Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, the characters, or anything related to it. The anime is owned by Watsuki Nobuhiro.
Fanfic Title: Epic of a Rurouni
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance
Rating: PG-13 for violence and mild language
Summary: Soujiro and Yuki witness the moonlit battle between the Oniwabanshuu and their rivals, the Kishuu Ninja Clan.
Ninjas set the dark sky alight with fights,
Causing the rurouni to watch with inevitable fright,
But something lurks like Death's kiss,
Could a wolf be in their midst?
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Chapter 5: Things that Go Slash in the Night
The male ninja that effortlessly caught the young Okashira's kunai tossed the small dagger to the ground, where its point punctured the soil grimly. He grinned in an almost malevolent manner, leaving Misao to gawk and stammer behind Okina who stood like a statue. Then, the ninja spoke to her slowly and clearly, poison rolling off his tongue and perfuming his breath. "Give in little girl. You don't want your friends to get hurt, do you?"
It seemed as if Misao growled at his rude remark because she gritted her teeth and a noise rumbled deep within the muscles of her vocal cords. Her dainty hands swiftly reached into the back of her sash, searching (or feeling) for more of the deadly kunai. When she fitted as many of the kunai in the spaces of her fingers as she could, she suddenly had eight kunai per hand. She then hurled them towards the enemy ninjas violently, each thrown dagger expressing her mood at the moment. To her dismay, a small amount of the kunai actually connected with targets. Two of the seven enemy ninjas were injured by the daggers that stuck to their outfits, causing blood to stain those areas. The male ninja that had caught her kunai before had caught some of the kunai thrown in his direction, while he furiously batted away the others near his ninjas with the ninja sword he had quickly unsheathed. He was obviously their okashira since his stature and skill proved him the most boisterous, and also the best of the other ninjas. Misao glanced to Okina and then looked back at her enemy with a piercing blue glare.
"Jiya, please go find Aoshi-sama," she said calmly to Okina.
He hesitated, looking at her in a concerned way. "But Misao-chan—"
"Just go! Now!" she shouted, her eyes not leaving the okashira of the enemy ninjas.
Okina sighed and hurried down the trail behind them.
Soujiro cringed as he watched the ninjas collide into battle. He gave a helpless look to Yuki who was watching in awe.
"I've...I've seen that style of fighting," she said as she watched awestruck.
"You mean Misao-chan's style? That's Kempo," he replied.
"No, the other style. The style belonging to the ninjas that challenged them," she said while shaking her head.
"Do you know what it's called?" Soujiro asked while giving her a puzzled look.
The kunoichi shifted a little, and continued to peer at the fighting while her digits clasped the building they hid behind. "Umm...I'm not sure, it just looks so familiar. It's like I already know what they're going to do next from what attack they use."
"Then we should go help Misao-chan!" Soujiro whispered fiercely, "Her group is outnumbered!"
Yuki's pale tiers shifted into an awkward smile. "Yes, but the other ninjas only have three more people."
"But that's not fair! We should do something!" Soujiro said and rose from his post, unsheathing his katana.
Yuki grabbed his shoulder, tugging him away from being exposed to the eyes of Misao and the ninjas. "No! We'll be shaming them if we do. I'm sure whoever Okina-san's finding is going to be of some use to the Oniwabanshuu."
Soujiro almost dropped his sword when he noticed the crushing fall that Misao took when she was kicked in the side. He saw Misao crawling away from her pursuer, who was the okashira of the enemy ninjas. The ninja kicked Misao's ribs again as she held her stomach and tried to retreat. Blood spilled out of her mouth and her lips where shiny because they wore the crimson luster of blood. The enemy okashira laughed cruelly as he watched her agony. Soujiro looked at Yuki, almost as if saying "can we help them NOW?!"
Soujiro soon noticed that Yuki was not looking at him, but looking into the darkness of the alley. Footsteps greeted their ears that seemed far away but was coming closer and closer, and also emerging from the shadows. A tall, thin figure wearing the usual navy blue outfit of the Meiji government officers could be seen beneath a lantern that ended the darkness but could not suffuse through some of the shadows. The only thing that was bizarre about the officer is his left hand held a Japanese sword instead of a gun. Soujiro held his breath; he knew he was still holding his katana and that he would be in big trouble soon. When the figure's face was revealed, Soujiro felt as if the officer seemed familiar but he could not hide the fear that swept over his visage. Some of the officer's hair was sleeked back while some stray tresses fell on his pale forehead. Below the forehead were callous dark eyes that were narrowed malevolently. The officer's thin lips curled into a sort of smile when he saw Soujiro and Yuki near the edge of the building. His feet stopped abruptly when he reached them, but he said nothing, the smile still plagued his face. It seemed as if an eternity passed while Soujiro and Yuki stared at the officer in a frightened fashion. Suddenly, the officer passed them to walk out into the ninja scene. Soujiro and Yuki watched the man saunter in the middle of the turmoil, shoving ninjas that bumped into him to the ground.
"I should have guessed all of that commotion the residents spoke of was only the infamous Oniwabanshuu and their Itachi-musume," the officer said in a taunting voice but flat voice.
"Saitou!" Misao lifted her face from her sandy coffin in the ground.
"Saitou Hajime! I knew I've seen him before, but I guess my fear caused me to forget his name," Soujiro said in an embarrassed but low tone to Yuki.
Saitou Hajime eyed Misao with distaste and then his gaze averted to the okashira of the enemy ninjas. He grinned evilly as he saw the ninja hurry into a defensive stance.
"Stop that, you don't want to get hurt," Saitou said snidely.
"Hmph...you corrupt government officers will never learn," retorted the ninja still assuming his stance.
Misao got to her feet quickly to stare up at Saitou's tall figure. "The Kishuu Ninja Clan wanted to pick a fight with us, so we fought against them before you came."
"Fighting and losing badly, eh? Is this the usual Oniwabanshuu plan, Itachi- musume?" remarked Saitou, making a rude jest.
"Don't call me that!" Misao shouted at him, waving her arms around like a mad girl.
Okina's voice could be heard in the distance. "Misao-chan! I found him!"
Okina and a man clad in a tan kimono hastily ran to the scene that Saitou interrupted. The rest of the Oniwabanshuu hurried to stand near Saitou and Misao.
"Aoshi-sama! Where the hell were you?!" Misao screamed at the man clad in the tan kimono.
The man brushed some of his raven locks away from his ice blue eyes to glower at the enemy ninjas. "Gomen nasai, I did not know we were expecting company tonight."
"That's Shinomori Aoshi, he was once the Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu but he was replaced by Misao when he disappeared for a while," Soujiro explained to Yuki who watched attentively.
"I was waiting to fight you, Shinomori, I didn't want to fight your little whore. So c'mon!" proclaimed the okashira of the Kishuu Ninjas.
Misao had another kunai in hand and was ready to vent her fury but she was stopped by the calming touch of her Aoshi-sama. He shook his head at her and stepped in front of her almost like a sentinel.
"Please fight some other time and some other place because I don't want to deal with anymore resident complaints in this district," said Saitou sarcastically.
"Shut up, government pig!" the Kishuu ninja shouted, "We fight here and now, Shinomori!"
"You fight now and you fight me," Saitou said coldly. He stepped forward and extended his right hand towards the ninja while pulling back his left forearm and holding his sword parallel to the ground, the blade resting in the area between his index finger and thumb. He leaned back a bit and grinned wolfishly at the ninja, beckoning him to attack. Soujiro recognized this: Saitou was in his Gatotsu stance.
The ninja grinned back but backed away to the comfort of the Kishuu Ninjas. Then he muttered something that sounded like "Mibu no ookami."
"I'm not here to fight you, Ookami," he said in a more audible voice, "I wanted to fight Shinomori but I shall wait for that moment."
Suddenly, the Kishuu ninjas retreated to the roof of the Aoiya and leaped over it to hop from roof to roof to escape the Oniwabanshuu district. Soujiro and Yuki gazed up into the night to watch them escape.
Yuki grabbed Soujiro's arm and pulled him into the direction of the alley. "Let's go after them!"
They sprinted through the alley and into different streets, glimpsing up at the buildings every now and then to see where the Kishuu Ninjas were leaping to.
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Sorry that Saitou's Gatotsu was a little blurry, I couldn't quite remember how exactly that technique looked like. If you find any errors, please feel free to correct me! :D