Himura Battousia Book 2: Kenshins Past
Copyright© 2007 by Trojan_85
Part 169: Remembrances 5--Madness
If I had been carrying a sword that night, would you have-- (Kenshin is sitting alone in his room, staring out the window.)
Kenshin (thinking): That was two weeks ago.
(Tomoe opens the door, broom in hand.)
Tomoe: I'm going to clean this room. Please leave for a while.
Kenshin: I don't remember asking you to clean it.
Tomoe: Okami asked me to.
In the midst of all this confusion, Yukishiro Tomoe has settled in with us. Kenshin (as he's getting down from the windowsill): What's this notebook?
Tomoe: That's my diary. Don't read it, please.
Kenshin: (As if I would!) (thinking): She really has settled in.
Tomoe (tucking the notebook inside her obi): Just to be sure.
(Kenshin storms out. In the hallway, he runs into Iizuka.)
Iizuka: Hey, Himura!
Kenshin: Iizuka.
Iizuka: Why the long face? You have a fight with Tomoe?
(Kenshin, with dark Battousai eyes, reaches for his sword.)
Iizuka: Okay, okay! What's eating you? Jeez.
Kenshin: Did you want something?
(Iizuka holds up a black envelope.)
Iizuka: It's tonight. Take care of it.
When the black envelope is sent, it means it will rain blood in the Kyoto night. Only the single-minded repetition of Heaven's justice... (Later that night. Kenshin comes in and washes his hands; Tomoe watches him.)
Tomoe: Do you intend to keep killing like this?
(Kenshin doesn't answer.)
(The next day. Katsura, Iizuka and Katakai are sitting in a teashop, looking to passers-by like three strangers.)
Iizuka: Her way of speaking, her bearing, the way she's accustomed to live, even her taste in food--she's not from the capital. Since she can read and write, she's probably the daughter of a samurai family in Kantou. We have no evidence that she's tried to contact anyone. She's very unlikely to be our spy. She probably got into some trouble at home and ran off. A stray cat, just trying to stay off the streets.
Katsura: It's still an interim report. Too soon for conclusions. What's her effect on Himura?
Iizuka:... Not bad. It's just...
Katsura: Just what?
Iizuka: Lately his sword has been a little dull. That's what his inspectors say, anyway...
(That night. Tomoe is doing some sewing in her room when there is a knock on the door.)
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