Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, isn't it sad? :(
!!!!!!!!Very important author note: I rewrote this chapter so please reread the parts that are different, thanks. :)!!!!!!!!!!
A/N: Warning: this is a short but kind of serious chapter, although you might laugh at my fight scene. I suck at fight scenes. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8: "A Wolfy Wolf Day"
The next day, as prophesied by Kaoru, she dragged Yahiko out of bed. Unfortunately, because they were in the same room as him, Kenshin and Sanosuke suffered as a result of her loud efforts to awaken him.
"Yahiko! Get up /now/," Kaoru yelled in Yahiko's ear.
Sano rolled over onto his side and cracked open an eye to see what all the ruckus was about. Kenshin's head came up-he'd ended up sleeping sitting propped against a wall on his futon-and he peered at Kaoru through warily slit eyes.
"Go 'way, Ugly. . ." Yahiko mumbled as he covered his ear and turned his face into his futon.
Kaoru rapped him on the head with her bokken and he sat up quickly yelling, "Oww!"
Kaoru just smiled and then said sweetly, "Get dressed and meet me for sword practice."
"What about breakfast?" Yahiko complained grumpily.
"I'll make something later," Kaoru answered impatiently.
"Ugh. . .never mind," Yahiko said under his breath. "I'm not hungry anymore."
Kaoru said warningly, "I heard that," and left the room.
Yahiko got up and got dressed and Kenshin said, "I'll make breakfast, that I will, Yahiko."
Yahiko sighed gratefully, "Great, Shinta, I would've died if I had to eat Kaoru's cooking again." He made a face then left the room.
Kenshin followed him a little later.
Sanosuke tried to go back to sleep, but after changing positions for about the fifth time, he just got up. He wandered into the kitchen and saw Kenshin busily fixing something to eat.
"Hey, Shinta, If anyone asks, I'm going to the Akabeko early to work."
Kenshin turned and gave him a round-eyed look of surprise, "You don't want to eat breakfast, Sano?"
Sanosuke scratched the back of his head, "Err. . .I guess I could stick around until after I eat."
He went into the living area and plunked himself down on the floor to wait. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin had already started breakfast when he realized he was missing some ingredients. He put out the fire and went into the living area where Sanosuke was snoozing.
"Sano," he said just loud enough to wake the drooling man. Sano snorted loudly as he came around. "Huh? Shinta?"
"I'm going to the market for some supplies, that I am," he smiled as he told Sano.
"Oh," Sano said sleepily, "Alright." His eyes drooped shut again, and Kenshin smiled more deeply in amusement as he left the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin returned from buying what he needed from the market. As he walked up the steps to the house he began to sense someone's presence. It was the 'hunting wolf' again. Kenshin carefully placed the groceries on the ground and let his hand settle on the hilt of his sword.
A man stepped out of the dojo, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke following at his heels. The look on Kaoru's face was one of hurt and confusion. Sanosuke looked equally shocked, but much more angry. Yahiko seemed somewhat bewildered, but a little angry, also. Kenshin hoped that his new friends wouldn't hold this against him, but he knew they had every right to.
"Kenshin Himura, or should I say 'Battousai the Manslayer," the man said coldly. "You are wanted for the murder of Tomoe Yukishiro-Himura, however, I came to fight you. I wanted to defeat the legendary Manslayer of the Meiji Revolution."
"Saitou Hajime, the 'Wolf of Mibu'," Kenshin began. "The leader of the third squadron of the Shinsengumi--I am no longer the man you wish to fight, instead you will fight Kenshin Himura, the wanderer."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sanosuke heard the words "Battousai the Manslayer" and his world came to a stop. How could Shinta, no, it was 'Kenshin', be that man? How could he possibly be the strongest of the Imperialists? He glanced over at Kaoru and saw that it didn't matter to her. But then, she was falling in love with him. He looked at Yahiko and saw a look of anger on his face. Their father had died for the sake of the Imperialists. Souzou Sagara and the Sekihoutai had been used as scapegoats for promising what the Meiji government couldn't follow through with-they'd promised lowered taxes but couldn't follow through with it because the war had depleted their funds. The Sekihoutai had been almost literally executed by the Imperialist army. The only difference was that they had fought back. So, when Sanosuke was only fifteen and Yahiko was only seven, they'd lost their father and their faith in the government and the world as a whole.
/Shinta,/ Sanosuke wondered, /how can you be one of those pigs?/
It wasn't possible-he wasn't anything like those men who had taken his father's life. Shinta had a sword-but it was obvious that the thing couldn't kill unless he reversed the blade.
The anger slowly left Sanosuke and he said to Yahiko, "It's not his fault, he's not like them, Yahiko." The words seemed more for his own benefit, than for Yahiko's.
Yahiko looked up at him with flashing eyes at first, but then when he saw the calm, sad look on his brother's face he nodded. "You're right, Shinta isn't like that. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaoru heard the odd conversation between Sanosuke and Yahiko and wondered at it, but her attention was soon drawn back to the two fighters.
"You know as well as I do that I didn't kill my wife." Kenshin was saying. She'd only ever heard his voice as warm and kind, but now it was strangely cold yet somehow dangerous despite the calmness of it. He'd drawn his sword and was holding it in front of him defensively.
Saitou drew his own blade. "Personally, I don't care. I just want to defeat you for the sake of Aku Soku Zan." He smiled wolfishly and Kenshin's eyes narrowed.
"Then go ahead and try."
/Wait, that doesn't sound like him, at all. Why is he talking like that?/
Kenshin's speech wasn't the only thing that had changed. His eyes had eerily gone from their light blue-purplish color to a dark blue, then to a strange glowing amber.
Kaoru felt her breath catch in fear. What was wrong with him?
That's when Kenshin attacked, and she knew what it was. This was the 'Battousai' that they'd been talking about. The one in all the legends. . .The greatest assassin of the Meiji Revolution.
/No. . .Shin-Kenshin. . ./ She begged him silently.
The clinging of swords filled the air and a feeling of impending doom seized her. She couldn't let Kenshin become that man. She didn't understand why she felt so strongly about this, but she did.
"Kenshin, no!" She called out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin heard the fear in Kaoru's voice and he pulled away from the fight.
"Miss Kaoru?" Kenshin asked, blinking rapidly.
Saitou frowned. Kenshin's eyes had gone back to those silly blue-purple orbs, again. The fight was pointless if he wasn't the 'Battousai', anymore.
Saitou snapped his sword back into its sheath and said, "Maybe we'll continue this some other time, Battousai, for now I have better things to do."
Kenshin sheathed his sword and watched as Saitou strode passed him, across the courtyard and beneath the arch. He turned onto the street and disappeared around the corner.
"/Kenshin/. . ." came Kaoru's voice.
"Oro?" Kenshin asked turning to face her.
Kaoru was looking at him with an extremely evil look. "Why didn't you tell us who you really were?"
Kenshin 'oro'd' again and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm really sorry, that I am, Miss Kaoru. . ."
"Uhm, Kenshin, why'd you call yourself 'Shinta'?" Sano interjected.
"Well, it's my birth name, that it is, and when I met Miss Kaoru for the first time, it just slipped out, that it did, because she reminded me of someone from my childhood, that she did. . ."
"I don't get it," Yahiko said irritably.
Kaoru knocked Kenshin on the head with her bokken, "Kenshin, you idiot!"
"Ororo. . ." Kenshin fell backwards and sprang back up looking quite dazed, "Miss Kaoru, I said I was sorry, that I did. . ." he protested.
"How would I have heard of your name let alone the name you told me?" She yelled at him.
"Oro. . ."
Sano said warily, "I think he means that he doesn't really know-"
"You stay out of it!" Kaoru said turning on Sanosuke like a dog on its master.
Sano took a step back and latched onto Yahiko's sleeve. "Come on, I don't want you to witness Kenshin's murder. . ."
Yahiko nodded in horror, "Let's get out of here. . ." They both turned tail and ran into the dojo, abandoning Kenshin to the enraged Kaoru. . .
However, they could still hear a pathetic 'ororo' once they were safely inside the house. . .
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for the review Melissa()! Thanks for telling me about the 'Shinta' thing. And I hope you liked the way I 'kinda' explained it in this chp. ;) By the way, that was my friend's idea. (The part about the childhood friend, I mean.)
Thanks for reviewing, Bob-san, I hope you like my rewrite. But I have to apologize cause I don't write very good fight scenes. ::Shrugs:: Please forgive me! ::sweat drop::
Thanks Maria Cline, for the tips and the review, I hope you enjoy this rewrite more, and I'll try to keep things straight from now on. :)
A/N: Uhm, to tell the truth I'm kind of stuck now, so if any of you have any ideas please tell me; I need help! ^_^o Thanks a bunch!
Oh, and GuessWho, yes I'm talking to you. *__*! Reread this too! Or I'll hunt you down and make you eat meat. Hehehe, just kidding. Oh, and finish your story! It's so cool! Can you tell I just drank coffee? ::sweat drop:: muhahahhahahha! ---Misao-incarnate. Err. . . muha. . .muhahhahahha! Never mind.
!!!!!!!!Very important author note: I rewrote this chapter so please reread the parts that are different, thanks. :)!!!!!!!!!!
A/N: Warning: this is a short but kind of serious chapter, although you might laugh at my fight scene. I suck at fight scenes. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8: "A Wolfy Wolf Day"
The next day, as prophesied by Kaoru, she dragged Yahiko out of bed. Unfortunately, because they were in the same room as him, Kenshin and Sanosuke suffered as a result of her loud efforts to awaken him.
"Yahiko! Get up /now/," Kaoru yelled in Yahiko's ear.
Sano rolled over onto his side and cracked open an eye to see what all the ruckus was about. Kenshin's head came up-he'd ended up sleeping sitting propped against a wall on his futon-and he peered at Kaoru through warily slit eyes.
"Go 'way, Ugly. . ." Yahiko mumbled as he covered his ear and turned his face into his futon.
Kaoru rapped him on the head with her bokken and he sat up quickly yelling, "Oww!"
Kaoru just smiled and then said sweetly, "Get dressed and meet me for sword practice."
"What about breakfast?" Yahiko complained grumpily.
"I'll make something later," Kaoru answered impatiently.
"Ugh. . .never mind," Yahiko said under his breath. "I'm not hungry anymore."
Kaoru said warningly, "I heard that," and left the room.
Yahiko got up and got dressed and Kenshin said, "I'll make breakfast, that I will, Yahiko."
Yahiko sighed gratefully, "Great, Shinta, I would've died if I had to eat Kaoru's cooking again." He made a face then left the room.
Kenshin followed him a little later.
Sanosuke tried to go back to sleep, but after changing positions for about the fifth time, he just got up. He wandered into the kitchen and saw Kenshin busily fixing something to eat.
"Hey, Shinta, If anyone asks, I'm going to the Akabeko early to work."
Kenshin turned and gave him a round-eyed look of surprise, "You don't want to eat breakfast, Sano?"
Sanosuke scratched the back of his head, "Err. . .I guess I could stick around until after I eat."
He went into the living area and plunked himself down on the floor to wait. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin had already started breakfast when he realized he was missing some ingredients. He put out the fire and went into the living area where Sanosuke was snoozing.
"Sano," he said just loud enough to wake the drooling man. Sano snorted loudly as he came around. "Huh? Shinta?"
"I'm going to the market for some supplies, that I am," he smiled as he told Sano.
"Oh," Sano said sleepily, "Alright." His eyes drooped shut again, and Kenshin smiled more deeply in amusement as he left the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin returned from buying what he needed from the market. As he walked up the steps to the house he began to sense someone's presence. It was the 'hunting wolf' again. Kenshin carefully placed the groceries on the ground and let his hand settle on the hilt of his sword.
A man stepped out of the dojo, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke following at his heels. The look on Kaoru's face was one of hurt and confusion. Sanosuke looked equally shocked, but much more angry. Yahiko seemed somewhat bewildered, but a little angry, also. Kenshin hoped that his new friends wouldn't hold this against him, but he knew they had every right to.
"Kenshin Himura, or should I say 'Battousai the Manslayer," the man said coldly. "You are wanted for the murder of Tomoe Yukishiro-Himura, however, I came to fight you. I wanted to defeat the legendary Manslayer of the Meiji Revolution."
"Saitou Hajime, the 'Wolf of Mibu'," Kenshin began. "The leader of the third squadron of the Shinsengumi--I am no longer the man you wish to fight, instead you will fight Kenshin Himura, the wanderer."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sanosuke heard the words "Battousai the Manslayer" and his world came to a stop. How could Shinta, no, it was 'Kenshin', be that man? How could he possibly be the strongest of the Imperialists? He glanced over at Kaoru and saw that it didn't matter to her. But then, she was falling in love with him. He looked at Yahiko and saw a look of anger on his face. Their father had died for the sake of the Imperialists. Souzou Sagara and the Sekihoutai had been used as scapegoats for promising what the Meiji government couldn't follow through with-they'd promised lowered taxes but couldn't follow through with it because the war had depleted their funds. The Sekihoutai had been almost literally executed by the Imperialist army. The only difference was that they had fought back. So, when Sanosuke was only fifteen and Yahiko was only seven, they'd lost their father and their faith in the government and the world as a whole.
/Shinta,/ Sanosuke wondered, /how can you be one of those pigs?/
It wasn't possible-he wasn't anything like those men who had taken his father's life. Shinta had a sword-but it was obvious that the thing couldn't kill unless he reversed the blade.
The anger slowly left Sanosuke and he said to Yahiko, "It's not his fault, he's not like them, Yahiko." The words seemed more for his own benefit, than for Yahiko's.
Yahiko looked up at him with flashing eyes at first, but then when he saw the calm, sad look on his brother's face he nodded. "You're right, Shinta isn't like that. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaoru heard the odd conversation between Sanosuke and Yahiko and wondered at it, but her attention was soon drawn back to the two fighters.
"You know as well as I do that I didn't kill my wife." Kenshin was saying. She'd only ever heard his voice as warm and kind, but now it was strangely cold yet somehow dangerous despite the calmness of it. He'd drawn his sword and was holding it in front of him defensively.
Saitou drew his own blade. "Personally, I don't care. I just want to defeat you for the sake of Aku Soku Zan." He smiled wolfishly and Kenshin's eyes narrowed.
"Then go ahead and try."
/Wait, that doesn't sound like him, at all. Why is he talking like that?/
Kenshin's speech wasn't the only thing that had changed. His eyes had eerily gone from their light blue-purplish color to a dark blue, then to a strange glowing amber.
Kaoru felt her breath catch in fear. What was wrong with him?
That's when Kenshin attacked, and she knew what it was. This was the 'Battousai' that they'd been talking about. The one in all the legends. . .The greatest assassin of the Meiji Revolution.
/No. . .Shin-Kenshin. . ./ She begged him silently.
The clinging of swords filled the air and a feeling of impending doom seized her. She couldn't let Kenshin become that man. She didn't understand why she felt so strongly about this, but she did.
"Kenshin, no!" She called out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenshin heard the fear in Kaoru's voice and he pulled away from the fight.
"Miss Kaoru?" Kenshin asked, blinking rapidly.
Saitou frowned. Kenshin's eyes had gone back to those silly blue-purple orbs, again. The fight was pointless if he wasn't the 'Battousai', anymore.
Saitou snapped his sword back into its sheath and said, "Maybe we'll continue this some other time, Battousai, for now I have better things to do."
Kenshin sheathed his sword and watched as Saitou strode passed him, across the courtyard and beneath the arch. He turned onto the street and disappeared around the corner.
"/Kenshin/. . ." came Kaoru's voice.
"Oro?" Kenshin asked turning to face her.
Kaoru was looking at him with an extremely evil look. "Why didn't you tell us who you really were?"
Kenshin 'oro'd' again and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm really sorry, that I am, Miss Kaoru. . ."
"Uhm, Kenshin, why'd you call yourself 'Shinta'?" Sano interjected.
"Well, it's my birth name, that it is, and when I met Miss Kaoru for the first time, it just slipped out, that it did, because she reminded me of someone from my childhood, that she did. . ."
"I don't get it," Yahiko said irritably.
Kaoru knocked Kenshin on the head with her bokken, "Kenshin, you idiot!"
"Ororo. . ." Kenshin fell backwards and sprang back up looking quite dazed, "Miss Kaoru, I said I was sorry, that I did. . ." he protested.
"How would I have heard of your name let alone the name you told me?" She yelled at him.
"Oro. . ."
Sano said warily, "I think he means that he doesn't really know-"
"You stay out of it!" Kaoru said turning on Sanosuke like a dog on its master.
Sano took a step back and latched onto Yahiko's sleeve. "Come on, I don't want you to witness Kenshin's murder. . ."
Yahiko nodded in horror, "Let's get out of here. . ." They both turned tail and ran into the dojo, abandoning Kenshin to the enraged Kaoru. . .
However, they could still hear a pathetic 'ororo' once they were safely inside the house. . .
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for the review Melissa()! Thanks for telling me about the 'Shinta' thing. And I hope you liked the way I 'kinda' explained it in this chp. ;) By the way, that was my friend's idea. (The part about the childhood friend, I mean.)
Thanks for reviewing, Bob-san, I hope you like my rewrite. But I have to apologize cause I don't write very good fight scenes. ::Shrugs:: Please forgive me! ::sweat drop::
Thanks Maria Cline, for the tips and the review, I hope you enjoy this rewrite more, and I'll try to keep things straight from now on. :)
A/N: Uhm, to tell the truth I'm kind of stuck now, so if any of you have any ideas please tell me; I need help! ^_^o Thanks a bunch!
Oh, and GuessWho, yes I'm talking to you. *__*! Reread this too! Or I'll hunt you down and make you eat meat. Hehehe, just kidding. Oh, and finish your story! It's so cool! Can you tell I just drank coffee? ::sweat drop:: muhahahhahahha! ---Misao-incarnate. Err. . . muha. . .muhahhahahha! Never mind.