Chapter 1

"Young man."

Seta Sojiro looked up from the small meal he was eating to see who had addressed him. The man standing before him was obviously rich, dressed in crisp western styled clothing, the dark color contrasting with that of the cream colored walls of the restaurant. His mustache was brown and slightly upturned, in contrast to his bald head. "Yes?"

"May we speak?" The man seemed flustered about something.

"Oh, yes. Come, sit down, if you would," Sojiro instructed. The man made him suspicious, and seemed to trigger something in the deep bowls of his memory, but he dismissed this feeling. The man only wished to talk.

"How long have you been in town? From the looks of it, you aren't from around here, and I know outsiders are rarely welcome in these parts. If you haven't had trouble yet, you soon will," The man informed.

"Oh, not for longer than a day," Sojiro replied, wary of the words he used. The man's question made him uneasy. "I don't expect to have trouble, though. I travel constantly. I am a poor man and can't afford to stay anywhere too long. Oh!" Sojiro turned away to get the cloth napkin he had dropped before returning to the man.

"Well then, if you don't mind me asking, what's your hometown? I doubt that it is anywhere near here."

Sojiro chewed his food carefully. "I'm from Kyoto. I've lived there for most of my life, but some….happenings made me think it better to wander. Now, if you will excuse me, I must be on my way." Sojiro stood, grateful to leave this man behind, and left the yen he owed for the meal on the table.

The man watched Sojiro go, and as he did his eyes fell to the sword tied at the boy's waist. A slight smiled played the man's lips as he watched Sojiro exit.

Kenshin stared into the washtub, wishing the suds would wash his sins away like they did the stains on the clothes he scrubbed. Perhaps if he scrubbed harder, then the sins would be less obvious. Thoughts as these haunted him every waking moment, but normally not when washing clothing. This was his relaxing way to spend the day. Why did it have to be filled with thoughts of the Bakumatsu as well?

As the thoughts passed through Kenshin's mind, a scream ripped through the air. In one fluent movement, Kenshin jumped to his feet, drew his sakabato, and ran towards the dojo.

He burst through the doors, kicking off his shoes as he did. Standing inside the dojo was a man dressed in a black hakama and red kimono, sword drawn. He had long black hair that fell down his back and on his shoulders. Sanosuke and Yahiko faced him, ready for a fight. As Yahiko saw Kenshin enter the doors, he motioned for Kenshin to take a look at the man. Looking closer, Kenshin saw that the man was not alone; he had a hostage.

Kaoru.

Stay calm, Kenshin. You can do this without using his help, the rurouni side of Kenshin told him.

You wanna bet?

Oh, great. Now he's here. Battosai, this one thought he told you to stay out of stuff like this ten years ago.

Well, it didn't work too well, then, did it, rurouni, because here I am. Come on, this guy's got Kaoru. Rip him to shreds.

Shaking his head to clear it, Kenshin ran forward at full speed. The man pressed the blade he had against Kaoru's neck harder so that a drop of blood rolled down it, and Kenshin immediately stopped.

Oh, good going, Battosai. You hurt Kaoru-dono!

Shut up.

"There, much better," the man said. "We wouldn't want to hurt this poor little girl, would we?" When no one answered, he went on. "I thought not."

"Who the hell are you?" Sano yelled across the room. "What do you have against Jou-chan?"

"'Jou-chan?' Oh, that's so cute. As for me, I am no one of consequence. You will find my name when I carve it into your corpses." The man pressed the katana down harder.

In that instant, Kenshin seemed to disappear, only to reappear at the man's side, aiming a blow for his right shoulder. The man howled in pain, and Kaoru slipped from his grasp. Kenshin ran over, catching her before her head hit the ground.

Once quickly examined, it was evident that she was unconscious. Kenshin laid her against the wall gently and turned to the man now fighting Sanosuke and Yahiko. He seemed to sense Kenshin's gaze, as he turned to return it.

All right, rurouni, now she's hurt. I'll take him down personally.

You mustn't! Let this one take care of-

No.

As soon as the man made eye contact, he winced visibly and looked away from the blazing heat of the legendary Hitokiri Battosai's golden stare. Turning to look at Sanosuke once more, he tried to ignore Battosai as he crept closer.

"Kenshin! Is Kaoru alright?" Yahiko asked, seeing that Kenshin was moving towards them.

"She's fine, which is more than I can say for this man," Battosai responded, eyes on the man in red and black. Yahiko noticed the gold in Kenshin's eyes and stepped back from the man, motioning for Sano to do the same. He reluctantly obeyed.

"So, you think you're a match for me?" the man in red asked. He returned Battosai's stare as fiercely as he could and dropped into a fighting position.

"I have no doubt about it," Battosai replied, taking off at a run towards the man. He attacked, but the man easily parried and flipped over Battosai's head. Unfortunately, this left Battosai nowhere to go but a corner.

The man attacked with a flurry of multiple blows, making Battosai go defensive. Battosai flew backwards into the wall, jumping and landing the Ryutsui, followed by the Kuzu-Ryusen, smashing the man into the ground hard. He was left bloody in a corner, facing Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Battosai.

"You stand no chance," Battosai informed the man.

Come on, Battosai! You took him down, now let this one take control.

Fine.

Battosai's golden glare faded to a purple gaze. "This one has defeated you, now lay down your sword." Yahiko and Sanosuke moved in closer so the man couldn't escape.

"Yes, I do suppose I must." The man presented his sword, but instead of letting Kenshin take it, he flung it at Yahiko. Out of reflex, Yahiko blocked with his right arm, and accidentally lost his grip on his Shinai, which went flying through the air and landed a few feet from them.

This momentary distraction was enough for the man to take off at a run, Kenshin and Sanosuke pursuing him. Just as Kenshin moved to lunge at the man, Sanosuke aimed a kick at the foe's head. Only in doing so, Sanosuke slipped on the Shinai and missed.

He kicked Kenshin in the head.

Hard.

Kenshin fell back, and all was black.

Sojiro sat next to a river, in the shade of the bridge. The water sparkled as he recalled his conversation with the bald man. Why had he wanted to know so much? To everyone who didn't know better, Sojiro looked like a young boy in search of perhaps a woman or something. Nothing suspicious.

So why had the man wanted to interrogate him?

Sojiro sat in silence for a while, starring into the river. He wished the current could wash him away from this town and the suspicious man.

After a while, Sojiro's mind started to fog, perhaps of fatigue. In a moment, however, he realized it wasn't exhaustion.

Damn that man! Sojiro thought in his foggy mind.

Damn him! I fell for it! He drugged me and I fell for it!

Damn him!

All went dark.

"Look at him. He's so helpless now."

"Yes, but he does look peaceful. And a bit handsome."

Kenshin sat up and looked around. Mounds of bones greeted his gaze, and on top of the tallest one were three figures. Shishio, Yumi, and Hoji looked down upon him.

"What is this magic?" Kenshin asked, standing and reaching for his sakabato, only it wasn't there. He was completely unarmed against one of his greatest foes.

A crunching sound to his left caught his attention, and Kenshin turned to see another figure appear. There was Seta Sojiro, unarmed as well.

"Oh, well look who's decided to finally join us," Shishio remarked, spotting Sojiro. "It's the traitor and the white Hitokiri." Yumi and Hoji laughed.

Sojiro gazed up at Shishio, his eyes shining. "Are you crying, boy?" Shishio asked, disgusted.

"No, not at all. Not now, but before, yes. I was crying that night. I meant to tell you that." Sojiro raised his head a bit.

Kenshin was alarmed to see that the boy wasn't smiling. He had seen him without a smile once, but that was during the fight when he had found his emotions again. This was different. What was wrong?

"Yes, I know that. Now, we can't tarry any longer. We have a limited amount of time here. We just wanted you to know who it was who gave you your….present," Shishio laughed.

"What do you mean?" Kenshin asked, looking up at Shishio and his cronies. But at that moment, a bright light blinded Kenshin, and he fell back, shielding his eyes.

"You'll see." The words hung in the air as Kenshin felt himself return to Earth.

"Are you alright?"

Sojiro opened his eyes to behold a halo of light and a blurry figure. He blinked twice, and his vision cleared to reveal a woman, not much younger than himself. She had black hair that was up in a high ponytail, and wore an elegant kimono.

He sat up and looked down. He was on a futon bed, a light cover over his body. His memory was a bit fuzzy, but he remembered a dream about Shishio and of all people Himura Kenshin.

No, something told him. That wasn't a dream.

Sojiro tore off the covers and stood, alarmed by how the world seemed to be slightly smaller. What had happened? What affect had that drug had on him?

He reached up to his head and was alarmed to feel dried blood. Had he been attacked while unconscious? Sojiro shook his head to clear it.

"Are you sure you're well enough to be out of bed?" a woman dressed as a doctor asked him. She was quite pretty. But what had she called him?

"What did you call me, miss?" Sojiro asked, straining to hear her properly.

"Er, I called you 'Ken-san.' Is there a problem with that?" the woman asked, worried.

Sojiro couldn't believe it. There must be a mistake. But then he saw him. Sitting in the corner, gazing at him intently was the street fighter, Zanza, or Sagara Sanosuke, as he was now called. This was one of the men that had accompanied Kenshin.

Sojiro screamed and ran over to the closest mirror. The face that greeted him was not a carefree teenager, but instead one with long red hair, purple eyes, and a cross-shaped scar on the left cheek.

He was sure he was going to faint. This had to be a dream. It had to be.

"What's wrong, Kenshin? Are you all right? Sanosuke kicked you pretty hard. We were worried," the younger girl with the ponytail asked.

You'll see.

So it hadn't been a dream. Shishio had done something to him and Kenshin. He had switched them. Somehow, he had made them switch bodies.

Damn him to Hell- wait. Er, damn him. He's already damned, so what do I say? Sojiro thought exasperatedly.

"Er, Kenshin, are you well? You don't seem to be yourself."

Sojiro rounded on the girl. "What's your name?" he asked.

She looked taken aback. "Kaoru. Kamiya Kaoru. You know that."

Sojiro sighed. "Yes, Kamiya-san, I'm not feeling like myself right now."

He wanted to say, "I'm not Himura-san. I'm Sojiro. Seta Sojiro. Why don't you see that? Shishio cast some sort of spell on Himura-san and me that made us switch places and now we need to find my body so that we can switch back somehow," but he knew if he said this he was bound to be thought insane.

"Whoa, Kenshin. Did you just call Jou-chan 'Kamiya-san?' Wow, I must have kicked you harder than I thought." This was Sagara Sanosuke. He looked a bit flustered, but continued to chew on the fish tail in his mouth.

"Yeah, that's it, Sagara-er-san. I just need to recover a bit. I'm sure if I walk around a bit, I'll be just like normal."

The girl called Kaoru was looking at him with her head cocked to the side. "Why are you saying, 'I'? You aren't still Battosai, are you? Did the kick from Sano trigger your past? Are you all right? Oh, no! Kenshin, you're not turning Battosai on us, are you?"

"No, I-er-this one was just confused." Damn Himura-san and his dialect. What kind of man speaks in third person anyway?

"Well, Yahiko ran out for a bite to eat, and he took Tsubame-chan with him. Megumi's been insisting on staying next to you constantly, even after she said there was nothing else she could do and that you'd have to work it out," Kaoru informed him.

Suddenly, a rather painful headache attacked Sojiro, sending him onto the futon, holding his head. Was it just him, or was someone saying his name?

Sojiro? Sojiro? SOJIRO?

WHAT? The world before him swirled into a mass of color.

Can you hear? Someone was talking to him.

Who are you? Sojiro thought.

Himura Kenshin. For some reason, this one can talk to you in his sleep. This one dreams what you are seeing. Kaoru-dono and the others are before you, are they not?

I don't know! It's painful to talk to you, and the world's just a blob of color. 'Kaoru-dono' did you call her? Yes, she, Sagara-san, and another woman were here.

Sano and Megumi are there? That's what this one thought. Why are they before you, anyway, Sojiro? Where are you?

Don't you know? Sojiro asked, his head feeling like it was about to split. Look, I can't tell you now. It's too painful to talk to you this way. Just wake up, and that should tell you what's going on.

Somehow, Sojiro broke the link between him and Kenshin, and he fell back into darkness.

-------

Groaning, Kenshin awoke from his sleep. What an odd dream. First he encountered Shishio, and then he could talk to Sojiro telepathically. Sano must have hit this one harder than one had thought.

It took Kenshin but a moment to realize that something wasn't right. He wasn't in Kamiya dojo, or anywhere in Tokyo or even Kyoto. He lay beneath a bridge, just like in his old rurouni days. This one couldn't have been captured, he thought. Sano or Yahiko would have stopped it from happening.

Then what was going on?

Getting to his feet, Kenshin moved forward, crossing the bridge he had been beneath. The sun blinded him temporarily as he emerged. With a quick look around, Kenshin confirmed his suspicion. He had never been here before, and yet he had awoken in this place. Clearly, there was something amiss.

As he walked along, Kenshin tried to find something, anything that might give a hint as to where he was, but his search was in vain. Just as he walked down a street, a woman came around a corner and stared at him.

She was fairly pretty, with long, purple hair. She wore a pink kimono and gave Kenshin a look of great curiosity as she neared him. "You're that rurouni, aren't you?" When she talked, she seemed to demand all attention to herself.

"Yes, that this one isHow do you know of this one?" Kenshin asked, inquisitively. He felt a bit uneasy around this woman, although he didn't know why.

"Everyone knows about you. You travel from town to town, carrying a katana even though the sword-banning act is valid out here. It's a wonder you're not in jail!"

"How long has this one been in this town?" Kenshin wondered aloud.

"About three days, if talk is correct. It's funny, but you don't look like a swordsman to me. I expected someone more….mature. No offense, of course," she said, looking him up and down.

Kenshin laughed to himself. Clearly this one still doesn't look his age. "If you don't mind the question, what is your name?"

"Oh!" The woman looked surprised. "I'm sorry. I thought I told you already. I'm Isuzu. Hiromasu Isuzu." Isuzu smiled, making her face even more radiant. "And you?"

Kenshin glanced down at the river beside him. What's going on? How long has this one been here? And where is here? Sighing, Kenshin turned back to Isuzu. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of himself in the water and nearly screamed. Staring back at him was Seta Sojiro, a terrified expression on his young face.

As Kenshin stepped back, Sojiro followed. Reaching up a hand, Kenshin went to grab for his ponytail, only finding empty space where it should have been. He traced his left cheek, and was worried the most when he felt no scar, or even blemish upon his flesh.

Isuzu watched this, her face betraying her confusion. "Er, rurouni? What are you doing?" she asked, but Kenshin didn't hear her; he was too busy remembering the dream he had had. It was something about Shishio and Sojiro, he knew. At one point Shishio had definitely said something about a "gift." Was this it?

"Er, rurouni? I asked you your name," Isuzu said, obviously startled by Kenshin's lack of focus.

Kenshin could barely hear here. His eyes wouldn't come away from his – Sojiro's reflection. "This one is not sure who he is. Sorry!" And he took off, running down the river, following its current. Kenshin continually looked over at his reflection in the water, always of Sojiro.

Finally, he reached a shop and ducked inside. The interior of the store was filled with pottery, jewelry, and mirrors. Drawing closer to a mirror, Kenshin closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Ok, Kenshin. Whatever you see in this mirror is truth, no matter how impossible it seems. He slowly opened his eyes.

And saw Sojiro staring back.

Taking a step back, Kenshin tried to face reality. Something has happened. Something very, very strange and horrible has happened to this one.

For once, rurouni, I can't contradict you. Let's find the one responsible and rip him limb from limb.

But Battosai, the one responsible is already dead.

Damn.

Shaking his head to clear it, Kenshin stepped from the shop. As he walked, he surveyed his surroundings, trying to figure out his location. He clawed at the back of his mind, trying to remember what Shishio had said, and most importantly, if he had given any way to break this "gift."