How did I ever get suckered into this? He thought despairingly. If Shishou
could see me now...
"All new recruits, your attention, please."
The hustle and bustle of the crowd gradually died down. The large group of new soldiers were all good friends from back in their youth, so it took longer than usual, but eventually everyone went silent at the commander's barking voice.
"You will be split into your bunking groups in exactly two minutes,"the
man said gruffly. "Pick up your belongings and wait for instructions in the
quarters given you."
The commander was very stiff and strict-looking, dressed in a navy
soldier's uniform. Quite a few of the recruits stared at the small redhead
standing almost boredly at the head of the room, next to the commanding
officer himself no less.
"Why in the world would that little shrimp be at the front?" one of the high-ranking soldiers muttered to his friend.
"Ya got me. Maybe that's his son or something."
"Yosh', is everyone in their group?" the commander queried loudly.
"HAI!" The reply was unanimous.
"Alright, everyone, you start your training today. Be ready with your shinai, bokuto, bokken and training katana in fifteen minutes. Dismissed!"
The men started filing out the doors into the outdoor hall of the great buildings, amazed remarks plainly heard as they were introduced to the grandness of the structure. Most of the men were from moderately high-ranking houses, but even the most wealthy among them had never seen such splendor. The outer courtyard contained a training area next to the gardens, and the inner area was made up of bunk rooms accompanied by the eating house.
As the soldiers made their way to their sleeping houses, preparing for the training session that day, Kenshin turned to the commander. "Yamagata, there must be a way I can avoid this," he said desperately. "May I speak with Katsura-san personally?"
"He'll be here this afternoon. He told me to tell you that he wanted the new recruits to be trained by his best kenkaku," the man said reproachfully. He cocked his head to the side, grinning. "Besides, this will be good for you. You can get to know the new men; maybe you can teach them Hiiten Mitsurugi--" The commander's voice faltered under the fierce glare that slipped from the hitokiri's mask.
"Mark my words," he said, his eyes burning. "Never, never will I curse anyone else with Shishou's technique. I'd die first."
"I...I..." the man stammered.
Suddenly a ruckus was heard from the training hall, along with the clatter of wood.
"What now?" Kenshin spat furiously. With a growl, he strode out the door and headed for the training area. Swords could be heard hitting each other in the training area.
Fighting already? He gave an internal groan. I'm going to end up
committing hara-kiri before the day is over.
He decided to watch first before entering. Maybe he could learn something
about their level of skill. The hitokiri jumped atop the high wall
surrounding the training center and leaned his back against one of the
posts, katana resting on his shoulder. He watched as the men milled about
and talked, some sitting in groups on the floor.
The hitokiri tried to listen in on a few conversations. He could tell there were a few of them that might be trouble, others would probably pose no problem. Except that they were amateurs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Man, when is the sensei gonna be here?" Tarou said impatiently, flipping his short black ponytail. "I've waited my whole life to enlist. Now I have to wait even more?!"
"Just relax, he'll be here." The man who'd spoken lifted his head, smiling at his friend with dark blue eyes. "From what I hear it's good that we even got into the mansion. They say that a lot of famous people come here, like the leader of the Ishin Shishi and even," he lowered his voice, "even hitokiri Battousai."
"Oh come on. That guy's probably a myth, and if he wasn't he'd be off somewhere fighting the Shogunate. He wouldn't be in a place like this," the other man said, scoffing.
"Yeah, I guess-"
"Hey Tarou-san, Kuroi. Look, up there," another man whispered, sidling up to them on the floor. "Is it just me, or...?"
"Somebody's up there. On the wall," Tarou said, a little incredulous. "Isn't that the kid who was with the commander earlier?"
"I think you're right. Yup, he's got red hair, that's gotta be him."
"Weird. That is a really strange hair color; it's kinda creepy. What's he doing here?"
"He's probably here to take sword training. Oi, kid, what're you doing up there?" yelled Kuroi. "Why don't you come on down? Training'll start in a few minutes."
The boy stared down at him with cold yellow eyes. He stood for a moment, assessing the situation, then leapt the entire way down from the wall. It was almost twenty feet tall.
"Whoa," Kuroi muttered.
"Yeah, really," Tarou muttered back.
"Hi, are you here for the training session?"
The boy looked at Kuroi up and down, studying him."...yes."
A few of the other men gathered around to see this strange boy. In the
back the men of higher rank were talking. They paid him no attention.
The boy's eyes narrowed, as if he'd heard a part of their conversation he
didn't like.
"Well, uh...what's your name, kid?"
"Himura."
"Himura, huh? Well Himura, it's nice to meet you. We just got here today; you're not too far behind. The sensei should be here pretty soon."
Suddenly the doors to the gate swung open, and the commander walked in timidly. "Himura san! Himura-san, are you here?"
"Over here, Yamagata." The men gaped in surprise as the boy answered. Not only had the commander himself been calling for this boy, but he used the man's name without any honorific! With the commander!
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Himura-san, but..."
"Don't worry. I was just getting to know a few of my students," Himura said smoothly, his face a calm mask. He glanced at Kuroi out of the corner of his eye. "What is the problem that you were going to disturb me with?"
The man paled about five shades. "Um, Katsura-san..."
Kenshin whipped his head towards the man. "Yes?"
"He told me to remind you that you should go a little easy on the students, and that there would be a battle soon. Possibly tonight."
A cold light came into the hitokiri's eyes. "Very well. You may go."
"Y-yes, Himura-san." The commander practically ran from the room, gates slamming behind him.
The men all stared, dumbfounded. Himura gave a small sigh, and walked to the corner of the clearing. "All of you follow me this way. That includes you," he called roughly to the back, where the high-ranking men were seated. They all looked extremely skeptical.
"Come. Now," Himura ordered. "I won't wait much longer."
"What if we don't want to come?" one shouted.
"Yeah, kid, what's a shrimp like you gonna do about it?" sneered another.
"Let us teach you how to fight!" They all laughed and joked about the boy who was supposedly their teacher, making snide comments and laughing even harder.
Suddenly they froze. The rasp of a sword being drawn from it's sheath made their blood run cold. Looking up, they saw the boy walk slowly up to the spot where they sat.
His eyes were glowing yellow.
"I do not tolerate insubordination."
"Oi kid, you wanna fight? 'Cause if you don't show us some respect, I'll be more than happy to teach you your place," a blue-clad man gritted. He drew his sword.
"Come. You'll be my first example." The boy's expression was one of complete and total calm.
"Yarou," the boy spat. "You think you can actually go one-on-one with me?"
The flame-haired boy stood silent for a moment, then began to peel away a bandage that covered his left cheek. Slowly but surely, a scar emerged.
A scar in the shape of a cross.
There was an audible gasp from the onlookers as the scar-faced man crouched in the unmistakable form of battoujutsu.
"Koi."
In a heartbeat the foolish soldier made his move. And, in less than a heartbeat, the Battousai made his. The boy was on the floor before he knew what hit him. With only a kwam! from the hitokiri's saya the boy lay with multiple bruises forming on his body and a severe welt running along his back.
Not to mention a splitting headache.
"Now. Those of you who aren't as stupid as him, follow me this way. Training starts today."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Five hours and many, many sore bodies later, the men were taking their
evening break before curfew. Tarou and Kuroi, along with a few others, sat
eating their o-nigiri.
"Where do you suppose he goes everyday?" Tarou asked through a mouthful of fish. "I've never seen him aside from training."
"I think he ends up going with that guy. You know, Katsura-whoever? He seems to be really important."
"Yeah I heard he's like the head of the Ishin--" Suddenly the man stopped in midsentence. "What's that?"
The others cocked their heads and listened. "Hey, I think that's him. Himura."
"Let's go check it out."
"--Katsura-san, forgive me, but I really think I could be of more use in Kyoto. The battle tonight isn't very big, nor of much importance, but there are very large and important battles going on in that city. I believe that is where I should be."
The older man shook his head. "No, Himura. You are needed tonight, and the students that you have are important to the future. The Shogunate will not expect Battousai to be here, so it will be to our advantage. Remain here. I will keep you posted."
"Yes, Katsura-san."
With that, the man called Katsura left, leaving only Himura. His hands
were balled into fists. The four men exchanged glances. This wasn't good.
Not only was this guy a legendary hitokiri preparing for battle, the hitokiri Battousai, he was angry that he had to be posted here.
Very angry.
The men didn't want to be in the Shogunate's shoes tonight.
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Whoof. Okay, is it stupid so far? Good?
Please review and tell me. I am still working on Rended, so stick around.
Oh yes, and chapter five is up for that fic. I'll keep working on this one if
you like it.
There will be action or at least some "amazed scenes". I like scenes where people find out who people, like Heero or Kenshin or Ashitaka or whoever, really are and exactly what they can do.
Like? Don't like? Give me some advice. Ja, ne?
^_^X