Born Battousai Theory

The next morning, Kenshin was walking up the dirt trail to Hiko's house. Hiko just stepped outside. He saw Kenshin approaching but didn't pay him any attention. He sat on his log with a fresh jug of sake in his hand.

"Good morning, Master." Kenshin came around the log and sat beside him.

"You're very rude. Did I ask you to sit down?"

Kenshin grinned, "No you didn't……..but you never ask anyone to sit down that you don't."

"Humph…….I guess you're right about that." He pull out his sake cup and pour him self a drink.

"So…is Kiriko still asleep?" Kenshin asked. He tired not to sound too eager but he was really excited about see her again.

Hiko took a sip of his sake then he frowned up his face.

Kenshin caught this reaction. "What's wrong?"

"The taste is gone." Hiko said this more to himself then to Kenshin. Regardless, he drank the cup full. "Kiriko is not here. She left last night."

The expression that appeared on Kenshin's face would have been comical under other circumstances but it was obvious that this information crushed his heart.

Hiko looked at him and started to chuckle. "Oh wipe that look off your face. She's going home."

"What?"

Hiko swallowed, "You heard me the first time."

"She's going home?"

"Yup…..we made a deal. So she's now heading back to Tokyo."

Kenshin jumped up, "Well why didn't you keep her here until I arrived. I could have walked with her. She made it here safely but what if she gets hurt on the way back! What if someone attacks her! I have to go!"

Kenshin started to leave but Hiko grabbed him by the arm and forced him to sit back down.

"Sit down, idiot! I have to tell you something."

"But Master I have to-"

"Kenshin calm down." Hiko said quietly.

Kenshin shut up immediately. He knew Hiko was being very serious whenever he used his name instead of saying idiot or stupid apprentice. He settled down and gave his full attention to Hiko.

Hiko sipped his sake, "First things first. I have some good news and some bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"

Kenshin thought about it for a moment. He couldn't handle anymore bad news right now so he said, "I'll take the good news, please."

Hiko set his sake cup down. "The good news is that you don't have to worry about Kiriko getting hurt. She can defend herself."

"Defend herself?……I mean I've heard stories her helping people on her way here. I also know about the sword she received, the one that can't cut, however, she can still get hurt."

Hiko snickered, "And if she does?"

Kenshin was becoming angry, "And if she-……..She is my little girl I don't want her to get hurt she needs my protection."

Hiko shook his head, hhhmmm…I see what she means. "Kenshin…..you really under estimate your daughter. Do you know that?"

He frowned but didn't say anything.

"Let me ask you something……Did you teach your children Hiten?"

"No."

Hiko picked up his sake cup and pour himself another drink. "I thought so……Kenshin I'm going to tell you a little something about you and your daughter…..Kiriko and I made a deal. If she could hit me with her sword then I would have told her about your secret but if she didn't she would go home. Obviously she lost however her sword technique is nothing I've ever seen before."

He could see Kenshin didn't understand him so he continued. "During our fight, I noticed how her speed would increase every time she attacked but her last attack was the one that kept me up all last night thinking. On her last attack she did one of your moves and jumped straight into the air. I was having a hard time reading her moves so I figured she would go for my arm like you did so long ago. Unfortunately I under estimated her drastically, she use her sheath to go for the side of my stomach but my stomach wasn't her objective. It was my face……….Kenshin, Kiriko came with in millimetres of hitting my face. MY FACE. If I didn't realize in that tiny fracture of a second what her other objective was, she would have hit me, easily. Come to think of it……she probably would have knocked me out. I honestly didn't know that was coming. I couldn't predict it. And Kenshin as you know, no one has ever gone for my face. Not even you have come THAT close. I know I'm old but I'm not that old."

Kenshin's eyes were wide in disbelief. I remember how hard it was for me just to hit his arm……could he be making this up...no…the sound of Hiko voice tells me that this really shook him up. Hiko took a sip of his sake and continued.

"When she left last night, I stayed up and thought about her fighting style. Kenshin….she's a ronin as you know. She taught herself everything but even if someone taught their self they wouldn't be that good. So I thought about it some more. Then I remembered her eyes. They looked like yours when you became the Battousai."

"Yes! I've seen them myself but I don't know how that could have happened." Kenshin shook his head in utter disbelief.

Hiko put his cup down again and looked up into the cloudless sky. "Stupid apprentice. Don't you realize…."

Kenshin didn't speak up because it was obvious he didn't know what was going on.

Hiko turned to look at him, "She born Battousai."

"Master… what do you mean she's born Battousai?"

Hiko signed in frustration. "I better use little words so you can understand…..You and the Battousai are two different personalities, the pacifist and the man-slayer. Both your fighting techniques are Hiten Mitsurugi however, even though you are extremely skilled, the Battousai will always be just a little bit faster and stronger than Kenshin Himura……I would have never thought you would pass on both you and the Battousai to your chi-"

"But that's not possible! The boys practice swordsmanship but they don't have the skills you're describing about Kiriko."

Hiko gave Kenshin a look that said he better not interrupt him again. Kenshin kept his mouth closed.

"As I was saying……you and the Battousai were passed on to your CHILD. If you haven't noticed, Kiriko looks almost exactly like you but she's a lot cuter….."

"Oro!"

"…..She has your spirit, determination and willingness to help others. The boys I'm assuming look more like your wife, right?"

Kenshin nodded.

"She also has your fighting technique…"

Kenshin shook his head.

"Let me finish, Kenshin…..You fought so much in the Revolution and during your travels that Master Hiten's style has become apart of your DNA. Of course it wouldn't pass to your boys because they get their traits from their mother; however girls are more like their fathers. Kiriko was born with a swordsman's spirit of Kenshin Himura AND Battousai the man-slayer. It's in her blood."

Kenshin's frown deepened. He didn't like the way this was sounding.

"Yet I want to make something clear to you," Hiko continued, "If Kiriko had not taken it upon herself to learn swordsmanship, she would just be an ordinary girl. She couldn't just pick up a sword all of a sudden and automatically know how to use it. But the Battousai's blood is strong in her, she was going to want to learn the art of swordsmanship regardless of how much you and your wife tried to keep it away from her."

Kenshin never took that into consideration. It not only my blood, he thought, Kaoru comes from a line of samurai too.

Hiko sipped his sake, "Her skills and godlike speed surpass your own, Kenshin. They nearly surpassed mine. She is able to hide her emotions so it is harder to predict what she's going to do. It's almost as if………" Hiko took another sip from the jug this time. "as if………she has her own fighting style….Don't you see now. She is born a master swordsman of her own caliber………. born Battousai."

Kenshin snatched the jug from Hiko's hand and took a long drink. Hiko chuckled.

"Okay so my daughter has created another technique that surpasses Hiten and this is good news?" Kenshin gave the jug back to Hiko.

"Yes….oh and the fact that she loves you very much and she's not interested in finding out about your secret anymore."

Kenshin smiled. Now this was the type of good news he wanted to hear. He wasn't to sure about how to take the news of her being a master swordswoman. He looked at Hiko.

"Okay……what's the bad news?"

Hiko poured a cup full of sake and handed it to Kenshin. "Here you better take another drink of this."

Kenshin took the cup and started to drink.

"I think Kiriko's in love."

Kenshin spit the sake out onto the ground. "WHAT!"

"HEY! Don't waste my sake like that!"

"IN LOVE! What do you mean by in love?" Kenshin yelled in Hiko face.

Hiko wiped the spit droplets off his cheek. "I already took a bath this morning I don't need another one from you. Thank you."

"This is not a joking matter, Master! Who! Who is she in love with!"

"Some guy named Shio."

Kenshin nearly fell off the log. He was so relieved. He wiped the sweat off his brow. Hiko raised his eyebrow at this reaction.

"Why are you so relieved about this?"

He started to chuckle a little, "It's a long story, Master. I just thought it was someone else……So what's so bad about her being in love? I mean I don't like the fact I don't know this guy but other than that it doesn't sound so bad."

"The bad news is not the fact that's she's in love but who she is in love with……When she first told me the name, Shio, I didn't pay much attention to it. However, the more she spoke about him and the description she gave me made me wonder about him. I've heard that name some where before by someone who used to be a part of the Juppengatana."

Kenshin gasped.

"Kenshin I suggest you go back to Shinomori's place and look into it."

Kenshin nodded then got up. "Okay I will. Thank you for being there for Kiriko on her birthday."

Hiko wave his hand. It was his way of saying 'Your welcome.' "Go find your daughter."

"Right." Kenshin turned to leave. "Goodbye, Master and the next time I visit, I'll bring the whole family with me." He hurried down the road.

Hiko looked at his cup. "I'd like that," he said to himself then finished his flavorless sake.