Title: Defending Him
Category: Anime/Manga ยป Rurouni Kenshin
Author: Ashitaka99
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M
Genre: Adventure/Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor do I make any profit from this story. The owner of these characters is solely Nobuhiro Watsuki. This story is AU so as such, I have taken several liberties with the timeline of the original story which is parallel to my story, just like an alternate universe. With my own original characters added in as well.

Warnings: violence, abuse, non-con., yoai, adult themes, swearing

This is a re-write and edited version of Defending Him. Please enjoy!

This is a Sanosuke x Kenshin centric written mainly from the first-person point of view of Sanosuke. It's the first time I have written a story like this, so please forgive any errors on my part. Italics indicate a character thinking to themselves.

Ashitaka

Sitting in the small bar, he lifted yet another sakazuki of sake up to his lips to take another sip. Ah. This is the way to relax. Smiling slightly to himself, he set the sakazuki back down on the table, and used the back of his hand to swipe his hair away from tumbling into his eyes. Leaning back, he closed his eyes slowly as he reached to take another sip from it, reminiscing of the afternoon he spent watching the beautiful red head. How with his kimono sleeves tied up, he could watch as the smaller man's biceps work as he did the laundry; how his small hands would grasp and work the fabric. I wonder what it would be like to have those hands grasp and work me. Blushing, his eyes flew open and he poured more sake into the sakazuki. How could I even think that way! There's no way I should be thinking like that! I don't even know the man! He paused in his drinking to wonder to himself about the small man. Why is it that he seemed to always be working away at house work anyways? Whatever the reason, the red head seemed to have definitely earned his keep at the dojo, but he couldn't understand why he wasn't ever working at his swordsmanship. He had seen the red head carry his sword at his hip whenever he left the dojo, so he knew he must have some skill to justify carrying it with him. He shook his head before slamming the tokkuri of sake down onto the table and downed the entire sakazuki in one go. Standing, he reached down and grabbed a large wrapped package that was leaning against the wall beside him before marching out of the bar.

Once outside, there was a commotion going on just outside of the restaurant across of the bar he was at once curious with the huge crowd of onlookers he joined to find out what was going on. To his extreme disbelief, it was the tiny red head standing with his sword drawn, facing down a few thugs, shouting some nonsense at them.

He pushed his way through the crowd closer to the goings on to observe what was going on. Once where he could get a good look, he could tell immediately that the red head was greatly outnumbered as well as looking nervously around himself with large violet eyes. How did I not notice the color of his eyes before? Shaking his head, he stepped forward laughing loudly.

"It takes six of you thugs to take down one kid? Makes you all seem very pathetic, doesn't it?" He cocked his head to the side and grinned at the thugs who were all staring at him, along with those beautiful violet eyes.

"Urm, this one does not need your assistance, no I do not." The tiny red head spoke quietly, shifting his weight to get into a better defensive position.

Laughing, he strode over to the man, "No, you might not feel I need to help you, but I am going to because it's obvious to everyone here that you need the help, so you just need to accept it." Reaching the smaller man, he grinned down at him, he added "Besides, you've just made my day that much more interesting, do you really want to take that away from me now?".

Flushing, the small man lowered his eyes to the thugs slowly circling them as they were speaking. "As you will. But this one does not take responsibility for what happens to you, no I do not."

"That is fine. I did not ask you to. I can fight well enough." He reached up and uncovered his zanbato and dropped the cover to the ground. "My friend here is all I need to defend myself." He added grinning to the stunned faces of the thugs who appeared to be beginning to regret entering this fight. Turning to look down at the smaller man, he was shocked to discover that the sword he was carrying was a sakabato! How does he expect to defend himself with something so useless?

"Usagi," one of the smaller thugs stepped towards the biggest one, the one presumably the leader and tugged on the bigger man's sleeve. "Usagi, is that what I think it is?"

"Back off you wimp!" The man shouted and shoved him away from him. "It is a zanbato. But he hasn't moved to the offensive or defensive positions yet. I think that he is only bluffing with his tough guy routine. Why would anyone stop to help a worthless wimp like him anyways?" Laughing he crossed his arms but didn't move to draw his own sword.

Like he is one to talk about tough guy routines! Laughing, he stepped forward and moved into an offensive position with his zanbato only to stop when he felt a small tug on the back of his coat. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed the smaller man staring up at him with his eyes wide.

"What can one do to convince you to not do this?"

Straightening up from the position, he smiled down at the man and reached around to remove the small hand from his coat.

"I do this because I want to, not because I have to. You don't need to worry little one." Turning back to his opponents, he grinned a feral grin and shouted at them, "I will not back down as long as you continue this harassment!"

The large man laughed shortly before rearranging his face back into a snarl.

"Draw your sword gentle man! Show us what skill you have! Or is it just for show? To prove your manhood?"

"This one does not carry a sword to flaunt it as a symbol of power. I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else."

"Then seeing as you refuse to draw it, and your stubborn dog refuses to back down," referring to the tall man with a slight wave of his hand, "I will show you my power! Men, get him! Kill the tall one, take the red-head alive!" He shouted as his minions charged the two of them.

Sano roared as he swung his zanbato sideways and sideswiped the smaller minion who had spoken up earlier, breaking his sword arm and sending him crashing to the ground. In the time, he took to get back into his offensive position, the red head amazingly drawn his sword and leapt into the fight as well as already laid waste to one man and was almost through his second. By the time he finished with his opponent and looked up, the red-head finished with the other minions and had the point of his sword at the neck of the leader of the group.

The large man was whimpering, begging for his life, from the same small man whom he had taunted only moments earlier about his manhood. Murmured words passed between the two which ended with the red-head nodding his head and lowering his sword. The large man dropped to the ground with his jaw dropping as well. The small man turned back to Sano with a small smile on his face as he replaced his sword in his sheath and walked over to him.

"This one can only thank you for your assistance. You are a great fighter. This one is in your debit. I owe you a debt of gratitude. How can this one return the help you have given?"

Definitions of the Japanese terms used thus far:

Dojo = a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts, but is typically thought of as a formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style.

Sakazuki = a flat, saucer like dish for drinking sake

Tokkuri = a small, usually ceramic flask for serving sake

Sake = refers to any alcohol in Japan, but commonly to rice wine or Nihonshu

Zanbato = a huge blade with no edge and can pretty well only be used to smash or crush opponents

Sakabato = a sword with its blade reversed, still a deadly weapon