Disclaimer: RK is not mine, blah, blah.

Note: This fic is AU and begins from the end of the Seissou Hen, and involves elements of established fantasy genres.

A Flash of Steel

Kenji looked on almost coldly as he watched his father fight against another man. While on the outside, he showed a aloof and nonchalant nature, in himself, he was watching with rapt attention at his father and his foe move around, the sparks of steel upon steel dancing in his field of vision. The arcs of slashes and cuts looked like a glorious piece of art in his eyes, the flashes of light that signified the two blades connecting seeming like the highlights on a painting or the glossy finish and polish of a wooden sculpture.

I never knew…

He blinked, holding his thoughts from his scowling face. He'd never thought his father was really any good as a swordsman, but seeing him now was a revelation. It was little wonder why he was called away, but still, that latent anger he had for his father remained. He still harbored that in his heart.

 He could have refused.

Where was he all the time, didn't he know he had a son?

His cold anger blossomed in his heart, overshadowing his surprise at his father's skill when his mother dropped to her knees beside him. He was startled by this sudden action that his train of though broke completely and he quickly turned to look at the field. He looked to see his father's foe dash forward and strike. If he wasn't already trained somewhat, he would have missed the tell-tale glints on the katana. Unlike before, the man whom Kenshin was fighting now wielded a killing katana, rather than a sakabatou. He barely heard his mother gasp in shock, along with Yahiko and the tall man, Sanosuke.

"Gatotsu!"

Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise and he jump backwards and to the side quickly, moving out of range of Junzo's Gatotsu. It was after the attack that it clicked.

"…My former captain wasn't wrong after all"

Kenshin's eyes narrowed once more, as he landed on his feet and looked warily at Junzo. He wouldn't be taken by surprise anymore. That one attack was all it took to snap him fully into the reality of the situation. Junzo…

"You're Shinsengumi, Third Division, captained by Hajime Saitou." Kenshin spoke softly, but the words were loud enough for everyone to hear it. To the side Sanosuke clenched his fist in memory of the Miburo. Junzo merely tilted his head, and momentarily cracked a smile at his foe, though that faded as quickly as it came.

"Saitou-san said you were formidable. I've yet to see much of that." He took an almost lazy step forward, causing Kenshin to back off a bit. "Come now, Himura. Fight me. 'Cause if you don't…" Junzo cast a sidelong glance at Kaoru and Kenji, than returned his gaze meaningfully to Kenshin. "I'd hate to cut off a promising swordsman's life, wouldn't you? Himura?"

"Stop it. I can't believe…" Kenshin muttered, shaking his head. His words trailed off then, and he set himself back into his battoujutsu stance. "You will not harm them. Never."

Junzo nodded gravely, though the almost taunting smile remained on his lips. "Fight me then." Junzo looked at Kenshin with steel in his gaze, and was surprised at the confident and firm gaze that held his own. Well, well…finally. The other man smiled once more and nodded, his feet shifting and his arm rising once more. Unlike Saitou, he didn't snarl when he struck, but his attack was no less as ferocious. Indeed, to Kenshin's gaze, it seemed faster.

"Ishiki…"

The blade flashed through the space between the two as Junzo attacked swiftly with the basic attack stance of the Gatotsu techniques. The katana rushed towards Kenshin at an incredible pace, but he avoided it, twisting and spinning in a battou-jutsu to counter the sideward slash that Junzo did when the initial thrust of the Gatotsu missed. Yahiko almost smiled, remembering that Kenshin accomplished exactly the same thing with Hajime Saitou in their fight so many years ago. Junzo merely smiled at this, sensing the motions of his opponent. He avoided the head slash by continuing forward in his dash and lowering his torso.

"Not enough, Himura!" The sakabatou screamed through the air, brushing past Junzo's trailing hair as it did so, and both swordsman quickly spun to face each other once more. Kenshin wasted no time with Junzo, and snapped his blade up and launched himself at his foe.

"Dou Ryu Sen!"

The explosion of dirt and rock caught Junzo in the burst, but his gaze remained the same. Seeing this, Kenshin aborted the attack, sensing that his opponent was ready for him. He cursed beneath his breath as he looked upon his foe. Kenshin's battle aura flared brighter, as he put himself more into the battle. "Not bad. Mizushin."

Junzo shrugged nonchalantly. "Ah, so…you're getting very serious about this fight. Very nice. Very good. Now, I will discard using the Gatotsu, as it has served its purpose of getting you to realize the full seriousness of the situation." Junzo transferred his blade back to his right hand, and held it at his side, then sheathed it.

"Himura Kenshin, master of Hitten Mitsurugi Ryuu, successor to Seijirou Hiko the Thirteenth. I, Mizushin Junzo, master of Hitten Kage Ryuu challenge you. Glory to the victor, Himura." Junzo nodded, as if saluting his foe, then returned to the battou-jutsu stance that began their battle.

Kaoru looked dumbfounded, as did Yahiko. Sanosuke shook his head and looked at the two. "Hey, I've never heard of Hitten Kage Ryuu before. You two are kendoka, do you know anything?"

Neither could answer for a while, until Kaoru spoke up. "There is no such thing as Hitten Kage Ryuu. No such school exists, that I know of." Sano shook his head. "Then, this Junzo guy must be bluffing. But…he doesn't seem like the type to bluff, and that means…"

Yahiko finished the line for Sano. "…that Hitten Kage Ryuu is a secret school. Would Kenshin know of it?"

As it was, the redhead swordsman did not. But he merely frowned at these words. "I care not what school you use. You will lose, Mizushin."

"Perhaps. Let us try and see." Junzo spoke softly, letting the wind that swept the field as the sun disappeared carry his words. A moment of silence filled the air, then both fighter moved forward at lightning speeds. The sight vaguely reminded Sanosuke of the fight between Kenshin and Soujirou, again so long ago when both master swordsmen attacked each other with battoujutsu. In the eyes of the two fighters on the field, they could see each other's actions almost instantly. Junzo stopped himself from releasing his battoujutsu, and Kenshin faded to his right, to strike behind him with another Hitten Mitsurugi attack.

"Hitten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji!"

"Hitten Kage Ryuu, Kage Ryu Battou-jutsu."

The ground shuddered as time seemed to slow, with Kenshin moving beside Junzo at a high speed, the sakabatou swung in a powerful arc towards his foe's neck, similar to when he'd done earlier. However, unlike earlier, Junzo was not using Gatotsu, but his own style. The ground trembled beneath his left foot as he planted it firmly on the ground, then turned on his right to release the force of his battou-jutsu, which clashed against Kenshin's sword. The impact shook them both, as they felt the power behind both attacks. After that moment of impact, they disengaged, and spun around to face each other once more, with Kenshin once again taking the offensive. Their blades locked, and the two spun around as their swords flew at each other, trying to outdo the other in terms of sheer swordsmanship rather than special techniques. The fight drew on for a short while, before Junzo leapt back instead of blocking and attacked.

"Kage Ryu Ken."

He flicked up his blade quickly, and an arc of deadly wind and a burst of debris streaked over to when Kenshin was standing. He jumped to the side to avoid it, but was surprised when he felt the edge of the attack manage to nick his shoulder, cutting his gi. He looked back up to see Junzo perform another attack of the same type, and saw a second blast of air and exploding earth rocket towards him, which he dodged. But once more, the edge of the attack nicked him.

"Oi, Kenshin, what are you doing!? You can easily see those attacks coming, avoid them!" Yahiko shouted out at the redhead. A frown of concentration appeared on Kenshin's face, but on the fourth attack, he managed to avoid the attack fully. "There you go, much better!"

"It wasn't that easy, Yahiko." Sanosuke spoke. "Unlike the Dou Ryu Sen, or Raijuta's Izuna techniques before, this attack had a different quality to it."

"What do you mean Sano?" Kaoru proffered the question before Yahiko could speak.

"The attacks weren't linear. They weren't straight line attacks." He pointed to the paths that signified where the Kage Ryu Ken had passed through. "They curved, somehow, and very erratically as well, which makes predicting the paths of the attacks more difficult."

At this point Junzo had dashed forward, and launched a vicious close range attack on Kenshin, beginning with a powerful thrust which Kenshin avoided by leaping up high. Junzo stopped himself, struggling to overcome the momentum of his power strike and spun on his feet. His gaze met the vision of Kenshin faintly outlined against the dim silhouette of the moon on the darkening sky.

"Ryu Tsui…"

Junzo's quick hands moved to sheathe his blade as quickly as he could, and in the moment of Kenshin's attack, he pulled it out in another battou-jutsu once more.

"Kage Ryu Agaru Battou-jutsu!" The blade flashed upward, barely in time to deflect Kenshin's attack. As it was, Junzo was pushed back on his feet by the power behind the attack.

"…Sho Sen!"

Junzo twisted desperately and leaned back to feel the sakabatou flash past the tip of his nose, barely missing him by a hairsbreadth. He pushed off behind him and executed an attack of his own as he backed away.

"Kage Ryu Chikyu-Ryu Battou-jutsu!" From beneath, the blade swung upwards in the motion of a modified battou-jutsu, and returned the favor of Kenshin's Ryu Sho Sen half of his Ryu Tsui Sho Sen. The blade opened up a line in Kenshin's gi, and a thin line of red appeared, but didn't cut his flesh deeply. A trail of blood trickled down the front of his chest, beads of the crimson liquid staining his clothing. Before Kenshin could move back much more however, Junzo's saya flashed forward as its' owner continued to spin. Kenshin moved to twist away from the strike, but failed, and was sent backwards with a powerful blow that spun him around when the saya struck his face. Kenshin began to see the incredible similarities between Junzo's style and his own school of swordsmanship. He stood up and spat on the ground, staining the ground beneath him with a mix of blood and saliva. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his gi, while Junzo stood in the same position he was in when he executed his counterattack against the former-rurouni.

Kenshin shook his arm and clasped both hands on his weapon, and brought it to his side, the sakabatou's tip pointing forward. Junzo raised his weapon in front of him, readying his own attack.

"Kenshin…" Kaoru shook her head weakly.

"Ryu Sou Sen!"

"Kage-Ryu Ankoku."

Junzo quickly pulled his sheath upwards as they closed to striking range, creating an upward blast of dust and debris to cloud the space immediately in front of him. Kenshin's eyes flashed, then drew his blade in battou-jutsu. The sakabatou flashed forward, moving to hit Junzo in the chest. Seeing the strike come, he pulled back down his sheath, propelling Kenshin's battou-jutsu faster than it should have been, and shifting it off course. The katana he led at his side flashed forward then, and he smiled. The smile faded when he felt Kenshin's own saya smashing into his one-handed right-hand thrust, and that knocked his own hidden attack off course as well, to merely nick Kenshin's gi once more, but this time without drawing any blood at all. As they passed each other, that's when Junzo felt the partial blow of one more strike at his side, the tip of Kenshin's sakabatou ripping a gash in Junzo's own gi with a last-second launched slash. The blow was enough to knock him forward a few steps more than he'd intended to, and he felt the pain in his side. A small part, but still.

Both men moved forward, slowly it seemed at first, and then accelerated at starling speed. Once again, exchanging attacks that would have utterly destroyed lesser men.

"Ken—!" Both observing men cried as both fighter upon the field launched themselves at each other once more, bringing out the power of they kenjutsu styles. The battle was at that moment ended…

"Hitten Mitsurugu Ryuu, Kuzu Ryu Sen!"

I am a shield.

"Hitten Kage Ryuu, Ten Kage-Ryu San Utsu!"

I live, to protect.

Nine simultaneous attacks, versus the instant triangle assault.

Twelve flashes of steel lit the field, and both combatants reappeared behind each other as quickly as they vanished, their blades in their hands. A cool breeze wafted over both, sending a shiver up Sano's spine. Then Junzo turned his blade down, and plunged it into the ground to support himself as he sank slowly to his knees, gasping as he coughed up blood.

Kenshin stood still, trembling. Three gashes appeared in his clothing, and three lines of blood appeared upon the skin of those same new gashes. On Kenshin's left shoulder, right chest, and left waist. He collapsed forward as smaller inch-sized slashed appeared all around the three main slash wounds. He fell into Sano's arms, battered and bloody as he was ever in any of his previous battles.

Kaoru stumbled forward to cradle Kenshin in her arms, drops of tears falling from her face onto his. He shook his head at her, struggling to stand up, shaking them off him. With a labored breath he took a step forward, towards Junzo.

Then another.

And another.

Until he reached his opponent, who still knelt on the ground. The redheaded swordsman put a hand on Junzo's shoulder. "Get up. I haven't beaten you, nor you I. You know that."

Under his hand, Kenshin could feel the younger man tremble and then, much to everyone but Kenshin's surprise, began to chuckle. "Himura-san, indeed, you are formidable. Even without using your ougi, you managed to bring me to my knees. That is not a feat easy to achieve, even if I wasn't pushing my limits. But then again, neither were you, neh?" He breathed in deeply, pulling his katana out of the ground and cleaning it with a quick flick of his blade, then sheathing it in his saya. Kenshin let his hand fall from the other's shoulder as he stood, and turned around to Kenshin. "Let's see to those wounds now, shall we?"

Junzo placed his hands beside Kenshin's shoulders, and closed his eyes. Sensing what Junzo what about to do, Kenshin sheathed his own sword and stood there patiently. An unearthly glow of light began to emanate from Junzo's hands, a pale blue that enveloped both men, flashing at various points of their bodies where they'd been injured.

Sano's eyes widened at this, and moved forward to stop him. "Hey, what the hell—!"

Before he could take more than two steps towards the glowing pair, a katana flashed into existence along Sano's face, blocking him from taking another step forward. He turned his line of sight to meet two deadly-looking eyes. A cloud of smoke drifted past his face, blown by the man who made it. Ashes from his cigarette dropped onto the ground, the embers quickly fading from red to gray. "You don't want to interrupt them, ahou." The one who was Hajime Saitou stated coldly.

"S-S-Saitou!" Sano grit his teeth and cursed. "You bastard!"

"Aah, temper, temper, tori-atama." A chuckled filled the air, and Sano spun around to find Chou, another of his many nemeses in Japan smiling idiotically at him.

"Damn it, the broom-head is here too…"

"Maa, maa, Sano."

Those words turned his attention to its source, Kenshin, who stood in front of him with nary a sign of his wounds on him and a faint smile on his face. Sano gaped in surprise as the former-rurouni turned to face Saitou, giving the miburo a nod, and finally back to Junzo. The other swordsman had already put on his other daisho, and was walking towards him. He stopped beside Kenshin, giving the slightly smaller man a serious, yet apologetic, look.

"Himura, I know you have much to explain to your family, and friends." He turned away. "I'll be returning later on, and all will be explained. No deceptions, now."

Kenshin merely nodded, uttering a soft "Hai."

Junzo stood there for a few moments, as silence enveloped the scene. It was broken by Saitou sheathing his katana, and Chou backing away and walking off to where they'd come from at a slow pace. "Ja…" Junzo raised a hand nonchalantly as he walked off, with Saitou already walking ahead of him.

Kenshin stood there, watching Junzo's back fade into the night.

"Oi, Kenshin…" a hand was suddenly slapped on his shoulder. He didn't need to look at his side to see Sano's face draw near his shoulder. "You have a lot of explaining to do." The grip tightened.

"Oro…"

Glossary:

Kendoka:          Practicioners of Kendo or Kenjutsu

The Techniques I used here are my own, so if you want to see more detailed description, you can just head over to my site. ^_^

Its: http://ayce_shade.tripod.com

Thanks/End Notes

Here it is! Not really a nice fight as I envisioned it to be though. If it really gets on me, I might edit it though. But at any rate…

Jason M. Lee, yes I did remember that Battousai is a proper noun. I though I'd edited that out though, but at any rate, you won't be seeing that mistake again inn the future.

Shadowchaser, that question will be answered in my next chapter, so just wait for it!  -_^ Hehe…