See 1st chapter for disclaimer
Chapter 7: A New Student, A New Acutance And A New Battle
Kenshin sat on the mat calmly sipping his tea while Sanosuke was rolling the dice in his hand before tossing them into the cup in front of him. "Evens six and two. Evens six and…" the taller man cut himself off as the first dice landed on a six while the second continued to spin around yet undecided…until it landed on a three.
"Odds, six and three," Sanosuke's friend Genji said.
The big street fighter stared at the bowel with his mouth open before looking over to Kenshin and shaking him thoroughly making Kenshin spill his tea all over. Although Sano was hardly a match for Kenshin in a strait up battle, he was still pretty strong, if unfocused. "Hey Kenshin what's wrong with you?" he demanded. "I thought your sword style was all about predicting the opponents movements? So how come you haven't gotten a single toss right huh? Hell, even if you can't tell what the way the dice are going to land then you should at least be able to get one right out of sheer luck!"
"Oro?" Kenshin mumbled before the other man let him go.
"Hey now Sano you seem to be gangling a little more than usual today," Genji asked in a cheerful manner. "What's up? I mean you haven't gotten a single toss and you just keep going."
"Well I was just feeling lucky today and I was hoping to pay back my good buddy Yotia," Sano responded. "Say, where is Yotia anyway? He usually comes running when he hears we're going to gamble."
The other two gamblers suddenly became quiet and looked downcast, making Kenshin snap out of his usually goofy mood and become serious. What happened?" he was about to ask, but Sano beat him to the punch.
"It, it was opium," Tomo told the larger man. "Yotia said it was some kind new medicine, but by the time he found out it was opium, it was already too late."
"Who, who could have sold Yotia opium?" Sanosuke muttered.
However before Kenshin's friend could talk the door slid open, drawing all four men's eyes to the entrance, just in time to see a woman run in, she had long raven black hair and was dressed in a blue kimono, a look of panic on her face as she looked around the room before her eyes rested on Kenshin, or more precisely, the reversed blade sword laying at his side. She quickly ran into the building while kicking her sandals off at the door and wrapped her arms around Kenshin. "Please sir you've got to help me!"
Kenshin didn't even have time to voice his confusion before two more men came running into the room. They both had swords drawn and looked at the woman. The one on the left had a smooth face and was wearing a yellow shirt while his accomplice had on light blue and a beard. "We've got you now woman," the first shouted.
"There nowhere to run anymore so why don't you just give up?" the other asked.
"Well now looks like we got some rude guests here." Next to Kenshin Sano slowly looked up from his dice bowl and frowned at them. "So then, what's the deal?"
"Shut up," the first man with the beard yelled. "We're only here for that broad! You keep out of it." He started to walk forward and grabbed the woman by the shoulder but a second later Sano's fist impacted his face and sent him rolling across the mat.
"You know I'm already in a bad mood today," the ex-fighter for hire said before standing up. "So watch what you say to me losers."
"Do you have any idea who you're even talking to?" the other thug asked while pulling his unconscious man to his feet. "We happen to be the personal bodyguards of Kanryu Takeda."
"Oh shut up," Sano told him before throwing the bowl and breaking it on the other thug's head.
Since it seemed the situation was well in hand Kenshin removed the woman from around his neck and slowly stood up before looking over to Sano. With nothing to bother them at the moment he decided to ask the obvious question since he was still a little in the dark about Tokyo's underground. "Who's Kanryu Takeda?"
"He's some young businessman that is pretty well known in the underground," Sano explained. "And he's rumored to be involved in some pretty bad business. All in all a real shady guy." When Sano finished his explanation he looked over to the mystery woman "Hey you, just how you mixed up with that guy?"
"I have no idea what they're talking about I swear," the woman said.
"You know it isn't very nice to lie Megumi Takani."
As the voice reached his ears Kenshin felt his danger sense go off and slightly cursed himself for letting someone get so close. He and the other's turned their heads towards where the voice came from so see a small man with a very pointy nose and his hair spiked up and tied behind his head.
"What? When'd he get here?" Genji asked.
"So, trying to buy a little time by playing the role of the damsel in dress then are we?" the ninja asked. "My what a clever little fox. But we're keeping a close eye on you so you'll find it quite impossible to run away little sweetheart."
Megumi glared at the little man for a moment before stepping out of Kenshin's shadow with a angry look on her face. "Why don't you go back to Kanryu and tell him that no matter what he tries I'll do everything I can to run away from him again."
"Oro?" Kenshin said before poking his head out from behind the woman. When did the damsel in distress role ever call for someone standing up for the people after her?
"Well isn't that cute," the ninja remarked. "You actually think you can get away from us." Kenshin saw the short man's hand move but before he could react the ninja shot out two small spiral darts to Megumi's side and caught both of Sano's friends with his attack.
"And now it's your turn dear." The ninja attacked again but while Sano was busy checking on his friends Kenshin rushed forward and slammed his open palm on the mat to prop it up and catch the two darts.
"You know I don't exactly understand the situation very well," Kenshin said while lowering the mat. "But I certainly can't stand by and watch people hurt other's for fun. Hearing Sano shout something Kenshin looked over to see the big man move on the ninja while Kenshin did the same. They both moved around the mat shield and converged on the smaller fighter to punch him in the nose at the same time and send him flying into the house across the street.
"I believe we should return to the dojo now, and bring Miss Megumi with us," Kenshin said. "That we should."
Kaoru blinked a few times at the young man in front of her, surprised at the question. Other than a few private lessons to help pay the food bills and Yahiko, she really didn't have any students. The fake Battousai incident a few months ago when Kenshin had first come around had cleared her dojo out of real students and they had yet to come back.
"Excuse me, Kamiya sensei?" the boy asked again.
"Wha?" the girl replied shaking herself out of the daze of memories. "Oh yes you want to become my student…um, do you mind if I ask why?"
Ranma nodded his head. He had been thinking up of a plausible lie to get into this place. In truth, he had long ago thrown away his beliefs about weapon users being weak; Ranma's run-ins with the Shinsen Gumi during the revolution, as sparse as they were, and the other opponents in China had taught him otherwise. Ranma himself had even used weapons from time to time when he needed a quick kill.
"Well Miss Kaoru," Ranma started while messing with his hands like he was nervous or something. "You see I'm a wandering martial artist. But, well I just can't seem to find a style that suits my personality. I'm not exactly a violent person, and all of the swordsmanship styles that I've seen are centered around either killing your opponent or beating him until he is seriously injured and on the verge of death. Neither of these options are to my liking, so I wish to choose a different kind."
"I see," Kaoru replied with a little bit of depression. "So, I take it as a wanderer I take it that that-"
"Oh, I'm not a bum, I can pay for my stay," Ranma cut her off. "And I'm not homeless or anything, I'm just staying away from my parents while I'm on my training journey."
Kaoru blinked a few times as Ranma pulled out a small pack of yen coins from her pack to prove her statement wasn't a bluff. "Well," the finally replied. "From the way you talk it seems like the Kamiya Kashien Style might be the right choice. Come inside, and I'll show you what it's all about, then you can make your choice."
Ranma nodded, seeing that she had bought the story Ranma picked up his pack and started to follow the girl in when a sudden three-second shower drenched the aquatic transsexual making him, a her. Well, at least she met one of the dojo's occupants as a guy.
"Oh let me run and get you a towel," Kaoru said as she turned around and notice the less than subtle changes in Ranma's frame. "So…you…can…dry…off?"
Ranma sighed before dropping her backpack and dashing forward to catch the younger woman before she hit the ground. Well, at least she got out a whole sentence before going under, Ranma thought. "Most people just pass out before completing it."
"…and that's how the whole transformation thing works," Ranma finished her explanation to Kaoru. Beside her the unconscious body of Yahiko lay sprawled out on the floor with a trickle of blood running down his nose and a black eye. Ok, so maybe she shouldn't have worn such a thin shirt while needing to explain the curse, being slashed by hot and cold water again and again made her clothes cling to her like a second skin.
"I, uh, see," the assistant master replied a little breathlessly.
Next to her the first student of the dojo slowly regained conscious and sat back up before looking over to his master. "Hey ugly just what the heck was that for?"
The younger boy shouting at her finally broke Kaoru out of her daze and she looked back at her student. "Well what do you think it was for? You were staring!"
"Well what the heck did you think I was gonna do?" Yahiko shouted back. "For crying out loud it's not everyday you see a girl who can turn into a guy!" Yahiko slowly looked back towards Ranma then got a bucket of water in the face.
"For the last time," Ranma shouted. "I'm a guy that turns into a girl! And besides, I think it was were you were looking that got sensei all upset."
"Pervert," the assistant master muttered.
With Yahiko down once again the two girls prepared to continue their conversation when they heard someone call out the two practitioners' to the Kamiya Kashien Style's names. Ranma couldn't be sure but he knew at least one person outside was a reasonably strong fighter, it wasn't the Battousai though; whoever was there didn't seem to be hiding himself too good. "You better got see what that is," Ranma told her. "I'll go in the back and change."
"Uh, sex or clothes?" Kaoru asked.
Ranma stopped halfway across the floor then looked down at herself. Well, if he went out now the chances that another sudden shower would appear were probably one hundred percent. "Just clothes, with the way I attract water just turning back before you introduce me to your other friends is just asking for trouble."
As Kenshin finished calling out the names of the other two dojo's residence, a moment later Kaoru and Yahiko came out into the front yard. The younger of the two was spouting a black eye and seemed to be tending to various head injuries. The sight made Kenshin wince slightly, if Miss Kaoru was in a bad mood, the next few moments in his life were about to get…very painful.
"Oh Kenshin welcome-" however the lady's greeting was stopped abruptly when she finally seemed to notice the other woman that had come in alongside Sanosuke and Himura.
"I'm sorry we're so late," he apologized to a slightly stunned Kaoru.
"Well this looks like a pretty rundown place," Megumi commented after looking the place over for a minute. The comment of course shook Kaoru out of her shocked state and put a frown on her face. Oh yes, things were definitely not looking good. "Is it a dojo?"
"Ok who's this supposed to be?" Kaoru demanded while pointing to the other woman.
Trying his best not to get pounded Kenshin put a smile on his face. "Well, let me introduce you to Miss Megumi Takani. She was being chased by some mysterious characters."
Kenshin tried not to sigh in relief as Kaoru calmed down for a moment, but that relief was short lived when Megumi stepped behind him and put her hand on the wanderer's shoulder in an almost seductive manner. "Yes, but Sir Ken barely saved me from them," she said before moving even closer.
Ah crap, Kenshin thought, knowing full well there this was going.
"S-I-R KEN?!!" *WHAM*
Ranma looked up from her backpack at sound of what sounded like an irate tomboy's fist meeting the flesh of her current boyfriend/love interest/fiancée. It was a sound Ranma still remembered even after all this time since all of her previous experience with it. "Well, better go see what I got myself into," she mumbled.
With a clean Chinese shirt on and the wet ones set out to dry the girl slowly made her way around back to see what the big commotion was about. When she got in sight Ranma saw an unknown woman standing off to the side with a guy with dark hair that kind of reminded Ranma of a rooster for some reason dressed in a karate gi, mostly likely that Zanza guy Saito had told him about, and Yahiko standing a bit behind the main event with his arms behind his head as if bored. The main event of course was Kaoru beating a man with red hair and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek over the head with a practice sword while calling him all kinds of names.
The whole thing caused a sweat drop to appear on her head. But not wanting to get involved right now she dropped her ki below levels even normal for an average human and just sat back to watch, and not get caught in the crossfire.
Wait a second, she thought. Ranma looked over to the guy with the headband, then to what was clearly a woman interested in the Battousai, then to the dojo, and finally to the woman in the gi who was pounding a redhead as hard as she could. "Oh god, I'm getting this really sick feeling of déjà vu."
When Kaoru finally seemed to vent her frustrations out Ranma decided to finally make her presence known. She walked out from her hiding place and readjusted her ki as Kenshin finally dropped to the ground. "Uh, Miss Kaoru, what's going on here?"
The girl in question seemed to snap out of her enraged state then look over to Ranma with a puzzled expression, not noticing that the other woman had bent down to check on Kenshin, much in the way Shampoo did to Ranma sometimes, just more subtle.
"Well hey Missy you didn't tell us you had some company over," Sanosuke said as he looked Ranma over, much to the cold water girl's annoyance. Even if she had gotten to the point where she didn't pound people for checking her out, Ranma still hated it when guys hit on her. Then the man looked from her, over to Kenshin, and back to Ranma, then shugged.
"Oh Ranma," Kaoru replied. "Well, this is-" however whatever she was going to say was cut off when she looked down to see Himura in a daze on the ground, and in the arms of the other woman. "Hey now just a minute you! Just what exactly are you doing here? And what's your relationship to Kenshin anyway?"
A little distraught at being blown off Ranma frowned, but for the most part ignored the whole thing. Instead she wisely stepped away from those two and over to the fighter for hire to avoid any misdirected anger. "Is she usually like this?" Ranma asked in a whisper.
"Unfortunately," Sanosuke replied.
When the two martial artists looked back they saw the fight had started up again, this time it looked like Megumi had said something to anger the tomboy and she was now trying to attack the mystery woman, but Yahiko was holding her back with his arms around her waist. From the sound of it the reason for Kaoru's current tantrum was being called a sweaty little girl.
"You know you shouldn't play around with her mind so much," Sanosuke warned Megumi. "This 'sweaty little girl' is actually pretty simple minded. Unlike some women who are a bit more cunning." Ranma could tell the last part was aimed at the older woman kneeling next to Kenshin.
Down on the ground Kenshin was currently digesting all the information he could at the moment while trying to find a way out of his current situation. So there was a new student at the dojo, that was something he hadn't counted on when he brought Miss Megumi here for protection. Well, she carried herself well, which meant some training, but it was too early to tell to much.
Plus, there was something else about her that just seemed to make him uneasy. As if he should be on guard against the girl for some reason that he couldn't figure out. Well, maybe it was the red hair; people with that color were uncommon in Japan, and it just reminded him of a few times when he looked in a mirror during the revolution.
However Kenshin was brought back to the present when he felt an unfamiliar ki nearby, only a few feet above him. As he sat up he caught sight of a shadow sitting on top of the dojo wall but it disappeared a second later. Damn, they'd been followed. He was afraid of that.
Before he could think any further on the matter Kenshin found himself being wrapped in someone's arms and being pulled back by Megumi. A few feet away he saw Kaoru cover Yahiko's blushing face while her look was full of anger. Mental note, next time let Sanosuke save the girl.
Four seconds later Mount Kaoru erupted in anger. "KENSHIN!"
It was nighttime and the sun had set as Aoshi Shinomori stood looking over his employer's dinner table while the idiot ate some foreign dish called steak. The fat cowardly pig, it didn't describe him physically, but as soon as the businessman hired Aoshi and the rest of his men, he could tell that's what the guy was.
Personally, he hated working for the man and hated the man even more. But, his men needed the money for necessities, and the work itself wasn't too difficult. Actually their latest snag had been the only time Beshimi had failed in a long time, it could prove to be a good test of their skills. That was the real reason Aoshi and his men were doing this, for the challenge, not the money.
The screams of the two failures from this evening as they were excited filled the night and made Aoshi even more dejected towards Kanryu. "I that's better," the worm said. "I don't feel comfortable until I discard things that are useless to me. I'd have to say you're much more lenient in that respect eh Aoshi?"
Aoshi frowned at the pig and his attempt to seem ruthless. The man was an idiot, you wed out worthless people before selecting a group to lead, any failures on the men afterwards were the fault of the leader for choosing them, and afterwards you worked to remove the weakness in the person, not the person themselves. Ruthless towards your own men was just stupidity.
"What I do with my own men is my own business," he told Kanryu.
"Well, I have no complaints as long as Megumi is brought back to me," the man replied.
Aoshi didn't acknowledge the man with an answer before looking back to the ninja sitting on the roof. Hanya's basic ninja gi was only augmented in mysterious by the mask of a fanged demon with his mouth open that covered his face. Most thought it was just for effect or protection, but the other members of the Oniwaban Group knew it was because his face had nearly been destroyed in a battle, a side effect of wanting to be the best, and the reason Hanya couldn't have a normal life after the war ended. In actuality his natural face was probably more disturbing than the demonic one. "Hanya, I want you and Hyottoko to accompany Beshimi to complete this job."
"Yes sir," the ninja replied with a bow.
As the night came to the Kamiya dojo the excitement from the morning finally seemed to wind down. Kaoru's new student Ranma had turned in early for the night, saying that she had a hard day of traveling to get to Tokyo, and left the other's quickly with Yahiko not far behind. Sanosuke had decided to take watch outside and Miss Kaoru herself told everyone that she had some things to do before going to bed. So, Kenshin was left alone in one of the empty rooms of the dojo with Miss Megumi to talk to the woman about her problem.
"Kanryu has about sixty bodyguards, but the worst of the all is the one known as Leader," she told Kenshin.
"Leader?"
"A former spy, different from his personal bodyguards," Megumi explained. "He's a genius who right before the revolution took command of the Oniwaban group, the defenders of Edo castle, at the age of fifteen, Aoshi Shinomori.
"But as long as you're here Sir Ken I know that I'd be safe even if every one of those bodyguards were to attack the dojo at this very instant," the concluded with an obvious fake trust in Kenshin's skills. How come it was that every woman in the world thought that men who could fight didn't have any brains and would do anything for a pretty face?
"Well I certainly hope that doesn't happen though," Kenshin replied trying to seem as pleased as he could about the comment. Just because they didn't affect him didn't mean that he shouldn't ignore them completely.
Well, with the useless talking out of the way it was time to move onto more important issues. "So Miss Megumi, would you mind telling me just why you're running away from Kanryu and his men? Andy why exactly are they so obsessed with catching you?"
However instead of replying the woman simply turned her head and looked towards the door. "You should listen when other's are talking to you, that you should," sweat dropping at the woman's obvious avoidance of the question.
"I don't want to tell you! Only thoughtless men try to pry into a woman's personal affairs," she told Kenshin, only making him sweat a little more.
With no real way to try and get her to talk Kenshin just sighed. Figures, that's all I get when I go into the heart of the matter.
Sanosuke tried his best not to laugh at Kaoru trying to sneak up to the door. If Kenshin wanted to he could probably have sensed the little missy coming a mile away, but just for kicks the street fighter waited until she had moved up to Megumi's shadow and was right in a prime snooping position with her ear up against the door before scaring her.
"You know it's not nice to eavesdrop missy," he said with a smirk with the girl when ridged. "As assistant master of the Kasshin style you should be ashamed."
"Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen," she squealed out after running right up to Sano's face. "What am I supposed to do when Kenshin seals himself up in a room with a woman as soon as he gets back here?" She then completed the effect by getting all big and teary eyed, making Sanosuke sigh.
"You really should know Kenshin better than that," Sano scolded her. "Kenshin may be the kind of guy who's good at swordsmanship, but when it comes to women he's completely lost."
"Well yeah I know that, but-,"
"But," Sano butted in. "You know there are limits on how good a person could be." However when he saw her look back to the dojo with an even worse expression than before Sano tried quickly to recover. "Oh, never mind that last part. I'm sure Kenshin will be a perfect gentlemen to the very end…probably."
"What do you mean probably?"
Luckily before this could continue on, the door opened up and Kenshin stepped out, making Kaoru freeze and get out of her fussy state. "Sano, have you seen anything suspicious yet?" he asked.
"Nope," the ex-fighter for higher replied.
"Considering our opponents have the Oniwaban group on their side it's pretty safe to assume that they already know that Miss Megumi is here. It's important that we don't let down our guard that it is."
"The Oniwaban group, they're ninja's right?" Kaoru asked.
From his place in the house Kenshin stepped down to one of the steps where his sandals were waiting and put them on without breaking stride. His usual mask of a goofy swordsman was completely gone now like whenever he decided to get serious. "I had hoped not to be a bother to you Miss Kaoru. But all things considered there might be some trouble before this is over I'm afraid. But I promise to keep you and the others safe."
A second later the whole moment between the man and the woman was ruined when mischievous laughter filled the night. " Heard that Kenshin," a voice called out causing Sano and the other's to look around in confusion. He recognized the voice as Yahiko, but where the heck was it coming from?
Not long after a pair of arms reached out from underneath the dojo and tripped Kenshin up. "So, something's going to be going on and you're leaving me out of it huh?" A few seconds later Kenshin completely fell down while the brat crawled his way up from under to dojo. "Were you guys going to be leaving me out of this? I don't think so! I'm a member of Kenshin's Group too you know!"
"Kenshin's Group?" Sanosuke asked a little bored. "What the heck do you mean by that?"
The boy quickly rushed up into Sanosuke's face. "Oh they can brink bows, swords, and even guns! I Yahiko Myojin will personally defeat them all."
"You know you're pretty arrogant for a kid," Sano told the brat before kicking him lightly in the head.
"WHAT Come here you!" The boy swordsman then jumped over the street fighter and started biting his head.
"Yahiko stop that right now," Kaoru scolded her young apprentice.
"Oh boy, if they're fighting among themselves right now, Kenshin's Group is in for a lot of problems that they are," the scarred swordsman said.
As the sound of an explosion echoed through the night Ranma slowly sat up from her sleeping bag with a weary expression. Man, she had been dreaming about her daughter again, even two days away from the kid seemed to be a little too much for the mother/father. Ranma made a mental note to tell the others she had to go visit some family whenever the excitement around here died down.
Now fully awake Ranma slipped on some nearby pants and shirt from before she went to bed and headed outside to see just the heck all the racket about. It better not have been another fight between Kenshin and Kaoru, looking all around Tokyo for this stupid dojo had really worn her out the other day. Stupid Saito and his stupid directions.
After going outside and walking up to Megumi she was surprised by the sight. A huge man with dark tanned skin an some black hair on the top of his head was having a fight with that Sanosuke guy. A broken barrel that used to be full of some kind of liquid lay nearby, and the weirdest thing of all the mystery guy was breathing out fire.
"Uh, what's going on?" the redhead asked.
"Oh hello Ranma," Kaoru said before giving a short frown to the other woman. "I see you're up. You don't need to worry though. Kenshin and Sanosuke have everything under control."
The ex-manslayer tried to looked as surprised as she could at the spectacle of a man breathing flames while looking at the fight. Ok that's new, Ranma thought while Sanosuke jumped into the flames towards what had to be one of the Oniwaban group. The girl crossed her arms and examined the technique. It wasn't like when the old pervert spit out fire, Happosai used the alcohol in sake combined with some hot ki to ignite it. But this guy didn't seem to be stopping with his fire breath for a quick refill, unlike the old master of Anything Goes martial arts.
Ranma got her answer to how the guy was doing his trick with Sano punched his mouth and reached down the bigger man's throat with holding onto his hair with the other hand to keep in the ninja's face. A second later the street fighter jumped back, and pulled a giant rubber tube connected to a huge fire proof sack out of Hyottoko's mouth before landing on the floor.
"So then, this is how you did your little magic trick," Sanosuke mused while pulling the bag a little closer to him.
From her position on the ground Ranma looked at the bag with a confused expression, then the barrel and finally Hyottoko's open mouth, and noticed that the fighter only had his front two teeth, and they were lined at the edges with some kind of metal, probably flint. Oh I get it now. Tubby drank some kind of oil and put it into his bag before causing a spark and making the stuff squirt out by contracting his muscles in certain places.
"So what now?" Sanosuke asked. "You're out of tricks right?"
"This fight's not over yet," the larger man shouted before attacking, only to get kicked in the face and knocked out by Sanosuke a second later.
"Well that was a piece of cake," he said with a thumbs up towards Kenshin.
"You go hurt pretty badly over a piece of cake," Kenshin replied.
"Hey, are you guys alright?" Kaoru called out before rushing over to the two fighters and looking them over. Kenshin was fine of course but she seemed to make a big fuss over Sanosuke's injuries. "You won by the skin of your teeth!"
"That he did," Kenshin agreed.
"What was that?" Sano asked through clenched teeth.
Ranma lost trail of the conversation as she looked around the yard. Something wasn't right about this. During all her years as an assassin she had learned one very valuable fact about life, when someone smart wanted to kill you they didn't sent a seven foot mountain of muscle crashing through the gate to take on an unknown foe. They used subtlety, like when she went out on assassination missions.
Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when her danger sense flared and she sensed a presence up in a tree not too far away. Kenshin called out a demand to know who was there while Ranma instinctively reached forward to grab something out of the air that was heading for the woman standing beside her.
The girl felt a small pin prick in her hand and noticed the feel of poison working its way through her system. Well, she wasn't in any real danger, all she would have to do was focus her ki on exterminating the toxin and…that would give her away to the person she was supposed to be spying on with the lightshow it would produce. "Oh crap," Ranma mumbled as a feeling of wooziness overtook her. "That's not good."
From his place across the yard Kenshin saw that new student of Kaoru's stumble around before collapsing completely while Yahiko and his teacher ran to check up on her. Damnit, whatever she was hit with was probably poisoned! He cursed himself for his failure, Kenshin had promised Miss Kaoru that he would protect everyone, and now the newest addition was already dying! The swordsman immediately readjusted his sights back to the tree.
There! In the upper branches was that ninja Beshimi from this morning. He didn't take too long to drop out of hiding. "Little bitch, that's what she gets for butting in," he said. "Well there's no way that girl will last another hour. The death poison spiral attack has never failed to kill its target. Now I'll kill the rest of you, starting with that swordsman guy."
However by the time he was actually finished speaking Kenshin had already closed the distance between them and was in the air, positioned for a Ryu-Tsui-Sen. He was going to make the Oniwaban member pay for gloating about his latest victim.
Then a second before the strike connected another ninja appeared from behind the first and grabbed Beshimi to pull him back while Kenshin's sword made quiet the large dent in the ground. The scarred swordsman looked up to the top of the wall and glared at Beshimi's rescuer. This ninja was dressed in the more traditional style, but his face was hidden by a white demon styled mask and the cloth on his arms formed a red and black striped pattern. He was stronger than he looked because he not only held Beshimi in his arm, but Hyottoko as well.
"To think a swordsman like you still exists in this day and age," the new ninja said. "I see we have been taking our opponents too lightly. I am sure that I will fight you myself someday. Until then, we'll leave this fight unfinished."
He's good. Kenshin frowned as the man jumped away and disappeared into the night but didn't follow. Right now they needed to take care of their own. If he hurried to Dr Gensai's he might just be able to bring the old man back in time, that is if the old doctor knew a cure to the poison.
"Sir Ken come here I need you for something," Megumi called out in a serious tone.
"What're you doing we need to suck the poison out right away," Kaoru yelled.
"No," Megumi argued. "Sucking the poison out can cause bacterial infection and might make her even worse. Now get out of my way. This is not something normal people can do." The woman bent down to the redhead and put her thumb on Ranma's wrist while the other one on her head. "Slight fever, and the eyes are dilated, it's probably thorn apple poisoning." She looked up to the group, who were now totally lost, and frowned. "You girl, I'll right down a medication and you have it brought here. Yahiko, boil some water. Sir Ken, bring a towel and any medication you have in this place. And you rooster head, go to the store and get as much ice as you can!"
"Uh, hot water," both Kaoru and Yahiko said at the same time with looks of hesitation on their faces.
"What are you all waiting for?" she shouted. "Get moving!"
"Uh, right," Yahiko said before looking at the girl one last time then dashing off. "Man, she better not feint like ugly did."
As the group in front of him left for their different tasks Sano stood there for a second longer, he would have to get some money from Kaoru since he didn't have any. As he started to walk to the dojo the street fighter noticed Megumi had dropped some paper wrappings on the ground, still closed.
His curiosity getting the better of him for the moment Sano walked over and opened one of them to reveal a light powder of some kind. He put his finger into the stuff the stuck it into his mouth to see just what she had on her. To say he was stunned would be an understatement.
The powder was opium.
Memories of just this morning flashed through Sanosuke's mind along with other memories of his now dead friend. "Yotia said it was some kind new medicine, but by the time he found out it was opium, it was already too late."
"Why would she have opium?" he muttered. Maybe she's the one we should be watching out for.