Disclaimer: RK and all it's characters are not mine. I merely borrowed
them for my story.
R&R please!! :D
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The Past Returns
Prologue
Makimachi Misao stood alone in the clearing, completely surrounded by samurai. The mid morning sun shone brightly down on her and the people with her. She was silently cursing herself for wandering off her usual walking route but hindsight was always much clearer. Why she had chosen that moment to step into the clearing to see the group of 9 carrying five bound and gagged girls off to kami-sama knows where, she'll never know. But one thing was certain; she wasn't going to allow them to get away with those poor defenseless women.
She, of course, charged in headlong. Being a ninja helped somewhat, they didn't notice her presence until she called out to them. Being a hard- headed 17 year old hadn't helped at all. All she saw were the girls. She didn't notice the swords at every man's hip. Cursing her stupidity she fished out the kunai's she usually carried with her no matter what. It was in that fleeting moment that the 9 men had put their prisoners down and surrounded the girl.
'Damn they're fast!' Misao cursed in her head. She surveyed her chances, and they didn't look good. Nine samurai, all quite fast from their initial movements. They wore strange get-ups too. Grey hakamas and white gi's, along with blue haori's. They each wore white bandanas around their head.
Misao couldn't talk much about wearing strange clothes. She wore her ninja outfit pretty much all the time. And a 'lady' of her age should never show her thighs off like Misao did. It was indecent of her, and very unlady- like. However, at that moment she wasn't in her ninja uniform. She was in a kimono. She had tried to become a lady by wearing the traditional outfit, however confining she found it. How Kaoru managed to move around in hers was a mystery to Misao. But she had worn it in an attempt to catch Shinomori Aoshi's eye, and show him she wasn't the little girl he thought she was.
His utter ignorance at the fact that she had changed clothes at all had really ticked her off. She had stormed out of the Aoiya in rage and had found herself wandering the forest outside the city. She liked the quiet solitude of the forest. It calmed her down. Of course, that was before she walked into the kidnapping.
So there she was, in a kimono, with a few measly kunai in her hand, surrounded by 9 samurai. He chances of escape were very minimal.
"Another pretty wanders in our path, how fortunate." One samurai sneered. Misao glared at him.
"Well, this 'pretty' isn't an easy target." Misao spit out. Of course, somewhere in the back of her head, she liked hearing that she was 'pretty', but hearing it from the man before her was just plain disgusting.
"Easy target or not, do you really think you'll be able to escape from 9 of us?" another retorted off to her left. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked very relaxed. It was his folly for thinking she was weak. In an instance she had crossed the distance between herself and the lazy samurai, and delivered her patented kick. He took the blow to his abdomen, and doubled over in pain. She seized the opportunity to bring her fist, weighed down by the kunai, crashing full force into the base of his skull at the same time, bringing her knee up and giving him another blow to the abdomen. The double attack knocked the man out cold.
"Eight." Misao said. She immediately leapt into the air and took her fight into the surrounding trees. She was best off in an aerial fight against the remaining 8. She could use gravity and her own weight to her advantage then.
The 8 men were shocked at her quickness, as well as agility. She wouldn't be an easy target. But she would be captured by them; it was only a matter of getting her back on the ground.
With a flick of his wrist, one of the samurai motioned for five of his comrades to remain on the ground, while the other three took to the trees in pursuit. Three men leapt into the air and gave chase to the girl in the kimono with the long black braid and bright green eyes.
Misao saw two men chasing her. 'Humph! What arrogance, as if two men would be able to stop me! I'll take them out no problem.' she thought as she alighted on a branch of a large tree, pivoted and launched herself towards her assailants. She gripped a kunai in each of her fists as gravity sent her careening towards the closest samurai. With only a few kunai to protect herself with, she had to use them carefully.
The first samurai saw her coming and prepared himself. He planted his feet firmly on the branch of the tree, with his back pressed against the huge trunk to brace himself for the impact. He held up his arms, intending to catch her. She slammed into him, full bodied. He moved to close his arms around her and capture her, but he couldn't. Smirking, Misao backed out of the man's reach to survey her work. A kunai was embedded into the tree trunk on either side of the man, the arms of his haori pinned, immobilizing him.
"Why you-!" he growled. The second samurai landed on the branch at that moment, took a moment to snicker at his second comrade who had been bested by the girl, then turned his attention to her. Misao turned to her newest challenge and glared at his smirking face. A tearing sound behind her told that the first man had ripped out of his binding, a quick glance told her she was right. Some of the light blue material was pinned to the tree beneath her kunai.
"Two against one, what's a girl to do?" Misao asked lightly. Both men launched themselves at her, intent on catching her unharmed, but she jumped away, allowing herself to fall towards the ground. Both men slammed into each other, cursed and tripped over each other, only to find themselves hurtling towards the ground. Misao landed on a branch not too far off the ground and smiled at the crashing of the two men when they hit. She stood, turned and was caught off guard by the third pursuer, whom she didn't see, when his saya slammed into her abdomen, and knocked her off the branch.
The saya blow, combined with the force of impact against the ground took her breath away. She was back in the clearing, surrounded by the five remaining samurai. The one who had ambushed her jumped to the ground and walked up to her, tucking his saya and sword back into the ties at his waist.
"You're the first to knock one of my men unconscious." He said admirably looking down at the girl.
"One? I could have sworn I got three." Misao retorted, clutching her side as she struggled, to no avail, to stand up. The man laughed. He knelt down and placed a hand on the side of Misao's face.
"My my, such a sharp tongue on this one. You may be harder to get rid of. But then, some like one with a sharp tongue."
Misao jerked her face away from the man's grip. For some reason his words caused a chill to run down her spine and his touch had suddenly felt slimy. She had never really felt fear like she felt at that moment. She felt weak for the first time in her life and she didn't like it one bit.
"Don't touch me." She growled through clenched teeth. The man laughed again.
"Oh kami-sama, no. I have no intention of touching you like that. I have a much better use for you, my dear." he said, standing and turning his back to her. He nodded to one of his men, and a rope was pulled out.
"Well, as I see it, you still haven't caught me." Misao retorted to the retreating mans back. She planted her feet beneath herself and attempted to take in some much needed air in order to get the strength to do what she was about to do. At least she knew she could jump high enough to clear the circle of samurai. She had Himura to thank for that.
The man turned back around to the girl. From his eyes, she looked defeated. She was gasping for air and still clinging to her stomach. She was full of energy that was for sure. He smiled once more. He liked this girl more and more.
"I haven't? Enlighten me, little one." he said. Misao pushed against the ground with all her might, sending her small body high into the air, well over the heads of the taller men. The man's smile never left his face as he watched her. Full of energy. She was quite the little weasel-girl. He turned, watching her arc as she soared through the air.
"I've gotten 3; there are only 6 more to go. Round 2!" Misao shouted. The man pulled his katana out of its saya and threw it at the falling girl. The sword wouldn't impale her. It wouldn't even cut her, he had full control of it. It would merely pin the edge of her kimono to the ground, thus rendering her trapped, unless she wanted to fight half-naked.
Misao found her footing when she landed, only to see a sword coming at her. The next second, she was pinned by the sword as it stuck through her kimono and deeply into the ground. She had two options before her, either remain trapped by the sword, or strip off the kimono and keep fighting. Neither was 100% appealing to her, but she wasn't a ninja for nothing. She moved to untie the string keeping her obi up when out of no where, a shadow appeared before her, and a hand covered her own.
"I wouldn't remove that if I were you." came a voice from above her. Misao looked up and found herself staring at a pair of strange blue eyes. They weren't as cold as Aoshi's, but they weren't as friendly as Kaoru's. The man stood up, grabbed the sword that trapped her kimono and hauled it out of the ground, freeing Misao. He turned towards the group of samurai and Misao scrambled to her feet, she looked at her rescuers back.
He wasn't very tall. Around Himura's height. He had long brown hair, tied back in a high ponytail on his head. He wore a dark brown gi, and grey hakama. He also had a very old and worn out sword at his hip. At least, the saya was old and worn out. Misao couldn't tell if the sword was in the same condition.
"Does this belong to one of you?" he asked brandishing the sword at the group of samurai.
The leader of the group was shocked at the speed and silence the new arrival had arrived on the scene. He was no more than a boy.
"That is my sword. Now return it and be on your way. This doesn't concern you."
The man surveyed the leader carefully, then looked at the gleaming sword in his hand.
"It's not a very good sword." he retorted, and threw it back.
"What the hell are you doing?! Don't give it back to him!!" Misao yelled. The man turned to her and smiled gently. She saw his face clearer this time. He looked very young. Maybe no more than 16 or 17. But after meeting Himura and his Master Hiko, Misao stopped judging ages of people merely by how they look.
"A samurai should never be without their sword. If he has chosen to carry it during this time of peace, he must have a good reason." the boy said to her, smiling. He turned back to the 6 men before them, "However this does concern me. I mean, 9 men against one girl hardly seems fair."
"What do you know of swords boy? Now get out of here. We've unfinished business." The leader shouted, extremely irritated.
"Now now, this girl didn't seem to be interested in your business. And neither did the five other women I found back there. I let them go." The boy said mildly, waving off over his shoulder to where the group of samurai had laid their captives down minutes before hand. Sure enough, the ropes were sliced off, and the women were gone.
"Why you!" one samurai growled. In one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword and charged towards Misao and the boy. Misao heard the familiar click of a sword being unhooked. She looked down and saw the boy's hand on his sword. The next moment he was speeding towards the approaching samurai. Misao watched in amazement when the man/boy drew his sword in one fluid motion and performed a battoujutsu at a near god-like speed. But what had her totally shocked was the fact that he brought the saya out of its place of rest, and used it to perform another battoujutsu.
A double battoujutsu.
There was only one man alive... well, two. who used the double battoujutsu like that.
And now there were three.
The samurai felt the saya plow into his side, at the same time that he felt the blade of his katana break under the power of the battoujutsu. He hadn't even seen the arc of his opponent's katana. Merely a bring flash of light and then nothing.
The man/boy kept going, leaping over the unconscious form of the samurai and heading straight for the 5 remaining.
Misao watched, transfixed. The moves the young man made were agonizingly similar to the Hiten Mitsurugi Style, but at the same time, so very much unlike it. But when the boy leapt into the air and performed a perfect Ryu Tsui Sen, Kenshin's favorite move, Misao audible gasped.
The boy stood, each of the 6 samurai were at his feet.
"Yare, yare. I thought they would put up more of a fight." He sighed, habitually flicking his blade and re-sheathing it. Misao watched in fascination as he preformed the act, his sword was a regular katana. He turned to Misao who stared at the bodies in shock.
"Are they dead?" she whispered. The boy smiled.
"Of course not. Just unconscious."
She noted the bandages he wore, wrapped around himself, all the way up to his collar bone.
Misao gasped again. Not only had he used a Hiten Mitsurugi technique, but he had used the back of his sword to perform them.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Merely a wanderer." He said, and turned his back to her.
"Wait! You're name?" Misao called. The wanderer stopped and turned slightly towards her. Her breath caught, he was way too much like Himura. The way he fought, the way he moved, the way he held his sword... almost like he was the former manslayers long lost brother or something.
"Hideki." Came the reply.
"Just 'Hideki'?"
Hideki smiled slightly, as if remembering something his grip on the saya in his hand tightened.
"Just Hideki." He replied softly and turned again.
The slight sound of a match being struck caused both Hideki and Misao to turn. The man she had first laid out was conscious once again. He held a match in one hand, and a stick with a string at the end of it in the other hand. The string on the stick was burning. He smiled wickedly.
"Die!" he shouted, hurling the stick at Misao.
Misao stared at the stick in confusion. She had never seen anything like it before. It almost looked like a firecracker stick, but it was too small. It landed near her feet.
Hideki gasped, immediately recognizing the stick. Dynamite. A new form of explosive.
Misao saw the wanderer sprinting towards her a split second before his arms had engulfed her and his body got between hers and the stick.
A huge explosion rocked the clearing. Debris went flying everywhere. Rocks, branches, dirt, everything near the dynamite when it went off were sent hurtling in all directions. Misao felt herself get thrown, but the brunt of the explosion was shielded from her by Hideki's body. They landed quite a distance from where they had been standing.
Misao landed, full force, on the ground. Then Hideki crashed on top of her. He was lighter than he looked, but that didn't matter. She was dazed and breathless from the impact. Other than that, she was okay. But the tell-tale warmth of blood on her neck told her Hideki was not.
Quickly, she turned the young wanderer over and surveyed the damage. He had a huge gash over his eye, near his hairline and blood was leaking from it profusely. There were a few other places in his hair that was sticky with blood. He had been hit several times by debris.
"Hideki! Hideki!" Misao called frantically. She shook the small man's shoulders, trying to get him to wake, but he remained still and lifeless. His sword was gone, thrown from his hands after the explosion to land somewhere amidst the debris that covered the clearing.
A pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders and hauled her away from Hideki's form. Another pair rapidly tied her up, and someone placed a gag around her mouth, cutting off her frantic calls. A sharp blow hit her in the head, stars exploded in front of her eyes, and her world went black. The last thing she saw was Hideki's body.
"Well, this pain in the ass boy lost all of our women. What'll we do?" one of the samurai asked as their leader hoisted the unconscious form of Misao onto his shoulder.
"He's as good as dead here. Leave him. And she'll be good enough for now. We'll just have to go out and get more later." The leader replied. He gave the boy/man one final look, still amazed at the power of the blow he had delivered. The blow should have killed him, but the wanderer had used the back of his blade, and spared every man's life.
He respected the boy for it.
He hoped the boy would survive so they could cross blades again someday.
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Dusk had come and gone, leaving a dark night in its wake. The half moon high in the sky shone a dim light down on the earth below.
The fireflies danced on the river as Rumiko Ginji took his nightly stroll along the riverbanks. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of evening. And the dancing fireflies somehow alleviated some of his loneliness. He stopped to watch their performance, as he usually did.
The sound of a scuffed footstep, followed by another, and another alerted the man of someone approaching. It wasn't unusual for someone to be walking along the banks, after all, Ginji himself was. But the muffled moan, followed by the sound of someone collapsing to the ground alerted the elderly doctor of someone's peril. He quickly made his way towards the sound, only to find a young man curled up on the ground.
He wore a gi and hakama. His hair was unbound and splayed around his prone form. Ginji gingerly turned the man over, only to discover that he wasn't a 'he' at all. 'He' was a she. The gi was parted, showing the unmistakable curves of a female's body beneath the loosly wrapped bandages she wore.
"Ojousan! Ojousan! Are you alright?" Ginji asked frantically. He brushed some of her hair out of her face, only to have his fingers meet with dried blood and linen. He gasped and drew his hand back.
The girl moaned softly, and opened her eyes.
"Ojousan! Are you alright?" Ginji repeated.
"W-who are you?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet.
"I'm a doctor, Rumiko Ginji, are you alright; can you tell me your name? What happened?" Ginji asked. It was very rare to see a woman in a gi and hakama, and it was ever rarer that she was as badly beaten as the girl in his arms was.
She reached up, gingerly touched her wound on her forehead and closed her eyes.
"I- I...." her voice faltered. Her eyes flew open. Ginji saw the panic there.
"I don't remember."
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A.N. Greetings fellow fanficers! It is I! Sakura-san! I have returned!
=throws a party=
Anyways, I'm back a couple of weeks earlier than expected so I started on my new fic. This is the sequel to my other fic: Secrets of the Revolution. If you haven't read it, then you won't know who Hideki is so this chapter wouldn't have made much impact on you.
Secrets is a semi-long fic, so if you don't want to read it that's fine, maybe you'll read this and enjoy it, then want to go back and read Secrets. For those who don't know Hideki, here's a short version Secrets:
Hideki and Himura were manslayers in the revolution. They worked together towards the end of the revolution and were an unstoppable force for the imperialists. During one fight, Hideki got hurt and Himura found out He was a She =crowd gasps=. She disguised herself as a man to join the revolution. She was good, but not as good as Kenshin. They formed a close friendship that rapidly turned into a brother/sister family relationship. She was the one who told Shakku to give the reverse blade sword to Kenshin, and in the end, she took Kenshin's sword that he left at Toba Fushimi and swore to never take a life with it. They both wandered off to find atonement for their crimes as manslayers.
The end.
Well, that's the short version. There was more to the story than that, and I omitted some important stuff in there that happened in that story. But I don't know yet if it'll make any difference to this story. If it does, I'll fill in those of you who still hadn't read secrets.
Blah. Okay, AN Becoming really long. Time to end it. So please review! :D
R&R please!! :D
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The Past Returns
Prologue
Makimachi Misao stood alone in the clearing, completely surrounded by samurai. The mid morning sun shone brightly down on her and the people with her. She was silently cursing herself for wandering off her usual walking route but hindsight was always much clearer. Why she had chosen that moment to step into the clearing to see the group of 9 carrying five bound and gagged girls off to kami-sama knows where, she'll never know. But one thing was certain; she wasn't going to allow them to get away with those poor defenseless women.
She, of course, charged in headlong. Being a ninja helped somewhat, they didn't notice her presence until she called out to them. Being a hard- headed 17 year old hadn't helped at all. All she saw were the girls. She didn't notice the swords at every man's hip. Cursing her stupidity she fished out the kunai's she usually carried with her no matter what. It was in that fleeting moment that the 9 men had put their prisoners down and surrounded the girl.
'Damn they're fast!' Misao cursed in her head. She surveyed her chances, and they didn't look good. Nine samurai, all quite fast from their initial movements. They wore strange get-ups too. Grey hakamas and white gi's, along with blue haori's. They each wore white bandanas around their head.
Misao couldn't talk much about wearing strange clothes. She wore her ninja outfit pretty much all the time. And a 'lady' of her age should never show her thighs off like Misao did. It was indecent of her, and very unlady- like. However, at that moment she wasn't in her ninja uniform. She was in a kimono. She had tried to become a lady by wearing the traditional outfit, however confining she found it. How Kaoru managed to move around in hers was a mystery to Misao. But she had worn it in an attempt to catch Shinomori Aoshi's eye, and show him she wasn't the little girl he thought she was.
His utter ignorance at the fact that she had changed clothes at all had really ticked her off. She had stormed out of the Aoiya in rage and had found herself wandering the forest outside the city. She liked the quiet solitude of the forest. It calmed her down. Of course, that was before she walked into the kidnapping.
So there she was, in a kimono, with a few measly kunai in her hand, surrounded by 9 samurai. He chances of escape were very minimal.
"Another pretty wanders in our path, how fortunate." One samurai sneered. Misao glared at him.
"Well, this 'pretty' isn't an easy target." Misao spit out. Of course, somewhere in the back of her head, she liked hearing that she was 'pretty', but hearing it from the man before her was just plain disgusting.
"Easy target or not, do you really think you'll be able to escape from 9 of us?" another retorted off to her left. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked very relaxed. It was his folly for thinking she was weak. In an instance she had crossed the distance between herself and the lazy samurai, and delivered her patented kick. He took the blow to his abdomen, and doubled over in pain. She seized the opportunity to bring her fist, weighed down by the kunai, crashing full force into the base of his skull at the same time, bringing her knee up and giving him another blow to the abdomen. The double attack knocked the man out cold.
"Eight." Misao said. She immediately leapt into the air and took her fight into the surrounding trees. She was best off in an aerial fight against the remaining 8. She could use gravity and her own weight to her advantage then.
The 8 men were shocked at her quickness, as well as agility. She wouldn't be an easy target. But she would be captured by them; it was only a matter of getting her back on the ground.
With a flick of his wrist, one of the samurai motioned for five of his comrades to remain on the ground, while the other three took to the trees in pursuit. Three men leapt into the air and gave chase to the girl in the kimono with the long black braid and bright green eyes.
Misao saw two men chasing her. 'Humph! What arrogance, as if two men would be able to stop me! I'll take them out no problem.' she thought as she alighted on a branch of a large tree, pivoted and launched herself towards her assailants. She gripped a kunai in each of her fists as gravity sent her careening towards the closest samurai. With only a few kunai to protect herself with, she had to use them carefully.
The first samurai saw her coming and prepared himself. He planted his feet firmly on the branch of the tree, with his back pressed against the huge trunk to brace himself for the impact. He held up his arms, intending to catch her. She slammed into him, full bodied. He moved to close his arms around her and capture her, but he couldn't. Smirking, Misao backed out of the man's reach to survey her work. A kunai was embedded into the tree trunk on either side of the man, the arms of his haori pinned, immobilizing him.
"Why you-!" he growled. The second samurai landed on the branch at that moment, took a moment to snicker at his second comrade who had been bested by the girl, then turned his attention to her. Misao turned to her newest challenge and glared at his smirking face. A tearing sound behind her told that the first man had ripped out of his binding, a quick glance told her she was right. Some of the light blue material was pinned to the tree beneath her kunai.
"Two against one, what's a girl to do?" Misao asked lightly. Both men launched themselves at her, intent on catching her unharmed, but she jumped away, allowing herself to fall towards the ground. Both men slammed into each other, cursed and tripped over each other, only to find themselves hurtling towards the ground. Misao landed on a branch not too far off the ground and smiled at the crashing of the two men when they hit. She stood, turned and was caught off guard by the third pursuer, whom she didn't see, when his saya slammed into her abdomen, and knocked her off the branch.
The saya blow, combined with the force of impact against the ground took her breath away. She was back in the clearing, surrounded by the five remaining samurai. The one who had ambushed her jumped to the ground and walked up to her, tucking his saya and sword back into the ties at his waist.
"You're the first to knock one of my men unconscious." He said admirably looking down at the girl.
"One? I could have sworn I got three." Misao retorted, clutching her side as she struggled, to no avail, to stand up. The man laughed. He knelt down and placed a hand on the side of Misao's face.
"My my, such a sharp tongue on this one. You may be harder to get rid of. But then, some like one with a sharp tongue."
Misao jerked her face away from the man's grip. For some reason his words caused a chill to run down her spine and his touch had suddenly felt slimy. She had never really felt fear like she felt at that moment. She felt weak for the first time in her life and she didn't like it one bit.
"Don't touch me." She growled through clenched teeth. The man laughed again.
"Oh kami-sama, no. I have no intention of touching you like that. I have a much better use for you, my dear." he said, standing and turning his back to her. He nodded to one of his men, and a rope was pulled out.
"Well, as I see it, you still haven't caught me." Misao retorted to the retreating mans back. She planted her feet beneath herself and attempted to take in some much needed air in order to get the strength to do what she was about to do. At least she knew she could jump high enough to clear the circle of samurai. She had Himura to thank for that.
The man turned back around to the girl. From his eyes, she looked defeated. She was gasping for air and still clinging to her stomach. She was full of energy that was for sure. He smiled once more. He liked this girl more and more.
"I haven't? Enlighten me, little one." he said. Misao pushed against the ground with all her might, sending her small body high into the air, well over the heads of the taller men. The man's smile never left his face as he watched her. Full of energy. She was quite the little weasel-girl. He turned, watching her arc as she soared through the air.
"I've gotten 3; there are only 6 more to go. Round 2!" Misao shouted. The man pulled his katana out of its saya and threw it at the falling girl. The sword wouldn't impale her. It wouldn't even cut her, he had full control of it. It would merely pin the edge of her kimono to the ground, thus rendering her trapped, unless she wanted to fight half-naked.
Misao found her footing when she landed, only to see a sword coming at her. The next second, she was pinned by the sword as it stuck through her kimono and deeply into the ground. She had two options before her, either remain trapped by the sword, or strip off the kimono and keep fighting. Neither was 100% appealing to her, but she wasn't a ninja for nothing. She moved to untie the string keeping her obi up when out of no where, a shadow appeared before her, and a hand covered her own.
"I wouldn't remove that if I were you." came a voice from above her. Misao looked up and found herself staring at a pair of strange blue eyes. They weren't as cold as Aoshi's, but they weren't as friendly as Kaoru's. The man stood up, grabbed the sword that trapped her kimono and hauled it out of the ground, freeing Misao. He turned towards the group of samurai and Misao scrambled to her feet, she looked at her rescuers back.
He wasn't very tall. Around Himura's height. He had long brown hair, tied back in a high ponytail on his head. He wore a dark brown gi, and grey hakama. He also had a very old and worn out sword at his hip. At least, the saya was old and worn out. Misao couldn't tell if the sword was in the same condition.
"Does this belong to one of you?" he asked brandishing the sword at the group of samurai.
The leader of the group was shocked at the speed and silence the new arrival had arrived on the scene. He was no more than a boy.
"That is my sword. Now return it and be on your way. This doesn't concern you."
The man surveyed the leader carefully, then looked at the gleaming sword in his hand.
"It's not a very good sword." he retorted, and threw it back.
"What the hell are you doing?! Don't give it back to him!!" Misao yelled. The man turned to her and smiled gently. She saw his face clearer this time. He looked very young. Maybe no more than 16 or 17. But after meeting Himura and his Master Hiko, Misao stopped judging ages of people merely by how they look.
"A samurai should never be without their sword. If he has chosen to carry it during this time of peace, he must have a good reason." the boy said to her, smiling. He turned back to the 6 men before them, "However this does concern me. I mean, 9 men against one girl hardly seems fair."
"What do you know of swords boy? Now get out of here. We've unfinished business." The leader shouted, extremely irritated.
"Now now, this girl didn't seem to be interested in your business. And neither did the five other women I found back there. I let them go." The boy said mildly, waving off over his shoulder to where the group of samurai had laid their captives down minutes before hand. Sure enough, the ropes were sliced off, and the women were gone.
"Why you!" one samurai growled. In one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword and charged towards Misao and the boy. Misao heard the familiar click of a sword being unhooked. She looked down and saw the boy's hand on his sword. The next moment he was speeding towards the approaching samurai. Misao watched in amazement when the man/boy drew his sword in one fluid motion and performed a battoujutsu at a near god-like speed. But what had her totally shocked was the fact that he brought the saya out of its place of rest, and used it to perform another battoujutsu.
A double battoujutsu.
There was only one man alive... well, two. who used the double battoujutsu like that.
And now there were three.
The samurai felt the saya plow into his side, at the same time that he felt the blade of his katana break under the power of the battoujutsu. He hadn't even seen the arc of his opponent's katana. Merely a bring flash of light and then nothing.
The man/boy kept going, leaping over the unconscious form of the samurai and heading straight for the 5 remaining.
Misao watched, transfixed. The moves the young man made were agonizingly similar to the Hiten Mitsurugi Style, but at the same time, so very much unlike it. But when the boy leapt into the air and performed a perfect Ryu Tsui Sen, Kenshin's favorite move, Misao audible gasped.
The boy stood, each of the 6 samurai were at his feet.
"Yare, yare. I thought they would put up more of a fight." He sighed, habitually flicking his blade and re-sheathing it. Misao watched in fascination as he preformed the act, his sword was a regular katana. He turned to Misao who stared at the bodies in shock.
"Are they dead?" she whispered. The boy smiled.
"Of course not. Just unconscious."
She noted the bandages he wore, wrapped around himself, all the way up to his collar bone.
Misao gasped again. Not only had he used a Hiten Mitsurugi technique, but he had used the back of his sword to perform them.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Merely a wanderer." He said, and turned his back to her.
"Wait! You're name?" Misao called. The wanderer stopped and turned slightly towards her. Her breath caught, he was way too much like Himura. The way he fought, the way he moved, the way he held his sword... almost like he was the former manslayers long lost brother or something.
"Hideki." Came the reply.
"Just 'Hideki'?"
Hideki smiled slightly, as if remembering something his grip on the saya in his hand tightened.
"Just Hideki." He replied softly and turned again.
The slight sound of a match being struck caused both Hideki and Misao to turn. The man she had first laid out was conscious once again. He held a match in one hand, and a stick with a string at the end of it in the other hand. The string on the stick was burning. He smiled wickedly.
"Die!" he shouted, hurling the stick at Misao.
Misao stared at the stick in confusion. She had never seen anything like it before. It almost looked like a firecracker stick, but it was too small. It landed near her feet.
Hideki gasped, immediately recognizing the stick. Dynamite. A new form of explosive.
Misao saw the wanderer sprinting towards her a split second before his arms had engulfed her and his body got between hers and the stick.
A huge explosion rocked the clearing. Debris went flying everywhere. Rocks, branches, dirt, everything near the dynamite when it went off were sent hurtling in all directions. Misao felt herself get thrown, but the brunt of the explosion was shielded from her by Hideki's body. They landed quite a distance from where they had been standing.
Misao landed, full force, on the ground. Then Hideki crashed on top of her. He was lighter than he looked, but that didn't matter. She was dazed and breathless from the impact. Other than that, she was okay. But the tell-tale warmth of blood on her neck told her Hideki was not.
Quickly, she turned the young wanderer over and surveyed the damage. He had a huge gash over his eye, near his hairline and blood was leaking from it profusely. There were a few other places in his hair that was sticky with blood. He had been hit several times by debris.
"Hideki! Hideki!" Misao called frantically. She shook the small man's shoulders, trying to get him to wake, but he remained still and lifeless. His sword was gone, thrown from his hands after the explosion to land somewhere amidst the debris that covered the clearing.
A pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders and hauled her away from Hideki's form. Another pair rapidly tied her up, and someone placed a gag around her mouth, cutting off her frantic calls. A sharp blow hit her in the head, stars exploded in front of her eyes, and her world went black. The last thing she saw was Hideki's body.
"Well, this pain in the ass boy lost all of our women. What'll we do?" one of the samurai asked as their leader hoisted the unconscious form of Misao onto his shoulder.
"He's as good as dead here. Leave him. And she'll be good enough for now. We'll just have to go out and get more later." The leader replied. He gave the boy/man one final look, still amazed at the power of the blow he had delivered. The blow should have killed him, but the wanderer had used the back of his blade, and spared every man's life.
He respected the boy for it.
He hoped the boy would survive so they could cross blades again someday.
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Dusk had come and gone, leaving a dark night in its wake. The half moon high in the sky shone a dim light down on the earth below.
The fireflies danced on the river as Rumiko Ginji took his nightly stroll along the riverbanks. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of evening. And the dancing fireflies somehow alleviated some of his loneliness. He stopped to watch their performance, as he usually did.
The sound of a scuffed footstep, followed by another, and another alerted the man of someone approaching. It wasn't unusual for someone to be walking along the banks, after all, Ginji himself was. But the muffled moan, followed by the sound of someone collapsing to the ground alerted the elderly doctor of someone's peril. He quickly made his way towards the sound, only to find a young man curled up on the ground.
He wore a gi and hakama. His hair was unbound and splayed around his prone form. Ginji gingerly turned the man over, only to discover that he wasn't a 'he' at all. 'He' was a she. The gi was parted, showing the unmistakable curves of a female's body beneath the loosly wrapped bandages she wore.
"Ojousan! Ojousan! Are you alright?" Ginji asked frantically. He brushed some of her hair out of her face, only to have his fingers meet with dried blood and linen. He gasped and drew his hand back.
The girl moaned softly, and opened her eyes.
"Ojousan! Are you alright?" Ginji repeated.
"W-who are you?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet.
"I'm a doctor, Rumiko Ginji, are you alright; can you tell me your name? What happened?" Ginji asked. It was very rare to see a woman in a gi and hakama, and it was ever rarer that she was as badly beaten as the girl in his arms was.
She reached up, gingerly touched her wound on her forehead and closed her eyes.
"I- I...." her voice faltered. Her eyes flew open. Ginji saw the panic there.
"I don't remember."
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A.N. Greetings fellow fanficers! It is I! Sakura-san! I have returned!
=throws a party=
Anyways, I'm back a couple of weeks earlier than expected so I started on my new fic. This is the sequel to my other fic: Secrets of the Revolution. If you haven't read it, then you won't know who Hideki is so this chapter wouldn't have made much impact on you.
Secrets is a semi-long fic, so if you don't want to read it that's fine, maybe you'll read this and enjoy it, then want to go back and read Secrets. For those who don't know Hideki, here's a short version Secrets:
Hideki and Himura were manslayers in the revolution. They worked together towards the end of the revolution and were an unstoppable force for the imperialists. During one fight, Hideki got hurt and Himura found out He was a She =crowd gasps=. She disguised herself as a man to join the revolution. She was good, but not as good as Kenshin. They formed a close friendship that rapidly turned into a brother/sister family relationship. She was the one who told Shakku to give the reverse blade sword to Kenshin, and in the end, she took Kenshin's sword that he left at Toba Fushimi and swore to never take a life with it. They both wandered off to find atonement for their crimes as manslayers.
The end.
Well, that's the short version. There was more to the story than that, and I omitted some important stuff in there that happened in that story. But I don't know yet if it'll make any difference to this story. If it does, I'll fill in those of you who still hadn't read secrets.
Blah. Okay, AN Becoming really long. Time to end it. So please review! :D