I apologize if I got the Hiten Mitsurugi move names wrong…they're kinda difficult…
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. In a perfect world I would, but I live in the real world…and sadly I ain't got no money…so, it's utterly useless to sue me…but for good measure: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but Nobuhiro Watsuki and a bunch of other people do…
Let the strangeness continue…
Promises from the Past"That sounds deadly," Sano commented to Kenshin.
"It is. It's the succession technique," Kenshin replied.
"Someone's going to get killed," Sano said in a horrified voice.
"Won't it be interesting to find out who it'll be?" a voice asked
Kenshin and Sano turned to see Saitou, with a cigarette in his gloved hand and a smirk on his face.
Dragons and Ladies
"What are you doing here?" Sayuri asked Saitou.
Kenshin and Sano turned to look at her, surprised that she'd noticed them.
Saitou smirked, "Taking a stroll?"
"Don't be flip," she said.
"I wasn't being flip," the policeman smoothly replied, taking a draught from his cigar.
Exhaling the smoke in Kenshin and Sano's direction he continued, "I thought some fresh air might do my lungs some good."
"Quitting that filthy habit might do you even better," Sano grumbled in disgust.
Sayuri dismissed Saitou with a shrug and turned back to Hiko, "Are you ready?"
A bit annoyed, Hiko grumpily replied, "I said I was."
"Okay, don't go all Mr. Grumpy on me," Sayuri said, rolling her eyes.
She took several steps away from Hiko to put more distance between them.
Then she turned to ask him, "Do you remember the nine vital points to hit with a sword to cause the maximum damage?"
"Of course I do," Hiko answered arrogantly.
"What are they, then?"
Hiko looked at her incredulously, "You want me to recite them to you?"
"Yes," Sayuri said matter of fact.
When Hiko just kept staring at her like he wasn't really sure if she was being serious, she said, "I'm waiting…"
Hiko scowled for a second but then replied, "The nine vital points are the head, right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm, between the legs, the chest, right shoulder, and left shoulder."
"Very good," she praised, "And now, can you tell me how the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ku Zu Ryu Sen works?"
Hiko wasn't sure where this was going but replied anyway, "It works by attacking all the nine vital points almost at once, making it a move virtually impossible to block or evade."
Sayuri nodded calmly, "That's true…a well placed hit on any of the vital points can be fatal…imagine what nine almost simultaneous hits could do?"
"There's only one move I know that can defeat the Nine Headed Dragon Flash," Hiko told her.
"But you know that there are actually two moves that could possibly defeat the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ku Zu Ryu Sen?" Sayuri asked him.
Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise. There were two? He only knew one…
"Interesting," Saitou commented.
"I know that," Hiko answered Sayuri, "The one I didn't know, I wanted to learn from your grandfather."
"Yes…I will teach it to you today," Sayuri assured him.
She continued, "The Ryu Ku Zu Ryu Sen is a brilliant attack move because it attacks the nine vital points with such speed that an opponent will possibly be dead before he realizes what had happened to him."
"It is the combination of speed and moves that makes this attack so deadly."
"She's right," Saitou commented, "Often times the success of an attack lies not in the strength of the attacker but in his speed…"
Sayuri tuned to look at him, eyebrows raised.
Saitou smiled at her, but it looked more like a wolf's grin.
"As Officer Fujita said, a swordsman's height, weight, strength or skill often times is not what gives him the ultimate advantage…because if your opponent can strike even a fraction of a second earlier with precision and accuracy, he has the greater advantage...often times, the only real advantage…" Sayuri continued.
"This is how the Seven Steps To Death works. It eliminates four separate strikes from the Nine Headed Dragon Flash and fuses them into two…it therefore takes the attacker lesser strikes and lesser time…"
"So what are the four moves that are fused?" Hiko asked her.
"Do you want the theory or do you want to see the actual move?" she asked him instead.
"Kenshin, he'll kill her!" Sano said to his friend.
Kenshin knew that what Sayuri had said about speed and precision were true, but he also knew his shishou…
When he'd tried to defeat his master with the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki, he'd had to use all the strength that was in him…
"Sayuri-dono…" he said, stepping forward.
But Sayuri stopped him with a look, "I know what I am doing Kenshin."
Something in the way Sayuri looked at him reassured him. There was confidence in that look…
"Okay," he said to her.
"But Sayuri…" Sano started to protest, stepping forward.
Kenshin placed a hand on his arm to stop him. Sano looked at his friend, but it was Saitou who spoke.
"Stay out of this, tori-atama…the woman knows what she's doing."
Sano gave Saitou a fierce glare, but Sayuri said, "Sano, I know what I am doing."
Then she ignored her audience and turned back to Hiko.
"What I want you to do is attack me with your Nine Headed Dragon Flash, and I will counter the move with The Seven Steps To Death," she said to her pupil.
Hiko looked at the woman he'd battled so fiercely a few minutes ago. She was an amazing swordsman, calm and confident. But no matter what she'd shown him during their bouts, his years of experience and training could actually be the downfall of her.
Maybe he should hold back a little. The Nine Headed Dragon Flash wasn't a move that even a lot of stronger men with more experience could survive.
"No holding back, remember?" Sayuri said.
Slightly startled at how well this woman could read him, he said "But I could seriously hurt you."
Sayuri nodded in acknowledgement, "I know that. But I could hurt you."
The statement seemed so preposterous, but in that moment watching the two, Kenshin knew that Sayuri was speaking the truth.
"The woman's got spirit," Saitou commented, as he lazily puffed on his cigar.
"The woman's trouble," Sano muttered. He still didn't think that Hiko and Sayuri should go against each other. He'd seen all of Kenshin's moves, and he knew that the one Sayuri wanted Hiko to attack her with was one of the two most powerful.
"Are you ready?" she asked now.
Hiko didn't know what had made him agree to this crazy scheme. There was no point to him learning the final moves of the Kage no Odori.
But now, as he faced Sayuri, it suddenly felt right to be here. He could not explain it.
Maybe it was the excitement of knowing that in a few seconds he'll finally see the technique his master had told him could defeat the Hiten Mitsurugi's second most powerful attack.
But whatever it was, he was ready.
He nodded solemnly, "I am ready."
Suddenly the air became very still, the way it does when a storm is approaching. Even the steady rushing of the waterfall seemed to fade out. It was like the moment came down to just the two combatants facing each other.
Sano clenched his fists, his gut telling him to do something to stop this madness.
Saitou stood straight, his cigar clamped between his fingers midway to his mouth.
Kenshin could feel his heart start beating faster, in anticipation, in dread, he did not know. But he didn't dare move a muscle.
In that millisecond before they moved, Sayuri drained her mind of all thought and submitted herself to the moment.
And then they moved.
It was over in a flash, the only sounds that could be heard where the clanging of steel against steel and the sound of shifting gravel as they both drew to a halt about a yard away from each other.
They straightened, turned to look at each other. Neither one seemed to be hurt.
Then Hiko touched a part of his neck, and there they saw it. A small cut, merely a nick of the skin, but it was there. Then Hiko touched some other parts of his body…and to their surprise they saw eight other cuts.
With only seven moves, she'd nicked Hiko nine times.
"Incredible," Saitou whispered reverently as the turned to look at Sayuri.
She was panting slightly, but otherwise seemed uninjured.
"Amazing," Kenshin whispered. That had been about the most impressive display of controlled swordsmanship he'd ever seen. Sayuri could have well killed his master, but she'd only nicked him lightly nine times.
Sano couldn't say a thing. He was speechless.
Hiko touched all the tiny cuts Sayuri's blade had made on him. He was still slightly dazed. He hadn't expected that from her. He looked at the woman in awe.
But there was the same feeling of pride he could not explain.
"Do you know which moves have been fused?" she asked him.
Apparently, the lesson wasn't over yet, Hiko thought while he answered, "Yes, I do. I actually feel really stupid that it never occurred to me to do the same…"
Sayuri smiled and absentmindedly said, "Yeah, I always wondered why he never changed that…"
"Who's he?" Sano asked.
"The original Hiko Seijurou," was the absentminded reply.
Hiko's eyebrows went up in surprise, so Sayuri asked, "You didn't know that the Hiten Mitsurugi and Kage no Odori had a shared history?"
"No, I didn't…"
'That explains why the moves seemed so similar and how perfectly the Seven Steps To Death neutralized the Nine Headed Dragon Flash' Kenshin thought.
"Do you want to try it again?" Sayuri asked her pupil.
"No, I think I got the lesson," Hiko assured her, waiting for her to argue.
But Sayuri just nodded gracefully.
"I have a question though…does the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki work against The Seven Steps to Death?" Hiko wanted to know.
"Yes it does," Sayuri assured him.
Hiko smiled triumphantly, "Then it's good to know that Hiten Mitsurugi is still unbeatable."
"It is virtually unbeatable…there is a move to counter the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki," Sayuri stated calmly.
Dead silence met the statement.
"Impossible," Hiko said.
"That can't be true," Kenshin whispered.
"Interesting," Saitou mumbled, flicking away the butt of his cigarette.
Sano was still speechless.
"I told you that the school of Hiten Mitsurugi and the school of Kage no Odori shared a history," Sayuri informed them.
Hiko shook his head, frowning, "What does that have to do with being able to beat the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki move?"
Sayuri smiled at him, "Well, everything actually…you see, Kage no Odori was created by the wife of the first master of the Hiten Mitsurugi."
When the men just looked at her in disbelief, she asked, "What? You think a woman can't invent a sword style?"
Sano kind of thought that. But Kenshin and Hiko's stunned reaction was rather due to the fact that the Hiten Mitsurugi had its equal.
"So what's the story?" Saitou asked, while lighting another cigarette.
Sayuri smiled at the men, "It's very silly if you think of it. The first Hiko Seijurou was a student at a very prestigious kendo school. His master, the dojo's owner and trainer, was impressed by his student's skill. Hiko Seijurou the first was also very ambitious. He had dreams to invent a sword style of his own. He had big plans for the technique he would develop."
"However, as it does with most young men, he was distracted by a young woman. She happened to be his master's one and only daughter. Beautiful, delicate and elegant, she was the perfect embodiment of any young man's dream of a goddess. So enamored was he of her that he asked his master, after he'd graduated from the school, to allow him to take her for his wife. His master, who liked the young man, agreed readily seeing that his daughter also had some affection for his former student."
"Like it always is, the first year of their marriage was pure bliss as they lived a life of a married couple anybody envied. But like the way many a marriage go, the young man soon became bored and restless and the old dreams and plans for his own technique started to take over again. For days and months and weeks, he trained to come up with the different moves he would later call the attacks of the Hiten Mitsurugi."
"He became so obsessed with it, that his wife started to feel neglected. Yet every time she would start to complain about it, he told her that as a wife, her role was to support and obey her husband in everything."
"One day, Hiko Seijurou made up his mind that to truly perfect his art, he had to become a free man, held back by nothing and no one. So he told his wife about his plans and left, to wander about Japan to perfect the Hiten Mitsurugi you know today. Before he left, he promised his wife that one day, he would come back to her, and that she should wait for that day."
"Now, Hiko Seijurou the first labored under the false impression that his wife was the traditional biddable kind. She had married the man for love. Angry and hurt that he would actually dare leave her and expect her to be fine with it, she vowed to give her husband a piece of her mind when he retuned. Unbeknownst to him, she had actually been trained by her father when she was just a child. She took up a sword and thought up a perfect style to counter her husband's precious Hiten Mitsurugi."
"After seven years, Hiko Seijurou finally returned to his home. Unfortunately, while he expected to be greeted by a loving and joyous wife, the tip of a katana and a steely challenge greeted him. Issuing the challenge was his supposedly pinning wife."
"I will teach you what happens when you dare ignore me," she said to him, "Meet me at my father's dojo before sundown, and prove to me that your precious technique can hold up to my skills."
Sayuri paused to look at the men. Hiko's face was impassive, Kenshin's was intrigued, Saitou was looking mildly bored and Sano looked like he was about to burst.
"Woman, this is the worst time to stop…what happened?!?" he half yelled at Sayuri.
She smiled, "Well, nobody's really sure what happened. Many different versions have been told but I have my favorite one."
"According to this version, her husband had protested vehemently that he wasn't going to come before sundown and sword fight with his wife. At which his wife said that he wasn't going to face her-the wife, but her-the master of Kage no Odori."
"And to make the story short, he went, they fought and he was impressed," Sayuri finished the story.
"That ending sucked!" Sano complained.
"Excuse me?" Sayuri asked affronted.
"'He went, they fought and he was impressed'" he mimicked her, "That's the worst ending to a story I've ever heard!"
Eyebrow raised, she asked, "Oh, and how would you have told the ending?"
Sano shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know…I'd made it more dramatic…added some romance…maybe some scintillating scenes…"
"The tori-atama knows what scintillating means?" Saitou commented from the side.
"Okay, fine…why don't I try again?" Sayuri said, goaded.
She cleared her throat and in a solemn voice began.
"It was near sundown…and Hiko the first had arrived at his father-in-law's dojo. The air was still with anticipation, his insides a jumbled mix of apprehension, excitement and wariness. Between the hours of his arrival and now, he had thought long and hard and finally had seen his wife's bizarre request for what it was. Honor. Dignity. Respect. He touched the handle of his katana, took a deep breath and stepped inside the dojo."
"The insides were dark…but not dark enough for him to miss the two figures. One was of his father-in-law, standing to the side, watching him with expressionless eyes. Yet he felt those eyes looking at him, gauging him, assessing him."
"The other figure was shrouded in shadows, but unmistakably that of his wife…but here and now, not his wife, he remembered but the master of the Shadow's Dance.
"Although he could not see her face, he felt her eyes upon him, like her father's, assessing, gauging, judging. He had the unmistakable impression that he came up short. Words of apologies, of assurance, of love were on his tongue, but he didn't dare to voice them out loud. That part of him that had found clarity between his arrival in the morning and at that moment, knew that the words would shame his wife…making his transgressions worse. He had dishonored his wife. This was his wife's response."
She stepped out of the shadows, her eyes as cold as the moon, the amber irises emotionless.
This was not the woman he'd left seven years ago, he thought, watching the graceful movements of his wife.
"So you've come," she said to him in an equally emotionless voice.
This was a stranger he faced.
"I have come to honor your request," he replied.
"It was never a request," she shot back.
He almost smiled. His father-in-law had told him when he'd asked for her hand in marriage, "My daughter is not a doormat. She will not play the biddable, traditional wife unless she feels inclined to."
"Prove yourself," she said, and in an instant she was advancing on him, her sword in hand.
The god-like speed required by the Hiten Mitsurugi saved him as he immediately unsheathed his sword and reacted.
The clang of steel hitting steel, of footsteps, of heavy breathing, of grunts and groans filled the dojo as the two combatants attacked and parried.
As the fight went on, he finally understood something his former master had been telling him for years. At the very heart of it, sword fighting wasn't about killing…it wasn't even about your opponent…It was about living and moving and discovering your limits…your strengths and your weaknesses.
In all the years he had traveled the country, he had never felt such exhilaration than right now, sparring with his wife. This is what had been lacking…the challenge.
And his wife was proving to be a challenge. If he had enough time to think before he was forced to react, he would note how well matched her movements were to his Hiten Mitsurugi technique. It was like dancing…and she knew all the counter steps to keep their movements perfectly in sync.
They came to a stand still, both breathing hard, both still uninjured.
"I underestimated you," he admitted to her.
"I overestimated you," she said to him.
He straightened in surprise as his father-in-law laughed out loud.
"Why?" he asked her breathlessly.
"I thought it would be harder to defeat you," she said simply.
Suddenly goaded by her dismissive indifferent tone, he said, "You think that's all?"
"Isn't it?"
"That was merely child's play," he replied tightly.
"Oh, goodie…when do we get to the grown up stuff?" she asked.
His face darkening, he asked, "Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Are you sure that you can?"
He looked at his wife…at this stranger in front of him. Was she serious?
"I told you she's no doormat," his father-in-law said from the side.
Whatever it was that told him, he knew that this bout of theirs was for all or nothing.
But he knew what the Hiten Mitsurugi could do. He could not use the two most powerful attacks on his wife and hold back. She'd know. All or nothing.
He put his sword back into its sheath, removed it from his side. Taking a step towards his wife to offer his katana to her, he was stopped by her cold words.
"Don't you dare."
He felt the concentration of fury emanating from her ki. All or nothing.
And nothing wasn't an option.
But something else in her ki reassured him. Whatever it was, it reassured him.
Taking a step back, he refastened his sheathed sword at his side. And nodded towards her.
She sheathed her sword. And nodded towards him.
Just as suddenly as it began, it was over. Breathing heavily, two yards apart, their backs to each other, they took a moment to compose themselves before sheathing their swords.
Turning to look at his wife, he noticed that she was wiping at something on her neck. It was blood. Stepping towards her, an apology already on his tongue, he suddenly noticed a red gash on his forearm. It was a shallow cut, but nevertheless blood oozed from it.
Touching it, he felt the warm stickiness of his blood.
"You look surprised," she said to him.
"I am," he admitted readily, realizing that wasn't the only gash he had.
"I severely underestimated you, I am sorry," he said to his wife, as he approached her.
She touched the cut on her neck, "Apparently so have I…I'm sorry."
He gently touched the cut on her neck, then tore a strip from his sleeve and pressed the makeshift bandage against the wound, "I've hurt you," he whispered.
His wife chuckled softly, "It's just a shallow cut…it will heal in a couple of days."
He looked at her face, that solemn, beautiful, beloved face, "That's not what I meant."
Her breath hitched as she took in his words.
"I've hurt you there," and he placed his hand where her heart was.
For the longest of moments they stood there like that. They did not hear the unhurried footsteps and the sliding of a door.
"I wish there was some way…" he said to her.
"Ssshhh!" she put her fingers on his lips, "Let me speak first."
"All I ever wanted from you was to treat me as an equal…a partner. I never resented your dream of creating the Hiten Mitsurugi…I just wanted you to share it with me…you didn't have to show me every single move…I just wanted you to talk to me about it…but every time I asked, you brushed me off like was some silly little female unable to understand whatever you were doing."
"And you've just proven to me how much you would have understood…I was such an idiot," he said to her, regretting his arrogance and his selfishness.
"You still are an idiot," she said to him, but a teasing glint was in her eyes.
But he somberly replied, "But I am an idiot that loves you."
And with that pronouncement he bent his head and kissed his wife.
"Oh come on! They're going to make-up just like that?" Sano complained.
"What?!? You wanted drama, you wanted romance, you wanted scintillating scenes!" Sayuri yelled in frustration.
"Yeah, the first part was great but the ending still kinda sucked…I mean come on, after all that fighting, they're just going to say some flowery words and she'll forgive him?" Sano ranted.
"Do I have your permission to whack him with my sword handle?" Sayuri asked Hiko.
"You have my permission!" Saitou volunteered as Kenshin mumbled his "Orororororo…"
"You know, you're a lousy story teller," Sano said to her.
"Excuse me! Woman with sword and knowledge of deadly sword technique standing right in front of you!" Sayuri said taking a menacing step towards Sano.
"I was just trying to give some constructive criticism!" Sano said defensively.
"Idiot!" three people muttered and one redhead said "Orororororo."
Thankfully Hiko asked Sayuri, "So how did the Kage no Odori come to your family?"
"It was always in our family," she answered.
"You mean…"
"Yeah, Hiko the first's wife was my great-great-great-great-great…I think there are nine greats in that…grandmother."
"Why did that stay in the family and the Hiten Mitsurugi was passed on to people outside the family?" Kenshin asked.
"I'm not sure why…" Sayuri answered.
The group went quite for a few seconds until Saitou asked, "So how does the move that defeats the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki go?"
"Hey wheredya get the dog?" Yahiko asked as he stepped inside the kitchen.
"He followed us home," Misao answered, watching the dog finish the bowl of food she'd placed in front of him.
"So what's his name?" Yahiko gave the dog a friendly pat on the head. The big dog turned and gave Yahiko a smelly, slobbery doggie kiss. The boy scrunched up his face.
"He's name is Arff," Aoshi said in his usual aloof voice. But there was a definite sparkle in his eyes as he looked at Misao.
Yahiko looked at the man, "Arff? What kind of a lame dog name is Arff?"
"Awww…I think it's kinda cute," Kaoru said behind them.
The dog left his empty bowl of food to great the newcomer with tail wagging and tongue lolling.
"You should name him something cool…like…Ouzo!" Yahiko said.
"Ouzo?" the two women asked him.
"Yeah, it sounds cool, doesn't it?" Yahiko defended his answer.
"Yeah, but what does it mean?" Misao wanted to know.
"I dunno," Yahiko shrugged his shoulders.
"Great, for all we know we could be naming the dog after some foreign alcoholic beverage!" Misao exclaimed.
"I like Ouzo," Aoshi stated.
Yahiko gave the man a grateful look.
"But I think we should call him Arff for short," Aoshi finished.
Yahiko gave Kaoru a that-guy's-nuts look.
Kaoru responded with a sympathetic smile.
Just then Okina walked into the kitchen.
"There's a guy at the gate looking for Sayuri," he told the group.
"There is?" Kaoru asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Okina said stroking his beard and giving Aoshi a speculative look, "He looks really familiar…"
Kaoru and Yahiko looked at each other. Who'd be looking for Sayuri here?
"Please show him to the receiving room, Okina-san…we'll meet him there," Aoshi instructed the older man.
Curious, the group went to the main house.
"Who could be looking for Sayuri?" Misao asked.
"I don't know…" Kaoru said.
They were waiting in the room when Okina, followed by the visitor, walked in.
Kaoru could hear Misao gasp. She understood her friend's reaction.
Cool green eyes assessed the occupants in the room and settled on Kaoru.
"Kamiya-san," the man acknowledged her.
"What are you doing here, Kobayashi-san?"
To be continued...
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Boy, this was a hard chapter to write…and now I'm feeling kinda depressed because the story's almost ending…tragic sigh…all good things must come to an end…another tragic sigh
Please, please, please review! And please go visit my site, it's muy importante!
Sun burnt and peeling,
Lillienne
PS. Thanks to Fireruby and Kaoru-chan21 for giving me the idea for that doggie name scene