Himura Battosai
A/N: takes place in volume 1 act 1
Battosai walked silently down the streets of Tokyo, well not Battosai but his body anyway, though he himself was no longer in control and hadn't been for the last ten years in fact, but he didn't care, not really. All his life, or existence at any rate he had been nothing but a weapon and in truth he enjoyed Kenshin living, despite the pain that he knew the young man felt over the things that he did.
Battosai lived solely to fight for others were as Kenshin seemed to live solely to atone for the crimes that Battosai committed. As night fell, he fallowed one of the men that whoever was using his name to the Dojo that he had taken Kamiya Kaoru to yesterday, he should have known that this is where the imposter was going to be considering that Kaoru-Dono was tracking him.
"Mastery and death, that is what a sword is for," he heard the imposter said as the man that was leading Battosai opened the door.
"Nishiwaki?" the imposter asked turning to the door, "what's the matter?"
"I…" Nishiwaki started before collapsing reveling a skinny red-headed swordsman behind him.
"Forgive Sessha," Battosai said thru Kenshin, "he has told Sessha everything."
"You again," the large imposter said turning to Kenshin, "are you here to talk about swords that give life?"
"No," the Battosai's cold voice said, "a sword is a weapon. Whatever pretty name you give it, the art of swordsmanship is the art of learning how to kill, that is the truth. Kaoru-Dono maintains a sweet and innocent lie, that only one who's hands have never been stained by the blood of men can believe." Suddenly the Rurouni took full control of his body and spoke in a pleasant cheerful voice that matched his smile, "but in the face of such awful truth the naïve lies she tell is so much better, don't you? Sessha wishes that her lie was the truth of this world."
"Well," the giant man clad in black called to his men, "what are you waiting for, kill him and make him die slowly?"
"Rurouni," Kaoru called out hoping to warn the wondering warrior, "please run."
Kenshin hated violence, it was something left over from the innocent child that he had once been, Battosai figured, still that didn't mean that he was not a good swordsman, "harming anyone else seems so pointless," Kenshin sighed, "anyone who dislikes seeing the doctor should leave now."
"There's not going to be anyone wounded," the men called, "there's just going to be one dead body."
Battosai hung back and allowed Kenshin to deal with the riffraff that claimed to be swordsman. It was actually a rather easy fight, one that he would finish before anyone even saw him move. "oh, one more thing," Kenshin said reappearing in a the mist of the men he had rendered unconscious, "Hitokiri Battosai doesn't use Kamiya-kassin or whatever style you use, but an ancient style of the sengoku era that pits one against many, Hiten Mitsurugi, that will not fail to slay an opponent unless you use a sword like mine that is."
"I thought you were nobody the other night," the imposter said, "now I regret not fighting you the other night."
"Unlike you, Sessha does not enjoy violence. If only this had ended sooner," Kenshin said softly, "quite regrettable really."
"You're confident," the giant imposter said unsheathing his sword, "or are you just vain. There is only room for one Battosai in this world and I am the one."
Kenshin again vanished only to reappear above the idiot that had used his name, in one instant he attacked leaving his opponent crashing thru the floor of the dojo. "Sessha has no attachment to the name, Battosai," Kenshin said, and Battosai knew it was true. He knew that if Kenshin had his way he would have left him on the Toba Fushimi along with his katana and wakizashi, but he couldn't. Battosai was not simply a name that could be cast aside, it was who he was or at least a part of who he was, "still Sessha cannot allow someone like you to use it."
No, Battosai thought to himself, it was best for me to fade away. Let time erase me. "My apologies, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, "Sessha had no wish to deceive you, but it is usually better if sessha's identity is left unknown, farewell," he said turning to leave.
"Wait just one minute," Kaoru called, "I can't run this dojo all by myself, the least you could do is help me out. I don't care who you used to be."
"Sessha's help will not be good for you," Kenshin told her, "you have a chance to take the stain of Sessha's name from your school, being linked to the real Battosai will make it that much harder."
"I'm not asking Battosai to stay," Kaoru called to him, "I'm asking you, the Rurouni, to…" suddenly she caught herself and turned away, "f-forget it. If you want to go I won't stop you but before you leave will you tell me your name. Battosai is a warrior's name, right, if you don't mind I would like to know your real name."
My name, Kenshin thought to himself, he no longer truly knew who he was. He knew he was no longer Shinta, Shinto was a sweet and innocent child that would never be able to do what he had done, nor did he want to be Battosai so he settled on the name that his Master had given him years ago, "Kenshin. Himura Kenshin."
It was a name that truly suited the young man, he truly held the heart of the sword and in some ways he truly felt he came from a scarlet village a village that he had painted red with blood, "Sessha is weary from traveling. Though you never know when or where Sessha will have to leave, please excuse the intrusion for a little while."
"Hey wait just one minute," Kaoru said after a moment of thought, "if you're a warrior from the Bakumatsu, just how old are you?"
"Oro?"
"And what's 'oro' mean anyway? You can't be more than thirty."
"How old…" Kenshin wondered aloud trying to calculate how old he was, not an easy task when one year would bleed into the next during the chaos of battle and he had no clue how old he truly was when he began to train.
"How do you not know how old you are?" Kaoru called from behind him.
On the up side, Battosai thought silently to himself, things may get a bit interesting.