Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Hell's Conquest ❯ Meeting ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

Hell's Conquest

The Meeting

"Tetsumaoliko. Come here."

"Y-yes sir…Enma. What would you ask of me?" Tetsumaoliko asked, walking into a dark throne room dimly lit in blue fire.

It had a huge ceiling that Tetsumaoliko could not even see the top of. There was a long red rug spread out down the stone hall and there were banners of red and silver hung on the walls. But the most incredible was the huge throne in the center of the room that reached up about 20 feet. Sprawled out on the chair was a man that appeared human with shining silver hair. He wasn't dressed in anything royal, but rather wore a gi and hakana that were bunched at the bottom due to his leather boots. On his hands he wore leather gauntlets and kept two swords on his belt. He was a true swordsman of hell.

"This…Makoto Shishio. Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance, Tetsumaoliko. I'd love to know." Enma said lazily, pulling out one of his swords, a gleaming katana, and examined the blade with his forefinger.

"Forgive me Lord Enma but I was…delayed by…" Tetsumaoliko started, not wanting to finish.

He would have to tell him about wasting his soul stealing on the children. And though no one but Tetsumaoliko knew it, stealing the children's souls had hurt him severely. The reason was that Tetsumaoliko could not steal any soul that was pure or else he would lose a lot of power. He was almost completely drained.

"Well? Speak up." Enma said impatiently.

"Children." He muttered through clenched fangs.

"Oh I see. Well that's not good is it. Lucky for you I am in a fairly good mood and I won't punish you…this time. I'll let you kill Makoto Shishio first. And then that Usui fellow if you like, but he's of no consequence to me." Enma said calmly, his long hair falling over his shoulders.

"Forgive me sir but you do know that Usui has made quite a few followers here and is planning to challenge you even now, right? I mean if he could organize as many people as he has now into fighting you…"

"That is, Tetsumaoliko, if he can organize that many people to attack me. However popular he's become, the people here are not foolish enough to try to come against me. Now Shishio is different somewhat. I admire his attitude much more than Usui's. Actually, if he defeats you, I would love to make him my second-in-command." Enma thought aloud, pondering this promising new idea.

"Excuse me sir but…you can't be serious!" Tetsumaoliko protested.

"Why not? This hopefully should give you better motivation to kill him, am I right?" Enma asked, looking the tall demon in the eye.

"Yes sir. I will crush that human into the dust!" Tetsumaoliko said fiercely.

"Good. Now get to it." Enma commanded lazily, not looking up from his katana.

"So let me get this straight. You brought children with you! How foolish can you be? You know they'll only slow us…"

"If Yumi thought they should come with, I trust her. Though I don't see the reasoning behind it myself." Shishio interrupted Houji's outburst, looking over the two children.

"Are you Lord Shishio?" Hoake asked Houji.

He'd like to be. Yumi thought to herself, smiling.

"No. That's Houji. It's quite a dishonor calling him by my name." Shishio mused.

Houji gaped at him, offended. Shishio didn't care.

"So you're Shishio. Do you love Miss Yumi?" Hoake asked suddenly, causing Yumi to blush.

She had forgotten that she'd told them that she loved Shishio. Yumi wondered how he would respond.

"Well if you'd like to know… yes I do." Shishio replied, looking at Yumi.

She smiled back at him. She was thankful, but couldn't believe he would go out of his way and say that. The kids looked at each other and giggled. Of course they were children, so hearing an adult say they loved someone sounded silly to them. But it made Yumi happy to see them both smiling for once.

"So how do you know who I am?" Shishio asked, kneeling down beside them.

"Miss Yumi said you could kill the big demon and get my brothers' souls back." Hoake said. Shishio looked at Yumi.

This time not so loving as he'd been before.

"Oh really?" Shishio asked, more to Yumi than Hoake.

"Please Lord Shishio, these children…they don't deserve to be here. If you can defeat Tetsumaoliko…at least some of them could rest easier."

"Yumi…you just can't make up your mind can you? First you tell me not to fight and now…" Shishio started.

Houji was simply delighted at Shishio for criticizing her.

"I didn't want you to fight because I was being selfish but now I know…"

"You're damn right you were being selfish. I told you I was taking over hell didn't I? It doesn't make a difference whether I'm burning or not. Just keep that in mind the next time you doubt me." Shishio interrupted.

Yumi wasn't selfish. She just cared about Shishio's safety. Though she knew Shishio was simply putting on an uncaring facade, she wished he wouldn't sometimes. Especially with Houji here, soaking up every little thing Yumi did wrong.

"So what are you gonna do Mister Lord Shishio? Can you help us?" Hoake asked, showing off his beautiful green eyes.

"Well first I'm going to sleep because it's almost dark and I'm tired. We're sleeping on the ground, so if you kids don't like it, go back home." he commanded, throwing an arm around Yumi's shoulders and walking back to where the two had slept the previous night.

Hoake just looked at Kimiko.

"So uh…where do we go? We're not going home are we?"

"No baka!!! We're staying here with Miss Yumi and Mister Shishio. Mister Shishio said that he could kill the demon to help your brothers and I'll trust him if Miss Yumi does." Kimiko assured the youngster, finding a warm, lighted spot beneath a tree.

She curled up into a ball and tried to sleep. Hoake didn't quite know what to think of his friend. She was very smart and kind to him but she thought in a more serious way than he did. And also, in Hoake's own opinion, for a girl…she was okay.

So what's going to happen next? Find out in Ch.7