Chapter 4: Time and Time Again

Kenshin approached the house, closely followed by two cloaked men. The snow kept falling, and the wind grew harsher as they came. I shivered, the effects of the warm tea Tomoe had served wearing off. Tomoe stood up, greeting them silently. They entered the room, taking off their hats. I recognized them both. One, Katsura Kogoro, one of the famous Patriots that had gone into hiding when the Shinsengumi raided their meeting place, and the other, a man I recognized to have accompanied Kenshin on the first day I met him when the Sekihou still existed.

Katsura sat down in front of me, both Kenshin and the other sitting on opposite sides of him.

"I take it that you are the hitokiri Sokusai," Katsura said politely, as if stating the weather.

I could not resist a sarcastic comment. "If I wasn't Sokusai, then why the hell am I here?"

There was an awkward pause. Kenshin snarled, "Watch your mouth, Kikome."

"I have no need to watch my mouth so as long as I'm in front of you, Kenshin," I replied coolly, fingering the package. "Oh, and by the way, could you tell me where my swords are? I promise cooperate nicely if you give them back." I tried keeping the sarcasm out of my voice.

Kenshin looked at Katsura, who gave him a nod. He walked over to a wooden closet and reached under it, withdrawing the two blades. He tossed them over to me and resumed sitting.

Katsura cleared his throat. "Now, to business. Hitokiri Sokusai, I'd like to know exactly why you, who has no right to be meddling in the personal businesses of the Ishin Shinshi, a—"

"Forgive me for saying so, but I have every right to meddle in the businesses of the Ishin Shinshi," I interrupted.

Katsura narrowed his eyes. "And what makes you think that?"

"It's not a matter of thinking; it's a matter of fact. By any chance, do you recall, in the past, an army called the 'Sekihou'?" I said softly.

His eyes widened. "You…"

"Exactly. I'm a former member of the Sekihou Army, first division under the Captain Sagara Souzou, whom you and your group of Imperialists brutally murdered to keep your reputations. I, therefore, have every bit of right to go and murder you all right back. It's only fair, after all."

Katsura was silent for a moment.

"That's not the way you do it, Kikome," Kenshin said quietly. "We fight so that we can create an era where there's peace for everyone in Japan, not for personal reasons. If you—"

"In which I don't give a damn about your views, beliefs, and political problems! I have no problem with you and the Shinsengumi fighting each other over what era versus what, because I know that I will survive in either! What I fight for is for my personal vengeance! And you Patriots, always saying that you want to create an era where all people have peace; what about the people whom you killed and their family? How can you call that peace for everybody! It's a matter of choosing who you want to kill because of your views, not to create some stupid new era where people can rest in serenity."

"YOU just don't have a sense on right or wrong, Kikome, because your eyes are blinded by what you see continuously; the murder of Sagara and his clan. But what you can't see is what we're trying to do to make other people have a peaceful life, not utter turmoil in the Bakamatsu!"

"Again, I don't care what you all are doing! I fight for my problems, my revenge, and my personal needs. Politics is not included in my range of planning! Right now, I side with the Shinsengumi because they're after YOU, the precise people I'M after. It has nothing to do with the Tokugawa regime, or the Bakamatsu, because I DON'T CARE."

"I came here with an offer, Sokusai," Katsura broke in. "If you help us win this war against the Shinsengumi and the Tokugawa regime, we'll spare your life."

I let out a humorless laugh.

"You, spare my life! Not in a lifetime, I guarantee. I want to make this clear to you, Katsura-sama. I will never, in my lifetime, side with you and the Patriots. I would gladly kill myself than side with Souzou's murderers."

The famous Patriot sighed and closed his eyes. "Very well, Sokusai. We'll have your execution right here, completed by my right hand man, your former friend, Kenshin."

Kenshin looked startled. "You're asking me…to kill her?"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

Kenshin looked at me, then at Katsura, then back to me. His face hardened and his golden eyes sharpened, bringing back the murderous glare of Battousai.

"I have my orders, Sokusai. Don't take this personally."

"Of course not," I said coolly, standing up and sliding my swords in my belt. "Outside, I suppose. I'd rather not make Tomoe-san's home all bloody."

Dropping the small package of clothes on the floor, I turned and went out to the cold biting air of winter, resenting a shiver. I heard Kenshin's light footsteps follow, then Katsura's and then the man that accompanied them. Tomoe had disappeared.

I turned to face Kenshin, trying not to see the boy that I had always chatted with when I was little. No, this was Battousai, who had consented to kill me, not that child.

I drew my sword out with a gloved hand, and he did the same.

"No holding back, Kenshin," I said in a dangerous tone. "Not a replay of last night."

I rushed towards him and he leapt over me, closing in on my back. I whipped around, my black hair streaming, and blocked his blade, then rushed in again towards him. We moved like one, as if we were sparring, neither getting to the other. Kenshin had not been slacking; his perceptive eyes could catch any slight movement that I made. However, I did not regard myself as being weaker. Any flick of his wrist, any movement of his feet, I could anticipate and parry. We were evenly matched, and in a standstill.

I knew that I could not defeat him without using either of the last two techniques of Hiten Mitsurugi. It was impossible. It was just a matter of choosing whether to use them or not. He could not defeat me. It was I that held the advantage. He could not win. I made up my mind. This is an assassin. A patriot. I smirked.

Kenshin's defeat was inevitable.