Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than my OCs.
The dreaded day had arrived along with the feelings of anxiety, hopefulness, and many other mixed emotions. Tsubame, who had been staying at the Kamiya Dojo for safety reasons, was now moving to the new Akabeko location for… safety reasons. The group stood in a closed circle to discuss their battle plans.
"I will be standing here at first." Kenshin said, "Sano will take the front garden and guard the dojo area. I leave its defense to your judgment."
"Got it." Sanosuke clenched his fists tightly.
"Kyoka-dono moves fast and has sharp senses. I'll leave your position to you." The swordsman gestured to the rooftops, "Maybe up there?"
"We'll see." Kyoka's hand slid over to her wakizashi just to make sure it was there.
"Kaoru-dono and Yahiko will stay inside the dojo. Make protecting yourself the first priority. But. If the situations calls for it, I will allow Yahiko to move out to attack."
"I'LL DO THAT!" Yahiko cheered, clearly proud of himself for no reason other than having been given permission to attack.
"Megumi-dono will also be inside the dojo. Take care of the wounded." Kenshin continued, ignoring Yahiko's wild cheering.
"Understood." The doctor nodded, shooting Sanosuke a glare, "No matter how beat up you are, I'll take care of you as long as you're not dead."
"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Sanosuke growled, turning his head defiantly away from the female doctor.
"Umm… And me?" Tsubame spoke up meekly.
"…" Kyoka and Yahiko shared a short look of pity.
"You will stay at the temporary Akabeko area." Kenshin broke the news to her swiftly, "It's much safer there than it is here."
"Right…" Tsubame looked a little more than disappointed, "I would only be in the way if I stayed."
"I'll walk you home." Yahiko put a hand on the girl's head, "Don't worry about anyone here. We'll all live to see you again. Not a single one of us is going to die."
From her position on the roof, Kyoka could see everyone on the ground as they prepared for the attack. Fireworks were usually a pleasant thing but today, the explosives brought the enemy with them. Enishi's group was on their way down using hot air balloons, the cutting edge technology of the Seinen Wars.
"The Armstrong cannon is coming!" Kyoka warned them, watching the attacker through the dark of the night.
The man was huge and obviously, it didn't take much effort for him to hold up the cannon with his muscles.
"He's going to fire from up there?!" Yahiko screamed.
"I'm going to jump! Lend me your fist!" Kenshin ordered, getting a head start on his running.
"ALRIGHT!" Sanosuke let out a strained growl as he sent Kenshin flying.
Needless to say, not even the Armstrong Cannon stood a chance against the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's Kuzu Ryusen and the giant man came crashing into the dirt along with his deadly weapon.
"ZANZA!" Kyoka abandon her position on the roof to move down as the Cannon man staggered to his feet.
Sanosuke whirled around and pulled the floorboards outside the dojo to the side to reveal the giant sword that was hidden there not too long ago, "Here we go!"
The whale-mouthed man only had time to let off one shot before he was cut down from behind by the former assassin. Kyoka didn't think he was dead, she hadn't cut him cleanly but there was no way that man was getting up anytime soon. There were only a few clear sounds at that moment and one of them was the sound of Sanosuke's zanbato breaking cleanly in half as the cannonball made contact. The explosion of the cannonball came only moments later as it hit the dirt beside its owner.
The men that had just watched from the safety of their hot air balloons were finally on the move. Kyoka lifted her blade in time to catch the blade of her attacker, Taigono Jyudai.
"Hello again." He cooed, grinding his blade down against hers, "How is that wound I gave you? Healed, I presume?"
She pulled her foot back and brought it forward, putting some distance between her and the man as he moved away from her to dodge the kick.
"How unfriendly. I asked you a question." He snorted, "I should just blow you up."
Kyoka threw up her arms in defense as the scent of gunpowder hit her nose. It only took her two seconds to know that she had fallen for it and the only reason she figured it out was because the man's foot hand slammed straight into her gut, sending her flying back.
Sanosuke let out a grunt as the girl's body slammed into his back. His arm instantly shot back to steady her, "Bring it on! It's two on one now."
"Oh my." Jyudai shook his head, glancing back and forth between his opponents and his teammate, Inui Banjin, "Can't you count? There are two of us too."
"He's a little stupid." Kyoka shoved him aside as he tried to stand between her and the enemy, "He can't count past one. Excuse him."
"HEY! Who's side are you on?!" Sanosuke screamed at the injustice and then lowered his voice to hiss, "I said I would fight for both of us. Just turn around and get out of here."
She rolled her eyes, "Oh. How romantic."
"I'd love to chat but obviously, you have the same amount of intelligence as a monkey." Jyudai snorted, "I'm not just going to let my prey walk away from me. I'll kill you first and then her if you'd like but either way my final kill is going to be the Battosai."
Banjin nodded vigorously and then thought about it for a minute, "HEY! The battosai is going to fight me! And this guy's mine!"
"…" He slammed his face into his palm, "Oh dear. It seems the two of you are in the same boat. The stupid boat."
"You got that right!" Banjin nodded sharply and then changed his mind, "HEY! WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!"
"Mine." Jyudai rolled his eyes, "Now fight."
"Now we're talking." Banjin snickered, "I understood that one loud and clear! Let's rumble!"
Kyoka nodded and nudged Sanosuke in the side, "It looks like you and that guy have the same amount of brain cells."
"…" Sanosuke glared down at the girl, "Cut out the insults and just fight, would you?"
Kyoka silently moved up to combat her opponent, locking blades with him swiftly. She growled as the scent of gunpowder filled her nose again. All of her instincts screamed at her to move away but she didn't and that was one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
Jyudai smirked and held up the stick of dynamite for her to see, "You're not sharp enough."
She scrambled to get away from the short-fused explosive but ended up having it nearly blow her face off anyways. It was one of the more terrifying experience of her life. All of her senses were robbed from her in less than a split second. Her sense of smell was cut off by the smell of burning flesh and smoke, her vision was cut by the bright flash as the stick blew up, her hearing was useless after the crackling sound of the explosive, and her sense of touch was washed over by the terrible pain of the burning skin on her own body. She might've screamed and she might not have but she couldn't hear her own voice anymore. She couldn't hear anything but the ringing in her ears.
Everyone says fighters have a sixth sense that will help them in battle but Kyoka had never relied on anything more than her sharpened five senses. She needed that sixth sense more than anything now. She was going to die without it. She gave everything up after a second and waited for the killing blow that never came. The pain on her skin died down thanks to the adrenaline that now poured through her veins. A scent that was all too familiar, shot straight up her nose and cleared the dirty stench of smoke from her head. Her deaf ears heard only one voice and a warm touch grasped her around the waist.
"DON'T GIVE UP ON ME YET!" Sanosuke roared, "Stand up!"
The fear that had once overtaken her mind was now completely gone as she looked up to find her vision clearer than it usually was. She silently thanked her adrenaline glands for producing the hormone that gave her senses back to her. Her eyes narrowed on the two men that were tangled on each other's limbs and yelling at each other for getting in the way. Jyudai's leg was awkwardly twisted around Banjin's neck and Banjin's foot was nearly in the other man's mouth. It was quite the sight to see.
Her own position became clear to her only a split second later when she realized that her feet weren't touching the floor. Sanosuke had pulled her straight off the ground and was holding her up with one arm under her butt.
"T-Thanks." She stuttered, suddenly very sure that Sanosuke had saved her life by throwing his opponent straight into hers.
"Thank me later!" He ordered, "Get down!"
Jyudai's bombs went off one after the other, sending dirt and smoke flying everywhere. Sanosuke charged straight in as soon as the explosions died down. Kyoka scrambled to her feet in time to catch Jyudai's dagger between her palms. Her eyes flickered to her blade that was abandoned in the dirt not too far away.
"Oh no you don't." Jyudai spat, "I'm not letting you get your weapon back that easily."
Kyoka twisted out of the way suddenly very aware of presence of her companions. She could feel Kenshin's threatening yet protective presence standing between the assassin, Otowa Hyoko, and Yahiko and Kaoru. She could feel Sanosuke energy as he fought behind her.
Sanosuke's back pressed up against hers and his scent filled her nose again, "I'm here."
Kyoka had always fought one on one. She had never depended on others even when she was with the Oniwabanshu she had always fought alone. She had always believed that smaller numbers would win and many of the Oniwabanshu members worked best alone so she usually ignored everyone else around her as she fought. For the first time in her life, she found that fighting with companions wasn't dead weight. Of course they were people she needed to protect but in return, they protected her too.
A feral growl tore past her lips and she stabbed her left hand through her opponent's dagger.
Jyudai staggered back in surprise but didn't loosen his grip on the blade that was now buried right through her hand, "You've gone mad!"
"Let go of the dagger or die." She growled.
He instantly released the blade, suddenly terrified of the look on her face. What caused this demonic change? He lit the fuse of a bomb behind his back and flung it in her face but it never exploded.
Kyoka flipped the dagger… his dagger calmly in her hand and looked down at the now unlit explosive, "Your blade is dull. I thought it wouldn't cut it but I guess I was wrong. Do you think it could slit your throat?"
Jyudai screamed once, twice, three times as his own dagger sunk into his legs and then his dominant arm.
"If you get up again, I'll kill you." She threw down his bloody knife and spat the dirty taste of dust from her mouth before retrieving her own blade.
"Yahiko!" Kaoru screamed.
Kyoka turned instantly to find her brother taking up the battle that Kenshin had been putting off. Otowa Hyoko was one heck of an assassin. Kyoka didn't have to look twice to know that the man had weapons hidden all over his body. There was no way that Yahiko could compare to all of those deadly weapons. She didn't even have to look to know that Kenshin had taken up another battle with someone else. Kyoka moved to combat Hyoko and nearly had her head chopped off.
"You think you've got me down that easily!" Jyudai roared and swung wildly at her with his bloody dagger, "I'll be the one to kill the Battosai!"
Kyoka's eyes fluttered to the limbs she thought were useless. She was sure that she had done enough damage to keep him from getting up so then why was he still able to move like that? It was inhuman. How could the man move like that?
"I can't die yet!" He howled, swinging at her like a madman and dropping unlit bombs as he moved forward.
She didn't have to know his situation to know that he was fighting for something big, "Just sit down and I'll let you go!"
"KILL ME THEN!" He roared, "I would rather die than return home and tell my mother that I let the Battosai live!"
"What does your mother have to do with this?" She nearly lost her footing as she moved to avoid his attacks.
"The Battosai killed my father!" He hissed, "I won't let him get away with it."
"You let him get away with it all this time. Why don't you give him a few more days… or years?" She slammed her foot into his gut.
"GRAAHHH!" He roared, ignoring anything she had to say, "Just die already!"
"Stop." She ordered, catching his blade with her already bloody left hand, "Just stop."
"Don't tell me what to do! He's a murderer! I will have my revenge!"
With one swift turn of her body, Kyoka slammed her foot into the man's neck. Jyudai's whole body spun in the air from the impact, his head landing sideways in the dirt and his dagger flying uselessly to the side.
"If you can't beat me, what makes you think you can defeat the manslayer that killed your father?" She said without any malice, "Everyone has someone they truly care for and in turn they have someone who truly cares for them. I understand your feelings but your father won't come back even if you kill Kenshin."
Jyudai rolled quietly onto his back, "Then what would you do?"
"Honestly… I would be just like you. I would suffer and I would look for revenge because that's who I am." She told him honestly, "But if I were to take revenge and kill the one who murdered my father, that person's loved ones would come and take their revenge on me."
"…" He let out a bitter laugh, "And then what?"
"And then nothing. There's nothing after death." She laughed, "But if you feel miserable and you feel like taking revenge, how do you think the people you leave behind would feel about your death?"
"… Like taking revenge." He let out a loud bark of laughter, "If I were to kill the Battosai…?"
"I would kill you." She said seriously, "And then I would cry anyways since Kenshin's not going to come back to life if I kill you."
"Hah! Little miss. You're one hell of a hypocrite."
"I know." She grinned, "Isn't everyone?"
"I don't understand you." He cracked a smile, "You're doing some complicated thinking there."
She shrugged, "People fight for what they believe in. And I believe that as long as you have the power to protect the ones you love… You don't need to take revenge because you'll be able to keep them alive."
"Nonsense. You've gone soft." The smell of cigarette smoke hit her nose and she glanced up, quickly taking a look around the area to find Sanosuke's fight over and done with, Kenshin's fight was long over, and Yahiko's fight was bloody but of course it was another victory for their side. Megumi was leaned over and busily tending their wounds. Kyoka gulped hard at the nostalgic feeling of the new presence and cigarette smoke. She turned her eyes slowly to the destroyed gateway and the tears that came to her eyes threatened to spill over. No one else seemed to have noticed the presence of the one and only, Saito Hajime.
"S-Saito…"
The police officer smirked at her, holding up his cigarette lazily, "How indecent. Didn't I teach you not to dress like that?"
Kyoka glanced down at the tattered remains of her gi and undershirt, not to mention her pants. Her hands instantly flew down to cover the small patches of skin that peaked out through her wrecked clothing, "I… They kind of caught fire and… stuff."
"Stupid." Saito snorted, dropping his burning cigarette into the dirt and stomping it out under his foot, "Moron."
"It's not my fault." She said dumbly unable to find any answers. She was starting to feel tired, the adrenaline from the fight was dying down.
"And you're bleeding." He pointed it out like he was talking to a child who couldn't tell whether she was dying or not. He carelessly tossed his jacket over her head, "Did you forget how to put on clothes too, stupid?"
Kyoka just stared dumbly as he pulled out another cigarette and continued his walk toward the dojo without looking back. She pulled the police officer's rather large jacket over her shoulder and shoved her arms through the sleeves.
Saito glanced over at the monstrous man on the roof of the dojo with half a smirk, "Feh. You talk a lot for a beast."
Not a single person could deny the shock on their face when Saito made his grand appearance.
"You're alive?" Sanosuke's mouth was hanging open ever-so-slight but of course Saito didn't let anything pass.
"You sound surprised. I was in plenty of life or death situations and I was the only member of the Shinsengumi that was called invincible." He bragged about himself but instead of sounding snobby, Saito just sounded like he was trying to put an explanation to his survival skills, "I came to ask about your connection to Yukishiro Enishi but the answer's obvious. It's the worst kind."
"You bastard. If you were alive why didn't you come show your face?!" Sanosuke growled.
"Since you're already in the middle of a fight, I'd like to save some time but it's not much fun if you don't know what's going on." Saito completely ignored his questions and made his own demands, "Explain."
"Don't tell me what to do and answer me!" Sanosuke snapped.
"You're annoying." Saito glared down his nose at the younger man, "Do you want me dead that badly?"
"It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to say it but if you were alive, you should've told us." Sanosuke growled.
"You shouldn't get so attached." Saito stated simply, "Now explain."
"DAMN YOU!" The fighter was clearly embarrassed that Saito had called him out about his concern.
"Fine. I'll explain." Megumi shoved Sanosuke's out of the way with her elbow, "In exchange, you have to help Ken-san."
"I wield my sword for my own justice. I refuse those conditions." Saito told her seriously.
"Yukishiro Enishi is the brother of Kenshin's dead wife." Kyoka explained shortly and bluntly, "Kenshin accidently killed his wife and Enishi's here for revenge. Long story short, he's here to take revenge for his sister that Kenshin killed on accident. Oh. By the way, they might've worked with Shishio."
"Looks like someone has some brain left after all." Saito patted the girl's head as he went by, "I guess I get to use my blade after all."
Kyoka waited until Saito was out of earshot before saying dreamily, "He touched my hair…."
Megumi rolled her eyes, "He's so unpredictable. I don't see what you like about that man."
"By the way." Saito threw the girl a glare over his shoulder, "I have a bone to pick with you later."
"Did he say something?" Megumi asked, unable to hear the man from such a distance.
Kyoka's hand flew to her nose to hide her blush. He knew that only she would be able to hear him and that probably meant that, "He heard me…"
"That man has some nerve showing his face after all this time." Megumi shook her head disdainfully, "He should've known that you would be miserable….."
All of Megumi's insults and whatnot fell on deaf ears as Kyoka watched the man she respected the most fight once more. Every part of her was genuinely tingling with happiness at the sight of her non-blood-related family member, Saito Hajime. "Welcome back, Saito."
Very slow with the updating but I'm still working on the ending! Almost there!