Saga 2: The Black Rose :Lethal Fighter

Sagara?!

I blinked wide eyes in shock. Had I heard right? Her last name was…

Sagara…

Kiya Sagara…

Kiya gave me a confused look.

"What's so strange about my name?" She asked sharply.

I snapped out of my daze and answered.

"Nothing, it just that…"

"Just what?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Are you related to a man named Sozo Sagara? I used to… know him."

This time it was her turn to be shocked, but only for a second.

"Sozo Sagara…….. How in hell do you know him?" She hissed, narrowing her eyes at me again.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets and leaned against one of the alleyway's walls; closing my eyes.

"I said I used to know him, a long time ago."

Kiya was silent for a moment; I looked at her from the corner of my eye. Her head was bowed and I could see her fists clenching at her sides. I closed my eyes again.

"He can't be…He just can't be…" I heard her whisper to herself.

I turned to face her and found that she was no longer there. Kiya had left without a sound. I sighed and exited the alley and walked back to the Akabeko to finish my lunch.

It was afterward I decided to tell Kenshin about Kiya and the incident at the Akabeko earlier.

Kamiya Dojo….

"She crushed his hand?"

"Yeah, and then she threw him out the door by the broken hand."

Kenshin winced.

"And then what happened?" He asked.

I shifted in my seat. "Then the other two drunks drew their weapons and Kiya suggested that they step outside to fight. They did and…she won."

Kenshin nodded. "Did she knock them out?"

I sighed. "No, Kenshin she killed them, mercilessly."

Kenshin's odd purple eyes widened. "H…how old?" He choked out.

I blinked. "Kiya?"

He nodded.

"She only looked about seventeen, younger than even Misao is now." I said.

Kenshin bowed his head and was silent for a moment.

"Seventeen years old…she couldn't be….couldn't possibly be her," He muttered.

I slammed my fist on the floor. Kenshin jumped.

"What do you mean Kenshin?" I shouted.

Kenshin looked me straight in the eyes. "What did she look like Sano?"

"Well, she wore her black hair up in a ponytail and her bangs kinda hung over her forehead. She had these cold blue eyes and a thin pink scar ran over her left eye and halfway down her cheek." I said.

Kenshin closed his eyes and nodded. "That's her alright, the female sweeper from Osaka, the Black Rose."

"'Sweeper', Kenshin?"

Kenshin opened his eyes. "A sweeper is basically a bounty hunter, but they work for the police force and get paid for their work."

"But does a sweeper have to kill his target? Every time?" I asked.

Kenshin shook his head. "No, he, or in this case she, makes the choice to kill or not. The police usually leave it entirely up to the sweeper, that they do."

"Why the nickname?" I asked.

"Because this particular sweeper works only at night; hence the 'Black' part. 'Rose' was added on because of her gender. Just like Kaoru is sometimes called the 'Rose of Martial Arts'." Said Kenshin.

I nodded. "But how do you know her Kenshin?"

Kenshin sighed. "I don't know her, Sano. I've only heard of her. I think it was when I left for Kyoto a year or two back. I stopped in a local village for lunch and I overheard a group of men talk about her. They were saying how she was only twelve when she took the job in Osaka three years before. They had only just begun to recognize her as the 'Black Rose' then."

"I see," I sighed and stood up; stretching my arms. "Well, I'd better be going. Some guys are waiting for me near the Akabeko. See you around Kenshin."

I headed for the door.

"Sano?"

I stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?"

Kenshin looked up at me.

"I want you to stay as far away from Kiya Sagara as you can. She may be young, but from what I've heard, she's a lethal fighter, fists and kadochi."

I nodded and left.

Hunh. So what? So what she's the Black Rose? She's still young and I wasn't about to let a little brat get the better opinion from Kenshin than me. It was then on I decided to challenge Kiya to a one on one fight. But where to find her? I guessed because of her being a sweeper, she'd be at the local police station; so that's where I headed.

I was about to open the door when it opened on it's own to reveal…Kiya. She narrowed her eyes and shoved past me out into the street.

"Wait!"

Kiya turned around. "What do you want?" She said.

I shrugged and shoved my hands into my pockets.

"I hear you're a pretty good fighter," I said.

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, so?"

I smirked at her. "I was wondering if I could fight you, you being the Black Rose and all,"

She let out a sigh. "You're Zanza, the fighter for hire, aren't you?"

I nodded. Her lips molded into a small smirk.

"Then you wouldn't last five minutes against me," She said and started to walk away.

Why that little….! I ground my teeth together and clenched my left fist.

She was gonna pay for saying that about me! I threw a fast punch with my left, straight at the back of Kiya's head.

It never connected, but instead slammed into Kiya's palm with a loud smack. Kiya stared at me with her ice eyes again and I saw shock reflected in her retinas. She let go of my fist and chuckled.

"I guess I underestimated you, Zanza," She said.

I smirked. Kiya did the same and turned around with her back facing me again.

"If you want a fight, I'll gladly give you one. But only," Kiya looked over her shoulder to look at me.

"If you can keep up with me."

With that she faded out of sight, but disappearing would be more accurate. I finally spotted her again, about thirty feet ahead of me. I saw her wink at me before disappearing again. I growled and started to chase her. Kiya led me straight out of Tokyo and into a dense forest close by.

I finally caught up to her in the middle of a clearing deep inside the forest. She was leaning against one of the trees with her eyes closed and hands folded behind her head. Kiya opened one eye to look at me and smirked.

"So, you actually managed to keep up with me. I'm impressed Zanza. You are known even in Osaka for your strength, but not for your speed." She said.

I grinned and slammed my fists together. "Well, I'm glad I'm well known, but I don't think that's the point of our fight, ne?"

She shook her head and stepped forward. "Zanza, I see that you are unarmed, so I will fight without my kadochi," said Kiya and untied her belt and sword and set it near a tree. She cracked her knuckles and slid into a fighting stance.

"Get ready, Zanza. I won't hold back." She said.

I smirked. "Neither will I,"

Kiya charged forward and slammed her knee into my stomach. It was so fast, I didn't even have time to blink! But, damn did it hurt. It was like having a wooden pole shoved into your belly, a particularly thick one besides.

I gasped and took a step backwards, but Kiya wasn't letting me rest for even a second. A flying kick sent me spinning nose first into the ground. I slowly got to my feet, blinking the dirt from my eyes and feeling blood run down my chin from a my now broken nose. I wiped off my chin and charged toward Kiya throwing a punch straight at her head. She dodged it and grabbed my punching arm and threw me over her shoulder. The breath was knocked right out of my body as I hit the ground back first. Kiya came into view above me; her mouth set into a thin line.

"The first thing I was taught in martial arts was how to defend myself. You obviously never were." she said. "Defense is just as important as attack, if not more." She crossed her arms and glared at me. "I was hoping for a better fight, Zanza, but I guess you're just someone to walk all over. A stepping stone, for me."

I growled and sat up. She just arched an eyebrow at me and disappeared; to reappear standing on my chest; slamming my back onto the ground again. Kiya smirked and squatted down to look me in the eye.

"You, Zanza, are nothing,"

I froze. Kiya had said the words, the words that I feared the most. Being nothing was something I never, no way in hell, wanted to be! The anger I'd been keeping inside for Kiya exploded, I let out a loud long yell. It echoed on forever.

Kiya jumped off my chest; her eyes wide for a second before settling back into their usual coldness. "So you do have some fire left in you," She said.

I got to my feet and grinned. "'Course I do,"

I slammed my fists together and my grin disappeared, replaced by a smirk.

"'Cause I'm Sanosuke Sagara!!!"

Kiya's eyes widened in shock. She seemed frozen by me just saying my name. I took this opportunity. I ran forward and pistoned my fist right at her nose. Kiya just looked at me and whispered one thing,

"Sano?"

My punch stopped; a scant inch away from her nose. I saw tears begin to form in Kiya's eyes as she continued to look me over. I dropped my left arm to my side and stared at her.

"It is you…" I heard her whisper. "Sano, it is you…"

I don't know what confused me more; the fact that Kiya knew my real name, when she had been calling me "Zanza" just a moment ago. Or her burying her face into the bandages wrapped around my stomach and sobbing uncontrollably.

I gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her away from me. She bowed her head. She was so short, so to look her directly in the eyes, (someone as tall as me) would have to kneel. So I did.

"Kiya, how do you know my real name? How do you know?" I asked.

Kiya wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked down at me. "H…how could I not? You don't remember me?"

I froze. That was her….

|| Flash-back ||

I ran. I was seven again and still doing what my mother told me to do. This time it was to run, run away, as fast as I could. I looked over my shoulder behind me and stopped.

My village was in flames, the smoke rose in ugly black clouds into the night sky. Victims' screams of pain and terror could be heard for miles it seemed. My mother, she'd promised she'd be right behind me. A…and she wasn't…

I fell to my knees and screamed. "MOTHER!!"

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I continued to cry, sobs shaking my small frame. I heard heavy footsteps behind me and I turned around.

It was a small group of twenty men or so, but what was different about them was the identical blood-red headbands they all wore. The man in front seemed different from the others. His hair was a midnight black and hid half of his face from view. He gave me a sad smile and kneeled; resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I am sorry we did not make it here in time, but," The man took a glance at my destroyed village. "I am going to make it up to you, I promise." He stood up and gave me grin.

"Now, what is your name kid?" I stood up with him and wiped my eyes.

"Sanosuke, sir," I said.

The man grinned and swung me up onto his shoulder. "I'm Captain Sozo Sagara of the Sekihotai, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Sanosuke."

"Captain," A Sekihotai member spoke up.

"Yeah?"

The man pointed to me.

"What are you gonna do with the kid?" He asked.

Captain Sagara grinned at me on his shoulder. "I don't think Aita would mind if I brought him home to live with us, so that's what I'm going to do."

That's what he did alright, The Sekihotai went off to patrol another area and Captain brought me home to meet his family. I remember him walking through the door and being greeted by his wife, Aita and she lifting me off his shoulder and onto the floor, after introducing herself. Then a small girl running across the room and leaping into Captain's arms, shrieking "daddy!".

"Why hello, Kiya, have you been good for your mommy?" Captain asked.

The little girl would give a big grin and nod vigorously, her black ponytail bouncing and dark blue eyes wide.

And so I lived at the Sagara household for two years, the best years of my life.

|| End Flash-back ||

"I…I remember…" I whispered. "You couldn't say my name right, so instead you called me Sano…"

Kiya hiccuped and lifted her head again to look at me. "Why didn't you come back? Why Sano?"

"What do you mean Kiya?" I asked.

"You and father left one day with the Sekihotai and y…you never came back. Mother and I waited eight years for you and father, b…but,"

Kiya dissolved into tears again and buried her face into her hands. I pulled her hands away.

"But what?" I asked.

Kiya's eyes turned ice cold again and she clenched her jaw.

"They came out of nowhere, this band of robbers. I think about half of their number was drunk, three of their six. Mother wouldn't let me try to make them leave and we hid in the back room hoping they'd go away. They eventually found us a…and…."

Kiya unconsciously began to crush my fingers in her grasp. I yanked them away, but Kiya didn't seem to notice. She continued to clench and unclench her hands at her sides.

"They raped her, Sano, my mother, right in front of me. I c…couldn't do a thing to stop it! One of them kept me hostage with a knife at my throat. Mother kept telling me to stay put and that she would be okay, but it was all not to be. A…after they had finished with her their leader slit my mother's throat. The man who'd held me hostage let go of me and began to leave with the others. I don't really remember what happened next, I remember letting out this loud scream and my head hurting and then everything went black. Like I had fainted or something."

Kiya had stopped clenching her fists and now they were hanging loosely at her sides. She continued.

"When I woke up the robbers were dead; slashed to pieces. There was blood all over the place. But what startled me the most was the blood that covered my hands and this." Kiya traced the scar that ran over her left eye with a shaking hand. "After that I left for Osaka and became the city's sweeper. I think I was there for about four years, before leaving to come here to Tokyo." Kiya gave a sigh; I guessed it was one of relief. "And that's all, Sano."

I stood up.

"Damn Kiya….all that ….and at your age….." I said.

Kiya just shrugged and walked over her kadochi and picked it up; tucking it into her belt.

"Um, Kiya?"

"Nani?"

"I would like you to meet a good friend of mine and his name, is Kenshin Himura."

Kiya's eyes widened; until they were the size of a riceball. "H…Himura the Battousai?"

I nodded. "The one and only,"

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Next time on Rurouni Kenshin…….

The Black Rose meets the Battousai, what will happen? And what frightening secret is Kiya hiding from the others? The gang meeting Kiya for the first time and more on the next episode of Rurouni Kenshin…..

                         Berserk: Kiya's Secret