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Concessions	By : lawless Category: Rurouni Kenshin > General Views: 3636 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
CONCESSIONS
by Lawless

"There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good." ~ Gandhi

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DISCLAIMER: This is a fanfic. I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters.

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Chapter 15: A Name's Worth

Sano kept running, pounding along the alleyways of Tokyo. He was merciless with himself but he did not care if he pushed his body to the brink of exhaustion. Only one thought occupied his mind and only one name to accompany it.
Megumi!
Puffing hard on this already hot morning, he remained oblivious to the person tailing him, until he came upon a bend in the road and had to slow down his pace a bit. It was then that he noticed the light treads sounding behind him. He whipped his head around in that direction and saw the blue uniform fluttering lightly in the wind, the long braid, sea-green eyes narrowed against the hard glint of the sun.
It was Makimachi Misao.

o0o
Kyoto
(One day before the events of Chapter 13)
"I can't believe you didn't tell me any of this!" Misao huffed, staring incredelously at the dignified though gaunt form of her jiya who was nonchalantly sipping his cup of tea and looking for all intents and purposes not bothered at all by her display. In her frustration, she let out a colorful curse which caused the jaded old man to glance at her in disapproval.
"I do not appreciate cursings in this household, young lady," Okina said, fixing her with a hard glare.
Misao remained unperturbed as she rolled her eyes and squatted on the floor directly across him. Okina studied her steadily for a moment before replacing his cup on the table next to him. His movements were measured; he was buying time.
How do you explain a matter that was decades in the making?
Misao, of course, deserved to know about it. After all, she was okashira. But he would have preferred it if she had not found out. It was easier if she didn't know, he mused quietly, then sighed as he realized how futile that was. He lived a life where no secrets remained one for long. Espionage, secret identities, intrigue - these were normal occurences in the life of the Oniwabanshuu. There was no avoiding it.
Right after the Red Lantern agent, Huang Li Wei, left the Aoi-ya, Okina had sent a note capsule by carrier pigeon to Aoshi in Tokyo to warn him of her coming. That was perhaps the second mistake he made. The first was not telling Misao about it in the first place. Then, she would not have found the note and she would not be facing him now with those fiery green eyes of hers.
But if there was anything Okina learned during his long, hard life, it was the futility of regretting the mistakes one makes.
"Jiya?"
Okina lifted his faded eyes, unconsciously steeling himself against the firebrand that was her. He saw that Misao was returning his gaze just as intensely, sea-green eyes earnest with curiosity and...something else. Something deeper.

There was passion there. And hurt.

Ah, he exclaimed mentally. Sometimes he forgot that Misao was already a grown woman. Perhaps it was because she rarely showed this side of her.

She spoke softly, a hint of accusation and betrayal in her tone, "I can't believe you hid this from me."
Okina felt a pang of remorse but before he could speak, Misao interrupted.
"I know you have your reasons, jiya," she said, "but onegai, tell me what I need to know."
There was the slightest hint of pleading in her tone of voice and so with remorse filling him, he told her.
Everything.
He had always been susceptible to her wiles.
When it was all over, Misao immediately packed her bags to leave for the capital. It was to be expected and Okina vaguely remembered that this was precisely the reason he never told her. Once Misao made up her mind on things, there was no stopping her, nor would anyone dare. On her way out, she encountered the tall figure of her husband coming in. She did not speak to him but she gave him a glare of defiance as if to challenge. Aoshi's face remained impassive even when she took her leave of the Aoi-ya only hours after she arrived. Her chin was tilted in that stubborn angle and her strides were long and determined, all testament to her decision that broke no argument from both men.
From inside the restaurant-inn, Okina watched his granddaughter walk away, saw Aoshi look at the young woman for a moment before approaching the old onmitsu with a question in his pale blue eyes.
"Tokyo," Okina said to the silent inquiry.
"You're not stopping her," the younger man commented.
"She's your wife," the gray-haired man said in passing as he prepared to step back inside.
Aoshi did not even blink when he turned to follow.

"She's your granddaughter."

o0o
Tokyo
(Normal time-flow)
Misao had earlier seen Sano dash out of Katsu's row house, running like the very hounds of hell were at his heels. From the set look on Sano's face, she surmised that he had discovered something of great importance - no doubt concerning the syndicates.
She followed him immediately, calling out his name a few times but he did not seem to hear, until finally, Sano suddenly turned to her, eyes wide in startled puzzlement.
"Misao!" He exclaimed, halting his steps abruptly.
Misao took this opportunity to jog up to his side, grimacing slightly as she struggled for breath. "Sano," she gasped out after a moment, still panting as she added, "there's something I must tell you."
She watched different expressions chase each other across his face before it finally settled to a look that was unreadable.
"Go on," he told her quietly.
"I think you know already," Misao said, studying his face and noting his reaction. "Huang Li Wei came to see jiya about six days ago," she informed him, still keeping a close eye on his face which had gone stony and pale. "She wanted our help to get the formula for the Spider's Web -"
"She doesn't have it," Sano cut in. "Megumi," he added, his sentence fragmented.
Misao nodded in agreement. "Hai, but she insisted. To try to convince us, she offered us two names." Here, she had to pause, silently gauging his reaction but Sano did not disclose anything, not even the tiniest clenching of the jaws or hitching of the breath.
"She gave us your name, Sano," Misao finally said.
Sano's eyebrows drew together but other than that, there was nothing.
"And the other one?" He asked, already knowing the answer yet helpless to ask it.
"Yazaki Gi."

o0o
It was almost noon and the streets were deserted.
Kaga looked around him carefully, watching out for any curious by-standers. In a neighborhood like this, it was an undue precaution but the habit had been deeply ingrained in him. It was hard to get rid of.
Only one guard stood outside the door but Kaga guessed correctly that there could be more inside. Ever since that Mu Long arrived from Hong Kong, no less than five guards went wherever Yazaki went. These five were remarkably similar in build so that at first glance, one could mistake them for brothers. They all had shaved heads, leaving only the long braids that hung down to their knees. On their right forearms was a black tattoo of a three-headed dragon - the seal of the San Tiulung.
"O-hayo gozaimasu," he greeted the guard pleasantly as he approached.
The guard was not San Tiulung but he gave Kaga a thorough glance from head to foot before stepping aside to let him in. Inside, the five San Tiulung guards stood at attention, their tiny black eyes boring at him. Kaga nodded in acknowledgment.
During these past few days, he had often visited Yazaki, serving as his eyes and ears of the streets. He was Yazaki's spy and the every guard knew that just as they knew that no one else besides those privy to their affairs knew the location of this geisha house.
Kage removed his slippers and took a step in.
The receiving room of the geisha house was empty. But this was not unusual at this time of the day. Kaga proceeded towards the next room, his steps muffled by his socks.
Suddenly, a sharp peal of laughter arrested him as a young geisha, fourteen, maybe fifteen years of age, dressed in gaudy clothes and wearing heavy make-up, slipped out of the adjacent room. She stopped when she caught sight of Kaga, standing there like a statue. Then, she smiled bashfully, brightly affecting a blush as she lowered her eyelashes and covered her mouth demurely.
"Sumimasen," she murmured as she walked past him and disappeared down the hall.
Kaga blinked.
"Is that you, Kaga-san?" A voice called out.
The sound came from that adjacent room. Kaga followed it.
The room was a square room, poorly lit, letting in almost no light save for the gloomy shine that managed to stream in through the semi-transparent paper paneling of the eastern wall. The sweet scent of perfume mixed with the somewhat acrid smell of incense burning filled his nostrils.
The lamps had not been lit. Kaga squinted his eyes to see more clearly.
He was lying supine on a futon, a pale-faced geisha hovering over him. Her slender hands glistened with oil which she rubbed on Yazaki's bare back.
There were scars on his back. Vicious remnants of healed skin. Pale pink lacerations criss-crossing the sallow skin.
Whip marks. Kaga gave an involuntary shudder. Marks of the San Tiulung.
They were not ordinary scars and they certainly did not belong on the skin of one such as Yazaki Gi. Like many of Yazaki's men, Kaga had heard rumors of how their employer got those hideous scars on his back. One persuasive story was that the scars were a result of Yazaki's near-death experience while in prison and his initiation into the San Tiulung.
It seemed plausible and Kaga believed it to be true.
Yazaki suddenly turned his head to glance at him. He was not wearing his glasses and Kaga saw for the first time the black, beady eyes without the hindrance the spectacles provided. Yazaki's eyes were black like the night. Dark, so dark that it looked as though they could suck out the light right out of a room.
Kaga felt strangely out of place underneath the scrutiny of his black gaze. Then, Yazaki laid his face back down on the pillow. He made a gesture with his hand as he spoke, his voice sounding muffled, "Sit. I need to think."
Kaga obeyed and for several moments, with nothing better to do, Kaga let his eyes and thoughts wander.
"What's the word on McKay?" Yazaki asked abruptly. He was still lying on the futon and his head did not move.
Kaga was jarred from his thoughts so that it took him a moment to reply. "I have not been at liberty to find out but considering his disposition since I last saw him, we should have the formula soon enough," he said finally.
Yazaki suddenly flipped over to his side to cast a hard glare at him. If the geisha attending to him was surprised, her face did not show it. She merely collected the vial of oil which fell on the floor, capped it, and waited. Her movements were infinitessimally patient and refined.
"Soon is not enough!" Said Yazaki in a loud voice. "We are not the only ones who want the formula," he scolded.
Kaga lowered his eyes and murmured, "Gomen nasai, Yazaki-sama. I will have someone see David-san immediately."
"Iya. You go," Yazaki said. "And while you're at it, pick out five of your best men. It's time we take the first aggressive step."
Kaga saw the glint in the black pits of Yazaki's eyes and he could not suppress himself from stiffening a little. Those eyes were filled with nothing but hatred and revenge.

"Hai, Yazaki-sama," he said.

o0o
Megumi sat down slowly, her mind still whirling from what she'd just been told. She stared up at David but her eyes were wide and unfocused.
It's not possible. It can't be possible!
He's alive...
"Megumi?"
David was looking at her, blue eyes deep with concern and consternation. A little behind him stood the lean figure of Saitou Hajime.
The former Shinsengumi captain was wearing his dark blue officer's uniform and a noncommittal expression on his angular face. The smoke coming from the cigarette that perpetually dangled from his thin lips proved a gray, hazy curtain between them.
"It is for your own best interest that you stay away from Tokyo, Takani-sensei," he was saying, the cool tone of his voice belying the concern that should have accompanied his words.
His presence was what caught Megumi's attention at first. Earlier, David came to her, saying that he had to tell her something. Curious, she followed him in only to find Saitou waiting there. Her startlement caused her speechlessness as she could do nothing but stand there.
David then hastened to explain everything to her, starting from the very beginning when he first met her at the hospital in Aizu and how he played a part in the complicated mess that apparently existed on account of her. He apologized profusely, almost begging, but Megumi had become deaf to that, hearing only two words over and over.
A name.
A name she never hoped to hear again.

- oo - TO BE CONTINUED - oo -

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A/N 15th Chapter. I have decided to re-write this chapter because the old version placed me in a very sticky situation. And I mean that literally, too. I was stuck. That's partly the reason why the updates are incredibly slow. I still think this new version could use a few more tweaks but I'm afraid it will take me forever to finally get it right. So, because I owe you guys a long overdue update, I decided to just post this for now. Call it a draft or whatever. I just wanted to get this chapter over with so I can go on to the next. Thankfully, I have manged to write several portions of chapter 16 already. I'm hoping to be able to piece it all together for an update next week. For now, toodles! And thanks for not losing your hope in me.
- 15
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Concessions