Kokoro
No Itami Nakunaru Made Zutto
By:
Hitokiri Gentatsu
Rating:
PG
Author's
Note/Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. He belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki,
Shueisha 'Jump Comics', and Fuji Television.
Chapter
Five: "For the Protection of the Weak"
"Kenjitsu is a method for murder.
You can decorate it with all sorts of pretty words but that is what it is."
Hiko Seijuro
OVA 1
(Subtitled)
He
walked through the woods on the north side of the village where Akira said the
bandits would enter the village. He made no noise and left no indications of
his passing. He was merely a shadow and nothing more. His amber tinted eyes
took in the area around him with a look that was devoid of all emotion, for
emotions had no place in the middle of a battle such as this. His shadow
blended in with the other shadows as he moved from tree, to bush, to rock with
no indication whatever that someone was there. He was in search of his foes but
only that. He would not attack them just yet. He only hoped to find them and
gage their strength before returning to the outskirts of the village and to the
open space he had chosen for this confrontation.
Kenshin
had no intention of fighting all fifty men his unnamed opponent had. Rather, he
wanted to call their leader out for a one on one duel, hoping to appeal to
whatever sense of honor the man possessed.
"That
is a foolish enterprise," the hitokiri muttered disagreeably.
Kenshin
said nothing. Both the runouni and the hitokiri within himself were working
together: the rurouni's fighting skills strengthened by the mindset of the
hitokiri and the hitokiri's sword and rage tempered by the mercy and forgiving
heart of the rurouni. Kenshin had struck a bargain with his darker self in this
way. The hitokiri would be allowed to fight but his sword would henceforth be
controlled by the rurouni to prevent the shedding of any more blood. The
hitokiri had reluctantly agreed to the arrangement, sensing the rurouni's
resolve to keep his vow no matter what happened. They would thus be able to exist
together, two parts of the same whole and in this manner they could live in the
new peaceful era. The rurouni would prevent the hitokiri from killing again for
though his soul was that of a hitokiri, his heart was not.
A
slight noise to his left alerted him to the fact that he was nearing the
enemy's camp. Soon the telltale crackle of a fire and the heavy steps of
perimeter guards reached his ears. He smiled a cold smile and walked on still
undetected by his foes. He closed his eyes and shut out all other sounds around
him. Soon he detected two more guards in the woods but only one that was near
enough to be a threat. Kenshin moved on, nothing more than a shadow, until he
spotted the guard who was pacing out steps back and forth in an even pattern,
totally unaware that he was being watched. Up until a few months ago the guard
would have already been dead, probably unaware that he had even been killed or
by whom.
But now
Kenshin waited a few moments to gage the man's movements and then he slipped
passed the guard. He had walked for another few moments when he detected
movement to his right. It was another guard, his back turned to Kenshin. This
one seemed to sense that someone was watching him though because he turned
around and stared hard at the shadowy space beneath a tree that Kenshin had
jumped into when the later saw him. Kenshin remained still, hardly daring to
draw breath, while the guard stared into the shadows around him. After a few
moments of fruitless searching the guard shrugged, muttered something and
continued on his rounds.
"Why
didn't I sense him?" Kenshin wondered as he moved on, his senses alert for more
danger.
After
what seemed like an hour but was probably, in reality, only a few moments he
reached the edge of the camp. He saw about twenty men seated around a fire,
grumbling and cursing.
"Damned
swordsman!" one spate as he touched his bandaged side, his dark eyes smoldering
with ill-concealed rage.
"I will
kill him next time," another boasted as he swung a sword clumsily.
"Who
does that young upstart think he is?"
Kenshin
recognized these three as part of the group that had attacked the nuns and
their charges.
"He is
no concern of yours." A cold voice sliced through the air and all grumbling
stopped. "This young swordsman will be mine. You just take care of 'business'
in the village and I will deal with him."
The men
laughed and exchanged leering glances, talking about the attributes of various
women in the village. A shiver ran down Kenshin's spine at the sound of the
voice. The Battousai recognized it but couldn't put a name or face to it. All
he knew was that whoever the man was, he had known him in the past. He watched
the shadows, searching for the owner of the voice but could see nothing.
"He
must be on the other side of the fire," Kenshin thought.
The
hitokiri agreed with that assessment. They watched for a few moments until the
order was given for the group they were watching to move out.
"That
man, whoever he is, is dangerous," the hitokiri said quietly in his mind and
Kenshin nodded in agreement as he made his way back to the village.
*
Kenshin
reached the outskirts of the village several moments later, his senses on edge.
He had nearly been discovered by one of the guards, who had almost bumped into
him. He had not sensed this guard's presence and he now suspected that his
enemy, whoever he was, had ninjas in his employ for they were the only type of
fighters that could sneak up on him unaware and who could hide their presence
from him.
He
waited calmly for the bandits to appear. When he had left, they were just
beginning to move toward the village. Kenshin knew he was only a few minutes
ahead of them but he had still arrived at the outskirts of the village first.
He leaned against the trunk of a tree nearest the village, his eyes closed and
his manner deceptively lazy, with his arms folded across his chest, listening
for signs that the enemy was drawing near.
Finally,
the sound of footfalls coming toward his position reached his ears. Still he
remained as he was, slightly hidden by the shadows that always seemed to hover
around him. The footfalls drew closer and Kenshin could hear the sound of muted
grumbling and swords being drawn. He smiled inwardly and opened his eyes into
slits, to better gage his opponent's arrival onto the field of battle.
At
last they came into view and Kenshin's eyes snapped closed again. He pushed
himself from the tree and took a stand directly in the path the bandits were
traveling on. He stood there, eyes closed and a hand held loosely over the hilt
of his sakabatou. The wind whipped his red hair around him and the faint
moonlight picked out the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek.
The
bandits stopped dead in their tracks, their mouths slack and eyes wide and
staring. Kenshin could feel the fear running through them and he smiled a cold
smile. Clearly they had not been expecting the Hitokiri Battousai to be waiting
to meet them.
"This
will be the last night you terrorize the people of Yasuo Village." His voice
was soft but it had a cold, hard edge to it.
The
men before him said nothing. They mutely stood there trembling with fear.
Kenshin paused a moment and opened his eyes. They were glowing amber and
narrowed in rage.
"The
villagers desire only one thing…to live in peace," he said as he took a step forward.
The
bandits backed away but did not make any move toward him. Battousai smiled at
them, enjoying their fear and the power it gave him.
"This
village and everything in it belongs to us by right of conquest," a cold voice
to Kenshin's right said.
Kenshin
turned and saw a shadow detach itself from the side of an abandoned house.
The
man was taller than he was and was dressed from head to foot in unrevealing
black. Kenshin could distinguish little else about the man except for his eyes,
which burned with an icy coldness. He knew he had seen those eyes before but
could not place them.
"Then
I offer you a challenge." Battousai flicked his thumb and about a quarter inch
of his blade became visible in an unmistakable challenge to his opponent. "If I
win then control of this village will return to its rightful owners."
"And
if you lose, Hitokiri Battousai, I will have your life but I will take it from
you slowly." The cold voice laughed.
"I
agree to those terms." Kenshin bowed and waited, his hand held loosely over his
sword hilt in a lazy stance that often fooled his opponents.
The
man came forward into the clearing and stood there, measuring Kenshin as his
men made a ring around the combatants.
"I'm
going to make you pay in blood for the deaths of so many innocents who were
loyal to the Shogunate."
Kenshin
stood impassive and unmoving, waiting for the man to make the first move, his
eyes burning.
"Come
then, take your revenge on me as I deserve but know this; there has not been a
day that I haven't felt pain at the thought of those I have killed in cold
blood and that I haven't wished my life could be given in exchange for theirs,"
he said in a flat tone.
The
shadowy figure before him laughed and launched into his first attack, a Hirazuki
aimed at Kenshin's chest.
"Is
he Shinsengumi?" Kenshin had no time to wonder or even think as the two swords
collided with a resounding ring that echoed through the town.
The
two circled each other and traded blows but neither one was able to get through
the other's defenses in order to hit. Battousai crouched in battoujutsu stance
and glared at his opponent with narrow eyes, trying to anticipate his next
move.
"You're
as fine a swordsman as they claim, Battousai. It's a pity that you must die."
Battousai
frowned at the man but refused to rise to his baiting and made no move to
attack.
"If
I die here then so be it but I will prevent you from harming another innocent
person. I will take you down with me if you manage to kill me."
At
that moment he charged the man, jumping into the air to avoid the man's
defensive slash. He spun in midair and got in behind his opponent to hit him in
the back with his sakabatou's dull side. The man staggered but did not fall
from the blow and Battousai's eyes widened in surprise. No one had ever
remained standing after that move.
"You
think I have never seen your technique before, Battousai? Everyone knows of it
if only in rumor and many have had the privilege to see it in action or to die
on the blade of the one who wields it."
The
man's cold voice broke through Kenshin's haze in time for him to see the sword
coming at his unprotected side. Battousai moved out of the way of the strike
and aimed another blow at the man's head. He blocked the blow and slashed at Battousai's
face and the man's sword cut nothing but air. Battousai smiled a cold smile
that was reflected in his bright amber eyes. The man charged again and
Battousai sidestepped, watching him go sailing passed him.
"It's
time to end this." Kenshin drew his sakabatou and the sword whistled, slicing
the air as he spun on the balls of his feet, the target the back of the man's
neck.
But
the man was suddenly not where he had been and the blow never met flesh. The
Battousai felt a flare of pain in his side. Unconsciously, his left hand went
to the wound and it came away red from the blood that was staining his gi
darker. His eyes widened in surprise and then he fell to the ground, his hand
clutching at the wound as the pain of it washed through him and his eyes
glaring up at the man as his blood dripped from the other man's katana.
"Not
nearly good enough to beat me." The man stared down at him, hatred glowing in
his eyes as he flicked the blood from his blade.
Battousai
glared back at him as he rose slowly to his feet, testing the extent of the
wound, trying to determine if it would interfere with his next attack. The
wound was painful and muscle was damaged by the feel of it but he could
continue the battle. He sheathed his sword again and smiled grimly at his
opponent, his eyes burning with anger. He hated being wounded but he quickly
compensated for the wound and was able to stand before his opponent with
apparent ease.
"You
should know better than to underestimate your opponents and overestimate your
own abilities," he said in a conversational tone.
If
the man was surprised at his ability to ignore the pain of his wound he gave no
sign. Both Kenshin and the Battousai knew they would pay for it later. The man
smiled and stood waiting for the next attack to come. Battousai narrowed his
eyes and charged again. The two swordsmen fought on for several minutes,
neither one holding anything back and neither one able to land a telling blow.
The
sound of their swords clashing rang in the air and several of the villagers
came out of their homes to see what was happening. Silently, they watched the
two swordsmen involved in a dance of death. The villagers watched the battle,
each with their own thoughts. They all saw the young swordsman they had shunned
was defending them from their attackers and were awed by his compassion. They
also felt ashamed at their treatment of him for the past few days. He was
fighting for them even though they had not given him cause to want to help
them. The villagers prayed within their hearts that the nameless swordsman
would free them from the bandits grip but even more they prayed they would be
granted a second chance to show him the respect that was due any person, even
one who smelled of blood as he did.
*
The
Battousai jumped back from a sword thrust aimed at his chest and watched his
opponent warily. He blinked the sweat from his eyes and waited. His body was
growing tired and his energy was waning, but he would not give up. The muscles
in his arms and legs were screaming in pain and sweat coated the rest of his
body, seeping into his many wounds, making them sting. He had a cut above his
right eye, were he had gotten in to close to the man during a Hirazuki attack.
There was a deep gash in his sword arm above the elbow where he had let his
guard down in a vain attempt at a Ryu Sou Sen and another deep gash across his
back where the man had gotten in behind him.
His
opponent stood on the other side of the clearing, calmly flicking Kenshin's
blood from his blade and putting it back in the guard position. The worst
Kenshin had been able to do to him was a few broken ribs and some bruises. He
had tried nearly every attack he possessed but, unlike his opponents in the
past, this one refused to fall. He took the blows as if they were merely an
annoyance. It was rapidly becoming apparent that if he didn't find a way to end
this duel and soon, he would most likely die and the villagers would suffer for
his decision to confront the bandit's leader. It was also becoming apparent
that he had to make a choice: either he must hold to his no killing vow and
possibly die for his beliefs or he must break his vow and have his soul die.
"Must I
become the hitokiri again? I don't want to return to that life. There must be a
way…"
There
were still two attacks Kenshin hadn't tried against his opponent because he
still wasn't sure of the speed required for one now that he carried a sakabatou
and had hardly any strength or energy left for the second to be truly
effective. The first was a multiple hit attack that he had yet to get a feel
for using a sakabatou. The second was the modified Ryu Tsui Sen he had used
before, which had seemed to have grown in power since he started using it with
his new blade. It was almost as if this technique had been created for the
sakabatou. It was his most powerful attack and the only one likely to bring his
opponent down, provided that the man did not dodge the blow but did he have
enough room for that attack this close to the forest edge and, more
importantly, did his body have enough energy and strength left to jump the
required height for the blow to have enough power behind it?
Battousai
scanned the clearing and found there was just enough space for the move. The
branches of the nearby trees were too far away to impede his flight and there
was plenty of landing room.
"I'll
have to be fast so he doesn't see what I am planning to do."
He rose
from his crouched position and smiled at the man before charging straight at
him so fast he was nearly invisible. At the last moment he leapt high into the
air, higher then he had ever gone before. He hung there for a moment before
hurtling back to earth with his sword at the ready.
The
force of the impact jarred through his arms and he could hear bones breaking
under the power of the blow. He felt the man crumple beneath him and heard a
scream, just as he felt a searing pain in his shoulder and in his chest. He
knelt on the ground, his hair hiding his face and his right hand gripping the
hilt of his sakabatou, chest heaving. His left hand was wrapped around the hilt
of a tanto that the man had used to stab upward as Kenshin descended. The force
of that descent had driven the tanto up to the hilt into his chest. The world
around him was becoming dark, then light, and then dark again as his eyes
refused to work properly.
He
tried to sit up but found himself following forward instead. He rolled over to
avoid driving the tanto deeper into his body and screamed. A sudden pain flared
in his shoulder as the dart in it was driven deeper into it. The shock of pain
cleared his vision for a moment and he saw the man lying on the ground a few
feet away from him. He was unconscious, his body sprawled out at an odd angle
but Kenshin could see his chest rising and falling.
His
body suddenly began to grow cold and the vision before him became blurry around
the edges. Too late he realized that the dart must have been coated in poison.
The clearing became darker and he could hear shouts but only dimly. He smiled.
He had saved the people of Yasou Village and had not had to break his oath to
Tomoe to do it.
"They
are safe and will live peaceful lives now," he thought with a detached part of
his mind.
He
brought his sakabatou up to his eyes and looked at his reflection in its
shining surface.
"Thank
you Shakuu-dono for giving me a chance to prove my words to you were true and
not just idealistic nonsense. I can only hope this sword finds a more worthy
owner than I to wield it for its true purpose.
He
closed his eyes and saw the serene and beautiful face of his wife, Tomoe, and
smiled.
"Tomoe…I…am…coming…"
he whispered faintly as the world around him vanished into darkness.
*
The
villagers gathered around him in a tight circle, not knowing quite what to do.
Someone pushed through them until they reached the center where Kenshin lay.
The woman knelt down beside his still form and rolled him over to take the dart
out of his shoulder. She scanned the dart's length and found a trace of the
poison. Her eyes widened when she looked at the color of the substance that
covered the dart. She rolled him back over and pulled the tanto from his chest
and noticed the same substance coating the blade.
"A
double dose…" she thought and her heart skipped a beat. "Whoever this man is
they wanted to be certain he died in most painful manner possible."
She
lifted Kenshin up and he moaned loudly, already in the poison's deadly grip. His
face was flushed and his body burned with fever. It would be a race against
time to save his life. She rose and was surprised that he weighed no more than
some of the children she cared for.
"Let me
through. This man needs to be tended to quickly."
The
crowd parted and let the nun through. She moved quickly though the town
reaching the safety of the shrine in a few moments. She took Kenshin inside to
a room usually reserved for the highest-ranking nun and gently laid on the
futon. She called Shibohu and the others to aid her asking them to watch
Kenshin while she got her supplies. As she went to retrieve her medicinal
herbs, Takako wondered if she would be able to save the young man's life. She
also wondered what members of the Shinsengumi were doing this far away from
Kyoto. Could it be that they were still searching for her?