Chapter 4: Presence of the Shadow
The two fighters stared each other down harshly. The ninja servant had become less cocky and more irritated. Sanosuke was tensing up his body, readying for any blow to be dealt to him. As they stared each other down, Sano broke the silence, "Are you just gonna stand there all day or are you going to attack me? Or could it be that you're scared of me now that I've swatted you a few times?" The servant just stared angrily at him. "Heh, big change I guess I'll have t- - -" Before Sano could finish the servant had disappeared. All that could be heard was a little bit of crackling that could be heard in every direction. There was no telling where he would come from next. Sano's eyes shifted nervously, he knew the guy was fast, but he didn't think he was that fast. Before he could catch it, a throwing knife pierced through the top of his left shoulder, making him drop the zanbatou down. "Grahh...what the...where did that come from!" He couldn't tell where the servant would strike next. Despite the wound, he was still able to lift his sword. Sano smirked, then began swinging the blade around and around, cutting down the surrounding brush. Through doing this, he caught the ninja servant off guard and he fell from the branches of an oak tree, right onto his knee. The ninja expressed no pain, just jumped up, and threw more knives at Sanosuke. Though these ones Sano side-stepped quickly, then brought his sword up.
The servant used the blade as a way to propel himself higher into the air so he could reach one of the other trees.
Sanosuke began shifting his eyes again, he could see slight bluish black blur all around him now. He watched carefully as the blur circled him in the tree branches. Then as a shuriken came flying at him, Sanosuke stepped to the side swiftly and caught one of the tips. He the hurled it at the blur, hoping to hit it. It was a successful hit and the ninja stopped, fell and flinched as he hit the ground hard. Sanosuke then ran as fast as he could toward the servant's location, jumped and slammed his blade into the ground. It was unsuccessful though, as the ninja just barely managed to escape. Sanosuke's wound began to sting harshly, and his vision became blurry as he noticed the amount of blood he had lost. "Man...I have to beat this guy...and fast...before I end up...as some forest animal's next dinner..."
Meanwhile...
The door to the Kamiya Dojo was open, and a lone figure stepped in. Though he was not really alone. Outside there were twelve other servants of his, waiting for him to come out. He looked around the dojo, and the let loose a loud laugh from behind his mask. "Hurraahahahaha, so I see the Battousai has fled before I got here. Looks like that messenger worked as planned. Now, as to where they went..." The man dropped to the ground, and slowly crawled across, as though seacrhing for something. He then noticed slight tracks in the dirt outside. "Hmmm, it would appear that he took the alleyways. Not very smart, as there are a lot of ways to leave tracks in alleyways...Hehehehehe."
Just then a servant came in, "Sensei Hanzo. We have information on where the Battousai fled to. One of the spys you had on the town's streets began tracking them a few hours ago. Another man was ordered by the first to report that the Battousai and his company were heading toward the eastern forest. It would also seem that they left Tokyo into another town nearby, and are heading towards an unknown location. That is all the info we have, Sensei." Hattori grinned. "Good, hopefully the spy is slowing them down for me. We are to begin following the Battousai's trail, go outside and tell the other Iga to go to the back alleys and meet up with me. We are going hunting...Hehehehehehe" The servant bowed, and then disappeared into the darkness.
Hattori then headed out back, and began to follow the tracks left by Kenshin and the rest of them. "The fools should of realized that by heading to the forest, it makes them easier to trail. Oh well, the sooner I find them, the sooner I get to taste the Battousai's blood. Mweheheheheheheheeeeee...". With that Hattori began to speed up, becoming nothing more than a sound. With Sanosuke fighting the servant, and Hattori closing in quickly, time is running out for Sanosuke and the others.
The battle rages on; and Hattori Hanzo, eager for the taste of blood, closes in quickly.