GT: Yello, this is about to be my favorite chapter of this fic. The Merchant of Death and Lan make their first appearance. And Miki joins the group! As does Enishi! Yea! Anyway, here ya'll go! At the end of the chapter is a weapons list explaining all the names otherwise you'd be left clueless on what a kusarikama and kunai is, I know I was until I did research. Yes, I researched for this fic. Go well informed me!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that can be used against me in a court of law

Chapter 3: The One Only Known In Nightmares

The white cover gently lands on the ground and the girl stands on the hilltop holding the object that was made popular by Zanza, the zanbato. "How is she holding that thing?" Soujirou asks in disbelief as a cocky smile grows on the girl's face.
"I'm giving you a chance to run," the girl says to them as she prepares to attack. "But if you wanna stay and fight, it doesn't matter. It'll just be your funeral." Yahiko gets into a defensive position along with Soujirou at his side.
"I don't fighting girls," Yahiko says the girl glares at him, growling slightly.
"I didn't know girls growl," Soujirou says with a weak smile on his face. The girl prepares to run at them.
"Apparently, you never met Kaoru." Yahiko says jokingly as the girl swings the large object at the two of them. They both skillfully dodge the attacks that are performed quickly. Damn, for a girl she's quick. Yahiko thinks to himself as the zanbato nearly tags him.
"Yahiko! Move it!" Soujirou shouts pushing him aside and getting the full force of the girl's attack. Soujirou is knocked into unconiousness and Yahiko gets the wind knocked out of him. Yahiko gets to his feet, staring deeply into the girl's hazel eyes. She prepares to attack him but stops an inch away from his face. Yahiko starts to breathe a sigh of relief but is stopped by something cold against his throat.
"I don't like to kill people I don't know," she says with a smirk. Yahiko feels a sense a relief as the girl puts one hand on her hip. "So, what's your name?" Yahiko goes wide-eyed; he looks back up at the girl who holds out her hand. "I'm Miki, nice to meet you." Yahiko's eye twitches as he slowly shakes the girl's hand.
"I'm Yahiko," he answers, hearing Soujirou's disproved grunt. Miki smiles slightly, still waiting for something more.
"Don't ya have a last name? Or are youse poor?" She asks impatiently, her foot starting to tap rhythmically.
"Don't you have one?" Yahiko asks trying to buy some time. Miki eyes him curiously and than a bright smile grows on her face.
"Yes, I am Miki Sagara." She says happily. Her response causes Soujirou and Yahiko to fall down, in pure shock. "Are ya'll alright? I still havta kill ya, ya know. So don't die or anything." Yahiko looks up at the dark-haired girl who was shorter than him.
"Did-Did you say Miki Sagara?" Yahiko asks looking up at his rather cheerful attacker who could amazingly lift the zanbato with great ease.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." She says with a spunky, childlike tone. Not noticing a lingering shadow behind her. A glint from something on the person's face gets in Yahiko's eyes, nearly blinding him. Miki notices Yahiko's discomfort and flips into the air like an acrobat and lands behind the silver-haired man.
"Enishi, she isn't like your normal girl." Soujirou warns finally sitting up. Enishi turns to the very sharp blade right up to his neck. Miki looks into his eyes with a fire of determination. "I would suggest you run."
"From a little girl," Enishi says disappearing in a burst of speed. He reappears behind the unknowing Miki, who has a look of confidence on her face that sends chills down Soujirou's and Yahiko's spines. Enishi uses Ko Fuku Zet Tou Sei, sinking to the ground and lunging at the sixteen-year-old girl. The group disappears in a cloud of dirt; Yahiko tries to see through the thick dirt, getting hit by falling pieces of rock and twigs.
"Girl's as good as dead," he hears Soujirou say, who's sitting next to him still in an incredible amount of pain. But as the dirt starts to clear up Enishi is set flying through the air and landing beside Soujirou.
"Damn, she's good." Enishi says under his breath, wiping off blood that came from his mouth. Miki stands in a punching position, than stands back up.
"You ruined my zanbato," she says, indicating the large sword that was lunged in the ground with Enishi's sword stuck inside it.
"And you ruined mine. Although, using the zanbato as a shield probably saved your cute ass." Enishi says with a toothy, bloody smile. A cocky little smirk grows on Miki's face as she lifts up her hands. Six little blades, much like Misao's kunai lift between her knuckles.
"Oh, crap." Yahiko says rather speechless. Miki's small arsenal never seemed to run out of surprises. The three men try to get up but the girl flings the kunai through the air and they all are pinned to the ground by their clothes. A scattered laughter goes through the crowd of people who had formed some time during the battle.
"This is pathetic," Enishi says as Miki starts to crack up at the sad sight. Soujirou, Yahiko, and Enishi just glare at the girl, who is trying her hardest to collect herself.
"I thought you would be hard to beat, but this is a little too easy. More easily than that fat moron I fought last week. Come on! Aren't ya guys supposed to be revered swordsmen?" Miki says holding her sides and falling to the ground. Enishi rolls his eyes, giving the girl a smug look. Yahiko looks over at the dark-haired girl who abruptly stops laughing, a look of terror in her deep hazel eyes as she looks behind them. The three men turn around to see another person standing near the river, studying the four of them. Most of his face covered by a black facemask and a red bandana covering his left eye, but his gleaming silver eye seemed perfectly able to study them thoroughly. A katana on his back and two chains leading to handles also on his back.
His cold, distant eye focuses on Yahiko who just stares at him. The man points at him with a gleeful glow in his eye. Yahiko's stare unwavers as he watches the man vanish in midair. Who was that? Yahiko thinks to himself, fixated on the place where he last saw the man. "Let me go," he hears Miki say from behind him. He quickly turns around to see the man standing there holding Miki off the ground by her hair.
"Don't worry Girlie, we'll save you." Enishi says standing up and charging at the man. Miki rolls her eyes at the surprising stupid swordsmen.
"Hey, stupid! Are ya forgettin' youse sword? It's over there, in my sword." Miki says impatiently, glaring at him. Enishi stops realizing that she was right, he turns to Soujirou and Yahiko who just stare in awe at his stupidity.
"Hey, Soujirou. Where did you find this guy?" Yahiko asks under his breath, Soujirou just hangs his head in shame. Miki begins to notice the reactions of the crowd are way different when the guy that was holding her hostage arrived.
"That poor child," someone says from within the crowd as the crowd just look at Miki with sympathy. Tried of waiting for the "heroes" to save her, Miki kicks the man trying to get herself freed.
"I don't think so, you see, no one has ever escaped alive after laying eyes on me." The man says looking up at the crowd, a noticeable smile growing on his face under the mask. Miki's eyes go wide with shock as the man uses his only free hand to throw the thing attached to a chain, a kusarikama. The kusarikama zooms through the air at the unsuspecting crowd and then returns back to the man's free left hand. The crowd quiets down and the people outlining the field's heads fall to the ground, painting the grass red. The lucky few who happened to be shorter than the rest, get off with their scalps sliding off their heads.
"You bastard," Miki says to the man who just looks at the crowd almost satisfied. The man looks questioningly at Miki, who just glares at him.
"Don't you just love crowd participation?" Someone from the crowd says with a smile on their face, red liquid running down her face and onto her chest. The crowd moves out of the domantix's way as she makes her way onto the field. "Van, The Merchant of Death, your reputation presides you." Miki eyes go even wide with shock and fear, the man who had her by her hair was the one only known by dead men. Yahiko stands up sakabato in his hands, ready to fight.
"Put down the girl!" Yahiko shouts readying his weapon, next to him stands Soujirou who was still injured by Miki's attack but still willing to fight with his sakabato and then Enishi stands on Yahiko's other side, putting off his pride and using a stick as his weapon. The woman snuffs a laugh as she walks over to feared Merchant of Death and whispers something in his ear.
"Himura-san wants to talk to you. You don't want to keep him waiting, do you? You know how mad he gets when he's ignored. Set off your play date for another time," she says with a smile, looking at Miki who just looks at Van. Unknowing to the woman, Miki had heard the one-sided conversion. Van throws Miki to the feet of Yahiko Myoujin and disappears once again in the blink of an eye. The woman resembling Yumi, walks over to Yahiko with a sultry smile on her face. "I'll see you again, my sexy little swordsman." She licks her lips and then disappears like Van, only more graceful.
"Are you all right?" Yahiko asks Miki, holding out his hand to help her up. Miki glares at him and uses her outstretched leg to send him to the ground.
"I don't need your help, Battousai." Miki says with an angry tone in her voice. Soujirou and Enishi look down at Kenshin's friend who gets the same look that Kenshin had on his face many times before.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm no murderer," Yahiko lies as Miki crawls over to him and gets in a rather compromising position with the Tokyo Samurai, on her hands and knees on top of him studying his cross-shaped scar.
"If you're not the Battousai than why do ya have a cross-shaped scar on your right cheek?" Miki asks with an unbelieving look on her face. Soujirou and Enishi squat beside her with intrigued looks on their faces.
"Yeah, I've been wondering that as well, Yahiko. It doesn't seem a possible that a new Battousai has shown up with a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek, after Kenshin has died only a couple years ago. And after the Kamiya dojo incident, there is no doubt in my mind that you might be Kenshin's replacement." Soujirou says as Yahiko gently moves Miki off of him and smiles innocently at the three of them.
"How much money do I owe ya?" Enishi asks Miki who just glares at him, holding out her hand with a smirk on her face.
"You guys know each other?" Yahiko asks as they both shake their heads and Miki collects her money.
"No, they made a bet right before The Merchant of Death arrived if you were Kenshin's replacement or not." Soujirou explains as they watch Miki stuff her money in her shirt. Yahiko just stares at her curiously.
"What? No one would ever reach in my shirt for money. And even if they were that dumb, I would cut off their balls." Miki says as Enishi just stares at her with a little fear in his eyes. The four of them stand up and Miki just smiles at them. Enishi walks over the zanbato and tries to get his sword out from its new sheath. "Ya owe me a new sword." Enishi looks over at her with his veins popping out from his skin in anger.
"Enishi, calm down. You'll scare the children," Soujirou jokes with a half-hearted laugh, patting the other man on his shoulder. Enishi looks up at him, growling. Soujirou takes this as a sign to back off from the wild animal. Enishi walks over to Miki and grabs her from by her shirt, lifting her off the ground.
"I owe you nothing," Enishi growls, looking Miki in the eye. Instead of the fear that he would normally get from someone like her, which was a cocky and didn't really care about her swordsmenship; he got a look of annoyance and an impatient smirk. "Stupid Girlie." He lets go of Miki's shirt, she looks up at him and smiles.
"So, why did you attack us?" Yahiko asks Miki who just puts her hand behind her back and smiles innocently. Yahiko looks her straight in the eyes with a smile growing on his face.
"Sano never returned when he went to fight the Battousai. He never gave the smallest hint that he had lived through that fight. I've been training most of my life so when I meet the Battousai, so I can defeat him and bring honor back to Zanza's name." Miki says putting both hands on her hips and looking down into the sunset with a determined look on her face. Enishi and Soujirou try not to laugh at her. Yahiko remains cool and collected with a slight smile.
"I'm sorry, but I am not the Battousai Sano fought. Anyway, what is Sano to you? I only know of one person who can carry that thing with one hand and it would seem that Sano is most likely to get a girl pregnant and not stick around." Yahiko says with a smile Miki lifts up her zanbato, eyeing the sword sticking out of it carefully.
"Sano saved me. When I was really little, my family was massacred right before my eyes. But just as they were about to come and kill me, Sano came with the zanbato. We just happened to own the inn he was staying in and he came in to get a drink. He heard what was going on and went to go get his zanbato. Even though he was too late for my family, he protected me and took me in. We lived together at a village just outside of Kyoto. When he left and never returned I was left alone again." Miki explains as they all walk over to a sitting area, Enishi busy ordering drinks. Soujirou and Yahiko listening intensively to Miki's story. "I heard tales of a really strong man living with the Battousai in Tokyo, so I came to check it out. But no one was there, apparently there had been a massacre." Soujirou looks over at Yahiko with a suspicious glow in his eyes.
"You gotta start somewhere," Enishi says as the waitress brings over four drinks. Soujirou smiles at the girl who looks at the mixture of zanbato and katana.
"Will you be looking for someone to fix that?" The waitress asks indicating the two weapons that were now stuck together. Yahiko smiled at the thought of the reactions the two fighters had.
"Yeah, do you know a cheap place where they can fix it?" Miki asks causing Soujirou and the others to sigh heavily. The waitress smiles at her and points over at a cliff over looking the town.
"There's a silversmith that lives right out of town. He's really skilled and his technique is unique because instead of metal he uses a special type of silver. He doesn't get a lot of customers but those who come get a good deal and a excellent job." The waitress explains with a smile but as she walks off she remembers something. She turns to tell the group but she finds that they have vanished.
"Do we know anything else about this guy? Other than he might be a deranged murderer," Miki says sarcastically as they hike up the mountain. Enishi walks closely behind her with a smile on his face. "Wait, Enishi you can talk to him first. Deranged psycho to deranged mountain man." Behind Miki's back Enishi makes faces at the sixteen-year-old who takes her place at Yahiko's side. Soujirou just looks over at Enishi, his eye slightly twitching.
"How old are you? Five?" Soujirou asks as he hears a slight whistling in the air. He looks up at a dozen senbon flying through the air at them. "Get down!" He pushes Miki to the ground, lying on top of her as a shield. Enishi and Yahiko join the two on the ground as the senbon hit the trees that they surrounded them.
"Holy shit! Who's attacking?" Enishi asks in somewhat of a panic as they all bunch up together. Yahiko's hand hits a small string that was attached to the trees.
"No one, its booby trapped." Yahiko says indicating the almost invisible string that lined the forest floor. Miki gets an annoyed look on her face as she looks up at the cliff. After a while the group finally gets to the ever so junk heap of a two-leveled hut.
"Helloooo," Miki says with a sweet smile as they look inside the barn for any sign of life. A flap of wings is the only thing that replies as a falcon flies straight at them. The four duck out of its way and the sound of things moving is heard.
"Sakura? Where'd ya go?" Someone asks as the falcon takes its perch on a tree limb outside. A man looks down at the group with a huge smile on his face. The four of them look up at the dark brown-haired man with silver outlining his tan face, a red bandana over his right eye only showing a forest green eye. "How are you? Do you need anything?"
"Yeah," Miki and Enishi say in unison as the man walks over to the ladder.
"I'll be right down," he says as he steps in a silver pail and starts to twirl around on uneasy feet as he tries to get the pail off his foot. "Right after I get this off." He shakes his foot, trying to get it loose but to no succeed. The group of four just watch him as he hits his head on a overhanging roof support, stubs his foot on the rail, somehow hits his hand with a mallet, gets the pile off his foot and onto his head, and finishes off by falling down the ladder into a pile of mud.
"Do we want him to touch our stuff?" Miki asks as the really clumsy silversmith looks up at them and smiles. His gentle, honest eyes meets with Miki's and a smile grows even more. Yahiko walks over to the man and helps him up.
"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. I'm Lan Sumeragi, nice to meet you. What's your names?" Lan asks as he shakes all of their hands, with the expectation of Enishi who just eyed his hand carefully.
"I'm Yahiko, this is Soujirou, Miki, and Enishi." Yahiko says as Lan looks over at the Miki's zanbato and Enishi's katana. He looks back at Yahiko, pointing at the unbelievable sight. Yahiko just smiles and nods.
"Well, this may take a while. I don't seem to have experience with this type of situation but I'll try my best." Lan says with a smile as he lifts the zanbato over his shoulder and wanders over to the back of the barn. Soujirou and Enishi look over at Miki and Yahiko who just stay completely quiet, Lan the silversmith was indeed different because he could carry zanbato with ease.
"Do you know of a place where we can stay?" Soujirou asks as Enishi studies the walls of the barn, noticing a pair of kusarikama and katana hanging almost purposely concealed. Fresh blood on one of the kusarikama.
"You can stay here, I live in my barn. And only go in my house for meal time and to clean." Lan replies with a smile, noticing Enishi looking over at the wall. Lan leads the group quickly out of the barn and into the house.

Character Spotlight! Chibi anime characters do a little dance.

GT's Note: I have a serious problem with profiles. I can't stop writing them. Anyway, this chapter's character spotlight is Miki! Miki is just a cool character. She holds her own and reminds me of my little sister. Anyway, here ya go!

Miki Yukimura

Age: 16

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

Nicknames: Mi Mi, Zanza, Girlie,

Past: Is the sole survivor of the Yukimura clan. When she was a young child, her family was massacred. She was rescued by Sanosuke and was practically raised by him in the village he bought her to. She has been searching for the fighter-for-hire ever since he disappeared from the village.

Personality: Has trained her whole life to become like her hero, Sano. Many people underestimate her because of her size. But they aren't the ones laughing after she takes out the zanbato and lifts it up with extreme ease. Is extremely strong and has a Kaoru-complex. Looks up to Sano very much. Is the only girl in the team but pulls her own weight and is one of the strangest members. Weapons of Choice: Kunai, Zanbato, Fuuma Shuriken, Shuriken

End of Character Spotlight!

GT: End of chapter three. I finally got my favorite character Lan introduced! Lan Rox! Anyway, next chapter we'll find out what the Yumi character meant when she said Himura-san, but can you guys guess? Anyway, I always ask this question. Who is your favorite character in my fic? Next chapter will also have Soujirou vs. The Merchant of Death! And the next character spotlight will be Lan! Will we ever find out the Merchant of Death's true identity? Will Soujirou survive the fight? And will Miki and the Yumi wannabe fight? All will be answered in the next Hitokiri Battousai!

Words that you may not know:

Ko Fuku Zet Tou Sei: Used By Enishi Yukishiro, means Tiger lunging. This technique is basically, the user sinks down into the ground, extending his right leg and keeping his left bent inwards. Arms extended and sword held parallel behind his right arm, he brings his weapon up when ready with both hands holding its hilt, lunging forward and striking his opponent with all of his upper body strength.

Kunai: Used by Miki Yukimura and Misao Makimachi. Basically they're throwing knives.

Katana: Used By Van and many others. If ya'll don't know what it is yet, shame on you. It's a sword.

Kusarikama: Used By Van. A chained sickle.

-san: carries the meaning of Mr. or Ms.

Senbon: Used by Lan. Usually metal needles, used to be thrown at the opponent. But Lan uses his special silver.