The Rurouni Years
Chapter 2: Sakabatou
A/N: Wow! I updated within the week! I guess this is what happens when you get stuck on a new fic…
Reader responses for the few that did review:
Twilightstarkitsune: Tsk, tsk, kitsune-san! Nobuhiro Watsuki-sama's work is so famous it is translated into all sorts of languages!
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The Rurouni Years
Chapter 2: Sakabatou
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---------INT: The home of Shakku Arai---------
Shakku Arai was just finishing the sword when he came up the path.
A boy who looked no more than sixteen, his red-orange hair hid his eyes and set him apart from anyone else. His gi was blue and his wrist-guards navy, the swords on his hakama clinking together. His sandals scraped the path below his feet in an endless 'shuff, shuff'. But what truly caused Shakku Arai to look up was the cross-shaped scar on the boy's left cheek.
He knew without a hint of doubt that this was Himura Kenshin. Himura Kenshin, the legendary Hitokiri Battousai. Himura Kenshin, student of his good friend Hiko Seijuro, and a good friend himself.
Arai had last seen the boy when he was twelve. Kenshin had come to him for 'a sword with a blade so sharp it cuts time itself with ease'. Even with the knowledge that the sword would be used as a hitokiri's tool, Arai had made it extra-sharp out of respect for the boy.
'Hard to believe that three years have passed,' Arai thought to himself as Kenshin came up the path. 'He is no longer the boy he was…'
Indeed, the word 'boy' would no longer fit Himura Kenshin. He was a young man now, in body and soul. Old enough to carry his own burdens and understand the truth of the world.
Arai took the sword he had been working on and brushed a few scrapings off. He took the sheath he had made the day before and sheathed the new sword. A fine sword, this one was. Not a hitokiri's blade, but one fit for a rurouni.
"Ohayo, Shakku-sama."
Kenshin stepped into the sword-maker's yard. He looked up at the man, and then at the sword being offered to him.
"To my specifications?" the young man asked.
Arai smiled his warm smile. "Yes. Down to the very thickness of the blade!"
"Arigato." Kenshin turned to the path. "I will be leaving Kyoto this afternoon. Sayonara, Shakku-sama. Give my regards to Hiko-sensei." The young man started walking down the path.
Arai could feel the anger at being dismissed so boiling up in him. "Kenshin-kun!" he shouted.
Kenshin stopped.
"I made it to all your specifications, Kenshin no Battousai. All but one."
Kenshin turned to meet the man's steady gaze. "Which was?" he prompted, voice laced with cold fury.
Arai did not back down from the young man's tone of voice. He had known Kenshin from when he was still a child. Even with the Hitokiri tone in his voice, he could not scare Shakku Arai.
"You are no longer a hitokiri, Kenshin-kun." The bold sword-maker took a step forward. "You are now a rurouni."
Arai took the sword from Kenshin's grasp and unsheathed it. He brought it up to the young man's face and traced the front edge with his bare finger, all the way to the tip.
Kenshin's eyes widened. "You-"
"Yes." Arai winked at the boy.
Kenshin seized the sword by the hilt and turned it over, staring intently at the edge there. He stared at the impossibly sharp edge, disbelief etched in his face for the first time in three years.
"A sakabatou." He breathed. "It's a reverse-blade sword."
Arai chuckled at the expression on Kenshin's face. "Good to see you showing some emotion, Kenshin-kun."
"Why?" Kenshin asked. "What good will a blade with a dull front edge do for I, a swordsman of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu?"
"Kenshin-kun, a rurouni does not need a killing blade." Arai reached over and took Kenshin's two other swords off his hakama belt. "But rather, a blade such as this."
Tossing Kenshin's other two swords to the side, he placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "A sakabatou will not kill with each slash. It will injure, surely, but it will not kill. Therefore, it is the perfect blade for a rurouni wishing to protect others."
"But I don't know how to use it!" there was a hint of exasperation in Kenshin's voice.
"You can still use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Kenshin-kun." Arai inwardly chuckled at the young man's display of emotion. "Just be aware that your Battou-jutsu will be slowed a bit."
Kenshin's face relaxed. He took the sheath of his new sword and placed it on its rightful place on his hakama belt, then sheathed his new sword with a flourish.
"Arigato, Shakku-sama." Kenshin bent down and took up his other two swords, but Arai put a hand out to stop him.
"Kenshin-kun, you no longer have a need for a killing blade! If you ever truly need one, just flip the blade on your sakabatou." Arai rolled his eyes. "Heaven forbid you should ever need it…"
Kenshin sighed and gave a slight farewell pat to his swords. "Well, Shakku-sama, I will be leaving Kyoto as soon as I tie up the rest of my affairs here."
He glanced at the mountain just south from his standpoint. "Give my regards to Hiko-sensei, would you?"
Arai smiled. "Of course."
Kenshin turned to the path before him. "Sayonara, Shakku-sama. You have my gratitude."
"Sayonara, Kenshin-kun. Good luck on your travels."
Kenshin turned and gave a half-bow to his friend, then walked down the path back to downtown Kyoto.
Shakku Arai watched him till he was out of sight. Then he turned and slid open the sliding door that led to the main room in his house.
Inside, a tall figure in a white cloak with a high red collar stood leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and long black hair shadowing his eyes.
Arai chuckled as the figure sipped from a small, wide-rimmed cup of sake.
Hiko Seijuro closed his eyes and gave an arrogant little snort.
"Baka apprentice."
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Kenshin left Shakku Arai's home with some uneasy thoughts at hand. He had shown much too much emotion. The hitokiri in him winced at the surprise he had allow to slip through.
'A hitokiri cannot show emotion, lest the emotion overtake his senses and blind him in battle.' He thought to himself. 'But I am no longer a hitokiri! I am but a rurouni. A wandering swordsman.'
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he was not watching where he was going. So much so that he bumped into a young lady without realizing it.
The girl was knocked aside and landed hard on her back with an "Oww!" of pain. Kenshin himself stumbled a little, but reiterated himself soon enough to help the girl up.
Scowling, she dusted off her kimono and turned to face Kenshin. She poked a finger at his chest and glared at him, anger evident on her face. "Watch where you're going, mister! Why, if I hadn't hurt my arm in the shop yesterday I'd give you-ow!"
The fiery-spirited girl clutched at her left arm, wincing in pain. She sat down on a nearby stool and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a sloppily applied bandage with a fair bit of blood seeping through.
"Needs changing…" she muttered.
Kenshin kneeled down and examined the wound carefully, noting the sloppy bandage. However, the bandage was placed just so that the wound itself was no visible.
'Crude but effective,' Kenshin thought to himself.
"Excuse me, miss, but may I take a look at that wound?" he asked, pointing at her arm.
'Just a bit of kindness,' he thought to himself, 'she needs attention…'
The girl eyed him suspiciously. "I can take care of myself." She growled begrudgingly.
"I know that, but it is showing signs of infection…" Kenshin's voice faded away as he examined the wound some more.
The girl eyed him a bit more, and for a moment Kenshin thought she'd reject the offer. But then she sighed and looked to the side, muttering her consent.
"Arigato, de gozaru yo." Kenshin expertly took her arm and peeled off the bandage, tossing it into a nearby disposal bag.
The girl winced at the sudden rush of pain as the wind hit her still rather fresh cut. Kenshin glanced up at her and lessened his grip on her arm.
After about five minutes' worth of careful examination, Kenshin called for a towel from the vendor behind them. He rested the girl's arm on the towel and reached inside his hakama, pulling out a roll of bandages and some other medical supplies.
"Gomen, this will sting a bit," he warned as he applied some herbs and wrapped the bandage neatly on her arm.
The girl winced but didn't say a word, instead preferring to glare at any staring passersby.
Kenshin took his new sakabatou out of its sheath and flipped the blade. Carefully, he cut the bandage at the appropriate place and tied the two ends together.
Seeing that he was done, the girl pulled her arm away, examining her bandage a little. She rolled her kimono sleeve back down and looked away, blushing furiously.
"Arigato." She muttered.
His task done, Kenshin stood back up and patted her on the shoulder. "You should get that to a doctor. It is not a serious wound, but it will offer slight inconveniency."
With that, Kenshin turned and started out into the crowd, but a tug on his sleeve stopped him.
"Uh…can you at least tell me your name?" the girl was blushing furiously, but her face was set in a mask of defiance and she looked at him with every bit of it.
"Himura. Himura Kenshin." Kenshin replied. "A rurouni swordsman."
"Himura-san." The girl said. "Himura-san…you are a rurouni?" she looked quite surprised at this new bit of information. 'This man, a rurouni?'
Kenshin nodded mutely. 'Is it that surprising?'
"Then you must have no place to stay!" the surprise vanished from her face, replaced by a look of steely determination. "C'mon. Stay at my place for a while. It'll be my payment for your bandage."
Kenshin hurriedly put a hand up. "No, no, I don't-"
"Yes you do. Now c'mon." the girl insisted.
With that, the girl stood up and dragged a protesting Kenshin through the crowd.
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A short walk later, Kenshin and the girl stepped into the yard of the Sasaki Satsusshin Ken-jutsu Dojo. The girl released her hold on Kenshin's wrist and muttered a quick "Stay here" before running into the house.
Kenshin looked around the spacious yard in wonder. He had never been in a dojo, having trained on a mountain. This place looked different from the yards of the homes of the men he had slain as Battousai. It was more spacious, with less shrubbery and more room.
'Makes sense,' he thought, 'as this is a ken-jutsu dojo. There has to be more room to practice in.'
Just then, the girl came running back out with a tall, dark-haired young man. The young man looked to be about 18 or 20 years old, with an open, pleasant look on his face.
"Satsuya!" the girl said, coming to a stop between Satsuya and Kenshin. "This is Himura Kenshin. Kenshin-san bandaged my arm when the bandage came loose."
Kenshin stepped forward. "Ohayo, Satsuya-sama."
Satsuya laughed. "Please, no keigo! I am just about the same age as you are. And you are a swordsmen as well, are you not?"
"Hai. I am." Kenshin stoically replied, choosing not to comment on his age.
"Well, thank you for taking care of Midori. Now come in!" invited Satsuya in his carefree way.
Kenshin was in a predicament. An all-too-friendly, sunshiny, I-am-a-happy-swordsman boy was inviting a former hitokiri into his house, which also served as a ken-jutsu dojo for some old style that he'd never heard of.
His senses were screaming at him. But what could he do? These people would hate him forever if he denied their offer.
So the legendary Hitokiri Battousai allowed himself to be dragged into the house to listen to Midori and Satsuya talk for an eternity. He was quite alarmed to find he actually enjoyed it. Before he knew it, he was sleeping in a warm, comfortable room, the sounds of the dojo about him.
Most alarmingly, he found he liked it here.
---------END OF CHAPTER---------
A/N: Kenshin's got his sakaba, and he's settling into a surrogate home…some major changes to his persona in this chapter, plus he's showing compassion for the first time in ten years. He's nineteen, looks about fifteen…I calculated his age based on the time he married Tomoe and the time this happens (1864 and 1868, fifteen at the time he married Tomoe.)
Have fun. Thanks for reading.
-Misao7