However, I feel so loved; besides I have many good ideas for the fight scene! I hope this one ends up being longer, because boy do I have plans for the rest of the story. The only problem is getting from here to those good spots. Oh well, R&R? Please? Any kinda review, except for stuff like "you suck this is pure shit". THANKS!
Also, don't own Kenshin crew, but I do own the MYSTERIOUS GIRL, yas gots ta wiggle ur fingers while ya say it!---that was 4 u Amanda!
"So are you really going to beat up a girl Sano? I mean isn't that kind of lame? You'd probably win easy, but wouldn't it be funny if she kicked your ass!" Yahiko started laughing maniacally as he walked with a calm and cool Sanosuke.
He had been calm and cool, but now he was annoyed and very angry. He stopped in his tracks glaring down the small wannabe samurai, "Shut up. You say one more word and I'll go after you as a warm up." That kept him quiet for a bit longer, but both Kenshin and Sanosuke were still wary of the strange girl who carried her confidence of fighting them higher than any they'd seen. "It's not that she's cocky," he had said to Kenshin earlier, "she's just aware of her limitations and all. Being blind, but still confident that she could fight someone like the Manslayer with a hope of winning."
"I almost admire her," Kaoru sighed as she walked with Kenshin. they had been keeping an eye on Yahiko and Sanosuke the whole walk to the old fighting grounds; Kenshin feared for the reasons why the girl wished to fight, and Kaoru was worried that Sanosuke would go too rough and hurt the blind girl. "I know it'd be rude, but I'm curious to know how she became blind. She kind of gives the feeling that she wasn't always like this."
"Kenshin?" Sanosuke asked jerking his head. The signal brought the samurai closer and the two drew themselves away from the others. "Have you been hearing something?"
"Yes I believe something has been running through the trees, that it has." Both men were now even further on their guard, suspicious of every twitch in the trees around them, the water against the banks not too far from the trail, and Kaoru and Yahiko beginning to argue.
"You little brat!" Kaoru snapped. "When are you going to learn to be kind to people and treat them with respect?"
"Gah," he whined, "leave me alone!" They began yelling once more until they caught the glare emitting from Sanosuke's brown eyes. They finally reached the clearing where the first fight between Manslayer and Zanza had commenced. Everyone stood calmly waiting, all except Yahiko who couldn't stand the silence. "Where is she?"
There was the slight snap of a twig and all eyes turned to the opposite end of the clearing. The girl stood waiting staff before her, and dark kimono gently rippling in the breeze. "You would have arrived sooner if were not for your companions am I correct?" she had a slight smirk on her face. "No matter now, you have arrived, so we shall have our fight."
Sanosuke stood ahead of his friends nodding, "I'm ready when you are."
"We should move out of the way Miss Kaoru, that we should," Kenshin warned pulling her and Yahiko out of the way. "Good luck Sanosuke, but be-"
"Careful yeah I know!" he snapped again. The two squared off tense in their lack of movement, anticipation crackled in the air like it was a living creature circling the two. "Ok! Let's go!" he yelled rushing forward. The mysterious girl didn't even move until he had almost reached her, only then to dodge aside bandage wrapped hair swinging in the air. He swung up again attacking her with punches and yet she was still able to slip away from him as if she could see him through the bandage. That isn't possible through, those bandages are solid black and thick at that too! She's got to have them wrapped around her eyes at least three times, but she can still block all my moves. He finally paused his attack slipping away towards a small tree. "How can you possible do that?"
"Do what?" she snapped twirling the staff above her head.
"Block my attacks, you can't even see me."
She laughed slamming the staff into the ground, "You don't need your eyes if you can hear your opponents before they reach you." She ran towards the tree planting her staff into the ground and launching her body at the tree. She swung herself around the staff as she pushed away from the tree, slamming her feet into Sanosuke's side. He tumbled down across the grass landing quite far from where she landed after her tree stunt. "Had enough?"
He lay on his back propping himself up with one hand, "Not quite yet." I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, and I guess it'll do better to beat her with something she's never seen. His hand dug around in the dirt, he was right it was the exact spot he hand been looking for. Digging deeper with his free hand he found the thick worn handle and started to rise. Pulling the large buried object with him he held it back in one of the old stances. Dust and dirt fell from the giant weapon like rain from the sky, sunlight glinting off the harsh edged metal, and a smile growing on his face.
"I thought Kenshin sliced his zanbatou in half!" Kaoru gasped gripping his shoulder.
"I had it melded again," Sanosuke smirked holding it proudly, "I buried it here so that if I ever wanted it I could get it, and besides nobody else knew where it was." Yahiko beamed, he was amazed at how often Sanosuke would still resort to his old ways of a gang fighter. Kenshin thought him clever, but knew it was part of him he never left behind. Kaoru wanted to hit him over the head for not telling anyone that he had hidden the massive weapon.
The girl's head twitched in his direction moving slowly again as she tried to decipher the strange sounds and arguments. She finally broke into an awed smile, "So. I finally must come up against a zanbatou, I thought they were all gone, but I suppose there's no mercy for the weary traveler. I've gone up against many different types of weapons-swords, knives, rocks, other bo fighters, and even a few specialized weapons-but the only remaining zanbatou fighter?" She took up a stance with her staff in a ready attack position, "I'll enjoy this. A thrill, a challenge!"
"Now you're talking my language!" Sanosuke cheered. He clicked the zanbatou into a more comfortable position and smirked. The two rushed forward without a word; Sanosuke swinging the massive sword to the side, and the girl flipping into the air soaring above his head using her staff as a pole to launch her up. He caught her out of the corner of her eye noticing that most of her moves brought her high up and carried through with his swing rounding on her again. As he suspected, she pushed herself into the air again, and as she did he switched to carrying the sword in one hand and grabbed her staff swinging it sharply to his right. She slammed into the ground with a thud, and after a moment's shock brought herself up again. "Dodge this!" he hollered swinging downward before she had a chance to replace her staff.
"Oh no!" Kaoru gasped thinking she was dead for sure. The dust settled and the girl had rolled away into a crouch just a few feet from the crater made by the powerful blast. "She's alright? She has to move as fast as Kenshin!"
"Maybe not that fast," Kenshin sighed. A thin cut appeared on the girl's cheek as result from the attack. "She did not get away unharmed, that she did not. She has great skill," he added watching sometimes able to predict her movements sometimes unable to. Her style was like none he had ever seen before in his life; it must have been a mix between more than one, in a way to create her own style unique to herself only. This was something he learned many people did to hide themselves better from their enemies, it was something people who did not fight often or had build up little reputation as to protect themselves. She's obviously had a difficult life.
"Now do you give up?" Sanosuke asked her placing his zanbatou in check. She just growled, her head tilted downward and away as she felt the cut lightly. She rose up with the assistance of her staff and stared in his direction, her eyes and emotion hidden by the black bandages. "Fine then, be that way!" He ran forward swinging his zanbatou; she stabbed her staff at the very edge of his weapon launching herself onto it. Feeling the change in weight he stopped in mid-swing holding it a high angle. Where the hell did she go? I don't see her anywhere! He looked up to the top of his zanbatou and reeled back in shock; there she stood with the staff clicking into a nick in the massive sword and her standing precariously at the tip.
She smirked for a moment hearing his gasp, but straightened her face again. "If I move this staff even one little inch, I will come sliding down the length of your own weapon crashing head first with your skull. It's an advantage point, being up here and all, but it is not one I can hold for too long." As she spoke he saw the reality of her threat and had begun tilting the sword gently so it was no longer aimed at him. Kenshin, Yahiko, and Kaoru were all staring in disbelief, it truly did seem that now Sanosuke would be able to end the fight, she would fall, and he would have her at his mercy. Yet only Sanosuke saw the slight change in her stance that made him change his mind.
The edge of her staff: it's not in the nick all the way, and she won't be able to control her fall. She could kill herself! He spun the zanbatou around so the hilt was in front of him once more. This sudden movement made the staff slip all the way from its hold and she began to slide down against her will. Sano braced himself as she covered the last few feet of the swords length and rammed into him both of them flying to the ground and the zanbatou falling from Sanosuke's hands. As they hit the ground rolling, Sanosuke's hand slipped near her face and the black bandage came off in his hand. She continued to roll further away from him, a firm grip still on her bo staff.
As she began to pull herself onto her knees her eyes blinked, as one would trying to adjust to a brighter light. Sanosuke and the others all watched her, curious as to her uncharacteristic actions. She shook her head a few times sending the bandaged pigtails whipping across her face. The girl finally looked up at Sano, who was rising to his feet, and she followed suit never taking her eyes off him. "I honestly thought that Zanza of the Zanbatou would be well," she paused raising her eyebrows, "bigger."
"You can see?" Kaoru gasped.
"You lied to us!" Sanosuke hollered waving the bandage at her getting angry. "You said you were blind!" The others muttered or nodded their agreement of the lie.
She laughed at them as a teacher would a foolish pupil. "I never said I was blind," she admitted honestly giving a slight shrug as she went on. "Everyone assumes because I wear the bandage that I'm blind. Nobody seems to bother thinking I do this to enhance my skills." She took up another fighting stance with her staff, her blue gray eyes piercing and haunting now that they were revealed. "Let us finish this!"
"Fine," he growled back wrapping the bandage around his hand. "Now I'll do this my way. Easier to hear me than see me is it? We'll find out soon enough," he grinned. The two ran for each other, but now he could slip in and out of her attacks with the staff and even flung it away from her. She stared at where it was thrown in disbelief, but then turned back glaring at him. Well now, it seems I've made you mad. Good. It'll make this much more interesting. She lunged at him, but he was too strong and threw her to the ground sitting on her stomach and holding a balled fist above her. "Now do you give up? I've won fair and square you know," he smiled softly. She tried to squirm away and get out from under him, but his strength and weight kept her pinned down.
"You've won," she sighed in defeat. He got off and pulled her up, but she pulled away from him looking away. She had failed to win the fight and began to walk away towards her staff, picked it up, and continued away into the forest.
"Hey where are you going?" Sano asked half laughing.
She turned back scowling seeing an obvious answer, "I lost."
"You're a brave fighter miss, that is true enough," Kenshin answered stepping closer to her. "You obviously have something honorable that you are fighting for, and I will answer your questions on one condition."
The girl's eyes reflected confusion even if her face didn't. Sanosuke could only assume she hadn't seen kindness like this in a long while and half smiled at the thought. Kenshin really had that affect on people, and sometimes it annoyed the hell out of him. "What condition?"
"You tell us your name and stay with us for a while," Kenshin said grinning broadly.
She stared at him jaw dropping. Yeah I know exactly how you feel lady. She got over it and sighed in annoyance completely facing the group with a small bow. "My name is Amaterasu Sorayinu."