Author's note: Sorry about the delay on this chapter, after leaving you at a cliffhanger I had intended to get out the next chapter quickly but we were hit by a freaking CYCLONE can you believe? When I read back on things, I sounds like I'm making up excuse after excuse, and you probably think the next one will probably be 'the dog ate the chapter', but we were really hit by a cyclone. In addition to the power being out thus preventing my accessing the computer, I also spent a great deal of time running around with buckets to catch the water leaking through the ceiling. It's times like that I'm glad they're tearing the place down....
Response to Reviewers! (We have a record number of reviews for a chapter! Thanks everyone! Since there's so many of you, I'll try to keep my responses short, though.):
E-san: I'm not certain if you and Eanide might be the same person, but I did my best to get the update out as quickly as possible, sorry about the delay.
MsJadey: As it is with most traumatizing events in this fic, Kenshin tends to forget them in the light of more traumatizing events, which he then tries his best to make go away. At least, that was what I was trying to imply, but maybe I forgot to put that in there. My goodness, your pondering astounds me with its depth and as usual I amazed by your ability to analyse what's going on - and what's going to happen - so accurately. Interesting idea about Kenshin getting drunk, I'll have to think about that one.... I can't believe you actually looked up 'dirge'. You flatter me with the effort you put into your reviews. (Laughs). Thanks for the great review, as always.
Vesca: Glad to see you're still reading. Yeah, I made it somewhere, about time, ne?
Kaoru-Misao: Thanks very much, and I look forward the event of your first fanfic. See you around.
Crazy Girl Person: Because you didn't review the last chapter I will now block you as a user! Bwa ha ha! Nah, just kidding, is okay, really. Kenshin is most definitely not going to bother trying to talk himself out of sword wounds, that he is not. Confession time, everyone! (As if you couldn't see it coming. I am so predictable... T_T). Thanks for your review as always. See you around! (Do an update already, dammit! Pain here, pain!)
Emz: Cliffhangers sure pull in reviews..... as for the rest I think it's just you (grins). Yes, I insist, it's magic. Thanks for the review, as always!
Chiruken: Shock! I shocked someone! Wow! Yes, your comments made sense, I was thinking along the same lines whilst I was writing it. Your level of observation impressed me - I couldn't believe all the details you picked up! Though you certainly sound talented at making up lies yourself, I almost found myself believing Kenshin could pull off some explanation after reading your review, but no, if I get him out of this one again I might start getting hate mail. Anyhow, thanks for your review and hope you find those notes soon - I also went to your site and checked out the updates on 'Madness of a Hitokiri', and I'm hoping you keep working on that one, too! (cough, cough *free plug* cough cough). I'll send a separate E-Mail to review that one or something though, have to try and keep this section short here.
Eanide: Gee, I thought I'd been pretty good with the cliffhangers. I mean, I can think of at least a dozen even MORE evil ways to end that chapter and plenty of others, but I didn't! Ah well, I guess I'll take it as a compliment (being nigh impossible to insult me when in a good mood).
Hiko-and-Kenshin: Cliffhangers are a part of life, I'm afraid (sighs). Thanks for the review - what are you doing on a non-educational website at school? IT department! Internet misuse here! ;)
Kyanos: I'm glad you like the fic, even if the issues it deals with unsettle you (which is to be expected, I guess). Thanks very much for reviewing!
Whew, that took longer than I intended, sorry about that! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Enough from me, already, here's the chapter!
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Routine
Chapter 15 - Aftermath of a Brutal Encounter
By Sinnatious
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Hiko awoke with a throbbing headache the next morning. He didn't have a hangover AGAIN, did he? How annoying.
Such a thing wouldn't keep a master of the Hiten Mitsuryugi down for long, though. Sighing, he stood and went through the normal repetitive actions of preparing himself for the day. Better go wake up his baka deshi now, so he'd be ready by the time breakfast was prepared.
He didn't make it past the kitchen. Headache instantly forgotten, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the scene in shock. The place was a mess, furniture knocked over, and his sake jugs and cups still sitting out in the open. The next thing he noticed was the notorious coppery scent of blood. Stepping further into the room, wary now, he finally saw the door torn off its hinges, and splayed on that door in a pool of half-dried blood, the small figure of his baka deshi.
"Kenshin!" he exclaimed, running forward to the boy's side. The red-head was unconscious, and frighteningly pale. As far as Hiko could tell, most of the blood had come from a wound on his shoulder and a gash across his chest, though he was littered with other cuts and grazes all over his body. His right hand was still feebly curled around the hilt of his katana. What had happened?
There wasn't time to dwell on that now. Removing the katana from the boy's loose grip, he carefully picked him up and carried him inside. He gathered what bandages he could find, then set about examining his pupil's wounds. The one on his chest was mostly superficial, he decided, though it could always become infected so would have to be watched. It was the one on Kenshin's shoulder that concerned the swordmaster the most, though. Upon careful examination, Hiko was relieved to find it was only a flesh wound, though it had been a frighteningly short distance away from doing far worse. Once he was finished treating and wrapping the worst of the injuries, he gently carried the still-unconscious boy to his futon, replaced his torn and blood-stained gi with another, and sat down next to him to wait for his baka deshi to wake up.
What had happened? How had Kenshin come by those injuries? It was clearly done with a sword, and by a samurai with greater skill than the baka, but more disturbing was why hadn't that supposed confrontation awoken him? Even the presence of a ninja, skilled with hiding his ki, would be more than enough to wake the swordmaster, especially if it had been enough to wake his student. His suspicion deepened as he recalled how two days ago, Kenshin had suggested the sake had been bad, making him ill. He hadn't considered that the second jug might be tainted too, but even though he knew the sake hadn't been bad, he now began to entertain the notion that perhaps some added tasteless sedative had been strong enough to knock him out. If that were the case, the target was probably Kenshin and not himself, though for the life of him he couldn't figure out how many people even knew of the red-head's existence in addition to his own, much less as to why any of them would want to hunt them out and kill him. It was a continuous loop of reasoning that led him nowhere.
A clenching of his fists being the only visible sign of his frustration, Hiko was quite certain he was on the verge of discovering something, but kept missing one important piece, one important question. Kenshin was no doubt holding that piece, but until he woke up, there was nothing the swordmaster could do. Not that he was very happy about it. Like any other person, no Hiten Mitsuryugi master ever enjoyed the feeling of helpless waiting. Hiko, in fact, was quite certain he hated it.
After noting that several hours had passed and his apprentice still hadn't batted an eyelid, Hiko forced himself to leave his attentive post and go make some soup for the two of them. If the boy still hadn't woken in a couple of hours, he'd pour some down his throat - it was important to keep his strength up.
So the first day passed. In the afternoon, Kenshin did open his eyes briefly, but hadn't even really acknowledged that Hiko was even there, and mere minutes later was fast asleep again.
Hiko Seijuuro was uncharacteristically patient as he tended to the wounded boy. They were mostly flesh wounds, he knew, and would heal easily enough, as would his other bumps and scratches, but he had lost a fair amount of blood - not enough to be life-threatening, but enough to leave the youth weak and disorientated. His baka deshi drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of that day, but was still too out of it to even talk. He fell asleep next to his apprentice's futon that night, and upon waking the next morning saw the boy looking at him with a somewhat glazed expression on his face.
Embarrassed by being caught falling asleep next to his student's futon - visual concern was not something he was comfortable with ever displaying, he quickly shifted the focus back onto the youth. "You're awake again. About time," Hiko muttered. Obviously the teen could hear him, as his glazed expression lifted somewhat. Determined, as well as uplifted by this sign of recognition, the swordmaster continued, "If you can, you should tell me what happened." It was more of a command than a suggestion, but apparently it was to be ignored. Those lavendar eyes merely rolled back up to staring at the ceiling. It was apparent that he was more aware today, but didn't feel much like talking yet.
Hiko tried to curb his impatience as he forced food and water down his pupil's throat throughout the day once again. He was anxious to get at the bottom of what had happened and getting quickly on to the case of whoever dared hurt his baka deshi, and furthermore had the skill to, but there wasn't much he could do until the boy was willing, and strong enough, to talk. Just sitting there all the time, waiting for when Kenshin decided to vacate his temporary dreamland, was somewhat boring, though. Hiko attempted to do some meditation to pass the time, but was disappointed in himself when he found he was too rattled to concentrate. Meditation and other such calming activities would have to wait until AFTER he found out what had hurt his apprentice so badly, apparently.
On the third day, when he awoke again by his student's futon and saw his apprentice apparently still sleeping and thus being faced with many more hours of boredom and fruitless analysation, he admitted that they were almost out of food and Hiko wanted to get some more bandages to replace those he'd been using on Kenshin's wounds. As reluctant as he was to leave the boy's side, he was confident his pupil would be fine for a short while until he returned - his breathing was steady, and he didn't look quite so drawn or pale anymore. He left while the boy was still asleep, and resolved to make it a fast trip. Maybe while he was in town he could scourge some information as well, perhaps investigate as to whether some bandits, samurai or ninja had recently been seen in the area.
Kenshin kept his eyes closed and ki and breathing neutral until he was sure that his master was far away from the hut. Finally, once he was gone, he opened his lavendar eyes and looked around. He was amazed to still be alive, to be honest, even though he knew the wounds probably weren't enough to kill him. When Hiko Seijuuro said he was going to kill somebody, even if he WAS drunk they probably didn't usually live to hear his next sentence. He shuddered invisibly as the sharp ache in his shoulder brought back memories of that night. How many days had it been? No matter, it was irrelevant. He was touched, though, at how much Hiko had been caring for him - he'd been able to sense his Shishou by his side the entire time - well, all the times he'd been aware enough to, anyway. At first, that had only made him afraid, but apparently caring for injured baka deshis was reason enough to skip the regular drinking ritual, and he had calmed when he'd realised that the scent of sake was not on the man's breath.
Kenshin, though, was plauged by newer concerns, now. He'd been trying to construct a decent story for his Shishou for all the hours he'd been able to hold onto a coherent line of thought, but nothing, he knew, was going to sit. And even if Hiko had been willing to let everything slide simply on the account that there had been no solid evidence before, he was going to come down on him like a bag of bricks now. Hiko had treated the wounds himself, he knew they were real. There was no more denying it.
He had to tell Hiko the truth.
Yet every time he decided that, he shrank away from the thought. What would happen? How would his Shishou react?
It was too late to be contemplating ifs and maybes. He'd done it for too long already. If he didn't tell his Shishou now, then it was only a matter of time - mere days, if not hours - before the man reached the truth on his own. And that would be worse than Kenshin having to tell him himself.
He tried to let himself doze, thus limiting the amount of time he had to think before his Shishou returned and started demanding the answers. It seemed to work, because in all too short a time, Hiko was returning to the hut. He had a jug of sake, only one thank the Kami, as well as rice and vegetables in hand.
Once his master finished storing everything, he came into Kenshin's room to check on him again. As he did, the young swordsman opened his eyes and rolled his head to look at him.
"You're looking much better today," Hiko commented, remaining standing and keeping his distance as he usually preferred to do when the teen was awake.
Wincing, Kenshin struggled to sit up, and managed to do so without too much trouble. "Thank you for your help, Shishou."
Hiko disregarded it, as he usually did. "Since you're obviously strong enough to move, you can start telling me what happened."
So this was it, then. Kenshin's time was up. He couldn't avoid it any longer.
Still, the youth hesitated. Hiko didn't need to know EVERYTHING, did he?
....He needed to know the most important things, the swordsman resolved. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. It didn't help, so he took another.
Hiko remained patient, waiting for him to answer in his own good time. Finally, Kenshin murmured, "Shishou, I think it is time you know that I have not been completely honest with you lately."
Well, that was certainly no surprise to the Hiten Mitsuryugi master, who was now paying keen attention at what was looking to be the confession he'd long been hoping for. Could all of the other odd trends of behaviour he'd been noticing actually somehow be related to this recent incident? The laws of probability didn't favour a negative on that one. "Explain."
This was quite possibly the hardest thing Kenshin had yet done in his life. "Shishou..... you have been drinking much more than usual lately. For a couple of months now, actually."
Hiko frowned, figuring that he had been drinking a little more than usual, but still didn't quite see where this was going, though he was fairly sure he wasn't going to like it. "I'm aware of this. Your point?"
"You've been drinking too much, Shishou. You've been getting drunk every night. You can't even remember doing so the next day. That's why I've been sitting up every night while you drink."
He'd been getting drunk? He, Hiko Seijuuro, had been getting so drunk that he couldn't even recall the night before? As much as he wanted to deny it, the boy's words rang disturbingly true. It explained all of his missing time, certainly...... but it still didn't explain how his baka deshi had received those wounds. His mind stubbornly refused to make the connection it probably didn't want to make. "And what does this have to do with my waking up in the morning finding you in a puddle of blood? Who did that, baka deshi?"
Silence.
"Kenshin?"
The youth kept his head low, face hidden by his flame-coloured hair. His shoulders were quivering, concerning the older man. When he finally spoke, his pupil's voice was almost a whisper.
"It was you, Shishou."
Stunned silence.
The swordmaster was not prepared for that. He reeled at the words, mind exploding at this information. After a moment, he managed to get one word out. "How?"
"When you get drunk, Shishou, sometimes you act.... strangely. When you became angry, you would.... well...... you would hit me, Shishou. I always hid it from you, until the other night. That time, that was the first time you drew a sword on me." Kenshin voice's was shaking, now, barely audible.
He had.... he had done that?
Hiko, almost as if he wanted any proof that it wasn't true, unsheathed his katana for the first time since that night. His face paled when he saw the blood still staining the blade. Blood on his blade he didn't remember using. Blood that was his baka deshi's.
It was true. He'd been doing THAT to his innocent baka deshi? He was the one responsible for those wounds? He had tried to kill his own apprentice?
The silence that stretched on between them was torture. After an eternity, Kenshin raised his gaze to regard his Shishou. The man was standing completely still, staring at him wide-eyed. Kenshin had never seen his stoic master so shaken ever before.
It was the first time Hiko's faith in himself had been challenged. For many years, he'd been outwardly cynical of the world, but he'd always had some degree of confidence in his own decisions and integrity, even though at times he questioned it. But with three words, his pupil had shattered that. He, Hiko Seijuuro the 13th, had drawn a sword on his own beautiful apprentice.
"Shishou?" Kenshin asked worriedly.
Faced with the innocent stare of his victim, Hiko did the one thing he never thought he'd ever find himself doing.
He ran.
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As always, please don't forget to review.