The False Apocalypse

Book 1: A New Beginning

Chapter Nine

A Challenge

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the worlds or characters from the crossovers. If I did I would be working on them and not this. The original characters and world in the first chapter are however of my own creation. Some dialogue in this chapter is recognizably similar to episode 10 of Rurouni Kenshin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You idiots! You're supposed to be the best. Where were you last night when she vanished?" Kanryu demanded, livid at the fact that the only person with the knowledge to produce his new opium blend was missing. They had only noticed it this morning and Kanryu had just ordered a number of mercenaries to retrieve the woman. Until he got her back, all of Kanryu's plans were on hold. This event was by far the greatest failure he had ever witnessed in all his time as a businessman.

"Evidently, I was in a meeting with you, discussing how she was starting to act up. If you let me do my job instead of treating me like the rest of your hired help then maybe I would have seen her leaving the premises." Aoshi replied in a cold tone. He did not like having his competence questioned. Truthfully he had seen the woman escape after that peculiar meeting last night. However, he assumed that boy had helped the woman escape. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was to step into a direct confrontation with the government. Truthfully, with the way Kanryu was acting, Aoshi was drawing closer to accepting the offer.

"And what about the rest of your men? What am I paying you for if not to keep this sort of thing from happening!" More demands, and more complaining this morning had been nothing but. If Kanryu wanted the woman back then all he needed to do was say 'go get her.' Did he do that? No, he insisted on complaining and belittling the competence of the Oniwaban group.

"A couple of your men saw her last night but were too incompetent to catch her. Perhaps you should let us get to our job so we can retrieve her?" Aoshi replied; sure it was a bit hypocritical of him considering what he knew but Aoshi also knew that Kanryu's day were numbered. With how the boy made it sound, there weren't very many numbers left.

"I don't need this backtalk Aoshi, you work for me. I won't forgive any more mistakes!" Kanryu was digging his own grave here and the spade seemed to be picking up pace. This became quite evident when Hannya lifted their benefactor off the ground by the collar.

"You don't understand Kanryu, our leader is the only one who leads the Oniwaban group. I don't remember swearing allegiance to the likes of you!" Hannya explained with venom clear in his voice. Members of the Oniwaban were loyal to only one man and that was their leader, Aoshi Shinomori. If Kanryu was so keen on leading them then perhaps he should take up a sword and prove his own worth?

"And who do you think pays that precious leader of yours? You can't refuse my orders, I'm the one with the money, hahaha" Kanryu really was insufferable. The fool really thought that money meant everything.

"Put him down Hannya. I'll send out Beshimi and Hyottoko to retrieve the woman. They should be more than enough." Aoshi replied with a sigh. This situation was starting to wear on this nerves. On one hand, this infuriating man was the biggest payout the Oniwaban had found in years. On the other, Aoshi knew that this Lotus Guard had something to do with Megumi's escape. It was simply too much of a coincidence. The fact that such a group had a sorcerer capable of rendering himself immediately invisible was a terrifying prospect. If the man could teach the Battousai such a technique than the man would be truly unstoppable. Kanryu had no idea the kind of game he was playing.

Without hesitation Hannya did as ordered. His leader's commands were absolute after all. Sure it pissed him off, but the man was very good at hiding it when he wanted to. The porcelain oni mask that covered his face made that end a simple task.

"Good, at least one of you knows how to play the loyal dog." Kanryu added while straining his ruffled business suit. Money really did make the world go round after all. Somehow he would have to teach Aoshi how to reign in his pets. This suit was expensive and Kanryu hated it when his expensive things became blemished.

Without any further word said, Kanryu left, satisfied with the results of their little meeting. Soon Megumi would be back in his control and the production of his opium would return to normal. Once the man had closed the door however, Hannya made his burning question known.

"I fail to see why we continue to put up with that man. The more work we do for him, the less he respects us." After all Hannya did not take kindly to being compared to a dog; loyal as they were, the Oniwaban were not show pets for petty tricks.

"I was visited by a rather interesting person last night." Aoshi replied with his hands clasped behind his back. With a slow step he looked out a nearby window to where countless guards now filled the lush courtyard below. The ninja's eyes traced the path his visitor likely took after fleeing on his own terms.

"Leader?" Hannya knew that his leader was a man of few words but the man's current mannerisms were clearly not normal.

"Tell Beshimi and Hyottoko to capture Megumi. If she is being guarded by men in black coats with this symbol on it, give her this scroll instead." Aoshi flashed a scroll that was rather different than the one he was left after pointing to the symbol on the back of a black coat on the floor nearby. If they were going to send him a message then he would have to do the same.

"They are not to engage?" Hannya asked, curious as to the reason why his leader was altering the plan. Such action would not likely sit well with Kanryu. The ninja could care less, but it did please him that their leader was not going to play nicely with the businessman.

"No, I don't believe we will have to deal with Kanryu much longer. It would be best to keep our prospects open." Aoshi replied, silently enough to ensure they wouldn't be heard.

"Of course, leader." With a bow Hannya turned to the shadows and left with all the stealth and swiftness that was expected of a ninja.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wow Kenshin, you really are bad at gambling. I thought you were supposed to be good at reading people?" Sanosuke commented after losing yet another round of dice throws. He was starting to lose confidence in the man's ability to gamble. There had to be at least fifteen losses in a row.

"Unfortunately, reading people has very little to do with this type of gambling; that it does not." Kenshin replied, calmly sipping from a cup of tea. Truthfully Kenshin didn't really care about the gambling. It was all with spare change anyway and the fact that it was illegal meant that if they did any of this seriously they could wind up in quite a bit of trouble. It wouldn't look good on their record to be in trouble with the law so soon after forming a new special police force.

"Come on Kenshin, you've got to get at least one right."

"Yea just give it another shot. Nobody's that bad." One of Sano's three friends added from the other end of the small room.

"Evens, two and six" Kenshin stated without much care. Really if Sano wanted to win he really should rely on his own skills. If it weren't for Alden's insistence that they be here for this, the swordsmen wasn't sure he wanted a part of it. It was dangerous risking all their progress with Mr. Yamagata on such a silly game. Again the dice was thrown into a little clay bowl. To Sanosuke's bad luck the dice landed on one and three.

"Seriously Kenshin, are you trying to sabotage us or something? … No you couldn't be." As if hit by a horse, Sanosuke felt like he had come to a realization. Nobody was that bad. Anyone that bad at gambling ought to tell when something bad was going to happen by their winning. There was only one solution, Kenshin was actually a master at this and was losing on purpose! Grabbing Kenshin by the head an pulling him into a an arm lock while chastising the man for rigging the game against them. "Come on, we have to win at least one of these!"

Though he would never say it out loud, Kenshin was shocked that Sanosuke had found him out. He supposed it was a bit obvious if you lost over 20 games in a row. It was a simple game of dice after all. There were only so many combinations.

"Just give it a rest Sano. It's obvious that today's just cursed for you. Maybe it's that new job of yours." Another of Sanosuke's friends commented with a laugh. They were kidding of course but it was impossible to deny the irony of it. The moment Sano got a legitimate job, his gambling skills went down the river.

"Whatever, you guys know I needed something. At least this way I get to crack a few skulls every once in a while." Sano replied in a far too relaxed tone. Only Sano could so casually talk about beating people to a pulp.

"I was surprised when I read about it in the paper. It's hard to imagine we're gambling with a general, eh?" In the middle of the conversation they suddenly turned to the door where they could hear the distinct sound of wooden geta on stone. None a moment later, their door was thrown wide to reveal a mature and dark headed woman in a purple and light pink kimono. She paused for only a moment, glancing at the gathering of men before closing the door and throwing herself into Kenshin's arms. This was actually very surprising for Kenshin who was not at all used to this kind of attention.

"You've got to help me! Some awful men have been chasing me around the city." The woman explained, clearly frightened for her life. Kenshin however, knew that this was the Megumi Takani that Alden had told them about. This really was the day and the real reason he had accompanied Sano today. As the woman continued to beg for assistance, a heavily bearded man with a sword and another with a knife burst into the room. Without delay they demanded that the woman be handed over.

"Looks like we've got some rude guests here." Sanosuke commented about the obtrusiveness of the men. They hadn't even removed their shoes like the woman had. That was certainly bad manners, even by Sanosuke's standards.

"Shut up, you keep out of it!" The one with the katana demanded as he stepped forward, taking ahold of the woman's shoulder. When she tried resisting the firm grip, Sanosuke made sure to leave a nice imprint of his fist on the man's face. The punch was so hard in fact that he managed to dislodge three teeth and break two others. Sano was not the kind of person you wanted to punch you in the face.

"You better watch it, I'm already in a bad mood." Palming his fist and cracking his knuckles Sanosuke made sure to scare the men into submission.

"Do you even know who you're talking to? We're the personal body guards of Kanryu Takeda. You can't get away with treating us like this!"

"Am I supposed to be impressed by that? You're talkin to a guy who pals around with the Battousai of all people. I wouldn't give a shit if you were the personal body guards of the Emperor himself. You don't treat a woman like that." Sanosuke replied with a bit of a smirk. He actually liked the sound of that. It wasn't often that one got to throw around names of people in high places; so if they were willing to play the 'one up' game then Sano was happy to oblige. To solidify his point Sano decided it was a good a time as any to throw their clay pot in the man's face. This day was turning out to be a good stress reliever.

To their relief that final action got the two body guards to run like a couple dogs with their tails between their legs.

"Body guards of Kanryu Takeda, so those are the men Alden was talking about." Kenshin commented seriously. He knew that these two were merely low grade guards but he also knew that members of Aoshi's group would be coming soon enough. True to his expectations Kenshin was able to detect the presence of someone just on the other side of the wall. Whoever it was, his skills at hiding were fairly high. Fortunately for Kenshin, his senses were well beyond what most even skilled warriors would consider normal. In his past there was even a time when Kenshin had to fight, robbed of his main senses and was forced to rely on his ability to sense an opponent's fighting spirit. Even for someone at Kenshin's level, that sense was not so developed that he could have won that particular battle and it had cost him the life of his wife Tomoe. Today however, Kenshin's sense of hearing was all he needed.

"You can come out from there now; that you should." Kenshin stated, his tone indicating that he was not about to play around with whoever was in hiding. Without any further need for goading, Beshimi of the Oniwaban blurred around the corner and crouched low to the ground with his arms hidden within the flowing sleeves of his outfit.

"Hehehehe, so you were able to detect my presence? Impressive, but that woman's not who you think she is. Hehehehe, no matter what you do Kanryu will have her back." Beshimi replied, thoroughly amused with the situation. His gray and blue garb made for an interesting counterbalance to his deep red mohawk.

"Hmph, you can go back to Kanryu and tell him that no matter what he does, I'll always find a way to run away again.

"Hmmhmhmhm, you really are a real cutie, heheheh." Beshimi couldn't help but laugh at the situation. There were none of these black coats Aohshi warned him about nearby, just a wannabe swordsman and a few muscle bound morons. This was just too easy. The ninja thought as he pulled his hands out from his sleeve, each thumb positioned well inside his closed fists. With more skill and swiftness than most eyes could follow, Beshimi flicked each thumb twice. Four bullet like projectiles flew towards everyone, save Megumi and one of Sanosuke's friends.

Of everyone in the room, Kenshin was the only one with the senses to react to the assault. His eyes narrowed dangerously at the attack and drew his new blade, catching two of the projectiles in a single swing and the other two in a follow-up movement. To everyone present, the maneuver was but a shimmering of reflected light off Kenshin's steel blade. What was more surprising though was the fact that the bullet like objects were not just deflected, they had been reduced to a molten slag that showered Beshimi and burnt holes through his clothes and the wall behind him. A faint orange hue could be seen for only a second where Kenshin's new sakabato stood ready.

"If you wish to attack the innocent, then this one shall be your opponent." Kenshin stated with steeled resolve in his eyes, his blade at the ready.

"What the…" Beshimi couldn't help but be a little freaked out by the fact that his special projectiles had not only been deflected, but melted as well. He could tell from the pain in his own skin that this was not an opponent that he could hope to defeat. Perhaps now was the time to go get Hyottoko. Yes, that was all he could do. It was then that a terrible thought crossed his mind. What if these were the men Aoshi warned him about? What if they were merely out of uniform for the day? If that was so then he could easily see why their leader would be so cautious. It didn't matter… now was the time to regroup. They could discuss the possibilities later.

Without a second though Beshimi retreated as quickly as his trained feet could carry him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The afternoon was gorgeous as Alden seemingly relaxed beneath the largest tree on Kaoru's property. While it seemed like Alden was taking a break after the previous night's escapade, he was in fact participating in a very strange training routine.

"No that's not it. Why can't I get it! I know I saw him flinch, I saw it, so why can't I do it again!" The silver haired boy mentally cursed himself, having tried a very specific technique dozens of times over the last couple hours. There was something missing, there had to be. When he and Kenshin went up against Jinei, Alden had made sure to pay especially close attention to the psychopath during each of the man's techniques. The Shin no Ippo was a powerful technique that would be invaluable to the Lotus Guard. By its very design, it was a perfect combat technique and one that was even more useful for restraining weak targets. If Alden could replicate and teach it, the technique would make 'clearing the trash' a child's game. All the weakest opponents within view would be rendered incapable of little more than thought. Meanwhile, the Lotus Guard could focus on anyone strong enough to repel the technique.

As was seen with Jinei, even highly skilled opponents would be momentarily slowed with each use of the technique. Granted, each use on a specific person became less effective as they became used to breaking it. Until one achieved a level of determination that vastly outpaced the technique's user, at the very minimum the technique would provide that split second advantage in a close fight. During Jinei's escape, Alden had seen the man flinch for only an instant when he tried using the technique. Somehow, in the heat of battle, Alden had successfully utilized the technique to some minor effect on a highly skilled opponent. Today however, the dimension jumper couldn't seem to replicate the effect on even the tiniest of birds.

Thus far, the most Alden had managed to achieve in his training had been to frighten away a particularly tiny bird when his eyes pulsed with his fighting spirit. Fighting spirit was a rather abstract concept to most. Back in Alden's home world, the mention of such a thing as real would have got you laughed out of all but the most fringe spiritualist groups or geek conventions. In this world however, it was a very real thing that Alden had felt quite strongly in the battle against Jinei. To be honest, the word 'fighting spirit' was most accurately a type of spiritual aura. Few knew if it was an illusion of all your senses working together to create a type of sixth sense or if it was a legitimate projection of your actual aura that could be sensed and projected with enough skill.

The thought occurred that perhaps this logical thought on the subject was Alden's problem. Perhaps, the reason it worked before was simply because the boy imitated the skill out of sheer feeling in a very tense moment, complete instinct. Now that he had time to think about it and try to reason how it was possible, it became impossible because he was using reason instead of his feelings. On one hand, the Shin no Ippo could have been a paralyzing fear instilled by the projection of one's 'fighting spirit.' On the other, perhaps it was just a simple trick of hypnosis, tricking the target into thinking they were paralyzed. Another possibility raised itself. Perhaps the solution was both? What if Jinei was using his fighting spirit to project a hypnotic suggestion, a suggestion so powerful that it was even possible to stop unconscious bodily functions? This would certainly explain how it was possible to project such a thing without direct eye contact. Regardless of the case, it would be impossible to properly replicate without discovering the secret.

Reaching inward with his senses Alden meditated, attempting with all his might to detect his own fighting spirit and those around him, or whatever it was. It seemed like forever that he sat there, searching for something that may not even exist. Eventually he lost track of time. With his eyes closed, it was impossible to tell how far the sun had moved, but in his meditation he found an odd sense of peace from the feel of the many birds and little creatures around him. One in particular seemed to have taken a liking to the tree above his head. Focusing on the bird, a smile came to Alden's face when he felt some familiar presences just before he heard footsteps at the edge of his hearing. Startled by an extra set of feet, the silver haired boy was shaken from his meditative state and turned to see the new presence. To his surprise, his attention was suddenly drawn far closer when he felt a thud on the ground nearby.

A bird had fallen less than a meter away. Taking a closer look, Alden could tell that the bird was not breathing, yet its eyes looked around in terror. An abrupt feeling of guilt and dread filled the boy's gut as he realized what happened. Somehow he did it again, but the technique was too powerful for the bird's small body and it had become completely paralyzed. Not wanting the small creature to die, Alden was unsure of what to do. He had cast the technique but now he needed a way to cancel it. The will to return the bird to its own control filled him and not a moment later the bird hopped up and fled in fear. That was the moment when Alden realized just how dangerous a person's fighting spirit really was. Nobody understood it and they assumed it was some trick of hypnosis. No, the Shin no Ippo was much more than simple hypnosis.

Kenshin would have to hear of this, but for now they had a doctor to protect.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaoru Kamiya had never described herself as a jealous woman. Unfortunately, that is a difficult thing to judge for oneself, especially when one has never had much to be jealous of. Kaoru was not wealthy but she was better off than many. As far as relationships went, she had always been too busy with the dojo to get very attached to anyone. Over the last weeks however, she couldn't help but become quite attached to a certain wandering swordsman. In spite of Kenshin's past as a legendary manslayer, his personally as it was today, perfectly personified the principles of the Kamiya Kasshin style. In many ways, it was a dream come true.

That was what made the current sight so devastatingly infuriating. Kenshin had just stepped through the main gate with some kind of slutty she-witch draped over him. Whoever this woman was, Kaoru had a deep seeded feeling that the two of them would not get along. Megumi's lack of tact in calling the dojo something akin to a rundown shack made for Kaoru's last straw. The ensuing argument did not help in the least, nor did the information that this was the Megumi Takani that Alden had told them about. Unfortunately for Kaoru and Kenshin's nerves to boot, they would have to provide refuge for Megumi until further notice. It was fortunate however, that Alden took notice of them and came over before the arguments could get too out of hand.

The most pressing concern at the moment was to get changed into uniform. If the Oniwaban had decided to fight, then the Lotus Guard would have to fight with the backing of their government. The day's newspaper held the announcement of their formation with their crest emblazoned on the front page. Though they were yet to do anything important, even the police knew the kind of power Kenshin's new group wielded. They held the ear of some of the most powerful men in the country in more ways than one.

To say that Kenshin was shocked at how close Alden had come to duplicating Jinei's technique would be a dramatic understatement. The swordsman wholeheartedly agreed with the boy's assessment of the technique's usefulness. It truly would give them a dramatic advantage if they could perfect it and Kenshin insisted that they work together on it. It would likely be some time before they had the technique at Jinei's level but it was certainly a start. With that tantalizing skill at their fingertips, it was decided that Megumi should stay inside while they guarded the dojo and worked on this new technique.

Megumi herself was a rather odd individual, considering her predicament. The way she acted around Kenshin, the woman would have fit in well in a modern red light district. That act quickly faded once she realized it was no longer necessary. She was in the presence of a General and his immediate subordinates after all. Clearly that point had not sunk in from Sanosuke's earlier comments. Lucky was far too soft a word for how she felt at the moment. What were the odds of quite literally running into the best possible protection in all of Japan? To make matters even better, they already knew about Kanryu and were planning on dismantling his entire organization. Yes, she was quite satisfied with her current level of protection.

With time unfortunately, Megumi's level of satisfaction with her protection began to wane. As strong as Kenshin and Sanosuke seemed to be, they were also too busy playing some weird staring contest with a silver haired kid.

"What are you three doing? I thought you were going to protect me, not play some childish staring game."

"You ought to be a little more grateful, missy. Besides we're not playing, Alden here learned some magic spell and he's trying to teach it to us." Though Sanosuke wasn't a fan of magic in the least, the concept of learning whatever technique Jinei used on them was too tantalizing to let go. He wasn't a fan of underhanded tricks and didn't quite get the concept of this 'fighting spirit' but if it kept him from falling into a similar trap again then he was all for it.

"It's hardly a magic trick Sano, though I must admit it certainly looks like one; that it does." Kenshin replied with a lighthearted laugh. This technique was much more than a simple trick, it was a martial arts technique of the highest caliber; the sort of thing that only true geniuses learned at a young age. The greatest martial artists slowly became attuned to what was effectively a sixth sense. That sense was not exactly supernatural, but not exactly physical either. It was actually quite difficult to describe but it was most simply labeled as feeling an opponent's aura. Understanding what such minute feelings meant, much less projecting it as a potent technique was another matter altogether. One had to be deeply in tune with their own body and the rest of their senses before sensing such a thing became possible. The truth was that everyone had this sixth sense but few could filter it out from the noise of all their other senses assaulting their mind at once. It took a clear mind and dedicated focus to feel these sorts of things.

"There was a man we fought the other day who was a master of this technique. With it he could paralyze all but the strongest enemies with nothing but a glance." Alden replied in a matter-o-fact tone.

"That's impossible, no one can attack the body with so little." As a doctor, Megumi was hardly convinced. The human body was a complex system of countless facets that allowed it to operate. The idea that someone could stare at someone and paralyze them was laughable. Even if chi really existed it would take a nearly century old master of the art to produce anything remotely that potent.

"You can laugh all you want missy, but Jinei got us all with it. It took a while to figure out how to break free of it." Sanosuke couldn't help but smirk when Megumi looked at him in disbelief. There had to be some kind of trick to the technique, wires, glue, something! Nobody had that kind of power. It was like saying you could literally cut the air into a void, nonsense.

"I nearly killed a bird with it before you arrived. It takes a great deal of concentration, but I assure you; it is a very real thing." Alden added and took focus on a nearby squirrel. Thus far his only luck had been with small animals. Their bodies were small and their minds smaller. He would have to work his way up over time.

"That's impossible no one can…" It was impossible not to trail off when the doctor saw the little creature stop dead in its tracks. Not a move could be made by the creature as it stood in apparent paralyzed fear. No living animal stood so still. She had never seen anything like it before. If the boy was this powerful then how strong was this Kenshin? Perhaps they really did stand a chance against the Oniwaban group.

"You haven't heard my backstory yet. Apparently the impossible is our specialty." Releasing the squirrel, it tried to scurry away in fear though it paused for just a moment when Kenshin tried to use the technique. The red haired swordsman was having much quicker luck than Alden did. Sure the silver haired boy had figured out the trick to it but this also proved just how much of a genius Kenshin was. Any normal swordsman would have taken weeks or months to get to this point under structured guidance. Jinei likely trained for years to get to his level.

It was quite clear that this technique would not be ready to face the Oniwaban if that was truly necessary. In the coming months however, this would surely come to be the signature technique of the Lotus Guard.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"That's the guy, I was afraid of this." Beshimi cursed from his place high in a tree outside the Kamiya Dojo. Night had come to Japan by the time Beshimi and Hyottoko met up with Hannya. After the earlier fiasco they had determined that it would be best to regroup and stake out their targets for a while. Night would be the optimum time to strike after all. This had also proved Beshimi's earlier suspicions as to Kenshin's identity.

"They have the black coats that Aoshi warned us about." Hannya replied seriously. In truth, the matter was worse than that. They had heard of Zanza, the former fighter for hire and knew that he would be a difficult adversary, even if they knew he could be beaten. The legendary Battousai was another matter altogether. It was a near certainty that only Aoshi could defeat the man and he had made it quite clear that he had little intention of fighting this group. It was no wonder with the man being made a General in the army. The silver haired boy was a mystery but it was difficult not to have read the news of such a boy, capable of wielding fire like magic. Hyottoko was actually quite eager to put those claims to the test but Hannya put that line of thought to an effective end.

"Well I still think we should give-em a parting gift from the Oniwaban group." Hyottoko was huge by human standards and would have stood out like a sore thumb, were it not for the massive walls around the Kamiya dojo. Though his voice was usually booming he knew when to keep it to a whisper. He was a ninja after all, if more direct than most.

"Our leader's orders are absolute. I will deliver the scroll. You two report to our leader" Hannya commanded with little room for argument.

"Kanryu won't be happy about this." Beshimi surmised, though in a tone that indicated that he would do as commanded. Though he hadn't seen the businessman's earlier rant, it was impossible not to see Hannya's dissatisfaction with it.

"If Kanryu thinks he can order us around like the rest of his dogs then he is sorely mistaken." If anyone was a stickler for orders, it was Hannya. Following orders were what saved him on countless missions. Following orders was what brought the Oniwaban honor in battle. That said, he would be thrice damned to hell if he was going to let some peon who couldn't even lift a sword act superior to their honored leader.

Hannya may not have known what message was in the scroll, but he did know that his leader wouldn't give up on his target so easily. He glared at his allies until they left and were well out of sight. It was time to complete his mission.

"This one was wondering when you might show yourself." Kenshin commented on Hannya's sudden appearance the moment he touched the grass on the inside of the wall. Clearly Kenshin had been paying attention for quite a while. In his black robes he was leaned up against the dojo's wall, with his new blade resting firmly on his shoulder. Neither could sense any impending hostility from the other so Hannya continued his mission while Kenshin continued to keep his senses open.

"I have orders from our leader to deliver a message." The masked man stated as he approached the red headed swordsman with the scroll outstretched.

"So this one heard. I take it Aoshi received ours?" Kenshin replied, having finally been informed of Alden's movements the previous night. He was actually quite impressed with the boy's initiative. Now they just had to see what the man's reply would be.

"I don't know about that. All I know are the orders I was given." The ninja answered while placing the scroll on the porch within Kenshin's reach. The man immediately turned to vanish into the shadows but was stopped when Kenshin called out one last time.

"Aoshi does not want an answer?"

"My mission was to deliver the scroll, nothing more. What you do now is none of my business." No sooner had Hannya finished his reply than he had vanished into the shadows of the night.

Opening the scroll to read by the faint moonlight the message was simple.

Only the strongest may lead the Oniwaban. Challenge us if you dare.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter Notes

Let the raid begin and may the battle be epic.