Kenshin carefully picked his way up the escarpment. Only a quarter of the way up, he began to realize what a long, steep path it was. Still, he pressed on. If he could survive 12 hours a day training with Hiko, he could surely make it to the top of the cliff without stopping to rest. Higher and higher he went, grasping branches and rocks and leaning forward to keep his balance.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kenshin looked and saw that to his delight, he had scaled the mountain and made it to the top of the cliff. Looking to the right, he saw the river running in a white water cascade toward the precipice where it fell with a deafening roar.

Turning around, Kenshin gazed in amazement. It was even more beautiful than he could have imagined! He could see everything from up here! He could see where the vault of blue sky met with the tree line. Surely, he was up in the domain of the birds and the angels. In the distance, he could just make out their cabin, looking like a tiny toy house. In the bright sunlight, the thin brown line of the trail that the old hypocrite had taken to the village contrasted with the dark green of the mountain forest. And in the valley below, he could make out the roofs of the village houses, a few with smoke ascending from them as the midday meal was being prepared.

At that thought, Kenshin's stomach growled. With a sigh, he chided himself for not having thought to pack a bento to bring up. He had hoped to spend a few hours up here just taking in the sights, but if he wanted to do that, he would need food. There was no getting around it, he would just have to go back down, make a lunch and then hope he could get back up before his master returned.

Just as he was about to turn around and head back down, a silver shimmer caught his eye from the shallow part of the river. Kenshin looked closer and saw a fish swimming in the clear water. What luck! Hiko had been training Kenshin in the art of wilderness survival for the past few months. Kenshin remembered being amazed when he had seen his shishou effortlessly pluck a writhing fish out of the river by their cabin with his bare hands. He wondered if he could do that too. Well, there was one way to find out. If he could catch the fish, he could gather some wood from the trees and bushes lining the river, start a fire with the flint rocks he always carried and eat the fish up here!

Pulling his sheathed katana from his belt and laying it aside, Kenshin sat down on a large rock and pulled off his zori and tabi. He then stood and moved carefully out into the water. There was the fish, nosing along the bottom of the river bed. Kenshin moved slowly and carefully to keep from frightening it. When he was within range, he thrust his hands into the water in an effort to snatch the fish.

SPLASH!

Kenshin pulled his empty hands out of the water. He had missed the fish by a mile and it was now swimming up the river.

'Well, so much for that idea,' Kenshin thought dejectedly.

Suddenly, a flash of white in the distance against the brown of the trail leading away from the cabin caught Kenshin's gaze and made him look to the right. There was Hiko, coming up the trail!

'Oh, no! Why is Shishou back so early?' Kenshin thought in alarm.

So distracted was he by Hiko that Kenshin didn't see a particularly sharp stone just an inch away from his bare foot. Taking a step forward, he stepped hard on the sharp stone. Pain shot through his whole being. The next thing Kenshin knew, he had pitched forward into the deeper part of the river and was being carried toward the precipice by the raging rapids.

"SHIIIIISHOOOOUUUUU!" he cried at the top of his lungs before he was pulled under and tossed head over heels by the rapids.

At the distant, but very unmistakable sound of his deshi's call, Hiko Seijuro XIII froze. He quickly assessed distance and direction, steely eyes fixed on the waterfall. It didn't take a genius to figure things out.

'That little idiot!' he thought.

Dropping his purchases, Hiko summoned all of his godspeed and ran full force toward the base of the waterfall.

Kenshin was able to break the surface of the water just long enough to see the edge of the waterfall coming at him and simultaneously, the form of his master running straight to the base of the waterfall. Before he could cry out, he was again flipped upside-down and hurled over the edge.

It was just for a second, but that was long enough. Hiko spotted the unmistakable crimson of his student's hair as the boy was thrust over the side of the cliff. Summoning all his strength and drawing his sword, Hiko leapt upward, cutting a straight path up the middle of the waterfall with his sword's blade.

As he moved, his left hand left the hilt and his arm stretched out. Not a second later, he felt the slight form of his baka deshi hit his arm as the boy descended and his master ascended. Hiko wrapped his arm around his pupil's limp body and continued his journey up the waterfall.

Kenshin was dimly aware of falling, banging against the side of the cliff several times, then suddenly being caught in a strong grip and shooting back up the side.

Gasping for breath, Hiko hauled himself and Kenshin onto the shore and collapsed in a heap. That had been a close one. If not for his lightning fast reflexes, Kenshin would have been a goner. There was no time to rest, however. Grabbing Kenshin and slinging the boy's prone form over his left arm, Hiko whacked Kenshin roughly between the shoulder blades several times until the redhead's form began to jerk as he spasmodically coughed up all the river water he had inhaled during his little swim.

When no more water came, Hiko set the boy on his side and appraised him. He was breathing and aside from some bumps and scrapes, he seemed to be OK. With an irritated huff, Hiko sat down on the large rock and glared at the boy.

For the next few minutes, master and pupil stayed as they were, Kenshin lying on his side, slowly regaining his senses and trying to catch his breath, and Hiko glaring at the disobedient boy, growing angrier by the moment. Finally, Kenshin rolled over and sat slowly up.

"Baka deshi!" growled Hiko, rage, not just annoyance, evident in his voice.

Kenshin struggled to meet his master's angry gaze.

"Shishou... I..."

"Shut up!" Hiko barked angrily.

Kenshin flinched at the barely restrained rage in his shishou's voice. Hiko had been annoyed and mad at him plenty of times before, but this was so very different.

"You deliberately disobeyed my order! Do you realize what would've happened had I not been there to save your worthless hide?" Hiko continued his angry reprimand.

Kenshin took a breath to try to answer only to be cut off again.

"No excuses! I don't want to hear your voice for the rest of the day!" barked the master, angrily turning his back on his student.

Keeping his eyes averted, Kenshin slowly struggled to pull his tabi onto his still wet legs. Shaking, he pulled himself to his feet, leaning his weight on his sheathed katana. Pausing only to step into his zori, he followed dispiritedly after his angry master down the trail back to their cabin. When they reached the cabin, master and pupil retreated to their respective rooms and changed into dry clothes. As punishment for his disobedience, Kenshin was made to take their wet clothes outside, wash them in the river, then hang them to dry, even though his body ached everywhere from exhaustion. Kenshin would have argued about the chores, but his master's ki was still dangerously agitated, so the boy wisely remained silent.

Only after the clothes were spotless and hanging from tree branches to drip dry did Kenshin dare set foot inside the cabin. He immediately smelled rice and fish, which made his stomach cramp with hunger. Gaze averted, he began to make his way to his room, not daring to ask for any food. His master's voice surprised him.

"Sit down and eat, stupid," he said, in a softer voice than earlier.

Kenshin looked up at him, startled.

"Oh, don't worry. You're still in trouble and there will definitely be hell to pay tomorrow, but when have I ever starved you as punishment for a misdeed?" Hiko asked.

"Never, Shishou," said Kenshin softly, gazing down at the floor.

"Exactly, so sit down, eat and then get your scrawny ass to bed. You have some demanding training coming up tomorrow," said Hiko.

Kenshin seated himself across from Hiko and ate the rice and fish gratefully. His master might be an old hypocrite, but besides being an amazing swordsman, he was also an awesome cook. Kenshin hoped he could be even one tenth the swordsman and cook his master was when he was grown.

When Kenshin finished, he set his dish and chopsticks in the basin to wash tomorrow, bowed and mumbled "good night" to Hiko, then headed quickly to his room, where his warm futon was waiting.

Hiko watched as Kenshin retreated to his room for the night. As soon as the wooden door slid shut, he permitted himself to sigh and his shoulders to sag. Practically since he had taken Kenshin as his apprentice, he had been working to get the boy to have his own will and to assert it more. He had just never considered that Kenshin would pick such a reckless way to do so.

'That boy will be the death of me,' he thought before uncorking a jug of sake he had bought in the village that day.