Disclaimer: I do not own PMK. Don't sue me, please.

Chapter 7: Sword

Suzu's katana was knocked out of his grasp. He dodged his opponent's blade as it slashed the air inches from his flesh. Dammit! His katana lay just beyond his reach. He'd have to use his...A swing caught his thigh. He fell over. A flash of grey. A spurt of red. Suzu watched in disbelief as Kojirou slit the throat of a samurai who had threatened him.

"Suzu! Get here, quick!" Kitsu-dono yanked Suzu away from the fight. They watched the rest of the battle from a safe distance. Kojirou was a master, no doubt on that. With Suzu's katana, he swiftly sent the other samurai the same way as he'd sent their fellow. His eyes had an almost demonic look in them. Suzu gasped. The guy's as skilled as his late master.

He stole a glance at Kitsune. Her face was pinched; the lips set in a thin line. She appeared almost angry. Bloody samurai-bastards! "He's killed before, more than once..." She whispered as the last of the ruffians is disemboweled.

Kojirou handled the fight well, too well. He had leapt to Suzu's defence without thinking. In fact, he had reacted instinctively throughout. Now, he stood holding the bloody sword, with blood splattered on his grey yutaka, vaguely confused. A sword. Someone had given it to him when he was a child. Some memory was stirring in him. A face, a voice...

"Are you gonna stand there and stare? Quick, before the Miburou come, then there'll be hell to pay!" Kojirou allowed his companions to haul him away from the scene. They left the slain lying in the street.

Kitsune was in a foul mood. She urged both boys to change into clean yutakas, left the bloodstained clothes to soak before leaving for the morgue. Suzu and Kojirou sat on the wooden floor with their backs facing, lost in their own separate thoughts. Who taught him? Kojirou cannot recall. It was imprinted in his muscles, every thrust and parry...Blood. He noticed his wound had re-opened.

Crying. Someone was crying softly...He cannot tell if it were reality or a dream. I want to become stronger... Miburou...the word was familiar to him.

"I still wasn't strong enough," Suzu spoke finally. "When the Miburou came, my master..." The boy choked back a sob. "He sent me to get help. I promised to come back for him...No one answered...I went back alone. He was gone." Dead. Kojirou grasped the meaning. "Killed by those damned Shinsengumi wolves!"

Startled, Suzu felt a pair of arms hugging him. Kojirou. He turned and buried his face in the older boy's good shoulder. Kojirou just sat there and let Suzu sob out his frustrations. A redhead boy crying, scared, confused... another glimpse of his forgotten past. A long while later, Kojirou spoke.

"You must have some memories of the good times you had with your master...unlike me. I can recall anything...Suzu-kun, do you really want to became stronger that badly?"

"Of course, I want to become stronger, even if I become a demon!" A demon's child. Kojirou started. Had he used that phrase to describe himself before he lost his memory? Who was he? Unmissed by any friends or family...

"Buhi!" A piglet cannonballed into both boys. "Saizou!" The name came to his lips easily. Why was he so happy? Kojirou hugged the animal to his chest. Saizou had finally found his master. "You're hurt..." Kojirou traced a newly formed scar on Saizou's back gently with his finger.

Against the odds, Saizou had found his beloved master. Now he nuzzled his master with all the love in his piggy heart.

Suzu stared at the pig and Kojirou. Great, the guy has bacon for friends! The pig glared at Suzu as if reading his thoughts. Kojirou just laughed and tickled the piglet who buhied in delight. With a shrug, Suzu left his new friend alone with the piglet.

Author's notes:

Can't resist playing up Kojirou's nice big brotherly persona.

Lydia Blessing: Kichi has been a very busy boy, trust me. (Why do you think the Shinsengumi's having an unlucky streak?)