Original Ronin Kaoru Attacks

Raiden no Onna- (Thunder Goddess) also 'Lady of the Thunder God' and literally 'Woman of Thunder and Lightning.'

Although more commonly rendered as 'Raiden', Kaoru earned this nickname through the lightning qualities of her ki and the names of her attacks. She hates the name because it has unsavory reminders to her of 'Battousai' and also, Raiden is a Male god and the name, when the 'no Onna' is dropped (as it usually is) it reinforces the male image that Kaoru is desperately trying to shake. It's also a play on Yahiko's nick-name for Kaoru 'Tanuki-no-Onna."

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Denkousekka - lightning speed

Kaoru's 'super speed' isn't as fast as the Hiten Mitsurugi's God-like speed and no where near Soujiro's shukuchi, but she is faster than most kids on the block. Unlike Kenshin and Soujiro who seem to disappear the eye can still register Kaoru as a black and blue blur.

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Inabikari - (flash of) lightning

This attack consists of Kaoru shielding her eyes and emitting a low level blast of ki that, while harmless, will temporarily blind an opponent. this isn't an attack she needs a bokken for and it does leave her blind herself while she shields her eyes so a fast opponent could conceivably get her then. So you can see that this isn't something she'd be likely to use against, oh say, Soujiro or Saitou.

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Hiraishin - lightning rod

Like inabikari, Hiraishin leaves Kaoru open for attack but unlike the blinding attack this is an offensive move and it much quicker. Kaoru points at her target with the tip of her bokken and channels Ki down its length. If she has time she can first use a much less powerful version something like the laser spot on a sniper rifle and then use that to target. The Hiraishin, depending on how much ki Kaoru puts into it can do anything from light a match to split a gatling gun in half.

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Arashi no makaze - Devil's tempest (rough translation)

this move is based loosely on Kenshin's ryu son sen (not one of his more favored attacks, he prefers one shots like the Ryu sui sen) Kaoru takes a two handed grip on the bokken and uses the lightning speed to land several sweeping blows. This is actually a rather crude attack and is really nothing more than standing in front of an opponent and beating on them with enough speed that they can't retaliate. This isn't one of Kaoru's favorite moves either although it does get the job done.

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Osamaru - to be at peace (to lessen (storm, terror, anger))

This isn't an attack per se but more like a mental exercise. All swordsmen use it to one degree or another, Kaoru's just tacked a name on it. When using the osamaru, Kaoru calms and centers herself which in effect heightens her perceptional skills. She is tensed and ready to evade attacks but she can also observe and analyze those attacks; thus finding ways around them. She also uses the osamaru out of battle to analyze and compare contrasting memories of her two worlds. Kaoru's visual recall while using the Osamaru is excellent.

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Hirameku hyakurai- flash of 100 thunderclaps

this is another one of those defensive moves that relies more heavily on ki. The effect of the Hirameki hyakurai is a big flashy light show with deafening thunder. Don't ask me how she does it, I know its reaching a bit. Again, she's none too fond of this move but it is exceptional for getting an opponent's attention. It also gives Kaoru psychological advantage over her opponent if they're weak of mind and superstitious (she is known as the Thunder God after all, they just might start believing it)

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Tokkan inazuma- lighting flash attack (rough translation)

this attack is one that Kaoru uses more frequently and some could argue that it is her favorite skill. This is when Kaoru 'sheathes' her bodken in combination of her own ki and the air pressure of her attacks. With the tokkan inazuma she can use her bodken against a metal sword. Depending on how good her opponent is KAoru can use more or less of her ki to protect the bodken. Against common street punks she would use very very little and against , oh say, Saitou she would use much more.

* Note on Kaoru's bokken*

Despite what Kaoru says about not being able to afford a real sword she does put a lot of money into her bokken. The one she has in the beginning is fire hardened oak which was hard to come by in Japan and could cost a pretty penny although not so much as a real sword. She carries a bokken partially out of sentimentality and also because the tokkan inazuma would take on a much more lethal form when used with the thin, sharp blade of a katana. Also, as a result it would become much more difficult to control. Later on she gets a bokken made of a wood found in the south pacific islands called Palo fierro. 'steel stick' it's lightweight and harder than steel, it's impossible to carve against the grain of the wood. It could go up against a katana even with out the tokkan inazuma!

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Patto rakurainiau - to be struck by a flash of lightning (literally)

In it's true form this is one of Kaoru's more flashy, yet still kick-ass, attacks. It can only be done outside for she uses the electrical aspect of her ki to trigger a weak lightning bolt from the sky. The lightning bolt (if she's lucky) hits the opponent and temporarily paralyzes them. Of course it is very hard to control and as a result Kaoru usually uses a somewhat bastardized version called the jinkourai.

Jinkourai- artifical lightning (literally)

She makes a lightning bolt of her own ki to acheive the same result. The second version is much more reliable than the first.

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Yoha inkaten - flash point aftermath

This attack is loosely based on the Kuzu ryu sen. Kaoru isn't nearly as fast as Kenshin so she wouldn't be able to pull off the Kuzu Ryu sen and hit the seven killing points all at once. Instead, she developed the Yoha inkaten which targets only four disabling points instead of seven killing points. The yoha inkaten targets the shoulders and hips and, if done correctly, dislocates all four major ball joints rendering the opponent helpless until someone puts him back together; usually that someone is a prison physician.

The doctors in Tokyo get very familiar with the Yohan inkaten. It's her favorite move.

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Sanosuke's Tricks

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*Note* Even though Sanosuke met Anji early on in the story and is a better fighter for it, his fighting style is still pretty simplistic. I expect any attacks he makes up would be pretty straight forward 'I hit you, you fall down' sort of things.

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Koenken - Tiger Swallow Fist

This is basically Sanosuke getting up in someone's face, cramming his fist down their throat and gagging them. This is usually an attack with a specific goal in mind, like retrieving the bag of accelerant in Hyottoko's stomach but if Sano is getting really serious he fires a blast of ki down his opponent's throat.

This attack is also in another form of martial arts (I don't know which) but I imagine it takes a more noble form than Sano's version.

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Nugisuteru - to fling || to throw off (clothes) || to kick off (boots)

This is just when he tosses off his coat. a signal that he's A. pissed B. getting serious, or C. hot. Trust Sano to turn a strip show into a martial arts technique. (now where did I put those dollar bills...)

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Toragari - tiger hunt

Okay, I shamelessly stole this idea from Ranma 1/2, but it is so totally a move Sano would make up. He charges up his ki and makes a grand display of it. Hopefully this intimidates his opponent slightly... and then he runs away. If his opponent doesn't chase him, cool! He's out of danger but if they do, Sano just takes the fight to a place where he can use the terrain to his advantage.

It's just a sign of how sneaky he's gotten. Training with Anji for more than a week seems to have encouraged creative thinking on Sano's part.

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Kiru kokou - chop the tiger's den (jaws of death, etc.)

No, it doesn't make sense but what about Sano does?

In this attack, Sano sneaks up behind his opponent (hopefully while they're occupied with someone else) and hits them from behind with either a stick, his fist, or a combination of fist and large blast of focused or unfocused ki. (it depends on the opponent)

He doesn't like this attack so he usually reserves it for someone extremely powerful that he wants down and isn't feeling picky about how he'll get him there, like oh say Shishio.

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Harikonotora uchinuku (keru)- paper tiger punch (kick)

Here Sano plays dead and waits for his opponent (or anybody for that matter) to get close enough so that he can either punch or kick them.

Anyone else would call this 'playing possum'.

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Keien - keeping at a distance

Most people would call this 'staying back and watching your opponent for weaknesses. I can't think of anyone but Sano who would think of this as so novel an approach to a fight as to give it a name... but, hell if it makes him happy.

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Kaori's Attacks

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*note* You probably won't recognize a lot of these attacks, even if I use them in the story since Kaori isn't one to announce her actions to an opponent. She usually keeps quiet during a fight barring snippy comments. Of course, if she's fighting someone who knows her then she might well announce one attack and in fact use another. Isn't she sneaky?

Although Kaori says she practices jujitsu, she doesn't actually. She is actually developing her own personalized style of martial arts that conceptualizes the concept of 'flow; neither forcing or resisting, much like water. Yet the style can also be bouncy and energetic like the girl developing it. The closest style I can think of to Kaori's style is Bruce Lee's free-form style of Jeet Kune Do. This site explains it best

To be honest, Kaori hasn't developed that many techniques that work, she's only ten! But here are the ones she has made.

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Kakeochi- defeat and flight

This is your basic tactical retreat. Kaori isn't one to stick around for pointless battles, 'she who fights and runs away' and all that jazz.

An interesting side note is that Kaori will announce this technique (pun intended) out of battle. It's a personality quirk of hers and her way of saying 'good bye'. She'll also sometimes yell 'Kakeochi!' while going into battle. She's just being silly.

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Kagerou - dragonfly

This is Kaori's pet name for her favorite stance; standing straight holding both arms extended at the sides with her heels together. It looks like a stiff and awkward stance, but Kaori makes it work by relaxing and letting her opponent come to her. Sometimes she'll hold this stance for twenty minutes at a time, waiting for her opponent to get bored and attack so she can use his style against him.

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Ikkyoryoutoku - killing two birds with one stone

This is another fairly straightforward technique that I'm sure any martial arts enthusiast is familiar with. This attack involves maneuvering two opponents into opposing sides and using their simultaneous attacks to eliminate each other.

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Ensou - swallow's nest

This is a 'hiding in plain sight' technique. Kaori is good at vanishing in plain sight by adjusting her posture and becoming just another hassled kid on the street. She makes a lot of use of this technique when she's busy.

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Kakan - getting a bird's eye view

This technique is, in a word, spying. More specifically, it's sitting in a tree above someone and eavesdropping on their conversation.

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Uchitomeru -to bring down (bird)

This is another time honored technique, well nerve pinch really. It's almost exactly like that Vulcan neck pinch thingy except Kaori doesn't have enough hand strength to pull it off so it never works.

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hogochou - protected bird

Generic blocking stance using fore arms to block punches and kicks.

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Sasurai - wandering (e.g. bird, exile, lifestyle)

This is Kaori's mental name for her mother's old lifestyle. She hasn't told anyone, but when she completes her training and comes of age she plans on living exactly the same way her mother did when she was growing up in the Monastery between winter visits.