Disclaimer: RK and all its characters don't belong to me (unfortunately).
I merely borrowed them for my tale.
The next chapter of this story. I certainly hope those of you reading are enjoying it! Thanks so much for the reviews I've already gotten :D
On with the story! Enjoy! ______________
Secrets of the Revolution
Chapter 3
Trapped.
By the Shinsengumi.
"Oh shit." Hideki breathed, gripping his katana and short sword in his hands tightly. In a flash, one Shinsengumi member from each surrounding group attacked Himura and Hideki. At least they were honourable and only attacked one at a time.
Hideki's sword clashed with the samurai. Using his short sword to defend himself, he pushed his katana through the man's chest, blood spurted all over Hideki's face as the man fell to the ground, dead.
Himura dodged the first attack, easily side stepping the thrust of the blade and swinging his sword around, it connected with the back of the man's head, severing the spinal cord and slicing the man's head off easily.
Two down, too many to count left.
This had been a set up from the start. They had been ambushed by the shinsengumi and outsmarted by the opposition. Hideki wondered briefly if Yamagata and Shinsaku were alright. Himura asked himself the same question as the second member of the shinsengumi attacked.
'We need to be together' Hideki thought as his sword stopped another from impaling him. 'I need to get to Himura's side.'
Using an upswing, Hideki threw the man's balance off and as he stumbled backwards, Hideki used the opportunity to use the man as a vault. He jumped onto the man's chest, and pushed off with all the strength his legs had in order to get over to where Himura fought. The plan worked, and Hideki found himself hurtling towards Himura.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Tsui Sen!" Hideki cried and brought his sword down, cleanly slicing the shinsengumi, who had been attacking Himura from behind, from head to foot. Blood splattered everywhere, as Hideki righted himself, his back pressed to Himura's. The squad surrounding them froze. They witnessed someone else using Himura's style perfectly. They found themselves surrounding something very frightening: two legendary sword masters using the same style. The Hiten Mitsurugi Style.
"If you wish to die, then come." Battousai drawled in his deadly tone. The will to protect the imperialist soldiers was gone. They were protecting each other now, no one else.
Hideki was angry beyond reasoning. He could feel the blood pumping in his head and roaring in his ears. Bloodlust was creeping into his mind. The will to see blood, and watch a man die just for the pleasure of it was slowly embedding its claws into Hideki's soul. He grit he teeth against the overpowering urge. His breathing became laboured as he tried with all his might not to let go of his humanity and hack his way through each living soul around him
Himura felt the change in Hideki's ki immediately. He also heard his friends breathing become ragged and uneven. He could tell Hideki was struggling with his inner demons. Himura knew all too well what that felt like. Three years ago, he had the same feelings every night. Bloodlust.
But he managed to contain the bloodlust. If Kenshin had not met Tomoe that fateful rainy night, he probably would have succumbed to his urge for blood long ago, and lost whatever trace of humanity he had. Tomoe had been the calm in the middle of the storm. Kenshin had needed her. She helped point him in the right direction. She had saved his soul.
Hideki needed a sheath. Someone like Tomoe. She had been Himura Kenshin's sheath, even if only for a few months. But it was exactly what his soul needed.
Himura did all he could. He dropped his wakazashi which had been in his left hand, not taking his eyes off the shinsengumi surrounding him, and grabbed Hideki's right wrist tightly.
The contact from Himura's hand on his wrist snapped Hideki out of his stupor; he blinked and inhaled, almost gasping for air. His inner demons were momentarily defeated.
"Calm down, I need you thinking straight if we're going to survive this." Himura said quietly. Hideki nodded, Himura dropped his wrist and put his hand on his sheath.
"Kill them." One of the shinsengumi said, and they attacked.
Neither manslayer had much hope of getting out of the situation alive. They had handled 20 shinsengumi before, but now there were 50 of them. The situation was totally different, and the manpower was severely out weighed. Himura and Hideki could only brace themselves, protect each other, and hope to find an opening for them to escape to the cover of the forest.
The attack was swift, two at a time the shinsengumi descended upon the two manslayers. Himura and Hideki did all in their power to keep each other alive. They switched sides a lot, changing opponents, and changing fighting styles to confuse their enemy.
Hideki flipped over Himura, and blocked a sword as it searched for a path into Himura's back. He whirled around and drove his wakazashi into his opponent's neck. Himura used the opportunity to bring his sword up between the two men and slice through a second samurai who was trying to kill Hideki.
Both manslayers were tiring quickly, they had been fighting at full strength for almost an hour and with the new additions that possessed greater fighting skills than those of the army, they were having a hard time. It would prove to be fatal.
Hideki's sword crashed against another. They fought for the upper hand trying to defeat strength versus strength. Hideki knew that it wasn't going to end in his favour; he didn't have as much strength as his opponent. He immediately crouched, sending the samurai falling forwards due to his own body weight pushing him forward. Hideki raised his short sword, and the man impaled himself on it. He groaned, and fell to the ground, his blood pouring out of the wound rapidly. Hideki stood up and drove the tip of his katana into the base of the man's skull. A sickening crunch, a bit of blood, and the man was dead.
Himura turned to see Hideki finish off another shinsengumi, then turn to face more. Himura noted that Hideki no longer had his wakazashi and tried to get to his friends side. Without his short sword, Hideki wouldn't be able to defend as well. Two shinsengumi stood in his way. Himura re- sheathed his katana and crouched into his battoujutsu position. He didn't have time to fight them; he had to get to Hideki.
They charged. In a blinding flash, Himura unsheathed his sword and sliced one of them from hip to shoulder, blood spraying everywhere. The second was thrown to the side, his ribs broken after Himura's sheath connected with his side. He collapsed; gasping for air, then fell over dead. One of his ribs had broken, punctured through his lung and pierced his heart.
Hideki saw the sword and blocked it before it took his head off. There was a bright flash off to his left. He glanced over, wondering what it was and dropping his guard ever so slightly. It was enough. Before he could react, he felt the sword puncture his lower torso area.
Himura saw the flash too, lightening. Storm clouds were moving in rapidly; it was going to rain. He then froze. He saw Hideki standing not too far from him, his katana raised to block a short sword. But that wasn't what caused him to freeze. It was the katana blade that stuck out Hideki's back that caused his eyes to widen.
Hideki blinked, shocked, then looked down at the katana buried in his person straight to the hilt. He followed the hand wrapped around the hilt, up the arm, into the eyes of the shinsengumi who held the offending sword. The man smirked and moved to withdraw his sword. Hideki grabbed his wrist, preventing him. Anger surged through Hideki's body and using all the strength he could muster, he swatted the short sword he still blocked away as if it were a fly. He then used the momentary freedom of his katana to cleanly slice the head off the man who had injured him. The body fell to the ground, the head flew across the clearing, and the katana was still embedded in Hideki, straight to the hilt.
Himura shouted, but the crash of thunder drowned him out. Time seemed to stand still at that moment. No one attacked anyone for a few seconds as everyone's eyes were on Hideki and the katana that was embedded in his chest. The shinsengumi started to shout victory. With one dead, killing the other wouldn't be as hard. Even if the one remaining was Hitokiri Battousai.
But they were wrong. Hideki wasn't dead.
He was angry.
Blood rushed to his head. All he could see was red. The sight, the smell, the taste of blood consumed his entire being. He stood up straight and drove his katana into the soil by his feet. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as he grabbed the hilt of the sword in his chest. Ever so slowly, he withdrew the sword, never once making a sound. He removed it completely just as another flash of lightening pierced the night sky, illuminating the scene. Hideki, already covered in blood, stood holding the sword of his enemy in one hand, and pulled his own sword out of the ground with the other.
It started to rain.
Hideki crossed the tips of the swords at his feet. He ran the blades together up to the hilt and stopped. His eyes were still closed, and his breathing was slightly ragged. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the demon within him. His breathing, coupled with the rain that was washing away the blood on his face, was soothing. and the beast within gave up its battle for a second time that evening. Hideki opened his eyes to see he was still surrounded. Himura wasn't too far away from him, watching his friend intently. Hideki cocked a slight smile at Himura then sprung into action.
Himura's eyes widened as Hideki used both katanas to fight the shinsengumi. He had never seen anyone move so fast with two long swords like that before. And Hideki was doing it perfectly, as if the swords were an extension of him. He cleanly sliced his way through the shinsengumi that approached him. Himura moved towards his friend, defeating all the shinsengumi who approached him. Soon, they found themselves back to back and surrounded again. The squad of samurai had taken a severe beating at the hands of the hitokiris but that didn't slow them any.
Himura felt the blood of Hideki's injury seeping through his own gi at his back.
"Are you alright?" Himura asked when they stopped.
"No."
Hideki's breathing was rapid and uneven. Something wasn't right. They had to get out of the clearing. They had to escape. Hideki wasn't going to make it if they didn't get out of there. At least in the safety of the woods, Himura would be able to stop the bleeding and they could escape.
There was a cannon blast again, this time the target was the shinsengumi. The cavalry had arrived. Imperialist soldiers stormed the area, and the two manslayers in the midst of it all heard someone shout.
"Himura! Hideki! Get the hell out of there!"
It was Shinsaku. His troops had heard of an ambush and immediately went to the clearing.
They didn't hesitate. Hideki dropped the sword that didn't belong to him, re-sheathed his own, and took off running towards the woods. Himura was right next to him.
They ran as fast as they could, and into the trees. The shinsengumi tried to stop them, but were surrounded by Shinsaku's soldiers.
"If you thought for one minute that you were going to succeed in killing those two," Shinsaku said to one shinsengumi, "You were wrong."
Himura was running as fast as he could, he noticed Hideki was tiring. His wound was giving him problems. But they couldn't stop. Not yet. They had to get as far away from the clearing as they could. When they were a safe distance, Himura would check his friend's injuries.
They continued deeper into the forest and further away from the clearing. They ran through dense foliage, jumped over fallen trees and ploughing through streams. Hideki was exhausted, and weak. But he drove himself. He couldn't stop. Not yet. He had to get away: away from the Shinsengumi, away from Shinsaku's army.
Away from Himura.
"Hideki, let's stop." Himura said as he slowed to a walk. Hideki slowed too but shook his head.
"No, we've got to keep going."
"But you're injured. Let me at least stop the bleeding."
"NO!"
Himura stopped dead at Hideki's outburst. Hideki looked at his friend over his shoulder and kept walking.
"It's alright; I'll tend to it myself once we get back. Don't worry."
"Hideki, we're half a day's walk from the house." Himura said. He was referring to the house where they were staying, not far from the training grounds where they had spend the last 3 weeks. The very house they first formed their friendship 4 years before hand.
Hideki continued to walk; he pressed his hand over the wound to slow the bleeding and winced at the pain that shot through his body at the pressure. Himura had to stop the man, before he died from blood loss.
"It's fine. I'll make it." Hideki insisted. Himura sighed, and for Hideki's benefit, shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, a samurai doesn't like to show weakness, even to a comrade, or a friend."
"Fine, let's get going. The sooner we get off this mountain, the sooner we'll get home." Himura said. Hideki visibly relaxed, smiled and kept walking. He was slightly hunched over from the pain, and swayed slightly from dizziness.
They continued for a few minutes. Himura was waiting for Hideki's guard to be let down so he'd be able to stop him.
'He's hiding something', Himura thought.
Hideki was weakening by the minute, but he kept up the appearance that he was coping, in order to keep Himura appeased.
'He can't find out. He just can't!' Hideki's mind screamed.
Himura watched Hideki stumble for the last time. He grabbed his friend's shoulder and whirled him around to look directly into his blue eyes.
"Himura! Wha-?"
"Hideki, I'm sorry." Himura said as he balled his hand into a fist and punched Hideki, striking him in his wound.
Pain consumed Hideki totally, he only let out a muffled grunt as he collapsed against Himura, coughing up blood and gasping for air.
"Himura, you bastard." Hideki whispered as he slowly sank to his knees.
Himura caught his friend and lowered him to the ground, laying him out on his back.
"I'm sorry. this is for your own good."
"Please, don't." Hideki whispered, clutching at Himura's hands while he opened the black gi only to come face to face with Hideki's trademark bandages. They were no longer yellow. They were covered in blood, and torn where the sword had pierced them.
"You and your damn bandages." Himura grumbled. Hideki grabbed Himura's right hand. He looked up into his fallen comrades eyes.
The piercing, frightening blue eyes were gone. Himura's eyes widened at the sight. The manslayer he knew wasn't looking at him. These eyes were screaming vulnerability, and pain; intense pain.
"Please, Himura. Don't." Hideki pleaded. Himura blinked a few times, and hesitated at his friends tone. But the smell of blood was too strong, and Hideki was losing it at an alarming rate.
"I have to." He said, shaking off Hideki's hand and grabbing his short sword. He slid the sharp edge under the bandages at Hideki's waist and sliced them cleanly off.
He froze.
"Secret's out." Hideki whispered, before passing out from the pain.
Himura stared down at Hideki. His yellow eyes faded, the ever present alertness Battousai was famed for fled Himura's body.
Kenshin stared with shocked amethyst eyes and dropped the wakazashi in his hands. It landed with a dull thud on the soft earth of the forest.
"Oro..."
Hideki was a woman.
--------------
A.N. *GASP* Okay. Who saw that coming? =sees the legions of hands raised= hrm. Okay, fine.
Anyways, I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but. MEH what are you gonna do. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are always welcome. :D
The next chapter of this story. I certainly hope those of you reading are enjoying it! Thanks so much for the reviews I've already gotten :D
On with the story! Enjoy! ______________
Secrets of the Revolution
Chapter 3
Trapped.
By the Shinsengumi.
"Oh shit." Hideki breathed, gripping his katana and short sword in his hands tightly. In a flash, one Shinsengumi member from each surrounding group attacked Himura and Hideki. At least they were honourable and only attacked one at a time.
Hideki's sword clashed with the samurai. Using his short sword to defend himself, he pushed his katana through the man's chest, blood spurted all over Hideki's face as the man fell to the ground, dead.
Himura dodged the first attack, easily side stepping the thrust of the blade and swinging his sword around, it connected with the back of the man's head, severing the spinal cord and slicing the man's head off easily.
Two down, too many to count left.
This had been a set up from the start. They had been ambushed by the shinsengumi and outsmarted by the opposition. Hideki wondered briefly if Yamagata and Shinsaku were alright. Himura asked himself the same question as the second member of the shinsengumi attacked.
'We need to be together' Hideki thought as his sword stopped another from impaling him. 'I need to get to Himura's side.'
Using an upswing, Hideki threw the man's balance off and as he stumbled backwards, Hideki used the opportunity to use the man as a vault. He jumped onto the man's chest, and pushed off with all the strength his legs had in order to get over to where Himura fought. The plan worked, and Hideki found himself hurtling towards Himura.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Tsui Sen!" Hideki cried and brought his sword down, cleanly slicing the shinsengumi, who had been attacking Himura from behind, from head to foot. Blood splattered everywhere, as Hideki righted himself, his back pressed to Himura's. The squad surrounding them froze. They witnessed someone else using Himura's style perfectly. They found themselves surrounding something very frightening: two legendary sword masters using the same style. The Hiten Mitsurugi Style.
"If you wish to die, then come." Battousai drawled in his deadly tone. The will to protect the imperialist soldiers was gone. They were protecting each other now, no one else.
Hideki was angry beyond reasoning. He could feel the blood pumping in his head and roaring in his ears. Bloodlust was creeping into his mind. The will to see blood, and watch a man die just for the pleasure of it was slowly embedding its claws into Hideki's soul. He grit he teeth against the overpowering urge. His breathing became laboured as he tried with all his might not to let go of his humanity and hack his way through each living soul around him
Himura felt the change in Hideki's ki immediately. He also heard his friends breathing become ragged and uneven. He could tell Hideki was struggling with his inner demons. Himura knew all too well what that felt like. Three years ago, he had the same feelings every night. Bloodlust.
But he managed to contain the bloodlust. If Kenshin had not met Tomoe that fateful rainy night, he probably would have succumbed to his urge for blood long ago, and lost whatever trace of humanity he had. Tomoe had been the calm in the middle of the storm. Kenshin had needed her. She helped point him in the right direction. She had saved his soul.
Hideki needed a sheath. Someone like Tomoe. She had been Himura Kenshin's sheath, even if only for a few months. But it was exactly what his soul needed.
Himura did all he could. He dropped his wakazashi which had been in his left hand, not taking his eyes off the shinsengumi surrounding him, and grabbed Hideki's right wrist tightly.
The contact from Himura's hand on his wrist snapped Hideki out of his stupor; he blinked and inhaled, almost gasping for air. His inner demons were momentarily defeated.
"Calm down, I need you thinking straight if we're going to survive this." Himura said quietly. Hideki nodded, Himura dropped his wrist and put his hand on his sheath.
"Kill them." One of the shinsengumi said, and they attacked.
Neither manslayer had much hope of getting out of the situation alive. They had handled 20 shinsengumi before, but now there were 50 of them. The situation was totally different, and the manpower was severely out weighed. Himura and Hideki could only brace themselves, protect each other, and hope to find an opening for them to escape to the cover of the forest.
The attack was swift, two at a time the shinsengumi descended upon the two manslayers. Himura and Hideki did all in their power to keep each other alive. They switched sides a lot, changing opponents, and changing fighting styles to confuse their enemy.
Hideki flipped over Himura, and blocked a sword as it searched for a path into Himura's back. He whirled around and drove his wakazashi into his opponent's neck. Himura used the opportunity to bring his sword up between the two men and slice through a second samurai who was trying to kill Hideki.
Both manslayers were tiring quickly, they had been fighting at full strength for almost an hour and with the new additions that possessed greater fighting skills than those of the army, they were having a hard time. It would prove to be fatal.
Hideki's sword crashed against another. They fought for the upper hand trying to defeat strength versus strength. Hideki knew that it wasn't going to end in his favour; he didn't have as much strength as his opponent. He immediately crouched, sending the samurai falling forwards due to his own body weight pushing him forward. Hideki raised his short sword, and the man impaled himself on it. He groaned, and fell to the ground, his blood pouring out of the wound rapidly. Hideki stood up and drove the tip of his katana into the base of the man's skull. A sickening crunch, a bit of blood, and the man was dead.
Himura turned to see Hideki finish off another shinsengumi, then turn to face more. Himura noted that Hideki no longer had his wakazashi and tried to get to his friends side. Without his short sword, Hideki wouldn't be able to defend as well. Two shinsengumi stood in his way. Himura re- sheathed his katana and crouched into his battoujutsu position. He didn't have time to fight them; he had to get to Hideki.
They charged. In a blinding flash, Himura unsheathed his sword and sliced one of them from hip to shoulder, blood spraying everywhere. The second was thrown to the side, his ribs broken after Himura's sheath connected with his side. He collapsed; gasping for air, then fell over dead. One of his ribs had broken, punctured through his lung and pierced his heart.
Hideki saw the sword and blocked it before it took his head off. There was a bright flash off to his left. He glanced over, wondering what it was and dropping his guard ever so slightly. It was enough. Before he could react, he felt the sword puncture his lower torso area.
Himura saw the flash too, lightening. Storm clouds were moving in rapidly; it was going to rain. He then froze. He saw Hideki standing not too far from him, his katana raised to block a short sword. But that wasn't what caused him to freeze. It was the katana blade that stuck out Hideki's back that caused his eyes to widen.
Hideki blinked, shocked, then looked down at the katana buried in his person straight to the hilt. He followed the hand wrapped around the hilt, up the arm, into the eyes of the shinsengumi who held the offending sword. The man smirked and moved to withdraw his sword. Hideki grabbed his wrist, preventing him. Anger surged through Hideki's body and using all the strength he could muster, he swatted the short sword he still blocked away as if it were a fly. He then used the momentary freedom of his katana to cleanly slice the head off the man who had injured him. The body fell to the ground, the head flew across the clearing, and the katana was still embedded in Hideki, straight to the hilt.
Himura shouted, but the crash of thunder drowned him out. Time seemed to stand still at that moment. No one attacked anyone for a few seconds as everyone's eyes were on Hideki and the katana that was embedded in his chest. The shinsengumi started to shout victory. With one dead, killing the other wouldn't be as hard. Even if the one remaining was Hitokiri Battousai.
But they were wrong. Hideki wasn't dead.
He was angry.
Blood rushed to his head. All he could see was red. The sight, the smell, the taste of blood consumed his entire being. He stood up straight and drove his katana into the soil by his feet. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as he grabbed the hilt of the sword in his chest. Ever so slowly, he withdrew the sword, never once making a sound. He removed it completely just as another flash of lightening pierced the night sky, illuminating the scene. Hideki, already covered in blood, stood holding the sword of his enemy in one hand, and pulled his own sword out of the ground with the other.
It started to rain.
Hideki crossed the tips of the swords at his feet. He ran the blades together up to the hilt and stopped. His eyes were still closed, and his breathing was slightly ragged. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the demon within him. His breathing, coupled with the rain that was washing away the blood on his face, was soothing. and the beast within gave up its battle for a second time that evening. Hideki opened his eyes to see he was still surrounded. Himura wasn't too far away from him, watching his friend intently. Hideki cocked a slight smile at Himura then sprung into action.
Himura's eyes widened as Hideki used both katanas to fight the shinsengumi. He had never seen anyone move so fast with two long swords like that before. And Hideki was doing it perfectly, as if the swords were an extension of him. He cleanly sliced his way through the shinsengumi that approached him. Himura moved towards his friend, defeating all the shinsengumi who approached him. Soon, they found themselves back to back and surrounded again. The squad of samurai had taken a severe beating at the hands of the hitokiris but that didn't slow them any.
Himura felt the blood of Hideki's injury seeping through his own gi at his back.
"Are you alright?" Himura asked when they stopped.
"No."
Hideki's breathing was rapid and uneven. Something wasn't right. They had to get out of the clearing. They had to escape. Hideki wasn't going to make it if they didn't get out of there. At least in the safety of the woods, Himura would be able to stop the bleeding and they could escape.
There was a cannon blast again, this time the target was the shinsengumi. The cavalry had arrived. Imperialist soldiers stormed the area, and the two manslayers in the midst of it all heard someone shout.
"Himura! Hideki! Get the hell out of there!"
It was Shinsaku. His troops had heard of an ambush and immediately went to the clearing.
They didn't hesitate. Hideki dropped the sword that didn't belong to him, re-sheathed his own, and took off running towards the woods. Himura was right next to him.
They ran as fast as they could, and into the trees. The shinsengumi tried to stop them, but were surrounded by Shinsaku's soldiers.
"If you thought for one minute that you were going to succeed in killing those two," Shinsaku said to one shinsengumi, "You were wrong."
Himura was running as fast as he could, he noticed Hideki was tiring. His wound was giving him problems. But they couldn't stop. Not yet. They had to get as far away from the clearing as they could. When they were a safe distance, Himura would check his friend's injuries.
They continued deeper into the forest and further away from the clearing. They ran through dense foliage, jumped over fallen trees and ploughing through streams. Hideki was exhausted, and weak. But he drove himself. He couldn't stop. Not yet. He had to get away: away from the Shinsengumi, away from Shinsaku's army.
Away from Himura.
"Hideki, let's stop." Himura said as he slowed to a walk. Hideki slowed too but shook his head.
"No, we've got to keep going."
"But you're injured. Let me at least stop the bleeding."
"NO!"
Himura stopped dead at Hideki's outburst. Hideki looked at his friend over his shoulder and kept walking.
"It's alright; I'll tend to it myself once we get back. Don't worry."
"Hideki, we're half a day's walk from the house." Himura said. He was referring to the house where they were staying, not far from the training grounds where they had spend the last 3 weeks. The very house they first formed their friendship 4 years before hand.
Hideki continued to walk; he pressed his hand over the wound to slow the bleeding and winced at the pain that shot through his body at the pressure. Himura had to stop the man, before he died from blood loss.
"It's fine. I'll make it." Hideki insisted. Himura sighed, and for Hideki's benefit, shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, a samurai doesn't like to show weakness, even to a comrade, or a friend."
"Fine, let's get going. The sooner we get off this mountain, the sooner we'll get home." Himura said. Hideki visibly relaxed, smiled and kept walking. He was slightly hunched over from the pain, and swayed slightly from dizziness.
They continued for a few minutes. Himura was waiting for Hideki's guard to be let down so he'd be able to stop him.
'He's hiding something', Himura thought.
Hideki was weakening by the minute, but he kept up the appearance that he was coping, in order to keep Himura appeased.
'He can't find out. He just can't!' Hideki's mind screamed.
Himura watched Hideki stumble for the last time. He grabbed his friend's shoulder and whirled him around to look directly into his blue eyes.
"Himura! Wha-?"
"Hideki, I'm sorry." Himura said as he balled his hand into a fist and punched Hideki, striking him in his wound.
Pain consumed Hideki totally, he only let out a muffled grunt as he collapsed against Himura, coughing up blood and gasping for air.
"Himura, you bastard." Hideki whispered as he slowly sank to his knees.
Himura caught his friend and lowered him to the ground, laying him out on his back.
"I'm sorry. this is for your own good."
"Please, don't." Hideki whispered, clutching at Himura's hands while he opened the black gi only to come face to face with Hideki's trademark bandages. They were no longer yellow. They were covered in blood, and torn where the sword had pierced them.
"You and your damn bandages." Himura grumbled. Hideki grabbed Himura's right hand. He looked up into his fallen comrades eyes.
The piercing, frightening blue eyes were gone. Himura's eyes widened at the sight. The manslayer he knew wasn't looking at him. These eyes were screaming vulnerability, and pain; intense pain.
"Please, Himura. Don't." Hideki pleaded. Himura blinked a few times, and hesitated at his friends tone. But the smell of blood was too strong, and Hideki was losing it at an alarming rate.
"I have to." He said, shaking off Hideki's hand and grabbing his short sword. He slid the sharp edge under the bandages at Hideki's waist and sliced them cleanly off.
He froze.
"Secret's out." Hideki whispered, before passing out from the pain.
Himura stared down at Hideki. His yellow eyes faded, the ever present alertness Battousai was famed for fled Himura's body.
Kenshin stared with shocked amethyst eyes and dropped the wakazashi in his hands. It landed with a dull thud on the soft earth of the forest.
"Oro..."
Hideki was a woman.
--------------
A.N. *GASP* Okay. Who saw that coming? =sees the legions of hands raised= hrm. Okay, fine.
Anyways, I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but. MEH what are you gonna do. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are always welcome. :D
