Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Yu-Gi-Oh.
Chapter Three
Kenshin sighed. The day had not been going well for him. And he still had no idea why he was in a different time period. He would have much rather been fighting for the freedom of his people in his own time period. He hated killing, but he wanted the people of Japan to have happiness, and he was willing to sacrifice his own needs to make that happen. Worriedly, he wondered if the Ishin Shishi were doing all right in his absence. He didn't want them to lose the revolution just because he had fallen into a time hole somewhere and couldn't be there to help them. And there was also the issue of where he was going to get food. He was starting to get hungry, and he remembered that he hadn't brought any money with him. Besides, his money probably wouldn't have any use in the place where he was stuck now. Grunting, he sat down on the side of the road to think over his present predicament. Absently, he started to count the number of cars going by on the road, and was astonished to see how many of them there were. He marveled at the technological improvement that Japan had made in the past 200 years.
Suddenly, a car stopped on the side of the road, right next to him. Yugi Moto stepped out with a bright smile. Obviously the innocent spirit was the one in control. Kenshin scowled at him, but the boy's smile didn't falter.
"Ah, so we meet again, Kenshin!" Yugi said, bouncing on his toes a little in excitement.
"Yes, unfortunately for me. And on the same day, too. Wonderful. What do you want?"
"Well," Yugi started, a bit uncomfortable under Kenshin's piercing amber gaze, "I was wondering, since you really have no place to stay, if you wanted to live at my grandpa's house for a while so that we can have time to try and figure out how to get you back to your own time."
Kenshin was surprised, to say the least. He had not expected that people would be so kind to him. He had never really been treated kindly before in his life. With respect, yes. Kindness, no not really. His shishou had been ok, but he hadn't been exactly gentle when he had tried to pound the Hiten Mitsurigi Style into Kenshin during the years he had trained with him. With a smile that was more of a grimace, he said, "If that is all right with you and your grandpa, then I would be more than happy to live with you for a while. I am a bit hungry." He grinned sheepishly.
Yugi practically bounced up and down with glee. "Then it's settled! Come with me, my grandpa will drive you to our house."
So, that is how Battousai the Manslayer came to live in the house of Yugi Moto, King of Games, Duel Monsters Champion, and the lighter half of a 5,000 year old pharaoh who lived in a puzzle. Yugi's grandpa thought that since Kenshin was about Yugi's age, it would be suspicious if he didn't go to school. So, on the Wednesday of that very same week, Kenshin got enrolled at Yugi's high school. As they were walking to Yugi's school, they met up with Joey and Tristan, two of Yugi's friends. They were somewhat surprised to see a young stranger with long red hair walking next to Yugi, and Yugi introduced Kenshin to them. He somehow forgot to mention that Kenshin was also Battousai the Manslayer and that he was from the Bakumatsu. He figured that they really didn't need to know that. Joey and Tristan joked around with each other and playfully punched each other around the whole way to school, something that made Kenshin faintly amused.
As they entered, they met up with a tall, cold-eyed young man who had an imperious attitude and who obviously thought that he was a better species of human than everyone else. He walked up to them and barely even glanced at Kenshin before saying, "So I see you're consorting with weaklings again, aren't you, Yugi? Always protecting the weak. Ha! This guy next to you probably can't even think for himself, so he needs your brains to help him around! He looks like a scrawny chicken." Laughing, the boy walked away from them.
Yugi nervously looked at Kenshin to see if he had gotten angry. He was surprised to find that Kenshin hadn't even changed his expression. He was still calm, and it didn't seem like the insults had affected him at all. "Um, that was Seto Kaiba. He's still kind of angry with me because I beat him again at the Duel Monsters Championship, and he still really wants to beat me. He's a bit obsessed….."
Kenshin turned to look at Yugi, an amused smile on his face. "Again, did you say? So I'm supposing that you repeatedly beat this guy often?"
Yugi sheepishly grinned and nodded, and Kenshin threw his head back and laughed. The sound was so empty, though, almost hollow, and it made the hair on the back of Yugi's neck rise up. Even Joey and Tristan looked a bit uncomfortable.
Ryou heard the sound of Kenshin's empty laugh, and he wondered who it was whose laugh was so lonely and sad. Following the sound, he saw Yugi standing next to the boy who had beaten Bakura a few days before. The one who had claimed to be the Battousai. Since the fight, Ryou had checked out some books about Battousai the Manslayer, and he found a description that was eerily similar to Kenshin's own description. Excluding the fact that Kenshin wasn't seven feet tall and he probably wasn't as fast as a god. Although Ryou had to admit that he was pretty fast. He had seen Bakura's fight with Kenshin, and he knew that had Kenshin wished it, he could have killed Bakura and Ryou right then and there. That also didn't fit up with the description of Battousai. Battousai was supposed to be a cold-blooded killer who killed for fun. Kenshin obviously did not like killing too much.
Kenshin suddenly stopped laughing and stiffened up. Turning around, he saw Ryou. Ryou was a little startled and was starting to contemplate running for his life because Kenshin's steely amber eyes were starting to scare him. Kenshin, however, smiled and said, "Come over here, I want to talk to you."
Perplexed, and a little wary, Ryou slowly moved towards the small figure of the Battousai.
"I want to apologize for hurting your body a couple days ago. But your arrogant other self was starting to irritate me. I am truly sorry for hurting you." Kenshin bowed. "I don't believe that you are as bad a person as your other self obviously is, so I want to get to know you better. After all, I don't have many friends, and I've discovered that friends are a nice thing to have."
"Um….sure." Ryou was unsure of what to say after that. He was very confused by Kenshin's behavior, because he had been so sure that Kenshin was just another egotistical idiot. Now he wasn't so sure.
"Oh, so you two know each other already, then?" Yugi piped up. "Well, then I won't need to introduce you! I think we're running late, let's go to class."
During class, Kenshin was pretty bored. He had never really had much of an education, but he knew how to write and read pretty well. Apparently, the kids in the future learned other things, like history and science and math. Things that did not really interest him. Well, that is, until they got to history. It was really quite remarkable that at that time, Yugi's class was in the middle of studying the Bakumatsu. This sparked Kenshin's interest, and he listened attentively to the teacher, hoping to catch some indication of what happened after he had left in the time hole.
The teacher started out by saying, "There were many manslayers in the Bakumatsu, assassins who crept around in the dark, killing leading officials of the opposing side, hoping that their side would win if they could kill all the leaders on the other side."
Kenshin was angry. The teacher made people like him sound so stupid.
"There was one who was renowned for his prowess with the blade, someone who was said to be so fast and so powerful, no one could ever defeat him. He is described as a 7 foot tall demon with golden eyes, blood red hair, and a cross-shaped scar. He was known as the Hitokiri Battousai. He was on the side of the Ishin Shishi, and he helped them win the revolution. But one day, almost near the end of the revolution, he is said to have disappeared, never to be seen again." The teacher finished his little speech with a dramatic sweep of his hands.
Seto Kaiba sat in his chair, bored out of his mind. Who cared about the Hitokiri Battousai anyway? He was just a myth. As the teacher continued to drone about the Bakumatsu, he started to get even more irritated. Finally, he stood up and slapped his hands down on his desk to get the teacher's attention.
"Yes, Kaiba? Why are you causing a disruption?" The teacher was not pleased.
"Excuse me, sensei, but I don't believe I need to learn this. The Bakumatsu was a waste of lives and it was a stupid war. It was pointless, and everyone who fought in it was an idiot. We don't need to learn about a war that was started when the peasants got discontented. Peasants should know better, after all, than to try to start a war with their betters. No wonder so many people died." Smirking, Seto Kaiba made his way towards the door.
This was something Kenshin could not take. Anybody could insult him, but no one could insult his ideals and his fellow assassins. And no one could call the war that he had devoted his entire youth and happiness to, a stupid and pointless war. Getting out of his seat so quickly that no one even saw it happen, he knocked over a few desks and practically flew towards Kaiba, knocking him to the floor. Snarling, he punched the offensive lump of meat that was Kaiba a few times before yanking him to his feet and putting his own face a few inches away from Kaiba's. "You will not insult the Bakumatsu, Kaiba," he hissed, his eyes turning a very strange shade of gold, one that was almost luminescent. "People died so that YOU and everyone else in this room could live in peace. Do you call that a stupid war?! People gave their LIVES for ungrateful people like you. You aren't even fit to be called a human, do you know that? You're a worm of the lowest kind, and you'll do well to remember that unless you want me to come after you. Normally, I would have killed something as offensive as you by now, but out of respect for all the people here, I will not. Do. Not. Mess. With. Me." He abruptly dropped Kaiba onto the floor and left the room without saying a word.
Everyone else in the room was in varying degrees of shock. No one even tried to move to help Kaiba up, but he was not offended because he was already unconscious. Silence reigned for about three minutes until the teacher thought to pick Kaiba up and send him to the hospital. Everyone else started to murmur excitedly and talk about the incident. Yugi and Ryou, however, exchanged worried frowns. The Battousai was now very pissed off, and he needed to be stopped before he caused even more havoc. I hope you've noticed that Ryou and Yugi have accepted that Kenshin was indeed the Battousai by now. Need you ask why?