Chapter VII: Vampire bats and hard ice
Kenshin stared at the dark entrance of the cave cautiously. It was about seven feet high and wide enough for three men to pass through side-by-side, yet the light entering it was insufficient for his trained eyes to discern even the smallest detail in the pitch black interior.
This wasn't what he had in mind when his master told him he had found an alternative method for training to fight multiple opponents.
"And exactly how long do you plan on standing there gawking?" Kenshin turned to look at the owner of the annoyed voice. "Come over here and have a look! It's freezing and I don't want to be out here any longer than necessary." Hiko ordered.
Slowly, Kenshin walked over to the cave entrance. He still couldn't see anything inside, but his keen ears picked up a strange sound. He couldn't place the sound anywhere but it seemed vaguely familiar.
What was in there that would help him sharpen his skill with the sword? A bear? A snow leopard? Or something worse? A Yeti!? Images of the abominable snowman who had appeared in his grandmother's folktales in his childhood memories ran through his head.
Hiko noticed his hesitation. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you're still afraid of the dark."
"I'm more afraid of what's in that darkness." Kenshin gulped.
Hiko sighed. He forcibly positioned Kenshin just beneath the entrance, told him to draw his sword, and pulled out a round glass vial from one of the many pockets in his cape. Kenshin gave it a curious glance. A smooth, luminescent yellow liquid flowed inside.
"It's yellow phosphorous." Hiko explained. "I got it from a shinobi. Don't ask me how." With that he threw the vial into the cave.
Kenshin heard the sound of glass shattering and liquid spilling. Then suddenly a large fire sprung up in the middle of the cave. Kenshin stepped back, surprised. Then a loud racket arose from somewhere above him, inside the cave.
"Make sure you don't let a single one escape." said Hiko, taking a few steps to the side.
There's more than one?
Then suddenly Kenshin remembered what the noise was. It was...
"BATS!" The cry had barely left his lips when he found himself engulfed by hundreds of furry, black, leathery bats flying out of the cave entrance in a swarm.
"Pathetic, baka deshi!"
Kenshin awoke to see Hiko standing over him with a mingled look of anger, disappointment and relief on his face.
Hiko helped him up. "Not only did you not get a single one, but you also shredded your clothes, cut yourself and worst of all..." Hiko shook his head in annoyance. "What an embarrassing baka deshi."
At this, Kenshin noticed three new things about himself.
Firstly, his clothes were torn in many places where they had caught the bats' fangs and claws, and the cold wind was starting to affect him through the many holes.
Secondly, his arms were covered by small scratches and bite marks that were bleeding and stung in the cold weather. He held up a hand to his face and found that his cheeks were also stinging.
Thirdly, he had soiled his hakama, and the freezing urine was causing a certain appendage to go numb with the cold.
"EEEYYYIIII! My-my-my-"
As he watched his baka deshi running around in a panic, rubbing the middle of his hakama and trying to prevent his manhoo-well, boyhood from falling off from frostbite, Hiko pulled out the extra large jug of sake he had brought and took a swig. A warm feeling coursed through his veins, countering the bitter cold. He needed it. "Looks like I won't be going back anytime soon."
"It's not fair! You should have told me what was inside!" Yelled Kenshin, some of the impact dissipated by his teeth chattering.
"Courage in the face of the unknown is a vital asset for a swordsman." Hiko replied calmly, taking another swig of sake. "Often you will enter a battlefield not knowing who the enemy is."
They were huddled around a campfire. Kenshin was wrapped in their only spare cloak.(Hiko had refused to lend him his cloak and scarf lest they be contaminated by contact with his Hakama.)
His wounds were bandaged. Although quite minor, in the freezing weather they could easily get infected or result in frostbite. Hiko had washed them with sake first. Kenshin fainted again from the pain, and when he woke up it was compounded by the knowledge that Hiko was more troubled over the lost sake than his only pupil's health.
"But I've always been afraid of bats!" Kenshin shot back. "You knew that! How could you still make me go through this?"
"The same way I always do." Hiko replied curtly. "Listen, baka deshi! It's your own fault for not mastering the leaf cutting exercise. Now if you expect me to train you any further you've got no choice but to go through this. Face your fears. You'll have to eventually."
Kenshin buried his face in the worn cloak, too cold and too miserable to argue.
A little while later they made their way to another cave. Kenshin relucatinly positioned himself outside the entrance. "Just maintain your concentration." Hiko adviced. "This is actually easier than the leaf cutting exercise, since the targets are larger and come from only one side."
"But unlike the leaves, these targets screech and bite." Kenshin muttered darkly.
"Cheer up. You know, those bats are more scared of you than you are of them." Hiko ruffled through his cape pockets. "This isn't much different from hunting rabbits and wolves."
"Really?" Kenshin raised his sword in the middle stance.
"Oh, by the way, this cave is inhabited by vampire bats." Hiko grinned nastily. "Their teeth will be sharper, and if even one of them gets you on the neck, you're done for."
"That's a great way to raise my morale, Shishou." Kenshin's voice was lined with sarcasm.
"Just trying to motivate you." Hiko threw the second vial of phosphorous into the cave. Then he shoved Kenshin forward and rapidly retreated to the side.
Kenshin gulped and braced himself. Just think of them as rabbits. Black flying rabbits....Gah! What am I thinking?!
The familiar noise rose again and Kenshin felt hundreds of bats approaching him. This time he was ready.
"Hyaaaaah!" His sword twirled and swung all around him in a series of katas. He could feel the blade cutting through fur and flesh, hear the sound of dead bats falling to the ground, smell their blood spilling from their bodies. But he continued, lost in the technique.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kenshin stopped swinging. He looked down at himself. He couldn't see any new bite marks on his arms, yet clothes were drenched in blood. Around his feet were littered hundreds of bat carcasses. He had killed all of them.
"Almost all of them." Hiko corrected, guessing his thoughts. "Three escaped. But it was goo-I mean it was a start." He moved towards the boy, who was standing there, motionless. "Are you hurt, Kenshin?"
Kenshin stared at the outstretched blade of his sword. It was covered in blood. Had he done all this? For some reason he felt no pride in his achievement. "Those bats..." he started, speaking more to himself than his Shishou. "They weren't attacking us. They hadn't done us any harm. But I killed them. I killed them all."
Hiko sighed with displeasure. His baka deshi was just too soft. "And what about the rabbits we killed for breakfast? And the fish we caught for last night's dinner? And the insects that die every day, crushed under our feet without us ever knowing it? Baka deshi, if you have to feel sorry for every living creature that ever died under the sun and moon you'd be better off as a monk than a swordsman."
Kenshin didn't bother to point out that he was the one who had caught the fish and the rabbits. "Wasn't there any other way to do this, Shishou?"
"Sure there is." said Hiko irritably. "We could wait till next fall and continue the leaf cutting exercise(which we will anyway, just for practice). But in the long term, it would delay your mastery of the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū. And the longer that takes, the more people would die, slaughtered by bandits and soldiers with no one to protect them." Hiko paused, shook his sake bottle upside down and cursed loudly. Not even a drop.
"Let's go, baka deshi. If you want to freeze to death you're welcome, but I'm going back to the warmth of the cabin."
As Kenshin followed after his master, he looked back at the cave one last time, and he saw that the snow around the entrance was red, drenched with blood. He felt an odd sense of foreboding, as if it were a scene he would see again.
XXXXXXXX
"Clumsy, baka deshi!"
For what seemed to be the millionth time, Kenshin fell flat over the ice.
That year, the winter had been so severe that the surface of the mountain lake had frozen. The icy surface was thick enough to hold the weight of grown men, and for Kenshin and his master sparring on it had become a daily routine.
Hiko claimed, as he did before with the waterfall, that practising on the ice was an excellent way for Kenshin to refine his agility and sense of balance. Kenshin suspected, like before, that it was more due to his master's hobby of humiliating him. His backside ached perpetually from constant contact with the hard ice. These days he was having difficulty sitting.
"Get up." Hiko's glowing eyes contrasted the smirk on his face.
Kenshin scowled at his master. No doubt about it. He's really enjoying this.
Suddenly a loud growl rang through the air. Both of them stared at the source at the sound, surprised. It was Kenshin's stomach.
"Shishou, can we stop for lunch, please?" Kenshin asked sweetly, his eyes brimming with innocence.
Hiko sighed. Just when he was really absorbed in tortu-err-training Kenshin...
"I suppose so. Though it's not even noon yet..." He could go on for another couple of hours, but if he made his baka deshi miss meals the boy would never grow up into a normal sized adult. And it would be embarrasing to pass on the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū to a man who barely reached his waist.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Hiko glared at Kenshin, who was squatting on the ice. "Make lunch!"
Kenshin picked himself up, grumbling. Figures. Just when I though I had a reprieve...
He cut a hole in the thinner ice at the northern part of the lake, caught a large fish and set about preparing it for cooking while his Shishou relaxed on a rock on the shore, sipping sake from his jug and occasionally admiring his reflection in his vanity mirror(Where does he keep that?).
"Hey! Don't do that near me. It smells." Hiko exclaimed, seeing Kenshin perform the dirty job of cleaning and scaling the fish before his eyes.
Kenshin carried the fish away to another location and resumed his work, fuming all the while.
Shishou's so mean to me. I'm going to teach him a lesson today.
Then he had an idea.
"What are you so happy about?" Hiko felt oddly perturbed by the grin on Kenshin's face as they ate.
"Nothing, Shishou. It's just that the fish tastes really good today. Honest!" Kenshin continued grinning.
After they finished and Kenshin washed the dishes in cold water, Hiko stood up. "All right. Now let's work that off. To the lake!" He swished his cape behind him for dramatic effect.
They resumed their sparring. This time Kenshin seemed to be filled with renewed vigour. He darted sideways and altered his position such that the winter sun shone behind him, forcing Hiko to squint at him. Then, unable to match his Shishou's speed or strength, he decided to turn his short stature into an advantage and aimed a flurry of blows underneath Hiko's sword, at his legs, stomach and...groin.
Hiko stepped back and parried them uneasily. What's gotten into him? He seems different this time. He felt like punishing the baka deshi for his audacity, but remembered that he was the one who had lectured Kenshin on exploiting an opponent's weak points about a week ago...after kicking him in the crotch for the third time.
Such was the fury of Kenshin's onslaught that Hiko found himself retreating from his deshi's offense even as he blocked or dodged every blow. He suddenly realised that Kenshin was slowly pushing him towards the northern side of the lake. Where the ice was thinner. Damn.
CRACK.
Hiko could end it with a Ryu Kan Sen or a Ryu Tsui Sen, but he didn't want to give Kenshin another concussion or break any of his limbs, even if it were a fitting punishment for trying to drown his Shishou. That would make him useless for weeks, and who'd be stuck taking care of him and doing all the chores in the meanwhile? He dodged another savage swing, taking another step backward.
CRRAAAAAACK!
Suddenly, the ice beneath Hiko's feet collapsed and the 13th master of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū plunged into the lake.
"Yay!" Kenshin had done it. He'd taught his master a lesson, and he'd also beaten him in a fight. For the first time. When all was said and done, Hiko would probably kill him for this, but still...
Kenshin's look of jubilation turned to one of shock and concern when several seconds passed without his master surfacing. But Shishou is a good swimmer...Oh no...What have I done?
He peered over the edge of the newly formed gap in the ice. If his Shishou really was drowning he'd have to jump inside. That would be miserable. Then a huge hand shot out of the water and grabbed him by the hair.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH! A ghost! I'm sorry, Shish-" Ignoring Kenshin's hysterical yelling, the hand pulled him into the freezing water.
"Achoo!"
Master and pupil took turns sneezing as they sat on opposite sides of the fire, hugging themselves for warmth.
"To think I actually felt guilty about it. And I was ready to jump in after you, too!" Kenshin moaned, desperately trying to warm himself in the absence of any dry clothes.
"Then be happy! You did." Hiko snapped in return. "Impudent baka deshi! Wait till I give you your punishment!" The spare cloak that had formerly been on Kenshin's shoulders was now wrapped over his own. He held bot cloaks tighter.
Kenshin sighed, then sneezed again. Then he remembered something.
"Shishou," he said softly, a grin forming on his face. "Weren't you the one who said that a swordsman should always watch his surroundings and take advantage of them?"
Hiko gave him a withering glare. He couldn't deny that.
"That's just what I did." Kenshin contined, his smile widening. "And I beat you, too! That I did!"
"Don't be stupid!" Hiko shot back, his face reddening despite the cold. "You just got lucky, that's all..."
But Kenshin wasn't listening. He was lost in the moment, savouring his victory with his eyes closed.
"Kenshin."
"Yes, Shishou?"
Hiko's eyes narrowed threateningly. "If you ever breathe a word of this to anyone I'll have you you swimming a hundred laps under the lake every day. For endurance training." The look on his face was dead serious. He would really do it.
After that, Kenshin's training became even harder.
Whenever he tried to escape Hiko's beatings by moving to the thinner section of the ice(which was too heavy for Hiko) his Shishou would respond by using the Dou Ryu Sen(a technique he said he wouldn't teach Kenshin for another two years) to dissolve the ice underneath his feet from a distance(How did he do that?).
And sometimes, he would use it even if Kenshin tried no such tricks. His excuse was "It'll improve your resistance to the cold."
On the contrary, it left Kenshin nursing a perpetual cold. It was a miserable winter.
XXXXXXXX
Omake:
The creature awoke with a start. It's first reaction was annoyance. It had been enjoying a pleasant dream about being surrounded by nuts, honey and females. Then it recalled that it had been hibernating inside a cosy cave.
Who dares disturb my slumber?
He recognised the racket as the sound of those damned bats he'd been unable to get off his roof, being out of his reach. At least they were polite enough not to try and suck his blood while he slept. But they've never been this noisy before.
Then his eyes hurt when he realised there was a bright light in the middle of his cave. Fire? But it quickly died down into nothing.
Now the creature was confused. He made his way to the cave exit to see a dreadful mess. Looks like somebody else took care of my problem for me.
He went outside, curious to meet his unwanted guests. And saw two humans walking away in the distance. One was rather large, about half the creature's size, and the other was just a little waif, barely reaching up to its parent's waist.
Well, if they don't want me to thank them, that's fine. This is none of my buisness.
And the Yeti scratched his furry head and headed back into his cave to catch up on his winter sleep.
Little did the two Hiten Mitsurugi swordsmen know that afternoon that they had narrowly missed making one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind.
Author's note: Okay, the ice training scene was obviously inspired by Batman Begins. That scene with the bats, however, was not, even though it has obvious parallels to the movie with Kenshin having (in this story) a childhood fear of bats and all.
