapped his head in the direction of the tall man, unable to keep his eyes from going wide with shock. Fortunately, before his incredible panic became too overwhelmingly obvious, Megumi responded to Sanosuke's greeting.

 

“You missed your appointment today, idiot,” she scolded coldly, walking over to the man and smacking him on the back of the head. “That hand will be as good as useless if you don't treat it properly.”

 

Kurama almost melted from the relief that washed over him. When he though about it, the nickname “fox” rather did suit Megumi's features. Fortunately, it didn't look like anyone had noticed his reaction, so he hadn't given anything away. Nodding a greeting to Sango and Kuwabara, he sat down between the two as Sanosuke feebly attempted to defend himself from Megumi's verbal assault.

 

“Come on now, Megumi, this time I have a real excuse. Don't tell me you've totally missed that someone new is here?” Sanosuke said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “This is one of Kuwabara's friends. He's going to be going back home with her.”

 

“Oh…” responded Megumi as she regarded Sango from across the room. However, she refused to let this information distract her, and hastily returned into lecture mode. “In that case, why are you talking about something dangerous?”

 

“Another one of Kuwabara's friends is a member of the police force, Miss Megumi,” interjected Kenshin. “They need to find him before they leave for their home, but according to my connections in the police department, he has worked himself into a very dangerous situation, that he has.”

 

“Just what kind of danger is he in?” Kurama asked hurriedly.

 

There was a long pause as Kenshin regarded the serious look on Kurama's face. Kurama could tell that the swordsman was reading his emotions, and normally, this wouldn't bother him, as it is a common practice among experienced warriors. However, there was something much different about this look. He didn't know how, but Kurama sensed that this man had just managed to take an encyclopedia's worth of information out of that one moment.

 

`This Kenshin fellow beat Hiei, so I knew he was strong…but this…' thought the fox demon. `This is something else entirely. It's as if he's looking right through me.'

 

“Hiei's apparently tracking some outlaw named Soujirou Seta,” Sango spoke up, interrupting Kurama's musings. “According to Kenshin, this Soujirou is strong enough that Hiei doesn't stand a chance…as he is now.”

 

“Kenshin said Soujirou won't kill anymore, though,” added Yahiko. “So what are we worried about?”

 

“No, he said that Soujirou was finding his own path. He was going to decide for his own if he would kill or not, right Kenshin?” Kaoru amended

 

Kenshin nodded slowly, and the room fell silent. Kurama furrowed his brow and tried to think. Scanning the room almost subconsciously, he noticed a map lying on the floor. He leaned in subtly to take a closer look, and noticed a red pin marking a location on the map: the city of Yokohana.

 

“Is that where Hiei is?” he asked, motioning towards the map.

 

“Yeah, we got lucky. Thought he'd be further away, but he's pretty close,” confirmed Kuwabara. “You ever been to Yokohana, Kurama?”

 

“No…but it's not like we have a choice on where to go,” Kurama answered. “If we wait too long, we may miss him.”

 

Again, there was a pause. If they got lost in Yokohana, there would be no chance of finding Hiei, and it would be just as useless as taking too long to get there. It was a no win situation, or at least that's how Kurama surmised it. Sanosuke, however, seemed to have a different opinion, sighing impatiently.

 

“Well, no choice. Guess I'm gonna' be your guide,” the man said, standing up and stretching out his arms.

 

“Idiot! You're in no condition to go on any kind of adventure!” snapped Megumi standing up to glare Sanosuke straight in the eye. “You said yourself that this Soujiriou is dangerous, and you can't use your right hand fully, yet.”

 

“Soujirou knows me, I'll probably be able to convince him to back down, anyways…probably,” Sanosuke rebutted with a shrug and a roguish smile, and made for the door. “Besides, I know a guy at the docks who owes me a favor, so we can get there without spending a coin. I'll go set that up while you guys get your things in order. See ya' in a bit.”

 

“Idiot…” Megumi muttered quietly, and then, at a whisper Kurama could just barely make out, “You'd better not get yourself killed.”

 

The plan now set, everyone began their preparations. The final stage in their long journey was about to begin.

 

000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

Kuwabara's final goodbyes to the residents of the Kamiya Dojo had been simple ones. There were no tears or outbursts of emotion, just a hug, a handshake and a noogie to Kaoru, Kenshin, and Yahiko, respectively. Kuwabara, being the man's man that he was, liked it much better that way. He wasn't about to have his life become a cheesy soap opera or sappy romance film, especially with Sano poised to give him crap for it later. So it had been with much repartee that he, Kurama, Sango and Sano had departed made their way towards Tokyo's shipyards.

 

They arrived to find nothing unexpected. Ships ranging from massive freighters to downright tiny fishing boats lined the docks, and a multitude of workers scuttled about trying to load the seemingly endless sea of crates onto their respective vessels. As the group left the main hub and the crowds thinned, Sano led them to a smaller ship, and as they approached, a dockworker waved in their direction. Sano waved back in greeting. Evidently, they had found their transportation to Yokohama.

 

“Is my package where I left it?” called out Sanosuke as they drew near.

 

“Are you kidding? No one could move that even if they wanted to!” joked the dockworker, motioning toward a small stack of crates.

 

With nothing of their own to do, Sango, Kurama and Kuwabara followed Sano over to the stack of crates, and immediately noticed the massive rectangular container that was resting on top of the stack. Kuwabara quickly surmised that this was Sano's, as none of the other crates looked as heavy as the dock worker had implied Sano's was.

 

“What's in there, Sano?” Kuwabara asked curiously, examining the case more closely.

 

“Something that the authorities shouldn't be seeing, if ya' catch my drift,” answered Sano with a wide smirk. “Wanna' see?”

 

Barely even waiting for his traveling companions to nod an affirmative, Sanosuke looked around quickly to make sure there were no prying eyes, and then hastily undid the latches on the obviously custom made case. In retrospect, Kuwabara would realize he should have known what was inside the case, but at the moment it was opened, he was far too stunned to do much of anything but gape. Inside the box was the single largest sword that any of them had ever seen, demonic weapons included; it was Sanosuke's zanbatou, freshly repaired and fastened together with a large metal staple spanning the section where it had been cut in two by Kenshin.

 

“I just got it repaired. I was gonna' store it at the dojo in case of an emergency,” explained Sano, unable to hide the gleam in his eye. “I figured we might need it just in case Soujirou needs some convincing, though,, since I can't use my Futae no Kiwami.”

 

After he had taken in the expressions on his traveling companions' faces for another couple moments, Sano closed the case and hefted it over his shoulder. Still slightly dumbfounded, the others followed him wordlessly onto the ship. Having experienced Sano's strength first-hand, Kuwabara recovered from his surprise first. He immediately noticed that Sango hadn't, however; she was still staring bewildered at the case even as Sano set it down on the ship's deck. Sano, apparently noticed this too.

 

“Don't be jealous, now, little lady,” he teased, grinning devilishly. “Size isn't everything.”

 

“A real comedian,” muttered Sango, tearing her eyes away from the weapon's case before striking back. “I bet that Megumi woman tells you that all the time.”

 

“What the...?! You don't have any idea what you're talking about!”

 

“You're sure making it sound like I do!”

 

Kuwabara sighed. After training to learn the Kamiya Kasshin succession techniques for so many hours on end, he had been looking forward to a little sleep on the boat ride. It was apparent now that he wasn't going to get it.

 

000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

Aside from the raw power that came from his spirit energy, the thing Hiei missed the most was his Jagan. Rather, that was the thing he missed the most as of late, anyway, as tracking down Soujirou Seta had proven to be a very difficult task. At first, he'd been wandering around questioning people almost aimlessly, with no idea whatsoever of where to start. Eventually though, he began to learn through trial and error. For example, inns seemed to be one of the better places to get information, since people from all over were always stopping through. Conversely, fancy restaurants were a bad place to look, as the people there were almost all local.

 

In this fashion, he slowly but surely began to improve, until at last he had found Soujirou's trail. From that point on, it had just been a matter of not losing it as he hastily moved to catch up with the boy. He had tracked the boy's path across the countryside until it had finally led him to here: Yokohama. Unfortunately, this hadn't ended his search. Yokohama was by no means a small city, and all the foreigner traffic at the shipyards only added to the confusion. Even the local police had been no help, which had put him in a foul mood when he had stopped by their headquarters to send brief report on his status back to Tokyo.

 

At this moment, however, his mood was comparable to elation, for fortune had struck him at last. He had caught sight of Soujirou heading northwest out of the city but an hour ago, and had since been following him at a distance that was so great it seemed almost paranoid. He remembered how Soujirou had easily detected him the last time, however, and he didn't want to risk being spotted until a suitable location had been reached; one where no one could interfere. It seemed that fortune was on his side for the second time this day, for Soujirou's path had led into the middle of a forest that was devoid of anything aside from the occasional forest animal. It seemed that the moment of truth had finally had arrived.

 

`We're far enough away from the city, there's no one nearby,' noted Hiei as he took a final analysis of his surroundings. `It's time to finish this.'

 

Like a lion that had just spotted a straggling gazelle, Hiei suddenly burst into a run as he closed the gap between himself and Soujirou. Even as Hiei began his charge, however, Soujirou slowly turned around to face him, his face adorned with a wide smile.

 

“I was wondering just how much further I would have to walk to get you to come out, mister spikey-haired policeman.”

 

Hiei halted his charge a safe distance away, an alarmed expression on his face. He was positive that he had barely made a sound, and Soujirou had not once looked in his direction. That he had been detected was baffling.

 

“Okay, let's try to do this right this time. I am Soujirou Seta,” continued Soujirou, and then bowed politely before unsheathing his sword. “Your turn.”

 

“Hn, ridiculous,” Hiei scoffed, but now felt compelled to follow the protocol out of pure respect. “I am Hiei…Takahashi.”

 

The name, however, had been as far as Hiei was willing to go, and he unsheathed his katana without a bow. Shifting into a fighting stance, Hiei regarded his opponent as he did the same. There was no opening in Soujirou's stance, or at least none that Hiei could attack. Cursing inwardly, Hiei resolved to create one himself.

 

With a furious cry, Hiei charged, and the duel began. The ringing sound of steel on steel rang rhythmically throughout the forest as Hiei lashed out at Soujirou. He was being wiser this time around, however, going at an almost methodical pace relative to what he was capable of as he worked to create a gap in his opponent's defenses. However, no weakness could be found, and when Soujirou hopped backwards to avoid a horizontal slash, Hiei followed suit, and the duel became a standoff as the fire demon tried to formulate a better strategy.

 

“You must've really practiced a lot, Mr. Takahashi,” said Soujirou cheerily. “Your technique is better now. However, please don't think me rude for saying so, but you're still not nearly good enough to touch me, Mr. Takahashi.”

 

Hiei merely grunted in response, holding back his anger. He was not about to let Soujirou goad him into a reckless attack. That wasn't to say he wouldn't be attacking at all, however.

 

“Hn, your arrogance is unfounded, brat,” scoffed Hiei. “You have yet to see what I'm truly capable of.”

 

Hiei then sheathed his sword and shifted down into a battoujutsu stance, just as the Battousai had done against him earlier. While he had lost that fight, it had served to recall some of forgotten lessons he had learned when he first was taught swordsmanship. As the very purpose of learning swordsmanship had been to make up for his decrease in power that came with accepting the Jagan Eye, battoujutsu had been one of he first techniques he had learned as a way to compensate for lost speed. However, he had never been terribly masterful at it, and thus eventually stopped using it all together. Right now, though, he needed some way to counter Soujirou's speed, and this was the only option he could think of.

 

“Battoujutsu, huh? Too bad…I was learning a lot from this fight,” Soujirou said with a sigh. “But I guess it had to end at some point.”

 

To Hiei's astonishment, the boy sheathed his own sword, and then mimicked Hiei's stance. Although, “mimicked” is perhaps the wrong word, for the boy's stance was far superior to the fire demon's. Cursing inwardly, Hiei made one last attempt to gain an advantage. While maintaining the basic form of his stance, he back-flipped through the air and planted his feet firmly against the trunk of a large tree. Without pause, he then proceeded to use it as a springboard as he propelled himself forward with far greater speed then he would have achieved on the ground. Soujirou responded by dashing forward with phenomenal speed of his own, and the two battoujutsu moves met head on.

 

The speed at which the swords were unsheathed was so quick that they could scarcely be seen as both attacks were unleashed, and the two combatants passed by each other as they allowed themselves to be carried by the momentum. One landed gracefully on their feet, the other landed harshly on their side. One made it out without a scratch, the other was leaving a trail of crimson in their wake. One had just won, and the other had just lost. The former was Soujirou, and the latter was Hiei.

 

“Well, Mr. Takahashi, it seems that I won again,” noted Soujirou with a cheery smile.

 

“Shut up!” roared back Hiei, unable and unwilling to think of something else to say as he leapt to his feet and blindly charged his opponent.

 

Now that his rage had a grip on him, Hiei was unable to follow Soujirou as the boy swiftly circled around behind him. Soujirou had a clean shot at Hiei's back, and could have killed, maimed, or otherwise incapacitated the fire demon from that position. Yet, instead of a biting pain in his spine or a dull blow to his skull, Hiei felt a gust of wind roar past him, accompanied by several bits of debris lightly pelting his back. Suddenly, Hiei was frozen still with his eyes wide in disbelief, unable to will himself to look behind him. It was not what he had felt that caused this, but rather it was what he had heard: the rhythmic “thwip-thwip” cutting through the wind, the distinct crumbling sound of the ground being churned into bits and pieces, and most importantly, the voice that followed.

 

“You know, I might not have recognized you if you weren't all bruised and bloody. It wouldn't be normal.”

 

Slowly, Hiei fought off his paralysis and turned around to look at the speaker, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Any doubts were quickly cast aside as he caught sight of the speaker. Sure enough, the speaker was none other than Sango, her hand maintaining a tight grip on her boomerang as stood protectively in front of the still speechless Hiei.

 

“Before you start,” continued Sango, risking a glance over her shoulder to flsh the fire demon a grin. “Don't give me any of that `It's my fight' crap, because I'm not going to listen to it. I'm here to rescue you, and I'm not letting you stop me.”