Finding Kenshin
Author's note: before we begin, I'd like to suggest that you listen to some music while reading, it makes for much better effects since I write this with some very nice music playing in the background.
Chapter 5: Kenshin vs. Zanza
Duel in the Night
The carriage sped off down the dirt road towards its destination, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. The sun slowly dipped behind the thick foliage lining both sides of the road, allowing only specks of orange light to filter through. The horse whined and the carriage sped on.
Kenshin and Saitou, enemies during the Bakumatsu not only four years ago, sat face to face in the carriage. Saitou kept his gaze on the dimming scenery rushing past outside while Kenshin sat with his eyes closed and sword at the shoulder. Even though both swordsmen looked to be relaxed, they were both tense as spring. Their adversity during the Bakumatsu still hung between them like a curtain. No one said a word or did anything to break the stalemate.
Before long, the sun had completely disappeared and darkness took over as the carriage kept rushing forward. Only the dim light from the lamp hanging on the carriage filtered through to reveal the outline of the faces of the two swordsmen. Saitou finally decided to speak up.
"We should be arriving at the Kanryuu Mansion soon, they are prepared for us." He said and a small red speck lit up in the darkness. "I hope your skills haven't become rusty during these past four years of mediocrity Battousai."
Kenshin slowly opened his eyes and didn't answer; he instead cast his gaze out to the dark shapes flying past outside. The road began to wind and a light appeared off in the distance.
Kenshin leaned forward and opened the window beside the driver. He spoke something to the horse master and sat back down. The driver yelled something outside and the carriage slowed and halted.
"This is where we get off, we'll walk the rest of the way to the mansion." Kenshin placed one hand on the door handle and stepped out after opening the door. "If the carriage brings us up to the gate, we'll be easier to ambush and the driver would be put in unnecessary danger." Saitou stepped out and shook his legs to relax the sore muscles.
"The times have made you dull Battousai."
The horse drawn carriage turned and sped off back the way that it had come, leaving the two swordsmen in the darkness. The light from Kanryuu's mansion was very much visible now; they adorn the massive shape of the castle itself.
Kenshin stopped. Saitou turned around and looked at him questioningly.
"Saitou," the redheaded swordsman began, "I will help you only if you ensure that no one is killed."
"What?" Saitou asked incredulously, as if the notion was unheard of. "Battousai, do you need me to remind you of the true nature of swordsmanship?" He placed one gloved hand at his waist and readied his sword. "Justice does not take prisoners."
"I have made a vow at the end of the Bakumatsu to protect instead of kill," Kenshin said, lowering into a battle stance, "if you choose to fight me, I will always be ready, but my resolve will remain unchanged."
For a few minutes, the two warriors just stood in the darkness, eyeing each other down reminiscent of their duels in the Bakumatsu. Eventually Saitou turned and continued on towards the mansion, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him.
"If only the matter at hand weren't so important, I would have played with you." He said and threw the cigarette stub to the ground. Kenshin relaxed from his stance and followed.
The night was completely dark save for a few stars. Kaoru turned on her futon restlessly. She was worried; something about Kenshin's mission was very different from the many other duels that he had engaged in during his stay at the Kamiya dojo. This one gave her a bad feeling at the pit of her stomach. If the bad guys could assassinate the most powerful man in Japan, then Kenshin isn't simply up against a few thugs. What's worse, she has the feeling that Kenshin was only telling her what was on the surface, not the much darker truth hidden underneath.
Knowing Kenshin, he would only tell her the minimal truth just to make her stop worrying.
Kaoru sat up in her bed and groaned. She couldn't just sit on the sidelines anymore, at least not this time. She grudgingly pulled herself out of her futon and crawled over to where her cloths were kept.
Within minutes, the Kamiya Kasshin Adjutant Master had dressed in her Gi and Hakama and set out into the dark night with her Boken at the waist.
If anyone knows anything, it is OwajiA silver flash of light cut across the iron gates diagonally from the left. Before everyone could get ready, a second slash separated the entire gate into four massive triangular pieces that fell to the ground with a loud thud.
As the cloud of dust had settled, the figure one man was visible, in his right hand he held a reversed Sakabatou.
He stepped forward into the semi circle of thugs rudely awoken from their drowsy nap. The Sakabatou flipped back to the dull edge in his hand.
"Where is Kanryuu?" he asked coldly, narrowed violet eyes surveying his surroundings, "if you tell me where he is, and step aside, no one will get hurt."
One man stepped forward from the crowd and spat and Kenshin's feet.
"Haha, you think you can threaten us?" he looked back at his friends and they laughed together.
"Once again," Kenshin began, "I ask you, where is Kanryuu."
"We'll tell you where lord Kanryuu is," the thug said, unsheathing his katana, "when you are in your grave!"
He charged at the shorter man and slashed downwards. "I got you!"
The blade flew through thin air, "wha!" he froze.
"It seems as if you are unwilling to co operate." He heard the redheaded man say from behind him. The thug was lying on the ground in the next instant.
"Ge… get him!" yelled one panicked man and hell broke loose.
After repeatedly asking for the way. Kaoru now walked down the paved road towards Okubo's mansion. The trees were quiet and the sound of animals normal for this time of year could not be heard. She focused her senses; there was something unusual about these woods lining both sides of the road.
There was a swishing sound from a tree to her left and she ducked just in time to avoid a kunai aimed for her neck.
Three figures clad in black leaped out from adjacent trees and drew their short swords. Kaoru tucked and rolled to the side out of the path of one sword and got back on her feet just as the first figure turned and aimed a thrust at her. She spun her torso as the blade came within inches of her heart.
Kaoru ducked under the blade and pulled her boken out from the waist; the wooden sword caught the offender squarely in the side, eliciting a dull crunching noise.
The ninja gasped and flew to the side clutching at his broken ribs. Kaoru didn't have time to celebrate her temporary victory as the second Ninja materialized from behind his fallen comrade and jumped into a front flip over her head. He turned his blade in mid air and aimed a slash at the top of her head. Kaoru brought her boken into an upward arc and connected with the attacker over her head.
Just like the first one, the second ninja fell to ground, unable to fight.
Kaoru saw the silver of the last short sword just in time to turn her head. The slash left a cut on her left cheek and she jumped away. The last ninja lowered himself to the ground and prepared a second charge. Kaoru fingered her cheek and felt moisture.
"You'll pay for that." The black clad sprinted forward at blurring speed and slashed horizontally, Kaoru flipped into the air over the slash with her legs tucked neatly under her. She raised her sword and carried the centrifugal of her spin into a devastating slash. The sword crushed the shoulder of the last ninja, who gasped loudly before falling to the ground.
Kaoru landed back on her feet and did a victory dance in her head. She was not a burden for Kenshin to worry about.
Then about that cut on your cheek?"Shut up," she mustered to her inner voice. If there were ninjas guarding the road…
Before thinking of the dangers, she broke into a sprint towards the Okubo mansion.
They are going after OwajiKenshin stayed low to the ground as he flew through the crowd. No one knew where the redheaded demon was; all they could hear was a soft swishing sound as he materialized once within their ranks, only to disappear again after dispatching a group of Kanryuu's guards. Silvery arcs flashed through the crowd as each man hit the floor.
As soon as it had begun, it was over. The remaining guards lay on the ground. The ones that weren't instantly knocked unconscious lay there gasping for air. Kenshin surveyed his surroundings for anyone that were left and found no one, so he took a step forward towards the mansion.
He suddenly heard a loud rumbling and in his peripheral vision, he saw a massive black shape hurtling at him.
Kenshin stopped and flipped backwards just in time to avoid a gigantic object that was aimed at his waist. He landed on his toes and took in the black silhouette of a man readying a second strike with his unusually large sword.
"Zanbatou," Kenshin said quietly. The man stopped.
"I'm glad that you noticed, hitokiri Battousai." The man holding the massive sword said. "It would be a shame if the legendary manslayer didn't recognize the largest sword ever forged."
"You are very skilled to be able to wield such a heavy weapon. I ask that you step aside and let me proceed to go find Kanryuu." Kenshin reasoned with the man dressed in white, "Kanryuu needs to be stopped, it is more important than you making some money."
The man laughed.
"You think I'm fighting you for a few bucks for food?" He laughed again, but his laugh was a hollow one, "I, Zanza, have been wanting to fight you imperialistic bastards ever since the revolution. All of you are dirty pigs!"
He stopped talking as rage took over and charged. His massive sword was raised high overhead. "I'll kill every last one of you!"
"I don't know what caused you to hate imperialists so much, but tonight you must step aside."
Kenshin ran forward and the duel began.
Kaoru struggled to catch her breath as she skirted around the open gate of Kanryuu's mansion and ran towards the house standing just inside the compound. The lights were turned out and the door was half open, telling her that uninvited visitors were in that house.
She burst in through the front door and braced her sword as the complete darkness of the house temporarily blinded her. Kaoru managed to steady her breathing and listened for any small noise. A small thud from the floor directly above her told her what to do. She spotted the stairway in her hazy vision and climbed its steps quickly. She heard repeated thumps as she climbed, but Kaoru couldn't decide whether it was just the way that her heart beat at the moment.
She appeared at the top of the stairs at the entrance to a short hallway. Only one door was on this floor. She ran forward and pushed open the door with force. The Western door cracked against the opposite wall loudly and fell off its hinges. It landed on the floor to reveal the contents of the entire room.
The night breeze greeted her and Kaoru gasped.
In the moonlight that streamed in from the open window, she saw, lying on the ground, the still figure of Owaji. He had his back slumped against a wall and a trail of what seemed like blood ran from his feet right to the doorway. Kaoru placed a hand to her mouth to fight off the nausea she suddenly felt as the metallic scent of blood assaulted her senses. She dropped her Boken and quickly ran beside him. She wrapped one arm under Owaji and hoisted him up into a semi sitting position.
"What, what happened!" She asked in panic as a dark liquid began to pool under Owaji's body. He didn't answer at first, and then his half focused pupils found Kaoru. A spasm of blood shot from his mouth onto Kaoru's face and he coughed violently, but she ignored that.
"I..." he began slowly in a low croak, "I... I'm sorry." Hot tears streamed down Kaoru's smooth cheeks and landed on the blood-soaked nightgown that Owaji wore.
"Who did this to you!" She sobbed loudly. Owaji was inches from his death; the entire family of the most respected man in the country had been murdered.
"I'm... sorry," he said again, "I... was a fool... to let Kanryuu...trap." He coughed again as more blood streamed down the side of his mouth and added to the growing pool underneath him. "Okubo-dono will... he will never forgive me."
"Kanryuu? Is he who did this to you!" Kaoru asked hastily, giving Owaji a gentle shake for good measure. Owaji didn't answer; he looked at Kaoru meaningfully and closed his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as Owaji's head lulled to one side and his body became limb. "No... don't die..." She shook him violently in her arms to no avail.
Kaoru gently placed his body on the ground and stood up, wiping fresh tears from her eyes.
A man named Kanryuu had killed Owaji to keep his involvement with Okubo's murder a secret, Owaji had passed the secret onto her at his death, now she was the only one who knew who might have killed Okubo.
"Or am I?" Kaoru asked as she strolled down the long driveway back the way that she had come dejectedly. "Kenshin knew something about this." She suddenly realized something. "Kenshin visited Owaji last night and this is what he found out!" She stopped in her tracks and collected her thoughts, "he knew Kanryuu is involved, that's where he is right now! At wherever Kanryuu is with the police." Kaoru wanted nothing more than to go to Kenshin right now and warn him of the dangers that he was up against. There was only one problem.
She didn't know where he was
Kenshin deftly sidestepped yet another swing by the massive Zanbatou, it landed in the ground beside his foot. He used the time that Zanza needed to recover and sprinted forward.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryo Shou Sen" Kenshin mouthed silently as he took off from the ground and spun, carrying his sword fully into Zanza's side. The Zanbatou wielding fighter gasped as blood shot from his lungs, he fell to the side, clutching at his ribs. Kenshin landed and flicked his sword instinctively even though there was no blood on the blade and turned towards the Kanryuu mansion. He was about to take a step forward when he heard the Zanbatou's signature rumble and leaped out of the way.
Zanza stood up from his recent injury, he growled as the pain shot through his entire body.
"You are as good as they say," he managed to say.
"Zanza, you can no longer fight, I advise that you stand down for now." Kenshin advised and sheathed his sword, "this fight may be left to another day if you wish." He said coldly and continued on into the mansion.
"Wa, wait!" Zanza tried to catch up, but his legs gave way and he fell to the ground. "Damn..." he mouthed before falling into unconsciousness.
Author's note: there you have it, the 4th chapter is done. I hope the Zanza/Kenshin fight wasn't too disappointing, but considering that Kenshin has only been wandering for 4 years, his skills are still very much focused on crippling the enemy instantly instead of the more enemy-friendly type that he may use during his 10th year. Anyways, review now because I combined what was originally planned for the third and fourth chapters together so you guys got a longer third chapter. Now the buffer that I have for my work is gone and that only means more work for me. So help me raise energy by dropping a review!