NOCTURNE

Chapter XX (20): Enter Hitokiri Battousai

The man carries his baggage quietly through the town. The reverse-blade sword he carries confuses many who pass by him, who glance at the long sword with wonder. His long, crimson hair is tied with a small white strip. The tied hair sways gently from side to side, almost like a metronome, as the man walks on his Japanese-styled sandals, which are not heeled up, making them look more like brown flip-flops rather than sandals. As the man continues to walk along, minding his own business, he brushes into a young boy walking the opposite direction down the bustling dirt road of the small town. The wooden houses and restaurants make it look like an old-fashioned Western town rather than a beat-down Japanese city that was devastated years ago by a major revolution. The young boy continues running on his way, not minding the crimson-haired man's dull-white, dress-like clothing rubbing against his own. In fact, he doesn't even notice the man and keeps scampering down the dirt road recklessly. The strange man just smiles to himself and continues on his path back to a small dojo that, over a period of several weeks, has become quite popular with many young Japanese boys and girls, all of them wanting the techniques of that dojo.

The redheaded man wears a pink Japanese-style shirt that crisscrosses over itself, making it look almost like a kimono, except much shorter (almost like a "shirt form" of the kimono) and designed for men, as well as the dirty-white "dress" the man wears. In fact, everything he seems to wear is of Japanese style… except for the sword he carries on his left side (if you're in his point-of-view), which is strapped there on his "dress" by a small black latch that disappears into the rim of the clothing. The latch doesn't seem to bother the man at all as he bumps into several people by accident, apologizing to them for nearly knocking them over as he reminisces to himself about his past. The people, too, quickly apologize and keep moving on the busy road, trying to fall behind in the traffic of people that keep moving along. The man sighs shortly after he is shoved from behind by a very upset old man who looks very displeased for not being able to get past all these people who block his way from getting to his home. The old coot curses at the sword-bearing man in front of him for not being in such a rush as the folks who literally jog ahead of him. Before waiting for an answer, the old man pushes aside the red-haired man, making the man drop his small bag of food. Luckily, the food the man carries wasn't fragile or else it would've broken the second it hit the surface of the rocky, sandy-like ground. As the man bends over to pick up his small package, a small, tan patch on his left cheek slowly starts to peel off. The man notices this and slaps his left hand over the thin patch, sticking it back on his face. The man then quickly grabs his item he dropped and continues in a hurried pace back to the dojo he stays at.

The man has no distinct features on his face except for the patch, which blends completely with his skin tone, making it seem like there's nothing there on his face at all and his pink-red eyes that match very well with his shirt and hair. Underneath the patch, however, is a large cross-shaped scar. If anyone were to see the scar, they would surely panic and send armies of officers after him, for in the past, this man was a very well known murderer of many. Because of the enormous amount of manslaughters, he was given the name "Hitokiri Battousai", meaning "man-slayer" or "master assassin". Indeed, the name suited him well, for he kept his rein of terror going for a long time during the Revolution that was occurring during that dynasty. But… For some reason known to only a chosen few, the legendary Battousai ended his killing spree surprisingly and was never heard from since. He was said to still be around, though, and people all over the land claimed to be him, killing others and even using the special style that the Battousai used: The "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu" style. Because of these outbreaks, many officers have been on the edge and have been tracking down the Battousai, but it has been said that he is now living in a different town, so the once-panicked town calmed a little, but everyone knew that the Battousai was bond to drop by again. But… unknown to all of them, however, the legendary man-slayer is still among them, except he is now no longer the killer he was back in those days. Because of an incident that change the course of his life, Himura Kenshin has put his days as the slayer of many men to an end and has settled down in the small dojo of Kamiya Kaoru, who teaches the style of "Kamiya Katsushin Ryu" to her pupils. A while back, there was a sinister man taking on both the name of Battousai AND Ms. Kaoru's style, therefore breaking apart her dojo and only leaving her with very few (if any) students left to teach her style to. Although her dojo was nearly shut down because of that catastrophe, Kaoru pushed onward and eventually her dojo came back up to speed and the truth about the man who used her technique was persecuted, thus putting both her and her style in the positive style again.

The red-haired man named Kenshin manages to change his course on the one-way-set road and takes a hard left through the crowd of sweaty, agitated, tired people.

About three minutes later, after passing through various alleys of buildings and dodging rabid canines intent on taking a chunk out of his legs, Kenshin makes it to the front entrance of the dojo. There are two large wooden pillars holding up a uniquely designed piece of wood, which stretches from the tops of both pillars, that is in the shape of a strange wave. If you were to look directly at this large entrance from a good enough distance, on the sides of the pillars are red gates that stretch left and right, and about a hundred or so feet outward, the gate walls take a 90 degree turn away from you and then make another 90 degree turn into each other, making a large perimeter around the land of the small dojo. Kenshin smiles to himself and steps through the entrance. Although originally a large set of double doors used to be in the entrance, they were taken down for cleaning and fixing up, for they were rather old and beaten down like the town that Kenshin was just previously in.

Kenshin walks through the front doors of the dojo. The first thing that hits him is the smell of a magnificent meal. Kenshin breathes in the great tasting air and seems to be transfixed by the smell, following the direction of the heavenly scent as if being pulled along by an invisible thread. As Kenshin nears the smell, he hears the sound of someone bustling through the door he is about to enter. Kenshin opens up the door and sees no one in the room. The sounds that he heard, the smells that he smelt all disappear in an instant as he steps into the darkened room.

"Hello? Ms. Kaoru, are you in here?"

No one answers from deeper within the dark room. Kenshin, who is still holding his bag of food, puts it on a table nearby and clicks on a light nearby next to the door. Before he can do this, however, the door slams in front of his face, sending him reeling backward. He manages to catch himself, fortunately, and pulls out his reverse-blade sword, preparing to face the person (or thing) that shut the door without his consent. The room id completely silent and Kenshin can't hear the sounds of anyone else in the small dojo. 'This is very strange,' Kenshin thinks to himself. 'Normally Ms. Kaoru would be teaching classes at this time. Maybe it was cancelled? No… She wouldn't cancel a class… She loves teaching it and wouldn't stop even if she got sick… What if something happened when I was away? I was just gone for one day to get my sword renewed and to get this bag of food… Where are they at?' These thoughts pass through Kenshin's head about as fast as they come to him. Fear for Kaoru's safety suddenly grasps hold of Kenshin and he starts to become angry.

"Who is in here? Show yourself to me!"

There is no response from the cold darkness of the room. Kenshin turns away from the dark and looks back at the door, which is just several feet away from him. Kenshin tries to turn the knob in an attempt to open the door, but cannot do so. He then slams his foot into the door. No affect whatsoever. Kenshin, rather surprised, decides to use his sword. The blade slices down the door faster than lightning.

The attack did nothing to the door.

"What type of magic is this? This is not usual, that it is not…"

The bewildered Kenshin then hears the sound of chuckling deep within the room. Kenshin looks towards the sound of the chuckling and steps forward once. Although the room is very long and not very narrow, there are still many items clustered in the room, making it almost impossible to maneuver in the room without ramming into something. Chairs, miniature tables, books, pans, pots, clothing, even leftover food is left in this lonely little storage room.

The chuckling deep within the bowels of the room stops and Kenshin starts to make out the presence of another being in the cramped room.

"Who are you? Where is Ms. Kaoru?"

The person in the room turns on a light, which blinds Kenshin temporarily. When Kenshin is able to see again, he sees that about halfway down the room is a strange man wearing a large black coat unmade of at this period in time. The man wears black glasses over his eyes (obviously shades, but Kenshin has never seen them before) and the man also has a long, thin scar under his right eye that extends from about his nose almost to his right ear (if you were in the man's point-of-view, it would be under his right eye; if you were in Kenshin's point-of-view, it would be at Kenshin's left under the man's eye). The strange man has charcoal-colored hair and blood-red eyes that stand out on his face more than his scar. The eyes seem to glisten like stars, almost as if they were looking right into the very being of Kenshin. Although Kenshin cannot make out the lower body of the man because of the table the man is standing behind, it is safe to say that the man is not armed and does not look about ready to fight.

The man smiles evilly, making Kenshin wonder what this guy is doing in Kaoru's dojo and why Kaoru isn't around.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before."

"Did I startle you? If so, I apologize. That wasn't my intention to surprise you."

'Who is this man?' Kenshin thinks as he asks the man his name.

"My name? You want to know? Fine then. You can call me Keiji. I know your name, Himura Kenshin."

"How? How do you know my name? I've never seen you around here before, so you can't possibly have asked someone from here about me."

"Oh really? Well, it's rather strange how torture can get something out of a person, right?"

"What was THAT?"

Kenshin feels his anger jump and he clutches his sword with both hands in anger.

"Hey, chill out, Kenshin. I'm only joking around."

"You make up cruel jokes, that you do."

"Yeah, sorry. I forgot that your type isn't used to mine."

"Your type? What are you talking about?"

"Bah, let's not talk about me, how about we talk about you, Mr. Himura Kenshin? How has life been here in this little dojo of yours?"

"This… This isn't my dojo. It is Ms. Kaoru, and I haven't seen her around, that I haven't."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?"

"Me? Of course not. How would I know where a "Miss Kaoru" is in this large hut of yours? Heh… What a silly question. I just got here about… Oh, say a day ago?"

"And what have you been doing here?"

"I've just been exploring… And I've learned so many interesting things about you, Mr. Himura Kenshin. Like for one how you seem to be living here in this dojo and how you have that reverse-blade sword of yours, and how you use the special style of "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu" and how you were the legendary Hitokiri Battousai—WHOOPS. I didn't mean to let THAT one slip."

Kenshin's eyes widen slightly in astonishment. The strange man named Keiji chuckles to himself and closes his eyes, obviously proud of himself for this information he is giving out.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Oh, it wasn't that hard, not that hard at all. In fact it was so easy that I could have done it with my eyes closed!"

Keiji laughs out loud, which confuses Kenshin greatly.

"Okay, I've had my laugh. Now, Kenshin, you want to see your Kaoru?"

"Yes."

"Okay then… Come on over here."

"I'd be more comfortable if you release her to me, thank you."

"Hmmmmm… Well then, that would be a problem, now wouldn't it?"

The once-proud look on Keiji's face suddenly twists to a total madman as he lunges at Kenshin and grabs ahold of his head, crushing it with his bear hands. Kenshin screams in pain and manages to pull himself together as the man starts to literally suck the energy from Kenshin's body. Before Kenshin can use his sword, however, Keiji pulls away and jumps on top of one of the tables near the door, smiling like a crazy person would.

"How did that feel, Kenshin? Did you enjoy that?"

Kenshin is still out of breath and collapses onto one knee, dropping his sword and holding his throbbing head. At the same time, it feels like Keiji did more than just try to squeeze the living daylights out of his head. It feels like a large part of him is missing.

"What… What did you do to me, you?"

"I didn't do to much… I just took something from you."

"What? A hair or something?"

"Heh, you're a funny guy, you know that Kenshin? Now I will show you a special trick of mine that I've been trying to perfect for a while now… Kudos to my buddy Kaiser X for teaching me this fancy little trick!"

Keiji starts to clap his hands together, almost like a small child that is clapping at an amusing show. Between the clapping, a gray mist can be seen being made. During every clap, the mist becomes larger and larger between Keiji's hands. Although the mist totally disappears between Keiji's clasped hands, whenever he lifts them to clap again, the mist is larger than when it was just about half a second ago. Keiji then stops clapping and seems to release the mist into the room. The gray mist floats to the ceiling, Kenshin watching both the fog's movement and Keiji's as well. The crazed-out Keiji then puts his fists before him and separates them, almost as if he were going to punch them at each other. A small spark goes off between the hands, which attracts the fog from the ceiling, sending between the two fists. A large bolt of lightning strikes between Keiji's separated fists, going from side to side as if not satisfied with one fist and then moving back to the other except repeatedly. Right when the bolt begins to shrink, Keiji slams both his fists into each other, causing a small burst of energy to jump out between his knuckles. Blood drips from between his knuckles as his hands literally light up with energy. All Kenshin does is watch as this continues.

"Now… FOR THE FINALE!"

With a look of complete satisfaction, Keiji starts to shake violently. His body shudders as if he were cold except much worse. It's almost like his body was having a quake within him. The table he is standing on is totally unaffected by this and stands as firm as when he first jumped on it. Keiji's feet suddenly lift off the table, making him able to hover in the air, almost like unseen wires were lifting him. Kenshin's mouth literally hits the floor as Keiji levitates upward. The second Keiji's head touches the wooden ceiling above him, a light almost as bright as the sun erupts from his body, causing him to scream in pleasure. Kenshin shields his eyes.

Moments later, Kenshin opens his eyes… to come face to face with himself. Kenshin literally jumps back, but his reflection does not. It stares him straight in the face with a look so evil that Kenshin could actually feel the look of death this Kenshin was giving him. Keiji stands up behind this Kenshin, which is tinted completely in black, making it look like a Kenshin that was in a dimly lit room.

"Well? How do you like him? Isn't it magnificent? And this is only the second time I've tried this trick!"

Keiji has the look of contentment as he looks down upon Kenshin from behind this mirror image of Kenshin.

"Who… Who is this? He looks just like me, that he does."

"Why, Kenshin, don't you recognize him? That IS you."

"What are you saying?"

"This is you… Or should I say it used to. You remember your alter ego, the Hitokiri Battousai? This is him, except he doesn't have your weak self merged with him. He's nothing but one hundred percent pure man-slaying evil."

Keiji's smile broadens as he sees the look of complete shock on Kenshin's pale face as he looks back at his old self in the flesh. This Kenshin, instead of having the pink-red eyes like Kenshin does, has golden eyes that look dead, almost as if they had no soul in them. This soulless look sends a chill down Kenshin's spine.

"Well? How long are you two going to just stand there and look at each other? Why not introduce yourself PROPERLY?"

As Keiji says this, the "Hitokiri Battousai" lashes forward with his sword, just barely missing Kenshin's neck as he dodges backward, leaping to his feet, holding onto his sword, ready to do battle.

"I think I'll leave you two to each other."

As Keiji says this, he slowly disappears into thin air. Kenshin manages to yell out in time.

"Wait! What did you do with Ms. Kaoru?"

Keiji laughs again and responds quickly.

"If you really wish to know, get yourself outside… Unless, of course, Hitokiri Battousai over there kills you before you can do that."

Keiji laughs again as he disappears into thin air, leaving the two Kenshin's in the room to standoff against each other. The door that Kenshin is standing next to slowly opens by itself, revealing a crack to the hallway outside the door. Kenshin moves hesitantly towards the open door, keeping his attention fixed on his alter ego, who stares right back at him with eyes that are hungry to see Kenshin howling in pain.

Kenshin reaches the door after what feels like an eternity and dashes through it, leaving his alter ego in the room alone.

Kenshin rushes as fast as his quick legs can carry him. He busts through the weak doors of the dojo and finds himself outside on the narrow, stone pathway leading both away and towards the dojo entrance. Kenshin looks around, snapping his head from side to side, trying to find either Kaoru or Keiji.

"WHERE ARE YOU, KEIJI? SHOW YOURSELF TO ME!"

Kenshin then hears what sounds like the large buzzing of a bee. The sound then begins to whirl, almost like a spinning propeller. The sound he hears is coming from above his head. Kenshin lifts his head and sees high in the sun-setting sky a large, gray orb with three large spikes sticking out of its sides. The orb continues to lower. The sheer size of the sphere is then revealed to Kenshin as it levitates just above the dojo, making it look like a large rock to this massive gray orb. Kenshin nearly drops his sword as he looks at this amazing thing that flies just above his head, its shadow totally engulfing the area below it. A small light is seen streaking down from the ship's belly, landing almost on top of Kenshin. The beam then starts to shrink into human size, shift shaping into the form of a young woman. The woman has purple hair that is tied around her head and lifted upward, giving it a feathered look. The woman also has eyes that match her hair and soft facial features that give her both a look of a tough woman but, at the same time, the features of a much gentler, loving side. The woman wears a long black dress made of a fabric that hasn't been seen in this period of time and she also wears the style of sandals that Kenshin wears. Kenshin stares in awe at the woman in front of him and whispers something.

"Ms. Kaoru…? What happened to you?"

The woman ignores Kenshin's question and her expressionless face then shifts to that of terror and confusion. "Kaoru," as Kenshin calls her, starts to cry and plead to Kenshin with a shaky voice.

"Kenshin, you must help me! They've kidnapped me with Yahiko and Sanosuke as well! Please, you have to help us! They're doing such horrible things to us… All these tests… They keep on hurting us even when we tell them to stop! Please, Kenshin, you must--!"

Kaoru is cut off as her body turns into a white light that zips back up to the belly of the flying globe. Kenshin watches as the light enters the spaceship and disappears from view. The whirring sound of the ship continues to roar above Kenshin as the ship beings to twirl around very, very slowly. Then, out of nowhere, Kenshin feels something rushing towards him. Kenshin moves to his left, but feels a pain in his arm as he sees his alter ego appear before him, ready to battle. Kenshin holds onto his injured arm as blood forces itself out of the wound through Kenshin's fingers, soaking into his shirt.

"You again…"

Kenshin's alter ego stares back at Kenshin motionless, waiting for Kenshin to move. Kenshin releases his arm and grasps hold of his sword, bringing it upward some, almost to his chest area, setting it horizontally, the swords tip facing Kenshin's alter ego. The "Hitokiri Battousai" does the same. Both of them prepare to use the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu upon each other, and only one of them will survive the aftermath of the blow.

Kenshin takes a few steps forward, as does his clone. Then, in the blink of an eye, the two race towards each other at a speed much faster than the fastest person on the earth could ever run to.

The sound of swords slicing human flesh is heard, and someone screams in pain.

A body falls to the ground.

The "Hitokiri Battousai" lands on his feet, looking totally unharmed. Several meters behind him is Kenshin, collapsed on the ground. Kenshin is holding his stomach, which now has a huge gash on it that spreads horizontally. The cut is damaging, but not as deep as it looks. Blood continues to soak into Kenshin's clothing as Kenshin's unconscious body lays there, his sword about to land to the ground, which fell out of his hands when he was struck with his clone's deadly attack. As the sword hits the stone path, "Hitokiri Battousai" gazes upward to the spaceship and looks back at Kenshin's sprawled body. Then he notices something strange as he notices his vision becomes disoriented. Slowly, one eye seems to be moving up and the other moving downward, as if they were shifting spaces on his head. A few seconds later, half of "Hitokiri Battousai" falls to the ground and blood literally flows from the body like a river, while the other half remains standing for a brief second before falling to the ground, sending the insides falling out onto the ground, staining the stones with blood of Kenshin's fallen clone… and Kenshin himself.

NOCTURNE

"In a mad world only the mad are sane." –Akira Kurosawa