Chapter 3: Play for the Title

Disclaimer: I do not own Rouroni Kenshin.

The moon light hit the waters leaving a pale glow to the small koi pond whose beauty was not lost to the eyes of Kenshin Himura. Oh how he envied the moon light to have such childlike innocence in its gleam, something that he feared he could never be, no matter how much he gave that smile of innocence the scars on his face were marks of a wicked past. Keiji could look so innocent sometimes and good natured, a fact that did bring out something evil in Kenshin because he had given that look of innocence that should belong to a child as he pointed his sword at the neck of Sanosuke. It was an odd thing to see because of the tall man standing next to him with such a grim face that he could not try to seem like he was completely innocent. The three swordsmen were like some sort of gradient for innocence, a reminded of how terrible the war was and what it did to the people who had gone through it.

"Kenshin, is something troubling you," asked Kaoru as she looked at him with worrisome eyes that always got him inside, right in the gut, just to see her worried about something. Those big brown eyes glimmering with water and signs of sadness, the sight touched him under the defenses that a killer would have, defenses that he had been weakening every day.

"I was just thinking of that man who came here, Keiji, and how he looked when he threatened to kill Sanosuke," replied Kenshin honestly, he wasn't going to lie to her about it or else it would only make things worse for them. "Really I should worry about Saito more because he is stronger or at least he was the last time I saw him, but there is something in him that is just troubling to think of, as if he had a living demon inside of him. There have been killings of swordsmen from a strange assassin and I fear that it may be Keiji. If that is so then he might be coming after me and he just might try to use you to get to me."

"You shouldn't worry about that, even Haijime-san would keep him in check," assured Kaoru as she put her hand up to his shoulder, but at that moment Kenshin's shoulders tensed and his eyes became serious. "What's the matter?"

"Kaoru-dono, please go inside, for your own good," said Kenshin, his hands on his sword and his entire face taking a form of aggression. There was no way Kaoru could talk him out of it and he was probably right, she would only get in the way. "Now then you can come out."

A strange figure came out the darkness, a masked figure dressed in a black garb similar to the view of a shinobi and with a tengu mask on its face. The tone of its body was masculine with long limbs that made it seem gangly and almost weak. At the figures side was a katana with a strange handle that was curved a bit and had a gold figure on the pommel. It reminded him of one of the Oniwabanshu.

"Fear not, battosai, I have not come for your head," assured the figure as he bowed to Kenshin with respect. "My master wishes to ask you if you would like to join us in our attempt to capture the assassin Keiji before he kills again. He is very strong and I think that you would be very strong asset if you joined us."

"I am sorry, but I have no proof that he has done anything wrong," said Kenshin as he stood up.

'Well then I hope that you will not get in our way then," said the figure before he disappeared.

Saito observed the carriage of the official from afar, his men all lied in wait for the assassin to appear to kill the official, but unfortunately the situation was not ideal. For one the politician had to have things his way and bitched to his superiors so that he had to perform the ambush in the politicians backwards retarded manner. If the assassin did come, he would know where an ambush could be made so that he would have his men check that and would probably just go on ahead so that he could take his men on one-by-one. From the skill of the people the assassin had already killed he could tell that it was a person of very considerable skill, someone who could possibly rival himself and Battosai in skill. The men were all told to not get involved in the fight, but to just protect the politician, though he couldn't give a rat's ass about the sorry waste of life. In fact, Saito would go so far as to say that he would prefer to see the politician dead for all the bull shit that he had put him and his men through.

"Sir, we haven't seen any sign of the assassin," said the young messenger, a boy just by the look of him, just turned eighteen and still wet behind the ears.

"Okay then, make sure you don't give your position away," said Saito as he waved the kid away and started to pull out a cigarette, an addiction that he had become accustomed to during the war. He was about to light it when the rain started to fall, making it useless for him to light the cigarette.

"There he is," cried one of the younger patrol men as he jumped down and started to charge at a lone figure with a straw hat on and dark clothing.

"Shit, now he knows we're onto him," cursed Saito as he got up, but then noticed that there were other men with straw hats coming towards them, all dressed the same. "No these must be his reinforcements. Everyone take defensive positions!"

"Captain Fujito Goro," called a voice from up in the trees that belonged to a man dressed in a white kimono, the type that samurai would wear to battle and a white headband. "My name is Bankotsu, the violent serpent, and I have been waiting to take on someone of your reputation, Captain."

"Well then, I guess I have time enough to play with you before I get those secrets from you," said Saito as he unsheathed his sword, bringing his katana to a ready sword position while his opponent unsheathed his sword as well. "I'm afraid we have to make this quick though, I'm catching a cold."

The silence of his opponent was all too readable of self-assurance and confidence in his own abilities, it was something that a lot of swordsmen did to make themselves unreadable, but it rarely worked. Saito started the fight by charging at his opponent with a vicious slash that he then whipped back and twirled it into a thrust. That was such an unorthodox move that the swordsman was nearly cut by the attack if he had not moved back quickly, but he was quick enough to keep himself moving so as not to leave himself open. Flashes of light glowed throughout the night as the two engaged in a contest of speed and skill, both being excellent swordsmen that were truly rare life talents. Saito brought his sword up in fluid parries to keep up on the quick slashes from the stoic swordsman and side stepped a thrust to slash at his opponent.

It became increasingly apparent that this swordsman was not the killer that he was looking for because although skilled in his own right, he would never have won so easily against a few of his opponents, that much Saito could gather as he toyed around with the swordsman named Bankotsu. Since Saito was going to torture Bankotsu anyway, it saved a lot for him to shatter his opponent's confidence and resolve by making him believe that he was winning and then abruptly crushing him to the ground. Saito would give up ground to make it seem like he was on the run while waiting for the perfect moment to perform the finishing move that would crush his opponent, mentally and physically. The moment came a second later when the swordsmen was coming down for a strike and Saito immediately shifted his sword into his left hand and performed his legendary sword thrust right into Bankotsu's left arm, cutting the bone a bit, but damaging his sword abilities.

"Damn you," cursed Bankotsu as he held the wound in his left arm, his right hand touching the warm blood pouring out of the wound. "There was no way for you to be able to get that fast if you were barely able to keep up with me during the fight!"

"Actually, I only let you feel like you were winning there," replied Saito in a blunt and cold voice as he picked up his opponent's discarded sword. "This is a well made sword, it's too bad you won't be able to use it anymore with that left arm, but I think the boy could put it to some good use."

"I won't tell you anything, you can just eat shit and die," spat the somewhat defeated Bankotsu as he tried to get away, but Saito simply kicked him in his bleeding arm causing Bankotsu to fall in pain.

"Oh you will tell me everything and I will get everything out of you," said Saito as he picked up the straw hat and put it on his head while lighting a cigarette, the hat blocking off the rain. "It's all a matter of how long it's going to take me and what state you'll be in when I am through with you, but mark my words, I will find out everything you know."

"The only thing I'm going to tell you is that my master will kill your old fourth seat," spat Bankotsu.

There were only four men surrounding Keiji, all of them had a proper stance, but he could tell from their sword stances that they weren't up to his level. It was probably an attempt to either get him to show one of his sword techniques or to make him feel secure enough for a sneak attack. His reputation made a test of his skill unnecessary and if the assassin couldn't see this in his movements then he had overestimated his prey. I doubt he has a lot if he hasn't tried to swarm the town or me, thought Keiji as he unsheathed his own sword and started to twirl into a basic sword stance that he held with strength. His nose perked up to the smell of gunpowder that was lingering in the air, obviously the assassin had shooters ready in place and ready to fire once the little ones had been killed. This may be trickier than I thought.

"So then, he doesn't wish to face me out in the open so he sets up an ambush," taunted Keiji as he broke from his sword stance and stood in a cocky manner while pointing his sword at one of the swordsmen. "Don't bother coming one at a time, otherwise the shooters will miss their chance to get a good shot on me and that would just ruin your master's entire plan."

"How dare you, filthy dog," cursed one of the swordsman, a young one dressed in a standard student's kimono.

The young one, being too impatient and hard headed, charged Keiji blindly with his sword held high to bring down for a quick flash that would cause applause to most people. Of course, it was too slow for it to even come close to hitting Keiji, who simply side stepped the slash and stabbed the young one in the throat with a dagger he kept with him. This caused anger in the other four, who decided to attack him all at once, quick slashes blinked in the night air, but none ever came close to their target, it was as futile as trying to catch air in one's hand. Keiji kicked the ground right from under one swordsman and blocked the other two on his sword while pushing them back. Without even making a sound, keiji had dashed right behind them with knives at each one of their throats, but he didn't let his blades touch blood just yet, not while there was still a single musket on him. Instead he waited for those muskets to fire at him while he used the two for shields for the musket fire.

"You can't reload fast to escape from me," said Keiji as he dashed at the group of musketeers, who were already trying to flee when he fell upon them, killing each and every last one before they could even get their guns out.

"I must admit, I did underestimate you too much," said a voice from behind Keiji, a cold voice that bore no emotion in it, the type of voice he'd expect the assassin to have. "I made the mistake of assuming you'd be more hesitant with the little one since he was the same age as you when you joined the Shinsengumi.

"You don't get the title 'Little Demon' if you could think like that," stated Keiji as he turned around to see a man with auburn hair that was very tied back in the traditional samurai pony tail and cold blue eyes. "Also, I was called the 'Hell Hound' because of my sense of smell as well as my ability to sense thins so I don't see why you even bothered with an ambush."

"Seeing as you were only a fourth seat I didn't think that you could really be all that strong," was the reply.

"That is another mistake you made," said Keiji as he brushed some of his unruly hair back and grinned sinisterly. "I was fourth seat only because four was my favorite number*, strength had nothing to do with it. So are we going to fight or are you going to order your back-up musket regimens to shoot me."

"You're sense do not fail description," remarked the assassin before he turned towards the musket men hiding in the bush and ordered, much to Keiji's surprise, "Open fire!"

*Four is an unlucky number in Japan along with nine, so it is very odd for one to favor it.