Chapter 6

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu..." A sword gleamed from the bushes.

"DO RYU SEN!" Amaya slammed her sword on the ground, causing rocks to fly at the man who called himself Tanos.

"Ah...!" Tanos covered his face from the onslaught of earth. "Battousai, are you really weak enough to hire someone to do your dirty work for you?! /Fine/! Men, get Battousai's son and slit his throat in front of this weakling of a man!"

"If I was to kill you, do you really think I would of started off with such a nonfatal attack?" A small girl stood in between the men and the cage that held Kenji. "God, you are such an idiot. If I wanted to kill you, I would've done a simple Ryu Son Sen, in which case you and your men would be dead before you know what hit you."

She continued. "You call this man a weakling, but really you are the coward. You kidnap an innocent child to lure him to you, and fight him in front of his wife. You throw insults at them both, but you have not even proven your power. You are not doing this to honor your dead family. You are nothing but an insolent child."

She stepped forward. "Go, and do not bother this man again."

"Never!" Tanos slammed his sword on the ground where Amaya was a split second before.

"Weren't you listening to what I said?! I said I could kill both you and your men before you knew what had happened! Do you want me to prove it to you?" Amaya dodged various slashes. "Fine..! Hiten Misturugi Ryu... RYU SON SEN!!"

Two swords clashed.

"Oro?" Amaya opened her eyes to find a sword between hers and Tanos. Following along the blade toward the handle, she saw her master calmly glaring at her. /... oh crap./

Hiko sighed. "Can't you learn to control your emotions? You don't need to shed blood just because an enemy is trying to fight you. Come on, go get the child and return him to his father. I will take care of these two."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kenji pulled on Yahiko's hair. "Ow, hey, stop it!" Yahiko pryed his fingers off. "Geez, do you have something against me?"

Kenji laughed.

"Well," Yahiko sighed, "I'm glad you're alive, kiddo." He ruffled Kenji's hair.

Amaya grinned while eagerly eating the food that had been placed in front of her. "First time I've had restaurant food. Very good." Chomp chomp.

"Glad you like it, Amaya-dono." Kenshin smiled the Smile as he ate his own food. "Hey, how come you're studying under Hiko, anyway? I mean, why are you studying this school instead of a more legal one?"

Amaya froze for a minute. ".. just.. because.."

"Okay." Kenshin smiled obliviously. "Say, would you like some more sake?"

"..Yes, thank you.." Amaya held out her cup for Kenshin.

"Say Kenshin, why don't we got visit Misao and Aoshi for a while?" Kaoru finished off her food. "Even if they're too busy to take us in, we could at least visit while we're here."

Kenshin nodded. "Okay, lets go." He got up and walked out of the Shirobeko.

Kaoru sighed and gathered Kenji in her arms. "I wonder what's wrong with him?" She followed him, and Yahiko ensued.

Hiko eyed Amaya. "You know he's Battousai."

She nodded.

"You wanted to kill him."

She nodded.

"Why won't you do anything?"

Amaya looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "You told me not to."

"But you go farther than letting him live. You accept his hospitality and enjoy being around him. You didn't even tell him your original intentions."

Amaya sighed. "It would be dishonorable for me to widow a woman and make her child a bastard."

Hiko smiled and thought to himself, /You're on the right track, Amaya./

/You're on the right track./