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Souken no Shibun
Chess Pieces
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Aoshi's eyes swept over what was quickly becoming a congregation of currently some of the best fighters in Japan. Kamiya stood off to the side unnoticed with the child known as Myoujin, yet she was one of the strongest female swordfighters in Japan. For a mere child, Myoujin was not too bad himself. However, both insisted on using those wooden swords all the time.
Then came Misao, dear little Misao with her kunai who was hopelessly loyal to a fault. In front of her, looking as if she had run a mile, stood the Karada. Strangely, the rear of her kimono had been cut out and she was desperately trying to obscure that fact by pulling the kimono up to cover her. According to reports she used staffs as her weapon of choice.
The next group consisted of Himura, Sagara, and the Rei. Himura, with his pacifistic ideals, still used that sakabatou, of course. It was hard to believe simply looking at the diminutive redhead that he held the title of the strongest swordsman in Japan. This illusion of weakness was what has allowed Himura to win many a battle without incident. Then there was Sagara, the streetfighter and mercenary, who had once been known as the Zanza. He had given up his old ways, though, in favor of joining the ranks of the Kenshin-gumi. One had to respect the fighter's ability to quickly copy hand-to-hand combat techniques that would take most people lifetimes to learn. Then came the Rei, or Hisakata Kyouki, as she went by now. She had been trained to closely imitate the Battousai, a feat considering that not many people even knew the name of his style, let alone lived long enough to see it. Due to this, it was only her basic techniques that seemed to match Himura's. No one had yet to see her true style. According to the reports circulating, she had lost her memory, though.
On the porch, protected from the rain, was the Nentou. The man rarely fought his own battles, preferring to talk his way out or send someone else to fight in his place. One would naturally assume from this that the man himself was weak or untrained. However, that was not the case. The Nentou knew this assumption would be made and appeared weak. In truth, he was quite strong. This was known only because he had finally slipped a few years back, letting his emotions get the better of him and slaughtered one of his subordinates. Apparently, he was left-handed. His weapons of choice during that battle had been a combination of a shakuhachi flute and a rather large tanto.
Up on the wall, mussing a small child's hair, was the Chushin. There wasn't much information on him simply because he hadn't done much other than make few shady deals, train, and get in the way of the Nentou's plans since his departure from the Shibun. He was said to use a pair of traditional sais in most fights, though. However, he didn't carry them openly and no one could seem to pinpoint where on his person the weapons were hidden.
All in all, it meant that if things got out of hand down in that dojo yard, there was going to be one of hell of a fight. However, considering the Nentou's tendency to walk away from such situations and Himura's ability to talk most people out of what they were planning, Aoshi didn't think it would come to that. His job right now was simply to sit and watch things unfold. Hopefully, the one he was sent to watch would behave themselves according to the Sangokudoumei's guidelines. Otherwise, trying to kill him with Himura present would be impossible.
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"Looks like we've got a party going on here." Sano cracked his knuckles in anticipation, just itching for a good fight. The last few battles with those yakuza had been disappointing. From the looks of it, it was everyone against the Nentou. The odds weren't all that fair, but hey, he was the bad guy. They weren't supposed to be fair.
The building tension in the yard was brutally interrupted though when Michika let out a rather animalistic howl and rushed the wall Natsuo was sitting on. The soon-to-be victim simply blinked, looking about as confused as they come until Michika neared his position. Then a smile spread across his face. "Oops." He snickered and Michika skidded to a halt, allowing everyone present a view of just what was wrong with her.
Her hair had been cut in various places, her face painted strangely, and she was hiding the rather large hole in her clothing. "Why do I even bother trusting you?!" she screeched, stomping a foot.
Natsuo hugged the little girl beside him and both pasted identical pouts on their faces. "We were just having a little fun, Aneki."
Making sure that the back of her kimono was secure, she brought a hand up to yank on a piece of her massacred hair. "This is not fun! This is annoying! Do you know how long it took me to grow this stupid mane?" Michika released her hair and tugged on her kimono to bring attention to it. "And you cut holes in every single one of my kimonos! This was the most decent one I could find..." Michika's eyes began to water and she sniffled loudly.
The small blonde child tugged on Natsuo's sleeve to get drag his attention from his sister for a moment and made a few hand signals. Natsuo blinked, then chuckled. "You are so right." He pointed at Michika. "Like my companion here suggested, you could have just worn more then one. Then you wouldn't be dealing with... a draft."
Michika reddened, both from anger and embarrassment one could easily assume. Picking up a rock by her foot, she hurled it at her brother, hitting him directly in the center of his forehead. Grabbing his forehead, Natsuo lost his balance and fell backwards off the wall, a small grunt issuing to announce his landing. The little blonde kid crawled on her hands and knees to look over the edge and laughed at the fallen man. So she never noticed the other rock Michika was aiming at her rear until it was too late. The child's eyes widened as she too went over the edge, another small grunt coming from Natsuo as the kid landed on top of him.
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and standing there silent for a moment. Then she sprung into action, picking up every stray object on the ground around and flinging it over the wall to land on the pair. At some point, she even began pitching Misao's bandits over when she ran out of things on the ground. Misao had started to complain, then realized they were just bandits and began helping.
As for everyone else... They seemed to be cheering this on in their own ways. Both Kenshin and the Nentou were wearing huge grins, Kyouki screamed for more, and Sano was doubled over, laughing. He'd never seen Michika so pissed in all the time he'd spent with her. Then again, she'd hadn't had her assets displayed to the world then either. He wondered if, in her zeal to punish, she realized she had let go of her kimono.
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A/N: *cries* You're not going to believe this but... I'm currently not on the internet!!! *sighs* Y'see, there this nice bill that says I need to pay the internet people before they give it back. *turns out empty pockets* But I got nothing. Oh well. Doing what I can. I don't have much time left on right now as it is. Blech. So here's another chappie. Yes, it's short, I know. *drops to knees, begging forgiveness* *shakes head* And no... I have no idea when I'll be able to get back on again. Soon I hope, though. *strikes a pose* Even if it means I have to go out and work the night shift at Whataburger! *shivers*
MaraJadeBlu: *refrains from attaching herself to your leg* You won't believe how very happy seeing that review makes me... *sniffles* I wrote chappie when FF was down... but right after I uploaded it, the internet thing happened. Grr. But here's another. For now. Don't worry, I'll keep writing and post when I get the chance... however that chance may come. *draws up plan to raid one of chibi-friend's houses* Hehehehe...
To Luce: *eyes twinkle* O.o New person... That's... new... to me. *sweatdrops* As for exactly how I came up with it, I'm not entirely sure. I remember being hyper and wanting someone to make Kenshin drunk. Then this popped in my head. It was the only thing I could think of for a bit, so I worked on it, then shoved it onto to FFnet. Poor FF. *continues reading review* Wow... so much praise in one fell swoop. I'm honored you think I've done so well. Except for certain chapters, I thought I did a horrible job. Eh, but I think that way of just about everything I churn out. *hangs head* So I can never really tell what's good and what's not. That's why I bug other people for their opinions. *tears up* That review made me soooo happy! AnD sLeEp... I know of this sLeEp you SpEaK of... Something I should be getting right now considering it's 10am and I haven't been to sleep yet... *sweatdrops some more* Anyways... thanks for reading, hope you stick around!
Thanks to Cymberleah for pre-reading as always!
(Yes, it was a long A/N... but I'm talkative cause I have no clue when I'll be back on... or when I'll be dragging my ass to bed. *waves* Ja ne!)