Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu
[By: Tenken]

Disclaimer: I dun own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters, Neji (OOC) is mine I think . . .

Rating: G to PG perhaps . . .

A/N: "____" is speech and '____' is thinking . . . I've discovered just now that fanfiction.net sometimes deletes wat the characters r thinking when I put it in ^^; slow, aren't I?

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu
Chapter 8
"First Encounter"

The bullet headed giant Senkaku lay sprawled out on the tatami mats, some which had smashed on contact. Shishio Makoto sat calmly on his cushions, his chin resting on his palm while Himura Kenshin's sword tip was leveled at his face.

"Take up your sword, Shishio Makoto." Kenshin said, keeping his eyes on the bandaged man sitting before him. Neji stepped forwards, eyes darting between the shinobi zue leaning next to Shishio's sword, Himura Battousai, and the two unknown life forces he could sense outside the sliding door.

'Damn it . . . what should I do?' Neji thought, balling his hand into a fist. 'I doubt those two could hurt Shishio-sama, or even Himura Battousai but . . . I shouldn't take chances . . .'

"Don't bother hiding," Saitou said, placing his hand on the edge of the sliding door. Neji blinked and turned slightly to look at the door from the corner of his eye. "You can come on out." Neji's stance switched as he prepared for an attack, and sweatdropped as a girl and small boy tumbled into the room, the girl squashing the boy.

"Waaah!" Misao yelped, landing flat on Eji, who still clutched his brother's jagged sword.

"Just stay close"

Kenshin's glare lessened to a look of surprise as he turned to the new arrivals. "Misao-donno! What are you doing here?"

"That technique . . ." Shishio's deep voice filled the room and Kenshin turned back to face him. "You called it the Ryuushousen. You struck Senkaku's chin with the flat of the blade, but if you had used the edge . . ."

Neji smirked as he saw Senkaku's throat exploding into a mess of blood, flesh and bone from Battousai's sakabatou.

"Would it have killed him?" Shishio finished, still not lifting his chin up from his hand. Kenshin nodded slightly, murmuring his reply. Shishio shook his head lightly, closing his eyes as if in thought. "I'm disappointed, I heard that you became a rurouni, swearing not to kill. It was hard to believe until I saw it with my own eyes. You could never destroy me like that."

Shishio moved his bandaged hand in a gesture to Yumi, who quickly folded the screen that had back dropped their conversation, revealing a secret stairway. The bandaged man stood up from his cushions finally and stood next to Yumi, who held the door with one hand. "Boring . . . I don't want to fight. I'll wait for you in Kyoto, if you become the Hitokiri we'll try this again."

"You'll turn tail and run?" Kenshin asked, still with his sword levered towards Shishio Makoto. A dark expression appeared on Shishio's face like a cloud over the sun, and his hand moved towards the sword stand.

"Ah! Look out Himura!" Misao shouted, making a fist and bonking Eji on the head. Shishio's hand closed upon the metal staff that leant against the sword stand and threw it across the room. Shishio held the sword that had taken up the stand in his left hand, as Kenshin dodged the swirling staff that passed by his head.

A grin lit up Neji's face as the cool steel of the shinobi zue smacked into his palm, catching it easily in its twirling passage across the room. He stared across the room as his sister slowly ascended the stairs that lead to an underground passage and outside the village.

"Neji, play with him for me." Shishio said, waiting for Yumi to go further down the staircase. Neji leant the shinobi zue against his shoulder and he smirked.

"You sure?" Neji asked, twirling the shinobi zue, enjoying the feel of it that he had lacked for a quarter of an hour. He finished by catching it in his left hand. Shishio's smirk mirrored Neji's.

"I'm sure, I'm showing him you as reward for him Ryuushousen." Shishio finished, turning and starting to walk down the steps.

"With your permission . . ." Neji muttered, holding the shinobi zue in his left and getting into a fighting stance.

'That stance . . .' Saitou thought. 'That staff he's carrying completes it . . .' Neji met Kenshin glare for glare, the both of them not moving as Kenshin lowered his sword so the point was aiming at the ground.

"Himura!!" Misao shouted, raising her 'armored' fists. "What're you standing there for? The bandage guy is getting away!!" Kenshin glare changed as his sword-ki flared up. Neji's smirk widened as Kenshin's attack was pushed away from him by his own sword-ki. Misao got hit with the brunt of the attack and flopped down to the floor, her eyes wide.

"Wha . . . what the heck was that?" she mumbled, still chibi. Saitou didn't move from his position against the sliding door as he folded his arms and looked up.

"It's useless. Trying to fight him with sword-ki is like attacking a rock. I've been doing it all along. His sword-ki is . . . powerful, the attacks are merely reflected off of him."

[Scene change]

The crash of hooves is heard as Shishio rides a horse, making it leap over a fallen tree. Yumi leans back against his bandaged chest as a worried look crossed her face.

"Shishio-sama . . . will Neji be fine?" she asked, looking up at him. Shishio smirked.

"He'll be fine." Shishio said, moving the horse's reins with a hand. "At this point, he is more than a match for my predecessor. His fighting and killing ki are well trained, from his childhood experiences. His joy of seeing you happy, his anger against people who try and destroy your happiness, they all make him strong."

[Scene changed again]

Neji and Kenshin face off in the smashed up room, Misao and Eji watching with wide eyes and Saitou still leaning against the door with an expressionless look on his face.

"The finest swordsman won't be able to overpower Neji with a ki attack." Shishio continued. "Saitou was going to attack me, but he couldn't immobilize Neji, so he didn't do it. For Battousai, it will be all the more deadly-"

Neji scratches his head with his right hand, his left holding his staff in a vertical fashion slightly behind him. "Himura, if we don't start soon I won't be able to catch up with Shishio-sama." 'And Yumi-neechan . . .' he added to himself.

Kenshin stared at the young man for a moment then sheathed the sakabatou and got into the battoujutsu-stance. Misao cried out in surprise as Saitou smirked again. "Using your fastest technique against him is the best plan." He said, giving his approval on Kenshin's fighting plan.

"Battou-jutsu?" Neji said, the smirk not leaving his face. He sighed and relaxed his left arm, allowing his staff to swing back and forth. Neji's eyes closed and Kenshin inched forwards slightly, pushing the hilt of his sakabatou up with his thumb. A curious expression passed Kenshin's face briefly as the boy did nothing to protect himself, then he shook his head and glared once again.

'Shishio Makoto.'

Kenshin drew his sakabatou swiftly out of its sheath, his teeth clenched yet his eyes calm. The blade cut through he air toward the taller man's face. Neji's eyes opened quickly in a glare and he stepped backwards, dodging the slash by an inch. His grip on the shinobi zue tightened as shock appeared on Kenshin's face.

'He dodged it . . .' Kenshin thought, still following through. The ex- hitokiri's eyes widened as a blade materialized from the tip of the staff, that whirled in Neji's left hand and sent the blade flying towards his opponent.

Neji's brown eyes narrowed as his smirk widened upon seeing half of the sakabatou fly through the air and stab into the tatami mats. "Its over, isn't it?" he said, thunking the end of his shinobi zue into the ground, the blade up in the air above his head.

"Yes, if neither side can go on, it's a draw." Saitou said from the corners. Neji glared at the tall policeman then blinked and looked up at the blade of his weapon, which had chips and dents in it.

"How . . .? You damaged my shinobi zue . . ." Neji murmured, lowering the blade to examine it more closely.

Misao jumped into the air and punched her fist. "All right! That's what I expected from Himura!"

"It's amazing, I never expected you to be able to that, Himura Battousai." Neji said louder, looking up at the red headed man. He twisted a section of the staff quickly, hidden by his gi's sleeves, and the blade disappeared again. 'I'll have to repair it when we I get to Kyoto . . .'

Neji rested the staff against his shoulder again and walked past Battousai towards the stairs where his master had gone a few minutes ago. "This match had no winner or loser. I wish to fight you again, but before then you'll have to find yourself another sword, Battousai."

Neji smirked as the man gave no reply and merely stood holding the ruined remains of his sakabatou, and exited the room and the village. While going down the last step of the hidden stairway and entering the tunnel, the clink of the sakabatou being sheathed reached Neji's ears.

Hiten mitsurugi Ryu
Chapter 8
END

A/N: I switch from Kenshin to Battousai a lot . . . I think I could've done a lot better w/this chapter . . . gomen! ~bows~