Author's Note: Short chapter here, it makes up for the long one just wrote last. Anyway, we got a ninja fight here, Aoshi vs. Hideo.
Chapter 13: Dragon of Shadows
"This is rather odd," Kenshin enters a room covered in darkness.
"Why isn't there any light?" Kaoru wonders.
"Che, there's got to be a torch or something to light around here," Sanosuke steps forward and one of the floor boards sinks deeper into the floor.
"Nani?" Aoshi vaguely hears the whistling of steel from the other side of the room. "Get down!" Aoshi suddenly orders everyone.
Without any questions, the other follow Aoshi's order, just as several shards of steel fly from the east wall. Thunk, thunk, thunk, each of the pieces of metal engraves itself on the west wall.
"What the heck were those things?" Yahiko slowly rises back to his feet.
"They looked like shuriken or something," Hiko answers and tries to take a step forward.
"Don't move!" Aoshi orders everyone before Hiko's foot touches the floor.
"What's the matter, Aoshi?" Kenshin asks unaware of what he senses.
"Traps," Aoshi answers, "they're planted everywhere in this room."
"Very observant after only falling for one," a sinister laugh echoes from the shadows, "I shouldn't have expected less from the former leader of the Oniwaban-Shu, Shinimori Aoshi," the face of a pale-skinned man appears from within the darkness.
"Kenshin!" Kaoru quickly leaps into his arms.
"Koishii," Kenshin has trouble keeping his balance, "you're a bit too...," Kenshin falls flat on his back with Kaoru sitting on top of him. "Oro...?!" Kenshin lays dazed and confused.
"That's the Battousai," the face laughs at the sight of Kenshin, "such a weakling."
"Hey don't talk about my husband that way!" Kaoru tries to defend Kenshin.
"Hold it," Aoshi stops Kaoru with the wave of his hand, "this one is mine. You know our names, but can I ask you your's?" Aoshi turns to the floating face.
"Futami Hideo," the face answers, "the black dragon, master of Miyamato Mirror Ryu and one of Himura Mina's Mitsurugi Seven."
"That's all I need to know," Aoshi grabs both ends of his long sword and pulls both sides to draw his two kodachies.
"You use a double-sword style as well I see," a katana and wakezashi suddenly appear from Hideo's sides, "yet your swords are shorter than mine, giving you a speed advantage, but what's the use of a speed advantage if you can't see what you're attacking," Hideo grins.
"What do you mean?!" Yahiko asks puzzled. "Nani?!" Hideo's face slowly disappears into the darkness.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu-Shou-Sen!" Hideo's wakezashi appears before Aoshi, delivering an uppercut.
Aoshi uses both of his short blades to deflect the attack but notices at the last moment that Hideo's katana looms close by. Unable to react in time, the steel blade pierces Aoshi's side, and the wakezashi pushes Aoshi away to the western wall, using his kodachies as support. Aoshi quickly recovers but suddenly a large piece of lumber swings in his direction. Rolling to the side, the lumber smashes against the wall, but Aoshi finds himself trigger another trap from where he landed. Shuriken rain down from above and Aoshi quickly tries to parry each one. Success, except for that one has somehow found it's way on his left knee.
"I see," Saito watches the battle unfold, "not only are there hidden switches planted throughout the room, the man's dark clothing conceals him with the darkness to make himself invisible to Shinimori."
"How do you like it," Hideo's voice echoes the room as his swords suddenly blend in with the darkness, "my Dragon's Lair."
"Dragon's Lair," Aoshi pulls the shuriken from his knee, "I recognize that tactic."
"You do, huh?" Hideo's voice echoes in the darkness.
"This tactic, to lay traps throughout the battlefield, it's the very same tactics a group of ninjas used back in the Tokugawa Era," Aoshi explains, "this is the style of the Iga Ninja."
"I shouldn't have underestimated your knowledge," Hideo says impressed, "you are of the Oniwaban-Shu after all."
"Iga Ninja," Kenshin recalls, "I thought they all retired after the Shogunate fell."
"A ninja can never disappear," Hideo tells Kenshin, "nor can they retire, the merely returns to the shadows to fight another day. After the Revolution, both Koga and Iga threw their arms to make peace. They decided to finally leave the shadows and come into the light to live peacefully in this new era. Yet there were those who refused to convert to the new era, staying in the shadows to fight once more, hiring their services to the highest bidder. Himura Mina has hired my services, her payment was the teaching of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. This new era that Himura Mina wants to create will allow the Ninja to be reborn, Shinimori Aoshi, can't you see that? You should understand as a ninja of the Oniwaban-Shu."
Aoshi responds with silence, with a stone-cold look in his ice-blue eyes.
"I don't understand this," Kenshin butts in, "if Mina truly believes in an era of peace then why would there be any need for the Ninja? It appears more like you want to destroy that era as well and continue to destroy until there is an era to your liking, isn't that it?!" Kenshin sees through Hideo.
"Well, I'm not denying it now am I?" Hideo's voice laughs throughout the entire area.
"I believe this is my battle, Battousai," Aoshi rises back to his feet, "please allow me to finish it without any more interruptions."
"I understand, Aoshi," Kenshin backs down.
"Once more then," Hideo swords appear once more.
The swords appear on both sides of Aoshi within a split second and prepare to strike inward. Aoshi extends both of his arms to the sides to catch each blade and locks both swords in place. Aoshi looks ahead of him to see two small spheres of white gazing down upon him. Aoshi strikes what appears to be the center of the spheres causing Aoshi and the blades to stagger back. The two swords then go for an up and down attack, but each swing is caught by each of Aoshi's kodachies. Aoshi jumps a few more feet back only to fall for another trap, this time, a rain of spears. Each bladed pole is evaded as Aoshi simply remains in place as he prepares for an attack.
"Oniwaban-Shu," Aoshi locks his left kodachi to the back of his right kodachi, "Onmyou-Hasshi!" Aoshi throws the two swords as their locked together.
The blades fly toward what seems to be the center of the two swords as the swords prepare to deflect the attack. The katana swings to the right to deflect the first sword, sending it towards the west wall. The blade etches into the hard wood, and part of it begins to sink in, activating a trap switch. The second kodachi, however, was totally forgotten and plants itself in the middle of darkness, with a geyser of crimson sprouting after. Both of the swords drop to the floor as the whistling of steel comes from the west. The hilt of the kodachi faces in that direction and eight projectiles suddenly engrave themselves all over what seems to be Hideo's body.
"Argh!" Hideo's faces is slowly revealed, with streams of blood dripping from his mouth. "Damn...you, Shinimori Aoshi...!" Hideo's last words pass through his lips.
"Rest in peace," Aoshi says calmly as Hideo's body slowly drops to the floor.
"Two left," Yahiko concludes.
"Tamako is the next one," Saito takes up his sword, "she's mine!"
"Saito, who exactly is Tamako?" Kenshin asks, curious.
"You'll find out when the time comes," Saito leads the way to the next floor.
"A ninja merely returns to the shadows to fight another day," Aoshi grins as he takes one last look at Hideo, "not this time...," Aoshi closes the door on his way out, cutting out all light in the room.
"Hideo is dead," Yurika hears the footsteps of her adversaries nearing, "damn, that's another Mitsurugi Seven dead, if this keeps up then...," Yurika cuts off her own words with the sharpening of her sword. "Quit sounding so weak, Tamako," Yurika talks to herself, "Father wouldn't have wanted to see you like this! Father, you taught me the one truth that I have always lived my life by, Aku Zoku Zan. In the tradition of the Shinsengumi, I will eliminate the remaining traitor!" Yurika's eyes turn to the south to find her door swing open. "Saito Hajime," Yurika sneers at him from the corner of her eye, "I've been waiting for you..."
"I know," Saito steps forward, "Kondou Tamako."
Chapter 13 Liner Notes
Who are the Iga Ninja?- During the Tokugawa Era, there were many ninja clans, the most popular clans being the Koga and the Iga. Both clans were often hired by the government to act as spies, assassins, scouts, or other dirty work that samurai would not often do. A ninja's honor system was different from that of a samurai, a ninja's being 'do whatever it takes to survive'. Thus, ninjas would always work for the ones with the most money in order to make a living, their most popular employers were from the Shogunate. The various clans were also enemies with each other, if a ninja from one clan came across one from another, the two would get in a battle and fight until one of them was dead. Of course, once the Revolution came about, all ninja clans made peace with each other and threw away their services. There are some ninja schools still left in Japan, but they're pretty rare and hard to find. The best bet to learn Ninjitsu (the ninja martial art) would be to be the son or daughter of a ninja as the Ninja would teach their skills to their children, starting from the age of four or five (I would know, my family is descended from both Koga and Iga, my sister and I were trained in Ninjitsu, and it's not all what it's cracked up to be like in the movies). Also of note, the Oniwaban-Shu were not really ninjas in history, they were just the Shogunate's information network of spies.
How did Hideo 'disappear' during the fight with Aoshi?- He simply wore all black, and to make his face 'disappear', Hideo wore a ninja's mask and hood over his face.
So Yurika's real name is Kondou Tamako, how is she a historical person?- I might as well tell you now, although I was going to explain in the next chapter who she is (just not in a lot of detail). Anyway, Kondou Tamako is the daughter of Kondou Isami, the leader of the Shinsengumi (!). Tamako was born before Isami left for Kyoto during the Revolution (I think that's in 1864, but I'm not sure, I couldn't find any information on the exact date he left). Her father was executed by the Meiji Government after the Revolution, in 1868. No one knows exactly what happened to Tamako and her family, yet there were some myths that she either became a prostitute, or that she planned a rebellion of her own against the Meiji Government, but the rebellion never came through. I'm basing her character on the latter part, where she's planning her rebellion and trying to act it out (even though she isn't the leader).
When's the final fight with Kenshin and Mina already?!- One more chapter, I promise, their fight will last for three chapters (took me a while to write in the rough draft too).
Author's Note: Sorry I could really expand on Hideo's character, he just didn't play a big role in this story. Next up, that bitch Yurika finally fights against who else, the Mibu Wolf, Saito Hajime.