Chapter 3: Escape from the Devil
Kenshin's face turned red with anger. He had hoped he could live peacefully after defeating Shishio. However, it appeared that someone would always be after him. He needed to think quickly, for Kaoru and Sano's and all the other's sakes. The first place to escape to that came to his mind was the Takeda Mansion that he had fought Aoshi the first time. He knew it had been pretty much abandoned since then, and that no one really wanted to buy it. It was the perfect hiding place with it's thick walls and long hallways. Perfect for a hiding place. At one he began running intothe back porch. He slammed the door open and started screaming "You've all got to get the hell out of here now!" The children and Kaoru jumped," We are not safe here right now, we need to get out of here and find a place to hide, and if you follow me I know the perfect place!" He began running toward the gate, "Come on! We have no time to lose!" Sanosuke at once jumped up, grabbed a strange package and the kids and started running.
"Come on, if Kenshin says there's trouble afoot, chances are he's right. We have no time to waste!" Within minutes they were all running through the alleyways. Though it appeared that some of them were getting tired, so Kenshin stopped them to rest for a minute. He thought them a safe distance away now.
"Kenshin...exactly why are we running now?" Kaoru asked him in that demanding tone of hers. "There's someone from Ozuchi coming for me, he says he'll kill you all as well. I can't let that happen. He's a cold blooded killer...just like Jine' was. Except he's worse. He kills everyone he sees as an adversary, and anyone around them. I don't like his attitude about it either... he seems to be more calm about it than Shishio, and if he's more deadly than him, then I think we're really in for a hellish time." Yahiko turned his head from his rest and began questioning Kenshin as well," How do you know all this, Kenshin? Is it something to do with that man from before?" "Exactly. That man gave me this letter. It's from the killer. He claims to be descendant of the Iga nija from the beginning of the Tokugawa Era, Hattori Hanzo."
"I read a lot of thing about him when I was with the Yakuza...they say he was called the shadow, and that he was able to slay the Takeda army's greatest officer, Yukimura Sanada with a flick of his wrist. If he's that powerful...then..."
"That's exactly why I'm afraid, Yahiko. I need to find you all a safe place to hide before I even think of confronting him." Kenshin's state of mind then suddenly changed back to fear," Why are we still sittiing here! We need to go!" At that they began to run down the darkened streets of Tokyo at night. The glare in Kenshin's eyes was that of his most dangerous state of mind. If anything came out, he was ready to beat them to a bloody stump.
After about ten minutes of running, they slowed down to a man in the street, asking some advice. "Excuse me, may I ask where the nearest resta...hey hey, what's the rush folks? What's wrong?" He grabbed Yahiko's arm as he ran by," What's wrong?"Yahiko just turned around and gave a hateful look, punched the man off his feet and kept running. The man got up, dusted himself off and gave a suspicious smirk. He put his hat back on and began walking in the same direction they were heading. Though after a few seconds, any sign of him disappeared into the wind.
It was an hour later, they were all tired of running and were walking wearily down the forest path to the Takeda Mansion. Sanosuke thought he had been hearing sounds behind him, and was very on edge. He gripped the extremely large leather pack tightly. Kenshin looked back at Sanosuke. He knew why he was so tense so he slowed down to ease back to speak to him. "What is wrong Sano. Are you hearing those noises as well?" Sanosuke spat on the ground as he walked then answered, "Yeah. I keep hearing some kind of wooshing sound, not like the wind. But like something moving, very quickly. I think we're being followed." "Do you? Perhaps we should stop and greet our little tailing friend." Sano smirked, "Nah, you go on ahead. I'll take care of this one, you know where you're going. I'll catch up with you later."
Kenshin gave him a grave look. He hoped that Sano would be alright. He gave him an agreeable nod sped up the pace a bit, as Sano dropped back.
Sanosuke went from slow, to a complete stop. He heard the sound still, getting closer. He then heard it so loud as though it were almost right next to him. Sanosuke gripped the package tightly, then whirled it around, knocking off the branch of a tree. The was something that had made contact with his item. As it came unraveled, a newly forged Zanbatou was revealed. It was just as long, but thinner than the old one. And on the side of it was the man from before. In shock from the blow, he dropped to the ground like a sack of rocks. "Heh, thought you were sneaky, eh? Exactly who are you, and why were you following us!" The man had lost his hat, revealing a bald head except for a small ponytail in back. He got up and cracked his body back into shape.
"I...am a servant of the honorable Hattori Hanzo XVII. He sent me to trail you, as soon as our 'messenger' came back with the news of your escape." Sano's expression went grim, "Messenger? Wait...you mean...", The servant chuckled maniacly. "Yes, the messenger is the man who arrived at your door before, and gave the Hitokiri the note. We managed to capture him in Ozuchi, and he pleaded for his life. So we decided to make use of him to lure the Battousai out. At first he didn't want to do it, but we have our ways of convincing people."
He began to laugh as Sano became angrier. "Ya know what? I don't give a damn if he was just part of a trap, that doesn't stop the fact that I'm about to turn you into stringed beans, you disgusting sack of puss!" With that, Sanosuke began to twirl his sword through the air, cutting the trees down around him, which fell into the spot where the servant was. "Ha, where's that idiotic laughter now, huh?" Sano gloated when he saw the trees had hit the spot. "Mwehehehekikiki, you really think that something as as slow and feeble as that can take me? Ha, I'd hate to see you against Lord Hanzo, he'd cut you and clean you like a fish!" Sano turned around and stared the servant in the eye. "Don't think that's all I've got up my sleeve, because this is not the same weapon as before." Sano made a quick slash with it, Catching the cocky servant by surprise. Though the servant dodged it, he expected Sano to have to take his time before he could mae another attack. He began to reach into his pouch to pulls some shuriken out, but before he could, the sword came upright immediately and struck him in the left side of his leg, dropping him like a fly once more. "I told you, don't underestimate this weapon, it's improved far beyond my old Zanbatou. You're going to have to really think if you want to beat me!" With that the servant flipped back up, drew two daggers, and took a ready stance, The smirk was gone and he was serious as ever. Sano drew back his sword, and took his own stance, ready to fight.
The first battle in a war of hellish proportions had begun.