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Chapter 11: Go home Sam, a bitter parting







Back on the shadowy mountains of Ephel Dúath, on the steps of Cirith Ungol...





The travelers decided to take a rest after climbing for what seemed like endless hours. Kaoru and Frodo, from sheer exhaustion, were sound asleep, whilst Sam and Yahiko kept their eyes upon the seemingly peacefully sleeping Gollum, on a rock just above them. They had been keeping their eyes out for him ever since they discovered his plan of a trap within the tunnel that still was many ways upward.

Sam slipped a little but quickly lifted up his head, as he, as well as Yahiko, tried desperately to stay awake, to keep an eye out for Gollum. Then... the vigilant pair was losing the battle becoming tired altogether of watching the creature, and slowly began to lay their heads down to rest. When Yahiko closed his eyes for a brief moment...



He quickly opened them, to see if Gollum was moving an inch. But it seemed... that he was fast asleep, his breathing deep and even. Keeping awake a few seconds more... Yahiko slowly closed his eyes again... and finally lolled himself into a deep sleep.



Then...





Gollum stopped his breathing, and opened his eyes, looking upon Sam and Yahiko, to make sure that they weren't moving a single muscle. The devious creature took a few moments to observe his enemies with a small, wicked smile on his face. Satisfied that Yahiko and Sam were asleep...



Gollum quietly sat up, not making a single noise... and slowly, yet silently, climbed down from the rock... going for Sam's bag that had the supplies in it as he opened it very silently. He quickly rummaged through the bag, and took out the Elven Lembas bread, wrapped in its leaf packaging. Gollum waited a few moments before he uncovered the wafers and looked at them, giving off a rather disgusted grunt, remembering how much he hated the food. The haggard creature then snapped off a few pieces of the waybread and crushed it into tiny crumbs...



In which he sprinkled over Yahiko...then Sam upon their cloaks. As he was done...





Gollum silently went over to the edge of the ledge... and lightly tossed the bread away, along with the packaging that was in it, watching the pieces fall freely towards the ground with a devious, melancholy expression. The creature wiped his hands, as he was finished. At that moment...







Sam and Yahiko woke up to find that Gollum was awake and near the edge.



"What are you up to?" Sam asked suspiciously as he and Yahiko stood up, "sneaking off are we?"

"Going to do some more of your plotting, creepy?" Yahiko asked, growling a little.

"S-s-sneaking? P-pl-plotting?" queried Gollum sarcastically, trying to act innocent, as he moved back up to the rock he perched on earlier, "fat Hobbit is always so polite. Even the impulsive child can be polite whenever he wants to be precious, oh yeesss.

"...Sméagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find," Gollum added in ridicule to Sam and Yahiko's suspicions, "and they say sneak? Sneak! Plot? Plot! Very nice friends, oh yes, my preciousses, very nice, very--"



"Alright, alright!" shouted Sam, exasperated with Gollum's talking, "you just startled us is all."

"Apart from being creepy, you can be so annoying, you know," Yahiko added his annoyed expressions.



Gollum gloomily pouted after being mistreated by Sam and Yahiko.



"What were you doing?" asked Sam as he looked down from the ledge.

Gollum turned to Sam and sneered, "...sneaking."

"Fine, have it your own way," replied Sam, a little annoyed.

"But don't think you're off the hook yet, creepy," interjected Yahiko, reminding Gollum, "just remember, we're on to you, got that?"

"Yes precious," answered Gollum, nodding frivolously, "Smeagol knows."



As Sam, Gollum, and Yahiko continued to argue... Kaoru groaned and slowly lifted herself, opening her eyes at the quarreling crowd. They all looked at Kaoru, waking from her sleep in return. She looked at them with an unsettling look.



"Ohh," moaned an annoyed Kaoru, "don't tell me you're all fighting again."

"Sméagol can't help himself, Mistress," said Gollum, with a melancholy smile, "its what Sméagol does best with the fat Hobbit and the impulsive child, yes."



Sam and Yahiko were exasperated again with Gollum as he enjoyed toying with them each time. They both knew they couldn't tolerate the creature and felt that they wanted to ring his neck.



Sam settled a little and said to Kaoru, "well, since you're up and about, Miss Kaoru, I think it's best to wake Mr. Frodo."

"Right, Sam," agreed Kaoru.

Sam then went to wake Frodo.

"Sorry to wake you, Mr. Frodo," he said to Frodo, "we have to be moving on."



Frodo groggily lifted his head as he looked at the sky, which was still veiled in darkness.



"...It's dark still," he observed weakly.

"Its always dark here," replied Sam.

"It's like an endless night," noted Kaoru, forlornly, "that won't seem to go away."

"No mistake in that, Miss Kaoru," Sam agreed.

"Well," interjected Yahiko, "lets eat something before we continue climbing."

"Of course, Mr. Yahiko," said Sam as he went into his bag to get some of the Lembas bread, taking out one of the leaf packets, but...



He found that there were no wafers within it. Gasping in shock, Sam checked the bag frantically, but only discovered, that the waybread was entirely missing from the sack.



"It's gone!" exclaimed Sam with worry in his voice, "...the Elven-Bread!"

"What?" Frodo asked frantically.

Yahiko and Kaoru gasped at the fact that the Lembas was gone.



"Are you sure, Sam?" asked Yahiko.

"I've checked by bag, Mr. Yahiko," said Sam despairingly, "it's not in here!"

"But that's all we have left!" cried Frodo, fearfully.

"What could have happened?" asked a frantic Kaoru, knowing that they had no food.



As they were wondering about the whereabouts of the Lembas bread... Sam turned to look at Gollum, who puts on a childishly innocent face, while rubbing the back of his head, seemingly to be thinking about where the bread might have gone...





"...He took it!" Sam pointed at Gollum accusingly, yelling hoarsely, "he must have!"



Yahiko turned to look at Gollum with a scowling expression believing Sam's accusations, with surety about what the creature was doing earlier and grabbed the creature's shoulders, pinning him to the wall.



"So that's what you were doing," growled Yahiko, "you were stealing our food, weren't you?"

"Sméagol?" Gollum asked in exaggerated surprise, acting innocently still, "no, no, not poor Sméagol. Sméagol hates nasty Elf-bread."

"You're a lying rat!" Sam interjected, not willing to believe Gollum, "answer his question, what did you do with it?"

"He doesn't eat it," Frodo said suspiciously, defending Gollum as he stood up, staring angrily at Sam and Yahiko, "he can't have taken it."

"But Frodo," said Yahiko fiercely, "when Sam and I woke up, we found this creep near the ledge, but we couldn't figure out what he was doing... until now that is."

"Let's calm down everyone," said Kaoru, "we should think this through--"

"Look!" Gollum interjected, looking and pointing at Yahiko's cloak, "what's this?"



Yahiko looked down... and saw with widened eyes, the crumbs of the Elvish bread, to which Gollum brushed off. Yahiko released Gollum as he was brushing off the crumbs. Everyone looked at Yahiko incredulously as they saw the crumbs from his cloak.



"Crumbs on his jacketses," said Gollum.

"Mr. Yahiko?" Sam said in disbelief.



Yahiko stood there dumbfounded, as he doesn't know what happened or how the crumbs got onto his cloak. Suddenly, Gollum turned to Sam, eyeing him...



"And what do we have here?" Gollum said, slowly reaching Sam's cloak...

Sam looked down, to see some of the crumbs on his cloak as well. Yahiko looked at Sam as Gollum brushed off the crumbs off his cloak. Sam was just as dumbfounded as Yahiko to see the crumbs that were brushed off their cloaks, planted by Gollum.



"Sam?" Kaoru said looking at Sam incredulously.

"There's crumbs on the fat Hobbit too, they took it!" exclaimed Gollum, pointing at Sam and Yahiko in accusation, "THEY took it!"

"He's lying!" Sam contested, "I never even touched it!"

"I know I'm a pig, Kaoru," added Yahiko defensively, "but I wouldn't endanger our safety!"

"Don't listen to them, Mistress," said Gollum as he hopped in front of Frodo and Kaoru, "I've seen them, I've seen them both. They're always, /always /stuffing their faces, when Master's not looking!"

"THAT'S A FILTHY LIE!" barked Sam angrily as he and Yahiko rushed at Gollum and pinned him to the ground, punching and strangling him, "you stinking, two-faced sneak!"

"YOU'RE DEAD!" roared Yahiko, "I don't care if Frodo wants you alive or not!"

"Sam! Yahiko!" Kaoru cried out to the angry Sam and Yahiko who continued to beat up the creature.

"Called me--!" Sam cried out fiercely, punching Gollum's face, "and Yahiko--!"

"You're dead," Yahiko added hatefully, giving out his punches at Gollum, "DEAD!"

"Sam!" cried Frodo, "stop it!"

"Get off him, Yahiko!" Kaoru demanded as she and Frodo grabbed Sam and Yahiko, pulling them off of Gollum, unwilling to see them kill the creature.

"Sam!" Frodo called out to Sam, trying to settle him down.

"WE'LL KILL HIM!" bellowed Sam with all his rage, struggling against Frodo.

"Sam, no!" Frodo cried out again, using the last of his strength and settled onto the ground, heavily.



Seeing this, Sam was immediately filled with regret, seeing his master in dire straits.



"Oh no!" said a worried Sam, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it to go so far!"

"Yahiko!" Kaoru cried out fiercely to her apprentice, pinning him to the wall, "you both need to control yourselves right now!"

"He deserves to die Kaoru!" Yahiko ranted, even more fiercely, "I don't care what anybody says!"

"Miss Kaoru's right," said Sam, agreeing with Kaoru, "we have to control ourselves, Mr. Yahiko. We were just so... so angry, Miss Kaoru. Let's just... let's just rest up a bit."



Kaoru nodded in affirmation.



"I'm alright," insisted a panting Frodo with a drained voice.

"No, no, you're not alright, Mr. Frodo," Sam sorrowfully countered, pointing out, "you're exhausted. It's that Gollum! Yahiko's right though, he does deserve to die! And it's this place all around us... and it's that thing around your neck, Mr. Frodo!"

After Sam's angry statements, Frodo began to look at Sam warily...



"I could help a bit," suggested Sam, "...we could all help a bit. We could all carry it for a while..."





Carry it for a while...

We could all carry it for a while...



We could carry it...

We could carry it...





Sam's suggestion echoed within Frodo as he looked at Sam with darkened eyes...



"Sam," interjected Kaoru, "you don't know what you're saying. Its too dangerous for us to carry the ring."

"We all know that, Kaoru," said Yahiko as he went to join Sam's side, "even Frodo knew that when he agreed to take the ring to Mordor himself."



Frodo then turned to and looked warily at Yahiko, remembering what Gollum said to him about him and Sam wanting the ring...



"If he could stand up to it," added Yahiko, suggestively, "...then so could the rest of us. It's our burden as much as it is Frodo's, so we deserve the chance to carry it."

"Yeah," agreed Sam, "like Mr. Yahiko said... we could all share the load together..."



Frodo only darkened his eyes even more after hearing Yahiko and Sam sharing the same suggestion that echoed within his mind...





Share the load together, share the load...

The load, the load, the load...



We deserve the chance to carry it...

We deserve the chance...



Deserve, deserve, deserve, deserve...





"GET AWAY!" roared Frodo, forcibly pushing Yahiko and Sam away.

"What's the matter with you Frodo!" cried Yahiko.

"We don't want to keep it!" Sam defended himself.



But Frodo wouldn't listen to them as he looked at them angrily, beginning to believe Gollum about Sam and Yahiko wanting the ring...



"We just want to help," added Sam.

"But Sam," said Kaoru, "if we carried the ring, it would've just made things worse."

Then Gollum came beside Frodo and said to him with a wicked expression, "see? See? They wants it for themselves."

"Shut up creepy!" Yahiko shouted at Gollum, who recoiled with a fierce snarl, "I've had enough of you!"

Yahiko then stood up and threatened, "you better get out of here. If you don't, I'll throw you off this rotten mountain myself--"



As he did... Frodo came in front of Yahiko, and used his strength to throw him back towards the wall. Yahiko recovered and stared disbelieving at Frodo, who still defended Gollum.



"...Don't you touch him, Yahiko," snarled Frodo.

"Can't you see what he's doing Frodo?" growled Yahiko, trying to tell Frodo, "he's telling you lies about me and Sam. He's trying to get rid of us because we won't fall for his tricks."

"No! Don't listen to him, Master," said Gollum, "he and the fat Hobbit have exposed themselves."



Yahiko looked upon Gollum with a darkened and angry expression. Gollum's words angered Yahiko greatly each moment, that it made Yahiko's blood boil as much as it made Sam's blood boil to the point where neither of them could stand it.



"You must leave them behind, master, yesss," Gollum added wickedly, "wicked, tricksy, false!"

"We've heard enough!" yelled Sam in tears he stood up against Gollum, "you heard Mr. Yahiko, go away! Get out of here!"

"No Sam," countered Frodo, "...it's you... and Yahiko too."

Yahiko looked at Frodo incredulously as he said, "...don't tell me, you're going to believe that creep Frodo."

"...I do indeed," replied Frodo, groggily, "...I'm sorry Sam."

"But he's a liar," Sam defended himself again, "its like Mr. Yahiko said, he's poisoned you against us."

"...You can't help me anymore," Frodo said, unwilling to believe him and Yahiko's word over Gollum's.



Sam was almost in tears after hearing Frodo's cold and harsh words.



"You don't mean that," he said, shaking his head.

Kaoru then interjected, "Frodo, I know it may seem that Sam and Yahiko want the ring, but they were just acting out of concern and honestly believed that they could carry the burden just as well as you. There's no reason why you should be so harsh to them."



But Frodo ignored Kaoru's reasoning with him as he said plainly to Sam, "...go home... and take Yahiko with you."

After Frodo's last and bitter remark...



Sam began to weep tears... and slowly stepped away from Frodo, collapsing onto the ground, with his head lowered, having nothing more to say to Frodo that could change his mind. Yahiko however, growled under his breath, feeling that Frodo was losing his sense of reason.



"You're crazy, Frodo!" debated Yahiko, "I'm not going anywhere. I promised that I would help you and I'm not going to break that promise!"

"Yahiko's right Frodo," interjected Kaoru, "you still need his and Sam's help."

But Frodo countered, "I've made my decision, Miss Kaoru. Either you are with me, or against me. If you are against me, you may feel free to go with Yahiko and Sam."



Kaoru could not believe the harsh attitude that Frodo was displaying. She dared not try to take the ring from Frodo for she knew it would only make things worse. Indeed, as Frodo said, she had two choices, go with him, or leave with Sam and Yahiko...



"...You can't do this alone, Frodo," said Kaoru, "I'll go with you."

"Me too!" cried Yahiko, insistently, "forget about leaving, Frodo, Sam and I aren't going anywhere, except where you go, right Sam?"



Yahiko turned to Sam for his answer... but only saw that he was still crying and whimpering with his head in his hands after being shunned by Frodo. He looked at Sam angrily on the fact that he was just crying like a baby. The sight of Sam crying was too repulsive for Yahiko to even see.



Yahiko then turned back at Frodo and said, "...then at least I won't go anywhere without Sam. You're not getting rid of us that easily Frodo, we're definitely coming after you."

Frodo, remaining adamant about leaving him and Sam, ignored Yahiko's vow and turned to Gollum and Kaoru.

"Come Smeagol... Miss Kaoru," he said, "we must leave."

Frodo then went to climb the stairs. Gollum went behind Frodo, giving a scornful look at Yahiko and Sam before he followed along.

Yahiko turned to Gollum and growled, "...you'll pay for this, you hear? You've said your last lie, you creep!"



Gollum only grinned wickedly at Yahiko in response to his threats. Kaoru slowly went for the stairs to follow along...



"Kaoru," spoke Yahiko as Kaoru turned to him, "...you know he's lying, don't you Kaoru?"

Kaoru stared at him for a few brief moments. Yahiko could read that she was starting to believe that Gollum was deliberately leading them into a trap. But then... she had been for some time after leaving Osgiliath and when Gollum came out of hiding in the woods, saying to follow him, in a not so kind manner...



"Watch out for Gollum," Yahiko warned Kaoru, "...he'll trick you and Frodo too. Just you wait, Kaoru."

Kaoru then turned away from Yahiko and began climbing the steep staircase. After seeing them continue on... Yahiko turned back to Sam...



"Come on, Sam," he said to Sam, "let's go."

But... Sam still cried in tears, still hurt by Frodo's cruel scorning.

"Sam," Yahiko said, shaking Sam, "...hey Sam."





Yahiko could only watch Sam, whimpering endlessly, greatly feeling sorry for himself and his inability to speak reasonably to Frodo. Sam was never the type to back away just like that, not when he risked his life at the Anduin River when Frodo was going off on his own. Yahiko realized that Frodo's actions had broken Sam tremendously. He knew that getting Sam to follow Frodo would not be as easy as he had thought...











Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Lord of the Rings. RK is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Lord of the Rings is the property of Professor J. R. R. Tolkien



A/n: a rather tragic way to end the Easter holiday, huh? But I have a little surprise...



I might get a job next week. I have an interview on March 31 at Goodwill, for a janitorial position, and according to my job counselors, I'm guaranteed to have the job, if I wanted the job, so I'm going there next Thursday. If I get the job, I'll post the next chapter by then. But anyway, Please read and review... and don't forget to wish my brother Robert a Happy Birthday.



Oh, and another thing, on tomorrow, March 26, happens to be the 18th birthday of another of my reviewers, Emily (Maily from E-fiction). So, wish her a happy birthday too, okay.



Have a Happy Easter, folks. Bye.