Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Crimson Hearts	By : roryheadmav Category: +S to Z > Samurai 7 Views: 3229 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai 7, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
DISCLAIMER: This story is a non-commercial
work of fiction based on the anime/manga Samurai 7. Original copyright
of Samurai 7 belongs to Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo
Oguni, MICO, GDH, GONZO. Absolutely no monetary gain has been made with
this work.
CRIMSON HEARTS

© October 23, 2005 By Rory
V. Pascual

CHAPTER SEVEN: Explain!
A wry grin rose at the corners of
Kyuzo's mouth as he silently observed the man walking before him. Although
he tried to conceal his movements through the voluminous sleeves of his
robes, slight jerks at the elbows revealed to the crimson samurai how desperately
Kanbei was trying to remove the band around his wrist.
Moving closer to the older man, Kyuzo
mumbled, "You'd better give it up. It's never going to come off."
Kanbei flopped his arms wearily to
his sides. The sun crystal on his wrist glowed brightly at his surrender.
"I can't believe that you've returned from the grave once more to torment
me. And I see that you've even brought company with you."
"Why?" Shichiroji asked, hearing
that last remark. "Is our presence not welcome here?"
"If you had any sense, you would've
stayed as far away from here as possible."
It was Kikuchiyo who spoke up next.
"You cannot blame your friends for coming. When they heard that the Amanushi
was seeking you out, they decided to search for you as well to warn you
of the impending danger upon your life. When we learned that you were here,
it was but natural for us to come to find out the truth."
Kanbei glanced at the red-haired
young man behind him. "I believe we have not met, and yet you remind me
of someone we had lost. Two people, in fact."
"Yes, I was told by the villagers
at Kanna how much I resembled the late Heihachi-sama. As for my name, I
am Kikuchiyo. Truth be told, the Kikuchiyo you had known was a dear friend
and mentor to me."
"They were good men. Do them proud."
"I intend to, Kanbei-sama." Kikuchiyo
discretely put in, "However, this�incident�leaves us with a lot of questions
that we are hoping that you could answer."
It was Kirara who was unable to contain
herself. "What is this all about, Kanbei-sama? Is it true what I just heard?
Please tell me that you have not allied with that man, much more consented
to be his consort."
Kanbei let out an exasperated sigh.
"The hallway is not the place to talk of such matters. Come with me."
Their leader led them to a small
greeting hall. It did not surprise Kyuzo to see Kanbei take his place at
the platform, kneeling with great care on the plush cushion. The elder
samurai still wanted to make it clear who was of higher rank among them.
"Kanbei-sama, please do not be angry
that we have come to inquire about your well-being," Rikichi started the
discussion.
"No, Rikichi," Kanbei said with a
shake of his head. "I am not angry. I was merely surprised that all of
you showed up."
"Tell us, Sensei," Katsushiro replied
with grave concern. "Were you abducted by the Amanushi? How did you come
to be in this place?"
"I was invited by the Amanushi to
the Capital."
Kyuzo's right eyebrow raised a notch.
He did not need the warmth of the crystal on his wrist to tell him that
Kanbei was lying between his teeth.
That slight gesture did not escape
the samurai's notice. Still, he continued, "After long talks with the Amanushi,
he has convinced me that he only has good intentions for this land and
its people. Because of this, I agreed to serve as his Royal Adviser."
"You call plundering the villages
'good intentions'?" Kirara asked, aghast. "People are starving because
of these stringent laws that have been imposed upon them. You yourself
authored these laws together with the Amanushi."
"It has to be done if we are to rebuild
the nation. We all have to make sacrifices."
"It doesn't look like you've been
making any sacrifices," Shichiroji pointed out the fact. "I must admit
it distresses me to see you all decked up in finery like this. The Shimada
Kanbei I had known was a very simple man, harboring no grand ambitions
except to serve his lord and his people well. I am not surprised
that the people of Kougakyo believe that you had betrayed them."
"Let them think what they will,"
said Kanbei firmly. "All this is for their best interests."
It is Kyuzo who spoke up then.
"Is it in your best interests to accept Amanushi's proposal to become his
Imperial Consort?"
"Kanbei-sama, did the Amanushi do
anything to you?" Katsushiro interrupted. "I mean, you're not�in love�with
him, are you?"
"Please do not be offended with our
queries, Kanbei-sama," Rikichi hastily put in, "but I find it disturbing
that you sound so much like my wife Sanae after she was kidnapped by Amanushi."
"My personal feelings are of no consequence
in this matter," was Kanbei's curt reply. "I am a samurai, and it is my
duty to obey my lord's commands. If he believes that I would serve him
and this land better if I were to become his Imperial Consort, then so
be it."
Kirara slammed her crossbow down
on the floor. "No! I refuse to believe that you have allied yourself with
that tyrant! The Amanushi must have brainwashed you or something. The Kanbei-sama
that I know would never allow himself to become the Imperial Consort of
a man like the Amanushi."
"Then it goes to show how little
you know about me." Kanbei found this discussion too disturbing that he
got to his feet. "Like I said earlier, I do not need any bodyguards. I
can take care of myself. You are all free to leave if you so choose."
"Do you think I would abandon you
now after all this time?" asked Shichiroji. "I'll stay here." His eyes
narrowed at the older warrior in suspicion. "I think you are hiding something
from us. It isn't like you to be acting this way. I intend to get to the
bottom of this."
"I choose to stay as well," Rikichi
said in sheer determination. "I know I am not a samurai like you are, but
I have been practicing with both Gorobei-sama's sword and a bow. I want
to protect you in any way I can. Besides, I won't allow that you become
like Sanae."
Kanbei gave the brave farmer a wan
smile. "Thank you, Rikichi, but even if I become the Amanushi's Imperial
Consort, I do not love him. I only do this for the sake of the people."
"As you've said many times. Well,
I am certainly not going anywhere," Kikuchiyo put in. "Komachi would not
forgive me if I abandoned all of you. And, it's not every day that you
get to be inside a great Honmaru battleship such as this. I've always wanted
to see how such an aircraft works."
"Yes," the elder samurai gave him
a meaningful smile that Kikuchiyo readily understood. "It would be good
to have someone who knows the ins and outs of this particular battleship."
Katsushiro trained nervous green
eyes at Kyuzo. The crimson warrior knew what the younger samurai wanted
and, at first, he was reluctant to do so. In the end, he surrendered the
sword he was carrying to Katsushiro.
Falling to his knees before his mentor,
Katsushiro raised the katana to him in offering. "Kanbei-sama, you would
need this to defend yourself."
Kanbei's frowned at the sight of
his trusty sword. "But I gave it to you. It is yours."
"No, Sensei. In these three years
that I have traveled, I realized that I am not worthy of this sword. I
beg you to take it back. You have need for it now, much more than I do."
"Yes, you will have need for
it," Kyuzo told the elder warrior bluntly. "Don't forget that you
and I still have unfinished business."
With great hesitation, Kanbei gripped
the hilt of his sheathed katana and slung it on his belt at his left hip.
It felt strange to have his sword again. Quietly, he told the young samurai,
"Thank you, Katsushiro. I will consider this merely borrowed from you.
I shall return it once everything is settled."
Kyuzo gave an angry Kirara a sharp
glare. "What about you, Kirara-dono? If you are not agreeable with this
situation, then you are free to go."
"Do you think you can get rid of
me that easily?" Kirara hissed. "The more I must stay here, not only to
protect Kanbei-sama from a pervert like the Amanushi, but from a bloodthirsty
killer like you as well."
"No," Kanbei quickly countered. "The
Capital is no place for a young woman." He turned to Katsushiro. "You and
Kirara-dono are to stay in Kougakyo, whether it be with Ayamaro or Masamune.
But inform us of where you'll be."
"But, Sensei, we would rather stay
with you."
"Do not contradict my wishes, please!
Besides, I will not forbid you from coming. In fact, I want you to be here
every day. If all of you are to serve as my bodyguards, I will have to
train you myself. I am a hard taskmaster. I will only expect the best from
you."
"Even from me?" Kyuzo asked wryly.
"Especially you, if you wish to fight
me. Don't think I don't know that you are merely Kyuzo's clone. I've seen
how you fought earlier and your moves are not as quick or as smooth as
the original's. You need the training. I do not want my opponent to be
in nothing less than his best form."
"I don't think that is wise, Kanbei-sama,"
interrupted Kirara. "If you train him, he will have an advantage over you.
He will learn every skill that you know."
"And I, in turn, shall learn his
skills as well, which would make our coming duel an even match, don't you
think?"
Kanbei pulled on a bell rope, and
a servant instantly appeared. Waving to Kyuzo, Shichiroji, Kikuchiyo and
Rikichi, he commanded, "Please bring these four gentlemen to their quarters.
They are my bodyguards whom Amanushi-sama had hired to protect me. As for
this young man and woman, please have them escorted safely into Kougakyo.
Give them a pass so that they may enter the Capital as they please."
The servant bowed obediently and
did as he was told. However, Kyuzo gestured to the man with a raise of
his hand. Shichiroji looked warily at the warrior, but did not say anything
as they were escorted outside the meeting hall.
A heavy silence fell between the
two men as they were finally left alone.
"You should go with them, Kyuzo."
"My place is at your side. For now,
I will serve you as I had served Ayamaro-sama and all the other lords before
him."
Kanbei whirled around to face the
younger man, extending his right hand to him. The sun crystal glowed brightly
on his wrist. "I command you take this off. You do not need this to guard
me."
"Not to guard you, but for me to
know where you are." Kyuzo took Kanbei's hand and clasped it tightly in
his own, showing the moon crystal adorning his wrist as well. "I will not
be separated from you ever again, not until that matter between us is over.
I look forward to learning from a master samurai such as yourself."
"I told you this before, Kyuzo. I
cannot defeat you. You are formidable adversary. I've seen your skills
for yourself. I only said that I would train you because I could see that
you are not in your usual form."
"I blame that on you. I have awakened
from slumber too soon. I heard you call out my name. That's why I sought
you out."
Kanbei looked at Kyuzo in confusion.
"But I never called out to you. I admit that I had prayed for the redemption
of your soul, as well as for eternal peace for Gorobei, Heihachi and Kikuchiyo.
Not once did I call out your name."
"You probably wouldn't remember or
you simply chose to forget. I believe you called out to me at that very
moment when you were taken by the Nobuseri." Kyuzo felt Kanbei jerk back
in surprise, but he refused to let go of the older man's hand. "I will
not ask what happened to you after the Nobuseri brought you here to the
Capital. Amanushi's intentions were all too obvious to me when he announced
that you would become his Imperial Consort. Our comrades would readily
believe what you had told them, not wanting to think that you are serving
Amanushi in that capacity, most especially Kirara-dono. She is still
madly in love with you, you know. It would be a painful thing to have her
image of you shattered."
"I am protecting Kanna Village from
the Amanushi," Kanbei hissed in his face. "How I do it is no one's business!"
"And so you destroy yourself, your
dignity as a warrior with this noble sacrifice. But let me guess. Sometimes
it wears on you, doesn't it? There are times when you want to do one thing
or another." Kyuzo's right hand closed around the hilt of Kanbei's katana.
"Perhaps I should take this back. I don't want you to do anything stupid."
"If you think that I'm going to kill
Amanushi, you're wrong. I won't do anything so reckless."
"I didn't say that you were going
to kill the Amanushi. I fear that you would try to kill yourself, and I
certainly don't want that to happen. No matter what they say, I never considered
seppuku
an honorable death. I would rather that you die a warrior at my hands
than a tainted samurai."
Saying this, Kyuzo pushed Kanbei
against the wall and gave him a heated kiss that stole the older man's
breath away. It took great effort for Kanbei to wrench his head away from
those passionate lips.
"No!" Kanbei gasped out, wiping his
mouth with the back of his hand. "You are not the Kyuzo that I had known.
Prove yourself to me first before you could take such liberties upon me."
Kyuzo grinned in sarcasm. "Are you
saying that if I become the Kyuzo that I had once been, you would allow
what was between us to continue?"
"I am not saying that! Damn it! Your
audacity appalls me! To bind yourself to me is an insult to the Amanushi!
If you will only remove this accursed band� I cannot give you more, except
my solemn oath that I will settle the score between us! Leave it at that!"
"I'm afraid I cannot do that." There
was deep sorrow in the crimson samurai's eyes as he caressed the elder
warrior's cheek. "As a samurai and as a man, I swore to myself that I would
redeem you, and I shall."
Kanbei squeezed that hand that had
touched his cheek. "You should have forgotten about me. I am too far gone
to be redeemed."
"Have you gone to him willingly?"
"No. Never! But when I become his
Imperial Consort�"
Kyuzo looked straight into Kanbei's
brown eyes. "It is when you have completely surrendered to circumstance
is the only time that I will give up on you." Kissing him one last time,
he murmured, "Never surrender, Kanbei-sama. For all our sakes, never give
up."
In silence, the crimson warrior walked
out of the meeting hall, leaving a distraught Kanbei to mull on his determined
words.

* * * * * * * * * *
- 7
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Crimson Hearts