Chapter 7
By Crystal
*Screw the disclaimers ^^;;*
"Hitokiri Kensai..."
Kaoru looked at the two red heads, obviously thinking that the both of them were insane. Definitely insane. You are telling me that the two new students in our school are assassins? The best assassins that are in Japan? And they're kids? Yet, the second Mina ran forward to her, she knew it was not a joke. Mina was definitely fast.
Kenshin blocked the Sou Ryu Sen with both his sword and sheath and pushed Kaoru backwards. "Kaoru, run!" He yelled, Kaoru was frozen in her tracks though. Her legs turned to jelly and her eyes were wide open with shock. Then Kenshin whipped his head around to see his sister, "Mina, stop it!" Mina's eyes didn't seem to be changing at all, if it did change, it was getting less violet by the second.
Kenshin pushed Mina away, "Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, Do Ryu Sen!" Dirt, rocks flew from the ground towards Mina and Kenshin grabbed Kaoru's waist and jumped away. "Look, Kaoru, run away and I'll come back. Go to Aoshi, Soujiro and him can protect you for a while. Misao will be fine." Kaoru hesitated, "GO! I can't protect two people at once!" He watched Kaoru out of sight and turned back to Mina, who was now behind him.
"How dare you, Battousai..." Her eyes shown with anger at hate, "Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu Sou Sen!"
Kenshin gritted his teeth as blood spilt from his arm as Mina cut him. "Mina, stop it! It's Shinta!" He used the name he was given as a child.
Mina hesistated for a moment. "You're a traitor, Shinta." Kenshin glanced at where Misao was suppose to be and sighed in relief as she wasn't there. She probably took off the moment Kaoru ran away.
"Battousai!" They both looked up at a man on the roof. "My name is Kiyoshi Yoshiwa and I'm here to challenge you!"
Mina growled, "I don't need to know your name!" Without a single thought, she slew him by slashing his chest.
"MINA!" Mina looked up down to Kenshin, a bit confused.
"Shinta? What... I thought I was with the others trick-or-treating?" She looked confused.
Kenshin nodded, "You were, but you sort of when crazy." Kenshin looked at his wound with a wince. "Itai..."
"Oh god! I'm so sorry! It's Kensai, I swear it's that bitch!"
Kenshin looked at her crossly, "Language, Mina."
"Aa, gomen nasai." She jumped from the room and down, "Should we go find the others?"
"Probably, you threatened to kill Kaoru, you know that?"
"Oh shit, are you serious?! Then that means she knows who we are!"
Kenshin nodded, "Hopefully, she'll keep her mouth shut in school, but there's no doubt that the others will know. Anyways, I told her we'd meet her back after I took care of you."
"Okay, but is your arm okay?" Mina asked worriedly.
"I'll be fine, I'm used to this, I'm an assassin, remember? Now let's go."
* * * * *
When they arrived, Misao looked very scared along with Kaoru, who was being comforted by Toshiko, Soujiro, Megumi and Sanosuke. Aoshi immediately spotted the blood on both their 'costumes'. Kenshin looked relaxed, but he was still alert. People were still looking for him and Mina and he walked towards the group, his violet eyes scanning every place.
"Kenshin..." Kaoru said. Kenshin looked at her. "You're Battousai, aren't you? And your sister is Kensai?" Kenshin nodded slowly, looking indifferent. "Aren't you afraid that people will look at the blood on your shirt?"
"No... But I'm going to go change with Mina now. You guys have a nice day..." He started walking away, then turned around, his eyes now amber, "But remember to keep your mouth shut, or you'll regret it."
Kaoru's eyes widened at the threat. Kenshin seemed so... nice and innocent when she first knew him. Never in a million years would she think that he was Battousai... Proves that the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' is right once again. Kaoru looked at Aoshi who was concentrating on Kenshin's back that was slowly melting into the shadows. His eyes piercing. God, what is with men and their piercing eyes.
Mina looked at the group, then turned around and followed his brother and melted into the shadows. "Battousai stance." Soujiro said to Aoshi.
"Aa..."
"Do you think that the Gatotsu...?" Soujiro asked again.
Then once again, Aoshi answered with, "Aa..."
A little pause, then Soujiro said, "We should keep our mouths shut about tonight. Do not mutter a single word or we'll be in trouble." The others look at the two of them with utter confusion on their face, only Sanosuke looked like he understood a bit. Only Toshiko understood their meaning and only Toshiko knew why. Chosuke was a dangerous gang to mess around with... And rarely anyone knew that Battousai was in Chosuke, with the exceptions of other strong gangs and people with connections... Like Sanosuke, Soujiro and Aoshi... And herself, who is Battousai's 'sister'.
Toshiko looked at the shadows again, and once again, hoping that he would stop killing and become someone her sister would want him to become... Someone her sister had sacrificed for him to become... "Let's go..." She said quietly.
Everyone walked back home, there was no point for partying anymore. "Don't go to that alley over there..." Kaoru pointed. No one questioned because they knew it wouldn't be a nice sight to see.
Soujiro pulled Toshiko back when she was about to walk along the other people, "You know something, don't you?" He asked her, she nodded quietly.
"Hitokiri Battousai..." She whispered.
* * * * *
Okay, this is a preview of a new fic I'm co-writing with XenoMark from ff.net ^^ And this is my part, to find how this preview ends, check out XenoMark's 'Crimson String'
Here's the link: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=930658
Misanagi's POV:
It was another normal day for me. I was walking with my Sanada Ninjas, patrolling for intruders. Surely, this isn't the most exciting thing in the world. I sighed again. Life was boring.
The sound of the water was relaxing, making me forget things for a while... Things like what happened during the day before Kodomo-No-Hi with Hitokiri Kensai... Things I've wanted to forget for a long time but never seemed to be able to. I felt someone tap on my shoulder and when I turned around, I saw another one of my Sanada Ninjas. He asked me if I was all right and I told him yes. Ah, people that ask those questions should be lied to.
As I get closer and closer to the riverbank, I felt my body stiffen up and my eyes darting from places to places. The smell I seriously hate. Blood. I scanned the whole place for danger and when I found none, I ran towards the smell of blood quickly along with my Sanada Ninjas following me.
There, in the river was a woman... Not in the best condition, I can tell you. Her clothes were torn up and soaked with blood I thought she was dead. Unconscious and barely breathing, I hauled the woman from the river and dragged her to carry her back to our base.
The moment I hauled her from the river, one of my Sanada Ninjas asked why I was going to help her. I frowned at him, a bit. Don't some people know what it is to help other people in need? Obviously not. The blood on her terrifies me a bit, because it reminds me exactly of what happened the day I met Himura Mina, Hitokiri Kensai. I ignored the Sanada Ninjas and asked them to help me to carry the woman back to the base.
"God, just kill me now," I heard and I frowned yet again. So the woman wanted to die... She opened her eyes for a slight second before she fell unconscious again.
For how long, I didn't know. I was walking with someone almost dead in my arms and thinking of things again. Yes, things. The sound of water was becoming fainter and fainter and then, the only sound I heard was my own feet along with my Sanada Ninjas walking on the ground making soft sounds. All of a sudden, I heard a few people, more like a few dozen people come along and I let the woman fall on the ground.
My Sanada Ninjas must've felt something, because the next second, they took out their own weapons and got in position. I saw someone go near the woman and immediately took one of my poison dart and hit him square in the back of both shoulders, he slumped down, lifelessly. Now the fight was starting, I can tell, they were soldiers of the Ishin Shishi.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and elbowed him right in the stomach, "Don't touch me," I growled, while shooting another dart at another person. I knocked the person out and saw that we were getting the upper hand right now. I continued shooting darts, giving elbows, kicks and punches to any Ishin Shishi I saw. To me, they were the bad people... Hitokiri Kensai was in the Ishin Shishi and she was my enemy, therefore, all Ishin Shishi were my enemy.
I gritted my teeth as I saw one of my Sanada Ninja bleed and fall to the ground, hurt. I heard footsteps behind me, running towards me. From the sounds of his steps, it wasn't any ninja and without a second thought, I sent another dart in that person's direction. He fell to the ground immediately and the sword he was holding on fell to the floor noisily. I was getting ready to throw another few dozen of darts when a rifle stopped me.
"Harboring a criminal is a serious offense to the new government," was what one of the man said, with the rest of them pointing the rifles at us. We were surrounded. Rifles were all around us and there was no chance of escaping. Those rifles were faster than most human beings, probably not as fast as me, but I had my Sanada Ninjas...
Wait, what did they mean by harboring a criminal? I glanced at that woman I had just saved a while ago with the corner of my eyes... Could it be that she, was a criminal? I didn't have time to think because the next second, they were once again aiming at us. I snorted, "Well if you plan on shooting us, then do it." Useless...