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Descent into Madness: Chapter 4

by Conspirator

Kenshin arrived at the inn just as the sun began to appear over the horizon, only to find the place in a state of chaos. Men covered in dirt and blood sat or stood in the hallway, while others ran through the halls carrying bandages and yelling for hot water.

"What’s going on?" Kenshin asked the first person he came to.

"Just got back from the mission," the man panted. "One man dead, two seriously wounded." Then he bounded away. ‘Yoshida!’ Kenshin thought instantly.

He took in the scene and immediately headed for the kitchen to help haul water. As he ran into the courtyard, bucket in hand, he saw Okami struggling to gather a large armload of wood to get the stove going. He tapped her on the shoulder, handed her the bucket, and said, "I’ll take care of the wood—you get the pots and whatever else you need." She gave him look of heartfelt thanks. Within minutes, he had a good-sized pile of firewood next to the stove and had the first batch lit. Okami immediately started dumping buckets of water into the pots for boiling water.

Kenshin then went out into the hall to see if he could help and to see if his friend Yoshida was okay. He found him sitting near the dining room, holding a rag to a gash on his arm.

"Yoshida! Are you all right?" Kenshin asked as he came to his side. A quick glance showed that the wound was not serious. Nevertheless, he grabbed some bandages he saw lying nearby and scooped up some salve from a container being used by another man, then began applying the ointment to Yoshida’s arm.

"Yeah, I’m fine, kid," Yoshida answered, "but Tanaka’s got a bad wound to his stomach. Sato’s with him now. I think he’ll be okay, but he’ll be out of commission for awhile."

"So what happened?" Kenshin asked as he began wrapping a bandage around the gash.

"We joined up with some of the other Chousu groups and raided a government munitions warehouse," Yoshida said. "They had a lot more guards than we anticipated, so it was a pretty tough fight. We won, though—we got the munitions. But we got attacked again while we were loading up the wagons. We still won, and now the munitions are all on their way to the mountains. And guess who’s in command of the convoy!"

Kenshin had no idea. Yoshida smiled, saying, "Your buddy Shinzu Tora! You won’t have to mess with him for at least a few weeks!" He looked down at the bandage Kenshin put on his arm. "Hey, kid, you did a pretty good job there. You learn this from that shishou of yours?"

"Yeah," Kenshin laughed. "He left nothing to chance. Gotta go." And with that, Kenshin took leave of his friend to help bandage the other men. Eventually, as things calmed down, he returned to the kitchen, figuring that Okami would need help getting breakfast going after losing all this time to the emergency. As he passed by Kishi and Yuka, who were already chopping vegetables, he leaned over to Kishi and whispered, "I had a great time last night," then went to offer his help to Okami. Kishi just stared after him, speechless.

Breakfast was served late to accommodate the men who needed time to get bandaged and cleaned up. Kenshin decided to sit with Yoshida, his friend Sato, and some of the other men who had been on the mission with them. Shortly after Kishi and Yuka brought the food, Katsura walked in and clapped his hands for attention.

"Men," he said, "I want to congratulate you all on a job well done. It was a difficult mission, but it was the essential first step in what we hope will be a major offensive against the Bakufu this winter. I expect the Shogun is not pleased with what happened last night…." —the men laughed at that— "so I’m guessing we may be in for some unpleasant retaliation in the near future. I suggest you all keep yourselves on high alert whenever you’re out, whether it’s on a mission or not—we can’t afford to lose any of you. Good work!"

The men cheered as he finished his speech. As he walked out, he stopped behind Kenshin and said in a whisper, "Come find me after breakfast. It’s time to talk." Kenshin nodded. Then Katsura left.

"What was that all about?" Yoshida asked.

"I think I’m about to find out what my job is," Kenshin said.

The men started chattering on about the mission, but Kenshin only half-listened. He was anxious to finish his meal and find out what Katsura had in mind for him. Out of the corner of his ear, however, he heard snippets of conversation.

"….just cold-blooded murderers, that’s all," he heard someone say.

"Who’s a cold-blooded murderer?" Kenshin asked as he chewed his food.

"Hitokiri, that’s who," Sato answered. "You know what they are, don’t you? Assassins? They’re just cold-blooded murderers, if you ask me, and I heard a rumor they’re going to billet one right here at this inn. I won’t feel safe sleeping in my own bed if they do!"

The conversation went on with every horror story they had ever heard about a hitokiri, ending with tales of how the Shinsengumi supposedly killed their own men if there was even a hint of disloyalty. ‘A violent place, Kyoto,’ Kenshin thought idly.

He finished eating as quickly as he could, then went to find Katsura. He was in Okami’s private room off the kitchen; Katagai and another man, whom Kenshin had seen once or twice in the dining room, were with him.

"Himura." Katsura acknowledged him and motioned for him to sit down. "Remember two weeks ago when you were still with the Kiheitai, and I asked if you had ever killed a man? You said no, but you were willing to do so if it meant it would help the Ishin Shishi bring an era of peace and justice to this country. Is that still your intention?"

"Yes, Katsura-san," Kenshin replied.

"Himura, we need you to do a job that is probably the most difficult a man can be asked to do. There are enemies of the Ishin Shishi—men whose very existence prevents us from bringing about the changes this country so desperately needs—who must be served with heaven’s justice. They must be eliminated. Killed. We’ve been anxious to keep you and your skills a secret because the person who takes on this job must be a shadow—someone who comes in the night and leaves no trace behind. That means it must be someone whose skills are such that there will be no question as to what the outcome of an encounter will be. Someone whose skills are such that the application of heaven’s justice will be swift and merciful. Someone who will be discrete about his activities and not divulge the nature of his actions. I knew when I saw your skills that you were the man we needed. It is difficult enough to take a man’s life—there is no dishonor if you find you cannot do it under these conditions. Himura, will you accept this job?"

Kenshin bowed his head and sat, silent, as he let what Katsura said sink in. Then he gripped the hilt of his sword, looked up, and slowly said, "If, with this arm and this sword, I can help speed the coming of the new age, then I will do what you ask."

"Good," Katsura responded. After a moment’s pause, he said, "Your first assignment will happen tonight."

He stood to leave; Kenshin and the other two men stood with him. "Katagai and I, along with the rest of our group, will be leaving today. We’ve got to follow that convoy of munitions into the mountains and then take care of other business, but we’ll be back in a few weeks. Until then, Iizuka…." –he nodded in the direction of the third man— "….will be your advisor, and he will give you your assignments. He is a trusted lieutenant of both myself and the other Chousu clan leaders, so when he speaks, you’ll know he speaks with our authority."

Then he clasped Kenshin about the shoulders. "Good luck, Himura," he said. And with that, he and Katagai left the room.

"Well, kid," Iizuka said with a smile, "I guess we’ll be getting to know one another pretty well, huh? I’ve heard great things about your sword skills, and from what I saw the other day during your practice, I’ve got to say they weren’t exaggerating!"

"Thank you," Kenshin said simply. His discerning eyes now focused fully on his new superior. The man was tall, with a pencil moustache and a ready, rakish smile, but there was something about his ki that didn’t seem quite right, something Kenshin couldn’t quite identify. ‘No matter,’ he thought. ‘Katsura trusts him, that’s enough for me.’

Iizuka felt Kenshin’s eyes scrutinizing him and found it somewhat disconcerting, so he decided to make more conversation. "Yeah, you know, we tried before just to pick out some of our top swordsmen to be our hitokiri, but it never did work out…."

"Hitokiri?" Kenshin said before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, hitokiri—you know, your new job. Anyway, they were just clumsy and tended to talk too much—it didn’t work out, so they’ve got a lot pinned on you and your skills."

Hitokiri. What the men at breakfast had been talking about. ‘It’s me,’ Kenshin realized. ‘I’m the hitokiri being billeted here permanently. But I’m no cold-blooded killer….,’ and he hoped his new friends would realize this, too.

Iizuka pulled a black envelope out of his sleeve pocket and handed it to Kenshin. "Whenever there’s an assignment for you," he said, "you’ll get an envelope like this. In it you’ll find the name of your target and the place you can expect to find him—sometimes even a time when you’ll find him as well. Once you’ve announced why you’re there, you strike silently and swiftly, then leave a note that says ‘Heaven’s Justice.’ Then you leave the rest to me."

"The rest?" Kenshin asked.

"Well, we don’t want you to leave any trace of what you’ve done for anyone to find, so me and a couple of the men will always be nearby to clean up after the fact. Go ahead and open the envelope now, in case you have any questions."

Kenshin did as he was told. In it was a note with a man’s name, what the man looked like, the name of a shrine, and a suggestion of 8 p.m. "Who is this man?" he asked.

"It’s not a good idea to know too much about your targets," Iizuka said, "but seeing as it’s your first time, I’ll tell you. He’s the top Bakufu munitions dealer in Kyoto. It was his warehouse we stormed last night. You know where that shrine is?"

Kenshin had seen more shrines in the past three days than he had seen in his entire life—Kyoto seemed to be littered with them. He had no idea where this particular one was. "Don’t worry," Iizuka said, "I’ll draw you a map." He quickly scrawled directions on a piece of paper and handed it to Kenshin. "Now go rest up for tonight, okay? Oh, and the paymaster’ll be here this afternoon—you can pick up your first week’s pay." Kenshin bowed and left the room.

Hitokiri. The word kept spinning in his mind. Well, he was no murderer—he would just be handing out heaven’s justice. And, no, he had never killed a man before, but he certainly had seen enough death. ‘I can handle this,’ he said to himself as he tried to calm the butterflies that seemed to have taken up vigorous residence in his stomach.

In fact, the butterflies were so vigorous he decided to find that uninhabited meadow outside the city and practice his kata, the one thing he knew would calm him and center him for what lay ahead of him tonight. He went upstairs to his room to get his hat and found Katagai packing his things.

"Himura," Katagai said in a concerned voice, "are you sure about taking on this job?"

"Yes, I’m sure," Kenshin replied in voice that showed more confidence than he really felt. "Anyway, I’ve given my word to Katsura-san, and I will not go back on it."

"You’re a very idealistic young man," Katagai said. "I admire that. Don’t ever lose that idealism."

"Thank you, Katagai-san. I’ll try not to," he replied. "Have a safe journey." Then he grabbed his hat, bowed, and left to find his peaceful spot in the countryside.

When he arrived there, he lay down in the grass and just stared at the sky. He thought back to the time when his family died of cholera, to the time when he was taken by the slavers, and to that fateful day when everyone in the slavers’ band was slaughtered except for him. Now he was strong enough to do something about the cruel system that had created such misery. He got up feeling a great sense of purpose and went to a nearby grove of trees. He started practicing his kata, losing himself in the sheer physical joy of wielding his sword in the prescribed patterns. As he progressed to each higher level, he reveled in the sensation of flight as he leaped and soared, slashing with his sword as he did so. Finally, as a release for all the energy, he finished with the earth-shattering Do Ryu Sen. He was done, and everything felt right about the world. He knew he could do this job. He was ready.

He looked at the sky and saw that it was already midday. Needing to eat but also needing to locate the shrine, he decided to grab a quick lunch at some noodle stand and then find the shrine so he’d know where to go tonight. Looking at the rough sketch Iizuka had provided, he saw that the shrine was on the far northeast side of the city, probably a good hour’s walk from where he was and probably at least 45 minutes from the inn itself. He decided to eat at the marketplace near the inn. As he stood eating his lunch of noodles, he thought of the most efficient route to the other side of town. Then he took off, noting potential escape routes as he got closer to the shrine, just in case.

The shrine itself turned out not to be one of those huge, ornate confections that he had seen all over town, but a simple one surrounded by trees. He was glad—for some reason, he felt it would be harder to carry out this assignment if it were at one of the grander shrines. He walked all around the grounds, getting a feel for the lay of the land. He decided he would come back about an hour before the suggested time and hide in a tree just outside the shrine gate. He would get a clear view from there and would be able to see his intended target well before the man would reach his own location. With that settled, he headed back to the inn.

The inn was bustling once again, but this time with happy, not wounded, soldiers holding their pay packets. The paymaster was in the process of closing up when he spotted Kenshin, who had just taken off his hat.

"Hey, you with the red hair—you Himura?" the man called out.

Kenshin winced. "Yes," he answered. When were they going to stop with the hair!

"Don’tcha want your pay?" He held out a packet with Kenshin’s name on it. Kenshin just stared at it. "What’s the matter? Ain’tcha never seen a pay packet before?"

‘Actually, no,’ Kenshin thought to himself, a smile creeping over his face. To the paymaster, however, he said only, "Thanks—thanks very much!" and he hurried off to his room to see how much money was there.

The room seemed lonely and empty without Katagai’s things, but Kenshin was actually glad, deep down, to have the privacy—he needed to keep that feeling of calm and purpose he had achieved out in the meadow. He looked at his pay packet and was somewhat amazed at what he considered a huge sum of money—certainly enough to cover noodles for lunch every day, if he wanted, and maybe if he saved some of it, enough to buy another gi someday. ‘So many changes in so short a time,’ he mused. Only two months ago he was with Hiko, arguing. Now, in the space of 60 days, he had left Hiko, joined the Kiheitai, come to Kyoto, learned how to live in a city (and fend off women!), been paid with real money, and been given a job that had been called one of the most difficult and important. It was all too much for his calm state of mind. He decided he’d ask Okami for some food to take with him so he could eat dinner alone, back at the meadow, and clear his mind once more. This was no time to be distracted! He quickly changed into his official blue gi—he already was wearing the gray hakama—and went downstairs to ask.

In the kitchen, Okami was already starting work on dinner, even though it was more than an hour before dinnertime. She looked up to see Kenshin in his uniform.

"Well! That uniform certainly looks dashing on you, Himura-chan," she said heartily.

"Oh.…thanks very much," Kenshin sputtered. He hadn’t expected a comment about his clothes! Then he got to the point. "Okami-san, tonight I have my first assignment, and I thought I might like to be by myself for dinner," he said. "Do you have anything I could box up and take with me?"

Okami thought for a moment and said, "You know how to cook, don’t you, Himura-chan?" He nodded yes. "Well, I’ve already cut up some fish and tofu for dinner. The stove’s hot, so you could just take some and cook it up however you’d like. I can give you some carrots and daikon and such to go with it, and I can take some of the rice I’ve already cooked and make some rice balls. How does that sound?"

It sounded perfect to him, so he set about cooking the fish and tofu. As the two of them stood in the kitchen cooking, Okami looked at him and thought he still looked too young to be a soldier. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer.

"Himura-chan," she said, "tell me the truth—are you really 14?"

Kenshin chuckled. "Yes, Okami-san, I really am 14."

They worked together again in silence for a few more minutes. Then Okami said, "Himura-chan, are you nervous about tonight?"

Kenshin hesitated a moment before answering. "Yes, I am," he finally said.

In less than half an hour, Kenshin had finished cooking the fish and tofu and had cut up some vegetables to go with it; Okami packed it all in a paper box, along with the rice balls she had made. She handed him the box and said, "Good luck tonight."

"Thanks, Okami-san," he replied, and he left for the evening.

Upon arriving back at the meadow, he decided to head for the grove of trees where he had practiced earlier in the day. It being autumn, the leaves had started to turn from green to vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red. He sat under a tree and looked up, enjoying the riot of colors that presented themselves. Idly, he took his sword and gently swished it against the lower branches, causing a small blizzard of leaves to fall on his head. Yes, this was the ideal place to come for calm reflection before undertaking this first, unnerving assignment.

After sitting awhile lost in thought, he opened his dinner box and found that Okami had packed a small surprise for him—the rice balls were shaped like little rabbits, with carrot slivers for feet, pea pods for ears, and a small pea for a tail. He had never seen anything like it. ‘I’ll have to try doing that sometime,’ he smiled to himself. It was a nice feeling to know someone cared.

After finishing his dinner, however, he started to get antsy. He looked at the sky and figured he still had a good hour before he had to leave for the shrine. He got up and walked through the grove. When he came to the gash in the earth he had created during his practice earlier in the day, he kicked the dirt and rubble back into it. He pulled out his sword and swung a few practice arcs. Still he felt somewhat nervous and on edge. Finally, he grabbed the sword with both hands and gave a mighty swing, felling a small tree in the process. The feeling of resistance, the feeling of cutting through—this was what he needed to remember for later tonight.

Now he decided it was time to take the long walk to the shrine. The sun was going down, so he kept himself on high alert. Only twice did he feel the presence of hostile ki. Both times he managed to find a hiding place; both times it was a group of men who seemed to be acting as bodyguards for someone among their group. Otherwise, he arrived at the shrine without incident and jumped easily into a tree near the shrine gate. Now all he had to do was wait.

The moon was full, shedding a bright, silvery light on the world as twilight deepened. Kenshin listened to the cicadas singing as he awaited—what? His prey? What an odd notion, to think of a human as prey, but this waiting, hidden, reminded him exactly of lessons Hiko had taught him for capturing game. No—he shook that thought from his mind—this was not an animal, this was a human. Concentrate, he told himself. His assignment was to deliver heaven’s justice to a man, the man who provided the Bakufu with munitions. Heaven’s justice…

As he was preparing his mind in this way, he heard the rustling of leaves below him. He looked down and saw a man, alone, who fit the description of his target. Every fiber of his body on alert, Kenshin watched with keen eyes as the man walked towards him. The man walked through the shrine gate; Kenshin jumped down behind him, as silent as a ghost. In a soft voice, Kenshin said, "I am here to deliver Heaven’s Justice." The man turned his head toward the voice, barely having time to register the fact that someone had said something before feeling a cold blade hit, cleaving him from head to toe. It was enough time, however, for Kenshin to catch a glimpse of the man’s eyes—eyes that were wide with fear and anger before they became sightless.

Suddenly, the enormity of what he had just done hit him—he had, with his own hands, taken this man’s life. This man was no more. He felt compelled to look up to the heavens, where one’s soul went upon death. He stared at the full moon, thinking about that soul he had just sent to the gods. ‘May you be happy in the afterlife,’ he found himself thinking. Then he heard the sound of someone coming up the path—it was Iizuka with his men.

"You all right, kid?" Iizuka asked as he surveyed the body. "Hold yourself together, now. Some people go insane after their first job or make themselves sick, you know."

"No," Kenshin said quietly, "I’m fine. I’m stronger than I thought."

Iizuka took out the note proclaiming "Heaven’s Justice" and then started helping his men clean up the area. Kenshin didn’t wait for them to finish. Steeling his mind, he forced his feet to take step after step as he started the long walk back to the inn. He had killed a man. Katsura was right—it was the most difficult thing a man could be asked to do.