A Half an Hour Later Chapter Three
Carefully, they approached Kamiya dojo. Hitokiri Battousai was reported to say here. Since the last attempt, the man had taken them all over Japan on "business deals", which she had gathered by now were simply the cheap drug deals of all underworld swine. It didn't really bother her a whole bunch anymore. It was kind of sad that the man dealt in narcotics, but he'd do anything for money for revenge against Hitokiri Battousai. Those here knew him as Himura Kenshin. They were at a different place than 11 years ago, but who cared? He still died tonight, and she wasn't thinking about the Battousai.
He looked up at the sky. She knew what he was thinking back on. She could count the stars, if she had the patience. But for some things she just did not. It wouldn't affect the outcome whether it rained or not.
They stepped up to the window, making no sound whatsoever. There were several indications of a celebration brewing inside. It seemed so inviting in there, the warmth and happiness. The girl vowed to have that, even a fraction of the happiness in there, when she was free. If all went as planned, she'd silently kill him and be gone. It only went along with her sense of justice that the Battousai would find the body of his would-be assassin in the morning.
She no longer required a stool to see inside. She made sure Battousai was in there and paid attention to nothing else. She was now determined to destroy the man who had made her a slave on the supposed night of his victory. Of course, if Battousai wasn't in there, it would only make her laugh that he didn't even get that far.
But he was, and she nodded to the man. He handed her the ancient violin. She had no idea what could have preserved such an artifact for all these centuries.
Next came the bow, but she shook her head. "No. I have something better."
While he waited in expectant confusion, she drew his katana from him.
"...TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN TO FIGHT YOUR BATTLES. I HAVE MY OWN!"
For a fraction of a second, she held poised the sword above her head. No longer could this be quite so impersonal. She couldn't walk away as if nothing had happened between them.
She wasn't that numb.
But her second of stupidity cost her the advantage of surprise. The man lunged for the sword as it arced relentlessly down. The microscopic Japanese sword edge bit into the matter of his hand and separated it.
A tiny part of his old discipline resurfaced, and he half bit back the scream of agony that tore over him. Even so, she felt how deep the pain had gone and knew it was an echo of her own.
Tears violated her resolve and poured down her cheeks as she fell back on her self-taught skill and battled him in the ultimate test of her will.
Those inside had noticed by now, so she hurried to make the last thrust and kill him before they could interfere.
The man wrenched the sword back into his control and softly she swore as she went for her own dagger. Not as poetic, she thought, but it would kill all the same.
As she was coming to this conclusion, the unthinkable happened. She stared at the sword wedged between two bones. She was too stupefied to even place where she had been stabbed in a thinking part of her mind. No way to get around that.
With wide eyes, and deaf ears, she bravely bore the pain and shoved her wicked dagger deep into his belly, ripping up and up.
And then he looked at her and smiled, just before he fell onto his own entrails in the dirt.
Dimly through the fog of her own death, she was even then thinking that she didn't want to die next to him. So she used her left foot to tip her backwards, now wanting only the solace of her accomplishment, prepared to face Oblivion, Hell, or even Heaven.
Through blood flooded lungs she weakly whispered to those arrived too late, "I am Sa-" she gurgled up her breath, "-a Taniko. I have avenged my family."
