2
A Wandering Swordsman

Ikiro was thoroughly enjoying himself.

They barely tolerated his presence, of course, but they had to allow him to pass. Not without watchful guards, unseen in the shadows of the forest and the boughs of the trees. Still, as long as he stayed on the marked path, they couldn't object to him.

Rupta was an immense forest. Named for a great hero from the past, a youth who had gone on great adventures before the Ages of the Dark Seed. The abbey to which Ikiro traveled had at first been built to remember Rupta before it had become the place where the important Kamiya bloodline was kept sealed away, ensuring the safe birth of Kaoru each generation.

He snorted as he walked along, thinking of the trouble the abbey had caused. That very important bloodline was desperately thin, and had been for a few generations now. Down to its last trickle, Kaoru herself had been the last Kamiya child born, her mother dying before she could bear another. Now, as he had heard it, the Abbess was frantically searching for a wife for her father to continue on the line after Kaoru went on her journey. If they would just actually let the Kamiya line be a part of the rest of the world again, allowed the bloodline to spread out a bit, then there would be lots of relatives, many branches of the family tree for Kaoru to spring from.

Well, they had never listened to him before, and certainly wouldn't now.

Ikiro kept up a leisurely pace that he was sure infuriated the Amazons haunting his footsteps. Once, he had even sat down against a tree and took a nap, and smiled now at the audible curses that floated his way upon waking. Sorry ladies, but it's a really long walk. It wasn't called a "great" forest for nothing.

He was a small, thin man, and had boyish features that made him look much, much younger than his true age, a fact that both bothered and benefited him on many occasions. His wore his hair long, as was the style, and his dusty-brown locks were both wispy and kind of shaggy, tied into a high into a topknot. He was not unknown in this forest, nor at the abbey, though the turn of generation would greet him as a stranger.

He was just close enough to see the bell tower of the abbey when he sensed a new presence, bolder and more dominant than the flitting shadows of the Amazon wards. Curious, he slowed his pace until the man gained on him, then stopped and waited respectfully until the newcomer was near.

"Hello, Traveler," he said politely with a friendly smile. "I did not expect to see another male allowed through these particular woods."

"I'm a little surprised to see another here also," the man said. He was very tall, broadly built, and wore a heavy cloak about his shoulders. "I was born to the women who guard this forest and am a resident of Rupta Abbey; therefore, the women put up with my comings and goings. I am Hiko Seijuro the Thirteenth."

"It is my honor to meet the successor of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu. I am Inouye Ikiro. If you're headed to the abbey, we could walk together. I tire of only having only the silent thunder of the warrior-women as partner to conversation."

The two men fell into step together. "You surprise me again, Inouye-san," Hiko said. "Not many know of my title or my sword-style."

Ikiro shrugged. "Not many are as well-traveled as I am. I was born in this forest as well, but my mother, whoever she is, chose to carry me outside of Rupta to be raised."

"That's known to happen. Not all Amazons want their sons nearby."

Ikiro looked up, meeting Hiko in the eyes for the first time, and the larger man nearly stopped walking, his own eyes widening a bit.

Ikiro blinked. "Is there a problem, Hiko-san?"

"No. I was just surprised by the color of your eyes. …Purple."

Ikiro laughed. "Well. I've heard people describe them as violet, amethyst, and even someone who once called them 'heliotrope' but never once did anyone actually say they were purple!"

"I apologize if I've offended you. It's just that my idiot pupil also has eyes that color. I've never met anyone besides him who has such eyes."

"I see. Is your student also Amazon-born?"

"Yes."

Ikiro chuckled. "'Purple' is actually a common eye color among them, the Amazons. Many of them have gold, emerald green, and every shade of blue eyes that you can imagine."

"You sound as if you've been among them."

"A few times. I did a special service for them years ago, and the honored me by ceremony before their council." Ikiro paused thoughtfully. "I always wondered which of the ladies was my mother, but of course, I never found out."

"You're a swordsman, I see," Hiko said, quickly changing the subject.

"A competent enough one," Ikiro agreed with a smile, glancing down at the katana held in his belt.

"Oh? Perhaps I could extend the hospitality of my home. My older sister--my stupid apprentice's mother--would be angry with me if I allowed a new face from the outside to pass by without allowing her a chance for fresh conversation. Not much ever changes in Rupta."

"I'd be honored. Although…this is the second time you've maligned your apprentice's intellect. Is he really stupid?"

It was really an rhetoric question, as logic clearly dictated that if Hiko would apprentice someone to learn the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu from him, he wouldn't really be an idiot.

He'd also meant for the question to be light, but Hiko was silent for several moments as their steps took them ever closer to their destination. His voice was gruff when he finally answered.

"He is stupid," he said, to Ikiro's surprise. "Stupidly brave, stupidly selfless, and stupidly honest."

"I see."

"You might really see, if you knew him. Once when he and Kaoru were small children, she wanted to run away from the forest and see the outside world. He couldn't dissuade her from going, so he had to at least go along to protect her. They were about six at the time. They actually got several miles from the abbey without either an abbey guard or Amazon ward noticing them, but were attacked by a family of bugbears."

Ikiro glanced at him, eyebrows raised. He watched as a smile warred with a scowl over Hiko's face. It was a draw; he walked with an odd expression of both for a moment before continuing.

"That was before I had begun training the boy. My sister had taught him to use the sling, and he used it to keep the bugbears at bay, flinging stones at their noses and eyes as they took shelter in a hollow tree until help arrived."

"That's amazing," Ikiro said, genuinely impressed. "A six-year-old fighting off an family of bugbears with little more than a sling and some stones?"

"Yes," Hiko said, the smile at last overcoming the scowl. "I was one of the ones who'd set out looking for the missing children. I came up late on them. Others had chased away the bugbears and had pulled the children from their hiding place. The boy was standing in front of Kaoru, still protecting her. Chin was up, chest out, placing the blame for their disappearance squarely on his own scrawny shoulders."

"I hope I get to meet your apprentice. He does sound very brave."

"Stupidly so, as I said."

Ikiro laughed again, just as the trees began to part into a vast clearing where the ancient stone abbey sprawled, sheltered by the forest. "A friend and protector of Kaoru herself. One would almost think the boy believes he is Battousai."

He looked to Hiko, expecting the larger man to smile back at the his joke. A smirk came, but perhaps just a half second too late to be natural…

"Well, Kaoru has a small, tight-knit circle of protectors among the children who grew up with her, not just my student. This is my sister's home."

Ikiro, who had been intent on Hiko's words, allowed his eyes to move to the cabin Hiko indicated. His first surprise was a vague one, that the residence was actually outside the protective walls of the abbey, but this thought was quickly overtaken by the bursting sight of the entire surroundings of the little cabin. Flowers, flowers everywhere, of all colors, kinds, shapes, and sizes. More sorts of flowers than Ikiro had ever seen, never mind the great quantity.

He was almost afraid to walk through the beautiful, elaborate garden, but allowed Hiko to show him where the thoughtfully-placed stepping stones marking a path safely through the flowers. Ikiro followed behind the larger man, casting one last glance at the abbey gates, just a dozen yards away, now seeming extremely drab next to the festive colors exploding over the cabin. He was in no hurry; he had very much become interested in Hiko Seijuro's family.

Just as he was hoping Hiko's sister was a good cook, he stepped through the open door and was washed over with the scents of simmering food. The inside of the cabin seemed larger than the outside had suggested. It was interesting that the place wasn't decorated with some of the flowers from the outside. Instead, it was cluttered, though nonetheless clean, with items of steadfast usefulness. Bookshelves, tables, beds, and racks or hooks filled with items and weapons, mostly swords and staves.

It kind of looked like an Amazon's home, and Ikiro was again surprised when an actual Amazon greeted them.

"Sister, I'm home," Hiko said.

"So I see. Did you remember to piss on the warding post?"

Hiko rolled his eyes heavenward. "Damn it, Woman. Why can I not come from a long journey into my own home without you bothering me about pissing on warding posts?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you or did you not pay a visit to the tombs on the way back?"

"Of course," Hiko said through very clenched teeth.

"Then get back outside and ward off the spirits who may have followed you home."

Ikiro, forgotten, stood uncomfortably by the doorjamb while Hiko and his sister glared at each other for several long seconds until finally the comely woman noticed him. Evidentally deciding to end the argument, she smiled sweetly. "Seijuro, my sweet little brother…do you want your dinner tonight?"

Hiko glared another moment at his sister before giving a short, defeated sigh and moving past Ikiro, back outside into the fields of flowers.

"Well?"

Ikiro turned back to the Amazon, who was looking at him with expectant impatience. "Have you visited any tombs, catacombs, or graveyards in the last Sevenday?" she demanded.

"N-no, but I could still--uh…if I really need to--"

"No, if you haven't visited the dead recently, there's no need. Forgive my rudeness, but it was important. My name is Himura Natsu, formally of the Ruto Tribe."

She was a small woman, but her short arms and legs were rounded and strong. She had a gentle, almost sweet face, and her hair was plaited into a thick braid that fell well past the middle of her back. Her garb was an artful mix of woven cloth and wolf's fur, her small feet bare, braided bracelets tied around her ankles and wrists. For a "former" Amazon, she certainly still looked the part.

"Inouye Ikiro," he introduced himself with a bow.

Her face suddenly changed. "Ikiro-san! I remember you! You're the one who helped rid my people of the Plague of Living Death."

"Oh. Well." Ikiro smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "That was quite some time ago. I'm surprised anyone even remembers it."

"It's hard to forget something like that! You're certainly welcome in my home."

The two of them turned as Hiko made his way back into the house, this time followed by a much smaller young man of perhaps eighteen years.

"Ikiro-san, this is my son, Himura Kenshin," Natsu said, pushing the boy forward. He stared at Ikiro with a mixture of interest and guardedness with eyes that were indeed deep violet, like Ikiro's own. His hair was long and hid much of his face, falling down his back from the low ponytail that loosely held it. It was lustrously red, like fire, like blood.

More words were spoken, but for some reason Ikiro's own heartbeat blunted out the words as he stared at the boy. His coloring, his small size…it reminded him of someone…

"Ikiro-san?"

He started, realizing that everyone was staring at him with concern.

He tried to smile. "I'm sorry. It's been a really long journey--"

"Oh! That's right. Kenshin, I think it would be best if our guest shared your room for the time being. Would you show him the way and help him get settled while I get dinner?"

"Of course, Mama," Kenshin said. "This way, Inouye-san."

Ikiro's feet followed the boy past a small living area to his bedroom. "I can borrow an extra futon from the abbey, Inouye-san."

"That's…fine, ah…Kenshin. I don't need one. I usually sleep sitting up."

The boy's brown furrowed a moment, as if he hadn't considered such a thing. Still, he didn't seem to find it strange, merely nodding and glancing at the doorway before asking if Ikiro needed anything else.

"No, I'm fine, than you."

Kenshin smiled, again increasing Ikiro's feelings of familiarity. "Forgive me if I stare, but I've never seen a stranger before. Where do you come from, Inouye-san?"

"Oh, far away. I wander rather aimlessly most of the time, though I admit I did turn my feet to this particular place because I knew the festival celebrating the birth of the Redeemer was to be held here soon."

"Yes, Kaoru's birthday celebration will be soon. You travel, Inouye-san?"

The question was simple, but echoed in the young man's eyes. It wasn't youthful eagerness, but rather a controlled longing. Kenshin wanted to leave Rupta someday, but was also just as content to stay. The tranquil duality was…refreshing. Ikiro felt some of his apprehensions melt away as he realized that he was starting to like the boy.

Smiling at him for the first time, Ikiro explained, "It's not exactly traveling. When one travels, one usually has a destination in mind. I just kind of wander around without one. I'm a wandering swordsman with no destination: a rurouni."