Kenshin's Little Girl

Chapter 11

Kenshin and Yahiko stood in the shadows in front of the whore house, watching the guards pace back and forth in their rounds.

"At the next whistle, Yahiko. I will go right for the door, and you will stay behind me to make sure we don't get attacked from behind. Got it?"

Yahiko nodded and shifted the sword at his hip to a more comfortable position, standing so that he could get a good burst of speed when the whistle sounded. He hoped that the guards were as stupid as they looked, otherwise there would be trouble.

The whistle cut through the quiet night and the two men took off for the door. One guard caught sight of the pair and came roaring after them, a gun leveled at Yahiko's back. The younger man halted suddenly and spun, striking the gunner with the flat of his blade in the face. Before the man had hit the ground in a heap, the dark haired man had caught up with his partner and was keeping his eyes open for attack.

"They were all wearing yellow. Didn't the police say that the leaders wore red?"

"Yes. Please don't talk to me right now, Yahiko."

Yahiko noticed that even though the older man was in better shape than most twenty year old men, the redhead was beginning to grow short of breath as they ran through the halls.

The place was a maze, rooms that had no windows and two doors, then the doors that looked like a part of the wall. Yahiko growled in irritation.

"Damnit! Where are they hiding?!"

Kenshin halted, turning to a panel of wood that looked like yet another false door and gave it a push. To his and Yahiko's surprise, it swung open to reveal two men and one woman dressed in red. The woman stood, drawing a knife and throwing it at Yahiko. The knife stopped a centimeter away from the man's face, then snapped back into the woman's hand. The other two drew swords, approaching the two who had burst in on them.

Yahiko jumped forward to meet their charge, his eyes fixed on the largest man. He noted that the woman was backing away from the fight and let himself not think about her too much. His redheaded companion looked over at the woman and took off after her as she hauled her hand back for another attack with her sling knife.

As the knife whizzed toward Kenshin's face, he brought his sword up, catching the knife under the hilt and sending it into a crazy upward spin. The woman swore in an unusually deep voice and pulled the weapon back to her with a flick of her wrist. The older man brought his blade crashing down toward her head, but she stepped back and the weapon caught in her robe, tearing it open all the way to her hip.

Yahiko's sword slammed into his opponent's face with a loud snap, the man's eyes rolling back in his head as his cheekbone and jaw were broken. He turned in time to see that Kenshin's opponent, rather than being a deep voiced woman, was actually a high voiced feminine man. Yahiko paid for his lapse in concentration with a painful slash to his right shoulder from the other man he had been fighting. The bearded brute shouted to his companion, his voice grating out of his throat.

"Get out of here, Chou! They can't stop our followers if there is still at least one of us still alive and free!"

The smaller man who was thought to be a woman, Chou, spun and ran out through yet another secret door, his long kimono flying behind him.

"Kenshin! You stop him, I've got this one!"

Kenshin nodded, dashing through the door and following the red train of fabric as it whipped around a corner. When they reached a long stretch of straight hallway, Kenshin put on a burst of speed and managed to stab his blade through the train of the kimono and into the floor. The thin man was jerked back and landed with a thud on his backside, barely getting the chance to stand before the redhead had pulled his sword free and pointed it at him.

"Please, Chou, come with me. This one abhors violence, and will see that none harm you if you follow me now."

The man shook his head and let his knife slide from inside his sleeve to his hand. The cool flexible wire that was attached to a leather band below his elbow began to uncoil as he prepared to attack. Then he paused, as if he was considering the older man's offer, slowly easing a phial full of black liquid into his other hand. I need him to be closer…

"If I come with you, do you think they will believe me if I told them that I was forced to do all this?"

"That depends. Is it the truth?"

Tears in his eyes, Chou stepped forward, lowering his weapon and holding his hands in front of him, much like a woman would.

"Yes… I've been too scared to run away…"

Kenshin smiled and walked up beside the tearful man and patted his arm.

"This one understands being afraid and being unable to leave. Come on, we'll get this one's companion, then leave."

Chou smiled, taking hold of the red haired man's wrist, then his eyes went cold and hard.

"It's a shame. You seem very kind."