Hi readers! And the wandering life of Seta Soujirou continues.


A month has passed...

Soujirou sat on the edge of a temple deep in the forest. It was a small cozy temple which was held up by columns and lintels. The roof's curved eaves shaded him from the sun, as he sat on the verandas and the translucent paper wall allowed light to brighten the interior space.

Daifuku was taking a snooze beside him. Soujirou had tried getting Daifuku to stay with the Ichigo family, but no matter what he did (like shooing him away), the puppy followed him. As if it had imprinted on him as his own father.

"Ahh…. So troublesome. Why can't you stay with the family where you will be taken care of?" He sighed at the napping Daifuku. The wind blew, ringing the bells that hung on the roof. The sun shone warm rays down the temple, lighting up dust particles that stirred up with the wind. Overall, it was a lovely day.

This feels nice… Soujirou thought. He had been meditating there for a week after wandering down the forest path. He caught fishes in the stream, gathered herbs and mushrooms for food and medication. He had taken many trips on his own, but this was probably the first where he had no assignment. Well…aside from feeding the creature sleeping at his feet. Daifuku would sniff out rabbits for him to hunt, seek mushrooms for him to gather, and whenever Soujirou sat, he would curl up beside him or curl into his lap. Sometimes, he would lick Soujirou's hand when the youth patted his head.

If anything, he made for decent companionship. Soujirou did not understand why the puppy wanted to be around him. He had no idea how to give affection. All he knew to do was pat Daifuku on the head and stroke his back. However, when Daifuku rolled over, Soujirou did not know what to do.

"Ara?" Soujirou would say as he tiled his head in confusion.

He would only stare at Daifuku while the puppy stared back at him. And there would be an awkward silence between them. After that, Daifuku would give up and follow Soujirou. Disappointment was apparent on the puppy's face. But it quickly disappeared when Soujirou gave it food. Daifuku would usually lick his hand as he set the food down before the puppy.

Soujirou sat back on his arms as he looked at the green scenery. I guess when you are lost, you really have no idea where to go… he lamented as the sun shone. He had found no enlightenment at the end of long hours of meditations.

Maybe it's time to go, he concluded, and stood up. Daifuku, detecting Soujirou's movement, got up and followed him groggily. He gave a little yawn.

Just as Soujirou started setting off on a path that leads beyond the mountains, he heard a twig crack behind the bushes.

"Idiot! Why do you have to gamble all our money away? We needed food! I am so hungry!" One man muttered.

"Shut up! You were gambling too. Who was the one who placed a big bet on the dice and cost us all our money?" His companion shouted.

"It's alright, I know of a teahouse down this road. There should be food there. Let's take everything else and we won't have to worry for a while," the group of six had passed the bushes which concealed Soujiro. Their leader was burly and held a huge axe. The rest of the group's men were carrying swords and clubs. It was obvious that they were bandits. Some of them were only wearing bandaged loin cloths.

"Oooh…. I hope there are girls there," one sleazy-looking man said, licking his lips. They continued trudging through, seeming to hurry a little more.

It's like what Shishio said, the weak is food for the strong, Soujiro thought as he shrugged it off, turning towards his intended path. Just then, a flash of memory appeared before him:

"To be that strong even though you have sworn not to kill…. You were the one who was right, weren't you, Himura-San?"

"No, if you could find the truth by fighting once or twice, everyone's way of living would be right.

The true answer comes not by fighting but by living your life."

Soujirou crouched down, feeling himself split into two. He scrunched his fists to his head, feeling an impending headache as both ideals and values clashed together as if in an eternal fight.

His thoughts broke as he felt something warm and wet touching his face. He opened his eyes.

"Ara?"

Daifuku lapped his face, whimpering in concern. He snuggled himself against Soujiro as if understanding that his companion was in distress. "Hmm? Is this your way of comforting me?" Soujirou spoke to the dog for the first time. "You sure are kind. Thank you, Daifuku-san". He patted the dog. For the first time, he felt something warm and foreign in him and he was not sure what it was.

"We better follow them. I hope they are not heading where we think they are heading." Soujirou picked up the puppy, placing him in his shirt and speeded ahead, catching up with the group before him.

The group took a few days to travel as Soujirou hid in the shadows of the trees. He would let Daifuku out when the group settled down and he was in a reasonable distance from them. The puppy could move around without alerting the group.

After passing by several different paths, Soujirou knew his instincts were right: they were heading down to the Ichigo teahouse.

He put the puppy down in a safe distance and leaped across the trees. Catching up to them speedily, he dived down on the leader, using the blunt part of the blade to knock him out.

But Soujirou had never attacked without intending to kill before. He did not hit the leader hard enough. Furious, the man grabbed him by the neck and flung him to the ground, knocking Soujirou's breath out from under him.

"You bastard! That hurt." The leader rubbed the very red and blue bruise on his head.

"What do we have here?" One of the men smiled, bloodthirsty eyes fell upon Soujirou as he caught his breath.

"Kill him!" The leader shouted and the group advanced on him. Soujirou grabbed his sword, ready to defend himself. He heard the sound of metal clanking and sliding above him as a someone appeared before him.

"Boy! Are you okay?" Sato shouted as he swung off the blades that almost impaled the youth.

"Sou!" Kisa called, shocked with the sudden encounter of the bandits and Soujirou. She was going into the forest with her dad to gather herbs and food.

"Oh look, there is a girl. Wait there while I finish these two off," the sleazy bandit licked his lips as he turned his face towards her. Little did he know, a knife whizzed through in his direction and slashed a deep cut in his ear. "Say that again, Asshole!" Kisa yelled, glaring at him. (She ignored the exasperated yell from Sato, "KISA! DON'T USE CURSE WORDS IN MY PRESENCE!")

"ARRGGGHHH! You bitch!" The wounded man shouted. Sato's eyes flashed and the sleazy bandit was knocked down.

"Sou! Get up!" he pulled up the dazed Soujirou and they faced off the bandits back to back.

"Shin Sekai Seigi Ryu – Ame ga fukken! *" Sato swung his sword down at three men, knocking them out as they were flung backwards. Their stomachs bled where the sword hit them but it was not a fatal wound.

Soujirou started tapping his foot. His face was smiling. It was as if he was not struck by the leader at all.

"Shukuchi*," He said coolly as he disappeared, moving too fast for the eyes to see.

"Where is he?" The other two bandits shouted as they heard his footsteps but they could not detect him.

Soujirou appeared up in the air above them.

Using the blunt side of his blade once again, he hit harder than he did before and they went down immediately. All that was left was the leader who stood there intimidatingly. He swung his huge axe at Sato and Soujirou, cutting down trees that were in the way. Sato and Soujirou dodged. They regained their stance and faced him.

"I am Okaeda Shoji of Kyoto, also known as the Axe-hunting man! You will not take me down easily," the leader gritted his teeth at them. He swung his axe at Sato, who avoided the attack narrowly.

"Careful Sou. He is faster than he looks." Sato muttered as he dodged another attack. Once again, with Shukuchi, Soujirou moved. In the attempt to knock out the axe in his opponent hands, he clashed his sword with Okaeda's axe. But the sword was just an ordinary sword and bearing a huge burden from the axe that was specially made for a superhuman strength, it snapped under the pressure and Soujirou was open. Okaeda took the chance to swing out at Soujirou, managing to graze his arm, when suddenly a brown blur appeared in front of the youth, taking in the sharp blade.

"Daifuku!" Kisa cried, shocked to see the bloody matted fur ball hit the tree and stayed motionless.

Soujirou, making use of the confusion, slashed out his broken sword at Okaeda, giving him a deep gash on his chest. As he moved in for the kill, Sato stepped in, and using the hilt of his sword, he slammed the hilt hard into his skull and Okaeda came down, unconscious.

Soujirou retained his smile. That was the same smile that would appear in intense situations. He walked over to the puppy, picked him up and placed him on his lap. The puppy panted while looking at him, its injuries were too severe for it to bear. Soujirou patted the puppy, feeling his chest strangely palpitating. He had a loss of words to say to the puppy. All he could say was, "Rest in peace, Daifuku."

Kisa was sobbing beside him and Sato comforted Kisa by rubbing her back.

"You have been a good dog, haven't you Daifuku? You protected your most important person." She stroked its fur as the puppy breathed it last. "Well done, Daifuku. Good boy," Sato patted the dog's head. Soujirou felt Daifuku's last breath leave and it closed its eyes peacefully. A little tear was found at the corner of its' eye and the mouth curled up a little as if it went in peace.

The Ichigo family and Soujirou sat quietly as the sun slowly set and the sky turned to twilight. All that was heard was the sound of the crickets and Kisa's sobs.


*Shin Sekai Seigi Ryu – Ame ga fukken* - New World Justice – Raining sword (I tried to come up with a cooler name but this was all I can think of for now. It is a sword style that Sato use. It will be explained in the later chapters.

*Shukuchi – Footwork of Seta Soujirou. He mastered the skill when he was 10 and formed his own sword style around it eventually. If he hasn't been stopped by Kenshin, he could have easily killed all the swordsmen in Japan.

I know…. I am horrible. I teared as I wrote Daifuku's death ='(. I am sorry Daifuku T_T, you sweet puppy. Gonna make sure Soujirou carries you all over Japan. But yes, you are one brave puppy and you do love Soujirou so so much ToT. Sigh… I got a little depressed writing this chapter. A pet's love can never be replaced as it is so unconditional. You will find out how Soujirou feels about this in the next chapter. Stay tuned T_T.