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Part One: Chapter 6


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#1 Guest_The Blue Sorceress_*

Posted 10 October 2007 - 02:18 AM

Chapter 6



It wasn't long before Hiruma began to take Yoshimo along with him on his 'hunts,' dragging him on long, often dangerous cat-and-mouse chases across the empire. Sometimes Kaede accompanied them, but usually it was just the two of them. Hiruma rarely spoke except to give orders or insults, though sometimes he managed to pass on a gruff, left-handed compliment. It was something Yoshimo got used to, accepted, and moved past. It was no worse than how he had been treated before he had been turned out, though neither was it any better. At least with Hiruma he was learning a valuable skill, as opposed to folding origami cranes and learning the fine art of writing haiku.

What struck him as remarkable was that he really was learning, and learning well, if he was properly deciphering Hiruma's crude, insult-laden assessments. He could pad across the tatami mats as softly as a cat, and his newly developed skills in self-concealment certainly helped when he had to avoid Ayame, Hana and Kurenai. Whatever there was to be said about Hiruma's rather unorthodox methods, they were working. He had even learned how to set up basic traps and plan simple ambushes, though he was a long way from perfecting any of his abilities.

Whether or not he would survive to use his new skills was a question that had yet to be answered. Hiruma did nothing to protect him when the going got tough. Often Yoshimo found himself in situations where one mistake might spell doom. Somehow, through luck or skill, he always managed to scrape by, though he had gotten more than a few scars from his close calls.

As time went by though, Yoshimo began to sense that something wasn't quite right about Hiruma. It wasn't the man's rudeness, or his callousness, but rather that cold, animal gleam in his eyes when he went in for the kill. He seemed to revel in his victories, and in the death of his bounties. He rarely took jobs when they called for a target to be brought back alive. He had few qualms about involving innocent people in his hunts, sometimes threatening the lives of a target's family, or using them as hostages. More often than not those family members were unaware of what was going on, and Yoshimo had a feeling that Hiruma would have had little problem with killing them if a target called him on his bluff. He wasn't all that sure that Hiruma was bluffing at all. After all, those innocent people, often wives and children, were just dumb koi to the bounty hunter, and like the shark he was fond of likening himself to, Hiruma was a ruthless, cold, predator that would stop at nothing to catch his prey.

While Yoshimo never pretended to be an entirely moral person he balked at holding a knife to a child's throat. He had no trouble taking an otherwise good man to his death for some petty crime, but he did have some standards, and Hiruma constantly pushed him to go beyond his own personal code of honor. It seemed Hiruma had no morals at all except those that were made by money and his never ending quest for it.

This was where the trouble between master and pupil began.

Nearly a year into his apprenticeship, Yoshimo accompanied his master on yet another chase, one that took them to hell and gone after some ronin who had disgruntled a number of people in the Shogun's government by talking about revolution. From a objective perspective, it was a simple mission, requiring them only to kill the leader of the ronin and bring back proof of his death, but it got bogged down in the details and the politics. The Shogun's army was not happy that the important job of disposing of the ronin traitors was given to another ronin, and they did their best to hassle Hiruma and Yoshimo while they tried to work. Yoshimo understood that they were deeply insulted, and knew that they probably thought that if Hiruma failed they would be given a chance to redeem the honor they thought they had lost.

For his part, Hiruma ignored these problems and perused his target with his usual relentless precision, leaving Yoshimo to clear up the problems that were left in their wake. Yoshimo was used to this. It was Hiruma's standard operating procedure when the two of them went on a hunt, and he had long ago developed a good-natured way of dealing with irked officials, and bystanders that found themselves in Hiruma's way. He found that a sympathetic smile, even if he didn't mean it, often went a long way to soothing hurt feelings and wounded prides, and a little commiseration over his master's rude behavior, on top of a lot of apologies, cleared most of the rest of it up. He took their insults with a smile, trading like for like when he thought he could get away with it, and generally came out on top. Still, there came some times when there was nothing he could do to clean up the messes Hiruma left behind.

It was Hiruma's fault that the merchant didn't want to talk with them. They had been by the man's house half a dozen times asking question, poking through his rooms and questioning his staff and family, and the whole time Hiruma had been his usual, crass self, though it was clear a more polished approached would have worked better. Hiruma knew that the man knew where their target was, and he was growing impatient with the merchant’s feigned ignorance. Always aware of his master's quick and violent temper, Yoshimo lobbied carefully for watching where the merchant went and keeping an eye on his family and servants, but Hiruma was impatient, and finally decided on a course of action.

Late one night, long after all the lights in the merchant's cozy home had been put out, Yoshimo kept guard while Hiruma snuck in and snatched the poor merchant right out of his bed. Some associates of Hiruma's were waiting at a nearby tavern, and they bundled the man into a one of the rooms. The innkeeper was paid to keep out, and there were no other guests, so Hiruma felt quite comfortable questioning the man as he felt necessary.

The hair on the back of Yoshimo's neck stood on end when he saw Hiruma's associates produce a number of sharp, unpleasant looking instruments. He watched, dumbstruck, as Hiruma tortured the information he wanted out of the merchant, smothering his screams with a pillow. He left halfway through, sick to his stomach.

Later Hiruma found him in the inn's small, courtyard garden.

"I didn't tell you that you could go, boy," the bounty hunter growled dangerously.

"I want no part in torture!" Yoshimo replied angrily. "It wasn't necessary. You went too far."

Hiruma backhanded him across the cheek, knocking him off the bench he had been sitting on. "Don't you dare talk to me that way!"

Yoshimo propped himself up on his elbows. "It was wrong! There were other ways to get the information that would have been easier and earned us no enemies. That man will never forgive you; he'll be your enemy forever."

"No he won't," Hiruma said shortly. "He's dead." He walked towards Yoshimo and towered over him. "And if you don't want to join him you won't ever question me again, you little shit." He reached down and grabbed Yoshimo by the front of his clothes and hauled him to his feet. "Have anything else to add?"

Yoshimo knew Hiruma wasn't kidding around. He nodded quickly and said, "No master."

Hiruma let him go and walked away without another word.




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