Chapter 4: The One Called Battousai

"All right, boys! Hit the showers!" Hiko yelled.

They all headed there, half the boys with nosebleeds from watching the cheerleaders, the other half so dehydrated that they were stumbling all over the place like a drunk, incompetent, moron.

"Great run today," Sano said to Kenshin.

"Th-thank you… but…"

"It's too bad we don't have a track team, huh… You'd be our star runner!" Sano laughed.

"Yeah, but tomorrow's kendo club," Katsu said. "-and you know who always comes to kendo club…"

"Who?" Kenshin asked.

"Chou and Kamatari," Sano and Katsu said at the same time.

"I don't know who Kamatari is, but I don't like the fact that Chou is gonna be here…" Kenshin said. "oro… What am I getting myself into?"

"Don't worry, Kenshin. I'll protect ya'," Sano said.

"-oh… but who's protecting you?"

"Ouch… well, you've gotta point."

They both sighed.

-

"This is our shower!" Sano said proudly.

"Oro?"

Kenshin looked around.

"It's just four walls with tile and shower heads, de gozaru yo…"

"Yep," Sano nodded. "So, what?"

"Oro…"

Sano, showing no modesty whatsoever, stripped from his clothes and walked off. "Come, my crummy buddies! We need to wash the blood and sweat from our spectacular selves!"

"Oi…" Katsu slapped his face and rolled his eyes. "He's always so full of himself…" He smiled. "Oh, well."

"Oro… oro…" Kenshin picked a spot farthest from the other boys, but unfortunately closest to the door and slowly pulled off his garments. How embarrassing…

"Oro? Which one is the hot?" He wondered, looking at the blank knobs.

"Let me help you," A voice said. Kenshin turned around.

"ORO!" His eyes bulged out, his hair standing straight up on end. "You're a girl!"

She winked at him, pushing her black-gray hair from her face. She was wearing the gym uniform still.

"How cute…" She said, tipping his face up with her index finger. "Battousai…"

"Oro?" Battousai?! He was utterly mortified.

"Kamatari!!! Get outta here!" Katsu yelled.

"-but I'm a boy, just like the rest of you!" Kamatari giggled.

"Oro?!"

"You don't look like a boy," Sano said.

"So? You know I am…"

"Don't remind me," Sano looked up into the shower.

How revolting… Kenshin said to himself, turning away, thoroughly horrified. He couldn't shower comfortably before, but now he was about ready to shower with his clothes on, if at all. None the less, he showered, very quickly, and finished before everyone else.

-

Kenshin left the shower with his backpack over his shoulder, his hair still down and wet from the shower. His glasses were up on the top of his head, and he sat down on the bleachers, waiting for the bell to ring.

Battousai… He thought to himself. Why did that girl--- boy… call me Battousai? Who is… Oh, I remember now. Battousai was a legendary hitokiri during the revolution… but why of all things call me that? It doesn't make any sense, de gozaru yo…

A scene of a man slicing another in half amidst the glow of the fiery Kyoto entered his mind. Battousai… His golden eyes glowed, and his blade shined white.

"Excuse me."

"Oro?" he looked up.

"Hey, I was just complimenting you on how fast you ran. I've never seen someone so fast."

"K-Kamiya Kaoru?"

"Uh-huh. So, you're Himura Kenshin, right?"

"Hai."

"Have we met before?"

"I don't think so, de gozaru yo. I would've remembered a face like yours…" Kenshin blushed in awkwardness.

"Well, I'll see you later," She said. "Bye!" She ran back to the girls.

"A cheerleader spoke to me…" Kenshin said.

"Oh!" She ran back to him. "I almost forgot."

She handed him a hairbrush.

"I figure you want to brush all that hair, right? Just give it back in Math class, okay?"

"uh-"

"Okay, bye!" She ran off.

Kenshin felt faint. He'd gotten a hairbrush… from a CHEERLEADER… oh, and it wasn't just any cheerleader. It was the CAPTAIN. THE CAPTAIN.

"Oro…orororororo…" Kenshin fell over. "This is unbelievable, de gozaru yo…"

-

"Come on," Sano laughed as he walked into the Math class.

"Wow… How…" He looked around. "Dreary." The classroom had no colorful pictures with sayings on them, no number lines, no nothing. The teacher's desk was straight and prompt, and all the desks were lined up very well. It was a very boring class room.

"That's how it always looks," Sano said.

"I like it this way."

"Oro?" Kenshin turned around.

Standing, looming over him, stood Shinomori Aoshi, his aloof blue eyes glaring down at him.

"Hey, Aoshi," Sano said.

"…" Aoshi walked on ahead.

"Oro?"

"He's not much of a talker…" Sano said.

"AOSHI-SAMA!"

"Oro?!"

In the back row, a girl in her cheerleading uniform came running up, her braid swishing behind her. Her eyes sparkled at the site of the creepy man, and she quickly jumped and threw her arms around him. "Aoshi-sama…." She said, nuzzling his chest.

"…"

"Um… Is she his girlfriend?" Kenshin asked.

Sano started laughing. "Whatever. She's just obsessed with the guy, but he isn't her boyfriend. They say that they've known each other since childhood and that Aoshi looks at her as a 'sister' per-say…" Sano said.

"Oh… Do you have any brothers and sisters?"

"No. I'm an only child."

"Me too. My parents don't need another child. We're fine just the way we are, de gozaru yo," Kenshin beamed over his shoulder at Sano. "My parents are the best parents on earth. I don't know what I'd do without them."

"I know what I'd do without my parents…"

"Oro?"

"Starve. I can't cook…"

They both began laughing.

"Enough with the ha-ha's, Sagara. Go sit the hell down. You too, Himura."

"Oro?"

(A/N: It's the holidays! I'm free! I'm FREE! HUZZAH! Okay, now that that's over, I just thought I'd thank everyone for their reviews. sniff I feel so loved! I'm glad you're all enjoying this story because I really enjoyed writing it. I've worked very hard, and I hope it continues to pay off as I go along. I might need to take a brake though and write on some other fiction in a short while though… but not right now. MUAHAHAHAHA! cough Okay. Sayonara, minna-san!!!)