A Ruroni Kenshin Fanfic


Starring:
Himura Kenshin
Kamiya Kaoru
Myojin Yahiko
Sagara Sanosuke
Takani Megumi
Hiruma Gohe

With:
Sekihara Tae
Sanjou Tsubame


Appearences by:
Udo "Kurogasa" Jine

Suzume and Ayame

Kisaragi clan
Grandmaster
Kaikyou


		A Time For....

Many a nefarious plot starts in a dark back alleyway, away from the
prying eyes of a society that would disapprove.  The deal in progress in
a back alley of Tokyo was no different.   A large robed figure stood in
the dark, holding a priest's staff, which he fingered idly.  A darkened
blur dropped into the alley behind him, nearly silently.   The man in
the robe didn't even turn around.

"You wish to do business?"  The voice from the smaller man was suprisingly
soft and high pitched, with a cultured accent.

"Yes.  I'd like to hire the Kisaragi clan to kill someone."  The other voice
was much deeper, with the sound of gravel rolling down a mountain.

"That is what we tend to do." Humor touched the voice.

"So it is." A gruff chuckle replied in kind.

"I believe that you have made the proper arrangements with our contacts
for payment."

"Indeed.  The front money has already been delivered as agreed.  The
rest will arrive when the contract is complete."

"Who?"

"Someone from the Kamiya Dojo.  Kamiya Kaoru and Myojin Yahiko live
there and Sagara Sanosuke visits often.  You should be careful however,
the man known as Hitokiri Battosai lives there as well."

"And of this Himura Kenshin?"

"Don't bother with the Battosai.  Just get one of the others,
understand?"

"Certainly."  The ninja messenger stepped back, fading into the shadows
then leaping up and away from the alley.

Hiruma Gohe pushed backed the hood of his robe and snickered quietly to
himself.   "This time Himura Kenshin.  This time you'll wish you'd never
crossed my path."  The quiet snickering broken into a deep full throated
laugh, tinged with shades of manic hysteria, as he too faded into the
darkness of the alley.

				****

The shinobi messenger bowed low, repeating the conversation word for
word, including a passable imitation of Gohe's voice.

The men around the table glanced to the head of the table.  The light from the gas
lamps illuminated KisargiGM face with an erie flickering light.

"Himura Kenshin is it?  Send Kaikyou"

"Yes sir, I'll inform him immeadiately."  The messanger backed away,
slipping out of the room.

The grandmaster leaned back in his chair, running a withered hand over
his chin. "Hittokiri Battosai.  How very, very interesting."

				****

...?

Snapping the gi crisply to shake free the excess water, Kenshin inspected
his handiwork.  Ayame and Suzume watched with childish intensity,
keeping a running patter with "Ken-ni" as he worked.  As he hung the
damp garment on a line to dry they pronounced his work satisfactory.

Ayame nodded vigorously, "Ken-ni does a good job." 

"Yeah.  A good job," her younger sister echoed.

"Thank you very much, it's easy with such good help" he replied, beaming
a quick smile at them.  As expected they lit up at the praise.  

Kenshin looked around, taking in the now finished laundry and the rest
of the small courtyard behind the Kamiya dojo.  Sanosuke sat against
the main house, eyes closed, chewing slowly on a blade of grass, soaking
up the sun.  Yahiko and Kaoru were sparring, trading as many insults as
blows.  He stopped to watch them for a minute, admiring the smooth flow
of Kaoru's technique as she toyed with Yahiko before smacking his boken
aside and touching his shoulder with the shinai she used for instructing.

A tug on his sleeve was accompanied by the chourused cry, "Ken-ni, let's
play."

				****

Kaikyou watched the idyllic scene from his perch in the tree.  

'Hmmm,' he thought.  'How fortunate for me that they're all here.'

...

"Sensei, please take Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan home now."

The frighten children were quite literally swept off their feet as their
grandfather quickly honored Kenshin's request.

...

With a quick motion the ninja's left hand flew up at Kenshin, eliciting a
quick adjustment in stance from the red-haired samurai.  A tassled dart
slid through the air past his face, brushing against his hair.  As he
relocked eyes with the shinobi, he realized he'd made a critical error.
The shadow warrior had his other hand up now, having just released a
flight of four more darts.  He started to relax, as the lethal projectiles
would pass well to his right side.  His... right...

Kenshin's heart leaped, every fiber of his being screaming in terror.
With blinding speed the sakaba-to was out it's saya and in flight, moving
to intercept the darts.  For the first time he truly understood what
people meant when they said time slowed down in a crisis.  Willing the
blade faster with every gram of will he possesed, he already knew he
would fail.

Moving with unearthly speed the sword flickered out, slicing darts in
half.  Still in slow motion he watched the two halfs of the first dart
flutter off their deadly path.  Slightly further away, the tassle of one
dart curled as if alive, slowly floating downward.

Kenshin's heart froze, and time didn't just slow.  

It stopped.

...

Pain.  Redness.  Blackness.  More pain.  Redness.  Kenshin's hair was
red.  Why did he seem so far away?  She just wanted to sit down for a
minute.  She was tired.  Red.  Distant voices.  Must be Ayami and
Suzumi playing with 'Ken-ni'.  Sharp tang in her mouth.  Did she
cook today again?  More pain.  From her stomach.  She must have cooked.

...

"GO!"

Startled out of his shock, Yahiko turned and fled, barely managing to
stay upright in his haste to get to help.

A cool breeze ruffled Kenshin's hair, and he was peripherally aware that
Yahiko had left the door all the way open as he ran.

...

Megumi worked furiously. With a speed matching a Hitokiri's sword
her thread and needle flew, desperately stitching Kaoru's torn flesh
together. She'd already had to stop twice and force herbal concoction's
into the injured girl's mouth as the poision wracked her muscles with
seizures. The wound on her chest has been cleaned already and she
was frantically stitching the wound on her stomach shut.  She paused
briefly, wiping the blood away from the area with a towel so she could
see, then resumed her task.

Sanosuke watched with morbid fascination. As a gangster he'd seen plenty
of injuries, but somehow none had ever struck so close to his heart. His
fists flexed in their own rythmn, displaying his agitation to anyone who
cared to look.  He was amazed by the amount of blood, figuring that
small darts like that wouldn't cause very damage to the flesh at all.
He picked up one of the iron spikes, noting the barbed points.  'So
that's where all the blood came from... removing the barbed tip.'

Megumi barely glanced up before snarling, "Be careful with that, you
idiot.  If you prick yourself, you'll probably be sick enough that I'd
have to let you die to save Kaoru-san."

Blinking, Sanosuke carefully set the dart down with it's companion,
staring at the one still one stuck in the dojo owner's upper arm.

...


"I've done everything I can Ken-san."  There was no trace of the normal
flirtation in her voice, even the honorific was flat, delivered with no
overtones.   "Whether she wakes is now the will of the gods."  After
several seconds of uneasy silence she continued, looking away,
unwilling to meet the fierce intensity in his eyes.  "Even if she wakes
I don't know what will happen.  Most people who take even one dose of
the poison those murders use die.  It's a testament to her strength that
she's made it this far."

"What more could possibly happen?"

Megumi winced at the absolutely calm tone of his voice, but didn't
dodge the question. "The poison is derived from fugu.  It affects the
spirit and mind, not the muscles and flesh.  The body shuts down and
finally the heart stops.  Fortunately it breaks down fairly quickly,
so she's out of danger from that.  But it's very possible that she'll
be permanently weakened by this.  Between the poison and the fever her
body used to fight it, it may have even destroyed her mind."

"I see."

With despair in her heart she watched him exit the room, slowly sliding
the door shut behind him.

...

"10 years ago I put away the part of me that was Hitokiri and swore an
oath never to kill again.  Twice now Kaoru-dono is the only thing that
stopped me from releasing that rage and breaking my oath.  I'd kill you
now, but I couldn't live with her disappointment.  Understand this, if
she dies, there won't be anything holding me back, there will be nothing
that can stop me."   Kenshin's voice caught and he paused for a second.
Dropping his voice he continued, "So help me, if she does't live, the Death
of a Thousand Cuts will be like heaven for you."  By then end of his
sentence his voice was a nearly animal growl and his fist was clenched
so tightly the trembling shinobi was gasping for air.

With a snarl of disgust he tossed Kaikyou away, not bothing to
watch the body slam into the wall and slid down.

...

Sitting under the bridge Kenshin watched the river flow by, carrying
bits of flotsam downstream.  The events of the fight played over and
over in his mind, tormenting him with his inability to protect Kaoru.
'If only...' he started to think before cutting himself off.  He'd come
up with dozens of ways he could have prevented the darts from striking
her, every new reason further affirming his failure.  He closed his
eyes, trying to find a calm center in the emotional storm that raged
inside.

...

Eyes dancing with fire, Kenshin dropped into the ready stance of the
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.   Left hand gripping the saya, holding it
up and back away from his body, thumb pushing the sword up slightly.
His right hand drew across, palm facing the hilt of the sakaba-to,
fingers flexing slowly.  Weight settled, right leg forward and left out,
ready to burst into motion.  Softly he spoke two words that struck deeply
into the souls of the guards he faced.

"No mercy."

For several seconds nothing happened, a moment stolen from time, as
if in a painting.  Finally one of the younger shinobi snapped forward,
tossing a pair of shuriken at Kenshin's head.  In a motion so fast that
he seemed to blur out of existance the samurai launched himself forward,
sakaba-to singing as is flew forth from the saya.

The fight was short and brutal.  When all the motion was over, Kenshin
straighted from the finishing pose of his strike, calmly pulling a sheet
of rice paper from inside his gi to wipe the blood of the sakaba blade.
Around him the groans of half-concious fighters filled the air.  He looked
down, dropping the crumpled and bloody paper on the face of guard with
both arms broken.   He checked around him, survey the damage he had
wrought.  Bodies littered the courtyard, and he was partially relieved
to see that most were still moving.  Unlike his habit of the past ten
years, most were still concious, though some were in shock from multiple
broken limbs and dislocated joints.

...

Kenshin leaped up and to his left, dodging another quick slash from the
grandmaster.  He was shocked the old man could move that fast, the
speed of his dagger blades equal to his own.  As his feet touched the
ground he felt the brief shock of pain travel up his side, fire burning
in the cut along his ribs.  He pushed the sensation aside, concentrating
on speeding up his defenses.  

'This fight needs to be over.  I can't keep this up much longer,' he
thought to himself.

Using the saya to block another fiendishly fast claw strike, he countered
with the sakaba-to, slashing low and then back across at chest level,
with as much speed as he could muster.

...

Kenshin sat, holding Kaoru's hand in his.  "Please wake up Kaoru-dono.
Please."

...


Glossary:

shuriken - Small, lightweight, throwing weapons.  Not always in the
shape of a star, often spike or dart-like shapes, or even a coin
with sharpened edges.

sakaba-to - A katana forged such that the cutting edge of blade is on
the reverse side, so as not to produce fatal injuries during a fight.

saya - A scabbard or sheath for a sword.  Several styles of swordplay
use this as an additional weapon during the fight, often for parrying or
blocking.

shinai - A practice sword made of bamboo slats tied together.  Produces
a good bit of noise but not much more than light bruises when striking.

fugu - Puffer fish.  Prepared properly this is a delicacy of the highest
order.  Prepared improperly, the neurotoxins in the internal organs can
be incredibly deadly.  In Japan, a chef must receive proper licensing
before preparing fugu.

bokken - Wooden practice swords.  Solid wood as opposed to a shinai.

Hitokiri Battousai - Literally "murderer with drawn swords".   More
figuratively, a master assassin.

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu - Literally "Flying Heaven Honorable Sword Style"

Waza (techniques):

(The word that I've translated as 'Strike' literally translates as
'Brandish')

Ryusousen, (Dragon Den Strike)
Doryusen, (Ground Dragon Strike)
Ryutsuisen, (Dragon Hammer Strike)
Souryusen,  (Twin Dragon Strike)
Souryusen-ikazuchi, (Twin Dragon Strike Thunder)
Hiryusen,  (Flying Dragon Strike)
Ryushousen, (Dragon Flying Strike)
Ryushousen-tsumuji,  (Dragon Flying Strike Feather? Rotation)
Ryukansen,  (Dragon Coil Strike)
Kuzuryusen, (Nine Head Dragon Strike)
Ama kakeru ryu no hirameki (Imperial Flying Dragon Strike)