Alas, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin nor any of the characters. I therefore do not make any money off of them, so please do not get it in your head to sue me for rights over something so small as a little fanfic.
This takes place about a year or so after the series ends. I haven't actually seen the end of the series, so forgive me if I get some things wrong. And I don't know everyone's ages exactly, so I'm giving it my best estimate (I get different ages from different sources).
Warnings: None, really. No excess violence, no sex. Then what do I have to offer? A compelling story (I hope).
*****
BLADE OF THE PAST
Chapter One – Yahiko to the Rescue
Yahiko strolled down the street, for all appearances completely oblivious to everything around him. He managed to narrowly avoid colliding with a man carrying a large and full bucket of fish. He closed his eyes as his hands came to rest in the ties of his hakama. The wooden sword hung there, showing the entire city of Tokyo that he was a student of sword fighting. And he earned many sour glares for it. Yahiko ignored them all, keeping his leisurely stroll, his head held high and his hand resting gently on the handle of his precious sword.
He crashed into an old man. Yahiko mumbled apologies as he helped the old man to his feet. The young apprentice handed the man's cane to him and got a swift knock on the head for his clumsiness.
Yahiko mumbled a few more colorful curses that he'd picked up from Sano as he brushed dirt off his clothing and kept walking. He seemed to not be paying any attention to his surroundings, but in truth, Yahiko was deep in concentration with Kenshin's latest teachings in mind. The experienced samurai's words ran through Yahiko's head as he tried again to concentrate. "You must learn to sense your environment with more than just your eyes, that you do. You must use your very spirit to find the people around you."
With renewed focus, Yahiko managed to barely sidestep a woman and her young child. Unfortunately, that was one of his very few successes. Perhaps walking through the crowded market place wasn't the best place to try this new lesson. With a defeated sigh, Yahiko opened both eyes and dove to the side. A large cart of rice raced by, narrowly missing Yahiko's head from where he lay stunned on the ground.
He rolled up smoothly, exercising one of the Kamiya Kasshin moves he'd managed to master. He was very good at picking himself back up off the ground. Kaoru seemed to put him there enough.
How did Kenshin manage to move so quickly during that time he was blind? The red-haired swordsman had run around following Misao and fighting like he wasn't handicapped at all! Yahiko just knew that he had a lot of training ahead of him before he reached Kenshin's skill level - if Kenshin ever let him learn parts of the Hiten Mitsurugi style. At first, Kenshin had been set against teaching Yahiko anything, but after three years, the older samurai was beginning to teach Yahiko some small things, like discovering his own swordsman's spirit. Kaoru was still his master and sensei, but Kenshin was becoming more and more of an instructor.
Yahiko's thoughts were broken by a scream. None of the people seemed to notice the small sounding voice that drifted through the market streets, barely heard above the din of the morning crowds. It was coming from his left, on the opposite side of the street from the Akabeko. Tae was inside, smiling at her customers. She didn't hear the short yelp that Yahiko had.
He made his way through the crowd, without trying to seem like he was making his way through the crowd. He remembered these alleys. Wasn't this where he'd found Tsubame being harassed by those men? It was the middle of the morning now, though. Why were strangely dressed men attacking someone when it was bright outside? Yahiko crept up behind them.
"Where's your mother, kid?"
It was useless to ask questions. The man's hand was so tight around the young boy's neck that he couldn't breathe, much less answer a question. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was being held against the wall with his feet high off the ground. The kid was dressed well, but with poor clothes. Most likely, his mother had sewn them herself. He didn't look completely Japanese. The boy had bright red hair and tanned skin, with only a hint of Japanese ancestry.
"Why did she leave Kyoto? Didn't she know that she was supposed to stay where Master Saku could watch over her?"
The kid stopped kicking, his skin turning a deadly shade of pale blue. Yahiko decided to make his presence known.
"Picking on little kids isn't a very manly thing to do, you know."
The three men who'd had the kid cornered whipped around to face Yahiko, each of them wearing that stupefied expression that only extremely dull-witted henchmen possessed.
"Where'd he come from?"
"Never mind that," Yahiko answered for them. "Leave him alone."
"Who are you to stick up for him? Did his mother send you?"
Yahiko shook his head. "No one sent me. I saw you harassing this boy and came over to take care of you myself."
"You? You can't be more than three days older than this kid." the man dropped the red-haired boy, giving him a good kick to the gut to impede his breathing even more. The kid coughed and spit, but he regained the ability to breathe rather quickly, to Yahiko's relief. He turned his big eyes on Yahiko, revealing the shocking bright crimson color of his eyes. Yahiko snorted at the men. He had to be at least two years older than this red-haired, red-eyed kid.
"It doesn't matter how old I am. I can still kick your ass."
The three men advanced, drawing out steel swords of their own. Yahiko lifted his wooden sword, regretting his insult after seeing their real weapons and the hatred in those men's eyes. But Yahiko wasn't one to back down from a challenge. He held his sword out in front of him with both hands in the best defensive posture he knew. He was ready for a fight.
He wasn't ready for the men to all attack at once. They truly were street thugs, more interested in winning than in keeping honor. True swordsmen would have attacked one at a time, but these guys all rushed at once. And they knocked Yahiko to the ground. Only a quick defensive flick of his wrist brought his bokken up between his body and their swords. Only that instinctive reaction saved Yahiko's life.
"Fight's over kid. Give it up."
Yahiko jumped to his feet faster than they expected, sending the three big men scuttling backwards. "Nothing's over. I haven't even warmed up." With a wicked grin, Yahiko put his wooden sword by his side - mimicking Kenshin's stance. Kenshin may not actively teach him, but Yahiko didn't need an instructor to watch and learn.
"That's the Battousai's stance," one man whispered.
"Impossible. The Battousai is dead."
Yahiko very much wanted to laugh at them. "The Battousai is alive and well. And I know him personally," he said, causing one of the men to back away. That left only two to fight. And Yahiko wasn't too involved in his fight to remember Kenshin's other advice. Find a way to fight them one at a time. "Catch me if you can you ugly bastards!"
He sprinted past the kid, jumping an overturned pile of planks. He could hear the labored breathing of the big men behind him, and he figured that labored breathing wasn't only due to their excess weight. The henchmen had probably consumed a bit of sake before coming out to pick on small children. Around the corner, he knew the narrow alleyway was there. Just like with Tsubame, he could get himself in the narrow corridor and pick them off one by one.
"Got you now kid," the biggest and obviously leader of the group said.
"Do you?"
Yahiko didn't wait for an answer. His bokken hit the man hard on the forehead, stunning him long enough for Yahiko to whirl around and knock the wooden sword on the back of the man's head. He fell in an unconscious heap. The young swordsman looked up at his next opponent, his breathing steady and calm. The man ran.
With a sigh of disappointment, Yahiko went back to the original alley, hoping the kid would still be there. It wasn't right to leave a recently harassed boy in strange alleys.
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AN: what do you think? I'm sorry if I get the Japanese words and culture stuff wrong – I'm just basing the vocabulary off of the other fanfics I've read. I've got a lot more on this written, let me know if you think I should keep posting or not. Thanks - jin