Work of fanfiction

Blades and Love

A/N: Now I know all of you love swordfights, so that's what you're getting today. Now, ponder this question as you read: why are European swords inferior to Japanese swords? Today's lesson starts now.

Something occurred to Shinji as they entered the gym. "Hey Asuka, are your blades blunted?"

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, I never got a chance to get any real ones. Not a big deal, these are just for practice, so I can use the EVA ones."

"Good." Shinji drew his sakabatou. "Then there aren't any problems. Who wants to go first?"

Rei drew her blade. "I do. I will be needing a warm-up before going up against you, Shinji."

Asuka shook her head. "Warm-up?! Oh, you're going to get it now, Wondergirl. Prepare for a beat-down." Asuka's words almost sounded like friendly smack talk. It was a far cry from what would've issued from her mouth when the Angels were attacking. She drew her blades, an old-style rapier and a main gauche.

Shinji sheathed his blade and held out his hand. "Can I see that sword?" Asuka handed it over and Shinji took a couple of experimental swings with it. "Ugh. Heavy." The rapier he was holding was not the cup-hilt epee made famous by Errol Flynn and numerous 'swashbuckling' Hollywood films, but something the 'Three Musketeers' would have actually used. The blade was heavy, and very stiff. It was a stabbing and chopping weapon, not a sword that made little nicks in a person. And Shinji's least favorite thing about it… "This thing's balance is horrendous. How do you fight with it?" It was balanced like a saber, with the balance point about a third of the way down the blade.

"Baka! I happen to like this thing!" she said as he handed it back.

"Keep it," said Shinji, "I'll stick with my sakabatou."

"Baka. Ready Wondergirl? " Asuka held the rapier in her right and the main gauche in the left. The long blade she kept out to attack with, while she left the shorter one in to guard her self. Rei went straight into the middle attitude, waiting for Asuka's attack.

The German girl obliged her, lunging for ward, rapier straight out in an impaling attack. Rei lithely avoided the attack, then brought her nami iaito down on the European blade's balance point, knocking it into the gym floor. Rei then pulled her blade around and slashed at Asuka's body. Asuka barely got the main gauche up in time, barely deflecting the slash. Rei jumped back and regarded her opponent coolly. The fight was hers. Not only was she a better swordswoman, having inherited Kaoru Himura's kenki, her sword was simply better. With a balance point at the hilt, she could maneuver her blade easily, while Asuka could not. Granted, Asuka had a more powerful swing, but then, Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu was built on speed, and Rei was very familiar with what it could do. It was time to end it. Rei lunged at Asuka, bringing her sword around in a powerful slice before bringing it upwards and into a two-handed stroke down.

As Rei had predicted, Asuka avoided the horizontal slash. The German girl was not a slouch when it came to swordfighting. But she was used to a weapon that could not be easily maneuvered into a second attack so easily so the downward attack caught her by surprise, hitting her shoulder.

"Ahg!" Asuka fell to the floor. "Damn, Wondergirl…not bad." She picked herself up off the ground. The blue-haired girl gave a quick rei (bow) to the auburn-haired one, and stepped back, sheathing her sword. "Would've never thought you'd get better than me, the number one EVA pilot in the world. Chalk it up to luck." Some of the kids in school would've found her almost respectful joking tone scary. It was pretty damn different from what they would've remembered. "I'm up for another round, c'mon, Shinji."

"Right." Shinji stood up and put his sword in his obi. "I'll call techniques."

"Oh, give me a break, baka. You need all the advantages you can get." Was that her imagination, or did she hear a slight snicker from Rei? Definitely her imagination. "Come on, get that sword out."

"Fine," said Shinji, drawing the sakabatou and putting it in a loose one-handed grip. "You first."

Asuka shook her head and lunged at Shinji, only to discover that he wasn't there any more. "Over here," said Shinji from behind her.

"What the hell?!" Asuka swung the rapier at him before the boy disappeared again!

"Uh, up here. Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu Tsui Sen!" called Shinji from the air above the German girl.

To her credit, Asuka was able to bring up the heavy rapier to guard against the attack. Many people would have trouble doing that with a katana. And she was able to get her main gauche under the tip of the sword's blade to support it. A very good move. But Shinji's hand was filled with trump cards. Gravity, a two and a half meter fall, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, and let's not forget the kenki of Kenshin Himura coursing through his body. It was a rather good thing Shinji didn't have a katana. Ryu Tsui Sens were an almost guaranteed sword-cutting move.

As it was, Asuka's arms and blades were hammered down and the sakabatou's dull edge came down on her shoulder, the one Rei had not abused. Asuka went to the floor, and hard. Shinji winced. Like Kenshin, he really liked the Ryu Tsui Sen and Ryu Kan Sen, and had a tendency to overuse them. He shouldn't have used a technique on her. Kenichi was able to get back up, but Shinji guessed that Asuka would have a little more trouble. He had also probably hit a tad harder than he should've, remembering that she had always been stronger than him. He quickly sheathed his blade, but not too quickly. No need to make that sound.

He knelt and started shaking Asuka. "Hey, you alright?" Rei came over as well, and rolled the German onto her back.

"Shinji…"

"Yes, Rei, I know. The Ryu Tsui Sen was completely unnecessary." Shinji sighed.

Rei brushed his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. She'll be out for a while, but won't take serious damage. Just a sakabatou shaped bruise."

Shinji sat down. "Yeesh. This is hard to get used to, being able to do the whole Hiten deal."

Rei sat down right next to him. "For the people of the world, right?"

Shinji cracked a small smile. "Right." Their hands intertwined as they looked at each other. It was amazing, the amount of energy that could exist in the space between two people, especially swordspersons. Kenki was not limited to expression through the sword. With the right people, it could also manifest in the way they talked, touched…kissed.

Shinji and Rei withdrew from the gentle closed-mouth kiss, in bliss. Damn, but it felt…right. They moved in for another kiss, a longer one, arms snaking around one another. The two students of kenjutsu drank in each other's love tenderly. It was far to precious to handle any other way. The broke off the kiss and regarded each other's face silently.

"Cute," teased the newly-awakened Asuka. Shinji and Rei both looked over at her, startled. "So you two are going out. Thought so. Glad to see you didn't pine over me, deep in depression."

Shinji winced imperceptibly. For a week that had been a little closer to the truth than he would've liked. "You recover quickly."

"Eh," said Asuka, with a smirk, "I'm the number-one EVA pilot, right? What was that move anyway? And aren't you supposed to kiss and make up after a fight?"

"It was Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu," answered Shinji, "I used a Ryu Tsui Sen."

Asuka tapped her chin. "I'm reminded of a Japanese history lass I took in college. It's a sword style, right?" At their nods, Asuka went on. "Some famous guy used it. The Hitokiri Battousai, right?" They nodded. "Huh. Hold it! THE HITOKIRI BATTOUSAI?! You're joking."

"No," answered Shinji as he and Rei stood up and stood next to each other, "His name was Kenshin Himura, and this," he popped the sakabatou, "Was his sword."

"Uh, baka?" asked Asuka with a disbelieving look on her face, "No hitokiri would use that thing."

"What do you know of his life after the Bakumatsu, Asuka?" asked
Shinji, quite seriously.

"Nothing, duh, baka! No one knows anything. And where did you learn his name?"

"From the person who told me he swore never to kill again and threw away his old sword. One of his friend's descendants." He resheathed the bit of blade that was showing.

Rei tapped his shoulder. "Now that she's awake, are we having our match?"

"Calls?"

"No calls."

"Right." The two of them went to opposite ends of the gym. Asuka looked on, interested.

Shinji simply popped his blade, while Rei assumed chudan-no-kamae. Shinji slid into the stance of battoujutsu, then thought better and drew his blade, settling into an open one-handed stance. Rei gave a little jerk of her head. Shinji, to Asuka, seemed to disappear and appeared in front of Rei, blades locked.

Rei could follow Shinji, albeit with some trouble, and knew that the fight was Shinji's. Really, with Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Shinji owned any swordfight. It was just a matter of time and techniques used. Didn't mean she couldn't fight back, though. She pushed him away and thrust her sword at his stomach. Shinji parried it to the floor and jumped over her, slashing as he turned in the air. Rei spun around, hammering the blow aside with her nami iaito. Shinji grinned slightly and dashed to the side, slashing overhand. Rei simply avoided the strike and gave him an upward sweeping blow in return. Shinji jumped over Rei again, rolling to the side as he hit the ground, as Rei had simply opted to let go with the left and go 'around the world' with the blow. Shinji flipped into the air and came down with a Ryu Tsui Sen that hit the ground Rei had been standing on a half-second earlier. She stabbed backwards, and though she didn't know how he did it, he parried the one-handed thrust. They both jumped away and landed, Shinji breathing only slightly more heavily than normal, and Rei edging into the realm of panting. But both of them had small, almost feral, grins on their faces. Asuka was only able to see them for a few second before they dashed at each other again. Rei was looking for a blade lock, but Shinji changed course at the last second and performed a Ryu Kan Sen Tusumji.

A Ryu Kan Sen, sure, Rei could block that, but the second and third levels of the technique were beyond her defensive skill. She went flying towards the ground, the force of Shinji's blow attenuated by her block. Still, the ground wasn't soft.

And neither were the arms that caught her, but she found them a comforting presence. Thank god for boyfriends training in hypersonic sword arts. Rei reached up and kissed him.

Asuka stood stunned.

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it's been a while, but I gave you the kiss and sword action, didn't I? What more could you freaking want? Outside of EVAs. That's coming soon. By the way, my old contest is still open.