Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin or the characters that are about to be in this chapter. Cough. Cough Saitou. Zephon and any other character I use though besides the characters of Rurouni Kenshin are mine. Well this is the sequel to my story Miburo Wolves. Sorry this is so short I know that I've written more before but I think this will turn out to be a great fanfic. Please tell me if you find any mistakes spelling wise or grammatically. I hope you enjoy, I've just began reading Rurouni Kenshin again and wanted to write this sequel.
Chapter 1: Duel
"Oo-wah that sure felt good." A young man said after cleaning his face with the brisk cold water of a shallow stream meandering through the forest just outside the boundaries of Kyoto.
"Wow I can't believe that it's been ten years since the battle of Toba-Fushimi."
With a slight clinking of the katana in his hand the young man turned and walked deeper into the forest.
"Now I know its here somewhere."
Sure enough after a good fifteen minute's walk through the hilly forest the young man stopped at the base of a particular tree. It was huge and glorious to behold with the sun peeking through the dense leaves. The young man reverently knelt and pressed his forehead against his hands in the form of a Buddhist monk giving a prayer. Not quite a religious man he couldn't help but come out here year after year and give respect to the man who had fallen long ago.
"Father, I once again thank you for saving my life back then, please forgive me for I have decided to become a policeman and in doing so I'd be working for the very government you were trying to fight against."
Feeling rather calm the young man could almost hear his father's voice speak to him.
"Zephon, my son, you have done me proud. In order to survive into the new era you have to make adaptations I know, just remember to trust in what you believe and not falter."
Zephon felt all this through the calm surrounding him. "I still carry your sword as a reminder that I must not hate the Battousai. There have been some days that it has been really hard especially when I was young, but back then I'm happy to say that I ran into Saitou. He is actually what inspired me to be a policeman."
After he finished talking as if he were addressing his father he found himself thinking out loud.
"I still need to earn the money he gave to me, the money I started out stealing but then out of the goodness of his wife's heart Saitou gave it to me, haha, even I could tell that he was having a hard time with this. Well I better be on my way."
With that Zephon bowed his head low below his hands before bringing his head back up to clap his hands softly together twice. He then stood up, bowed reverently to the tree and fastened his katana to his belt. The katana being a gift from his father before he died felt very light to Zephon as he made his way down
the many small hilly rises on his way back to Kyoto. In the past years he would stare at the katana his father had given him, watch the smooth material of the scabbard shine in the sun glowing fiery-red, the blade housed in the flames of this scabbard had etched, forever, the name of his family; the Meiyo clan.
To keep up with the training Hageshii had started with Zephon he would carefully use the katana to practice his kata, but having never fought in a battle once with the katana he didn't know how good he was with such a sword.
"Maybe when I get back into town I should see if I can find a teacher to help me with my Kendo skills, right now I don't think I'm very dept with a sword." Zephon murmured to himself.
Through his time alone there was one thing that he made sure he was good at and that was throwing weapons from things like kunai to tantou knives. Though tantou were a small dagger used for slashing and stabbing his father had shown him how to make use of them as a ninja might kunai. Zephon under Hageshii's tutelage learned to be able throw anything and make it a weapon. Though tantou could be useful for Zephon he liked kunai more had a set of his own throwing weapons (all kunai); all with the family name of the Meiyo clan, though for purposes of his own desires he found one of Hageshii's tantou to keep as a reminder of his father's greatness.
Zephon had been automatically walking to his destination, Kyoto, while lost in his thoughts. He was in Kyoto and before he realized it he was standing right in front of the Kyoto division police office. He boldly walked in and started looking for the man in charge.
"Chief Masurao here's another recruit to see you." An officer yelled from the front.
'Masurao,' Zephon thought to himself, 'in its own way that's quite a stately last name.'
A door in the back, hidden from view, creaked open and a deep voice rumbled, "Kouji don't you have any manners, you don't just yell from the front. You politely knock on my door and tell me, I hate it when you are so rude."
The man, Kouji, smiled slightly before being more polite. He went to the back and talked in private with Masurao before peeking around the corner. "Boy what's your name?"
"Meiyo Zephon."
Kouji disappeared again before the deep voice boomed out. "Meiyo, you may come back here now." Kouji reappeared and took his place back at the front. "Good luck boy, you're going to need it."
Zephon looked at Kouji strangely as he carefully walked past many desks to get to the back of the department. The department, itself, was a sight to see; many policemen going in and out others taking care of business at their desks. If that was grand then the office of Masurao's was even greater. Zephon could see it was one of many offices and by the looks of it was the biggest.
The man was sitting behind the biggest western desk Zephon had ever seen. As Zephon looked around amazed at the space the office had he spotted behind the Chief what seemed to be a couch, albeit rather long, probably for those long nights in the office. It got Zephon to wondering just how tall the man sitting in front of him was. He noticed that the walls of the office were decorated with many wall scrolls; the one just behind Masurao's head looked like a wolf hunting in the moonlight. Zephon soon realized that most of the wall scrolls had wolves on them; this made him all the more curious about the man sitting in front of him.
"Sit down Meiyo." Masurao commanded gruffly.
Zephon stiffened a little at the tone of voice but took a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs in front of the Chief. Zephon nervously watched Masurao lean back in his swivel chair watching him with his icy blue eyes as he passively touch his fingertips to each other with his elbows resting on his ribcage. Zephon shivered slightly as Masurao glared over his fingers.
"What is it that you want?"
Zephon gulped and averted his eyes to the desktop for a minute so he could find his voice and form the words he wanted to say. He felt nervous talking to this man; he so much reminded Zephon of a wolf. It wasn't because of the short black hair or menacing sneer that showed his fang-like teeth. No what he was nervous about was looking into those killer eyes. It felt like his heart was going a mile a minute the more he thought about those icy eyes staring at him. It was then that he was reminded of another wolf; Saitou. Strangely Zephon found he was calming down. Now that he thought about it he softly snorted to himself. This man before him no matter how much he glared with his icy blue eyes failed in comparison to Saitou's ruthless amber eyes that promised death to all who opposed him. Once he felt comfortable enough he looked into Masurao's eyes once more and spoke out, his voice betraying him as it rose in tone.
"Sir I want to be a policeman."
"Why?" That was all Zephon was offered in response. It made Zephon feel all the more uncomfortable having to explain himself to a stranger.
"I…I want to protect…Japan," Zephon stuttered at first before finding a comfortable rhythm in what he was saying, "It is the duty of a samurai's son to follow in the footsteps of his father and protect Japan."
All was silent for a long while before Masurao began laughing scornfully.
"Duty of a samurai's son? Don't make me laugh that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
Masurao's laughter was cut short when Zephon had the audacity to growl at the man before him.
"You may think its funny but to me it's a way of life. A warrior is a warrior until the day he dies and in order the warrior to survive he must adapt or be left in the dust. My father taught me this and for that I believe what I believe and nothing else."
To hide his surprise Masurao snorted and put up an air of disinterest. He secretly felt that this young man had earned his respect, but to make it harder on the young man he decided to play it cool and jostle him up a little bit.
"How can you live your life as a warrior if you haven't ever fought in battle with a real katana?"
"How…did you…?"
"Please spare me your ideals, you didn't fight those bloody battles during the Bakumatsu, you didn't watch as countless comrades died before your feet. You have an aura of innocence about you so I know for a fact that you haven't ever taken a life before."
It seemed as though a cloud were forming in the room as Zephon's mood became darker bit by bit.
"It may be true that I've never killed before but you haven't lived my life so you don't know what I've had to go through."
"Oh and what would that be?" Masurao inquired with interest.
"During the battle of Toba-Fushimi I saw my father die before me, and countless other people. My father died trying to protect me from the Battousai and in the end made me promise upon the sword he gave me-the sword I hold with me today-that I should not hate the Battousai. It's been the hardest. Not to mention that I've had to fend for myself for the past ten years, had I not ran into Saitou when I was younger I would have undoubtedly turned into a thief, because that's what I resorted to back then."
Masurao contemplated what he had just heard with great interest. 'Its not very often you find a man who has a warrior's spirit so untainted.'
"I've heard enough and I believe I was wrong about you."
"Huh?"
"I was wrong you're more a warrior than most of the men I've fought beside during the Bakumatsu. There were very few who possessed the spirit of a warrior and you, I'd honestly have to say, fit in with them."
It was then that Zephon realized what had happened. Masurao had just acknowledged him as an equal or close to it anyway. He also noticed rather sheepishly that in his anger he had left
himself wide open to be read like a book. 'I really must work on that, but at least I have his attention.'
"But," Masurao continued after a pause, "Just because I said what I said, you still need to prove to me that you have what it takes to be a policeman in the new era. You may have a warrior's spirit but if you don't have the skills to match then I have no use of you."
"So what do you propose?" Zephon inquired with intrigue.
"Let's have a small duel shall we?" Masurao inquired his voice deep and thick. Despite the chills that ran up and down his spine, Zephon was excited to try out his skills for the first time; he could only hope that he remembered all that his father taught him. Silently he prayed that he would get lucky and pass.
The air seemed to be electrified and Zephon was now shaking with excitement he could hardly contain himself. Masurao couldn't help but chuckle softly as he watched Zephon in vain try to rein his excitement. Obviously the boy hadn't ever studied in a fencing dojo; this would be a whole new experience to him. Masurao had been leading the way to a local fencing dojo not too far from the police department where they would be having their little test. Once they made it they were greeted with the owner of the dojo.
"It's all yours for the time being, but just be careful not to damage the place too much or I'll make sure you pay for the damages out of your check." The old man wheezed as he led the way to the practice area. Zephon was so excited that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings to him the ancient hallways didn't matter all he wanted to see was the practice hall where many Japanese samurai from long ago practiced.
"We're here." Masurao stated stopping suddenly. It was a good thing Zephon heard what he was saying or else he would have plowed right into the back of Masurao and that wouldn't have helped things much.
Turning around to face the young man Masurao, "What do you think, rather glorious isn't it."
Zephon was in awe, he had always imagined the great samurai's of the past perfecting their skills in a kendo dojo but do actually be in one defied his wildest dreams. His father had never had enough money to send him off to a school to learn martial arts but he made do with teaching him what he knew; now he would be able to test his skill against somebody who had fought in the Bakumatsu.
"Boy, stop gawking and pay attention I'm about to tell you the rules." Masurao stated with much amusement. He felt he didn't have to be so harsh with the boy verbally since he passed that test, but that didn't mean that he didn't have to be harsh physically. So while walking to some bokken mounted to the wall he explained everything.
"The rules are simple. You only need to scratch me to pass."
"That's simple enough." Zephon reasoned as he reached for his katana.
"Hold up there boy I know you have more on you then your katana so in all fairness lay them off to the side and only use your katana to come at me with."
"What about you, I know there's more to this than that." Zephon commented while he began rummaging through his shirt pocket. Western clothes were actually quite nice for concealing weapons. He loved them so much that he often opted to wear holey but fitted trousers with a pouch stuffed full of kunai tied at his right thigh. He wore a messy shirt with a shirt pocket and over that an oversized, ragged coat that worked great to hide most of his weapons.
"Oh I shall explain that when your ready." Masurao snorted in dry amusement as he watched Zephon dig through his clothing to pull out all his weapons. 'How much could he have anyway?' Masurao thought to himself.
Ten minutes later Zephon was still pulling weapons out of his coat. He had already discarded the shuriken out of all his pockets as well as his kunai pouch. He was currently unfastening more kunai from the inside of his coat.
"Boy for crying out loud, just take off your coat." Masurao growled with impatience resting his bokken on his shoulders using his arms to anchor it in place. He had better things to do then watch this young man find all his weapons. Zephon just shrugged and with a loud clank he threw them off to the side. It was such a loud sound Masurao flinched when it hit the ground.
"Are you done boy?" Masurao drawled.
"I believe so."
"Well then this is how it works. You come at me with all your might; use some skill to land a small scratch on me. If I hit you five times with this bokken then you lose. Seems fair doesn't it?" Masurao asked waiting for Zephon to reply. Zephon promptly unsheathed his sword and threw his sheath in the pile of weapons.
Zephon smirked and dropped into his stance, both hands on his katana handle with his left foot in front of the right. Masurao too fell into his stance before realizing Zephon had forgotten one more weapon.
"Boyo, undo that tantou fastened to your belt."
"Oops sorry." With that Zephon's left hand slipped the tantou out of its sheath and before Marusao knew it the tantou wasn't too far from his head the weapon slightly springing back and forth. 'Ah so that's how it is, he left it to be the start of the match.' Masurao was amazed but didn't let it distract him. He took his cue and attacked swiftly only to have his bokken be deflected and caught in a power struggle. With the shuffling of feet against the tatami mat Masurao brought his foot up and vicious kicked Zephon away following after as he waited for his moment to attack again.
Zephon fell backwards head over heels to stop on one knee with time enough to once again defend himself against the warrior turned cop. Masurao put much pressure on his opponent's sword before suddenly releasing it to attack Zephon's side. Zephon was helpless there was on way he was able to move his sword in time and the attack came too quickly to dodge so he braced himself for the moment of impact figuring it was best to roll with the hit. It still hurt like none other and he couldn't stop himself from gasping in pain as the air was knocked out of his lungs.
"Smart to minimize the damage by going with the flow but I'm sorry to say I have one up on you." Masurao growled almost as if he were living the days of the Bakumatsu. Zephon then realized if he were to win he'd have to try harder. Masurao not having completely lost his head let the young man stagger to his feet before effortlessly bringing him to his knees again. In Zephon's eyes it was as if Masurao was actually dancing, he found he was having a hard time finding openings and finding himself always on the defensive. He did the only thing he knew how to do in such situations: think calmly, be patient and wait for the right opening; and it came.
After Masurao's fourth vicious attack on Zephon's shoulder this time he watched Zephon effortlessly get to his feet. He was no fool though he could tell that the poor man was in much pain and who wouldn't be after getting hit in the ribs twice, the shoulder once, kicked in the stomach and other various places, and poked in the stomach so hard that he left him incapacitated for a few seconds with dry heaves; bile threatening to spill over. One could only admire the raw spirit this man possessed. He also wasn't that bad with the sword and it led Masurao to wonder if he was really being dragged along thinking that he was winning.
Zephon rose to his feet and once again fell into his battle stance but this time it was completely different and didn't hold as many holes the previous times. He stared Masurao down his right foot in front and his left one in back to help with a thrust if needs be. His sword what right in front of him being held rigidly straight; he was now resonating out a powerful aura and it was then that Masurao knew he had only been taking those blows as a way to gauge the power of his opponent.
Masurao smirked and fell into a similar pose with his bokken also straight the handle just barely held above his head. The ending was soon and he didn't plan on losing, but then neither did Zephon. Zephon, with a loud battle cry, charged his opponent and a dull thud was heard as his katana was blocked by the bokken. He's sword may have stopped but his body sure didn't. Masurao found himself losing his balance as Zephon had swept his right foot out with his left. To offset Zephon's plans Masurao was able to keep a hold of his bokken with his left hand while he caught his weight on his right. After fluidly knocking Zephon's sword away from himself he pivoted on his right hand, caught Zephon's left leg in a scissor-like grip and was able to bring him down.
Zephon, well practiced in falling went with the flow, and slapped the mat to help absorb the impact of the fall. He wasn't on the ground for long though as he managed to break out of his opponent's vice-like grip. He stood up and went on the defensive when Masurao came charging at him once more. Suddenly realization struck at him like a ton of bricks, he actually noticed that Masurao was charging in rather blindly. This was the opening he was waiting for, though small Zephon was going to exploit it to his advantage. Masurao was so focused on taking his opponent down that he didn't see Zephon's hand fly to his belt. Zephon expertly yanked his tantou sheath out of his belt and used it to block Masurao's attack while he slashed at his exposed chest.
Masurao finally seeing what was going on jumped back quickly before dropping his guard all together. Zephon was confused when Masurao started clapping. It had been too fast for Zephon to tell but he was absolutely positive that Masurao had been fast enough to escape injury.
"Good job, good job." Masurao stated rather flamboyantly.
Zephon blinked a few times consecutively. What was this man doing the test wasn't over; he hadn't drawn blood yet and he hadn't been hit for the fifth time so what was this man up to.
"Ah by the look on your face I can see you don't believe that you scratched me but I assure you that you passed. Great fight I can't believe that a battle veteran like me fell for your trick."
"Trick?" Zephon questioned now feeling all the more confused.
'Hmm, maybe he didn't realize what he was doing. He must have done this by accident, and here I thought he had planned it this way. Planned to take my attacks and gauge my strength.' Masurao thought to himself as he watched the confused man just stare at him blankly.
"Never mind don't worry about it. Check around and make sure you didn't knick the tatami mats at all, the old man will have my hide if he finds any." Masurao instructed as he stooped over to examine the ground. Zephon did the same and much to the policeman's relief there was no damage; to the floor anyway. The bokken was a different story it was cracked and splintered as well as sliced up pretty badly. Zephon feeling bad was about to pay for it himself when Masurao his him over the head with that very same bokken.
"Baka this was the tool that I used so I naturally have to take care of it. You just take care of yourself and go see a doctor; I don't want to have you come in on your first day, two days from now, unable to move." Masurao growled while Zephon held his head trying to help the pain subside. His head suddenly shot up as he realized what Masurao was meaning, he actually had the job. Excitement flashed through his eyes and Zephon, in response, excitedly bowed and like a little child ran off without any further prodding.
"Tsk." That's the only sound Masurao uttered as he watched Zephon leave. 'So like a child but then again he does take after his father. He would have made a great Shinsengumi samurai just
like his old man. Now there was a great samurai. Hageshii your legacy lives on in the new world.' Masurao thought to himself.
