Summary: Seta Soujirou and Yukishiro Enishi run into each other on a back country road in Japan then discuss a few things over sake. One Shot. Post-Series.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Nobuhiro Watsuki and whoever publishes him in this country and the next does. I'd be flattered if you sued, but please don't.
Soujirou couldn't understand why he did it. Though that wasn't saying much, because he no longer understood why he did much of anything. One moment he was minding his own business on the leafy road between some village he didn't know the name of and another one even closer to the middle of nowhere, quietly keeping his own company away from the other travelers on the road.
Then he saw the other man, recognized the silver hair, the distinctively Continental clothed, and the tachi slung over his shoulder. And suddenly he was calling and running up to someone that was all but a complete stranger.
"Is that- Hey, it is. Hey there! Good evening, Yukishiro-san! Long time no see! What in the world are you doing here? I thought you hated Jap- Urk!"
Caught by the throat, Soujirou didn't resist as the man threw him backwards against a tree and pinned him there with one hand.
"Do you have to shout my name?" he hissed dangerously, his eyes flickering towards the two men passing them by on the road.
"Ease off Yukishiro-san," Soujirou rasped as best he could with most of his wind-pipe cut off. "Nobody knows you here."
Yukishiro Enishi squinted from behind his sunglasses as though trying to remember a face. Soujirou hoped he would be able to do so before forcing him to pass out. He smiled weakly, trying to aid the process. Once he smiled, Enishi sighed instantly in recognition and released him.
"If you're looking for a sword, you'll have to go somewhere else. I'm not in that business anymore. You'll just have to stop running through them so quickly."
"That's all right," Soujirou wheezed, clutching at his now-very-tender throat. "I guess I'm not exactly in that business anymore, either."
Enishi remembered when he had listened to Gein report on what he witnessed and heard about the fall of Shishio Makoto's organization. Though he had been relieved that Himura Battosai had survived to suffer his jinchu, Enishi couldn't help but feel a little disgusted at how easily some of the member of the Juppongatana had fallen. Especially Seta Soujirou.
When Soujirou had first arrived on his doorstep in Shanghai, Shishio's errand boy, carrying a list of orders that would finally finance Enishi's own expedition to Japan, Enishi hadn't known whether to be surprised or amused. Perhaps recognizing something familiar about the boy, he had known exactly what would happen when the guards started to turn Soujirou away from the gates. He didn't warn them. Let them learn the hard way that the boy had no sword aura.
After that Soujirou had placidly accepted a change of clothes from his bloodied ones and settled into negotiations with Enishi, his quiet, self-assured smile never wavering from place. It had been faintly impressive.
Yes, Enishi had almost been disappointed to hear the story. Looking at the boy now, after having had his own encounter with Himura Kenshin, Enishi didn't know what to think of him. Now that he knew Himura's... power of persuasion.
For all his subtle madness, Gein had been an excellent informant. But there had been one thing the puppeteer hadn't been able to tell him. He probably hadn't even noticed. It was all too clear to Enishi as they traveled side by side though.
"Seta-kun... You have a sword aura now."
Soujirou blinked in surprise and held his hands up for inspection as though Enishi had just informed him he was covered in mud. "Oh that. Yes, it seems I can't help it anymore."
"It still doesn't react much," Enishi said, for the moment allowing himself to be interested. He took a menacing step towards Soujirou, forcing the boy to put his guard up before he could realize what Enishi was doing. Soujirou's eyes widened slightly, otherwise he showed no reaction.
"But it's definitely there," Enishi said, nodding smugly. "Of course, that could always be explained by the simple desire to die."
Soujirou gestured vaguely for the road behind them, his smile a ghost of the one Enishi had seen in Shanghai. "No, I can't say I'd mind that. I've given enough people the chance to do it."
Enishi took a moment to really look at him then. The boy seemed to be taking the minimal amount of care of himself possible and still be able to continue breathing. Even more odd was the complete lack of any sign of blood on his clothes. Blood that wasn't obviously from one of the various cuts on his limbs, that is.
"What happened to you anyways?" Soujirou inquired, seeming to take in Enishi's appearance in the same manner. "You're not quite the same either, are you. Don't tell me you've gone soft."
Enishi snorted, "What even makes you say such things?"
"Because you didn't try to kill me when I shouted your name, Yukishiro-san," Soujirou murmured.
"But- I-" Enishi glanced at him sharply and found the boy's eyes were strangely calm for that moment. Not blank like they had been in Shanghai, just calm. "Because you didn't even try to resist."
"Because you weren't going to kill me," Soujirou said firmly.
They walked onwards for a couple long minutes in silence. The two young men had thought they had grown used to the quiet. It surprised them both to learn that was just because they had grown used to being alone. Enishi broke first. "I had my own run-in with Himura Kenshin," he frowned, surprised at himself for being willing to tell the boy anything.
Soujirou balked, his eyes shocked. "I had the impression that Himura-san wasn't going to go after any more of the members of Shishio's organization!" Enishi's eyebrows quirked upwards slightly. Though he was no longer attached to any of Shishio's former plans, this boy was somehow still loyal to the organization in his own strange way.
Just as Enishi would always be loyal to Tomoe's memory. She just wasn't driving him towards jinchu anymore. "No. I had... my own reasons to seek him out."
"Ah," Soujirou murmured, hardly understanding but disinclined to ask for an explanation. Then he brightened once more. "Well! It's always good to see someone from the old days, especially when they're not trying to kill me. Since we're going in the same direction for now, how about some sake? My treat."
The village was too small to support any decent kind of inn and as Enishi suspected, the sake at the one they did find was of poor quality and fiercely watered down. But Soujirou was making up for that by drinking greater and great quantities of the stuff. By early evening, the boy had already driven off most of the other customers from the drab common room with his loud conversation and laughter.
Inexperienced with the Japanese drink, Enishi went at a slower pace. Since it was free though, he made sure to have his proper share. For once it felt good to let down his guard. It felt like freedom.
"And then the bastard pulls some ultimate move on me. Ama- amakaka..." Soujirou trailed off, frowning quizzically into his cup, perhaps hoping to find the answer there.
"Amakakeru no hirameki," Enishi prompted, remembering it well.
"Yeah! That's it!" Soujirou grinned happily down at his cup as though it had been the thing to speak. "Anyways, there's nothing you can do about it once you realize what's coming. You just have to take it. Hurt like hell, you know?"
"No, I wouldn't know. I wasn't feeling much physical pain at the time."
"Lucky jerk. I thought he was ripping me in two, with a frickin' sakabatou. Took forever for my ribs to heal. Look!" Without further warning, Soujirou lifted the ragged hem of his shirt up to his shoulders, revealing the faint knobs down his side where a series of ribs had clearly snapped in two.
Two women at the table nearby blushed and leaned in towards each other to discuss the even in whispers, though Enishi couldn't guess whether it was in approval or disapproval. Soujirou certainly looked scrawny on the outside, but underneath he was a swordsman.
"Seta-kun, put your shirt back on," he sighed, all the while aware that he sported the signs of the exact same wound on his own abdomen. Soujirou did as he was told, if only because he doubled up with another fit of laughter.
Finally losing his patience, the inn keeper, a squat balding man with huge biceps from lifting so much food, hurried towards their table. His expression spoke for itself. "What the hell is wrong with your friend?"
"He's not my friend," Enishi shrugged.
The inn keeper ground his teeth as though it did not matter to him if Soujirou was the Emperor Meiji himself.
"He's-" harmless, Enishi had been about to say then thought better of it. "He's drunk."
"No. I've seen drunk. That boy's downright nuts and I want him out of here."
"We're paying you good money."
"Not good enough for this!" the man sniffed, snatching at Enishi's shoulder. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time-"
Enishi's hand shot out. He caught the inn keeper's wrist in a vice grip, making it very clear that all he had to do was squeeze a little harder and he would start breaking bones. "You are very lucky," he said in a harsh whisper just loud enough for the man to hear. "A few months ago I wouldn't have bothered. But today I'm going to warn you that you are dealing with one of the most dangerous swordsmen alive."
"I suggest," Soujirou gasped, wiping desperately at his streaming eyes, "That you run for your life."
The inn keeper staggered backwards once Enishi released him, clutching his wrist. Soujirou's outburst seemed to make him think that it was all some kind of joke, but just to be sure, he retreated farther towards the kitchens out back. Soujirou watched dreamily as the man scampered off. "He'll call the local cops on us now, for sure," he giggled.
"So what? From the looks of you, you've gotten away from plenty of cops already."
"True enough."
And with that, Soujirou's grin disappeared as quickly as the laughing fit had come over him and he collapsed against the table, burying wracking sobs in his arms. The two women across the hall got up hastily from their table and made for the exit. "Bleeding hell, Seta-kun," Enishi scowled, this time taking a swig straight from the sake bottle and not bothering with his cup.
"I'm sorry..." Soujirou mumbled amid his tears. "I held so much back... For so long... And now it's all just coming out... at bad moments..."
"So you've lost your mind," Enishi remarked as though just realizing this fact. He had no other reaction to this observation and reached over to refill Soujirou's cup as though they were merely discussing the weather.
"If I had I wouldn't be so different from what I was before." Soujirou moaned once then gritted his teeth in an attempt to get ahold of himself and clutched at his head. "It's just so... Life was so easy when I was with Shishio-sama. At least everything made sense!"
Everything before Himura...
"Everything had a purpose," Enishi agreed quietly.
Soujirou's lips twisted, "I don't know if I'd go that far-" He jerked, coming out of himself long enough to look at Enishi, "Oh, you were talking about yourself, weren't you." Enishi just glared at him and took another swig from the bottle. Soujirou cocked his head, "So who was it?"
Tomoe... "Who?"
"The person Himura-san killed that was close enough to you to make you want to get revenge."
Numb as he was from the sake, somehow Enishi managed to feel shocked. He would have thought the boy was slathered enough to actually see Tomoe over Enishi's shoulder. Or her name written on his face. The boy misread his expression though, seeming to take it as a denial.
"Now-" Soujirou started to lean his elbow on the table, missed, tried again and pointed a finger at Enishi. "Now if we're talking sword aura Yukishiro-san, yours has sure as hell changed. That week I spent in Shanghai was enough for me to know that your mind screamed all day and all night for vengeance. I just couldn't figure out against who and what for until. I always kinda thought you should get a woman like Shishio-sama did. Yumi-san was always very helpful whenever his burns-"
"Seta-kun," Enishi growled in warning.
"All right, all right, I was just saying..." Losing his train of thought, Soujirou sighed and looked down again. After a moment of tears, his attention came back to Enishi.
"So who was he?" Soujirou squinted, gauging Enishi's reaction. Enishi said nothing, tried not to move, kept his eyes fastened on his drink. "All right, then who was she?"
Soujirou was that good at reading him and he was still drunk out of his mind. Faintly impressive.
"My sister. And if you mention the subject again, I will forget I ever met Himura Kenshin and cut your throat out."
Soujirou hiccupped a moment, pretending to be completely unaware that Enishi had made any kind of threat. "I've never had anyone as important to me as that," he whispered.
Enishi's first instinct was reach for the tachi propped against his seat. But when he looked at Soujirou, his eyes flew wide and he dropped the sake bottle, letting it shatter against the floor. Hugging his knees up against his chest, Soujirou didn't even seem to notice.
She leaned over Soujirou, touching his shoulder gently and gazing imploringly at her brother. Her soft perfume over-rode the stench of sake in the common room, clearing Enishi's senses.
"Tomoe..."
Soujirou glanced up, wiping at his nose, "What did you say?"
His eyes still focused over Soujirou's shoulder, Enishi spoke slowly, "You're not going to get me to kill you, Seta-kun."
"But you just said-!"
"I know what I said. Seta-kun..." Enishi blinked and shook his head. "You smell awful."
"Long weeks on the road," Soujirou mumbled between breathy sobs.
"Well, if you're going to come with me, you're going to have to get a bath."
Soujirou jumped and stared at him, "What?"
"I've just realized. My organization is probably still selling illegal weapons to Japan. Spreading pain in my name, as Himura would say. I suppose it would be helpful to have someone with me while I dismantle it."
There. Enishi had just offered him a purpose. It was small but it was something. Maybe that would make Tomoe happy.
"But no killing?" Soujirou asked after a moment.
Enishi cocked an eyebrow at him, "You've taken some kind of vow, have you?"
Soujirou stuck his tongue out, "Nothing so fancy. I just..." He ducked his face and leaned over to tie his sandal, his tone turning serious, "I want to try it Himura's way. Just for a little while."
I'd love to hear what you think so please review!
Um...
My only defense is that everyone gets a little OOC when they're drunk ;; I do kinda see Soujirou as someone who just blurts stuff out, though.