Author: Arashi
Website: www.kenkaya.com
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin nor am I making any money off this story!
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As the months went by and spring turned to summer Yahiko and the others started wondering if Sagara Sanosuke was really coming back to Japan or not. Yahiko found himself expecting to see the chicken head show up at the dojo every day he went to teach. After a while the feeling started to go away. You can only be on the edge of your seat for so long.
Along with losing some of his excitement for Sano's return, the initial surprise of meeting Saitoh's wife had worn off as well. Yahiko wondered if it was due in part to the fact that he had befriended the young Tsuyoshi. At times the ten year old displayed some decidedly Saitoh-ish personality traits. He could be very cold when he wanted to be. But overall, Yahiko had found him much easier to get along with and understand then his father, Saitoh. Naturally, Saitoh WAS a cold blooded-killer. Some things still didn't fit together, like how did Saitoh have a perfect, kind, beautiful, wife? But after a few months of Tokio visiting the dojo they all forgot about the confusion. Tokio's son seemed to be having so much fun training at the dojo that after the first week Tokio had brought another boy to train there. His name was Mishima Eiji and he was Tokio's foster son. Kenshin had greeted Eiji warmly and reminded Kaoru and Yahiko about the story of the young boy he had met all those years ago on his way to Kyoto. Eiji seemed well suited to studying the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, and judging by his skills, Yahiko figured he had been training in the art of kenjutsu already. He jumped right into the advanced class and seemed to hit it off well with both Yutarou and Yahiko. Tsuyoshi had a lot of natural talent that needed to be nurtured. He was a studious pupil but one thing kept getting in the way of making him the ideal student. On more than one occasion he had had problems with one of the other students. Minor disagreements seemed to develop into something more between Tsuyoshi and the other student, Higashidani Outa. The seemingly good-natured young boys somehow brought out the worst in each other.
Yahiko walked into the entry courtyard one fine summer afternoon, and found Tsuyoshi and Outa glaring at each other with fists clenched. The other students from that session were standing around cheering them on. Yutarou stood watching with an amused look on his face. Outa wore his little white outfit with the character of evil sewn on the back and for the first time that Yahiko had ever seen, the young boy was wearing a red headband. The headband held up Outa's hair, which was sticking out all over the place. Yahiko almost laughed when he saw the mini-Sano. Talk about an interesting role model. He mused to himself and then remembered his own little character of evil. He smiled and then took a look at Tsuyoshi. The boy was wearing dark pants and shirt, looking more western style than traditional Japanese. In his left hand he held his shinai. Yahiko noticed that Outa was unarmed. If the two boys didn't have such serious looks on their faces Yahiko would have definitely broke out laughing. This mini showdown between little Sano and Saitoh wannabe's was almost too much for Yahiko to handle. He hurried over to Yutarou and asked him what was going on. As of yet the two boys were just staring at each other.
"Oh they got into another argument." Yutarou commented as he watched the two. "I think it's best if we let the two of them work through their disagreements themselves."
"Well if either of them gets hurt you're the one who's going to answer for it." Yahiko told Yutarou. Yutarou just shrugged.
"They're not going to hurt each other. They're just little kids."
"When WE were ten we could do serious damage to people." Yahiko commented with a grin at Yutarou. "Well, at least when 'I' was ten. You pretty much sucked when you were that age." Before Yutarou could make a snide comment Outa finally broke his and Tsuyoshi's silence.
"I do know what this word on my back means!"
"Prove it, ahou." Tsuyoshi said coldly.
"It means Aku!" Outa shouted out defiantly. Tsuyoshi snorted derisively.
"Yeah that's the word alright, but you seem to be a little confused about it's meaning. Why would you be wearing something that says you're evil and you're pretending that it's a good thing? Are you an idiot?"
"I'm not an idiot, stop calling me that!" Outa yelled again. His little fists were clenched by his sides. Uh oh. Yahiko thought to himself. Here it goes.
"Idiot idiot idiot. You're a moron."
"Shut UP!"
"Make me, ahou!" With a roar Outa charged at Tsuyoshi. Yahiko blinked in surprise when Tsuyoshi slid into a stance that was frighteningly similar to Saitoh's gatotsu stance. His left hand pulled back with his shinai held horizontally while his right hand steadied the end of the bamboo sword. Outa ran straight at him and caught the shinai's tip in the middle of his chest. The boy went down with a thud while Tsuyoshi stood and rested the shinai over his shoulder.
"See, you're a moron." He said mockingly as Outa laid on the ground catching his breath. Outa slowly got to his feet, panting.
"Stop calling me that!!" He yelled once again and rushed at Tsuyoshi. Tsuyoshi got ready to deliver his imitation gatotsu to Outa a second time. But this time when he lunged Outa sidestepped and landed a vicious punch right to Tsuyoshi's face. The students in the audience all went "Owwww!" or "Ooooh!" in unison. Tsuyoshi hit the dirt. He got up after a moment and gingerly touched his cheek where Outa had connected. He glared at the other boy and rushed him with his little gatotsu. Outa hadn't expected a counter attack so soon and was once again victim to Tsuyoshi's shinai. He went down so hard that Yahiko was afraid he might have actually been hurt. He started to head over to Outa, but Yutarou put out a hand to stop him.
"Come on, let the kid take care of himself. He's such a little sissy that it's good to see him stand up for himself once in a while." Yahiko took a good look at Outa lying on the ground and realized that he wasn't injured. He stopped and stood beside Yutarou, once again the silent spectator. Outa pulled himself together and got to his feet. The kid might not have been injured but he had to be sore. It didn't seem to stop him as he rushed Tsuyoshi one more time. Right as Tsuyoshi gatotsued him the entry door opened and Kenshin, Kaoru, and Kenji came back with rice, tofu, and a variety of life's other necessities.
"What's going on here??" Kaoru yelled out in surprise. The other students quickly stepped back and let them through. Kaoru rushed over to Outa who was lying on the ground rubbing his chest. Tsuyoshi just stood there looking smug. Kenji followed his mother over to Outa. She asked him if he was all right and when he told her that he was ok she turned to Tsuyoshi and yelled at him. Yahiko watched with a smile as Kenji walked over to Tsuyoshi. Kenji took out his little shinai and smacked Tsuyoshi with it. "Bad!" Kenji yelled at Tsuyoshi. Little Saitoh beats little Sano, little Kenshin beats little Saitoh. Yahiko thought to himself as he watched the next generation of warriors fight the same battles of the last.
That night, somewhere off the coast of Japan, a large steamer silently made its way through a growing fog. A man stood leaning at the railing. He stared out at the sea, his look thoughtful, his mind miles and years away. A ragged cloak was wrapped around his neck and draped over his body in a typical desert traveler fashion. Long unruly hair flew back from his face in the wind. The man smiled and absently rubbed his unshaved jaw. The rushing air almost gave him the feeling of flight, and once again he enjoyed the sensation. He was tempted to climb up on the railing and get the full effect, but the last time he'd done that he'd almost slipped on the slick railing and plunged headlong into the ocean. He grinned remembering the episode. Somewhere behind him the sound of footsteps could be heard coming in his direction. He turned around looking for a hiding spot and quickly ducked behind a lifeboat, not wanting to get spotted. Crews of ocean faring ships usually didn't like finding stowaways onboard. If you're not going to pay for transportation it's much better not to get caught. Rule one of inexpensive world travel. He thought to himself, a cocky grin plastered onto his face.
The footsteps came closer. It sounded like one person walking, and they seemed to be taking their time. Maybe they had seen him and sent someone to check it out. It was always a possibility that he'd get caught when he stowed away on board ocean faring ships. He usually didn't worry about it, in fact it made the long trips that much more interesting. He always found somewhere to spend his time sleeping, and he always brought enough food to feed himself on the voyage. On occasion he'd bribe crewmembers to keep him hidden or supply him with food. It worked well enough. His silent musings were interrupted when the sound of someone running toward him could be heard. Had they spotted him? No, the running person seemed to be heading for the other person who had been slowly walking along the deck. The man listened intently and held his breath to make sure he was absolutely quiet. The voice of the first man called out.
"What's going on?" The running person continued until it seemed that the two of them were on top of each other. The hidden man listened in shock as he heard the sound of a blade being drawn, a cry of surprised agony, and then the wet thud of a human body hitting a hard surface. The weapon was sheathed with a click, and a dragging noise ensued. A moment later there was a splash and the sound of a single set of hurrying footsteps heading in the direction they'd came from. The longhaired man paused a moment and then moved to get a view of the deck where the event had taken place. There were blood smears all the way to the railing of the ship. The man swore softly to himself and was about to go take a better look when the sound of multiple running steps could be heard headed in his direction. He quickly dove back to his hiding spot and waited.
"I'm not sure what's going on but the captain is missing too!" One of the running voices said. Suddenly the running stopped and some cries of surprise and shock could be heard. "It's blood!" Someone exclaimed.
"There will be more of it soon." A sinister voice spoke from back the way they had came. The hidden man listened intently as the sound of footsteps could be heard stepping out quietly from somewhere nearby. The group that had discovered the blood cried out in surprise, "Who are you!? What do you want!?"
"This ship will be ours. Now die!" The sound of multiple weapons being drawn from sheaths filled the air. Cries of panic and fear followed immediately.
"Stop right there!" His voice cut through the foggy sea air. The tone was sharp and left little in the way of argument. The command was one that carried with it the air of someone who expected to be listened to. The man stepped out from behind the lifeboat, eyes glaring and face deadly serious. The wind whipped his cloak, hair, and headband menacingly. On the deck were two groups, one group was five members of the ship's crew and the other group was three men wearing black cloaks and carrying swords.
The men with swords looked confused for a minute and their leader yelled out, "Who are you?"
"If you're going to kill these men, I'm you're worst nightmare." The words carried with it an air of absolute confidence. Without another word the three, armed men rushed at the brave unarmed man. He easily dodged each of their attacks and in mere seconds the three of them were lying on the ground with a variety of broken and dislocated body parts. The five crewmembers watched in awe and were quick to rush up to their savior and thank him for saving their lives.
"What's going on?" The man asked the crew.
"We're not sure except that a bunch of people have come up missing. There must be more people trying to take over the ship! What should we do?" The crewmen asked in fear.
"Go find somewhere to hide, I'll go find your assassins and take care of them." The man said with a cocky smile.
"Who are you?" The crewmen asked in amazement.
"I'm just your average stowaway." He gave them a reassuring smile. "Now go hide while I clean up this mess." He turned and without another word ran off in search of more sword wielding hijackers. The five crewmen watched in amazement as he ran off fearlessly. Sewn on the back of his cloak one word could be seen, "Aku", the character for evil.
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So yeah, Outa and Tsuyoshi don't seem to get along very well. How adorable. :)
'Just your average stowaway'... haha, I think not! Guess who's going to be back in Japan FINALLY! Whoohoo! What's the reunion going to be like I wonder? Read on!! You know you want to know!