Chapter 7 Translations –

Baka: Stupid; Idiot

Gaishou: Whore; Bi

Hitikori: Man-Slayer

As the fallen men lay as manure upon the ground, she turned her attention to her master. He stood by the house, waiting for her to finish. Her breathing was strangely calm and her countenance was collected. Walking over to her master, she was still in a fighting stance.

"You didn't tell me." – she started.

"There was nothing to tell." – he responded.

"How do you figure that? Misora and Taikyo are most likely dead. You could have first of all told me that you were Chinese." – she said coldly.

"Yes, I could have." – he replied, with the same coolness.

"And you didn't help me." – she growled.

"You didn't need any help." – he said, finally meeting her stance.

"You are not what you seem, are you?" – she questioned.

"I am what I need to be, and that's really all you need to know." – he replied.

"Don't play coy with me, you dog. And don't lie to me! I've lost everything and ten years of my life to someone I don't even know. I want some information…" – she took a fighter's step in confrontation. Her anger was apparent in her demeanor, and this gave him a hint of apprehension. "…and you're gonna give it to me!" – she stated with quite some emotion.

'She's good, but she can't be better than me. I'm not even a master, so she's not as good as she could be. But I need to be cautious. She couldn't have understood everything that was said between Yan and me. I'll keep the act I'd played with Yan. Once I've distracted her enough, I'll kill her.' – he thought evilly, then said…

"I'm a son of a Japanese woman and a Chinese man. I was able to posses my position in the Qing palace only because of my unequaled skills. If I had to rely on my race, I would have been quickly eradicated. My whole family would have perished. I did what I did in order to save those I love." – he explained.

"No you didn't. You did what you did in order to save your own life. From what Yan said, your family died anyway, because of some war. You must have known that was going to eventually happen. You knew accepting me as a student was putting my grandparents in danger, along with me." – she said in a very livid voice.

'How did she know what was being said? I know she can't understand Chinese! I must take a different approach' – he thought, and then quickly stated...

"Taking anger with me will not solve this situation. There must be a way we…" – he started.

"What else must I learn about the Hiten-Misurugi-Ryu sword style from you?" – she said, changing the subject to one of her liking.

"All I can teach." – was his reply.

"Exactly." – she stated. Unseen to his eye, she quickly removed his sword from his hand.

"Shinkara! You acquiescent yourself to a position in fighting me? I am your sensei. This is the worst form of treachery!" – he advised her.

"You are not my sensei. You are not even a sensei! You might be great in some ninja arts in China, but you are no master of Hiten-Misurugi Ryu. If there is one thing I learned in school, is that masters of swordsmanship passes their knowledge over to only one person. So The 12th Master has passed his knowledge and kills over to, as you say, Seijuro Hiko, who's passed it to Himura Kenshin, who will become The 14th Master. So I know…" – he cut her off.

"You have been mistaken child. I am The 13th Master of the Hiten-Misurugi Ryu sword technique." – he said, standing ready to defend himself.

"You can't be! You can't! Yan said you only knew the style and used it…he didn't say you've mastered it. You ran from your post not because you were a traitor, but because you are a criminal!" – her mind came to the final realization.

"What if that's so? I have been able to defeat every last ninja Yan has sent. With the help of The 12th Master, I gained enough knowledge to add to my own skills to become a Hitokiri. And now to have my own student, it truly makes me a master. He claimed that he had a successor, but how could he? How could he not assign that title to me? He had to die… along with the prince of the Qing dynasty! And now you, you child…" – he stammered, taking steps toward her.

"You knew he was going to kill my grandparents. He was looking for you, and you knew all along. You knew it would anger me, and that I'd kill them. You wanted me to do that, so that you were able to test my abilities. I can't believe I've been here with you for the past ten years. You're crazy, and you have deluded yourself! You're a man who has murdered, and turned traitor to his own country; a man who killed The 12th Master of the Hiten-Misurugi-Ryu, and…" – she was cut off.

"You will hold your tongue child, or I'll…" – growing in anger, she cut him off.

"You dare to lecture me? You ran from your country because you thought you could no longer help. Your family died not because they were peasants or because you were half Japanese, but because you went traitor. And the people of China were not your responsibility. Times change, and there isn't anything you can do about it. You were a coward! You came here to Japan, claiming to have learned the Hiten-Misurugi-Ryu just to make yourself feel better! So, I have no idea what you've been teaching me for the last ten years! You are a coward Mr. Dớ Fan Zhản! You've lived that way for forty years, and you will die this way…" – she was about to raise her sword, but he had disappeared.

"Behind you, idiot!" – he stood behind her, ready to swing his sword he'd managed to retrieve.

"An after-image, I think." – she replied, showing up to his left.

He sideswiped her, taking a swing of his sword, directing it to her mid-section. However, he misses, and she counter-attacks. For over ten minutes they dance in swords as such, then…

"Why not join me?" – he offered. "I'm going to be the best at the Hiten-Misurugi-Ryu technique. We can together find Seijuro Hiko and Himura Kenshin and destroy them both. Join me and together we can go back to China…take over…rule…" – he said, breathing heavily, an insane blood-lust in he eyes.

'Yes, my little baka gaishou! A little closer and I'll gut you for sure!' – he connived evilly.

"Are you insane? You are evil…evil must be destroyed immediately." – and with that she disappeared…

"Hiten-Misurugi-Ryu Do Ryu Sen!" – standing to his right, she commanded her sword, hitting the earth.

"You silly child. I taught you! You cannot defeat…" –he blocked it. And after the dust settled, she was no where to be found.

Ryu Tsui Sen!" – her voice from above his head.

He drew a counter defense.

"SHA-BLING!" – time stood still. The left sleeve of her kimono was cut at the waist, revealing the houtai that covered her dainty breast. His sword was broke in half, his kimono severed from shoulder to waist. With blood showering her and the ground, he fell. His breathing was broken and slowing.

"You…you will not live long. They found us by watching your grandparents. He…Yen, sent men to visit me every six months as he said. I killed every last one…but the one who must have seen me visit Mr. Cheisah that day…the day I accepted to train you. They…they knew of you for ten years now. They…they know of you now. They will send more to find…me…to find you." – he managed.

"Let them come! I'll kill them all. Unlike you, I am not afraid. This country took everything from me, and I'm no coward. I will not run. I'll find the source of all of this; you scum, and do what you couldn't! I'll slay this evil, and then I'll be free. You die now!" – she concluded, raising her sword in a death-swing.

"…the eyes of a true Hitokiri…" – the last of what he saw.

Swinging her sword to clear of the rest of the blood, she sheathed it. It took her a good bit of two hours dragging the dead to the house, and after gathering up all her things and changing into something clean, she lit the fire. With the house already engulfed in flames, she headed for the road, leaving the place she called home for the last ten years.

"Before heading for China, I'll pay my respects to Misora and Taikyo." – she said to herself. She looks up toward the moon, and indeed her scarlet eyes flash the face of a true Hitokiri.