Well . . . I lied ^^; isn't all about Soujiro . . . but . . . he's there, I'll insert some more of what he's thinking in-between . . . ~grins + bows~ gomen

Chapter 17: Is this jealousy?

Soujiro blinked and sat up straighter on the log. The fire had burnt low, almost dying. He sweatdropped and jumped up, rushing to the pile of wood stacked next to the kiln. Stacking a few more sticks of wood on the fire, Soujiro rubbed his eyes.

"I must have fallen asleep . . ." He looked about the area then up at the blue sky. "Hiko-sensei and Himura-san still haven't come back from the waterfalls," Soujiro murmured, poking at the fire with a stick. It flared back to life. "I wonder how good Himura-san is . . . Maybe Hiko-sensei would let me fight him. I haven't fought anyone before, other then Hiko- sensei of course. But . . . he was Hitokiri Battousai . . ."

He heard a slight rustling sound and turned quickly to it. Hiko strode out of the woods his cape catching on branches. Soujiro smiled and bowed to him, the stick still in his hand.

"Ohayou, Hiko-sensei," Soujiro said cheerily. Hiko grunted in return. Soujiro glanced around his master at the shorter, orange haired wanderer behind him. "Ohayou, Himura-san." Kenshin looked up and blinked, then smiled at Soujiro.

"Ohayou, Seta-dono," Kenshin replied, before getting elbowed by their teacher.

"Idiot, pay attention," Hiko grunted. Kenshin sweatdropped and nodded. "Soujiro, go sit down somewhere. I need room to teach my baka deshi Kuzuryuusen." Soujiro blinked once, then sat down on the log again, still smiling. He watched as his teacher and his predecessor walked a short ways apart and faced each other. Hiko took in a breath and snorted it out.

"Don't move, or else you'll be killed," Hiko said, drawing his sword silently. Kenshin blinked then nodded.

"Hiko-sensei, you never warned me about that . . ."

Hiko spared a quick glare at his smiling student on the log then looked back at Kenshin. "First a review of the types of attacks in kenjutsu. First, the Karatake, Kesagiri, reverse Kesagiri, right Nagi, left Nagi, right upward cut, left upward cut, and the Sakakaze. Then, there is the stroke to the chest, at the shortest range, the Tsuki." Hiko held the hilt of his sword with two hands and brought the blade up. "In all the schools, there is no killing technique that does not aim for one of these nine points. Defense stances were developed to correspond to these same nine points. But . . ."

Soujiro blinked and leaned slightly forward as his teacher blurred out of view, blazing past Kenshin and leaving a small slash on each of the nine points. He slid to a stop on his knees behind the stunned rurouni.

"Nobody can defend against this move, if you use the godlike speed of Hiten Mitsurugi and strike all the nine points at once. This is the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Kuzuryuusen."

"I . . ."

Hiko and Soujiro looked at the stunned man, Hiko with a smirk and Soujiro with a smile. Soujiro, for one, looked slightly surprised. "Shikuchi . . ." Soujiro murmured, under his breath, looking thoughtful.

"I couldn't have moved an inch . . ." Kenshin finished, eyes wide. Hiko took a more relaxed stance and rested his sword against his shoulder, the smirk still on his face.

"Having the wild attack technique of Ryuususen in all nine attacks, combined with the charging techniques, makes the avoidance of the strikes impossible. This is the technique I'm best at."

Soujiro stood up and stretched, still envisioning Kenshin's reaction to the technique. The silence hung in the air. Kenshin swallowed, looking serious.

"This . . . is the ougi . . ."

Hiko nodded then grinned, letting his sword drop to his side. "Now, quit standing there admiring it and give it a try." Kenshin turned chibi and sweatdropped.

"Just . . . Just like that?"

Hiko sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "What are you talking about? You can't learn this technique by studying footwork. It's when you've felt its force and you're on your hands and knees that you learn." He glanced at the chibi Kenshin. "It's the way I always trained you." He sighed and also glanced at the smiling Soujiro. "And how I train this baka deshi as well."

Soujiro smiled again. "It must mean it works, ne Hiko-sensei?" Hiko sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"Seta-dono . . . You also went through all of that?" Kenshin said, sweatdropping as he remembered all the beatings he got during the training sessions as a kid. Soujiro nodded, still with his smile spread across his face. "How did you survive? Then . . . I think I was lucky to survive as well . . ." He sweatdropped again.

"Well, it's all because I was clever," Hiko said, stroking his chin with one hand. "I gave both of you as much as you could take. It's all thanks to me." His students went chibi simultaneously. Hiko suddenly turned serious again. "If you understand, try it. At full strength."

Kenshin stayed silent a moment, then fluidly drew his sword. Holding it in the same stance Hiko did, he closed his eyes.

'I couldn't move a muscle,' Kenshin thought. 'But . . . I saw them. I saw all nine points of attack.'

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu. Kuzuryuusen.

"He did it . . ." Soujiro murmured, eyes glued to the fight. His hand went to his sword hilt and hovered there.

'I did it . . .' Kenshin thought, blazing towards his teacher. Hiko smiled slightly.

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Kuzuryuusen.

Soujiro's eyes widened as hit after hit was blocked. Kenshin's Kuzuryuusen meeting Hiko's and deflecting each attack. "I didn't last this long . . ." Soujiro murmured, right before Kenshin was knocked to the ground. 'He looks almost the same . . . how could he trade so many blows with Hiko-sensei before being knocked down?'

"My Kuzuryuusen . . . wasn't perfect?" Kenshin said, stunned, as he levered himself off the dusty ground. Hiko kept his back to his student but glanced backwards, his sword once again resting against his shoulder.

"It was perfect, but even with the same techniques, if the fighters differ, the force will be different as well," Hiko said, looking down at him. "In wild-attack techniques, it's the strength of your arms that counts; in charging techniques, it's your weight. In both respects, you're my inferior. In other words, before my Kuzuryuusen, your Kuzuryuusen is, of course, as useless as any other technique."

"So . . .I can't use the Kuzuryuusen . . ."

"If you're going to defeat my Kuzuryuusen, there's only one technique that can do it."

Soujiro grinned to himself. 'Is this a speech passed down from master to successor? He has it memorized . . .'

"The greatest secret of the Hiten Mitsurugi school, the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki," Hiko said, the wind blowing his cape about and sending leaves flying through the air. Kenshin's eyes widened.

"Wh . . .what?"

"What are you looking so shocked for?" Hiko grinned. "I never said that the Kuzuryuusen was the ultimate technique."

"You did that on purpose . . ." Kenshin muttered, chibi form. Hiko laughed shortly, before lifting his sword off his shoulder.

"The Kuzuryuusen wasn't created in real combat or in training. It was made as a step in the passing down of the techniques, as a test. To learn the succession technique, first you begin with the Kuzuryuusen. If you can defeat the Kuzuryuusen of the previous master, the initiation in the secrets of the school is complete."

"But . . ."

"Think hard about the Kuzuryuusen you just learned. If you do you'll get a general idea of the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki," Hiko replied, getting into the Kuzuryuusen stance again.

"About the Kuzuryuusen . . ." Kenshin murmured, before blinking once and sheathing his sword and getting into battoujutsu stance. "The Kuzuryuusen is a technique that allows no possibility of defense or flight. Nothing other than battou-jutsu can strike quickly enough to defeat it!"

"Well done," Hiko congratulated. "Surpassing divine speed is the greater divine speed of battou-jutsu. This is the true nature of the secret technique Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki." His glance lowered to Kenshin's sword. "But the problem is that the reverse blade will handicap the battou- jutsu. Can you still surpass divine speed?"

Soujiro, who had been staring avidly at the fight, flinched as Kenshin got out of the battoujutsu stance and stood, squarely facing their master. "What is he doing?"

"In formless stance . . . your sword put away . . . you're using Haisui no jin?" Hiko exhaled sharply. "That's foolish."

"Haisui no jin . . ." Soujiro murmured, trying to remember. "A formless stance . . .One who prepares to exhaust all his strength, who cannot recover if he fails. . ." Soujiro tried to mentally take notes of what was going on.

"I know. But even so . . . Even if I throw away my life, I must master the succession technique." Kenshin's eyes narrowed and he stood, facing his teacher who still stood in the Kuzuryuusen stance. They matched each other glare for glare. Both students looked surprised as Hiko lowered his sword slowly.

"Then, you truly are a baka deshi."

"Huh?"

The caped man turned away from the smaller man, toward his hut. "You haven't learned anything at all."

"Sh . . Shishou!"

"Take one night. Until morning, search your heart and find the part of you that you lack. If you can't do that, in mastering the ultimate technique, you really will be throwing away your life."

The wind blew stronger, kicking up leaves and sending them swirling in the air. Soujiro and Kenshin glanced at each other before shrugging, Kenshin turning to go into the forest and Soujiro unsheathing his sword.

"Himura-san."

"Hai, Seta-dono?" Kenshin replied, not turning around but stopping.

"Compared to Hiko-sensei, I'm more your size."

"Oro?"

". . .Would you want to try your Kuzuryuusen against mine?"

TBC

I wanted to use the Soujiro vs Kenshin idea from Moonlight2 . . . but its 12:48 and I'm sleepy . . . I didn't want to be too obvious . . .

eg. Having Soujiro think 'Its unfair, why is hiko-sensei helping Himura- san. I'm his student now. . .'

like that . . . its too obvious ne? and it makes him sound like a little kid . . . so I tried to do it more . . subtly? Is that the right word? Did it work?

Moonlight2 - thanks for the review and the ideas! ^_^