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Tanabata Jasmine: Chapter 24 - Reprieve

by Nekotsuki ::: 17.Dec.2004

The moon was only half-visible in the clear sky, seen through the flicker of the leaves in the breeze. He remembered it had been full on the night he had gone to duel Senzo, hidden by the storm clouds. It had rained, then. Kenshin found himself wishing it would rain now.

It would help to hide him; to darken his hair so it wouldn’t stand out in the moonlight that occasionally touched him, and drown out the quiet rustle of his light-headed passage through the trees. Heavy rain would make it far harder for anyone to find him – an advantage he could sorely use, given the situation. He knew he was starting to lose focus. Discipline and sheer stubbornness could keep him moving, searching for a way out... but it couldn’t overcome the exhaustion blanketing his senses. He was not as quiet or careful as he would like to be, and only a fool would assume there were no guards between him and potential freedom.

If Bayushi had truly sent Yamato to kill him, then it was only a matter of time before the older man went to find out why the officer had not returned.

For that matter, Yamato himself could raise the alarm once he reawakened. In a bout of rare vindictiveness, Kenshin hoped the officer’s head would ache at least as much as his own had after the rifle strike. The man had taken entirely too much pleasure in hurting him on the way to Kyoto – and it was obvious who was behind Bayushi’s sudden change of heart. The longer Yamato remained out of commission, the better.

Everything came down to time. The fact that his escape hadn’t been given away yet was a blessing – he suspected the moment the guards realised he was free and began to sweep the grounds, his careful steps through the cover of the trees would turn by necessity into a blind run. Likely, he wouldn’t be able to get far even then; the idea of sprinting through the darkness with an unsupported, broken collarbone wasn’t one he wanted to dwell on.

Kenshin kept close to the trunks of the trees themselves, hoping the shade of the leaves above would keep his hair from catching the light. He’d disposed of Yamato’s pistol once past the treeline; dropped it carefully into a low bush, despite any advantage it might offer him. Any minor chance of using it as a club, or even to bluff his way to safety, was countered by the sheer awkwardness of trying to hold it and support his shoulder at the same time.

The wound on his arm was no longer bleeding, at least. He’d taken care to wipe the excess blood on the cloth of his hakama. His shoulder ... worried him. It was clear – painfully so – that his attack with the water pitcher had aggravated the injury further. Just how badly, he was unsure, although he supposed the fact that he could still feel the pain was a good sign.

When he heard Yahiko’s voice, he nearly lost his balance. For a moment, Kenshin wondered if perhaps fever was making him imagine things. The yell was faint, but not so far away that he couldn’t make out the words. He stood frozen, staring off through the trees as he heard him shout Kaoru’s name.

The voice that followed was a soft mutter, and alarmingly close. “They have a kid with them?”

Paralysis broken at the sound, Kenshin rocked back on his heels to press his shoulders against the shadowed bark of the tree he’d just passed, out of sight. The man who’d spoken was a bare fifteen feet away, standing underneath the leaves and staring off in the direction of the outcry.

If not for the sheer coincidence of that surprised observation, he would have walked straight into the guard’s line of sight. More distressing, however, was the fact that Kenshin hadn’t registered his presence at all before the man had given his own position away with his words. Speaking aloud. Which meant either the guard was muttering to himself, or—

“Who knows? Maybe Battousai had a son.”

He wasn’t alone. Another one nearby, hidden from his view by the trees.

Kenshin suppressed a sudden, mad desire to swear aloud at the precariousness of his hiding place, and tilted his head back against the bark, staring up at the sky as he tried to get his thoughts in order.

He wasn’t delusional, unless he was also imagining the guards. His friends were on the grounds. Fighting on his behalf. Bayushi’s men hadn’t discovered his escape because they were too busy dealing with unexpected company. He understood, now, why the building had been so empty.

The brief smile that rose to his lips at this revelation faded as he recalled Bayushi’s earlier threat against Kaoru. He was almost positive that the older man’s sense of honour wouldn’t allow him to hurt a woman, despite his words – but that assurance didn’t stretch to include the men who worked for him. Nor did he think that Bayushi would hesitate to use lethal force with someone else. Yahiko... Sano would certainly be with them – and if they were here, there was an exceedingly high chance Aoshi or Misao would be as well.

Kenshin had enough faith in their strength to believe they could hold their own on the grounds. On the other hand, Yamato’s presence here told him that ultimately, their opposition wouldn’t be restricted to the guards on patrol. He remembered the quiet efficiency of Yamato’s men at the docks. The remnant of Shishio’s group, clever enough to escape arrest. Again, Sano or Aoshi should be more than a match ...

He thought of the clear gaze and expert aim of the riflemen.

All the assurances in the world... Even aside from those concerns, a rescue attempt couldn’t succeed if he couldn’t be found. And he was honest enough to admit that assistance at this point was not only welcome, but necessary. His near miss with the guards was enough to convince him of that – in his injured state, his sense of awareness so ragged he’d almost walked blindly into the enemy, his chances of walking free on his own were likely nonexistent.

That they’d come to rescue him in the first place, warmed him considerably.

He straightened quietly, took a step away from the tree... and heard the unsheathing of the sword as he did so. The cool tip of the blade touched almost gently against his ribs. Kenshin stiffened, and cursed himself for misjudging the man even as he wondered what had given him away.

“Thought I smelled blood.” The guard had moved up more quietly than Kenshin would have given him credit for. That, or his senses were fading more than he’d realised. The guard’s tone was professionally calm. “You should have stayed with your friends if you were injured. Turn around.”

Should have--? Kenshin blinked. Facing away from the guard, largely hidden by the darker shadow of the tree, the man had no clue who he’d actually discovered. It was a mistake the guard would correct very shortly, but for now, he wondered if that was an advantage.

“I said, turn around” the man snapped. “I won’t ask again.”

Alright.

Kenshin swung around to stare at him blandly, giving the guard a full view of his face.

The reaction was as immediate as it was comical. The man jerked back in shock, staring at him with wide eyes as the tip of his sword dropped briefly away. Kenshin couldn’t really blame him; the guard certainly wouldn’t have been expecting to deal with the sudden appearance of the hitokiri Battousai on his watch. He heard the quick footsteps of the second man approaching, drawn by the look on his partner’s face.

Kenshin didn’t wait for him to complicate matters further. Before the guard could get over his shock and raise his sword again – before he had time to take in that the rurouni had no weapon and likely couldn’t use one even if he did – Kenshin slammed a foot into the man’s stomach, knocking him backward.

Then he ran.

He had little choice.

---------

The cry that went up was immediate. Sano stopped in his tracks as he heard the almost frantic yell of discovery that echoed across the grounds. The guard’s shout was partly interrupted by a shrill whistle from someone else, but there was no mistaking what was said. All he needed was the word ‘Battousai’, and it was obvious what was going on.

Yahiko gave a snort of derision. “Knew they didn’t shoot him.”

Sure you did. Yahiko’s face had gone almost as white as Kaoru’s at the time – but Sano didn’t think it was really the right time to bring that up. The call would bring every guard in earshot that was still on his feet, and he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe they’d dealt with everyone. Already, there were answering shouts from the trees, enough to make an estimate on where Kenshin was. The redhead had to be close to the wall.

Kaoru was already moving, headed in the direction of the outcry. He snagged Yahiko’s wrist and sprinted after her, and swore again under his breath as he recalled certain complications. Kenshin was a damn fine swordsman, but Aki had broken his collarbone, and his sword was currently out of reach – not to mention Aoshi’s gloomy predictions on his likely state of health.

If the rurouni had a shred of sense he’d be trying to run... but if nothing else succeeded, sheer numbers would drag him down in the end.

---------

His tactic with the guards had bought him a few seconds, but that wasn’t enough to lose them, and both were hot on his heels. He heard answering shouts to the piercing shriek of the whistle, and knew he had limited time – others along the wall were eagerly diverting from their post for a chance to bring him down.

Whether that was a breach of discipline or a standing order to prevent his escape at all cost, was an issue Kenshin spared no thought for. He was pushing boundaries now, driving himself past limits he was seriously going to regret if he survived the night. His bare feet all but slid across the grass, the greater part of his thoughts consumed by the effort and the raw, burning hurt of running with a broken collarbone. He ran on blind instinct, concentrating solely on evading the grip of those pursuing him.

He used the terrain to his advantage, avoiding the snatch of hands by weaving sharply through the trees, keeping as many obstacles between himself and the enemy as possible. Erratic movement helped to compensate for his lack of speed – but he couldn’t keep it up indefinitely. He saw a figure lurch out of the trees to his right, lunging for him with a low growl of determination, and swerved in avoidance, stumbling on his feet as dizziness surfaced past the adrenalin. Kenshin staggered, dug fingers into bark to claw himself fully upright, and kept going, gritting his teeth as he immediately staggered again. He wasn’t going to win this race.

He also had no idea where he was going. This, too, was a problem.

Sanosuke solved it for him, with a bellowed shout, words clear, somewhere far ahead of him to the left. “Kenshin! Here!”

Here, Sano? He gave a wan smile. Even now, in desperate straits, he hesitated over that offered lifeline, if only because to accept it would be to draw his friends deliberately into a fight with the guards running him down. A brief and ingrained flash of concern, fought by the knowledge that a confrontation was inevitable in any case. He veered left, ducking under a low branch, and risked a glance behind him to see the numbers. Only three? He was sure there’d be more than that—

He skidded to a halt and twisted out of the way of the man who stepped out in front of him, and barely stopped himself from tumbling into the dirt as he avoided the hands that reached for a handhold in his hair. And then someone was tackling him from the other side, shoulder slamming into his chest, strong arms wrapping around him as he was driven to the ground.

Taken by surprise, it was all Kenshin could do to roll his weight to avoid landing on his shoulder. The impact sent agony jolting through him despite his best effort, breath driven from his body as his attacker landed heavily on top of him.

He was stunned, and struggling to fight off the strong desire to pass out, and barely noticed as the man stumbled upright to bark an order. The world spun dizzily past as others reached down to take hold of him. It threatened to vanished entirely when they dragged him up roughly by the arms. He didn’t have the breath to scream; fought to hang on to any sense of the situation as his captors changed grip to hold him like a ragdoll between them. He heard bitter laughter, and the sound of a sword being drawn.

Then they pushed him up against a tree, and laid the edge of the blade to his throat.

There were five of them, and more would arrive soon. He fought to regain control over his senses as one guard yelled the news of his capture, and cursed in tired frustration as he realised he had nothing left. Too tired, too injured by far to be able to break their grip, let alone defend himself. He sorted through the babble of voices, and realised they were arguing, an edge to their words that gave him the revelation that even now, despite having clear advantage, they were afraid of him.

“...can’t! We take him back to Bayushi-san!”

“Bayushi wants him dead.” A snarled reply, right in front of him. The wielder of the blade at his neck. “I say we save time and just cut his throat now.”

“That’s not your decision to make!”

“You’d rather we try and drag him back and fend off his allies at the same time?”

“It won’t come to that. They’ll surrender if his life’s at stake—“

His anger flared at the words. Kenshin forced his eyes open and glared in furious affront at the man who’d spoken. “Don’t you dare,” he hissed.

The guard recoiled from his gaze, face pale. He opened his mouth to retort – and was interrupted by the clear, angry tones of a girl’s voice that Kenshin knew quite well.

“Kansatsu tobikunai!”

Misao’s declaration of war, snarled from his right, snapped their attention away from him – and then the pressure of the sword was gone from Kenshin’s neck, as its wielder swung the blade up frantically in an attempt to defend himself from the brace of knives hurtling in his direction, thrown by a girl hidden in the trees. Two of his companions, caught in the path of her kunai, dived for cover. Kenshin ducked his head to the side in reflex, but her aim was true, targeted solely at those in front of him.

A moment later, the hold on his right arm dropped away as Aoshi appeared out of the darkness and struck the guard in the throat.

Bereft of support, Kenshin fell, half dragging the guard on his left with him. Aoshi flicked a kodachi out and over his red hair as the first man crashed to the ground, and rested the tip of the blade calmly under the other guard’s chin, voice cold. “Let him go.”

The guard snatched his hands away hurriedly, and was rewarded with a flip of the kodachi, hilt striking him hard in the face. And just like that, Kenshin was free, breathing hard on his knees, trying to blink the spots away from his vision.

There was silence for a moment, and then he heard Aoshi address him from the darkness above, his words almost inflectionless. “Stay down.” He moved to the attack before Kenshin could protest, drawing away from him to deal with the three remaining guards, recovering from the distraction of Misao’s kunai.

Stay down? There were going to be far more than three men to contend with in a few moments. He planted his good hand on the ground with the intent to push himself upright, and had to stop as the world turned sickly at the movement.

“Himura!” Misao materialised at his side, dropping to the grass. He glanced up to meet her worried look and summoned a weary smile, and winced inwardly as her gaze raked across him with growing shock, finally fastening on his shoulder. Her mouth set in a hard line of anger that didn’t suit her at all.

His voice was faint. “Misao-dono—“

“Don’t even think about telling me you feel fine, Himura,” she snapped, cutting him short. “Aoshi-sama will deal with the guards. If you try to get up before I’m done, I’ll yank you back down and pin you to the ground by your hair. Now, hold still.”

Taken aback at the absurd threat, Kenshin blinked and allowed her to push him gently back to rest against the bark, closing his eyes as her careful fingers fluttered coolly at his shoulder.

Tired as he was, he suspected he could do little else.