Chapter 7: Sessha

A/N: Well...quite a cliffhanger we left you with now wasn't it. And I bet you're DYING to know what happens. Maybe. Hopefully. Hm...now what could the title mean??

Disclaimer: We. Do. Not. Own. Rurouni. Kenshin. Can someone please tell me why this is?

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"Going somewhere?" Battousai sneers, licking his sword. Danielle turns to look at him. She almost faints when she sees him holding an unconscious Tiffany by her short-cropped hair. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" Danielle screams drawing her sword and taking an offensive stance. The Battousai snickers and takes an equally offensive stance, dropping Tiffany into the dirt and leaves.

"Damn it..." Danielle growls. "She wouldn't come like I asked her. And her sword is now scrap." He reaches behind him and withdraws the two pieces of sword and tosses them next to Tiffany. Danielle's eyes widen. She feels for Tiffany's mind, but something is wrong with her. She isn't dead yet, but she is very close to it.

"Why don't you put away your sword and we will talk about this. Besides, I want you two to see each others pain when you die at my sword." "NO!" Danielle screams, attacking. He gracefully steps out of the way and looks surprised when she swings around and blocks his attack. They fight on into the night, seemingly never tiring. Tiffany is oblivious to all. Finally, The Battousai gets a hit, but only with the flat of his sword. Danielle is knocked off balance and her sword falls from her hand, sliding out of her reach. She rolls over onto her back, gasping for air and disregarding the blood streaming down her face. She would surely be dead if he had made direct contact with the blade. He did it on purpose, and she hates the fact that he is stronger and holds her life in his hand.

He straddles her body and wraps his fingers around her neck. "Now, be a good girl and do what I say. Do you promise?" Danielle says nothing. "PROMISE ME DAMNIT!" Danielle pulls at his hands as he strangles her. Before she knows what's going on, he is off of her and on the other side of the fire. Her neck and lungs burn. She sits up and crawls over to her sword, sheathing it before crawling to Tiffany. She cradles her friend's head in her lap and does her best to bring Tiffany's mind out of wherever it is. Battousai watches this scene with interest.

'How can two people care for each other so much?' he asks the owner of the body. 'Someone like you wouldn't understand,' it spat. 'Are you still mad about the whole, possessing your body thing?' The owner didn't answer, but his thoughts were full of hatred. 'Is that a yes?' the possessor teased. The owner of the body shrank down a bit, so he could think to himself. Not that he was ever really by himself. The possessor could easily invade those thoughts, too, but chose to give the owner some privacy. He looked back over at the two girls. The one he had fought was leaning against a tree sleeping, still holding her friend.

'I could kill them both while they sleep, yet they remain peacefully sleeping. How odd their senses are.' The possessor thinks, his thoughts bridging towards the owner's own. 'I don't believe you could.' The owner thinks back. 'There's something inside you, no matter how cold you seem on the outside, no matter how bad you talk, it will always be there, that it will.'

'Psh, what do you know. If you knew all this then why am I the one in control. And to prove a point, suppose I go kill them both right now?' Battousai stands and quietly unsheathes his sword. Walking as stealthily as if the girls didn't already know he was there, the hitokiri poises his sword at Tiffany's throat. With a flash of angry brown eyes and the swish of an unsheathed sword, his intended deathblow is ricocheted away.

"Stay away from us." Danielle growls. Battousai rolls his amber eyes, and Danielle thinks that perhaps they look a bit friendlier. 'It's working! We're drawing him out!' she thinks excitedly to herself. ~'Bout time...I don't think I can take much more...~ comes a faint voice. ~Tiff?! ~ Danielle stares incredulously.

A much softer, kinder voice flows into her thoughts, timid in approach, polite in acceptance, ~I've been trying to help her that I have, but I'm not sure if it's been working that I'm not.~

Surprised at this gentle voice, Danielle reaches for the owner, only to find the mind threading back to Battousai. ~Are you the swordsman inside the body?~ she questions quietly, glaring at Battousai again. ~That indeed I am, but sessha would much rather you call him Kenshin.~

Fluent in many languages, including Japanese, Danielle's curiosity piques. ~Unworthy? Why would you call yourself that? You're anything but unworthy if that piece of junk took over your body...~

~Sessha is unworthy because he allowed this in the first place, if he had been more alert, perhaps he could have protected you ladies from such harm!~ Kenshin cried in anguish. ~Now, now, you did all you could. He's not exactly weak ya know.~ Danielle comforted. ~And, there's a way you could break away from him.~

The Battousai snarls and cuts off the owners mind. The girls feel the swordsman shrink back in pain. "What did you do that for?" Danielle roars. "I think I like this body. I want to keep it and I don't want the two of you ruining it. Wonderful...you are both awake." Tiffany has finally opened her eyes.

"So, how do you want to die?" Battousai draws his sword and slowly traces the blade with his tongue. Tiffany does her best to sit up and looks at the swordsman. "Why are you doing this?" she asks.

"What? Because of all the pain you caused me, of course," he answers. "Well, it's just that, we've been chasing each other through time and we don't actually know why you hate us so much..." Danielle looks at her friend and realizes she is right. The Battousai glares at her. "You actually mean to tell me you don't remember?"

The girls look at each other. Neither remembers, and this also keeps them alive a bit longer. It also may give the swordsman an opening to force his way out. "No..." they answer in unison. The Battousai studies them and decides they are telling the truth.

After studying the girls for near 10 minutes, Battousai snorts and turns his head. "I would have thought you would at least remembered." He turns back to face them, his feral gaze icy cold and near inhuman. Tiffany shivers slightly, and feels Danielle's similar reaction. After another ten minutes of frigid scrutiny, Battousai looks off into the woods and begins.

"It all started long ago, possibly before you two were born. I wasn't always this cold-blooded killer with no heart. I had a family! I was loved, and I loved too. My wife, she...she was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her hair was long and very silky. She took exceptional care that it stayed that way, but don't get the wrong idea! She wasn't conceited. She was...perfect. Always more concerned about other people than herself." Battousai's drawl is changing, ever so slightly. The girls notice the change, but attribute it to the fact that he was remembering what were so obviously painful memories.

"She...she was the light of my life, that she was..." Battousai chokes. He didn't seem to notice that his speech was altering, becoming softer. Danielle sought the swordsman's eyes, stunningly they seem to be changing colors. Instead of the solid amber honey color, now the amber irises are tinted with violet. Prompting a little, Tiffany asks, "What happened to her?"

Perhaps Battousai doesn't like being rushed, or maybe it was because he subconsciously knew the swordsman was taking over. "What do you think happened to her?! We had a fight, a big one at that. She ran from me, hurt in her eyes and pain in her heart, needing time alone. I let her be, knowing if I followed it would only hurt her more. After two days she still hadn't come back, and I grew worried. I ran out into the woods, my common sense misplaced by my urgent need to find her. For three days I searched, THREE MISERABLE DAYS before I found her again. She'd been slaughtered. Cut down in such a prime, her beautiful body ripped to shreds."

Danielle thinks hard, seeking to remember. With a gasp, she did. The young woman had been a spy for the others, and young as the girls were at their young age of 6, they were still under the influence of the government. They hadn't refused to work for the government until the government had made the public announcement that they were.

Then, appearing to satisfy the public's taste for gossip, they also instilled a deep fear in the people. No one dared oppose the government. But then the girls had refuted them, there in front of the entire city, and for that they were never forgiven. The young woman had been their last assignment. They had slaughtered her mercilessly, knowing the outcome immediately.

Battousai had spoken so lovingly, so softly, that it was hard for the girls to not feel sorry for him. That gaze most often tinted with anger was heavy with sadness, his face lined with pain. If they could somehow let the swordsman know that now was the best time to strike!

Apparently they didn't have to. The Battousai cries out in anguish and pain as the swordsman pulls his way to the top. The struggle goes on for a long time, the two girls watching in amazement. The body is writhing on the ground, clutching its head. They have no idea who is winning, for the thoughts are too muddled for either of the girls to make anything out.

Tiffany looks at Danielle and says, "I remember everything now...it's horrible...but, we had to do it, ne?" Danielle nods. "I can't help but feel sorry for him though. But he needs to move on and forget revenge. It's exhausting me!" Tiffany chuckles and realizes she can't feel the weight of her sword on her back. She sees it lying in two pieces and almost breaks down crying.

"Don't worry...we'll fix it somehow. Or we can just get another one..." Danielle tries to comfort her but she won't listen. "A NEW one??? I want this one!! Just my damn luck!" Danielle understands. She doesn't know what she would do if she lost her sword. The girls have had the same ones since they had defeated their masters.

As Tiffany mourns her lost sword, Danielle notices that the struggle between the Battousai and the swordsman is coming to an end. As she watches, the body stands up and punches itself in the forehead. He opens his violet eyes and smiles. "I think I have won, that I do..."

At the sound of the kind, gentle voice, Tiffany immediately turns from her mourning. Gasping in awe and delight at the sight of the purple eyes, she crawls closer on her knees to investigate. Curiosity stares Danielle in the face as she struggles to keep herself from doing the same. Finally, not being able to resist anymore, she succumbs to weakness. Both girls crowd around the bewildered Kenshin, staring at his eyes and running fingers through his hair.

"We like your hair!" both girls exclaim in unison. "Orororoooooo..." Kenshin falls to the ground, swirly-eyed. "Oh come on, stop with the swirlies and let us see your eyes again!" Tiffany protests, hands on her hips. "Come on Tiff, back off, we've overwhelmed the poor guy." Danielle giggles as Kenshin blinks before staring at them with a little bit of fright in his eyes.

Tiffany frowns at the ground she's sitting on, her eyes slowly drifting back to her sword. Tears well up and threaten to spill over as she remembers that its only useless scrap metal now. The Battousai mangled it pretty well obviously. "Oh, by the way Mister, you never exactly told us your name..." Tiffany says, voice shaky.

"Sessha is Kenshin. Himura Kenshin." Kenshin replies, his eyes replacing most of his fear with friendliness. "Well hello Kenshin, I'm Tiffany, and this is Danielle." She explains. Anything to get her mind off her sword. Finally, the silence is just too much and Tiffany breaks down.

Crying she runs off into the woods, at the edge of the clearing leaping into the trees. "Tiff!" Danielle stands to follow her, but tentatively feeling her friends mind tells her that Tiffany doesn't want to be followed right now. Perhaps instead she should find something for them all to eat. Wincing slightly against the pain of her not-quite-healed ankle, she does just that.

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A/N: SESSHA! YAY KENSHIN! KENSHIN KENSHINKENSHIN KENSHIN! o.Ox;; Lol, I have too much fun.