Life of a Rurouni

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rurouni kenshin characters…we all very well know who
does…soo….Happy Reading!!!
Now… on with the story…

Knowing the enemy

Back in the inn, Soujirou sat on his futon waiting for Kaede to return with some medicine
and new badanges. Returning to the inn was not as easy as he thought it would have been.
On the way back, his vision blurred a little and he needed Kaede's help to keep him on his
feet.

Even his condition did not stop him from worrying about Kaede's situation.

'What is going on, what do they want with her? She is just a normal girl trying to live
a normal life with her sister.' Soujirou thought. He then plays back the scene in the alley,
remembering her reflexes as she attacked him.

'Ouch' he winced as he recalled the hit to his stomach.

Suddenly the door opens, and Kaede stood in the door way. She gracefully made her way to
Soujirou's side to clean his wound.

"Gomenasai Seta-kun. I didn't mean to get you involved in my problems. Now that they know
that you are with me, I don't think they will let you go for what you did back there."

"It's alright." Soujirou replied as his mind once again wandered off to his thoughts.

'Should I tell her who they are? Would I be putting her in more danger then she already
is in? I wish Himura-san was here now, at least he would know what to do.' Soujirou paused
his thought for a while when he heard someone giggling. He turned his head and realized that
it was Kaede.

"Do I have something on my face?" the young boy said and he lifted his left hand to touch
his face to feel if there was anything there.

"Iie. Gomen, it's just that you were so deep in thought and you looked so serious. It's
just not like you." Kaede said between her giggles.

"Kaede-chan." Soujirou said in a low voice.

"Ummm" she replied.

"You know at the alley just now, you asked me who I really was. Well…" Soujirou was about
to explain who he really was but she cut in.

"You don't have to tell me." Kaede said without lifting her head up. "I know that
sometimes people have things that they need to keep to themselves."

"Demo, it's also has something to do with the people who are after you." Soujirou said.

"Do you know them?" She said as she reached for the roll of bandage on the floor.

"I know who they are, but what I don't know is why they are after you." The former tenken
said as a frown appeared on his face.

Kaede dropped the bandages in shock. "Are you with them?" She said backing away from the
tenken.

"Iie, you don't need to worry." He said as he picked up his katana with his left hand.

"Then how do you know them?" She said, calming down little by little.

"Let's start from the beginning." Soujirou said putting his katana down and picking up
the blood stained dagger.

"The symbol on this dagger belongs to a group called the "Kage Ryuu", they try to
recruit people with natural battle skills and train them." He said as he traced his fingers
over the logo which held a picture of a dragon entwined around a shield.
"Their leader only goes by the name Kage. He is japanese even though he doesn't look like
one. If i remember correctly, he was the one who came for me."

"But what do they want with me? I have no talents that they could want from me." Kaede
asked as she moved towards Soujirou to start treating his wound again.

"I'm afraid you do. They are doing the same things to you as they did to me when I was
much younger." The boy said as he recalled the events which took place years ago when he
had just started his training with Shishio-san. The poor men had to deal with Shishio-san,
and I don't recall anyone at all who survived.

"But I can't fight in a real battle. You saw me just now in the alley." Kaede replied
nervously as she tied a knot at the end of the bandage.

"Yes, I did see you. You did show some potential. I mean, not everyone can just pick up
a weapon and learn to use it to defend themselves in such a short time. Even I had to go
through so much training that after every session I would find blisters on my hands and my
whole body would be sore." Soujirou winced once again as he recalled the tremendous amount
of training Shishio had given him.

"So, basically, they are trying to get me and train me to be a fighter."

"Yes, they only choose the best and most talented people." He confirmed.

"Then can you do me a favor." She said looking down at the floor.

"If it is about getting you out of this mess, I will." The tenken insured her.

"Not only that, teach me how to fight like you."

Soujirou stared at her. He was expecting something important but definitely not something
like this. "Why?" was all he managed to put into words.

"I want to fight and depend myself like you do. When I saw you fight in the alley way, I
was so shocked that someone your age could fight so well." Kaede said as she when on
praising his skills but was soon cut short by Soujirou.

"Are you sure? Do you know my style of fighting or even who I am or who I was trained
by?" Soujirou said.
"You are Seta Soujirou, and that's all I need to know." She said confidently. "What's so
funny?" she asked when the boy in front of her started laughing.

"Obviously you have not heard of my other nickname." He said as he slowly regained his
seriousness.

"Oh? What is it?" She said with a bored expression on her face 'What does it matter
anyway.' She thought to herself. 'It can't be that important.'

"You must have heard of a man named Shishio Makoto." He said not too proudly.

"Of course. Everyone knows about him and his gang the Juppon gatana." Kaede said
confidently.

"Well, he was my master." Soujirou said in a softer voice.

"What!" She said, almost wanting to run away right now.

"Yes. By now you probably know who I am."

"His right hand man. The person everyone calls the tenken who threw away his emotions
as a child." She said.

"Yes. But it does not matter now." Soujirou replied.

"Ummm."

"I think you should go now. The sun is going to rise soon and I'm sure you want to get
some sleep first." He said with the usual smile plastered all over his face.

"Aa…" She picked up the items she brought in just now and walked to the door.

"You better get some rest too, for tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?" He asked, confused as to what she was thinking about.

"Yes, for my training." With that, she shut the door and made her way to her room.

Soujirou sat there staring the door, a little shocked at her response to who he was.

"Yare yare, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." He said as he slowly lay down on his
futon and drifted into a dreamless sleep.


~*@*~

Arigatou minna-san for reading. I decided to change the name from shadow dragons to kage ryuu.
I know i just translated it but...it does sound better ne? Pls r&r.