Chapter 23: The Final Battle

"Well, isn't this just pretty…"

Kaoru stared up at the looming figure, not moving. Kenshin seemed to have frozen too.

"I never thought I'd find this when I opened the door."

His disgusting voice was just filled with anticipation.

"Shoji…" Kenshin growled fiercely. Kaoru felt his aura freeze over behind her.

"I don't believe this!" Shoji exclaimed, laughing. "Not only is Kahei actually a little girl, but a slut too!"

Kenshin grabbed his sakabatou.

"You know what we do with little sluts," Shoji said, grabbing her wrist and yanking her off the floor quickly. She held her shirt in front of her as he pulled her out the door at a very quick-walking pace. "EVERYONE UP! EVERYONE GET UP AND FOLLOW ME!" He practically sang.

The men were all seen, fumbling to their feet. Kenshin was lost in the commotion, but she could hear him yelling to her. "Kaoru!" He shouted, trying to push the men out of his way.

"Kenshin!" She called back fearfully as Shoji hurried down the steps. She missed a few of them and hurt her feet as she stumbled. "Let go of me! Let go!" She hissed at Shoji. She had no weapon.

"That's right! UP I SAY!" He continued on the second floor, and now many of them were getting up to see what all the noise was about.

"Stop it!" She yelled, trying to pull her arm away while he dragged her down the next flight towards the bottom floor. If she tried to hit him, she'd lose her shirt, and for some reason she couldn't let go of it even if she wanted to. "LET GO, LET GO!"

"Get up!" He yelled as he reached the bottom. "Get up because I promise that you'll want to see this!" He burst out to the outside and headed down the steps, and now everyone was following.

"What the hell is going on here?" Saitou yelled as Shoji reached the bottom. Most of the men were still on the steps, trying to get a good view.

"Would you look at this!" Shoji commented holding up Kahei's arm. "We've been fooled!"

"Kahei!" Yahiko and Sano exclaimed at the same time.

"Leave him alone!" Sano added on the end.

"Him?" Shoji asked. "Really? From what I see, Kasuhige Kahei…" He threw her down into the mud. "IS A GIRL!" She lost grip of her gi, and was now laying in nothing but bandages and her underwear. In a rush for time, Kenshin had not tied them very well, but had she had a shirt on, it would have been hidden. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The whole crowd gasped.

"He's nothing but a slutty little female!" Shoji was thoroughly enjoying her humiliation. "Little bitch!" He kicked her.

"MY NAME IS KAORU!" She yelled at him.

Yahiko and Sano looked completely shocked. Yahiko stumbled and fell back against Sano before hurrying back up the steps. Where he was going, she knew. It was as if he had read her mind.

She pulled herself onto her hands and knees. "I am Kamiya Kaoru…"

"Why would your name make any difference to me?" Shoji asked, laughing.

Saitou looked sincerely angry, taking hold of his blade.

"Damn you, Shoji!" Kenshin yelled, pushing his way through the crowd. Sano grabbed his wrist.

"Did you know about this, man?"

"Not until yesterday, now let go!" He told Sanosuke.

"My name will make a difference to you, Shoji…" Kaoru told him, standing up completely. "…because you'll want to remember the name of the one who beat you in battle!"

She held her hand out.

"Kaoru, catch!" Yahiko yelled, heaving her weapon to her from the steps. She caught it with incredible ease.

Shoji laughed even more heavily. "You're going to fight ME! He drew his blade and slashed her too quickly for her to react.

"AGH!" She cried as a small tear appeared in her bandages and her whole front began turning red.

"If you do so much as attack me, I have the right to kill you. I am not only your superior here, but you're not even supposed to be here! I knew there was something about you, and I'd bet for sure now that you're the spy that's been ratting us out!"

This sent the men into a frenzy, and Yahiko, Sano, Kenshin, and Saitou were shoved over in the mob. They all went after her with fiery anger in their eyes.

She didn't know what to do. She drew her sword and tried to fend off their attacks, but there were too many of them. They were cutting her up, and she'd only manage to dodge them from lopping off her limbs.

"No! I'm not a spy!" She yelled.

"RYUSOSEN!"

Several of the men were hit by Kenshin's attack. He seemed to have changed a bit to effect several opponents at once. His golden demon eyes struck fear into his attackers.

Saitou got into his gatotsu stance. "Sagara."

"What!" He yelled angrily. Why would Saitou want to talk to him?

"Come here. I've got a plan!"

Yahiko grabbed Kaoru and pulled her away from the chaos, getting quite a bit cut up too.

Saitou attacked Shoji, and he dodged it. "What are you doing, Hajime!" He yelled.

"YOU MISSED, YOU BASTARD!" Yahiko yelled, waving his fist at Saitou.

"Did I?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"FUTAI NO KIWAMI!" Sano had slid up on Shoji while he had dodged Saitou's attack and punched him in the left shoulder.

In turn, unfortunately, Shoji's sword had gone into Sano's left shoulder.

They both screamed out at the same time, and Megumi's voice howled out in horror. "SANOSUKE!"

Saitou cursed. "Damn…"

"LET GO OF ME, YAHIKO!" Kaoru yelled, elbowing him in the stomach.

Kenshin had easily and successfully knocked a third of them unconscious, and the rest were to afraid to do anything else.

"Step aside," Kaoru said, and they all did. "SHOJI."

Sano screamed again as Shoji removed his weapon from his shoulder.

"I am your opponent," She told him without a single glint of fear in her eyes.

"Kaoru!" Yahiko yelled, running up to her. He was shirtless. "At least take this," He said, handing her his own kimono.

"Thanks," She said, smiling at him and pulling it over her shoulders. He was such a good kid. A girl's decency did mean a lot to her.

"You're really foolish, girl," Shoji said, coming towards her. "What makes you think you can even block my attacks?"

"I've already done so once, haven't I?" She asked. This made him angry.

"Bitch," He scowled.

"Bastard," She replied simply, going into Battou Jutsu stance. Her wounds her, but she concentrated just on the enemy.

"Kaoru," Kenshin said. "Don't do this…"

"Your boyfriend has a point," Shoji said confidently. "He knows you'll be beaten."

"No, no," Kenshin said. "She would beat you fine, but you're a government official, and I don't want her harmed by them."

Shoji attacked her. She blocked his attack by drawing quickly, and the sound of the colliding blades rang through the air.

Megumi rushed to Sano to aide him, and Saitou stepped back to let her, looking rather angry that his plan had failed.

"AGH!" Shoji yelped, his left arm going limp.

Well, almost. At least he couldn't draw both swords at the same time. The fight was fair.

Aoshi stepped up next to Saitou and said in a low voice. "She will not win."

"Don't be pessimistic or anything," Saitou replied flatly.

"I'm thinking logically. She will not win, and she will not die."

"Himura and I would probably slash him through first."

"You and Battousai will not be the ones to save her. Just watch to see."

Kaoru broke his stance while he was distracted by his arm and sliced open the front of his shirt. A small red line appeared along his chest.

"Is that the best you can do?" Shoji asked, raising an eyebrow and bringing his blade down on her shoulder. Then, just as quickly, he spun and butted her in the stomach with the hilt of his blade.

She vomited blood as she slid backward a few feet. To think the man could make a blow with such force was almost unfathomable. He fought brutally, and it wasn't that of a man who worked for the government. Even Saitou had calmed his bloodlust she was sure after hearing stories of the Shinsengumi. Then again, those were only stories.

Shoji came at her again, and she held the sword in both hands, something he couldn't do, blocking each attack to the best of her ability. Everyone on the battlefield just watched, unable to move. Kenshin didn't even seem to be breathing.

"Do you think she'll be all right?" Megumi whispered to Sano.

"I don't know…" He replied, taking hold of her hand. "Let's hope so…"

Kaoru kept blocking when the injured foot from the stairs knocked her off balance, and Shoji slashed her right arm as she fell.

She did a flip back onto her feet and ran at him, snatching up her weapon and colliding it with his.

"You really think you can win?" Shoji spat at her.

"As long as I have two good arms and enough determination to protect the people here, I don't see what could make me lose. You're going down, even if I have to go down with you."

Kenshin spun towards her, looking mortified. He lifted his sword out of the sheath with his thumb, but Yahiko grabbed his shoulder. "She wants to do this on her own. Don't step in until it's absolutely necessary."

"…but…" He mumbled, gritting his teeth, tears forming in his eyes. He feared for her life and had to fight himself to not attack.

Shoji broke the stance and flew downwards. Her slash only managed to slice off a few strands of his hair. His on the other hand cut across her legs and left red line dripping with blood halfway between her ankles and knees. She had barely managed to stop him from cutting her legs off.

She sheathed her weapon and got back into the stance of Battou Jutsu. Her legs trembled from the pain in her body, and she was now covered in her own blood. It was then that a thought struck her.

"You filthy little spy… I'll make you pay for all you've done," Shoji said, smirking. "I'll overcome you. You will die as the weakling you are."

"No…" She whispered, stunned by her revelation. He ran at her and she drew her blade. He dodged it and started laughing.

"Looks like you missed a-" He began when he was interrupted by a sheath nailing him right in the side.

"Souryusen!" Kenshin exclaimed. "I used that in the battle against Jin'e!"

She growled at him as yelped in pain. He did not fall, and he did not drop his weapon, but his side even bled from the force of the sheath against it.

"No!" She yelled. "I'm not the spy!"

"Quit trying to defend yourself with that nonsense!" He retorted.

"Then you quit trying to use me to cover your ass!" She replied. "I'm not the spy because YOU ARE!"

The whole crowd gasped.

"What?" Shoji cried, fear plain on his face. "What would make you think that, you moron! I'm a government official!"

"You're a liar!" Kaoru yelled. "I don't know how you made it this far, but the truth is that you are actually a spy. You follow Shishio's principal that the strong feed off of the weak, and you fight like one of his men! You're brutal and cruel!"

He stared at her. "NO!" He yelled, slicing her down the front. Her body finally had taken its toll as she fell to her knees, bleeding heavily.

"KAORU!" Kenshin screamed, tears flying from his eyes as he ran towards her.

"Don't worry about it, Himura!" A voice said. "This man will die where he stands.

Kenshin turned around and so did Kaoru. "SOUJIROU!" She cried.

"The one and only," He replied, arms crossed from his spot at the top of the stairs.

"Soujirou?" Kenshin gaped, amazed.

"Yeah!" A female voice chimed in, "and Misao too!"

"Misao?" Kaoru asked, now also confused.

"You are not the man they call Shoji," Soujirou said, coming down the steps and drawing his sword. "You are a fraud."

Shoji took a step back.

"The man called Shoji was murdered months ago along with many others who were close to him. In the body count, they couldn't distinguish his body, but I could sense the last ounce of his spirit on him."

Shoji stared at Soujirou in terror.

"You always looked similar and masqueraded as him to gain a seat of power. It was all part of your plan to destroy the weak and take over Japan as Shishio had intended. You were the leader of this operation, one of his leading men that hid in the back while his Ten Swords fought on the front lines. I knew I recognized you from somewhere, eh Tatsumi Koji?"

Shoji looked absolutely mortified. "What are you doing here, Soujirou!"

"I am a spy… but not the one you are. I work for the government. It was a plan crafted up by Shinomori-san."

They all looked at Aoshi who just stood there. "I've fought some of your men head on before this. I know fully well that there aren't as many as estimated."

"Of course not," Soujirou continued. "Many of them were masters of illusion. They could make you think there were double the amount of themselves than there actually were. He wanted all the men to be drafted so he could get rid of them once and for all. He wouldn't have much problem after that, since some of the strongest men were in Tokyo… Including Himura-san."

"Yeah!" Misao shouted. "So the Oniwaban-shu got on the case and came to kick your can! Soujirou just needed the right information from Kaoru-chan and Aoshi-sama before he could be positive that you were an imposter! After he discovered this, it all clicked together!"

Kaoru couldn't believe her ears.

"You were brilliant, Kaoru-chan," Soujirou nodded to her, "but let us take it from here."

"You… You'll never defeat all of my men!" Shoji shouted, his voice trembling.

"Really?" Misao asked. "I thought we already turned them in! Well, most of them anyways. Once their leader is gone, there won't be much for them to do but run, and we'll have them by then."

"You've underestimated Misao-chan's strength, I'm afraid," Soujirou commented, and a smile formed on his face, a wicked one that he must have worn against Kenshin, "and I'm afraid that underestimating me will cost you your life, friend. Have fun in Hell."

…and he slashed him in half.

Kaoru watched in shock, then dropped her weapon as blood flowed down her wrists. "Oh…" She said, falling back. Kenshin was there in an instant to catch her in his arms.

"Kaoru!" He cried, tears rolling down his face.

"Kenshin…" She said, smiling. "Can you believe all this?"

"Kaoru," He put his hand to her face. "Megumi, HURRY!"

Kaoru closed her eyes, smiling. "I love you, Kenshin… so much…"

"Don't talk like that," He choked. "You're going to be all right… Don't die on me, Kaoru, don't die!" He let out a sob.

Her consciousness was slipping away quickly. No… I won't… I can't… I REFUSE… TO DIE…I will not… let you suffer again… Kenshin… I will live… to save you… always…

Everything went black.

"KAORU!"

(A/N: I think there are two more chapters to go, folks! Is she actually dead though? Find out in the next chapter!)