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Bring Me to Life	By : Ookami13 Category: +S to Z > Samurai Deeper Kyo Views: 7467 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
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Chapter Ten:

Dyeing

“If you think for one minute I’m setting
foot in that hell hole, you’re fucking crazy!”

“Not like you have a choice.”

“Who says?”

He turned, lifting his head to meet Toge’s
gaze, “If you want to go back so badly, turn around and go. Just
find your way back. Go on, shoo.”

Turning to do just that, Toge
realized how cleanly they’d cut through the woods, nary a tree branch
bent the wrong way to even begin indicating which way they’d come,
meaning he had no chance of finding his way back without falling off several of
the cliffs they’d passed on their way here. He guessed them to be
about fifty miles from the boys’ home already, what with the pace Shinda had set, damn him.

Sighing, Toge fell in behind his
friend and immediately his thoughts turned to the night before, back when Shinda had revealed that his memories of anything before Sekigahara had suddenly left him the day before.

The day Shiina, Yuya-san
had come.

Toge shook his head to clear it,
just barely dodging a branch aimed for his face. He refused to believe
that Yuya-san had anything to do with it. He
was sure that Shinda would like to add it to his
‘Reasons to Hate Shiina, Yuya’
list, but even he had no proof that it was true. But there was no
evidence that it wasn’t true, either, which worried Toge.
He didn’t want Shinda to have anything against Yuya-san, she was a nice woman, undeserving of Shinda’s anger. If anything, he wished Shinda would be angry with him,
just for fighting to have Yuya-san stay with
them. Ha, a woman in an all boys’ school.

He wasn’t laughing,

Heaving another sigh, Toge focused
his thoughts instead on Shinda and their
problems. From what he remembered from four years ago — which
wasn’t very much — Toge recalled having
found Shinda wandering about wearing tattered clothes
and looking as though he’d nearly frozen to death, which had confused him
since it was the middle of summer.

He and Shinda had left their city
years ago, each of them joining the military before being transferred to
different units. While Toge had spent most of
his time in the infirmary, Shinda had been on the
battlefield before having met up with a band of those he called, ‘the
four riders of the Apocalypse’, for as he’d worded it, the four men
he’d met had enough power to destroy the world. Toge
had merely accepted this, for it was just like Shinda
to make an agreement with such men. Shinda had
been appointed as their messenger, going between the leader and the other
three. He’d said that there was one more, but that he’d never
met this last one. He’d even had an invitation to take the last
one’s place, but had declined it, saying he wanted to make a name for
himself on his own, just as their leader had done.

Toge had never been able to learn
much more than that. Shinda had traveled around
with them for a time before disappearing suddenly, only reappearing when Toge had found him clutching a piece of paper marked
‘Suzaku-san’ about 9 months after his
disappearance. Though he didn’t look as bad as some of the other
times Toge had seen him, something was disturbing
about him, as though he were missing a part of himself, had lost it sometime
between leaving the city and meeting up with Toge
there in the woods, his orange eyes looking dull, soulless, and so very empty.

He never wanted to see that again.

But then, that was Shinda’s
way.� He reveled in pain, and had even
claimed to feel more alive when in pain.�
To someone who’d named himself “dead” or “lifeless”,
he supposed even stubbing a toe was consider to be enough to feel alive.� Then again, Toge
doubted Shinda had ever been so clumsy as to stub a
toe.� The man had more grace, balance,
and elegance than a cat.

Despite Shinda’s way with the
sword, Toge even went so far as to doubt that his
companion had ever cracked a knuckle, whether intentional or by accident.� Through all the threats, Toge’s
near-deaths at the end of Shinda’s blade, and
even through his tough exterior, Shinda came from a
rich family.� With his parents dead, Shinda had every right to claim his fortune.

“If
he can get past his aunts and uncles.”� Toge thought as he
ducked beneath a branch that Shinda could just walk
under… must be nice to be short.

Since learning the truth about the deaths of Shinda’s parents, it made sense that they’d
allow him to claim his rightful place… after completing a certain task that
not even Toge knew.

“China.”

Toge shook his head in an effort to clear it, “What?”

“That’s where I was at age nine.� I had been told that there was an astronomer
there who wished to tell me some important news.� It was too important to send in a mere
letter, and so he had summoned me to him, and I went.”

“What did he tell you?”� Toge asked,
intrigued by Shinda’s sudden openness.

“Mostly things I already knew.� Things about my aunts and uncles taking over —
never elaborated how — and then the other thing has not yet come to pass,”
he said, shifting the sword on his back as he walked under yet another branch that
made Toge bow down to it, “so I won’t
speak of it until I’m sure it will
come to pass.”

“Nervous?”

“Cautious.”

“Superstitious?”

“To an extent.”

“Ah,” Toge nodded as
they approached the village that they were supposed to have been going to
rather than Aokigahara, “Tamanori-san
will still want us to do our thing here.�
We’ve got the papers for it.”

“You know I’ll condemn you to Hell.”

“I’ve already been condemned there… by none
other than you, of course.� Several times, in fact.”

Shinda sighed, “You’re
not going to come to Aokigahara if I don’t do
this for you, right?”

“I actually hadn’t thought about that, but since
you brought it up…”

“All right, all right.� How long will we be here?”

“Just a little while, I swear.”

“And how long is ‘a little while’ to you?� Four or five days?”

Toge grimaced, “Um… two
weeks?”

There was a dagger at his throat, “I’ll give you
one.� One week here and then we go to Aokigahara.�
Understand?”

“Yea.� Sure.� Gotcha, Shinda-sama.� No problem.”

“Good.”

Leading the way into the village by the light of the oncoming
dawn, Shinda quickly scanned the area as he usually
did, checking — in Toge’s opinion —
to see if any of his family had come to ambush him or whatnot.� He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Shinda was paranoid so much as he was just…
aware.� Especially in
new places.� He always checked
everything, had to know everyone.� A curious
cat, Shinda was, and they both knew what curiosity
did to a cat…

“Hey, uh, Shinda-sama?� Think you could tone down the investigation?”� He asked, watching his comrade crawl out from
under a rack of firewood.

“Why?� I need to
know my surroundings.”

“Under firewood?”

“It leads to a crawl space beneath that building,”
he said, pointing to the building where the firewood was stacked beside, “big
enough for twenty.� Hasn’t
been used in years.� We’ll
reside there.”

“Oh no we won’t.� we’re gonna sleep on warm futons, a comfy pillow, and none of
that rugged outdoor stuff.”

“You sleep
inside, then.”

“We hafta sleep in the
place.� Same room, too.� Even, um, the same bed.� Tamanori-san made
the arrangements, not me.”� Toge added quickly as he’d noticed Shinda’s aura being drawn further into his body so as
to be undetectable… a sure sign that he was pissed.

He calmed slightly, “Next time I see him, I’ll
kill that man.� Then I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Then you’re gonna hate
him even more when you see the names he’s give us… plus the reason
why we’re here.”� Toge said as he gave Shinda their
traveling papers.

“The man gets worse than death,” Shinda said at last, having glanced over their papers, “I’ll
hang him from a tree over a cliff by fine twine and have him hanging by his…”

“C’mon, Shinda-sama.� If we’re going to accomplish this, you
have to get moving.”� Toge said as he handed his companion the extra bag he’d
brought while herding him back into the woods to change.

30 minutes later…

“I’m going to kill him.� I’m going to kill you.� I’m going to kill the next person —
and all thereafter — who so much as breathes
on me.”

Toge tried to chucked, but decided
not to hold his breath, “Not without your weapons.� Can’t do anything
without those.”

“One: who said I gave them all to you?� Two: who told you that I needed weapons to
kill?� Three: my hands are never
empty.� So do you feel as secure now?”

“Nope.”� Toge admitted with
a gulp.

“Tell me again why
I’m blindfolded.”

They stopped in front of the door, “Because your eyes
are recognizable and it’ll give you an excuse to stay in the room all
day.� Now sshhh!”

“Don’t you tell me to…”� Shinda stopped when
he heard Toge knock on the inn’s door.

An elderly man answered, “Why hello there!� You must be the newlyweds Tamanori-san
mentioned.� Welcome, welcome!”

Despite the warm welcome, Shinda
was really starting to hate elderly men.�
Tamanori-san especially, and all those who considered him ‘friend’.� He should have discussed his plans with them
before passing them as newlyweds.� He
wouldn’t have minded passing as Toge’s
brother; but as Toge’s wife?� That was pushing it.

“Thank you for having us,” Toge
was saying as they were ushered into a warm room, Toge
holding onto Shinda’s elbow, and someone —
the old man’s wife, he assumed — was touching his hair and prattling
about something or other, “my wife and I can’t thank you enough for
taking us to early in the morning.”

“You really do have lovely hair, uh…”

“Ah, Imari,
meet Shirogane, Toge and Shira-san.�
And do forgive us for not introducing ourselves.� I am Ryushi and
this is my wife Imari.� It isn’t often we have visitors, so
first names are just fine by us.”

Another thing about the elderly: they were too damn friendly
and not honest enough.� The only reason Shinda could think of for them not to give last names was
because they were wanted criminals.� He’d
have to research an Imari and Ryushi.

They were being led elsewhere now, Toge
mumbling something about stairs, so Shinda assumed
they were being taken to their room.� It
was odd, he mused, to wear a woman’s kimono.� He was getting memories, however, of a time
when wearing a woman’s kimono
had been common practice, though the reason why still eluded him.� At least Toge had
let him wear hakama
underneath, as well as his bandages about his wrists and ankles.� Loathe though he’d been to admit it —
especially to Toge — Shinda
had always had weak wrists.� He had even
weaker ankles, which should have made it nigh impossible for him to be the
swordsman that he was; but if it was anything Shinda
knew about pain, it was this:

It could be ignored.

“We hope you find your room to be to your liking; if it
isn’t, we will do anything we can to make your week here a most
comfortable one.”

Shinda rolled his eyes from behind
his blindfold, listening to the door close and their hosts’ feet going away
from their room.� Probably looking for a
wallet to pilfer.� He heard Toge sigh.

“Well?� Whaddya think?”

“About the load of bullshit we were just given?� Let me see… that would be Grade A
bullshit, ten out of ten.� As to the
people themselves, keep your wallet close.”� Shinda commented
dryly as he removed the blindfold to narrow his orange eyes in Toge’s direction while standing in front of a desk.

Toge was looking out the window, “Why
didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Your hair.� Why didn’t you tell me that it was
dyed?”

“Never came up,” Shinda
said, fingering the dark red strands absently, “I don’t even
remember when I started dying it black or why.�
I just kept doing it every morning.�
Get up early, mix the dye, and then have black hair until my evening
bath.� I just woke up one morning and had
the desperate need to have black hair.”

Toge turned to look at Shinda, whose hair was loose about his shoulders, the tips touching
the backs of his thighs.� It was dark red
in color, or maybe a vermillion.�
Whatever the color, it showed his orange eyes like beacons, as though
they were on… fire.

Hot, burning, endless fire.� A fire that could consume anything placed in
its path.� There was only one other man that Toge knew of with eyes
like those.� Toge
had seen him at Sekigahara, and his hair was just as red.� Shinda had met him.�
Spoken to
him.� Fought with him.

Had walked away alive and in one piece.

But he didn’t remember.

“Onime no Kyo…”� Toge breathed,
seeing a flicker of recognition in Shinda’s
eyes at the mention of the name.

Right before he hit the ground.
- 11
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